Perceção da entoação do chinês mandarim L2 por falantes de português europeu

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo estudar a perceção da entoação do chinês mandarim (CM) por falantes de português europeu (PE) que adquirem CM como língua segunda (L2). De acordo com Gussenhoven (2004), o PE é uma língua entoacional, em que a entoação veicula significados ao nível frásico, e o CM é uma língua tonal em que o tom determina significados ao nível lexical e a entoação transmite significados ao nível frásico. A distinção dos tipos frásicos no CM parece mais complicada do que no PE. O nosso trabalho visa (i) investigar se os falantes de PE que adquirem CM como L2 conseguem ou não identificar os dois tipos frásicos - declarativa e interrogativa sim-não sem partícula - no CM, (ii) verificar qual ou quais as pistas que eles usam para a sua identificação e (iii) observar se existem efeitos de influência de língua materna (L1) na aquisição da entoação da língua não materna. Para atingir estes objetivos, foi realizada uma tarefa de identificação baseada na metodologia do estudo de Xu & Mok (2012), que permite investigar tanto o efeito do tom alto de fronteira quanto o efeito do tom lexical da última sílaba do enunciado na perceção da entoação, sem interferências da construção sintática ou do significado dos enunciados. A tarefa foi aplicada a um grupo de controlo constituído por 16 falantes adultos de CM L1 e a um grupo experimental constituído por 16 falantes adultos de PE L1 que adquirem CM como L2. Os resultados mostram que (i) os falantes de PE L1 que adquirem CM como L2 conseguem identificar a entoação declarativa do CM, mas têm dificuldade na identificação da entoação interrogativa; (ii) a pista localizada na última sílaba do enunciado afeta sobretudo a identificação da interrogativa sim-não do CM, tanto para os falantes de CM L1 quanto para os falantes de CM L2, no entanto, este último grupo mostrou-se menos sensível à ausência da sílaba final, possivelmente por reinterpretar a última sílaba que ouve como a sílaba final, mesmo quando o enunciado foi cortado, contrariamente aos falantes de CM L1, que são mais sensíveis a pistas entoacionais de ordem global; (iii) existe um efeito de assimetria entre Tom1 e outros tons na identificação da declarativa para os falantes de CM L2, que apresentam mais dificuldade no caso de Tom1 final (mas não para os falantes de CM L1); existe um efeito de assimetria entre Tom2 e Tom4 na identificação da interrogativa para os falantes de CM L1 (mas não para os falantes de CM L2), isto é, o Tom4 final facilita a identificação da interrogativa, mas não o Tom2 final; (iv) existem efeitos de influência de L1 (o PE) na aquisição da entoação de L2 (o CM).This study aims to investigate the perception of Mandarin Chinese (MC) intonation by European Portuguese (EP) speakers who are acquiring MC as a second language (L2). According to Gussenhoven (2004), EP is an intonation language, and thus intonation conveys meanings at the sentence level, whereas MC is a tonal language in which the tone determines meanings at the lexical level and the intonation expresses meanings at the sentence level. The distinction between sentence types in MC seems more complicated than in EP. Our work aims to (i) investigate whether EP speakers who are acquiring MC as L2 are able to identify the two sentence types - statement and yes-no question without particle - in CM, (ii) verify which cues they use for the identification of these sentence types and (iii) observe if the native language (L1) influences the acquisition of foreign language intonation. To address these objectives, we used an identification task based on the methodology of the study by Xu & Mok (2012), which allows investigating both the effect in intonation perception of the high boundary tone and the effect of the lexical tone of the last syllable of the utterance, without interference from the syntactic structure or the sentence meaning. The task was applied to a control group of 16 adult MC L1 speakers and an experimental group of 16 adult L2 learners of MC whose L1 is EP. The results show that: (i) the EP L1 speakers who are acquiring MC as L2 are able to identify the statement intonation of MC, but they have difficulty in identifying the yes-no question intonation; (ii) the cue located in the last syllable of the sentence affects mainly the yes-no question identification, both for MC L1 speakers and MC L2 speakers, however, the latter were less sensitive to the absence of the final syllable, possibly due to reinterpretation the last syllable they hear as the final syllable, even when the utterance has been cut, unlike MC L1 speakers, who were more sensitive to intonation cues of a global nature; (iii) there is an asymmetry effect between Tone1 and other tones in the statement identification for MC L2 speakers, who have more difficulty in the case of final Tone1 (but not for MC L1 speakers); there is an asymmetry effect between Tone2 and Tone4 in the yes-no question identification for MC L1 speakers (but not for MC L2 speakers), i.e., the final Tone4 facilitates the question identification, but not the final Tone2; (iv) the acquisition of L2 intonation (MC) is influenced by the experience with L1 (EP)

Detecting Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering in non-Gaussian spin states from conditional spin-squeezing parameters

We present an experimentally practical method to reveal Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering in non-Gaussian spin states by exploiting a connection to quantum metrology. Our criterion is based on the quantum Fisher information, and uses bounds derived from generalized spin-squeezing parameters that involve measurements of higher-order moments. This leads us to introduce the concept of conditional spin-squeezing parameters, which quantify the metrological advantage provided by conditional states, as well as detect the presence of an EPR paradox

Outer membrane vesicles of Porphyromonas gingivalis : Novel communication tool and strategy

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been recognized as a universal method of cellular communications and are reportedly produced in bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. Bacterial EVs are often called “Outer Membrane Vesicles” (OMVs) as they were the result of a controlled blebbing of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria such as Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis). Bacterial EVs are natural messengers, implicated in intra- and inter-species cell-to-cell communication among microorganism populations present in microbiota. Bacteria can incorporate their pathogens into OMVs; the content of OMVs differs, depending on the type of bacteria. The production of distinct types of OMVs can be mediated by different factors and routes. A recent study highlighted OMVs ability to carry crucial molecules implicated in immune modulation, and, nowadays, they are considered as a way to communicate and transfer messages from the bacteria to the host and vice versa. This review article focuses on the current understanding of OMVs produced from major oral bacteria, P. gingivalis: generation, characteristics, and contents as well as the involvement in signal transduction of host cells and systemic diseases. Our recent study regarding the action of P. gingivalis OMVs in the living body is also summarized

Outer membrane vesicles of Porphyromonas gingivalis: Novel communication tool and strategy

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been recognized as a universal method of cellular communications and are reportedly produced in bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. Bacterial EVs are often called "Outer Membrane Vesicles" (OMVs) as they were the result of a controlled blebbing of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria such as Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis). Bacterial EVs are natural messengers, implicated in intra-and inter-species cell-to-cell communication among microorganism populations present in microbiota. Bacteria can incorporate their pathogens into OMVs; the content of OMVs differs, depending on the type of bacteria. The production of distinct types of OMVs can be mediated by different factors and routes. A recent study highlighted OMVs ability to carry crucial molecules implicated in immune modulation, and, nowadays, they are considered as a way to communicate and transfer messages from the bacteria to the host and vice versa. This review article focuses on the current understanding of OMVs produced from major oral bacteria, P. gingivalis: generation, characteristics, and contents as well as the involvement in signal transduction of host cells and systemic diseases. Our recent study regarding the action of P. gingivalis OMVs in the living body is also summarized

Radiosensitivity of Breast Cancer Cells Is Dependent on the Organ Microenvironment

Background Distant metastasis is the leading risk factor of death in breast cancer patients, with lung and liver being commonly involved sites of distant seeding. Ongoing clinical trials are studying the benefit from additional local treatment to these metastatic sites with radiation therapy. However, little is known about the tissue-specific microenvironment and the modulating response to treatments due to limitations of traditional in vitro systems. By using biomatrix scaffolds (BMSs) to recreate the complex composition of extracellular matrices in normal organs, we chose to study the radiotherapy response with engineered breast cancer “metastases” in liver and lung organ-specific tissues. Methods Liver and lung BMSs were prepared for tissue culture. Human breast cancer cell lines were passaged on normal tissue culture plates or tissue culture plates coated with Matrigel, liver BMSs, and lung BMSs. Clonogenic assays were performed to measure cell survival with varying doses of radiation. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) detection assay was used to measure ROS levels after 6 Gy irradiation to cancer cells.ResultsThe response of breast cell lines to varying doses of radiotherapy is affected by their in vitro acellular microenvironment. Breast cancer cells grown in liver BMSs were more radiosensitive than when grown in lung BMSs. ROS levels for breast cancer cells cultured in lung and liver BMSs were higher than that in plastic or in Matrigel plate cells, before and after radiotherapy, highlighting the interaction with surrounding tissue-specific growth factors and cytokines. ROSs in both lung and liver BMSs were significantly increased after radiotherapy delivery, suggesting these sites create prime environments for radiation-induced cell death. Conclusions The therapeutic response of breast cancer metastases is dependent on the organ-specific microenvironment. The interaction between tissue microenvironment in these organs may identify sensitivity of therapeutic drug targets and radiation delivery for future studies

Why accumulation mode organic electrochemical transistors turn off much faster than they turn on

Understanding the factors underpinning device switching times is crucial for the implementation of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) in neuromorphic computing and real-time sensing applications. Existing models of device operation cannot explain the experimental observations that turn-off times are generally much faster than turn-on times in accumulation mode OECTs. Through operando optical microscopy, we image the local doping level of the transistor channel and show that device turn-on occurs in two stages, while turn-off occurs in one stage. We attribute the faster turn-off to a combination of engineering as well as physical and chemical factors including channel geometry, differences in doping and dedoping kinetics, and the physical phenomena of carrier density-dependent mobility. We show that ion transport is limiting the device operation speed in our model devices. Our study provides insights into the kinetics of OECTs and guidelines for engineering faster OECTs

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1H NMR-based metabolic profiling combined with multivariate data analysis was used to explore the metabolic phenotype of functional dyspepsia (FD) in stressed rats and evaluate the intervention effects of the Chinese medicine Weikangning (WKN). After a 7-day period of model establishment, a 14-day drug administration schedule was conducted in a WKN-treated group of rats, with the model and normal control groups serving as negative controls. Based on 1H NMR spectra of urine and serum from rats, PCA, PLS-DA, and OPLS-DA were performed to identify changing metabolic profiles. According to the key metabolites determined by OPLS-DA, alterations in energy metabolism, stress-related metabolism, and gut microbiota were found in FD model rats after stress stimulation, and these alterations were restored to normal after WKN administration. This study may provide new insights into the relationship between FD and psychological stress and assist in research into the metabolic mechanisms involved in Chinese medicine

Anti-cancer natural products isolated from chinese medicinal herbs

In recent years, a number of natural products isolated from Chinese herbs have been found to inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis, suppress angiogenesis, retard metastasis and enhance chemotherapy, exhibiting anti-cancer potential both in vitro and in vivo. This article summarizes recent advances in in vitro and in vivo research on the anti-cancer effects and related mechanisms of some promising natural products. These natural products are also reviewed for their therapeutic potentials, including flavonoids (gambogic acid, curcumin, wogonin and silibinin), alkaloids (berberine), terpenes (artemisinin, β-elemene, oridonin, triptolide, and ursolic acid), quinones (shikonin and emodin) and saponins (ginsenoside Rg3), which are isolated from Chinese medicinal herbs. In particular, the discovery of the new use of artemisinin derivatives as excellent anti-cancer drugs is also reviewed