In the wake of Francisco Franco�s long dictatorship, various new forms of literature emerged in Spain. A new period of transformation, the so-called Spanish Transition, fostered an environment of experimentation and innovation free from the restrictive barriers of Franco�s regime. The Transition proved a period of great hopes and expectations as well as disillusionment and disappointment. This time, above all, provided an opportunity to reflect critically on the history and experience of the nation in the 20th century. Eduardo Mendoza is one among a generation of writers that experienced the early years of the Transition, the subsequent emergence of the Socialist Party and the reintroduction of Spain to Europe and, indeed, the rest of the world post 1975. This noted Catalan is one of several distinguished writers working within a new genre, the Spanish novela negra, or crime novel. In particular, he has written three novels El misterio de la cripta embrujada (1979), El laberinto de las aceitunas (1982) and La aventura del tocador de senoras (2001); each featuring an unlikely detective known as Ceferino. In this thesis, I examine Eduardo Mendoza�s three crime novels as a carnivalesque discourse. The work relies on the theory outlined by Mikhail Bakhtin in two of his foundational texts, Problems of Dostoevsky�s Poetics (1929) and Rabelais� World (1940). In 1929, Bakhtin sketched out the idea of "carnivalization" as the transposition of the spirit of carnival into art. It was not until his thesis (now known as Rabelais� World) was published in 1960 however that his vision of carnival was understood and the link between the carnivalized text and popular culture emerged. This research focuses on Bakhtin�s four 'categories of carnival': free and familiar contact, eccentricity, carnivalistic mesalliances, and profanation, in order to develop a critical framework by which a text may be defined as carnivalesque. Through a comprehensive examination of what each of these categories entails, Bakhtin�s paradigm is linked to Eduardo Mendoza�s crime trilogy and these texts are consequently defined as undeniably carnivalesque. The conclusion of the thesis suggests several possibilities as to why Eduardo Mendoza, as a contemporary Spanish crime fiction writer, employs a carnivalesque discourse to depict post-Franco culture. The Transition and the decade between 1982 and 1992 are defined as periods of rupture from the official order. These years are considered an ideal environment for the unleashing of a carnivalesque ambiance in Spain that inherently effected the aesthetic production of the period, and specifically the works of Eduardo Mendoza.

In the wake of Francisco Franco�s long dictatorship, various new forms of literature emerged in Spain. A new period of transformation, the so-called Spanish Transition, fostered an environment of experimentation and innovation free from the restrictive barriers of Franco�s regime. The Transition proved a period of great hopes and expectations as well as disillusionment and disappointment. This time, above all, provided an opportunity to reflect critically on the history and experience of the nation in the 20th century. Eduardo Mendoza is one among a generation of writers that experienced the early years of the Transition, the subsequent emergence of the Socialist Party and the reintroduction of Spain to Europe and, indeed, the rest of the world post 1975. This noted Catalan is one of several distinguished writers working within a new genre, the Spanish novela negra, or crime novel. In particular, he has written three novels El misterio de la cripta embrujada (1979), El laberinto de las aceitunas (1982) and La aventura del tocador de senoras (2001); each featuring an unlikely detective known as Ceferino. In this thesis, I examine Eduardo Mendoza�s three crime novels as a carnivalesque discourse. The work relies on the theory outlined by Mikhail Bakhtin in two of his foundational texts, Problems of Dostoevsky�s Poetics (1929) and Rabelais� World (1940). In 1929, Bakhtin sketched out the idea of "carnivalization" as the transposition of the spirit of carnival into art. It was not until his thesis (now known as Rabelais� World) was published in 1960 however that his vision of carnival was understood and the link between the carnivalized text and popular culture emerged. This research focuses on Bakhtin�s four 'categories of carnival': free and familiar contact, eccentricity, carnivalistic mesalliances, and profanation, in order to develop a critical framework by which a text may be defined as carnivalesque. Through a comprehensive examination of what each of these categories entails, Bakhtin�s paradigm is linked to Eduardo Mendoza�s crime trilogy and these texts are consequently defined as undeniably carnivalesque. The conclusion of the thesis suggests several possibilities as to why Eduardo Mendoza, as a contemporary Spanish crime fiction writer, employs a carnivalesque discourse to depict post-Franco culture. The Transition and the decade between 1982 and 1992 are defined as periods of rupture from the official order. These years are considered an ideal environment for the unleashing of a carnivalesque ambiance in Spain that inherently effected the aesthetic production of the period, and specifically the works of Eduardo Mendoza.

[pt] O presente trabalho teve como objetivo introduzir o pensamento de Nicolas Abraham e Maria Torok a partir de três eixos principais de sua conceitualização: o símbolo, a cripta e o fantasma. Através da abordagem desses conceitos, pretendeu-se investigar a compreensão dos autores sobre as ressonâncias do trauma na vida do sujeito e através das sucessivas gerações. / [en] The present study aimed to introduce the work of Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok through three main ideas of their conceptualization: the symbol, the crypt and the phantom. By presenting these concepts, this paper tried to investigate the way those authors understood the effects of traumatic experiences on the individual s life and through generations.

Dietary fiber (DF) consumption is related with several healthy benefits such as the decreasing risk of colon cancer development. The DF is not digested by the digestive enzymes and reach to colon where is fermented by the colonic microbiota. The fermentation process releases metabolites as short chain fatty acids (SCFA) such as butyrate, propionate and acetate. Besides the fermentation process, the DF can directly interact with intestinal epithelial cells inducing mechanism that can also be related with the associated DF consumption benefits. The lack of information regarding DF and colon cancer are due to the complexity of both the cancer and the DF structure. The papayas DF are derived from the fruit cell wall, and they are probably naturally modified during ripening through a massive polysaccharide hydrolysis, because papayas show a very fast pulp softening. Due to the lack of information about DF and their beneficial effects to human health as well as the possibility of the natural papaya ripening to modifying the DF presented in the fruit pulp, the present thesis had as the primary objectives: 1) to evaluate how the cell-wall degrading enzymes affect the fruit cell wall solubilization and molecular weight; 2) to investigate the direct effects of the papaya pectin derived from unripe to ripe papayas in cancer cell lines, in galectin-3 interaction and in HEK cells expressing pattern recognition receptors (PRR); 3) to evaluate the human colonic in vitro fermentation using DF from unripe and ripe papayas as substrates; 4) to conduct an in vivo experiment using rats with pre-neoplastic colon lesions while receiving a diet with DF from unripe and ripe papayas. The endopolygalacturonases were the main enzymes acting on the solubilizing papaya cell wall pectin affecting both the papaya firmness and pectin structure. Overall, the papayas DF showed a ripening dependent structureeffects. In the cancer cell lines experiments, the ripe papayas pectin showed a more pronounced effects in inducing cancer cell death, inhibiting cancer cells migration and aggregation, activating PRR as toll-like receptors and inhibiting the pro-metastatic protein galectin-3. The DF from papayas also showed different aspects in colonic in vitro fermentation regarding the DF utilization by the bacteria and the bacteria abundance profile. Lastly, the animals receiving the diet with the DF from ripe papayas had less aberrant crypt foci in colon than the animals that received the DF from unripe papayas or cellulose (AIN-93G DF). Therefore, the study of papaya DF was carried out both during papaya ripening and its biological effects in vitro and in vivo, generating unprecedented results relating the endogenous biochemical changes of the fruits during maturation with the possible beneficial effects of their ingestion for health human. / O consumo de fibras alimentares (FA) está relacionado com vários benefícios à saúde como a diminuição no risco do desenvolvimento de câncer de cólon. A FA não é digerida pelas enzimas digestivas do trato gastrointestinal sendo fermentada pela microbiota intestinal do cólon. Como subproduto do processo de fermentação há a liberação de ácidos graxos de cadeia curta (SCFA) - como o butirato, o propionato e o acetato. Além do processo de fermentação, a FA pode interagir diretamente com as células epiteliais do intestino, induzindo mecanismos que também podem estar relacionados com os benefícios associados ao consumo de FA. A falta de informação sobre a FA e o câncer de cólon é, em partes, devido à complexidade de ambos, tanto do câncer quanto da estrutura da FA. As FA do mamão papaia são derivadas da parede celular da fruta apresentando diferentes estruturas dependendo do ponto de amadurecimento do fruto. Esse fato ocorre, pois, durante o amadurecimento do mamão papaia, existe uma extensa hidrólise dos polissacarídeos presentes na parede celular, diminuindo rapidamente a firmeza da polpa do fruto. Devido à falta de informações sobre FA e seus efeitos benéficos à saúde humana que são dependentes da sua estrutura, bem como a possibilidade do amadurecimento do mamão papaia naturalmente modificar as FA presentes na polpa dos frutos, a presente tese teve como principais objetivos: 1) avaliar como as enzimas que degradam a parede celular do mamão papaia afetam a solubilização e o peso molecular da parede celular do fruto; 2) investigar os efeitos diretos da pectina derivada de mamões verdes e maduros em linhagens de células de câncer, na interação com a galectina-3, e em células do tipo HEK que expressam receptores de reconhecimento de padrões (RRP); 3) avaliar a fermentação colônica humana in vitro utilizando as FA de mamões verdes e maduros; 4) avaliar em ratos com lesões pré-neoplásicas no cólon o efeito do consumo de ração com ou sem FA de mamões papaias verdes e maduros. As endopoligalacturonases foram relacionadas como as principais enzimas que atuam solubilizando a pectina da parede celular do mamão, afetando tanto a firmeza da polpa do fruto quanto a solubilização da pectina durante o amadurecimento. De modo geral, as FA dos mamões exerceram um efeito estruturadependente de acordo com a maturação do fruto. Nos experimentos utilizando linhagens de células de câncer, a pectina do mamão papaia maduro apresentou efeitos mais pronunciados na indução da morte e na inibição da migração e da agregação das células, bem como ativando os RRP, como por exemplo, os receptores do tipo toll-like, além de inibir a proteína pró-metastática galectina-3. As FA dos mamões também apresentaram diferentes resultados na fermentação colônica in vitro quanto à utilização das FA pelas bactérias do intestino, e também no perfil de crescimento dessas bactérias. Por fim, os animais que receberam a dieta com as FA dos mamões maduros apresentaram menor incidência de focos de criptas aberrantes do que os animais que receberam as FA provenientes de mamões verdes ou de celulose (FA da ração AIN-93G). Portanto, o estudo das FA dos mamões foi efetuado tanto durante o amadurecimento dos mamões quanto dos seus efeitos biológicos in vitro e in vivo, tendo gerado resultados inéditos relacionando as alterações bioquímicas endógenas dos frutos durante o amadurecimento com os possíveis efeitos benéficos da sua ingestão para a saúde humana.