'I have every reason to love England': Black neo-Victorianism and transatlantic radicalism in Belinda Starling's the Journal of Dora Damage (2007)

This paper provides a close reading on post-colonial engagements with American slavery in Belinda Starling's neo-Victorian novel The Journal of Dora Damage (2007), particularly on the transoceanic links between Antebellum America and Victorian Britain. Firstly, this article engages with previous feminist criticism on the novel in order to analyse Starling's stimulating revision of Victorian female abolitionism and interracial relations. Secondly, drawing on recent historical reconstructions on the presence of American slaves in Victorian England and seeking to open new avenues of research within this novel, this paper considers the transatlantic context inherent in Starling's narration, particularly the interplay between nineteenth-century radical discourses and African-American discourses of liberation

Superconducting properties of the attractive Hubbard model

A self-consistent set of equations for the one-electron self-energy in the ladder approximation is derived for the attractive Hubbard model in the superconducting state. The equations provide an extension of a T-matrix formalism recently used to study the effect of electron correlations on normal-state properties. An approximation to the set of equations is solved numerically in the intermediate coupling regime, and the one-particle spectral functions are found to have four peaks. This feature is traced back to a peak in the self-energy, which is related to the formation of real-space bound states. For comparison we extend the moment approach to the superconducting state and discuss the crossover from the weak (BCS) to the intermediate coupling regime from the perspective of single-particle spectral densities.Comment: RevTeX format, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Z.Phys.

Practical approach on frail older patients attended for acute heart failure

Acute heart failure (AHF) is a multi-organ dysfunction syndrome. In addition to known cardiac dysfunction, non-cardiac comorbidity, frailty and disability are independent risk factors of mortality, morbidity, cognitive and functional decline, and risk of institutionalization. Frailty, a treatable and potential reversible syndrome very common in older patients with AHF, increases the risk of disability and other adverse health outcomes. This position paper highlights the need to identify frailty in order to improve prognosis, the risk-benefits of invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and the definition of older-person-centered and integrated care plans

Catástrofes. Repercusión en Salud Mental.

Sin resumen

Catástrofes. Repercusión en Salud Mental.

Sin resumen

Acquisition of uropygial gland microbiome by hoopoe nestlings

Mutualistic symbioses between animals and bacteria depend on acquisition of appropriate symbionts while avoiding exploitation by non-beneficial microbes. The mode of acquisition of symbionts would determine, not only the probability of encountering but also evolutionary outcomes of mutualistic counterparts. The microbiome inhabiting the uropygial gland of the European hoopoe (Upupa epops) includes a variety of bacterial strains, some of them providing antimicrobial benefits. Here, the mode of acquisition and stability of this microbiome is analyzed by means of Automated rRNA Intergenic Spacer Analysis and two different experiments. The first experiment impeded mothers’ access to their glands, thus avoiding direct transmission of microorganisms from female to offspring secretions. The second experiment explored the stability of the microbiomes by inoculating glands with secretions from alien nests. The first experiment provoked a reduction in similarity of microbiomes of mother and nestlings. Interestingly, some bacterial strains were more often detected when females had not access to their glands, suggesting antagonistic effects among bacteria from different sources. The second experiment caused an increase in richness of the microbiome of receivers in terms of prevalence of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) that reduced differences in microbiomes of donors and receivers. That occurred because OTUs that were present in donors but not in receivers incorporated to the microbiome of the latter, which provoked that cross-inoculated nestlings got similar final microbiomes that included the most prevalent OTUs. The results are therefore consistent with a central role of vertical transmission in bacterial acquisition by nestling hoopoes and support the idea that the typical composition of the hoopoe gland microbiome is reached by the incorporation of some bacteria during the nestling period. This scenario suggests the existence of a coevolved core microbiome composed by a mix of specialized vertically transmitted strains and facultative symbionts able to coexist with them. The implications of this mixed mode of transmission for the evolution of the mutualism are discussedMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)Junta de Andalucí

Increased circulating microRNAs miR-342-3p and miR-21-5p in natural sheep prion disease

Scrapie is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), or prion disease, of sheep and goats. As no simple diagnostic tests are yet available to detect TSEs in vivo, easily accessible biomarkers could facilitate the eradication of scrapie agents from the food chain. To this end, we analysed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR a selected set of candidate microRNAs (miRNAs) from circulating blood plasma of naturally infected, classical scrapie sheep that demonstrated clear scrapie symptoms and pathology. Significant scrapie-associated increase was repeatedly found for miR-342-3p and miR-21-5p. This is the first demonstration, to our knowledge, of circulating miRNA alterations in any animal suffering from TSE. Genome-wide expression studies are warranted to investigate the true depth of miRNA alterations in naturally occurring TSEs, especially in presymptomatic animals, as the presented study demonstrates the potential feasibility of miRNAs as circulating TSE biomarkers

Basic guidelines for detecting sedentarism and recommendations for physical activity in primary care

La detección del sedentarismo en adultos mediante instrumentos sencillos y útiles es un objetivo primordial tanto en salud pública como en el ámbito clínico, ya que este factor de riesgo es una de las causas más importantes de enfermedad no transmisible en el mundo y es muy prevalente en las sociedades desarrolladas como la española. Se describen 2 instrumentos validados, sencillos y útiles para detectar y/o manejar el sedentarismo en adultos: a) el cuestionario internacional de actividad física en su versión corta, y b) el podómetro, para cuantificar el número de pasos realizados en un día. Aumentar los niveles de actividad física es importante para la prevención primaria de algunas enfermedades crónicas (cardiopatía coronaria, diabetes tipo 2, osteoporosis, cáncer de colon) y para mejorar la calidad de vida. El personal sanitario debe conocer el grado de motivación y la disponibilidad del paciente y su familia para el cambio de conducta hacia la actividad física. Las actividades físicas de intensidad moderada no presentan prácticamente ninguna contraindicación y los riesgos son muy escasos.The detection of physical inactivity in adults, using simple and useful tools is primary objective in both public health and in clinical settings, since this risk factor is one of the major causes of non-communicable disease in the world, and is very prevalent in developed societies such as in Spain. Two validated instruments are described that are simple and useful for detecting and/or monitoring physical inactivity in adults: (i) the international physical activity questionnaire in its short version, and (ii) the pedometer to measure the number of steps taken in a day. Increased levels of physical activity are important for the primary prevention of some chronic diseases (coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, colon cancer) and to improve the quality of life. Medical personnel must determine the motivation level and the availability of patients and their families to change their behavior towards physical activity. Moderate-intensity physical activities have hardly any contraindications and the risks are few