El malestar de las corridas en la España actual (y la relación del mismo con el encaje de lo español en Europa)

La corrida de toros en la España actual –enmarcada en un contexto europeo- ha logrado tener una enorme importancia en los sentidos politicos, culturales, y simbólicos. Este artículo comienza por examinar reacciones a la cornada mortal del torero Víctor Barrio, quien era para unos un héroe, para otros un torturador de animales. El artículo sigue con un análisis de tres sectores de ciudadanos en protesta a la corrida: (1) nacionalistas catalanes, (2) españoles identificados con la nueva Europa, y (3) animalistas. El artículo concluye por explicar las posturas hacia otros espectáculos en la Península Ibérica que incluyen toros, especialmente el correbous de Catalunya.The bullfight in today’s Spain has attained enormous political, cultural, and symbolic salience. This article examines media reactions to the death in the bullring of torero Víctor Barrio, to some citizens a hero, but to others an animal abuser. The article goes on to analyze opposition to bullfighting from three sectors of Spanish society: (1) Catalan nationalists, (2) Spaniards who identify with the new Europe, and (3) animal rights advocates. It concludes with public attitudes towards other bull-related public spectacles, especially the Catalan correbous

A redox switch in angiotensinogen modulates angiotensin release.

Blood pressure is critically controlled by angiotensins, which are vasopressor peptides specifically released by the enzyme renin from the tail of angiotensinogen-a non-inhibitory member of the serpin family of protease inhibitors. Although angiotensinogen has long been regarded as a passive substrate, the crystal structures solved here to 2.1 Å resolution show that the angiotensin cleavage site is inaccessibly buried in its amino-terminal tail. The conformational rearrangement that makes this site accessible for proteolysis is revealed in our 4.4 Å structure of the complex of human angiotensinogen with renin. The co-ordinated changes involved are seen to be critically linked by a conserved but labile disulphide bridge. Here we show that the reduced unbridged form of angiotensinogen is present in the circulation in a near 40:60 ratio with the oxidized sulphydryl-bridged form, which preferentially interacts with receptor-bound renin. We propose that this redox-responsive transition of angiotensinogen to a form that will more effectively release angiotensin at a cellular level contributes to the modulation of blood pressure. Specifically, we demonstrate the oxidative switch of angiotensinogen to its more active sulphydryl-bridged form in the maternal circulation in pre-eclampsia-the hypertensive crisis of pregnancy that threatens the health and survival of both mother and child

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Property, Progeny, and Emotion: Family History in a Leonese Village

This article considers, from the historical, demographic, and anthropological points of view the various forms that the Leonese peasant family takes during its development cycle, and demonstrates the importance of extended and multiple family households in an area long characterized by partible inheritance and nuclear family households. Two methods of doing family history, at times held incompatible, are used and are shown to be complementary: a structural analysis of households, based on four household lists from 1920 to 1978, and on demographic data from 1739 to 1978; and an interpretive analysis of the lived reality of the Leonese household, based on ethnographic data and on locally held notions of proper relations between kin, as embedded in stories people tell about family histories.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67451/2/10.1177_036319908801300102.pd

Employee Benefits and Social Welfare: Complement and Conflict

Employee benefits constitute a major vehicle for the provision of income security for Americans. Since the 1940s, wage supplements, particularly in the form of pensions and health insurance, have expanded to provide protections that are the province of public programs in most other Western countries. Building upon the precedents of the welfare capitalism of the early 1900s, the growth of employee benefits has been actively stimulated by federal tax and regulatory policies. The emergence of employee benefits as a major source of income security and health insurance has reduced the aggregate need for public programs, but it has left those in lower-paying, less stable jobs-disproportionately women and minorities—both unprotected and with fewer political allies to press for improved protections. The implementation of the employee benefit programs has also created financial interests in the existing structure that would resist changes that would diminish their role.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67572/2/10.1177_000271628547900107.pd