La difusión de la prensa diaria en los Paises Catalanes entre 1976-1996

Esta investigación analiza la evolución de la difusión de la prensa diaria en relación a la vertebración política de los territorios de Cataluña, Islas Baleares y País Valenciano con el conjunto del estado, desde el principio de la transición a la democracia en 1976 hasta 1996. Las principales conclusiones apuntan a un incremento de la vertebración estatal de estos territorios, especialmente en cuanto a su dependencia informativa provocada por el incremento muy significativo de la prensa central de penetración en cuanto a ventas totales, tasas de difusión y ocupación del mercado. El estado de las Autonomías se revela, pues, no como un factor de mayor autonomía informativa territorial, sino de integración y homogeneización.This study analyses generic processes affecting the various tiers of the daily press in relation to the evolution of the political structuring of the Catalanspeaking areas (Catalonia, Balearic Islands and Valencian Community) within the Spanish State, from the beginning of the transition to democracy in 1976 through to 1996. The major movements to be detected in press diffusion are the increase in the "vertebration" of the Spanish state as a whole, evident as much in the increased weight of the centralised statewide press penetrating the Catalanspeaking market as in the process of homogenisation revealed by key data referring to total sales, circulation density and market shares

Blocking IL-6 signaling prevents astrocyte-induced neurodegeneration in an iPSC-based model of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with progressive death of midbrain dopamine (DAn) neurons in the substantia nigra (SN). Since it has been proposed that patients with PD exhibit an overall proinflammatory state, and since astrocytes are key mediators of the inflammation response in the brain, here we sought to address whether astrocyte-mediated inflammatory signaling could contribute to PD neuropathology. For this purpose, we generated astrocytes from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) representing patients with PD and healthy controls. Transcriptomic analyses identified a unique inflammatory gene expression signature in PD astrocytes compared with controls. In particular, the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 was found to be highly expressed and released by PD astrocytes and was found to induce toxicity in DAn. Mechanistically, neuronal cell death was mediated by IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) expressed in human PD neurons, leading to downstream activation of STAT3. Blockage of IL-6R by the addition of the FDA-approved anti-IL-6R antibody, Tocilizumab, prevented PD neuronal death. SN neurons overexpressing IL-6R and reactive astrocytes expressing IL-6 were detected in postmortem brain tissue of patients at early stages of PD. Our findings highlight the potential role of astrocyte-mediated inflammatory signaling in neuronal loss in PD and pave the way for the design of future therapeutics

Regional overlap of pathologies in Lewy body disorders

Q2Q1Artículo original216-224Paciente adultoLewy body disorders (LBD) are common neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the presence of aggregated a-synuclein in Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites in the central and peripheral nervous systems. The brains of patients with LBD often display other comorbid pathologies, i.e. insoluble tau, b-amyloid aggregates, TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) deposits, and argyrophilic grain disease (AGD). The incidence and physiological relevance of these concurrent pathological findings remain controversial. We performed a semiquantitative detailed mapping of a-synuclein, tau, bamyloid (Ab), TDP-43, and AGD pathologies in 17 areas in 63 LBD cases (44 with Parkinson disease [PD], 28 with dementia, and 19 with dementia with Lewy bodies). APOE and MAPT genetic variants were also investigated. A majority of LBD cases had 2 or 3 concomitant findings, particularly Alzheimer disease-related pathology. Pathological stages of tau, b-amyloid and a-synuclein pathologies were increased in cases with dementia. Ab score was the best correlate of the time to dementia in PD. In addition, b-amyloid deposition correlated with a-synuclein load in all groups. MAPT H1 haplotype did not influence any assessed pathology in PD. These results highlight the common concurrence of pathologies in patients with LBD that may have an impact on the clinical expression of the diseases

El Consum de mitjans de comunicació i el consum cultural dels joves a Catalunya: una aproximació social

L’estudi analitza alguns aspectes clau per entendre les diferències entre els joves i adults pel que fa al consum de mitjans de comunicació i als consums culturals a Catalunya. Aquest tipus d’estudi s’emmarca habitualment en els estudis de mercat, i són motivats principalment per la pròpia indústria de la comunicació i la cultura, que veu en els joves un gran públic objectiu i el públic que mostra les noves tendències del mercat. Aquest estudi es basa precisament en les dades del Baròmetre de la Comunicació i la Cultura, que és un gran estudi de mercat, però busca una interpretació més social de les dades per analitzar alguns aspectes que han estat d’interès social els darrers anys. Entre aquests temes, l’estudi mostra que el centre del problema no és si els joves ja no llegeixen, si els consums culturals dels joves són baixos en general, o si entre els joves ja no es consumeix cultura i comunicació en català. El veritable problema és que darrera aquests tòpics i aquests estereotips, s’amaga una realitat més crua. I és que ja entrats en el segle XXI i després de 30 anys de democràcia, encara es mantenen fortes diferències d’accés a la cultura i a la comunicació per motius de gènere, nivell d’estudis i classe social. I l’exclusió cultural és una crua forma d’exclusió socia

La difusión de la prensa diaria en los Paises Catalanes entre 1976-1996

Esta investigación analiza la evolución de la difusión de la prensa diaria en relación a la vertebración política de los territorios de Cataluña, Islas Baleares y País Valenciano con el conjunto del estado, desde el principio de la transición a la democracia en 1976 hasta 1996. Las principales conclusiones apuntan a un incremento de la vertebración estatal de estos territorios, especialmente en cuanto a su dependencia informativa provocada por el incremento muy significativo de la prensa central de penetración en cuanto a ventas totales, tasas de difusión y ocupación del mercado. El estado de las Autonomías se revela, pues, no como un factor de mayor autonomía informativa territorial, sino de integración y homogeneización.This study analyses generic processes affecting the various tiers of the daily press in relation to the evolution of the political structuring of the Catalanspeaking areas (Catalonia, Balearic Islands and Valencian Community) within the Spanish State, from the beginning of the transition to democracy in 1976 through to 1996. The major movements to be detected in press diffusion are the increase in the "vertebration" of the Spanish state as a whole, evident as much in the increased weight of the centralised statewide press penetrating the Catalanspeaking market as in the process of homogenisation revealed by key data referring to total sales, circulation density and market shares

Cerebrospinal fluid cytokines in multiple system atrophy: A cross-sectional Catalan MSA registry study

Introduction: Neuroinflammation is a potential player in neurodegenerative conditions, particularly the aggressive ones, such as multiple system atrophy (MSA). Previous reports on cytokine levels in MSA using serum or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have been inconsistent, including small samples and a limited number of cytokines, often without comparison to Parkinson's disease (PD), a main MSA differential diagnosis. Methods: Cross-sectional study of CSF levels of 38 cytokines using a multiplex assay in 73 participants: 39 MSA patients (19 with parkinsonian type [MSAp], 20 with cerebellar type [MSAc]; 31 probable, 8 possible), 19 PD patients and 15 neurologically unimpaired controls. None of the participants was under non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs at the time of the lumbar puncture. Results: There were not significant differences in sex and age among participants. In global non-parametric comparisons FDR-corrected for multiple comparisons, CSF levels of 5 cytokines (FGF-2, IL-10, MCP-3, IL-12p40, MDC) differed among the three groups. In pair-wise FDR-corrected non-parametric comparisons 12 cytokines (FGF-2, eotaxin, fractalkine, IFN-α2, IL-10, MCP-3, IL-12p40, MDC, IL-17, IL-7, MIP-1β, TNF-α) were significantly higher in MSA vs. non-MSA cases (PD + controls pooled together). Of these, MCP-3 and MDC were the most significant ones, also differed in MSA vs. PD, and were significant MSA-predictors in binary logistic regression models and ROC curves adjusted for age. CSF levels of fractalkine and MIP-1α showed a strong and significant positive correlation with UMSARS-2 scores. Conclusion: Increased CSF levels of cytokines such as MCP-3, MDC, fractalkine and MIP-1α deserve consideration as potential diagnostic or severity biomarkers of MSA