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Al llarg de la segona meitat del segle x i x , la generalització a França de l’ensenyament primari va portar a un gran augment del percentatge de població alfabetitzada i amb ganes de llegir, però que no tenia accés als llibres a causa dels seus elevats preus. Es va produir aleshores un esclat de l’anomenada literatura popular, una de les formes de la qual van ser les novel·les de fulletó inserides a la premsa, que es van convertir en un autèntic fenomen de masses. Molts d’aquells fulletons es van traduir a altres llengües i van assolir també un gran èxit. En aquest article, ens fixarem en tres traduccions de fulletons de Pierre-Alexis Ponson du Terrail publicades a Barcelona en llengua castellana al segle XIX . Després de fer una presentació del cicle de novel·les de Rocambole —publicació, biografia de l’autor, argument— passarem a comparar diversos aspectes de les traduccions, fixant-nos en aspectes com el del text original, els noms dels personatges, les solucions d’anostrament i estranyament, els estrangerismes de l’original, els termes que presenten alguna dificultat especial, l’argot i les notes dels traductors.

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) represent a major challenge for health systems within the aging population. New and better instruments will be crucial to assess the disease severity and progression, as well as to improve its treatment, stimulation, and rehabilitation. With the purpose of detecting, assessing and quantifying cognitive impairments like MCI or AD, several methods are employed by clinical experts. Syndrom Kurztest neuropsychological battery (SKT) is a simple and short test to measure cognitive decline as it assesses memory, attention, and related cognitive functions, taking into account the speed of information processing. In this paper, we present a decision system to embed in a robot that can set up a productive interaction with a patient, and can be employed by the caregiver to motivate and support him while performing cognitive exercises as SKT. We propose two different interaction loops. First, the robot interacts with the caregiver in order to set up the mental and physical impairments of the patient and indicate a goal of the exercise. This is used to determine the desired robot behavior (human-centric or robot-centric, and preferred interaction modalities). Second, the robot interacts with the patient and adapts its actions to engage and assist him to complete the exercise. Two batches of experiments were conducted, and the results indicated that the robot can take profit of the initial interaction with the caregiver to provide a quicker personalization, and also it can adapt to different user responses and provide support and assistance at different levels of interaction., This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie SkłodowskaCurie grant agreement No. 721619 by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under project HuMoUR TIN2017-90086 and by the Spanish State Research Agency through the María de Maeztu Seal of Excellence to IRI (MDM-2016-0656)

This paper presents the research conducted towards developing the affective output channel of an assistive robot, called RAMCIP, targeted to elderly users with mild cognitive impairments (MCI) or early stages of Alzheimer Disease (AD). An animated screen allowing the robot to express emotions through facial expressions has been developed, along with a framework for the corresponding modifications of the robot's speech prosody. Both of the above affective robot output elements are dynamically adapted during RAMCIP use based on an affective output policy. The paper reports the results of four experiments, which have been conducted with MCI and early AD patients in order to validate the developed facial expression and speech intonation affective output modalities. The above research efforts have led to the development of the corresponding software prototypes, which have been integrated in the RAMCIP robot.

Background: The existing pharmacological treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) can only slow the progression of symptoms or delay admission to long-term care facilities. The beneficial effects of non-drug treatments are poorly studied. Objective: To describe the effects of an Integrated Psychostimulation Program (IPP) in patients with mild-moderate AD treated with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors; and to identify factors related to greater benefit of the IPP. Methods: 206 patients (mean age = 75.9 years; MMSE = 19.6) were evaluated before starting the IPP and 3, 6, 9, and 12 months later. Measures included: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Cognitive Subscale of Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-Cog), Rapid Disability Rating Scale (RDRS-2), and Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q). Results: Patients remained cognitively stable (MMSE/ADAS-Cog) for more than 6 months and significantly worsened at 9-month and 12-month follow-ups, without clinically significant functional changes (RDRS-2) or psychiatric symptoms(NPI-Q). The mean annual change on MMSE and ADAS-Cog were 2.06 and 3.56 points, respectively, lower than the annual decline demonstrated previously in similar patients (2.4 and 4.5, respectively). 42.7% of patients maintained or improved global cognitive scores between baseline and 12-month follow-up. The patients who maintained cognitive functions were older than those who did not (77.5 versus 74.7 years). Conclusions: The IPP may be an effective treatment to maintain cognition, functionality, and psychiatric symptoms in AD patients pharmacologically treated, and older age seems to increase beneficial effects of IPP.

Trabajo presentado en el 13th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction, celebrado en Chicago del 5 al 8 de marzo de 2018, The majority of socially assistive robots interact with their users using multiple modalities. Multimodality is an important feature that can enable them to adapt to the user behavior and the environment. In this work, we propose a resource-based modality-selection algorithm that adjusts the use of the robot interaction modalities taking into account the available resources to keep the interaction with the user comfortable and safe. For example, the robot should not enter the board space while the user is occupying it, or speak while the user is speaking. We performed a pilot study in which the robot acted as a caregiver in cognitive training. We compared a system with the proposed algorithm to a baseline system that uses all modalities for all actions unconditionally. Results of the study suggest that a reduced complexity of interaction does not significantly affect the user experience, and may improve task performance., This work was supported by the SOCRATES project funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721619.

El present article tracta sobre el fonamentalisme, la religió i la seva connexió. En concret explica què és i es posa de manifest els diferents tipus de fonamentalismes i el seu abast d’acció. A la vegada estableix un anàlisi i definició de les particularitats i característiques. Tot això, fent referència i tenint en compte l’aproximació, la transversalitat, la diversitat terminològica, l’aplicació i la detecció dels trets fonamentalistes, així com del seu tractament.

Objective We focused on identifying the requirements and needs of people suffering from Alzheimer disease and early dementia stages with relation to robotic assistants. Methods Based on focus groups performed in two centers (Poland and Spain), we created surveys for medical staff, patients, and caregivers, including: functional requirements; human–robot interaction, the design of the robotic assistant and user acceptance aspects. Using Likert scale and analysis made on the basis of the frequency of survey responses, we identified users’ needs as high, medium, and low priority. Results We gathered 264 completed surveys (100 from medical staff, 81 from caregivers, and 83 from potential users). Most of the respondents, almost at the same level in each of the three groups, accept robotic assistants and their support in everyday life. High level priority functional requirements were related to reacting in emergency situations (calling for help, detecting/removing obstacles) and to reminding about medication intake, about boiling water, turning off the gas and lights (almost 60% of answers). With reference to human–robot interaction, high priority was given to voice operated system and the capability of robotic assistants to reply to simple questions. Conclusion Our results help in achieving better understanding of the needs of patients with cognitive impairments during home tasks in everyday life. This way of conducting the research, with considerations for the interests of three stakeholder groups in two autonomic centers with proven experience regarding the needs of our patient groups, highlights the importance of obtained results.

Background: Synthetic prostaglandin PGE1 known ad misoprostol is an analog of the E prostaglandin. In the gynecological field it is used for the cervix uterine maturation and in this way it provokes modifications which favor the fast expel of the product of conception in the first trimester of pregnancy. Objectives: to show the effectiveness of misoprostol for medicamentous abortion in the first trimester of adolescents´ pregnancy. Methods: a descriptive, series cases, prospective study which included 763 adolescents in Cienfuegos province from August 2005 to June 2007. Adolescents with their parents' consent asked the doctors for the interruption of their pregnancy status using misoprostol as medicamentous abortion. For the performance of this method, a methodological instrumentation guide created by the Public Health Minister for the usage of misoprostol in vaginal pathway for the abortion induction was used. Results: The expelling of the fetus was successful in 93, 4 % of the adolescents, 66% of them were in their 8 weeks of gestation, 89 % were nulliparae, and 2, 6 were multiparae. The most frequent symptoms produced for this method were bleeding (42%), and pain (38, 4%). Conclusions: the usage of misoprostol was effective for the interruption of pregnancy in the first trimester in adolescents. Fundamento: La prostaglandina sintética PGE1 conocido como misoprostol es un análogo de la prostaglandina E. En ginecología se utiliza para la maduración del cérvix uterino y provocar modificaciones que favorezcan la expulsión rápida del producto de la concepción en el primer trimestre del embarazo. Objetivo: Demostrar la efectividad del misoprostol para el aborto medicamentoso en el primer trimestre del embarazo en adolescentes. Métodos: Estudio descriptivo, prospectivo, de serie de casos que incluyó 763 adolescentes de la provincia de Cienfuegos que desde agosto del 2005 hasta junio del 2007 solicitaron, la interrupción de la gestación por aborto medicamentoso empleando el misoprostol. Para la ejecución de este método se utilizó la guía de instrumentación metodológica creada por el Ministerio de Salud Pública para el uso del misoprostol por vía vaginal en la inducción del aborto. Se tuvo en cuenta el consentimiento de las pacientes y sus padres. Resultados: La expulsión se produjo en el 93,4 % de las adolescentes, de ellas el 66 % tenía 8 semanas de gestación, 89 % eran nulíparas y 2,6 multíparas. Los síntomas más frecuentemente producidos por el método fueron: sangrado (42 %), dolor (38,4 %). Conclusiones: El empleo del misoprostol fue efectivo para la interrupción del embarazo en el primer trimestre en adolescentes.