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Linguists propose the existence of linguistic trees and define the merge operation to construct complex sentences from simpler elements. Previous neuroimaging studies, primarily utilizing 3T scanners, have identified an extensive fronto-temporal network involved in forming linguistic structures and executing merge operations. Intracranial recordings in these areas reveal a more distributed picture, with adjacent regions undertaking diverse linguistic tasks.We designed a 7T fMRI visual task to investigate the neural coding of syntactic operations. In healthy French-speaking participants, we initially identified the language network using a localizer. Subsequently, we employed short 3-word stimuli, presented briefly (200ms), to explore the response profiles within the language network. These stimuli included control conditions, affirmative statements, and interrogative sentences, all matched for letter and character count.Preliminary results indicate that 200ms is sufficient to differentiate between sentences and non-sentences, and suggest a finely-tuned specialization for syntactic operations within language network subregions.

We test the comprehension of transitive sentences in very young learners of Mandarin Chinese using a combination of the weird word order paradigm with the use of pseudo-verbs and the preferential looking paradigm, replicating the experiment of Franck et al. (2013) on French. Seventeen typically-developing Mandarin infants (mean age: 17.4 months) participated and the same experiment was conducted with eighteen adults. The results show that hearing well-formed NP-V-NP sentences triggered infants to fixate more on a transitive scene than on a reflexive scene. In contrast, when they heard deviant NP-NP-V sequences, no such preference pattern was found, a performance pattern that is adult-like. This is at variance with some of the results from Candan et al. (2012), who only found evidence for canonical word order comprehension at almost age 3 when considering fixation time. Furthermore, within the age range tested, performance showed no effect of age or vocabulary size.

It was argued in a series of experimental studies that Japanese tits (Parus minor) have an ABC call that has an alert function, a D call that has a recruitment function, and an ABC‐D call that is compositionally derived from ABC and D, and has a mobbing function. A key conclusion was that ABC‐D differs from the combination of separate utterances of ABC and of D (e.g. as played by distinct but close loudspeakers). While the logic of the argument is arguably sound, no explicit rule has been proposed to derive the meaning of ABC‐D from that of its parts. We compare two analyses. One posits a limited instance of semantic compositionality ('Minimal Compositionality'); the other does without compositionality, but uses instead a more sophisticated pragmatics ('Bird Implicatures'). Minimal Compositionality takes the composition of ABC and D to deviate only minimally from what would be found with two independent utterances: ABC means that 'there is something that licenses an alert', D means that 'there is something that licenses recruitment', and ABC‐D means that 'there is something that licenses both an alert and recruitment'. By contrast, ABC and D as independent utterances yield something weaker, namely: 'there is something that licenses an alert, and there is something that licenses recruitment', without any 'binding' across the two utterances. The second theory, Bird Implicatures, only requires that ABC‐D should be more informative than ABC, and/or than D. It builds on the idea, proposed for several monkey species, that a less‐informative call competes with a more informative one (the 'Informativity Principle'): when produced alone, ABC and D trigger an inference that ABC‐D is false. We explain how both Minimal Compositionality and Bird Implicatures could have evolved, and we compare the predictions of the two theories. Finally, we extend the discussion to some chimpanzee and meerkat sequences that might raise related theoretical problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: The objective of this retrospective controlled study is to compare class II growing patients who underwent treatment with two different functional appliances: the Fraenkel regulator (FR-2), utilized as the control group, and the elastodontic device "Cranium Occluded Postural Multifunctional Harmonizers" (AMCOP), utilized as the test group. Materials and Methods: The study sample consisted of 52 patients with class II division I malocclusion (30 males, 22 females, mean age 8.6 ± 1.4 years) who were treated with the two different types of appliances: Group 1 (n = 27, mean age 8 [7.00, 9.00] years, 12 females, 15 males) received treatment with AMCOP, while Group 2 (n = 25, mean age 9.2 years [8.20, 10.00], 10 females, 15 males) received treatment with FR-2. The mean treatment duration for Group 1 was 28.00 [21.50, 38.00] months, while for Group 2 it was 23.70 [17.80, 27.40] months. Cephalometric analyses were performed on lateral cephalograms taken before treatment (T1) and after treatment (T2). Results: Significant intragroup differences were observed over time in Group 1 for 1^/PP. Similarly, significant intragroup differences were observed over time in Group 2 for SNB, ANB, and IMPA. Conclusions: Both treatment modalities resulted in the correction of class II malocclusion with dentoalveolar compensation, although the treatment duration with AMCOP tended to be longer on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tip control in lingual orthodontics may be challenging because of the presence of a vertical slot and the particular configuration of the customized appliances. The aim of this in vitro experimental study was to investigate the role of the ligature–wire–slot system in achieving better tip control. A set of customized lingual brackets was obtained for a dedicated typodont made of extracted human teeth. A compression/traction machine tested two types of ligatures in combination with seven different wires, and the tipping angle of each configuration was derived. A statistically significant difference was found between ligatures when the complete set of data was tested. In addition, differences between ligatures were found when testing each wire separately. A statistically significant difference was found among all wires. Full‐size wires showed the smallest angles, which correspond to the greatest efficiency of the slot–archwire–ligation system in terms of tip control, and this efficiency appeared to be ligature‐related. The role played by the type of ligature was more relevant for undersized wires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) is a hereditary lipid metabolism disorder characterized by severe elevation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and heightened risk of premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Lomitapide, an inhibitor of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein, has shown promise in reducing LDL-C levels, albeit with variable response in real-world settings. Sex-based differences in treatment efficacy and safety remain unclear., Methods and Results: This post-hoc analysis of the Pan-European Lomitapide Study investigated sex-specific disparities in the efficacy and safety of lomitapide in HoFH patients (N=38 women and N=37 men). Data were collected from HoFH patients receiving lomitapide across Europe. Clinical characteristics, lipid profile, and adverse events were compared between women and men. Results indicate comparable baseline characteristics and cardiovascular risk factors between sexes. While LDL-C reduction was comparable at each time point between the two groups, women exhibited a trend towards greater reduction compared to men, particularly evident at 6 months (-53.0% vs -32.9% p=0.051). Annual LDL-C reduction did not differ between sexes (-4.83% ± 7.02 vs -4.03% ± 9.74 p=0.526). No differences in the median lomitapide dose or the intensity of concomitant lipid lowering therapies were observed between sexes. Notably, gastrointestinal disturbances were more prevalent in women (78 events in women vs 32 in men, p=0.0002), although most adverse events were manageable. Event-free survival curves for ASCVD did not significantly differ between sexes (p=0.363)., Conclusions: Lomitapide demonstrates comparable efficacy in reducing LDL-C levels in men and women with HoFH, with potential sex-specific variations in tolerability., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Daniele Tramontano received speaking fees from SOBI; Marcello Arca received research grant support and lecturing fees from Alfasigma, Amgen, Amryt, Daiichi Sankyo, Ionis Pharmaceuticals/Akcea Therapeutics, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi, Sobi, Viatris, and Ultragenyx; Laura D'Erasmo received fees or grants from Amryt Pharmaceutical, Akcea Therapeutics, SOBI, Aurora Biofarma, Novartis, Amarin, Daiichi-Sankyo, Bayer, and Sandoz; Ilenia Calcaterra received honoraria for advisory board from SOBI, Bayer e Sanofi; Sergio D'Addato received honoraria for advisory board from Amryt; Livia Pisciotta has participated as PI in clinical trials with Amryt; Genovefa Kolovou has given talks and participated in trials sponsored by Amgen, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Sanofi, Vianex and nonfinancial support from Amryt; Evangelos Liberopoulos has participated in educational, research and advisory activities sponsored by AstraZeneca, MSD, Lilly, Bayer, Amgen, Sanofi, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Viatris and Servier. Anja Vogt received honoraria or travel support from Aegerion, Akcea, Amgen, Amryt, Daiichi-Sankyo, MSD, Novartis, Regeneron/Sanofi; Jaimini Cegla has received speaker/consultancy fees or research grants from: Amgen, Sanofi, Pfizer, Amryt, Ultragenyx, Verve Therapeutics, Sobi, Novartis, Akcea, Silence Therapeutics; Meral Kayikcioglu has received honoraria from Abbott, Abdi Ibrahim, Chiesi, LIB Therapeutics, Novartis, NovoNordisk, TR-pharma, and Ultragenix; research funding from Amryt Pharma, and has participated in clinical trials with Amgen, Ionis, LIB Therapeutics, Novartis, Novo Nordisk; Sergio Martinez-Hervas received fees for speaker or advisory work from Amarin, Amgen, Amryt, Daiichi-Sankyo, Sanofi and Ultragenyx. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Crown Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)