For many models oflexical ambiguity resolution, relative frequency of the different meanings of homographs (words with more than one meaning) is crucial. Although several homograph association norms have been published in the past, none has involved a large number of subjects responding to a large number of homographs, and most homograph norming studies are now at least a decade old. In Experiment 1, associations to 566 homographs were collected from an average of 192 subjects per homograph. Frequency of occurrence for the three most common meanings is reported, along with the corresponding associates, and a measure of the overall ambiguity of each homograph. Homographs whose meanings differed in part of speech were more ambiguous overall than homographs whose different meanings belonged to a single grammatical class. Homographs whose pronunciation depended on meaning (heterophones) were no more ambiguous than nonheterophones, and word frequency was unrelated to overall ambiguity. Estimates of homograph balance across different norming studies were compared, and homographs with two meanings of approximately equal relative meaning frequency (balanced homographs) and homographs with one clearly dominant meaning (polarized homographs) were identified. In Experiment 2, reliability of meaning categorizations was measured for a subset of the homographs in the first experiment. Meaning categorizations were shown to be highly reliable across raters.Homographs are words that have more than one meaning but share the same orthography. They most often also share phonology (e.g., a dog's bark vs. a tree's bark; a fireplace poker vs. a poker game), but a few English homographs have distinct phonologies for their different meanings. For these heterophonic homographs, pronunciation depends on meaning; examples are "bass" (fish vs. guitar) and "wind" (gale vs. to coil). Contrary to intuition, homographs are not an obscure class of linguistic items. Rather, homographs could be considered important topics of study solely because of their abundance in English. Britton (1978) found that 44 % of a random sample of English words had more than one meaning, and that 85 % of a sample of high-frequency English words had more than one meaning. Several authors have argued that meaning indeterminacy in language and the environment in general is widespread and is one of the pervasive problems of human information processing (e.g
Purpose To estimate the prevalence of and risk factors for growth hormone deficiency (GHD), luteinizing hormone/follicle-stimulating hormone deficiencies (LH/FSHD), thyroid-stimulatin hormone deficiency (TSHD), and adrenocorticotropic hormone deficiency (ACTHD) after cranial radiotherapy (CRT) in childhood cancer survivors (CCS) and assess the impact of untreated deficiencies. Patients and Methods Retrospective study in an established cohort of CCS with 748 participants treated with CRT (394 men; mean age, 34.2 years [range, 19.4 to 59.6 years] observed for a mean of 27.3 years [range, 10.8 to 47.7 years]). Multivariable logistic regression was used to study associations between demographic and treatment-related risk factors and pituitary deficiencies, as well as associations between untreated deficiencies and cardiovascular health, bone mineral density (BMD), and physical fitness. Results The estimated point prevalence was 46.5% for GHD, 10.8% for LH/FSHD, 7.5% for TSHD, and 4% for ACTHD, and the cumulative incidence increased with follow-up. GHD and LH/FSHD were not treated in 99.7% and 78.5% of affected individuals, respectively. Male sex and obesity were significantly associated with LH/FSHD; white race was significant associated with LH/FSHD and TSHD. Compared with CRT doses less than 22 Gy, doses of 22 to 29.9 Gy were significantly associated with GHD; doses ≥ 22 Gy were associated with LH/FSHD; and doses ≥ 30 Gy were associated with TSHD and ACTHD. Untreated GHD was significantly associated with decreased muscle mass and exercise tolerance; untreated LH/FSHD was associated with hypertension, dyslipidemia, low BMD, and slow walking; and both deficits, independently, were associated with with abdominal obesity, low energy expenditure, and muscle weakness. Conclusion Anterior pituitary deficits are common after CRT. Continued development over time is noted for GHD and LH/FSHD with possible associations between nontreatment of these conditions and poor health outcomes.
High-dose alkylating agents and ovarian radiotherapy at any dose are associated with POI. Patients at the highest risk should be offered fertility preservation whenever feasible. POI contributes to poor general health outcomes in childhood cancer survivors; further studies are needed to investigate the role of sex hormone replacement in improving such outcomes.
Background Older adults with cancer are vulnerable to functional decline, placing greater onus on caregivers. Few studies have prospectively examined burden in caregivers of older cancer patients. We sought to determine factors associated with high caregiver burden. Methods 100 caregivers of patients age ≥65 with cancer, recruited at a single-institution, completed questionnaires gauging their perception of the patient’s physical, emotional, and social health. The association between these items, cancer-related factors, sociodemographic factors, and caregiver burden [measured by the Caregiver Strain Index (CSI)] was determined through multivariate analysis. Results Patients were a median age of 70 (range 65–91), 70% had advanced disease, and 98% were receiving treatment. Caregivers were mostly female (73%), spouses (68%), and lived with the patient (79%). Median hours of care provided was 10 hours/week. Mean CSI score was 3.1±3.2. Most caregivers (75%) reported some burden, with 15% reporting high caregiver burden (CSI ≥7). In multivariate analysis, employed caregivers (OR 4.5; 95% CI 1.1–18.4, p=0.04) and those who cared for patients requiring more help with instrumental activities of daily living (OARS-IADL score <12 of 14) (OR 12.4; 95% CI 2.4–62.5, p<0.001) were more likely to experience high caregiver burden (CSI ≥7). Conclusions Caregiver burden is common in those who care for older cancer patients. High burden is more likely in employed caregivers and those who care for patients who require increased functional assistance. Further studies are needed to determine unique challenges experienced by caregivers of older adults with cancer and potential interventions to alleviate burden in these caregivers.
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