Psicanálise e cultura: desafios da contemporaneidade

The evolution and current usage of the concept of culture is briefly discussed. Two divergent views on the initial relationship between psychoanalysis and culture are presented and the influence of the former on the latter illustrated, both in the previous decades and at present. Some general aspects of present-day western culture are then outlined, among them the great flood of information, the culture of narcissism, the temptations of conventionality, the ideology of visual and media and the “light culture”, and five propositions that attempt to characterize ‘post-modern sensibility’. Finally, four challenges faced today by psychoanalysis are discussed: the changing nature of philosophical and cultural cross-currents as it influences psychoanalysis as a discipline; the empiricist versus the hermeneutic approach; attacks on psychoanalysis as an elitist discipline and profession; and the movement away from the subjectivistand existential concerns and the focus on a more collectivist and pragmatic relationship to reality. The author suggests possible ways to face each of these challenges.A evolução e o uso corrente do conceito de cultura será brevemente discutido. São apresentados dois pontos de vista divergentes sobre a relação inicial entre a psicanálise e a cultura, bem como a ilustração da influência da primeira na segunda, tanto emdécadas passadas como no presente. Alguns aspectos gerais da cultura ocidental dos dias atuais são apresentados, incluindo: a avalanche de informação, a cultura do narcisismo, as tentações da acomodação, a ideologia da mídia visual e a cultura “light” e cinco proposições que tentam caracterizar a “sensibilidade pós-moderna”. Por fim, quatro desafios enfrentados atualmente pela psicanálise são discutidos: a natureza variável de contracorrentes filosóficas e culturais, enquanto influência na  psicanálise como uma disciplina; o empirismo em contraposição à abordagem hermenêutica; os ataques à psicanálise como sendo uma disciplina e uma profissão elitista; o enfraquecimento de preocupações subjetivistas e existenciais e um maiorinteresse em uma relação mais coletivista e pragmática com a realidade. O autor oferece sugestões para lidar com cada um destes desafios

Human alpha cell transcriptomic signatures of types 1 and 2 diabetes highlight disease-specific dysfunction pathways

Although glucagon secretion is perturbed in both T1D and T2D, the pathophysiological changes in individual pancreatic alpha cells are still obscure. Using recently curated single-cell RNASeq data from T1D or T2D donors and their controls, we identified alpha cell transcriptomic alterations consistent with both common and discrete pathways. Although alterations in alpha cell identity gene (ARX, MAFB) expression were conserved, cytokine-regulated genes and genes involved in glucagon biosynthesis and processing were up-regulated in T1D. Conversely, mitochondrial genes associated with ROS (COX7B, NQO2) were dysregulated in T2D. Additionally, T1D alpha cells displayed altered expression of autoimmune-induced ER stress genes (ERLEC1, HSP90), whilst those from T2D subjects showed modified glycolytic and citrate cycle gene (LDHA?, PDHB, PDK4) expression. Thus, despite conserved alterations related to loss of function, alpha cells display disease-specific gene signatures which may be secondary to the main pathogenic events in each disease, namely immune- or metabolism-mediated-stress, in T1D and T2D, respectively

In silico identification of NF-kappaB-regulated genes in pancreatic beta-cells

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic beta-cells are the target of an autoimmune attack in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). This is mediated in part by cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-1β and interferon (IFN)-γ. These cytokines modify the expression of hundreds of genes, leading to beta-cell dysfunction and death by apoptosis. Several of these cytokine-induced genes are potentially regulated by the IL-1β-activated transcription factor (TF) nuclear factor (NF)-κB, and previous studies by our group have shown that cytokine-induced NF-κB activation is pro-apoptotic in beta-cells. To identify NF-κB-regulated gene networks in beta-cells we presently used a discriminant analysis-based approach to predict NF-κB responding genes on the basis of putative regulatory elements. RESULTS: The performance of linear and quadratic discriminant analysis (LDA, QDA) in identifying NF-κB-responding genes was examined on a dataset of 240 positive and negative examples of NF-κB regulation, using stratified cross-validation with an internal leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) loop for automated feature selection and noise reduction. LDA performed slightly better than QDA, achieving 61% sensitivity, 91% specificity and 87% positive predictive value, and allowing the identification of 231, 251 and 580 NF-κB putative target genes in insulin-producing INS-1E cells, primary rat beta-cells and human pancreatic islets, respectively. Predicted NF-κB targets had a significant enrichment in genes regulated by cytokines (IL-1β or IL-1β + IFN-γ) and double stranded RNA (dsRNA), as compared to genes not regulated by these NF-κB-dependent stimuli. We increased the confidence of the predictions by selecting only evolutionary stable genes, i.e. genes with homologs predicted as NF-κB targets in rat, mouse, human and chimpanzee. CONCLUSION: The present in silico analysis allowed us to identify novel regulatory targets of NF-κB using a supervised classification method based on putative binding motifs. This provides new insights into the gene networks regulating cytokine-induced beta-cell dysfunction and death

Raul and his family : psychoanalytic considerations

O autor revisa algumas contribuições psicanalíticas para a compreensão dos comportamentos violentos. Utilizando tais dados, procura examinar o caso de Raul e sua família e entender, do ponto de vista psicanalítico, as motivações do paciente e de seus familiares, bem como da equipe que os atendeu.The author revises some psychoanalytic contributions for the understanding of violent behaviour. From these data, the author examines Raul and his family’s case and tries to understand, from the psychoanalytic perspective, their motivations, as well as the staff’s that was responsible for their care

O cuidado com a diferença

 A partir de um posicionamento conceitual em torno da questão da "diferença", tratada como categoria filosófica e como atitude frente ao outro, explora-se essa dimensão em sua riqueza, dificuldade e contradição, apresentando uma breve revisão de aspectos relacionados, tais como a incerteza, a complexidade, o estranho, o cuidado. Dando ênfase a este último, desenvolve-se o pressuposto do necessário diálogo com "o outro", com a alteridade e as relações com a verdade, as separações e as formas de exclusão. Busca-se - ao destacar a necessidade de tomar consciência da existência de outras formas de existir, modos de ver, atitudes e práticas diferenciadas, capacidades insuspeitas - a intensificação de práticas inclusivas que possam acolher o estranho e a transitoriedade, enfrentar o medo e a dor que se apresentam com a alteridade e, assim, potencializando o cuidado com a diferença, e adquirir possibilidades insuspeitadas de aprendizagens.Palavras-chave: Diferença. Cuidado. Incerteza. Complexidade.