[Nina Rodrigues, epidemiologist: historical study of beriberi outbreaks in a mental asylum in Bahia, Brasil (1897-1904)]. / Nina Rodrigues, epidemiologista: estudo histórico de surtos de beribéri em um asilo para doentes mentais na Bahia, 1897-1904.

Beriberi outbreaks in the São João de Deus Asylum, 1897-1904, are presented, focusing on studies by legist physician Nina Rodrigues. The goals were: to trace the steps of the original investigation of an unknown disease; to understand the purpose of excluding mentally ills in an asylum institution. Methodology encompassed occurence narration and qualitative analytical procedures for the documental interpretation of voluntary and involuntary testimonies, combined with statistical treatment of measurable data. Frequent and progressive outbreaks of beriberi have caused two-thirds of the asylum deaths in 1904. The research method included domiciliary visits and interviews with dwellers in the asylum surroundings. Beriberi occurence was frequent among the insane and practically inexistent among the asylum staff, who presented close and long lasting contact with the ills. Nina Rodrigues refuted the declining miasmatic conception which emphasized external conditions, the emergent conception of contagion, and raised the hypothesis of a carential etiology for beriberi. Nina Rodrigues' study is a good historical example of "epidemiological reasoning," with question formulation, building of data bulk guided by working hypothesis, obtained by means of simple and efficient techniques.

[The paradigm of historical epistemology: Thomas Kuhn's contribution]. / O paradigma da epistemologia historica: contribuicao de Thomas Kuhn.

This brief historical analysis of the field of epistemology begins with its initial, speculative phase, moving on to the traditional normative model and continuing through contemporary lines, which are referred to here as 'historical-interpretative'. Common to the latter is harsh criticism of the traditional paradigm, whose shortcomings include not only the limitations of 'logical falsification' and 'empirical verification' but also the prescriptive rigidity of normative meta-science, deemed incompatible with this century's scientific advances. The article analyzes Kuhn's contribution in greater detail, highlighting his original concepts and his redefinitions of earlier concepts and models. To illustrate, some of his categories are used in an analysis of the discovery of the DNA structure. This exploration of the Kuhnian model also makes reference to certain stances taken by normative and post-Kuhnian epistemologists, especially in relation to the social sciences and application of the model to other areas of knowledge.

[Relation between the parents' mental health and the mental health of children in an urban population of Salvador-Bahia]. / Relacões entre a saúde mental dos pais e a saúde mental das crianças em uma populaçao urbana de Salvador-Bahia.

An epidemiological study of the correlation between parent's mental status and children's psychological health was completed in a representative sample of 1516 adults and 829 children, living in a low-income area of the City of Salvador, Bahia-Brazil. Trained interviewers applied a family questionnaire (20 items on demographic and socio-economic information) and screening symptom scales to all the families (493) in the sample. The survey employed the QMPA (Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Questionnaire) and the QMPI (Child Psychiatric Morbidity Questionnaire), as instruments developed and tested especially for studies in that sociocultural setting. A second step of the survey consisted of a psychiatric examination of all suspected cases, thus allowing for an assessment of validity and reliability of both questionnaires, that showed high sensitivity, specificity and adequate overall misclassification rates. A multiple regression analysis was performed on selected variables. Results showed that mother's scores, family size and child's age are the only variables that reach significance levels to enter the regression model. Father's score showed no isolated effect on children's mental health variation even in interaction with other covariates. However, all the fitted equation explain only 16 per cent of the total regression on the dependent variable.

Relacoes entre a saúde mental dos pais e a saúde mental das crianþas em uma populaþao urbana de Salvador-Bahia. / [Relation between the parents mental health and the mental health of children in an urban population of Salvador-Bahia]

An epidemiological study of the correlation between parents mental status and childrens psychological health was completed in a representative sample of 1516 adults and 829 children, living in a low-income area of the City of Salvador, Bahia-Brazil. Trained interviewers applied a family questionnaire (20 items on demographic and socio-economic information) and screening symptom scales to all the families (493) in the sample. The survey employed the QMPA (Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Questionnaire) and the QMPI (Child Psychiatric Morbidity Questionnaire), as instruments developed and tested especially for studies in that sociocultural setting. A second step of the survey consisted of a psychiatric examination of all suspected cases, thus allowing for an assessment of validity and reliability of both questionnaires, that showed high sensitivity, specificity and adequate overall misclassification rates. A multiple regression analysis was performed on selected variables. Results showed that mothers scores, family size and childs age are the only variables that reach significance levels to enter the regression model. Fathers score showed no isolated effect on childrens mental health variation even in interaction with other covariates. However, all the fitted equation explain only 16 per cent of the total regression on the dependent variable.