Negligência das classificações diagnósticas atuais com os fenômenos dissociativos do transtorno de estresse pós-traumático

BACKGROUND: In spite of the growing importance of dissociation in post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), dissociative symptoms are not included in the diagnostic criteria of official classifications (CID-10, DSM-IV). Research in psychophysiology, functional neuroimaging, psycho-endocrinology and opioid systems provides support for a dissociative subtype of PTSD. CASE REPORT: A case study on a PTSD patient with persistent dissociative symptoms since the trauma will show that current criteria are insufficient for detecting dissociative symptoms in PTSD. The patient meets criteria for PTSD and major depressive disorder according to the DSM-IV. He also meets criteria for depersonalization disorder, although this diagnosis is not possible with PTSD. The patient showed peritraumatic conversive symptoms, evaluated by the tonic immobility scale. Further, he obtained significant scores on the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire and the Dissociative Experiences Scale, revealing prominent peritraumatic and current dissociative symptoms. There was no improvement in the patients condition after three years of treatment. CONCLUSION: Recognition of the importance of dissociative/conversive phenomena in PTSD will allow practitioners to perfect their diagnoses, as well as improve research on the physiopathology of these phenomena and help develop more effective treatments.CONTEXTO: Apesar da importância crescente da dissociação no transtorno de estresse pós-traumático (TEPT), os sintomas dissociativos não são contemplados pelos critérios diagnósticos das classificações oficiais (CID-10 e DSM-IV). A hipótese de um subtipo dissociativo para o TEPT tem sido corroborada por pesquisas em psicofisiologia, neuroimagem funcional, psicoendocrinologia e sistemas opióides. Pretende-se demonstrar a insuficiência dos critérios vigentes na detecção dos sintomas dissociativos no TEPT mediante relato de um caso com sintomas dissociativos persistentes desde o trauma. RELATO DE CASO: O paciente preenche critérios para TEPT e transtorno depressivo maior pelo DSM-IV. Embora também preencha critérios para transtorno de despersonalização, esse diagnóstico é impossibilitado na presença de TEPT. O paciente apresentou sintomas conversivos peritraumáticos, avaliados pela Escala de Imobilidade Tônica, e sintomas dissociativos proeminentes, peritraumáticos e atuais, já que obteve escores significativos no Questionário de Experiências Dissociativas Peritraumáticas e na Escala de Experiências Dissociativas. Após 3 anos de tratamento, não houve melhora do quadro. CONCLUSÃO: O reconhecimento da importância dos fenômenos dissociativos/conversivos no TEPT poderá contribuir para o aprimoramento do diagnóstico, investigações sobre sua fisiopatologia e o desenvolvimento de tratamentos mais eficazes

Consumer perceptions of satiating and meal replacement bars, built up from cues in packaging information, health claims and nutritional claims

Prevsious research has shown that consumers' sensory and hedonic perceptions could be greatly influenced by the messages highlighted on the front of the packaging, particularly nutrition and health claims for reduced-calorie or functional foods. In food products designed for hunger control, mentioning satiating effects or meal replacement could potentially influence the expected satiety or other perceptions, including those associated with a filling effect. This study investigated the effect of packaging information on consumer perceptions of eleven commercial chocolate-flavoured satiating and meal replacement bars. Projective mapping (Napping®) with a descriptive step was used to profile the expectations elicited by the eleven bars, based on their extrinsic characteristics (without tasting them), with two different groups of consumers in two different scenarios: mapping the samples' packaging and mapping cards with an identical design showing the most important information displayed on the packaging (product name, nutrition information panel and nutrition and health messages or claims). The terms and comments obtained in the two scenarios were analysed and perceptual spaces were generated from the sample location and attributes obtained in the Napping® exercises, using multi factor analysis (MFA). The results showed that when evaluating the real packaging, the consumers mainly focused on the meal replacement- or satiation-related messages and on the images to build up their perception, attaching less or no importance to the nutritional information that was also displayed on the box. When examining the packaging, sensory expectations - which probably emerged from the images of the bars - were also a very important factor in placing the samples in the perceptual space. When looking only at the cards, the consumers' grouping and attribute generation focused in great detail on the nutritional information. The calorie content also became a much more important factor in their perceptions of the bars. Interestingly for the product category analysed, messages about "satiating" and "meal replacement" effects were clearly distinct and negatively correlated in the consumers' minds.This work has received support from the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through Project AGL2012-36753-C02-01

Texture concepts for consumers: A better understanding of crispy-crunchy sensory perception

Differences in the definitions and terms used by consumers to describe their sensory sensations of crispness/crunchiness were studied, highlighting the relevance of using well-defined terms in consumer studies. A questionnaire was presented to consumers from two different Spanish-speaking countries (Spain and Uruguay, n = 200). The answers showed that the terms crispy and crunchy had different meanings or evoked different perceptions depending on the country. The crispy/crunchy food items most frequently mentioned by consumers were dry-crisp, processed products; vegetables or other wet-crisp products were not often mentioned by the consumers interviewed. The main difference between the two countries was that 38% of Spanish consumers did not know the Spanish term for "crunchy" and 17% thought that "crispy" and "crunchy" had the same meaning. The results contribute to a greater knowledge of the terminology used by the consumers to describe oral sensations related to crispness and crunchiness.The authors are indebted to the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología for financial support (Project AGL 2003-09208-C03-02) and to the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain) for the grant awarded to author Paula Varel

Texture concepts for consumers: Crispy/crunchy, a Spanish paradox

Trabajo presentado en el 7th Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium, celebrado en Minneapolis (Estados Unidos), del 12 al 16 de agosto de 200

Consumer acceptability compared with sensory and instrumental measures of white pan bread: Sensory shelf-life estimation by survival analysis

Two studies, one in Uruguay using Uruguayan white pan bread (WPB) and another in Spain using Spanish WPB, were carried out with trained judges and consumers from the country in question. The objectives were to correlate the consumer panel acceptability, trained sensory panel scores, and instrumental measurements of defects likely to appear during WPB storage, to compare the acceptability prediction models obtained in each country, and to apply survival analysis methodology to estimate the shelf life of the product. Logistic regression was used to predict the acceptance percentage and multiple regression was used to predict acceptability. Sensory variables (strange odor) showed a greater prediction capacity for Uruguayan WPB acceptability and acceptance percentage. For the Spanish WPB, instrumental cohesiveness and moisture content variables showed a greater prediction capacity for the acceptance percentage, whereas sensory (cohesiveness and color) and moisture content variables showed a greater prediction capacity for acceptability. Uruguayan WPB shelf life was 15 d for a 50% probability of consumer rejection and 13 d for a 25% probability of consumer rejection, whereas for Spanish WPB it was 23 d for a 50% probability of consumer rejection and 16 d for a 25% probability of consumer rejection

Quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) to discriminate primary degenerative dementia from major depressive disorder (depression)

Electroencephalography (EEG) can be a valuable technique to assess electrophysiological changes related to dementia. In patients suspected of having dementia, the EEG is often quite informative. The sensitivity of the EEG to detect correlates of psychiatric disorders has been enhanced by means of quantitative methods of analysis (quantitative EEG). Quantitative features are extracted from, at least, 2 minutes of artifact-free, eyes closed, resting EEG, log-transformed to obtain Gaussianity, age-regressed, and Z-transformed relative to population norms (Neurometrics database). Using a subset of quantitative EEG (qEEG) features, forward stepwise discriminant analyses are used to construct classifier functions. Along this vein, the main objective of this experiment is to distinguish profiles of qEEG, which differentiate depressive from demented patients (n = 125). The results showed that demented patients present deviations above the control group in variables associated to slow rhythms: Normed Monopolar Relative Power Theta for Cz and Normed Bipolar Relative Power Theta for Head. On the other hand, the deviation below the control group occurs with the variable associated to alpha rhythm: Normed Monopolar Relative Power Alpha for P3, in dementia. Using this method, the present investigation demonstrated high discriminant accuracy in separating Primary Degenerative Dementia from Major Depressive Disorder (Depression)

Textural quality of white pan bread by sensory and instrumental measurements

Commercial samples of white pan bread were evaluated by instrumental and sensory methods to determine the relationship between sensory and instrumental assessments, and relate them to product quality. Samples were evaluated on days 4 and 12 after baking. Sensory analysis was carried out by a panel of ten assessors trained in descriptive analysis of bread texture. A Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) was carried out using a TA.-XT2 Texture Analyzer. Collected data was statistically analyzed by Three-Factor Analysis of Variance, Principal Component Analysis, and Linear Partial Least Squares Regression Analysis (PLS). PLS revealed that sensory texture could be well predicted by instrumental texture measurements. It can be concluded that the evaluation of a few sensory manual texture parameters can be used as a tool to establish specifications for quality control programs