The main objective of our research is to analyze the correlation between the struggle for recognition, the National Truth Commission – CNV and collective memory. To achieve our goal, we propose to analyze memory from collective and social struggles evoking collective memory within an intersubjective relationship that involves disputes, negotiations, manipulations and forgetting. It is important to emphasize that the theoretical framework of our work is supported by the debate around the struggles for recognition. Therefore, we will verify, from Axel (...) Honneth, the moral grammar of the struggles around this reciprocal recognition and how this dynamic happens in current social practices and, ipso facto, we intend to articulate the discussion of the communication paradigm with collective memory. (shrink)

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome characterized by dysfunctional processing of nociceptive stimulation. Neuroimaging studies have pointed out that pain-related network functioning seems to be altered in these patients. It is thought that this clinical symptomatology may be maintained or even strengthened because of an enhanced expectancy for painful stimuli or its forthcoming appearance. However, neural electrophysiological correlates associated with such attentional mechanisms have been scarcely explored. In the current study, expectancy processes of upcoming laser stimulation (painful and non-painful) and (...) its further processing were explored by event-related potentials (ERPs). Nineteen fibromyalgia patients and twenty healthy control volunteers took part in the experiment. Behavioral measures (reaction times and subjective pain perception) were also collected. We manipulated the pain/no pain expectancy through an S1–S2 paradigm (cue-target). S1 (image: triangle or square) predicted the S2 appearance (laser stimulation: warmth or pinprick sensation). Laser stimuli were delivered using a CO2 laser device. Temporal and spatial principal component analyses were employed to define and quantify the ERP component reliability. Statistical analyses revealed the existence of an abnormal pattern of pain expectancy in patients with fibromyalgia. Specifically, our results showed attenuated amplitudes at posterior lCNV component in anticipation of painful stimulation that was not found in healthy participants. In contrast, although larger P2 amplitudes to painful compared to innocuous events were shown, patients did not show any amplitude change in this laser-evoked response as a function of pain predictive cues (as occurred in the healthy control group). Additionally, analyses of the subjective perception of pain and reaction time indicated that laser stimuli preceded by pain cues were rated as more painful than those signaling non-pain expectancy and were associated with faster responses. Differences between groups were not found. The present findings suggest the presence of dysfunction in pain expectation mechanisms in fibromyalgia that eventually may make it difficult for patients to correctly interpret signs that prevent pain symptoms. Furthermore, the abnormal pattern in pain expectancy displayed by fibromyalgia patients could result in ineffective pain coping strategies. Understanding the neural correlates of pain processing and its modulatory factors is crucial to identify treatments for chronic pain syndromes. (shrink)

DNA copy number variation (CNV) represents a considerable source of human genetic diversity. Recently,1 a global map of copy number variation in the human genome has been drawn up which reveals not only the ubiquity but also the complexity of this type of variation. Thus, two human genomes may differ by more than 20 Mb and it is likely that the full extent of CNV still remains to be discovered. Nearly 3000 genes are associated with CNV. This high degree of (...) variability with regard to gene copy number between two individuals challenges definitions of normality. Many CNVs are located in regions of complex genomic structure and this currently limits the extent to which these variants can be genotyped by using tagging SNPs. However, some CNVs are already amenable to genome‐wide association studies so that their influence on human phenotypic diversity and disease susceptibility may soon be determined. BioEssays 29:311–313, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Individuals and Species Commonalities among Species Individuals within Species Individual Histories and Individual Genomes The Social and Legal Importance of Individuality Human Individuals, Persons, and Rights Implications for Justice.

The extent of copy‐number variation (CNV) in the human genome has been appreciated only recently. Nevertheless, for almost four decades, gene duplication has been a prevailing hypothesis for evolutionary change. Recently, gene CNV spanning 60 million years of human and primate evolution has been determined1 enabling lineage‐specific gene CNV to be identified. Primate lineage‐specific gene CNV studies reveal that almost one third of all human genes exhibit a copy‐number change in one or more primate species. Intriguingly, human lineage‐specific gene amplification (...) can be correlated to the emergence of human‐specific traits such as cognition and endurance running. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. BioEssays 29:1182–1184, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

This study characterizes a large sample of adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and healthy controls regarding their task performance and neurophysiology; cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Self-reported symptoms, behavioral measures, and event-related potentials from a classical cued Go/NoGo task were used to outline the symptom burden, executive function deficits and neurophysiological features, and the associations between these domains. The study participants were assessed five or three times over two years. We describe cross-sectional and longitudinal group differences, and associations between symptom burden, and behavioral (...) and event-related potential components variables by latent growth curve models, including random slopes and intercepts. The ADHD group showed increased reaction time variability, increased commission and omission errors, and attenuated cueP3, CNV, N2d, and P3d amplitudes. We observed a decrease in self-reported symptoms in the ADHD group over the two years. The behavioral measures did not change over time, whereas the cueP3, P3d, and N2d amplitude attenuated in both groups. There was no evidence for a robust association between symptom burden and behavioral or ERP measures. The changes in the ERP components with stable task performance, potentially indicate more efficient neuronal processing over the two years. Whether the lack of association between symptom burden and behavioral or ERP measures might be due to the low reliability of the ADHD assessment criteria, or the inappropriateness of the objective measures cannot be inferred. (shrink)

O genocídio indígena esteve presente na ditadura civil-militar brasileira (1964-1985), assim como em todos os períodos após as invasões portuguesas de 1500. A partir do uso dos ideais coloniais e da estrutura capitalista, as políticas de desenvolvimentismo com as invasões às terras indígenas culminaram no genocídio que foi protagonizado pelo Exército Brasileiro. Segundo a Comissão Nacional da Verdade, mais de 8.350 indígenas foram mortos durante o período de 1946 a 1988, número este que pode ser bem maior, dado que o (...) levantamento da CNV contabilizou apenas 10 povos –, dentre eles, 2.650 do povo Waimiri Atroari. O principal evento em que as mortes dos Waimiri Atroari ocorreram foi a construção da BR-174 que liga Manaus a Boa Vista. A Comissão Nacional da Verdade, estabelecida com a Lei 12.528/2011, teve o objetivo de examinar e esclarecer as graves violações de direitos humanos praticadas no período de 1946 a 1988. Por meio do campo teórico-metodológico da História do Tempo Presente foi possível analisar os temas elencados para apontar as feridas ainda abertas na história e memória nacional. (shrink)

High‐throughput genomic technologies are revolutionizing human genetics. So far the focus has been on the 1.5% of the genome, which is coding, in spite of the fact that the great majority of genomic variants fall outside the coding regions. Recent efforts to annotate the non‐coding sequence show that over 80% of the genome is biochemically active. The genome is divided into regulatory domains consisting of sequence regions that enhance and/or silence the expression of nearby genes and are, in some cases, (...) separated by boundaries with insulator activity. In this paper, we review the recent advances in the identification of variations that influence gene regulation and their consequences for human disease. We hypothesize that structural variations outside of the coding genome can interfere with normal gene regulation by disrupting the regulatory landscape. Therefore, the regulatory landscape of the genome has also to be taken into consideration when investigating the pathology of human disease. (shrink)

Rare copy number variants have a prominent role in the aetiology of schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders. Substantial risk for schizophrenia is conferred by large CNVs at several loci, including microdeletions at 1q21.1, 3q29, 15q13.3 and 22q11.2 and microduplication at 16p11.2. However, these CNVs collectively account for a small fraction of cases, and the relevant genes and neurobiological mechanisms are not well understood. Here we performed a large two-stage genome-wide scan of rare CNVs and report the significant (...) association of copy number gains at chromosome 7q36.3 with schizophrenia. Microduplications with variable breakpoints occurred within a 362-kilobase region and were detected in 29 of 8,290 patients versus 2 of 7,431 controls in the combined sample. All duplications overlapped or were located within 89 kilobases upstream of the vasoactive intestinal peptide receptor gene VIPR2. VIPR2 transcription and cyclic-AMP signalling were significantly increased in cultured lymphocytes from patients with microduplications of 7q36.3. These findings implicate altered vasoactive intestinal peptide signalling in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and indicate the VPAC2 receptor as a potential target for the development of new antipsychotic drugs. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. (shrink)

To examine whether anticipatory attention or expectancy is a cognitive process that is automatic or requires conscious control, we employed a paired-stimulus event-related potential paradigm during the transition to sleep. The slow negative ERP wave observed between two successive stimuli, the Contingent Negative Variation , reflects attention and expectancy to the second stimulus. Thirteen good sleepers were instructed to respond to the second stimulus in a pair during waking sessions. In a non-response paradigm modified for sleep, participants then fell asleep (...) while tones played. As expected, N1 decreased and P2 increased in amplitude systematically with the loss of consciousness at sleep onset; the CNV was increasingly more positive. Sleep onset latency was correlated with the amplitude of the CNV. The systematic attenuation of the CNV waveform at sleep onset and its absence in sleep indicates that anticipatory attention requires endogenous conscious control. (shrink)