No tendrás dioses ajenos delante de mí: notas sobre la diferenciación y la intolerancia religiosas en México

Los tres principales objetivos de este trabajo son reconstruir los procesos de diferenciación del campo religioso mexicano, describir las prácticas de intolerancia hacia las minorías religiosas y determinar las formas de racismo que ocurren en estas prácticas. Estos objetivos nos permiten constatar que, en México, existe un problema grave de “intolerancia hacia las minorías religiosas” y que la manera de manejar este problema ha sido, hasta la fecha, ineficaz. Para afirmar lo anterior, nos apoyamos en un marco teórico que, desde una perspectiva interdisciplinaria, se enfoca en los conceptos de “pluralismo religioso” y “racismo”. Las conclusiones señalan la necesidad de desarrollar mecanismos más eficientes en defensa de la diversidad religiosa de los que se han utilizado hasta la fecha, para aspirar a la construcción de sociedades basadas realmente en la tolerancia y, consecuentemente, en la convivencia pacífica de las diferencias.Os três principais objetivos deste trabalho são reconstruir os processos de diferenciação do campo religiosos mexicano, descrever as práticas de intolerância em relação às minorias religiosas e determinar as formas de racismos que ocorrem nestas práticas. Estes objetivos permitem-nos constatar que, no México, existe um problema grave de “intolerância para com as minorias religiosas” e que a maneira de lidar com esse problema tem sido, até à data, ineficaz. Para confirmar este facto partimos de um quadro teórico que, numa perspetiva interdisciplinar, assenta nos conceitos de “pluralismo religioso” e “racismo”. As conclusões mostram a necessidade de desenvolver mecanismos mais eficazes de defesa da diversidade religiosa do que aqueles que têm sido utilizados até à data, para aspirar à construção de uma sociedade realmente baseada na tolerância e consequentemente na convivência pacífica das diferenças.The three main objectives of this work are to reconstruct the processes of differentiation of Mexican religious field, describe the practices of intolerance towards religious minorities and determine the forms of racism that occur in these practices. These objectives allow us to observe that, in Mexico, there is a serious problem of “intolerance towards religious minorities” and that the way to handle this problem has been, to date, ineffective. To affirm this, we rely on a theoretical framework that, from an interdisciplinary perspective, focuses on the concepts of “religious pluralism” and “racism”. The findings indicate the need to develop more efficient mechanisms of defense of religious diversity that have been used to date, to aspire to build societies actually based on tolerance and, consequently, in the peaceful coexistence of differences

“Me ponían apodos o estereotipos por el simple hecho de ser cristiana”: actores y comportamientos racistas hacia las religiones cristianas no católicas en la ciudad de Saltillo (México)

This article focuses on an investigation whose general objective is to reconstruct and classify forms of differentialist racism towards the members of non-Catholic Christian religions in the city of Saltillo, both in their face - to - face relationships and in the mass media. The theoretical framework consists of the following concepts and themes: racism, cultural racism/differentialist racism and racism in the mass media. The main results highlight, among other aspects, ambivalent tendencies: on the one hand, interviewees point out the scarce presence of non-Catholic Christian religions in the traditional mass media (mainly in open television, radio and newspapers) and, on the other hand, the guaranteed presence in social networks which seem to be, although with some problematic implications, the main means of expression of non-Catholic Christian religions in Mexico. In face-to-face relationships, however, the most racist actors are the priests and members of the Catholic Church, priests and members of other Christian churches, family members of Catholicism, school friends and school teachers; while the acts by which differentialist racism is expressed have to do with more or less serious forms of symbolic violence. Finally, in the conclusions, it is pointed out the importance of promoting the passage from diversity to religious pluralism, as a starting point to be able to aspire to the construction of societies based on peaceful coexistence of differences

Immunomodulatory Function of Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles in Vibrio -Stimulated Sea Urchin Immune Cells

We investigated the role of the gold nanoparticles functionalized with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP-AuNPs) on the innate immune response against an acute infection caused by Vibrio anguillarum in an in vitro immunological nonmammalian next-generation model, the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. To profile the immunomodulatory function of PVP-AuNPs (0.1 μg mL −1) in sea urchin immune cells stimulated by Vibrio (10 μg mL −1) for 3 h, we focused on the baseline immunological state of the donor, and we analysed the topography, cellular metabolism, and expression of human cell surface antigens of the exposed cells, as well as the signalling leading the interaction between PVP-AuNPs and the Vibrio -stimulated cells. PVP-AuNPs are not able to silence the inflammatory signalling (TLR4/p38MAPK/NF-κB signalling) that involves the whole population of P. lividus immune cells exposed to Vibrio. However, our findings emphasise the ability of PVP-AuNPs to stimulate a subset of rare cells (defined here as Group 3) that express CD45 and CD14 antigens on their surface, which are known to be involved in immune cell maturation and macrophage activation in humans. Our evidence on how PVP-AuNPs may stimulate sea urchin immune cells represents an important starting point for planning new research work on the topic

Comparing quality profiles in Human-Robot Collaboration: empirical evidence in the automotive sector

Purpose: Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) is a paradigm that is gradually consolidating in the industrial field. The goal of this paradigm is to combine human and robot skills to make production more flexible. An effective implementation of HRC requires a careful analysis of its different aspects, related to both robots and humans. For this reason, the development of a tool able to consider all HRC aspects to evaluate the collaboration quality is a real practical need. Design/methodology/approach: In a previous work, Gervasi et al. (2020) proposed a multidimensional framework to evaluate HRC quality. This framework has been tested on a real industrial HRC application in the automotive sector. Two different alternatives of the same assembly task were analyzed and compared on the quality reference framework. Findings: The comparison between the two alternatives of the same assembly task highlighted the framework's ability to detect the effects of different configurations on the various HRC dimensions. This ability can be useful in decision making processes and in improving the collaboration quality. Social implications: The framework considers the human aspects related to the interaction with robots, allowing to effectively monitor and improve the collaboration quality and operator satisfaction. Originality/value: This paper extends and shows the use of the HRC evaluation framework proposed by Gervasi et al. (2020) on real industrial applications. In addition, an HRC application implemented in an important automotive company is described and analyzed in detail

MITO measurements of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect in the Coma cluster of galaxies

We have measured the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect towards the Coma cluster (A1656) with the MITO experiment, a 2.6-m telescope equipped with a 4-channel 17 arcminute (FWHM) photometer. Measurements at frequency bands 143+/-15, 214+/-15, 272+/-16 and 353+/-13 GHz, were made during 120 drift scans of Coma. We describe the observations and data analysis that involved extraction of the S-Z signal by employing a spatial and spectral de-correlation scheme to remove a dominant atmospheric component. The deduced values of the thermal S-Z effect in the first three bands are DT_{0} = -179+/-38,-33+/-81,170+/-35 microKelvin in the cluster center. The corresponding optical depth, tau=(4.1+/-0.9) 10^{-3}, is consistent (within errors) with both the value from a previous low frequency S-Z measurement, and the value predicted from the X-ray deduced gas parameters.Comment: Ap.J.Letters accepted, 4 pages, 2 figure

Analysis of T and NK cell subsets in Sicilian population from young to supercentenarian: the role of age and gender

Ageing dramatically affects number and function of both innate and adaptive arms of immune system, particularly T cell subsets, contributing to reduced vaccination efficacy, decreased resistance to infections and increased prevalence of cancer in the older people. In the present paper, we analysed the age-related changes in the absolute number of lymphocytes in 214 Sicilian subjects, and in the percentages of T and NK cells in a sub-cohort of donors. We compared these results with the immunophenotype of the oldest living Italian supercentenarian (111 years old). The results were also sorted by gender. The correlation between number/percentage of cells and age in all individuals and, separately, in males and females, was examined using a simple linear regression analysis. We did not record the increase in the rate of inversion of the CD4/CD8 ratio frequently reported as associated with ageing in literature. Our observation was the direct consequence of a flat average trend of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell percentages in ageing donors, even when gender differences were included. Our results also suggest that CD4+ and CD8+ subsets are not affected equally by age comparing females with males, and we speculated that gender may affect the response to CMV infection. The supercentenarian showed a unique immunophenotypic signature as regards the relative percentages of her T cell subsets, with CD4+ and CD8+ T cell percentages and CD4+ na\uefve T cell values in line with those recorded for the octogenarian subjects. This suggests that the supercentenarian has a na\uefve "younger" T cell profile comparable to that of a >80 year old female

Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Nutritionally Relevant Concentrations of Oleuropein and Hydroxytyrosol on Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells: An Age-Related Analysis

: Immunosenescence and inflammaging facilitate the insurgence of chronic diseases. The Mediterranean diet is a non-invasive intervention to improve the chronic low-grade inflammatory status associated with aging. Olive oil oleuropein (OLE) and hydroxytyrosol (HT) demonstrated a controversial modulatory action on inflammation in vitro when tested at concentrations exceeding those detectable in human plasma. We studied the potential anti-inflammatory effects of OLE and HT at nutritionally relevant concentrations on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as regards cell viability, frequency of leukocyte subsets, and cytokine release, performing an age-focused analysis on two groups of subjects: Adult (age 18–64 years) and Senior (age ≥ 65 years). OLE and HT were used alone or as a pre-treatment before challenging PBMCs with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Both polyphenols had no effect on cell viability irrespective of LPS, but 5 µM HT had an LPS-like effect on monocytes, reducing the intermediate subset in Adult subjects. OLE and HT had no effect on LPS-triggered release of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8, but 5 µM HT reduced IL-10 secretion by PBMCs from Adult vs. Senior group. In summary, nutritionally relevant concentrations of OLE and HT elicit no anti-inflammatory effect and influence the frequency of immune cell subsets with age-related different outcomes