Imágenes de volcanes en la poesía de Quevedo: entre simbología, mitología y visiones paisajísticas

La producción poética quevediana —especialmente de tipo amoroso y laudatorio— muestra una evidente predilección del autor hacia la imagen del volcán en sus distintas variedades connotativas: simbólica, mitológica y de reevocación paisajística. El frecuente empleo de tal imagen (que en la poesía amorosa se relaciona casi sólo con la tópica antítesis petrarquista de nieve y fuego exasperada por la recurrente asociación al lexema venas, mientras que en los poemas encomiásticos es casi siempre el vehículo para la evocación del episodio mítico de la Gigantomaquia) y su amplificación expresiva encuentran su apropiada colocación en un contexto de experimentación poética que parece ajeno a la verdadera tradición petrarquista. Quevedo’s love and encomiastic poetry shows his interest in the employ of the volcano image in its symbolic, mythological and descriptive approaches. The frequent use of this image (usually associated with the snow-fire antithetical courteous topic in the love poetry and with the mythological giants defying the Olympus in the laudatory poetry) and its expressive amplification find their real placing in a poetic experimentation context detached from the true Petrarchist tradition

Hacia una definición del papel de Quevedo en Italia

El presente artículo pretende ofrecer un repaso razonado de toda la cuestión de los años italianos de Quevedo para llegar a esbozar un perfil, lo más fidedigno posible, de la actuación del poeta al servicio del virrey Osuna. Para ello, la autora empieza revisando la bibliografía principal inherente al asunto, para ofrecer, después, una reconstrucción esencial del encrespado entorno histórico relacionado con tal experiencia; a continuación, pasa a recapitular los hitos de la estancia de Quevedo en las dos cortes virreinales, hasta focalizar su atención en las obras del mismo, en calidad de testimonios de su papel en el contexto indicado. En este sentido, cobra especial interés el epistolario quevediano de esos años y, particularmente, la correspondencia mantenida con el duque de Osuna.This article sets out to offer a reasoned review of the entire question of the years spent by Quevedo in Italy, with a view to sketching as reliably as possible an outline of his role in the service of the Duke of Osuna. To this end, the relevant existing bibliography on the subject is examined, the tense historical background to the events is reconstructed, the main elements concerned with Quevedo’s stay in both of the viceregal courts is recounted, and attention is given to those of his writings that bear witness to his role there. In this respect his correspondence during that period is of particular interest, most notably the correspondence that passed between him and the Duke of Osuna

La República de Venecia… (1617) y el Castigo esemplare de’ Calunniatori (1618): ¿una contienda político-literaria entre Francisco de Quevedo y Giacomo Castellani?

El presente trabajo pretende ilustrar el proceso según el cual el debate político-literario hispano-veneciano, ocasionado a consecuencia del extraordinario éxito de la Pietra di paragone político de Boccalini, se reduce a una contienda a dos voces entre Francisco de Quevedo y Giacomo Castellani, respectivamente, autores (o presuntos tales, como en el caso de Quevedo) de los avisos: La República de Venecia llega al Parnaso… y el Castigo esemplare de’ calunniatori. Tras presentar el encrespado panorama político-cultural que da lugar a la intensa producción para-literaria entre filoespañoles y defensores de la causa saboyana de la cual hacen parte los dos libelos antes mencionados, el ensayo analiza detenidamente las tres piezas que componen la respuesta de Castellani al panfleto atribuido a Quevedo: Annotationi, Allegatione y el propio Castigo. Llega así a poner en evidencia, en primer lugar, su espíritu declaradamente antiespañol, y secundariamente, su progresiva conversión, de crítica genérica a la nación española y a su pueblo, en ataque personal contra don Francisco de Quevedo. Finalmente acaba demostrando la presencia, en el pasquín antiquevediano de Castellani, de una concreta denuncia, ocultada tras un eficaz tejido satírico-paródico, de la implicación directa de don Francisco en el episodio culminante de la disputa hispano-veneciana de entonces: la conjuración de Venecia del día de la Ascensión de 1618. This report aims to show the proceeding by which the Hispano-Venetian political and literary debate, born as a consecuence of successful Boccalini’s Pietra di paragone politico, reduces itself to a sharp personal controversy between Francisco de Quevedo and Giacomo Castellani with their «avisos de Parnaso» titled La República de Venecia llega al Parnaso… and the Castigo esemplare de’ calunniatori respectively. After drawing the rippled cultural and political panorama that gave rise to the intense para-literature between pro-Savoyard and philo-Spanish where the two above-mentioned libels are inserted, this work attentively analyses the three texts written by Castellani as an answer to the anti-Venetian aviso ascribed to Quevedo: Annotationi, Allegatione and Castigo esemplare…. In this way it comes to underline, first of all, its declared anti-Spanish purpose and, secondly, its progressive transformation in a personal attack against Francisco de Quevedo. Finally it ends by proving the presence in Castellani’s pamphlet, behind an effective satirical and parodical texture, of a real denunciation of Quevedo’s involvement in the culminant event of the early seventeenth century Hispano-Venetian dispute: the conspiracy of Venice of 1618 Ascension-day

«Ivicio que de Marco Brvto hizieron los Autores en sus Obras»: un estudio de las traducciones quevedianas de los pasajes clásicos

El presente trabajo analiza las traducciones quevedianas de los pasajes clásicos que constituyen la pieza liminar titulada Jvicio qve de Marco Brvto hizieron los Autores …. Tras contextualizar los juicios dentro de los demás fragmentos introductorios de la obra es posible deducir la doble función que el autor les atribuye: presentar a los protagonistas y garantizar autoridad a su Marco Bruto a través de una traducción pseudo-objetiva. Un puntual cotejo entre los textos clásicos y las versiones de Quevedo muestra cómo la insólita precisión llevada a cabo por el autor —y que a veces esconde sus geniales y bien disimuladas intervenciones— es el resultado de una elección consciente, dependiente de la propia función de los juicios. Tal estudio pretende despertar el interés de la crítica hacia esta pieza liminar usualmente ignorada. This report analyses Quevedo’s translations of his Marco Bruto preliminary texts, titled Jvicio qve de Marco Brvto hizieron los autores… Inserting the Juicios among the other introductory passages reveals their double function: to introduce the protagonists and to guarantee authority to the work by a pseudo-objective translation. An accurate comparison between the classic fragments and Quevedo’s version shows how the author’s unusual precision –sometimes revealing his ingenuous and well concealed interventions– depends on a conscious choice due to the function of the passages themselves. Our analysis purpose is to awaken the interest of the critics towards this introductory text usually ignored by them

Years of life that could be saved from prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) causes premature death and loss of life expectancy worldwide. Its primary and secondary prevention can result in a significant number of years of life saved. AIM: To assess how many years of life are lost after HCC diagnosis. METHODS: Data from 5346 patients with first HCC diagnosis were used to estimate lifespan and number of years of life lost after tumour onset, using a semi-parametric extrapolation having as reference an age-, sex- and year-of-onset-matched population derived from national life tables. RESULTS: Between 1986 and 2014, HCC lead to an average of 11.5 years-of-life lost for each patient. The youngest age-quartile group (18-61 years) had the highest number of years-of-life lost, representing approximately 41% of the overall benefit obtainable from prevention. Advancements in HCC management have progressively reduced the number of years-of-life lost from 12.6 years in 1986-1999, to 10.7 in 2000-2006 and 7.4 years in 2007-2014. Currently, an HCC diagnosis when a single tumour <2 cm results in 3.7 years-of-life lost while the diagnosis when a single tumour 65 2 cm or 2/3 nodules still within the Milan criteria, results in 5.0 years-of-life lost, representing the loss of only approximately 5.5% and 7.2%, respectively, of the entire lifespan from birth. CONCLUSIONS: Hepatocellular carcinoma occurrence results in the loss of a considerable number of years-of-life, especially for younger patients. In recent years, the increased possibility of effectively treating this tumour has improved life expectancy, thus reducing years-of-life lost

Serum Uric Acid Predicts All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality Independently of Hypertriglyceridemia in Cardiometabolic Patients without Established CV Disease: A Sub-Analysis of the URic acid Right for heArt Health (URRAH) Study

High serum uric acid (SUA) and triglyceride (TG) levels might promote high-cardiovascular risk phenotypes across the cardiometabolic spectrum. However, SUA predictive power in the presence of normal and high TG levels has never been investigated. We included 8124 patients from the URic acid Right for heArt Health (URRAH) study cohort who were followed for over 20 years and had no established cardiovascular disease or uncontrolled metabolic disease. All-cause mortality (ACM) and cardiovascular mortality (CVM) were explored by the Kaplan-Meier estimator and Cox multivariable regression, adopting recently defined SUA cut-offs for ACM (&gt;= 4.7 mg/dL) and CVM (&gt;= 5.6 mg/dL). Exploratory analysis across cardiometabolic subgroups and a sensitivity analysis using SUA/serum creatinine were performed as validation. SUA predicted ACM (HR 1.25 [1.12-1.40], p &lt; 0.001) and CVM (1.31 [1.11-1.74], p &lt; 0.001) in the whole study population, and according to TG strata: ACM in normotriglyceridemia (HR 1.26 [1.12-1.43], p &lt; 0.001) and hypertriglyceridemia (1.31 [1.02-1.68], p = 0.033), and CVM in normotriglyceridemia (HR 1.46 [1.23-1.73], p &lt; 0.001) and hypertriglyceridemia (HR 1.31 [0.99-1.64], p = 0.060). Exploratory and sensitivity analyses confirmed our findings, suggesting a substantial role of SUA in normotriglyceridemia and hypertriglyceridemia. In conclusion, we report that SUA can predict ACM and CVM in cardiometabolic patients without established cardiovascular disease, independent of TG levels

The polymorphism L412F in TLR3 inhibits autophagy and is a marker of severe COVID-19 in males

The polymorphism L412F in TLR3 has been associated with several infectious diseases. However, the mechanism underlying this association is still unexplored. Here, we show that the L412F polymorphism in TLR3 is a marker of severity in COVID-19. This association increases in the sub-cohort of males. Impaired macroautophagy/autophagy and reduced TNF/TNFα production was demonstrated in HEK293 cells transfected with TLR3L412F-encoding plasmid and stimulated with specific agonist poly(I:C). A statistically significant reduced survival at 28 days was shown in L412F COVID-19 patients treated with the autophagy-inhibitor hydroxychloroquine (p = 0.038). An increased frequency of autoimmune disorders such as co-morbidity was found in L412F COVID-19 males with specific class II HLA haplotypes prone to autoantigen presentation. Our analyses indicate that L412F polymorphism makes males at risk of severe COVID-19 and provides a rationale for reinterpreting clinical trials considering autophagy pathways. Abbreviations: AP: autophagosome; AUC: area under the curve; BafA1: bafilomycin A1; COVID-19: coronavirus disease-2019; HCQ: hydroxychloroquine; RAP: rapamycin; ROC: receiver operating characteristic; SARS-CoV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; TLR: toll like receptor; TNF/TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor

Clinical features and outcomes of elderly hospitalised patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure or both

Background and objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure (HF) mutually increase the risk of being present in the same patient, especially if older. Whether or not this coexistence may be associated with a worse prognosis is debated. Therefore, employing data derived from the REPOSI register, we evaluated the clinical features and outcomes in a population of elderly patients admitted to internal medicine wards and having COPD, HF or COPD + HF. Methods: We measured socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics, severity and prevalence of comorbidities, clinical and laboratory features during hospitalization, mood disorders, functional independence, drug prescriptions and discharge destination. The primary study outcome was the risk of death. Results: We considered 2,343 elderly hospitalized patients (median age 81&nbsp;years), of whom 1,154 (49%) had COPD, 813 (35%) HF, and 376 (16%) COPD + HF. Patients with COPD + HF had different characteristics than those with COPD or HF, such as a higher prevalence of previous hospitalizations, comorbidities (especially chronic kidney disease), higher respiratory rate at admission and number of prescribed drugs. Patients with COPD + HF (hazard ratio HR 1.74, 95% confidence intervals CI 1.16-2.61) and patients with dementia (HR 1.75, 95% CI 1.06-2.90) had a higher risk of death at one year. The Kaplan-Meier curves showed a higher mortality risk in the group of patients with COPD + HF for all causes (p = 0.010), respiratory causes (p = 0.006), cardiovascular causes (p = 0.046) and respiratory plus cardiovascular causes (p = 0.009). Conclusion: In this real-life cohort of hospitalized elderly patients, the coexistence of COPD and HF significantly worsened prognosis at one year. This finding may help to better define the care needs of this population

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe