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Background: This study’s primary aim was to assess the safety and performance of second-generation all-soft suture anchors following arthroscopic labral tear repair. Methods: This prospective, multicenter study was conducted by 6 surgeons at 6 sites in Europe and the United States between November 2018 and August 2020. Patients who required shoulder arthroscopic repair, for a range of labral injuries, were treated with a second-generation all-soft suture anchor. The primary outcome was clinical success rate (percentage of patients without signs of failure and/or reintervention) at 6 months. Secondary outcomes included clinical success rate at 12 months, intraoperative anchor deployment success rate, and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) at 6 and 12 months, including visual analog scale (VAS) pain assessment, VAS satisfaction assessment, EQ-5D-5L Index Score, EQ-5D-5L VAS Health Score, Rowe Shoulder Score for Instability, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score, and Constant-Murley Shoulder Score. Serious adverse events and serious adverse device effects were collected throughout the study. Results: Forty-one patients were enrolled (mean age, 28.2 years; 87.8% male, 12.2% female). Clinical success was achieved in 27/28 and 31/32 patients at 6 months and 12 months, respectively. Anchor deployment had a 100% success rate. Significant improvements over baseline were reported for all PROs except Constant-Murley Shoulder (6 months) and VAS Satisfaction Score (12 months). One patient experienced 1 serious adverse event and 1 patient experienced 1 serious adverse device effect. Conclusion: Second-generation all-soft suture anchors used in this study demonstrated a high clinical success rate, a favorable safety profile, and patients exhibited significant improvement in PROs.

Abstract The social distancing imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the digitalisation of societies, which also influenced habits related to the consumption and dissemination of news. In this context, older individuals are often blamed for contributing to disinformation, which is associated with the echo chambers fostered by social media. Mass media, social media and personal communication tools act as mass, social or personal intermediaries when it comes to keeping up to date with the news. This paper analyses the preferred intermediaries of older online adults (aged 60 and over) for following the news and how they change over time. We analysed two waves of an online survey-based longitudinal study conducted in Canada and Spain, before Covid-19 pandemic (2016/17), and during Covid-19 (in 2020). We found that most participants exclusively use mass intermediaries or combine mass with social and personal intermediaries to keep abreast of the news. However, only 28% of respondents inform themselves exclusively through the alleged echo chambers of social and personal intermediaries. Results also show that media ecologies evolve in different directions, and, despite the forced digitalisation driven by the pandemic, digital media usage did not always increase or evolve towards newer technologies. This paper contributes to understanding the diverse intermediaries used by older adults to obtain news and how such media ecologies can contribute to contrasting different sources of information beyond the alleged echo chambers of social media.

In what ways do mobile communication practices change through later life? To what extent do sociodemographic characteristics, country of residence, and well-being relate to these changing practices? To answer these questions, we used an online, longitudinal study targeting internet users aged 60 and over in six countries (Austria, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands, Spain, and Romania). The focus is on the 3,125 respondents who declared using a mobile phone in every wave (2016, 2018, and 2020). Results show an increasing usage diversification already before the Covid-19 pandemic. A latent class analysis identified three different styles of mobile practices. The most sophisticated relies on almost all the analyzed functions, while the most unsophisticated is limited to voice calls, texting (mainly SMS), and photographs to a lesser extent. Finally, a multinomial analysis provided a picture of the individual characteristics related to the usage styles in the period. The most relevant dimensions were country of residence and age, followed by internet use intensity. The country of residence is relevant to explaining usage because the telecommunications price structure determines the priority given to the mobile phone in (senior) individuals’ everyday lives. The article contributes nuanced evidence of the trajectories of digital practices in later life. At the same time, the findings support and better inform country-based policies, services, and products for more effective inclusion of the older population in today’s hyper-digitized societies.

IntroductionIn the face of the current climate crisis, environmental communication can contribute to providing new frames of understanding and promoting social change and positive citizen action. Through social media, on platforms like Instagram, concerned citizens embrace environmental communication activism ultimately reshaping the narratives regarding the climate crisis. These individuals, who we identify as both activists and environmental influencers, are challenging the established media narratives with their posts and stories, thus offering alternative narratives. Accordingly, this paper aims to elaborate an incipient characterization of a communicative agenda that includes the emerging elements of these visual narratives in social media as potentially able to engage citizens to take action in their ordinary lives.MethodsOur research draws on a qualitative methodological approach, based on: (1) a digital ethnography carried out on 60 Instagram accounts devoted to the dissemination of environmental concerns and contents, (2) a visual narrative analysis of 281 selected posts of the previous accounts, and (3) 14 in-depth interviews conducted with digital activists.ResultsWe have identified the main traits of these emerging visual narratives: the use of positive visuals and content; first-person accounts highlighting the small actions and achievements (propositive narratives) that can be carried out in our daily lives; and/or the use of memes, humor, and other elements of popular culture to make the environmental cause mainstream.DiscussionThe study underscores a notable divergence between established environmental narratives and those curated by eco-influencers on social media. These influencers strategically leverage emotionally resonant, positive visual narratives, departing from fear-inducing content. They emphasize individual actions and solutions rather than collective interventions, personalizing the climate crisis. Additionally, their narratives engage in a nuanced dialogue with nature and integrate popular culture, humor, and memes to effectively reach diverse audiences. This shift reflects a broader cultural change in communication strategies, signaling a novel approach to mobilize audiences toward environmental engagement.

La preocupación por la crisis climática ha generado un activismo medioambiental en las redes sociales liderado en buena parte por influencers. En este artículo se aborda la relación entre dicho activismo, el estilo de vida y las narrativas personales en Instagram a partir de un análisis de caso, la cuenta @vivirsinplastico. Se presenta parte de una investigación en curso de carácter cualitativo, cuyos resultados obtenidos nos permiten sostener, entre otros, que la figura del eco-influencer abre un nuevo modo de activismo social basado en promover determinado estilo de vida sostenible en el que las imágenes tienen un papel fundamental.

Older adults are increasingly using smartphones. Researchers have identified demographic, attitudinal factors and social outcomes related to inequalities in access, skills, and activities of internet use. While this research has been ongoing for years, studies about the digital inequalities related to the use of smartphones by older adults are still scarce, and they rarely have undertaken sociocultural comparisons of usage. This article builds on an analysis of tracking data of older adults’ (pp. 55–79) smartphone use, to explore digital inequalities around traditional axes of inequality and sociocultural factors that shape older adults’ smartphone use. It adds a comparative perspective for understanding emerging inequalities related to sociocultural contexts to the existing literature. The results show that differences cannot be explained solely by sociodemographic factors, but also possibly by national policies and culture. Particularly, age, on its own, is not able to explain the differences reported. Older adults engage in a range of different activities on their smartphones, and differences between groups across the traditional axes of inequalities do not mirror exactly the differences found in previous research on internet use. This is important considering the risk of emerging new inequalities and the ongoing revisiting of policies to mitigate them.

In a world of polarized societies and radical voices hogging the public digital sphere, this thematic issue aims at identifying the different strategies of old and new social movements in the extremes of the political debates by focusing on the interplay between polarization, uses of the internet, and social activism. In order to disentangle these interactions, this thematic issue covers a wide range of political settings across the globe. It does so by studying: (a) how opposing activists discuss politics online and its implications for democratic theory; (b) how social media uses and online discussions foster offline protests; (c) how the media and state-led-propaganda frame disruptive and anti-government offline protests and how this situation contributes to polarization in both democratic and non-democratic regimes; and finally (d) how civil society uses digital tools to organize and mobilize around sensitive issues in non-democratic regimes.

Despite growing evidence that methane (CH4) formation could also occur in well-oxygenated surface fresh waters, its significance at the ecosystem scale is uncertain. Empirical models based on data gathered at high latitude predict that the contribution of oxic CH4 increases with lake size and should represent the majority of CH4 emissions in large lakes. However, such predictive models could not directly apply to tropical lakes, which differ from their temperate counterparts in some fundamental characteristics, such as year-round elevated water temperature. We conducted stable-isotope tracer experiments, which revealed that oxic CH4 production is closely related to phytoplankton metabolism and is a common feature in five contrasting African lakes. Nevertheless, methanotrophic activity in surface waters and CH4 emissions to the atmosphere were predominantly fuelled by CH4 generated in sediments and physically transported to the surface. Indeed, CH4 bubble dissolution flux and diffusive benthic CH4 flux were several orders of magnitude higher than CH4 production in surface waters. Microbial CH4 consumption dramatically decreased with increasing sunlight intensity, suggesting that the freshwater “CH4 paradox” might be also partly explained by photo-inhibition of CH4 oxidizers in the illuminated zone. Sunlight appeared as an overlooked but important factor determining the CH4 dynamics in surface waters, directly affecting its production by photoautotrophs and consumption by methanotrophs.

En el presente artículo presentamos los resultados de los talleres de creación de narrativas audiovisuales vinculados al proyecto Cazadores de historias del futuro, llevados a cabo en escuelas primarias y secundarias de Barcelona (España). Estos talleres, basados en la creación de historias mediante un juego de cartas colaborativo y su materialización mediante la técnica de stop motion, se produjeron en el contexto de un proyecto de investigación dedicado a la creación de herramientas y estrategias narrativas que permiten abordar en forma especulativa cuestiones sociales y medioambientales en distintos entornos educativos. A partir del análisis de los materiales generados en los talleres y de la observación del proceso creativo profundizaremos en dos aspectos: a) las estrategias creativas, de improvisación o gestión de los equipos b) las formas en las que emergen los temas socio-ambientales, así como otros temas significativos vinculados con la vida cotidiana de los participantes y su universo simbólico.

Although fermentation and hydrolyzation are well-known processes to improve the bioavailability of nutrients and enable the fortification with dietary fibers, the effect of such pre-treatments on the prebiotic features of arabinoxylan-oligosaccharides (AXOS) had not been explored. The middle-term in vitro simulation through the Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME) demonstrated that the feeding with different formulations (namely oat bran, rye bran and wheat bran) containing hydrolyzed AXOS fermented by lactic acid bacteria significantly increased the synthesis of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) by colon microbiota, with hydrolyzed and fermented rye bran displaying the highest effect. After two weeks from the interruption of intake, SCFA concentrations significantly decreased but remained still significantly higher compared to the original condition. The microbiome was also affected, with a significant abundance increase in Lactobacillaceae taxon after feeding with all fermented and hydrolyzed formulates. Hydrolyzed and fermented rye bran showed the highest changes. The fungal community, even if it had a lower variety compared to bacteria, was also modulated after feeding with AXOS formulations, with an increase in Candida relative abundance and a decrease in Issatchenkia. On the contrary, the intake of non-hydrolyzed and non-fermented wheat bran did not produce relevant changes of relative abundances. After two weeks from intake interruption (wash out period) such changes were mitigated, and the gut microbiome modulated again to a final structure that was more like the original condition. This finding suggests that hydrolyzed AXOS fermented by lactic acid bacteria could have a more powerful prebiotic effect compared to non-hydrolyzed and non-fermented wheat bran, shaping the colon microbiome and its metabolic answer. However, the intake should be continuous to assure persistent effects. Opening a window into the ecological evolutions and plausible underlying mechanisms, the findings reinforce the perspective to explore more in depth the use of hydrolyzed and fermented AXOS as additional ingredient for bread fortification.

Una pérdida perinatal supone un impacto traumático en diferentes áreas de la vida de la madre que la sufre y tiene una repercusión en su proyecto de futuro. El siguiente embarazo tras esta pérdida supone un complejo proceso psicológico caracterizado por miedo, ansiedad e hipersensibilidad, percepción permanente de peligro y aparición de conductas de evitación y seguridad. Este proceso puede derivar en trastornos psiquiátricos en las madres, principalmente del estado de ánimo y de ansiedad. El presente estudio evalúa los cambios emocionales, cognitivos y conductuales que experimentan las madres en este siguiente embarazo durante la etapa perinatal. El método utilizado ha consistido en una entrevista semiestructurada a cuatro madres que han sufrido una pérdida perinatal previa al nuevo embarazo. Los resultados reflejan cambios afectivos como la presencia de miedo a que se repita el mismo desenlace que en el embarazo anterior, el sentimiento de apego, tristeza y pérdida por el hijo fallecido, la percepción de invalidación por parte del entorno y el estado de alerta permanente. En relación a los cambios cognitivos, destacan las anticipaciones catastrofistas, los recuerdos relacionados con el bebé anterior y los pensamientos de comparación de los dos procesos. Finalmente, en el plano conductual, aparecen evitaciones de la expresión emocional y de situaciones relacionadas con la pérdida, así como conductas de comprobación y seguridad dirigidas a la búsqueda de control y a la sobreprotección del bebé en gestación.

Digital systems can track every activity. Their logs are the fundamental raw material of intelligent systems in big data approaches. However, big data approaches mainly use predictions and correlations that often fail in the prediction of minorities or invisibilize collectives, causing discriminatory decisions. While this discrimination has been documented regarding, sex, race and sexual orientation, age has received less attention. A critical review of the academic literature confirms that structural ageism also shapes big data approaches. The article identifies some instances in which ageism is in operation either implicitly or explicitly. Concretely, biased samples and biased tools tend to exclude the habits, interests and values of older people from algorithms and studies, which contributes to reinforcing structural ageism.

Drawn from the stress process model, the pandemic has imposed substantial stress to individual economic and mental well-being and has brought unprecedented disruptions to social life. In light of social distancing measures, and in particular physical distancing because of lockdown policies, the use of digital technologies has been regarded as the alternative to maintain economic and social activities. This paper aims to describe the design and implementation of an online survey created as an urgent, international response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The online survey described here responds to the need of understanding the effects of the pandemic on social interactions/relations and to provide findings on the extent to which digital technology is being utilized by citizens across different communities and countries around the world. It also aims to analyze the association of use of digital technologies with psychological well-being and levels of loneliness. The data will be based on the ongoing survey (comprised of several existing and validated instruments on digital use, psychological well-being and loneliness), open for 3 months after roll out (ends September) across 11 countries (Austria, France, Germany, India, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, and UK). Participants include residents aged 18 years and older in the countries and snowball sampling is employed via social media platforms. We anticipate that the findings of the survey will provide useful and much needed information on the prevalence of use and intensities of digital technologies among different age groups, gender, socioeconomic groups in a comparative perspective. Moreover, we expect that the future analysis of the data collected will show that different types of digital technologies and intensities of use are associated with psychological well-being and loneliness. To conclude, these findings from the study are expected to bring in our understanding the role of digital technologies in affecting individual social and emotional connections during a crisis.

The increase in ageing populations has spurred predictions on the growth of a politically powerful old-age bloc. While their protest mobilizations have risen to reach youth standards, there is scarce scholarly evidence of the role of multiple identities in older activists’ involvement. We address this gap by interviewing activists in Iaioflautas, an older adults’ social movement emerging from the heat of the protest cycles in Spain in 2011. In-depth interviews with 15 members of varying levels of involvement revealed the paramount role of the movement in the identity construction of its participants. Iaioflautas endows a strong sense of collective identity based on intergenerational solidarity and enables to counter the culturally devalued identity of older adults and retirees. Whereas perceptions of widespread ageist stereotypes against older adults abound in this group, they omit to view the movement through an old-age identity politics lens. Furthermore, they reproduce ageist attitudes against age peers refraining from active involvement. This paradox suggests that the non-politicization of ageism restrains the development of a collective identity based on old age. We highlight how an increase in ageing populations might advance this issue in future research.

En este artículo analizamos el reciente fenómeno de los youtubers, jóvenes usuarios y usuarias de Internet que suben regularmente vídeos a YouTube sobre una temática o afición personal y que han terminado convirtiéndose en figuras mediáticas que atraen la atención del público joven. Siguiendo a Graeme Turner (2010), nuestro estudio muestra que frente a la imagen generalizada Youtube como plataforma democrática en la que cualquier usuario o usuaria puede publicar sus vídeos y darse a conocer, es cada vez más frecuente que la industria cultural y el marketing se apropien de estos nuevos agentes culturales para enmarcarlos dentro del sistema tradicional de celebridad mediática producida, gestionada y controlada por los medios masivos. En concreto, analizamos cómo, al ser incorporados a este sistema, varios de los rasgos característicos de lo que puede denominarse “el estilo youtuber” se ponen en entredicho, en especial el carácter inmediato, íntimo y sincero de la interacción cotidiana con su audiencia. Nuestro análisis muestra que, dentro del sistema de celebridad mediática, la relación del youtuber con sus seguidores pasa a estar intermediada y regulada por la industria cultural y el sistema comercial, estableciéndose con ello una relación jerárquica entre el youtuber como celebrity y su audiencia que no observamos en sus canales de comunicación e interacción habituales.

The ‘aging well’ discourse advances the idea of making older people responsible for their capability to stay healthy and active. In the context of an increased ageing population, which poses several challenges to countries’ government, this discourse has become dominant in Europe. We explore the way older people are visually represented on websites of organizations for older people in seven European countries (Finland, UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Poland and Romania), using an analytical approached based on visual content analysis, inspired by the dimensional model of national cultural differences from the Hofstede model (1991; 2001; 2011). We used two out of the five Hofstede dimensions: Individualism/Collectivism (IDV) and Masculinity/Femininity (MAS). The results demonstrated that in all seven countries older people are mostly visually represented as healthy/active, which reflects a dominant ‘ageing well’ discourse in Europe. The results also demonstrated that in most cases older people tend to be represented together with others, which is not consonant with the dominant ‘ageing well’ discourse in Europe. A last finding was that the visual representation of older people is in about half of the cases in line with these Hofstede dimensions. We discuss the implications of these findings claiming that the ‘ageing well’ discourse might lead to ‘visual ageism’. Organizations could keep this in mind while using pictures for their website or in other media and consider to use various kind of pictures, or to avoid using pictures of older people that stigmatize, marginalize or injure. They could look into the cultural situatedness and intersectional character of age relations and consider alternative strategies of both visibility and invisibility to talk with and about our ageing societies.

The concepts of user and non-user are frequently deployed within media and communications literature. What do these terms mean if examined regarding age and ageing? In this article we explore and trouble these notions through an analysis of twenty-two conversations with a group of octogenarians and nonagenarians living in a retirement home. Their descriptions of their changing uses of media througout lifetime, and their encounters with mobile phones, computers, newspapers, television, radio and landline phones, are presented as a set of ‘techno-biographies’ that challenge binary divisions of use and non-use, linear notions of media adoption, and add texture to the idea of ‘the fourth age’ as a time of life bereft of decisional power. Speaking with octogenarians and nonagenarians provides insights into media desires, needs and uses, and opens up ‘non-use’ as a complex, variegated activity, rather than a state of complete inaction or disinterest.

Objectius: amb una perspectiva de disseny d'experiència d'usuari (UX), construïm tres usuaris-persona per ajudar a dissenyar productes i serveis, digitals o presencials, i a la tasca de planificació de les biblioteques públiques de Catalunya amb la finalitat última de fidelitzar i atraure usuaris i usuàries. -- Metodologia: una enquesta representativa de la població catalana (1.205 respostes) i una anàlisi estadística bivariant permeten identificar els tres targets que, gràcies a l'anàlisi de contingut de tres grups focals posteriors, donen lloc als tres usuaris-persona. La tècnica d'usuari-persona visibilitza els possibles usuaris a partir de dades reals, facilita la generació d'empatia entre el personal de la biblioteca i els usuaris, i assegura que el disseny estigui centrat en les persones. -- Resultats: els tres usuaris-persona resultants s'acompanyen de descripcions i es complementen amb escenaris basats en evidències que han d'ajudar a dissenyar experiències d'usuaris. Aquests són el Marc (usuari), un estudiant adolescent que pretén codissenyar la biblioteca i que reclama activitats socials presencials; la Maria (mai usuària), una jubilada que necessita caliu humà i que fa evident la necessitat de col·laboració més estreta entre serveis socials i biblioteques, i el David (exusuari), treballador de més de trenta anys que considera que no necessita la biblioteca tot i que en desconeix la majoria de serveis que actualment li ofereix. Objectives: Adopting the principles of user experience design (UX), we created three user personas to help design digital and on-site products and services and use in Catalan public library planning to promote patron loyalty and attract new users. -- Methodology: A representative survey of the Catalan community (1,205 answers) and a bivariate analysis identified the three targets which, thanks to the focus groups and content analysis, could be used to create the three user personas. The user persona technique employs real data to identify possible users, helps generate empathy between library staff and patrons and ensures that service and product design is person-centred. -- Results: The three user personas are accompanied by evidence-based descriptions and scenarios which should help to design user experiences. They are: Marc (user), a student who wants to co-design the library and asks for patron-organized face-to-face social activities; Maria (non-user), a retiree who needs human warmth and whose profile reflects the need for closer collaboration between social services and libraries; and David (ex-user), a working man of over thirty years old who believes that he does not need the library, even though he is unaware of most of the services it currently offers him.

Objetivos: desde la perspectiva de diseño de experiencia de usuario (UX), construimos tres usuarios-persona para ayudar a diseñar productos y servicios, digitales o presenciales, y en la tarea de planificar las bibliotecas públicas de Cataluña con el fin último de fidelizar y atraer usuarios y usuarias. -- Metodología: una encuesta representativa de la población catalana (1.205 respuestas) y un análisis estadístico bivariante permiten identificar los tres públicos objetivos que, gracias al análisis de contenido de tres grupos focales posteriores, dan lugar a los tres usuarios-persona. La técnica de usuario-persona visibiliza los posibles usuarios a partir de datos reales, facilita la generación de empatía entre el personal de la biblioteca y los usuarios, y asegura que el diseño esté centrado en las personas. -- Resultados: los tres usuarios-persona resultantes se describen y se complementan con escenarios basados en evidencias que deben ayudar a diseñar experiencias de usuarios. Estos son, Marc (usuario), estudiante adolescente que pretende codiseñar la biblioteca y que reclama actividades sociales presenciales; Maria (nunca usuaria), jubilada que necesita calor humano y que pone en evidencia la necesidad de una colaboración más estrecha entre servicios sociales y bibliotecas, y David (exusuario), trabajador de más de treinta años que considera que no necesita la biblioteca, aunque desconoce la mayoría de servicios que actualmente le ofrece. Objectives: Adopting the principles of user experience design (UX), we created three user personas to help design digital and on-site products and services and use in Catalan public library planning to promote patron loyalty and attract new users. -- Methodology: A representative survey of the Catalan community (1,205 answers) and a bivariate analysis identified the three targets which, thanks to the focus groups and content analysis, could be used to create the three user personas. The user persona technique employs real data to identify possible users, helps generate empathy between library staff and patrons and ensures that service and product design is person-centred. -- Results: The three user personas are accompanied by evidence-based descriptions and scenarios which should help to design user experiences. They are: Marc (user), a student who wants to co-design the library and asks for patron-organized face-to-face social activities; Maria (non-user), a retiree who needs human warmth and whose profile reflects the need for closer collaboration between social services and libraries; and David (ex-user), a working man of over thirty years old who believes that he does not need the library, even though he is unaware of most of the services it currently offers him.

La reciprocidad, un principio social que emerge en los intercambios no negociados entre personas, es posiblemente un constructo clave en la generación de capital social. Sin embargo, pocos estudios han abordado de manera empírica esta conexión. Sobre la base de un modelo Orientación-Estímulo-Razonamiento-Orientación-Respuesta, esta investigación presenta una propuesta teórica y empírica en la que la exposición a noticias y la fuerza de los vínculos en la discusión política contribuyen al desarrollo de la reciprocidad y del capital social. Tras el análisis de los datos de un estudio de panel realizado en dos olas, los resultados sugieren que la reciprocidad es un fuerte predictor del capital social. Además, la exposición a noticias de los medios de comunicación se relaciona de manera directa con la reciprocidad; con la discusión política, tanto con vínculos fuertes como débiles; y con el capital social. Por otro lado, la discusión con vínculos débiles y la reciprocidad funcionan como mediadores de la relación entre exposición a noticias y capital social.

Los medios de comunicación son actores relevantes en la gestión y resolución de crisis humanitarias, no sólo en el país donde se producen, sino en el resto del mundo, al constituir la única fuente de información para gran parte de la población de los países del Norte. A través de entrevistas semiestructuradas con los redactores jefe de Internacional de cuatro periódicos españoles se estudia la influencia de los valores-noticia y de las rutinas de producción sobre las noticias de los países en crisis. Los jefes de Internacional privilegian las historias con alto impacto humano, que repercuten en los intereses económicos o estratégicos españoles o que presentan una mayor proximidad psicológica con sus lectores.

The aim of this article is to reflect upon the concept of field when doing ethnographies related to digital technologies of communication in everyday life. Using the example of ethnographic fieldwork carried out by one of the authors with a group of highly mediated photographers in Barcelona, we reflect on the conceptualization of fieldwork in digital ethnographies and discuss how ‘Practice Theory’ could be useful as a basis for media and digital ethnographies.

En este artículo presentamos una reflexión sobre cómo estudiamos lo digital desde una perspectiva antropológica y exploramos cómo se han planteado cuestiones como la diversidad cultural, las desigualdades sociales y las posibilidades de cambio y transformación social vin- culadas con las tecnologías digitales. Proponemos que es necesario abrir un debate sobre las conceptualizaciones de lo digital y cuáles son las categorías que utilizamos para describir los procesos de cambio y continuidad en lo cotidiano, así como el papel de las tecnologías en ellos. este planteamiento nos lleva a cuestionarnos cómo los etnó- grafos y etnógrafas hemos explorado las complejas relaciones entre las prácticas locales, los tránsitos globales y las tecnologías digitales; para ello, abordamos algunos caminos que ha tomado el abordaje de los aspectos materiales y visuales de lo digital en la creación cultural y en los medios de comunicación y nos preguntamos sobre la manera en que incorporamos lo digital en nuestra propia práctica etnográfica y producción de conocimiento antropológico.

This paper analyzes how older people, living in Spain, use smartphones and smartphone applications. Using a mixed methods approach, we compare quantitative results obtained by tracking mobile app usage amongst different generational samples with qualitative, focus-group discussions with active smartphone users. A sample of Spanish smartphone users were tracked during one month in the winter of 2014 (238 individuals, aged 20 to 76 years-old). This was followed by three focus group sessions conducted in the spring of 2015, with 24 individuals aged 55 to 81. As we learned, WhatsApp is currently the most popular application used by people of all ages, including older adults. Smartphones increasingly are playing a central role in the life of older participants, although the frequency of app access is negatively correlated with age. On the other hand, as our data indicates, older adults also use a number of different types of apps that are distinct from that of younger users. Older participants access personal information manager apps (calendar, address book and notes) more often than other age groups. And comparatively, older participants use the smartphone less often in stable locations (home, office, relatives’ home) with Wifi than somewhere else and with mobile data. As we argue, differences in age seem to reflect the evolution in personal interests and communication patterns that change as we grow older. Our study captures new trends in smartphone usage amongst this cohort. It also indicates how a combination of methods may help to assess the validity of the log and qualitative data. We highlight the relevance of conducting careful generational studies in smartphone use and some of the potentials and limitations of making predictive studies of ICT use as we change throughout the life course. Finally, we assert the value of the inclusion of older representatives within research, which ultimately may influence public decisions and the design of new technologies.

Questions regarding communication practices in everyday interactions and how people attribute meanings to the communication acts are issues frequently addressed by social-science researchers and practitioners. Qualitative research may reveal possible answers, as it tends to be concerned with meanings (Willig, 2013). This approach can also contribute to addressing social problems from a perspective that might complement other methodological approaches.

We analyze the relationships seniors have with mobile communications in two different European contexts, Romania and Catalonia. By means of a qualitative approach, we describe the ways older individuals incorporate mobile phones in everyday life communication practices, and the motivations supporting these decisions. To understand motivations for using a given communication device –as the mobile phone– we took into account the channels individual has access to; individual’s personal interest on using available devices in everyday communications; the location of the members of the individual’s personal network; and the pricing system that determines the cost of mediated communication. The empirical analysis is based on two case studies conducted in Romania and in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Catalonia) in different moments, between 2010 and 2012. Participants were 60 years old or over. Information was gathered by means of semi-structured interviews that were recorded and transcribed, while a common methodological design allows an enriched insight. Besides gender, we take into account heterogeneity of ageing for a more nuanced analysis. This paper constitutes the first step in the exploration of common trends in the relationship seniors have with mobile communication in different European countries.

In 1992, after the U.S. military intervention in Somalia, the term ‘CNN effect’ was coined to refer to the media’s ability to focus international attention on a country in a critical situation. Based on a deductive approach to a news sample from four Spanish newspapers, this study examines the news agenda of countries and generic frames used in the coverage of countries facing humanitarian crisis. Results show that most of humanitarian crises are forgotten: While one third of the news sample focused on Afghanistan, nine crises were not present at all. Furthermore, the press does not use the ‘classic’ generic frames when they report humanitarian crises, but a combination of them, for instance ‘conflict for which the government is responsible’.

El presente artículo forma parte de un trabajo de investigación más extenso sobre la evolución de la fotografía de prensa en Canarias desde el período 1975-1980 hasta la primera década del siglo XXI. Durante la segunda mitad de la década de 1970 se produjo en el archipiélago, de manera paulatina, la transición del sistema de impresión tipográfica al sistema offset. A través de estas páginas pretendemos analizar la influencia que tuvo en la fotografía de prensa de las islas la llegada de este nuevo sistema de impresión, que mejoró de manera significativa la calidad física de los periódicos del archipiélago. La impresión offset, mucho más limpia que su predecesora tipográfica, se publicitaba en Inglaterra bajo el lema “We don't print on your hand, we print on paper” (no imprimimos en sus manos, imprimimos el papel). Los cambios se llevaron a cabo de forma muy gradual, casi imperceptible en un primer momento, coincidiendo, además, con los años de transición política, y trajeron consigo modificaciones en la serie visual no lingüística (fotografías, dibujos, color...), así como en los restantes elementos del periódico, desde el formato al diseño, pasando incluso por los contenidos. Los resultados obtenidos se basan en el muestreo sistemático de dos de las cabeceras más importantes en aquellos momentos en las islas: El tinerfeño El Día y el vespertino Diario de Las Palmas.This article is part of a more extensive research on the evolution of press photography in the Canary Islands from the period 1975-1980 up to the first decade of the 21st century. In the second half of the 1970s it took place in the archipelago a gradually transition from the typographic printing system to the offset printing system. In these pages we try to analyze the influence that the arrival of this new printing system had in the photography of press of the islands, which improved in a significant way the physical quality of the Canarian newspapers. The offset printing system, much cleaner than the ancient typographic system, was advertised in England under the slogan "We do not print on your hand, we print on paper " These changes in the printing systems was done gradually, in an almost imperceptible way initially, coinciding with the years of the political transition, and brought modifications in the non-linguistic visual series (photographs, illustrations, color ...), as well as in the remaining elements of the newspapers, from the format up to the design and contents. The results that we present are based on the systematic sampling of two of the most important Canarian newspapers at the time: El Día and the evening newspaper Diario de Las Palmas.

El objetivo de este artículo es dar a conocer los primeros resultados de las excavaciones en la cueva de Valdavara (Becerreá, Lugo), prestando especial atención a las dataciones radiométricas que la sitúan entre los pocos yacimientos gallegos que han arrojado fechas correspondientes al Paleolítico Superior. La excavación realizada en el año 2007 permitió documentar dos localizaciones arqueológicas en el marco del mismo sistema cárstico (Valdavara 1 y Valdavara 2). El sondeo iniciado en Valdavara 1 ha permitido identificar hasta el momento dos conjuntos estratigráficos: un conjunto superior correspondiente a la Prehistoria reciente y un conjunto inferior (nivel 4) en el que se han obtenido las fechas del Paleolítico Superior final. En Valdavara 2 se encontró un conjunto de restos humanos de la Edad del Bronce.

Los estudios del comportamiento del público en los museos son vitales para conocer sus preferencias y adecuar la oferta del centro a sus necesidades. Durante muchos años se han realizado estudios de público a partir de observaciones, encuestas y entrevistas. Actualmente, las TIC nos permiten automatizar algunos de los procesos y generar datos cuantitativos a partir del seguimiento con webcams de los visitantes. El proyecto Museum-track es una investigación piloto en la utilización de tecnologías para identificar el movimiento, comportamiento y el perfil de los visitantes de forma automática en museos catalanes. Este artículo presenta los primeros resultados provisionales del proyecto, tanto los aspectos positivos como negativos, y reflexiona sobre las posibilidades de las TIC en el estudio automatizado de movilidad y comportamiento de los públicos en los museos. Palabras clave: Evaluación. Museo. Movilidad. Comportamiento. TIC. Visitante Studies on public behavior in Museums are basic in order to know visitors preferences and adapt the centre offer to their requirements. Visitor studies have been carried out for a long time from observations, questionnaires and interviews. Nowadays, ICT allow us to make those processes and generate quantitative data automatically through webcams following visitors. The project Museum-Track is a pilot research in the use of technologies to identify movement, behavior and visitor's profile automatically in Catalan museums. This paper presents the first temporary results of the project, both positive and negative, and reflects about the potential of ICT in the automatic study on visitors' tracking and behavior in museums.

From our ethnographic experience in chats, for the study "Entre Dones a la Xarxa: Un estudi sobre les interaccions socials entre dones en espais de conversa electronics", we try to question those methodological approaches to the virtual areas that adapt directly the ethnographic method, which until now has been used in the offline scope: What is new in the ethnographic works online? Is still the participant observation and the semi-structured interview useful for the new virtual scope? Which are their limits and possibilities? During our work of participant observation in chats we have wanted to experiment with the ethnographic method in order to try to respond to all these questions.

El artículo no presenta resumen.

El artículo se centra en las imágenes cinematográficas que el etnógrafo crea como parte de su investigación, y que finalmente construye y edita como modo de representar y comunicar sus resultados a una audiencia especializada y a un público abierto. La autora considera como cine etnográfico la producción audiovisual realizada a partir de una investigación antropológica. Desde este punto de partida, se analizan las distintas tendencias del cine etnográfico, en relación a la metodología básica del trabajo de campo.

BACKGROUND:Only about 50% of patients chronically infected with HCV genotype 1 (HCV-1) respond to treatment with pegylated interferon-alfa and ribavirin (dual therapy), and protease inhibitors have to be administered together with these drugs increasing costs and side-effects. We aimed to develop a predictive model of treatment response based on a combination of baseline clinical and viral parameters. METHODOLOGY:Seventy-four patients chronically infected with HCV-1b and treated with dual therapy were studied (53 retrospectively -training group-, and 21 prospectively -validation group-). Host and viral-related factors (viral load, and genetic variability in the E1-E2, core and Interferon Sensitivity Determining Region) were assessed. Multivariate discriminant analysis and decision tree analysis were used to develop predictive models on the training group, which were then validated in the validation group. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:A multivariate discriminant predictive model was generated including the following variables in decreasing order of significance: the number of viral variants in the E1-E2 region, an amino acid substitution pattern in the viral core region, the IL28B polymorphism, serum GGT and ALT levels, and viral load. Using this model treatment outcome was accurately predicted in the training group (AUROC = 0.9444; 96.3% specificity, 94.7% PPV, 75% sensitivity, 81% NPV), and the accuracy remained high in the validation group (AUROC = 0.8148, 88.9% specificity, 90.0% PPV, 75.0% sensitivity, 72.7% NPV). A second model was obtained by a decision tree analysis and showed a similarly high accuracy in the training group but a worse reproducibility in the validation group (AUROC = 0.9072 vs. 0.7361, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE:The baseline predictive models obtained including both host and viral variables had a high positive predictive value in our population of Spanish HCV-1b treatment naïve patients. Accurately identifying those patients that would respond to the dual therapy could help reducing implementation costs and additional side effects of new treatment regimens.

L'extensió de les tecnologies de la informació i de la comunicació i la popularització d'eines i plataformes de producció i difusió audiovisuals ha afavorit que en els darrers anys s'hagi produït una autèntica explosió de creacions realitzades al marge dels circuits institucionals i industrials de la cultura.

L'extensió de les tecnologies de la informació i de la comunicació i la popularització d'eines i plataformes de producció i difusió audiovisuals ha afavorit que en els darrers anys s'hagi produït una autèntica explosió de creacions realitzades al marge dels circuits institucionals i industrials de la cultura.

Current treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has limited efficacy -especially among genotype 1 infected patients-, is costly, and involves severe side effects. Thus, predicting non-response is of major interest for both patient wellbeing and health care expense. At present, treatment cannot be individualized on the basis of any baseline predictor of response. We aimed to identify pre-treatment clinical and virological parameters associated with treatment failure, as well as to assess whether therapy outcome could be predicted at baseline.Forty-three HCV subtype 1b (HCV-1b) chronically infected patients treated with pegylated-interferon alpha plus ribavirin were retrospectively studied (21 responders and 22 non-responders). Host (gender, age, weight, transaminase levels, fibrosis stage, and source of infection) and viral-related factors (viral load, and genetic variability in the E1-E2 and Core regions) were assessed. Logistic regression and discriminant analyses were used to develop predictive models. A "leave-one-out" cross-validation method was used to assess the reliability of the discriminant models.Lower alanine transaminase levels (ALT, p=0.009), a higher number of quasispecies variants in the E1-E2 region (number of haplotypes, nHap_E1-E2) (p=0.003), and the absence of both amino acid arginine at position 70 and leucine at position 91 in the Core region (p=0.039) were significantly associated with treatment failure. Therapy outcome was most accurately predicted by discriminant analysis (90.5% sensitivity and 95.5% specificity, 85.7% sensitivity and 81.8% specificity after cross-validation); the most significant variables included in the predictive model were the Core amino acid pattern, the nHap_E1-E2, and gamma-glutamyl transferase and ALT levels.Discriminant analysis has been shown as a useful tool to predict treatment outcome using baseline HCV genetic variability and host characteristics. The discriminant models obtained in this study led to accurate predictions in our population of Spanish HCV-1b treatment naïve patients.

La recerca antropològica i etnogràfica dels mitjans de comunicació s'ha centrat en gran part en l'anàlisi de la recepció dels productes dels mitjans tradicionals (televisió, ràdio, premsa escrita i pel·lícules) i el consum relacionat amb l'apropiació domèstica de tecnologies (Rothenbuhler et al., 2005). També hi ha un ampli corpus de recerca dedicat a l'estudi de la dimensió política dels mitjans alternatius i indígenes (Ginsburg et al., 2002). Tanmateix, hi ha hagut una separació entre els estudis dels media i els estudis d'internet, i entre l'anàlisi de la recepció i les pràctiques d'autoproducció, com ara la fotografia familiar o el vídeo domèstic. Les pràctiques actuals en relació amb els mitjans digitals insten a reexaminar els continguts i els fluxos d'autoproducció amb una perspectiva més àmplia que difumina la frontera entre el que és públic i el que és privat, productes realitzats per corporacions i productes amateurs, producció domèstica i indústria cultural, activisme polític i vida quotidiana.

La recerca antropològica i etnogràfica dels mitjans de comunicació s'ha centrat en gran part en l'anàlisi de la recepció dels productes dels mitjans tradicionals (televisió, ràdio, premsa escrita i pel·lícules) i el consum relacionat amb l'apropiació domèstica de tecnologies (Rothenbuhler et al., 2005). També hi ha un ampli corpus de recerca dedicat a l'estudi de la dimensió política dels mitjans alternatius i indígenes (Ginsburg et al., 2002). Tanmateix, hi ha hagut una separació entre els estudis dels media i els estudis d'internet, i entre l'anàlisi de la recepció i les pràctiques d'autoproducció, com ara la fotografia familiar o el vídeo domèstic. Les pràctiques actuals en relació amb els mitjans digitals insten a reexaminar els continguts i els fluxos d'autoproducció amb una perspectiva més àmplia que difumina la frontera entre el que és públic i el que és privat, productes realitzats per corporacions i productes amateurs, producció domèstica i indústria cultural, activisme polític i vida quotidiana.

Anthropological and ethnographic research on media have been largely focused on analyzing reception of media products (television, radio, press and film) and media consumption related to domestic appropriation of technologies (Rothenbuhler et al., 2005). There is also a wide body of research devoted to the study of the political dimension of alternative and indigenous media (Ginsburg, 2002). However, there has been a separation between media and internet studies, and between the analysis of media reception and practices of self-production, such as family photography or home video. Current digital media practices urge reexamination of self-produced content and media flows from a broader perspective that cuts across divisions between public and private, corporative media products and people's releases, home production and cultural industry, political activism and everyday life.

This article reflects openly on the decisions that researchers have to deal with when undertaking qualitative research, especially ethnography, on the Internet. Our argument takes as starting point the ethical guidelines already developed for human subject research, and the way Internet researchers have tried to adapt these guidelines to their field. We argue that many of these ethical recommendations for researching the Internet have been designed according to specific applications (a chat, a mailing list, a blog, etc.), conferring specific properties to technology and making inferences about the kind of interaction that is taking place through such devices (public or private, for instance). We question these approaches and consider that the attribution of properties to technology restricts the scope of the ethical decisions that the researcher can make. We advocate a dialogical and situated ethical practice that takes into account every particular context when making any ethical decision during research. In line with this proposal, we report some ethical dilemmas that we have had to face in our own fieldwork on blogging practices among Spanish bloggers. We also draw on our experience of creating a "field blog" as part of our research. We describe three axes that have helped us to guide our ethical decisions in the field: the scope of individual data collected for participants in the course of research, the explicit and open presence of the researchers, and the search for symmetry and mutuality with our respondents in the field. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs070328

Our aim in this article is to explore the relationship between videogames and other practices related to audiovisual media in everyday life; we are specifically interested in examining how far videogames, as a cultural form that combines audiovisual narrative with the fun of a game, may be useful in understanding broader cultural transformations in relation to cultural production in the new media context opened up by information and communication technologies.

En este artículo queremos explorar la relación entre los videojuegos y otras prácticas relacionadas con los medios audiovisuales en la vida cotidiana; en concreto, nos interesa examinar hasta qué punto el videojuego, como forma cultural que combina la narración audiovisual y el placer del juego, puede ser útil para comprender transformaciones culturales más amplias en relación con la producción cultural en el nuevo contexto mediático que abren las tecnologías de la información y de la comunicación.

A partir de nuestra experiencia etnográfica en chats, en el marco del estudio "Entre Dones a la Xarxa: Un estudi sobre les interaccions socials entre dones en espais de conversa electrònics", intentamos problematizar aquellas aproximaciones metodológicas a los entornos virtuales que adaptan de manera directa el método etnográfico hasta ahora seguido en el ámbito offline: ¿Qué de novedoso hay en los trabajos etnográficos online? ¿Nos sigue siendo útil la observación participante y la entrevista semiestructurada para los nuevos entornos virtuales? ¿Cuáles son sus límites y posibilidades? Durante nuestro trabajo de observación participante en chats hemos querido experimentar con el método etnográfico para intentar responder a cuestiones de este tipo.

El presente artículo forma parte de un trabajo de investigación más extenso sobre la evolución de la fotografía de prensa en Canarias desde el período 1975-1980 hasta la primera década del siglo XXI. Durante la segunda mitad de la década de 1970 se produjo en el archipiélago, de manera paulatina, la transición del sistema de impresión tipográfica al sistema offset. A través de estas páginas pretendemos analizar la influencia que tuvo en la fotografía de prensa de las islas la llegada de este nuevo sistema de impresión, que mejoró de manera significativa la calidad física de los periódicos del archipiélago. La impresión offset, mucho más limpia que su predecesora tipográfica, se publicitaba en Inglaterra bajo el lema “We don't print on your hand, we print on paper” (no imprimimos en sus manos, imprimimos el papel). Los cambios se llevaron a cabo de forma muy gradual, casi imperceptible en un primer momento, coincidiendo, además, con los años de transición política, y trajeron consigo modificaciones en la serie visual no lingüística (fotografías, dibujos, color...), así como en los restantes elementos del periódico, desde el formato al diseño, pasando incluso por los contenidos. Los resultados obtenidos se basan en el muestreo sistemático de dos de las cabeceras más importantes en aquellos momentos en las islas: El tinerfeño El Día y el vespertino Diario de Las Palmas.