The acoustic characteristics of sustained vowel have been widely investigated across various languages and ethnic groups. These acoustic measures, including fundamental frequency (F(0)), jitter (Jitt), relative average perturbation (RAP), five-point period perturbation quotient (PPQ5), shimmer (Shim), and 11-point amplitude perturbation quotient (APQ11) are not well established for Malaysian Malay young adults. This article studies the acoustic measures of Malaysian Malay adults using acoustical analysis. The study analyzed six sustained Malay vowels of 60 normal native Malaysian Malay adults with a mean of 21.19 years. The F(0) values of Malaysian Malay males and females were reported as 134.85±18.54 and 238.27±24.06Hz, respectively. Malaysian Malay females had significantly higher F(0) than that of males for all the vowels. However, no significant differences were observed between the genders for the perturbation measures in all the vowels, except RAP in /e/. No significant F(0) differences between the vowels were observed. Significant differences between the vowels were reported for all perturbation measures in Malaysian Malay males. As for Malaysian Malay females, significant differences between the vowels were reported for Shim and APQ11. Multiethnic comparisons indicate that F(0) varies between Malaysian Malay and other ethnic groups. However, the perturbation measures cannot be directly compared, where the measures vary significantly across different speech analysis softwares.
The formant frequencies of Malaysian Malay children have not been well studied. This article investigates the first four formant frequencies of sustained vowels in 360 Malay children aged between 7 and 12 years using acoustical analysis. Generally, Malay female children had higher formant frequencies than those of their male counterparts. However, no significant differences in all four formant frequencies were observed between the Malay male and female children in most of the vowels and age groups. Significant differences in all formant frequencies were found across the Malay vowels in both Malay male and female children for all age groups except for F4 in female children aged 12 years. Generally, the Malaysian Malay children showed a nonsystematic decrement in formant frequencies with age. Low levels of significant differences in formant frequencies were observed across the age groups in most of the vowels for F1, F3, and F4 in Malay male children and F1 and F4 in Malay female children.
The study is going to investigate the fundamental frequency (F(0)) and perturbation measures of sustained vowels in 360 native Malaysian Malay children aged between 7 and 12 years using acoustical analysis.
The acoustic properties of vowel phonation vary across cultures. These specific characteristics, including vowel fundamental frequency (F(0)) and perturbation measures (Absolute Jitter [Jita], Jitter [Jitt], Relative Average Perturbation [RAP], five-point Period Perturbation Quotient [PPQ5], Absolute Shimmer [ShdB], Shimmer [Shim], and 11-point Amplitude Perturbation Quotient [APQ11]) are not well established for Malaysian Chinese adults. This article investigates the F(0) and perturbation measurements of sustained vowels in 60 normal Malaysian Chinese adults using acoustical analysis. Malaysian Chinese females had significantly higher F(0) than Malaysian males in all six vowels. However, there were no significant differences in F(0) across the vowels for each gender. Significant differences between vowels were observed for Jita, Jitt, PPQ5, ShdB, Shim, and APQ11 among Chinese males, whereas significant differences between vowels were observed for all the perturbation parameters among Chinese females. Chinese males had significantly higher Jita and APQ11 in the vowels than Chinese females, whereas no significant differences were observed between males and females for Jitt, RAP, PPQ5, and Shim. Cross-ethnic comparisons indicate that F(0) of vowel phonation varies within the Chinese ethnic group and across other ethnic groups. The perturbation measures cannot be simply compared, where the measures may vary significantly across different speech analysis softwares.
Sulfuretin, a naturally occurring aurone is reported to inhibit macrophage and microglia activation. A series of aurones incorporating basic amines and lipophilic functionalities at ring A and/or ring B were synthesized to improve upon present sulfuretin activity towards targeting brain microglia while overcoming the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Evaluation of the ability of the aurones to inhibit lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated nitric oxide (NO) secretion by murine BV-2 microglia has identified several inhibitors showing significant NO reduction at 1 to 10 µM. Potent inhibitors were represented by aurones with bulky, planar moieties at ring A (3f) or at ring B (1e and 1f) and having a pendant piperidine at ring B (1a, 2a, 2b, and 3f). The active aurones inhibited the BV-2 microglia polarizing towards the M1 state as indicated by attenuation of IL-1β and TNF-α secretions in LPS-activated microglia but did not induce the microglia towards the M2 state. The aurones 2a, 2b, and 1f showed high passive BBB permeability in the parallel artificial membrane permeability assay (PAMPA) owing to their optimal lipophilicities. 2a, being non-cell toxic, BBB permeant and potent, represents a new lead for the development of aurones as inhibitors of activated microglia.