Using Computerized Language Analysis to Evaluate Grammatical Skills

Purpose Conducting in-depth grammatical analyses based on language samples can be time consuming. Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) and the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) analyses provide detailed information regarding the grammatical profiles of children and can be conducted using free computer-based software. Here, we provide a tutorial to support clinicians' use of computer-based analyses to aid diagnosis and develop and monitor treatment goals. Method We analyzed language samples of a 5-year-old with developmental language disorder and an adolescent with Down syndrome using computer-based software, Computerized Language Analysis. We focused on DSS and IPSyn analyses. The tutorial includes step-by-step procedures for conducting the analyses. We also illustrate how the analyses may be used to assist in diagnosis, develop treatment goals focused on grammatical targets, and monitor progress on these treatment goals. Conclusion Clinicians should consider using Computerized Language Analysis's IPSyn and DSS analyses to support grammatical language assessments used to aid diagnosis, develop treatment goals, and monitor progress on these treatment goals. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12021141.

Outbreak of travel-related pontiac fever among hotel guests illustrating the need for better diagnostic tests

BACKGROUND

Pontiac fever (PF), a legionellosis with influenza-like symptoms and high attack rates, is rarely reported. Travel-related outbreaks can elude detection because infected persons are often widely removed geographically from the transmission source before illness onset. Thirty-one persons staying at an Illinois hotel during August 9 to 11, 2002, reported influenza-like symptoms to local health departments within 24 to 48 hours of checkout. We investigated to identify the cause and source of illness to guide control measures.

METHODS

Hotel water samples were collected for culture. A telephone questionnaire detailing illness symptoms and exposures was administered to all who were guests at the hotel from August 9 to 15 (n = 380). A case was defined as onset of fever, headache, and myalgia in a guest in the 14 days following the hotel stay. Patient sera were tested by hemagglutination assay for antibodies to Legionella species.

RESULTS

Among 204 questionnaire respondents from 15 states and Canada, 50 met the case definition. Among persons exposed to the swimming pool/whirlpool spa area, 63% (47 of 75) became ill versus 3% (3 of 110) of unexposed persons (relative risk 23.0, 95% CI 7.4-71.1). Illness risk increased with increasing time exposed to the pool/spa. Approximately 95 to 115 bathers per day, two to three times above the usual number, used the spa during August 9 to 11. Three Legionella species, L. dumoffii, L. maceachernii, and L. micdadei, were isolated from spa filter backwash cultures. Two of 15 ill persons with acute- and convalescent-phase sera had a greater than fourfold rise in antibody titer to L. micdadei.

CONCLUSIONS

PF was associated with exposure to a hotel pool/spa area. Heavy bather usage likely contributed to a decreased effectiveness of the disinfectant in the whirlpool spa, possibly promoting bacterial aerosolization. Linking case information from many states is essential in identifying and eliminating the source of disease transmission in travel-related outbreaks of PF. Clinicians should be aware of PF in the differential diagnosis of patients with influenza-like symptoms following recent travel, particularly with exposure to a communal-use whirlpool spa.

Modernizing and Expanding the NASA Space Geodesy Network to Meet Future Geodetic Requirements

NASA maintains and operates a global network of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) ground stations as part of the NASA Space Geodesy Program. The NASA Space Geodesy Network (NSGN) provides the geodetic products that support Earth observations and the related science requirements as outlined by the US National Research Council (NRC 2010, 2018). The Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) and the NRC have set an ambitious goal of improving the Terrestrial Reference Frame (TRF) to have an accuracy of 1 millimeter and stability of 0.1 millimeters per year, an order of magnitude beyond current capabilities. NASA and its partners within GGOS are addressing this challenge by planning and implementing modern geodetic stations co-located at existing and new sites around the world. In 2013, NASA demonstrated the performance of its next-generation systems at the prototype next-generation core site at NASA's Goddard Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory in Greenbelt, Maryland. Implementation of a new broadband VLBI station in Hawaii was completed in 2016. NASA is currently implementing new VLBI and SLR stations in Texas and is planning the replacement of its other aging domestic and international legacy stations. In this article, we describe critical gaps in the current global network and discuss how the new NSGN will expand the global geodetic coverage and ultimately improve the geodetic products. We also describe the characteristics of a modern NSGN site and the capabilities of the next-generation NASA SLR and VLBI systems. Finally, we outline the plans for efficiently operating the NSGN by centralizing and automating the operations of the new geodetic stations.

Verbs Matter: A Tutorial for Determining Verb Difficulty

PURPOSE

Research indicates that when teaching grammatical forms to children, the verbs used to model specific grammatical inflections matter. When learning grammatical forms, children have higher performance when they hear many unique verb forms that vary in their frequency and phonological complexity. In this tutorial, we demonstrate a method for identifying and characterizing a large number of verbs based on their frequency and complexity.

METHOD

We selected verbs from an open-access database of transcribed child language samples. We extracted verbs produced by 5- to 8.9-year-old children in four morphosyntactic contexts: regular past tense -ed, third person singular -s, is/are + verb+ing, and do/does questions. We ranked verbs based on their frequency of occurrence across transcripts. We also coded the phonological complexity of each verb. We coded each verb as high or low frequency and high or low phonological complexity.

RESULTS

The synthesis yielded 129 unique verbs used in the regular past tense -ed context, 107 verbs used in the third person singular -s context, 69 verbs used in the is/are + verb+ing context, and 16 verbs used in the do/does question context. We created tables for each form that include the frequency rankings and phonological complexity scores for every verb.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinicians may use the verb lists, frequency ratings, and phonological complexity scores to help identify verbs to incorporate into assessment and intervention sessions with children. Researchers and clinicians may use the step-by-step approach presented in the tutorial to identify verbs or other syntactic components used in different morphosyntactic contexts or produced by individuals of different demographics in different speaking contexts.

LSP1 modulates the locomotion of monocyte-differentiated U937 cells

To examine the effect of lymphocyte specific protein 1 (LSP1) on phagocytic cell motility, stable transfection of LSP1-null U937 cell line with an episomal expression vector carrying the LSP1 complementary DNA created lines expressing varied LSP1 levels. Mock transfectants without LSP1 (U937(-)) and cell lines with LSP1 levels similar to those of monocytes (U937(+)) or 4-fold those of monocytes (U937(+)) express LSP1 as indicated and express other actin-binding proteins at normal levels before or after monocytic induction (MI) with dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate. The cell lines were compared for rate of growth and cell division and, after monocytic differentiation, were video-tracked to measure locomotion as distance moved in 2 hours and examined for morphologic changes. Rates of cell division and growth were similar for different U937 cell lines at all LSP1 levels. In contrast, mean rate of locomotion (micrometers moved in 2 hours) was slower in MI-U937( +) (7.78 + 1.11 microm, n = 3) and MI-U937(-) (23.89 + 2.78 microm, n = 3) than in MI-U937(+) cells (50.77 + 4.11 microm, n = 3). Compared with MI-U937(-), the locomotive histogram (n = 150 cells) of MI-U937(+) or MI-U937( +) cells shows all cells move respectively faster or slower as an entire cell population. In LSP1(+) U937 phagocytes, high LSP1 levels inhibit some (locomotion) but not all (cytokinesis) cell motile behaviors and cause the formation of surface projections. In contrast, normal LSP1 levels in U937 phagocytes enhance some (locomotion) but not all (cytokinesis) cellular motile behaviors and have no effect on cell morphology. Therefore, LSP1 level has a unique biphasic effect on cellular locomotion. The data suggest LSP1 is an important regulator of phagocyte locomotion.