Aspectos morfoanatômicos, reprodutivos e moleculares do gênero Lithophyllum (Lithophylloideae, Corallinales, Rhodophyta) do sul do Brasil

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Vegetal, Florianópolis, 2011As algas calcárias do Filo Rhodophyta, apresentam como principal característica a impregnação de carbonato nas paredes celulares, e por este motivo são necessárias técnicas diferenciadas para estudos anatômicos destas algas. Apesar do aprimoramento recente na caracterização do referido grupo, a ausência de um padrão metodológico que se observa nos estudos realizados para este grupo, demonstra que ainda existe demanda por metodologias alternativas que subsidiem a taxonomia do grupo. O uso de ferramentas moleculares é uma alternativa informativa dentro deste contexto, e vem sendo cada vez mais utilizada, aliada a características morfoanatômicas, para determinar a posição sistemática de gêneros, espécies e subespécies. Este trabalho teve por objetivo principal descrever os representantes do gênero Lithophyllum no meso e infralitoral do Sul do Brasil, com base em dados morfoanatômicos aliados a dados moleculares. As análises foram realizadas a partir de espécimes coletados em 5 pontos do litoral do Sul do Brasil. O estudo morfoanatômico foi realizado em microscópio óptico e microscópio eletrônico de varredura. Os estudos moleculares se basearam em sequências de DNA dos marcadores UPA, cox1 e SSU rDNA, sendo que para cada marcador foram geradas análises de Distância e Máxima Parcimônia, e para o último foram realizadas além destas, a análise bayesiana. Através de estudo morfoanatômico comparativo, foram identificadas duas entidades taxonômicas, Lithophyllum margaritae (Hariot) Heydrich, e Lithophyllum sp.1, e os dados moleculares corroboraram com a identificação dos referidos táxons. Os marcadores moleculares UPA e cox1 se mostraram eficientes na separação de entidades taxonômicas de um mesmo gênero, demonstrando serem estes marcadores adequados para utilização como "DNA barcoding". Os dados obtidos neste estudo representam um avanço na taxonomia das algas calcárias não articuladas no Brasil, que pela primeira vez baseou-se em características moleculares aliadas a características morfoanatômicas

Assessing Side-Differences in the Organization of Biceps Brachii Motor Units in Healthy Subjects and Stroke Patients. An Evaluation from Surface EMG and Incremental Electrical Stimulation

Studies have suggested a degeneration of lower motoneurons in muscles affected after stroke, with a possible collateral reinnervation from the surviving motoneurons to the denervated muscle fibers. If this assumption holds, each surviving motoneuron would innervate a greater amount of muscle fibers following stroke, i.e., motor units’ size would increase in muscles affected after stroke. By combining neuromuscular electrical stimulation with surface electromyography, the present PhD thesis aimed at investigating whether muscle reinnervation following stroke leads to greater variations in the amplitude of M waves elicited in muscles of the affected side of stroke patients, with respect to the contralateral, unaffected side. This issue was verified by applying current pulses at progressively greater intensities in the motoneurons that supply the biceps brachii muscle. Then, the size of increases in the amplitude of M waves elicited consecutively, hereafter defined as increments, was considered to evaluate structural adaptations in biceps brachii motor units following stroke. Changes in the amplitude of M waves evoked in a muscle is usually assumed to reflect changes in the number of motoneurons and, consequently, of muscle fibers activated. Hence, we hypothesized that for similar, relative increases in current intensity, greater increments in the M-waves amplitude would be observed in muscles of the affected than unaffected side of stroke patients. Before verifying this hypothesis, however, we investigated whether the size of increments in biceps brachii M waves differ between arms of healthy subjects. This question was motivated by the fact that, usually, humans tend to control more finely the muscle force production in dominant than non-dominant upper limbs. Once it is well established the recruitment of motor units is a key mechanism for which muscle force is controlled, we hypothesized that a relatively smaller number of motor units maybe recruited in muscles of dominant than nondominant limbs, for any given increase in synaptic input. Hence, we expected to observe smaller increments in the amplitude of M waves evoked in biceps brachii of dominant than non-dominant arms. This PhD thesis was, therefore, based on two main researches, entitled: (1) “Does the biceps brachii muscle respond similarly in both limbs during staircase, electrically elicited contractions?” and (2) “Assessing structural adaptation of biceps brachii motor units after stroke”. Both studies were investigated with the same methodological approach mentioned above. Our main findings showed that: (1) increments were significantly smaller in biceps brachii of dominant than non-dominant arms. These results suggest there was a more gradual motor units’ recruitment and, therefore, a broader spectrum of motor units’ recruitment thresholds in muscles of dominant than non-dominant arms, which may contribute for a finer regulation of force production; (2) there was a clear trend towards greater increments in the amplitude of M waves elicited in biceps brachii of the affected than unaffected arms of most of the stroke patients evaluated. Although for few of these patients it was not clear whether side-differences in the increments magnitude were an outcome of dominance or stroke, the results found corroborate with the notion that collateral reinnervation takes place after stroke, increasing the number of muscle fibers per unit and, therefore, the magnitude of the muscle responses. Overall, the findings of this PhD thesis strengthen the idea that the organization of the neuromuscular system may contribute to accounting for upper limb dominance and that stroke may lead to structural adaptations in motor units of affected muscles

Is heart rate variability affected by distinct motor imagery strategies

Although some studies have reported significant changes in autonomic responses according to the perspective-taking during motor imagery [first person perspective (1P) and third person perspective (3P)], investigations on how the strategies adopted to mentally simulate a given movement affect the heart rate variability (HRV) seem so far unexplored. Twenty healthy subjects mentally simulated the movement of middle-finger extension in 1P and 3P, while electrocardiogram was recorded. After each task, the level of easiness was self-reported. Motor imagery ability was also assessed through the revised version of Movement Imagery Questionnaire (MIQ-R) and a mental chronometry index. The traditional measures of HRV in the time- and frequency-domain were compared between 1P and 3P tasks by using Student's t-test for dependent samples. The MIQ-R results showed that subjects had the same facility to imagine movements in 1P or 3P. The mental chronometry index revealed a similar temporal course only between 1P and execution, while the 3P strategy had a shorter duration. Additionally, the subjective report was similar between the experimental tasks. Regarding the HRV measures, the low frequency component, in log-transformed unit, was significantly higher (p=0.017) in 1P than 3P, suggesting a higher activity of the sympathetic system during 1P. This log-transformed HRV parameter seems to be more sensitive than normalized values for the assessment of the motor imagery ability, together with questionnaires, scales and mental chronometry

The Spatial Distribution of Ankle Muscles Activity Discriminates Aged from Young Subjects during Standing

During standing, age-related differences in the activation of ankle muscles have been reported from surface electromyograms (EMGs) sampled locally. Given though activity seems to distribute unevenly within ankle muscles, the local sampling of surface EMGs may provide a biased view on how often and how much elderly and young individuals activate these muscles during standing. This study aimed therefore at sampling EMGs from multiple regions of individual ankle muscles to evaluate whether the distribution of muscle activity differs between aged and young subjects during standing. Thirteen young and eleven aged, healthy subjects were tested. Surface EMGs were sampled at multiple skin locations from tibialis anterior, soleus and medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscles while subjects stood at ease. The root mean square amplitude of EMGs was considered to estimate the duration, the degree of activity and the size of the region where muscle activity was detected. Our main findings revealed the medial gastrocnemius was active for longer periods in aged (interquartile interval; 74.1-98.2%) than young (44.9-81.9%) individuals (P = 0.02). Similarly, while tibialis anterior was rarely active in young (0.7-4.4%), in elderly subjects (2.6-82.5%) it was often recruited (P = 0.01). Moreover, EMGs with relatively higher amplitude were detected over a significantly wider proximo-distal region of medial gastrocnemius in aged (29.4-45.6%) than young (20.1-31.3%) subjects (P = 0.04). These results indicate the duration and the size of active muscle volume, as quantified from the spatial distribution of surface EMGs, may discriminate aged from young individuals during standing; elderlies seem to rely more heavily on the active loading of ankle muscles to control their standing posture than young individuals. Most importantly, current results suggest different conclusions on the active control of standing posture may be drawn depending on the skin location from where EMGs are collected, in particular for the medial gastrocnemius

EMG Signs of Motor Units’ Enlargement in Stroke Survivors

The degeneration of lower motoneurons has often been reported in stroke survivors, with possible collateral reinnervation from the surviving motoneurons to the denervated muscle fibers. Under this assumption, a stroke would be expected to increase the size of motor units in paretic muscles. We indirectly address this issue with electrical stimulation and surface electromyography, asking whether stroke leads to greater variations in the amplitude of M waves elicited in paretic muscles than in contralateral, non-paretic muscles. Current pulses at progressively greater intensities were applied to the musculocutaneous nerve, stimulating motoneurons supplying the biceps brachii of eight stroke patients. The size of increases in the amplitude of M waves elicited consecutively, hereafter defined as increments, was considered to evaluate changes in the innervation ratio of biceps brachii motor units following stroke. Our findings showed that patients presented significantly (p = 0.016) greater increments in muscles of paretic than in non-paretic limbs. This result corroborates the notion that collateral reinnervation takes place after stroke, enlarging motor units’ size and the magnitude of the muscle responses. Therefore, the non-invasive analysis proposed here may be useful for health professionals to assess disease progression by tracking for neuromuscular changes likely associated with clinical outcomes in stroke survivors, such as in the muscles’ strength

Uso de corpora para elaboração de glossário terminológico de geologia de barragens: subsídios para o ensino de LSP nos anos iniciais de tradução

This paper aims to outline the steps for developing a trilingual glossary Portuguese ↔English ↔ Spanish for the area of Geology of Dams, based on comparable corpora; and to convert the data into Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) translation tasks, specially developed to be used in the early years of Translation training as teaching games. Such work is justified by the growing demand for studies considering the Vale do Rio Doce accidents in Brumadinho and Mariana (MG-Brazil). Thus, with the use of the Sketch Engine program we processed the corpora and selected the keywords that served as a basis for the choice of simple and compound terms and their correspondents. We revisited Corpus-based Translation Studies and Terminology, as well as theories on Pedagogical Translation and Task-based Approach. We found examples such as "shear" and "soil" that originated the source for two term recognition activities in the set of languages under analysis.O presente artigo pretende traçar os passos para a elaboração de um glossário trilíngue português ↔ inglês ↔ espanhol para a área de Geologia de Barragens, com base em corpora comparáveis; e converter os dados em tarefas de Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP), especialmente desenvolvidas para serem utilizadas nos anos iniciais da formação em Tradução com o formato de jogos didáticos. Tal trabalho justifica-se pela crescente demanda de estudos frente aos acidentes da Vale do Rio Doce em Brumadinho e Mariana (MG-Brasil). Assim, com o uso do programa Sketch Engine processamos os corpora e selecionamos as palavras-chave que serviram de base para a escolha dos termos simples e compostos e de seus correspondentes. Revisitamos os Estudos da Tradução Baseados em Corpus e a Terminologia, além de teorizações sobre Tradução Pedagógica e Enfoque por Tarefas. Encontramos exemplos como: “cisalhamento”/ corte/ shear e “solo”/ suelo/ soil que originaram a fonte para duas atividades de reconhecimento de termos no conjunto de línguas em análise.

Una propuesta basada en corpus para enseñar un habitus de la traducción: diálogos iniciales con los enfoques sociológicos de Bourdieu

There is a growing body of literature that recognises the importance of Social Sciences in Translation Studies, such as the discussions surrounding the translational habitus, developed by Simeoni, Wolf, Inghilleri and Sela-Sheffy. In our research, we associate these ideas to corpora methodologies to analyse terminological usages as part of a professional behaviour. We hypothesise that when translation students previously face the most frequent terms extracted from a parallel corpus as well as their keyness and contexts, they replicate the same translational strategies in their texts, which can indicate their competencies eligible by their habitus.Un creciente volumen de literatura especializada reconoce la importancia de las ciencias sociales en los estudios de traducción, como los debates en torno al habitus de la traducción, a los que han contribuido Simeoni, Wolf e Inghilleri. En nuestra investigación asociamos estas ideas a metodologías de corpora para analizar los usos terminológicos como parte de un comportamiento profesional. Presumimos que, cuando los estudiantes de traducción observan, antes de enfrentarse a un encargo de traducción, los términos más frecuentes extraídos de un corpus paralelo (además de considerar si son o no términos clave y sus respectivos contextos), reproducen las mismas estrategias de traducción en sus textos, lo que puede indicar la adquisición de competencias ligadas a un determinado habitus

O universo teen de Gossip Girl em língua portuguesa: uma proposta de ensino das competências tradutórias para aprendizes

Resumo Os objetivos de nossa proposta são: 1) elencar expressões idiomáticas formuladas a partir das palavras de maior frequência e chavicidade presentes no corpus composto pela legenda da série televisiva Gossip Girl em inglês; 2) analisar as opções tradutórias adotadas em português para esse conjunto léxico; e 3) converter os dados em uma proposta de atividades para o desenvolvimento das competências tradutórias, nos moldes de Hurtado Albir (2000, 2001, 2005). Para tanto, nos valemos da abordagem proposta por Camargo (2005, 2007), adotando o arcabouço dos Estudos da Tradução Baseados em Corpus (BAKER, 1995, 1996, 2000), da Linguística de Corpus (BERBER SARDINHA, 2004) e da Lexicologia (XATARA, 1994, 1998). Procuramos, ainda, associar o ensino de competências tradutórias ao uso de corpora para a formação de tradutores (BERBER SARDINHA, 2010). Os resultados apontaram para o uso de explicitações e de omissões no que tange ao processo tradutório das expressões idiomáticas. No âmbito das práticas em sala de aula, notamos que o uso de jogos abordando as EIs levantadas na pesquisa conduzem a uma interpretação léxico-semântica mais ampla, bem como ao reconhecimento das habilidades necessárias para lidar com a tradução de legendas para um público jovem. Palavras-chave: Pedagogia da Tradução Baseada em Corpus. Linguística de Corpus. Estudos da Tradução Baseados em Corpus. Expressões Idiomáticas. Gossip Girls.   Abstract The aims of this paper are: 1) to list idioms based on the most frequent words and keywords from a corpus of subtitles of the TV series Gossip Girl in English; 2) to analyze the translations used in Portuguese for this lexical set; and 3) to convert the data into a proposal of actiities for the development of translational competencies based on the studies of Hurtado Albir (2000, 2001, 2005). We also use the Camargo’s approach (2005, 2007), the framework of Corpus-Based Translation Studies (BAKER, 1995, 1996, 2000), Corpus Linguistics (BERBER SARDINHA, 2004) and Lexicology (XATARA, 1994, 1998). Besides that, we associate the teaching of translational competencies to use of corpora for translation training (BERBER SARDINHA, 2010). The results pointed to the use of explicitation and omission in relation to the translation process of idioms. Within the scope of practice in classroom, we observed that the use of games addressing idioms leads to a broader lexical-semantic interpretation and to the recognition of skills required to deal with the translation of subtitles for a young audience. Keywords: Corpus-Based Translation Pedagogy. Corpus Linguistics. Corpus-Based Translation Studies. Idiomatic Expressions. Gossip Girls

Molecular and Morphological Diversity of Lithothamnion spp. (Hapalidiales, Rhodophyta) from Deepwater Rhodolith Beds in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico

In the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico (NWGMx), subtidal rhodolith beds offshore Louisiana at 45–80 m depth harbor a diverse community of uncharacterized non-geniculate coralline algae including both biogenic and autogenic rhodoliths and other encrusting taxa. Identifying specimens to their correct genus and species is an ongoing process because many available names remain to be validated by comparison to type specimens. Here, comparative DNA sequencing ( psb A, UPA, and COI) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to assess the molecular and morphological diversity of the rhodolith-forming specimens belonging to the generic concept of Lithothamnion . Phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses of the newly generated sequences from recently dredged specimens at Ewing and Sackett Banks offshore Louisiana reveal the presence of at least six species of Lithothamnion , whose generic placement is confirmed by SEM images of features considered characteristic for the genus. More broadly, our analyses indicate at least eight Lithothamnion species are found in the Gulf of Mexico. Phylogenetic analyses of single ( psb A and COI) and concatenated markers ( psb A, COI and UPA) show that Lithothamnion is polyphyletic