Grief and Dharma: Suffering, empathy and moral imaginative intuition

The article explores recent thinking on the 'hard emotions', in particular, grief, sorrow and mourning, and link the challenging inner and social condition to the calling of Dharma (righteous law, normatively worthy action). Drawing from some comparative work (academic and personal) in the study of grief, mourning and empathy, we shall discuss the treatment of this tragic pathos in classical Indic literature and modern-day psychotherapy. We shall demonstrate, despite being secularised, these emotions continue to serve as the sites of imagination at a much more personal and inter-personal level that are not antithetical to a Dharmic (sacred) quest despite their haunting presence even when 'the four walls collapse around one in the intensity of duḥkha (suffering, sorrow).

Serviço de atendimento móvel de urgência (SAMU) e a assistência às urgências psiquiátricas

The objective of this work which is characterized as an applied research, with a qualitative exploratory approach and has case study character has been the analysis of the conceptions and dealings of health professionals of SAMU in Natal RN about the attendance of psychiatric urgencies. The information was collected between the months of March and April of 2010, by means of semi-structured interviews, performed with 24 health professionals integrating of SAMU-Natal as well as the usage of direct observation technique, performed in the institution's medical regulation room. Both the number of professionals involved in the interviews and the bringing about of the observations, were determined by saturation methods in qualitative research's information collecting. The interviews and observations were transcribed and submitted to contents analysis technique , more specifically, to thematic analysis, which made possible to reach the deepest levels, that go beyond what has simply been manifest in the speech of the interviewed, getting to the relations among the categories and social structures of the issue of the research. Keeping this in mind, three analysis categories have been built, namely: conceptions and concepts of psychiatric urgencies shared by health professionals in SAMU-Natal; attendances to psychiatric urgencies in SAMU-Natal; and the Brazilian Psychiatric Reformation under the view of the SAMU-Natal's health professionals. Reflection about the analyzed information revealed discussions pertaining to the stigma and prejudice on mental illness, and also, pointed out to some hindrances which impair the attendance to individuals in mental suffering in SAMU-Natal. The interviewed health professionals' conceptions on the individual in psychical crisis involve concepts of unpredictability, aggressiveness and risk, stigmatizing elements and historically associated to the social hazard ideology and need for mentally sicks' segregation. The predominance of these conceptions, seen in health professionals speech, had identifiable reflexes on assistance to psychiatric demands performed by SAMU-Natal, namely: indiscriminate request for military police's presence during psychic crisis intervention, neglect about occasions that involve mental health patients, as well as repetitive assisting practice directed on physical contention, and transportation to psychiatric hospital. Associated to it, the professionals have shown distorted and reductionist understanding about Brazilian Psychiatric Reformation, and, in the majority, haven't lent credibility to present model of attention to mental health, based on psycho-social treatment, pointing their speech to a need for psychiatric patient's internment. In this sense, we notice that the hospital-centered and excluding model conceived by classical psychiatry still remains alive in these health professionals' mentality as a reference to psychiatric urgency's assistance. Therefore, the research revealed a sequence of elements, that make us think about the challenges that health sector and society must face to realize Brazilian Psychiatric Reformation's principles and guidelines

Study on the bone mineral density of broiler suffering femoral joint degenerative lesions

An experiment was carried out with male and females broilers of two different commercial breeds to evaluate bone mineral density of the right femur head. A number of 600 one-day-old broilers were raised in an experimental poultry house up to 42 days of age at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of UNESP, Botucatu, Brazil. After slaughter, three males and three females in each breed in each of the established gross scores were selected. Their femora heads were submitted to gross examination, and subsequently the thighs were submitted to the Veterinary Hospital for radiographic analysis. Femora were also submitted to bone resistance, Seedor index, and dry matter content analyses. All these bone quality characteristics were different between males and females, independent of breed. Breeds presented similar behavior. It was possible to establish correlations between bone quality parameters, and confidence intervals for bone mineral density values, correlating them to femoral degeneration score, which allows characterizing femoral head lesions by radiographic optical densitometry.

Identification of Candida species isolated from cows suffering mastitis in four Brazilian states

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

Escherichia coli strains isolated from the uteri horn, mouth, and rectum of bitches suffering from pyometra: virulence factors, antimicrobial susceptibilities, and clonal relationships among strains

Pyometra is recognized as one of the main causes of disease and death in the bitch, and Escherichia coli is the major pathogen associated with this disease. In this study, 70 E. coli isolates from the uteri horn, mouth, and rectum of bitches suffering from the disease and 43 E. coli isolates from the rectum of clinically healthy bitches were examined for the presence of uropathogenic virulence genes and susceptibility to antimicrobial drugs. DNA profiles of isolates from uteri horn and mouth in bitches with pyometra were compared by REP, ERIC, and BOX-PCR. Virulence gene frequencies detected in isolates from canine pyometra were as follows: 95.7% fim, 27.1% iss, 25.7% hly, 18.5% iuc, and 17.1% usp. Predominant resistance was determined for cephalothin, ampicillin, and nalidixic acid among the isolates from all sites examined. Multidrug resistance was found on ∼ 50% pyometra isolates. Using the genotypic methods some isolates from uteri, pus, and saliva of the same bitch proved to have identical DNA profiles which is a reason for concern due to the close relationship between household pets and humans.

An Ardent Flame: Witness to Distant Suffering, Human Rights and Unworthy Victims in the Coverage by The New York Times and Two Journals of the Religious Left of the 1980s Civil Wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua

Scholars have investigated witness to distant suffering (WTDS) almost entirely in visual media. This study examines it in print. This form of reporting will be examined in two publications of the religious left as contrasted with the New York Times. The thesis is that, more than any technology, WTDS consists of the journalist’s moral commitment and narrative skills and the audience’s analytical resources and trust. In the religious journals, liberation theology provides the moral commitment, the writers and editors the narrative skills and trust and the special vision of the newly empowered poor the analytical foundation. In bearing witness to those who have suffered state or guerilla terrorism in El Salvador and Nicaragua during the 1980s, we will investigate a distinction between “worthy” and “unworthy victims.” This last issue has a special ethical and political significance. Media witnessing to the suffering of strangers can help them become known, and so “worthy.” It can help them, and their plight and cause, become better recognized. This is the power of the media.

ADOLESCENCE AND DRUG USE THROUGH THE LENS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS: SUFFERING AND ECSTASY IN THE PASSAGE

ADOLESCENCE AND DRUG USE THROUGH THE LENS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS: SUFFERING AND ECSTASY IN THE PASSAGE The purpose of this study is to reflect upon the psychological factors of adolescent drug addiction according to a psychoanalytic perspective. First we consider adolescence as a social-historical category and then we discuss the psychoanalytic understanding of the adolescent transition. This theoretical path builds the approach that considers drug use as a phenomenon that serves as a passage ritual to contemporary adolescence. This phenomenon is modulated by the drive organization, which determines how the individual will take ownership of the use of psychoactive substances. We conclude that the substance use may function as a buffer-object, activated to deal with the structural fragility of the contemporary affective bonds.

[Characteristics of patients suffering from chronic pain with depressive symptoms in three different treatment settings]

Only few studies considered demographic and medical characteristics of pain patients with depressive symptoms.