Old and new memories of the Civil War

This article examines autobiographical narratives of the Spanish Civil War by way of war diaries, letters and memoirs which have been published between 2006 and 2013. Since the beginning of the war the trauma caused to Spanish society has led to a substantial number of personal narratives. These sources, based upon individual experiences, are of great value for constructing a multi-faceted history of the war itself. We examine memoirs and diaries which for various reasons have not been published until recently. We deal first with military memoirs from the Francoist side, which show a striking continuity with present-day neo-Francoist approaches. Second, we examine memoirs by members of the Republican élite and of the popular classes, all of them coming from different political cultures. Finally, we account for the writing of women in exile and of a Chilean diplomat in Madrid.Este artículo se centra en el análisis de los relatos autobiográficos de la Guerra Civil española, ya sean estos en forma de diarios de guerra, de cartas o de memorias, publicados en los años 2006-2013. Desde los inicios la Guerra Civil, el trauma que produjo este conflicto en la sociedad española hizo que aflorasen numerosos relatos personales. Esas narraciones procedentes de la experiencia individual son una fuente privilegiada en la construcción de una historia poliédrica del conflicto bélico, que incluya a los diferentes actores sociales de los bandos contendientes. Comentamos aquí memorias y diarios que por diferentes motivos, como el resguardo de la intimidad o por cuestiones políticas, no se han publicado hasta fechas recientes. Tratando de señalar los diferentes puntos de vista de la contienda, comentamos en primer lugar las memorias de algunos militares del bando sublevado, que evidencian su relación con los planteamientos neofranquistas actuales sobre la guerra y la dictadura. A continuación analizamos algunos relatos memoriales, tanto de miembros de la élite política republicana como de las clases populares del bando vencido, pertenecientes a diversas culturas políticas. Por último damos una visión de los relatos de la guerra «desde afuera», la escritura autobiográfica femenina más reciente desde el exilio y la visión de algunos extranjeros, como los diarios de guerra de un diplomático chileno en Madrid. El texto se completa con una bibliografía de las memorias centradas en la Guerra Civil, que se han publicado en el período estudiado

TRAYECTORIAS LABORALES FEMENINAS BAJO EL PRIMER FRANQUISMO A TRAVÉS DE LA MEMORIA DE LAS MUJERES.

TRAYECTORIAS LABORALES FEMENINAS BAJO EL PRIMER FRANQUISMO A TRAVÉS DE LA MEMORIA DE LAS MUJERES

FEMALE LABOR TRAJECTORIES UNDER THE FIRST FRANCHISM THROUGH THE MEMORY OF WOMEN.

FEMALE LABOR TRAJECTORIES UNDER THE FIRST FRANCHISM THROUGH THE MEMORY OF WOMEN

La fuga dal “recinto”: la trincea e la follia,

Una delle eredità più terribili e sinistramente innovative della Grande Guerra è certamente costituita dallo shock post traumatico e dalla “follia di guerra”. La dura, terribile vita di trincea ha presto il sopravvento sulla retorica bellicista e sull’estetica della bella morte, consegnandoci una realtà nella quale progressivamente si afferma l’orrore che cresce nel fango, nelle ristrettezze e negli stenti della trincea fino a divenire, per alcuni, insopportabile e a prospettare la follia come unica via di fuga. Lo studio apre uno scorcio su questa realtà terribile attraverso le drammatiche - a volte tragiche - testimonianze dei militari al fronte: parole che raccontano una perdita di individualità e di dignità personale, una fangosa e sanguinosa contiguità del soldato con la quotidianità della morte che alimenta atti di insubordinazione, di diserzione, ma anche un crescente disagio che può sfociare nella follia. Subordinazione e abbrutimento sono amplificati dalla dimensione esistenziale del “recinto” della trincea: un enorme labirinto di angustia, paura, morte che segna il destino di una generazione e cambia la definitivamente l’idea stessa della guerra nel Novecento.La seconda parte del saggio illustra come la “nevrosi di guerra” faccia il suo ingresso, dopo un esordio assai difficile e contrastato, nei campi di battaglia. L’”isteria di guerra” diventa una realtà non più eludibile né censurabile, con la quale si dovranno misurare i comandi militari e, soprattutto, gli psichiatri italiani. Dalla nascita del Servizio neuropsichiatrico di guerra e dalla prima attività diagnostica e clinica, negli ospedali da campo e nelle retrovie, sui soldati affetti da patologie psichiatriche originate dalla guerra presto si evidenziano l’ampiezza del fenomeno e la sua gravità. Il fenomeno è nuovo e non stupisce che emergano anche carenze nelle terapie: non vi è traccia di psicoterapia, mentre trova scarsa applicazione anche la famigerata elettroterapia che incontrava grande favore presso i neurologi. Lo studio dà quindi contro dell’ampio dibattito che si sviluppò intorno alla “strana malattia”, coinvolgendo luminari e le principali riviste scientifiche. Abbandonata a fatica l’idea di una predisposizione ereditaria alla patologia mentale, e dovendosi peraltro superare la tentazione di liquidare il “folle di guerra” come vile o codardo, si fa strada lentamente - soprattutto dopo il disastro di Caporetto – l’idea che i disturbi psichici avvertiti da un sempre maggiore numero si soldati fosse da attribuire alle fatiche e agli orrori imposti dalla guerra. Al termine del conflitto prevale tuttavia ancora l’idea che quello che gli inglesi, dopo la catastrofe della Somme, avevano chiamato shell schock, il disturbo da stress post-traumatico, fosse comunque fenomeno transitorio e recuperabile, quando non frutto di simulazioneAmong the most awkward and ominously innovative heritages of WW1 there are the post traumatic shock and the "insanity of war". The fearful life on the trench has quickly overcome the wartime rhetoric and the aesthetics of the BELLA MORTE.The reality is the gradual acceptance of the horror of a life made of mud, of scarcity of food and equipment for some, and the escape to madness for the others. The essay focuses on the tragic, even dramatic witnesses of the soldiers at war: words telling of loss of human dignity and personal individuality. The everyday proximity to death leads to insubordination, to desertion, but also to a state of discomfort, or eventually of madness. Subordination and degradation are magnified by the sense on confinement of the trench, a labyrinth of anxiety, fear, death that marks the destiny of a generation and modifies the idea of the war in XX Century. The second part of the essay introduces the subject of "neurosis of the war" in the battlefields. The "hysteria of the war" is now unavoidable and cannot be silenced.It becomes a challenge that the military High Command and the psychiatrists have to face. The neuropsychiatric Service at war, that carried on diagnostic and clinic action in field hospitals and behind the front were brought to test the amplitude of the problem. It is a new issue, not yet carefully attended: psycotherapy is still unknown, nor the elettroschock, so much praised among neurologists, is widely practised. The essay records the wide discussion on the "weird disease" among the most eminent physicians and the leading scientific reviews . The belief of a hereditary pathology was gradually set aside, so was the risk of considering the "mad at war" a coward. The source of the psychiatric diseases was acknowledged in the atrocities suffered in the war. Nevertheless, at the end of the war, the opinion that the shell Schock, as the British called it after the debacle of the Somme, reappers. According to it, the post-traumatic disease was only a temporary phenomenon, if not mere dissimulation

The DC-SIGN–related lectin LSECtin mediates antigen capture and pathogen binding by human myeloid cells

7 Figures. Conflict-of-interest disclosure: The authors declare no competing financial interests. The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. Therefore, and solely to indicate this fact, this article is hereby marked ‘‘advertisement’’ in accordance with 18 USC section 1734.Liver and lymph node sinusoidal endothelial cell C-type lectin (LSECtin [CLEC4G]) is a C-type lectin encoded within the liver/lymph node–specific intercellular adhesion molecule-3–grabbing nonintegrin (L-SIGN)/dendritic cell–specific intercellular adhesion molecule-3–grabbing nonintegrin (DC-SIGN)/CD23 gene cluster. LSECtin expression has been previously described as restricted to sinusoidal endothelial cells of the liver and lymph node. We now report LSECtin expression in human peripheral blood and thymic dendritic cells isolated ex vivo. LSECtin is also detected in monocyte-derived macrophages and dendritic cells at the RNA and protein level. In vitro, interleukin-4 (IL-4) induces the expression of 3 LSECtin alternatively spliced isoforms, including a potentially soluble form (Δ2 isoform) and a shorter version of the prototypic molecule (Δ3/4 isoform). LSECtin functions as a pathogen receptor, because its expression confers Ebola virus–binding capacity to leukemic cells. Sugar-binding studies indicate that LSECtin specifically recognizes N-acetyl-glucosamine, whereas no LSECtin binding to Mannan- or N-acetyl-galactosamine–containing matrices are observed. Antibody or ligand-mediated engagement triggers a rapid internalization of LSECtin,which is dependent on tyrosine and diglutamic-containing motifs within the cytoplasmic tail. Therefore, LSECtin is a pathogen-associated molecular pattern receptor in human myeloid cells. In addition, our results suggest that LSECtin participates in antigen uptake and internalization, and might be a suitable target molecule in vaccination strategies.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (grants SAF2005-0021, AGL2004-02148-ALI, and GEN2003-20649-C06-01/NAC) and Fundación para la Investigación y Prevención del SIDA en Espan˜a (FIPSE 36422/03) to ALC. A.D.S. was supported by a FPI predoctoral grant (BES2004-4405) from Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain). Authorship Contribution: A.D.S. designed the research and performed the experiments; L.A.F., E.G.M., L.M.P., and P.M. performed the research (lipid raft preparation, thymic cell separation, Ebolabinding assays); M.L.T., M.C., M.Z., R.D., and F.B. provided reagents and supervised individual experiments; and A.L.C. supervised research and wrote the paper.Peer reviewe

Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy (EAGLE): pragmatic, batched stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized trial in 64 countries

Background Anastomotic leak affects 8 per cent of patients after right colectomy with a 10-fold increased risk of postoperative death. The EAGLE study aimed to develop and test whether an international, standardized quality improvement intervention could reduce anastomotic leaks. Methods The internationally intended protocol, iteratively co-developed by a multistage Delphi process, comprised an online educational module introducing risk stratification, an intraoperative checklist, and harmonized surgical techniques. Clusters (hospital teams) were randomized to one of three arms with varied sequences of intervention/data collection by a derived stepped-wedge batch design (at least 18 hospital teams per batch). Patients were blinded to the study allocation. Low- and middle-income country enrolment was encouraged. The primary outcome (assessed by intention to treat) was anastomotic leak rate, and subgroup analyses by module completion (at least 80 per cent of surgeons, high engagement; less than 50 per cent, low engagement) were preplanned. Results A total 355 hospital teams registered, with 332 from 64 countries (39.2 per cent low and middle income) included in the final analysis. The online modules were completed by half of the surgeons (2143 of 4411). The primary analysis included 3039 of the 3268 patients recruited (206 patients had no anastomosis and 23 were lost to follow-up), with anastomotic leaks arising before and after the intervention in 10.1 and 9.6 per cent respectively (adjusted OR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.59 to 1.30; P = 0.498). The proportion of surgeons completing the educational modules was an influence: the leak rate decreased from 12.2 per cent (61 of 500) before intervention to 5.1 per cent (24 of 473) after intervention in high-engagement centres (adjusted OR 0.36, 0.20 to 0.64; P < 0.001), but this was not observed in low-engagement hospitals (8.3 per cent (59 of 714) and 13.8 per cent (61 of 443) respectively; adjusted OR 2.09, 1.31 to 3.31). Conclusion Completion of globally available digital training by engaged teams can alter anastomotic leak rates. Registration number: NCT04270721 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)