Search

El planteamiento psicoanalítico aborda el malestar psíquico desde una perspectiva que no apunta a eliminar el síntoma sino a cuestionarlo e indagar a qué se debe su aparición. Por molesto que sea, responde a algo particular de quien lo padece y en el proceso de búsqueda, es decir, de análisis, se trata -entre otras cosas- de ir disolviendo identificaciones, se podría decir de ir quitándose máscaras, apuntando a algo más auténtico, ¿un rostro propio? La identidad como ficción viene impregnando nuestra tradición Occidental desde su fundación, persona en griego es prosopon, máscara. Si la identidad personal es una máscara, aquello que deja su impresión en el otro y esconde el verdadero rostro, ¿qué podemos esperar si los personajes no cambian? ¿de qué personajes disponemos en nuestra cultura hoy? ¿hay un rostro “verdadero”? La máscara supone cierta libertad puesto que se puede intercambiar, ¿nos la podemos quitar? Se trata de abordar estas preguntas a través de tres psicoanalistas y autores: Sigmund Freud, Jaques Lacan y Luce Irigaray. Lo que se desarrollará brevemente son las diferencias que existen entre Freud (1856-1939) y Lacan (1901-1981) y la novedad que Irigaray (1930) propone a ambos, todo ello para pensar la identidad, cuánto tiene de rostro y cuánto de máscara, qué suponen las máscaras en los escenarios y personajes que se nos proponen y cómo el teatro se hace eco de esta pregunta.

Diarrheic diseases account for the annual death of approximately 1.9 million children under the age of 5 years, and it is a major cause of work absenteeism in developed countries. As diarrheagenic bacteria, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) attach to cells in the small intestine, causing local disappearance of microvilli and inducing the formation of actin-rich pedestals that disrupt the intestinal barrier and help EPEC adhere to and infect intestinal cells. Antibiotics and other bioactive compounds can often be found by analyzing traditional medicines. Here a crude aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa, which typically grows in subtropical and tropical areas and is a popular medicinal tisane in many countries, was analyzed for antibacterial activity against EPEC. In standard microdilution assays, the extract showed a minimum inhibitory concentration of 6.5 mg/ml against EPEC growth. Time-kill kinetics assays demonstrated significant 24 h bactericidal activity at 25 mg/ml. The extract is able to impede pedestal induction. Not only did the extract inhibit preformed pedestals but it prevented pedestal induction as well. Remarkably, it also promoted the formation of EPEC filaments, as observed with other antibiotics. Our results in vitro support the potential of Hibiscus sabdariffa as an antimicrobial agent against EPEC.

This study seeks to contribute to the definition of a “no net land take” policy by 2050 for Portugal’s second-largest metropolitan region (AMP, Porto Metropolitan Area) while sensitising those involved in regional and local planning to the European target. Based on an assessment of land use changes in AMP and its municipalities during 2007–2018, soil sealing levels in 2018 and population evolution, the study quantifies the processes that may impart achievement of the 2050 objective and identifies the regional drivers of net land take, to support the definition of both interventions to decrease land take and soil sealing and related targets. The main contribution of the research is the exploration of new indicators in terms of soil sealing and population data to identify the potential for implementing interventions proposed by the EU Soil Strategy that do not jeopardise the maintenance of biodiversity in urban areas. The land take rate in the AMP was the highest among mainland Portugal regions. Its main drivers were the development of transport networks, industrial and commercial units and dispersed housing. The reuse and re-naturalisation of artificial land have seen little use in the region. Accordingly, the daily net land taken in the AMP (0.59 ha/day) still needs to decrease until 2050. While artificial land increased across the AMP, most of its municipalities lost population. To reverse this trend, the AMP should implement tighter control mechanisms that ensure that infrastructure and housing needs are fully met through the reuse of urban areas that are already sealed. However, given that the share of impermeable soil in most urban areas is already significantly high, there will have to be a careful choice of locations where intensifying land use will cause less environmental damage. It is concluded that the degree of soil sealing within urban areas is fundamental for deciding on the interventions to be carried out to reduce net land take and for defining a policy towards meeting the 2050 target.

This study discusses the situation of mainland Portugal concerning the achievement of the European “no net land take” target by 2050. This target aims to curb land take by increasing the recycling of developed land and offsetting the consumption of undeveloped land by re-naturalizing an equivalent area of artificial land. Setting targets and interventions in each country to reach this goal requires monitoring land take, developed land recycling, and re-naturalization. This study assesses these processes in mainland Portugal, by NUTS III regions, for the first time, analyzing the land cover/land use changes that occurred between 2007 and 2018. In this period, the land take rate in mainland Portugal amounted to 7.2 ha/day. Re-naturalization and recycling of developed land were 1.0 and 0.2 ha/day, respectively, showing the shortage of their practices on the mainland. During said period, mainland Portugal and most of its regions experienced a reduction in population and an increase in artificial land, revealing low efficiency in urban land use. Since Portuguese legislation does not mention the European target, we believe that most decision-makers are unaware of it or have little knowledge of the practices that can contribute to its fulfillment. In this regard, the study aims to raise awareness among policymakers and public authorities about the need to limit, mitigate, and compensate for land take and to set land take targets for different levels of action. In addition, it describes how some European countries and regions are evaluating the same processes and approaching the goal under consideration.

Self-assembled phases based on monoglyceridesare promising candidatesfor drug delivery systems. Alterations of these phases need to beperformed by addition of substances which are biocompatible. Inversebicontinuous cubic phases are altered by the addition of five aminoacids, namely, glycine, phenylalanine, alanine, glutamine, and tryptophan.These natural molecules have a diversity of side chains which predictstheir polarity and subsequently their interaction with the interfacialregion. Whereas polar amino acids cause a slight shrinking of thefully hydrated phase, amino acids with a nonpolar side chain expandit. Tryptophan is also able to provoke a growth of inverse hexagonal,micellar cubic, and micellar structures. Amino acid concentrationsin the aqueous phase, even above the amino acid’s solubility,further affect all aforementioned structures and cause a significantenlargement of up to 26%. Besides the amino acids’ impact onthe structural sizes, they also affect the phase transition temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to contribute to the debate on the decision-making process for the location of large public facilities, responding to the growing demand for greater rationality in public investment whilst still offering services of quality and addressing the problem of spatial friction. The specific problem analysed in this paper is the need to define the best location for a public hospital in a particular region of Portugal. The singularity of the approach adopted lies above all in the seg- mentation into macro-location and micro-location.