O problema da razão e da racionalidade na arquitetura moderna : tipos de racionalidade na arquitetura moderna. Dos métodos aristotélicos à intuição em Oscar Niemeyer

Programa Oficial de Doutoramento Arquitectura: Concepción, Linguaxe e Composición. Proxecto Brasil. 3C19971998-124-2V01[Resumo] Este traballo buscou, a partir do entendemento do logos (logoV) (Ferrater Mora, 1951), e da razón, perquirir o concepto dos tipos de racionalidade na arquitectura moderna, como principios de consecución do obxecto arquitectónico baseado e manifestado nos métodos indutivo, siloxístico e intuitivo, tan ben traballados por Aristóteles na Ética a Nicómaco. O entendemento dos tipos de racionalidade ten como pano de fondo os métodos indutivo, siloxístico e intuitivo, cuxa manifestación concreta transluce no oficio, na experiencia e metodoloxía dos arquitectos. A nosa tese centrouse na relación das obras de Mies van der Rohe co método indutivo, de Le Corbusier co método dedutivo ou siloxístico e de Oscar Niemeyer co método intuitivo. Nas nosas conclusións buscamos deslindar a intuición e a manifestación da racionalidade, a intuición racional, con base, primeiro, na espontaneidade, como motor construtivo da verdade arquitectónica do grande arquitecto brasileiro, e en segundo lugar co uso da tecnoloxía e da xeometría. Na manifestación do arquitecto brasileiro indicaremos algunhas referencias pautadas pola construción dun procedemento que ten un discurso intuitivo, aínda que en realidade este aparece como froito dunha fórmula, que renovándose permite encontrar apoio da realidade matemática, sobre todo da xeometría fixa e dinámica moderna, que é a base dos proxectos de Oscar Niemeyer, como alumno da escola de Belas Artes que foi, así como da técnica moderna do formigón armado. A forma dos proxectos de arquitectura de Oscar Niemeyer é tradicional no seu contido e moderna na súa manifestación compositiva e de soporte, o que permite entón situar Oscar Niemeyer como herdeiro dunha das maiores tradicións arquitectónicas clásicas e tamén como un revolucionario da arquitectura moderna. A manifestación dobre de Oscar Niemeyer aparentemente presenta unha petición de principio, onde encontramos, da mesma maneira que en Aristóteles, a construción dun espazo mental que ao mesmo tempo é racional e intuitivo / emocional. Con isto, concordando con Aristóteles, diremos como base preparatoria para o entendemento da obra e manifestación de Oscar Niemeyer que el a ten pautada por unha intuición racional, aínda que para a maioría dos leigos ese espazo de construción mental poida mostrarse como ‘una expresión contradictoria en sí misma’ (Ferrater Mora, 1951). A necesidade de centrar a nosa tese en Oscar Niemeyer está vinculada coa busca de entendermos a manifestación deste arquitecto, que diferentemente dos racionalistas alemáns e intelectuais franceses buscou tratar as cousas da arquitectura como vinculadas á emoción. Mais esa emoción non é unha emoción calquera, ten os sons do Brasil, ten a alma brasileira traída á luz na súa face grandiosa e contraditoria. Fundamentalmente vinculada á emoción, a arquitectura de Oscar Niemeyer é emotiva cando ten relación coas persoas, cos amigos, coa festa de rúa, co neno e co adulto. É grandiosa e fría por un lado e emotiva por outro. Como brasileiro, Oscar Niemeyer tivo a súa face revelada e aparece compondo a base emocional nacional, tanto como Capistrano de Abreu, Buarque de Holanda, Gilberto Freire, Darci Ribeiro, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Nelson Rodrigues e tantos outros expoñentes, das moitas faces do home brasileiro e da nosa cultura que parece e se di ‘xentil’, mais ao mesmo tempo trata a muller cunha palabra totalmente pexorativa como é ‘mulata’, que aparece como bonita e falcatrueira, mais está, na súa raíz, vinculada a unha besta de carga, a mula. A arquitectura de Oscar Niemeyer revela a alma brasileira, dise sinuosa como a muller, e xentil como o home que a cortexa, é un marco cuxo diferencial sensual expresa a maior e máis certa determinación do sur de América, a determinación de ser brasileiro, con todas as súas idiosincrasias emocionais, intuitivas e racionais. Ao revelar a alma brasileira, Oscar é sutil e delicado, moi distinto de Nelson Rodrigues, que é agresivo e contraditorio. Oscar tamén o é, aínda que sen deixar que a xenerosidade se esvaia como grans de area escorrendo por entre os dedos. Con isto, a nosa investigación percorreu temas importantes. Percorreremos a razón, o logos, a arquitectura racional, os principios da arquitectura, os métodos, o método indutivo, o método dedutivo ou siloxístico, o método intuitivo, Oscar Niemeyer, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, a intuición en Oscar Niemeyer, o método de proxecto do arquitecto brasileiro, cunha visión dalgunhas das súas obras icónicas, como poden ser Obra do Berço, Ministério da Saúde e da Educação, Edifício COPAN, Igreja de São Francisco, Banco Boa Vista, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, entre outras. Mesmo tendo recorrido ás obras importantes de Oscar Niemeyer, unha análise importante que fixemos foi a do proxecto do segundo Memorial Prestes, proxecto non construído, onde analizamos a cuestión gráfica e a cuestión dimensional a partir dos orixinais deste proxecto. Todo iso tivo como principio indicar o camiño que determina e corrobora aquilo que Oscar Niemeyer declara, para que non sexa hipostasiado como grande mestre, cando dixo que o importante era a vida, e a arquitectura era un asunto que tamén, nalgúns momentos, lle interesaba.[Resumen]El objetivo del presente estudio fue el de buscar, a partir del conocimiento del logos (logoV) (Ferrater Mora, 1951), y de la razón, indagar en el concepto de los tipos de racionalidad en la arquitectura moderna, como principios para el logro del objeto arquitectónico basado y manifestado en los métodos inductivo, silogístico e intuitivo, también estudiados por Aristóteles en la Ética a Nicómaco. La comprensión de los tipos de racionalidad tiene como antecedentes los métodos inductivo, silogístico e intuitivo, cuya manifestación concreta se deja ver en el oficio, en la experiencia y metodología de los arquitectos. Nuestra tesis está centrada en la relación de las obras de Mies van der Rohe con el método inductivo, de Le Corbusier con el método deductivo o silogístico y de Oscar Niemeyer con el método intuitivo. En nuestras conclusiones buscamos distinguir la intuición y la manifestación de la racionalidad, la intuición racional, con base, en primer lugar en la espontaneidad, como motor constructivo de la verdad arquitectónica del gran arquitecto brasileño y en segundo lugar con el uso de la tecnología y de la geometría. En cuanto al arquitecto brasileño, indicaremos algunas referencias guiadas por la construcción de un procedimiento que tiene un discurso intuitivo, pero, en realidad, éste aparece como fruto de una formula, que renovándose permite encontrar apoyo de la realidad matemática, sobre todo de la geometría fija y dinámica moderna, que es la base de los proyectos de Oscar Niemeyer, como alumno de la Escuela de Bellas Artes que fue, así como de la técnica moderna del hormigón armado. Los proyectos de arquitectura de Oscar Niemeyer son tradicionales en su contenido y modernos en su manifestación compositiva y de soporte, permitiendo de esta forma posicionar a Oscar Niemeyer como heredero de una de las mayores tradiciones arquitectónicas clásicas, así como es también un revolucionario de la arquitectura moderna. La doble manifestación de Oscar Niemeyer aparentemente pone de relieve una cuestión, en la que encontramos, de la misma manera que en Aristóteles, la construcción de un espacio mental que es al mismo tiempo racional e intuitivo/emocional. De esta manera, coincidiendo con Aristóteles, diremos, como introducción para la compresión de la obra y manifestación de Oscar Niemeyer, que dicha obra está atravesada por una intuición racional, aunque para la mayoría de los no expertos, este espacio de construcción mental se pueda mostrar como ‘una expresión contradictoria en sí misma’ (Ferrater Mora, 1951). La necesidad de centrar nuestra tesis en Oscar Niemeyer está unida a nuestra búsqueda para entender la manifestación de aquel arquitecto, quien a diferencia de los racionalistas alemanes e intelectuales franceses buscó tratar las cosas de la arquitectura como algo vinculado a la emoción. Pero esta emoción no es una emoción cualquiera: tiene los sonidos de Brasil y refleja el alma brasileña en su más grandiosa y contradictoria cara. Fundamentalmente vinculada a la emoción, la arquitectura de Oscar Niemeyer es emotiva en tanto en cuanto se relaciona con las personas, con los amigos, con la fiesta en la calle, con el niño y con el adulto. Es grandiosa y fría por un lado y emotiva por el otro. Como brasileño, Oscar Niemeyer se hace notar y aparece componiendo la base emocional nacional, en la misma medida que Capistrano de Abreu, Buarque de Holanda, Gilberto Freire, Darci Ribeiro, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Nelson Rodrigues y otros tanto exponentes, de las diversas caras del hombre brasileño y de nuestra cultura que parece y se considera de manera ‘amable’, pero al mismo tiempo se refiere al termino mujer de una forma peyorativa, como ocurre con la palabra mulata, cuyo significado en la actualidad alude a la belleza y a la sensualidad, pero oculta en su raíz una acepción vinculada a las bestias de carga, en este caso, la mula. La arquitectura de Oscar Niemeyer desvela el alma brasileña, se muestra insinuante como la mujer, y amable como el hombre que la pretende; es un marco cuyo diferencial sensual expresa la mayor y más verdadera determinación del sur de América: la determinación de ser brasileño, con todas sus idiosincrasias emocionales, intuitivas y racionales. Cuando revela el alma brasileña, Oscar es sutil y delicado, muy diferente de Nelson Rodrigues, que por su parte es agresivo y contradictorio. Oscar también lo es, sin dejar, no obstante, que la generosidad se escape como granos de arena entre los dedos. Por lo tanto, nuestra investigación toca puntos importantes para ayudar a clarificar este tema. Seguimos la razón, el logos, la arquitectura racional, los principios de la arquitectura, los métodos, el método inductivo, el método deductivo o silogístico, el método intuitivo, Oscar Niemeyer, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, la intuición en Oscar Niemeyer, el método del proyecto del arquitecto brasileño, con una visión de algunas obras icónicas suyas, como son: Obra do Berço, Ministério da Saúde e da Educação, Edifício COPAN, Igreja de São Francisco, Banco Boa Vista, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, entre otras. Aun habiendo recorrido las obras importantes de Oscar Niemeyer, un análisis importante que hicimos fue el del proyecto del segundo Memorial Prestes, proyecto no construido, donde analizamos la cuestión gráfica y la cuestión dimensional a partir de los originales de este proyecto. Todo esto tuvo como principio indicar el camino que determina y corrobora aquello que Oscar Niemeyer declara, para que no sea hipostasiado como un gran maestro, cuando dijo: lo importante es la vida, y la arquitectura es un asunto que también, en algunos momentos, le interesaba.[Abstract]This study aimed – from an understanding of logos (logoV) (Ferrater Mora, 1951) and reason – to scrutinize the concept of the types of rationality present in modern architecture as principles of achievement of the architectural object, based on and expressed by the inductive, syllogistic and intuitive methods, as thoroughly explored by Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics. The process of understanding these types of rationality takes place against the backdrop of the inductive, syllogistic and intuitive methods, whose concrete manifestations are seen in the craft, experience and methodology of architects. Our thesis focused on the relationships between the work of Mies van der Rohe and the inductive method, the work of Le Corbusier and the deductive or syllogistic method, and the work of Oscar Niemeyer and the intuitive method. In our conclusions we sought to unravel intuition and the expression of rationality – rational intuition – initially based on spontaneity as the driving force in constructing the architectural truth of the renowned Brazilian architect, and subsequently on the use of technology and geometry. In the Brazilian architect’s expression we will point out some references founded on the construction of a procedure which appears to be intuitive, when it is in fact the result of a formula that, when updated, is supported by mathematical reality, especially fixed geometry and dynamic symmetry, which forms the basis for the projects of Oscar Niemeyer – as a typical student of the ‘Beaux-Arts’ School in Rio de Janeiro – as well as the modern technique of reinforced concrete. Oscar Niemeyer's architectural design is traditional in its content and modern in its expressions of composition and support, allowing one to consider Oscar Niemeyer as the heir of one of the greatest traditions of classical architecture, as well as being a revolutionary of modern architecture. This double expression of Oscar Niemeyer, which seems to beg the question, is where we find, just as in Aristotle, the construction of a mental space that is simultaneously rational and intuitive / emotional. Thus, agreeing with Aristotle, as a preparatory platform for understanding the work and expression of Oscar Niemeyer we will say that he is guided by a rational intuition, although for most laypeople this space of mental construction can be presented as 'a contradictory expression of itself' (Ferrater Mora, 1951). The need to focus our thesis on Oscar Niemeyer is connected to our pursuit of understanding his expression, as unlike the German rationalists and French intellectuals, he sought to treat architecture as something closely connected to emotions. But these emotions were not just any emotions; they carried with them the sounds of Brazil, as well as the grandiose and contradictory facets of the Brazilian soul. Fundamentally connected to emotion, Oscar Niemeyer's architecture is emotive in its relationship with people, friends, street festivals, children and adults. It is grandiose and cold on one hand and emotive on the other. As a Brazilian, Oscar Niemeyer was revealed as forming part of the national psyche – just like Capistrano de Abreu, Buarque de Holanda, Gilberto Freire, Darci Ribeiro, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Nelson Rodrigues and several other exponents – of the many facets of the Brazilian man and culture that appear and claim to be 'kind', although they refer to women by using a completely pejorative word, in this case, “mulata”, which appears nice and playful, but is at its core a reference to a mule, a pack animal. Oscar Niemeyer's architecture reveals the Brazilian soul: it is curved like the woman and kind like the man who courts her; it is a milestone whose sensual uniqueness expresses the greatest and truest determination of the south of America, the determination to be Brazilian, with all their emotional, intuitive and rational idiosyncrasies. In revealing the Brazilian soul, Niemeyer is subtle and delicate, unlike Nelson Rodrigues, who is aggressive and contradictory. Niemeyer can also be adversarial, but without letting his generosity escape through his fingers like grains of sand. Thus, our research covered many important topics to bring this subject to light. We will cover reason, logos, rational architecture, the principles of architecture, the methods, the inductive method, the deductive or syllogistic method, the intuitive method, Oscar Niemeyer, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, the intuition of Oscar Niemeyer, his design method, with a view of some of his iconic works, namely: Obra do Berço, Ministério da Saúde e da Educação, Edifício COPAN, Igreja de São Francisco, Banco Boa Vista, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, among others. Despite having consulted some of Oscar Niemeyer’s most important works, one important analysis we did was of the project for the second Memorial Prestes, which was not built, where we analyzed the graphical and dimensional issues from the originals of the project. All this was done with a view to detailing the path that determines and corroborates that which Oscar Niemeyer declared, to avoid being hypostatized as a grand master: life is what is important, while architecture is a subject that, at times, was interesting to him

The application of the drug user quality of life scale (DUQOL) in Australia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The concept of quality of life relates to the perceptions of individuals about their mental and physical health as well as non-health related areas. The evaluation of quality of life in the context of substance abuse has been conducted using generic instruments. The Drug Users Quality of Life Scale (DUQOL) is a specific assessment tool in which the most pertinent and salient areas to drug abusers are taken into consideration. In this study, the authors report the results of a validation study in which the DUQOL was used for the first time in Australia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A sample of 120 participants from inpatient and outpatient treatment facilities completed a series of questionnaires, including the DUQOL and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). Parameters investigated in this study included the demographic characteristics of the sample, internal structure, and convergent validity. Correlations between the DUQOL scale scores and the scores of the WHOQOL-Bref test were investigated via Pearson product-moment correlation analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The English version of the DUQOL attained a significant overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.868. The factorial analysis of the DUQOL identified one principal factor that accounted for 28.499% of the variance. Convergent validity analyses demonstrate significant correlations (<it>p </it>< 0.01) between the DUQOL scores and the scores of all four dimensions of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study demonstrates that the DUQOL constitutes a reliable research instrument for evaluating quality of life of substance users in Australia.</p

A versão em português da escala de saúde pessoal: um estudo de validação no Sul do Brasil

The Personal Health Scale is a concise instrument for comprehensive culture-informed and self-rated assessment of general health status and well-being. It is composed of 10 questions that appraise different health dimensions collated from the international literature, including aspects ranging from somatic and psychological domains to social functioning and insight. PURPOSE: In this investigation, results of a study conducted in Southern Brazil to test and validate the Portuguese version of the Personal Health Scale (PHS-Pt) are presented. Method: This study analyzes data from a sample of 120 Brazilian volunteers (90 patients and 30 health care professionals). All patients completed the Portuguese version of the Personal Health Scale under a minimal guidance by trained examiners, who followed standardized instructional procedures. RESULTS: The internal consistency of the PHS-Pt attained a Cronbach's a of 0.75 among patients and of 0.69 among health care professionals. The test-retest reliability correlation coefficient yielded a score of 0.82. Furthermore, the PHS-Pt was able to detect a significant discriminating validity between the 2 evaluated samples (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The original English version of the Personal Health Scale was successfully adapted to Portuguese as methodologically demonstrated herein. The PHS-Pt constitutes a reliable and trustworthy research instrument for evaluating health status in Brazil, since it is appropriately designed to distinguish different groups of volunteers regarding their health status.A Escala de Saúde Pessoal é um instrumento conciso para a avaliação do estado geral de saúde e bem-estar que considera os aspectos culturais e a visão pessoal do entrevistado. Ela é composta por 10 questões que avaliam diferentes dimensões de saúde obtidas a partir da literatura internacional, incluindo aspectos que variam de domínios somáticos e psicológicos até juízo critico e funcionamento social. OBJETIVO: Nesta investigação, os resultados de um estudo conduzido no Sul do Brasil para testar e validar a versão em português da Escala de Saúde Pessoal são apresentados. MÉTODO: Este estudo analisa dados de uma amostra de 120 voluntários brasileiros (90 pacientes e 30 profissionais da saúde). Todos pacientes completaram a versão em português da Escala de Saúde Pessoal sob orientação mínima de examinadores treinados que seguiram procedimentos padronizados de instrução. RESULTADOS: A consistência interna da PHS-Pt atingiu um índice á de Cronbach de 0.75 entre pacientes e de 0.69 entre profissionais da saúde. O coeficiente de correlação da validade teste-reteste indicou um escore de 0.82. Ademais, a PHS-Pt foi capaz de detectar uma significativa validade descriminante entre as duas amostra avaliada (P < .001). CONCLUSÕES: A versão original em língua inglesa da Escala de Saúde Pessoal foi adaptada com sucesso para o idioma português como demonstrado metodologicamente neste estudo. A PHS-Pt constitui um instrumento de pesquisa confinável e fidedigno para avaliar o estado de saúde no Brasil, já que é apropriadamente estruturada para distinguir diferentes grupos de voluntários de acordo com seus estados de saúde

Comparison and concordance of health-related quality of life tests among substance users

Background: In the field of drug and alcohol abuse, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has been used as an important clinical and research outcome. The aim of this study was to establish score linkages (concordance) among three HRQoL assessment tools: WHOQOL-BREF, DUQOL and HRQOLDA scores, applying a Rasch-based common person equating procedure. Methods: One hundred and twenty one adults were recruited from inpatient and outpatient treatment facilities in Sydney West Area Health Service. WHOQOL-BREF, DUQOL and HRQOLDA tests were administered. Item parameters were calculated applying Rating Scale Model, a Rasch model. Results: Fit statistics suggest acceptable goodness-of-fit to the RSM for three instruments. Correlations between HRQOLDA and WHOQOL-BREF and between HRQOLDA and DUQOL scores were 0.719 and 0.613, and the RiU index was 30.4 % and 20.9 %, respectively. All three tests performed adequately for differentiating between individuals whose scores are located at different points along the continuum of the HRQoL construct. Conclusion: The results demonstrated a higher concordance between the HRQoLDA and WHOQOL-BREF than between the HRQoLDA and the DUQOL. However, it cannot be established unequivocally that the scores of these tools are concordant. In this study, the utility of the application of the Rasch model to provide an empirical benchmark for the selection of measurement tools to be used in the context of health care and research is demonstrated

The Limbic System Conception and Its Historical Evolution

Throughout the centuries, scientific observers have endeavoured to extend their knowledge of the interrelationships between the brain and its regulatory control of human emotions and behaviour. Since the time of physicians such as Aristotle and Galen and the more recent observations of clinicians and neuropathologists such as Broca, Papez, and McLean, the field of affective neuroscience has matured to become the province of neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, neurologists, and psychiatrists. It is accepted that the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and insula participate in the majority of emotional processes. New imaging technologies and molecular biology discoveries are expanding further the frontiers of knowledge in this arena. The advancements of knowledge on the interplay between the human brain and emotions came about as the legacy of the pioneers mentioned in this field. The aim of this paper is to describe the historical evolution of the scientific understanding of interconnections between the human brain, behaviour, and emotions

An Assessment of Maternal Quality of Life in the Postpartum Period in Southern Brazil: A Comparison of Two Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: To assess maternal quality of life (QoL) during the postpartum period and to compare the performance of two QoL questionnaires across a sample of 101 women in southern Brazil. To our knowledge, this is the first study that measures maternal quality of life during the postpartum period in Brazil. INTRODUCTION: There is limited information about postpartum maternal quality of life in Brazil. The are no Portuguese versions of instruments specifically designed to measure quality of life during the postpartum period. METHODS: Research participants completed the Portuguese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment-Bref (WHOQOL-BREF) and Multicultural Quality of Life Index (MQLI) questionnaires. The correlations between the MQLI and the discrete areas of WHOQOL-BREF were examined using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficients. RESULTS: We report a significant correlation between the global MQLI and the four domains of the WHOQOL-BREF scores (p < 0.01). An analysis of variance revealed a significant difference in mean scores in the Psychological and Environment domains according to different socio-economic strata: F (3, 97) = 3.81, p = 0.012 and F (3, 97) = 4.03, p = 0.01, respectively. DISCUSSION: The WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire may be more sensitive than the MQLI in detecting the impact of socioeconomic status on the QoL of postpartum women. CONCLUSION: The sample of postpartum women evaluated in this study presented favorable QoL scores according to both the MQLI and WHOQOL-BREF questionnaires. Our results also indicate that the WHOQOL-BREF and the MQLI questionnaires have a significant correlation in terms of their assessments of postpartum mothers

An assessment of maternal quality of life in the postpartum period in southern Brazil: a comparson of two questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: To assess maternal quality of life (QoL) during the postpartum period and to compare the performance of two QoL questionnaires across a sample of 101 women in southern Brazil. To our knowledge, this is the first study that measures maternal quality of life during the postpartum period in Brazil. INTRODUCTION: There is limited information about postpartum maternal quality of life in Brazil. The are no Portuguese versions of instruments specifically designed to measure quality of life during the postpartum period. METHODS: Research participants completed the Portuguese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment-Bref (WHOQOL-BREF) and Multicultural Quality of Life Index (MQLI) questionnaires. The correlations between the MQLI and the discrete areas of WHOQOL-BREF were examined using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficients. RESULTS: We report a significant correlation between the global MQLI and the four domains of the WHOQOL-BREF scores (p < 0.01). An analysis of variance revealed a significant difference in mean scores in the Psychological and Environment domains according to different socio-economic strata: F (3, 97) = 3.81, p = 0.012 and F (3, 97) = 4.03, p = 0.01, respectively. DISCUSSION: The WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire may be more sensitive than the MQLI in detecting the impact of socioeconomic status on the QoL of postpartum women. CONCLUSION: The sample of postpartum women evaluated in this study presented favorable QoL scores according to both the MQLI and WHOQOL-BREF questionnaires. Our results also indicate that the WHOQOL-BREF and the MQLI questionnaires have a significant correlation in terms of their assessments of postpartum mothers

The limbic system conception and its historical evolution

Throughout the centuries, scientific observers have endeavoured to extend their knowledge of the interrelationships between the brain and its regulatory control of human emotions and behaviour. Since the time of physicians such as Aristotle and Galen and the more recent observations of clinicians and neuropathologists such as Broca, Papez, and McLean, the field of affective neuroscience has matured to become the province of neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, neurologists, and psychiatrists. It is accepted that the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and insula participate in the majority of emotional processes. New imaging technologies and molecular biology discoveries are expanding further the frontiers of knowledge in this arena. The advancements of knowledge on the interplay between the human brain and emotions came about as the legacy of the pioneers mentioned in this field. The aim of this paper is to describe the historical evolution of the scientific understanding of interconnections between the human brain, behaviour, and emotions

The portuguese version of the personal health scale: a validation study in southern Brazil

The Personal Health Scale is a concise instrument for comprehensive culture-informed and self-rated assessment of general health status and well-being. It is composed of 10 questions that appraise different health dimensions collated from the international literature, including aspects ranging from somatic and psychological domains to social functioning and insight. PURPOSE: In this investigation, results of a study conducted in Southern Brazil to test and validate the Portuguese version of the Personal Health Scale (PHS-Pt) are presented. Method: This study analyzes data from a sample of 120 Brazilian volunteers (90 patients and 30 health care professionals). All patients completed the Portuguese version of the Personal Health Scale under a minimal guidance by trained examiners, who followed standardized instructional procedures. RESULTS: The internal consistency of the PHS-Pt attained a Cronbach's a of 0.75 among patients and of 0.69 among health care professionals. The test-retest reliability correlation coefficient yielded a score of 0.82. Furthermore, the PHS-Pt was able to detect a significant discriminating validity between the 2 evaluated samples (P A Escala de Saúde Pessoal é um instrumento conciso para a avaliação do estado geral de saúde e bem-estar que considera os aspectos culturais e a visão pessoal do entrevistado. Ela é composta por 10 questões que avaliam diferentes dimensões de saúde obtidas a partir da literatura internacional, incluindo aspectos que variam de domínios somáticos e psicológicos até juízo critico e funcionamento social. OBJETIVO: Nesta investigação, os resultados de um estudo conduzido no Sul do Brasil para testar e validar a versão em português da Escala de Saúde Pessoal são apresentados. MÉTODO: Este estudo analisa dados de uma amostra de 120 voluntários brasileiros (90 pacientes e 30 profissionais da saúde). Todos pacientes completaram a versão em português da Escala de Saúde Pessoal sob orientação mínima de examinadores treinados que seguiram procedimentos padronizados de instrução. RESULTADOS: A consistência interna da PHS-Pt atingiu um índice á de Cronbach de 0.75 entre pacientes e de 0.69 entre profissionais da saúde. O coeficiente de correlação da validade teste-reteste indicou um escore de 0.82. Ademais, a PHS-Pt foi capaz de detectar uma significativa validade descriminante entre as duas amostra avaliada (P < .001). CONCLUSÕES: A versão original em língua inglesa da Escala de Saúde Pessoal foi adaptada com sucesso para o idioma português como demonstrado metodologicamente neste estudo. A PHS-Pt constitui um instrumento de pesquisa confinável e fidedigno para avaliar o estado de saúde no Brasil, já que é apropriadamente estruturada para distinguir diferentes grupos de voluntários de acordo com seus estados de saúde