The concept of materiality challenges translation studies to reassess its assumptions about meaning in order to better account for translational phenomena that occur outside verbal communication and ...linguistic representation. This article combines the idea of materiality with semiotic and textual theories to conceptualize meaning as a construct formed in the interplay of the text and its constituent elements, recipient, and environment of reception. Building on this, translation is reconceptualized as a general-level semiotic process rather than just a linguistic or cultural phenomenon. Translation is seen as an asymmetrical process that involves the interpretation of a material text as well as the composition of a semiotic sign-complex whose form and meaning are subject to co-textual and contextual constraints. This model shows how materiality allows for a generalized translation theory that is applicable to a wide range of specialized cases and compatible with studies in other fields in a philosophically sustainable way.
Abstract
The Finnish Tax Administration’s OmaVero (OV) e-service is an example of an organisational software development and text production process in which translation plays a significant role. In ...this article, the concept of materiality is utilised to analyse how aspects of the wider process affect the form and content of OV translations. A distinction is made between the translations’ production and distribution process, the effects of the former being manifested mainly through the use of digital translation tools and those of the latter through the conventions of OV software development. A material analysis reveals a conflict in how these two processes treat language as a textual element: the production process downplays and obscures the connection between language content and its textual environment, while the distribution process attaches great importance to this relationship. This demonstrates how a material perspective can introduce useful nuance into analyses of textual communication processes in translation studies.
In this study, we use the concept of materiality to re-evaluate traditional approaches to song translation. Materiality conceptualises a text as a complex unity of matter, form, and meaning, and ...songs provide an example of the interconnectedness of a material text and its verbal content. In our analysis of Hank Williams’ song Ramblin’ Man and its Finnish translation, we utilise notation to illuminate the intricate relationship between the original melody and the translated lyrics. By showing how the Finnish song’s lyrics and melody have been shaped to support one another, we demonstrate how different translation solutions are not just attempts to replicate the source text’s meanings but factors in the interplay of language and its material medium. We argue that materiality enables an all-encompassing view on how different levels of meaning interact in a text and thereby allows translation studies to move beyond juxtapositions of semantic fidelity and interpretative adaptation.
Concepts like experientiality, performativity and materiality suggest a paradigm shift in how the communication of meaning is understood in translation studies. Meaning is seen as being constructed ...in-the-moment through a multitude of semiotic channels, actively performed and experienced in material reality rather than passively transferred through language or represented by words. However, if no transfer of meaning takes place between texts or communicators, and if no representationality is recognized between word and sense or source and target, this reveals a considerable conceptual gap between the new experiential paradigm and many traditional conceptualizations of interlingual translation that may make these new perspectives difficult to adopt for the field at large. This chapter argues that 'transfer' and 'representation' can still be useful concepts in explaining translation as an experiential meaning construction process, as instances of both can be found in the realm of materiality. How a material text is distributed from one communicator to another is a form of transfer; how letters, words and other signs are identified from the text is a form of representation. Crucially, however, neither phenomenon directly involves meaning: meaning is constructed, not transferred or represented. Instead, shared semiotic conventions constrain communicators' meaning construction from texts in comparable ways, creating an illusion of meaning being transferred and/or represented. Meaning cannot be directly conveyed through transfer or representation but the construction of meaning from material texts does involve both phenomena and recognizing that may help bridge the gap between traditional and alternative conceptualizations of translation.
The signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) family of transcription factors orchestrate hematopoietic cell differentiation. Recently, mutations in STAT1, STAT5B, and STAT3 have been ...linked to development of immunodysregulation polyendocrinopathy enteropathy X-linked–like syndrome. Here, we immunologically characterized 3 patients with de novo activating mutations in the DNA binding or dimerization domains of STAT3 (p.K392R, p.M394T, and p.K658N, respectively). The patients displayed multiorgan autoimmunity, lymphoproliferation, and delayed-onset mycobacterial disease. Immunologically, we noted hypogammaglobulinemia with terminal B-cell maturation arrest, dendritic cell deficiency, peripheral eosinopenia, increased double-negative (CD4−CD8−) T cells, and decreased natural killer, T helper 17, and regulatory T-cell numbers. Notably, the patient harboring the K392R mutation developed T-cell large granular lymphocytic leukemia at age 14 years. Our results broaden the spectrum of phenotypes caused by activating STAT3 mutations, highlight the role of STAT3 in the development and differentiation of multiple immune cell lineages, and strengthen the link between the STAT family of transcription factors and autoimmunity.
•Germline activating STAT3 mutations were detected in 3 patients with autoimmunity, hypogammaglobulinemia, and mycobacterial disease.•T-cell lymphoproliferation, deficiency of regulatory and helper 17 T cells, natural killer cells, dendritic cells, and eosinophils were common.
The Large-scale Assessment of the Key health-promoting Activities of two New mass drug administration regimens with Azithromycin (LAKANA) trial in Mali aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ...azithromycin (AZI) mass drug administration (MDA) to 1-11-month-old infants as well as the impact of the intervention on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and mechanisms of action of azithromycin. To improve the transparency and quality of this clinical trial, we prepared this statistical analysis plan (SAP).
LAKANA is a cluster randomized trial that aims to address the mortality and health impacts of biannual and quarterly AZI MDA. AZI is given to 1-11-month-old infants in a high-mortality setting where a seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) program is in place. The participating villages are randomly assigned to placebo (control), two-dose AZI (biannual azithromycin-MDA), and four-dose AZI (quarterly azithromycin-MDA) in a 3:4:2 ratio. The primary outcome of the study is mortality among the intention-to-treat population of 1-11-month-old infants. We will evaluate relative risk reduction between the study arms using a mixed-effects Poisson model with random intercepts for villages, using log link function with person-years as an offset variable. We will model outcomes related to secondary objectives of the study using generalized linear models with considerations on clustering.
The SAP written prior to data collection completion will help avoid reporting bias and data-driven analysis for the primary and secondary aims of the trial. If there are deviations from the analysis methods described here, they will be described and justified in the publications of the trial results.
ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT04424511 . Registered on 11 June 2020.
Mass drug administration (MDA) of azithromycin (AZI) has been shown to reduce under-5 mortality in some but not all sub-Saharan African settings. A large-scale cluster-randomized trial conducted in ...Malawi, Niger, and Tanzania suggested that the effect differs by country, may be stronger in infants, and may be concentrated within the first 3 months after treatment. Another study found no effect when azithromycin was given concomitantly with seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC). Given the observed heterogeneity and possible effect modification by other co-interventions, further trials are needed to determine the efficacy in additional settings and to determine the most effective treatment regimen.
LAKANA stands for Large-scale Assessment of the Key health-promoting Activities of two New mass drug administration regimens with Azithromycin. The LAKANA trial is designed to address the mortality and health impacts of 4 or 2 annual rounds of azithromycin MDA delivered to 1-11-month-old (29-364 days) infants, in a high-mortality and malaria holoendemic Malian setting where there is a national SMC program. Participating villages (clusters) are randomly allocated in a ratio of 3:2:4 to three groups: placebo (control):4-dose AZI:2-dose AZI. The primary outcome measured is mortality. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will be monitored closely before, during, and after the intervention and both among those receiving and those not receiving MDA with the study drugs. Other outcomes, from a subset of villages, comprise efficacy outcomes related to morbidity, growth and nutritional status, outcomes related to the mechanism of azithromycin activity through measures of malaria parasitemia and inflammation, safety outcomes (AMR, adverse and serious adverse events), and outcomes related to the implementation of the intervention documenting feasibility, acceptability, and economic aspects. The enrolment commenced in October 2020 and is planned to be completed by the end of 2022. The expected date of study completion is December 2024.
If LAKANA provides evidence in support of a positive mortality benefit resulting from azithromycin MDA, it will significantly contribute to the options for successfully promoting child survival in Mali, and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04424511. Registered on 11 June 2020.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE—Patient and radiological characteristics of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), surgical treatment, and outcome after ICH are interrelated. Our purpose was to define whether these ...characteristics or surgical treatment correlate with mortality among young adults.
METHODS—We retrospectively reviewed clinical and imaging data of all first-ever nontraumatic patients with ICH between 16 and 49 years of age treated in our hospital between January 2000 and March 2010 and linked these data with national causes of death registry. A logistic regression analysis of factors associated with 3-month mortality and a propensity score comparison between patients treated conservatively and operatively was performed.
RESULTS—Among the 325 eligible patients (59.4% men), factors associated with 3-month mortality included higher National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, infratentorial location, hydrocephalus, herniation, and multiple hemorrhages. Adjusted for these factors, as well as demographics, ICH volume, and the underlying cause, surgical evacuation was associated with lower 3-month mortality (odds ratio, 0.06; 95% confidence interval, 0.02–0.21). In propensity score–matched analysis, 3-month case fatality rates were 3-fold in those treated conservatively (27.5% versus 7.8%; P<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS—The predictors of short-term case fatality are alike in young and elderly patients with ICH. However, initial hematoma evacuation was associated with lower 3-month case fatality in our young patients with ICH.
Background. Frequency and impact of medical complications on short-term mortality in young patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) have gone unstudied. Methods. We reviewed data of all ...first-ever nontraumatic ICH patients between 16 and 49 years of age treated in our hospital between January 2000 and March 2010 to identify medical complications suffered. Logistic regression adjusted for known ICH prognosticators was used to identify medical complications associated with mortality. Results. Among the 325 eligible patients (59% males, median age 42 interquartile range 34–47 years), infections were discovered in 90 (28%), venous thrombotic events in 13 (4%), cardiac complications in 4 (1%), renal failure in 59 (18%), hypoglycemia in 15 (5%), hyperglycemia in 165 (51%), hyponatremia in 146 (45%), hypernatremia in 91 (28%), hypopotassemia in 104 (32%), and hyperpotassemia in 27 (8%). Adjusted for known ICH prognosticators and diabetes, the only independent complication associated with 3-month mortality was hyperglycemia (plasma glucose >8.0 mmol/L) (odds ratio: 5.90, 95% confidence interval: 2.25–15.48, P < 0.001 ). Three or more separate complications suffered also associated with increased mortality (7.76, 1.42–42.49, P = 0.018 ). Conclusions. Hyperglycemia is a frequent complication of ICH in young adults and is independently associated with increased mortality. However, multiple separate complications increase mortality even further.
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