PARA UMA POÉTICA DA VITALIDADE: religião e antropologia na escritura machadiana (Uma leitura de Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, de Machado de Assis)

A literatura de Machado de Assis foi revisitada nesta tese porque tínhamos a convicção de que o tema da religião e suas implicações para o ser humano machadiano se constituíam como uma tarefa de investigação que esperava por ser feita. Para localizar o objetivo central da presente tese no campo das discussões travadas entre religião e literatura construímos, na primeira parte, um caminho que nos levou a constatação da efetiva aproximação entre elas. Amparados pela inabarcável discussão que trata das imagens religiosas e teológicas presentes nos textos literários, bem como pelas inúmeras construções metodológicas que visam a propiciar uma aproximação mais profícua entre religião e literatura, buscamos uma interpretação da literatura machadiana que apontasse para a expressão religiosa do ponto de vista de sua antropologia. O nosso eixo interpretativo foi construído a partir da teoria hermenêutica de Paul Ricoeur, mais especificamente a partir do conceito de metáfora. A reflexão que construímos em torno da expressão religiosa da antropologia machadiana foi inicialmente devedora do conceito de vitalidade de Jürgen Moltmann. A expressão religiosa da antropologia machadiana emergida do romance Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas (1881) apresenta-se sob a perspectiva de uma incondicionalidade a partir da qual a vida de Brás Cubas é tomada. Esta característica da antropologia machadiana fez com que estabelecêssemos um recurso conceitual para dar conta de sua particularidade. Propomos, portanto, que o ser humano do espaço literário machadiano seja chamado de homo vitalis.(AU)

Relaçam dos procedimentos que teve Dom Antonio Mascarenhas ... /

Inocêncio,

O MAL NA LITERATURA MACHADIANA: UMA LEITURA TEOLÓGICA E FILOSÓFICA DA OBRA QUINCAS BORBA, DE MACHADO DE ASSIS

A presente pesquisa apresenta um estudo sobre o mal a partir da leitura da obra Quincas Borba, de Machado de Assis, tendo como referência um viés da teologia e da filosofia uma vez que este problema historicamente suscitou questionamentos em ambos os campos do conhecimento. Concomitantemente, pretendemos apontar para a possibilidade de uma obra literária fazer surgir uma reflexão teológica e filosófica, sem contanto, ser necessário provar a religiosidade do escritor ou desvelar uma doutrina filosófica criada pelo mesmo. Para tanto, propomos como autores de base os teólogos Andrés Torres Queiruga, Juan Antonio Estrada, e a teóloga Ivone Gebara, e os filósofos Paul Ric ur, Blaise Pascal e Arthur Schopenhauer. Ao mesmo tempo, damos uma relevância ao livro do Eclesiastes, do qual o escritor carioca era leitor assíduo. Com isso, pretendemos evidenciar e compreender mais profundamente na já mencionada obra machadiana a presença do mal em suas mais facetadas manifestações nas relações humanas.

Fuga da promessa e nostalgia do divino: a antropologia de Dom Casmurro de Machado de Assis como tema no diálogo entre teologia e literatura

A ocupação principal deste trabalho residiu no diálogo entre a teologia e a literatura, primordialmente no interior do romance machadiano Dom Casmurro. Esta dissertação preconizou a antropologia emergente no romance machadiano em questão, como lugar das reflexões de cunho teológico. Para pauta de discussões, foram trazidas obras referenciais, que se apresentaram como o estado atual da questão acerca do diálogo entre teologia e literatura. A sustentação teórica deste trabalho se deu com apropriações conceituais de Paul Ricoeur, Antonio Carlos de Melo Magalhães e Gerard Genette. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabalho se delimitou na demonstração das relações entre o Deus que se revela e o humano machadiano, a partir do caráter antropológico do romance Dom Casmurro. A promessa e o caráter paratextual do capítulo em que ela é narrada, conduziram todas as análises realizadas, que culminaram na observação do antropológico como tema central do romance. Defendemos que a quebra das relações estabelecidas entre o humano machadiano e o Deus da promessa estabeleceu a instalação de um mundo desencantado diante da existência e da realidade do protagonista do romance, Bento Santiago.(AU)

PARA UMA POÉTICA DA VITALIDADE: religião e antropologia na escritura machadiana (Uma leitura de Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, de Machado de Assis)

A literatura de Machado de Assis foi revisitada nesta tese porque tínhamos a convicção de que o tema da religião e suas implicações para o ser humano machadiano se constituíam como uma tarefa de investigação que esperava por ser feita. Para localizar o objetivo central da presente tese no campo das discussões travadas entre religião e literatura construímos, na primeira parte, um caminho que nos levou a constatação da efetiva aproximação entre elas. Amparados pela inabarcável discussão que trata das imagens religiosas e teológicas presentes nos textos literários, bem como pelas inúmeras construções metodológicas que visam a propiciar uma aproximação mais profícua entre religião e literatura, buscamos uma interpretação da literatura machadiana que apontasse para a expressão religiosa do ponto de vista de sua antropologia. O nosso eixo interpretativo foi construído a partir da teoria hermenêutica de Paul Ricoeur, mais especificamente a partir do conceito de metáfora. A reflexão que construímos em torno da expressão religiosa da antropologia machadiana foi inicialmente devedora do conceito de vitalidade de Jürgen Moltmann. A expressão religiosa da antropologia machadiana emergida do romance Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas (1881) apresenta-se sob a perspectiva de uma incondicionalidade a partir da qual a vida de Brás Cubas é tomada. Esta característica da antropologia machadiana fez com que estabelecêssemos um recurso conceitual para dar conta de sua particularidade. Propomos, portanto, que o ser humano do espaço literário machadiano seja chamado de homo vitalis.(AU)

Crises do cotidiano em Machado de Assis e Luigi Pirandello: um estudo comparado

This thesis proposes to identify possible similarities and differences between the novels Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas (1981), by the Brazilian writer Machado de Assis, and Uno, Nessuno and Centomila (1926), by the Italian writer Luigi Pirandello. The two authors have prominent respective places in Brazilian and Italian literature, and both observed and experienced remarkable changes in their societies Brazil's imperial period, and Italy’s post-risorgimentale period. We will verify how each author composes a piece o literary art in which it is possible to achieve the authors’social and moral conscience. We will also attempt to achieve thefeelings of restlessness, anxiety, fear, doubt, interest, vanity, ambition: in summary, the desire of the characters to exist, which represents man at the end of the nineteenth century and commencement of thetwentieth century. The characters’ features point to fragmented identity, in search of a place in the world, even if he needs to renounce his essence and to adopt a corresponding appearance to all images that society assigns to him in order to achieve such a place. The protagonists, Brás Cubas and Vitangelo Moscarda, will lead us along the paths of consciousness of each, which demarcate the border between essence and appearance. Critics such as Roberto Schwarz, Alfredo Bosi, Leone Castris, among others, will give us the theoretical support necessary for a comparative study between the two authors, whom, like few others, knew how to express, through their characters, the difficult relationship of man with himself and with the universe at large.

Clássicos do terror como proposta de letramento literário: Machado e Stevenson em sala de aula

Acompanha: Da crueldade à duplicidade da alma humana: sequência expandida a partir de clássicos do terror

Menthol Inhibits Detrusor Contractility Independently Of Trpm8 Activation.

Agonists such as icilin and menthol can activate the cool temperature-sensitive ion channel TRPM8. However, biological responses to menthol may occur independently of TRPM8 activation. In the rodent urinary bladder, menthol facilitates the micturition reflex but inhibits muscarinic contractions of the detrusor smooth muscle. The site(s) of TRPM8 expression in the bladder are controversial. In this study we investigated the regulation of bladder contractility in vitro by menthol. Bladder strips from wild type and TRPM8 knockout male mice (25-30 g) were dissected free and mounted in organ baths. Isometric contractions to carbachol (1 nM-30 µM), CaCl2 (1 µM to 100 mM) and electrical field stimulation (EFS; 8, 16, 32 Hz) were measured. Strips from both groups contracted similarly in response to both carbachol and EFS. Menthol (300 µM) or nifedipine (1 µM) inhibited carbachol and EFS-induced contractions in both wild type and TRPM8 knockout bladder strips. Incubation with the sodium channel blocker tetrodotoxin (1 µM), replacement of extracellular sodium with the impermeant cation N-Methyl-D-Glucamine, incubation with a cocktail of potassium channel inhibitors (100 nM charybdotoxin, 1 µM apamin, 10 µM glibenclamide and 1 µM tetraethylammonium) or removal of the urothelium did not affect the inhibitory actions of menthol. Contraction to CaCl2 was markedly inhibited by either menthol or nifedipine. In cultured bladder smooth muscle cells, menthol or nifedipine abrogated the carbachol or KCl-induced increases in [Ca2+]i. Intravesical administration of menthol increased voiding frequency while decreasing peak voiding pressure. We conclude that menthol inhibits muscarinic bladder contractions through blockade of L-type calcium channels, independently of TRPM8 activation.

Cerebral Cortex Involvement In Machado-joseph Disease.

Machado-Joseph disease (MJD/SCA3) is the most frequent spinocerebellar ataxia, characterized by brainstem, basal ganglia and cerebellar damage. Few magnetic resonance imaging based studies have investigated damage in the cerebral cortex. The objective was to determine whether patients with MJD/SCA3 have cerebral cortex atrophy, to identify regions more susceptible to damage and to look for the clinical and neuropsychological correlates of such lesions. Forty-nine patients with MJD/SCA3 (mean age 47.7 ± 13.0 years, 27 men) and 49 matched healthy controls were enrolled. All subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging scans in a 3 T device, and three-dimensional T1 images were used for volumetric analyses. Measurement of cortical thickness and volume was performed using the FreeSurfer software. Groups were compared using ancova with age, gender and estimated intracranial volume as covariates, and a general linear model was used to assess correlations between atrophy and clinical variables. Mean CAG expansion, Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) score and age at onset were 72.1 ± 4.2, 14.7 ± 7.3 and 37.5 ± 12.5 years, respectively. The main findings were (i) bilateral paracentral cortex atrophy, as well as the caudal middle frontal gyrus, superior and transverse temporal gyri, and lateral occipital cortex in the left hemisphere and supramarginal gyrus in the right hemisphere; (ii) volumetric reduction of basal ganglia and hippocampi; (iii) a significant correlation between SARA and brainstem and precentral gyrus atrophy. Furthermore, some of the affected cortical regions showed significant correlations with neuropsychological data. Patients with MJD/SCA3 have widespread cortical and subcortical atrophy. These structural findings correlate with clinical manifestations of the disease, which support the concept that cognitive/motor impairment and cerebral damage are related in disease.

Spinal Cord Damage In Machado-joseph Disease.

Machado-Joseph disease (SCA3) is the most frequent spinocerebellar ataxia worldwide and characterized by remarkable phenotypic heterogeneity. MRI-based studies in SCA3 focused in the cerebellum and connections, but little is known about cord damage in the disease and its clinical relevance. To evaluate the spinal cord damage in SCA3 through quantitative analysis of MRI scans. A group of 48 patients with SCA3 and 48 age and gender-matched healthy controls underwent MRI on a 3T scanner. We used T1-weighted 3D images to estimate the cervical spinal cord area (CA) and eccentricity (CE) at three C2/C3 levels based on a semi-automatic image segmentation protocol. The scale for assessment and rating of ataxia (SARA) was employed to quantify disease severity. The two groups-SCA3 and controls-were significantly different regarding CA (49.5 ± 7.3 vs 67.2 ± 6.3 mm(2), p < 0.001) and CE values (0.79 ± 0.06 vs 0.75 ± 0.05, p = 0.005). In addition, CA presented a significant correlation with SARA scores in the patient group (p = 0.010). CE was not associated with SARA scores (p = 0.857). In the multiple variable regression, we found that disease duration was the only variable associated with CA (coefficient = -0.629, p = 0.025). SCA3 is characterized by cervical cord atrophy and antero-posterior flattening. In addition, the spinal cord areas did correlate with disease severity. This suggests that quantitative analyses of the spinal cord MRI might be a useful biomarker in SCA3.

Machado-Joseph disease versus hereditary spastic paraplegia: case report

Machado-Joseph disease (MJD) is the most common autosomal dominant spinocerebellar ataxia and presents great phenotypic variability. MJD presenting with spastic paraparesis was recently described in Japanese patients. We report the case of 41-year-old woman with the phenotype of complicated hereditary spastic paraplegia. Her father died at the age of 56 years due to an undiagnosed progressive neurological disease that presented parkinsonism. She had an expanded allele with 66 CAG repeats and a normal allele with 22 repeats in the gene of MJD. MJD should be considered in the differential diagnosis of autosomal dominant complicated HSP. A patient with the phenotype of complicated HSP and relatives with other clinical features of a neurodegenerative disease should raise the suspicion of MJD.

Machado de assis's epilepsy

Machado de Assis (1839-1908) is considered the most important Brazilian writer and a great universal literary figure. Little is know about his medical, personal and family history. He hid his «disease» as much as possible. Machado referred to «strange things» having happened to him in his childhood. He described seizures as «nervous phenomena», «absenses», «my illness». Laet observed a seizure and described it as: «... when Machado approached us and spoke to me in disconnected words. I looked at him in surprise and found his features altered. Knowing that from time to time he had nervous problems,... and only permitted Machado take the Laranjeiras Street car, when I saw that he was completely well». A photographically documented seizure is shown. Alencar wrote, «The preoccupation with health was frequent: either he was having the consequences of a fit or was foreboding one». It is clear that Machado presented localized symptomatic epilepsy with complex partial seizures secondarily generalized of unknown etiology. The seizures which began in infancy or childhood had remission in adolescence and then recurred in his thirties and became more frequent in his later years. His depression got markedly worse with age. In our opinion, the greatest consequence of Machado's epilepsy, was his psychological suffering due to the prejudice of the times. Despite this Machado showed all his genius, which is still actual and universal.

Sobre uma degenerescência acidental nos deslocamentos químicos de RMN de 31P{¹H} em complexos difosfínicos de rutênio

The [RuCl(bipy)(dppb)(4-pic)]PF6 complex was prepared and fully characterized. The X-ray crystal structure of this complex was determined in order to make an unambiguous distinction between the two possible positions of the 4-methylpyridine ligand (4-pic) in the compound: trans to phosphorus atom or trans to nitrogen atom. The [RuCl(bipy)(dppb)(4-pic)]PF6 complex exhibits an unusual temperature-dependent accidental degeneracy of the 31P chemical shifts in its solution NMR spectrum.

Clinical evaluation and induced corneal vascularization study by native and anionic collagen membranes in rabbits corneas

PURPOSE: To evaluate the corneal vascularization (CV) and the clinical aspects induced by interlamellar graft with native (NCM) and anionic (ACM) collagen membranes in rabbits corneas. METHODS: An interlamellar graft with a 0.25 x 0.25 cm NCM (group 1) or ACM (group 2) fragment was performed in the right eye (treated eye). In the left eye, an estromal tunnel was done (control eye). Sixteen rabbits were used, and they were subdivided into two experimental groups of eight animals each. The clinical evaluation was performed at the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 15th and 30th postoperative days. Corneal vascularization analysis was performed after 30 days by the Images Analizator System Leica Qwin-550®. RESULTS: After 7 days, corneal vascularization was observed at about 2.25 ± 0.71 mm (NCM) and at about 1.0 ± 1.69 mm (ACM), respectively, from the limbus in direction to the central cornea. After 15 days, CV increased in both groups (5.25 ± 1.03 mm - NCM; 2.0 ± 2.39 mm - ACM) and then progressively decreased until day 30 (2.25 ± 2.10 mm - NCM; 0.75 ± 2.12 mm - ACM). The statistical analysis indicated that the averages of the distances from the limb vessels to the grafts observed after 7 and 15 days had not differed statistically (p=0.17), and after 15 and 30 postoperative days had a tendency to differ statistically (p=0.09). The control eyes did not present any changes. CONCLUSION: The interlamellar graft with native and anionic collagen membranes induced corneal vascularization when applied to rabbit corneas, but anionic collagen membrane induced a smaller corneal vascularization when compared to native collagen membrane. Although further studies are required, the results found in this study demonstrated the usefulness of interlamellar graft with native and anionic collagen membranes in keratoplasties. These membranes consists in one more graft option for the surgical treatment of corneal repair in rabbits and others animals, when other forms of medical and surgical treatment are not effective.