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Desde los albores del constitucionalismo democrático, se afirma que los tribunales son instituciones inherentemente débiles y, por ello, las posibilidades de limitar a sus contrapartes elegidas democráticamente, por medio del control de constitucionalidad, serían pocas. Sin embargo, el caso de la Corte Constitucional de Colombia desafía esta afirmación dado que en varias sentencias ha limitado el poder de presidentes al cuestionar la constitucionalidad de reformas constitucionales importantes para la agenda gubernamental (como reelección presidencial y paz). Este artículo pretende explicar las razones jurídico-políticas que han hecho que el control judicial de las reformas en Colombia haya sido un instrumento realmente efectivo para la limitación del poder presidencial. Concretamente, el artículo sostiene que la existencia de una arquitectura constitucional adecuada, condiciones político-culturales favorables y una estrategia judicial prudente, le permitió a la Corte Constitucional limitar a un actor mucho más poderoso como el presidente.

Judicial invalidation of constitutional amendments has garnered the attention of scholars in the last few years. Questions like whether and how a court should quash an amendment are at the forefront of contemporary comparative-constitutional-law and constitutional-theory inquiries. This excessive focus on annulment, however, has neglected some other nonconventional forms of judicial involvement regarding amendments. Taking Colombia as a case study, this article shows that the Constitutional Court has also had the power to initiate amendments, define their content, rewrite their text, and promulgate them. As these novel judicial interventions that go beyond invalidation resemble the prerogatives commonly vested on the amendment power, this research terms them ‘constitution-amending case law’, offers an in-depth exploration of them, and proposes a typology of such a jurisprudence. Lastly, the article ends with a cautionary note about the challenges this type of constitution-amending case law faces from the perspective of democracy and democratic backsliding. Resumo A invalidação judicial de reformas constitucionais tem despertado a atenção de estudiosos nos últimos anos. Questões tais quais, ‘se’ e ‘como’ um tribunal deve anular uma reforma, estão na vanguarda das investigações contemporâneas de direito constitucional comparado e teoria constitucional. Esse foco excessivo na anulação, no entanto, negligenciou algumas outras formas não convencionais de envolvimento judicial em relação às reformas. Tomando a Colômbia como estudo de caso, este artigo mostra que o Tribunal Constitucional também teve o poder de iniciar reformas, definir seu conteúdo, reescrever seu texto e promulgá-las. Como essas novas intervenções judiciais que vão além da invalidação se assemelham às prerrogativas comumente conferidas ao poder de reforma, esta pesquisa as denomina “jurisprudência reformadora”, oferece uma exploração aprofundada delas e propõe uma tipologia de tal jurisprudência. Por fim, o artigo termina com uma advertência sobre os desafios que esse tipo de jurisprudência reformadora enfrenta na perspectiva da democracia e do retrocesso democrático.

Aims: It is unknown how beta-adrenergic stimulation affects calcium dynamics in individual RyR2 clusters and leads to the induction of spontaneous calcium waves. To address this, we analysed spontaneous calcium release events in green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged RyR2 clusters. Methods: Cardiomyocytes from mice with GFP-tagged RyR2 or human right atrial tissue were subjected to immunofluorescent labelling or confocal calcium imaging. Results: Spontaneous calcium release from single RyR2 clusters induced 91.4% +/- 2.0% of all calcium sparks while 8.0% +/- 1.6% were caused by release from two neighbouring clusters. Sparks with two RyR2 clusters had 40% bigger amplitude, were 26% wider, and lasted 35% longer at half maximum. Consequently, the spark mass was larger in two- than one-cluster sparks with a median and interquartile range for the cumulative distribution of 15.7 +/- 20.1 vs 7.6 +/- 5.7 a.u. (P < .01). beta 2-adrenergic stimulation increased RyR2 phosphorylation at s2809 and s2815, tripled the fraction of two- and three-cluster sparks, and significantly increased the spark mass. Interestingly, the amplitude and mass of the calcium released from a RyR2 cluster were proportional to the SR calcium load, but the firing rate was not. The spark mass was also higher in 33 patients with atrial fibrillation than in 36 without (22.9 +/- 23.4 a.u. vs 10.7 +/- 10.9; P = .015). Conclusions: Most sparks are caused by activation of a single RyR2 cluster at baseline while beta-adrenergic stimulation doubles the mass and the number of clusters per spark. This mimics the shift in the cumulative spark mass distribution observed in myocytes from patients with atrial fibrillation.

Objective: To evaluate the results obtained by a surveillance network on arbovirosis composed by doctors and nurses located at hospitals and Primary Care trained in their identification, diagnostic confirmation and clinical management. Location: North Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (1,400,000 inhabitants; Catalonia; Spain) during a calendar year. Participants: Seven Primary Care and 10 hospital physicians plus 4 Primary Care nurses. Type of study: A prospective observational study. Main measurements: Demographic, epidemiological (autochthonous/imported, sus- pect/probable/confirmed case) and healthcare variables (symptoms, serological profile, viral period) were defined. Results: Of the 34 patients identified, 26 (76.5%) met study criteria. Among them, any arbovirosis was confirmed in 14 (53.8%): 13 dengue plus 1 chikungunya fever. There were no cases of Zika fever. There was a history of travel to endemic areas 23 (88.4%), but not in 3 cases (11.6%) in which the possibility of an indigenous transmission was considered; of them, a case of dengue was confirmed. The estimated incidence of arbovirosis was 0.4 (95% CI: 0.33-0.51) cases x 10,000 hab/year which, when compared to the estimated incidence in the same geographical area during the period 2009.2013 (0.19 cases x 10,000 hab/year; 95% CI: 0.07-0.31), a significant increase was found (P= .044). Patients within viremia period at the time of their first medical visit were 11 (42.3%). Conclusions: An intensified epidemiological surveillance program defined at Primary Care and hospital levels is able to detect significantly more cases of imported and autochthonous arbovirosis. Possibly we are witnessing an increase in the incidence of imported arbovirosis and, thus, measures aimed at their identification and confirmation should be reinforced. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U.