On the Morphosyntax of Augmentatives in Brazilian Portuguese

This paper investigates augmentative formation with -ão and -zão in Brazilian Portuguese. The empirical guideline is divided into two main lines: (i) the interaction between augmentative and gender, and (ii) the (im)possibility of a non-compositional interpretation being attributed to the augmentative structure. Assuming a syntactic approach to word formation (Halle and Marantz, 1993; Borer, 2003), this paper proposes that -ão augmentative structure may either show one ore two gender heads. When two gender heads are present in the structure, a mechanism of gender agreement (Chomsky, 2000, 2001) is assumed to be operating within words. Nevertheless, when only one gender head is present, no gender agreement is possible and the resulting augmentative gender is a default masculine. Based on Borer (2013), this paper proposes that elements within the first functional head of the Extended Projection are able to trigger non-compositional reading. This is exactly the case of the -ão formative when only one gender head is present. The differences in the behavior between -ão and -zão are derived from the fact that the gender head that attaches to the augmentative -zão is not optional, and while -ão attaches below a number head, -zão, on the other hand, attaches above a number head. Finally, the impossibility that the -zão augmentative constructions be non-compositionaly interpreted is derived from the fact that there is too much syntactic material intervening between the augmentative head and the root

The involvement of the brachial plexus in cardiac surgery with median sternotomy for the revascularization of the myocardium: clinical evaluation

To evaluate the involvement of brachial plexus in cardiac surgery with median sternotomy for the revascularization of the myocardium 113 patients (87 men and 26 women) were clinically examined in the pre-operative and between the fifth and eighth post-operative days. The internal thoracic artery was used in 65 of the 113 patients. The electroneuromyography was not effected in any of the patients. A lesion of the brachial plexus was found in three patients though the internal thoracic artery was used in only one patient.We believe that factors such as posture of the patient, hypothermia, thoracic braces and use of the internal thoracic artery are relevant in the lesions. Hence one must be attentive to all the factors mentioned above so as to avoid or minimize the lesions.Para avaliar o plexo braquial na cirurgia cardíaca por esternotomia mediana para revascularização do miocárdio acompanhamos clinicamente 113 pacientes (87 homens e 26 mulheres) no pré-operatório e entre o 5º e 8º dia pós-operatório. Do total dos pacientes, em 65 foi utilizada a artéria torácica interna. Não foi realizado exame de eletroneuromiografia. Encontramos lesão do plexo braquial em três pacientes, sendo que apenas em um foi utilizada a artéria torácica interna. Acreditamos que fatores como postura do paciente, hipotermia, afastadores torácicos, uso da artéria torácica interna têm importância nestas lesões. Devemos ficar atentos a estes fatores para evitar ou minimizar as lesões.Santa Casa de São PauloInstituto Dante Pazzanese de CardiologiaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de MedicinaUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

Malária e acidente vascular cerebral: relato de caso

Malaria is a parasitic disease with high prevalence in several regions of the world. Infestation by Plasmodium faciparum can, in some cases, affect the central nervous system producing encephalitis resulting in death or neurological sequelae. The mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of the cerebral lesion are not totally clear and there are currently two theories (mechanical and humoral) concerning this. We report a case of malaria with an atypical evolution, with a stroke lesion in the territory of the middle cerebral artery, with no association with encephalitis. We conclude that the mechanical theory is the one applicable to this patient.A malária é doença parasitária de alta prevalência em todo o mundo. A infestação pelo Plasmidim falciparum pode, em alguns casos, acometer o sistema nervoso central produzindo encefalite grave resultando em óbito ou sequelas isquêmicas. Os mecanismos envolvidos na fisiopatologia da lesão cerebral não estão totalmente esclarecidos e duas teorias (mecânica e humoral) atualmente se somam neste objetivo. Relatamos um caso de malária de evolução atípica, com lesão cerebral isquêmica no território da artéria cerebral média direita, possivelmente não associada a encefalite e o relacionamos à teoria mecânica.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de Medicina Department of Neurology and NeurosurgeryUNIFESP, EPM, Department of Neurology and NeurosurgerySciEL

Nitric oxide modulates expression of extracellular matrix genes linked to fibrosis in kidney mesangial cells

Mesangial cells are thought to be important mediators of glomerular inflammation and fibrosis. Studies have established a direct role for nitric oxide (NO) in the regulation of gene expression in mesangial cells. Representational difference analysis was used to investigate changes in gene expression elicited by the treatment of S-nitroso-L-glutathione in rat mesangial cells. Seven upregulated and 11 downregulated genes were identified. Four out of 11 downregulated genes (connective tissue growth factor, thrombospondin-1, collagen type I all and collagen type I alpha 2) are known to be linked to inflammation and fibrosis. Results were verified across species in mesangial cells treated with a series of NO donors using Northern blot analysis, quantitative real-time PCR and protein analysis methods. Induction of endogenous NO production by cytokine stimulation also triggered regulation of the genes. One example gene, connective tissue growth factor, was studied at the promoter level. Promoter-reporter gene studies in mesangial cells demonstrated that NO acts at the transcriptional level to suppress gene expression. Our results reveal a complex role of NO in regulating gene expression in mesangial cells and suggest an antifibrotic potential for NO

Oclusão da veia central da retina após tratamento com imunoglobulina humana endovenosa

Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de MedicinaUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

Analysis and prediction of vortex-induced vibrations of variable-tension vertical risers in linearly sheared currents

Many studies have tackled the problem of previous termvortex-induced vibrationsnext term (VIV) of a vertical riser with a constant tension and placed in uniform currents. In this study, attention is focused on the cross-flow VIV modelling, time-domain previous termanalysis and predictionnext term of variable-tension vertical risers in linearly sheared currents. The partial-differential equation governing the riser transverse motion is based on a flexural tensioned-beam model with typical pinned–pinned supports. The hydrodynamic excitation model describing the modulation of lift force is based on a distributed van der Pol wake oscillator whose nonlinear equation is also partial-differential due to the implementation of a diffusion term. The variation of empirical wake coefficients with system parameters and the water depth-dependent Reynolds number is introduced. Based on the assumed Fourier mode shape functions obtained by accounting for the effect of non-uniform tension, the Galerkin technique is utilized to construct a low-dimensional multi-mode model governing the coupled fluid-riser interaction system due to VIV. Numerical simulations in the case of varying sheared flow profiles are carried out to systematically evaluate riser nonlinear dynamics and highlight the influence of fluid–structure parameters along with associated VIV aspects. In particular, the effects of shear and tensioned-beam (tension versus bending) parameters are underlined. Some comparisons with published experimental results and observations are qualitatively and quantitatively discussed. Overall parametric previous termanalysis and predictionnext term results may be worthwhile for being a new benchmark against future experimental testing and/or numerical results predicted by an alternative model and methodology

Physiologic adaptations of the tubuloglomerular feedback system

The maintenance of volume homeostasis is sufficiently important to mammalian terrestrial life that a large amount of evolutionary energy has been expended in the development of multiple control systems, each involved in regulating the volume and composition of internal body fluids. The kidney, which participates in most of these systems, has evolved physiologic attributes which enhance the efficiency of volume regulation. Perhaps the most fundamental of these attributes is a close coordination between the processes of glomerular filtration and tubular reabsorption. Such coordination is required to prevent the amplification of small fluctuations in glomerular filtration rate into large fluctuations in total body salt and water content.It was first suggested by Homer Smith that reabsorption of fluid from the nephron should increase as the delivery of tubular fluid into that segment increases [1]. When applied to the proximal tubule, this principle of flow-dependent transport has come to be referred to as “glomerulotubular balance” [2, 3]. Glomerulotubular balance depends upon intrinsic properties of the proximal nephron including the affinities and densities of various solute transporters and the differential permeabilities of the nephron to various solutes and water, and upon the trans-epithelial concentration gradients of these solutes [4–6]. By definition, glomerulotubular balance describes the functional dependence of tubular reabsorption on glomerular filtration rate independently of other neuro-humoral effectors of tubular transport. However, since glomerulotubular balance is a substrate-driven process, it cannot accomplish an increment in proximal tubular reabsorption which exceeds an increment in delivered load. Therefore, in the absence of effectors other than glomerulotubular balance the volume of fluid entering the distal nephron must be a monotonically increasing function of GFR [7].How then, may the kidney avert an unintentional diuresis should the hemodynamic forces favoring glomerular filtration combine to overwhelm the reabsorptive capacity of the nephron? In 1937 Goormaghtigh suggested that the juxtaglomerular apparatus might participate in the maintenance of volume homeostasis by generating some sort of signal in response to changes in the composition of distal tubular fluid [8]. The peculiar anatomic arrangement of the nephron would facilitate transmission of this signal to the upstream glomerulus and lead to alterations in the physiologic determinants of glomerular filtration. This hypothesis has been refined over the past three decades as substantial experimental data have accrued to support the existence of an operational system of tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) [9]. Contemporary models of the TGF system, by analogy to negative feedback-driven control systems in engineering control theory, divide the system into three component processes [10]. The first of these components is a parameter which the system is designed to regulate, in this case, the rate at which tubular fluid transits the late proximal nephron or VLP. The second component includes the macula densa and surrounding interstitium which serve to detect differences between the current value of VLP and some internal set-point, and translate this information into an output command. The third component, or effector limb, of the TGF system is constituted by the contractile glomerular mesangium and glomerular arterioles which respond to the aforementioned output command by altering nephron filtration rate (SNGFR) to keep VLP in line with the system's internal set-point. When TGF is allowed to function as a closed-loop system [7], as is the case in vivo, its presence is, by nature, undetectable. However, when late proximal flow is uncoupled from nephron filtration by artificial microperfusion of the late proximal tubule, a dependence of SNGFR on VLP can be defined [11]. This relationship is referred to as the “TGF function”, or “gain” of the TGF system [7, 10]. This TGF function specifies a continuum of points in the VLP-SNGFR plane at which the nephron may operate. The actual operating point of the system exists at the point in this plane where the TGF and glomerulotubular balance functions intersect (Fig. 1).The TGF function may vary in response to the changing needs of the organism, both with regard to volume homeostasis and renal function. The altering of TGF under conditions of pregnancy, loss of renal mass, and a variety of other pathophysiologic conditions suggests that the juxtaglomerular apparatus is involved in events pertinent not merely to volume regulation but to overall renal growth and function

Locality restrictions in diminutive formation in brazilian portuguese: a mapping a dependence relation between -inh and gender

This work investigates the morphosyntactic structure of -inh diminutive formation in Brazilian Portuguese. Assuming a syntactic approach to word formation, it proposes that -inh is not able to project its label in the syntactic structure. It also proposes that -inh attaches to the gender projection, which categorizes the root and is understood as part of the extended projection of the noun. This structure is able to derive the locality relations between the root, the gender head, and the diminutive morpheme, capturing the empirical properties of these formations.Este trabalho investiga a estrutura morfossintática das formações de diminutivo do português brasileiro construídas com o formativo -inh. A partir de uma perspectiva sintática de formação de palavras, propomos que -inh não é capaz de projetar seu rótulo na estrutura sintática. Propomos também que -inh se anexa a uma projeção de gênero, que é entendida como parte da projeção estendida do nome, sendo responsável por categorizar a raiz. Essa estrutura é capaz de derivar as relações de localidade apropriadas entre a raiz, o núcleo de gênero e o morfema de diminutivo, capturando as propriedades empíricas dessas formações