"Soy como un aspirador" : Medicina popular, Espiritualidad y New Age en las terapias de un curandero catalán

El artículo presenta un estudio de caso de un "curandero" catalán, una figura eclética e interesante. Josep práctica distintos tipos de sanaciones: soluciona los males espirituales a través del trance, tira las cartas, cura la culebrilla (herpes zoster) con un cataplasma, distiende los nervios mediante una vela y saca la mala energía de los dedos. Sus terapias son muy heterogéneas y se han ido desarrollando durante los últimos 40 años. El objetivo del texto es acercarse al panorama de la medicina popular catalana, evidenciando las relaciones que ésta tiene con otras tradiciones, como el espiritismo y el New Age. Los primeros resultados nos han permitido vislumbrar el dinamismo del "curanderismo", su capacidad de adaptación a nuevas tendencias, hábitos y demandas de los pacientes, así como procesos de resignificación y manipulación por parte de quien ejerce estas terapias.The article presents a Catalan "curandero" case study, an eclectic and interesting figure. Josep practices different kind of healing: he solves spiritual problems with trance, he reads Tarot cards, he heals "culebrilla" (herpes zoster) with plaster, he reduces the nerve tension through a candle and he removes bad energy from fingers. His therapies are highly heterogeneous and have evolved over the past 40 years. The aim of the text is to approach the Catalan folk medicine panorama and to underline its relationship with others traditions, like spiritualism and New Age. First results have provided a glimpse into the dynamism of "curanderismo", its capacity to adapt to new tendency, habits, wishes of patients, as well as resignification and manipulation processes on a parent who exercises these therapies

Unusual polymerization in the Li4C60 fulleride

Li4C60, one of the best representatives of lithium intercalated fullerides, features a novel type of 2D polymerization. Extensive investigations, including laboratory x-ray and synchrotron radiation diffraction, 13C NMR, MAS and Raman spectroscopy, show a monoclinic I2/m structure, characterized by chains of [2+2]-cycloaddicted fullerenes, sideways connected by single C-C bonds. This leads to the formation of polymeric layers, whose insulating nature, deduced from the NMR and Raman spectra, denotes the complete localization of the electrons involved in the covalent bonds.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, RevTex4, submitted to Phys. Rev.

NMR study of the Superconducting gap variation near the Mott transition in Cs3_{3}C60_{60}

Former extensive studies of superconductivity in the \textit{A}$_{3}$C$_{60}$ compounds, where \textit{A} is an alkali, have led to consider that Bardeen Cooper Schrieffer (BCS) electron-phonon pairing prevails in those compounds, though the incidence of electronic Coulomb repulsion has been highly debated. The discovery of two isomeric fulleride compounds Cs$_{3}$C$_{60}$ which exhibit a transition with pressure from a Mott insulator (MI) to a superconducting (SC) state clearly re-opens that question. Using pressure ($p$) as a single control parameter of the C$_{60}$ balls lattice spacing, one can now study the progressive evolution of the SC properties when the electronic correlations are increased towards the critical pressure $p_{c}$ of the Mott transition. We have used $^{13}$C and $^{133}$Cs NMR measurements on the cubic phase A15-Cs$_{3}$C$_{60}$ just above $p_{c}=5.0(3)$ kbar, where the SC transition temperature $T_{c}$ displays a dome shape with decreasing cell volume. From the $T$ dependence below $T_{c}$ of the nuclear spin lattice relaxation rate $(T_{1})^{-1}$ we determine the electronic excitations in the SC state, that is $2\Delta$, the SC gap value. We find that $2\Delta$ increases with decreasing $p$ towards $p_{c}$, where $T_{c}$ decreases on the SC dome, so that $2\Delta /k_{B}T_{c}$ increases regularly upon approaching the Mott transition. These results bring clear evidence that the increasing correlations near the Mott transition are not significantly detrimental to SC. They rather suggest that repulsive electron interactions might even reinforce elecron-phonon SC, being then partly responsible for the large $T_{c}$ values, as proposed by theoretical models taking the electronic correlations as a key ingredient.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Supplemental Materia

Contribuciones literarias, biográficas y autoetnográficas a la antropología médica en España: el caso catalán

El método autoetnográfico ha sido un importante aporte al desarrollo de la antropología médica en España. En la primera parte de este artículo, se exploran y revisan documentos habitualmente clasificados como literatura y autobiografías, vinculados a los procesos de salud-enfermedad-atención y publicados antes de 1980, cuyo paradigma es el diario de Ramona Via, Com neixen els Catalans, publicado en 1972. La segunda parte se enfoca en las contribuciones desarrolladas desde la década de 1980, a partir del concepto de autoetnografía, cuyos objetos son el cuerpo, la salud y la enfermedad a partir de la experiencia etnográfica subjetiva. A diferencia del primer periodo, éste se caracteriza por el surgimiento de autores antropólogos que han impulsado el desarrollo de este método legitimado desde la escuela de Tarragona, y concretizado en el primer congreso español de autoetnografía en 2015.The autoethnographic method has been an important contribution to the development of medical anthropology in Spain. This article first reviews and explores documents published before 1980 that are usually classified as literature and autobiography and are linked to the health-disease-care process, a paradigmatic example of which is Ramona Via’s diary Com neixen els Catalans [How Catalans are born] published in 1972. The second part of the article is focused on contributions carried out since the 1980s using the concept of autoethnography, which have as their object the body, health and illness based on a subjective ethnographic experience. This period, unlike the first, is characterized by the emergence of anthropologist authors who have promoted the development of this method, legitimized by the Tarragona School and substantialized in the first Spanish conference of autoethnography in 2015

Spin Dynamics at the Mott Transition and in the Metallic State of the Cs_{3}C_{60} Superconducting Phases

We present here ^{13}C and ^{133}Cs NMR spin lattice relaxation T_{1} data in the A15 and fcc-Cs_{3}C_{60} phases for increasing hydrostatic pressure through the transition at p_{c} from a Mott insulator to a superconductor. We evidence that for p>> p_{c} the (T_{1}T)^{-1} data above T_{c} display metallic like Korringa constant values which match quantitatively previous data taken on other A_{3}C_{60} compounds. However below the pressure for which T_{c} goes through a maximum, (T_{1}T)^{-1} is markedly increased with respect to the Korringa values expected in a simple BCS scenario. This points out the importance of electronic correlations near the Mott transition. For p > p_{c} singular T dependences of (T_{1}T)^{-1} are detected for T >> T_{c}. It will be shown that they can be ascribed to a large variation with temperature of the Mott transition pressure p_{c} towards a liquid-gas like critical point, as found at high T for usual Mott transitions.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, submitted to EP

Zinc exposure for female workers in a galvanizing plant in Northern Italy

Objectives Very little is known regarding the toxicokinetics of inhaled zinc, in particular in the case of female workers and for modern, low exposure settings. Our aim is to evaluate the relationship of external zinc levels to those of serum and urine for female workers. Material and Methods Eleven female workers (age: 41.7±8 years old, body mass index (BMI): 23.5±4.2 kg/m 2 ) in a galvanizing plant were investigated. Exposure assessment consisted of personal/environmental air samples, and measurement of zinc in serum (collected at the end of first shift of the working week (T1)) and urine, collected before the first shift of the working week (T0), T1 and at the end of the last shift of the working week (T2). Results Both environmental and personal air samplings for zinc and zinc compounds were below the recommended by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG) limit values of 2 mg/m 3 (7.34±2.8 μg/m 3 and 8.31±2.4 μg/ m 3 , respectively). Serum (118.6±20.9 μg /dl) and urine zinc levels were within reference values for female Italian subjects: the latter increased from 56.4±33.5 μg/dl at T0, to 59.8±37.0 μg/dl at T1, and ultimately 65.4±34.4 μg/dl at T2, but no significant trend was found. End of shift (Spearman's correlation coefficient p value = 0.027) and differential excretion of urinary zinc (both: T0 vs. T1 and T0 vs. T2) were correlated with airborne zinc concentration (p = 0.002 and 0.006, respectively). Conclusions In general, our data suggests that urine may be a useful medium also for female in order to assess zinc exposure. Further studies are required in order to evaluate whether differential excretion may be useful for the biomonitoring of zinc exposure in the workplaces also for male workers. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2018;31(1):113–12

Back and neck pain disability and upper limb symptoms of home healthcare workers: A case-control study from Northern Italy

Objectives: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are quite frequent in healthcare workers (HCWs), but data about MSD in home-based healthcare workers (HHWs) are lacking. In this study we describe the prevalence of MSD among Italian HHWs. Material and Methods: A case-control study was carried out among 300 random-selected female HCWs, the sample comprising 100 HHWs, 100 HCWs with a low exposure to patient handling (MAPO – Movimentazione e Assistenza Pazienti Ospedalizzati – Movement and Assistance of Hospital Patients index 0–5) and 100 HCWs with high exposure to patient handling (MAPO index ≥ 5.01). As a negative control group, 200 visual display unit workers were also randomly selected. Musculoskeletal disorder cases were collected using a standardized case definition. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed comparing the MSD prevalence in the 4 groups. Results: The overall prevalence of MSD was 17% in the reference group and 28.3% for HCWs. HHWs and HCWs with MAPO index ≥ 5.01 had similar prevalence of neck pain (9% and 11%, respectively), whereas lumbosacral pain prevalence was higher in the HHWs group (31%), with similar results in residential HCWs groups (21% in MAPO index 0–5 group and 25% in MAPO index ≥ 5.01 group). HCWs of group MAPO index ≥ 5.01 and HHWs showed the higher prevalence of upper limb complaints, with a prevalence of 20% and 10%, respectively. In multivariate regression analysis, prevalence of MSD complaints was quite similar in HHWs (adjusted odds ratio (ORadj) = 2.335, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.318–4.138) and in HCWs of the group MAPO ≥ 5.01 (ORadj = 2.729, 95% CI: 1.552–4.797). Conclusions: The prevalence of MSD in the examined HCWs was relatively high, with HHWs appearing as a particularly high-risk group for lumbosacral back pain. In higher exposed HCWs, upper-limb symptoms were particularly frequent, probably reflecting the different tasks required to manage residential and homebased patients. In conclusion, this study reaffirms the high prevalence of MSD in HHWs, seemly similar to high-risk residential groups. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2017;30(2):291–30

Gestione della diversità : sfida presente e futura per le imprese

La gestione delle diversità in impresa è un argomento che da ormai venti anni nei paesi anglosassoni è al centro del dibattito di studiosi e practitioners; in Italia, invece, questo argomento resta per lo più sconosciuto e sembra aver raggiunto solo un numero limitato di imprese (per lo più multinazionali o di grandi dimensioni). Le caratteristiche del nostro sistema produttivo (imprese di piccole e medie dimensioni che difficilmente realizzano una gestione del personale che vada al di là delle pratiche amministrative-legali), la poca chiarezza in merito a cosa significhi e cosa comporti occuparsi di “gestione delle diversità delle persone” in impresa, lo scetticismo che caratterizza le imprese italiane nell’affrontare i processi di cambiamento, la ritrosia ad investire laddove i ritorni tendenzialmente arrivano nel medio-lungo periodo e sono difficilmente misurabili e la mancanza di una “ricetta universale” da seguire ed applicare, sono fra le principali cause di questa ‘disattenzione’ al tema, che invece ha una forte rilevanza in termini organizzativi, economici e sociali. La gestione delle diversità rappresenta per le imprese, di tutte le dimensioni e settori, una vera a propria sfida strategica, attuale e futura, che occorre percepire e comprendere per poterla affrontare al meglio

La gestione consapevole delle diversità in impresa: una soluzione strategica ancora da scoprire in Italia

Una delle caratteristiche più rilevanti del mercato del lavoro attuale è il progressivo incremento di diversità nella forza lavoro che porta le imprese a registrare un aumento di eterogeneità interna (Johnston, Packer, 1987; Kossek, Lobel, 1996; Bombelli, 2003; Kreitner, Kinicki, 2004). La diversità del personale non costituisce di per sé una risorsa di vantaggio competitivo per le imprese (Guest, 2002; Purcell et al., 2003; Tatli et al. 2005); per portare benefici l'eterogeneità del personale deve essere gestita in modo efficace ed efficiente. È la “gestione consapevole delle diversità del personale” che diventa fonte di vantaggio competitivo per le imprese (Barabino, Jacobs, 1997; Foss, 1997). In Italia, al contrario di quanto accade nei paesi anglosassoni e nord europei, il discorso della gestione delle diversità è ancora estremamente inesplorato. Lo scopo di questa ricerca, a prevalente indirizzo esplorativo, è quello di analizzare come le imprese, in Italia, stiano affrontando il tema della gestione delle diversità del personale. Il metodo di ricerca adottato è il concurrent mixed method (Creswell, 2004) con la prevalenza di un’analisi qualitativa. La raccolta dei dati è avvenuta attraverso la costruzione e l’adozione di una web-survey ed alla realizzazione di interviste semi-strutturate rivolte ai responsabili del personale di imprese operanti sul territorio italiano. La partecipazione alla web-survey da parte delle 93 imprese del campione è stata su base volontaria. Il tema è stato approfondito attraverso 16 interviste semi-strutturate condotte, sempre su base volontaria, fra i responsabili del personale delle imprese Lombarde partecipanti alla web-survey. Dall’analisi dei dati raccolti emerge come la gestione delle diversità del personale in impresa sia ancora in una fase iniziale. A parte qualche raro caso di eccellenza, riscontrabile in un numero limitato di multinazionali, è possibile sostenere che le imprese italiane non hanno ancora iniziato ad occuparsi del tema e soprattutto non lo fanno in modo consapevole (con intenzionalità). Nonostante ciò, esistono imprese che attuano interventi di gestione delle diversità: la maggior parte degli interventi sono realizzati secondo una strategia proattiva di Azioni Positive e riguardano per lo più le dimensioni del genere e del ruolo professionale. Le dimensioni di diversità considerate più critiche, a fronte dei problemi relazionali ed organizzativi interni che sollevano, sono quelle delle diversità culturali e delle disabilità psichiche. Pur nella consapevolezza di non poter generalizzare i risultati ottenuti a causa della non sistematicità della survey e del limitato numero di imprese partecipanti (93), questo studio fornisce utili informazioni per guidare le necessarie azioni future di ricerca sul tema della gestione delle diversità in Italia

Recovering Metallicity in A4C60: The Case of Monomeric Li4C60

The restoration of metallicity in the high-temperature, cubic phase of Li4C60 represents a remarkable feature for a member of the A4C60 family (A = alkali metal), invariably found to be insulators. Structural and resonance technique investigations on Li4C60 at T > 600 K, show that its fcc structure is associated with a complete (4e) charge transfer to C60 and a sparsely populated Fermi level. These findings not only emphasize the crucial role played by lattice symmetry in fulleride transport properties, but also re-dimension the role of Jahn-Teller effects in band structure determination. Moreover, they suggest the present system as a potential precursor to a new class of superconducting fullerides.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure