L'impacte del Túnel i l'Autovia de Vallvidrera en el territori : un exemple de geografia aplicada

Cette recherche, menée par I'Institut d'Etudes Métropolitaines de Barce- lone, est centrée sur la mesure des effets que pourraient avoir la construction du tunnel de Vallvidrera et de l'autoroute vers Terrassa, ainsi que leurs connexions avec le réseau urbain de Barcelone et avec le réseau de communications de base du Vallès Occidental. L'obstacle que veut surmonter le tunnel est la Serra de Collserola, qui fait partie de la Chaine Litorale Catalane; celle-ci a été toujours ressentie comme une barrière à l'acroissement urbain de Barcelone mais elle a permis, en même temps, de conserver une grande zone verte qui constitue le parc le plus important de toute l'aire métropolitaine. Dans le présent article nous prennons en considération deux aspects essentiels: le rôle que peut avoir cette nouvelle infrastructure dans le réseau routier de la Catalogne et les effets directs et indirects de son tracé sur l'environnement. Sur le premier aspect, on reconnait la nécessité d'améliorer l'interconnectivité de l'aire métropolitaine dans la partie sud-est de la Serra de Collserola, ce qui justifique la construction d'un tunnel et de quelque sorte de voie rapide. Néanmoins, l'étude previent sur les effets nocifs que pourrait avoir sur l'environnement le passage d'un trop grand nombre de véhicules. Les gaz qu'ils émmetraient, en combinaison avec les caractéristiques atmosphériques particulitres à cette zone, pourraient avoir des effets irréversibles, en particulier à travers les pluies acides. On a établi une limite de 20.000 véhicules par jour, au dessus de laquelle les effets négatifs du nouvel ouvrage dépasseraient largement ses effets positifs. La construction du tunnel devrait donc s'accompagner d'une amélioration du transport public entre Barcelone et l'aire du Vallès, en facon i dissuader autant que possible l'accroissement du transport privé an dessus du niveau présent.This subject of research carried out by the Barcelona Institute of Metropolitan Studies involved the valuation of the expected impact of the construction of the Vallvidrera tunnel, the consequent motorway extension to Terrassa, connecting roads to the existing Barcelona city network and the basic road network between towns in the West Valles region. The obstacle to be overcome is the Serra de Collserola, which forms part of the Catalan coastal mountain chain. This has long been considered a barrier to the expansion of the formation of an extensive green belt, considered the most important park in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. In this article two basic aspects are considered: (1) the role which this new infrastructure will play in Catalonia's basic road network, and (2) its direct and indirect impact on the surrounding physical environment. One fact clearly demonstrated by the study is the need to improve access within the Barcelona Metropolitan Area in the south-western part of the Serra de Collserola, and that the construction of a tunnel and some form of rapid transport might therefore be advisible. However, control of the impact on the physical environment i equally essential, bearing in mind above all the number of vehicles involved. Vehicle fume ejection combined with the unique atmospheric conditions of the zone could generate irreversible damaging effects such as acid precipitation. The principal limitation is the volume of transport-daily traffic which exceeded 20.000 vehicles could cause more negative than positive effects. This study recommends, as a solution, the improvement of public transport between Barcelona and the Valles region, in order to dissuade the use of private transport beyond present limits.En esta investigación, realizada por el Instituto de Estudios Metropolitanos de Barcelona, se mide el impacto que representaria la construcción del túnel de Vallvidrera y la autopista a Terrassa, asi como las conexiones necesarias con la trama urbana de la ciudad de Barcelona y la red básica entre las poblaciones de la comarca del Vallés Occidental. El obstáculo a superar es la Sierra de Collserola que forma parte de la Cordillera Litoral catalana. Esta se ha considerado como una barrera al crecimiento urbano de la ciudad de Barcelona, pero al mismo tiempo ha dado lugar a una gran área verde que puede considerarse el parque más importante del Área metropolitana de Barcelona. En este articulo consideramos dos aspectos básicos: el papel que puede representar esta nueva infraestructura en la red viaria básica de Catalunya y los impactos medioambientales directos e indirectos de su trazado. Del estudio se desprende que es necesario mejorar la conectividad interna del área metropolitana de Barcelona en la zona sur oeste de la Sierra de Collserola, y que por lo tanto puede ser deseable la construcción de un túnel y algun tipo de via rapida. Sin embargo, debe controlarse que el impacto sobre el medio ambiente sea minimo, en especial en relación con el número de vehiculos. Los gases emitidos por estos junto a las peculiares caracteristicas atmosféricas de la zona pueden generar efectos irreversibles como el de la lluvia ácida. La principal limitación es el volumen de vehiculos que por encima de los 20.000 diarios podrían generar más efectos negativos que positivos. La mejor solución es mejorar el transporte publico entre el Barcelonés y el Vallés que consiga disuadir el uso del transporte privado en una proporción mayor que en el momento presente

No evidence of family history as a risk factor for herpes zoster in patients with post-herpetic neuralgia

Little is known about reactivation of latent varicella zoster virus as herpes zoster in individuals with no underlying immunosuppression. Risk factors include age, sex, ethnicity, exogenous boosting of immunity from varicella contacts, underlying cell-mediated immune disorders, mechanical trauma, psychological stress, and immunotoxin exposure. An association between herpes zoster and family history of zoster has been proposed. A case-control study involving patients affected by post-herpetic neuralgia, which usually follows more severe acute herpes zoster, was performed. The patients with post-herpetic neuralgia were enrolled at the Pain Clinic of the Policlinico Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy, within 1 year from the onset of acute zoster. The controls matched for sex and age were chosen among healthy subjects without a history of herpes zoster presenting at the Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic for hypertension in the same time period. All the participants in the study gave informed consent and were interviewed by medically trained and blinded investigators using a questionnaire. Similar proportions of the patients and the controls reported a family history of herpes zoster irrespective of the degree of relationship, i.e., 17.4% and 18.2%, respectively, by analyzing only the first-degree relatives [RR 1.03 (CI 95%: 0.78-1.37)], and 28.4% and 29.6%, respectively, by analyzing the total number of relatives [RR 1.03 (CI 95%: 0.81-1.31)]. Further and larger prospective cohort studies are needed to ascertain whether a family history of herpes zoster is really an independent predictor of zoster in different geographical settings

Plasticity in the sensorimotor cortex induced by Music-supported therapy in stroke patients: a TMS study.

Playing a musical instrument demands the engagement of different neural systems. Recent studies about the musician"s brain and musical training highlight that this activity requires the close interaction between motor and somatosensory systems. Moreover, neuroplastic changes have been reported in motor-related areas after short and long-term musical training. Because of its capacity to promote neuroplastic changes, music has been used in the context of stroke neurorehabilitation. The majority of patients suffering from a stroke have motor impairments, preventing them to live independently. Thus, there is an increasing demand for effective restorative interventions for neurological deficits. Music-supported Therapy (MST) has been recently developed to restore motor deficits. We report data of a selected sample of stroke patients who have been enrolled in a MST program (1 month intense music learning). Prior to and after the therapy, patients were evaluated with different behavioral motor tests. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) was applied to evaluate changes in the sensorimotor representations underlying the motor gains observed. Several parameters of excitability of the motor cortex were assessed as well as the cortical somatotopic representation of a muscle in the affected hand. Our results revealed that participants obtained significant motor improvements in the paretic hand and those changes were accompanied by changes in the excitability of the motor cortex. Thus, MST leads to neuroplastic changes in the motor cortex of stroke patients which may explain its efficacy

L'agüela : Comedia valenciana en vers y dos actes

obra premiada en los Jocs Florals de "Lo Rat Penat", 190

Neural Circuits Subserving the Retrieval of Stems and Grammatical Features in Regular and Irregular Verbs

Many languages, including English and Spanish, feature regular (dance 3 danced) and irregular (catch 3 caught) inflectional systems. According to psycholinguistic theories, regular and irregular inflections are instantiated either by a single or by two specialized mechanisms. Those theories differ in their assumptions concerning the underlying information necessary for the processing of regular verbs. Whereas single mechanism accounts have stated an increased involvement of phonological processing for regular verbs, dual accounts emphasize the prominence of grammatical information. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we sought to delineate the brain areas involved in the generation of complex verb forms in Spanish. This language has the advantage of isolating specific differences in the regular-irregular contrasts in terms of the number of stems associated with a verb while controlling for compositionality (regular and irregular verbs apply suffixes to be inflected). The present study showed that areas related to grammatical processing are active for both types of verbs (left opercular inferior frontal gyrus). In addition, major differences between regular and irregular verbs were also observed. Several areas of the prefrontal cortex were selectively active for irregular production, presumably reflecting their role in lexical retrieval (bilateral inferior frontal area and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). Regular verbs, however, showed increased activation in areas related to grammatical processing (anterior superior temporal gyrus/insular cortex) and in the left hippocampus, the latter possibly related to a greater implication of the phonological loop necessary for the reutilization of the same stem shared across all forms in regular verbs

Investigation of the Properties of Galactic Cosmic Rays with the KASCADE-Grande Experiment

The properties of galactic cosmic rays are investigated with the KASCADE-Grande experiment in the energy range between $10^{14}$ and $10^{18}$ eV. Recent results are discussed. They concern mainly the all-particle energy spectrum and the elemental composition of cosmic rays.Comment: Proc. RICAP 09, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in pres