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The development of a standard anatomical language in Spanish dates back to the early stages of medicine, and its significance lies in the necessity for a common vocabulary to describe the structures of the human body. Anatomists and morphologists have been striving to achieve this goal since the late nineteenth century when the first Anatomical Nomenclature was created in Basel in 1895. Over the years, various versions of the International Anatomical Terminology have been published in Spanish, following the guidelines of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA). These versions have been produced in partnership with the Spanish Anatomical Society and have aimed to adjust the terms to the Spanish language and linguistic rules. The Ibero-Latin American Symposia on Anatomical, Histological, and Embryological Terminology (SILAT) have embraced the naming of morphological structures, keeping in mind the Latin and Greek roots, while respecting the translations accepted by the linguistic rules of the official languages. These symposia stick to the principles of universality, precision in structure description, and consistency in terminology. Despite more than a century of progress in anatomical terminology, there is a need for frequent revisions and adjustments to anatomical terms, particularly when translating them into various languages and because of the high number of international publications related to anatomy. A shared anatomical language is essential for the study and application of anatomy across various medical practices and in undergraduate education. Finally, the establishment of anatomical terminology in Spanish represents a long history of efforts to create a universal and precise language in this field. Despite advancements, the revision and adaptation of anatomical terms remain a continuous challenge to keep up with scientific progress and ensure effective communication in the field of anatomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do modal expressions determine which possibilities they range over? According to the Modal Anchor Hypothesis (Kratzer in The language-cognition interface: Actes du 19econgrès international des linguistes, Libraire Droz, Genève, 179–199, 2013), modal expressions determine their domain of quantification from particulars (events, situations, or individuals). This paper presents novel evidence for this hypothesis, focusing on a class of Spanish relative clauses that host verbs inflected in the subjunctive. Subjunctive in Romance is standardly taken to be licensed only in a subset of intensional contexts. However, in our relative clauses, subjunctive is exceptionally licensed in extensional contexts. At the same time, the interpretation of these relative clauses still involves modality, a type of modality that targets the goals of the agent of the main event. We argue that the pattern displayed by these relative clauses follows straightforwardly if subjunctive is associated with a modal operator that, like modal indefinites (Alonso-Ovalle and Menéndez-Benito in Journal of Semantics 35(1):1–41, 2017), can project its domain from a volitional event. Overall, our proposal supports the event-based analysis of mood (Kratzer in Evidential mood in attitude and speech reports. Talk delivered at the 1st Syncart Workshop, Siena, July 13, 2016; Portner and Rubinstein in Natural Language Semantics 28:343–393, 2020) and extends its application beyond attitudinal and modal complements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a first attempt to formally characterize the prosodic properties of Spanish acronyms. Based on the examination of a dataset and the results of a written questionnaire and perception test administered to native speakers, the stress patterns and prosodic size of Spanish acronyms are investigated. We show that stress in acronyms follows the regular stress patterns of the language. We further claim that acronyms are restricted to an upper limit of three syllables, which we explain by resorting to layered feet. Additionally, we show that an interesting minimality requirement applies exclusively to acronyms, one that must be expressed not in terms of syllable weight, but rather in terms of the number of segments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spanish has two forms to introduce comparative standards: que 'that' and de 'of.' The comparative morpheme is always the same más '-er/more.' While que-comparatives show no variation in their syntactic properties, there is significant variation within de-comparatives regarding extraposition, scope, ACD resolution and the syntax of comparative numerals. Despite this variation, I argue that a uniform account is possible. I propose that más has the same syntax across the board (i.e. it takes the late-merged standard as complement, Bhatt and Pancheva 2004) and semantically it is a generalized quantifier over degrees (Heim 2001). The analysis (i) ensures that más and the standard form a constituent, (ii) allows for inverse scope, ACD resolution inside the standard of comparison and extraposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigates the representational status of [Ch] sequences in Sevillian Spanish. Like many Spanish varieties, Sevillian debuccalizes coda /s/ to [h] (/sC/ → [hC]). Unlike other varieties, Sevillian is undergoing a change whereby [hC] sequences are variably realized as [Ch] sequences. I argue that surface (phonetic) [Ch] sequences are metathesized versions of underlying /sC/ clusters, and have not phonologized into a new series of aspirated stops. Evidence supporting the /sC/ cluster analysis comes from a perception study in which Sevillians reconstruct /s/ on the word preceding [Ch] sequences. Listeners of other dialects do not attribute [h] in [Ch] sequences to a preceding /s/. I present a brief cross-dialectal analysis corresponding to the participant groups' different behavior in the perception experiment, in which the dialects share underlying representations but map them differently to surface forms. I also discuss reasons the aspirated stop analysis may be implausible, from both a learning and analytical perspective. The findings have broader implications for our understanding of the mapping between underlying and surface forms, segments, and the connection between dialect variation and perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forensic authorship analysis is based on two assumptions: that every individual has a unique idiolect, and that features characteristic of that idiolect will recur with a relatively stable frequency. Yet, a speaker's language can change with age, affective states, according to audience, or genre. Thus, studies on authorship analysis should adopt the theory that while some linguistic parameters of an idiolect can remain stable, others can change depending on various circumstances. This investigation, which takes a constructional and functional-based approach to discourse-level phenomena in idiolectal stability, analyzes cross-genre data produced by nine Mexican participants throughout a twelve-year time span. This study contributes to a greater understanding of the linguistic elements that survive genre effects and are potentially useful in both investigative and evidential forensic linguistic work. We provide a detailed description of linguistic features, their specific values, and context-dependent interpretation, keeping in mind the context of expert linguistic testimony, with its preference for methods which "employ linguistically motivated analyses in combination with quantitative tools" (Solan & Tiersma, 2004, p.463). Our findings show that idiolectal style tends to remain stable across genres and communication modes in epistemic modality constructions. Epistemic markers —specifically, markers indicating low commitment by the speaker (e.g., no sé 'I don't know') or expressing indirectness when introducing the illocutionary force (e.g., la verdad [es que] 'the truth [is that]')— display idiolectal stability, as these markers seem to be the most effective in terms of allowing speakers to strategically manifest the extent of their knowledge regarding what is said. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The clinician-graded electronic facial paralysis assessment (eFACE) is a relatively new digital tool for assessing facial palsy. The present study aimed to determine the validity and reliability of the Spanish version of the eFACE. Methods: Forward–backward translation from the original English version was performed. Videos and photographs from 65 adult patients with unilateral facial paralysis (any severity, time course, and etiology) were evaluated twice by five otolaryngologists with varying levels of experience in facial palsy evaluation. Internal consistency was measured using Cronbach's α and the intra- and inter-rater reliability were measured using intraclass correlation coefficient. Concurrent validity was established by calculating Spearman's rho correlation (ρ) between the eFACE and the House–Brackmann scale (H–B) and Pearson's correlation (r) between the eFACE and the Sunnybrook Facial Grading System (SFGS). Results: The Spanish version of the eFACE showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α > 0.8). The intra-rater reliability was nearly perfect for the total score (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.95–0.99), static score (0.92–0.96), and dynamic score (0.96–0.99) and important-to-excellent for synkinesis score (0.79–0.96). The inter-rater reliability was excellent for the total score (0.85–0.93), static score (0.80–0.90), and dynamic score (0.90–0.95) and moderate-to-important for the synkinesis score (0.55–0.78). The eFACE had a very strong correlation with the H–B (ρ = – 0.88 and – 0.85 for each evaluation, p < 0.001) and the SFGS (r = 0.92 and 0.91 each evaluation, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The Spanish version of the eFACE is a reliable and valid instrument for assessment of facial function in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with facial paralysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The present study aims to translate, adapt and validate a Spanish version of the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, Joint Replacement (KOOS, JR), including a reliability and validity analysis in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods: This study conducted a prospective validation study following the six stages of the "Guidelines for the Process of Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Self-Report Measures". Psychometric testing was conducted in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Subjects answered the Spanish KOOS, JR (S-KOOS, JR) and a validated Spanish Oxford Knee Score (S-OKS). Retest was conducted at 10 days. Acceptability, floor and ceiling effect, internal consistency (Cronbach's α), reproducibility (mixed-effect model coefficient [MEMC]) and construct validity (Spearman's correlation; p = 0.05) were assessed. Results: Forty-one patients (mean age: 65.6 ± 5.39; 48.8% female) participated in the study. All patients (100%) answered both scores during the first assessment and 38 (92.7%) during the second assessment. All patient-reported outcomes measures were answered completely (100%). The S-KOOS, JR resulted in 100% acceptability when answered. There were no ceiling or floor effects detected. The Cronbach's α for the S-KOOS, JR was 0.927 and its MEMC was 0.852 (CI 95% 0.636–1.078). The Spearman's correlation between the S-KOOS, JR and the S-OKS was 0.711 (CI 0.345–0.608; p < 0.001) and 0.870 (CI 0.444–0.651; p < 0.001) for the first and second assessments, respectively. Conclusion: The S-KOOS, JR has very high internal consistency and reproducibility, with a high correlation with the S-OKS; it is a reliable and valid instrument for characterising Spanish-speaking patients suffering from knee OA. Level of evidence: IV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is the leading cause of mortality in U.S. Latino adults, a group with limited access to screening, higher rates of advanced disease, and prone to online misinformation. Our project created a Facebook Live social media video campaign on general cancer prevention, screening, risk, information, and resources, targeting Spanish-monolingual Latinos during the COVID-19 pandemic. Content was delivered in Spanish by fluent, ethnically concordant topic experts and cancer center staff. Four prerecorded and three livestream interview videos were produced, amassing over 161 shares, 1,000 engagements, 12,000 views, 19,000 people reached, and 34,000 impressions in a span of four months. Strengths of this project included developing community partnerships and collaborations, providing evidence-based cancer information in a culturally responsive manner to often-excluded community members during COVID-19 pandemic, and presenting our cancer center as an accessible resource to the wider community. Future directions include formalizing evaluation strategies to capture medical engagement via cancer screening and detection rates, delivering focused cancer discussions by disease sites, and further expanding audience base through mixed media formats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare the production of anaphoric expressions in Spanish and Italian. In two sentence completion tasks, Spanish and Italian-speaking participants complete sentence fragments where we manipulate the location of the antecedents (in a main or subordinate clause), the gender of the antecedents (similar or different) and the referent of the anaphoric expression (subject or object antecedent). Our results show a weaker subject bias for null pronouns and a weaker object bias for overt pronouns in Spanish compared to Italian. In addition, a thetic interpretation of the initial (subordinate) clause decreases the accessibility of the subject antecedent, leading to an increased use of noun phrases when there is gender-similarity between antecedents. By including gender dissimilar antecedents, we further observe an increase in speakers' production of overt pronouns when reference to an object antecedent is expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English orthography differs from that of other European languages in terms of complexity and regularity. This difference may impact the development of accurate spelling in English, especially when it is learned as a foreign language in school. In this study we wanted to explore spelling development patterns of Spanish speaking children learning English at school. To do so, we analyzed spelling errors from a free narrative task from 136 children in fourth, fifth and sixth grades. We classified errors following a two-level procedure based on the Triple Word Form theory (Phonology, Orthography and Morphology) and the POMAS (Phonological, Orthographic, and Morphological Assessment of Spelling) system. While results showed almost no change in accuracy across grades, there was evidence of more errors related to orthography as compared to phonology and morphology. This points to an incomplete knowledge of English orthography. This study sheds light on the spelling development of foreign language learners, and illustrates the interference that the native language may have when the two orthographies of the speller are linguistically distant. Considering the findings, educational implications to improve foreign language spelling instruction at school are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Hispanic population is the fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States, contributing to nearly half of the population growth over the last decade. Unfortunately, this population suffers from lower-than-average health literacy rates, leading to poorer health outcomes. Per the American Medical Association and National Institutes of Health, patient education materials (PEMs) should be written at no higher than a 6th grade reading level. Given that US Hispanic adults have the second-highest obesity prevalence, this study aims to analyze the readability of Spanish-language PEMs regarding bariatric surgery available in US-based academic and medical centers. Methods: A total of 50 PEMs were found via the query ""cirugía de pérdida de peso" site: (edu OR.org)" on the Google search engine. Thirty-nine sources met the inclusion criteria of belonging to a US-based academic or medical center and containing information regarding the indications for bariatric surgery, descriptions of the types of bariatric surgery, what to expect before and after surgery, or the risks and benefits of bariatric surgery. The excerpts were analyzed according to three readability formulas designed specifically for the Spanish language and evaluated for their reading grade level. Results: All 39 sources were at the college reading level per the Fry graph corrected for Spanish. Per the Spaulding formula, 37 sources were "Grade 12 + " and two sources were "Grade 8–10." Per the Fernandez-Huerta formula, 16 sources were at the 8th/9th grade reading level, 22 sources were at the 7th grade reading level, and one was at the 6th grade reading level. Conclusion: The Spanish-language bariatric surgery PEMs available online from US-based academic and medical centers are generally above the recommended 6th grade reading level. Failure to meet the recommended sixth-grade reading level decreases health care literacy for Spanish-speaking patients within the United States seeking bariatric surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Migraine symptoms vary significantly between patients and within the same patient. Currently, an increasing number of therapeutic options are available for symptomatic and preventive treatment. Guidelines encourage physicians to use shared decision-making (SDM) in their practice, listening to patients' treatment preferences in order to select the most suitable and effective therapy. Although training for healthcare professionals could increase their awareness of SDM, results concerning its effectiveness are inconclusive. This study aimed to analyze the impact of a training activity to promote SDM in the context of migraine care. This was addressed by evaluating the impact on patients' decisional conflict (main objective), patient-physician relationship, neurologists' perceptions of the training and patient's perception of SDM. Methods: A multicenter observational study was conducted in four highly specialized headache units. The participating neurologists received SDM training targeting people with migraine in clinical practice to provide techniques and tools to optimize physician-patient interactions and encourage patient involvement in SDM. The study was set up in three consecutive phases: control phase, in which neurologists were blind to the training activity and performed the consultation with the control group under routine clinical practice; training phase, when the same neurologists participated in the SDM training; and SDM phase, in which these neurologists performed the consultation with the intervention group after the training. Patients in both groups with a change of treatment assessment during the visit completed the Decisional conflict scale (DCS) after the consultation to measure the patient's decisional conflict. Also, patients answered the patient-doctor relationship questionnaire (CREM-P) and the 9-item Shared Decision-Making Questionnaire (SDM-Q-9). The mean ± SD scores obtained from the study questionnaires were calculated for both groups and compared to determine whether there were significant differences (p < 0.05). Results: A total of 180 migraine patients (86.7% female, mean age of 38.5 ± 12.3 years) were included, of which 128 required a migraine treatment change assessment during the consultation (control group, n = 68; intervention group, n = 60). A low decisional conflict was found without significant differences between the intervention (25.6 ± 23.4) and control group (22.1 ± 17.9; p = 0.5597). No significant differences in the CREM-P and SDM-Q-9 scores were observed between groups. Physicians were satisfied with the training and showed greater agreement with the clarity, quality and selection of the contents. Moreover, physicians felt confident communicating with patients after the training, and they applied the techniques and SDM strategies learned. Conclusion: SDM is a model currently being actively used in clinical practice for headache consultation, with high patient involvement in the process. This SDM training, while useful from the physician's perspective, may be more effective at other levels of care where there is still room for optimization of patient involvement in decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Changes in Meaning in life (MIL) have been shown to be particularly important when people face very stressful events such as receiving a cancer diagnosis and treatment. Active coping strategies have been related to higher levels of MIL in people with a diagnosis of cancer. Objective: To explore the evolution of MIL in a sample of cancer patients at the time of their diagnosis and three, six, and nine months after surgery, and identify the association between coping strategies three months after diagnosis (T2) and levels of MIL at the different moments in the cancer process (T1-T4). Methods: We assessed MIL at diagnosis and three, six, and nine months after surgery, and coping strategies (fighting spirit, anxious preoccupation, hopelessness, fatalism, and cognitive avoidance) three months after surgery, in 115 women with a diagnosis of Stage I-III breast cancer. Results: We found higher levels of MIL nine months after surgery, compared to previous stages. MIL correlated significantly and positively with a fighting spirit and cognitive avoidance, and negatively with hopelessness and anxious preoccupation. Conclusions: Results highlight the importance of coping in relation to meaning-making processes in cancer. Meaning-centred interventions could help patients who are in the process of coping with cancer to make sense of their lives and the experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Need for cognition is an important individual difference referring to the tendency to enjoy and engage in effortful cognitive activity. We psychometrically validated a very efficient version of the scale in Spanish with 6 rather than 18 items. Shorter questionnaires are in high demand as they can decrease participant fatigue for example. Questionnaires were administered in Spanish to two independent samples of Uruguayans (N = 367; N = 121). In sample 1, we compared the 18-item version to the 6 hypothesized items, the 6 items with the highest factor loadings and the 12 excluded items. The 6-item version achieved acceptable model fit in confirmatory factor analyses, measurement invariance across fields of study and gender, and performed better than other models in multiple respects. Model fit in sample 2 was even better. Construct validity with external measures (personality, academic motivations, academic performance, consideration of future consequences, work innovation) was upheld in both samples. We discussed subtle differences in correlations and the content of items across versions. ANOVAs suggested that negligible to null differences across gender and field of study. Reliability was acceptable (α =.76) in sample 1 and good in sample 2 (α =.85). In comparison to longer versions, the 6-item version came at little-to-no cost in terms of psychometric properties. Results support its use for comparison between students from different fields and gender. Disposing of this very efficient Need for Cognition Scale in Spanish can encourage its widespread use and in high-stakes assessments of the predictors of performance in higher education and the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: "How do I perceive my own body?" is a central question during adolescence, which addresses the subjective assessment of body image, called Body Esteem. Although concern about body esteem increases during adolescence, there is a lack of psychometrically validated measures to assess it specifically among Spanish adolescents. Objective: This study aims to validate the Body-Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adult populations (BESAA), a widely used measure of body esteem across cultures, among the Spanish adolescent population. Methods: The cross-cultural adequacy and acceptability of the Argentinian-Spanish version by Forbes et al., (2012) were pilot tested and the questionnaire was completed by 1,258 students (Mage = 15.56). Next, several psychometric analyses were carried out: exploratory (AFE) and confirmatory (CFA) factorial structure, convergent and discriminant validity, nomological validity, internal consistency, and temporal reliability. Results: The AFE and CFA supported a reduced Spanish version of the BESAA of 14 items (BESAA-S) and maintained the original three-factor structure (BE-Weight, BE-Appearance, and BE-Attribution subscales). The BESAA-S showed acceptable internal consistency and strong test-retest reliability. Discriminant validity between subscales was appropriate, and convergent validity was appropriate except for the BE-Attribution subscale. Nomological validity was supported through significant correlations with body appreciation, general self-esteem, sociocultural attitudes towards appearance, and disordered eating symptoms. Body esteem was negatively associated with weight status. Conclusions: This study presents a culturally appropriate, shortened Spanish BESAA as a reliable instrument for body esteem assessment among Spanish speaking adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of technology in recent years and the increased use of digital platforms has boosted e-commerce, where digital banking stands out in this research. The present study aims to analyze the impact of the variables privacy, ease of use and trust in digital banking. In addition, it studies whether this impact is affected by the nationality of the users. The study was conducted through a literature review and the dissemination of an online questionnaire using PLS software. The analysis validated the measurement scale and analyzed the structural model at different stages, which confirmed its validity and reliability. The research concludes that privacy positively influences trust and perceived ease of use by users. Moreover, it confirms that the higher the perceived ease of use, the higher the consumer trust. However, the research does not show significant results to support that the difference in nationality positively and directly influences the sense of trust, privacy and ease of use of the surveyed users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different studies have demonstrated that people with dyslexia have difficulties in acquiring fluent reading and writing. These problems are also evident when they learn a second language. The aim of our study was to investigate if there is a linguistic transfer effect for writing in children with dyslexia when they face tasks in English (L2), as well as the possible influence of other linguistic skills (spelling, vocabulary and reading) in English (L2) and in Spanish (L1). Participants completed a series of tasks both in Spanish and English: a picture naming task, a word reading task, a word spelling task, and a written composition of which we analysed its quality through different variables provided by the Coh-metrix software. Our results revealed that children with dyslexia show similar or parallel performance in written composition in both languages, which could imply a language transfer effect from L1 and L2. Besides, basic language skills are related to the characteristics of written composition to a greater extent in English than in Spanish, suggesting the impact of these on the quality of written composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Sunnybrook facial grading system (SFGS) is one of the most widely employed tools to assess facial function. The present study aimed to determine the validity and reliability of the Spanish language version of the SFGS. Methods: Forward–backward translation from the original English version was performed by fluent speakers of English and Spanish. Videos from 65 patients with facial paralysis (FP) were evaluated twice by five otolaryngologists with experience in FP evaluation. Internal consistency and intra- and inter-rater reliability were assessed. The House–Brackmann scale was used to display concurrent validity which was established by Spearman's rho correlation. Results: The Cronbach's α score exceeded 0.70. The intra-rater intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was nearly perfect for the composite score (0.96–0.99), voluntary movements (0.97–0.99), and synkinesis (0.91–0.98), and important to almost perfect for symmetry at rest (0.79–0.97). In both evaluations, the inter-rater ICC was higher than 0.90 for the composite score (0.92–0.96) and voluntary movements (0.91–0.96) and slightly lower for symmetry at rest (0.66–0.85) and synkinesis (0.72–0.87). A strong negative correlation was found between the H–B scale and SFGS (Spearman's rho coefficient = − 0.92, p < 0.001) in both evaluations. Conclusion: The Spanish version of the SFGS is a reliable and valuable instrument for the assessment of facial function in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with FP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Mindful parenting is the extension of dispositional mindfulness to parent–child interactions. The Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting scale (IM-P) is a 31-item self-report measure to assess different dimensions of mindful parenting. Its psychometric properties have been evaluated in several countries. Two studies were conducted, and the principal aim was to assess the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the IM-P in two samples of Spanish parents. Method: In Study 1, 785 parents filled out this questionnaire and a dispositional mindfulness questionnaire. In Study 2, 859 parents responded to questions about mindful parenting and self-compassion. Results: The results of an exploratory factor analysis suggested a 5-factor structure in Study 1: nonjudgmental acceptance of parental functioning, compassion for the child, listening with full attention, self-regulation in parenting, and emotional awareness of the child. This 5-factor model was also evaluated through a confirmatory factor analysis in Study 2. The 5 factors showed good internal consistency and positive correlations with measures of dispositional mindfulness (Study 1) and self-compassion (Study 2). Conclusions: The Spanish version of the IM-P has demonstrated adequate psychometric properties in terms of reliability and validity in two samples of Spanish parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the impact of certain cognitive processes on word and pseudoword reading in languages with different orthographic consistency (Spanish and Arabic) in the first year of Primary Education. The study was conducted with a group of 113 pupils from Algeria and another group of 128 pupils from Ecuador, from a middle-class background and without any special education needs. The participants were assessed in terms of their reading ability of words and pseudowords, knowledge of letters, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and phonological memory. Using a correlational design, descriptive-exploratory, bivariate, and hierarchical multivariate regressions were applied to the different measures of reading in each language. The findings show that knowledge of letters, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and phonological memory contribute differently to the explanation of reading ability in each group at the start of compulsory schooling. These results have important implications for the teaching of reading skills and the prevention of specific learning disabilities, as well as the theory of reading acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This meta-analysis aims to quantitatively synthesize the relation between the essential components of reading and reading comprehension in children whose first language is Spanish and who are learning to read in Spanish in a monolingual setting. Searches were conducted in WOS, Scopus, and ERIC from 2000 to 2021. We used a random effects model and Fisher's z as an index of effect size. We found 33 studies involving 146 effect sizes between the essential components of reading and reading comprehension. The essential components included phonological awareness, morphological awareness, alphabetic principle, fluency, vocabulary, and oral comprehension. Results of the meta-analysis revealed that (1) most studies have focused on understanding the relation between phonological awareness or alphabetic principle and reading comprehension, (2) the largest effect sizes were between phonological awareness and reading comprehension, and between fluency and reading comprehension, and (3) there is a large heterogeneity across studies which is explained, in part, by factors such as age, country where the study was conducted, and the reading comprehension tests used. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contemplates the concept of typographical advocacy, defined here as a variety of activities, strategies, and policies designed to increase or enhance language support in computing systems, facilitating typing and displaying texts in local languages. Focusing on the cases of Spanish and Paraguayan Guarani, the paper traces some existing efforts in the domain of typographical advocacy and strives to explain their dynamics. An attempt is made to examine both situations in which typographical advocacy is visible and explicit (as in the case of Spanish) and cases in which advocacy seems negligible (as in the case of Guarani). A wide range of enabling and hindering factors are examined, such as the relations between tech companies, nation-state institutions, consumers, and the habitus created by the use of technology. Through these examples, the rationale for advocacy is explored as well as alternative courses of action in cases where advocacy is not desired or fails to achieve its goals. A case will be made for raising the awareness of typographical issues in language planning and policy (LPP) both as part of broader multilingual awareness and as a tool for solving practical language problems in times of increased dependency on computing and mobile devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I discuss apparent violations to the P(reposition)-Stranding Generalization (Merchant 2001) in Spanish, a language that does not allow P-stranding in regular wh-questions. I will refer to these apparent violations to the P-stranding Generalization as cases of P(reposition)-omission, which I define as the omission of a preposition in an ellipsis fragment. In order to provide a unified analysis for all types of clausal ellipsis, I examine different constructions such as sluicing, fragment answers, contrast sluicing, stripping and pseudostripping, split questions, and sprouting. I claim that P-omission in clausal ellipsis in Spanish is only allowed when the following two conditions are met: (a) the remnant's correlate in the antecedent does not move, and (b) the remnant does not move. I account for the distribution of this phenomenon by arguing that ellipsis is licensed under strict syntactic identity, and that the remnant doesn't need to move to escape deletion. Additionally, I show that previous approaches that derive P-omission in Spanish from non-isomorphic, copular sources make incorrect predictions with regard to the patterns found in different types of clausal ellipsis in this language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparable corpora can benefit the development of Neural Machine Translation models, in particular for under-resourced languages. We present a case study centred on the exploitation of a large comparable corpus for Basque-Spanish, created from independently-produced news by the Basque public broadcaster eitb, where we evaluate the impact of different techniques to exploit the original data, in order to complement parallel datasets for this language pair in both translation directions. Two efficient methods for parallel sentence mining are explored, which identified a common core of approximately half of the total number of aligned sentences, each one uniquely identifying valid parallel sentences not captured by the other method. Filtering the data via identification of length-difference outliers proved highly effective to improve the models, as was the use of tags to discriminate between comparable and parallel data in the training corpora. The use of backtranslated data is also evaluated in this work, with results indicating that alignment-based datasets remain the most beneficial, although complementary backtranslations should also be included to fully exploit the available comparable data. Overall, the results in this work demonstrate that this type of data needs to be carefully analysed prior to its use as training data for Neural Machine Translation, since issues such as information imbalance between source and target data can lead to unoptimal results for a given translation pair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conducting a functional analysis is the "gold standard" of behavior assessment with best practices recommending identification of idiosyncratic variables as essential to valid results. One potential variable that might impact assessment results is language of assessment. For individuals who operate in environments with multiple languages (e.g., English and Spanish), the language of assessment might differentially impact assessment results. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate if language of assessment affects identified function. The current study presents the results of 10 cases in which the experimenters conducted assessments (i.e., functional analysis) in both the Spanish and English language. Participants were nine children with autism who engaged in problem behavior and whose parents reported Spanish as the primary home language. Result indicates correspondence of function for eight of the ten cases. Discussion of results and recommendations for practice and future research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patient-provider language discordance is known to negatively affect patient experiences. This study describes the birth experience during COVID-19 among monolingual Spanish and bilingual Spanish/English speakers. Qualitative videoconference interviews with 15 monolingual Spanish and 15 bilingual Spanish/English patients that gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic at a NYC tertiary-care hospital. 93% of participants had a positive birthing experience. Common themes were quality of care, birth outcome, and supportive staff. 80% of patients lacked a support person postpartum. 27% of Spanish-only speakers felt that an interpreter should have been provided but was not, and 47% felt the experience would have been different if they spoke English. The patient birth experience is tied to birth outcomes and quality of care and remained positive during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions on support people during the intra- or postpartum impacted the birthing experience more than provider language discordance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As more higher education institutions in the United States look not only to be designated as Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) but to serve their student population in languages other than English, learning designers who are native speakers or have fluency in languages other than English are utilizing their language and cultural competencies to design courses. In this article, two graduate students in Colorado who are learning designers share their experiences as learning designers for a nascent certificate program in early childhood education in Spanish and also a translanguaging OER pilot project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semantic feature production norms are a useful tool for researchers to have empirically collected data about the semantic representations of a particular population. As older adults have been shown to have certain differences in their semantic knowledge organization in comparison with younger adults, it is relevant for them to have their own normative data. Thus we present here the first Spanish semantic feature production norms for older adults. They contain information about the feature composition of 400 concrete concepts. We also provide information about some feature and concept variables as well as comparisons between young and old adults on these variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish future subjunctive (FS) demonstrates how linguistics can inform modern language policy. The FS is described as an archaism to be eliminated from contemporary legal texts. We analyze a corpus of over 3000 tokens of the FS in Spanish legal texts dated between the 13th and 16th century. The FS has two functions in legal discourse. The casuistic function allows for indicating paradigmatic subordination; the forwarding function introduces new information. Our quantitative results suggest an increase in the usage frequency of the FS in legal discourse, where an inverse trend appears in other genres. As shown by a linear regression analysis, the FS started appearing significantly closer to the beginning of the law article, indicating an increase in the forwarding function in time. In view of our results, reformers of legal Spanish should consider the functions of the FS in legal discourse when advising its suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increase in production of data for the biomedical field and the unstoppable growth of the internet, the need for Information Extraction (IE) techniques has skyrocketed. Named Entity Recognition (NER) is one of such IE tasks useful for professionals in different areas. There are several settings where biomedical NER is needed, for instance, extraction and analysis of biomedical literature, relation extraction, organisation of biomedical documents, and knowledge-base completion. However, the computational treatment of entities in the biomedical domain has faced a number of challenges including its high cost of annotation, ambiguity, and lack of biomedical NER datasets in languages other than English. These difficulties have hampered data development, affecting both the domain itself and its multilingual coverage. The purpose of this study is to overcome the scarcity of biomedical data for NER in Spanish, for which only two datasets exist, by developing a robust bilingual NER model. Inspired by back-translation, this paper leverages the progress in Neural Machine Translation (NMT) to create a synthetic version of the Colorado Richly Annotated Full-Text (CRAFT) dataset in Spanish. Additionally, a new CRAFT dataset is constructed by replacing 20% of the entities in the original dataset generating a new augmented dataset. We evaluate two training methods: concatenation of datasets and continuous training to assess the transfer learning capabilities of transformers using the newly obtained datasets. The best performing NER system in the development set achieved an F-1 score of 86.39%. The novel methodology proposed in this paper presents the first bilingual NER system and it has the potential to improve applications across under-resourced languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary purpose of the current pilot study was to test the effects of an adapted and collaborative intervention model with a systematic teaching approach on Latina Spanish-speaking caregivers’ use of EMT en Español Para Autismo strategies with their young children on the autism spectrum. A multiple baseline across behaviors single case design was replicated across two dyads. A series of family interviews and a direct therapist-child intervention phase supported individualization of the intervention. Families were provided speech generating devices as part of their children’s intervention protocol. Caregivers were taught to use EMT en Español Para Autismo strategies with aided language input. Strategies included contingent target-level and proximal target-level language modeling, linguistic expansions, and communication elicitations. Secondary variables measured included generalization of strategy use to unsupported interactions and at a 2-month follow-up, child communication outcomes, and social validity. There was a strong functional relation for one dyad between the adapted and collaborative intervention and caregiver use of EMT strategies. The functional relation was weakened by behavioral covariation for the other dyad. Children increased the quantity and diversity of their communication during the study. Caregivers generalized their use of most EMT strategies and reported most aspects of the approach to be socially valid. The current study provides an initial demonstration of an effective model for adaptation and individualization of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions for Latino Spanish-speaking families with children on the autism spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key issue in the business ethics field is the design of effective measures for assessing the ethical culture of organizations. The Corporate Ethical Virtues Model (CEV), developed by Kaptein in 2008, is an instrument for measuring ethical culture, and has been applied, adapted and validated in different contexts. In 2013, DeBode, Armenakis, Field and Walker developed the CEV–S, a shortened version of the original scale. Both the CEV and CEV–S assess eight dimensions based on corporate ethical virtues: clarity, congruency of supervisors, congruency of senior management, feasibility, supportability, transparency, discussability and sanctionability. The objective of this study is to present a Spanish version of the CEV–S and its validation process. The scale was applied to two samples of 114 and 193 Colombian employees from two companies operating in the services sector. The confirmatory factor analyses revealed a good fit for the eight-factor structure of the Spanish CEV–S and the statistical tests applied showed good levels of reliability and validity for this scale. The adequate psychometric properties shown by the Spanish CEV–S may support its use in future research to measure organizational ethical culture in Spanish-speaking settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents the results of a cross-sectional reading and spelling assessment conducted among 118 Spanish children in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. The first aim was to explore whether children´s use of orthographic knowledge was modulated by lexical variables—word frequency and orthographic neighborhood—or sublexical variables—context-dependent, inconsistent or neutral letters- as well as the developmental pathway of such knowledge in both tasks. The second aim was to provide insight into the type of errors committed by children in order to detect the words and structures that convey most difficulties. Data showed that children rely on sublexical processes more than on lexical ones in reading and writing. Persistent errors in context-dependent and inconsistent letters were evident even in 5th grade, and writing involved greater difficulty in all grades. The presence of other type of errors such as substitutions, omissions or lexicalizations was negligible. Finally, an item analysis revealed that errors were located in low-frequency syllables, particularly in the first position. Data point to specific and persistent difficulties in context-dependent and inconsistent letters that may hinder the consolidation of accurate orthographic word representations in Spanish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to refer in any language, speakers must choose between explicit forms of expression, such as names or descriptions, or more ambiguous forms like pronouns. Current models suggest that reference form is driven by subjecthood, where speakers in English choose pronouns for the subject, and speakers of null pronoun languages like Spanish or Italian use null pronouns. We test this generalization by examining the effect of a different factor, thematic role predictability, on reference production in Spanish. In stories about transfer events (e.g., Ana gave a ball to Liz), speakers prefer to use pronouns more for reference to goals (Liz) than sources (Rosa and Arnold, Journal of Memory and Language 94:43–60, 2017). However, this has not been examined for null pronoun languages. In two experiments, we demonstrate that Spanish speakers are also sensitive to thematic role, but it primarily affects the rate of overt pronouns (ella, el) rather than null pronouns. These results highlight the need to include semantic constraints in models of reference production for null-pronoun languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and hypothesis: We sought to develop a Spanish translation of the Female Genitourinary Pain Index (GUPI) and to validate this instrument in US Latina women. Methods: Translation back-translation was performed to create the initial Spanish version. Bilingual women with pelvic and/or genitourinary pain were recruited from clinical sites and social media. Participants reported demographics and completed the Female GUPI in both English and Spanish. Agreement was assessed for each item, subscale and total score. Additionally, we performed cognitive debriefing interviews to further test face validity. A consensus group of bilingual physicians and healthcare personnel utilized comments from the interviews to create a final Spanish version. Results: Thirty-four participants completed the questionnaire. Their average age was 33 years, 80% reported attending some college, and 20% reported an undergraduate degree or higher. Most were born in mainland USA (57%) or Mexico (27%). Agreement for the pain, urinary and quality of life subscales between the English and Spanish versions of the measure were excellent (0.91, 0.89 and 0.92, respectively) with 0.96 agreement for the measure as a whole. Despite favorable psychometrics, preferences for alternate wording were reported over 50 times. Based on that feedback, a consensus group was formed, which recommended changes to 13 of the 15 items, 3 of which required complete rewriting. Conclusions: The Spanish Female GUPI is strongly correlated with the English original; however, participants reported the language was overly complex. Translation and validation should include review of the measure and feedback by the target audience for optimal clarity and readability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overview of the market of literature in translation in the United States: who is publishing translated literature and why, what kind of books are working in the market and for which reasons. With a particular focus in the market for books translated from the Spanish language, both from Spain and Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript is based on a keynote address presented at the 2020 Marcé Society's Conference celebrating the Society's 40th anniversary. The address described a 50-year perspective on prevention research, current evidence that perinatal depression can be prevented, and how digital tools could be used to disseminate perinatal depression prevention interventions throughout the world. We utilized the Mothers and Babies Course as a case study to illustrate these goals. The article reviews the gradual progress of depression prevention research, from the time when the state of the science was such that it was believed that the onset of major depressive episodes could not be prevented until the present day. In addition, the article recounts the three consensus reports on prevention of mental disorders published by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, culminating in the 2019 report, which calls on the field to implement known interventions for the prevention of depression and other mental disorders, and to scale up their administration to reduce the prevalence of these disorders in the general population. The paper presents the 2019 recommendations of the US Preventive Services Task Force, which instructs the health system to provide routine referrals to perinatal depression prevention interventions (e.g., the Mothers and Babies Course) to perinatal persons at risk for depression. We now have the knowledge to prevent approximately half of episodes of perinatal depression. It is time to implement this knowledge and begin to do research on how to prevent the remaining half. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of the study was to translate and validate the English version of the 'Knee Society Knee Scoring System' developed in 2011 (2011 KSS) into Spanish. This new KSS version considers patient satisfaction and expectations before and after knee arthroplasty. Moreover, the questionnaire allows a better characterization of a younger and more diverse population. Methods: A cross-cultural adaptation process was carried out to obtain the Spanish version of the questionnaire. After that, patients undergoing primary knee arthroplasty answered the translated questionnaire before and 6 months after surgery. Psychometric properties including feasibility, validity, reliability, and sensitivity to change were then assessed, and the questionnaire was compared with prior KSS, as well as with SF-12 and WOMAC, all of them already validated to Spanish. Results: In the cross-cultural adaptation process, alternative translations of some items in 'Patient Expectative' and 'Functional Activities' sections were suggested. One hundred and seventy-six patients answered the resulting 1.0 version. Feasibility: 'Charnley Functional Classification', 'Deduction for flexion contracture and extensor lag', the question 'Do you use these aids because of your knees?', and 'Advanced activities (total)' obtained a high number of missing items. Eighty-eight patients (50%) in the preoperative visit and 141 patients (86.5%) after surgery had at least one missing answer. Internal validity: although the analysis suggests the presence of more than one dimension, there was a dimension that explained a higher percentage of variance, which was more noticeable in the postoperative visit. Convergent validity: correlation coefficients with prior KSS, SF-12, and WOMAC confirm the questionnaire's validity. Reliability: Cronbach's alpha for the new KSS was 0.841 and 0.861 in visit 1 and 2, respectively, and higher than that for prior KSS. Sensitivity to change: statistically, significant differences were found between the mean scores between both visits. Conclusion: The proposed Spanish version of 2011 KSS is valid, reliable, and sensible to change in patients undergoing primary knee arthroplasty. Moreover, it has higher internal consistency (reliability) than the prior KSS. It should be emphasized its correct filling by both health professional and patients Level of evidence: II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idiomatic expressions (IE) are groups of words whose meaning is different from the sum of its components. Neural mechanisms underlying their processing are still debated, especially regarding lateralization, main structures involved, and whether this neural network is independent from the spoken language. To investigate the neural correlates of IE processing in healthy Spanish speakers.Twenty one native speakers of Spanish were asked to select one of 4 possible meanings for IE or literal sentences. fMRI scans were performed in a 3.0T scanner and processed by SPM 12 comparing IE vs. literal sentences. Laterality indices were calculated at the group level. IE activated a bilateral, slightly right-sided network comprising the pars triangularis and areas 9 and 10. In the left hemisphere (LH): the pars orbitalis, superior frontal, angular and fusiform gyrus. In the right hemisphere (RH): anterior insula, middle frontal, and superior temporal gyrus. This network reveals the importance of the RH, besides traditional LH areas, to comprehend IE. This agrees with the semantic coding model: the LH activates narrow semantic fields choosing one single meaning and ignoring others, and the RH detects distant semantic relationships, activating diffuse semantic fields. It is also in line with the configuration hypothesis: both meanings, literal and figurative, are executed simultaneously, until the literal meaning is definitively rejected and the figurative one is accepted. Processing IE requires the activation of fronto-temporal networks in both hemispheres. The results concur with previous studies in other languages, so these networks are independent from the spoken language. Understanding these mechanisms sheds light on IE processing difficulties in different clinical populations and must be considered when planning resective surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting quality of life (QOL) has become a goal of support services for people with disabilities and a key intervention outcome. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the adapted Spanish version of the Cerebral Palsy Quality of Life Questionnaire (CP QOL) for children and adolescents, in its self-report and primary caregiver-report versions. The Spanish versions were translated and adapted following the guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation. Eighty-two children and adolescents with CP and 304 primary caregivers completed the final Spanish versions of the CP QOL, the KIDSCREEN-27, and instruments to measure functioning. Exploratory Factor Analysis yielded a distinguishable domain structure similar to the original English version. Cronbach's alpha ranged between.75 and.91 for primary caregiver reports and between.81 and.91 for child/teen self-reports. Moderate and weak correlations were observed between the CP QOL and the generic measure of QOL and functioning. This study provides a valid instrument to assess the QOL of children and adolescents with CP in the Spanish context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to cross-validate the utility of Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) cut-offs derived in a large Colombian sample with further exploration of the impact of age, education, and Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) scores on TOMM trials. To address these aims, the study examines concordance rates of the TOMM scores by demographics and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) test performance. Additionally, item response theory analysis (IRT) focused on the interaction between demographic variables and the psychometric properties of the TOMM items. Data were collected from 1416 healthy controls (58.6% female; M age = 58.19; M education = 9 years) who completed the TOMM, MMSE, and HVLT-R as part of a comprehensive battery conducted in Spanish. Frequency analysis was used to assess for concordance rates of passing TOMMe10, Trial 1, and Trial 2 scores, further broken down by median split for MMSE, education, and age. Additionally, IRT is used to examine, in detail, the psychometric properties of the TOMM items and relationships to demographic variables. Validity classification differed across the TOMM trials, with 82.8% passing e10, 88.6% Trial 1, and 92.5% Trial 2. When dichotomized by a median split, passing rates across all TOMM trials were significantly different (p ≤.001) for MMSE scores, education, and age with the largest discrepancy (~ 21%) observed on TOMMe10. IRT confirmed that all TOMM items are easy to answer correctly with Trial 2 items being appreciably easier (difficulty range = − 4.90 to − 1.52) than Trial 1 items (difficulty range = − 6.22 to − 3.50). Age, education, MMSE, and HVLT-R scores all were significantly related to latent trait scores on the TOMM (p <.001). Utilization of the TOMM in Spanish-speaking individuals is warranted, but with caution. The TOMMe10 yielded higher rates of invalid classification when compared to Trial 1 or Trial 2. IRT methods allow examination of whether traditional TOMM trial cut-offs may be appropriate when individuals present with advanced age or low educational attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a short and valid questionnaire for evaluating Facebook usage by the Spanish-speaking population. In order to achieve this aim, the Facebook scales developed by Ellison and collaborators (i.e., Facebook Intensity, Actual Friends, Connection Strategies, and Relationship Maintenance Behavior) were translated into Spanish and then grouped into a 31-item questionnaire: the Spanish Facebook Battery (SFB). Subsequently, the reliability and construct validity of the SFB was tested once administered to a sample of Spanish speakers (N = 433) by means of an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with iterated principal axis factoring and Promax rotation methods. The SFB showed high internal (α =.89) and acceptable retest (α =.65) reliability whereas the EFA indicated the retention of five dimensions that explained 89% of the total variance in this sample data. A main dimension related to Facebook Intensity was found to account for almost half of the total variance, whereas the other four dimensions were found to be associated with Online Connection Strategies, Relationship Maintenance Behaviors, Maintaining Connection Strategies, and Offline Connection Strategies. Therefore, the factor analysis returned a dimensional structure of the SFB that differed slightly from the original scales composition, stressing the difference between online and offline connection strategies in this population sample. In summary, this article proposes a short and valid tool which could be useful for assessing Facebook usage among Spanish-speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decreased health literacy is associated with worse outcomes for a variety of dermatologic conditions. Hispanic adults have the lowest average health literacy of any racial or ethnic group in the United Sates. Although patients are increasingly using online patient education materials (PEMs) for dermatologic care, limited information exists regarding the readability of these resources. The objective of this study is to evaluate the readability of online Spanish language PEMs in dermatology. Online Spanish language PEMs relevant to dermatology were gathered from the United States National Library of Medicine (USNLM) MedlinePlus health library and top Google, Yahoo, and Bing search results for "Spanish patient education dermatology." Spanish text was analyzed for readability using two validated programs: Spanish Lexile Analyzer and Índice Flesch-Szigriszt (INFLESZ). Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to examine the association between the two readability measures. ANOVA without post hoc correction was performed to determine variability between PEMs. A total of 254 Spanish language PEMs were collected and analyzed from nine online sources. The average article length was 601 words. The average Lexile measure was 1005 L (SD = 144 L) and the average INFLESZ score was 64.60 (SD = 7.53). Readability scores equated to an 8–10th grade reading level and was varied based on the source of information (p < 0.001). Online Spanish language PEMs related to dermatology are generally written at a reading level that exceeds national recommendations and may reduce comprehension for Hispanic patients. Targeted initiatives to address and improve online health information for Spanish-speaking patients are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EMPATHIC project develops and validates new interaction paradigms for personalized virtual coaches (VC) to promote healthy and independent aging. To this end, the work presented in this paper is aimed to analyze the interaction between the EMPATHIC-VC and the users. One of the goals of the project is to ensure an end-user driven design, involving senior users from the beginning and during each phase of the project. Thus, the paper focuses on some sessions where the seniors carried out interactions with a Wizard of Oz driven, simulated system. A coaching strategy based on the GROW model was used throughout these sessions so as to guide interactions and engage the elderly with the goals of the project. In this interaction framework, both the human and the system behavior were analyzed. The way the wizard implements the GROW coaching strategy is a key aspect of the system behavior during the interaction. The language used by the virtual agent as well as his or her physical aspect are also important cues that were analyzed. Regarding the user behavior, the vocal communication provides information about the speaker's emotional status, that is closely related to human behavior and which can be extracted from the speech and language analysis. In the same way, the analysis of the facial expression, gazes and gestures can provide information on the non verbal human communication even when the user is not talking. In addition, in order to engage senior users, their preferences and likes had to be considered. To this end, the effect of the VC on the users was gathered by means of direct questionnaires. These analyses have shown a positive and calm behavior of users when interacting with the simulated virtual coach as well as some difficulties of the system to develop the proposed coaching strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-resource languages (LRL) with complex morphology are known to be more difficult to translate in an automatic way. Some LRLs are particularly more difficult to translate than others due to the lack of research interest or collaboration. In this article, we experiment with a specific LRL, Quechua, that is spoken by millions of people in South America yet has not undertaken a neural approach for translation until now. We improve the latest published results with baseline BLEU scores using the state-of-the-art recurrent neural network approaches for translation. Additionally, we experiment with several morphological segmentation techniques and introduce a new one in order to decompose the language's suffix-based morphemes. We extend our work to other high-resource languages (HRL) like Finnish and Spanish to show that Quechua, for qualitative purposes, can be considered compatible with and translatable into other major European languages with measurements comparable to the state-of-the-art HRLs at this time. We finalize our work by making our best two Quechua–Spanish translation engines available on-line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Missions and indigenous villages are commonly investigated contexts for indigenous responses to Spanish colonialism in the American Southwest. In early colonial New Mexico, colonists' households were also a venue for interaction and exchange of information between Pueblos and Spanish. Using the concept of hybridity, I explore seventeenth-century Spanish ranches in northern New Mexico for the interactions between Spanish colonists and Pueblo wives, servants, slaves, and laborers. The architecture, foodways, and artifacts, show an interplay between Pueblo and Spanish ways of making do suggesting that Pueblo peoples contributed in substantial ways to the nature of these households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background (or purpose): Nivolumab has been shown to be effective for the treatment of second-line mRCC. The present study has investigated the effectiveness and safety of nivolumab in real-world Eastern Spanish patients with advanced mRCC at TKI progression. Patients and methods: A retrospective review of mRCC patients treated with nivolumab as a second-line treatment was performed. Analyzed variables included age, sex, ECOG (quality of life scale designed by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group), histology, nephrectomy, location of metastases, number of metastasis locations, previous treatments, analytical data from the standard blood count and biochemistry, and response to treatment. Results: 98 patients from 18 sites in Spain were retrospectively reviewed. The majority of patients were male (75%), had ECOG 0–1 (90.6%), had no brain metastasis (91.4%), had undergone one prior systemic regimen (94.3%), and were current/former smokers (97.1%). Fourteen patients (13.1%) had non-clear cell histology, seven (7.1%) had poor-IMDC prognostic group characteristics, 13 patients (13.1%) had liver metastasis and 35 (35.7%) had bone lesions. All patients received prior systemic therapy (63.3% sunitinib, 34.7% pazopanib). During the study, a median of eight doses of nivolumab was given (range 2–62) and 11 patients received more than 12 doses. Eleven patients (11.2%) received nivolumab as a third or fourth line of treatment. Median duration of therapy was 3.6 months (range 0.5–29.3). Confirmed response rate was 25%. Median progression free survival was 7.8 months (range 1.2–12.1). Median overall survival was 16.3 months (range 1.7–29.3). After discontinuation of treatment, 27.58% of the patients received subsequent systemic cancer therapy. Side effects were mostly grade 1–2 (7.2% had hypothyroidism and 6.2% liver toxicity, 4% had nephritis and 2% hypophysitis). Two cases of grade 3–4 adverse events (2%) were reported. Conclusion: Benefit/risk profile of nivolumab in Eastern-Spanish real-world population with mRCC after tyrosine-kinase inhibitors was consistent with prior real-life studies reported as well as pivotal study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Media-a powerful influence on mental illness stigma-varies by language and culture. Nevertheless, recent meta-analyses have demonstrated scant attention to Spanish language media as well as historically low Latinx participation in mental illness anti-stigma intervention. To better inform how to improve equity in mental health service utilization, this study assessed how language preferences in mass media influence stigma among Latinx adolescents, compared to family language and social preferences.Methods: Sixth-graders self-identifying as Latinx self-completed assessments of mental illness knowledge/positive attitudes and desired separation from peers and adolescent vignette characters experiencing mental illness (N = 179; Texas, U.S., 2011-2012). Participants also responded to measures of language preferences (any Spanish versus only English) for consuming media (film/television, music/radio) and speaking with family (parents/grandparents), and social preferences for parties or social gatherings (Latinx versus Anglo persons). Linear regression models adjusting for student and household factors examined the associations between media and family language and social preferences on mental illness stigma.Results: Latinx adolescents preferring any Spanish versus English-only media reported less mental illness knowledge/positive attitudes and greater social separation from peers and vignette characters with a mental illness, net of all covariates. Family language and social preferences were not associated with any mental illness stigma outcomes.Conclusions: Spanish media preference is associated with greater stigma suggesting more stigmatization may exist in Spanish- versus English-media. Ensuring anti-stigma messaging in Spanish media may reduce disparities in mental illness stigma among Latinx adolescents. These findings have implications for populations with other non-English media preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential for the development of psychopathology in aolescent refugees and asylees is high due to the trauma inherent in their experience. Yet, psychopathology rooted in trauma has proven amenable to treatment. Nonetheless, as most clinicians are monolingual, the language difference between clinician and client may be a barrier of desensitization and processing typically characteristic of trauma therapy. Thus, this study aimed to describe qualitative differences in speech production among native and non-native narratives using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) processing software (Pennebaker et al. 2015) to understand if the current best practice will function similarly in these populations. We compared 10 adolescent immigrants (50% male) who narrated events that provoked their migration to the U.S. in their second language (L2; i.e., English) to 10 age- and gender-matched adolescents narrating in their first language (L1; i.e., Spanish). Results revealed L1 narratives were significantly higher in their use of/talk about anger, cognitive processes, discrepancy, tentativeness, perceptual processes, ingestion, relativity, time, work, and home. L2 narratives were higher in their use of/talk about positive emotions, death, causation, health, motion, space, and fillers. Findings have implications for the efficacy of treatments using discourse to ameliorate symptoms related to trauma in non-native languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]