Un nuevo dato biográfico sobre Cosme de Aldana

The present investigation brings to light a new piece of biographical data about Cosme de Aldana. It is shown that the poet studied law in the University of Pisa, something he himself states in his Asneyda, but which now can be proven beyond any doubt. At the same time it is here suggested that a) the Asneyda deserves being recovered from oblivion, and b) that in this as in other works Cosme provides clues (some of which are examined in the present article) that could be of great value when attempting to reconstruct his biography, a task that would contribute to a better knowledge of the 16th century in general, and of the Spanish-Italian aristocracy of that period in particular

El diálogo De Vita Beata, de Juan de Lucena: un rompecabezas histórico (I).

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Is a bad will a weak will? Cognitive dispositions modulate folk attributions of weakness of will

In line with recent efforts to empirically study the folk concept of weakness of will, we examine two issues in this paper: (1) How is weakness of will attribution [WWA] influenced by an agent’s violations of best judgment and/or resolution, and by the moral valence of the agent’s action? (2) Do any of these influences depend on the cognitive dispositions of the judging individual? We implemented a factorial 2x2x2 between–subjects design with judgment violation, resolution violation, and action valence as independent variables, and measured participants’ cognitive dispositions using Frederick’s Cognitive Reflection Test [CRT]. We conclude that intuitive and reflective individuals have two different concepts of weakness of will. The study supports this claim by showing that: a) the WWA of intuitive subjects is influenced by the action’s (and probably also the commitment’s) moral valence, while the WWA of reflective subjects is not; b) judgment violation plays a small role in the WWA of intuitive subjects, while reflective subjects treat resolution violation as the only relevant trait. Data were collected among students at two different universities. All subjects (N=710) answered the CRT. A three-way ANOVA was first conducted on the whole sample and then on the intuitive and reflective groups separately. This study suggests that differences in cognitive dispositions can significantly impact the folk understanding of philosophical concepts, and thus suggests that analysis of folk concepts should take cognitive dispositions into account

Quantum transport of energy in controlled synthetic quantum magnets

16 págs.; 6 figs.; Open Access funded by Creative Commons Atribution Licence 3.0We introduce a theoretical scheme that exploits laser cooling and phonon-mediated spin-spin interactions in crystals of trapped atomic ions to explore the transport of energy through a quantum magnet. We show how to implement an effective transport window to control the flow of energy through the magnet even in the absence of fermionic statistics for the carriers. This is achieved by shaping the density of states of the effective thermal reservoirs that arise from the interaction with the external bath of the modes of the electromagnetic field, and can be experimentally controlled by tuning the laser frequencies and intensities appropriately. The interplay of this transport window with the spin-spin interactions is exploited to build an analogue of the Coulomb-blockade effect in nano-scale electronic devices, and opens new possibilities to study quantum effects in energy transport.AB acknowledges support from Spanish MINECO Project FIS2015-70856-P, and CAM regional research consortium QUITEMAD+. TS is supported by DFG (SCHA 973). AB thanks the hospitality of FRIAS (Freiburg Institute of Advanced Science) within the research focus on ‘Designed quantum transport in complex materials’, where parts of this work were developed.Peer Reviewe

Los inagotables misterios de Juan de Lucena.

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Pathological Interaction between DNA Repair and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the degeneration of cortical and spinal cord motor neurons. Several mechanisms have been implicated in the pathogenesis of the disease, including mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and genome instability. Recently, a combined role between impaired DNA repair and subsequent mitochondrial dysfunction has emerged as a novel pathological interaction in neurodegeneration. This is exemplified by mutations in the RNA-/DNA-binding proteins FUS and TDP-43 as well as superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene, all related to familial ALS. In this regard, evidence supports either downregulation or impaired recruitment of DNA repair enzymes in both nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. In addition, evidence also suggests a complex metabolic dysregulation as a critical component in the promotion of the disease. This chapter aims to integrate the molecular mechanisms of this pathological interplay and the possible role in cytosolic protein aggregation and cell death in motor neurons

Dual trapped-ion quantum simulators: an alternative route towards exotic quantum magnets

18 págs.; 7 figs.; 1 tab. ; Open Access funded by Creative Commons Atribution Licence 3.0We present a route towards the quantum simulation of exotic quantum magnetism in ion traps by exploiting dual relations between different spin models. Our strategy allows one to start from Hamiltonians that can be realized with current technology, while properties of an exotic dual model are inferred from measurements of non-local, string-order-like, operators. The latter can be achieved from fluorescence, or from certain spectroscopic measurements, both of which can be combined with finite-size scaling by controlling the number of ions in the dual quantum simulator. We apply this concept to propose quantum simulators of frustrated quantum magnets, and Ising models with multi-spin interactions. We test the validity of the idea by showing numerically that the predictions of an ideal dual quantum simulator are not qualitatively modified by relevant perturbations that occur naturally in the trapped-ion scenario.A B acknowledges support from Spanish Mineco Project FIS2012-33022, and the CAM Research Network QUITEMAD+. TGandML acknowledge support from EU grants OSYRIS (ERC-2013-AdG Grant No. 339106), SIQS (FP7-ICT-2011-9 No. 600645), QUIC (H2020-FETPROACT-2014 No.641122), EQuaM (FP7/2007-2013 Grant No. 323714), Spanish MINECO grants (Severo Ochoa Grant SEV-2015-0522 and FOQUS FIS2013-46768), Generalitat de Catalunya grant SGR 874, and Fundació Cellex.Peer Reviewe

Abnormalities of T cell signaling in systemic lupus erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease resulting from a loss of tolerance to multiple self antigens, and characterized by autoantibody production and inflammatory cell infiltration in target organs, such as the kidneys and brain. T cells are critical players in SLE pathophysiology as they regulate B cell responses and also infiltrate target tissues, leading to tissue damage. Abnormal signaling events link to defective gene transcription and altered cytokine production, contributing to the aberrant phenotype of T cells in SLE. Study of signaling and gene transcription abnormalities in SLE T cells has led to the identification of novel targets for therapy