The woman and the portrayal of power: The stamp of Blanche de Castille

En el presente trabajo nos vamos a centrar en el análisis de la proyección del poder femenino a través de la sigilografía, que cuenta con la flor de lis como elemento heráldico distintivo, la plasmación como símbolo de poder del reino de Francia. Los sellos de reinas como Isabel de Hainault y Blanca de Castilla, nuestro caso de estudio, constituyen el mejor ejemplo de una mayor relevancia en el ejercicio del poder a partir de la segunda mitad del siglo XII, y ya en el XIII, su poder y su imagen se hicieron más fuertes. Sin embargo, el poder de Blanca de Castilla deviene en gran medida por su labor de mecenazgo más que por representación en el sello, muy diferente de su antecesora, pero siguiendo el modelo de Leonor de Aquitania, su abuela, y con quien quiso asimilarse como veremos en las grandes semejanzas existentes en la vida y obra de ambas reinasThe following paper is focused on the analysis of females power through sigillography, with the fleur-de-lys as the distinctive heraldic element depicting the power of the Kingdom of France. The stamps of the queens Elisabeth of Hainault and Blanche of Castile, our study case, are the best example of an increased power from the second half of the twelfth century through the thirteen century, when their power and image were strengthened. Blanche of Castile’s power, however, proceeds to a greater degree from her patronage rather than from her stamp representation, unlike her predecessor, yet following the model established by her grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who she attempted to resemble, as we shall see through the great similarities in the life and work of bot

The intervention of Innocent III in the matrimonial politics of Philip Augustus of France and of Alfonso IX of Leon

En el presente trabajo nos vamos a centrar en el análisis de la proyección del poder de Inocencio III en las cuestiones matrimoniales de Felipe Augusto de Francia y Alfonso IX de León. Inocencio se enfrentó a estos reyes porque no podía permitir que en el Occidente europeo existiesen monarcas cuyas uniones fuesen reprochables a ojos de sus súbditos, pues eran bígamos o guardaban lazos de consanguinidad en menos del cuarto grado con sus cónyuges. Inocencio conocía bien la doctrina canónica y manifestó una voluntad especial de aplicarla a la persona del rey sin importarle atentar contra los derechos de los soberanos de Francia y León, sobre los que pesó la sombra de la excomunión y del interdicto (siete años en el caso leonés, y durante dos décadas en el francés), un dilema con el cual los monarcas osaron oponerse a Roma. Asimismo, nos permite conocer la relación que tuvo Inocencio con Felipe y Alfonso, para establecer así diferencias y semejanzas entre ambos casos.In this paper we shall focus on the analysis of Innocent III’s power over Philip Augustus and Alfonso IX’s marital issues. Innocent challenged these kings because he could not allow Western monarchs to maintain marital unions which could be censurable in the eyes of his subjects since they were bigamous or had consanguinity ties below the fourth degree. Innocent was well acquainted with the canonical doctrine and proved himself willing to apply it to kings regardless of the special rights of the sovereigns of France and León over whom the shadow of excommunication and interdict (seven years for the Leonese and two decades for the French king) threateningly loomed; before this unexpected challenge the monarchs dared oppose Rome. This also allows us to compare and contrast the relationship between Innocent and the two monarchs.Ciencias ReligiosasDerech

Matés-Barco, Juan Manuel y María Vázquez-Fariñas, The Age of Global Economic Crises (1929-2022), London, Routledge, 2023, 220p. ISBN: 978-1-03248252-1. 104€

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A service-learning educational approach developed the transversal competencies of undergraduate students in an outreach workshop aimed to high school students

In the last decade, research institutes and universities have strengthened the development of outreach activities in the biomedical field, involving researchers and professors as well as graduate students, but with little or no implication of undergraduate students. The development of this type of activities, using the Service-Learning educational approach, could be a valuable tool that would manage the acquisition of learning competencies by undergraduate students of Health Science Degrees and would put science at the service of society.In this project, we present the development of the workshop entitled “Exploring the human body”, in which 205 students in their first and second year of a Degree in Nursing or Medicine (University of Málaga, Spain) acted as mentors of 753 high school students (15 to 16 years old) in several school years (since 2016-2017, excluding 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The workshop consisted of five work stations. Each station featured a set of different experiments and activities that were designed to teach the multiple levels by which the human body, and particularly the nervous system, can be studied: biomolecules, cells, tissues, organs and systems. Both high school and undergraduate students gave an evaluation of the workshop via questionnaires (Likert scale-based and short-answer questions) and a debriefing with the university professors. Data showed an overall score of 4.6 Out of 5 points for the workshop by both high school and undergraduate students. In addition, undergraduate students pointed out that their participation had a positive impact on their academic background (4.8 Out of 5 points), mainly due to the improvement of their oral communication skills (78 students) and self-confidence (58 students). Therefore, these results suggest that this methodology would be valid and applicable to develop the transversal competences of the students in Bachelor's degrees of Health Sciences.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Asymmetrical nucleosomal DNA signatures regulate transcriptional directionality.

[EN]Despite the symmetrical structure of nucleosomes, in vitro studies have shown that transcription proceeds with different efficiency depending on the orientation of the DNA sequence around them. However, it is unclear whether this functional asymmetry is present in vivo and whether it could regulate transcriptional directionality. Here, we report that the proximal and distal halves of nucleosomal DNA contribute differentially to nucleosome stability in the genome. In +1 nucleosomes, this asymmetry facilitates or hinders transcription depending on the orientation of its underlying DNA, and this difference is associated with an asymmetrical interaction between DNA and histones. These properties are encoded in the DNA signature of +1 nucleosomes, since its incorporation in the two orientations into downstream nucleosomes renders them asymmetrically accessible to MNase and inverts the balance between sense and antisense transcription. Altogether, our results show that nucleosomal DNA endows nucleosomes with asymmetrical properties that modulate the directionality of transcription

Genotoxicity of tamoxifen citrate and 4‐nitroquinoline‐1‐oxide in the wing spot test of Drosophila melanogaster

Tamoxifen (TAM) is an anti‐oestrogen used for treatment and prevention of human breast cancer, but it is also related to human endometrial and uterine cancer. The wing spot test in Drosophila melanogaster was employed to determine the genotoxic effects of TAM and 4‐nitroquinoline‐1‐oxide (4‐NQO), a carcinogen that produces adducts similar to TAM-DNA adducts detected in rodent liver and human liver microsomes. As Drosophila spp. have no oestrogen receptor, no effects can result in binding of TAM to a receptor. Chronic treatments with TAM citrate were performed with 3‐day‐old larvae of the standard (ST) and high bioactivation (HB) crosses of the wing spot test at concentrations of 0.66, 1.66 and 3.33 mM. In addition, the carcinogen 4‐NQO was administered at 2.5 and 5.0 mM. Somatic spots on normal wings from marker‐ heterozygous flies and on serrate wings from balancer‐ heterozygous flies were scored to determine mutation and recombination events in somatic cells for each compound. The results showed genotoxic effects of TAM at 1.66 and 3.33 mM in the ST cross only and without a clear dose-response effect. This suggests a weak genotoxicity of this anti‐oestrogen. The negative results obtained with TAM in the HB cross may indicate efficient detoxification of the compound by the increased xenobiotic metabolism present in this cross. As reported before, 4‐NQO showed genotoxic effects in the ST cross with a clear dose-response effect. For the first time, we report enhanced effects of this compound in the HB cross. It is concluded that the genotoxicity of TAM in the Drosophila wing spot test is different from that of 4‐NQ

Nutrients and Dietary Approaches in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Cardiovascular Disease: A Narrative Review

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in developed countries. The prevalence of CVD is much higher in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), who may benefit from lifestyle changes, which include adapted diets. In this review, we provide the role of different groups of nutrients in patients with T2DM and CVD, as well as dietary approaches that have been associated with better and worse outcomes in those patients. Many different diets and supplements have proved to be beneficial in T2DM and CVD, but further studies, guidelines, and dietary recommendations are particularly required for patients with both diseases

Inverse magnetorheological fluids

We report a new kind of field-responsive fluids consisting of suspensions of diamagnetic (DM) and ferromagnetic (FM) microparticles in ferrofluids. We designate them as inverse magnetorheological (IMR) fluids for analogy with inverse ferrofluids (IFFs). Observations on the particle self-assembly in IMR fluids upon magnetic field application showed that DM and FM microparticles were assembled into alternating chains oriented along the field direction. We explain such assembly on the basis of the dipolar interaction energy between particles. We also present results on the rheological properties of IMR fluids and, for comparison, of IFFs and bidispersed magnetorheological (MR) fluids. Interestingly, we found that upon magnetic field, the rheological properties of IMR fluids were enhanced with respect to bidispersed MR fluids with the same FM particle concentration, by an amount greater than the sum of the isolated contribution of DM particles. Furthermore, the field-induced yield stress was moderately increased when up to 30 % of the total FM particle content was replaced with DM particles. Beyond this point, the dependence of the yield stress on the DM content was non-monotonic, as expected for FM concentrations decreasing to zero. We explain these synergistic results by two separate phenomena: the formation of exclusion areas for FM particles due to the perturbation of the magnetic field by DM particles, and the dipole-dipole interaction between DM and FM particles, which enhances the field-induced structures. Based on this second phenomenon, we present a theoretical model for the yield stress that semi-quantitatively predicts the experimental results.Projects 12-01-00132, 13-02-91052, 13-01-96047, 14-08-00283 (Russian Fund of Fundamental Investigations), 2.1267.2011 (Ministry of Education of Russian Federation), the Act 211 (Government of the Russian Federation № 02.A03.21.0006). The University of Granada (Acción Integrada con Rusia; Plan Propio 2011). L. Rodríguez-Arco acknowledges financial support by Secretaría de Estado de Educación, Formación Profesional y Universidades (MECD, Spain) through its FPU program

Stability behaviour of composite magnetorheological fluids by an induction method

Este artículo puede consultarse en la siguiente dirección de la editorial: http://jim.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/03/26/1045389X15577656.full.pdf+htmlIn this work we study the stability behaviour of composite magnetorheological (MR) fluids consisting of magnetic (iron) and non-magnetic (poly (methylmethacrylate), PMMA) particles dispersed in mineral oil. Because of the opacity of the suspensions, optical methods traditionally employed for evaluation of the gravitational settling in colloidal suspensions are not suitable for sedimentation follow-up in this case. For this reason, we use an alternative method based on the evaluation of the resonant frequency of the inductance of a thin coil surrounding the sample The movement of the coil along the height of the container at specified steps and time intervals allows obtaining information about the local volume fraction of particles inside the tube. The obtained successive profiles for the multi-component suspensions show a decrease of the iron particle settling and of the initial rate of settling as the PMMA volume fraction is increased. Finally, the increase of the PMMA concentration gives rise to an improvement of the rheological properties upon magnetic field application for a given concentration of iron. Both a strongrheological response and a good colloidal stability are essential for practical applications.Proyectos PE2012-FQM694 (Junta de Andalucía, Spain)y FIS2013-47666-C3-1-R (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain). L. R.-A. agrradece a la Universidad de Granada su contrato puente (Plan Propio de Investigación, UGR)

Teaching the physiology of the human body in non-formal spaces: pilot experience of a Service-Learning methodology and the interaction between students of different educational levels

Research institutes and universities have strengthened the development of biomedicine outreach activities, constituing a non-formal education system of science literacy, although with little commitment from undergraduate students. However, as a Service-Learning methodology, these outreach activities could work as a tool for the acquisition of skills by students of Health Science Degrees. Described here is the development of the workshop entitled “Exploring the human body” at the Biodonostia Health Research Institute and the pilot experience of its implementation as a Service-Learning activity at the University of Málaga. Firstly, 359 secondary education students were mentored by Ph.D. students through a 5-station workshop with experiments and activities related to the physiology of the human body. Then, 301 undergraduate students of Medicine and Nursing Degrees advised 965 secondary education students. Both groups of students assessed the workshop via questionnaires and a debriefing. The data showed an overall score of 4.6 out of 5 for the workshop. Undergraduate students reported a positive impact on their academic background (4.8 out of 5), mainly due to the improvement of oral communication skills (34%). Therefore, this methodology could be a valid and applicable tool to develop the cross-disciplinary competences of undergraduate students