Monolinguals harness language-specific prosodic cues for the purpose of segmenting out words from the speech stream. However, if and how bilinguals are able to do so in both their languages is less certain. 41 adult English-French bilinguals heard streams of both English- and French- accented nonsense syllables, and then performed a recognition task for syllable sequences. There was no difference between the performance of English- and French- dominant bilinguals, nor between simultaneous versus sequential bilinguals. As a group, English-French bilinguals did show evidence of different segmentation strategies between the English and French language streams. It is therefore concluded that in certain conditions, bilinguals appear to be able to switch stress-based segmentation strategies between their languages. The use of the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) as a promising new method for measuring language dominance is also discussed. / Les monolingues utilisent les indices prosodiques spécifiques à la langue afin de pouvoir extraire les mots du flot de la parole continue. Toutefois, on n'est pas encore parvenu à expliquer si et comment les bilingues réussissent cette tâche perceptuelle dans leurs deux langues. 41 adultes bilingues anglais-français ont entendu deux flots de parole continue, composés de syllabes dépourvues de sens: un flot était énoncé avec une prononciation anglophone, l'autre avec une prononciation francophone. Ensuite, les participants ont subi une tâche de récognition pour des séquences de syllabes. La dominance d'une langue et l'âge d'acquisition de la deuxième langue n'influençaient point comment les adultes bilingues réagissaient à la tâche. Comme groupe, les bilingues anglais-français semblent alterner leur stratégie de segmentation selon la langue entendue . Nous concluons donc que les bilingues ne traitent pas leurs deux langues de façon identique, du moins dans certaines conditions. L'utilité du Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) comme une mesure nouvelle et prometteuse pour établir la langue dominante est également discutée.

The progress made by science for humanity has brought with it an aging population and attending this an ever increasing incidence of arteriosclerosis. This disease is beginning to play a serious role in the world so that it is now the commonest cause of death in the older age group. It therefore becomes imperative to deal with the problem. Many advances have already been made in this field of experimental research. Of these the importance of the serum lipid interrelationships in the geneais of experimental atheroscleroais have been repeatedly emphasized. [...]

<p> The framework of Optimality Theory has been recently used to develop constraint-based approaches to the analysis of speech patterns produced by children with phonological disorders. A significant benefit of this type of nonlinear analysis is the power to predict interword and intraword variability of phonological productions. Such variability, also known as inconsistency, is a speech characteristic frequently cited by researchers and clinicians as one that (a) critically aids in differentially diagnosing childhood apraxia of speech and (b) supports the theoretical perspective that childhood apraxia of speech is a motor speech disorder. This study applies a constraint-based approach to the phonological analysis of the speech of a single child suspected to present with childhood apraxia of speech. Transcriptions of the participant's speech were obtained from therapy notes written by the clinicians providing his speech services. A thorough phonological analysis of the sample was performed yielding a consonant inventory, two quantitative measurements of variability, and several constraint-based predictions of variability at the segmental and prosodic levels. The results of this study confirm variability as a characteristic of this child's speech. Relatively common and rare variations were successfully predicted by a phonological constraint hierarchy, revealing a rule-based deficit discordant with the theoretical perspective that childhood apraxia of speech is a pure motor speech disorder. It is suggested that the results presented in this study indicate a breakdown in the transformational stage of speech production similar to that of phonological disorders. Implications of this theoretical perspective for future research and clinical practice are discussed. </p>

The present experiment was conducted to explore the facilitory effects of rhyme in lexical processing in brain-damaged individuals. Normal subjects and non-fluent and fluent aphasic subjects performed auditory lexical decision and rhyme judgement tasks, in which prime-target pairs were phonologically related (either identical or rhyming) or unrelated. Results revealed rhyme facilitation of lexical decisions to real-word targets for normal and non-fluent aphasic subjects; for fluent aphasic subjects, results were equivocal. In the rhyme judgement task, facilitory effects of rhyme were found for all three groups with real-word targets. None of the groups showed clear rhyme facilitation effects with non-word targets in either task. Findings are discussed with reference to models of lexical access and the role of phonology in lexical processing in normal and aphasic populations.

This investigation examines cell proliferation in the pancreas of the Syrian golden hamster. Three main themes are pursued. First, normal pancreatic growth and development is reviewed. Emphasis is placed on histogenesis and trophic stimuli. Secondly, modulation of pancreatic growth is examined. A new method for producing partial pancreatic duct obstruction using a technique of cellophane wrapping is described. The histologic alterations induced by wrapping are the same as those associated with the early changes of chemical pancreatic carcinogenesis--duct epithelial hyperplasia, metaplasia and nesidioblastosis. Morphometric, immunocytochemical, autoradiographic and G.I. hormone analysis are also utilized to characterize this model. Importantly, experimental nesidioblastosis can result in islets which are functionally capable of reversing streptozocin-induced diabetes. Thirdly, aberrant pancreatic growth was investigated in relation to carcinogenesis. Clinical cancer epidemiology is reviewed with special reference to risk factors and postulated trophic influences. Experimentally, the trophic effects of diet, cholecystectomy and duct obstruction were investigated. Finally a new model for the induction of carcinoma of the head of the pancreas, using cellophane wrapping in association with a chemical carcinogen, is presented.

No description available.

Diabetes has been shown to affect the thickness of the basement membrane in various human tissues and organs. The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether diabetes can cause thickening of the anterior capsule basement membrane (ACBM), and correlate the findings with the duration and the severity of diabetes. For the purpose of this study, anterior lens capsule specimens of diabetic patients (DP), and non-diabetic patients (NDP) are collected from phaco-emulsification cataract surgeries. All cases are formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded and stained with H&E and periodic acid-Schiff. The ACBM thickness is measured and reviewed under a light microscope. The results of this thesis showed that the mean thickness of ACBM is significantly thicker in DP as compared to NDP. The ACBM thickness is increased with patient age in both DP and NDP. Moreover, in DP the ACBM thickness increased with the duration and the severity of diabetes.

The inflammatory response due to chronic smoking in COPD patients has been well characterized with increases in CD3+ T lymphocytes. A murine model was chosen in our laboratory as a good model of human emphysema. / The first part of my project was to characterize the lung inflammatory response via immunocytochemistry in each mouse strain exposed to chronic smoke inhalation for a six-month period. / Several T lymphocyte subsets (i.e. naive, central memory and effector memory) have been characterized in the immune system both in humans and mice. These subsets have different homing potentials and effector functions, and can be identified with cell surface markers. The second part of my project was to determine these T-cell subset ratios in the lungs of each strain after chronic smoke exposure. / The third part of my project was to assess apoptosis in each strain after smoke exposure.

Uveal melanoma has a high mortality rate, with approximately 45% of patients dying due to liver metastasis within 15 years of initial diagnosis and local treatment. As the eye lacks lymphatics, there is no staging of uveal melanoma according to lymph node metastasis. The search for new prognostic factors and therapeutic targets is therefore crucial to the advancement of uveal melanoma research. The expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) has been investigated in human malignancies such as cutaneous melanoma. Immunohistochemical studies were therefore used to show that uveal melanomas do express COX-2 and that this expression is associated with various histopathological markers of poor prognosis. A novel sub-classification of mixed-cell-type tumours was devised, according to COX-2 expression. / The numerous studies of COX-2 expression in human malignancies have focused on COX-2 expression in tumour cells. This work shows COX-2 to be expressed in uveal melanoma tumour cells and tumour-associated macrophages (TAM), with a higher amount of COX-2 expression associated with a higher amount of TAM infiltration. These results may help explain the poor prognosis previously attributed to a high amount of TAM infiltration in uveal melanoma. / This thesis also investigated the co-expression of COX-2, insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-IR) and phosphorylated-Akt (p-Akt). A recent paper had shown IGF-1R expression to be associated with a higher risk of uveat melanoma metastasis. IGF-1R expression, present to different degrees in almost all uveal melanoma cases, represents the presence of the receptor, whereas p-Akt expression represents an activated downstream pathway. This thesis showed that p-Akt is expressed in uveal melanoma. While some uveal melanoma cases co-expressed COX-2, IGF-1R and p-Akt, all cases were positive for at least one of the three markers. / Studies in human malignancies, including uveal melanoma, have shown COX-2 inhibitors to have effects on both COX-2 positive and negative tumour cells. The effects of COX-2 inhibitors on IGF-1R and p-Akt have been postulated as possible mechanisms behind these COX-2 independent effects. This work has provided a rationale for the study of COX-2 inhibitors, alone or in combination with IGF-1R inhibitors, as systemic adjuvant treatment of this life-threatening intra-ocular malignancy.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease. Autoimmunity has been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of AD. The recently described TH17 cells are reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of some autoimmune diseases. We examined the expression of the TH17-associated cytokines in AD patients and explored the presence of this T cell subset particularly in chronic lesions. AD patients (acute and chronic) were recruited together with a comparable group of normal subjects. Skin biopsy specimens were taken from each. The expression of IL-17A, IL-17F, and IL-22 were studied using immunocytochemistry. Identification of IL-17A/F-producing T lymphocytes was confirmed by immunofluorescence. Using laser capture microdissection (LCM), we isolated mononuclear inflammatory cells and investigated the expression of TH17-associated cytokines mRNA by quantitative real time PCR. We detected significantly higher numbers of IL-17A, and IL-17F immunoreactive cells in AD (especially in chronic) cases compared to controls. We successfully isolated mononuclear inflammatory cells from skin of chronic AD lesions by LCM and have demonstrated the expression of IL-17A and IL-17F mRNA, similarly. Our data suggest that TH17-associated cytokines are highly expressed in chronic AD lesions. These cytokines might be implicated in the pathogenesis of AD, especially chronic lesions. / L'auto-immunité a été proposé de jouer un rôle dans la pathogenèse de la cette maladie. Il a été rapporté que les cellules TH17, récemment décrites, participent à la pathogénèse de certaines maladies auto-immunes. Nous avons examiné l'expression des cytokines associées aux TH17 chez des patients atteints de dermatite atopique et ainsi exploré la présence de cette sous-cellule T en particulier dans les lésions chroniques. Les patients atteints de la DA (aiguë et chronique) ont été recrutés avec un nombre égale de sujets normaux. Des biopsies de la peau ont été prises à partir de chaque groupe. L'expression de l'IL-17A, et IL-17F a été étudié par immunocytochimie. L'identification des Lymphocytes T productrices de l'IL-17A/F a été confirmée par immunofluorescence. Les cellules mononuclées inflammatoires ont été isolées par microdissection (LCM), sur lesquelles, nous avons étudié l'expression de l'ARNm des cytokines associées TH17 par PCR quantitative en temps réel (RT-PCR). Nous avons constaté de manière significative un nombre plus élevé de cellules immunes-réactives IL-17A, et IL-17F dans la maladie DA (en particulier dans les cas chroniques) par rapport aux contrôles. Nous avons réussi à isoler les cellules mononuclées inflammatoires de la peau des lésions chroniques AD par LCM et on a démontré l'expression de l'IL-17A et IL-17F. Nos données suggèrent que les cytokines TH17 associés sont fortement exprimées dans les lésions chroniques de DA. En conclusion, ces cytokines pourraient être impliquées dans la pathogenèse de la maladie dermatite atopique, en particulier chronique.