Sarcasm finds medical use in dementia detection
by Julie Shingleton Julie Shingleton

SYDNEY (AFP) – Sarcasm may be the lowest form of wit, but Australian scientists are using it to diagnose dementia, according to research published on Friday.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales found that patients under the age of 65 suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD), the second most common form of dementia, cannot detect when someone is being sarcastic.
The study, described by its authors as groundbreaking, helps explain why patients with the condition behave the way they do and why, for example, they are unable to pick up their caregivers' moods, the research showed.
"This is significant because if care-givers are angry, sad or depressed, the patient won't pick this up. It is often very upsetting for family members," said John Hodges, the senior author of the paper published in "Brain".
"(FTD) patients present changes in personality and behaviour. They find it difficult to interact with people, they don't pick up on social cues, they lack empathy, they make bad judgements," he told AFP.
"People with FTD become very gullible and they often part with large amounts of money," he said, adding that one in 4,000 people around the world are afflicted with the condition.
Researchers began studying the role of sarcasm in detecting FTD because it requires a patient to spot discrepancies between a person's words and the tone of their voice, Hodges said.
"One of the things about FTD patients is that they don't detect humour -- they are very bad at double meaning and a lot of humour (other than sarcasm) is based on double meaning," he said.
The research, conducted in 2006-07, put 26 sufferers of FTD and 19 Alzheimer's patients through a test in which actors acted out different scenarios using exactly the same words.
While in one scenario, the actors would deliver the lines sincerely, in others they would introduce a thick layer of sarcasm. Patients were then asked if they got the joke, Hodges said.
For example, said Hodges, if a couple were discussing a weekend away and the wife suggested bringing her mother, the husband might say: "Well, that's great, you know how much I like your mother, that will really make it a great weekend."
When the same words were delivered sarcastically and then in a neutral tone, the joke was lost on FTD patients, while the Alzheimer's patients got it.
"The patients with FTD are very literal and they take what is being said as genuine and sincere," said Hodges.
FTD, often referred to as Pick's disease, is similar to Alzheimer's in that it involves a progressive decline in mental powers over a number of years, but FTD affects different regions of the brain.
"It can be very difficult to diagnose in early stages and to separate from depression or, later on, schizophrenia or personality disorders," Hodges said.
The sarcasm test could replace some more expensive and less widely available tests for dementia, he said.
When questioned about the applicability of the test to people from countries not renowned for their appreciation of sarcasm or irony, Hodges said the test could be modified.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081212/ts_afp/healthaustraliadementia

Spellcheck from Brain

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Why you should avoid 'mingqutnguaq'

Why you should avoid 'mingqutnguaq'
Yup'ik Eskimo Grant Kashatok speaks about his life on ice in Newtok, Alaska
By Stephen Chittenden BBC News, Newtok, Alaska
The number of Eskimo words for snow has long been a point of debate.
In the Yup'ik Eskimo Dictionary published by the Native Language Centre at the University of Alaska, and found in schools throughout Alaska's Yukon Delta, there are 37 ways of referring to it.
When snow falls from the sky, an Eskimo can say "it's snowing" in four different ways: aniu, cellallir, ganir or qanunge.
Once the snow is on the ground, things can get more complicated. Light snow is kannevvluk, soft and deep snow is muruaneq and drifting snow is called natquik.
Crusted snow, corniced snow and fresh snow all have their own word too.
Safety
Grant Kashatok, the principal at Newtok school, explains one reason there are so many words for snow.
"When we say a word, instead of saying 'That is not safe snow!' we say one word and people know if it's safe or not."
If you are out hiking and an Eskimo shouts "Mingqutnguaq!" you should stop immediately. It means "rotten ice", and you could be about to fall through the ice.
For the same reasons, Eskimos like Grant Kashatok prefer the cold to warm weather,
"Cold is very good because it means we will have safe conditions...to cross the rivers," he says.
Autumn can be a dangerous time in Alaska. While they wait for the ice to harden, children can be tempted to play on frozen pools before it is thick enough to bear their weight.
Winter activity
Once winter takes grip on Alaska, the land, rivers and seas all freeze, opening up the interior and allowing ice roads to be built across the tundra which gives access for hunting.
Stanley Tom, the tribal leader in Newtok, says it is an essential part of their livelihood.
"We have to have ice", he says. "We are called Qaluyarmiut, the dip-net people. We do under-ice netting, catching whitefish."
The winter season has been given human characteristics and a harsh winter is male, or angun, and if it is milder it is described as arnaq, the Yup'ik word for female.
Yup'ik has three dialects: Central, Siberian and Alutiiqthere.
There are also two other Eskimo languages apart from Yup'ik: Inupiat and Aleut, and that means plenty of ways of referring to snow and ice.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7671137.stm