Título da página eletrónica: Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion (CLGS)

The Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion was established at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, in 2000, and aims at supporting scholars, faith communities, and LGBTQ people and organizations through gathering and providing study materials on the history of LGBT religious movements. CLGS website offers, among other things, online resources, such as the CLGS Archives Project – which provides materials on the history of religion and LGBT issues in the USA – and a..

Reseñas

Obra ressenyada: José Antonio LANGARITA, En tu árbol o en el mío. Una aproximación etnográfica a la práctica del sexo anónimo entre hombres. Barcelona: Bellaterra, 2015

Miquel Fernández González. Matar al Chino. Entre la revolución urbanística y el asedio urbano en el barrio del Raval de Barcelona. Barcelona: Editorial Virus

Índex de l'obra ressenyada: Miquel FERNÁNDEZ, Matar al chino : entre la revolución urbanística y el asedio urbano en el barrio del Raval de Barcelona. Barcelona : Virus, 2014

Frailty and elderly in urology: Is there an impact on post-operative complications?

INTRODUCTION: Frailty used as predictive tool is still not carried out in daily practice, although many studies confirm the great clinical importance of the frailty syndrome in surgical outcomes. There is no standardized method of measuring the physiological reserves of older surgical patients. The aim of this study was to analyze a cohort of older urological patients according to various frailty indices, in order to evaluate whether they are predictors of post-operative complications after urological procedures. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a prospective observational study on 78 consecutive older ( 6570 years) patients, subjected to major urological (both endoscopic and 'open surgical') procedures. Frailty was defined according to the Edmonton Frail Scale. Several risk models and biochemical parameters were evaluated. Post-operative outcomes were surgical and medical complications, mortality and rehospitalisation within 3 months. RESULTS: An overall prevalence of frailty of 21.8% was found. Patients with complications were frailer than those without complications (univariate analysis), considering both total patients (p = 0.002) and endoscopic (p = 0.04) and 'open surgical' patients (p = 0.013). However, in multivariate analysis, a significant correlation was not found between all frailty indices tested and the risk of major complications. Limitation of the study: the small sample size (lack of statistical power), although this is a prospective study focused on older urological patients. CONCLUSIONS: New urology-tailored pre-operative assessment tools may prove beneficial when calculating the risks/benefits of urological procedures, so that objective data can guide surgical decision- making and patient counselling. Further large clinical studies specifically focusing on elderly in urology will be needed

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A study on foveal feedback mechanism: relationship between task difficulty levels and timing of the effect

openIl meccanismo di foveal feedback è un aspetto ancora parzialmente poco conosciuto. Uno studio condotto da Williams et al. (2008), supportato da successive ricerche (Chambres et al., 2013; Weldon et al., 2016; Yu & Shim, 2016; Fan et al., 2016; Stewart et al., 2020), ha evidenziato che la corteccia visiva foveale contribuisce all’elaborazione delle informazioni provenienti dalla periferia del campo visivo. In particolare, questa tesi sperimentale, replica un esperimento svolto da Fan et al. (2016), che utilizzava stimoli inediti e un paradigma comportamentale. Oltre allo svolgimento dell’esperimento, l’attenzione è stata focalizzata sulla similarità tra le coppie di stimoli presentate. L'elaborato si propone di indagare come la difficoltà del compito, e di conseguenza la similarità più o meno ampia tra gli stimoli, influenzi il tempo di risposta e di elaborazione delle informazioni. Lo studio si incentra su tre ipotesi: la prima ipotizza che all’aumentare della difficoltà del compito (ovvero della similarità degli stimoli), aumenti il tempo di elaborazione dovuto al feedback corticale. Tenendo conto di diversi livelli di difficoltà, si prevede che i tempi di elaborazione possano variare in tale maniera. Inoltre, si vuole approfondire il modo in cui la maschera foveale influisce sul processo di feedback corticale a seconda dei diversi gradi di difficoltà identificati. Infine, si intende investigare la natura del bias di risposta dei partecipanti, analizzando se e come i livelli di similarità degli stimoli possano influenzare il criterio di scelta della risposta. In questo studio, si pone attenzione anche alla sensibilità alla risposta (d’), considerata separatamente dal criterio di risposta. La ricerca sperimentale svolta nel laboratorio dell’Università degli Studi di Padova si propone di approfondire i risultati di Fan et al. (2016), il quale aveva riscontrato una relazione lineare tra l’aumento del tempo di elaborazione mentale degli stimoli e l’aumento della complessità del compito. I risultati ottenuti da questo studio parzialmente confermano quanto scoperto in precedenza, suggerendo che l'aggiunta di compiti possa essere un fattore determinante per i ritardi temporali nella prestazione, attribuendoli alla complessità; e che il criterio di scelta di risposta potrebbe influenzare il tempo di elaborazione

Patrimonializzare il sacro. Turismo religioso e retoriche dell'autenticità nel padovano

My research aimed at analyzing through the multiple case study method how different agents participate in the discoursive construction of some sacred places around the province of Padua (Italy). Looking at pilgrimage and tourism (in particolar cultural and religious tourism) as social phenomena which, far from being clearly separated, often blend, and considering the concept and rhethoric of the search for authenticity as a common aspect between them, my research focuses on processes (discourses and practices) of patrimonialization affecting such places. Patrimonialization here is conceived not only as a cultural and economic phenomenon concerning tourism promotional practices, but also as a symbolic practice affecting (and affected by) individual and collective memory. Considering that place is always a social construct, shaped by the strengths structuring social fields, I chose to take into account, for every sacred site, its whole context and to consider all the positions of the different agents involved, namely their aims, interests, connections and conflicts. Along the research I then met two main groups of institutional agents, religious and lay, and some interesting examples of non-instituional agents, single persons or associations, who act autonomously or in cooperation with institutions, contributing to the discoursive construction of places, then to the patrimonialization of sacred sites and their memories. The use of the multiple case study method allowed me to take into consideration a fair number of cases and, at the same time, to focus on the many facets every case has. The data showed here concern nine cases and have been gathered through a two-years fieldwork (29 field observation and 48 informative and qualitative interviews). Apart from commonalities and similarities inside the same groups of agents, some transversal aspects emerged, giving a more complex and nuanced view of the practices and discourses of patrimonialization, which revealed itself being a process producing capitals of faith, identity, political and religious consensus

Involvement of long non-coding RNAs in beta cell failure at the onset of type 1 diabetes in NOD mice.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Exposure of pancreatic beta cells to cytokines released by islet-infiltrating immune cells induces alterations in gene expression, leading to impaired insulin secretion and apoptosis in the initial phases of type 1 diabetes. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a new class of transcripts participating in the development of many diseases. As little is known about their role in insulin-secreting cells, this study aimed to evaluate their contribution to beta cell dysfunction. METHODS: The expression of lncRNAs was determined by microarray in the MIN6 beta cell line exposed to proinflammatory cytokines. The changes induced by cytokines were further assessed by real-time PCR in islets of control and NOD mice. The involvement of selected lncRNAs modified by cytokines was assessed after their overexpression in MIN6 cells and primary islet cells. RESULTS: MIN6 cells were found to express a large number of lncRNAs, many of which were modified by cytokine treatment. The changes in the level of selected lncRNAs were confirmed in mouse islets and an increase in these lncRNAs was also seen in prediabetic NOD mice. Overexpression of these lncRNAs in MIN6 and mouse islet cells, either alone or in combination with cytokines, favoured beta cell apoptosis without affecting insulin production or secretion. Furthermore, overexpression of lncRNA-1 promoted nuclear translocation of nuclear factor of κ light polypeptide gene enhancer in B cells 1 (NF-κB). CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Our study shows that lncRNAs are modulated during the development of type 1 diabetes in NOD mice, and that their overexpression sensitises beta cells to apoptosis, probably contributing to their failure during the initial phases of the disease

Estrategias, dudas y apuestas clandestinas. El trabajo de campo en las agencias de citas y en las páginas web eróticas de pago

La etnografía, junto con la comparación y la contextualización, ha sido definida como uno de los elementos del llamado triángulo antropológico (Pujadas et al., 2010) e incluso, en ocasiones, como sinónimo de la misma disciplina antropológica (Ingold, 2012). De todos modos, la etiqueta etnográfica, fiel a su naturaleza cualitativa, no ha sido muy estricta en cuanto a sus indicaciones y prescripciones de uso y, además, las ha ido modificando y adecuando a las mutaciones del objeto de estudio antropológico (Roca Girona, 2017). Cuando la etnografía, y especialmente el trabajo de campo, se ha enzarzado en el terreno movedizo de la sexualidad o las relaciones sexoafectivas, ese carácter suyo poco dogmático se ha visto asaltado e interpelado por el alcance imprevisto e imprevisible de tener que lidiar con un material escasamente abordado por ella y por el conjunto de las ciencias sociales