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1. The role of vision in the acquisition of words: Vocabulary development in blind toddlers

   https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13475  

   Campbell, Erin; Casillas, Robyn; Bergelson, Elika (January 2024, Developmental Science)

   Abstract What is vision's role in driving early word production? To answer this, we assessed parent‐report vocabulary questionnaires administered to congenitally blind children (N = 40, Mean age = 24 months [R: 7–57 months]) and compared the size and contents of their productive vocabulary to those of a large normative sample of sighted children (N = 6574). We found that on average, blind children showed a roughly half‐year vocabulary delay relative to sighted children, amid considerable variability. However, the content of blind and sighted children's vocabulary was statistically indistinguishable in word length, part of speech, semantic category, concreteness, interactiveness, and perceptual modality. At a finer‐grained level, we also found that words’ perceptual properties intersect with children's perceptual abilities. Our findings suggest that while an absence of visual input may initially make vocabulary development more difficult, the content of the early productive vocabulary is largely resilient to differences in perceptual access. Research HighlightsInfants and toddlers born blind (with no other diagnoses) show a 7.5 month productive vocabulary delay on average, with wide variability.Across the studied age range (7–57 months), vocabulary delays widened with age.Blind and sighted children's early vocabularies contain similar distributions of word lengths, parts of speech, semantic categories, and perceptual modalities.Blind children (but not sighted children) were more likely to say visual words which could also be experienced through other senses. 

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2. The Role of Swelling in the Regulation of OPA1-Mediated Mitochondrial Function in the Heart In Vitro

   https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12162017  

   Chapa-Dubocq, Xavier R.; Rodríguez-Graciani, Keishla M.; García-Báez, Jorge; Vadovsky, Alyssa; Bazil, Jason N.; Javadov, Sabzali (August 2023, Cells)

   Optic atrophy-1 (OPA1) plays a crucial role in the regulation of mitochondria fusion and participates in maintaining the structural integrity of mitochondrial cristae. Here we elucidate the role of OPA1 cleavage induced by calcium swelling in the presence of Myls22 (an OPA1 GTPase activity inhibitor) and TPEN (an OMA1 inhibitor). The rate of ADP-stimulated respiration was found diminished by both inhibitors, and they did not prevent Ca2+-induced mitochondrial respiratory dysfunction, membrane depolarization, or swelling. L-OPA1 cleavage was stimulated at state 3 respiration; therefore, our data suggest that L-OPA1 cleavage produces S-OPA1 to maintain mitochondrial bioenergetics in response to stress. 

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3. The problem of the future in the spacetime of resettlement: Iraqi refugees in the U.S.

   https://doi.org/10.1177/02637758221088865  

   Secor, Anna_J; Ehrkamp, Patricia; Loyd, Jenna_M (March 2022, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space)

   How do the lost futures of forced displacement converge with the impasse of being resettled to a “post-future” society such as the U.S.? Based on interviews conducted between 2016 and 2019 with resettlement agents, service providers and Iraqis resettled in the U.S., we argue that the condemnation of “expectations” (that is, realistic hope) coupled with the demand for refugees’ gratitude means that Iraqis resettled to the U.S. are asked to sustain a “hope against hope” for the fullness of American futurity, even in the face of its collapse. We argue that this prescribed structure of feeling distorts the affective realities of those for whom resettlement has meant at once the loss of past futures (e.g. professional qualifications, career trajectories, social status, or intergenerational cycles of care) and the running aground of capacities for futurity – especially as these capacities are bound up with transnationally stretched and reconfigured familial relations. What is at stake is the recognition of the crisis of futurability in the spacetime of resettlement and the rightfulness of refugee expectations for a more humane and fulfilling resettlement. 

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4. Loading and Bioavailability of Colloidal Phosphorus in the Estuarine Gradient of the Deer Creek‐Susquehanna River Transect in the Chesapeake Bay

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005135  

   Li, Qiang; Yuan, Hezhong; Li, Hui; Wang, Dengjun; Jin, Yan; Jaisi, Deb P. (December 2019, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences)

   Abstract Phosphorus (P) overloading is a major cause of surface water eutrophication and bottom water hypoxia. The incomplete understanding of different P pools and their corresponding bioavailability in the continuum from sources and sinks has limited the development of appropriate nutrient management strategies. Here we apply multistable isotope proxies to track colloids and identify whether specific P pools in colloids are biologically cycled at the Deer Creek‐Susquehanna River mouth stretch. Results showed that NaOH‐P_iis the most dominant P pool in the summer and winter seasons. Oxygen isotope values (δ¹⁸O_P) of NaOH‐P_iand HNO₃‐P_ipools of different size fractions of colloids are much heavier than the ranges of equilibrium values in the ambient water, which suggest that these two pools are recalcitrant against biological uptake. It further means isotopic signatures of these P pools could be used to identify the sources of colloids. Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotope compositions of colloids showed that the contribution of terrestrial sources gradually decreases downstream of the river toward the bay and Deer Creek contributes disproportionately high amounts of colloids to the Susquehanna River. These findings provide valuable information on the loading of colloids and relative bioavailability of colloidal P pools in estuarine ecosystems. 

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5. The Origin of Universality in the Inner Edges of Planetary Systems

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acdb5d  

   Batygin, Konstantin; Adams, Fred C.; Becker, Juliette (July 2023, The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   Abstract The characteristic orbital period of the innermost objects within the galactic census of planetary and satellite systems appears to be nearly universal, withPon the order of a few days. This paper presents a theoretical framework that provides a simple explanation for this phenomenon. By considering the interplay between disk accretion, magnetic field generation by convective dynamos, and Kelvin–Helmholtz contraction, we derive an expression for the magnetospheric truncation radius in astrophysical disks and find that the corresponding orbital frequency is independent of the mass of the host body. Our analysis demonstrates that this characteristic frequency corresponds to a period ofP∼ 3 days although intrinsic variations in system parameters are expected to introduce a factor of a ∼2–3 spread in this result. Standard theory of orbital migration further suggests that planets should stabilize at an orbital period that exceeds disk truncation by a small margin. Cumulatively, our findings predict that the periods of close-in bodies should spanP∼ 2–12 days—a range that is consistent with observations. 

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