A História da Alimentação: balizas historiográficas

Os M. pretenderam traçar um quadro da História da Alimentação, não como um novo ramo epistemológico da disciplina, mas como um campo em desenvolvimento de práticas e atividades especializadas, incluindo pesquisa, formação, publicações, associações, encontros acadêmicos, etc. Um breve relato das condições em que tal campo se assentou faz-se preceder de um panorama dos estudos de alimentação e temas correia tos, em geral, segundo cinco abardagens Ia biológica, a econômica, a social, a cultural e a filosófica!, assim como da identificação das contribuições mais relevantes da Antropologia, Arqueologia, Sociologia e Geografia. A fim de comentar a multiforme e volumosa bibliografia histórica, foi ela organizada segundo critérios morfológicos. A seguir, alguns tópicos importantes mereceram tratamento à parte: a fome, o alimento e o domínio religioso, as descobertas européias e a difusão mundial de alimentos, gosto e gastronomia. O artigo se encerra com um rápido balanço crítico da historiografia brasileira sobre o tema

Association between the COMT gene and neurological abnormalities and poorer executive function in psychosis

Objective: Motor and sensory neurological dysfunctions, and executive dysfunction, present in excess in psychosis, could reflect the same pathophysiological process possibly involving the prefrontal cortex. The COMT Val158Met may influence these impairments by affecting the function of prefrontal regions. We tested in a large cohort of Caucasian patients with psychosis whether subjects homozygous for the Val158 allele had greater neurological impairments and worse executive performance. Method: We evaluated 211 individuals with psychosis from four different cohorts recruited in Italy and UK. All patients underwent neurological and neuropsychological evaluations, and were genotyped for the COMT Val158Met (rs4680) polymorphism. Results: Patients with higher motor sequencing scores exhibited a worse block design performance (ANCOVA, p=0.002). Individuals with high motor sequencing signs and poorer executive function were significantly more likely to be homozygotes for the Met158 allele (Chi Square, p=0.016). Conclusion: Our finding of an association between the Met158 allele and both neurological and executive deficits was not predicted and needs to be replicated

A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services