La narración como encuentro con el Otro en El Hablador de Mario Vargas LLosa

El presente texto se propone mostrar la manera en la que Vargas Llosa trata el tema histórico del encuentro-desencuentro entre la cultura occidental y la cultura indígena en América Latina. La novela cuenta el clásico intento de un personaje de convertirse en el Otro y muestra cómo la única manera para lograrlo sea la de escuchar las historias y la cosmogonia del Otro y volver a contar, re-elaborándolas, las historia escuchadas y al mismo tiempo traducir a su lenguaje narrativo la propia tradición.The paper aims to explain the perspective from which Vargas Llosa in The Storyteller faces the historical theme of the clash-encounter between Western culture and Indian culture in Latin America. The novel tells the classic attempt of a character to become Another and shows how the only way to achieve it is to hear the stories and the cosmogony of the Other, to re-tell the story heard and at the same time to translate into the Other narrative language one's own tradition

La modernidad periférica: ecos del Gattopardo de Tomasi di Lampedusa en La Guerra del fin del mundo de Mario Vargas Llosa

The modernization process is analyzed here in two peripheral realities of the world system - nineteenth-century Brazil and Sicily - as depicted in La guerra del fin del mundo and in Il gattopardo. In particular, we show how in the world that Vargas Llosa creates there is no social class capable of becoming the leader of the transition towards a modern society that responds to the needs and nature of an independent Brazil. This absence leads to resistances and catastrophic conflicts. Resistance and conflicts help explaining the phenomenon of opposition to the advance of modernity that we are witnessing today.Se analiza aquí el proceso de modernización en dos realidades periféricas del sistema mundo -el Brasil y la Sicilia del siglo XIX- tal como se  representa en  La guerra del fin del mundo y en Il gattopardo. En particular, se muestra cómo en el mundo que representa Vargas Llosa no hay una clase social capaz de convertirse en guía de la transición hacia una sociedad moderna que responda a las exigencias y a la naturaleza del Brasil independiente. Esta falta da lugar a resistencias y conflictos catastróficos. Resistencia y conflictos que bien iluminan los fenómenos de oposición al avance de la modernidad a que asistimos también hoy en día.Se analiza aquí el proceso de modernización en dos realidades periféricas del sistema mundo -el Brasil y la Sicilia del siglo XIX- tal como se  representa en  La guerra del fin del mundo y en Il gattopardo. En particular, se muestra cómo en el mundo que representa Vargas Llosa no hay una clase social capaz de convertirse en guía de la transición hacia una sociedad moderna que responda a las exigencias y a la naturaleza del Brasil independiente. Esta falta da lugar a resistencias y conflictos catastróficos. Resistencia y conflictos que bien iluminan los fenómenos de oposición al avance de la modernidad a que asistimos también hoy en día.Se analiza aquí el proceso de modernización en dos realidades periféricas del sistema mundo -el Brasil y la Sicilia del siglo XIX- tal como se  representa en  La guerra del fin del mundo y en Il gattopardo. En particular, se muestra cómo en el mundo que representa Vargas Llosa no hay una clase social capaz de convertirse en guía de la transición hacia una sociedad moderna que responda a las exigencias y a la naturaleza del Brasil independiente. Esta falta da lugar a resistencias y conflictos catastróficos. Resistencia y conflictos que bien iluminan los fenómenos de oposición al avance de la modernidad a que asistimos también hoy en día

mirnas may change rapidly with thoughts the relaxation response after myocardial infarction

Abstract Introduction Mental stress is potentially a major cardiovascular risk factor. Meditation and listening to music may be able to compensate by eliciting the Relaxation Response (RR) with a beneficial prognostic impact after myocardial infarction (MI), reducing the progression of the arteriosclerotic process and improving coronary blood flow. We aimed to study a possible epigenetic mechanism of the RR speculating that circulating microRNAs levels could change during relaxation. Methods We enrolled 150 consecutive patients after MI. 50 were trained to meditate, 50 given music appreciation and 50 served as controls. In addition, in order to rule out that the disease state could interfere with the possible movement of microRNAs, we enrolled 50 healthy volunteers (25 were trained to meditate and 25 had music appreciation). After training, and after 60 days of RR practice, we studied the individual variation, before and after the relaxation session, of some important cardiovascular circulating microRNAs: the microRNA-1, −16, −24, −33, −92, −144, −146, −155. Results As the RR appeared to be triggered in the same way irrespective of whether this was by music or meditation data was combined. After the RR, a reduction in microRNA-16, −33, −92, −144, −146, −155 (p  Conclusions The RR modulates some microRNAs levels suggesting that psychic activity may be an important epigenetic and pathophysiological factor in the arteriosclerotic process and in ischemic heart disease. In particular, the analyzed microRNAs levels seems to vary in relation to the state of stress or relaxation of the subjects

Design of a study to investigate the mechanisms of obstructive sleep apnoea by means of drug-induced sleep endoscopy

Background Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is an independent risk factor of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Recurrent episodes of upper airways collapse during sleep causing blood oxygen desaturation, hypercapnia, and micro-arousals, are known to activate the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). However, whether changes in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and endothelial activation also occur remains contentious. Methods Based on routine use of drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) for the work-up of OSA patients in our centre, we designed a prospective study to investigate the haemodynamic and humoral changes occurring during the apnoeic episodes reproduced in vivo in the course of DISE. Specifically, plasma aldosterone concentration and renin activity, C-terminal fragment of proendothelin-1, as a marker of endothelial damage, and free plasma catecholamines, will be measured at fixed times during DISE. The activity of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), a key catecholamine-inactivating enzyme that has been scantly investigated thus far owing to the lack of commercially available kits, will be also determined by a newly developed high performance liquid chromatography method, which is herein described. Results and conclusions The aim of this study is to provide novel information on the haemodynamic, hormonal, and SNS changes, and also on COMT activity modification concomitantly occurring during apnoea, thus contributing substantively to the understanding of the pathophysiology of OSA

Epilepsy in Neurodegenerative Dementias: A Clinical, Epidemiological, and EEG Study

BACKGROUND: Seizures are common in patients with dementia but precise epidemiologic data of epilepsy in neurodegenerative dementia is lacking. OBJECTIVE: The first aim of the study was to investigate prevalence and clinical characteristics of epilepsy in a large cohort of patients with neurodegenerative dementias. Subsequently, we explored clinical, neuropsychological, and quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) data of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with epilepsy (AD-EPI) as compared to AD patients without epilepsy (AD-CTR). METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated consecutive patients with a diagnosis of a neurodegenerative dementia and a clinically diagnosed epilepsy that required antiepileptic drugs (AED). All patients underwent baseline comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. A follow-up of at least one year was requested to confirm the dementia diagnosis. In AD patients, qEEG power band analysis was performed. AD-CTR and AD-EPI patients were matched for age, Mini-Mental State Examination score, and gender. RESULTS: Thirty-eight out of 2,054 neurodegenerative dementia patients had epilepsy requiring AED. The prevalence of epilepsy was 1.82% for AD, 1.28% for the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), 2.47% for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and 12% for primary progressive aphasia. Epilepsy were more drug-responsive in AD than in non-AD dementias. Finally, no significant differences were found in neuropsychological and qEEG data between AD-EPI and AD-CTR patients. CONCLUSION: In our cohort, AD, FTD, and DLB dementias have similar prevalence of epilepsy, even if AD patients were more responsive to AED. Moreover, AD-EPI patients did not have significant clinical, neuropsychological qEEG differences compared with AD-CTR patients

Recordar sin recordar

A menudo son las víctimas las que recuerdan las violencias que les han infligido poderes brutales. Bolaño en cambio explora la memoria de un semi-culpable, es decir de alguien que pertenece a la que Primo Levi llamó la « zona gris ». Se trata del crítico literario Sebastián Urrutia Lacroix. Éste evoca los años de la dictadura y muestra su cómplice aceptación del régimen. Este ensayo se propone mostrar cómo el protagonista efectoa una serie de desplazamientos, digresiones, precisiones superfluas, descripciones eufemísticas para posponer la confrontación con los recuerdos de la dictadura más difíciles de enfrentar. Estas estrategias de confrontación y no-confrontación con el pasado cuentan la dificultad de muchos latinoamericanos para admitir que se han visto implicados con la dictadura de distintas maneras. Las múltiples figuras de desplazamiento se hallan en la base del carácter cómico del texto que evidencia los aspectos trágicamente ridículos de muchos otros discursos de negación o de muchos otros discursos que van a la búsqueda de una imposible auto-absolución.Often it is the victims who remember the violence they have suffered at the hands of brutal powers. Bolaño, on the contrary, explores the memory of the semi-guilty, the memory of someone belonging to what Primo Levi called, “ The Gray Area ”. Such a person is Sebastián Urrutia Lacroix, who, in a long monologue, reminisces about the years of dictatorship and his complicit acceptance of the regime. The essay sets out to show how the protagonist achieves a series of displacements, digressions, superfluous position-honing, euphemistic descriptions, so as to postpone confrontation with the more-difficult-to-face memories of the dictatorship. These strategies of confrontation/non-confrontation with the past is telling of the difficulty for many Latin-Americans to admit that they have been complicit in the dictatorship in different ways. The multiple figures of displacements are at the foundation of the comic nature of the text, which highlights the tragically ridiculous aspects of many other denial discourses of other discourse in search of an impossible self-absolution

La narración como encuentro con el Otro en El Hablador de Mario Vargas LLosa

El presente texto se propone mostrar la manera en la que Vargas Llosa trata el tema histórico del encuentro-desencuentro entre la cultura occidental y la cultura indígena en América Latina. La novela cuenta el clásico intento de un personaje de convertirse en el Otro y muestra cómo la única manera para lograrlo sea la de escuchar las historias y la cosmogonia del Otro y volver a contar, re-elaborándolas, las historia escuchadas y al mismo tiempo traducir a su lenguaje narrativo la propia tradición.The paper aims to explain the perspective from which Vargas Llosa in The Storyteller faces the historical theme of the clash-encounter between Western culture and Indian culture in Latin America. The novel tells the classic attempt of a character to become Another and shows how the only way to achieve it is to hear the stories and the cosmogony of the Other, to re-tell the story heard and at the same time to translate into the Other narrative language one's own tradition

Plasmatic dimethylarginines in dogs with Myxomatous mitral valve disease

Plasmatic dimethylarginines, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) are considered biomarkers of endothelial and renal dysfunction, respectively, in humans. We hypothesize that plasmatic concentration of dimethylarginines in dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) is influenced by heart disease stage. Eighty-five client-owned dogs with MMVD, including 39, 19, and 27 dogs in ACVIM stages B1, B2, and C+D, respectively, and a control group of 11 clinically healthy dogs were enrolled. A prospective, multicentric, case-control study was performed. Each dog underwent a complete clinical examination, arterial blood pressure measurement, thoracic radiography, six-lead standard electrocardiogram, transthoracic echocardiography, CBC, biochemical profile, and urinalysis. Plasmatic concentration of dimethylarginines was determined through high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Median ADMA was significantly increased in dogs of group C+D (2.5 μmol/L [2.1–3.0]) compared to those of group B1 (1.8 μmol/L [1.6–2.3]; p < 0.001) and healthy dogs (1.9 μmol/L [1.7–2.3]; p = 0.02). Median SDMA was significantly increased in dogs of group C+D (0.7 μmol/L [0.5–0.9]) compared to those of groups B1 (0.4 μmol/L [0.3–0.5]; p < 0.001), B2 (0.4 μmol/L [0.3–0.6]; p < 0.01), and the control group (0.4 μmol/L [0.35–0.45]; p = 0.001). In the final multivariable analysis, ADMA and SDMA were significantly associated with left atrium to aorta ratio (p < 0.001), and creatinine (p < 0.001), respectively. Increased plasmatic concentrations of dimethylarginines suggest a possible role as biomarkers of disease severity in dogs with decompensated MMVD

Immunosuppressant therapeutic drug monitoring by LC-MS/MS: Workflow optimization through automated processing of whole blood samples

Objectives: Although, due to its high specificity and sensitivity, LC-MS/MS is an efficient technique for the routine determination of immunosuppressants in whole blood, it involves time-consuming manual sample preparation. The aim of the present study was therefore to develop an automated sample-preparation protocol for the quantification of sirolimus, everolimus and tacrolimus by LC-MS/MS using a liquid handling platform. Methods: Six-level commercially available blood calibrators were used for assay development, while four quality control materials and three blood samples from patients under immunosuppressant treatment were employed for the evaluation of imprecision. Barcode reading, sample re-suspension, transfer of whole blood samples into 96-well plates, addition of internal standard solution, mixing, and protein precipitation were performed with a liquid handling platform. After plate filtration, the deproteinised supernatants were submitted for SPE on-line. The only manual steps in the entire process were de-capping of the tubes, and transfer of the well plates to the HPLC autosampler. Results: Calibration curves were linear throughout the selected ranges. The imprecision and accuracy data for all analytes were highly satisfactory. The agreement between the results obtained with manual and those obtained with automated sample preparation was optimal (n = 390, r = 0.96). In daily routine (100 patient samples) the typical overall total turnaround time was less than 6 h. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the proposed analytical system is suitable for routine analysis, since it is straightforward and precise. Furthermore, it incurs less manual workload and less risk of error in the quantification of whole blood immunosuppressant concentrations than conventional methods