E. M. Cioran. El prestidigitador de la belleza. El rumor del cuerpo en la contradicción de la lengua

El presente artículo aborda el ideario estético, el estilo, la teoría del conocimiento, la concepción del sujeto y del lenguaje del escritor rumano E. M. Cioran. Dejando de lado sus tan comentados nihilismo y escepticismo, el ensayo indaga en la naturaleza poética de sus aforismos, destinada a crear, contradiciendo la lengua, un afuera de ésta, donde los conceptos se revelan como algo físico, como palabras de carne y hueso en las que el poeta vierte su saber del cuerpo con la intención de generar un efecto de extrañamiento.This essay deals with the aesthetic ideology, the style, the theory of knowledge, the conception of the subject and language of the Romanian writer E. M. Cioran. Leaving aside his widely publicised nihilism and scepticism, this essay focuses on the poetic nature of his aphorisms which is intended to create a place outside of the language contradicting the language itself. A place where concepts become something physical, like flesh-and-blood words where the poet poured everything he knows about the body intending to create a defamiliarization effect

Escritoras de la posguerra frente al espejo. Derrotas y conquistas de algunas antiheroínas

El presente ensayo toma como punto de partida para su análisis el material autobiográfico de dos escritoras de la posguerra: Carmen Laforet y Carmen Martín Gaite. Siguiendo el método de la genealogía histórica, la investigación aborda el peso ejercido en sus vidas por los procesos de socialización, las formas y las estrategias de las que dichas autoras se sirvieron para romper, en la medida en que pudieron, con el dispositivo de feminización -entendido como programa de domesticación de la mujer-. Además, muestra las distintas imágenes que elaboraron de sí mismas en tanto plasmaciones de su lucha, más o menos fructífera, en aras de una mayor independencia y autonomía.This article takes as a starting point the autobiographical material of two writers of the post-war era: Carmen Laforet and Carmen Martín Gaite. Following the method of historical genealogy, this research deals with the weight exerted on their lives by the socialization processes, forms and strategies that these authors made use of, where they could, to break with the device of feminization - understood as a program of women's domestication. The article also explores the different images that they developed of themselves as embodiments of their more or less successful struggle to gain greater independence and autonomy

La filosofía mesiánica de la historia de Walter Benjamin y Varujan Vosganian

 El ensayo aborda la fascinante y fulgurante afinidad existente entre las filosofías de la historia del filósofo judío Walter Benjamin y del autor armenio-rumano Varujan Vosganian. Para ello, toma como punto de partida dos textos básicos; por un lado, las Tesis de filosofía de la historia del afamado pensador de la Escuela de Frankfurt y, por otro, El libro de los susurros, exitosa narración del escritor rumano contemporáneo, galardonada en 2009 con el Premio a la Mejor Novela Europea. No obstante, dada la pluralidad de interpretaciones de que las tesis benjaminianas han sido objeto hasta el momento, la investigación hace suya la propuesta por el sociólogo franco-brasileño Michael Löwy en su extraordinario ensayo Walter Benjamin. Aviso de incendio. La particularidad de dicha interpretación estriba en que Löwy es el único analista que ha entrevisto una suerte de «fusión alquímica» entre las dimensiones teológica y política presentes en las «tesis» ya referidas, fusión en la que creemos que se origina la sorprendente analogía que presentan los imaginarios de la historia benjaminiano y vosganiano. A su vez, dicho isomorfismo se deriva de la influencia ejercida sobre ambos autores por la corriente de pensamiento conocida como «romanticismo anticapitalista», a partir de la cual uno y otro orquestan una profunda crítica de la ideología del progreso -a la que culpan del exterminio de sus respectivos pueblos-, y frente a la que proponen como alternativa un heterodoxo relato emancipatorio cuyo fundamento radica en la rechazo de la historiografía positivista, la fusión de las luchas profanas y de las aspiraciones mesiánicas y el hermanamiento entre el futuro prometido y el recuerdo de los vencidos.

Trends analysis of specialized palliative care services in 51 countries of the WHO European region in the last 14 years

Background: Service provision is a key domain to assess national-level palliative care development. Three editions of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) Atlas of Palliative Care monitored the changes in service provision across Europe since 2005. Aim: To study European trends of specialized service provision at home care teams, hospital support teams, and inpatient palliative care services between 2005 and 2019. Design: Secondary analysis was conducted drawing from databases on the number of specialized services in 2005, 2012, and 2019. Ratios of services per 100,000 inhabitants and increase rates on number of services for three periods were calculated. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) analyses were conducted to determine significant changes and chi-square to identify countries accounting for the variance. Income-level and sub-regional ANOVA analysis were undertaken. Setting: 51 countries. Results: Forty-two countries (82%) increased the number of specialized services between 2005 and 2019 with changes for home care teams (104% increase-rate), inpatient services (82%), and hospital support teams (48%). High-income countries showed significant increase in all types of services (p < 0.001), while low-to-middle-income countries showed significant increase only for inpatient services. Central–Eastern European countries showed significant improvement in home care teams and inpatient services, while Western countries showed significant improvement in hospital support and home care teams. Home care was the most prominent service in Western Europe. Conclusion: Specialized service provision increased throughout Europe, yet ratios per 100,000 inhabitants fell below the EAPC recommendations. Western Europe ratios’ achieved half of the suggested services, while Central–Eastern countries achieved only a fourth. High-income countries and Western European countries account for the major increase. Central–Eastern Europe and low-to-middle-income countries reported little increase on specialized service provision

Regulation of SCF TIR1/AFB E3 ligase assembly by S-nitrosylation of Arabidopsis SKP1-like1 impacts on auxin signaling

The F-box proteins (FBPs) TIR1/AFBs are the substrate recognition subunits of SKP1–cullin–F-box (SCF) ubiquitin ligase complexes and together with Aux/IAAs form the auxin co-receptor. Although tremendous knowledge on auxin perception and signaling has been gained in the last years, SCFTIR1/AFBs complex assembly and stabilization are emerging as new layers of regulation. Here, we investigated how nitric oxide (NO), through S-nitrosylation of ASK1 is involved in SCFTIR1/AFBs assembly. We demonstrate that ASK1 is S-nitrosylated and S-glutathionylated in cysteine (Cys) 37 and Cys118 residues in vitro. Both, in vitro and in vivo protein-protein interaction assays show that NO enhances ASK1 binding to CUL1 and TIR1/AFB2, required for SCFTIR1/AFB2 assembly. In addition, we demonstrate that Cys37 and Cys118 are essential residues for proper activation of auxin signaling pathway in planta. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Cys37 residue is only conserved in SKP proteins in Angiosperms, suggesting that S-nitrosylation on Cys37 could represent an evolutionary adaption for SKP1 function in flowering plants. Collectively, these findings indicate that multiple events of redox modifications might be part of a fine-tuning regulation of SCFTIR1/AFBs for proper auxin signal transduction.This work has been supported by grants from CONICET (PIP 0202 to M.C.T), Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata and Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, -Argentina (PICT 1167 to M.C.T and PICT 2421 to C.A.C); from the Spanish Government (PS09/00101 and PI12/00875 to A.M.R., cofinanced by the European Union ERDF), and by the Argentinian-Spanish Integrated Action ES/11/02 / PRIAIBAR- 2011-0782. A.M.R. is supported by the I3SNS programme (ISCIII, Spanish Government). The Proteomics Service of the CBMSO is a member of Proteored (PRB2-ISCIII), and is supported by grants PT13/ 0001/0024 and PT17/0019/0018 of Spanish Government (cofinanced by the European Union ERDF). Work in the laboratory of M.E is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) GM43644, The Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, US

Prevalence of hospital PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases in patients with chronic inflammatory and autoimmune rheumatic diseases

[Abstract] Background: The susceptibility of patients with rheumatic diseases and the risks or benefits of immunosuppressive therapies for COVID-19 are unknown. Methods: We performed a retrospective study with patients under follow-up in rheumatology departments from seven hospitals in Spain. We matched updated databases of rheumatology patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2-positive PCR tests performed in the hospital to the same reference populations. Rates of PCR+ confirmed COVID-19 were compared among groups. Results: Patients with chronic inflammatory diseases had 1.32-fold higher prevalence of hospital PCR+ COVID-19 than the reference population (0.76% vs 0.58%). Patients with systemic autoimmune or immune-mediated disease (AI/IMID) showed a significant increase, whereas patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA) or systemic lupus erythematosus did not. COVID-19 cases in some but not all diagnostic groups had older ages than cases in the reference population. Patients with IA on targeted-synthetic or biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), but not those on conventional-synthetic DMARDs, had a greater prevalence despite a similar age distribution. Conclusion: Patients with AI/IMID show a variable risk of hospital-diagnosed COVID-19. Interplay of ageing, therapies and disease-specific factors seem to contribute. These data provide a basis to improve preventive recommendations to rheumatic patients and to analyse the specific factors involved in COVID-19 susceptibility.Instituto de Salud Carlos III; RD16/0012 RETICS Progra

Additional indicators to assess palliative care development

This is a short compilation of Health Indicators Assessing the Level of Palliative Care Development at the International Level. These are additional indicators to another published book: Brief Manual on Health Indicators Monitoring Global Palliative Care Development (http://hdl.handle.net/10171/56523)

New criteria to identify risk of progression in monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance and smoldering multiple myeloma based on multiparameter flow cytometry analysis of bone marrow plasma cells

[EN] Monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance (MGUS) and smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) are plasma cell disorders with a risk of progression of approximately 1% and 10% per year, respectively. We have previously shown that the proportion of bone marrow (BM) aberrant plasma cells (aPCs) within the BMPC compartment (aPC/BMPC) as assessed by flow cytometry (FC) contributes to differential diagnosis between MGUS and multiple myloma (MM). The goal of the present study was to investigate this parameter as a marker for risk of progression in MGUS (n = 407) and SMM (n = 93). Patients with a marked predominance of aPCs/BMPC (> or = 95%) at diagnosis displayed a significantly higher risk of progression both in MGUS and SMM (P or = 95%) as the most important independent variable, together with DNA aneuploidy and immunoparesis, for MGUS and SMM, respectively. Using these independent variables, we have identified 3 risk categories in MGUS (PFS at 5 years of 2%, 10%, and 46%, respectively; P< .001) and SMM patients (PFS at 5 years of 4%, 46%, and 72%, respectively; P < .001). Our results show that multiparameter FC evaluation of BMPC at diagnosis is a valuable tool that could help to individualize the follow-up strategy for MGUS and SMM patients

How does neighbourhood socio-economic status affect the interrelationships between functioning dimensions in first episode of psychosis? A network analysis approach

The links between psychosis and socio-economic disadvantage have been widely studied. No previous study has analysed the interrelationships and mutual influences between functioning dimensions in first episode of psychosis (FEP) according to their neighbourhood household income, using a multidimensional and transdiagnostic perspective. 170 patients and 129 controls, participants in an observational study (AGES-CM), comprised the study sample. The WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0) was used to assess functioning, whereas participants' postcodes were used to obtain the average household income for each neighbourhood, collected by the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE). Network analyses were conducted with the aim of defining the interrelationships between the different dimensions of functioning according to the neighbourhood household income. Our results show that lower neighbourhood socioeconomic level is associated with lower functioning in patients with FEP. Moreover, our findings suggest that “household responsibilities” plays a central role in the disability of patients who live in low-income neighbourhoods, whereas “dealing with strangers” is the most important node in the network of patients who live in high-income neighbourhoods. These results could help to personalize treatments, by allowing the identification of potential functioning areas to be prioritized in the treatment of FEP according to the patient's neighbourhood characteristic