Packaging: major factor in the marketing of food

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston Universit

Reseña de: La indianización. Cautivos, renegados, "hommes libres" y misioneros en los confines americanos (S. XVI-XIX), de Salvador Bernabéu, Christophe Giudicelli y Gilles Havard (coords.). Madrid, Doce Calles, 2012. 401 p. ISBN: 9788497441384

El libro La indianización. Cautivos, renegados, “hommes libres” y misioneros en los confines americanos (S. XVI-XIX) es una cuidada publicación en español y francés en la que contribuyen, además de sus coordinadores, una docena de investigadores de diversas universidades y centros de investigación europeos y americanos. El germen de esta obra colectiva fue el coloquio internacional organizado por Giudicelli, Bernabéu y Havard en la Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos (EEHA) de Sevilla en s..

Fête civilisée et fête policée dans les espaces urbains aux frontières méridionales du Chaco : cadres de dialogue culturel au XVIIIe siècle Civilized festivals and tamed festivities in the urban areas of the southern Chaco frontiers: spaces of cultural di

RESUMEN: Este artículo parte del análisis de las prácticas festivas civiles en el espacio urbano de la frontera austral del Chaco en el siglo XVIII para identificar las formas de participación nativa en las mismas, así como sus límites. El modo de entender la festividad en el ámbito hispano como un regocijo respetuoso con el orden social, urbano y político, chocaba con la percepción generalizada de que las festividades indígenas no eran más que borracheras desordenadas que era necesario eliminar o bien domesticar. A pesar de todo, estos espacios de intercambio cultural fueron escenario de apropiaciones y reinterpretaciones nativas de las prácticas festivas por las que se generaron nuevos significados que serán analizados.ABSTRACT: This article offers an analysis of civil festivals in the urban areas of the Chaco frontier in the 18th century and identifies the forms of native participation, as well as their limitations. In the Hispanic spheres, festivals were conceived as moments of collective joy with a profound respect of the social, urban and political orders. This model differed deeply from the widespread idea that indigenous festivities were mere expressions of collective drunkenness contrary to any social or moral order, and thus should be either eradicated or domesticated. This article will show that the Chaco southern frontiers were areas of intense cross-cultural exchanges where native appropriations and reinterpretations of Hispanic festive practices produced new meanings.Esta investigación es parte del proyecto postdoctoral “Contested frontiers in the upper Paraguay River in the 18th century: Portuguese, Spaniards and Chaco indigenous peoples” SFRH/BPD/121613/2016 financiado por la Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. Asimismo, estos resultados se integran dentro del proyecto HAR2015-64014-C3-1-R (Culturas urbanas en la España Moderna) financiado por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Gobierno de España y fondos europeos del programa FEDER

The changing face of Parkinson's disease-associated psychosis: a cross-sectional study based on the new NINDS-NIMH criteria.

International audienceNew criteria for Parkinson's disease-associated psychosis (PDAP) were recently proposed by a NINDS-NIMH working group. We assessed 116 consecutive unselected outpatients with PD for the existence of psychotic symptoms during the previous month, using a structured questionnaire covering the whole spectrum of PDAP symptoms. Hallucinations occurred in 42% of the patients (visual: 16%; nonvisual: 35%), delusions in 4%, and minor symptoms in 45% (sense of presence, visual illusions, or passage hallucinations). The prevalence of PDAP was 43% when the usual definition was used (hallucinations and/or delusions) and 60% when the NINDS-NIHM criteria were used. Correlations between PDAP and patient characteristics varied with the definition of PDAP. These findings suggest that the epidemiology of PDAP should be re-evaluated with the new criteria. Minor symptoms and nonvisual hallucinations are an important part of the PDAP spectrum, which has commonly been restricted to visual hallucinations and delusions

Waging war against the Devil in overseas worlds: 18th century mission frontiers in El Chaco and Paraná

Resumen: El análisis de las complejidades de las misiones del Chaco y el Paraná en el siglo XVIII permite reconstruir el alcance y límites de la acción misional así como de las circunstancias en que se concretó. También se analizan las limitaciones y adversidades que afrontaba aún a fines del periodo colonial español. Desde esta perspectiva se define la frontera misional en plural, mostrándose en variados ámbitos, desde los entornos urbanos hasta los confines del Chaco, permitiendo comprobar que encerraba tanto elementos de exclusión y conformación de bordes y límites, como espacios caracterizados por una porosidad social, interétnica y cultural. La misión, a pesar del proyecto de apostólico de aculturación religiosa que encerraba, se concretó como un espacio socialmente participado, utilizado, transformado e históricamente cambiante, que ejemplifica la hibridación o mestizaje cultural en entornos y contextos de frontera.Abstract: The analysis of the missionary experience in the 18th century Chaco and Paraná regions allows this reconstruction of the complexities of the Catholic project. Our study considers the limitations and adversities faced by the missionary enterprise in the end of the Spanish colonial period; this perspective contributes to the definition of the missionary frontier in plural terms that emerged in multiple contexts, ranging from urban areas to the upper Paraná. By considering this point, this article proves that the missionary frontier comprehended both exclusionary and limitative borders, and social, ethnical and cultural porosity. Catholic mission, in spite of the apostolic religious acculturation Project that enclosed, really was a changing and historically transformed social environment adapted to every social and cultural context, that exemplify cultural hybridization in frontier environments and contexts.Esta investigación ha sido realizada dentro del marco del proyecto de investigación ‘Policia’ e identidades urbanas en la España Moderna (HAR2009-13508-C02-01), financiado por el Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Dirección General de Universidades (IP: Tomás A. Mantecón Movellán) y coordinado con el proyecto Cultura e identidades urbanas en la España Moderna (HAR2009-13508-C02-02) (IP: Ofelia Rey Castelao)

Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Communication via Pointing

Communicative pointing is a human specific gesture which allows sharing information about a visual item with another person. It sets up a three-way relationship between a subject who points, an addressee and an object. Yet psychophysical and neuroimaging studies have focused on non-communicative pointing, which implies a two-way relationship between a subject and an object without the involvement of an addressee, and makes such gesture comparable to touching or grasping. Thus, experimental data on the communicating function of pointing remain scarce. Here, we examine whether the communicative value of pointing modifies both its behavioral and neural correlates by comparing pointing with or without communication. We found that when healthy participants pointed repeatedly at the same object, the communicative interaction with an addressee induced a spatial reshaping of both the pointing trajectories and the endpoint variability. Our finding supports the hypothesis that a change in reference frame occurs when pointing conveys a communicative intention. In addition, measurement of regional cerebral blood flow using H2O15 PET-scan showed that pointing when communicating with an addressee activated the right posterior superior temporal sulcus and the right medial prefrontal cortex, in contrast to pointing without communication. Such a right hemisphere network suggests that the communicative value of pointing is related to processes involved in taking another person's perspective. This study brings to light the need for future studies on communicative pointing and its neural correlates by unraveling the three-way relationship between subject, object and an addressee

Viewing another person's body as a target object: a behavioural and PET study of pointing.: Pointing at a person's body

International audienceHumans usually point at objects to communicate with other persons, although they generally avoid pointing at the other's body. Moreover, patients with heterotopagnosia after left parietal damage cannot point at another person's body parts, although they can point at objects and at their own body parts and although they can grasp the others' body parts. Strikingly, their performance gradually improves for figurative human body targets. Altogether, this suggests that the body of another real person holds a specific status in communicative pointing. Here, we test in healthy individuals whether performance for communicative pointing is influenced by the communicative capacity of the target. In Experiment 1, pointing at another real person's body parts was compared to pointing at objects, and in Experiment 2, the person was replaced by a manikin. While reaction times for pointing at objects were shorter compared to pointing at other person's body parts, they were similar for objects and manikin body parts. By adapting Experiment 1 to PET-scan imaging (Experiment 3), we showed that, compared to pointing at objects, the brain network for pointing at other person's body parts involves the left posterior intraparietal sulcus, lesion of which could cause heterotopagnosia. Taken together, our results indicate that the specificity of pointing at another person's body goes beyond the visuo-spatial features of the human body and might rather rely on its communicative capacity

Longitudinal study of informed consent in innovative therapy research: experience and provisional recommendations from a multicenter trial of intracerebral grafting.

BACKGROUND: There is an urgent need to assess and improve the consent process in clinical trials of innovative therapies for neurodegenerative disorders. METHODS: We performed a longitudinal study of the consent of Huntington's disease patients during the Multicenter Fetal Cell Intracerebral Grafting Trial in Huntington's Disease (MIG-HD) in France and Belgium. Patients and their proxies completed a consent questionnaire at inclusion, before signing the consent form and after one year of follow-up, before randomization and transplantation. The questionnaire explored understanding of the protocol, satisfaction with the information delivered, reasons for participating in the trial and expectations regarding the transplant. Forty-six Huntington's disease patients and 27 proxies completed the questionnaire at inclusion, and 27 Huntington's disease patients and 16 proxies one year later. RESULTS: The comprehension score was high and similar for Huntington's disease patients and proxies at inclusion (72.6% vs 77.8%; P > 0.1) but only decreased in HD patients after one year. The information satisfaction score was high (73.5% vs 66.5%; P > 0.1) and correlated with understanding in both patients and proxies. The motivation and expectation profiles were similar in patients and proxies and remained unchanged after one year. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitively impaired patients with Huntington's disease were capable of consenting to participation in this trial. This consent procedure has presumably strengthened their understanding and should be proposed before signing the consent form in future gene or cell therapy trials for neurodegenerative disorders. Because of the potential cognitive decline, proxies should be designated as provisional surrogate decision-makers, even in competent patients

Effectiveness of anti-psychotics and related drugs in the Huntington French-speaking group cohort.

PURPOSE: Huntington's disease is a rare condition. Patients are commonly treated with antipsychotics and tetrabenazine. The evidence of their effect on disease progression is limited and no comparative study between these drugs has been conducted. We therefore compared the effectiveness of antipsychotics on disease progression. METHODS: 956 patients from the Huntington French Speaking Group were followed for up to 8 years between 2002 and 2010. The effectiveness of treatments was assessed using Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) scores and then compared using a mixed model adjusted on a multiple propensity score. RESULTS: 63% of patients were treated with antipsychotics during the survey period. The most commonly prescribed medications were dibenzodiazepines (38%), risperidone (13%), tetrabenazine (12%) and benzamides (12%). There was no difference between treatments on the motor and behavioural declines observed, after taking the patient profiles at the start of the drug prescription into account. In contrast, the functional decline was lower in the dibenzodiazepine group than the other antipsychotic groups (Total Functional Capacity: 0.41 ± 0.17 units per year vs. risperidone and 0.54 ± 0.19 vs. tetrabenazine, both p<0.05). Benzamides were less effective than other antipsychotics on cognitive evolution (Stroop interference, Stroop color and Literal fluency: p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Antipsychotics are widely used to treat patients with Huntington's disease. Although differences in motor or behavioural profiles between patients according to the antipsychotics used were small, there were differences in drug effectiveness on the evolution of functional and cognitive scores