Symbol and myth in the French symbolist movement: Henri de Régnier

El presente trabajo aborda la importancia del símbolo en el movimiento simbolista francés. El símbolo es el elemento sobre el que se asienta la estética del simbolista. Los poetas simbolistas se servirán asimismo del mito considerado en cuanto símbolo para plasmar sus grandes preocupaciones e ilustrar su pensamiento idealista. Para mostrar la relación fundamental que une ambos elementos, nos centraremos en cuatro de los mitos más relevantes de la fin de siècle: Narciso, Psique, Orfeo y Pigmalión mediante ejemplos extraídos de la obra de Henri de Régnier. Estos mitos revelan una de las grandes inquietudes del periodo finisecular: la dicotomía yo/otro.The present work addresses the importance of symbol in the French symbolist movement. Symbol is the element on where the symbolic aesthetics is based. The symbolist poets will also use the myth, which is considerated like a symbol to embody their intense worries and to illustrate this idealistic thinking. To show the fundamental relation, which joins both elements, we will focus on four of the most important myths of the fin-de-siècle: Narcissus, Psyque, Orpheus and Pygmalion by means of examples torn from Henri de Régnier’s work. These myths reveal one of the great interests of the fin-de-siècle period: the self/other dichotomy

Cardiac electrical defects in progeroid mice and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome patients with nuclear lamina alterations

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare genetic disease caused by defective prelamin A processing, leading to nuclear lamina alterations, severe cardiovascular pathology, and premature death. Prelamin A alterations also occur in physiological aging. It remains unknown how defective prelamin A processing affects the cardiac rhythm. We show age-dependent cardiac repolarization abnormalities in HGPS patients that are also present in the Zmpste24−/− mouse model of HGPS. Challenge of Zmpste24−/− mice with the β-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol did not trigger ventricular arrhythmia but caused bradycardia-related premature ventricular complexes and slow-rate polymorphic ventricular rhythms during recovery. Patch-clamping in Zmpste24−/− cardiomyocytes revealed prolonged calcium-transient duration and reduced sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium loading and release, consistent with the absence of isoproterenol-induced ventricular arrhythmia. Zmpste24−/− progeroid mice also developed severe fibrosis-unrelated bradycardia and PQ interval and QRS complex prolongation. These conduction defects were accompanied by overt mislocalization of the gap junction protein connexin43 (Cx43). Remarkably, Cx43 mislocalization was also evident in autopsied left ventricle tissue from HGPS patients, suggesting intercellular connectivity alterations at late stages of the disease. The similarities between HGPS patients and progeroid mice reported here strongly suggest that defective cardiac repolarization and cardiomyocyte connectivity are important abnormalities in the HGPS pathogenesis that increase the risk of arrhythmia and premature death

The evolution of the ventilatory ratio is a prognostic factor in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 ARDS patients

Background: Mortality due to COVID-19 is high, especially in patients requiring mechanical ventilation. The purpose of the study is to investigate associations between mortality and variables measured during the first three days of mechanical ventilation in patients with COVID-19 intubated at ICU admission. Methods: Multicenter, observational, cohort study includes consecutive patients with COVID-19 admitted to 44 Spanish ICUs between February 25 and July 31, 2020, who required intubation at ICU admission and mechanical ventilation for more than three days. We collected demographic and clinical data prior to admission; information about clinical evolution at days 1 and 3 of mechanical ventilation; and outcomes. Results: Of the 2,095 patients with COVID-19 admitted to the ICU, 1,118 (53.3%) were intubated at day 1 and remained under mechanical ventilation at day three. From days 1 to 3, PaO2/FiO2 increased from 115.6 [80.0-171.2] to 180.0 [135.4-227.9] mmHg and the ventilatory ratio from 1.73 [1.33-2.25] to 1.96 [1.61-2.40]. In-hospital mortality was 38.7%. A higher increase between ICU admission and day 3 in the ventilatory ratio (OR 1.04 [CI 1.01-1.07], p = 0.030) and creatinine levels (OR 1.05 [CI 1.01-1.09], p = 0.005) and a lower increase in platelet counts (OR 0.96 [CI 0.93-1.00], p = 0.037) were independently associated with a higher risk of death. No association between mortality and the PaO2/FiO2 variation was observed (OR 0.99 [CI 0.95 to 1.02], p = 0.47). Conclusions: Higher ventilatory ratio and its increase at day 3 is associated with mortality in patients with COVID-19 receiving mechanical ventilation at ICU admission. No association was found in the PaO2/FiO2 variation

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

La ciudad medieval: un ejemplo de descripción literaria en "Yonec"

La littérature médiévale présente pas mal d'exemples de description de villes, aussi bien de villes "réelles" qu'imaginaires. Ces descriptions suivent des règles qui appartiennent à la descriptio civitatis et qui confèrent aux espaces des caractéristiques stables, que nous allons voir dans les textes. À côté de ces images, que nous pouvons appeler "prototypiques", nous trouvons des éléments qui servent à individualiser et qui font de chaque ville un espace différent. Dans cette étude, nous allons nous concentrer sur Yonec; nous allons voir de quelle manière la description offerte par Marie de France n'échappe pas aux conventions établies par la descriptio civitatis; cependant, les traits particularisants qu'elle y introduit donnent à la ville décrite une atmosphère de mystère et de merveille qui fait d'elle un espace situé dans l'Autre Monde des celtes, avec un caractère symbolique assez marqué.La literatura medieval presenta abundantes ejemplos de descripción de ciudades, tanto "reales" como imaginarias. Estas descripciones siguen las reglas fijadas por la descriptio civitatis, que otorgan a los espacios unas características estables que se manifiestan en los textos. Al margen de estas imágenes, que podemos llamar "prototípicas", encontramos elementos que sirven de individualizadores y que confieren a cada ciudad descrita un carácter único. En este estudio, vamos a fijar nuestra mirada en el relato Yonec, veremos como la descripción de Marie de France no escapa a las pautas que marca la descriptio civitatis pero, los rasgos particulares que ésta introduce, confieren a la ciudad descrita un halo de misterio y de "merveille" que la convierte en un espacio situado en el Otro Mundo celta, con un marcado carácter simbólico