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La guerra de Vietnam marcó el sentir histórico-cultural de una época y dio lugar a un fértil movimiento literario que aunó testimonios verídicos y revisiones del conflicto por parte de autores de diversos países. Hoy en día, el carácter más realista de los primeros textos se ha combinado, desde el punto de vista creativo, con propuestas muy innovadoras. En este ámbito sobresale la novela Ru, de Kim Thúy, donde a través de la autoficción y de un estilo narrativo híbrido, entre la prosa y la poesía, se explora la complejidad que entraña el fenómeno del exilio y el desarraigo. El objetivo del presente artículo es analizar la profundidad de esta obra, que proporciona al lector una valiosa materia de reflexión sobre cuestiones históricas, literarias, sociales y psicológicas. The Vietnam War defined the historical and cultural sense of an era and produced a fertile literary movement that brought together true testimonies and reflections on the conflict, written by authors from various countries. The more realistic approach of the early texts has now been creatively combined with innovative literary mechanisms. An outstanding example is Kim Thúy’s Ru, a novel in which the author uses self-fiction and a hybrid narrative style that mixes prose and poetry in her exploration of the complex phenomenon of exile and uprooting. This article offers an in-depth analysis of this book, which contains valuable insights into historical, literary, social, and psychological issues.

En un periodo marcado por la escasez y las dificultades económicas, se apostó en España por la realización de un gran plan sanitario que afectaría a toda geografía española, llamado el Plan de Instalaciones Sanitarias. Promovido por el propio Gobierno de la época, se propuso la construcción de una red sanitaria fundamentada en la construcción de hospitales y ambulatorios, a imagen y semejanza de la modernidad de los edificios americanos. Se construyeron más de un centenar de grandes complejos hospitalarios de forma rápida, pero a la vez insuficiente. En menos de una década, una treintena de nuevos hospitales y ambulatorios formaban parte del conjunto urbano de las ciudades españolas. El desarrollo del plan duró cuatro décadas, el cual estuvo marcado por la inestabilidad en la ejecución de los proyectos, y por el esfuerzo técnico, económico y político que conllevó.

La estructura tiende a pasar desapercibida, encontrándose debajo de los suelos, detrás de las paredes, pero posee la capacidad de liberar o coartar al proyecto arquitectónico. El desarrollo del hormigón armado supuso un cambio fundamental en el desarrollo de nuevas estructuras, generando nuevas tipologías arquitectónicas y aportando flexibilidad a las nuevas construcciones del siglo XX. La tipología hospitalaria de este siglo es modelo a la hora de demostrar la importancia que tiene la estructura dentro del proyecto arquitectónico. Se trata de un tipo arquitectónico que alberga en su interior una gran diversidad de actividades, y donde el desarrollo técnico juega un papel determinante. Es por ello, que la estructura aparece en algunos ejemplos como en el caso del Hospital Clínico San Carlos de Madrid, desarrollado por Eduardo Torroja y Manuel Sánchez Arcas, como generadora de un ritmo continuo, de una base, donde encajar la variabilidad de los espacios y dar origen a un edificio multidisciplinar capaz de transformarse y permanecer a lo largo del tiempo. Así, el objeto de estudio de este artículo es relatar justificadamente como esta estructura ha permitido el uso continuado a lo largo de más de 80 años de este edificio, a pesar de los cambios permanentes que requiere una construcción de estas características.

Neuropsychiatric disorders classically lack defining brain pathologies, but recent work has demonstrated dysregulation at the molecular level, characterized by transcriptomic and epigenetic alterations 1 – 3 . In autism spectrum disorder (ASD), this molecular pathology involves the upregulation of microglial, astrocyte and neural–immune genes, the downregulation of synaptic genes, and attenuation of gene-expression gradients in cortex 1 , 2 , 4 – 6 . However, whether these changes are limited to cortical association regions or are more widespread remains unknown. To address this issue, we performed RNA-sequencing analysis of 725 brain samples spanning 11 cortical areas from 112 post-mortem samples from individuals with ASD and neurotypical controls. We find widespread transcriptomic changes across the cortex in ASD, exhibiting an anterior-to-posterior gradient, with the greatest differences in primary visual cortex, coincident with an attenuation of the typical transcriptomic differences between cortical regions. Single-nucleus RNA-sequencing and methylation profiling demonstrate that this robust molecular signature reflects changes in cell-type-specific gene expression, particularly affecting excitatory neurons and glia. Both rare and common ASD-associated genetic variation converge within a downregulated co-expression module involving synaptic signalling, and common variation alone is enriched within a module of upregulated protein chaperone genes. These results highlight widespread molecular changes across the cerebral cortex in ASD, extending beyond association cortex to broadly involve primary sensory regions. RNA sequencing reveals widespread transcriptomic changes across the cerebral cortex in autism spectrum disorder, including primary sensory regions, in addition to association regions, as well as an attenuation of regional identity.

The Vietnam War defined the historical and cultural sense of an era and produced a fertile literary movement that brought together true testimonies and reflections on the conflict, written by authors from various countries. The more realistic approach of the early texts has now been creatively combined with innovative literary mechanisms. An outstanding example is Kim Thuy's Ru, a novel in which the author uses self-fiction and a hybrid narrative style that mixes prose and poetry in her exploration of the complex phenomenon of exile and uprooting. This article offers an in-depth analysis of this book, which contains valuable insights into historical, literary, social, and psychological issues.

To uncover the circuit-level alterations that underlie atypical sensory processing associated with autism, we adopted a symptom-to-circuit approach in the Fmr1-knockout (Fmr1–/–) mouse model of Fragile X syndrome. Using a go/no-go task and in vivo two-photon calcium imaging, we find that impaired visual discrimination in Fmr1–/– mice correlates with marked deficits in orientation tuning of principal neurons and with a decrease in the activity of parvalbumin interneurons in primary visual cortex. Restoring visually evoked activity in parvalbumin cells in Fmr1–/– mice with a chemogenetic strategy using designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs was sufficient to rescue their behavioral performance. Strikingly, human subjects with Fragile X syndrome exhibit impairments in visual discrimination similar to those in Fmr1–/– mice. These results suggest that manipulating inhibition may help sensory processing in Fragile X syndrome.

Selenium is an essential trace mineral important for the maintenance of homeostasis in animals and humans. It evinces a strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and potential antimicrobial capacity. Selenium biological function is primarily achieved by its presence in selenoproteins as a form of selenocysteine. Selenium deficiency may result in an array of health disorders, affecting many organs and systems; to prevent this, dietary supplementation, mainly in the forms of organic (i.e., selenomethionine and selenocysteine) inorganic (i.e., selenate and selenite) sources is used. In pigs as well as other food animals, dietary selenium supplementation has been used for improving growth performance, immune function, and meat quality. A substantial body of knowledge demonstrates that dietary selenium supplementation is positively associated with overall animal health especially due to its immunomodulatory activity and protection from oxidative damage. Selenium also possesses potential antiviral activity and this is achieved by protecting immune cells against oxidative damage and decreasing viral replication. In this review we endeavor to combine established and novel knowledge on the beneficial effects of dietary selenium supplementation, its antioxidant and immunomodulatory actions, and the putative antimicrobial effect thereof. Furthermore, our review demonstrates the gaps in knowledge pertaining to the use of selenium as an antiviral, underscoring the need for further in vivo and in vitro studies, particularly in pigs. Graphical abstract

Nairobi Sheep Disease virus (NSDv) is a zoonotic and tick-borne disease that can cause over 90% mortality in small ruminants. NSDv has historically circulated in East Africa and has recently emerged in the Asian continent. Despite efforts to control the disease, some regions, mostly in warmer climates, persistently report disease outbreaks. Consequently, it is necessary to understand how environmental tolerances and factors that influence transmission may shed light on its possible emergence in other regions. In this study, we quantified the available literature of NSDv from which occurrence data was extracted. In total, 308 locations from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, India, Sri Lanka and China were coupled with landscape conditions to reconstruct the ecological conditions for NSDv circulation and identify areas of potential disease transmission risk. Our results identified areas suitable for NSDv in Ethiopia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Southeastern China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Unsuitable areas included Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and Southern Somalia. In summary, soil moisture, livestock density, and precipitation predispose certain areas to NSDv circulation. It is critical to investigate the epidemiology of NSDv in order to promote better allocation of resources to control its spread in regions that are more at risk. This will help reduce disease impact worldwide as climate change will favor emergence of such vector-borne diseases in areas with dense small ruminant populations.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is one of the most economically devastating viruses for the global swine industry. PRRSV has a known tropism for lung macrophages, where it causes impaired immune responses. This study evaluated the metabolic and immune profiles of primary porcine alveolar macrophages (PAMs) and pulmonary intravascular macrophages (PIMs) infected with different strains of PRRSV-2 isolated from North Carolina (NC) pig herds (NC134, NC18-9-7 referred to as NC174, and NC20-1 referred to as NC144), and VR2232, a PRRSV-2 prototype strain. Primary enriched mononuclear phagocytes were infected with NC134 and NC174, sorted, and processed. The total RNA was used for a transcriptomic approach; additionally, gene expression was further validated using RT-qPCR and NanoString technology. Complementary functional assays with additional NC strains were used to further investigate the mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunction, as well as the oxidative stress induced by PRRSV-2 infection. PAMs infected with both NC PRRSV-2 strains NC174 and NC134 showed similar transcriptomic profiles during the early stage of infection, with downregulation of genes involved in the oxidative phosphorylation and electron transport chain pathways. PIMs infected with both NC174 and NC134 strains showed limited alteration in the transcriptomic profiles compared to uninfected cells. Genetic reprogramming matched the PRRSV-2-induced mitochondrial impairment observed in functional assays performed using Seahorse technology. Mitochondrial respiration displayed slightly different profiles between PIMs and PAMs infected with the different PRRSV-2 strains, with PAMs showing a more substantial decrease in mitochondrial fitness compared to control cells. When reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) production were evaluated, no differences were observed between PRRSV-2-infected PAMs and PIMs and control cells. These results provide valuable insights into the pathogenetic mechanism of different NC PRRSV-2 strains by focusing on the alteration in mitochondrial function in lung macrophages during early infection and highlighting differences in lung macrophage responses to distinct PRRSV-2 strains.

The humoral immune response plays a crucial role in the combat and protection against many pathogens including the economically most important, highly prevalent, and diverse pig pathogen PRRSV – the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus. In addition to viremia and viral shedding analyses, this study followed the local and systemic humoral immune response of pigs for 63 days upon inoculation with one of three types of Type-2 PRRSV (PRRSV-2) strains – one modified live virus (MLV) vaccine strain, and two lineage 1 PRRSV-2 strains, NC134 and NC174. The local response was analyzed by quantifying immunoglobulin (Ig)A in nasal swabs. The systemic response was studied by the quantification of IgG with ELISA and homo- and heterologous neutralizing antibodies (NAs) utilizing a novel method of flow cytometry. In all PRRSV-2 inoculated groups, viral nasal shedding started at 3 dpi, peaked between 3 and 7 days post inoculation, and was cleared at 28–35 dpi with sporadic rebounds thereafter. The local IgA response started 4–7 days after viral shedding occurred and showed a bi-phasic course with peaks at 14 dpi and at 28–35 dpi. Of note, the NC134 and NC174 strains induced a much stronger local IgA response. As reported earlier, main viremia lasted from 7 dpi to 28 dpi (NC174), 42 dpi (NC134) or until the end of the study (MLV). Similar to the local IgA response, the systemic IgG response started 4–7 days after viremia; but in contrast to viremia, serum IgG levels stayed high for all PRRSV-2 inoculated groups until the end of the study. A significant finding was that while the serum NA response in the MLV group was delayed by 28 days, serum NAs in pigs infected with our two NC134 and NC174 strains could be detected as early as 7 dpi (NC134) and 14 dpi (NC174). Compared to homologous NA responses, the NA responses against heterologous strains was strong but slightly delayed between our lineage 1 one strains or non-existent between the MLV and lineage 1 strains. This study improves our understanding of the relationship between local and systemic infections and the humoral immune response induced by PRRSV-2 infection or MLV vaccination. Our data also provide novel insights into the timeline of the development of homologous and heterologous NA levels – by both MLV vaccination or infection with two strains from the currently prevalent PRRSV-2 lineage 1.