AN ELDERLY COUPLE AND THEIR LONG LIFE RAISING FOUR SCHIZOPHRENIC CHILDREN

The objective was to identify, among parents of schizophrenics, elements of their daily life in coping with the disorder and the care offered and received through the health system. This is a field research, using thematic oral history. The parents of four patients with schizophrenia took part in this study. Interviews were conducted, recorded and transcribed, based on three instruments (two specific questionnaires and a field diary). Three categories were identified that reflect difficulties experienced in daily life: limitations in knowledge about schizophrenia; fatigue and burden with impairment of quality of life; and uncertainly about the future and resilience strengthened by faith in God. The concept of care was associated with technical procedures, revealing general satisfaction with the care received. The suffering related to living with schizophrenic relatives is intense, and professionals must be prepared to deal with these experiences of pain and suffering from patients with mental disorder and their relatives.

Evolution of pi(0) Suppression in Au plus Au Collisions from root s(NN)=39 to 200 GeV

Neutral-pion pi(0) spectra were measured at midrapidity (vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.35) in Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 39 and 62.4 GeV and compared with earlier measurements at 200 GeV in a transverse-momentum range of 1 < p(T) < 10 GeV/c. The high-p(T) tail is well described by a power law in all cases, and the powers decrease significantly with decreasing center-of-mass energy. The change of powers is very similar to that observed in the corresponding spectra for p + p collisions. The nuclear modification factors (RAA) show significant suppression, with a distinct energy, centrality, and p(T) dependence. Above p(T) = 7 GeV/c, R-AA is similar for root sNN = 62.4 and 200 GeV at all centralities. Perturbative-quantum-chromodynamics calculations that describe R-AA well at 200 GeV fail to describe the 39 GeV data, raising the possibility that, for the same p(T) region, the relative importance of initial-state effects and soft processes increases at lower energies. The p(T) range where pi(0) spectra in central Au + Au collisions have the same power as in p + p collisions is approximate to 5 and 7 GeV/c for root sNN = 200 and 62.4 GeV, respectively. For the root sNN = 39 GeV data, it is not clear whether such a region is reached, and the x(T) dependence of the x(T)-scaling power-law exponent is very different from that observed in the root sNN = 62 and 200 GeV data, providing further evidence that initial-state effects and soft processes mask the in-medium suppression of hardscattered partons to higher p(T) as the collision energy decreases.