We examined brain and cognitive reserve related to bilingualism in older adults with, or at-risk for, Alzheimer's disease (AD) from the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging and the Quebec Consortium for the Early Identification of Alzheimer's Disease. We used surface-based morphometry methods to measure cortical thickness and volume of language-related and AD-related brain regions. We did not observe evidence of brain reserve in language-related regions. However, reduced hippocampal volume was observed for monolingual, but not bilingual, older adults with AD. Thus, bilingualism is hypothesized to contribute to reserve in the form of brain maintenance in the context of AD.

Bentonites are readily available clays used in the livestock industry as feed additives to reduce aflatoxin (AF) exposure; their potential interaction with nutrients is the main concern limiting their use, however. The objective of the present study was to determine the safety of a dietary sodium-bentonite (Na-bentonite) supplement as a potential AF adsorbent, using juvenile Sprague Dawley (SD) rats as a research model. Animals were fed either a control diet or a diet containing Na-bentonite at 0.25% and 2% (w/w) inclusion rate. Growth, serum, and blood biochemical parameters, including selected serum vitamins (A and E) and elements such as calcium (Ca), potassium (K), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn) were measured. The mineral characteristics and the aflatoxin B1 sorption capacity of Na-bentonite were also determined. By the end of the study, males gained more weight than females in control and Na-bentonite groups (p ≤ 0.0001); the interaction between treatment and sex was not significant (p = 0.6780), however. Some significant differences between the control group and bentonite treatments were observed in serum biochemistry and vitamin and minerals measurements; however, parameters fell within reference clinical values reported for SD rats and no evidence of dose-dependency was found. Serum Na and Na/K ratios were increased, while K levels were decreased in males and females from Na-bentonite groups. Serum Zn levels were decreased only in males from Na-bentonite treatments. Overall, results showed that inclusion of Na-bentonite at 0.25% and 2% did not cause any observable toxicity in a 3-month rodent study.

Sociodemographic information, such as a speaker’s regional origin, is intimately related to the judgments and social evaluations that listeners assign to that speaker. This association between linguistic form and social information can also lead to linguistic profiling, a harmful form of discrimination. The present study examines the geographic classifications and social attitudes attributed to ten phonetic variants used within regional varieties of Iberian (i.e., European) Spanish. We are specifically interested in understanding listeners’ geographical classifications and language attitudes held toward Andalusian Spanish, which is a less privileged regional variety spoken in Spain’s southern region, as compared to north-central Peninsular Spanish (NCPS). The results of an online survey show that 165 listeners were fairly consistent when geographically classifying Andalusian-sounding stimuli as originating from the south of Spain. Importantly, the respondents also attributed less favorable social meaning to the Andalusian-sounding stimuli in comparison to the NCPS-sounding stimuli. We link the findings to broader themes in sociolinguistics, such as language-based discrimination, linguistic insecurity, and the social motivations of language change.

Vision and hearing impairments are highly prevalent in adults 65 years of age and older. There is a need to understand their association with multiple health-related outcomes. We analyzed data from the Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care (RAI-HC). Home care clients were followed for up to 5 years and categorized into seven unique cohorts based on whether or not they developed new vision and/or hearing impairments. An absolute standardized difference (stdiff) of at least 0.2 was considered statistically meaningful. Most clients (at least 60%) were female and 34.9 per cent developed a new sensory impairment. Those with a new concurrent vison and hearing impairment were more likely than those with no sensory impairments to experience a deterioration in receptive communication (stdiff = 0.68) and in cognitive performance (stdiff = 0.49). After multivariate adjustment, they had a twofold increased odds (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI]:1,87, 2.35) of deterioration in cognitive performance. Changes in sensory functioning are common and have important effects on multiple health-related outcomes.

Despite the multifactorial space of language experience in which people continuously vary, bilinguals are often dichotomized into ostensibly homogeneous groups. The timing of language exposure (age of acquisition) to a second language (L2) is one well-studied construct that is known to impact language processing, cognitive processing, and brain organization, but recent work shows that current language exposure is also a crucial determinant in these domains. Critically, many indices of bilingual experience are inherently subjective and based on self-report questionnaires. Such measures have been criticized in favor of objective measures of language ability (e.g., naming ability or verbal fluency). Here, we estimate the bilingual experience jointly as a function of multiple continuous aspects of experience, including the timing of language exposure, the amount of L2 exposure across communicative contexts, and language entropy (a flexible measure of language balance) across communicative contexts. The results suggest that current language exposure exhibits distinct but interrelated patterns depending on the socio-experiential context of language usage. They also suggest that, counterintuitively, our sample more accurately self-assesses L2 proficiency than native language proficiency. A precise quantification of the multidimensional nature of bilingualism will enhance the ability of future research to assess language processing, acquisition, and control.

Although bilinguals benefit from semantic context while perceiving speech-in-noise in their native language (L1), the extent to which bilinguals benefit from semantic context in their second language (L2) is unclear. Here, 57 highly proficient English–French/French–English bilinguals, who varied in L2 age of acquisition, performed a speech-perception-in-noise task in both languages while event-related brain potentials were recorded. Participants listened to and repeated the final word of sentences high or low in semantic constraint, in quiet and with a multi-talker babble mask. Overall, our findings indicate that bilinguals do benefit from semantic context while perceiving speech-in-noise in both their languages. Simultaneous bilinguals showed evidence of processing semantic context similarly to monolinguals. Early sequential bilinguals recruited additional neural resources, suggesting more effective use of semantic context in L2, compared to late bilinguals. Semantic context use was not associated with bilingual language experience or working memory.

This applied experimental research tested the effectiveness of a universal, student-focused intervention (‘Memory Mates’), specifically focused on supporting students to use attention and working memory strategies within academic contexts, unlike computer-based programs. Memory Mates is presented in the form of icons and explanations, with the strategies embedded within the classroom. Analyses compared the impact of the intervention over 8 months in three schools with three control schools, comprising 13 Year 4 primary school classes. The intervention group students showed a significant improvement in mathematics and spelling; however, there was no differential effect on reading comprehension or academic engagement. Based on the present results, it is contended that implementing Memory Mates within classroom contexts demonstrated promising potential as a new approach to supporting academic progress.

The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of hearing loss (HL), vision loss (VL), and dual sensory loss (DSL) in Canadians 45–85 years of age. Audiometry and visual acuity were measured. Various levels of impairment severity were described. Results were extrapolated to the 2016 Canadian population. In 2016, 1,500,000 Canadian males 45–85 years of age had at least mild HL, 1,800,000 had at least mild VL, and 570,000 had DSL. Among females, 1,200,000 had at least mild HL, 2,200,000 had at least mild VL, and 450,000 had DSL. Among Canadians 45–85 years of age, mild, moderate, and severe HL was prevalent among 13.4 per cent, 3.7 per cent, and 0.4 per cent of males, and among 11.3 per cent, 2.3 per cent, and 0.2 per cent of females, respectively. Mild and moderate, or severe VL was prevalent among 19.8 per cent and 2.4 per cent of males, and among 23.9 per cent and 2.6 per cent of females, respectively. At least mild DSL was prevalent among 6.4 per cent of males and 6.1 per cent of females.

Water samples taken from extracorporeal membrane oxygenator (ECMO) devices used at University Hospitals Birmingham yielded high total viable counts (TVCs) containing a variety of microorganisms, including M. chimaera. Disinfection resulted in the reduction of TVCs and eradication of Mycobacterium chimaera. Weekly disinfection and water sampling are required to manage the water quality in these devices.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:1244–1246

When speakers engage in conversation, acoustic features of their utterances sometimes converge. We examined how the speech rate of participants changed when a confederate spoke at fast or slow rates during readings of scripted dialogues. A beat-tracking algorithm extracted the periodic relations between stressed syllables (beats) from acoustic recordings. The mean interbeat interval (IBI) between successive stressed syllables was compared across speech rates. Participants’ IBIs were smaller in the fast condition than in the slow condition; the difference between participants’ and the confederate's IBIs decreased across utterances. Cross-correlational analyses demonstrated mutual influences between speakers, with greater impact of the confederate on participants’ beat rates than vice versa. Beat rates converged in scripted conversations, suggesting speakers mutually entrain to one another's beat.

This commentary was not included with the original publication of the issue, but it has now been added to the online version.

Relational elements of language (e.g. spatial prepositions) act to direct attention to aspects of an incoming message. The listener or reader must be able to use these elements to focus and refocus attention on the mental representation being constructed. Research has shown that this type of attention control is specific to language and can be distinguished from attention control for non-relational (semantic or content) elements. Twenty-two monolinguals (18–30 years) and nineteen bilinguals (18–30 years) completed two conditions of an alternating-runs task-switching paradigm in their first language. The relational condition involved processing spatial prepositions, and the non-relational condition involved processing concrete nouns and adjectives. Overall, monolinguals had significantly larger shift costs (i.e. greater attention control burden) in the relational condition than the non-relational condition, whereas bilinguals performed similarly in both conditions. This suggests that proficiency in a second language has a positive impact on linguistic attention control in one's native language.

Un grand merci à Shari Baum and Debra Titone for their review paper, “Moving Toward a Neuroplasticity View of Bilingualism, Executive Control and Aging.” (Please note the code switch in that previous sentence is part of my effort to build my cognitive reserve.) The authors are to be congratulated for providing a timely and constructive review of the current state of our understanding of the potential impact of bilingualism on executive control processes and cognitive aging. In this short commentary, I will comment on one of their key contributions to the discussion, namely, that researchers should embrace and address the individual variability among bilinguals.