Collective Memory and Universal History: Subjective Evaluation and Importance of Events and Historical Characters

La memoria colectiva hace referencia a cómo los grupos sociales recuerdan, olvidan o se reapropian del conocimiento del pasado social. Siguiendo los estudios previos que toman a la historia como objeto de representación social, se analiza cómo los eventos y personajes de la historia universal se agrupan en función de su evaluación e importancia (n = 379, 55.7% mujeres, edad = 18-69). Los datos fueron recolectados a través de internet utilizando un cuestionario autoadministrado. Se presentaron 28 eventos y 24 personajes de la historia universal frente a los cuales los participantes debían indicar en qué medida les parecían positivos o negativos y qué importancia les atribuían. Se efectuaron dos análisis de conglomerado jerárquico de variables, uno para evaluación subjetiva y otro para importancia. Para la evaluación subjetiva se obtuvieron tres conglomerados y para importancia se hallaron dos conglomerados. Los estímulos evaluados de forma más negativa pertenecen al último siglo y están relacionados con guerras o problemas políticos y económicos. Aquellos evaluados de forma más favorable se asocian con descubrimientos o con la lucha contra la opresión (abolición de la esclavitud, sistema democrático). En cuanto a la importancia atribuida, todos los estímulos presentados obtuvieron una alta importancia, alcanzando los eventos puntuaciones más elevadas que los personajes. Los eventos y personajes considerados más importantes se relacionaron con avances en los derechos del hombre y la libertad, el conocimiento y cambios en la vida social. Estos hallazgos se discuten en el marco de la memoria colectiva.Collective memory refers to how social groups remember, forget or re-appropriate knowledge of the social past. Following previous studies that take history as an object of social representation, it is analyzed how events and characters of universal history are grouped together according to their evaluation and importance (n = 379, 55.7% women, age = 18-69). Data was collected through the internet using a self-administered questionnaire. Twenty-eight events and 24 characters from world history were presented, and participants had to indicate to what extent they seemed positive or negative and what importance they attributed to them. Two hierarchical cluster analyzes were performed, one for subjective evaluation and one for importance. For the subjective evaluation three clusters were obtained and for importance two clusters were found. The stimuli evaluated in the most negative way belong to the last century and are related to wars or political and economic problems. Those evaluated most favorably are associated with discoveries or with the fight against oppression (abolition of slavery, democratic system). Regarding the importance attributed, all the stimuli presented obtained a high importance, reaching events higher scores than characters. Events and characters considered most important were related to advances in human rights and freedom, knowledge and changes in social life. These findings are discussed within the framework of collective memory

Genes associated with multiple sclerosis: 15 and counting

Evaluation of: The International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC). IL12A, MPHOSPH9/CDK2AP1 and RGS1 are novel multiple sclerosis susceptibility loci. Genes Immun. 11(5), 397-405 (2010). Multiple sclerosis (MS) develops in genetically susceptible populations as a result of environmental exposures, and discovering these genetic and/or environmental factors will provide fundamental new insights into the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of this disabling disease. With the introduction of genome-wide association studies, the number of genes found to be associated with MS has increased rapidly. In all of these genes, in a study by the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium, the classic MS risk locus, HLA-DRB1, stood out with remarkably strong statistical significance, but they also identified 12 other loci and/or genes associated with MS. However, all of these alleles have a very modest odds ratio and they explain approximately 3% of the variance in MS risk. Recently, the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium provided evidence for three new loci that show significant association at a genome-wide level: RGS1, IL12A and MPHOSPH9/CDK2AP1. In this article, we will review the three newly discovered susceptibility loci and the implications of genome-wide association studies in MS on clinical practice