Una aristocràtica humanista de la València del XVI: "Donya Mencia de Mendoza"

L'elaborata ricostruzione biografica di una delle figure piu alte del Cinquecento valenciano, e il tema di questo saggio. Mencia de Mendoza i Fonseca apparteneva a una deBe stirpi piu potenti della Spagna. 11 casato fu iniziato da Pedro González di Mendoza e da donna Aldonza di Ayala nel secolo XV. Tra i successivi appartenenti alla dinastia vi furono il celeberrimo Iñigo López di Mendoza e l'altrettanto famoso cardinale Pedro González di Mendoza, dal quate nacque Roderic di Mendoza, padre di donna Mencia e piu tardi Diego Hurtaclb di Mendoza, che divenne conte di Mélito e vicere di Valencia nel periodo urutario. Mencia de Mendoza, questo personaggio tutto al femminile del Cinquecento 'valenciano, manifestó una personalita forte e straordinaria in tutti gli aspetti della vita. Condannata a scelte matrimoniali imposte dagli interessi di casta, reagi con lo strutturare la propria dimora come un monastero; si suppone anche che la sua obesita fosse da lei voluta onde dissuadere gli impeti sessuali di alcuni uomini-mariti che non aveva avuto I'opportunita di scegliere. Sensibile alrarte ed alla musica, fu partecipe delle correnti intellettuali del'Europa rinascentista

On the LS-category and topological complexity of projective product spaces

We determine the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category of the projective product spaces introduced by D. Davis. We also obtained an upper bound for the topological complexity of these spaces, which improves the estimate given by J. Gonz\'alez, M. Grant, E. Torres-Giese, and M. Xicot\'encatl

The Imprint of Proper Motion of Nonlinear Structures on the Cosmic Microwave Background

We investigate the imprint of nonlinear matter condensations on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in an $\Omega=1$, Cold Dark Matter (CDM) model universe. Temperature anisotropies are obtained by numerically evolving matter inhomogeneities and CMB photons from the beginning of decoupling until the present epoch. The underlying density field produced by the inhomogeneities is followed from the linear, through the weakly clustered, into the fully nonlinear regime. We concentrate on CMB temperature distortions arising from variations in the gravitational potentials of nonlinear structures. We find two sources of temperature fluctuations produced by time-varying potentials: (1) anisotropies due to intrinsic changes in the gravitational potentials of the inhomogeneities and (2) anisotropies generated by the peculiar, bulk motion of the structures across the microwave sky. Both effects generate CMB anisotropies in the range of 10^{-7} \siml \Delta T/T \siml 10^{-6} on scales of $\sim 1^{\circ}$. For isolated structures, anisotropies due to proper motion exhibit a dipole-like signature in the CMB sky that in principle could yield information on the transverse velocity of the structures.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures (included), uuencoded postcript fil

Electron bifurcation mechanism and homoacetogenesis explain products yields in mixed culture anaerobic fermentations

Anaerobic fermentation of organic wastes using microbial mixed cultures is a promising avenue to treat residues and obtain added-value products. However, the process has some important limitations that prevented so far any industrial application. One of the main issues is that we are not able to predict reliably the product spectrum (i.e. the stoichiometry of the process) because the complex microbial community behaviour is not completely understood. To address this issue, in this work we propose a new metabolic network of glucose fermentation by microbial mixed cultures that incorporates electron bifurcation and homoacetogenesis. Our methodology uses NADH balances to analyse published experimental data and evaluate the new stoichiometry proposed. Our results prove for the first time the inclusion of electron bifurcation in the metabolic network as a better description of the experimental results. Homoacetogenesis has been used to explain the discrepancies between observed and theoretically predicted yields of gaseous H2 and CO2 and it appears as the best solution among other options studied. Overall, this work supports the consideration of electron bifurcation as an important biochemical mechanism in microbial mixed cultures fermentations and underlines the importance of considering homoacetogenesis when analysing anaerobic fermentations

Prevalence and correlates of mild cognitive impairment among diverse Hispanics/Latinos: Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging results.

IntroductionWe estimated the prevalence and correlates of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among middle-aged and older diverse Hispanics/Latinos.MethodsMiddle-aged and older diverse Hispanics/Latinos enrolled (n = 6377; 50-86 years) in this multisite prospective cohort study were evaluated for MCI using the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association diagnostic criteria.ResultsThe overall MCI prevalence was 9.8%, which varied between Hispanic/Latino groups. Older age, high cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, and elevated depressive symptoms were significant correlates of MCI prevalence. Apolipoprotein E4 (APOE) and APOE2 were not significantly associated with MCI.DiscussionMCI prevalence varied among Hispanic/Latino backgrounds, but not as widely as reported in the previous studies. CVD risk and depressive symptoms were associated with increased MCI, whereas APOE4 was not, suggesting alternative etiologies for MCI among diverse Hispanics/Latinos. Our findings suggest that mitigating CVD risk factors may offer important pathways to understanding and reducing MCI and possibly dementia among diverse Hispanics/Latinos