Lógica politécnica versus fisiocracia agreste: conflitos em torno da gestão ambiental num ecossistema no litoral fluminense

Este artigo busca descrever e analisar a atividade da pesca artesanal no município de Maricá (RJ), para chegar, finalmente, à discussão dos impactos socioambientais da expansão da Região Metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro sobre suas lagunas e restingas. O registro da evolução histórica da paisagem de Maricá, a partir da literatura dos viajantes – naturalistas e geógrafos–, desde o século XIX, constitui, juntamente com uma ampla discussão da natureza, dinâmica e perspectivas dos ambientes lacustres fluminenses, o cerne da proposta para uma etnografia de seu manejo, pelas comunidades de pescadores e pela engenharia sanitária e urbana, com suas distintas, conflitantes e concorrentes concepções dos mecanismos de seu funcionamento (estagnação versus circulação); nesse caso, analisa-se a relação do conjunto de lagunas como mar, ou seja, a questão das barras oceânicas permanentes versus barras oceânicas sazonais

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: one or multiple causes?

The Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common form of motor neuron disease in the adulthood, and it is characterized by rapid and progressive compromise of the upper and lower motor neurons. The majority of the cases of ALS are classified as sporadic and, until now, a specific cause for these cases still is unknown. To present the different hypotheses on the etiology of ALS. It was carried out a search in the databases: Bireme, Scielo and Pubmed, in the period of 1987 to 2011, using the following keywords: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, motor neuron disease, etiology, causes and epidemiology and its similar in Portuguese and Spanish. It did not have consensus as regards the etiology of ALS. Researches demonstrates evidences as regards intoxication by heavy metals, environmental and occupational causes, genetic mutations (superoxide dismutase 1), certain viral infections and the accomplishment of vigorous physical activity for the development of the disease. There is still no consensus regarding the involved factors in the etiology of ALS. In this way, new research about these etiologies are necessary, for a better approach of the patients, promoting preventive programs for the disease and improving the quality of life of the patients

Reemergence of human malaria in Atlantic Forest of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Unforeseen Plasmodium infections in the Atlantic Forest of Brazilian Extra-Amazonian region could jeopardise malaria elimination. A human malaria case was registered in Três Forquilhas, in the Atlantic Forest biome of Rio Grande do Sul, after a 45 years’ time-lapsed without any malaria autochthonous notification in this southern Brazilian state. This finding represents the expansion of the malaria distribution areas in Brazil and the southernmost human malaria case record in South America in this decade. The coexistence of the bromeliad-breeding vector Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii and non-human primates in the Atlantic Forest regularly visited by the patient claimed for the zoonotic origin of this infection. The reemergence of Atlantic Forest human malaria in Rio Grande do Sul was also discussed