RETURN FROM UTOPIA: THE MONTALDO COLLECTION AND THE END OF THE ICARIAN DREAM

In 1848, Étienne Cabet moved to the United States with several hundred followers to implement the utopian society he had envisioned in Voyage en Icarie (1840)in American soil. Among the followers of Cabet, there were some Catalans such as Narcís Monturiol, Francisco José de Orellana, Joan Rovira, and Ignacio Montaldo. Rovira and Montaldo joined Cabet in his travel to America from Europe in 1848. In 1992, a retired librarian from Harvard University reported the existence of letters and documents "to and from" Ignacio Montaldo. Copies of these letters, written mainly in French and Spanish, are currently held at the Icarian Studies Center at Western Illinois University. To our knowledge, the letters have not been transcribed, translated or published. This may be attributed to difficulty to understand the letters due to the physical conditions of the documents. The main contribution of this article is the translation into English of the letters of the Montaldo Collection written in Spanish. (1) Finally, the content of these letters will reveal the particular impact that the defeat of the Spanish liberal project of the Progressive Biennium (1854-1856) had for Spanish Icarians

RETURN FROM UTOPIA: THE MONTALDO COLLECTION AND THE END OF THE ICARIAN DREAM

In 1848, Étienne Cabet moved to the United States with several hundred followers to implement the utopian society he had envisioned in Voyage en Icarie (1840)in American soil. Among the followers of Cabet, there were some Catalans such as Narcís Monturiol, Francisco José de Orellana, Joan Rovira, and Ignacio Montaldo. Rovira and Montaldo joined Cabet in his travel to America from Europe in 1848. In 1992, a retired librarian from Harvard University reported the existence of letters and documents "to and from" Ignacio Montaldo. Copies of these letters, written mainly in French and Spanish, are currently held at the Icarian Studies Center at Western Illinois University. To our knowledge, the letters have not been transcribed, translated or published. This may be attributed to difficulty to understand the letters due to the physical conditions of the documents. The main contribution of this article is the translation into English of the letters of the Montaldo Collection written in Spanish. (1) Finally, the content of these letters will reveal the particular impact that the defeat of the Spanish liberal project of the Progressive Biennium (1854-1856) had for Spanish Icarians

RETURN FROM UTOPIA: THE MONTALDO COLLECTION AND THE END OF THE ICARIAN DREAM

Abstract: In 1848, Étienne Cabet moved to the United States with several hundred followers to implement the utopian society he had envisioned in Voyage en Icarie (1840)in American soil. Among the followers of Cabet, there were some Catalans such as Narcís Monturiol, Francisco José de Orellana, Joan Rovira, and Ignacio Montaldo. Rovira and Montaldo joined Cabet in his travel to America from Europe in 1848. In 1992, a retired librarian from Harvard University reported the existence of letters and documents "to and from" Ignacio Montaldo. Copies of these letters, written mainly in French and Spanish, are currently held at the Icarian Studies Center at Western Illinois University. To our knowledge, the letters have not been transcribed, translated or published. This may be attributed to difficulty to understand the letters due to the physical conditions of the documents. The main contribution of this article is the translation into English of the letters of the Montaldo Collection written in Spanish. (1) Finally, the content of these letters will reveal the particular impact that the defeat of the Spanish liberal project of the Progressive Biennium (1854-1856) had for Spanish Icarians

Transethnic meta-analysis of rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3, and TREM2 supports their general contribution to Alzheimer’s disease

Rare coding variants in TREM2, PLCG2, and ABI3 were recently associated with the susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in Caucasians. Frequencies and AD-associated effects of variants differ across ethnicities. To start filling the gap on AD genetics in South America and assess the impact of these variants across ethnicity, we studied these variants in Argentinian population in association with ancestry. TREM2 (rs143332484 and rs75932628), PLCG2 (rs72824905), and ABI3 (rs616338) were genotyped in 419 AD cases and 486 controls. Meta-analysis with European population was performed. Ancestry was estimated from genome-wide genotyping results. All variants show similar frequencies and odds ratios to those previously reported. Their association with AD reach statistical significance by meta-analysis. Although the Argentinian population is an admixture, variant carriers presented mainly Caucasian ancestry. Rare coding variants in TREM2, PLCG2, and ABI3 also modulate susceptibility to AD in populations from Argentina, and they may have a European heritage.International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN) and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (to M.C.D.); Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PBIT/09 2013, PICT2015-0285 and PICT-2016-4647 to L.M.; PICT-2014-1537 to M.C.D.

Guía clínica para el diagnóstico y seguimiento de la distrofia miotónica tipo 1, DM1 o enfermedad de Steinert

La enfermedad de Steinert o distrofia miotónica tipo 1 (DM1), (OMIM 160900) es la miopatía más prevalente en el adulto. Es una enfermedad multisistémica con alteración de prácticamente todos los órganos y tejidos y una variabilidad fenotípica muy amplia, lo que implica que deba ser atendida por diferentes especialistas que dominen las alteraciones más importantes. En los últimos anos ˜ se ha avanzado de manera exponencial en el conocimiento de la enfermedad y en su manejo. El objetivo de la guía es establecer recomendaciones para el diagnóstico, el pronóstico, el seguimiento y el tratamiento de las diferentes alteraciones de la DM1. Esta guía de consenso se ha realizado de manera multidisciplinar. Se ha contado con neurólogos, neumólogos, cardiólogos, endocrinólogos, neuropediatras y genetistas que han realizado una revisión sistemática de la literatura. Se recomienda realizar un diagnóstico genético con cuantificación precisa de tripletes CTG. Los pacientes con DM1 deben seguir control cardiológico y neumológico de por vida. Antes de cualquier cirugía con anestesia general debe realizarse una evaluación respiratoria. Debe monitorizarse la presencia de síntomas de disfagia periódicamente. Debe ofrecerse consejo genético a los pacientes con DM1 y a sus familiares. La DM1 es una enfermedad multisistémica que requiere un seguimiento en unidades especializadas multidisciplinares

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

Multiancestry analysis of the HLA locus in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases uncovers a shared adaptive immune response mediated by HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes

Across multiancestry groups, we analyzed Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) associations in over 176,000 individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus controls. We demonstrate that the two diseases share the same protective association at the HLA locus. HLA-specific fine-mapping showed that hierarchical protective effects of HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes best accounted for the association, strongest with HLA-DRB1*04:04 and HLA-DRB1*04:07, and intermediary with HLA-DRB1*04:01 and HLA-DRB1*04:03. The same signal was associated with decreased neurofibrillary tangles in postmortem brains and was associated with reduced tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid and to a lower extent with increased Aβ42. Protective HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes strongly bound the aggregation-prone tau PHF6 sequence, however only when acetylated at a lysine (K311), a common posttranslational modification central to tau aggregation. An HLA-DRB1*04-mediated adaptive immune response decreases PD and AD risks, potentially by acting against tau, offering the possibility of therapeutic avenues

Writing Barcelona: reflections on city planning and urban experience, 1854-1888

This dissertation analyzes the articulation and the reception of the new urban model that transformed the city of Barcelona between 1854 and 1888. Through an interdisciplinary approach that includes the analysis of literature, visual culture, and specific proposals of urban planning, I examine how the conception and the representations of public spaces generate, support or reject a meta-narrative of urban modernity based on a over rationalization of space. The new urban rationale brought forth new opportunities for financial speculation and the consolidation of the idea of the city as spectacle. In particular, I explore the ways in which some authors???Robert Robert, Emili Vilanova, and Narc??s Oller among others???, artists???Llu??s Rigalt???, and photographers???Franck, Puig, and Mart?????reflected on the new modern articulation of space conceived in the two major urban planning proposals of the period: Ildefons Cerd?????s project of urban expansion and ??ngel Baixeras???s plan of reform of the inner city. I propose that the construction of the foundations of Barcelona???s urban modernity depended on a dialectical debate between a new hegemonic conception of the urban space and a number of explicit and implicit critiques of the emerging urban rationale. This negotiation confronted two different notions of space: on the first hand, the conception of an almost aseptic space that proposed a extreme rationalization of the city based on hygienic, mathematical, and aesthetic grounds; and, on the other hand, a popular understanding of the urban milieu that reclaimed the central role of the urban practices of its citizens in the production of space. This dissertation aims at exposing the initial articulation of what has recently been called the ???Barcelona model,??? a plan of urban development based on the concept of the city as spectacle which has been implemented cyclically according to mandatory rites of passage like the Universal Exhibition of 1888 and the 1992 Olympic Games. Ultimately, I suggest that these two apparently irreconcilable positions???the overarching plans of urban transformation and the local dissent of citizens threatened by these periodical revolutions???are not only an integral part of the modernization process but also that these two positions are fundamentally modern