Acquisition Of Morphology Research Articles

The effectiveness of Processing Instruction and Production-Based Instruction on the acquisition of the past tense in Greek by child heritage learners: A preliminary study

The study compares the effectiveness of two communicative approaches to grammar teaching, Processing Instruction (PI) and Production-Based instruction with collaborative tasks (PB), on the acquisition of past tense verb morphology by child heritage learners of Greek. Fourteen child learners of Greek, students at a heritage language school in Hungary, participated in the study. Half of them received PI instruction, which focuses only on the input, providing structured-input activities, and the other half received PB instruction, which focuses on the production of output with meaningful collaborative tasks. Both teaching interventions included a short explicit grammar teaching module. A pre-/post-test design was employed, which consisted of two tasks: a written production task and a sentence repetition task. Results revealed significant gains for both PI and PB instruction. However, both teaching interventions yielded better results in the written production task than in the more cognitively demanding sentence repetition task. Additionally, children who had little or no previous exposure to Greek seem to have profited more in the more cognitively demanding task, irrespective of the type of teaching intervention.

Complexity and accuracy of verbal morphology in written L2 Italian

Abstract The present study aims to verify previous findings on the role of proficiency in the degree of complexity and accuracy of verbal morphemes in written essays from intermediate and advanced L2 Italian learners. In addition, by taking the perspective of usage-based theories on the distributional properties in the input, it investigates the extent to which contingency affects morphological complexity and accuracy by the emergence of cue-outcome associations. Hypotheses on the effects of contingency and proficiency on complexity and accuracy, and on their mutual relationships, are verified by adopting a confirmatory approach and by using Structural equation modeling. Results support the claims for non-universal mechanisms in the acquisition of verbal morphology: proficiency does not affect the morphological complexity of learner texts in the same way in inflectionally rich and poor languages, and the cue-outcome mechanisms of associative learning work to different extents depending on the inflectional systems of the target languages.

Ecologically‐related variation of digit morphology in Cyrtodactylus (Gekkota, Squamata) reveals repeated origins of incipient adhesive toepads

Abstract Exploitation of different locomotor substrates in different ecological niches has driven the evolution of specialized morphological structures, and similar ecological demands, such as the structure of the microhabitat, often lead to convergent or parallel evolution. The evolution of adhesive toepads in geckos remains understudied because of the paucity of phylogenetically‐informed investigations of candidate clades exhibiting purported incipient expression of these (i.e. species having evolved some, but not all, parts of the complex adhesive system of pad‐bearing geckos). Using Cyrtodactylus, a speciose genus with well‐established ecotypes, we tested the hypothesis that microhabitats that require more climbing will lead to the acquisition of incipient adhesive morphology. We measured subdigital scale area, a proxy for adhesive toepad evolution, and quantified subdigital scale shape for 77 of the 354 described species, including at least one representative of each ecotype. Subdigital scale area increased from terrestrial through generalist and saxicoline (rock‐dwelling) to arboreal ecotypes, with subdigital scale shape evolving from ancestral conditions for padless lizards to lateromedially expanded lamella‐like scales only in the arboreal ecotypes. This significant link between phenotype and environment supports the contention that scansorial, and particularly arboreal, Cyrtodactylus ecotypes have evolved incipiently expressed adhesive toepads. This highlights the suitability of this genus as a model system for studying the ecology and evolution of adhesive toepads as well as being a promising candidate for research on adaptive radiations. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

MicroRNA-127-3p regulates inflammatory response in injury-induced vascular remodeling and cellular senescence in vascular smooth muscle cells through mTor

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg Background and Purpose The accumulation of senescent cells in the vasculature contributes to impaired vascular function over the lifetime. Micro RNAs (miRs) are promising therapeutic targets due to their cell-specific functions. Targeting miR-127-3p emerges as an attractive approach to enhance vascular healing and limit angioplasty-related complications. Here, we focus on elucidating the role of miR-127-3p in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) to characterize their role in cellular function and vascular senescence. Methods Utilizing reverse transcription and qRT-PCR we checked expression levels of miR-127-3p in human and murine aortic VSMCs. After overexpression and downregulation via transfection of pre-miR and antagomiR, we evaluated the influence of miR-127-3p on cellular functions such as proliferation and migration of human (non-) replicative senescent VSMCs. Potential targets were selected via target prediction analysis and verified on mRNA and protein levels. Morphological changes were visualized via high-resolution fluorescence microscopy. Senescence marker expression was checked after transfection by qRT-PCR. Results MiR-127-3p is highly upregulated in femoral artery tissue on day 10 after wire-induced injury in C57Bl6 mice, serving as restenosis model (p<0.001) and aged C57BL/6 mice (3 months vs. 22 months, p<0.0001). Replicative senescent human VSMC exhibit increased miR-127-3p expression (p<0.05). In vitro, miR-127-3p overexpression reduces proliferation in senescent (p<0.001) and non-senescent (p<0.01) cells. It hinders migration in non-senescent cells (p<0.0001) but has a reverse effect in senescent cells (p<0.01). Potential targets affecting cellular functions, inflammatory pathways, and cellular aging were identified as mTOR, AXL, and TEAD3 (p<0.05). Transfection of pre-miR leads to increase in cell size and the acquisition of a flattened morphology of human VSMC. P14arf and laminB1, as senescence-associated genes, showed downregulation after overexpression of miR-127-3p on mRNA level (p<0.05). When VSMCs were stimulated with anti-miR-127-3p, increased mRNA levels of p14arf and laminB1 were detected (p<0.05). Conclusion This study identifies miR-127-3p as a contributor to cellular functions including cellular proliferation and migration and seems to have opposing effects in non- and replicative senescent VSMC. Further research is needed to validate miR-127-3p as a therapeutic target for vascular aging and remodeling in vitro and in vivo.

Highly fluorescent hybrid nanofibers as potential nanofibrous scaffolds for studying cell-fiber interactions

In this study, we report on the fabrication of hybrid nanofibers for labeling and bioimaging applications. Our approach is involved for developing highly fluorescent nanofibers using a blend of polylactic acid, polyethyleneglycol, and perylenediimide dyes, through the solution blow spinning technique. The nanofibers are exhibited diameters ranging from 330 nm to 420 nm. Nanofibers showed excellent red and near-infrared fluorescence emissive properties in fluorescent spectroscopy. Moreover, the strong two–photon absorption phenomenon was observed for nanofibers under confocal microscopy. To assess the applicability of these fluorescent nanofibers in bioimaging settings, we employ two types of mammalian cells B16F1 melanoma cells and J774.A1 macrophages. Both cell types exhibit negligible cytotoxicity after 24 h incubation with the nanofibers, indicating the suitability of nanofibers for cell–based experiments. We also observe strong interactions between the nanofibers and cells, as evidenced by two major events: a) the acquisition of an elongated cellular morphology with the major cellular axis parallel to the nanofibers and b) the accumulation of actin filaments along the points of contact of the cells with the fibers. Our findings demonstrate the suitability of these newly developed fluorescent nanofibers in cell–based applications for guiding cellular behavior. We expect that these fluorescent nanofibers have the potential to serve as scaffold materials for long–time tracking of cell–fiber interactions in fluorescence microscopy.

The role of entrenchment and schematisation in the acquisition of rich verbal morphology

Abstract Entrenchment and schematisation are the two most important cognitive processes in language acquisition. In this article, the role of the two processes, operationalised by token and type frequency, in the production of overgeneralised verb forms in Croatian preschool children is investigated using a parental questionnaire and computational simulation of language acquisition. The participants of the questionnaire were parents of children aged 3;0–5;11 years (n = 174). The results showed that parents of most children (93 %) reported the parallel use of both adult-like and overgeneralised verb forms, suggesting that Croatian-speaking preschool children have not yet fully acquired the verbal system. The likelihood of overgeneralised forms being reported decreases with the age of the children and verb type frequency. The results of the computational simulation show that patterns with a higher type frequency also show a greater preference for the correct form, while lexical items show both learning and unlearning tendencies during the process.

The Acquisition of Jordanian Arabic Plural Morphology by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Aim. This study investigates the acquisition of plural morphology by native Jordanian children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The primary objective of the study is to assess children’s capacity to use plural morphology in Jordanian Arabic, aiming to identify the most frequently utilized form of the plural and the reasons behind its prevalence. 
 Methods. The study involved a sample of 10 male and female children with ASD, averaging twelve years old, from Tawasul Center for Autism in Amman, Jordan. Utilizing twenty representative pictures featuring familiar plural items such as chairs, televisions, and children, the participants were tasked with identifying the depicted elements. 
 Results. The findings indicated that the children faced challenges in employing plurals in Arabic, with the feminine morpheme being the most consistently used. However, instances of overgeneralization in the use of the feminine morpheme were noted, leading to inaccuracies. Moreover, children avoided plural forms in several cases and resorted to singular forms paired with words that indicate duality or plurality.
 Conclusion. The research results indicate that, by the age of 12, individuals with ASD experience challenges in acquiring proficiency in plural forms in Jordanian Arabic. The study underscores the difficulties these individuals encounter in understanding linguistic elements related to plurality within the specific linguistic context. It also demonstrates that comprehending the complexities of how autistic children acquire plural morphemes is not solely an academic interest; it holds practical significance for designing interventions to enhance their language proficiency and improve overall communication skills.

Cytolethal Distending Toxin Modulates Cell Differentiation and Elicits Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition.

The bacterial genotoxin, cytolethal distending toxin (CDT), causes DNA damage in host cells, a risk factor for carcinogenesis. Previous studies have shown that CDT induces phenotypes reminiscent of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process involved in cancer initiation and progression. We investigated different steps of EMT in response to Helicobacter hepaticus CDT and its active CdtB subunit using in vivo and in vitro models. Most of the steps of the EMT process were induced by CDT/CdtB and observed throughout the study in murine and epithelial cell culture models. CdtB induced cell-cell junction disassembly, causing individualization of cells and acquisition of a spindle-like morphology. The key transcriptional regulators of EMT (SNAIL and ZEB1) and some EMT markers were upregulated at both RNA and protein levels in response to CDT/CdtB. CdtB increased the expression and proteolytic activity of matrix metalloproteinases, as well as cell migration. A range of these results were confirmed in Helicobacter hepaticus-infected and xenograft murine models. In addition, colibactin, a genotoxic metabolite produced by Escherichia coli, induced EMT-like effects in cell culture. Overall, these data show that infection with genotoxin-producing bacteria elicits EMT process activation, supporting their role in tumorigenesis.

Avialan-like brain morphology in Sinovenator (Troodontidae, Theropoda)

Many modifications to the skull and brain anatomy occurred along the lineage encompassing non-avialan theropod dinosaurs and modern birds. Anatomical changes to the endocranium include an enlarged endocranial cavity, relatively larger optic lobes that imply elevated visual acuity, and proportionately smaller olfactory bulbs that suggest reduced olfactory capacity. Here, we use micro-computed tomographic (μCT) imaging to reconstruct the endocranium and its neuroanatomical features from an exceptionally well-preserved skull of Sinovenator changii (Troodontidae, Theropoda). While its overall morphology resembles the typical endocranium of other troodontids, Sinovenator also exhibits unique endocranial features that are similar to other paravian taxa and non-maniraptoran theropods. Landmark-based geometric morphometric analysis on endocranial shape of non-avialan and avialan dinosaurs points to the overall brain morphology of Sinovenator most closely resembling that of Archaeopteryx, thus indicating acquisition of avialan-grade brain morphology in troodontids and wide existence of such architecture in Maniraptora.

DOP38 A rare KRT17+ population emerges from the epithelium in the inflamed intestinal mucosa of patients with Ulcerative Colitis

Abstract Background KRT17 is an epithelial "alarmin" that contributes to the early host innate immune response to insults. We previously found that KRT17 transcription, not detectable in the healthy colon, is up-regulated in the intestinal mucosa of patients with active ulcerative colitis (UC). Here, we aimed to characterize the epithelial cells expressing KRT17 in UC mucosa and explore the contribution of the intestinal environment in promoting the emergence of this cell population. Methods We conducted single-cell RNAseq (scRNA-seq) on the epithelial compartment of intestinal biopsies from a cohort of non-inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) controls and patients with active UC. Analysis was performed using our own-curated pipeline in Seurat1. Spatial protein localization was analysed by immunofluorescence on fixed intestinal samples. To measure the modulation of KRT17 and associated markers, ex vivo air-liquid interface (ALI) epithelial cultures derived from human non-IBD organoids were used. The signatures of UC-derived organoids2 were mapped onto the scRNA-seq dataset. Results ScRNA-seq analysis identified a rare KRT17+ epithelial cell population emerging in active UC characterized by the expression of KRT17 (Fig. 1A) and other alarmins (KRT6A, KRT16, S100A8), metalloproteinases (MMP1, MMP10), and inflammatory markers (SAA1, DUOX2…). KRT17 protein, absent in non-IBD colon, was expressed in the epithelium of the inflamed UC mucosa exhibiting a patchy pattern, and marked epithelial clusters with both columnar and squamous-like morphology (Fig. 1B). The ALI culture closely recapitulated the differentiated intestinal epithelium in homeostasis by showing a columnar aspect, high expression of differentiation markers, and low or undetectable expression of stem/proliferation or KRT17+-cell markers. Exposure of the ALI culture to hypoxic stress (by re-submersion in expansion medium) induced the expression of KRT17+ cell-specific and inflammation markers (Fig. 1C), and the acquisition of a squamous morphology (Fig. 1D). IBD-related IFN-ɣ and IL-22 cytokines could not fully replicate this phenotype (Fig. 1E). Lastly, we observed that genes up-regulated in UC, compared to non-IBD organoids, were predominantly expressed within the KRT17+ population (Fig. 1F). Conclusion Our results suggest that a novel KRT17+ epithelial population may arise from the intestinal cells of inflamed UC mucosa under the influence of specific environmental factors. This population could contribute to the persistence of the disease over time.

ИНДИВИДУАЛЬНАЯ СТРАТЕГИЯ ОСВОЕНИЯ РЕБЕНКОМ МОРФОЛОГИИ И ПЕРСОНАЛЬНОГО ДЕЙКСИСА В РУССКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ (ПЕРВЫЙ ЯЗЫК)

Children’s acquisition of morphology in inflectional languages is of relevance in modern first language acquisition studies. It may go various ways, and the quantity of these ways depends on morphological affluence of the language. The Russian language has a developed inflectional system, which causes diversity in children’s individual strategies while acquiring the language. Various combinations of the so-called syntactic and morphologic strategies is the reason for strategic diversity among Russian-speaking children. According to the research, the optimal alternating of the two strategies benefits for quicker and more efficient acquisition of the category of person and the entire grammatical system of the language, absence of deictic and grammar mistakes. It will be the most effective to combine consistent alternation of strategies, starting with the syntactic strategy with its subsequent transition to the morphologic one. A denser interlacing of these strategies may cause chaotic acquisition of the language and incorrect usage of its elements in child speech.

NeRF-based 3D reconstruction pipeline for acquisition and analysis of tomato crop morphology.

Recent advancements in digital phenotypic analysis have revolutionized the morphological analysis of crops, offering new insights into genetic trait expressions. This manuscript presents a novel 3D phenotyping pipeline utilizing the cutting-edge Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) technology, aimed at overcoming the limitations of traditional 2D imaging methods. Our approach incorporates automated RGB image acquisition through unmanned greenhouse robots, coupled with NeRF technology for dense Point Cloud generation. This facilitates non-destructive, accurate measurements of crop parameters such as node length, leaf area, and fruit volume. Our results, derived from applying this methodology to tomato crops in greenhouse conditions, demonstrate a high correlation with traditional human growth surveys. The manuscript highlights the system's ability to achieve detailed morphological analysis from limited viewpoint of camera, proving its suitability and practicality for greenhouse environments. The results displayed an R-squared value of 0.973 and a Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 0.089 for inter-node length measurements, while segmented leaf point cloud and reconstructed meshes showed an R-squared value of 0.953 and a MAPE of 0.090 for leaf area measurements. Additionally, segmented tomato fruit analysis yielded an R-squared value of 0.96 and a MAPE of 0.135 for fruit volume measurements. These metrics underscore the precision and reliability of our 3D phenotyping pipeline, making it a highly promising tool for modern agriculture.

Morphomics via next-generation electron microscopy.

The living body is composed of innumerable fine and complex structures. Although these structures have been studied in the past, a vast amount of information pertaining to them still remains unknown. When attempting to observe these ultra-structures, the use of electron microscopy (EM) has become indispensable. However, conventional EM settings are limited to a narrow tissue area, which can bias observations. Recently, new trends in EM research have emerged, enabling coverage of far broader, nano-scale fields of view for two-dimensional wide areas and three-dimensional large volumes. Moreover, cutting-edge bioimage informatics conducted via deep learning has accelerated the quantification of complex morphological bioimages. Taken together, these technological and analytical advances have led to the comprehensive acquisition and quantification of cellular morphology, which now arises as a new omics science termed 'morphomics'.

Children’s analogism in the acquisition of morphology as a reflection of linguistic thinking

Abstract The paper presents psycholinguistic personal case study in its character. It focuses on the analogous (hypergeneralizing) formation of nouns and verbs in the ontogenesis of children’s speech through the prism of linguistic principles. The basic research material is diary entries of 364 grammatical forms of two children aged 1;10 – 2;7 years and 3;8 – 4;5 years (recorded during the ten months in 2017), which are incompatible with the literary norm of the Slovak language. The basic starting point was the hypothesis that agrammatic forms in children’s speech can be categorized and explained on the basis of natural language principles, whose application presupposes a certain level in the development and functioning of logical and thought operations and the cognitive system as such. The analysis of research material enabled us to generalize certain tendencies in the ontogenesis of the morphological system in children, which lead to structural iconism, uniform symbolization, systemicity and unification of the word-formation basis. The application of the principles in children’s speech has proved to be specific – the child applies in his speech mainly the principles of analogy, naturalness and dominance. The limit of the presented longitudinal research is the small number of respondents and the very nature of the research problem, whose solution requires intensive contact with the child subject, a longer period of time and more extensive research material.

The long noncoding RNA nHOTAIRM1 is necessary for differentiation and activity of iPSC-derived spinal motor neurons

The mammalian nervous system is made up of an extraordinary array of diverse cells that form intricate functional connections. The programs underlying cell lineage specification, identity and function of the neuronal subtypes are managed by regulatory proteins and RNAs, which coordinate the succession of steps in a stereotyped temporal order. In the central nervous system (CNS), motor neurons (MNs) are responsible for controlling essential functions such as movement, breathing, and swallowing by integrating signal transmission from the cortex, brainstem, and spinal cord (SC) towards peripheral muscles. A prime role in guiding the progression of progenitor cells towards the MN fate has been largely attributed to protein factors. More recently, the relevance of a class of regulatory RNAs abundantly expressed in the CNS - the long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) - has emerged overwhelmingly. LncRNA-driven gene expression control is key to regulating any step of MN differentiation and function, and its derangement profoundly impacts neuronal pathophysiology. Here, we uncover a novel function for the neuronal isoform of HOTAIRM1 (nHOTAIRM1), a lncRNA specifically expressed in the SC. Using a model system that recapitulates spinal MN (spMN) differentiation, we show that nHOTAIRM1 intervenes in the binary cell fate decision between MNs and interneurons, acting as a pro-MN factor. Furthermore, human iPSC-derived spMNs without nHOTAIRM1 display altered neurite outgrowth, with a significant reduction of both branch and junction numbers. Finally, the expression of genes essential for synaptic connectivity and neurotransmission is also profoundly impaired when nHOTAIRM1 is absent in spMNs. Mechanistically, nHOTAIRM1 establishes both direct and indirect interactions with a number of target genes in the cytoplasm, being a novel post-transcriptional regulator of MN biology. Overall, our results indicate that the lncRNA nHOTAIRM1 is essential for the specification of MN identity and the acquisition of proper morphology and synaptic activity of post-mitotic MNs.

Stem overgeneralizations in the acquisition of Croatian verbal morphology: Evidence from parental questionnaires

Studies on verbal overgeneralization often focus on languages with low morphological complexity. The Croatian conjugational system exhibits varying degrees of complexity, and this complexity is not primarily based on the number of inflectional morphemes, but on an elaborate system of stem changes. During early language development, children face the difficult task of acquiring this system, using overgeneralized forms to overcome its complexity. To date, studies have used a corpus-based method to retrieve overgeneralizations in child language, which has had limited success in capturing this phenomenon. The aim of this study was to investigate the production of overgeneralized verb forms in Croatian monolingual children aged 2;6 to 5;11 using a questionnaire in which parents report overgeneralizations used by their children. We tested the relationship between the production of overgeneralized forms and features of the input language (token frequency and class size). We hypothesized that the rate of overgeneralizations will depend on input language features, i.e. a higher rate of overgeneralizations for infrequent verbs and for verbs with smaller class size. The items selected for the questionnaire are the verbs with stem change used by parents in the longitudinal Croatian corpus of child language. Parents report overgeneralized forms in all verb classes, and verb frequency and class size negatively correlate with the proportion of overgeneralizations. Our results show that children gradually abstract morphological systems in a way that is highly sensitive to the properties of the input.

Processing of grammatical gender agreement morphemes in Polish: evidence from the Visual World Paradigm

This paper presents a psycholinguistic study of the processing of grammatical gender agreement morphemes in Polish, which has three gender categories (masculine, feminine, neuter), as well as what language-internal factors impact this processing. Results from an eye-tracking study using the Visual World Paradigm show that, during real-time language comprehension, adult monolingual speakers of Polish use cues from gender agreement on a prenominal adjective to anticipate the upcoming noun. An exploration of language-internal factors affecting this anticipatory processing finds this effect in all three genders, suggesting that encountering the relevant nominative-case agreement morpheme during language comprehension leads to automatic activation of a gender node in the mental lexicon, consistent with the literature on other languages with grammatical gender. These results hold true for the neuter agreement morpheme, despite the fact that this morpheme also instantiates default gender agreement in the language and is syncretic with the nominative plural agreement morpheme in all three genders. Further investigation finds that, while agreement morphemes for each gender prompt anticipatory processing, the reliability of a masculine agreement morpheme as a cue to gender is reduced in the presence of a neuter distractor, and vice versa. This raises questions regarding phonological proximity between the realized suffix and the suffix that would cue the distractor, with implications for the acquisition and processing of gender agreement morphology in Polish.

Imperatives in Heritage Spanish: Lexical Access and Lexical Frequency Effects

Along with declaratives and interrogatives, imperatives are one of the three major clause types of human language. In Spanish, imperative verb forms present poor morphology, yet complex syntax. The present study examines the acquisition of (morpho)syntactic properties of imperatives in Spanish among English-speaking heritage speakers of Spanish. With the use of production and acceptability judgment tasks, this study investigates the acquisition of verb morphology and clitic placement in canonical and negative imperatives. The results indicate that the acquisition of Spanish imperatives among heritage speakers is shaped by the heritage speakers’ productive vocabulary knowledge, lexical frequency and syntactic complexity. Indeed, most of the variability in their knowledge was found in their production of negative imperatives: heritage speakers show a rather stable receptive grammatical knowledge while their production shows signs of variability modulated by the heritage speakers’ productive vocabulary knowledge and by the lexical frequency of the verb featured in the test items.

#4673 POLY(I:C) INDUCES MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES AND TYPE I INTERFERON-MEDIATED INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE IN MESOTHELIAL CELLS FROM PERITONEUM

Abstract Background and Aims Peritonitis is a major cause of morbidity and discontinuation of the therapy in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Most of peritonitis episodes during PD may be imputed to bacterial infection, although in about 20% of the cases a viral origin may be hypothesized. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a critical role in innate immune responses by specifically recognizing molecular patterns from different microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (Poly(I:C)) is a synthetic analogue of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) that mimics the anti-viral immune response by activating TLR3. Upon activation, TLR3 signaling pathway leads to the induction of NF-ΚB pathway and the interferon response (IRF3 activation). The aim of this work is to study the ex vivo and in vivo effect of Poly(I:C) treatment in primary human mesothelial cells (MCs) and mice peritoneum. Methods MCs were collected from effluent fluids of 8 clinically stable PD patients and amplified for ex vivo experiments. MCs were treated with Poly(I:C) (2 ng/μl) or TGFβ1 (2 ng/ml). After 48 hours of stimulation, samples were collected for RNA subsequent analysis. Poly(I:C) was intraperitoneally delivered to mice daily for 10 days, using two different doses: 30 mg/kg (n = 6) and 90 mg/kg (n = 4) of weight. Non-treated mice were used as control (n = 6). Mice were euthanized and peritoneal tissue was collected for the subsequent RNA, protein, and histological experiments. Gene expression analyses of TLRs, interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), and other inflammatory markers were performed by qPCR. Protein analysis from cell lysates was performed by western blot and cytokine and chemokine levels from cell supernatants were detected by ELISA assay. Results MCs from PD patients expressed a specific subset of TLRs, which were modulated by stimulation with Poly(I:C), being TLR3 the most induced receptor. Additionally, Poly(I:C) induced a bona fide mesothelial to mesenchymal transition (MMT), characterized by the acquisition of a spindle-like morphology, increased expression of mesenchymal markers such as SNAIL, TGFB1, FN1, MMP9, and MMP14, and decreased expression of the epithelial markers ECAD and CALB2. Moreover, Poly(I:C) increased mRNA and protein levels of several cytokines and chemokines, such as TNFα, IL-6, IL-1β, IFNβ, CXCL8, and CXCL9; and ISGs, including CXCL10, MX1, IFIT1, and IFITM1. In vivo, Poly(I:C) administration in mice induced peritoneal inflammation, characterized by increased gene expression of proinflammatory response-related factors, including Ccl5, Arg1, and the ISGs Cxcl10 and Ifit1, in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion Treatment with Poly(I:C) is sufficient to induce a profibrotic/proinflammatory response in MCs in ex vivo and in vivo settings. These discoveries highlight the role of viral infections in peritoneum damage and may provide insight for further studies aimed at specifically counteracting the effect of viral infections in peritonitis in PD patients.

The Aspect Hypothesis and L2 Russian

IntroductionNumerous studies have been conducted regarding the second language acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. A prevailing principle in this area is the Aspect Hypothesis, which predicts that learners are influenced by lexical aspect when applying tense- aspect markers (specifically, that learners will associate perfective/past markers with telic verbs and imperfective/past markers with atelic verbs). The Aspect Hypothesis has been widely tested in the acquisition of English, several Romance languages, Japanese, and Chinese. However, few studies have explored the second language acquisition of aspect in Slavic languages, which tend to have morphologically rich and complex tense-aspect systems. Additionally, few studies address the potential impact of task modality (for example, written vs. oral tasks) on the production of aspect.MethodsThe present study addresses these gaps by investigating how second language learners of Russian at varying proficiency levels use aspectual markers in the past tense when producing oral and written narratives. Data from written narratives (N= 42) and oral narratives (N= 42) were analyzed for lexical aspect and tense-aspect marking.ResultsThe results indicate that the Aspect Hypothesis is supported to varying degrees depending on the task: the activity involving lower planning levels (oral narratives) was more supportive of the Aspect Hypothesis, compared to the written narrative task, which involves a higher level of planning. However, the results also show that the aspectual production of beginning-level Russian learners is not consistent with certain predictions of the Aspect Hypothesis.DiscussionThe study concludes by discussing the role of instruction and the L1 as possible explanations for this inconsistency.