Solvability of mental health care in the Family Health Strategy: social representation of professionals and users

Objective To aprehend the social representations about the solvability in mental health care with users of the Family Health Strategy and professionals of family health teams and of the Center for Psychosocial Care. Method A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews for data collection, and the Alceste software for analysis. This software uses the Hierarchical Descending Classification based on the examination of lexical roots, considering the words as units and providing context in the corpus. Results The representations emerge in two opposing poles: the users require satisfaction with care and the professionals realize the need for improvement of health actions. Although the matricial support in mental health and the home visits are developed, the barriers related to investment in health, continuing education and organization of care persist. Conclusion The different representations enable improvements in customer service, solvability of care and aggregate knowledge and practices in the expanded perspective of health needs in the family, social and therapeutic context.


Interference of Native Language in English Language Acquisition in Santa Cruz and Calheta Secondary schools

This study analyzes the interference of native language when students are learning a foreign language, in this case English. According to this study, interferences from the native language such as lexical-semantic and phonological are not infrequent. It is one of the main barriers that create difficulties when learning English. The outcome of this study is presented at the end of the Monografia: to provide English-language teachers and students the most significant linguistic interferences that occur during the learning process of English language. Furthermore, some teaching strategies are discussed to avoid the biases that appear due to the interferences of the native language. As a result of this study, I hope to contribute to the learning success among English-language students.

A neuronal gamma oscillatory signature during morphological unification in the left occipitotemporal junction.

Morphology is the aspect of language concerned with the internal structure of words. In the past decades, a large body of masked priming (behavioral and neuroimaging) data has suggested that the visual word recognition system automatically decomposes any morphologically complex word into a stem and its constituent morphemes. Yet the reliance of morphology on other reading processes (e.g., orthography and semantics), as well as its underlying neuronal mechanisms are yet to be determined. In the current magnetoencephalography study, we addressed morphology from the perspective of the unification framework, that is, by applying the Hold/Release paradigm, morphological unification was simulated via the assembly of internal morphemic units into a whole word. Trials representing real words were divided into words with a transparent (true) or a nontransparent (pseudo) morphological relationship. Morphological unification of truly suffixed words was faster and more accurate and additionally enhanced induced oscillations in the narrow gamma band (60-85 Hz, 260-440 ms) in the left posterior occipitotemporal junction. This neural signature could not be explained by a mere automatic lexical processing (i.e., stem perception), but more likely it related to a semantic access step during the morphological unification process. By demonstrating the validity of unification at the morphological level, this study contributes to the vast empirical evidence on unification across other language processes. Furthermore, we point out that morphological unification relies on the retrieval of lexical semantic associations via induced gamma band oscillations in a cerebral hub region for visual word form processing.

Effect of orthographic processes on letter identity and letter-position encoding in dyslexic children.

The ability to identify letters and encode their position is a crucial step of the word recognition process. However and despite their word identification problem, the ability of dyslexic children to encode letter identity and letter-position within strings was not systematically investigated. This study aimed at filling this gap and further explored how letter identity and letter-position encoding is modulated by letter context in developmental dyslexia. For this purpose, a letter-string comparison task was administered to French dyslexic children and two chronological age (CA) and reading age (RA)-matched control groups. Children had to judge whether two successively and briefly presented four-letter strings were identical or different. Letter-position and letter identity were manipulated through the transposition (e.g., RTGM vs. RMGT) or substitution of two letters (e.g., TSHF vs. TGHD). Non-words, pseudo-words, and words were used as stimuli to investigate sub-lexical and lexical effects on letter encoding. Dyslexic children showed both substitution and transposition detection problems relative to CA-controls. A substitution advantage over transpositions was only found for words in dyslexic children whereas it extended to pseudo-words in RA-controls and to all type of items in CA-controls. Letters were better identified in the dyslexic group when belonging to orthographically familiar strings. Letter-position encoding was very impaired in dyslexic children who did not show any word context effect in contrast to CA-controls. Overall, the current findings point to a strong letter identity and letter-position encoding disorder in developmental dyslexia.

The role of epilepsy in early language development in a child with a congenital lesion in the right hemisphere

Early epilepsy is known to worsen the developmental prognosis of young children with a congenital focal brain lesion, but its direct role is often very difficult to delineate from the other variables. This requires prolonged periods of follow-up with simultaneous serial electrophysiological and developmental assessments which are rarely obtained. We studied a male infant with a right prenatal infarct in the territory of the right middle cerebral artery resulting in a left spastic hemiparesis, and an epileptic disorder (infantile spasms with transient right hemihypsarrhythmia and focal seizures) from the age of 7 months until the age of 4 years. Pregnancy and delivery were normal. A dissociated delay of early language acquisition affecting mainly comprehension without any autistic features was documented. This delay was much more severe than usually expected in children with early focal lesions, and its evolution, with catch-up to normal, was correlated with the active phase of the epilepsy. We postulate that the epilepsy specifically amplified a pattern of delayed language emergence, mainly affecting lexical comprehension, reported in children with early right hemisphere damage.

Traducción comentada de Guidelines Governing the Adoption of Children, 2011 in India

En este trabajo se analiza la variación discursiva y los diferentes criterios de estilo entre textos jurídicos normativos en inglés y español; se establecen fenómenos lingüísticos propios del discurso jurídico que generan problemas de traducción; y se comparan algunas diferencias entre sistemas jurídicos y políticos para analizar su repercusión en la traducción.

Postmodifying prepositional phrases in English and Spanish (with special reference to locative postmodifiers)

Prepositional phrases are the commonest kind of postmodification in all registers of English (Biber et al. 1999: 634). The locative ones that can be expanded into a defining relative clause (the books [which are] on the table) are usually expressed by such a construction in Spanish (los libros que están encima de la mesa) or by a phrase introduced by de (los libros de encima de la mesa). Wonder (1979) argues that Spanish allows locative phrases with prepositions other than de in the case of"situaciones"activas"" (el aterrizaje en pleno campo) as against"situaciones estáticas" (*el sofá en la sala), and if the phrase can be given an adverbial rather than, or in addition to, an adjectival interpretation (el ruido en la calle), especially if that phrase implies an alternative location for an object or contrast with another similar object (el sofá en la sala contigua). This paper further investigates this claim and looks at Spanish equivalents of English postmodifying prepositional phrases in general, while proposing an explanation for the choice of these different structures in Spanish based on considerations of lexical density. Resumen: Las frases preposicionales constituyen el tipo más frecuente de posmodificación en todos los registros del inglés (Biber et a. 1999: 634). En el español, las expresiones locativas suelen incorporar un pronombre relativo y un verbo (the books [which are] on the table > los libros que están encima de la mesa), o bien expresarse mediante una frase introducida por la preposición de (los libros de encima de la mesa). Wonder (1979) sostiene que el español permite el uso de preposiciones que no sean de en las frases locativas en el caso de"situaciones"activas"" (el aterrizaje en pleno campo) frente a"situaciones estáticas" (*el sofá en la sala), y también si la frase puede tener una función adverbial antes que, o además de, una interpretación adjetiva (el ruido en la calle), sobre todo si dicha frase encierra la idea de una posición alternativa para un objeto, o bien un contraste con otro objeto similar (el sofá en la sala contigua). El presente estudio pretende examinar este argumento y, además, explorar la posmodificación preposicional en español de un modo más general, a la par que propone una explicación sobre la elección de estructura en español que se basa en el criterio de la densidad léxica.

Plagiarism meets paraphrasing: insights for the new generation in automatic plagiarism detection

Although paraphrasing is the linguistic mechanism underlying many plagiarism cases, little attention has been paid to its analysis in the framework of automatic plagiarism detection. Therefore, state-of-the-art plagiarism detectors find it difficult to detect cases of paraphrase plagiarism. In this article, we analyse the relationship between paraphrasing and plagiarism, paying special attention to which paraphrase phenomena underlie acts of plagiarism and which of them are detected by plagiarism detection systems. With this aim in mind, we created the P4P corpus, a new resource which uses a paraphrase typology to annotate a subset of the PAN-PC-10 corpus for automatic plagiarism detection. The results of the Second International Competition on Plagiarism Detection were analysed in the light of this annotation. The presented experiments show that (i) more complex paraphrase phenomena and a high density of paraphrase mechanisms make plagiarism detection more difficult, (ii) lexical substitutions are the paraphrase mechanisms used the most when plagiarising, and (iii) paraphrase mechanisms tend to shorten the plagiarized text. For the first time, the paraphrase mechanisms behind plagiarism have been analysed, providing critical insights for the improvement of automatic plagiarism detection systems.

Reconciling phonological neighborhood effects in speech production through single trial analysis

A crucial step for understanding how lexical knowledge is represented is to describe the relative similarity of lexical items, and how it influences language processing. Previous studies of the effects of form similarity on word production have reported conflicting results, notably within and across languages. The aim of the present study was to clarify this empirical issue to provide specific constraints for theoretical models of language production. We investigated the role of phonological neighborhood density in a large-scale picture naming experiment using fine-grained statistical models. The results showed that increasing phonological neighborhood density has a detrimental effect on naming latencies, and re-analyses of independently obtained data sets provide supplementary evidence for this effect. Finally, we reviewed a large body of evidence concerning phonological neighborhood density effects in word production, and discussed the occurrence of facilitatory and inhibitory effects in accuracy measures. The overall pattern shows that phonological neighborhood generates two opposite forces, one facilitatory and one inhibitory. In cases where speech production is disrupted (e.g. certain aphasic symptoms), the facilitatory component may emerge, but inhibitory processes dominate in efficient naming by healthy speakers. These findings are difficult to accommodate in terms of monitoring processes, but can be explained within interactive activation accounts combining phonological facilitation and lexical competition.

Hemispheric language asymmetry in first episode psychosis and schizotypy : the role of cannabis consumption and cognitive disorganization

Cannabis use has been related to an elevated psychosis risk and attenuated cognitive functioning. Cannabis-related cognitive impairments are also observed in populations along the psychosis dimension. We here investigated whether a potential behavioural marker of the psychosis dimension (attenuated functional hemispheric asymmetry) is even further attenuated in individuals using cannabis (CU) versus those not using cannabis (nCU). We tested 29 patients with first episode psychosis (FEP; 11 CU) and 90 healthy controls (38 CU) on lateralized lexical decisions assessing left hemisphere language dominance. In patients, psychotic symptoms were assessed (PANSS). In controls, self-reported schizotypy was assessed (O-LIFE questionnaire). Results indicated that nCU FEP patients had a relative reduced hemispheric asymmetry, as did controls with increasing cognitive disorganisation scores, in particular when belonging to the group of nCU controls. Positive, disorganised and negative PANSS scores in patients and negative and positive schizotypy in controls were unrelated to hemispheric asymmetry. These findings suggest that cannabis use balances rather than exacerbates uncommon hemispheric laterality patterns. Moreover, in healthy populations, the potential stabilisation of typical hemispheric asymmetry in CU might be most relevant to individuals with elevated cognitive disorganisation. We discuss the potential beneficial and harmful effects of cannabis use along the psychosis dimension together with propositions for future studies that should account for the mediating role of additional substances (e.g. nicotine), cannabis composition (e.g. cannabidiol content), and individual differences (e.g. physical health, or absence of significant polysubstance use).

Loanword Phonology, Lexical Exceptions, Morphologically Driven Underapplication, and the Nature of Positionally Biased Constraints

In this paper we provide a formal account for underapplication of vowel reduction to schwa in Majorcan Catalan loanwords and learned words. On the basis of the comparison of these data with those concerning productive derivation and verbal inflection, which show analogous patterns, in this paper we also explore the existing and not yet acknowledged correlation between those processes that exhibit a particular behaviour in the loanword phonology with respect to the native phonology of the language, those processes that show lexical exceptions and those processes that underapply due to morphological reasons. In light of the analysis of the very same data and taking into account the aforementioned correlation, we show how there might exist a natural diachronic relation between two kinds of Optimality Theory constraints which are commonly used but, in principle, mutually exclusive: positional faithfulness and contextual markedness constraints. Overall, phonological productivity is proven to be crucial in three respects: first, as a context of the grammar, given that «underapplication» is systematically found in what we call the productive phonology of the dialect (including loanwords, learned words, productive derivation and verbal inflection); second, as a trigger or blocker of processes, in that the productivity or the lack of productivity of a specific process or constraint in the language is what explains whether it is challenged or not in any of the depicted situations, and, third, as a guiding principle which can explain the transition from the historical to the synchronic phonology of a linguistic variety.

Identification of the regions involved in phonological assembly using a novel paradigm.

Here we adopt a novel strategy to investigate phonological assembly. Participants performed a visual lexical decision task in English in which the letters in words and letterstrings were delivered either sequentially (promoting phonological assembly) or simultaneously (not promoting phonological assembly). A region of interest analysis confirmed that regions previously associated with phonological assembly, in studies contrasting different word types (e.g. words versus pseudowords), were also identified using our novel task that controls for a number of confounding variables. Specifically, the left pars opercularis, the superior part of the ventral precentral gyrus and the supramarginal gyrus were all recruited more during sequential delivery than simultaneous delivery, even when various psycholinguistic characteristics of the stimuli were controlled. This suggests that sequential delivery of orthographic stimuli is a useful tool to explore how readers, with various levels of proficiency, use sublexical phonological processing during visual word recognition.

Construction of an index of information from clinical practice in Radiology and Imaging Diagnosis based on text mining and thesaurus

Objective To construct a Portuguese language index of information on the practice of diagnostic radiology in order to improve the standardization of the medical language and terminology. Materials and Methods A total of 61,461 definitive reports were collected from the database of the Radiology Information System at Hospital das Clínicas – Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (RIS/HCFMRP) as follows: 30,000 chest x-ray reports; 27,000 mammography reports; and 4,461 thyroid ultrasonography reports. The text mining technique was applied for the selection of terms, and the ANSI/NISO Z39.19-2005 standard was utilized to construct the index based on a thesaurus structure. The system was created in *html. Results The text mining resulted in a set of 358,236 (n = 100%) words. Out of this total, 76,347 (n = 21%) terms were selected to form the index. Such terms refer to anatomical pathology description, imaging techniques, equipment, type of study and some other composite terms. The index system was developed with 78,538 *html web pages. Conclusion The utilization of text mining on a radiological reports database has allowed the construction of a lexical system in Portuguese language consistent with the clinical practice in Radiology.

First- and second-language phonological representations in the mental lexicon

Performance-based studies on the psychological nature of linguistic competence can conceal significant differences in the brain processes that underlie native versus nonnative knowledge of language. Here we report results from the brain activity of very proficient early bilinguals making a lexical decision task that illustrates this point. Two groups of SpanishCatalan early bilinguals (Spanish-dominant and Catalan-dominant) were asked to decide whether a given form was a Catalan word or not. The nonwords were based on real words, with one vowel changed. In the experimental stimuli, the vowel change involved a Catalan-specific contrast that previous research had shown to be difficult for Spanish natives to perceive. In the control stimuli, the vowel switch involved contrasts common to Spanish and Catalan. The results indicated that the groups of bilinguals did not differ in their behavioral and event-related brain potential measurements for the control stimuli; both groups made very few errors and showed a larger N400 component for control nonwords than for control words. However, significant differences were observed for the experimental stimuli across groups: Specifically, Spanish-dominant bilinguals showed great difficulty in rejecting experimental nonwords. Indeed, these participants not only showed very high error rates for these stimuli, but also did not show an error-related negativity effect in their erroneous nonword decisions. However, both groups of bilinguals showed a larger correctrelated negativity when making correct decisions about the experimental nonwords. The results suggest that although some aspects of a second language system may show a remarkable lack of plasticity (like the acquisition of some foreign contrasts), first-language representations seem to be more dynamic in their capacity of adapting and incorporating new information. &

Morphological priming in Spanish verb forms: an ERP repetition priming study

The ERP repetition priming paradigm has been shown to be sensitive to the processing differences between regular and irregular verb forms in English and German. The purpose of the present study is to extend this research to a language with a different inflectional system, Spanish. The design (delayed visual repetition priming) was adopted from our previous study on English, and the specific linguistic phenomena we examined are priming relations between different kinds of stem (or root) forms. There were two experimental conditions: In the first condition, the prime and the target shared the same stem form, e.g., "ando-andar" [I walk-to walk], whereas in the second condition, the prime contained a marked (alternated) stem, e.g., "duermo-dormir" [I sleep-to sleep]. A reduced N400 was found for unmarked (nonalternated) stems in the primed condition, whereas marked stems showed no such effect. Moreover, control conditions demonstrated that the surface form properties (i.e., the different degree of phonetic and orthographic overlap between primes and targets) do not explain the observed priming difference. The ERP priming effect for verb forms with unmarked stems in Spanish is parallel to that found for regularly inflected verb forms in English and German. We argue that effective priming is possible because prime target pairs such as "ando-andar" access the same lexical entry for their stems. By contrast, verb forms with alternated stems (e.g., "duermo") constitute separate lexical entries, and are therefore less powerful primes for their corresponding base forms.