Neutralisation and the perception of close-mid and open-mid vowels: the gradient between phonological categories

A prototype theoretical framework was the basis of a study on the impact of neutralisation on the perception of Portuguese close-mid and open-mid vowels and the gradient between phonological categories. Fifteen Portuguese listeners from Lisbon participated in identification and goodness rating tasks of 20 random repetitions of 31 stimuli from a /i/-/e/-/ε/-/a/ continuum. Boundaries between categories were explored using logistic regression curves and analysis of variance. Results from the identification task revealed four vowel categories marked by three statistically distinct boundaries. The prototype of a category, i.e., the stimulus with the highest goodness rating score, was approximately in the centroid and the goodness score decreased as the stimulus moved away from this centroid. The boundary between /e/ and /ε/, the underlying opposition that neutralises at surface level, was less steep than between /ε/ and /a/, the opposition that never neutralises, a possible influence of the phonological system on speech perception

A country-wide probability sample of public attitudes toward stuttering in Portugal

Background: Negative public attitudes toward stuttering have been widely reported, although differences among countries and regions exist. Clear reasons for these differences remain obscure. Purpose: Published research is unavailable on public attitudes toward stuttering in Portugalas well as a representative sample that explores stuttering attitudes in an entire country. This study sought to (a) determine the feasibility of a country-wide probability samplingscheme to measure public stuttering attitudes in Portugal using a standard instrument (the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering [POSHA–S]) and (b) identify demographic variables that predict Portuguese attitudes. Methods: The POSHA–S was translated to European Portuguese through a five-step process. There after, a local administrative office-based, three-stage, cluster, probability sampling scheme was carried out to obtain 311 adult respondents who filled out the questionnaire. Results: The Portuguese population held stuttering attitudes that were generally within the average range of those observed from numerous previous POSHA–S samples. Demographicvariables that predicted more versus less positive stuttering attitudes were respondents’age, region of the country, years of school completed, working situation, and number of languages spoken. Non-predicting variables were respondents’ sex, marital status, and parental status. Conclusion: A local administrative office-based, probability sampling scheme generated a respondent profile similar to census data and indicated that Portuguese attitudes are generally typical

Clinical Study Acoustic Correlates of Compensatory Adjustments to the Glottic and Supraglottic Structures in Patients with Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis

The goal of this study was to analyse perceptually and acoustically the voices of patients with Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis (UVFP) and compare them to the voices of normal subjects. These voices were analysed perceptually with the GRBAS scale and acoustically using the following parameters: mean fundamental frequency (F0), standard-deviation of F0, jitter (ppq5), shimmer (apq11), mean harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR), mean first (F1) and second (F2) formants frequency, and standard-deviation of F1 and F2 frequencies. Statistically significant differences were found in all of the perceptual parameters. Also the jitter, shimmer, HNR, standard-deviation of F0, and standard-deviation of the frequency of F2 were statistically different between groups, for both genders. In the male data differences were also found in F1 and F2 frequencies values and in the standard-deviation of the frequency of F1. This study allowed the documentation of the alterations resulting from UVFP and addressed the exploration of parameters with limited information for this pathology

El efecto del nivel de proteína y lípidos sobre la acción dinámica específica y la excreción postprandial en sub-adultos del camarón blanco Litopenaeus vannamei

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of 4 levels of dietary protein (20, 30, 40 and 50%) and lipids (2, 4, 8 and 16%) on the magnitude and duration of specific dynamic action (SDA) and postprandial nitrogen excretion in the subadult white shrimpLitopenaeus vannameiusing computer-controlled metabolic chambers (continuous-flow respirometer). We determined the oxygen consumption rate at 1 h intervals until the postprandial oxygen consumption rate returned to the pre-feeding level. Shrimp fed all the diets had significantly higher respiration rates after feeding due to the SDA. Oxygen consumption, the SDA coefficient and the SDA magnitude increased notably with increasing dietary protein content. Shrimp fed the 20% protein diet had the lowest levels of pre- and post-feeding respiration and the smallest SDA. A significant change in the SDA coefficient relative to each lipid level was not demonstrable. Additionally, nitrogenous excretion increased with an increase of dietary protein but not with an increase of lipid level. By estimating the SDA of subadults, the response to standard metabolic rate (SMR) was lower than that reported for juveniles and postlarva white shrimp

Phonological processes in Portuguese children with speech sound disorders

This study investigates the nature of phonological impairment in 20 pre- and early school Portuguese children with phonologically based Speech Sound Disorders (SSD). The phonological profile of these children was compared with the performance of 232 younger typically developing (TD) controls. Results showed differences in phonological acquisition of children with phonologically based SSD, namely a low percentage of correct consonants score and a higher percentage of occurrences of typical phonological processes. Children with phonologically based SSD also used phonological processes (e.g., backing and initial consonant deletion) that are considered unusual in normally developing children and were not observed in the TD group. Results for SSD children also showed that early acquisition consonants were substituted by later acquisitions. Children with SSD presented differences in phonological acquisition, unusual phonological processes, and replaced early acquisition consonants by later acquisition consonants. This knowledge is useful for speech and language therapists in the diagnosis and treatment of SSD.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Processing of null subject in Alzheimer’s disease

Com este estudo pretendemos conhecer melhor o impacto da Doença de Alzheimer (DA) na linguagem, mais concretamente o impacto no contexto da utilização do sujeito nulo. Analisamos as produções de doze pessoas com DA e de um grupo de controlo com a mesma dimensão, em tarefas de leitura de três tipos de frases: Simples com verbo em tempo simples; simples com verbo conjugado num tempo composto; complexas formadas por duas orações. As frases, traduzidas de um estudo prévio em italiano e inglês, foram repetidas ao longo de três dias por cada um dos participantes e gravadas para posterior tratamento de dados. As pessoas com DA apresentaram um desempenho inferior em relação ao grupo de controlo, sendo, no entanto, algumas diferenças entre os dois grupos, não significativas. Os dados recolhidos em Portugal quando comparados com os do estudo efetuado em Inglaterra, permitiram concluir que as pessoas com DA têm uma maior tendência para a produção de sujeitos nulos, tendência que se verifica com maior predominância nas frases mais longas e mais complexas. Os participantes portugueses apresentaram também uma menor tendência para a produção de sujeitos nulos do que os italianos.This study focuses on the impact of Alzheimer’s Disease on language, namely the impact in the context of the use of the null subject. We analysed the productions of a group of twelve Alzheimer’s patients and a control group with the same dimension, when reading three types of sentences: One clause with simple tense; one clause with complex tense; two-clause sentences. The sentences, translated from a previous study of Italian and English, were repeated over three days by each of the participants and audio recorded for later data processing. Alzheimer’s patients underperformed when compared to the control group, but some results showed non-significant differences. When the data obtained in the study in Portugal was compared to that from the study conducted in England, it was concluded that the Alzheimer patients tended to produce more null subjects and that these were more prevalent in longer and complex sentences. The Portuguese participants also presented a tendency for the production of less null subjects than the Italians.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exploring analytical proteomics platforms toward the definition of human cardiac stem cells receptome

Human cardiac stem cells (hCSC) express a portfolio of plasma membrane receptors that are involved in the regulatory auto/paracrine feedback loop mechanism of activation of these cells, and consequently contribute to myocardial regeneration. In order to attain a comprehensive description of hCSC receptome and overcoming the inability demonstrated by other technologies applied in receptor identification, mainly due to the transmembrane nature, high hydrophobic character and relative low concentration of these proteins, we have exploited and improved a proteomics workflow. This approach was based on the enrichment of hCSC plasma membrane fraction and addition of prefractionation steps prior to MS analysis. More than 100 plasma membrane receptors were identified. The data reported herein constitute a valuable source of information to further understand cardiac stem cells activation mechanisms and the subsequent cardiac repair process. All MS data have been deposited in the ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD001117 (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD001117).Authors acknowledge FP7 EU project CARE-MI (HEALTH-2009_242038) and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/BBBBIO/1414) for financial support. PGA is a recipient of the FCT fellowship SFRH/BPD/86513/2012. MALDI-TOF/TOF analyses were performed at the Mass Spectrometry Unit (UniMS), ITQB/iBET, Oeiras, Portugal. The data deposition to the ProteomeXchange Consortium was supported by PRIDETeam, EBI.S