Chico Xavier e a cultura brasileira

O presente artigo propõe uma interpretação do fenômeno Chico Xavier na cultura e na sociedade brasileira. A partir do reconhecimento da importância crucial de seu modelo mítico de espírita exemplar, o lugar de absoluto destaque ocupado pelo médium mineiro na história do kardecismo brasileiro será interpretado à luz de um código cultural articulado em sua biografia, que busca sintetizar os personagens paradigmáticos do "santo" e do "caxias". Desdobrado na unidade de sua obra mediúnica e trajetória pública, o tipo de espiritismo construído em Chico Xavier evidencia a proposta kardecista dominante ao longo do século XX, enquanto modelo de cidadania, prática religiosa e projeto nacional.

How effective is dog culling in controlling zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis? a critical evaluation of the science, politics and ethics behind this public health policy

INTRODUCTION: Zoonotic kala-azar, a lethal disease caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania is considered out of control in parts of the world, particularly in Brazil, where transmission has spread to cities throughout most of the territory and mortality presents an increasing trend. Although a highly debatable measure, the Brazilian government regularly culls seropositive dogs to control the disease. Since control is failing, critical analysis concerning the actions focused on the canine reservoir was conducted. METHODS: In a review of the literature, a historical perspective focusing mainly on comparisons between the successful Chinese and Soviet strategies and the Brazilian approach is presented. In addition, analyses of the principal studies regarding the role of dogs as risk factors to humans and of the main intervention studies regarding the efficacy of the dog killing strategy were undertaken. Brazilian political reaction to a recently published systematic review that concluded that the dog culling program lacked efficiency and its effect on public policy were also reviewed. RESULTS: No firm evidence of the risk conferred by the presence of dogs to humans was verified; on the contrary, a lack of scientific support for the policy of killing dogs was confirmed. A bias for distorting scientific data towards maintaining the policy of culling animals was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Since there is no evidence that dog culling diminishes visceral leishmaniasis transmission, it should be abandoned as a control measure. Ethical considerations have been raised regarding distorting scientific results and the killing of animals despite minimal or absent scientific evidence

Pagando pelos serviços ambientais: uma proposta para a Reserva Extrativista Chico Mendes

Sabe-se que o processo de ocupação econômica, pós-1970, foi extremamente prejudicial ao meio ambiente e às populações tradicionais da região Amazônica, persistindo ainda hoje as imensas dificuldades de reprodução das famílias no interior da floresta. Um dos principais desafios na busca de um Desenvolvimento Sustentável é a viabilização do desempenho econômico das unidades produtivas, a partir dos produtos florestais não madeireiros (PFNM), e, conseqüentemente, da reprodução social dessa população. Objetiva-se no presente estudo propor uma alternativa factível de pagamento pelos serviços ambientais (PSA) promovidos pelas comunidades extrativistas, há mais de um século. Para tanto, busca-se, inicialmente, realizar uma avaliação sócio-econômica da produção familiar rural na RESEX Chico Mendes, em Xapuri-AC, no sentido de oferecer uma proposta coerente com as necessidades das famílias estudadas. Utiliza-se para tanto metodologia própria e específica, por intermédios de medidas e indicadores de resultado socioeconômico, avaliando a evolução do desempenho econômico dos últimos nove anos na região. Os resultados indicam a diminuição da geração de renda de produtos oriundos do extrativismo, demonstrando as dificuldades de reprodução desse sistema e das famílias, além de realçar o fortalecimento de atividades predadoras da floresta, como é o caso da pecuária extensiva, realizada ainda de maneira rudimentar. Face aos níveis de reprodução familiar, calcula-se que o valor mínimo necessário para o PSA seria em torno US$ 13/ha, evidenciando um valor necessário e, ao mesmo tempo, mais adequado frente às proposições da literatura corrente, que estima valores para os mesmos serviços em torno de US$ 50/ha.

Education for science and science for education: more than a play upon words

In the celebration of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute centenary, we wanted to stress our concern with the relationship between two of its missions: research and education. What are the educational bases required for science and technology activities on health sciences for the future years? How can scientists collaborate to promote the popularization of academic knowledge and to improve a basic education for citizenship in an ethic and humanistic view? In this article we pointed out to need of commitment, even in the biomedical post-graduation level, of a more integrated philosophy that would be centered on health education, assuming health as a dynamic biological and social equilibrium and emphasizing the need of scientific popularization of science in a cooperative construction way, instead of direct transfer of knowledge, preserving also macro views of health problems in the development of very specific studies. The contemporary explosion of knowledge, particularly biological knowledge, imposes a need of continuous education to face the growing illiteracy. In order to face this challenge, we think that the Oswaldo Cruz Institute honors his dialectic profile of tradition and transformation, always creating new perspectives to disseminate scientific culture in innovated forms.

Science education and popularization of science in the biomedical area: its role for the future of science and of society

This paper presents the main subjects discussed in the round-table: "Educational Base for Biomedical Research", during the International Symposium on Biomedical Research in the 21st century; two main aspects will be focused: (1) the importance of popularizing science in order to stimulate comprehension of the scientific process and progress, their critical thinking, citizenship and social commitment, mainly in the biomedical area, considering the new advances of knowledge and the resulting technology; (2) the importance to stimulate genuine scientific vocation among young people, by giving them opportunity to early experience scientific environment, throught the hands of well prepared master in a humanistic atmosphere.

The feature of papers and citation analysis of eleven journals in tropical medicine indexed by Science Citation Index Expanded

To determine the features of papers, authors, and citation of eleven journals in tropical medicine indexed by Science Citation Index Expanded, the database of the Institute for Scientific Information, we analyzed original articles, editorials, reviews, corrections, letters, biographies, and news published in these journals. The results show that these journals covered 107 countries or regions on six continents. The average number of reference was 23.05, with 87.89% of the references from periodicals. The Price Index was 31.43% and the self-citing rate was 7.02%. The references in the first 20 journals ranked by the amount of citation accounted for 36.71% of the total citations. Brazil, United States, India, and England are more advanced in tropical medicine research. The conclusion is that these journals covered most research done in these countries or regions. Most researches were done by cooperation of the researchers, but many of the publications used outdated articles and should include newer information.