Produção e compreensão da ironia: Aproximações conceituais e empíricas entre a linguística e a análise do comportamento

O estudo da ironia verbal pela Análise do Comportamento imprescinde do conhecimento da teoria de Skinner sobre o comportamento verbal. Skinner cita a ironia como exemplo de comportamento verbal sem aprofundar sua definição e explicação. A ironia é comportamento operante e a explicação da sua função depende de variáveis ambientais específicas. O estudo da ironia pelo viés da Análise do Comportamento demonstra que a probabilidade de uma pessoa emitir ironias pode aumentar se parte da audiência já tenha liberado reforçadores para emissões anteriores e se o ambiente for similar ao ambiente em que a ironia emitida foi reforçada. A presente tese propõe a execução de quatro estudos, planejados para que seus achados se complementem para a defesa do argumento de que estímulos irônicos controlam comportamentos verbais de compreensão e comportamentos emocionais diferentes nos ouvintes, de acordo com as suas diferentes funções de audiência. O primeiro estudo é uma pesquisa teórico-conceitual. O procedimento de tratamento e análise de dados partiu das bases metodológicas de uma Análise Comportamental do Discurso. Trechos do discurso de Skinner no Verbal Behavior. Em um documento digitalizado do livro foram feitas buscas de ocorrências textuais que continham as palavras ironia, sarcasmo e zombaria, seguidas da interpretação da função do discurso do autor pela auto-observação do comportamento verbal de análise desse discurso. Foram localizadas e analisadas seis ocorrências nas quais Skinner impele no seu leitor a compreensão da ironia basicamente pela definição de dois elementos: controle múltiplo e do tato do contrário. No segundo estudo, visando à contribuição para uma análise funcional da ironia pela ótica da Análise do Comportamento, teve como objetivo, a partir de uma revisão sistemática, mapear as variáveis (ou indicadores de variáveis) que estão sendo estudadas pelas pesquisas empíricas sobre ironia. Foram realizadas buscas em bases de dados online com as palavras-chave: ironia, ironia verbal, sarcasmo, controle múltiplo, autoclíticos, irônico e comportamento verbal. O terceiro estudo é empírico e teve como objetivo analisar a produção da ironia por falantes irônicos profissionais que publicam constantemente produtos de seus comportamentos verbais em sites e redes sociais na rede mundial de computadores. Cinco produtores de ironia responderam questões descritivas dos elementos funcionais de sua produção irônica (sobre sexo, política e religião), em especial consequências sobre ouvintes e sentimentos correlatos a elas. O quarto estudo também é empírico e objetivou analisar a compreensão da ironia pelo ouvinte, a partir dos diferentes tipos de audiência, descrevendo os efeitos emocionais que ela pode produzir nele. Foram selecionadas cenas audiovisuais e formados quatro grupos de três participantes cada para responderem a questões sobre ironia tendo como Sd as cenas. As conclusões de cada estudo são que: a ironia é um comportamento verbal compreendido como a demonstração do contrário dos fatos reais e tem como característica essencial a audiência múltipla e o tato do contrário; a produção da ironia tem como motivador principal a crítica; audiências com características diferentes apresentam diferentes formas de compreensão da ironia. Com isso, espera-se que essa descrição de elementos conceituais e empíricos para uma análise funcional do comportamento verbal irônico contribua para o aprimoramento do conhecimento desse comportamento e para a execução de pesquisas experimentais sobre o tema na Análise do Comportamento. Palavras-chave: Ironia, Análise do Comportamento, Análise Funcional, Autoclítico, Produção, Compreensão, Linguística

Is serum phosphorus control related to parathyroid hormone control in dialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism?

Background Elevated serum phosphorus (P) levels have been linked to increased morbidity and mortality in dialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) but may be difficult to control if parathyroid hormone (PTH) is persistently elevated. We conducted a post hoc analysis of data from an earlier interventional study (OPTIMA) to explore the relationship between PTH control and serum P. Methods The OPTIMA study randomized dialysis patients with intact PTH (iPTH) 300–799 pg/mL to receive conventional care alone (vitamin D and/or phosphate binders [PB]; n = 184) or a cinacalcet-based regimen (n = 368). For patients randomized to conventional care, investigators were allowed flexibility in using a non-cinacalcet regimen (with no specific criteria for vitamin D analogue dosage) to attain KDOQI™ targets for iPTH, P, Ca and Ca x P. For those assigned to the cinacalcet-based regimen, dosages of cinacalcet, vitamin D sterols, and PB were optimized over the first 16 weeks of the study, using a predefined treatment algorithm. The present analysis examined achievement of serum P targets (≤4.5 and ≤5.5 mg/dL) in relation to achievement of iPTH ≤300 pg/mL during the efficacy assessment phase (EAP; weeks 17–23). Results Patients who achieved iPTH ≤ 300 pg/mL (or a reduction of ≥30% from baseline) were more likely to achieve serum P targets than those who did not, regardless of treatment group. Of those who did achieve iPTH ≤ 300 pg/mL, 43% achieved P ≤4.5 mg/dL and 70% achieved P ≤5.5 mg/dL, versus 21% and 46% of those who did not achieve iPTH ≤ 300 pg/mL. Doses of PB tended to be higher in patients not achieving serum P targets. Patients receiving cinacalcet were more likely to achieve iPTH ≤300 pg/mL than those receiving conventional care (73% vs 23% of patients). Logistic regression analysis identified lower baseline P, no PB use at baseline and cinacalcet treatment to be predictors of achieving P ≤4.5 mg/dL during EAP in patients above this threshold at baseline. Conclusions This post hoc analysis found that control of serum P in dialysis patients was better when serum PTH levels were lowered effectively, regardless of treatment received

Re: Kidney-Failure Risk Projection for the Living Kidney-Donor Candidate

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Native Hypovitaminosis D in CKD Patients : From Experimental Evidence to Clinical Practice

Native hypovitaminosis D (n-hVITD) is frequently found from the early stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and its prevalence increases with CKD progression. Even if the implications of n-hVITD in chronic kidney disease-mineral bone disorder (CKD-MBD) have been extensively characterized in the literature, there is a lot of debate nowadays about the so called "unconventional effects" of native vitamin D (25(OH)VitD) supplementation in CKD patients. In this review, highlights of the dimension of the problem of n-hVITD in CKD stages 2-5 ND patients will be presented. In addition, it will focus on the "unconventional effects" of 25(OH)VitD supplementation, the clinical impact of n-hVITD and the most significant interventional studies regarding 25(OH)VitD supplementation in CKD stages 2-5 ND

Search strategies for supermassive stars in young clusters and application to nearby galaxies

Supermassive stars (SMS) with masses $M \gtrsim 10^3-10^4 M_{\odot}$, formed by runaway collisions in young, massive, and dense star clusters have been invoked as a possible solution to the puzzles raised by the presence of multiple stellar populations and peculiar abundance patterns observed in globular clusters. However, such objects have not been observed so far. We developed observational strategies to search for SMS hosted within young massive clusters (thought to be the precursors of globular clusters, GCs), which could be applicable in a relatively general fashion, using both photometric and spectroscopic observations. We used theoretical predictions of spectra of SMS and SMS-hosting clusters, together with predictions from standard simple stellar populations to examine their impact on color-color diagrams and on individual optical spectral lines (primarily Hydrogen emission and absorption lines). As a first step, we apply our search strategies to a sample of $\sim 3000$ young star clusters (YSC) from two nearby galaxies with multi-band observations from the HST and optical integral-field spectroscopy obtained with MUSE on the Very Large Telescope. We focus on models for SMS with large radii (corresponding to $Teff \lesssim 7000$ K), which predict strong Balmer breaks, and construct proper color-color diagrams to select the corresponding SMS-hosting cluster candidates. We show that their spectrophotometric properties are similar to that of normal clusters with ages of a few hundred Myr, which would, however, show signs of composite stellar populations, in particular the presence of nebular lines (H${\alpha}$ and others). Examining the photometry, overall SEDs, and the spectra of $\sim 100$ clusters with strong Balmer breaks, we have found several objects with peculiar SEDs, the presence of emission lines, or other peculiar signatures. [abridged]Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 15 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables, (Abstract abridged

Progressive Dysphasic Dementia with Bucco-Facial Apraxia: A Case Report

A patient with progressive dementia, prominent non-fluent aphasia and signs of frontal lobe involvement, was evaluated by neuropsychological testing, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and high resolution single photon emission tomography (SPET). The presence of severe bucco-facial apraxia, associated with spared imitation of limb movements, correlated well with a marked reduction of cerebral perfusion in the left fronto-temporal cortex. This case emphasizes the usefulness of SPET as a valuable alternative to PET for the diagnosis of conditions, such as progressive neuropsychological syndromes, where a coupled reduction of metabolism and blood flow can be expected

Caveolin-1, breast cancer and ionizing radiation

Breast cancer (BC) recovery has increased in recent years thanks to efforts of Omics-based research in this field. However, despite the important results obtained, BC remains a complex multifactorial pathology that is difficult to treat appropriately. Caveolin-1 (CAV1), the basic constituent protein of specialized plasma membrane invaginations called caveolae, is emerging as a potential therapeutic biomarker in BC. This factor may modulate BC response to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. In addition, recent reports describe the key role of CAV1 during cell response to oxidative stress. The aim of the present review was to describe the biological roles of CAV1 in BC considering its contrasting dual functions as an oncogene and as a tumor suppressor. In addition, we report on how CAV1 may contribute to tumor cell response to ionizing radiation treatment. Finally, new roles of CAV1 in BC both on epithelium and stroma may be useful as prognostic indicators for patient treatment and help clinicians in the selection of the best personalized therapy

Charges jornalísticas no contexto das Olímpíadas/2016: semioses previsíveis e intertextos inevitáveis

O trabalho realiza uma leitura semiótica das charges sobre as Olimpíadas 2016, extraídas de jornais impressos da região sul do país. Levando em conta um recorte temporal pré, pró e pós-megaevento, foram dispostas narrativamente as charges, destacando contrastes e analogias entre os pontos de vista dos chargistas. Discutimos a previsibilidade da abordagem de determinados destaques do evento, assim como as inevitáveis relações intertextuais com narrativas factuais do contexto político e social

The properties, origin and evolution of stellar clusters in galaxy simulations and observations

We investigate the properties and evolution of star particles in two simulations of isolated spiral galaxies, and two galaxies from cosmological simulations. Unlike previous numerical work, where typically each star particle represents one ‘cluster’, for the isolated galaxies we are able to model features we term ‘clusters’ with groups of particles. We compute the spatial distribution of stars with different ages, and cluster mass distributions, comparing our findings with observations including the recent LEGUS survey. We find that spiral structure tends to be present in older (100s Myrs) stars and clusters in the simulations compared to the observations. This likely reflects differences in the numbers of stars or clusters, the strength of spiral arms, and whether the clusters are allowed to evolve. Where we model clusters with multiple particles, we are able to study their evolution. The evolution of simulated clusters tends to follow that of their natal gas clouds. Massive, dense, long-lived clouds host massive clusters, whilst short-lived clouds host smaller clusters which readily disperse. Most clusters appear to disperse fairly quickly, in basic agreement with observational findings. We note that embedded clusters may be less inclined to disperse in simulations in a galactic environment with continuous accretion of gas onto the clouds than isolated clouds and correspondingly, massive young clusters which are no longer associated with gas tend not to occur in the simulations. Caveats of our models include that the cluster densities are lower than realistic clusters, and the simplistic implementation of stellar feedback

Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Transcriptome Highlights Specific Expression Profiles in Severe Pediatric Obesity: A Pilot Study

The prevalence of pediatric obesity is rising rapidly worldwide, and "omic" approaches are helpful in investigating the molecular pathophysiology of obesity. This work aims to identify transcriptional differences in the subcutaneous adipose tissue (scAT) of children with overweight (OW), obesity (OB), or severe obesity (SV) compared with those of normal weight (NW). Periumbilical scAT biopsies were collected from 20 male children aged 1-12 years. The children were stratified into the following four groups according to their BMI z-scores: SV, OB, OW, and NW. scAT RNA-Seq analyses were performed, and a differential expression analysis was conducted using the DESeq2 R package. A pathways analysis was performed to gain biological insights into gene expression. Our data highlight the significant deregulation in both coding and non-coding transcripts in the SV group when compared with the NW, OW, and OB groups. A KEGG pathway analysis showed that coding transcripts were mainly involved in lipid metabolism. A GSEA analysis revealed the upregulation of lipid degradation and metabolism in SV vs. OB and SV vs. OW. Bioenergetic processes and the catabolism of branched-chain amino acids were upregulated in SV compared with OB, OW, and NW. In conclusion, we report for the first time that a significant transcriptional deregulation occurs in the periumbilical scAT of children with severe obesity compared with those of normal weight or those with overweight or mild obesity