Applying the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) to Dysphonic and Nondysphonic Hebrew Speakers

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a translated version of the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) as a diagnostic tool for people with and without a laryngeal pathology, among Hebrew speakers. STUDY DESIGN: Parallel group design. METHODS: The VHI was translated and adapted to Hebrew. The translated version was, then, administered to a group of 182 patients with various laryngeal pathologies and a control group of 171 people with no laryngeal pathology. Based on the participants' responses to the VHI, statistical analyses were, initially, performed to assess validity and reliability, and then to evaluate group differences between the pathological and control groups and among the different pathological groups included in the study. RESULTS: Statistical analyses showed high reliability values of the Hebrew version of the VHI (overall Cronbach's alpha r = 0.976). Participants' scores were not affected by their age (P = 0.156) or gender (P = 0.261). The participants in the control group obtained significantly lower scores on the overall VHI score, as well as on all three subscale scores, in comparison with the pathological group (P < 0.001). In addition, within the pathological group, patients with neurogenic pathologies received higher scores than all other pathological groups, whereas patients with laryngeal inflammation received lower scores than all other pathological groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The VHI is a powerful tool for quantifying patients' perceptions of their voice handicaps, and it maintained its power across translation. The VHI was shown to be valuable for the assessment of speakers with, as well as without laryngeal pathologies.     

Problems of the anisotropy of strength

The concept of a strength tensor, analogous to the tensor of elastic constants, has been introduced with a view to using its components for approximate determination of laws governing the variation of strength of anisotropic materials in uniaxial tension or pure shear as a function of the orientation of the stress state. It has been shown that the plasticity condition postulated by Mises can be used as a criterion of strength of many "weakly" anisotropic materials, if one rejects the hypothesis according to which the condition is invariant in respect to hydrostatic pressure. In the case of "strongly" anisotropic materials, wood in particular, the Mises condition is at variance with the results obtained for variously oriented specimens tested in uniaxial tension. A strength condition in the form of a fourth-degree polynomial, based on the assumed existence of a strength tensor analogous to the tensor of elastic constants, has been postulated for these materials. The validity of this criterion has been demonstrated by constructing surfaces of equicritical plane stress states from experimental data obtained for pine wood, plywood, and glass-reinforced plastic laminates.Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol 1, No. 2, pp. 79–92, 1965     

Electron-transfer reactions of amines with α-ferrocenylcarbonium ions

The production observed in the reactions of α-ferrocenylcarbonium ions with tertiary amines do not originate from ferrocenylcarbene intermediates. Evidence is presented in support of an electron-transfer mechanism leading to α-ferrocenylcarbinyl radicals as reaction intermediates.     

Experimental investigation of the strength of anisotropic materials in biaxial and triaxial compression

It is proposed that the strengths in uniaxial and uniform biaxial compression in the direction of the axes of symmetry be used as parameters. The applicability of a strength criterion in the form of a fourth-degree polynomial to glass-reinforced plastics in biaxial compression in the plane of reinforcement and the transversal plane and to wood in triaxial compression has been experimentally confirmed.S. M. Kirov Leningrad Forest Engineering Academy. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 6, pp. 991–996, November–December, 1973.     

Propellanes-LXXIV: Bis-alkylation at nitrogen of a [4.3.3] propellene-bis-imide

-Various halides were used to alkylate at both nitrogen atoms of [4.3.3]propell-3-ene-bis-imidi     

Selective site controlled nucleophilic attacks in 5-membered ring phosphate esters: unusual C-O vs. common P-O bond cleavage

Clean endocyclic C-O bond cleavage has been achieved in the reactions of 5-membered phosphate triesters with various nucleophiles.     

A general method for preparation of metal carbenes via solution- and polymer-based approaches

A new general, synthetically simple, and safe method for the preparation of metal carbene complexes, which is based on diphenyl sulfonium salts as carbenoid precursors, has been developed, and its scope and applications were studied. In general, deprotonation of a sulfonium salt with a base results in a sulfur ylide, which, in turn, reacts with an appropriate metal precursor to give the corresponding metal carbene complex. Thus, starting from benzyldiphenylsulfonium salt, the complexes (PCX)Rh=CHPh (X = P, N) were prepared in quantitative yield. Syntheses of Grubbs' catalyst, (PCy(3))(2)Cl(2)Ru=CHPh, and of Werner's carbene, [Os(=CHPh)HCl(CO)(P(i)Pr(3))(2)], were achieved by this method. Novel trans-bisphosphine Rh and Ir carbenes, ((i)Pr(3)P)(2)(Cl)M=CHPh, which could not be prepared by other known methods, were synthesized by the sulfur ylide approach. The method is not limited to metal benzylidenes, as demonstrated by the preparation of the Ru vinyl-alkylidene, (PCy(3))(2)Cl(2)Ru=CH-CH=CH(2), methoxycarbonyl-alkylidene, (PCy(3))(2)Cl(2)Ru=CH(CO(2)Me), and alkylidene (PCy(3))(2)Cl(2)Ru=CH(CH(3)), (PCy(3))(2)Cl(2)Ru=CH(2) compounds. The problem of recycling of starting materials as well as the issue of facile purification of the product metal carbene complex were addressed by the synthesis of a polymer-supported diarylsulfide, the carrier of the carbenoid unit in the process. Based on the sulfur ylide route, a methodology for the synthesis of metallocarbenes anchored to a polymer via the carbene ligand, using a commercial Merrifield resin, was developed.     

Activation of Sperm EGFR by Light Irradiation is Mediated by Reactive Oxygen Species

To acquire fertilization competence, spermatozoa must undergo several biochemical and motility changes in the female reproductive tract, collectively called capacitation. Actin polymerization and the development of hyperactivated motility (HAM) are part of the capacitation process. In a recent study, we showed that irradiation of human sperm with visible light stimulates HAM through a mechanism involving reactive‐oxygen‐species (ROS), Ca²⁺ influx, protein kinases A (PKA), and sarcoma protein kinase (Src). Here, we showed that this effect of light on HAM is mediated by ROS‐dependent activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Interestingly, ROS‐mediated HAM even when the EGFR was activated by EGF, the physiological ligand of EGFR. Light irradiation stimulated ROS‐dependent actin polymerization, and this effect was abrogated by PBP10, a peptide which activates the actin‐severing protein, gelsolin, and causes actin‐depolymerization in human sperm. Light‐stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of Src‐dependent gelsolin, resulting in enhanced HAM. Thus, light irradiation stimulates HAM through a mechanism involving Src‐mediated actin polymerization. Light‐stimulated HAM and in vitro‐fertilization (IVF) rate in mouse sperm, and these effects were mediated by ROS and EGFR. In conclusion, we show here that irradiation of sperm with visible light, enhances their fertilization capacity via a mechanism requiring ROS, EGFR and HAM.