Blockade of fear-induced antinociception with intra-amygdala infusion of midazolam: Influence of prior test experience

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Flavones from Erythrina falcata are modulators of fear memory

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Fear and adventure tourism in Brazil

The search for new non-routine emotions and sensations has become a decisive factor in taking part in adventure tourism. As Barros and Dines (2000) have pointed out, Brazil's natural resources are abundant and have been widely used to promote the nation's tourism. Empirical literature describes fear as one of the main emotions in adventure activities, and for this reason a questionnaire was designed to examine the presence of fear before and after three adventure activities (parachuting, white-water rafting, and rock-climbing). This study not only aimed to consolidate fear as a fundamental emotion in performing such activities but also to stimulate interest for further studies in this area. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Regulation of contextual conditioning by the median raphe nucleus

The median raphe nucleus (MRN) has been suggested as the origin of a behavioral inhibition system that projects to the septum and hippocampus. Electrical stimulation of this mesencephalic area causes behavioral and autonomic manifestations characteristic of fear such as, freezing, defecation and micturition. In this study we extend these observations by analyzing the behavioral and autonomic responses of rats with lesions in the MRN submitted to a contextual conditioning paradigm. The animals underwent electrolytic or sham lesions of the median raphe nucleus. One day (acute) or 7 days (chronic) later they were tested in an experimental chamber where they received 10 foot-shocks (0.7 mA, 1 s with 20-s interval). The next day, sham and MRN-lesioned animals were tested again either in the same or in a different experimental chamber. During this, the duration of freezing, rearings, bouts of micturition and number of fecal boli were recorded. Sham-operated rats placed in the same chamber showed more freezing than rats exposed to a different context. This freezing behavior was clearly suppressed in rats with acute or chronic lesions in the MRN. MRN lesions also reduced the bouts of micturition and number of fecal boli. These rats showed a reduced number of rearings than sham-lesioned rats. This effect is probably the result of the displacement effect provoked by freezing since no significant differences in the number of rearings could be observed between these animals and the NMR-lesioned rats tested in an open field. This lesion produced higher horizontal locomotor activity in this test than the controls (sham-lesioned rats). These results point to the importance of the median raphe nucleus in the processing of fear conditioning with freezing being the most salient feature of it. Behavioral inhibition is also under control of MRN but its neural substrate seems to be dissociated from that of contextual fear. (C) 1998 Elsevier B.V. B.V.

Predation-risk effects of predator identity on the foraging behaviors of frugivorous bats

Predators directly and indirectly affect the density and the behavior of prey. These effects may potentially cascade down to lower trophic levels. In this study, we tested the effects of predator calls (playbacks of bird vocalizations: Tyto alba, Speotyto cunicularia, and Vanellus chilensis), predator visual stimuli (stuffed birds) and interactions of visual and auditory cues, on the behavior of frugivore phyllostomid bats in the field. In addition, we tested if the effects of predation risk cascade down to other trophic levels by measuring rates of seed dispersal of the tree Muntingia calabura. Using video recording, we found that bats significantly decreased the foraging frequency on trees when a visual cue of T. alba was present. However, no stimuli of potential predatory birds, including vocalization of T. alba, affected bat foraging frequency. There was a change in bat behavior during 7 min, but then their frequency of activity gradually increased. Consequently, the presence of T. alba decreased by up to ten times the rate of seed removal. These results indicate that risk sensitivity of frugivorous phyllostomid bats depends on predator identity and presence. Among the predators used in this study, only T. alba is an effective bat predator in the Neotropics. Sound stimuli of T. alba seem not to be a cue of predation risk, possibly because their vocalizations are used only for intraspecific communication. This study emphasizes the importance of evaluating different predator stimuli on the behavior of vertebrates, as well as the effects of these stimuli on trait-mediated trophic cascades. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Medo e opnição pública no Brasil contemporâneo

Este artigo reporta às análises e conclusões formuladas a partir de observações feitas sobre violência criminal no recente período democrático da história nacional e que deram origem a dissertação de mestrado intitulada Cultura do Medo: Refl exões Sobre Violência Criminal, Controle Social e Cidadania no Brasil. Essa pesquisa possibilitou refl exões pertinentes a respeito da opinião pública relacionada à segurança, servindo também para um questionamento ético sobre a importância da participação cidadã no processo de consolidação da democracia brasileira e sobre novas formas de dominação existentes em nossa sociedade. Ao destacar como o medo da violência criminal interfere nas nossas relações sociais contemporâneas buscou-se identificá-lo como um instrumento recente de dominação no universo da política.

A questão da diferença na sociedade contemporânea: reflexões a partir de zygmunt bauman

The objetive of this article is discuss the question of difference and alterity presents in analyzes of contemporary society conducted by the polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman. The author observed that human relations are guided by a logic of cost-benefit connected with values of present in the discardability of consumer society. At the same time, it has built ways of eliminating difference through the construction of a politics of expulsion of those considered strangers. For the author, the cities are the materialization of the ambivalence of live with the other people in contemporary times, being the locus of experience approach and retraction to the other expressed by fear of the difference. The result of this process is the impoverishment relational, the feeling of loneliness and an ethical-political crisis seen that could be seen from the primacy of the private/intimate rather than the public dimention/action.

The importance of parental involvement in swimming lessons for person with disability

The Ecolological Theory of Human Development proposed by Urie Bronfenbrenner assumes that the activities and people involved in an evironment are essential to stimulate the aquisition of new abilities . Analyze the strategy of parent’s presence with their children in a swimming class for PWD during the teaching process. Also, verify the parent’s views on this experience and the participation of their child during practice. It is a qualitative and action-research. To collect data was utilized observation during to analyse the activities developed in a swimming class for PWD, on the presence of parents with their children. A semi-structured interview was used to analyse the perception parents after the experience of the classroom. Analysis of activities and the interview were based on the assumption of Bronfenbrenner (1996). It was found that 100% of the parents rated the positive experience of being with their children in the pool. We found that only 25% of parents reported that had entered the pool to play with their children. We emphasize that 75% had never entered in the water with their children, whether because of fear, lack of opportunity or not knowing how to swim. The proposal of parents’ participation in the swimming class with the PWD generated a favorable environment for development the activities. Parents identified the improvement, the potential and difficulties of PWD.