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Introduction: COVID-19 seroprevalence studies for Health Care Personnel (HCP) can provide relevant information on the proportion of people who have experienced a recent or past infection and provide information about populations that may be immune and potentially protected. Aim of the study was to determine the seroprevalence of COVID-19 and associated factors among HCP and to correlate COVID-19 antibody results with respect to time duration since laboratory confirmed positive COVID-19 test and vaccination. Methodology: A prospective, cross-sectional study in HCP working at Shree Krishna Hospital and Pramukhswami Medical College, Karamsad was conducted at Microbiology section of Central Diagnostic Laboratory (CDL). Following approval from Institutional Ethics Committee, the study was conducted from March 2021- June 2022. The serological test to measure COVID-19 IgG antibody was done by Enzyme Linked Fluorescent Assay (ELFA, VIDAS, Biomerieux) in 118 eligible HCP. Antibody response was correlated with age, gender, occupation, work area, symptoms, test requests and test results. Correlation of COVID-19 antibody results with respect to time duration since laboratory confirmed positive COVID-19 test and after vaccination was done. All the data was entered and analysed in Microsoft Excel 2010. Results: Seroprevalence of COVID-19 was found to be 97.45% (115/118) in HCP. Seroprevalence was 100 % in all the age groups except 18-30 and 41-50 years; 100% in all the professional categories except consultant doctors and resident doctors; 100% in HCP working in non-COVID-19 unit and 100% in participants not tested for COVID-19 test. 13 (37.14%) HCP were seropositive beyond 11 months duration after positive COVID-19 test. In 49 (44.54%) HCP, SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody were found beyond 7 months duration after COVID-19 vaccine. SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody were positive in eight (6.96%) non-vaccinated and 107 (93.04%) vaccinated participants. Conclusions: COVID-19 infection and/or COVID-19 vaccination might have contributed to excellent seroprevalence in health care personnel (HCP) of our hospital. Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody for longer duration was observed in HCP with past infection as well as past vaccination. Natural COVID-19 infection might have contributed to seropositivity in a few nonvaccinated, asymptomatic & RTPCR/RAT negative/not done HCP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: Pregnancy is Psychological and Physiological events of every Women’s life. A pregnant woman experiences mixed emotions which gives her overwhelm feelings. Which may cause negative and positive impact on mothers and babies health. Positive emotions like love, joy, gratitude, healthy thoughts by parents brings good growth of the unborn child in the womb. While negative thoughts like depression, stress brings injuries to unborn baby in the mother’s womb. So, it is necessary to have healthy mental and physical status during pregnancy which is achieved by practicing Garbhasanskar practices. Garbhasanskar means education of baby in the womb. Aims: To access the knowledge of antenatal mother’s regarding garbhasanskar during pregnancy. Method: A qualitative research design in which a phenomenological research design was carried out for this study. The sample size of the study is 60 participants were selected using non probability convenience sampling technique. The tool consists of two parts. First part consists of demographic variable of the sample and second part consist of openended questionnaire. Result: While assessing the knowledge of antenatal mother’s the highest percentage 63% of people from antenatal women were educated only till primary, 6.7% of antenatal mother were illiterate, 25% were antenatal women completed their secondary education and 5% antenatal women competed their graduation. Conclusion: This study concluded that majority of antenatal women were educated and some of them were illiterate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Nature massage babies in the womb, where contractions rhythmically squeeze and push, providing stimulation to the baby, studies show that more the babies are touched, nurtured and tenderly massaged, the happier and more balanced they grow. Massage or touch therapy is a natural and almost instinctive way to care. By little touch the entire body of the baby cause comfort. Both physically and psychologically Studies shows that more the babies are touched, nurtured and tenderly massaged the happier and more balanced they grow. It enhances the bonding improves sleep pattern, stimulates food absorption, resulting faster weight. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of coconut oil massage on weight of low birth weight babies among neonatal intensive care unit and find out association between the effects of coconut oil massage on weight of low birth weight babies with selected variables. METHODS & MATERIALS: An evaluative research approach with pre experimental design was used and the study was conducted at pediatric hospitals of vadodara district of Gujarat. The sample was comprised of NICU low birth weight baby. Sample was selected by using random, sampling technique. RESULTS: The result of data reveals that Daily assessment of the weight of the baby after giving coconut oil massage to the LBW baby who are admitted in NICU till 7 days. It was found that daily weight gain into baby and coconut oil massage effective in LBW baby. From all the demographic variables, 3- variables were found significant and remaining were non-significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work deals with the analysis and monitoring of bacterial resistance in using Python for the state of Gujarat, India, where occurrences of drug-resistant bacteria are prevalent. This will provide an insight into the portfolio of drug-resistant bacteria reported, which can be used to track resistance behavior and to suggest a treatment regime for the particular bacteria. The present analysis has been done using Python on Jupyter Notebook as the integrated development environment and its data analysis libraries such as Pandas, Seaborn, and Matplotlib. The data have been loaded from excel file using Pandas and cleaned to transform features into required format. Seaborn and Matplotlib have been used to create data visualizations and represent the data inexplicable manner using graphs, plots, and tables. This program can be used to study disaster epidemiology, tracking, analyzing, and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance with a proper system integration approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & objectives: Post-vaccination anti-HBsAg antibody titer measurements among Health Care Personnel (HCP) are not being done routinely at present. The present study was carried out to assess the post vaccination immunization status of HCP and to find an association between demographic & host factors and level of immunity. Methods: Cross-sectional prospective study was conducted at Shree Krishna Hospital, Karamsad. Information on Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) vaccination status and demographic details of HCP were collected using a structured proforma through verbal interviews and hospital information system. Anti-HBs antibody titre was determined by Enzyme Linked Immunofluorescent Assay (ELFA). Results : They were analysed using Pearson Chi2 test and Fisher's exact test. Results: Among 505 participants, 96.4% developed protective antibody titres (= 10 mIU/ml) after primary vaccination. Following revaccination of participants with insufficient titres, 100% developed protective antibodies. There were no non-responders in the study. There was a significant association between anti-HBs antibody titres and duration after last dose of vaccine (p = 0.01) whereas no correlation was found between antibody titres and gender, age group, BMI & category of HCP. conclusions: HBV vaccination showed an excellent response following primary vaccination. For HCP with insufficient titres after primary vaccination, re-vaccination and re-testing is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used an experimental, pretest-posttest control group repeated measures design to evaluate the effectiveness of a community-based culturally appropriate lifestyle intervention program to reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes (T2DM) among Gujarati Asian Indians (AIs) in an urban community in the US. Participants included 70 adult AIs in the greater Houston metropolitan area. The primary outcomes were reduction in weight and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and improvement in physical activity. Participants were screened for risk factors and randomly assigned to a 12-week group-based lifestyle intervention program (n=34) or a control group (n=36) that received standard print material on diabetes prevention. Participants also completed clinical measures and self-reported questionnaires about physical activity, social, and lifestyle habits at 0, 3, and 6 months. No significant baseline differences were noted between groups. While a significant decline in weight and increase in physical activity was observed in all participants, the intervention group lowered their HbA1c (p<0.0005) and waist circumference (p=0.04) significantly as compared to the control group. Findings demonstrated that participation in a culturally tailored, lifestyle intervention program in a community setting can effectively reduce weight, waist circumference, and HbA1c among Gujarati AIs living in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare vowel acoustics and intelligibility in words produced with and without contrastive stress by speakers with spastic (mixed-spastic) dysarthria secondary to cerebral palsy (DYSCP) and healthy controls (HCs). Method: Fifteen participants (9 men, 6 women; age M = 42 years) with DYSCP and 15 HCs (9 men, 6 women; age M = 36 years) produced sentences containing target words with and without contrastive stress. Forty-five healthy listeners (age M = 25 years) completed a vowel identification task of DYSCP productions. Vowel acoustics were compared across stress conditions and groups using 1st (F1) and 2nd (F2) formant measures. Perceptual intelligibility was compared across stress conditions and dysarthria severity. Results: F1 and F2 significantly increased in stressed words for both groups, although the degree of change differed. Mean Euclidian distance between vowels also increased with stress. The relative probability of vowels falling within the target F1 x F2 space was greater for HCs but did not differ with stress. Stress production resulted in greater listener vowel identification accuracy for speakers with mild dysarthria. Conclusions: Contrastive stress affected vowel formants for both groups. Perceptual results suggest that some speakers with dysarthria may benefit from a contrastive stress strategy to improve vowel intelligibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased use of digital devices has implications for health and, particularly, the eyes, due to Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). Millions of individuals of all ages are at risk of CVS, and its prevalence ranges from 25% to 93%. This trial will evaluate the effectiveness of the Super Enhanced Single Vision Lens 01 (SESL01) versus standard single vision lens in reducing symptoms of CVS assessed by the Computer Vision Syndrome Questionnaire (CVS-Q®) scores. A double-blind, two-arm parallel randomized controlled trial will be conducted at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston (UK), recruiting students and staff with CVS-Q score ≥ 6. A 1:1 randomization and a sample size of 300 participants will be sufficient to detect a 2-point difference in the CVS-Q score between the intervention and control groups with an alpha of 5%, two-sided, allowing for a dropout of 10%. The control group will use standard single vision lenses, and the intervention group SESL01. The primary outcome to week 14 will be the difference in the CVS-Q score between SESL01 and standard single vision lenses. Secondary outcomes include the percentage of participants with CVS-Q score < 6 (no symptoms) and CVS-Q score ≥ 6 (symptoms) in the SESL01 and the standard single vision group at weeks 6, 10 and 14; the percentage of participants in each group with a total CVS-Q score < 6, 6–12, 13–19, and ≥ 20 at weeks 6, 10 and 14. The primary analysis will be the intention to treat. Findings may inform decisions about adopting the SESL01 lenses to reduce CVS. Trial registration: clinicaltrial.gov identifier: NCT05545878. Registered: Sept. 19, 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Responses to intensity perturbation during running speech were measured to understand whether prosodic features are controlled in an independent or integrated manner. Method: Nineteen English-speaking healthy adults (age range = 21-41 years) produced 480 sentences in which emphatic stress was placed on either the 1st or 2nd word. One participant group received an upward intensity perturbation during stressed word production, and the other group received a downward intensity perturbation. Compensations for perturbation were evaluated by comparing differences in participants' stressed and unstressed peak fundamental frequency (F0), peak intensity, and word duration during perturbed versus baseline trials. Results: Significant increases in stressed-unstressed peak intensities were observed during the ramp and perturbation phases of the experiment in the downward group only. Compensations for F0 and duration did not reach significance for either group. Conclusions: Consistent with previous work, speakers appear sensitive to auditory perturbations that affect a desired linguistic goal. In contrast to previous work on F0 perturbation that supported an integrated-channel model of prosodic control, the current work only found evidence for intensity-specific compensation. This discrepancy may suggest different F0 and intensity control mechanisms, threshold-dependent prosodic modulation, or a combined control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is known and objective Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute self-limiting systemic vasculitis with specific predilection for the coronary arteries that affects previously healthy young infants and children. It is the leading cause of childhood-acquired heart disease in the developed world. Although the stimulus for the cascade of inflammation in KD is unknown, prompt treatment within 10 days of symptom onset has been shown to improve clinical outcomes and reduce the risk of coronary artery complications. Standard initial therapy is intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and aspirin. Non-responders to initial therapy remain a challenge. This present review summarizes the treatment options for initial and refractory KD, including the role of steroids and other immunosuppressive therapies. Methods Literature search using PubMed database to identify pharmacologic studies in KD using the terms Kawasaki disease, intravenous immunoglobulin, refractory, corticosteroids, infliximab, cyclosporine, methotrexate, high risk from January 1988-May 2015 was performed. Bibliographies of selected references were also evaluated for relevant articles. Results were limited to those published in English. All articles identified from the PubMed searches were evaluated. Results and discussion Initial IVIG therapy results in rapid resolution of clinical symptoms in 80-90% of patients and has been shown to reduce the risk of coronary disease. Although concomitant aspirin remains the standard of care for the initial management of KD, the evidence to support its efficacy in improving coronary artery outcomes are lacking. Initial therapy with corticosteroids in addition to intravenous immunoglobulin and aspirin improves outcomes in patients in Japan. However, identifying patients at high risk who may benefit from additional corticosteroids in heterogeneous populations has been challenging. Therapeutic options for non-responders to initial therapy are also challenging given the paucity of data. Patients who fail to respond to the first dose of IVIG will most often receive a second dose. Patients who fail to respond to two doses of IVIG present a unique challenge as the appropriate treatment remains uncertain. Although their effectiveness remains unproven, treatment with infliximab, cyclosporine or methotrexate may be considered in those patients who fail multiple doses of IVIG and steroids. What is New and Conclusion The role of steroids in high-risk non-Japanese patients is unclear, with the biggest challenge being early identification of patients at high risk of developing adverse coronary artery outcomes. Limited data evaluating other immunosuppressive agents are available and should be reserved for patients failing two doses of IVIG. Although recent advances in research have broadened our understanding of the epidemiology, genetic susceptibility and pathogenesis of KD, the aetiology of KD remains unclear. Ongoing research will help determine more precise pathogenesis and may assist in developing a diagnostic test as well as identifying new targets for more precise treatment interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Diagnostic and therapeutic colonoscopy is performed using conscious sedation. Excessive alcohol users, chronic benzodiazepine and opioid users, and polysubstance users are commonly cited as difficult to sedate. Few studies have compared and analyzed medication dosages to achieve sedation in these groups.Methods: The endoscopic database was searched for patients who underwent colonoscopy. A retrospective chart review was performed to determine whether each patient was an abuser/chronic user of opioids, benzodiazepines, marijuana, alcohol, or a combination of the above. The mean dose of fentanyl and versed administered in each group was compared.Results: A total of 239 patients were enrolled. Compared with the alcohol and control groups, the opioid group used a statistically higher mean medication dosage to achieve sedation. The mean dose of fentanyl in the opioid group was 124 μg, the mean dose in the alcohol group was 101 μg, and the mean dose in the control group was 101 μg. The mean dose of midazolam in the opioid group was 4.1 mg, the mean dose in the alcohol group was 3.3 mg, and the mean dose in the control group was 3.3 mg.Conclusions: Identifying patients who are difficult to sedate before colonoscopy is important because adequate sedation is associated with better adenoma detection, a better procedural completion rate, and patient satisfaction. In patients using daily opioids, it is important to anticipate the need for higher doses of medication to achieve adequate sedation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. Results of a study to determine the utility of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) active surveillance via nasal-swab screening in predicting the results of clinical respiratory cultures are reported. Methods. A retrospective chart review-based descriptive analysis was conducted at a Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center. VA databases were used to identify adult patients admitted to the facility over a one-year period who underwent both respiratory culture testing and active MRSA surveillance nasal-swab screening during the hospitalization; only data on patients who had a MRSA surveillance swab within 48 hours before or after respiratory culture testing were included in the analysis. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the MRSA screening method were calculated. Results. Data on a total of 297 respiratory cultures and corresponding nasal-swab results were reviewed. The positive predictive value of the nasal-swab method of MRSA surveillance screening was calculated as 37.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 21.1-56.3%); the negative predictive value was 99.3% (95% CI, 97.3-99.9%). MRSA screening by nasal swab had a calculated specificity of 92.9% (95% CI, 89.3-95.6%) and sensitivity of 87.5% (95% CI, 57.2-98.2%). Using Fisher's exact test, it was determined that there was a significant association between swab and culture results (p < 0.001). Conclusion. This analysis demonstrated a notable association between negative results of nasal-swab screening for MRSA and an absence of MRSA growth on respiratory clinical cultures at the study site, suggesting that airway swab screening can be a useful tool for streamlining antimicrobial therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Lower back pain secondary to degenerative disc disease is a condition that affects young to middle-aged persons with peak incidence at approximately 40 y. MRI is the standard imaging modality for detecting disc pathology due to its advantage of lack of radiation, multiplanar imaging capability, excellent spinal soft-tissue contrast and precise localization of intervertebral discs changes. Aims and Objective: To evaluate the characterization, extent, and changes associated with the degenerative lumbar disc disease by Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Study Design: Cross-sectional and observational study. Materials and Methods: A total 109 patients of the lumbar disc degeneration with age group between 17 to 80 y were diagnosed & studied on 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine. MRI findings like lumbar lordosis, Schmorl’s nodes, decreased disc height, disc annular tear, disc herniation, disc bulge, disc protrusion and disc extrusion were observed. Narrowing of the spinal canal, lateral recess and neural foramen with compression of nerve roots observed. Ligamentum flavum thickening and facetal arthropathy was observed. Result: Males were more commonly affected in Degenerative Spinal Disease & most of the patients show loss of lumbar lordosis. Decreased disc height was common at L5-S1 level. More than one disc involvement was seen per person. L4 – L5 disc was the most commonly involved. Annular disc tear, disc herniation, disc extrusion, narrowing of spinal canal, narrowing of lateral recess, compression of neural foramen, ligamentum flavum thickening and facetal arthropathy was common at the L4 –L5 disc level. Disc buldge was common at L3 – L4 & L4 – L5 disc level. Posterior osteophytes are common at L3 - L4 & L5 –S1 disc level. L1- L2 disc involvement and spondylolisthesis are less common. Conclusion: Lumbar disc degeneration is the most common cause of low back pain. Plain radiograph can be helpful in visualizing gross anatomic changes in the intervertebral disc. But, MRI is the standard imaging modality for detecting disc pathology due to its advantage of lack of radiation, multiplanar imaging capability, excellent spinal soft-tissue contrast and precise localization of intervertebral discs changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading fluency has traditionally focused on speed and accuracy yet recent reports suggest that expressive oral reading is an important component that has been largely overlooked. The current study assessed the impact of augmenting text with visual prosodic cues to improve expressive reading in beginning readers. Customized reading software was developed to present text augmented with prosodic cues to convey changes in pitch, duration and/or intensity. Prosodic modulation was derived from the recordings of a fluent adult model and rendered as a set of visual cues that could be presented in isolation or in combination. To establish baseline measures, eight children aged 7–8 first read a five-chapter story in standard text format. In the subsequent three sessions, participants were trained to use each augmented text cue with the guidance of an auditory model. They also had the opportunity to practice reading aloud in each cue condition. At the post-training session, participants re-recorded the baseline story with each chapter read in one of the different cue conditions (standard, pitch, duration, intensity and combination). Post-training and baseline recordings were acoustically analyzed to assess changes in reading expressivity. Despite large individual differences in how each participant implemented the prosodic cues, as a group, there were notable improvements in marking pitch accents and elongating word duration to convey linguistic contrasts. In fact, even after only three training sessions, participants appeared to have generalized implementation of pitch and word duration cues when reading standard text at post-training. In contrast, while participants manipulated pause duration when provided with explicit visual cues, they did not transfer these cues to standard text at post-training. These findings suggest that beginning readers could benefit from explicit visual prosodic cues and that even limited exposure may be sufficient to learn and generalize skills. Further discussion focuses on the implications of this work on struggling readers and second language learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared changes in speech clarity as a function of speaking context. It is well documented that words produced in sentence contexts yield higher intelligibility than words in isolation for speakers with mild to moderate dysarthria. To tease apart the effect of speaker and listener variables, the current study aimed to quantify differences in word intelligibility by speaking task. Eighteen speakers with dysarthria produced a set of 25 words in isolation and within the context of a sentence. Eighteen listeners heard a randomized sample of the isolated productions, single words extracted from the sentences, and the full unaltered sentences. Listeners transcribed what they heard and rated their confidence. Words produced in isolation were just as intelligible as words produced in sentence context, both of which were more intelligible than extracted words. In other words, speakers reduced articulatory clarity in sentence production compared to isolated productions; listeners were able to cope with this reduction in clarity when they had access to contextual information but not when these cues were removed in the extracted condition. These findings are consistent with Lindblom's hypo–hyperarticulation theory in that adults with dysarthria appear to be modulating articulatory precision based on listener/task variables. This work has implications for clinical practice in that isolated word and sentence production tasks yielded equivalent intelligibility findings. Learning outcomes: Readers will recognize that speech intelligibility is influenced by speaker and listener variables and thus the choice of speaking and listening task may yield different results. Commonly held clinical belief is that sentence production tasks yield inflated intelligibility scores but we did not find that in this sample. Findings also indicate that speakers with dysarthria may modulate articulatory clarity in response to listener needs which should be considered in treatment planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: To understand how reducing speaking rate alters prosodic contrasts in speakers with dysarthria (DYS) and healthy controls (HC). Methods: Seven male speakers with DYS (mean age = 34.9) and 7 age- and sex-matched HC (mean age = 36.9) produced identical phrases with affirmative (A), contrastive stress (CS) or question (Q) intonation at habitual and slow rate within a naturalistic game. Relative (word-to-word) changes in peak fundamental frequency (F0), intensity, and duration were compared across conditions, groups, and rates. Results: For some contrasts, rate reduction differentially affected the speaking groups, with HC exaggerating and speakers with DYS dampening some prosodic cues. Rate reduction diminished the Q contrast for both groups, with reduced peak F0 differences for HC and reduced word duration differences for HC and with DYS speakers. Slow rate also resulted in decreased lengthening of the final word for all three contrasts, thereby diminishing the Q contrast while exaggerating the CS and A contrasts. Conclusion: Although slow rate may improve segmental intelligibility, it may inadvertently dampen prosodic contrasts for some DYS speakers, thereby impacting communication effectiveness and naturalness. Implications for designing interventions that balance trade-offs between prosodic modulation and segmental clarity are discussed. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A review of the salient characteristics of motor speech disorders and common assessment protocols revealed the need for a novel reading passage tailored specifically to differentiate between and among the dysarthrias (DYSs) and apraxia of speech (AOS). Method: 'The Caterpillar' passage was designed to provide a contemporary, easily read, contextual speech sample with specific tasks (e.g., prosodic contrasts, words of increasing length and complexity) targeted to inform the assessment of motor speech disorders. Twenty-two adults, 15 with DYS or AOS and 7 healthy controls (HC), were recorded reading 'The Caterpillar' passage to demonstrate its utility in examining motor speech performance. Conclusion: Analysis of performance across a subset of segmental and prosodic variables illustrated that 'The Caterpillar' passage showed promise for extracting individual profiles of impairment that could augment current assessment protocols and inform treatment planning in motor speech disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A review of the salient characteristics of motor speech disorders and common assessment protocols revealed the need for a novel reading passage tailored specifically to differentiate between and among the dysarthrias (DYSs) and apraxia of speech (AOS). Method: "The Caterpillar" passage was designed to provide a contemporary, easily read, contextual speech sample with specific tasks (e.g., prosodic contrasts, words of increasing length and complexity) targeted to inform the assessment of motor speech disorders. Twenty-two adults, 15 with DYS or AOS and 7 healthy controls (HC), were recorded reading "The Caterpillar" passage to demonstrate its utility in examining motor speech performance. Conclusion: Analysis of performance across a subset of segmental and prosodic variables illustrated that "The Caterpillar" passage showed promise for extracting individual profiles of impairment that could augment current assessment protocols and inform treatment planning in motor speech disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Superporous hydrogel (SPH) swells very rapidly in a shorter period of time to an equilibrium size and contains highly porous structure. Aim: The synthesis of SPH of poly (acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) and its composites viz. Ac-Di-Sol and polyvinylpyrollidone (PVP) was carried out by solution polymerization. Materials and Methods: The SPH and SPH composites (SPHCs) were characterized by measurement of apparent density, porosity, swelling, mechanical strength, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies. Results: FTIR studies conirmed the existence of acrylamide and acrylic acid in SPH. In distilled water SPH showed tremendous increase in equilibrium swelling capacity with conventional SPH as compared to its SPHCs of Ac-Di-Sol and PVP due to the increased in physical cross-linking network, respectively. The presence of Ac-Di-Sol and PVP in SPHCs increased the mechanical strength as compared to conventional SPH which is suitable for gastric retention. SEM pictures clearly indicated the formation of interconnected pores and capillary channels. Conclusion: The amount and type of polymers used affect almost all the characterization parameters of SPHs, and hence, depending upon the applications perspective such polymers could be used in drug delivery systems, successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A feedback perturbation paradigm was used to investigate whether prosodic cues are controlled independently or in an integrated fashion during sentence production. Method: Twenty-one healthy speakers of American English were asked to produce sentences with emphatic stress while receiving real-time auditory feedback of their productions. The fundamental frequency (F0) of the stressed word in each 4-word sentence was selectively shifted in a sensorimotor adaptation protocol. Speakers experienced either an upward or a downward shift of the stressed word, which gradually altered the perceived stress of the sentence. Results: Participants in the Up and Down groups adapted to F0 shifts by altering the contrast between stressed and unstressed words differentially, such that the two groups deviated from each other in the perturbation phase. Furthermore, selective FO perturbation in sentences with emphatic stress resulted in compensatory changes in both FO and intensity. Conclusions: Present findings suggest that FO and intensity are controlled in an integrated fashion to maintain the contrast between stressed and unstressed words. When a cue is impaired through perturbation, speakers not only oppose the perturbation but enhance other prosodic cues to achieve emphatic stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study assessed the effectiveness of software designed to facilitate expressive oral reading through text manipulations that convey prosody. The software presented stories in standard (S) and manipulated formats corresponding to variations in fundamental frequency (F), intensity (I), duration (D), and combined cues (C) indicating modulation of pitch, loudness and length, respectively. Ten early readers (mean age=7.6years) attended three sessions. During the first session, children read two stories in standard format to establish a baseline. The second session provided training and practice in the manipulated formats. In the third, post-training session, sections of each story were read in each condition (S, F, I, D, C in random order). Recordings were acoustically examined for changes in word duration, peak intensity and peak F0 from baseline to post-training. When provided with pitch cues (F), children increased utterance-wide peak F0 range (mean=34.5Hz) and absolute peak F0 for accented words. Pitch cues were more effective in isolation (F) than in combination (C). Although Condition I elicited increased intensity of salient words, Conditions S and D had minimal impact on prosodic variation. Findings suggest that textual manipulations conveying prosody can be readily learned by children to improve reading expressivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present study examined articulator movement changes associated with the production of sentential focus in 4, 7 and 11-year-old children and adults. A facial capture system was used to track jaw, lower lip and upper lip movements while words were produced with and without focus in phrase-final and non-final positions. Adults produced focused words with significantly greater movement duration, displacement and velocity than unfocused words. Significant differences in duration, displacement and velocity between focused and unfocused productions were seen in the 7 and 11 year olds, although these results were not as consistent as those seen in the adults. Articulator movement differences between focused and unfocused words were seen in both the phrase-final and non-final positions in adults yet only in the phrase-final position in children. Findings suggest that children begin to modify articulator movement to mark sentential focus between 7 and 11 years of age and are likely to continue to refine movement patterns for this prosodic task throughout adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Acquisition of prosodic control appears to evolve across development with younger children relying on durational cues and older children utilizing a broader spectrum of cues including fundamental frequency, intensity, and duration. This study aimed to determine whether unfamiliar listeners could identify prosodic contrasts produced by 4-, 7-, and 11-year-olds despite differences in acoustic cues used by each age group. Method: Thirty-six adult monolingual speakers of American English participated as listeners. A previous study yielded speech recordings from 12 children (2 male, 2 female from each age group) producing 2 linguistic contrasts, question-statement and contrastive stress, which served as listening stimuli. Results: In both tasks, listener accuracy ranged from 39.7% to 100% with significant differences between 4-year-olds and both older age groups. Listeners had difficulty deciphering the 4-year-olds' questions compared with statements and were more accurate in identifying contrastive stress placed on sentence-initial words compared with sentence-final words across all age groups. Conclusion: Although listeners identified prosodic contrasts produced by all 3 age groups, accuracy was significantly higher for 7- and 11-year-old productions. Findings are consistent with production studies that suggest relative stabilization of prosodic control between ages 4 and 7. Parallels between prosodic and segmental acquisition are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this study, the authors sought to understand acoustic and perceptual cues to contrastive stress in speakers with dysarthria (DYS) and healthy controls (HC). Method: The production experiment examined the ability of 12 DYS (9 male, 3 female; M = 39 years of age) and 12 age- and gender-matched HC (9 male, 3 female; M = 37.5 years of age) to signal contrastive stress within short sentences. Acoustic changes in fundamental frequency (F0), intensity, and duration were studied. The perceptual experiment explored whether 48 unfamiliar listeners (24 male, 24 female; M = 23.4 years of age) could identify the intended stress location in DYS and HC productions. Results: Although both speaker groups used all 3 prosodic cues, DYS relied more heavily on duration. Despite reduced F0 and intensity variation within DYS utterances, listeners were highly accurate at identifying both DYS (> 93%) and HC (> 97%) productions. Acoustic predictors of listener accuracy included heightened prosodic cues on stressed words along with marked decreases in these variables for neighboring nonstressed words. Conclusions: Speakers signaled contrastive stress using relative changes in one or more prosodic cue. Although individual speakers employed different cue combinations, listeners were highly adept at discerning the intended stress location. The communicative potential of prosody in speakers with congenital dysarthria is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Lombard effect describes the tendency for speakers to increase pitch, intensity, and duration in the presence of noise. It is unclear whether these modifications are uniformly applied across all words within an utterance or whether information-bearing content words are further enhanced compared with function words. In the present study, the authors investigated the influence of linguistic content on acoustic modifications made to speech in noise. Method: Sixteen speaker--listener pairs engaged in an interactive cooperative game in quiet, 60 dB of multitalker noise, and 90 dB of multitalker noise. Speaker productions were analyzed to examine differences in fundamental frequency (F0), intensity, and duration of target words in sentences across noise conditions. Results: Proportional increases in F0, intensity, and duration were noted for all word types as noise increased from quiet to 60 dB. From quiet to 90 dB, content words that referred to agents, objects, and locations were disproportionately elongated compared with function words. Additionally, agents were further enhanced by increased F0. Conclusions: At moderate noise levels, most word types appear to be uniformly boosted in F0, intensity, and duration. As noise increases, linguistic content shapes the extent of the Lombard effect, with F0 and duration serving as primary cues for marking information-bearing word types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Familiarity is thought to aid listeners in decoding disordered speech; however, as the speech signal degrades, the "familiarity advantage" becomes less beneficial. Despite highly unintelligible speech sound production, many children with dysarthria vocalize when interacting with familiar caregivers. Perhaps listeners can understand these vocalizations by cuing into prosodic consistencies in their child's productions. This paper examined whether familiarity influenced the identification of sustained vowels that varied in pitch, duration, and pitch-duration combinations, produced by 3 children with severe dysarthria due to cerebral palsy. Thirty-six listeners participated in the study. For each speaker, there were 2 familiar listeners (FAM), 5 experienced listeners (EXP), and 5 unfamiliar/inexperienced listeners (INX). Results indicated that familiarity did not impact identification of prosodic contrasts. In fact, all 3 listener groups were highly accurate in identifying duration, somewhat less successful at identifying pitch, and least accurate in identifying combinations of pitch and duration. Influences of speaker-listener variables on familiarity are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lyophilized polymeric wafer matrix was developed for rapid drug delivery via the oramucosal route. Lyophilization produced a porous wafer matrix that allowed simulated saliva (SS) to be rapidly absorbed into the hydrophilic structure. This surge of SS led to rapid disintegration of the wafer matrix. Hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) was selected as the polymeric material based on its low gelatin potential. Other excipients incorporated into the system were lactose and mannitol as diluents, and glycine was utilized as a collapse inhibitor. A face-centered central composite design was employed to establish the significant effects of the independent formulation variables on the physico-chemical and physico-mechanical properties of the wafer matrix. The formulation variables investigated were, HPC concentration, diluent type and concentration, glycine concentration and fill volume. An analysis of these variables elucidated the influential factors that may be used to form an effective wafer matrix. HPC concentration significantly affected the wafer matrix disintegration rate (P = 0.003), influx rate of SS (P = 0.011) and wafer matrix friability (P = 0.023). Diluent concentration had a significant effect on the wafer matrix tolerance (P = 0.029) and wafer matrix friability (P = 0.032). Statistical optimization was performed using constrained and artificial neural network techniques to predict ideal wafer formulation. Karl Fischer titrations revealed the reliability of the wafer matrices when small quantities of moisture were absorbed while being stored under ambient conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the relationship between articulator movement and prosody in children at different developmental ages. Jaw, lower lip, and upper lip kinematics were examined in 4-, 7-, and 11-year-old children as they produced the declarative and interrogative forms of utterances "Show Bob a bot" and "Show Pop a pot." Articulator movement differences were found between declaratives and interrogatives during the production of vowel and consonant targets. The 7- and 11-year-olds differentiated the duration and displacement of their articulator movements to distinguish between declaratives and interrogatives. Several age-related differences in movement duration between the 4-year-olds and the older participants were associated with the production of these targets. Productions of declaratives and interrogatives were not associated with any significant differences in articulator movement variability, although variability did decrease significantly with maturation. The results suggest that children modify their articulator movements to meet the prosodic and linguistic demands of the task. While 4-year-olds appear to be able to modify lip and jaw movement to mark the declarative-interrogative contrast, refinement of these movements continues throughout childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Prosodic features of the speech signal include fundamental frequency (F0), intensity and duration. In order to study the development of prosody independent from segmental aspects of speech, we considered the question–statement contrast. In English, adults mark the contrast using changes in fundamental frequency, duration and intensity, with F0 being the most prominent cue. Declarative questions are marked by rising intonation whereas statements are marked by falling intonation. While previous studies have noted that young children can signal this contrast in imitative paradigms, little is known about the acoustic cues children use at different stages in development. The present study sought to provide an acoustic characterization of prosodic cues used by 12 children from three age groups, 4-year-olds, 7-year-olds and 11-year-olds, for elicited productions of declarative statements and questions. Results indicated that 4-year-olds were unable to reliably signal questions using rising fundamental frequency contour. Instead, they used increased final syllable duration to mark questions. Children in the 7-year-old group used all three cues, fundamental frequency, intensity and syllable duration, to contrast questions from statements. The oldest group relied primarily on changes in fundamental frequency and less so on intensity and duration cues. An age-related pattern is evident in that children employ different combinations of acoustic cues to mark the question–statement contrast across development. The impact of motor and cognitive-linguistic complexity on the development of prosodic control is discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We present an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) training program provided to 20 special education teachers in a Palestinian Arab community in Israel. The training program consisted of didactic workshops interleaved with on-site supervision. Instructional goals included creating awareness, imparting knowledge, and assisting teachers to develop and use AAC within their classrooms. Prior to training, we administered a questionnaire to assess teachers' knowledge, practices, and attitudes in relation to AAC. The questionnaire was re-administered and individual interviews were conducted post-training to determine the program's impact on knowledge, practices, and attitude barriers. Teachers' responses revealed that training helped them to address barriers to AAC intervention. The responses also provided insights into the linguistic and cultural challenges of AAC implementation within the Palestinian Arab community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Articular chondrocytes have been thought to reside in a homogenous matrix. The physical characteristics of the intercellular matrix of articular cartilage are not well characterized, especially at a nanoscopic scale. The present work tested the hypothesis that the nanomechanical properties of the intercellular matrices of articular cartilage in both the articulating surface and various cellular zones are non-homogeneous. Nanoindentation by atomic force microscopy was applied to the geometric center of the medial, lateral and groove regions of the superficial zone of the rabbit proximal radius cartilage, and then the intercellular matrices of chondrocytes from the superficial to calcifying zones in 40 μm increments. The elastic modulus of the articular surface of the medial condyle (1.46±0.11 MPa) was significantly higher than the lateral condyle (1.18±0.10 MPa), and the groove (0.96±0.07 MPa). There is a significant gradient increase in Young’s moduli from the superficial zone (0.52±0.05 MPa) to calcifying zone (1.69±0.12 MPa). Thus, the nanomechanical properties of the intercellular matrices of the articulating surface are region-specific and likely related to articular function. Heterogeneous biophysical properties of intercellular matrices along the depth from the superficial to calcifying zones suggest that chondrocytes likely reside in a heterogeneous matrix. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Studies of prosodic control in severe dysarthria (DYS) have focused on differences between impaired and nonimpaired speech in terms of the range and variation of fundamental frequency (F0), intensity, and duration. Whether individuals with severe DYS can adequately signal prosodic contrasts and which acoustic cues they use to do so has received far less attention. This article focused on the question-statement contrast. In nonimpaired speech, this contrast is believed to be cued primarily by FO, although some researchers have argued that duration also plays a role. This study examined how 8 speakers with severe DYS due to cerebral palsy signaled the question-statement contrast for a set of 10 short phrases. An additional 8 healthy controls (HCs) produced the same set of phrases as questions and statements. To analyze the speech recordings, peak FO (F0peak), average FO (F0ave), slope of FO (F0slope), peak intensity (INTpeak), average intensity (INTave), slope of intensity (INTslope), and duration measures were calculated for each syllable (S1, S2, S3) within each phrase. Acoustic analyses revealed that speakers with DYS and HCs used FO, duration, and to a lesser degree, intensity cues to signal the contrast. Moreover, productions by speakers with DYS had longer and louder S3 for questions compared to productions by HCs, suggesting that speakers with DYS may have been compensating for their reduced ability to control FO by exploiting their residual control of loudness and duration. Data from a previous perceptual study (R. Patel, 2002b) with the same speakers with DYS were used to analyze the relationship between acoustic characteristics and listener perceptions of their productions. Logistic regression analysis revealed that S1_F0ave; S2_duration; and S3_duration, S3_F0peak, S3_F0slope, S3_InTave, and S3_Intslope were... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speakers with severe dysarthria are known to have reduced range in prosody. Consistent control within that range, however, has largely been ignored. In earlier investigations speakers with severe dysarthria were able to control pitch and duration for sustained vowel production despite reduced flexibility of control (Patel, 1998). The present experiment examined whether 8 speakers with severe dysarthria due to cerebral palsy used prosodic parameters of pitch contour and syllable duration for phrase-level productions. Speakers with dysarthria (N = 8) produced 3-syllable phrases as questions and statements. Naïve listeners (N = 48) classifed dysarthric productions as either questions or statements. Listeners were able to distinguish questions from statements with accuracy levels ranging from 81% to 98 %. We were also interested in studying how dysarthric speakers marked the question-statement contrast. Prosodic features of pitch contour and syllable duration were systematically removed from the original recorded vocalizations to examine the salience of these features on listener classification. Removal of pitch contour cues dramatically reduced listener accuracy scores to almost chance performance. Listeners found pitch contour cues to be information-bearing cues in dysarthric vocalizations even though the range of frequency control in these speakers may be reduced. That speakers with dysarthria were able to exert sufficient control to signal the question-statement contrast has implications for diagnostic and intervention practices aimed to optimally exploit prosodic control for enhancing communication efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) users with severe dysarthria may benefit greatly from using residual vocalizations to enhance communication efficiency and naturalness. Many individuals use their residual vocal control to gain attention, express emotions, and convey intentions to familiar care givers. This research was designed to test the hypothesis that speakers signal such information through the control of phonatory features such as pitch and duration, despite severe degradation of segmental speech sounds. The study examined whether eight speakers with severe dysarthria caused by cerebral palsy could control the pitch and duration of sustained vowel productions at three distinct levels. The results indicated that all speakers were able to consistently control sustained production of the vowel /a/ at three durations (short, medium, and long). Speakers were more variable, however, in their ability to control pitches (low, medium, and high). Seven of the eight speakers were able to produce at least two distinct pitches. The potential impact of harnessing residual phonatory control as an additional channel of input for AAC users with severe speech and motor impairment is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Bloodstream Infections (BSI) are defined as the presence of living microorganisms in the blood. It is a systemic condition that can result in life-threatening sepsis, thus leading to high morbidity and mortality. Blood cultures have become critically important. Positive blood culture results can help a clinician’s early diagnosis and start empirical antimicrobial at the correct time. Today many laboratories use modern, automated, continuous-monitoring blood culture systems for the detection of bacterial growth for blood culture. At our hospital, blood culture is done by using automated detection in BacT/Alert instrument (Biomerieux, France). Aim: To determine the effect of a number of blood cultures and volume of blood on positivity rates, contamination rate in blood cultures, and rate of false-positive blood cultures. Materials and Methods: Present study was a cross-sectional observational study conducted from 1st May 2019 to 31st July 2019. Blood culture requests of all patients were included in the study. All blood culture bottles were processed as per standard laboratory protocols. The effect of a number of blood cultures and amount of blood volume on positivity rate, contamination rate, and false-positive blood cultures were studied in detail. The patient’s details and microbiological result parameters were extracted from Laboratory Information System (LIS). All the data was analysed in Microsoft Excel 2010. Results: A total of 761 blood culture bottles were received at the Microbiology laboratory from 604 patients. Maximum (30%) blood cultures were received from 0-10 years of age group. A total of 31% (236/761) of blood cultures were positive. The true pathogen positivity rate was 41.1% and the contamination rate was 58.9%. Single (74.4%) blood culture requests were more than two (25.3%) or three (0.3%) blood cultures. True pathogens were isolated in 9% (41/449) of single blood cultures and in 18% (56/306) of two blood cultures. Overall, 42% of blood cultures had adequate volume and 58% of blood cultures had inadequate volume. However, the true pathogen positivity rate was 14% (61/444) from bottles with inadequate volume and 11% (36/317) from bottles with adequate volume. Out of 236 positive blood cultures, 139 (59%) were identified as contaminants. A total of 5/761 (0.7%) blood cultures were identified as false positive blood cultures. Conclusion: Based on the study findings, a step should be taken to discourage single blood culture and to encourage multiple blood cultures for the diagnosis and better patient care. Although, volume of blood is important, inadequate volume did not affect true pathogen positivity rate in present study. Contamination rate of blood cultures is a major concern and regular training of the concerned staff regarding strict asepsis should be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dirofilariasis is a worldwide zoonotic filariasis with over 782 cases reported so far from different parts of the world. Human dirofilariasis, caused by Dirofilaria repens, have been reported to occur widely throughout Asia, Europe, and Africa. It has not been widely recognized in India, however; several cases have been reported in last few years. There is probably a focus of human infection with D. repens in Kerala. Herein, we present a review of human infections by D. repens, along with a case report of subconjunctival dirofilariasis from rural part of Gujarat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Rapid diagnostic testing (RDT) in combination with antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) has been associated with improved outcomes in adults with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB). Data in children are lacking. In January 2017, Atrium Health implemented a pediatric ASP with blood culture RDT. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of those interventions. Methods This was a retrospective, multicenter, quasi-experimental study of children ≤18 years with monomicrobial SAB from March 2015 to August 2016 (pre-intervention; PRE) and March 2017 to August 2018 (post-intervention; POST). The primary outcome was time to an optimal antibiotic. Secondary outcomes included time to effective antibiotic, total antibiotic exposure in the first 5 days, duration of bacteremia, infectious diseases (ID) consultation, time to central line removal, hospital and pediatric ICU length of stay (LOS), need for vasopressors or intubation, recurrence of SAB within 90 days, and inpatient mortality. Results Of 101 patients with SAB, 32 and 36 met inclusion criteria for the PRE and POST groups, respectively. The median time to optimal antimicrobial therapy decreased by 23 hours (PRE 44.3 hours vs. POST 21.3 hours; P = 0.008). Duration of bacteremia (65h vs. 40.9 hours; P = 0.028) and mortality (12.5% vs. 0%; P = 0.044) was also significantly reduced. Differences in median time to effective therapy (7 hours vs. 5.1 hours; P = 0.74), total antibiotic exposure in the first 5 days (160.4 hours vs. 152 hours; P = 0.4), hospital LOS (9.9 vs. 8.5 days; P = 0.25), and pediatric ICU LOS (7 vs. 4 days; P = 0.11) did not meet statistical significance, but trended downward. The POST group had more patients with ID consultation (78% vs. 89%, P = 0.23) and shorter time to central line removal (68 hours vs. 20 hours; P = 0.037). There was no difference in the need for vasopressors (3 vs. 3 patients; P = 0.99) or intubation (2 vs. 4 patients; P = 0.68). Throughout the study period, recurrence of SAB only occurred in one patient (PRE). Conclusion Concurrent implementation of RDT and an ASP in pediatric patients with SAB decreased time to optimal antimicrobial therapy, duration of bacteremia, and mortality. RDT coupled with timely feedback from an ASP contributed to improved SAB management and clinical outcomes in children. Disclosures All Authors: No reported Disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stability-indicating reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed and validated for the simultaneous estimation of ezetimibe and glimepiride. Chromatographic separation was achieved with a Shimadzu's high performance liquid chromatograph and PhenomenexL1 analytical C18 column with a mobile phase of acetonitrile:ammonium acetate buffer (30 mM):methanol (50:45:5 %, v/v/v). The flow rate was set at 1.5 ml/min and the detection wavelength was 232 nm. Quality by design approach was employed for optimization of method parameters like proportion of mobile phase, concentration of buffer and a model highlighting the design space was generated. This developed chromatographic method gave well resolved symmetric peaks. Ezetimibe and glimepiride were eluted at 6.7 and 4.4 min, respectively. This method was validated according to International Conference on Harmonisation Q2(R1) guideline. The method was linear in range of 50-400 µg/ml for ezetimibe and 5-40 µg/ml for glimepiride with r²=0.9999 and 0.9996, respectively. The sample recoveries were in good agreement with the respective label claim, which suggested non-interference from formulation additives in the estimation. Forced degradation studies were carried out and the stressed samples were analysed using the developed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Speech technology applications have emerged as a promising method for assessing speech-language abilities and at-home therapy, including prosody. Many applications assume that observed prosody errors are due to an underlying disorder; however, they may be instead due to atypical representations of prosody such as immature and developing speech motor control, or compensatory adaptations by those with congenital neuromotor disorders. The result is the same – vocal productions may not be a reliable measure of prosody knowledge. Therefore, in this study we examine the usability of a new technology application to express prosody knowledge without relying on vocalizations using the Prosodic Marionette (PM) graphical user interface for artificial resynthesis of speech prosody. We tested the ability of neurotypical participants to use the PM interface to control prosody through 2D movements of word-icon blocks vertically (fundamental frequency), horizontally (pause length), and by stretching (word duration) to correctly mark target prosodic contrasts. Nearly all participants used vertical movements to correctly mark fundamental frequency changes where appropriate (e.g., raised second word for pitch accent on second word). A smaller percentage of participants used the stretching feature to mark duration changes; when used, participants correctly lengthened the appropriate word (e.g., stretch the second item to accent the second word). Our results suggest the PM interface can be used reliably to correctly signal speech prosody, which validates future use of the interface to assess prosody in clinical and developmental populations with atypical speech motor control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]