[A socio-historical approach to the evolution of childbirth assistance in a medium-sized city in Minas Gerais (1960-2001)].

The historical sequence of the evolution of the choice of birth delivery (normal, cesarean section, and forceps) between 1960 and 2001 was evaluated using data from the three oldest maternity hospitals affiliated to the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) in the city of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. The so-called serial history method enables comparisons of historical events over a given time period. Greater incorporation of technology and an increase in cesarean sections were detected prior to 1998, when administrative ruling No.

[Monitoring the prenatal care process among users of the Unified Health Care System in a city of the Brazilian Southeast].

Purpose: to evaluate the evolution of adequacy of the care process among pregnant users of the Brazilian Single Health System (SUS, acronym in Portuguese) and to consolidate a methodology for monitoring the prenatal care.

Methods: this is a multiple time series study with auditing of prenatal cards of pregnant women who were attended for prenatal care in a city of the Brazilian Southeast (Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais) in the initial semesters of 2002 and 2004 (370 and 1,200 cards, respectively) and gave birth using SUS services in term pregnancies (p < 0.05).

[How could Gerontology, a multidisciplinary field of knowledge, be included in CNPq's Table of Knowledge Areas?].

We discuss the possibility of including Gerontology in the CNPq Areas of Knowledge Table, in a scenario where this Table is being questioned by the scientific community, particularly with regard to the inclusion of multidisciplinary areas. Based on Foucault, we view the Tree of Knowledge as taxonomy, a continuum in which all areas are placed side by side, closer together or further apart, depending on their similarities and differences. This finite linear approach establishes that a certain Area of knowledge may be placed only at a point along the line corresponding to a Greater Area.

[Science and medical education in Brazil (1930-1950)].

This article discusses the role of science and its impact on the curricula of medical schools between 1930 and 1950, sketching out the web of interrelations built up around these institutions, and bringing to light the connection between the contents of the curricula and the prevailing social, political and economic context. The scientific concepts at the time influenced the development of university level institutions, and had particular significance in medical education. In this period, the political and economic ties with the USA were manifested by the Rockefeller Foundation, especially in the arena of education and health.

[The being that ages: technique, science and knowledge].

We address Gerontology in its perception as the science of aging. Based on Bachelard and Canguilhem, we discuss the perspectives of Gerontology as science in terms of Aging Philosophy, Aging Genetics or Bio-Gerontology, and as a set of techniques for cure such as pain relief, action on life of the being that ages through Geriatrics, Psycho-geriatrics, Geriatric Nursing and Social Service. Based on Foucault, we consider that Gerontology comprises all knowledge on that unique being who thinks about himself and about his own representations, through Anthropology, Psychoanalysis, and so on.