Use of orthography in spoken naming in aphasia: a case study.

OBJECTIVE: An unusual pattern of responding by a woman with aphasia was analyzed with respect to cognitive neuropsychologic models of language processing. BACKGROUND: Spontaneous spelling aloud in spoken naming tasks has been reported in a small number of earlier cases. C.P. exhibited this behavior and, in addition, produced attempts at assembled phonologic naming that reflected errors in oral spelling. METHOD: Assessment on a variety of single word-processing tasks and analysis of variables' underlying performance were carried out. RESULTS: The assessment revealed greater impairment to phonologic than to orthographic output lexical representations, and a less errorful route to spoken responses by spelling aloud and by assembling responses from grapheme-to-phoneme conversion. C.P.'s skills changed over time, and when written naming ceased to hold an advantage over spoken naming, the use of orthographic information in spoken naming ceased. CONCLUSIONS: C.P.'s performance supports the existence of separate orthographic and phonological lexicons, argues against the phonological mediation of spelling, and, as orthography in spoken naming seemed to be used strategically, shows some limits on the interaction of components within models of single word processing.

Effect of eicosapentaenoic acid, an omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, on UVR-related cancer risk in humans. An assessment of early genotoxic markers.

Dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 PUFAs) protect against photocarcinogenesis in animals, but prospective human studies are scarce. The mechanism(s) underlying the photoprotection are uncertain, although omega-3 PUFAs may influence oxidative stress. We examined the effect of supplementation on a range of indicators of ultraviolet radiation (UVR)-induced DNA damage in humans, and assessed effect on basal and post-UVR oxidative status. In a double-blind randomized study, 42 healthy subjects took 4 g daily of purified omega-3 PUFA, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), or monounsaturated, oleic acid (OA), for 3 months. EPA was bioavailable; the skin content at 3 months showing an 8-fold rise from baseline, P < 0.01. No consistent pattern of alteration in basal and UVR-exposed skin content of the antioxidants glutathione, vitamins E and C or lipid peroxidation, was seen on supplementation. Sunburn sensitivity was reduced on EPA, the UVR-induced erythemal threshold rising from a mean of 36 (SD 10) mJ/cm(2) at baseline to 49 (16) mJ/cm(2) after supplementation, P < 0.01. Moreover, UVR-induced skin p53 expression, assessed immunohistochemically at 24 h post-UVR exposure, fell from a mean of 16 (SD 5) positive cells/100 epidermal cells at baseline to 8 (4) after EPA supplementation, P < 0.01. Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) sampled on 3 successive days both pre- and post-supplementation, showed no change with respect to basal DNA single-strand breaks or oxidative base modification (8-oxo-dG). However, when susceptibility of PBL to ex vivo UVR was examined using the comet assay, this revealed a reduction in tail moment from 84.4 (SD 3.4) at baseline to 69.4 (3.1) after EPA, P = 0.03. No significant changes were seen in any of the above parameters following OA supplementation. Reduction in this range of early markers, i.e. sunburn, UVR-induced p53 in skin and strand breaks in PBL, indicate protection by dietary EPA against acute UVR-induced genotoxicity; longer-term supplementation might reduce skin cancer in humans.