Doença de Alzheimer, gênero e saúde: reflexões sobre o lugar da diferença na produção neurocientífica / Alzheimer's disease, gender and health: reflections on the place of difference in neuroscientific research

Resumo O objetivo deste ensaio é refletir sobre o lugar da diferença na pesquisa científica acerca da Doença de Alzheimer (DA), que se torna um problema de saúde pública crescente à medida que a população brasileira envelhece. Nesse cenário, nossa intenção é explorar a questão de gênero na sua relação com outros marcadores sociais, a fim de compreender a heterogeneidade de experiências e percepções em relação à doença. Para isso, foi feita uma vasta revisão bibliográfica e realizada uma breve pesquisa online na plataforma PubMed. Embora grande parte das pesquisas apontem uma incidência maior da Doença de Alzheimer em mulheres, questões como raça/etnia, classe social e outras condicionantes não têm sido apropriadas pelos pesquisadores. No que tange à prevenção da doença, as diferenças são pouco ou nada consideradas.

Abstract The aim of this essay is to reflect about the place of difference in scientific research on Alzheimer's Disease (AD), which becomes a growing public health problem as the Brazilian population ages. In this scenario, our intention is to explore gender issues in relation to other social markers, to understand the heterogeneity of experiences and perceptions regarding the disease. To this do so, we carried out extensive bibliographic review and conducted brief online research on the PubMed platform. Although many studies indicate that Alzheimer's Disease has a higher incidence in women, issues such as race/ethnicity, social class, and other conditions have not been appropriated by researchers. Regarding prevention of the disease, differences are little or not considered.

Multiplicidade e instabilidade ontológica nos corações não-humanos / Multiplicity and ontological instability in nonhuman hearts

Resumo O artigo reflete sobre as relações entre corpos biológicos e artefatos tecnológicos, a partir da pesquisa etnográfica sobre o desenvolvimento de tecnologias de assistência circulatória, conhecidas como corações artificiais. Para compreender as corporeidades que tais dispositivos mecânicos ajudam a produzir, buscamos aqui caracterizar dois tipos de corpos instituídos a partir de práticas médicas e biotecnologias projetadas para pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca avançada. Os corpos imunológicos, produzidos a partir dos transplantes de coração, serão contrastados aos corpos biônicos, compostos pelo arranjo com corações artificiais. Propomos que é preciso considerar que cada uma dessas tecnologias se coproduz com distintas naturezas, sustentadas em materialidades, práticas, moralidades e pressupostos específicos. A atenção dada às práticas e à materialidade permitirá destacar os diversos entrelaçamentos materiais-semióticos. Resgatar a trajetória de desenvolvimento desse campo nos permitirá explorar o imaginário a partir do qual tais intervenções emergem, assim como as transformações ocorridas, ressaltando o vínculo ao corpo-máquina tecido no âmbito biomédico.

Abstract This paper reflects on the relationship between biological bodies and technological artifacts, based on ethnographic research on the development of circulatory assist technologies, known as artificial hearts. To understand the embodiment that such mechanical devices help to produce, we aim to characterize two types of bodies enacted from medical practices and biotechnologies designed for patients with advanced heart failure. The immunological bodies, produced from heart transplantation, will be contrasted with the bionic bodies, composed of the assembly with artificial hearts. We propose that it is necessary to consider each of these technologies as co-produced with different natures, supported by specific materialities, practices, moralities and assumptions. The attention given to practices and materiality will allow to highlight the various material-semiotic intertwinings. Tracing the development trajectory of this field will allow exploring the imagination from which such interventions emerge and the transformations that have occurred, emphasizing the link to the body-machine woven in the biomedical scope.

Scientists as citizens and knowers in the detection of deforestation in the Amazon.

This paper examines how scientists deal with tensions emerging from their role as providers of objective knowledge and as citizens concerned with how their research influences policy and politics in Brazil. This is accomplished through an ethnographic account of scientists using remote sensing technology, of their knowledge-making activities and of the broader socio-political controversies that permeate the detection of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Strategies for mitigating uncertainty are central aspects of the knowledge practices analyzed, bringing controversies 'external' to the laboratory 'into' the lab, making these boundaries conceptually problematic. In particular, the anticipation of alternative interpretations of rainforest cover is a crucial way that scientists bring the world into the lab, helping to shed light on how scientists, usually seen and analyzed as isolated, are in fact often in constant dialogue with the broader political controversies related to their work. These insights help question the idea that the monitoring of deforestation through remote sensing is a form of secluded research, drawing a more complex picture of the dual role of scientists as knowledge producers and concerned citizens.

[Constructing images and territories: thinking on the visuality and materiality of remote sensing]. / Construindo imagens e territórios: pensando a visualidade e a materialidade do sensoriamento remoto.

This article offers a reflection on the question of the image in science, thinking about how visual practices contribute towards the construction of knowledge and territories. The growing centrality of the visual in current scientific practices shows the need for reflection that goes beyond the image. The object of discussion will be the scientific images used in the monitoring and visualization of territory. The article looks into the relations between visuality and a number of other factors: the researchers that construct it; the infrastructure involved in the construction; and the institutions and policies that monitor the territory. It is argued that such image-relations do not just visualize but help to construct the territory based on specific forms. Exploring this process makes it possible to develop a more complex understanding of the forms through which sciences and technology help to construct realities.

Construindo imagens e territórios: pensando a visualidade e a materialidade do sensoriamento remoto / Constructing images and territories: thinking on the visuality and materiality of remote sensing

Reflete sobre a questão da imagem na ciência, pensando em como práticas visuais participam da construção de saberes e territórios. A crescente centralidade do visual em práticas científicas contemporâneas evidencia a necessidade de reflexão para além da imagem. O objeto da discussão se constituirá de imagens científicas usadas no monitoramento e na visualização do território. O artigo trata das relações entre a visualidade e os pesquisadores que a constroem; as infraestruturas dessa construção; e as instituições e políticas de monitoramento do território. Argumenta-se que tais imagens-relações, mais que visualizar, ajudam a constituir o território de formas específicas. Explorar esse processo possibilita uma compreensão mais complexa das formas pelas quais a ciência e a tecnologia ajudam a construir realidades.

This article offers a reflection on the question of the image in science, thinking about how visual practices contribute towards the construction of knowledge and territories. The growing centrality of the visual in current scientific practices shows the need for reflection that goes beyond the image. The object of discussion will be the scientific images used in the monitoring and visualization of territory. The article looks into the relations between visuality and a number of other factors: the researchers that construct it; the infrastructure involved in the construction; and the institutions and policies that monitor the territory. It is argued that such image-relations do not just visualize but help to construct the territory based on specific forms. Exploring this process makes it possible to develop a more complex understanding of the forms through which sciences and technology help to construct realities.

The digital anatomical theater: scientific practices for representing the body.

Contemporary scientific practices for representing the body are investigated ethnographically through a comparative analysis with the Renaissance anatomical theater, a practice used to understand the body in early modern science. First and foremost, I seek to reveal the manner in which visualization of the inside of the body produces knowledge of its functioning. The conclusion is that, currently, the production of knowledge greatly privileges the validation of code and modeling of the biological processes in which one wishes to intervene. The objective is to unveil the meaning of the circulation of images, data and theories that bring together material bodies, visualization techniques and scientists, enabling the production of truth about the body in a biological sense.

Teatro anatômico digital: práticas de representação do corpo na ciência / The digital anatomical theater: scientific practices for representing the body

Investigam-se etnograficamente as práticas de representação do corpo na ciência contemporânea, por meio de uma análise comparativa com o teatro anatômico renascentista, uma prática de conhecimento do corpo nos primórdios da ciência moderna. Busca-se desvendar, sobretudo, de que modo a visualização do interior do corpo atua na produção de conhecimento sobre seu funcionamento. Conclui-se que, contemporaneamente, a produção de saberes privilegia sobremaneira a validação de um código e a modelagem de processos biológicos nos quais se busca intervir. Procura-se, assim, desvendar os sentidos da circulação de imagens, dados e teorias que unem corpos materiais, técnicas de visualização e cientistas, possibilitando, desse modo, a produção de verdades sobre o corpo biológico.

Contemporary scientific practices for representing the body are investigated ethnographically through a comparative analysis with the Renaissance anatomical theater, a practice used to understand the body in early modern science. First and foremost, I seek to reveal the manner in which visualization of the inside of the body produces knowledge of its functioning. The conclusion is that, currently, the production of knowledge greatly privileges the validation of code and modeling of the biological processes in which one wishes to intervene. The objective is to unveil the meaning of the circulation of images, data and theories that bring together material bodies, visualization techniques and scientists, enabling the production of truth about the body in a biological sense.