Nasal Counterpart Research Articles

Peripapillary Choroidal Vasculature in Pediatric Eyes with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.

Choroidal vasculature change in children with diabetes mellitus is not investigated enough although it could reflect clinical outcome. Pediatric Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients and healthy controls were retrospectively evaluated. Peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of the right eyes were analyzed. Choroidal parameters including total choroidal area, luminal area, stromal area, and choroidal vascularity index were measured through image binarization. Twenty eyes of 20 patients were compared with 46 eyes of 46 healthy controls. Mean total choroidal area, luminal area, and stromal area were 1.59±0.35, 1.10±0.24, and 0.50±0.13 mm2 in patients' eyes and 1.52±0.49, 1.05±0.34, and 0.47±0.17 mm2 in healthy eyes. No difference was found in choroidal vascularity indices between patients and healthy eyes (68.8±3.9% vs. 69.4±4.4%, p=0.521). Temporal choroidal vascularity index was significantly higher than its nasal counterpart in healthy eyes (71.8±5.0% vs. 68.6±4.9%, p<0.001) which was not significant in patients' eyes (70.7±4.0% vs. 68.9±5.1%, p=0.067). Temporal quadrant had the highest choroidal vascularity index score among all quadrants in healthy controls (all p<0.05), whereas no choroidal vascularity index difference between quadrants was detected in patients (p=0.75). Peripapillary choroidal vasculature has shown subtle sectoral changes which did not reflect the overall peripapillary OCT section in pediatric T1DM patients when compared with healthy controls.

Generating Vowel Nasality for a Rule-Based Bangla Speech Synthesizer

Bangla is a useful language to study nasal vowels because all the vowels have their corresponding nasal vowel counterpart. Vowel nasality generation is an important task for artificial nasality production in speech synthesizer. Various methods have been employed by many researchers for generating vowel nasality. Vowel nasality generation for a rule-basedspeech synthesizer has not been studied yet for Bangla. This study discusses several methods using full spectrum and partial spectrum for generating vowel nasality to use in a rule-basedBangla text to speech (TTS) system using demisyllable. In a demisyllable based Bangla TTS 1400 demisyllables are needed to be stored in database. Transforming the vowel part of a demisyllable into its nasal counterpart reduces the speech database size to 700 demisyllables. Comparative study of the e

Transcriptional Profiling of Immune and Inflammatory Responses in the Context of SARS-CoV-2 Fungal Superinfection in a Human Airway Epithelial Model.

An increasing amount of evidence indicates a relatively high prevalence of superinfections associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including invasive aspergillosis, but the underlying mechanisms remain to be characterized. In the present study, to better understand the biological impact of superinfection, we determine and compare the host transcriptional response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) versus Aspergillus superinfection, using a model of reconstituted human airway epithelium. Our analyses reveal that both simple infection and superinfection induce strong deregulation of core components of innate immune and inflammatory responses, with a stronger response to superinfection in the bronchial epithelial model compared to its nasal counterpart. Our results also highlight unique transcriptional footprints of SARS-CoV-2 Aspergillus superinfection, such as an imbalanced type I/type III IFN, and an induction of several monocyte and neutrophil associated chemokines, that could be useful for the understanding of Aspergillus-associated COVID-19 and also the management of severe forms of aspergillosis in this specific context.

Radiation-Induced Rhinitis: Cytological and Olfactory Changes

Oral mucositis is a well-known adverse event of radiotherapy (RT) for head and neck cancer (HNC). Its nasal counterpart, the radiation-induced rhinitis, is poorly studied and considered in clinical practice. The aim of this observational study was to evaluate acute cytological and olfactory alterations during RT and their correlation with RT doses. Ten patients who underwent RT for HNC, excluding tumors of the nasal cavities, were evaluated with nasal scraping for cytological examination, Sniffin' Sticks test for olfactory assessment, and Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation scale. The examinations were performed before (T0), at mid-course (T1), and at the end (T2) of RT. They were repeated 1 and 3 months after RT (T3 and T4). Mean dose (Dmean) and near maximum dose (D2%) to nasal cavities and inferior turbinates were used for correlation analyses. Radiation-induced rhinitis was present in 70% of patients at T2, and it was still observed in 40% of cases after 3 months. Although olfactory function remained within the normal range at the evaluated times, a significant decrease in odor threshold and discrimination was observed during RT, which returned to baseline levels after RT. Nasal cytology showed a radiation-induced rhinitis with neutrophils and sometimes bacteria. Mucous and squamous cell metaplasia appeared in 10% of patients. Dmean and D2% to inferior turbinates were associated to neutrophilic rhinitis at T2, and D2% to inferior turbinates was correlated to mucous cell metaplasia at T2. RT for HNC induces acute rhinitis that may persist after the completion of treatment and can affect patient's quality of life. Nasal cytology can help to choose the best treatment on an individual basis.

Phonemic status of Bangla nasal vowels: A corpus study

This study investigated the phonemic status of the nasal vowels in Bangla (aka Bengali). It has been claimed for decades that all the seven monophthongal oral vowels in Bangla have phonemically contrastive nasal counterparts; however, an in-depth investigation of the status of nasality for all the vowels is lacking in the current literature. With a phoneme dictionary build from a text corpus of 8 (eight) million word-tokens and about 275 thousand word-types, this study investigated whether all the oral vowels have phonemically contrastive nasal vowels. Findings revealed that only five of the seven monophthongal vowels form phonemically contrastive relationships with their nasal counterparts; nasality in /æ/ and /ɔ/ are not contrastive phonemically.

Phonological and phonetic properties of nasal substitution in Sasak and Javanese

Austronesian languages such as Sasak and Javanese have a pattern of morphological nasal substitution, where nasals alternate with homorganic oral obstruents—except that [s] is described as alternating with [ɲ], not with [n]. This appears to be an abstract morphophonological relation between [s] and [ɲ] where other parts of the paradigm have a concrete homorganic relation. Articulatory ultrasound data were collected of productions of [t, n, ʨ, ɲ], along with [s] and its nasal counterpart from two languages, from 10 Sasak and 8 Javanese speakers. Comparisons of lingual contours using a root mean square analysis were evaluated with linear mixed-effects regression models, a method that proves reliable for testing questions of phonological neutralization. In both languages, [t, n, s] exhibit a high degree of articulatory similarity, whereas postalveolar [ʨ] and its nasal counterpart [ɲ] exhibited less similarity. The nasal counterpart of [s] was identical in articulation to [ɲ]. This indicates an abstract, rather than concrete, relationship between [s] and its morphophonological nasal counterpart, with the two sounds not sharing articulatory place in either Sasak or Javanese.

An ultrasound study of the nasal substitution in Javanese

Nasal substitution in Austronesian languages refers to replacement of voiceless obstruents by homorganic nasals under certain morphological conditions. In Javanese, for example, the active form of verb [tuku] “buy” is [nuku] and that of [tʃakar] “scratch” is [ɲakar]. However, exception does exist; namely, the sibilant [s] is paired with a palatal nasal [ɲ], e.g., the active form of [sawaŋ] “see” is [ɲawaŋ]. This ultrasound study aims to verify: i) whether the perception of two distinct places of articulation ([s]/[ɲ]) is matched in the articulation, suggesting an abstract relation between the two sounds, ii) or whether the homorganic pattern seen elsewhere in this morphological paradigm is matched in the articulation, suggesting a concrete relation between the two sounds. SS ANOVA results based on data of 8 Javanese speakers reveal that tongue position of /s/ bears more resemblance to /t/ and its nasal counterpart /n/, whereas the the tongue position of the nasal counterpart of /s/ is more posterior and closer to that of /tʃ/ and its nasal counterpart /ɲ/, which supports the abstract relation between [s] and [ɲ].

Understanding the relationship between acoustics and articulation of nasal and oral vowels

While real-time magnetic resonance imaging (rt-MRI) provides high spatiotemporal resolution for speech research, the associated audio is noisy, presenting a challenge for research on the relationship between articulation and the acoustic signal and solving the articulatory inversion problem. Using state-of-the-art denoising methods, the current study denoised rt-MRI audio associated with nasal and oral French vowels produced by one speaker, and extracted F1-3 from the midpoints of each vowel for /a, o, e/ and their nasal counterparts. Oblique images were taken of the velopharyngeal port at 25 frames/second, and average pixel intensity (API) in the velopharyngeal region was taken from images corresponding to the vowel midpoint. General additive models showed a significant relationship between API and F1 for oral and nasal vowels. (Lower API indicates a wider velopharyngeal opening.) F1 of /a/ was lower than /a/, while F1 was higher in the nasal /o/ and /ẽ/ than their oral counterparts, all of which are exp...

Extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type in Taiwan: a relatively higher frequency of T-cell lineage and poor survival for extranasal tumors.

Extranodal natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type, is a predominantly extranodal lymphoma associated with Epstein-Barr virus occurring most frequently in the upper aerodigestive tract. There are limited reports on cellular origin and prognostic factors. We retrospectively investigated 73 cases with a median age of 54 years and a male-female ratio of 2.0:1. The upper aerodigestive tract (nasal group) was the most common site of involvement (51 cases; 70%). The other organs (n = 22; extranasal group) included the skin (12 cases; 16%) and gastrointestinal tract (5; 7%). Of the 70 cases with complete staging, 71% had stage I/II disease. All cases were positive for Epstein-Barr virus by in situ hybridization. Using immunohistochemistry and clonality assay for T-cell receptor gene rearrangement, these tumors were classified into NK (n = 39; 53%), T (n = 13; 18%), and indeterminate lineage (n = 21; 29%). The only clinicopathological difference among these 3 groups was rare CD5 expression in the NK-cell group. Nasal tumors were more frequently of NK-cell origin, and extranasal tumors were equally of either T- or NK-cell origin. The 5-year overall survival rate was 35.6%. The overall survival time was shorter in the extranasal group, although there was no statistical difference in age, sex, and histologic or immunophenotypic features between the 2 groups. Excluding the cases with indeterminate lineage, 75% of cases were of NK lineage; and 25%, T lineage. Extranasal tumors were more aggressive than their nasal counterparts. A prospective national study is warranted for a better understanding of the clinicopathological and genetic features of this uncommon tumor and the prognostic factors.

Choroidal Thickness of the Papillomacular Region in Young Healthy Individuals

Purpose: To characterize the choroidal thickness of the papillomacular region in young healthy individuals using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Methods: Papillary and macular SD-OCT scans were obtained using an enhanced depth imaging mode. Digital retinography was used to assess any overlapping areas and to determine the papillomacular region. Spearman's correlations were used to explore the relationship between the different regional choroidal thicknesses. Results: Sixty-three volunteers aged 21.6 ± 1.1 years were included. There was a significant asymmetry in choroidal thickness throughout the 10-mm length model (p < 0.001). While the choroid was shown to thicken as the distance from the optic disc increased (p < 0.001), each of the 500-µm blocks of the papillomacular region were significantly thinner than their nasal counterparts (p < 0.02 in all pairwise comparisons). Conclusion: In young healthy individuals, the choroid under the papillomacular region appears to be thinner than in other areas. These differences could relate to specificities of the retina overlying this region.

Nasal Vowel Patterns in West Africa

UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report (2013) Nicholas Rolle UC Berkeley “Nasal vowel patterns in West Africa” 1 n.rolle@berkeley.edu 1. I NTRODUCTION Nasal vowels are a common feature of West African phonologies, and have received a significant amount of attention concerning their (suprasegmental) representation, their interaction with nasal consonants, and their phonetic realization. Numerous authors have presented surveys of varying degrees of (targeted) depth which address the distribution of contrastive nasal vowels in (West) Africa, including Hyman (1972), Williamson (1973), Ruhlen (1978), Maddieson (1984, 2007), Clements (2000), Clements & Rialland (2006), and Hajek (2011). Building on this literature, this present study provides a more extensive survey on contrastive nasal vowels in West Africa, and specifically studies the types of systematic gaps found. For example, the language Togo-Remnant language Bowili has a 7 oral vowel inventory canonical of West Africa /i e ɛ a ɔ o u/, as well as a full set of nasal counterparts /ĩ ẽ ɛ a ɔ o ũ/ (Williamson 1973). In contrast, the Gur language Bariba has the same 7 oral vowel inventory, though a more limited nasal set /ĩ ɛ a ɔ ũ/, missing mid-high vowels */ẽ o/ (Hyman 1972:201). Using this as a starting point, this paper addresses the following questions: What are the recurring patterns one finds in West African nasal vowel systems and inventories? o What restrictions are there on mid vowels in the nasal inventory? In which families/areal zones do we find these patterns? To which factors can we attribute these patterns? o Genetic – Vertical inheritance o Areal – Horizontal spread o Universal Phonetic – Parallel Developments How do these patterns manifest in the phonologies of these languages o E.g. Restrictions of (co-)occurrences Are these patterns anomalous or expected when viewed in a cross-linguistic perspective? This paper presents a survey of 168 languages and language clusters, incorporating previous studies on nasal vowels cross-linguistically, and nasal vowels in (West) Africa. This study finds that nasality is pervasive across the region, and does not align well with genetic classification. Both the presence and absence of contrastive nasal vowels is shown in Atlantic groups, Gur groups, Mande, Kru, Kwa/Gbe groups, and Benue-Congo groups, including Igboid, Defoid, Edoid, Plateau/Kainji, Nupoid, Cross River, etc. This strongly suggests [1] areal spread introducing/initiating contrastive nasal vowels or nasal loss, [2] independent innovation/loss of contrastive nasal vowels, or [3] both. In addition, this present survey is unique in coding for the presence/absence of high-mid nasal vowels /ẽ o/, which have been described by many authors as rare in West Africa. This This paper is a working draft stemming from a large-scale project on nasal vowels cross-linguistically. Initial thanks to Larry Hyman, Matt Faytak, Florian Lionnet, Lev Michael, Zachary O'Hagan, Roger Blench, Stuart McGill, and Otelemate Harry. All comments very much welcome!

Synchronous bilateral inverted papilloma of the temporal bone: Case report and review of the literature

Temporal bone inverted papilloma (IP) is an extremely rare tumor. Its etiology is unknown and represents a source of debate. Only 2 previous cases of bilateral temporal bone IP have been reported. A case report and review of the literature via PubMed database search are presented. A 52-year-old African-American man who initially underwent medial maxillectomy for right-sided nasal IP returned with bilateral temporal bone IP 7 months later without evidence of extension through the Eustachian tubes. Despite multiple resections and adjuvant radiation, the tumor transformed into squamous cell carcinoma and progressed to involve the intracranial dura, temporal lobe, and cervical dura. Multiple origins may exist for temporal IP: direct extension, iatrogenic seeding, or development from ectopic Schneiderian epithelium. Temporal bone IP appears to represent a much more aggressive tumor than its nasal counterpart, necessitating aggressive early surgical intervention to decrease recurrence and transformation risk.

The twist protein is upregulated in MEE prior to EMT during palatal fusion

Epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) plays an important role in the disappearance of medial edge epithelial cells (MEE) during fusion of secondary palate. Twist protein has been reported to have major roles during EMT. In some recent studies Twist mRNA was detected in the palatal mesenchyme of normal mice by in situ hybridization. In this study we analyzed the distribution of Twist protein of paraffin embedded normal mouse palates from E13.5-15 by immunofluorescence staining. The tissues were stained with primary antibodies specific for Twist (Santa Cruz Biotechnology) and Anti-Laminin (Sigma) and detected with appropriate fluorescence conjugated secondary antibodies. Negative controls received only PBS and secondary antibodies. Sections were viewed and scanned with Leica TCS SP-2 confocal microscope using 40X (n.a. = 1.3) water dipping objective. Twist protein was found in the epithelial layer of MEE and the future nasal and oral epithelium at different stages studied. At E 13.5, only a few Twist labeled cells were found in the epithelium of the open horizontal palatal shelves. Signals were more intense when two palatal shelves approximated and made contact in the mid line. As the fusion proceeded and the epithelial seam broke down, scattered islands of labeled cells were found along the midline, as well as in the oral and nasal epithelium. The MEE and oral epithelium had relatively more labeled cells than the nasal counterpart. After the mesenchyme converged completely, labeled cells were decreased. Positive twist cells were also found in the adjacent mesenchyme. Our observations demonstrate that Twist protein was up regulated in MEE prior to EMT and palatal fusion.

Lexical confusability and nasal coarticulation in French

Previous research has revealed a relationship between lexical confusability and degree of coarticulation [Brown (2001); Scarborough (2004)]. In particular, English speakers produce confusable, or ‘‘hard’’ words with more nasal and vowel-to-vowel coarticulation than less confusable, ‘‘easy’’ ones. Thus, it has been suggested that speakers produce additional coarticulation in order to increase the intelligibility of ‘‘hard’’ words. Here, the relation between nasal coarticulation and lexical confusability is investigated for French, a language in which vowel nasality is phonemically contrastive (at least for a subset of vowels) and might constrain such a lexical effect. Acoustic measures of nasality show that ‘‘hard’’ words (those with low usage frequencies and many frequent, phonologically similar neighbors) exhibit more nasal coarticulation than ‘‘easy’’ ones (those with high frequencies and few, low-frequency neighbors) in French as well. Interestingly, however, the effect emerges only for words containing vowels that can exhibit phonemic oral-nasal contrasts (oral vowels with nasal counterparts). Thus, where the use of nasality in phonological contrast is constrained, coarticulatory nasality is constrained, too. But the existence of phonological contrast does not itself constrain the lexical confusability effect: increased coarticulatory nasality contributes to lexically motivated phonetic enhancement in French, while even more nasality provides the basis for phonemic contrast.