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No description available.

No description available.

Understanding the temporal relations which hold between situations described in a narrative is a highly complex process. The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the factors we have to take into account in order to determine the temporal coherence of a narrative discourse. In particular, aspectual information, tense, and world and context knowledge have to be considered and the interplay of all these factors must be specified. German is aspectually speaking an interesting language, because it does not possess a grammaticalised distinction between a perfective and imperfective aspect. In this thesis I examine the German aspectual system and the interaction of the factors which have an influence on the derived temporal relation for short discourse sequences. The analysis is carried out in two steps: First, the aspectual and temporal properties of German are investigated, following the cross-linguistic framework developed by Carlota S. Smith. An account for German is given which emphasises the properties which are peculiar to this language and explains why it has to be treated differently to, for example, English. The main result for the tense used in a narrative text—the Preterite—is that information regarding the end point of a described situation is based on our world knowledge and may be overridden provided context knowledge forces us to do this. Next, the more complex level of discourse is taken into account in order to derive the temporal relations which hold between the described situations. This investigation provides us with insights into the interaction of different knowledge sources like aspectual information as well as world and context knowledge. This investigation of German discourse sequences gives rise to the need for a time logic which is capable of expressing fine as well as coarse (or underspecified) temporal relations between situations. An account is presented to describe exhaustively all conceivable temporal relations within a computationally tractable reasoning system, based on the interval calculus by James Allen. However, in order to establish a coherent discourse for larger sequences, the hierarchical structure of a narrative has to be considered as well. I propose a Tree Description Grammar — a further development of Tree Adjoining Grammars — for parsing the given discourse structure, and stipulate discourse principles which give an explanation for the way a discourse should be processed. I furthermore discuss how a discourse grammar needs to distinguish between discourse structure and discourse processing. The latter term can be understood as navigating through a discourse tree, and reflects the process of how a discourse is comprehended. Finally, a small fragment of German is given which shows how the discourse grammar can be applied to short discourse sequences of four to seven sentences. The conclusion discusses the outcome of the analysis conducted in this thesis and proposes likely areas of future research.

INTRODUÇÃO: A esclerose mesial temporal (EMT) é uma das principais causas de epilepsia focal farmacorresistente. O prognóstico cirúrgico é excelente, porém pode ocorrer declínio cognitivo pós-operatório. Este estudo teve como objetivo verificar o impacto cognitivo da lobectomia temporal anterior em pacientes com EMT, levando em consideração o padrão de envolvimento eletrográfico ictal. MÉTODOS: Foram selecionados pacientes com epilepsia farmacorresistente secundária à EMT unilateral e sujeitos sem epilepsia, com idade entre 18 e 55 anos e oito ou mais anos de escolaridade. Os pacientes foram agrupados de acordo com o lado da EMT em esquerda (EMTE) e direita (EMTD). Aqueles que recusaram cirurgia foram incluídos no grupo-controle clínico e os que optaram por cirurgia foram incluídos no grupo cirúrgico. Pacientes do grupo cirúrgico foram submetidos a vídeo-EEG e teste de Wada. Pacientes com representação de linguagem atípica foram excluídos. O grupo cirúrgico foi subdividido de acordo com o padrão eletrográfico ictal determinado pelo vídeo-EEG em: envolvimento eletrográfico ictal exclusivamente ipsilateral e envolvimento eletrográfico ictal bilateral. A avaliação neuropsicológica dos pacientes foi realizada em dois momentos. Os sujeitos sem epilepsia foram avaliados apenas uma vez. Para análise estatística, foram utilizados testes paramétricos ou não paramétricos a depender da normalidade da distribuição dos dados. Os grupos foram comparados em relação a variáveis clínicas, pontuações basais nos testes neuropsicológicos e diferenças médias das pontuações entre a segunda e primeira avaliações. Também foram comparadas as pontuações médias da primeira e segunda avaliações dentro de um mesmo grupo. O grupo clínico foi utilizado para o cálculo do índice de mudança confiável (RCI). Considerou-se melhora no desempenho cognitivo escore Z > 1,645 e piora escore Z < -1,645. RESULTADOS: A análise final incluiu 65 pacientes com epilepsia e 40 sujeitos sem epilepsia. Vinte e um pacientes (nove EMTE, doze EMTD) recusaram cirurgia e foram incluídos no grupo clínico. O grupo cirúrgico foi composto por 25 pacientes com EMTE e 19 com EMTD. Dez pacientes do grupo cirúrgico com EMTE apresentaram envolvimento ictal exclusivamente ipsilateral e 15 bilateral. No grupo cirúrgico com EMTD, dez apresentaram envolvimento ictal exclusivamente ipsilateral e nove bilateral. Os pacientes com EMT apresentaram desempenho cognitivo inferior aos sujeitos sem epilepsia, sendo mais evidente comprometimento de memória nos pacientes com EMTE. A cirurgia provocou declínio de memória no grupo com EMTE e tendência de melhora em funções executivas em ambos os grupos. O envolvimento eletrográfico bilateral associou-se a menor declínio pós-operatório de memória verbal no grupo com EMTE. O envolvimento eletrográfico bilateral associou-se à piora no desempenho pós-operatório no teste de repetição de dígitos na ordem inversa no grupo com EMTD. Foi observada redução na pontuação da escala de depressão, após a cirurgia, em pacientes com EMTE e envolvimento eletrográfico ictal bilateral. CONCLUSÃO: O envolvimento eletrográfico bilateral não se associou a maior risco de declínio de memória pós-operatório, portanto, o tratamento cirúrgico não deve ser contraindicado nestes pacientes / INTRODUCTION: Mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) is a major cause of drug-resistant focal epilepsy. Surgical prognosis is excellent, but surgery can lead to cognitive decline. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of anterior temporal lobectomy in MTS patients, taking into account the ictal electrographic pattern. METHODS: Patients with drug-resistant epilepsy secondary to unilateral MTS and subjects without epilepsy, aged between 18 and 55 years, with eight or more education years were selected. Patients were grouped according to MTS side as left (L-MTS) or right (R-MTS). Patients who declined surgery were included as clinical controls, and those who opted for surgery were included in the surgical group. The surgical group underwent video-EEG monitoring and Wada testing. Patients with atypical language representation were excluded. According to the ictal electrographic pattern determined by video-EEG, the surgical group was subdivided as: exclusive ipsilateral electrographic ictal involvement or bilateral electrographic ictal involvement. Patients underwent neuropsychological evaluation on two occasions. Subjects without epilepsy were evaluated once. Parametric or non-parametric tests were used according to normality of data distribution. Groups were compared in relation to clinical variables, baseline neuropsychological test scores, and mean scores differences between second and first evaluations. Mean first and second evaluation scores were also compared within the same group. The clinical group data was used to calculate the reliable change index (RCI). Z-scores > 1.645 were considered improvement, and Z-scores <-1,645 as decline. RESULTS: Analysis included 65 patients with epilepsy and 40 subjects without epilepsy. Twenty-one patients (nine L-MTS, twelve R-MTS) declined surgery and were included as clinical controls. The surgical group consisted of 25 patients with L-MTS and 19 with R-MTS. Ten patients in the L-MTS surgical group presented exclusive ipsilateral ictal involvement and 15 presented bilateral involvement. In the R-MTS surgical group, ten presented exclusive ipsilateral ictal involvement and nine presented bilateral involvement. Patients with MTS had worse cognitive performance than subjects without epilepsy. L-MTS group presented more impairment in memory. Surgery lead to memory decline in the L-MTS group and to a tendency towards improvement on executive functioning in both groups. Bilateral electrographic involvement was associated with less verbal memory decline in the L-MTS group. Bilateral electrographic involvement was associated with worsening in digit span in R-MTS group and improved scores in the depression scale in L-MTS group. CONCLUSION: Bilateral electrographic involvement was not associated with a higher risk of postoperative memory decline. Epilepsy surgery should therefore not be denied to these patients

Este é um estudo sobre regras temporais às quais residentes em instituições asilares são submetidos e os possíveis impactos que a homogeneização de horários e duração das atividades podem exercer sobre seus ritmos biológicos. A homogeneização dos tempos sociais pode causar dessincronização temporal interna, o que interfere nos processos corporais causando dessincronização temporal externa, isto é: desajustes entre eventos ambientais e fisiológicos, criando problemas nos ciclos de vigília/sono e humor, entre outros colaborando para o declínio do desempenho cognitivo. Em um ambiente asilar, preferências pessoais relacionadas à fixação de horários e duração das atividades em geral, não são consideradas. Entendo que pelo exercício do poder e pelo disciplinamento ao longo do curso de vida, os velhos que vivem em instituições tendem a naturalizar as normas estabelecidas; submissão essa que entendo ocorrer com as minorias em geral. Considero importante reconhecer as vontades dessas pessoas, atentando-se para suas identidades como pessoas e não apenas como corpos para serem cuidados, independentes dos sujeitos que os possuem. Localizo este trabalho no campo dos Estudos Culturais seguindo uma das suas tendências que é a do estudo etnográfico de populações envolvendo questões de gênero, raça e etnia, principalmente se tratando de uma minoria. Questões de corpo, solidão e indivíduo foram consideradas, juntamente com a cronobiologia, estudo dos ritmos biológicos, sendo o mais conhecido o ritmo circadiano. Participaram desta pesquisa 29 residentes, sendo 21 mulheres e 8 homens, com idades entre 75 e 99 anos de seis unidades de duas instituições para idosos, na zona leste e na zona sul do município de São Paulo-SP. A primeira técnica aplicada foi a observação selvagem, que consiste em observar situações, buscando ao máximo manter neutralidade em relação ao ambiente, o que já permitiu observar resistência aos horários de refeições, cochilos diurnos, mau humor, estado geral de apatia e tempo na cama superior a 13 horas. Instrumentos e técnicas: a) Questionário sociodemográfico (dados pessoais, satisfação geral com a vida e escala de depressão geriátrica); b) Diário de sono; c) Questionário de determinação de cronotipo matutinidade/vespertinidade); d) Entrevista gravada; e) Técnica etnográfica da observação participante; f) Análises estatísticas; g) Análise do discurso para as entrevistas gravadas e dados de observação. Resultados e conclusões: os residentes não têm críticas sobre a rotina e horários e não proporiam mudanças; a maioria apresentou tendência à distimia e à depressão maior; mesmo os residentes que têm preferências vespertinas dormem cedo; a maioria relatou não ter apetite; apenas 10% residem por escolha própria; a desorganização temporal nos idosos foi parcialmente comprovada. Em função dos discursos analisados concluiu-se que as regras temporais são um dos desafios, dada a identificação de inúmeros fatores que influenciam negativamente a vida em uma instituição asilar / This is a study of temporal rules that residents in nursing homes are subjected and the potential impacts on their biological rhythms that the homogenization of time and duration of the activities may cause. The homogenization of social time can lead to internal temporal desynchronization, which interferes with bodily processes causing external temporal desynchronization, this means imbalances between environmental and physiological events which may produce problems in their sleep/wake cycles, mood, among others, contributing to the decline of cognitive performance. Personal preferences of timing and duration of activities in nursing homes are not considered, in general. I understand that old people living in institutions tend to naturalize the established norms because of the exercise of power and discipline throughout their course of life, submission to the rules usually found in minorities. I consider important to recognize the choices of these people, attending to their identities as individuals and not just as bodies to be maintained, independent of the individuals who own them. This work is in the field of Cultural Studies following one of its trends that is the ethnographic study of populations involving gender, race and ethnicity, especially when dealing with a minority. Body issues, loneliness and the individual will be considered in the field of chronobiology - the study of biological rhythms, as the circadian rhythm, present in almost all biological phenomena. Participated in this study 29 residents, 21 women and 8 men, aged between 75 and 99 years from six units of two nursing homes in the east and in the south of São Paulo-SP. The first technique applied was the Wild Observation, which consists in the observation trying to maintain neutrality towards the environment, which allowed us to witness conflicts with meal times; daytime naps; bad mood; general state of apathy; longer than 13 hours in bed. Instruments and techniques were applied: a) Sociodemographic; b) Sleep Diary; c) Chronotype; d) Recorded interview; e) Participant Observation; f) Statistics Analysis; g) Discourse Analysis for the recorded interviews and observation data. The main results and conclusions include the absence of criticisms concerning daily routines without proposition of changes; signs of depression and dystimia were observed in the majority of the population studied, evening type individuals going to bed early, generalized loss of appetite, and a minority of 10% chose to live in the institution; temporal disorganization in the elderly was partially confirmed. According to the speech analyses it was concluded that the temporal rules are a challenge and there are several factors that negatively influencing life in a nursing home

INTRODUÇÃO: A esclerose mesial temporal (EMT) é uma das principais causas de epilepsia focal farmacorresistente. O prognóstico cirúrgico é excelente, porém pode ocorrer declínio cognitivo pós-operatório. Este estudo teve como objetivo verificar o impacto cognitivo da lobectomia temporal anterior em pacientes com EMT, levando em consideração o padrão de envolvimento eletrográfico ictal. MÉTODOS: Foram selecionados pacientes com epilepsia farmacorresistente secundária à EMT unilateral e sujeitos sem epilepsia, com idade entre 18 e 55 anos e oito ou mais anos de escolaridade. Os pacientes foram agrupados de acordo com o lado da EMT em esquerda (EMTE) e direita (EMTD). Aqueles que recusaram cirurgia foram incluídos no grupo-controle clínico e os que optaram por cirurgia foram incluídos no grupo cirúrgico. Pacientes do grupo cirúrgico foram submetidos a vídeo-EEG e teste de Wada. Pacientes com representação de linguagem atípica foram excluídos. O grupo cirúrgico foi subdividido de acordo com o padrão eletrográfico ictal determinado pelo vídeo-EEG em: envolvimento eletrográfico ictal exclusivamente ipsilateral e envolvimento eletrográfico ictal bilateral. A avaliação neuropsicológica dos pacientes foi realizada em dois momentos. Os sujeitos sem epilepsia foram avaliados apenas uma vez. Para análise estatística, foram utilizados testes paramétricos ou não paramétricos a depender da normalidade da distribuição dos dados. Os grupos foram comparados em relação a variáveis clínicas, pontuações basais nos testes neuropsicológicos e diferenças médias das pontuações entre a segunda e primeira avaliações. Também foram comparadas as pontuações médias da primeira e segunda avaliações dentro de um mesmo grupo. O grupo clínico foi utilizado para o cálculo do índice de mudança confiável (RCI). Considerou-se melhora no desempenho cognitivo escore Z > 1,645 e piora escore Z < -1,645. RESULTADOS: A análise final incluiu 65 pacientes com epilepsia e 40 sujeitos sem epilepsia. Vinte e um pacientes (nove EMTE, doze EMTD) recusaram cirurgia e foram incluídos no grupo clínico. O grupo cirúrgico foi composto por 25 pacientes com EMTE e 19 com EMTD. Dez pacientes do grupo cirúrgico com EMTE apresentaram envolvimento ictal exclusivamente ipsilateral e 15 bilateral. No grupo cirúrgico com EMTD, dez apresentaram envolvimento ictal exclusivamente ipsilateral e nove bilateral. Os pacientes com EMT apresentaram desempenho cognitivo inferior aos sujeitos sem epilepsia, sendo mais evidente comprometimento de memória nos pacientes com EMTE. A cirurgia provocou declínio de memória no grupo com EMTE e tendência de melhora em funções executivas em ambos os grupos. O envolvimento eletrográfico bilateral associou-se a menor declínio pós-operatório de memória verbal no grupo com EMTE. O envolvimento eletrográfico bilateral associou-se à piora no desempenho pós-operatório no teste de repetição de dígitos na ordem inversa no grupo com EMTD. Foi observada redução na pontuação da escala de depressão, após a cirurgia, em pacientes com EMTE e envolvimento eletrográfico ictal bilateral. CONCLUSÃO: O envolvimento eletrográfico bilateral não se associou a maior risco de declínio de memória pós-operatório, portanto, o tratamento cirúrgico não deve ser contraindicado nestes pacientes / INTRODUCTION: Mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) is a major cause of drug-resistant focal epilepsy. Surgical prognosis is excellent, but surgery can lead to cognitive decline. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of anterior temporal lobectomy in MTS patients, taking into account the ictal electrographic pattern. METHODS: Patients with drug-resistant epilepsy secondary to unilateral MTS and subjects without epilepsy, aged between 18 and 55 years, with eight or more education years were selected. Patients were grouped according to MTS side as left (L-MTS) or right (R-MTS). Patients who declined surgery were included as clinical controls, and those who opted for surgery were included in the surgical group. The surgical group underwent video-EEG monitoring and Wada testing. Patients with atypical language representation were excluded. According to the ictal electrographic pattern determined by video-EEG, the surgical group was subdivided as: exclusive ipsilateral electrographic ictal involvement or bilateral electrographic ictal involvement. Patients underwent neuropsychological evaluation on two occasions. Subjects without epilepsy were evaluated once. Parametric or non-parametric tests were used according to normality of data distribution. Groups were compared in relation to clinical variables, baseline neuropsychological test scores, and mean scores differences between second and first evaluations. Mean first and second evaluation scores were also compared within the same group. The clinical group data was used to calculate the reliable change index (RCI). Z-scores > 1.645 were considered improvement, and Z-scores <-1,645 as decline. RESULTS: Analysis included 65 patients with epilepsy and 40 subjects without epilepsy. Twenty-one patients (nine L-MTS, twelve R-MTS) declined surgery and were included as clinical controls. The surgical group consisted of 25 patients with L-MTS and 19 with R-MTS. Ten patients in the L-MTS surgical group presented exclusive ipsilateral ictal involvement and 15 presented bilateral involvement. In the R-MTS surgical group, ten presented exclusive ipsilateral ictal involvement and nine presented bilateral involvement. Patients with MTS had worse cognitive performance than subjects without epilepsy. L-MTS group presented more impairment in memory. Surgery lead to memory decline in the L-MTS group and to a tendency towards improvement on executive functioning in both groups. Bilateral electrographic involvement was associated with less verbal memory decline in the L-MTS group. Bilateral electrographic involvement was associated with worsening in digit span in R-MTS group and improved scores in the depression scale in L-MTS group. CONCLUSION: Bilateral electrographic involvement was not associated with a higher risk of postoperative memory decline. Epilepsy surgery should therefore not be denied to these patients

The basal ganglia are a collection of interconnected subcortical nuclei which have been implicated inmotor, cognitive and limbic functions. The subthalamic nucleus is the sole excitatory structure within the basal ganglia. Given its central position influencingmany basal ganglia nuclei, it is likely to play an important role in the processing that is performed by the basal ganglia. In this thesis a theoretical analysis of the subthalamic nucleus is presented. In order to explore the multiple facets of processing that may be occurring, models that are designed to capture aspects of the subthalamic nucleus at different levels are developed. These include anatomical, network processing and single neuron multi–compartmental models. Through the integration of the results obtained from these models a new and coherent view of the processing of the subthalamic nucleus is presented. It is predicted that the subthalamic nucleus be considered as a massively connected excitatory network. Two distinct modes of asymptotic behaviour exist in such a network: a low resting state and a high self–sustained state. The single neuron multi– compartmental model demonstrates that the calcium T–type channel is the primary determinant of characteristic neuron behaviour. Such behaviour includes a slowaction potential, initial spike clustering, and a post-response quiescence. The network and single neuron results taken togetherprovide an intrinsicmechanismfor termination of uniform high activity generated by the excitatory network. It is therefore predicted that large regions of the subthalamic nucleus respond uniformly to stimuli, in the form of a pulse of activity with a sharp rise and fall. In addition, the single neuron model indicates that pulses will occur in pairs. It is proposedthat the subthalamic nucleus acts as a “braking mechanism”. It can induce, via intermediate structures, awide-spread pulse of inhibition on basal ganglia target nuclei. Furthermore, the sequence of two pulses can generate a window of disinhibition over the basal ganglia targets. The width of this time window may be under direct striatal control. Variable interpulse duration implies a role for the subthalamic nucleus in temporal processing.

No description available.

Psychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment are increasingly being described in patients with vestibular pathology. Yet frameworks that describe the link between emotion, memory and the vestibular system have yet to reach maturity, partly because studies have not yet provided detailed accounts of behavioral changes in experimental animals, or in man. One of the goals of this thesis was to use experimental psychology to define changes in memory and emotional behaviour in rats given bilateral vestibular deafferentation (BVD, n=18) or sham surgery (Sham, n=17). In an elevated-plus maze task, BVD rats made up to 166% greater open arm entries and spent up to 42% more time in the open arms compared to Sham rats. In an elevated-T maze task, BVD rats failed to develop a normal learned inhibition response to open space. In an open field maze BVD rats consistently showed 50-60% greater movement velocity, spent on average 35% more time in the inner most aversive part of the arena, and failed to show the normal boundary-seeking behaviour (thigmotaxis) typical of untreated or Sham rats. In a social interaction test BVD rats spent up to 34% less time engaged in social contact compared to Sham rats. In a hyponeophagia test, BVD rats� latency to eat was 70% greater than Sham rats at 3-weeks post-op., however this difference disappeared at 3- and 5-months. These findings suggest that BVD treatment may in some cases disrupt normal behavioral inhibition. Memory performance was also affected. In a T-maze task BVD rats achieved 40-60% correct arm entries, compared to 90-100% for Sham controls. In a foraging task carried out in darkness, BVD rats� initial homing angle was random, homing paths were ~70% longer, and reference memory errors were ~56% greater compared to Sham rats. To elucidate possible neurochemical substrates for these behavioral changes, western blot assays on monoamine proteins were carried out on tissue from a naïve set of rats (BVD n=6; Sham n=6). In BVD rats, serotonin transporter protein expression was 39% lower in CA1 hippocampus and 27% lower in the forebrain region, despite forebrain tryptophan hydroxylase expression being 34% upregulated. Tyrosine hydroxylase expression in the forebrain region was 27% lower in BVD rats. Proteins related to synaptogenesis were also investigated. In the dentate gyrus SNAP-25 was 37% upregulated in BVD rats, while in area CA2/3 of the hippocampus neurofilament-L was 13% upregulated. Forebrain and entorhinal cortex drebrin expression was 28% and 38% downregulated in BVD rats. Neurofilament-L was also 31% downregulated in the forebrain region of BVD rats. To test whether any of these behavioral or biochemical changes may have been attributable to chronic physiological stress, a corticosterone assay was carried out at the conclusion of behavioral testing; however, the no significant between treatment differences were found. In conclusion, vestibular information appears to be needed for the acquisition of spatial and reference memory as well as the normal expression of emotional behaviour. The neurochemical changes described herein point toward possible substrates for these behaviors, however their full significance has yet to be determined.