Negative Concord Research Articles

Cumbersome paths to indefiniteness. Evidence from an Old Occitan customary

The central problem of this paper is the evolution of common nouns assumed to have turned into indefinite pronouns. The linguistic data have been retrieved from the Costuma d’Agen, a 13th-century Occitan Customary. The choice of this text is warranted by multiple relations obtaining between the architecture of legal codices and the presence of indefinite expressions. In this text, the contexts in which re (< Lat. acc. rem), ‘anything’ or ‘nothing’ occurs have been identified. This word is shown to be pervasive in Negative Concord (NC; under the scope of no(n), the expression of clausal negation), thereby meeting the requirements imposed upon negative polarity items (NPIs). Outside NC, re appears in conditional protases and temporal clauses introduced by ‘before’. Irrespective of the context in which it appears, Old Occitan re turns out to be fairly advanced on the grammaticalization scale: unlike its etymon, it no longer inflects for number, it does not take determiners and fails to function as a subject in the Costuma d’Agen. Comparative evidence from Gascon 13th century texts proves that, although the descendants of rem of that period occur in the same structural environments (all of them are, by then, free-choice items, FCIs), they do not evolve at the same pace as their Occitan cognate. In other words, even in neighboring linguistic zones, these expressions differ with respect to the degree of persistence of syntactic properties inherent to Latin common nouns. Finally, re is matched against other FCIs, such as hom or home ‘anybody’ or ‘nobody’ and autrui ‘someone else’ or ‘someone else’s’. Compared to re, the medieval developments of these items are far more diversified and retain more original features of their etymons. The difference is traced back to the greater conceptual salience of the animate domain.

A functionalist typology of redundancy

Syntagmatic redundancy involves the multiple expressions of a single meaning within a phrase or clause. It is often claimed to be a linguistic universal that serves to facilitate expressivity, processing, and learnability. However, there is little empirical evidence supporting this theory. This paper combines a typological study of concord, a form of syntagmatic redundancy in which a lexical and a grammatical item with overlapping meanings are expressed in the same phrase or clause, with a functional analysis of concord. The purpose of the study was to find out if redundancy is indeed universal or whether there are cross-linguistic restrictions. The goal of the functional analysis was to provide better understanding of what motivates different forms of redundancy. Reference grammars of a 50-language variety sample were analyzed for the existence and communicative functions of four types of concord. The results show that argument concord and temporal concord are nearly universal, whereas only a subset of languages allow for negative concord and plural concord. Two functional principles are shown to motivate concord: the need to be precise, and the need to emphasize crucial information. These principles lead to distinct types of redundancy: The need to be precise results in accidental redundancy in the case of an obligatory grammatical marker, whereas the need to emphasize information invokes purposeful redundancy. The two types of redundancy are shown to be fundamentally distinct in their communicative nature as well as their characteristic diachronic development.

Exploring negation in Awing

Negation is a universal category and languages differ in many respects in the way they express the latter (see Klima 1964). In this regards, some languages express sentential negation (a subcategorization of negation) with one marker (Dutch, German, English, etc.) while others like French uses two markers. Alongside markers used to express sentential negation, other items, among which Negative Polarity Items, mark negation and tight a particular element within its domain. In this paper, I aim at providing a picture of the expression of negation in Awing (a Bantu Grassfield langue of the Ngemba Group spoken in the North West region of Cameroon). Accordingly, sentential negation is expressed with two discontinuous markers kě…pô. One fact important to the presence of this negative marker is the movement of postverbal elements to a preverbal position turning the SVO structure in non-negative clause to an SOV pattern in negative clauses. In addition, the study describes other negative elements and negation subcategories. In last, the study of negative concord reveals that Awing belongs to the group of Strict Negative Concord (SNC) languages in which n-words must co-occur with negative marker to yield negation.

Establishment and verification of the nomogram that predicts the 3-year recurrence risk of epithelial ovarian carcinoma

BackgroundAs we all know, patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma have poor prognosis and high recurrence rate. It is critical and challenging to screen out the patients with high risk of recurrence. At present, there are some models predicting the overall survival of epithelial ovarian carcinoma, however, there is no widely accepted tool or applicable model predicting the recurrence risk of epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients. The objective of this study was to establish and verify a nomogram to predict the recurrence risk of EOC.MethodsWe reviewed the clinicopathological and prognostic data of 193 patients with EOC who achieved clinical complete remission after cytoreductive surgery and chemotherapy between January 2003 and December 2013 in Peking University First Hospital. The nomogram was established with the risk factors selected by LASSO regression. The medical data of 187 EOC patients with 5-year standard follow-up in Peking University Third Hospital and Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital were used for external validation of the nomogram. AUC curve and Hosmer-Lemeshow test were used to evaluate the discrimination and calibration.ResultsThe nomogram for 3-year recurrence risk was established with FIGO stage, histological grade, histological type, lymph node metastasis status and serum CA125 level at diagnosis. The total score can be obtained by adding the grading values of these factors together. The C statistics was 0.828 [95% CI, 0.764–0.884] and the Chi-square value is 3.6 (P = 0.731 > 0.05) with the training group. When the threshold value was set at 198, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and concordance index were 88.8, 67.0, 71.8, 86.3% and 0.558 respectively. In the external validation, the C statistics was 0.803 [95%CI, 0.738–0.867] and the Chi-square value is 11.04 (P = 0.135 > 0.05). With the threshold value of 198, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and concordance index of the nomogram were 75.7, 77.0, 83.2, 67.9%, and 0.52 respectively.ConclusionsWe established and validated a nomogram to predict 3-year recurrence risk of patients with EOC who achieved clinical complete remission after cytoreductive surgery and chemotherapy. This nomogram with good discrimination and calibration might be useful for screening out the patients with high risk of recurrence.

Multiplex Solid-Phase Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction without DNA Extraction: A Rapid Intraoperative Diagnosis Using Microvolumes

Current polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods for the diagnosis of infections are time consuming and require large sample volume and skilled technicians. We developed a novel, easy-to-use, and rapid (processing time, 1 minute; total time, 33 minutes) multiplex real-time PCR test (Direct Strip PCR) that did not require DNA extraction to detect 9 pathogens that could cause uveitis in 20-μl samples. Multicenter prospective evaluation of a diagnostic PCR test. A total of 511 participants (patients with infectious uveitis and controls) were examined at 18 institutes worldwide. After validation, intraocular fluid samples were subjected to etiologic or exclusive diagnosis, including intraoperative rapid diagnosis. The concordance and correlations between Direct Strip PCR and quantitative PCR (qPCR) results. Direct Strip PCR exhibited rapid detection, good repeatability and specificity, long storage stability, and detection ability equal to that of qPCR. It also showed low interinstitutional variability compared with qPCR, even when PCR beginners used various real-time PCR machines. The Direct Strip PCR for 9 pathogens exhibited high concordance against the qPCR (positive concordance rate, 98.8%-100%; negative concordance rate, 99.8%-100%; κ coefficient, 0.969-1.000; P < 0.001-0.031). Additionally, results obtained using Direct Strip PCR and qPCR were highly correlated (ρ= 0.748; P < 0.001). This assay was used for rapid intraoperative diagnosis. The Direct Strip PCR test may improve the prognosis of various infectious diseases because it facilitates rapid etiologic evaluation at the first hospital visit and can be used for intraoperative diagnosis.

50% versus 70%: is there a difference between these BCL2 cut-offs in immunohistochemistry for diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL)?

IntroductionThe World Health Organization’s (WHO) update of 2017 defines the cut-off for BCL2 in immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 50% of stained cells in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL). The WHO’s 2017 classification, however, has no standardized value. This study analyzes associations between immunohistochemistry results for BCL2 in relation to the detection of translocations of MYC, BCL2, and BCL6 in DLBCL.MethodSixty-seven patients with DLBCL were evaluated using IHC, with CD20, CD10, BCL6, BCL2, MUM1, TDT and MYC, and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for translocations involving the BCL2, BCL6, and MYC. Two cut-offs for BCL2 in IHC were used (50 and 70%), with the calculation of sensitivity (S), specificity (E), positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), accuracy and concordance test, with a significance level of 5%.ResultsUsing a 70% cut-off, there is a good relationship between S (88.9%, IC95% = 68.4–109.4) and E (67.2, 95% CI = 55.2–79.3), with a high NPV (97.5, 95% CI = 92.7–102.3) and statistically significant agreement (K = 0.30, p = 0.02). Using a 50% cut-off, S and NPV increase to 100%, with a specificity of 39.7% (95% CI = 27.1–52.2) and a statistically significant concordance (K = 0.15, p = 0.017).ConclusionReduction in the percentage of immunostaining increases the detection of DLBCL with a “double-expressor” immunophenotype. The lower criterion amplifies the S and the NPV of IHC to detect translocations involving the BCL2 gene, with an impact on the diagnosis of DLBCL “double expressor”, an unfavorable prognostic group.

On Different Types of Negative Concord Items and Their Interpretation in Korean

This paper aims to investigate an idea, proposed by Park (2013) and Tieu & Kang (2014), that Korean has different types of NCIs in terms of feature specification, exemplified into amwu-(N)-to and etten-(N)-to. Based on the fact that amwu-(N)-to, but not etten-(N)-to, appears as a fragment form, the previous studies argue that NCI licensing is an instance of Agree where an interpretable [NEG] feature of an NCI checks off an uninterpretable [NEG] feature of negation. This paper, however, argues that the ability to appear as a fragment answer cannot be a crucial diagnostics to differentiate one from the other, because the wh-based etten-(N)-to also appears as an elided form when associated with the existence of a presupposition. This paper also casts a doubt on whether the Identity Condition in ellipsis is always guaranteed, since a fragment NCI can be interpreted as positive, which is not be restored under the Identity Condition. Finally, this paper brings up a question of whether an uninterpretable [NEG] feature of negation is conceptually plausible, which would stipulate the existence of other kinds of negation.

Relevance of the Endoscopic Evaluation in the Diagnosis of Bladder Pain Syndrome/Interstitial Cystitis

ObjectiveTo assess the relevance of the endoscopic evaluation in clinically suspected cases of Bladder Pain Syndrome/Interstitial Cystitis (BPS/IC), using ESSIC criteria, established in 2008 by the European Society for the Study of Interstitial Cystitis (ESSIC). MethodsWe included all patients who underwent endoscopic evaluation between January 01, 2015 and October 31, 2019 for clinical suspicion of BPS/IC. Collected data included demographic and baseline clinical features, endoscopic appearance (prior and after hydrodistension), and bladder wall biopsy results, both defined according to ESSIC criteria. Data were cross tabulated to define ESSIC phenotypes, while subgroups and multivariate analyses were carried out to assess the influence of clinical variables on ESSIC phenotypes. ResultsFifty-two subjects were included, mainly women (92%). Median age at evaluation was 45 (32.9-58.2) years. At hydrodistension, 21 patients (42%) had positive and 29 (58%) had negative findings. Grade 2-3 glomerulations were found in 18 patients, while Hunner lesions were reported only in 1 patient. Positive results at biopsy were found in 24 pts (51.1%), while negative in 23 (48.9%). Overall, the positive and negative concordance between hydrodistension and biopsy results was 78%. No significant differences in ESSIC subtypes were found after stratification based on clinical features and at multivariate analysis. Retrospective design is the main limitation. ConclusionCystoscopy with hydrodistension and biopsy do have a role in the diagnostic pathway of BPS/IC. However, results should be considered in the clinical context of the individual patient.

Negation and negative concord: The view from creoles. Edited by Viviane Déprez &amp; Fabiola Henri

This article reviews Negation and negative concord: The view from creoles EUR 105.00USD 158.00.

Negative Concord in Modern Standard Arabic

This study examines negative concord (NC) constructions in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The study shows that MSA is a strict NC language with n-words that must co-occur with a negative expression yielding only one logical negation to the semantics in spite of the fact that they can contribute negation on their own in fragment answers. I argue that an analysis of NC in MSA as syntactic agreement whereby n-words are assumed be non-negative indefinites with a formal negative feature that needs to be checked and deleted against semantic negation can better capture the distribution of n-words in the language than other approaches that take n-words to be either negative polarity items (NPIs) or negative quantifiers.

Concordance between blood- and tumor-based detection of RAS mutations to guide therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer.

217 Background: The study of RAS using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) provides a good alternative for the detection and monitoring of RAS mutations during therapy course. Liquid biopsy has the advantage of being less invasive than conventional tissue biopsy. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the degree of concordance of RAS status between plasma and tissue samples from mCRC patients. Methods: We conducted a study to evaluate RAS concordance in several hospitals in Galicia, Northwest of Spain. We analyzed samples from 380 patients with mCRC in Galicia. RAS genotyping in plasma was performed using OncoBEAM RAS CRC kit, Sysmex and compared with the PyroMark Q24 System, Qiagen for FFPE-tissue analysis. Clinical data were collected from electronical reports from each patient. We analyzed the clinical features that can be related with discordant cases. Results: The overall percent of agreement was 83%, with a positive concordance of 79% (143/180 patients) and a negative concordance of 87% (116/132 patients). Taking into account the clinical features of the patients, those with only liver metastasis showed a higher level of concordance (88,8%) and the highest level was in the group of patients that presented liver metastasis and another location (91,3%). On the other hand, patients with only peritoneal disease showed the lowest level of agreement (68,2%), and the absence of liver metastasis was a significant factor of discordance of RAS (71% vs 28%, p&lt;0.0001). Conclusions: The high overall concordance between plasma and tissue RAS mutation support the liquid biopsy technology as an alternative to tissue testing for RAS characterization in mCRC patients, especially in patients with liver metastasis and less in those with peritoneal disease. These results reinforce the use of liquid biopsy as a non-invasive tool for guiding targeted therapy in our patients. [Table: see text]

Risk Factors and Prevalence for Latent Tuberculosis Infection among Health Care Workers in Al-Quwayiyah General Hospital Riyadh, KSA

Background: All health care facilities should intensify TB screening and encourage treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among Healthcare workers (HCWs) to prevent progression to tuberculosis (TB) disease.&#x0D; Aim: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of LTBI among HCWs in Al Quwayiyah General hospital as well as to compare the performance of QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) to TST in identifying LTBI.&#x0D; Methods: A cross sectional study and prospective cohort study was performed from January to July 2019 in Al Quwayiyah General hospital involving a total of 718 HCWs. questionnaire with socio-demographic data and work history was filled, and both tests were done TST and QFT test for each Healthcare worker.&#x0D; Results: The study showed that The prevalence of latent tuberculosis diagnosed was 9.05% and 9.19% using QFT-Plus and TST respectively. Only 26 (3.62%) subjects were positive for both tests whereas 131 (18.25%) were positive by either test. Comparing the results of the QFT-Plus with those of the TST, both tests had a significant total agreement of 88.8. Negative concordance comprised 85.37% of the results, and positive concordance comprised 3.62%. However, positive TST but negative QFT-Plus comprised 5.57% of the results, and negative TST but positive QFT-Plus comprised 5.43%. The association between risk factors and QFT-Plus test results in the studied groups showed that the smoking, health status, immunosuppresion, housing, occupation, contact T.B. at work place, past history of TB and diabetes mellitus appear as significant risk factors. The association between the studied risk factors and TST in the studied groups showed sig­nificant difference noted for smoking, BCG vaccination, immunosuppresion, housing, occupation, contact T.B. at work place, past history of TB and diabetes mellitus.&#x0D; Conclusion: The prevalence of latent tuberculosis diagnosed was 9.05% and 9.19% using QFT-Plus and TST respectively. Testing of HCWs at hire and periodically can help in the detection of LTBI Large scale study is recommended to confirm such findings in Saudi Arabia, also the use of Quantiferon for detection of LTBI beside using TST is recommended as it reduce the false positive reports by TST and is not affected by prior BCG status.

Логическая эквивалентность местоимений на ни- и местоимений на -нибудь: опыт анализа русских номинализаций

This paper deals with the two sets of polarity sensitive items in Russian: ni- and -nibud’ pronouns. Non-specific indefinite -nibud’ pronouns (NSIs) are possible only in propositions that do not ensure truth, i.e. non-veridical contexts. Although clause-mate negation creates such a context, NSIs are incompatible with it and are substituted by negative ni- pronouns that are licensed only by negative concord. The incompatibility of NSIs with negation can be resolved in subjunctive sentences and embedded purpose čtoby-clauses, however, the licensing conditions in these cases are not defined. In this paper I introduce another context which licenses both types of pronouns, namely, negated process nominalizations. I determine the licensing conditions for the two types of pronouns in nominalization, and test previous approaches against the new data. In particular, I argue that -nibud’ pronouns are licensed in the scope of the nonveridical operator that is introduced in the main clause.

Diagnostic parameters and reliability of four rapid immunochromatographic tests for dengue 4

BackgroundAlthough performance of rapid immunochromatographic tests (RITs) for dengue virus (DENV) serotypes 1, 2 and 3 is relatively settled, evidence on accuracy of RITs for DENV-4 are based on studies with small sample sizes and with discrepant results. ObjectivesTo assess accuracy and inter-observer agreement of RITs targeting dengue nonstructural protein-1 (NS1) antigen - Dengue NS1-Bioeasy™, Dengue NS1 Ag Strip-Bio-Rad™, IVB Dengue Ag NS1-Orangelife™ and Dengue NS1-K130-Bioclin™ in DENV-4 samples. MethodsStudy sample (n = 324) included adults presenting at an emergency unit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with fever of ≤72 h and two or more dengue symptoms. A serum sample from each patient was tested by each RIT. A positive reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction was considered as the reference standard for dengue diagnosis. The diagnostic parameters analyzed for each RIT were sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and likelihood ratios. Each RIT was read by homogeneous (two junior nurses) or heterogeneous (one junior nurse and one senior biologist) pairs. Agreement was estimated by simple kappa with 95% confidence interval, positive (Ppos) and negative (Pneg) proportion concordance and prevalence and bias adjusted kappa, rated from poor (k < 0.0) to almost perfect (0.8 < k < 1.0), and perfect (k = 1). ResultsNS1 RITs for DENV-4 diagnosis showed high specificity (95.9%–99.4%), but low sensitivity (14.7%–45.4%). Bioeasy™ had the best performance, with a positive likelihood ratio of 26.0 (95% CI: 8.4;81.0). Inter-observer agreement was almost perfect for all evaluated RITs. Mismatches in confirmed dengue were more common for the Bioclin™ (Ppos 88.3–90.0 %) and Orangelife™ (Ppos 91.7–94.1 %) tests. ConclusionsFor DENV-4, the tested RITs had high specificity, but lower sensitivity compared to published results for other serotypes. They should not be used for screening purposes. Different brands may have very different performances. This should be considered upon deciding of using RITs in DENV-4 outbreaks.

Negative concord as a marker of empty discourse referents

Negative concord items are restricted to a narrow set of negative environments: roughly, those that are anti-additive or anti-veridical. These environments share the property that they prevent discourse referents from being introduced.Here, I propose that this is the explanatory property of NC items. NC items are indefinites that flag the fact (in their lexical semantics) that they will fail to introduce a discourse referent. After spelling this out using dynamic semantics, I show that it has number of advantages: (i) It correctly predicts that NC items must appear under a local anti-veridical operator. (ii) If the presupposition that the DR set is empty is made at-issue, we predict negative uses of NC items: exactly what's attested in fragment answers and non-strict concord languages. (iii) It perfectly unites negative concord with recent analyses of other concord phenomena.

Utility and Pitfalls of Stepwise Laboratory Testing for Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia: Retrospective Review from an Academic Medical Center

Introduction: Heparin induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) occurs in up to 5% of adults exposed to heparin due to formation of heparin-dependent antibodies to the heparin/platelet factor 4 (PF4) complex. Patients develop thrombocytopenia and are at risk for severe thrombotic complications. Mortality rates can be as high as 20%, but are often much lower with prompt recognition, cessation of heparin, and treatment with alternative anticoagulants. However, these alternative medications are often both labor-intensive drips and expensive, highlighting the need for quick decision making in such challenging cases. The classic workup of HIT involves assessing clinical suspicion (often using the "4T score" on a scale of 0-8), followed by lab testing for detection of the heparin-dependent antibody and then a functional assay to confirm pathogenicity of the antibody. Our institution uses an in-house rapid Particle ImmunoFiltration Assay (PIFA), which is a same-day test and reported as "positive" or "negative." Other testing available includes send-out tests for Enzyme-Linked Immunoassay (ELISA) to IgG, A, and M of the PF4 antibody as well as the C-14 Serotonin Release Assay (SRA) functional assay. The goal of this retrospective review is to analyze the utility of an algorithmic approach to laboratory testing in aiding the rapidity of diagnosis of HIT without missing possible critical cases. Methods: This was a single institutional study at a large urban academic medical center. We reviewed inpatient charts from 2015-2018 of patients who had any lab testing for HIT. As per institutional guidelines, first-line testing is recommended by using the in-house same-day testing PIFA. If positive, a sample is automatically reflexed and sent-out for PF4 ELISA testing and SRA. Furthermore, clinicians are able to directly order ELISA and SRA testing at their medical discretion. Our analysis looked at those patients with at least two different "HIT-related" laboratory tests to best analyze the concordance and discordance rates of the above testing to assess for sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of using a stepwise testing approach. We used a cutoff value of &gt;0.4 optical density (OD) for ELISA testing, and &gt;20% release at low-dose heparin concentration for SRA testing. Results: There were 118 patients who had at least two different HIT-related laboratory tests sent. 91 patients had both PIFA and ELISA testing, with 37/79 (47%) positive concordance rate and 6/12 (50%) negative concordance rate, for a sensitivity of 86% and specificity of 13%. 3 patients with positive PIFA also had positive SRA, and there were 2 patients with negative PIFA with positive SRA testing (see attached Table). When comparing ELISA testing to SRA, 4/41 (10%) had concordant positive testing, while no patient with a negative ELISA test had a positive SRA (28 concordant negative cases). Overall, of 94 SRA tests run, 5 were positive, of which 2/5 had negative PIFA and 0/4 had negative ELISA testing. Conclusions: While PIFA testing had a high sensitivity compared to ELISA, the overall accuracy compared to ELISA was low, while ELISA testing was 100% sensitive in this analysis. Furthermore, there was still a risk of missing cases of HIT using PIFA testing alone. In both cases of positive SRA with a negative PIFA, patients had a high 4T score of &gt;6, consistent with a high clinical suspicion for HIT. We conclude that PIFA testing is not equivalent to ELISA testing, and that use of a laboratory "algorithm only" approach would be inappropriate in the diagnosis of HIT. Our results highlight the importance of using both clinical scoring systems and appropriate lab testing together in the workup and diagnosis of HIT. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Asymmetries in the Acceptability and Felicity of English Negative Dependencies: Where Negative Concord and Negative Polarity (Do Not) Overlap.

Negative Concord (NC) constructions such as the news anchor didn’t warn nobody about the floods (meaning “the news anchor warned nobody”), in which two syntactic negations contribute a single semantic one, are stigmatized in English, while their Negative Polarity Item (NPI) variants, such as the news anchor didn’t warn anybody about the floods, are prescriptively correct. Because acceptability is often equated with grammaticality, this pattern has led linguists to treat NC as ungrammatical in “Standard” or standardized English (SE). However, it is possible that SE grammars do generate NC sentences, and their low incidence and acceptability is instead due to social factors. To explore this question, and the relationship between NC and NPI constructions, we compared the acceptability of overtly negative noun phrases (e.g., nobody), NPIs (e.g., anybody), and bare plurals (e.g., people), in negative contexts and in conditionals. Negative items were followed by a consequence which supported their single negative meaning, while conditional items were followed by a consequence compatible with the NPI and the bare plural but not the negative noun phrase. Acceptability ratings of the critical NC sentences were reliably lower than constructions with NPIs and bare plurals, but the consequences for all three of these sentence types were rated highly. This reflects an asymmetry in participants’ acceptance of NC and their readiness to interpret it in context. A follow-up study with only conditionals revealed that speakers can also find NPIs infelicitous in conditional contexts with consequences that are compatible with a negative interpretation of the NPI, and that negative arguments are felicitous in these same contexts. Taken together, the results support the hypothesis that speakers who do not accept NC have grammars that generate both NC and NPI constructions, and further, that these speakers have two underlying structures for any-NPIs in English.

Form und Funktion der doppelten Negation in deutschen Dialekten, mit einem Schwerpunkt im Oberdeutschen

The article gives an overview of the form and function of negative concord in German dialects (Alemannic, Bavarian, Upper Franconian varieties, West Central German, East Central German, West Low German, East Low German, Silesian, East Pomeranian, Low Prussian), with a focus on Upper German. The study is based on spontaneous speech data from the 1950s until the 1980s and shows that negative doubling and negative spread (in German: ‘doppelte Negation mit Satznegation’ and ‘doppelte Negation ohne Satznegation’) are two different negation types, thus there is no correlation between them as generally assumed (Haspelmath 1997; Zeijlstra 2004). Furthermore negative doubling is not obligatory, but seems to be conditioned by pragmatics.

Illusions of transitive expletives in Middle English

This paper examines a type of existential there sentence found in Middle English that has been argued to have a structure similar to transitive expletive constructions (TECs) in other Germanic languages, or to follow from the presence of NegP below T during the relevant period. Based on an exhaustive analysis of the 74 examples of this construction found in the Penn Parsed Corpora of Historical English (out of a total of over six thousand sentences from 1125 to 1913 containing there coded as expletive), we observe that 67 contain both a modal verb and clausal negation licensing a negative associate, unlike TECs found in other Germanic languages, and that the construction is found only between 1390 and 1600. We argue that the availability of this construction was due to a transitory alignment of three syntactic properties in this stage of the language: (i) modals were still main verbs merged within vP, but took a reduced complement consisting of only an inner clausal phase, and did not take a thematic external argument; (ii) English still had negative concord; (iii) Voice and viewpoint Aspect shared a single syntactic projection. The confluence of these three factors provided a non-thematic specifier position, [Spec,vP], into which there could merge. Before the late 14th century, modals were full verbs taking a thematic external argument and full clausal complements, and after about 1600, they were merged directly in T, occurring in a monoclausal rather than a (reduced) biclausal structure. At no point did the English monoclausal spine have the structural room to accommodate a true Germanic TEC.

Human papilloma virus (HPV) genotypes concordance between Iranian couples referrals

BackgroundHuman Papilloma Virus (HPV) genotypes concordance among sexual couples has been evaluated in many investigations with considerable variations in the concordance. However, no such study has carried out between Iranian couples yet.MethodsUrogenital specimen from both males and females of couples were taken and transferred to Nilou laboratory for molecular analysis. HPV DNA extraction and typing were carried out using cobas 4800 platform. Demographic and virological data were analyzed afterwards.ResultsOne hundred fourteen couples were enrolled in the study. The mean age of participants were 36 ± 8 and 32 ± 7 for males and females, respectively. 64 (28%) of specimens were positive for at least one HPV genotype. The positive rates within genders were 30.7 and 25.4% for females and males, respectively with a considerable association (P value 0.021). Within the positive samples, 13(5.7%), 8 (7%) and 31(13.5%) were belonged to 16, 18 and other HR genotypes. 59 (51.8%) couples who were negative for HPV showed negative concordance. Of the total positive HPV patients (55 couples, 48.2%), 9 (16.3%) couples had positive concordance and the rest of 46 (83.7%) couples (either of spouse being negative and the other being positive for HPV) showed neither kinds of concordance.ConclusionRecognition of the dynamics of HPV infection not only in women, but in their sexual partners could impact the implementation of preventive measures like HPV vaccination for cervical cancer and other HPV-related diseases for both sexual partners.