John Henry Newman’s Anglican Views on Judaism

The scant scholarship associated with Newman’s Anglican views about Judaism has focused on his negative rhetoric against Judaism and portrayed him as anti-Semitic. His Anglican writings, however, applied terms associated with Judaism in a typological sense to the political and religious realities of his day, primarily to support his apologetic agenda and to highlight threats to the Church of England. Simultaneously, he stressed the positive characteristics of Judaism, illustrated the continuity between Judaism and Christianity, and pointed out that the religious system of Judaism was divinely inspired and contained worthy examples for Christian living

Deep-sea rhythms: effects on community evaluation and new study technologies

Special issue Llum, foscor i éssers vius.-- 6 pages, 6 figuresIn their behavioural, physiological and molecular functioning, animals follow temporal patterns collectively known as biological rhythms. Massive three-dimensional displacements of species occur at periodicities ranging from 12.4 h (tidal rhythms) and 24 h (day-night rhythms) to months (e.g. seasonal reproductive rhythms). This temporal adjustment of behavioural activity to geophysical cycles in light intensity, photoperiod length and hydrodynamism produces a strong and complex temporal variability in marine ecosystems, which complicates ecological studies focusing on populations and biodiversity assessments. Important constraints in sampling repeatability at statistically relevant frequencies limit the progress of marine ecology, especially in the increasingly anthropic-threatened but still largely unexplored deep sea (65% of the planet’s surface is below 1000 m depth). Within the framework of a novel seafloor video-cabled observatory technology that is progressively being installed in large oceanographic networks, it is now possible to explore and monitor ecosystems at sampling frequencies and over temporal durations never attained before. Fluctuations in video-counted individuals can be considered a proxy of populational behavioural rhythms in response to cycles of environmental parameters measured simultaneously through oceanographic, chemical and geologic sensors. Time-series analysis protocols can be implemented according to the following steps: i) periodogram analysis for the detection of significant periodicity; ii) waveform analysis for the measurement of rhythm phases (e.g. diurnal/nocturnal or monthly/seasonal peaks); and iii) integrated waveform analysis. In waveform analysis (step ii), data sets will be sectioned into segments of length equal to the periodicity of the geophysical cycle of reference (as assessed in step i). The values of all sub-sets will be averaged at corresponding timings to obtain a consensus curve (the waveform). The identification of a peak will be carried out to relate the significant increase in population activity to a particular moment in the fluctuation of the geophysical cycle. The integrated analysis of waveforms for all species (in step iii) and geophysical cycles will be carried out to evidence the temporal linkage among peaks, as an indication of a reliable cause-effect relationshipPeer Reviewe

Alla ricerca di un target per la somministrazione di oppioide in anestesia generale

L'Analgesia Nociception Index (ANI) è un indice di recente sviluppo per il monitoraggio del dolore del paziente che analizza, attraverso il tracciato elettrocardiografico, la varianza dell'intervallo RR (Heart Rate Variability, HRV). Questo dato, come mostrato in vari studi, riflette l'influenza del sistema nervoso autonomo sul nodo del seno. (1, 2) Attraverso un logaritmo viene elaborato un indice numerico da 0 a 100, che sarà tanto più basso quanto maggiore è il dolore del paziente. Ogni ciclo respiratorio è associato ad un fisiologico lieve aumento della frequenza cardiaca durante l’inspirazione (con relativa riduzione dell’intervallo RR), e ad una riduzione durante l’espirazione (con aumento dell’intervallo RR). Questo pattern respiratorio è dovuto al fatto che, in un paziente senza dolore, è prevalente il tono parasimpatico. Durante l’inspirazione si ha lo stiramento dei recettori alveolari, che provocano un riflesso vagale il quale esita in una riduzione della frequenza cardiaca nella successiva fase del ciclo respiratorio, cioè quella espiratoria. Ciò si rifletterà in un basso indice ANI. Un paziente che sperimenta uno stimolo dolorifico avrà un aumento del tono simpatico. Ciò risulterà in una importante riduzione del tono parasimpatico. La potenza del fisiologico riflesso parasimpatico durante il ciclo respiratorio si attenuerà moltissimo, lasciando pressoché invariata la frequenza cardiaca e la HRV in fase inspiratoria ed espiratoria. In questo caso invece avremo un basso indice ANI. (3) I limiti di questo tipo di monitoraggio sono vari: o Il valore dell’indice ANI è ottenibile quando gli alveoli polmonari vengono dilatati e i recettori di stiramento sono sollecitati (cosa che avviene sia con ventilazione a pressione negativa che positiva), ma non durante l’apnea (ANI non registrabile durante l’intubazione, ad esempio). o L’indice ANI è registrabile solo se il riflesso parasimpatico agisce sulla frequenza cardiaca attraverso il nodo del seno. Tutte le condizioni in cui lo stimolo sia ectopico (ad es. fibrillazione atriale, presenza di pace maker) costituiscono un criterio di esclusione. o Tutti i farmaci che vanno ad alterare il tono simpatico/parasimpatico (atropina, efedrina, catecolamine) interferiscono con l’affidabilità dell’indice ANI. (4) In questo elaborato ci siamo proposti di valutare 60 pazienti sottoposti a tiroidectomia completa o lobectomia tiroidea, ASA I-II, in anestesia generale totalmente endovenosa in mantenimento con propofol 2% e remifentanyl 0,5 mcg/ml in infusione continua. 30 pazienti sono stati monitorati con ANI, con l’obiettivo di mantenere l’indice compreso tra 50 e 70 attraverso l’aggiustamento della dose di remifentanyl somministrata (espressa in mcg/kg/min). Negli altri 30 il dosaggio dell’oppioide intraoperatorio è stato effettuato solamente sulla base dei parametri clinici ed emodinamici (PA, FC). 1. PhysioDoloris: a monitoring device for analgesia / nociception balance evaluation using heart rate variability analysis. Logier R1, Jeanne M, De Jonckheere J, Dassonneville A, Delecroix M, Tavernier B.Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2010;2010:1194-7 2. Pain/analgesia evaluation using heart rate variability analysis. Logier R1, Jeanne M, Tavernier B, De Jonckheere J. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2006;1:4303-6 3. Heart rate variability during total intravenous anesthesia: effects of nociception and analgesia. Auton Neurosci, Jeanne M, Logier R, De Jonckheere J, Tavernier B. 2009. 147(1-2): 91-6. 4. Validation of a graphic measurement of heart rate variability to assess analgesia/nociception balance during general anesthesia. Conf Proc IEEE Med Biol Soc, 2009.1:1840-

Using ORB, BoW and SVM to identify and track tagged Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus (L.)

Sustainable capture policies of many species strongly depend on the understanding of their social behaviour. Nevertheless, the analysis of emergent behaviour in marine species poses several challenges. Usually animals are captured and observed in tanks, and their behaviour is inferred from their dynamics and interactions. Therefore, researchers must deal with thousands of hours of video data. Without loss of generality, this paper proposes a computer vision approach to identify and track specific species, the Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus. We propose an identification scheme were animals are marked using black and white tags with a geometric shape in the center (holed triangle, filled triangle, holed circle and filled circle). Using a massive labelled dataset; we extract local features based on the ORB descriptor. These features are a posteriori clustered, and we construct a Bag of Visual Words feature vector per animal. This approximation yields us invariance to rotation and translation. A SVM classifier achieves generalization results above 99%. In a second contribution, we will make the code and training data publically available.Peer Reviewe

A neuroprotective strategy to reduce acute and chronic disability, and slowly progressive central nervous system atrophy in a new model of multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neuroinflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system that causes severe neurological deficits, starting in young adulthood. Early in the course of disease the deficits usually manifest as temporary ‘attacks’, or relapses, but later in the disease they manifest as a slowly progressive, irreversible worsening. Relapses are primarily due to impaired neuro/axonal function in the short term, whereas the progressive deficits are principally due to the slow accumulation of neuro/axonal degeneration and tissue atrophy. Regarding therapy, current evidence suggests that the acute neurological deficit can arise from inflammation, even in the absence of demyelination, although the mechanism(s) remain uncertain. Equally uncertain, is the cause of the slowly progressive degeneration and atrophy. Current disease-modifying treatments for MS can reduce the frequency of relapses, but, when they occur, they can still be severe. Steroids can shorten the duration of relapses, but any benefit regarding disability in the long-term is negligible. There are no very effective therapies to prevent progressive disease, and developing a therapy is hampered by the lack of an accepted animal model. Here, we introduce a new animal model of MS which causes severe neurological deficits with a time course similar to that in MS. Thus, acute deficits arise in young adulthood from CNS inflammation in the absence of demyelination, and chronic, progressive deficits accumulate throughout life due to neurodegeneration and atrophy. In MS, damage to the grey matter, particularly that of the spinal cord, correlates more precisely with the progression of disability than damage to the white matter, and here we describe a new animal model that leads to post-inflammatory, slowly progressive disability resulting from damage to the spinal grey matter. We aim to use the model to explore the mechanisms responsible for both acute and chronic deficit, and to identify a rational and effective strategy for neuroprotection. The lesion is induced in the rat spinal cord by the unilateral, intraspinal injection of pro- inflammatory lipopolysaccharide (LPS, or saline control) into the ventral horn at the 13th thoracic vertebra. The lesion consists of a period of acute inflammation, characterized by oedema and local tissue hypoxia, which peaks at 48 hours post-injection, subsiding within 4 days. The inflammatory lesion is accompanied by the expression of a neurological deficit, namely hind limb and tail weakness, both of which subside within 4 days. Interestingly, the acute inflammatory lesion is gradually replaced over the lifetime by a slowly progressive degeneration of the previously inflamed grey matter, resembling the slow and progressive grey matter degeneration in MS. The progressive degeneration is accompanied by the return of the neurological deficit which gradually worsens over the following months, surpassing the disability observed in the acute stage of the disease, and modelling the slow, relentless accumulation of disability seen in progressive MS. We have used the histological characteristics of the acute inflammatory lesion, including the evidence of hypoxia, to devise a potential therapeutic strategy based on maintaining adequate tissue oxygenation. Two therapies have been explored, namely increasing respiratory oxygen, and use of the vasodilating agent nimodipine. The therapies have been applied acutely, just during the initial period of inflammatory hypoxia. Both therapies were effective in reducing the acute disability, indicating a potential therapy for relapses in MS. Remarkably, both therapies were also effective in reducing both the slowly progressive accumulation of permanent disability and the accompanying atrophy, indicating a therapeutic opportunity to avoid the severity of progressive MS. These observations illuminate the important question in MS of whether the degeneration and atrophy that accompany progressive disease are due to contemporaneous events, or whether they are the delayed consequences of events occurring long before, in the acute inflammatory lesion. In summary, we introduce a new animal model of MS that illuminates the mechanisms contributing to both acute and chronic disability and use the model to identify therapies effective in reducing both acute and chronic disability, and the underlying pathology. The therapies are safe and inexpensive, and are suitable for testing in clinical trial in MS

Newman’s First Two Notes on Development and Patristic Millenarianism

In recent years, critical discourse concerning the millenarian eschatology of the early Patristic era of Christianity has called into question the common notion that millenarian concepts have been utterly rejected as heretical by the Roman Catholic Church. No Ecumenical Council has ever rejected millenarian eschatology, and papal and juridical statements on the issue have been taken out of context. This essay brings forward, as testing agents, John Henry Newman’s first two notes in Development in order to determine whether Patristic millenarianism, along with a more recently explored version called Eucharistic millenarianism, is a valid example of doctrinal development of an earlier type. Eucharistic millenarianism borrows many aspects from a primitive apostolic source and has been embraced by the Catholic hierarchy, raising the question of how millenarian aspects might legitimately inform contemporary theology. Newman’s theory of the development of doctrine, particularly as seen in his first two notes, is a valuable tool for reevaluating latent concepts that have been unfairly viewed as marginal or even heretical in mainline theological discourse

Ritmes al mar profund: efecte sobre l’avaluació de les comunitats i noves tecnologies d’estudi

In their behavioural, physiological and molecular functioning, animals follow temporal patterns collectively known as biological rhythms. Massive three-dimensional displacements of species occur at periodicities ranging from 12.4 h (tidal rhythms) and 24 h (day-night rhythms) to months (e.g. seasonal reproductive rhythms). This temporal adjustment of behavioural activity to geophysical cycles in light intensity, photoperiod length and hydrodynamism produces a strong and complex temporal variability in marine ecosystems, which complicates ecological studies focusing on populations and biodiversity assessments. Important constraints in sampling repeatability at statistically relevant frequencies limit the progress of marine ecology, especially in the increasingly anthropic-threatened but still largely unexplored deep sea (65% of the planet’s surface is below 1000 m depth). Within the framework of a novel seafloor video-cabled observatory technology that is progressively being installed in large oceanographic networks, it is now possible to explore and monitor ecosystems at sampling frequencies and over temporal durations never attained before. Fluctuations in video-counted individuals can be considered a proxy of populational behavioural rhythms in response to cycles of environmental parameters measured simultaneously through oceanographic, chemical and geologic sensors. Time-series analysis protocols can be implemented according to the following steps: i) periodogram analysis for the detection of significant periodicity; ii) waveform analysis for the measurement of rhythm phases (e.g. diurnal/nocturnal or monthly/seasonal peaks); and iii) integrated waveform analysis. In waveform analysis (step ii), data sets will be sectioned into segments of length equal to the periodicity of the geophysical cycle of reference (as assessed in step i). The values of all sub-sets will be averaged at corresponding timings to obtain a consensus curve (the waveform). The identification of a peak will be carried out to relate the significant increase in population activity to a particular moment in the fluctuation of the geophysical cycle. The integrated analysis of waveforms for all species (in step iii) and geophysical cycles will be carried out to evidence the temporal linkage among peaks, as an indication of a reliable cause-effect relationship

Integrating data from vessel monitoring system and fish landings in Menditerranean small fleets, using a PostgreSQL database with PostGIS extension

Geospatial technologies represent an advance in knowledge of marine ecosystems, allowing approach the study of the potential effect of world fishing fleets and their dynamics. Nevertheless, their application to fisheries biology is very recent and its use is generalizing when the ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) proposed one methodology to study fisheries and their impact in Atlantic Ocean ecosystems in the 2008 year. This procedure is based on the use of position data from the "blue boxes" (VMS-Vessel Monitoring System), mandatory since 2006 due to a European regulation, and it's present in most fishing boats. The junction of the VMS, fishing logbooks and landings data enables us to obtain among others results, maps of fishing effort, behaviour of fishing fleet and precise location of fishing grounds at the European waters. However, its design is made for large trawlers and longliners, and extensive Atlantic areas. This fact makes impossible its application for the study of the fleet and fisheries in Mediterranean waters. Because, the boats are much smaller, have lower mobility and they work in small fishing areas. The aim of this work has been to develop and apply a methodology (ICES based) to study fishing effort on species of commercial interest in Catalan coast, using scripting PL/SQL procedures of PostgreSQL system database with Post- GIS extension.Peer Reviewe

Temporal Shape Changes and Future Trends in European Automotive Design

Evolution produces genuine novelty in morphology through the selection of competing designs as phenotypes. When applied to human creativity, the evolutionary paradigm can provide insight into the ways that our technology and its design are modified through time. The shape of European utilitarian cars in the past 60 years was analyzed in order to determine whether changes occur in a gradual fashion or through saltation, clarifying which are the more conserved and more variable parts of the designs. We also attempted to predict the future appearances of the cars within the next decade, discussing all results within the framework of relevant evolutionary-like equivalences. Here, we analyzed the modification in the shape of European utilitarian cars in the past 60 years by three-dimensional geometric morphometrics to test whether these changes occurred in a gradual or more saltatory fashion. The geometric morphometric shape analysis showed that even though car brands have always been preserving distinct shapes, all followed a gradual pattern of evolution which is now converging toward a more similar fusiform and compact asset. This process was described using Darwinian evolution as a metaphor to quantify and interpret changes over time and the societal pressures promoting them.This research was funded by project RITFIM (ref. CTM2010-16274, of the Spanish national RTD program. J. Aguzzi is a postdoctoral Fellow of the Spanish Ramón y Cajal Program (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness).We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).Peer reviewe