Cine y poder: el cine español y la secularización del discurso público sobre la moral durante la transición y consolidación democrática

This paper analyses the relationship between cinema and power. Through a case study it illustrates mutation of public discourse on morality during Spanish political transition and consolidation of democracy. The building up of a new public sphere after Franco’s death forced institutions such as the Catholic Church to redefine their discursive and symbolic strategies. Spanish Cinema was one of the main realms representing the symbolic conflict within that public sphere. Therefore the paper pretends to analyse the specific tools, strategies and goals used in such kind of conflicts.Este artículo analiza la relación entre cine y poder centrándose en un aspecto concreto: la mutación del discurso público sobre la moral a lo largo de la transición y consolidación democrática. La construcción de un nuevo espacio público tras la muerte de Franco obligó a redefinir las estrategias discursivas y simbólicas de algunas instituciones como la Iglesia. El cine –en cuanto articulador de discursos y representaciones– fue uno de los escenarios de conflicto simbólico en el que se pueden analizar los concretos mecanismos, estrategias e intereses que dichos conflictos ponen en juego

Divergence of endocrine and metabolic responses to stress in two rainbow trout lines selected for differing cortisol responsiveness to stress

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) of two lines selected for low (LR) and high (HR) cortisol stress-responsiveness were subjected to confinement for a period of 336 hours. Endocrine (plasma cortisol, hepatic cortisol binding) and metabolic (plasma glucose, lactate, amino acids; hepatic glycogen and alanine aminotransferase levels) indices of stress were measured at intervals in confined and unconfined fish of both lines. During confinement plasma cortisol concentration reached maximum values earlier in HR fish (2 hours) than in LR fish (6 hours) returning to control values within 336 hours in both lines. Paradoxically, although both HR and LR lines displayed a characteristic metabolic stress response, these changes were more pronounced in LR fish. Plasma glucose and lactate levels increased during confinement in both lines but to a significantly greater extent in LR fish. Confinement significantly elevated plasma amino acids to a greater extent in LR fish than in HR fish. Liver glycogen concentration was depleted most rapidly in LR fish but was significantly higher in confined fish of both lines than controls at the end of the experiment. No significant changes were observed in hepatic alanine aminotransferase activity during confinement. Confined fish of both lines displayed a decrease in hepatic cortisol receptor abundance within 24 h and this was more sustained in HR fish. The more pronounced disturbance of a broad range of indicators of stress in confined LR fish, compared to HR fish, throws doubt on the magnitude of the cortisol response being the primary driver of these differences

El cine desde la perspectiva de la ciencia política

La cultura de masas es probablemente uno de los fenómenos peculiares más importantes del siglo XX que menos atención han recibido desde la perspectiva de la Ciencia Política. En este artículo indagamos en primer lugar en los motivos que han podido motivar este desinterés politológico por la cultura de masas en general y, en particular, por el cine, uno de sus más claros exponentes. En el epígrafe segundo damos cuenta de la manera en que la disciplina de la Comunicación Política, yendo más allá del paradigma dominante de la persuasión del votante, se ha ido abriendo en los últimos años al estudio de los discursos basados en la ficción y en el entretenimiento, centrándonos sobre todo en una revisión de la literatura anglosajona sobre estos temas. En el último epígrafe hacemos un breve análisis del uso del cine por algunos movimientos sociales en cuanto arma y lugar de contestación política, centrándonos básicamente en las relaciones entre socialismo, feminismo y cine. Consideramos que el estudio politológico de los discursos públicos con los que se recrean las identidades colectivas y se construyen los universos políticos de la ciudadanía son un campo de estudio productivo. La creciente expansión de los enfoques de la teoría del discurso y de los Estudios Culturales en Ciencia Política parecen confirmar esta apretura académica.Popular culture is probably one of the strangest and most significant phenomena of the 20th century, and one which has been the least studied from the viewpoint of political science. In the first place, this article places particular stress on the reasons that may have motivated this lack of interest, in terms of political science, in popular culture in general, and specifically in the cinema, one of its most obvious exponents. Secondly, we report on the way in which over the last fifteen years the discipline of political communication has, moving beyond the dominant paradigm of voter persuasion, opened up to the study of discourses based on fiction and entertainment. The third and final section is devoted to a short analysis of how the cinema is used by some social movements as a weapon and a place where political response can occur, and this is where we home in on the relationships existing between socialism, feminism and the cinema. We consider that the political-scientific study of public discourses which recreate collective identities and construct the political worlds of all citizens is a productive study field. The growing expansion of focusses placed on the theory of discourse and Cultural Studies in political science seem to confirm this academic liberalization

Influence of Small Quantities of Water on the Physical Properties of Alkylammonium Nitrate Ionic Liquids

This paper presents a comprehensive study of two alkylammonium nitrate ionic liquids. As part of this family of materials, mainly ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) and also propylammonium nitrate (PAN) have attracted a great deal of attention during the last decades due to their potential applications in many fields. Although there have been numerous publications focused on the measurement of their physical properties, a great dispersion can be observed in the results obtained for the same magnitude. One of the critical points to be taken into account in their physical characterization is their water content. Thus, the main objective of this work was to determine the degree of influence of the presence of small quantities of water in EAN and PAN on the measurement of density, viscosity, electrical conductivity, refractive index and surface tension. For this purpose, the first three properties were determined in samples of EAN and PAN with water contents below 30,000 ppm in a wide range of temperatures, between 5 and 95 °C, while the last two were obtained at 25 °C. As a result of this study, it has been concluded that the presence of water is critical in those physical properties that involve mass or charge transport processes, resulting in the finding that the absolute value of the average percentage change in both viscosity and electrical conductivity is above 40%. Meanwhile, refractive index (≤0.3%), density (≤0.5%) and surface tension (≤2%) present much less significant changesThis research was funded by the Spanish MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND COMPETITIVENESS, grant numbers MAT2017-89239-C2-1-P and MAT2017-89239-C2-2-P. D. Ausín thanks the funding support of Fundación Segundo Gil Dávila. J.J. Parajó thanks the funding support of I2C postdoctoral program of Xunta de GaliciaS

Changes in iron metabolism and oxidative status in STZ-induced diabetic rats treated with bis(maltolato) oxovanadium(IV) as an antidiabetic agent

The role of vanadium as a micronutrient and hypoglycaemic agent has yet to be fully clarified. The present study was undertaken to investigate changes in the metabolism of iron and in antioxidant defences of diabetic STZ rats following treatment with vanadium. Four groups were examined: control; diabetic; diabetic treated with 1 mgV/day; and Diabetic treated with 3 mgV/day. The vanadium was supplied in drinking water as bis(maltolato) oxovanadium (IV) (BMOV). The experiment had a duration of five weeks. Iron was measured in food, faeces, urine, serum, muscle, kidney, liver, spleen, and femur. Superoxide dismutase, catalase, NAD(P)H: quinone-oxidoreductase-1 (NQO1) activity, and protein carbonyl group levels in the liver were determined. In the diabetic rats, higher levels of Fe absorbed, Fe content in kidney, muscle, and femur, and NQO1 activity were recorded, together with decreased catalase activity, in comparison with the control rats. In the rats treated with 3 mgV/day, there was a significant decrease in fasting glycaemia, Fe content in the liver, spleen, and heart, catalase activity, and levels of protein carbonyl groups in comparison with the diabetic group. In conclusion BMOV was a dose-dependent hypoglycaemic agent. Treatment with 3 mgV/day provoked increased Fe deposits in the tissues, which promoted a protein oxidative damage in the liver.The authors are grateful for support received from the Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa, Andalusian Regional Government (Project P06-CTS-01435)

Experimental and molecular modeling study on the binary mixtures of [EMIM][BF4] and [EMIM][TFSI] ionic liquids

The properties of [EMIM][BF4] + [EMIM][TFSI] double salt ionic liquid (DSIL) were studied as a function of mixtures composition and temperature. Experimental physicochemical properties combined with molecular simulation (quantum chemistry and classical molecular dynamics) were considered, thus providing a micro and macroscopic characterization of fluids’ structuring, intermolecular forces and molecular aggregation. The results were analysed in thermodynamics terms considering deviations of ideality and mixing properties as well as from the solvation and interaction between the involved ionic liquids by the developed complex hydrogen bonding networks. Likewise, liquid [EMIM][BF4] + [EMIM][TFSI] interfaces (x[EMIM][BF4] = x[EMIM][TFSI] = 0.5) were also studied using molecular dynamics methods to examine the diffusion of [BF4]- and [TFSI]- anions in the [EMIM][BF4] + [EMIM][TFSI] liquid interface, and the mechanism of interface crossing. The results allow a multiscale characterization of the considered ionic liquid mixtures thus providing another way of designing IL-type solvents for specific applications, by choosing not only the ion identity but also the ion ratio.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spain, project RTI2018-101987-B-I00) and by Junta de Castilla y León (Spain, project BU094G18). We acknowledge SCAYLE (Supercomputación Castilla y León, Spain) for providing supercomputing facilities

The Use of Dietary Additives in Fish Stress Mitigation: Comparative Endocrine and Physiological Responses

In the last years, studies on stress attenuation in fish have progressively grown. This is mainly due to the interest of institutions, producers, aquarists and consumers in improving the welfare of farmed fish. In addition to the development of new technologies to improve environmental conditions of cultured fish, the inclusion of beneficial additives in the daily meal in order to mitigate the stress response to typical stressors (netting, overcrowding, handling, etc.) has been an important research topic. Fish are a highly diverse paraphyletic group (over 27,000 species) though teleost infraclass include around 96% of fish species. Since those species are distributed world-wide, a high number of different habitats and vital requirements exist, including a wide range of environmental conditions determining specifically the stress response. Although the generalized endocrine response to stress (based on the release of catecholamines and corticosteroids) is detectable and therefore provides essential information, a high diversity of physiological effects have been described depending on species. Moreover, recent omics techniques have provided a powerful tool for detecting specific differences regarding the stress response. For instance, for transcriptomic approaches, the gene expression of neuropeptides and other proteins acting as hormonal precursors during stress has been assessed in some fish species. The use of different additives in fish diets to mitigate stress responses has been deeply studied. Besides the species factor, the additive type also plays a pivotal role in the differentiation of the stress response. In the literature, several types of feed supplements in different species have been assayed, deriving in a series of physiological responses which have not focused exclusively on the stress system. Immunological, nutritional and metabolic changes have been reported in these experiments, always associated to endocrine processes. The biochemical nature and physiological functionality of those feed additives strongly affect the stress response and, in fact, these can act as neurotransmitters or hormone precursors, energy substrates, cofactors and other essential elements, implyingmulti-systematic and multi-organic responses. In this review, the different physiological responses among fish species fed stress-attenuating diets based on biomolecules and minerals have been assessed, focusing on the endocrine regulation and its physiological effects

Oxidative Stress Mediates Physiological Costs of Begging in Magpie (Pica pica) Nestlings

[Background] Theoretical models predict that a cost is necessary to guarantee honesty in begging displays given by offspring to solicit food from their parents. There is evidence for begging costs in the form of a reduced growth rate and immunocompetence. Moreover, begging implies vigorous physical activity and attentiveness, which should increase metabolism and thus the releasing of pro-oxidant substances. Consequently, we predict that soliciting offspring incur a cost in terms of oxidative stress, and growth rate and immune response (processes that generate pro-oxidants substances) are reduced in order to maintain oxidative balance. [Methodology/Principal Findings] We test whether magpie (Pica pica) nestlings incur a cost in terms of oxidative stress when experimentally forced to beg intensively, and whether oxidative balance is maintained by reducing growth rate and immune response. Our results show that begging provokes oxidative stress, and that nestlings begging for longer bouts reduce growth and immune response, thereby maintaining their oxidative status. [Conclusions/Significance] These findings help explaining the physiological link between begging and its associated growth and immunocompetence costs, which seems to be mediated by oxidative stress. Our study is a unique example of the complex relationships between the intensity of a communicative display (begging), oxidative stress, and life-history traits directly linked to viability.GM-R was supported by the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, “Juan de la Cierva” program), and TR was supported by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC; Proyectos Intramurales Especiales)