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PubMed2004

[On the plan to combat hunger and misery].

This paper discusses the "Plan Against Hunger and Misery" as it relates to the Ministry of Health. The Plan centers around the program "Milk is Health", subsidized by the Brazilian Nutritional Surveillance System and aimed at undernourished children, his/her close relatives and pregnant women under nutritional risks identified in the public health sector. The authors raise questions regarding the role(s) to be played by the health system and by the Nutritional Surveillance System in the implementation of the Plan, the guidelines for food distribution, the indicators for selecting target groups and the parameters for evaluating the program "Milk is Health" itself. It is also argued that the Plan should value structural modifications, without which it will not be possible to ameliorate misery and hunger in Brazil.

English Abstract↗
PubMed2001

Acoustic signalling of hunger and thermal state by nestling tree swallows.

The begging displays used by altricial nestling birds to solicit care from parents include vigorous movements and loud calling. These begging signals have attracted considerable interest, mainly because their intensity seems excessive for the function of transmitting information about nestling need to parents. However, how information on need is encoded in the various components of the signal, especially its acoustic components, is poorly understood. We examined how begging calls of large and small nestling tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, changed during a short period of food deprivation and cooling, as a first step in determining the role that various call characteristics played in advertising nestling need. In contrast to previous studies, we examined several call variables, and related them not only to need for food but also need for warmth. When nestlings were deprived of food, their calls increased in rate and length. Large nestlings also increased the amplitude of their calls. When nestlings were cooled during food deprivation, they decreased the frequency of their calls and their call rate. The latter trend was especially evident in small nestlings. Our results suggest that begging calls carry information not only on the overall hunger level of broods, as emphasized in previous studies, but also on the size, hunger and thermal need of individual nestlings. Further tests are needed to determine whether parents use this information and whether begging calls are optimally designed to convey it. Copyright 2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1989

Effects of experimental and habitual lunch-size on performance, arousal, hunger and mood.

Twelve male students who normally ate a large lunch and 12 who normally ate only a light lunch performed a sustained attention task before and after eating a light lunch and before and after eating a heavy lunch. The speed and accuracy of performance were measured; so also were temperature, pulse rate and subjective estimates of tension, alertness and hunger. The changes brought about by the meals were examined. Speed alone showed no change over the lunch interval. Of the remaining seven measures, only temperature, which seems to reflect endogenous processes, was unaffected by the size of the lunch that was eaten. Accuracy, pulse rate and hunger were influenced by the size of the habitual lunch as well as by the size of the experimental lunch. Tension and alertness were responsive only to the size of the experimental lunch. The results are discussed in relation to diurnal rhythms, with a particular emphasis on the acquisition of endogenous component processes, as exemplified by habits of eating.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

The use of conditioned cues associated with air hunger as reinforcers: a case report.

During the operant conditioning of eating behavior with a 3-year-old boy who breathed with the aid of a respirator, it was discovered serendipitiously that the patient had apparently associated certain secondary cues with the experience of air hunger. An attempt was made to use these cues as secondary reinforcers to condition eating behavior. The results were dramatic. Implications for the use of conditioned cues associated with air hunger as secondary reinforcers in the conditioning of respiratory, and possibly other, patients are discussed.

Anorexia↗
PubMed1989

'Air hunger' arising from increased PCO2 in mechanically ventilated quadriplegics.

A number of investigators have proposed that the sense of respiratory discomfort accompanying hypercapnia depends on respiratory mechanoreceptors which inform the sensory cortex of reflex increases in breathing. To test this hypothesis, we studied subjects whose respiratory muscles were paralyzed, and who were thus unable to increase breathing in response to hypercapnia. We gradually elevated inspired PCO2 in four tracheostomized quadriplegic subjects supported by constant mechanical ventilation. These subjects reported sensations of 'air hunger' (e.g., "short of breath", "air-starved") when end-tidal PCO2 increased 10 Torr (mean) above their resting levels. In a second experiment we used the forced-choice technique to determine the ability of three of these subjects to detect repeated changes of end-tidal PCO2. Two detected 7 Torr changes, the third detected 11 Torr changes. These data suggest that changes in breathing are not necessary to evoke the sense of 'air hunger'. We conclude that the likely mechanisms are (1) projection of chemoreceptor afferent traffic to the sensory cortex, and (2) projection of corollary discharge from brainstem respiratory centers to the sensory cortex.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The Italian fight against world hunger. A critical analysis of Italian aid for development in the 1980s.

During the 1980s, Italy expanded its development assistance, soon becoming the fifth largest donor. Italian development cooperation directed much effort to alleviate hunger, malnutrition and their health consequences. This paper provides an evaluation of Italy's fight against world hunger considering the political environment in which the policy was conceived and implemented, the organizational structure behind the policy, and the available quantitative indicators of outcome. The analysis shows how powerful humanitarian drives, supported by inchoate thinking about development problems and priorities, and by institutional and technical confusion, gave rise to development programs below accepted standards. Poor financial planning and the absence of proper mechanisms for project appraisal facilitated the capture of some programs by domestic political and commercial interests. In 1992, Italian magistrates began investigations into the extent of corruption in development assistance; preliminary reports documented widespread waste and ineffectiveness in major aid projects. Substantial changes in organization and priorities are needed in order to control past practices of corruption, improve the effectiveness of projects, and redirect Italian aid towards development goals.

Efficiency, Organizational↗
PubMed2001

Neuroimaging of cerebral activations and deactivations associated with hypercapnia and hunger for air.

There are defined medullary, mesencephalic, hypothalamic, and thalamic functions in regulation of respiration, but knowledge of cortical control and the elements subserving the consciousness of breathlessness and air hunger is limited. In nine young adults, air hunger was produced acutely by CO(2) inhalation. Comparisons were made with inhalation of a N(2)/O(2) gas mixture with the same apparatus, and also with paced breathing, and with eyes closed rest. A network of activations in pons, midbrain (mesencephalic tegmentum, parabrachial nucleus, and periaqueductal gray), hypothalamus, limbic and paralimbic areas (amygdala and periamygdalar region) cingulate, parahippocampal and fusiform gyrus, and anterior insula were seen along with caudate nuclei and pulvinar activations. Strong deactivations were seen in dorsal cingulate, posterior cingulate, and prefrontal cortex. The striking response of limbic and paralimbic regions points to these structures having a singular role in the affective sequelae entrained by disturbance of basic respiratory control whereby a process of which we are normally unaware becomes a salient element of consciousness. These activations and deactivations include phylogenetically ancient areas of allocortex and transitional cortex that together with the amygdalar/periamygdalar region may subserve functions of emotional representation and regulation of breathing.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Hunger strikes: preventing harm to students.

When the health center encountered a student hunger strike, an initial search for medical information regarding fasting provided very little on which to build management decisions. The result of a more thorough evaluation of starvation literature is presented, along with survey responses from students who fasted. Starvation may produce many adverse events, including death. Yet, according to reports, acaloric fasts that include full water intake seem to be readily tolerated for 2 weeks in young, healthy adults. Our students included juice, sports drinks, and vitamins in their diets and completed their strike without major problems. Supplementation with carbohydrates and vitamins may improve the safety or comfort of a hunger striker, but clear proof of this effect does not exist.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Nitrogen Nutrition of Nodules in Relation to ;N-Hunger' in Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp).

Early growth, nodule development, and nitrogen fixation by two cultivars of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp), one large-seeded (Vita 3; 146.0 +/- 0.9 milligrams seed dry weight, 4.1 +/- 0.2 milligrams seed N), the other small-seeded (Caloona; 57.5 +/- 2.5 milligrams seed dry weight, 1.8 +/- 0.1 milligrams seed N), were compared under conditions of sand culture with nutrient solution free of combined N. The seed stocks used had been obtained from plants uniformly labeled with (15)N, thus enabling changes with time in distribution of cotyledon and fixed N among plant parts to be measured by isotope dilution. Caloona, but not Vita 3, showed physiological symptoms of ;N hunger,' i.e. transient loss of chlorophyll (visible yellowing) and N from the first-formed unifoliolate leaves at or around the onset of symbiotic functioning and N(2) fixation. The smaller-seeded Caloona showed higher early nitrogenase activity than the larger-seeded Vita 3 and by 28 days had fixed 6.6 milligrams of N per milligram of seed N [mg N . (mg seed N)(-1)] versus only 3.5 mg N . (mg seed N)(-1) in Vita 3. Both cultivars lost around 30% of their initial seed N at germination, mostly as fallen cotyledons. Abscised cotyledons of Caloona contained 1.21 +/- 0.17% N; those of Vita 3 contained 2.61 +/- 0.37% N. When compared on the basis of cotyledon N available for seedling growth, Caloona was shown to have fixed 10.6 mg N . (mg seed N)(-1) and Vita 3 only 5.3 mg N . (mg seed N)(-1). Most of the cotyledon N withdrawn from the unifoliolate leaf pair of Caloona during ;N-hunger' was committed to early nodule growth and, in total, 20 to 25% of the cotyledon N resource of this cultivar was ultimately invested in establishment of symbiosis compared with only 7% in Vita 3.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

High prevalence of food insecurity and hunger in households in the rural Lower Mississippi Delta.

CONTEXT: Residents of the Lower Mississippi Delta of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi are at risk for food insecurity since a high proportion of the population live in households with incomes below the poverty level and have reduced access to food and decreased availability of a variety of foods. However, the magnitude of the problem is unknown because presently only nationwide and state estimates of food insecurity are available. PURPOSE: This study was conducted by the Lower-Mississippi Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Consortium to determine the prevalence of household food insecurity, identify high-risk subgroups in the Lower Delta, and compare to national data. METHODS: A 2-stage stratified cluster sample representative of the population in 36 counties in the Lower Delta was selected using list-assisted random digit dialing telephone methodology. A cross-sectional telephone survey of 1662 households was conducted in 18 of the 36 counties using the US Food Security Survey Module. FINDINGS: Twenty-one percent of Lower Delta households were food insecure, double the 2000 nationwide rate of 10.5%. Within the Lower Delta, groups with the highest rates of food insecurity were households with income below $15,000, black households, and households with children. The prevalence of hunger in Delta households with white children was 3.2% and in households with black children was 11.0%, compared to nationwide estimates of 0.3% and 1.6%. CONCLUSIONS: The Lower Mississippi Delta is characterized by a high prevalence of food insecurity and hunger. Future efforts to identify the household and community determinants of food insecurity to reduce its high prevalence are indicated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Hunger, caloric preloading and the selective processing of food and body shape words.

Fifty-three female subjects performed a modified Stroop colour-naming task 30 minutes after consuming a high-calorie preload, a low-calorie preload or water. Half of the subjects were 18 hours food deprived prior to testing. Food restriction and the caloric density of the preload had no effect on the colour-naming of food-related words. However, impairments in the colour-naming of food-related words did vary according to the subjects' self-reported hunger level. This relationship between hunger and colour-naming impairment was not linear, with the most hungry subjects displaying the smallest impairment in the colour naming of food words. The results are interpreted in terms of recent thought on the relationship between attentional processing and fear arousal.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

The physician and prison hunger strikes: reflecting on the experience in Turkey.

The medical ethics of a physician's relationship with a prisoner who is participating in a collective hunger strike has become a major public, professional, and governmental concern in The Republic of Turkey. This article examines the Turkish experience and debate about physician ethics during prison hunger strikes. It is hoped that this analysis will be of use to those formulating policy in similar situations.

Dissent and Disputes↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Anger and narcissism: between the void of being and the hunger for having.

The borderline syndrome, a typical marginal structure, is certainly a specific, autonomous pathology, with its own distinctive characteristics: among them, acting out, cyclical repetition of events without historical progression and anaclitic depression. Kohut's concept of 'narcissistic hunger' is particularly pertinent to the borderline condition: the borderline patient hungers to have that which is missing in his being. Through the application of the related notions of 'tragic man', 'self objects', 'grandiose self', and 'damaged self', the authors further develop their theory that the borderline syndrome has much in common with paranoid personalities.

Anger↗
PubMed2002

How should physicians approach a hunger strike?

In the last year many prisoners and their supporters in Turkey have gone on hunger strike. This paper from a Turkish physician and ethicist discusses problems faced by physicians. It is followed by a background note on the situation in Turkey and, more generally, on medical responses to hunger strikers.

Coercion↗
PubMed2006

Areca nut use amongst South Asian schoolchildren in Tower Hamlets, London: the extent to which the habit is engaged in within the family and used to suppress hunger.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the extent to which an areca nut habit is engaged in within the family and degree to which the habit may be used to suppress hunger amongst South Asian schoolchildren with a view to informing health promotion campaigns. RESEARCH DESIGN: Self-administered questionnaire. SETTING: Two comprehensive schools (one mixed, one all girls) in the Tower Hamlets district of East London, UK. PARTICIPANTS: 341 (285 girls; 56 boys) children of self-reported South Asian origin (Bangladeshi 286, Pakistani 4, Asian, 51) who reported currently engaging in an areca nut habit. RESULTS: Areca nut habits were mainly used in a family context. Smaller proportions of children reported predominant use alone or with peers. A substantial minority reported using their habit to suppress hunger. CONCLUSION: The family plays a crucial role in maintaining areca nut use. This implies effective health promotion campaigns must operate at the family and even community levels rather than being targeted at the children directly.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Hunger sensation in patients with compensated and and uncompensated type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE: Diabetic patients (DP) refer increased hunger sensation (HS) when hyperglycemic but not yet ketogenic. As HS shows a within-day (ultradian cyclicity) and intra-day (circadian cyclicity) repetitivity, its recursive pattern was investigated in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), in compensated and uncompensated metabolic stage. METHOD: HS was approached in its cyclic structure by means of spectral analysis (SA), and in its circadian rhythmicity by means of Single Cosinor analysis (SCA), applied to self-rated scores of HS given every 30 min to their HS (orexigram) by DP. RESULTS: Exaggerated periprandial, interprandial, and/or nocturnal peaks of HS were seen in the orexigram of both the type I and type II DP. Specific alterations in HS periodogram were detected, structurally denoting a relative prevalence of the ultradian components along with the deamplification and loss of the circadian harmonics. DISCUSSION: The increase of HS (hyperorexia) in nonketotic DM may be formally attributed to a mechanism of frequency multiplication and amplitude demodulation in the multifrequency bioperiodic structure which physiologically regulates the recursive pattern to the daily HS in human beings.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Stress and hunger alter the anorectic efficacy of fluoxetine in binge-eating rats with a history of caloric restriction.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the effect of fluoxetine to suppress binge eating in rats with a history of caloric restriction (CR) and the extent to which this effect was altered by stress and hunger. METHOD: To detect heightened sensitivity to fluoxetine, young female rats were used to determine a subthreshold anorectic dose (2 mg/kg, intraperitonally). Another group of rats was either fed ad libitum or given multiple CR (to 90% body weight) and refeeding-to-satiety cycles. One half of the rats were then either spared or subjected to foot shock stress before fluoxetine treatment. RESULTS: A history of CR alone produced bingelike eating on palatable food (p < .001) and, although stress did not affect intake, it rendered CR rats hypersensitive to the satiety effect of fluoxetine. The feeding-suppression was mainly for chow (p < .05) and the effect was abolished if the rats were in negative energy balance. DISCUSSION: Results support the utility of this animal model to elucidate serotonergic changes linking dieting to binge eating. The diverse effects of fluoxetine on the type of food, and in hungry versus sated rats, suggest alternate brain mechanisms should be concomitantly targeted for improved treatment of binge eating disorders.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Pleasantness of a sweet taste during hunger and satiety: effects of gender and "sweet tooth".

Hungry or sated adult female (N = 29) and male subjects (N = 28), classified according to whether they had eaten or not within 2 h, rated four concentrations of sucrose in a lime drink for their sweetness intensity and pleasantness. Subjects also rated their attitude towards sweets in general (self-reported sweet tooth). Female subjects rated the solutions as less pleasant when tasted soon after a meal. Male subjects showed a non-significant trend in the same direction. Female subjects also rated the solutions as more intense than the male subjects did. Moreover, subjects who reported having a "sweet tooth" (regardless of gender) showed a significant alliesthesia effect (i.e., enhancement of pleasantness of sweet tastes by hunger), whereas those with "no sweet tooth" did not. We conclude that both gender and the degree of individual "sweet tooth" influence alliesthesia.

Adult↗