Contemporary Hollywood Crime Film and the New Individualism

This article focuses on contemporary Hollywood films Silver City (2004), The Constant Gardener (2005) and The Departed (2006) in order to examine the intersection of the cultural discourse of the New Individualism, characterized by the helplessness and anxiety of the subject in the face of social change, with the generic conventions of the crime film. It explores the ways in which such conventions as crosscutting and suspense, the victim-hero of the thriller, or the trope of self-assertion through escape from the social space both articulate the New Individualism discourse and are transformed under its influence

Generic Hybridity, Style and Film Noir in Michael Mann’s Heat (1995)

The essay attempts to prove that one of the critical advantages of the crime film macrogenre is its capacity to reveal the intrinsic hybridity of its texts, which is argued to be articulated through emphasis on visual and aural style. Film noir is then chosen as a case study for its formal complexity, whose roots are to be found in its aesthetic and ideological ambiguity towards modernity. Michael Mann’s Heat (1995) is analysed as an example of a contemporary crime film that updates the stylistic and thematic concerns of classic noir. The result is a generic combination that channels ambivalence towards postmodern social change regarding masculinity.El artículo es un intento de demostrar la utilidad del crime film como macroconcepto genérico capaz de sacar a la luz el carácter híbrido de los filmes, expresado mediante el estilo visual y sonoro. El análisis se centra en el estudio del cine negro, cuya complejidad formal nace de su ambigüedad estética e ideológica hacia la modernidad. Heat (1995), dirigida por Michael Mann, aparece así como un crime film contemporáneo que actualiza las coordenadas estilísticas y temáticas del cine negro. El resultado es una combinación de géneros que da voz a una cierta ambivalencia acerca de los cambios sufridos por la masculinidad en la época postmoderna

Contemporary Hollywood Crime Film and the New Individualism

This article focuses on contemporary Hollywood films Silver City (2004), The Constant Gardener (2005) and The Departed (2006) in order to examine the intersection of the cultural discourse of the New Individualism, characterized by the helplessness and anxiety of the subject in the face of social change, with the generic conventions of the crime film. It explores the ways in which such conventions as crosscutting and suspense, the victim-hero of the thriller, or the trope of self-assertion through escape from the social space both articulate the New Individualism discourse and are transformed under its influence

Solvent effects on Diels-Alder reactions. the use of aqueous mixtures of fluorinated alcohols and the study of reactions of acrylonitrile

Rate, endo/exo, regio- and diastereo-facial selectivities of several Diels–Alder reactions were measured in a series of fluorinated alcohol–water mixtures, whose solvophobicity has been determined by means of the solvophobic power (Sp) parameter. Solvophobicity is the main factor influencing the reaction rate, although in some reactions hydrogen bond donating (HBD) ability may also play a role. Both solvophobicity and HBD ability are important to account for changes in endo/exo selectivity. HBD ability is the main factor responsible for the changes in regio- and diastereo-facial selectivities, induced by the reaction medium. On the other hand, the kinetic rate constants and endo/exo selectivity of the reaction of acrylonitrile with cyclopentadiene, as well as the regioselectivity of the reaction of acrylonitrile with isoprene, have been determined in 23 reaction media. The analysis of the results using empirical solvent parameters show that the reaction rate depends on solvophobic, HBD and dipolarity interactions, whereas endo/exo selectivity is influenced by solvophobic and dipolarity interactions, and the regioselectivity only by HBD effects.This work was made possible by the generous financial support of the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (Project MAT96-1053).Peer reviewe

Cardiovascular risk assessment in patients with a severe mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular risk (CVR) has been observed to be higher in patients with severe mental illness (SMI) than in the general population. However, some studies suggest that CVR is not equally increased in different subgroups of SMI. The purposes of this review are to summarise CVR scores of SMI patients and to determine the differences in CVR between patients with different SMIs and between SMI patients and the control-population. METHODS: MEDLINE (via PubMed) was searched for literature published through August 28, 2014, followed by a snowball search in the Web of Science. Observational and experimental studies that reported CVR assessments in SMI patients using validated tools were included. The risk of bias was reported using STROBE and CONSORT criteria. Pooled continuous data were expressed as standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95 % confidence intervals (CI). Two reviewers independently selected studies, extracted data and assessed methodological quality. RESULTS: A total of 3,608 articles were identified, of which 67 full text papers were assessed for eligibility and 35 were finally included in our review, in which 12,179 psychiatric patients and 225,951 comparative patients had been assessed. The most frequent diagnoses were schizophrenia and related diagnoses (45.7 %), depressive disorders (14.7 %), SMI (11.4 %) and bipolar disorders (8.6 %). The most frequent CVR assessment tool used was the Framingham risk score. Subgroups analysis showed a higher CVR in schizophrenia than in depressive disorder or in studies that included patients with multiple psychiatric diagnoses (SMD: 0.63, 0.03, and 0.02, respectively). Six studies were included in the meta-analysis. Total overall CVR did not differ between SMI patients and controls (SMD: 0.35 [95 % CI:-0.02 to 0.71], p = 0.06); high heterogeneity was observed (I (2) = 93 %; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The summary of results from studies that assessed CVR using validated tools in SMI patients did not find sufficient data (except for limited evidence associated with schizophrenia) to permit any clear conclusions about increased CVR in this group of patients compared to the general population. The systematic review is registered inThis research has been funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto Carlos III (PI12/00427). This study received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. LA is funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) U