On playful language divergences. Code-switching among Spanish-Portuguese bilinguals

Uruguayan Portuguese, a variety of Portuguese which occurs in contact with Spanish in northern Uruguay along the Uruguayan-Brazilian border, has been perceived to be a mix of Portuguese and Spanish, in which speakers are either unable to separate languages or engage in code-switching for pragmatic purposes. Here, we analyze in-group communication using visual and verbal data extracted from video recordings of conversations among bilinguals in northern Uruguay, in order to investigate whether all language mixing is random or if speakers engage in pragmatically meaningful code-switching. We identify instances where Portuguese was inserted into Spanish segments with the intention to shift the frame from serious to non-serious, and offer a sequential analysis of code-switches which, together with gestures and prosody, clearly function to perform irony, sarcasm, disparagement, and teasing. This analysis illustrates how speakers draw on their bilingual repertoire to enact playful roles, adding to previous literature that has shown that despite prolonged bilingualism, the distinction between cognate languages is available for the manipulation of discourse functions, such as the construction of humor. - El portugués uruguayo, una variedad en contacto con el español en el norte de Uruguay en la frontera con Brasil, ha sido clasificado como una mezcla de lenguas, y sus hablantes como incapaces de separar los idiomas o usar la alternancia entre ellos con propósitos pragmáticos. Ese estudio utiliza datos verbales y visuales extraídos de grabaciones de video de conversaciones entre grupos de amigos y familiares bilingües, con el propósito de investigar si todas las alternancias de códigos son en realidad al azar o si los hablantes las usan como recursos pragmáticos. Los resultados muestran ocasiones donde los hablantes cambian del español al portugués con la intención de alterar el marco de la conversación de serio a no-serio. A través de un análisis secuencial de alternancias, acompañadas de gestos y prosodia, se muestra claramente cómo los hablantes usan la alternancia como recurso lingüístico en la construcción pragmática de ironía, sarcasmo, menosprecio y burla. Se concluye que los hablantes usan su repertorio bilingüe en la ejecución de roles chistosos, lo que apoya el argumento que, a pesar de un largo periodo de bilingüismo, la distinción entre las lenguas cognadas sigue siendo un recurso pragmático disponible, como por ejemplo en la construcción del humor

Nitric Oxide Regulates Neurogenesis in the Hippocampus following Seizures

Hippocampal neurogenesis is changed by brain injury. When neuroinflammation accompanies injury, activation of resident microglial cells promotes the release of inflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen/nitrogen species like nitric oxide (NO). In these conditions, NO promotes proliferation of neural stem cells (NSC) in the hippocampus. However, little is known about the role of NO in the survival and differentiation of newborn cells in the injured dentate gyrus. Here we investigated the role of NO following seizures in the regulation of proliferation, migration, differentiation, and survival of NSC in the hippocampus using the kainic acid (KA) induced seizuremouse model. We show that NO increased the proliferation of NSC and the number of neuroblasts following seizures but was detrimental to the survival of newborn neurons. NO was also required for the maintenance of long-term neuroinflammation. Taken together, our data show that NO positively contributes to the initial stages of neurogenesis following seizures but compromises survival of newborn neurons.Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal); COMPETE; FEDER [PTDC/SAU-NEU/102612/2008, PTDC/NEU-OSD/0473/2012, PEst-C/SAU/LA0001/2013-2014, PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013-2014]; FCT, Portugal [SFRH/BPD/78901/2011, SFRH/BD/77903/2011

Avaliação da usabilidade e da acessibilidade do site de matemática : RPEDU

Um site de apoio à disciplina pode ajudar a motivar os alunos a aprender online. No entanto não se podem descurar alguns aspectos que podem comprometer a sua aceitação. Neste artigo descrevemos o conjunto de testes realizados ao site RPEDU, Matemática para alunos do 3.º ciclo, de forma a potenciar a sua aceitação junto do público-alvo. Nesse sentido procedeu-se à avaliação heurística, à avaliação da acessibilidade e à condução de testes de usabilidade com utilizadores. Os resultados obtidos implicaram algumas reformulações que se apresentam.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Modulation of fatty acid profile in nannochloropsis oculata adaptation to temperature stress

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms undergo metabolic and matrix remodeling under nitrosative stress

Funding Information: This work was financially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) Project – PTDC/BIA-MIC/31566/2017, R&D unit MOSTMICRO-ITQB (UIDB/04612/2020 and UIDP/04612/2020) and LS4FUTURE Associated Laboratory (LA/P/0087/2020). AO has a fellowship UI/BD/153389/2022 from FCT. The NMR data were acquired from CERMAX, ITQB-NOVA, Oeiras, Portugal, with equipment funded by FCT, project AAC 01/SAICT/2016. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Acknowledgments Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2023 Oliveira, Saraiva and Carvalho.Staphylococcus epidermidis is a commensal skin bacterium that forms host- and antibiotic-resistant biofilms that are a major cause of implant-associated infections. Most research has focused on studying the responses to host-imposed stresses on planktonic bacteria. In this work, we addressed the open question of how S. epidermidis thrives on toxic concentrations of nitric oxide (NO) produced by host innate immune cells during biofilm assembly. We analyzed alterations of gene expression, metabolism, and matrix structure of biofilms of two clinical isolates of S. epidermidis, namely, 1457 and RP62A, formed under NO stress conditions. In both strains, NO lowers the amount of biofilm mass and causes increased production of lactate and decreased acetate excretion from biofilm glucose metabolism. Transcriptional analysis revealed that NO induces icaA, which is directly involved in polysaccharide intercellular adhesion (PIA) production, and genes encoding proteins of the amino sugar pathway (glmM and glmU) that link glycolysis to PIA synthesis. However, the strains seem to have distinct regulatory mechanisms to boost lactate production, as NO causes a substantial upregulation of ldh gene in strain RP62A but not in strain 1457. The analysis of the matrix components of the staphylococcal biofilms, assessed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), showed that NO stimulates PIA and protein production and interferes with biofilm structure in a strain-dependent manner, but independently of the Ldh level. Thus, NO resistance is attained by remodeling the staphylococcal matrix architecture and adaptation of main metabolic processes, likely providing in vivo fitness of S. epidermidis biofilms contacting NO-proficient macrophages.publishersversionpublishe