Catalan Society Research Articles

Meeting report: present state of molecular genetics in clinical laboratories. Report on the VII European Symposium on Clinical Laboratory and In Vitro Diagnostic Industry in Barcelona.

The VII European Symposium of the Clinical Laboratory and In Vitro Diagnostic Industry, co-organized between the Catalan Association for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (ACCLC) and the Catalan Society of Biology, was held on May 28th-29th, 2013 in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) under the IFCC auspices and the IUPAC sponsorship. The subject of the present Symposium was "Molecular Genetics in the Clinical Laboratory" and began with an opening conference that was a stroll through the history of molecular genetics in the context of the clinical laboratory. The scientific program was structured in several 2-h length roundtables that dealt with the following topics: recent advances in molecular genetics for clinical microbiology, latest evidences and real applicability of pharmacogenetics in the clinical practice, quality assurance of a molecular genetics laboratory, and latest trends in prenatal genetic diagnosis. The aim of the Symposium was the discussion of the transformation that molecular genetics has generated on clinical laboratories in terms of organization, specialization, interpretation of results and fast technical and knowledge evolution. High-qualified professionals from several countries together with in-country experts formed the roundtables. Attendants participated actively in the debates, increasing the overall interest.

How much do workers’ health examinations add to health and safety at the workplace? Occupational preventive usefulness of routine health examinations

ObjectiveDespite no evidence in favour, routine workers’ health examinations, mostly pre-employment and periodic, are extensively performed worldwide with important allocation of resources. In Spain they are performed within a theoretical job-specific health surveillance system. Our objective was to ascertain their occupational preventive usefulness from the perspective of occupational health professionals. MethodsCross sectional study. Online survey addressed to all physicians and nurses members of the Catalan Society of Safety and Occupational Medicine (n=539) in 2011. Univariate and bivariate analyses of prevalence and prevalence differences of answers. ResultsResponse rate 53% (n=285). According to more than 70% of respondents the health surveillance system isn’t cost-effective, doesn’t meet the goal of early detection of health damage related to work, and doesn’t contribute to improve the occupational risk prevention system. Further deficiencies were identified regarding specificity and scientific basis for health examinations, quality of collective health surveillance and referral of suspected cases to mutual insurance companies for diagnosis and treatment. Bivariate analysis showed a significantly more negative opinion for several items amongst physicians (versus nurses) and amongst professionals working in external prevention services (versus internal services). ConclusionsThis study raises serious concerns about how health examinations are performed within our workers’ health surveillance system, which should be reviewed to ensure the fulfilment of its occupational preventive objective. Our results might encourage other countries with similar practices to assess them in order to assure their fitness for purpose.

Justicia y sociedad en la Cataluña de los Austrias: magistrados y linajes nobiliarios

El objetivo de este artículo es resituar nuestros conocimientos sobre los magistrados catalanes para poder ofrecer un primer estado de la cuestión sobre los mismos. Esfuerzo que por su novedad implica una serie de dificultades que no podemos obviar. Relacionar el papel social y político de los magistrados es siempre difícil; más que considerar sólo su dimensión estrictamente judicial. Incorporar a todo ello la faceta cultural enriquece y complica la capacidad de extraer conclusiones sugestivas para aumentar así nuestra comprensión del funcionamiento de la justicia y el papel de la misma en el diseño y funcionamiento del tejido social catalán de los siglos XVI y XVII.

Catalan Secessionism: Young People’s Expectations and Political Change

Various factors have triggered the recent shift from devolution to secession in Catalonia: the Aznar government’s lack of response to demands for greater autonomy for Catalonia, the legal challenging of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia and, increasingly, economic arguments as Catalan society endures a harsh economic crisis. After evaluating the impact of the Spanish transition to democracy upon younger generations’ expectations regarding the meaning and content of democracy in post-Franco Spain, it is argued that democracy based upon ‘consensus’ rather than ‘majoritarian democracy’ would be better suited to respond to national minorities’ demands in Spain.

Directoras de cine en Cataluña: Un recorrido histórico

Summary: In Catalonia, like in other nations, the incorporation of women directors into the film industry was slow and the number small, with the aggravating situation in Catalan society of forty years of a dictatorship that kept women relegated to the domestic sphere. It is not until the late 80s and during the 90s that a new generation of women directors occupy with their cameras the streets of Barcelona, initiating a creative journey of self-discovering, and creating a cinematic gendered urban space that rejects patriarchal power relations and hegemonic concepts of national and sexual identities, while they give voice to new identities; new subjectsminorities-communities that, like them, started being visible in post-Franco Catalonia. Some directors contextualize their narratives with the construction of a cinematic gaze based on a negotiation with the Other marginal subject. Other filmmakers explore the formation-representation of the city image and its significance in the context of state terrorism and the relation between Catalonia and Spain. The directors and their films contribute to the critical analysis, of city and space, of modernity and gender, of history and memory, and the imposed transformation of the city of Barcelona by globalization. [Keywords: Women directors; Catalonia; Barcelona; cinematic gaze; city image; space]

Greek and French: A New Vision of the Catalan National Myth of Origin at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century through Sculpture

AbstractThe principal aim of this article is to present a new vision of the founding myth of a Greek Catalonia, expressed and vindicated at the beginning of the twentieth century during Noucentisme. At that time, the cultural origins of Catalan society were linked to a colonial Greek heritage that was never fully proven. The text analyses this particular idea in a new light, and tries to establish the extent to which this cultural construction came from France and how it influenced Catalan visual arts. Tanagra‐type sculpture acts as the unifying factor in the text.

Collective identity, transmediality and glocalization: A reading of Jisàs de Netzerit, by Pau Riba

Abstract This article examines the redefinition of the cultural references included in the Catalan cultural repertoire, a repertoire conditioned by the main processes of mixture that affect contemporary cultures: transmedia exchange and glocalization. These processes are exemplified in a Pau Riba Christmas performance titled Jisàs de Netzerit o el capítol zero de la Guerra de les Galàxies, a quite unclassifiable show that combines traditional, biblical and consumer cultural references to generate a critical allegory about contemporary Catalan society. The article analyses the uses of parody and hybridization in Riba’s show to discuss how cultural communities survive only if they are capable of finding strategies for the plural reconstruction of what is recognized as cultural heritage.

Exploring class-based intersectionality

This paper argues that language, culture and identity researchers need to take the intersectionality of identity inscriptions seriously and, further to this, that an intersectional approach which emanates from an interest in social class provides a productive way to examine the lives and experience of individuals living in multicultural societies. The paper begins with an excerpt from Corona's research on Latino adolescents in Barcelona, in which four of his informants discuss how they are racially profiled as potential muggers by fellow pedestrians on the streets of Barcelona. This account of experienced discrimination leads to an in-depth discussion of intersectionality, which provides a way of seeing how race, ethnicity and gender interrelate in the informants' lives. The paper then moves to consider how social class might be added to the equation and a second excerpt from Corona's research is presented, in which an informant provides an account of how he felt compelled to change his way of dress when he arrived in Barcelona at the age of 12. His eventual sartorial transformation via the appropriation of a hip hop aesthetic is interpreted intersectionally in terms of his social class, racialised, ethnicised and gendered positionings in Catalan society. The paper concludes with a discussion of how class-based intersectionality can provide more nuanced understandings of the lives of young migrants in multicultural societies than uni-dimensional or multiple uni-dimensional approaches.

The Earliest Theater of Eduard Vidal i Valenciano: Literature of a New Society

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that the Catalan literature of the 1860s, specifically in the theater, which was then beginning to be cultivated, reflected the profound social changes that were occurring in Catalan society, and more importantly in Barcelona, as a result of industrialization and the introduction of modern state structures. This paper examines the first dramatic works of Eduard Vidal i Valenciano, a writer belonging to the popular group of Frederic Soler and Josep Anselm Clave, but also connected with the organizers of the Floral Games of Barcelona. This examination provides insight into the social impact of the new Catalan literature, and more specifically of the new theater and Clave's work; the emergence of a new social class —the working class— with its specific problems; ideologies such as Republicanism, with its iconography and its own symbolic universe; and, more modestly, it records the concern for hygiene and for alternative medicine such as homeopathy. All of these p...

The Effects of Divorce on Children

As we speak about Family Law, I want to begin my exposition with a concise picture of the Catalan society and the “Catalan family”. Our concept of family, like other neighboring societies, has changed substantially in relation to the preceding generations. Catalonia today is an aging society with rather low fertility, increasing divorce rates and a large increase in the number of single households (the result of an increased life expectancy). Furthermore, the man is no longer the only household member who contributes to household income; in more and more families both men and women engage in paid employment. The female employment rate has risen in a big way, which explains that the average age for a first marriage is over thirty years for both women and men. This fact means in practice that Catalonian couples have few children: one, two, or as a heroic common project, three.

Just a Matter of Identity? Support for Independence in Catalonia

The Catalan case is usually depicted in the literature as a typical example of a nation without state with a predominant civic nationalism, where the importance of dual identities tends to generate claims for self-government short of independence. However, the recent evolution of Catalan and Spanish politics shows that independence receives relevant levels of support even among groups expressing some degree of identification with the state identity. This paper aims to fill the gap in this relatively unexplored dimension of Catalan nationalism by analysing the factors that help explain support for independence in Catalonia. The results of the research point to the importance of identity in explaining attitudes towards independence but also that it receives widespread support across Catalan society, suggesting much more complex relations.

Arrivederci! EFIS activities at the 15th International Congress of Immunology 2013 in Milan

Arrivederci! EFIS activities at the 15^th International Congress of Immunology 2013 in Milan

Complejidad asistencial en la atención al final de la vida: criterios y nivelesde intervención en atención comunitaria de salud

ObjectiveTo define the complexity in end-of-life care and the criteria of complexity, and depending on their grouping within these levels of complexity, to propose a model of intervention that will allow different levels of care to be established, and the framework within which the professionals of primary health care and the palliative team should work. Material and methodsStructure: a technical and interdisciplinary group of consensus formed by ten professional experts in end of life care in the areas of: community health care, palliative care, geriatric care, oncology, social work, bioethics and spirituality; with external collaboration from two professionals of psycho-oncology and internal medicine. Methodology: we established a Delphi type qualitative method to obtain a consensus of all the professionals. The different stages of consensus correspond to the points described in the results. The work took place under the coordination of the Catalan-Balearic Society of Palliative Care, with the collaboration of the Catalan Society of Family and Community Medicine (CAMFIC), and the Directorate of the Social-Health Master Plan of the Health Department of the Generalitat of Catalonia. ResultsDefinition: the complexity is caused by the emerging of processes that, when they interact, fulfil the criteria to be defined complex systems. Reference model: our base model is modelled on the needs of patients and families, thus obtaining six areas of complexity: physical needs, psycho-emotional, socio-family, spiritual, an area related directly with death (situation in the last days, grief), and an area of ethical aspects. Areas and criteria of complexity: in each area the following are obtained: base definitions, situations usually creating complexity, and criteria of complexity grouped in three levels: low medium and high. Model of intervention: the proposal is: low complexity: intervention of the community health care team with occasional intervention by the palliative care team. Medium complexity: shared caring decided between the community health care team and the palliative team. High complexity: main intervention by the palliative team. Hospital admission. ConclusionsIt is necessary to differentiate between situations that are usually complex and the criteria of complexity. The first are those situations that often behave as an emerging process, whereas the criteria of complexity correspond to the actual emergence or its results. The intervention model proposed should improve the collaboration between community care and the palliative care team, as this is a co-responsibility and dynamic model that does not divide the intervention.

«Si yo cerrara los ojos, sería una niña española, catalana... de aquí». Representaciones, identidades y filiaciones en la adopción internacional en Cataluña

This paper explores representations that are present in Catalan society with regard to intercountry adoption and some of the people involved. In light of media portrayals affecting the [re]construction and transmission of collective «imaginaries» on adoption, adopters, adoptees and the originating and receiving countries, a discourse analysis was undertaken in nearly eight hundred articles published in two of the major newspapers in Catalonia. The resulting constructs were compared with the content of the interviews with parents, adoptees, educators, professionals and leaders of associations. Having established the existence of certain conflicts among these constructs, the strategies which participants employ in order to solve them, were investigated.

Arthroplasty registers as post-marketing surveillance systems: The Catalan Arthroplasty Register

ObjectiveThe aim is to present the functioning and results of the Catalan Arthroplasty Registry (RACat). Material and methodThe RACat arose by the initiative of the Catalan Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, the Catalan Health Service (CHS) and the Catalan Agency for Health Information Assessment and Quality. Publicly funded hospitals sent information through the Internet (CHS Applications website) on knee and hip arthroplasties: patient identification, hospital, joint (hip/knee), type (primary/revision), side of operation, date of surgery and prosthesis (manufacturer's name and reference number). The quality of the data is analysed regularly. We estimate the risk of replacement by the Kaplan–Meier method. ResultsA total of 52 hospitals out of 62 send data to RACat, and information on 36,951 knee and 26,477 hip arthroplasties is available. Data quality improved between 2005 and 2010. In 2010 coverage exceeded 70%, with side of operation 97%, and prostheses identification of 80%. The risk of replacement at three years was 3.3% (95% CI: 3.1–3.6) for knee, 2.9% (95% CI: 2.5–3.3) for total hip, and 2.5% (95% CI: 2.0–3.1) for partial hip. DiscussionRisk of replacement is higher than that observed in other registers, although data quality and its improvement over time should be taken into account. ConclusionsThe information available in the RACat will help to establish a standard that will enable hospitals to compare results.

Los registros de artroplastias como sistemas de vigilancia poscomercialización: el Registro de Artroplastias de Cataluña

ObjectiveThe aim is to present the functioning and results of the Catalan Arthroplasty Registry (RACat). Material and methodThe RACat arose by the initiative of the Catalan Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, the Catalan Health Service (CHS) and the Catalan Agency for Health Information Assessment and Quality. Publicly funded hospitals sent information through the Internet (CHS Applications website) on knee and hip arthroplasties: patient identification, hospital, joint (hip/knee), type (primary/revision), side of operation, date of surgery and prosthesis (manufacturer's name and reference number). The quality of the data is analysed regularly. We estimate the risk of replacement by the Kaplan-Meier method. ResultsA total of 52 hospitals out of 62 send data to RACat, and information on 36,951 knee and 26,477 hip arthroplasties is available. Data quality improved between 2005 and 2010. In 2010 coverage exceeded 70%, with side of operation 97%, and prostheses identification of 80%. The risk of replacement at three years was 3.3% (95% CI:3.1-3.6) for knee, 2.9% (95% CI:2.5-3.3) for total hip, and 2.5% (95% CI:2.0-3.1) for partial hip. DiscussionRisk of replacement is higher than that observed in other registers, although data quality and its improvement over time should be taken into account. ConclusionsThe information available in the RACat will help to establish a standard that will enable hospitals to compare results.

El teatro de sala y alcoba en la Cataluña del siglo XVIII: un acto social en un espacio privado e íntimo

A través del estudio de las representaciones teatrales realizadas en espacios domésticos de la sociedad barcelonesa entre mediados del siglo XVIII y el primer tercio del siglo XIX, asistimos a una sucesión de actos sociales acontecidos en ámbito privado. Los espacios utilizados para estas representaciones caseras podrían variar según el estatus de quienes las organizaban, pero queremos destacar la sala y alcoba, dado que se trata de uno de los espacios más íntimos de la casa, y que acabaron dando nombre a un concepto: teatro de sala y alcoba o representaciones de sala y alcoba.

A journal at the right time

The Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies (CJCS) had its genesis in casual conversations among the members of the Department of Communication Studies at the Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona during the years 2007 and 2008. We were certainly excited about the idea of publishing a quality academic journal, yet it was difficult to find answers to questions such as: why should we launch a new journal? Would this journal meet with any interest in our field? What would it add to the already existing publications? Would any publisher be interested in the Catalan cultural field? Among all these uncertainties the only thing that was quite clear to us was that times had changed: communication and cultural studies within the Catalan context was now a richer reality than five years before; the rules of the university system were now demanding higher levels of quality in their evaluation of scholarship; and the need to internationalize academic output was more pressing than ever. But how could we bring this project to fruition? Around that time we received a communication from Intellect looking for new journal proposals. Without thinking twice, we looked for national and international alliances, we worked out the focus and scope of the journal and we began to write up the project. Two decisions were already taken: it must be a blind peer-reviewed journal following the standard academic practice regarding the selection of articles for inclusion, and it must be an English-language publication. The reason for these conditions was that no other completely blind peer-reviewed journal produced with the backing of a Catalan academic institution such as Rovira i Virgili University was available in English in the field of communication and cultural studies. We submitted the project to Intellect’s 2009 call for journals and, a few weeks later, we received a positive reply from the publishers. This, in our view, proves two things: on the one hand, Intellect’s commitment to seeking out and fostering new ideas and niches in the academic field and, on the other, of the growing stature and confidence in Catalan culture and society in the international sphere. We had the feeling that scholarship in the cultural and social disciplines in Catalonia had been too inward looking for too long, and the time had come to raise our heads and look around us. But let us explain what CJCS is about, and what are we proposing with the journal.

For Christ and Catalonia: Catholic Catalanism and Nationalist Revival in Late Francoism

Princess of our noble Catalan land Oh Virgin of the mountain … pious Mother of this land that has always loved you, make it great and powerful 1 Over the course of Franco’s dictatorship in Spain (1939–1975), we can trace a remarkable transformation in the position of the Catholic Church in the historic territory of Catalonia. Subject to deep-rooted anti-clericalism, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the Church found itself the target of an unprecedented assault. The victory of Franco’s Nationalist forces in 1939 restored the Church, yet due to its Spanish Nationalist ideology, sought the ending of the Catalan Catholic tradition. However, over the course of the 1940s and 1950s, the Catalan Church was able to undertake a cautious reconstruction of the indigenous religious and cultural movement. This revival would begin to transform the Church’s position in Catalan society to the point where, by the mid-1960s, it was possible to assert that anti-clericalism was no more. The Church became a key element in the revival of Catalan nationalism and an important component to the opposition in late anti-Francoism.

Tratamiento farmacológico de la demencia: cuándo, cómo y hasta cuándo. Recomendaciones del Grupo de Trabajo de Demencias de la Sociedad Catalana de Geriatría y Gerontología

Dementia in general −and Alzheimer's disease (AD) in particular− are bound to loom large among the most acute healthcare, social, and public health problems of the 21st century. AD shows a degenerative progression that can be slowed down −yet not halted− by today's most widely accepted specific treatments (those based on cholinesterase inhibitors as well as those using memantine). There is enough evidence to consider these treatments advisable for the mild, moderate and severe phases of the illness. However, in the final stage of the disease, a decision has to be made on whether to withdraw such treatment or not. In this paper, the Working Group on Dementia for the Catalan Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology reviews the use of these specific pharmacological treatments for AD, and, drawing on the scientific evidence thus gathered, makes a series of recommendations on when, how, and for how long, the currently existing specific pharmacological treatments should be used.