Noticias sobre TDAH

Estou case seguro de que o titular do diario madrileño El País está equivocado. As prescripcións de Ritalin ou Concerta non poden chegar ó 33% dos rapaces holandeses. Supoño que habería un 33% de incremento, en calquera caso. Copio un extracto co realmente interesante da noticia (a negrita é miña):

[...] puede suceder [...] que se esté medicando como hiperactivos a niños que no lo son a pesar de mostrar síntomas parecidos.

Esta última hipótesis, aún por demostrar, es la que preocupa a Trudy Dehue, psicóloga y filósofa de la Universidad de Groningen. Autora de uno de los libros de referencia sobre el incremento de las depresiones en los países ricos, La epidemia de la depresión ["De depressie-epidemie. Over de plicht het lot in eigen hand te nemen" (The depression-epidemic. On the duty to manage one's destiny)], sostiene que los padres tienen hoy una doble responsabilidad. “En una sociedad donde se mide a la gente por sus prestaciones, se pueden sentir culpables del hecho de que sus hijos puedan no funcionar de forma satisfactoria. Nadie quiere que en el futuro sus hijos puedan echarles en cara que no tuvieron suficientes oportunidades por no haberles dado unos medicamentos que estaban a su alcance. Lo malo es que también pueden ser criticados por brindárselos, pues no son productos inocuos y los niños, al tener que medicarse, pueden acabar interiorizando que no son suficientemente buenos siendo ellos mismos“, dice.

Dehue reconoce que hay niños hiperactivos que pueden beneficiarse del apoyo de la psiquiatría, pero apunta que tal vez otros casos requieran un enfoque más sociológico que individual: “Escuelas más pequeñas; menos actividades extraescolares; menos presión para ser mejor de lo que se es; más espacio para jugar fuera”, propone. “La industria farmacéutica se ha aprovechado de la ambigüedad del manual de la Asociación de Psiquiatría de Estados Unidos [DSM-IV] sobre qué se puede considerar TDAH, para ofrecer sustancias destinadas a lograr que las chicas estén calmadas”, añade.

Su opinión es compartida por un sector de los psiquiatras holandeses, reacios a recetar demasiado pronto psicoestimulantes a los menores. Otro grupo, por el contrario, cree que las tensiones de la sociedad han desencadenado la aparición del trastorno. “Yo preferiría que se diera menos importancia a la mejora del individuo, ya sean niños o adultos. Mejorando las precarias circunstancias en las que muchos viven, cambiarían ya muchas cosas. No habría que etiquetarlos en masa de enfermos psíquicos, porque ese calificativo acaba formando parte de su identidad”, concluye.

Outra noticia, esta dos Estados Unidos, onde si é escandalosa a sobreprescripción:

Stimulant drugs cause cocaine-like brain changes

Mon Feb 2, 2009 10:40pm GMT

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A common stimulant drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can cause brain changes in mice similar to those seen in cocaine addiction, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

They said healthy mice exposed to daily injections of the Novartis drug Ritalin, or methylphenidate, developed changes in the reward centers of their brains, and some of these changes resembled those in mice given cocaine.

“Methylphenidate, which is thought to be a fairly innocuous compound, can have structural and biochemical effects in some regions of the brain that can be even greater than those of cocaine,” Dr. Yong Kim of Rockefeller University in New York, whose study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said in a statement.

The study, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, follows a number of studies in humans that have found the drugs to be safe when used to treat ADHD.

It was prompted by reports suggesting that more than 7 million people in the United States have abused methylphenidate, using it to get high or to improve academic performance.

Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in a telephone interview that very little is known about the effects of these drugs when used to improve concentration in healthy people.

“What this study shows was in these animals exposure of two weeks to methylphenidate actually produced changes that are comparable to what is seen with chronic exposure to cocaine,” Volkow said.

Millions of children take stimulants such as Ritalin and Shire Plc’s Adderall to treat ADHD, a condition marked by restlessness, impulsiveness, inattention and distractibility that can interfere with a child’s ability to pay attention in school and maintain social relationships.

Volkow stressed that studies in adolescents show methylphenidate does not increase the risk for later addiction, and several have found adolescents with ADHD are far more likely to smoke or abuse drugs, and treatment with stimulants such as Ritalin can lower this risk.

“If you don’t treat them as adolescents, actually you may be seeing more abuse of substances,” Volkow said.

But she said nonmedical use of methylphenidate and other stimulants may lead to addiction.

Part of the reason there has been an increase in the abuse of stimulant medications has to do with the notion that they are less dangerous than illicit substances, she said.

“This is wrong. They can be as dangerous as illicit substances when used inappropriately.”

(Editing by Maggie Fox and Mohammad Zargham)

Thailand forcibly expelled a thousand Rohingyas arriving by boat

Amnistía Internacional publicou hoxe unha nota de prensa (que copio máis abaixo) sobre os miles de Rohingya que seguen a escapar de Birmania (Myanmar). As autoridades deste país discriminan ós Rohingya por razón da súa etnia. Néganlles incluso a nacionalidade, converténdoos así en apátridas na súa propia terra.

Myanmar minority group in peril

2 February 2009

Hundreds of Myanmar’s Rohingya people are missing at sea and many more are at risk of drowning after Thai authorities forcibly expelled large groups of Rohingyas seeking refuge.

Thousands of Rohingyas, a Muslim minority from Rakhine State, western Myanmar (formerly Burma), who have been subjected to years of persecution in Myanmar, have fled in recent months on boats sailing for Thailand and Malaysia.

However, the Thai military forcibly expelled around 1,000 Rohingyas arriving in southwest Thailand by boat, while the Indian and Indonesian authorities have rescued hundreds of them. Hundreds of Rohingyas are missing or have died after the Thai security forces set them adrift in unseaworthy boats with little or no food and water.

“The Rohingya’s situation has reached a critical stage over the last two months. The Thai government must stop forcibly expelling Rohingyas and provide them with immediate humanitarian assistance and cease any plans to proceed with more expulsions,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director.

Indonesia announced on Thursday that it was still determining the fate of almost 200 Rohingyas and Bangladeshis who had landed in Weh Island, Aceh province on 7 January. The Indian navy have rescued hundreds of Rohingyas on or near the Andaman Islands.

In light of the plight of the Rohingyas, Amnesty International has urged Myanmar to stop the systematic persecution of the group. Amnesty International has also urged Myanmar’s neighbours to provide the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) immediate access to all Rohingyas in their territory and to ratify the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol, and the UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.

“The governments of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand must also fulfil their obligation to provide assistance to those in distress at sea, regardless of nationality, status or circumstances, and to provide a search and rescue service.”

“We welcome Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s stated commitment to convene a regional forum on the Rohingyas. It is only through a regional initiative, involving Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, and with the participation of UNHCR, that a durable solution can be found to the plight of the Rohingyas,” said Sam Zarifi.

“Any regional solution must ensure that those Rohingyas who have a well-founded fear of persecution in Myanmar are not returned there.”

For the last three decades, hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have fled systematic persecution to neighbouring countries in Asia, the vast majority to Bangladesh. Within Myanmar, the Rohingyas suffer from specific deeply discriminatory policies targeting them. They are denied citizenship and are thus effectively stateless.

Rohingyas who are returned to Myanmar continue to be at serious risk of human rights violations, including forced labour, forced eviction, land confiscation, and severe restrictions on freedom of movement.

Read More
Open letter to the governments of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand (29 January, 2009)

Related document:

• “The Rohingya people from Myanmar seeking refuge in Bangladesh” (briefing paper by Médecins sans Frontières, May 2007)

La traviata (Verdi): “Lunge da lei…” (Jonas Kaufmann)

La traviata (1853) is one of the best known operas by Giuseppe Verdi. Here we can see an excerpt from a Paris production (2007). Many people will disagree and say it is weird (eccentric, extravagant…), but I like Christoph Marthaler’s stage direction. I think it makes the singer’s work easier. Alfredo (tenor) is Jonas Kaufmann. Libretto found at karadar.com.

ATTO II

SCENA I

Casa di campagna presso Parigi. Salotto terreno.
Nel fondo in faccia agli spettatori, è un camino,
sopra il quale uno specchio ed un orologio,
fra due porte chiuse da cristalli che mettono ad un giardino.
Al primo piano, due altre porte, una di fronte all’altra.
Sedie, tavolini, qualche libro, l’occorrente per scrivere.

ALFREDO
(deponendo il fucile)
Lunge da lei per me non v’ha diletto!
Volaron già tre lune
Dacché la mia Violetta
Agi per me lasciò, dovizie, onori,
E le pompose feste
Ove, agli omaggi avvezza,
Vedea schiavo ciascun di sua bellezza
Ed or contenta in questi ameni luoghi
Tutto scorda per me. Qui presso a lei
Io rinascer mi sento,
E dal soffio d’amor rigenerato
Scordo ne’ gaudii suoi tutto il passato.
Dè miei bollenti spiriti
Il giovanile ardore
Ella temprò col placido
Sorriso dell’amore!
Dal dì che disse: vivere
Io voglio a te fedel,
Dell’universo immemore
Io vivo quasi in ciel.

SCENA II

(Detto ed Annina in arnese da viaggio.)

ALFREDO
Annina, donde vieni?

ANNINA
Da Parigi.

ALFREDO
Chi tel commise?

ANNINA
Fu la mia signora.

ALFREDO
Perché?

ANNINA
Per alienar cavalli, cocchi,
E quanto ancor possiede.

ALFREDO
Che mai sento!

ANNINA
Lo spendio è grande a viver qui solinghi.

ALFREDO
E tacevi?

ANNINA
Mi fu il silenzio imposto.

ALFREDO
Imposto! or v’abbisogna?

ANNINA
Mille luigi.

ALFREDO
Or vanne andrò a Parigi.
Questo colloquio ignori la signora.
Il tutto valgo a riparare ancora.

(Annina parte.)

SCENA III

(Alfredo solo)

ALFREDO
O mio rimorso! O infamia
E vissi in tale errore?
Ma il turpe sogno a frangere
Il ver mi balenò.
Per poco in seno acquetati,
O grido dell’onore;
M’avrai securo vindice;
Quest’onta laverò.

(esce)

Purcell: “Welcome to all the pleasures” Z 339 (Chorus Sanctae Ceciliae)

Henry Purcell: “Welcome to all the pleasures” (1683, Z[immerman catalogue] 339). Good performance (they deserve a better recording) by Chorus Sanctae Ceciliae. Conductor: Dag-Ulrik Almqvist. Text found at Tore Frantzvåg Steenslid’s page.

1. Symphony

2. Alto, tenor and bass: chorus: ritornello

Welcome to all the pleasures that delight
Of ev’ry sense the grateful appetite,
Hail, great assembly of Apollo’s race.
Hail to this happy place, this musical assembly
That seems to be the arc of universal harmony.

3. Alto: ritornello

Here the Deities approve
The God of Music and of Love;
All the talents they have lent you,
All the blessings they have sent you,
Pleas’d to see what they bestow,
Live and thrive so well below.

4. Two sopranos and bass: ritornello

While joys celestial their bright souls invade
To find what great improvement you have made.

5. Alto, tenor and bass: chorus

Then lift up your voices, those organs of nature,
Those charms to the troubled and amorous creature.
The power shall divert us a pleasanter way,
For sorrow and grief find from music relief,
And love its soft charms must obey.
Then lift up your voices, those organs of nature,
Those charms to the troubled and amorous creature.

6. Tenor: ritornello

Beauty, thou scene of love,
And virtue thou innocent fire,
Made by the powers above
To temper the heat of desire,
Music that fancy employs
In rapture of innocent flame,
We offer with lute and with voice
To Cecilia, Cecilia’s bright name.

7. Tenor: chorus

In a consort of voices while instruments play
With music we celebrate this holy day;
Iô Cecilia!

P. S. (29 – III – 2009). Now we should thank TheCompletePurcell YouTube channel for posting a professional recording along with the original score. It is a 1988 performance by The English Concert, conducted by Trevor Pinnock, featuring Kym Amps (soprano), Elisabeth Priday (soprano), Michael Chance (countertenor), John Mark Ainsley (tenor) and Michael George (bass).

1/3 (1. Symphony. 2a. ATB: Welcome to all the pleasures. 2b. Chorus: Hail, great assembly. 2c. Ritornello):

2/3 (3ab. A: Here the deities approve. 3c. Ritornello. 4a. SST: While joys celestial. 4b. Ritornello. 5-6. B: Then lift up your voices. Chorus: Then lift up your voices. ATB: The pow’r shall divert us. Chorus: Then lift up your voices):

3/3 (7. Symphony. 8a. T: Beauty, thou scene of love. 8b. Ritornello. 9a. T: In a consort of voices. 9b. Chorus: In a consort of voices):