Chronicle of an early demise, surname extinction in the fifteenth and the seventeenth centuries

This is the Author’s Original Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History on 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01615440.2018.1462747It has been amply demonstrated that individuals' reproductive capability is the key explanatory phenomenon for understanding onomastic disappearance during the early modern period. This article analyzes the evolution and consequences of surname extinction in a specific population: Catalonia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this article two aspects are examined. First, the observed disappearance of surnames is estimated through historical data collected in the Llibres d'Esposalles (Marriage Books) from 1481 to 1600 at Barcelona Cathedral. Second, the estimated natural extinction of those surnames registered in 1481 is forecast by applying a statistical branching processResearch has been funded by Projects MTM2016-76969-P (Spanish State Research Agency, AEI) and MTM2013-41383-P (Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness), both co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), IAP network from Belgian Science Policy. Work of J. Ameijeiras-Alonso has been supported by the Ph.D. Grant BES-2014-071006 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and CompetitivenessNO

Tobacco and end stage renal disease: a multicenter, cross-sectional study in Argentinian Northern Patagonia

Background Smoking and chronic kidney disease are major public health problems with common features -high prevalence and mortality, high cardiovascular risk, gender differences and high prevalence in low income people-, but the link between them is poorly recognized. Our objectives were to investigate the exposure of dialysis patients to tobacco and to know their smoking behavior. Methods We performed a multicenter, cross-sectional study in nine dialysis units in the Argentinian Northern Patagonia. We investigated smoker status, lifetime tobacco consumption, current tobacco use, breath carbon monoxide and % carboxyhaemoglobin. Fagerström and Richmond tests were performed for active smokers. Statistical analysis: one way ANOVA and Tukey’s test for post hoc test. For exploratory analysis, frequency tables through chi-square distribution and single correspondence analysis were performed. Results Six hundred thirty six patients (60.9 % males, 39.1 % females) were interviewed. Almost 70 % of them had had tobacco exposure. Excluding light smokers, the lifetime consumption was significantly different (p = 0.0052) between sexes (33.1 ± 2.4 pack/years in males and 18.2 ± 2.1 pack/years in females) The distribution of etiologies changed significantly (χ 2 p < 0.0001) with smoker status and the dose of tobacco smoking, with an increase in the diagnosis of nephrosclerosis in patients with high and very high lifetime consumption (from 16.1 % in non-smokers to 28.2 and 27 % respectively), and in passive smokers (from 16.1 to 27.3 %). The male preponderance of end-stage renal disease disappeared when only non-smokers were considered and grew with the increase in the lifetime consumption. Active smokers have small consumption, both low CO level and % COHb, low dependence and a good motivation to quit, but a high lifetime consumption. Conclusions Exposure of dialysis patients to tobacco is high and could be related to the progression to the final stage of the renal disease. It seems that tobacco renal damage is mostly hidden in the diagnosis of nephrosclerosis. The gender difference observed in these patients could also have a nexus with the men’s higher tobacco exposure. Active smokers have a low current consumption but a high lifetime tobacco dose

Centrality and investment strategies at the beginning of industrialisation in mid-nineteenth-century Catalonia

We apply social networks analysis to the study of an important database on investment and companies' share in the Catalonia (Spain) of the nineteenth century. In contrast with most of the existing related literature, usually addressing power relationships across administration boards, we focus on the structure of interactions among individual investors and firms. Centrality analysis uncovers interesting roles played by certain economic sectors (e.g. textile and financial). Furthermore, the diverse composition (in terms of economic activity) of communities in the network (subgroups more densely connected internally than with the rest of the network) reveals a high investment diversification, which nicely agrees with a known characteristic of traditional Catalan business strategies.social networks analysis, investment strategies, Barcelona, nineteenth century, centrality, structural communities,