#alveolar

Monocyte, Microlith, Mineral?

Every breath can be a struggle if you have the rare lung disease pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis. It’s caused by a faulty protein in the membranes of cells that line alveoli, tiny air sacs that fill your lungs. This causes mineral structures called hydroxyapatite microliths to form inside alveoli. Researchers now investigate this process by analysing RNA – a marker for gene activity – in lung tissue from human patients and a mouse model of the disease. Looking at immune cells called monocytes, which can develop into bone-degrading cells called osteoclasts, the team found that osteoclast-related genes were activated in alveolar monocytes. They also found that microliths, pictured using scanning electron microscopy at different resolutions in human (top) and mouse (bottom) lung tissue, contained osteoclast enzymes. This suggests that in response to microliths forming, osteoclast-like cells kickstart into action. This may present a new research avenue for pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis therapies.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Image adapted from work by Yasuaki Uehara and colleagues

Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Nature Communications, March 2023

plays -

kind 𖦹 turnabout, or the birth machine 𖦹 request distinction human knife

shorts -

butcherwive 𖦹 i have bright wings and i must sing 𖦹 alveolar

long faves -

bilabial fabiodental thental nalveolar shostalveolar ɽetroflex yalatal kelar quvular ħaryngeal ʔlottal

https://www.soyioblogging.com/blog/your-spanish-needs-more-teeth-make-your-alveolar-consonants-dental

Quick anatomy lesson: There’s a spot on the roof of your mouth called the alveolar ridge. It’s located between the teeth and the hard palate. In English, this is where we usually produce the sounds [t], [d], [s], [z] and [n], making them Alveolar consonants. However, in Spanish, [t] and [d] aren’t produced at the alveolar ridge, but rather the back of the teeth, making them Dental consonants.

When English speakers use the alveolar ridge to produce [t] and [d], more air is released, resulting in aspiration. However, Spanish consonants are not aspirated, so speakers who pronounce these consonants with aspiration have a noticeable accent. Speakers can rectify this by moving their tongue to the back of their teeth, reducing the amount of air that's released.

Really. That's it. Literally moving your tongue a few millimeters forward can improve your accent in Spanish.

👅 See for yourself. Place your hand in front of your face. Say a few words that start with [t], making the [t] sound the way you normally would in English. Can you feel the air coming out onto your hand? Now, move your tongue forward towards the back of your teeth. Repeat those words. Do you still feel air coming out? If you don't, then you’ve successfully made your pronunciation a little more accurate.

If you do, keep practicing until you don't. It can be a little tricky at first to get your tongue in the right position. It may help to look at pictures and listen to examples, so you know when you've got it figured out.

In Phonetics, you would narrowly transcribe these sounds with diacritics. For English, you would use the Aspiration diacritic, which is basically a superscript [h]: [tʰ] [dʰ]. To transcribe them as being dental, you would place the diacritic [ ̪] under the consonants: [t̪] [d̪].

Deep Breath - with Labels! Image of the Week - August 13, 2018

CIL:50304 - http://www.cellimagelibrary.org/images/50304

Description: Transmission electron micrograph of a ferret alveolar type II cell has rough endoplasmic reticulum, RER, lamellar bodies, LB, cytoplasm, nucleus, mitochondria, M, basement membrane, grey line, telomerase indicated with DNA icon and oval, alveolar space, white.

Author: Marian Miller