O "espetáculo do cabra macho" : um estudo sobre os vaqueiros nas vaquejada no Rio Grande do Norte

This body of work discusses the gender meanings associated with cowboys while endorsing contemporary rodeos in Rio Grande do Norte as a recreational sport and a form of ludic expression. As a result, this research has focused on rodeo practices, aiming to understand the different aspects emphasizing masculinity: these associations being constructed through relationships, contexts and the competitiveness between participants. These gender meanings hinge on the desire for a wining performance and on the behaviour exhibited among cowboys outside the competitive ring in specific social settings such as parties and recreational time. The latter were the focus of the ethnographic research; direct observation and semistructured interviews with cowboys in rodeo stadiums were also used. Through qualitative analysis of the collected data, it was revealed that historically and socially different trajectories do not immediately cause a gender crisis in cowboys, but the assignment of new significance by the social acts in each historical context. However, the presence of cowboys leads to other models of masculinity configured by expressions and the insertion of new personas, not coming directly from field activities, but imbued by the symbolic elements of the cowboy persona, constructed throughout history

Influence of laparoscopy and laparotomy on gasometry, leukocytes and cytokines in a rat abdominal sepsis model

Laparoscopic surgery is associated with reduced surgical trauma, and less acute phase response, as compared with open surgery. Cytokines are important regulators of the biological response to surgical and anesthetic stress. The aim of this study was to determine if CO2 pneumoperitoneum would change cytokine expression, gas parameters and leukocyte count in septic rats. Methods: Wistar rats were randomly assigned to five groups: control (anesthesia only), laparotomy, CO2 pneumoperitoneum, cecum ligation and puncture by laparotomy, and laparoscopic cecum ligation and puncture. After 30 min of the procedures, arterial blood samples were obtained to determine leukocytes subpopulations by hemocytometer. TNFα, IL-1β, IL-6 were determined in intraperitoneal fluid (by ELISA). Gas parameters were measured on arterial blood, intraperitoneal and subperitoneal exsudates. Results: Peritoneal TNFα, IL-1β and IL-6 concentrations were lower in pneumoperitoneum rats than in all other groups (p<0.05). TNFα, IL-1β and IL-6 expression was lower in the laparoscopic than in laparotomic sepsis (p<0.05). Rats from laparoscopic cecum ligation and puncture group developed significant hypercarbic acidosis in blood and subperitoneal fluid when compared to open procedure group. Total white blood cells and lymphocytes were significantly lower in laparoscopic cecum ligation and puncture rats than in the laparotomic (p<0.01). Nevertheless, the laparotomic cecum ligation rats had a significant increase in blood neutrophils and eosinophils when compared with controls (p<0.05). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the CO2 pneumoperitoneum reduced the inflammatory response in an animal model of peritonitis with respect to intraperitoneal cytokines, white blood cell count and clinical correlates of sepsis. The pneumoperitoneum produced hypercarbic acidosis in septic animals