Spanish Studies Research Articles

Hispania at 200: On Publishing, Perishing, and Perishable Publications

Hispania at 200:On Publishing, Perishing, and Perishable Publications Luis Álvarez-Castro The title of this paper entails a conscious provocation. Two, as a matter of fact. As for the first one, the only certainty that we can hold about the second centennial of Hispania is that none of us (reading this in 2018) will be able to witness it. What I would like to argue in the next pages, however, is that it partially falls onto us and the decisions that we make as academics, both individually and collectively, that such a second centennial comes to happen at all. Let me rephrase this point in more positive terms: by reflecting on a number of professional issues that could determine what Hispania might look like a hundred years from now, we can chart possible paths for the field of Spanish and Portuguese Studies that guarantee its relevance for future generations of students. For this is the key word to consider—students. Regarding the second provocation embedded in the subtitle of this paper, I am sure that the readers of Hispania are all too familiar with the academic saying, "publish or perish." What is probably less known is that this maxim was already in circulation in the late 1920s, at a time when our discipline was just in its infancy (Doyle, Mieder, and Shapiro 209). The obligation to produce and publish scholarship, compounded by the ever-increasing number of faculty involved in the process (including graduate students who compete to enter a shrinking academic job market), has resulted in a seemingly irreconcilable dichotomy between teaching and research, with harmful corollaries for both realms. As Imad A. Moosa explains in Publish or Perish: Perceived Benefits versus Unintended Consequences, the phrase 'publish or perish' "describes the pressure put on academics to publish in scholarly journals rapidly and continually as a condition for employment (finding a job), promotion, and even maintaining one's job" (1). And this is precisely where the problem lies with a good deal of scholarship—namely, in the fact that it is not devised to benefit students or the discipline at large but rather to merely satisfy the requirements for professional advancement that most individual faculty face (particularly those requirements concerning tenure and promotion). In her 1990 book Killing the Spirit: Higher Education in America, Page Smith issues a scathing indictment against the perversity of this publishing climate, by decrying that, "The vast majority of the so-called research turned out in the modern university is essentially worthless. It does not result in any measurable benefit to anything or anybody…. It is busywork on a vast, almost incomprehensible scale … in short, it robs the student of an education" (7). The scholarship thus conceived is what I refer to in my title as perishable publications. I am far from original when I propose such wordplay based on this anxiety-laden expression. To name just two precedents in book form, we can recall Persist and Publish, by Ralph E. Matkin and T. F. Riggar, and Publish, Don't Perish, by Joseph M. Moxley. (I leave aside fictional manifestations such as Publish and Perish: Three Tales of Tenure and Terror, by James Hynes.) What I find quite revealing about these works is that, even though they are how-to guides to academic writing and publishing, and as such they do not fundamentally question the premise of their subject matter—that is, that academic survival is predicated on the publication of scholarship—they still offer illuminating reflections on the adverse effects of the publish-at-all-cost mantra. Those effects can be inferred from comments by Matkin and Riggar, who reminisce, "our [End Page 501] respective doctoral programs failed to prepare us for subsequent employment in academia" (4), but it is Moxley who more clearly articulates the need for balance in the teaching-publishing divide. "Rather than choosing between scholarship and teaching," he argues, "we should focus our energies on improving both activities. We can do this by rewarding excellence in the classroom as well as excellence in scholarship. Moreover … we must redefine scholarship so that it includes practical and pedagogical applications" (176). In what follows, I will expand on these ideas as they...

Contextualizing Prostitution in Benito Pérez Galdós's La Desheredada (1881)

Contextualizing Prostitution in Benito Pérez Galdós's La Desheredada (1881) Gabrielle Miller Against the backdrop of industrialization and urbanization, the controversial issue of prostitution stimulated contentious debate in nineteenth-century Europe. The prostitute and her image, as Rita Felski has observed, captivated European cultural critics "preoccupied with the decadent and artificial nature of modern life" (20). In Victorian England, moralists, social reformers and medics disputed the proper response to "the Great Social Evil" (Walkowitz 42); the infamous maisons de tolérance of contemporaneous France, meanwhile, declined in number and popularity under the Third Republic as regulation became more problematic (Corbin 3; 215). As in the rest of Europe, female prostitutes in Spain undoubtedly constituted "marginal subjects" whose deviance from established norms relegated them to society's periphery (Tsuchiya, "Marginal" 14).1 In response to the growing influence of French and Spanish medical hygienists, however, mainstream perceptions of prostitution in Spain began to change in the second half of the nineteenth century: while the prostitute embodied many of the deep-seated anxieties about gender and hygiene reflected in contemporary social and hygienic discourses, both medical and penal reforms aimed to control rather than prevent the practice (Fuentes Peris 31; Labanyi 66-76).2 [End Page 403] Reflecting such preoccupations and the literary influence of French naturalism, "la novela lupanaria o prostibularia" gained popularity in spain from the 1880s through the turn of the century (Fernández, "La prostituta" 10, her emphasis). As in other western countries, then, Spanish novelists as different as Pío Baroja, Eduardo López Bago and Benito Pérez Galdós explored the literary potentialities afforded by fictional representations of prostitution, its causes and consequences.3 Written at the height of the European debate on venal sex, Galdós's La desheredada (1881) is one such work that in Jo Labanyi's estimation "tak[es] prostitution as its emblem" (91).4 The novel follows isidora Rufete, a young woman who arrives to Madrid determined to prove her aristocratic identity, believing herself the illegitimate child of a noblewoman. Much like the eponymous protagonist of Zola's Nana (1880), Galdós's breathtakingly beautiful heroine possesses an insatiable appetite for luxury. Ultimately, both Isidora's unbounded desire and stubborn faith in her dubious claim to nobility drive her to a life of prostitution. While consumerism and particularly fashion afforded nineteenth-century spanish women a certain degree of agency (Heneghan 5), the young Rufete undoubtedly personifies anxiety-ridden social discourses that conflated lujo and lujuria (Aldaraca 67-88; Jagoe 86-97). This essay will interrogate a recent trend in criticism of La desheredada that views Isidora's final turn to prostitution at the end of the novel as a defiant, emancipatory election that thwarts the systematic oppression of bourgeois institutions and assures her financial autonomy. In this vein, Akiko Tsuchiya has argued that through her pursuit of desire, Isidora self-consciously transforms her body into a commodity, laying claim to an autonomous existence as a prostitute that both "resist[s] . . . institutions and techniques of power" (30) [End Page 404] and asserts her independence and subjectivity. Jo Labanyi insists that despite the anonymity of prostitution Isidora ultimately becomes "her own dueña de su voluntad" (115, her emphasis) while Wilfredo de Ràfols argues that Isidora's choice will afford her "relative economic independence and freedom" (80). For Elizabeth Amann, the image of the prostitute in the novel constitutes a "symbol of liberty" against the backdrop of revolution (457). Similarly, Stephanie Sieburth affirms that in choosing prostitution Isidora avoids "succumbing to bourgeois discipline" and that in negotiating her fiscal worth, "she will be free" ("Enlightenment" 39). While these perspectives represent a crucial contribution to the field of Spanish gender studies and are persuasively elaborated along theoretical lines, such scholarship risks overlooking the concrete, historical realities of prostitutes who lived and worked in Madrid in the second half of the nineteenth century. This essay will foreground Spanish Restoration-era medical and legal discourses on prostitution that simultaneously regulated venal sex in the capital and perpetuated the view of prostitution as indispensable to the preservation of ordered bourgeois society. In choosing to become a prostitute, Isidora has not "lost her...

Engaged Humanities and the Future of Spanish Programs

Engaged Humanities and the Future of Spanish Programs Ann Abbott Keywords curricular reform/reforma curricular, engaged humanities/humanidades comprometidas, foreign language study/estudio de lengua extranjera, Hispanism/hispanismo, reductionist models/modelos reduccionistas, Service-Learning/aprendizaje del servicio, Spanish for the Professions/español para profesiones Response to "Apologia No More: On Strong Foundations and the Future of Hispanism" More than just finally articulating the value of what we do in Spanish programs, we must actually change a significant portion of what we do—and how we do it—in order to offer the kind of value the authors wisely propose. To provide solutions to "the possibility of non-Hispanic American cultural resistance to the growth of Hispanic communities" (Bayliss and Rossomondo 2017) we need to focus much of our curricula on US Latinos, commit to social justice education and engage with our local Latino communities. Few departments do this, though, because few departments have truly seen this as their mission. To prepare students to be civically-engaged, savvy cultural critics who are equipped to combat highly-charged, racialized discourses will require integrating into our curriculum topics such as human migrations (historical and global), economics, policy studies, communication, media studies and more. Yet the vast majority of departments continue to mostly teach students how to analyze cultural products (literary studies, predominantly) and language (linguistics). To bridge what Spanish programs actually do and what the authors claim we are preparing students to do requires a more radical—and uncomfortable—shift than just finding the right words. This curricular shift must occur swiftly. A decade has already passed since the MLA's special report on foreign languages (cited by the authors) as well as Carlos Alonso's declaration in Profession that Spanish is now "a second national language and culture in this country" (220). Yet most Spanish departments in the United States still operate as foreign language programs, perennially privileging Spain and reproducing value systems and power structures the authors suggest we can dismantle in the United States. They astutely propose that Spanish departments embrace the local and transnational nature of Spanish, but our current approach of scattered heritage speaker sections and service learning courses is insufficient. Departments that adopt the engaged humanities model and a mission to see and seek connections among traditional scholarly projects of inquiry and the issues surrounding them imbue their programs with an urgency and relevance that our profession as a whole currently lacks but that students and other stakeholders seek. The demographic trends listed by the authors will consolidate by 2067, but we can change today. Take the concrete example of campuses located in new-growth communities—places where immigrants have not traditionally settled and which lack infrastructure to build linguistic and transcultural competencies. Cultural studies scholars and students can work with the community to analyze depictions of these new encounters and suggest more accurate, helpful representations of the challenges and opportunities within their changing communities. Second language acquisition experts and schools can partner to create positive responses to [End Page 33] multilingualism, inside and outside the K–12 classrooms. Literary scholars and libraries can collaborate to build collections, attract Latino patrons and design relevant programming. Language program directors can integrate service learning across the curriculum to provide targeted assistance that meets community-identified needs. Conceived as the department's mission, these activities can be integrated into regular research, teaching and service obligations, not heaped upon them. Nonetheless, a quick look at the dissertations produced in Spanish departments ("Open Access Dissertation Lists") reveals that our focus on literary analysis and linguistics has barely budged, constantly reproducing frameworks that do not actually address the societal needs the authors foreground. Lastly, our profession should embrace both civic and career connections to Spanish studies. After all, the important civic project the authors outline plays out in workplaces and among colleagues and clients, not just in voting booths and neighborhoods. We perpetuate our own reductionism by presenting a focus on careers as a caricature of vocational training. Instead, it is an opportunity to engage with the complexities and creative challenges of professionals who must not just develop but also deploy translingual and transcultural competence in real time, with real people, not...

Brand of Spain: perception within the country and abroad

The goal of the study was to analyze the perception of the territorial brand of Spain at home and abroad. The theoretical basis of the study is the concept of the national brands index S. Anholt. The study was done with the application of the methods of comparative analysis of empirical data obtained from international and Spanish studies in the area of territorial branding. The research materials are made in the area of territorial branding, representing various approaches, sampling and methodology: the S. Anholt Index of National Brands (Nation Brand Index); Ranking Country RepTrack and researching the external and internal image of Spain at the Royal Institute of Elkano. The ranking analysis showed that in 2016 the reputation of the most authoritative states suffered, but Spain’s reputation began to be evaluated better and for the first time it became part of a group of countries with a stable reputation. The growth of Spain’s reputation in the world is due to the fact that in 2015 the tone of publications about Spain in the international media system had changed - a direct association with the economic crisis had left the narrative. The results of the research in the field of territorial branding confirm the thesis of Carlos Espinosa, the High Commissioner of the state project «Brand Spain» (Marca España), that in Spain the country’s brand is estimated lower than abroad, but at the same time the positive dynamics of the perception of Spain’s image indicate the effectiveness of this project and the competitiveness of the brand of Spain at the present stage. Contrary to the economic and political difficulties that Spain has faced over the past 20 years, regular work to design and promote the brand of Spain has been and has yielded positive results.

Arriving (Way Beyond) Where We Started: Forty-Eight Years of Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies

Arriving (Way Beyond) Where We Started: Forty-Eight Years of Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies

The situation as regards diabetes mellitus type 1 in Andalusia. Care data, use of advanced therapies and human resources

The representation of Spain in European epidemiological studies on diabetes is limited, with only one centre in the Hvidoere study and another in the SWEET study. No Spanish studies have been published that combine epidemiological data and care resources. The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiological data, care resources, and use of new technologies in all Andalusian hospitals that care for children with Diabetes Mellitus type 1 (DM1) under 14 years. An electronic questionnaire of 18 questions was sent to all paediatric endocrinologists who treated children with diabetes in Andalusian hospitals. There was a mean of 3.12 (SD: 2.58) paediatric endocrinologist for every 100 patients, with a mean diabetes nurse educator ratio of 2.50 (SD: 3.94) per 100 patients and centre. Only 1 of the 29 centres had a psychologist, 9/29 had a day hospital, and 11/29 had a 24-hour telephone line. The mean of days of consultations exclusively for patients with DM1 was 1.56 days (SD: 1.21) per week. Continuous insulin infusion was used to treat 5% of patients, with a significant increase in centres with more than 150 patients. This study offers, for the first time, current data on the epidemiological situation related to health care data, comparing them with the recommendations of European standards, highlighting a low ratio of endocrinologists and educators in diabetes, absence of psychologists and low technology penetrance.

The situation as regards diabetes mellitus type 1 in Andalusia. Care data, use of advanced therapies and human resources

Abstract Introduction The representation of Spain in European epidemiological studies on diabetes is limited, with only one centre in the Hvidoere study and another in the SWEET study. No Spanish studies have been published that combine epidemiological data and care resources. The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiological data, care resources and use of new technologies in all Andalusian hospitals that care for children with diabetes mellitus type 1 (DM1) under 14 years. Material and methods An electronic questionnaire of 18 questions was sent to all paediatric endocrinologists who treated children with diabetes in Andalusian hospitals. Results There was a mean of 3.12 (SD: 2.58) paediatric endocrinologist for every 100 patients, with a mean diabetes nurse educator ratio of 2.50 (SD: 3.94) per 100 patients and centre. Only 1 of the 29 centres had a psychologist, 9/29 had a day hospital and 11/29 had a 24-h telephone line. The mean of days of consultations exclusively for patients with DM1 was 1.56 days (SD: 1.21) per week. Continuous insulin infusion was used to treat 5% of patients, with a significant increase in centres with more than 150 patients. Conclusions This study offers, for the first time, current data on the epidemiological situation related to healthcare data, comparing them with the recommendations of European standards, highlighting a low ratio of endocrinologists and educators in diabetes, absence of psychologists and low technology penetrance.

Are IL18RAP gene polymorphisms associated with body mass regulation? A cross-sectional study

ObjectivesTo investigate the association between IL18RAP and body mass index (BMI) and obesity and to verify the effect of a polymorphism in the microRNA136 (MIR136) IL18RAP binding region.DesignWe analysed samples...

Screening for depression in Andean Latin America: Factor structure and reliability of the CES-D short form and the PHQ-8 among Bolivian public hospital patients.

Objective We assessed the validity and reliability of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) short form and the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) (two measures of depressive symptoms) among urban, low-income patients from a heavily indigenous area of Andean Latin America. This is a patient population that is in many ways culturally distinct from the populations that have been included in previous Spanish language validation studies of these instruments. Methods We administered the CES-D Yale version short form and the PHQ-8 to 107 outpatients at public hospitals in La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia. We conducted exploratory factor analysis, checked internal reliability, and examined concordance between the two measures in identifying patients with clinically significant depressive symptoms. Results Internal reliability was high for both scales: PHQ-8 (Cronbach's α = 0.808) and CES-D (α = 0.825). A one-factor solution for the PHQ-8 was maintained after the removal of one poorly loading item. The CES-D showed a two-factor solution, with items for somatic symptoms and interpersonal problems loading on the same factor as negative affect. Using both the cutoff for depression recommended in prior studies and a sample specific cutoff of ≥1 standard deviation above the mean, the two scales demonstrated only moderate agreement (κ = 0.481-0.486). Conclusions The PHQ may be more appropriate for clinical use in the Andean region, given its greater specificity; however, lower than expected agreement between the scales suggests that they also measure different elements of depression. Irregularities with the factor structure of both scales suggest that further research with this population is needed to better understand depressive symptomology and improve screening in the region.

La aparición del ‘problema de la circulación’ y los orígenes de la gestión del tráfico urbano en España, 1900-1936

A lo largo del primer tercio del siglo XX, Madrid, Barcelona, y en menor medida el resto de capitales de provincia españolas, comenzaron a experimentar una creciente congestión en sus vías públicas. El aumento exponencial del número de vehículos –particularmente de vehículos automóviles–, el incremento del tráfico peatonal –derivado del crecimiento demográfico–, y la existencia de trazados urbanos incapaces de absorber las nuevas corrientes circulatorias, tuvieron como consecuencia la aparición de lo que en la época se denominó ‘el problema de la circulación’. Las autoridades locales lo afrontaron adoptando distintas medidas con las que se inauguró la gestión del tráfico urbano en España, asunto que ha sido escasamente atendido hasta la fecha por la historiografía urbana centrada en este periodo. Este artículo analiza esas primeras medidas, comparándolas con las que por esos mismos años implementaron otras grandes ciudades y capitales occidentales. Se exponen igualmente los primeros intentos para unificar todos los aspectos referentes al tráfico en el territorio nacional, sustanciados en la celebración, en 1933, del I Congreso Municipal de la Circulación.

Cost-utility analysis of Palivizumab for Respiratory Syncytial Virus infection prophylaxis in preterm infants: update based on the clinical evidence in Spain

BackgroundThis study aimed at estimating the efficiency of palivizumab in the prevention of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infection and its sequelae in preterm infants (32day 1-35day 0weeks of gestational age –wGA-) in Spain.MethodsA decision-tree model was developed to compare health benefits (Quality Adjusted Life Years-QALYs) and costs of palivizumab versus a non-prophylaxis strategy over 6 years. A hypothetical cohort of 1,000 preterm infants, 32day 1-35day 0 wGA (4.356 kg average weight) at the beginning of the prophylaxis (15 mg/kg of palivizumab; 3.88 average number of injections per RSV season) was analysed.The model considered the most recent evidence from Spanish observational and epidemiological studies on RSV infection: the FLIP II study provided hospital admission and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission rates; in-hospital mortality rate was drawn from an epidemiological study from 2004 to 2012; recurrent wheezing rates associated to RSV infection from SPRING study were adjusted by the evidence on the palivizumab effect from clinical trials. Quality of life baseline value, number of hospitalized infants and the presence of recurrent wheezing over time were granted to estimate QALYs.National Health Service and societal perspective (included also recurrent wheezing indirect cost) were analysed. Total costs (€, 2016) included pharmaceutical and administration costs, hospitalization costs and recurrent wheezing management annual costs. A discount rate of 3.0% was applied annually for both costs and health outcomes.ResultsOver 6 years, the base case analysis showed that palivizumab was associated to an increase of 0.0731 QALYs compared to non-prophylaxis. Total costs were estimated in €2,110.71 (palivizumab) and €671.68 (non-prophylaxis) from the National Health System (NHS) perspective, resulting in an incremental cost utility ratio (ICUR) of €19,697.69/QALYs gained (prophylaxis vs non-prophylaxis). Results derived from the risk-factors population subgroups analysed were in line with the total population results. From the societal perspective, the incremental cost associated to palivizumab decreased to an €1,253.14 (ICUR = €17,153.16€/QALYs gained for palivizumab vs non-prophylaxis). One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the model.ConclusionsThe prophylaxis with palivizumab is efficient for preventing from RSV infections in preterm infants 32day 1-35day 0 wGA in Spain.

Complementarity between innovation knowledge sources: Does the innovation performance measure matter?

We analyse complementarity between different knowledge sources (internal, external and/or cooperation) employing a wide range of innovation performance measures (product, process, organizational, and commercial). The empirical study uses 2014 Spanish CIS data and studies complementarities by performing conditional complementarity/substitutability tests. The results show evidence of conditional complementarity in product innovation performance between external and internal knowledge sources in absence of cooperation and of conditional substitute relationship between external and cooperation knowledge sources in presence of internal source. In product and process innovation performance we found a conditional substitute relationship between internal and cooperation sources when external source is used and not used, respectively. This relationship turns to conditional complementarity in organisational innovation in absence of external knowledge source. Therefore, when designing innovation strategy, managers must consider their objectives on a priority basis, since not all the strategies have the same effects on innovation performance.

스페인 · 라틴아메리카] 이베로아메리카사 연구에 나타난 새로운 접근방식들

In this article we review Spanish and Latin American historical studies which were carried out for the past two years in Korea. This year marks the tenth anniversary of Iberoamerican History Research Society. In spite of this lapse of time, the number of researchers still remains unchanged.<BR> However, a few of researchers have made a notable achievement in deepening and extending their research topics and fields. For instance, some researchers who major in history of Spain have studied a wide variety of subjects such as Reconquista, sexualities, witches, Neo-malthusianism, historical revisionism and so on, while the others who specialize in history of Latin America have investigated a diversity of topics such as liberalism, César Chaves, Cold War, post-colonialism and Christianity.<BR> In this period the researchers have tended to adopt three new approaches in their investigation. First of all, they began to put an emphasis on the academic convergence. Secondly, they have showed an interest in the politics of memory. Lastly, they started to pay attention to the history of enterprise.

Experience with Sunitinib in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients: pooled analysis from 3 Spanish observational prospective studies

ABSTRACTBackground: A pivotal, randomized, phase III trial demonstrated a statistically significant superiority of sunitinib over interferon-α in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients.Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of sunitinib in patients with advanced or mRCC in routine clinical practice.Methods: Retrospective pooled analysis of clinical data from three observational and prospective studies carried out between 2007 and 2011 in 33 Spanish hospitals. Tumor response, Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), and main sunitinib-related toxicities were registered.Results: 224 patients were analyzed. Median PFS 10.6 months (95% CI: 9.02–12.25), median OS 21.9 months (95% CI: 17.2–26.6). Objective response rate (ORR) 43.8% (95% CI: 36.8–50.7). Median time to PR was 3.8 months (95% CI: 3.86–5.99) and to CR 8.2 months (95% CI: 4.75–9.77). The most common ≥ grade-3 AEs were asthenia/fatigue (18.7%), hand-foot syndrome (6.2%), hypertension (5.8%) and neutropenia (4.8%). Hand-foot syndrome, diarrhea and mucositis were confirmed as independent predictors for PFS and/or OS in a multivariate analysis (p < 0.05)Conclusions: Outcomes with sunitinib in daily clinical practice resemble those obtained in clinical trials. Long-term benefit with sunitinib is possible in advanced RCC patients but the appropriate management of toxicities is mandatory to enable patients to remain on treatment.

The Forgotten

The violence against disabled women has its own mechanisms, which differentiates it from the violence suffered by women or the disabled in general. The few Spanish studies on this issue have focused on “double discrimination,” instead we propose intersectionality as a more suitable epistemological framework. The research, carried out in Spain, is based on five life stories of disabled activist women which show us how heteropatriarchal and ableist violence intersect in their lives, and the resistance mechanisms that they develop to deal with it. This research gives important clues to plan and design effective interventions for and with disabled women.

The Antecedents of Ethical Climates in the Spanish Business Higher Education Institutions

Ethical climate in organisations has been studied widely and its influence on ethical behaviour has been documented. However, little is known about the ethical climate at university context and about its antecedents. Universities are social change institutions and their ethical climate could influence the ethical behaviour of future economic, social and political leaders. The current study analyses the perceived ethical climate in Business Studies Higher Education Institutions in Spain and whether university’s ownership, size and signing up for international initiatives influence it. The study is based on survey responses of 385 lecturers of Spanish Business Studies Faculties to an ethical climate questionnaire and on survey responses of 33 Business Studies Deans to a questionnaire related to the commitment to ethics and social responsibility in each Faculty. An exploratory factor analysis has been used as well as ANOVA tests and lineal regressions. The results reveal the predominance of an instrumental ethical climate in Spanish Business Faculties, an ethical climate that does not promote ethical behaviour or organisational commitment among its members. The results also confirm the significant influence of university’s ownership and signing up for Principles for Responsible Management Education on the ethical climate in Business Higher Education institutions. This study advances the understanding of the ethical climate in Business Studies institutions, and suggests measures to be taken by university managers in order to improve ethical judgment and behaviour of the university community.

The impact of personal interactions on the stress of school administrators: The validation and application of an assessment tool

Purpose: To analyze personal interactions as one of the possible factors that can generate greater stress in school administrators. For this purpose, we present the design, validation and application of a survey that intends to measure the type of managerial functions that are associated with higher rates of personal interaction and their possible measurement as stressors of those performing administrative functions.Design/methodology/approach: To develop, validate and apply an assessment tool to measure the stress of school administrators. To this end, a mixed analysis methodology has been adopted, involving the selection of a group of experts, the calculation of an “expert proficiency coefficient” (Cabero &amp; Barroso, 2013) and the subsequent validation of the survey using the modified Delphi method in two phases, with a sample of 30 school administrators and educational supervisors. The survey has also been subjected to a process to determine the trustworthiness and validity of the construct through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.Findings: The result is a 5-dimension, 31-item survey with a total score of 155 points and three measurements: low stress (1-50 points), medium stress (51-100 points) and high stress (101-155 points). The areas that generate the greatest amount of stress can be summarized in two categories: reprimanding teachers for non-performance of their duties and discipline management at the center (expulsions, bullying, fighting and drugs).Research limitations/implications: The survey was designed according to the socio-educational characteristics of the Spanish context. Further research in other educational contexts would require an adaptation of different items on the scale.Practical implications: Measuring the school administrator’s stress makes it possible to identify those functions that are more susceptible to intervention, both formative and administrative. This improves one of the key areas of school organization.Social implications: The improvement of the school institution and its governance starts with identifying those aspects that require educational interventions, but also social ones that imply a reflection on how schools in the 21st century are managed and organized.Originality/value: There are no Spanish studies that propose assessment tools to measure the stress of school administrators; in this sense, this study provides a framework for the Spanish context.

Repurposing propranolol as a drug for the treatment of retinal haemangioblastomas in von Hippel-Lindau disease

BackgroundVon Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease is a rare oncological disease with an incidence of 1:36,000, and is characterized by the growth of different types of tumours. Haemangioblastomas in the central nervous system (CNS) and retina, renal carcinoma and pheochromocytomas are the most common tumours. The absence of treatment for VHL leads to the need of repeated surgeries as the only option for these patients. Targeting VHL-derived tumours with drugs with reduced side effects is urgent to avoid repeated CNS surgeries. Recent reports have demonstrated that propranolol, a β-blocker used for the treatment of hypertension and other cardiac and neurological diseases, is the best option for infantile hemangioma (IH). Propranolol could be an efficient treatment to control haemangioblastoma growth in VHL disease given its antiangiogenic effects that were recently demonstrated by us. The main objective of the present study was the assessment of the efficacy and safety of propranolol on retinal haemangioblastoma in von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL).Methods7 VHL patients, from different regions of Spain, affected from juxtapapillary or peripheral haemangioblastomas were administered 120 mg propranolol daily. Patients were evaluated every 3 months for 12 months, at Virgen de la Salud Hospital (Toledo). The patients had juxtapapillary or peripheral haemangioblastomas but had refused standard treatments.ResultsPropranolol was initiated with a progressive increase up to a final dose of 120 mg daily. All tumours remained stable, and no new tumours appeared. The reabsorption of retinal exudation was noted in the two patients having exudates. No adverse effects were recorded. VEGF and miRNA 210 levels were monitored in the plasma of patients as possible biomarkers of VHL. These levels decreased in all cases from the first month of treatment.ConclusionsAlthough more studies are necessary, the results of this work suggest that propranolol is a drug to be considered in the treatment of VHL patients with retinal haemangioblastomas. VEGF and miRNA 210 could be used as biomarkers of the VHL disease activity.Trial registrationThe study has a clinical trial design and was registered at EU Clinical Trials Register and Spanish Clinical Studies Registry, EudraCT Number: 2014–003671-30. Registered 2 September 2014.

Justified: Ecocriticism and Moral Development in Espido Freire’s Irlanda (1998)

Within the last decade or so, several specialists of Spanish Peninsular studies have adopted an ecocritical approach to prose and focused their attention on explicit environmental concerns in novels such as Instrucciones para salvar el mundo (2008) by Rosa Montero or Alberto Vazquez-Figueroa’s El mar en llamas (2011). This approach has yielded important scholarship, signaling the participation of Spanish novelists in this thematic current. The present essay, however, suggests that ecocriticism may also be fruitfully pursued in narratives whose topics may not seem overtly germane. This is the case, I argue, with Irlanda (1998) by Espido Freire, a novel that has been characterized as the bildungsroman of a young witch. Despite her shocking behavior, it is the contention of this essay that the protagonist’s moral development is predicated on notions of fairness, care, and other prosocial stances that ensue from her sensitivity to the natural environment. The kind of close reading practiced in this article provides a broader lens to evaluate narratives that might otherwise be left at the margins of ecocritical literature.

Validity Assessment of Low-risk SCORE Function and SCORE Function Calibrated to the Spanish Population in the FRESCO Cohorts

Introduction and objectivesTo assess the validity of the original low-risk SCORE function without and with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and SCORE calibrated to the Spanish population. MethodsPooled analysis with individual data from 12 Spanish population-based cohort studies. We included 30 919 individuals aged 40 to 64 years with no history of cardiovascular disease at baseline, who were followed up for 10 years for the causes of death included in the SCORE project. The validity of the risk functions was analyzed with the area under the ROC curve (discrimination) and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test (calibration), respectively. ResultsFollow-up comprised 286 105 persons/y. Ten-year cardiovascular mortality was 0.6%. The ratio between estimated/observed cases ranged from 9.1, 6.5, and 9.1 in men and 3.3, 1.3, and 1.9 in women with original low-risk SCORE risk function without and with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and calibrated SCORE, respectively; differences were statistically significant with the Hosmer-Lemeshow test between predicted and observed mortality with SCORE (P < .001 in both sexes and with all functions). The area under the ROC curve with the original SCORE was 0.68 in men and 0.69 in women. ConclusionsAll versions of the SCORE functions available in Spain significantly overestimate the cardiovascular mortality observed in the Spanish population. Despite the acceptable discrimination capacity, prediction of the number of fatal cardiovascular events (calibration) was significantly inaccurate.