«Una perfecta princesa». Casa y vida de la reina Isabel de Valois (1559-1568). Primera Parte

Two facts stand out in the life of Isabel de Valois: her marriage at the age of 13 to Philip II of Spain, and her death, aged 22. Her early death and the survival of some striking portraits have contributed in good measure to the aura of romantic tragedy that still envelops her. But little is known about her character or her role as queen. This study seeks to get closer to her personality and to the life she led primarily through the extant documentation about her household. It traces the personal and political forces that shaped the queen’s franco-spanish household and some of the strong pressures she was under from a young age. It demonstrates that Isabel was incapable of dealing with her vital role as head of the mass of people who made up the royal household, and examines some of the grave consequences both for individuals and for royal authority. The staggering and unsustainable debts she accumulated are also evaluated. This chapter probes deeper into how the Spanish court functioned in the sixteenth-century and explores the relative importance of personality and external limitations in the success and failure of the queen

Dual Formulation of the Lie Algebra S-expansion Procedure

The expansion of a Lie algebra entails finding a new, bigger algebra G, through a series of well-defined steps, from an original Lie algebra g. One incarnation of the method, the so-called S-expansion, involves the use of a finite abelian semigroup S to accomplish this task. In this paper we put forward a dual formulation of the S-expansion method which is based on the dual picture of a Lie algebra given by the Maurer-Cartan forms. The dual version of the method is useful in finding a generalization to the case of a gauge free differential algebra, which in turn is relevant for physical applications in, e.g., Supergravity. It also sheds new light on the puzzling relation between two Chern-Simons Lagrangians for gravity in 2+1 dimensions, namely the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian and the one for the so-called "exotic gravity".Comment: 12 pages, no figure

«Una perfecta princesa» Casa y vida de la reina Isabel de Valois (1559-1568). Segunda parte

Este breve estudio examina el papel que debía desempeñar la reina Isabel de Valois además de ejercer autoridad sobre su casa. Se analiza primero su papel político, enfocando particularmente su deber principal, que era facilitar las relaciones entre Francia y Felipe II, y ofreciendo algunas razones para explicar su escaso éxito. Se propone que su asociación con Francia fue demasiado fuerte como para permitirle desarrollar un papel de mediadora efectivo. El deber fundamental de toda mujer en esta época era el de ser madre y buena esposa, pero por su posición y debido a la situación vigente, las expectativas eran mayores y la presión que sufrió Isabel fue enorme. Se analiza aquí el impacto que tuvo la maternidad en sus relaciones con Felipe II y los intentos de forjar la imagen de un perfecto matrimonio pese a la existencia de inevitables tensiones y problemas entre los cónyuges. Finalmente, se ofrecen algunas conclusiones sobre las fuentes, sobre la proyección de sentimientos privados en el ámbito público, y la transfiguración de un personaje mediocre en una imagen idealizada.This brief study analises the various roles assigned to Isabel de Valois besides controlling her household. It begins with an analysis of her political role and in particular of her primary political duty, which was to improve relations between France and Philip II. It examines how she carried out these tasks and offers some explanations for her lack of success. It is argued here that her association with France was always too strong for her to mediate successfully between them. Her fundamental role, as that of all women, was to be a mother and good wife, but by virtue of her position and circumstances she was burdened with additional expectations and endured enormous pressures. The impact of maternity on her relations with Philip II is examined here, as is the process of creating the image of a perfect marriage, despite the inevitable tensions and problems that existed between them. It offers some conclusions on the sources, on the proyection of private feelings in a public sphere, and on the transfiguration of a mediocre personality into an idealised imag

Prevalence and Incidence of Parkinson\u27s Disease in Latin America: A Meta-Analysis

\ua9 2023 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. Background: Parkinson\u27s disease (PD) is a rapidly growing neurodegenerative disorder, but up-to-date epidemiological data are lacking in Latin America. We sought to estimate the prevalence and incidence of PD and parkinsonism in Latin America. Methods: We searched Medline, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Scientific Electronic Library Online, and Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ci\ueancias da Sa\ufade or the Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Literature databases for epidemiological studies reporting the prevalence or incidence of PD or parkinsonism in Latin America from their inception to 2022. Quality of studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist. Data were pooled via random-effects meta-analysis and analyzed by data source (cohort studies or administrative databases), sex, and age group. Significant differences between groups were determined by meta-regression. Results: Eighteen studies from 13 Latin American countries were included in the review. Meta-analyses of 17 studies (nearly 4 million participants) found a prevalence of 472 (95% CI, 271–820) per 100,000 and three studies an incidence of 31 (95% CI, 23–40) per 100,000 person-years for PD; and seven studies found a prevalence of 4300 (95% CI, 1863–9613) per 100,000 for parkinsonism. The prevalence of PD differed by data source (cohort studies, 733 [95% CI, 427–1255] vs. administrative databases. 114 [95% CI, 63–209] per 100,000, P < 0.01), age group (P < 0.01), but not sex (P = 0.73). PD prevalence in ≥60 years also differed significantly by data source (cohort studies. 1229 [95% CI, 741–2032] vs. administrative databases, 593 [95% CI, 480–733] per 100,000, P < 0.01). Similar patterns were observed for parkinsonism. Conclusions: The overall prevalence and incidence of PD in Latin America were estimated. PD prevalence differed significantly by the data source and age, but not sex. \ua9 2023 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society

Evaluation of primary care responsiveness by people with mental illness in Spain

Background The health system responsiveness is a concept developed by the World Health Organization that measures patients'' expectations for the non-medical care they receive. The aim of this study is to assess primary care responsiveness as seen by people with mental illness and to analyse the factors associated with poor responsiveness. Methods Cross-sectional descriptive study on 426 people with mental illness who had attended primary care consultations at least once in the previous 12 months. The responsiveness of the health system was determined through the short questionnaire "Multi-country Survey Study on Health and Health Systems Responsiveness". Differences in responsiveness by sociodemographic characteristics were compared through the Chi-squared test. Logistic regression identified the factors associated with poor responsiveness. Results Overall responsiveness was measured as good by 77.4% of patients, being this probability higher in the domains: dignity, confidentiality, and communication. The most valued domains by people with mental illness were prompt attention (42.4%), dignity (30.1%), and communication (17%). Only prompt attention scored high importance and poor responsiveness. In patients with an income lower than 900 euros per month and low level of studies, the probability of poor confidentiality responsiveness was multiplied by 3 and 2.7 respectively. Conclusions People with mental illness perceive good responsiveness from primary care in terms of dignity, confidentiality, and communication. Prompt attention, as the domain of greatest importance and worst valuation, should be prioritised through the implementation of organisational measures in health centres to reduce waiting times, especially in urban areas

Metal content determination in biodiesel samples by microwave mineralization and ICP-AES

El trabajo comprende la puesta a punto de un método de digestión, mediante calentamiento de microondas, de muestras de biodiesel obtenidas mediante catálisis homogénea de aceites vegetales, para la determinación de 20 elementos mediante ICP-AES

A rare variant of the superficial ulnar artery, and its clinical implications: a case report

The superficial ulnar artery is a rare variation of the upper limb arterial system that arises from the brachial or axillary artery and runs superficial to the muscles arising from the medial epicondyle [1-3]. The incidence is about 0.7 to 7% [1,4,5]. In our routine dissections we found a superficial ulnar artery, which crossed the cubital fossa superficial to the bicipital aponeurosis making it highly vulnerable to intra-arterial injection. This is a rare variation that every medical and nursing staff member should know about

Burden of Parkinsonism and Parkinson\u27s Disease on Health Service Use and Outcomes in Latin America

\ua9 2023 - The authors. Published by IOS Press.Background: Little is known about the burden of parkinsonism and Parkinson\u27s disease (PD) in Latin America. Better understanding of health service use and clinical outcomes in PD is needed to improve its prognosis. Objective: The aim of the study was to estimate the burden of parkinsonism and PD in six Latin American countries. Methods: 12,865 participants aged 65 years and older from the 10/66 population-based cohort study were analysed. Baseline assessments were conducted in 2003-2007 and followed-up 4 years later. Parkinsonism and PD were defined using current clinical criteria or self-reported diagnosis. Logistic regression models assessed the association between parkinsonism/PD with baseline health service use (community-based care or hospitalisation in the last 3 months) and Cox proportional hazards regression models with incident dependency (subjective assessment by interviewer based on informant interview) and mortality. Separate analyses for each country were combined via fixed effect meta-analysis. Results: At baseline, the prevalence of parkinsonism and PD was 7.9% (n = 934) and 2.6% (n = 317), respectively. Only parkinsonism was associated with hospital admission at baseline (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.30-2.74). Among 7,296 participants without dependency at baseline, parkinsonism (HR 2.34, 95% CI 1.81-3.03) and PD (2.10, 1.37-3.24) were associated with incident dependency. Among 10,315 participants with vital status, parkinsonism (1.73, 1.50-1.99) and PD (1.38, 1.07-1.78) were associated with mortality. The Higgins I2 tests showed low to moderate levels of heterogeneity across countries. Conclusions: Our findings show that older people with parkinsonism or PD living in Latin America have higher risks of developing dependency and mortality but may have limited access to health services

High plasma levels of soluble ST2 but not its ligand IL-33 is associated with severe forms of pediatric dengue

Q2Q1766-771Identification of early determinants of dengue disease progression, which could potentially enable individualized patient care are needed at present times. Soluble ST2 (sST2) has been recently reported to be elevated in the serum of children older than 2 years old and adults with dengue infection and it was correlated with secondary infections as well as with severe presentations of the disease. The mechanism by which secreted ST2 is linked to severe dengue and plasma leakage remains unclear. One possibility is that IL-33 ligand may be elevated, contributing to membrane bound ST2 as part of the immune activation in dengue infection. We determined plasma levels of sST2 and the ligand IL-33 in 66 children with acute secondary dengue infections clinically classified using the guidelines of the World Health Organization, 2009. Dengue infection showed significant increases in cytokines IL-12p70, IL-10, IL-8, IL-6, IL-1β and TNFα measured by flow cytometry based assay compared to uninfected individuals. In contrast, IL-33 levels remained unchanged between infected and uninfected individuals. The levels of sST2 positively correlated with values of IL-6 and IL-8 and inversely correlated with number of median value of platelet levels. In addition to circulating cytokine positive correlations we found that sST2 and isoenzyme creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), a marker of myocardial muscle damage present in severe dengue cases were associated. Our pediatric study concluded that in dengue infections sST2 elevation does not involve concomitant changes of IL-33 ligand. We propose a study to assess its value as a predictor factor of disease severity