A etnografia como extensão da guerra por outros meios: notas sobre a pesquisa com militares

Este artigo pretende abordar resultados e consequências da realização de pesquisas etnográficas com militares. Partindo de uma discussão mais ampla sobre a ideia de antropólogos trabalhando "com militares", pretendo posteriormente situar os resultados de uma etnografia realizada no Exército brasileiro, tomada a partir de sintomas e/ou efeitos colaterais ocorridos durante e depois da pesquisa de campo. Ao retomar a relação estabelecida, e também a que não foi estabelecida, foi possível constatar a centralidade dos conceitos de "amigo" e "inimigo", para definir um amplo escopo de ligações entre o universo militar e o "mundo de fora". Tais conceitos, de início tomados como relações derivadas de uma noção nativa de guerra, em certa medida projetam-se nas relações entre militares e pesquisadores, o que levou a tratar a etnografia, neste caso específico, em continuidade com uma noção antropológica (posteriormente transformada) de guerra: guerra como relação. A partir dessa premissa relacional, pretende-se pensar algumas consequências metodológicas para uma antropologia deste tipo de objeto de pesquisa.<br>This article investigates the results and consequences of carrying out ethnographic research with the military. Beginning with a wide-ranging discussion of the idea of anthropologists working "with the military", I then seek to situate the results of an ethnography carried out with the Brazilian Army through the symptoms and/or collateral effects that were visible both during and after my research. By taking up the relationship that was established, and also that which was not, it was possible to observe the centrality of the concepts of "friend" and "enemy" in the definition of a wide range of ties between the military world and the "outside world". These concepts, which were initially understood to be relationships derived from a native notion of warfare, project themselves, to some extent, upon the relationships between military men and researchers, which, in this specific case, led me to approach ethnography in continuity with a, formerly transformed, anthropological notion of warfare: warfare as relation. From this relational premise, I will investigate certain methodological consequences of an anthropology of this sort of research object

Sex and race/ethnic disparities in the cross-sectional association between depressive symptoms and muscle mass: the Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

BACKGROUND: The cross-sectional area of total muscle mass has been reported to decrease by about 40% for those 20–60 years of age. Depressive symptoms may discourage motivation to engage in physical activity such as strength training shown to negate muscle loss. Inflammation related to depressive symptoms may also contribute to muscle atrophy. Physiological differences by sex and race/ethnicity may also modify the association between depression and muscle mass. Evidence on the relationship between depression (or depressive symptoms) and adiposity has been mounting; however, little is known about the depressive symptoms-muscle mass association. We sought to determine the association between elevated depressive symptoms (EDS) and lean muscle mass and whether this varies by sex and race/ethnicity. METHODS: Evaluating 1605 adults (45–84 years of age) from the Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Abdominal Body Composition, Inflammation and Cardiovascular Disease Study, we examined the cross-sectional association between EDS (Center for Epidemiologic Studies for Depression Scale score ≥ 16 and/or antidepressant use) and computed tomography-measured abdominal lean muscle mass using linear regression. Muscles were evaluated as a whole and by functionality (locomotion vs. stabilization/posture). Covariates included height, body mass index, sociodemographics, comorbidities, inflammatory markers and health behaviors (pack-years of smoking, alcohol locomotion compared to men, total intentional exercise, daily caloric intake). Sex and race/ethnicity were assessed as potential modifiers. Statistical significance was at a p < 0.05 for main effects and < 0.20 for interaction. RESULTS: Men with elevated depressive symptoms had 5.9 cm(2) lower lean muscle mass for locomotion compared to men without EDS, fully-adjusted (CI = −10.5, −1.4, p = 0.011). This was statistically significantly different from the null finding among women (interaction p = 0.05). Chinese participants with EDS had 10.2 cm(2) lower abdominal lean muscle mass for locomotion compared to those without EDS (fully-adjusted, CI = −18.3, −2.1, p = 0.014), which was significantly different from the null relationship among White participants (interaction p = 0.04). No association was observed between elevated depressive symptoms and muscle for stabilization/posture evaluating the whole population or stratified by sex or race/ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: In the presence of elevated depressive symptoms, men and Chinese participants may have lower muscle mass, particularly for locomotion. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0604-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

A first-in-class pan-lysyl oxidase inhibitor impairs stromal remodeling and enhances gemcitabine response and survival in pancreatic cancer

The lysyl oxidase family represents a promising target in stromal targeting of solid tumors due to the importance of this family in crosslinking and stabilizing fibrillar collagens and its known role in tumor desmoplasia. Using small-molecule drug-design approaches, we generated and validated PXS-5505, a first-in-class highly selective and potent pan-lysyl oxidase inhibitor. We demonstrate in vitro and in vivo that pan-lysyl oxidase inhibition decreases chemotherapy-induced pancreatic tumor desmoplasia and stiffness, reduces cancer cell invasion and metastasis, improves tumor perfusion and enhances the efficacy of chemotherapy in the autochthonous genetically engineered KPC model, while also demonstrating antifibrotic effects in human patient-derived xenograft models of pancreatic cancer. PXS-5505 is orally bioavailable, safe and effective at inhibiting lysyl oxidase activity in tissues. Our findings present the rationale for progression of a pan-lysyl oxidase inhibitor aimed at eliciting a reduction in stromal matrix to potentiate chemotherapy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.Cox and colleagues develop PXS-5505, a first-in-class selective pan-lysyl oxidase inhibitor and show that it reduces chemotherapy-induced desmoplasia and stiffness, thereby improving chemotherapy response and survival in pancreatic cancer models