Multideterminação do comportamento alimentar em humanos: um estudo de caso

Tradicionalmente o estudo da anorexia nervosa vem sendo pautado nos critérios diagnósticos trazidos dos manuais como o DSM, que priorizam a descrição topográfica dos comportamentos-problema, em que pouca ou quase nenhuma atenção se dá a sua funcionalidade nos contextos em que ocorrem. Humanos podem parar de comer sob o controle dos mais variados eventos, de modo que uma caracterização nosológica de caráter nomotético pode não ser suficiente na análise do fenômeno. O estudo de caso de um paciente do sexo masculino de 12 anos ilustra e elucida o debate, por apresentar características diagnósticas diferentes das usualmente relatadas na literatura.

Association of the borer Spermophthorus apuleiae (Coleoptera; Curculionidae; Scolytinae) with the "pau-ferro" tree Caesalpinia ferrea (Leguminosae)

The weevil subfamily Scolytinae includes beetles which may feed on the bark, trunk or roots of both live and dead trees and are sometimes considered forest and silvicultural pests. Less frequently, some species feed on seeds and may be cause economic losses when associated to plant cultivars. Spermophthorus apuleiae Costa-Lima is a Neotropical Scolytinae formerly recorded to be "associated" with seeds of Caesalpinia ferrea var. leiostachya Benth, a Brazilian tree popularly known in Portuguese as "pau-ferro". Hitherto, it was not clear whether these beetles actually feed on the seeds of that plant. In order to investigate the ability of S. apuleiae to feed on seeds of "pau-ferro", observations were done and colonies of these beetles were established. Both in the field and in captivity the beetles were not observed feeding on the seeds. Even when beetles were exposed to seeds as the only source of food they were incapable of boring or eating the seeds and died. Our data therefore suggest that S. apuleiae is a frugivorous species which peculiarly does not eat seeds of "pau-ferro".