On whose authority? Temminck's debates on zoological classification and nomenclature: 1820-1850.

By following the arguments between Coenraad J. Temminck and fellow ornithologists Louis J.-P. Vieillot and Nicholas Vigors, this paper sketches, to a degree, the state of zoological classification and nomenclature between 1825 and 1840 in Europe. The discussions revolved around the problems caused by an unstable nomenclature, the different definitions of genera and species and the best method to achieve a natural system of classification. As more and more naturalists concerned with classifying and arranging the groups of birds joined these discussions, a broad platform for debate emerged around the 1840s that gave a major impulse to the disciplines of taxonomy and systematics. Natural history ceased to be dominated by a few influential scientific authorities and became the scientific field where debate preceded agreement and, with it, progress. With this 'democratization' of natural history, Temminck's status significantly changed between 1815 and 1840. After that year, his own views on classification along with certain economical and political developments in The Netherlands led Temminck to abandon the arena of ornithology and therefore, to lose his scientific authority.

The significance of Temminck's work on biogeography: early nineteenth century natural history in Leiden, The Netherlands.

C.J. Temminck, director of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (now the National Museum of Natural History in Leiden) and a renowned ornithologist, gained his contemporary's respect thanks to the description of many new species and to his detailed monographs on birds. He also published a small number of works on biogeography describing the fauna of the Dutch colonies in South East Asia and Japan. These works are remarkable for two reasons. First, in them Temminck accurately described the species composition of poorly explored regions, like the Sunda Islands and Japan. Secondly, he formulated a new law on the geographical distribution of animals around the globe, based on the parallels he observed between the fauna from Europe, Asia and Japan. The underlying ideas that lead Temminck to this law were the type-concept, which he understood as the ideal morphological plan behind animal form, the unchanging character of the species and a strong belief in nature's divine design. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the type- and the species-concept, the origin and fixity of the species and the meaning of variations aroused heated discussions. When put in the context of his time, Temminck emerges as a scientist whose work was driven by the dominating scientific philosophy of the time in which he lived, under the influence of late eighteenth century natural history and of French empiricists, in particular, the great zoologist and paleontologist Georges Cuvier. Temminck's detailed descriptions of the Dutch East Indian fauna helped the great naturalists after him to understand nature's patterns and to propose comprehensive theories that explain its diversity.

[Cardiovascular morbidity and its relationship to left ventricular hypertrophy in a cohort of hypertensive patients: the Gòtic study]. / Morbilidad cardiovascular y su relación con la hipertrofia ventricular izquierda de una cohorte de pacientes hipertensos: estudio Gòtic.

BACKGROUND: To describe cardiovascular morbidity of a hypertensive patients cohort and relate it to the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), LVH geometric patterns, other cardiovascular risk factors (CRF), previous pathology (PP) and a range of variables. DESIGN: Prospective study of the cohort visited in a from 1993 to 1998. Place. Downtown primary care center. PATIENTS: A random sample of 267 hypertensive patients under 80 years old was used. Method and procedures. The presence of universals of CRF, PP and a range of variables such as age, sex, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), heart rate, body mass index (BMI), left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and Cornell and Sokolov-Lyon electrocardiographic criteria were registered. Also cardiovascular events (CE) were recorded: heart failure (HF), coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, arrythmia and peripheral vascular disease (PVD). Then the association between these variaables and CE appearance was studied. MEASURES AND RESULTS: The total amount of CE was 60, with an accumulated incidence of 22.5% (confidence interval 95% from 19.4 to 25.7%).HF was more frequent among patients with a higher BMI (p = 0.05). The patients with HF showed a stronger smoking habit as CRF and a higher PAS (p = 0.05). The PVD was more common among hypertensive patients with smoking habit as CRF (p = 0.05).EC was highly observed in those patients either with LVH or CRF, especially in those cases such as HF (90% had LVH), stroke (87.5%) and arrythmias (83.3%). However, it was less observed in those ones with PVD (66.7%) and HF (60%). No relation was found between the patterns of LVH and EC. CONCLUSIONS: The HF was more frequent among the hypertensive patients with a higher LVMI, the HF among the smokers and a higher PAS and PVD among the smokers. The LVH is strongly related to the HF, stroke and arrythmias. The differences among the populations with cardiovascular epidemiology as well as the short span of follow-up may have contributed to obtaining such results.

[Control of blood pressure in a population of patients with hypertension and in a subgroup with hypertension and diabetes: relationship with characteristics of the health care center and the community]. / Control de la presión arterial en la población hipertensa y en el subgrupo de hipertensos y diabéticos: relación con las características del centro y de la comunidad.

AIMS: To evaluate how well blood pressure (BP) is controlled in the population of persons with hypertension alone and with diabetes, and to evaluate the influence of characteristics of the health care center on the degree of control of BP. Design. Descriptive, cross-sectional, multicenter, retrospective study. SETTING: 31 health centers in Catalonia (Northeastern Spain). Participants. Random sample of 2240 clinical records of patients with hypertension who were seen at 31 different primary care centers in Catalonia between January and December 1996. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Audit of clinical records. We recorded the two most recent BP measurements, and annotations regarding screening for and diagnosis of other cardiovascular risk factors. We also recorded health center and physician characteristics. RESULTS: 495 patients (22.1%) had diabetes in addition to hypertension. 61.2% were women. Mean age was 64.9 years (95% CI, 64.4-65.4 years). In 25.7% of the patients, BP was below 140/90 mmHg (95% CI, 23.9-27.5%), but among patients with diabetes only 6.7% had BP below 130/85 mmHg (95% CI, 4.5-8.9%). Mean systolic and diastolic BP at the end of the study period were higher at teaching centers. Diastolic BP was significantly higher at urban centers and in patients younger than 65 years. Diastolic BP was also higher in patients with at least one associated cardiovascular risk factor, and at centers less than 6 years old, although these differences were not statistically significant. We found no differences according to physician characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Blood pressure was adequately controlled in few patients with hypertension and diabetes in Catalonia. Associated cardiovascular risk factors, age less than 65 years, and being a patient at a teaching center or an urban center, were associated with a worse degree of BP control.

Control de la presión arterial en la población hipertensa y en el subgrupo de hipertensos y diabéticos: relación con las características del centro y de la comunidad / Control of blood pressure in a population of patients with hypertension and in a subgroup with hypertension and diabetes: relationship with characteristics of the health care center and the community

Objetivo. Valorar el grado de control de la presión arterial (PA) en la población hipertensa e hipertensa y diabética, así como la influencia de las características del centro en este control. Diseño. Estudio descriptivo, transversal, multicéntrico, retrospectivo. Emplazamiento. Un total de 31 centros de salud de Cataluña. Participantes. Muestra aleatoria de 2.240 historias clínicas de pacientes hipertensos de 31 centros de atención primaria de Cataluña, atendidos entre enero y diciembre de 1996.Mediciones principales. Auditoría de historias clínicas. Se recogieron los dos últimos valores de PA y el registro de cribado y diagnóstico de otros factores de riesgo cardiovascular. También se recogieron las características del centro de salud y del médico. Resultados. Cuatrocientos noventa y cinco pacientes (22,1 por ciento) eran además diabéticos. Un 61,2 por ciento era de sexo femenino. La media de edad es de 64,9 años (IC del 95 por ciento, 64,465,4). El 25,7 por ciento de los pacientes presentaba cifras de PA por debajo de 140/90 mmHg (IC del 95 por ciento, 23,9-27,5 por ciento), pero solamente en un 6,7 por ciento de diabéticos eran menores de 130/85 mmHg (IC del 95 por ciento, 4,5-8,9 por ciento). Las cifras de PA sistólica (PAS) y diastólica (PAD) medias al final del período de estudio fueron mayores en los centros docentes. Se observaron PAD significativamente superiores en los centros urbanos y en los pacientes menores de 65 años. También fueron mayores en aquellos pacientes que tenían algún factor de riesgo cardiovascular asociado y en los centros con menos de 6 años de funcionamiento, aunque las diferencias no fueron estadísticamente significativas. No se observaron diferencias según las características del médico. Conclusiones. Existe un bajo grado de reducción de las cifras de PA entre la población hipertensa y diabética de Cataluña. Presentar otros factores de riesgo cardiovascular asociados, tener menos de 65 años y ser atendido en un centro docente y urbano se asocian a peor control tensional (AU)

Morbilidad cardiovascular y su relación con la hipertrofia ventricular izquierda de una cohorte de pacientes hipertensos: estudio gòtic / Cardiovascular morbidity and its relationship to the left ventricular hypertrophy of a cohort of hypertense patients: gòtic study

Objetivo. Describir la morbilidad cardiovascular de una cohorte de pacientes hipertensos y relacionarla con la presencia de hipertrofia ventricular izquierda (HVI) y sus diferentes patrones geométricos, otros factores de riesgo cardiovascular (FRCV), patología de base (PB) y una serie de variables. Diseño. Estudio prospectivo de la cohorte seguida desde 1993 a 1998. Emplazamiento. Centro de atención primaria urbano. Pacientes. Muestra aleatoria de 267 hipertensos menores de 80 años. Intervenciones. Se recogió la presencia o no de los FRCV según criterios universales, la PB y las variables sexo, edad, cifras de TA, pulso, índice de masa corporal (IMC) y ventricular izquierdo (IMVI) y valores electrocardiográficos de Cornell y Sokolov-Lyon. Además se contabilizaron los episodios cardiovasculares mórbidos (ECM): insuficiencia cardíaca (IC), cardiopatía isquémica (CI), arritmia, vasculopatía periférica (VP) y accidente cerebrovascular (ACV). A partir de estos datos se estudió la asociación entre las citadas variables y la presentación de los ECM. Mediciones y resultados principales. La cifra total de ECM fue de 60, con una incidencia acumulada de 22,5 por ciento (IC del 95 por ciento, 19,4-25,7 por ciento). La IC fue más frecuente en los pacientes con un valor de IMVI más elevado (p = 0,05). Los enfermos con CI presentaron más tabaquismo como FRCV y un valor de PAS más alto (p = 0,05). La VP fue más común en los hipertensos con tabaquismo como FRCV (p = 0,05). Los ECM fueron más observados en los pacientes con HVI como FRCV, en especial en el caso de la IC (un 90 por ciento presentaba HVI), los AVC (87,5 por ciento) y las arritmias (83,3 por ciento), siéndolo menos en la VP (66,7 por ciento) y la CI (60 por ciento). No se halló relación entre los patrones de HVI y los ECM. Conclusiones. La IC es más frecuente en los hipertensos con mayor IMVI, la IC en los fumadores y con mayor PAS y la VP en los fumadores. La HVI se asocia sobre todo a la IC, los AVC y las arritmias. Tanto las diferencias poblacionales en epidemiología cardiovascular como el limitado tiempo de seguimiento pueden haber contribuido a estos resultados (AU)

Anaerobic ciliates from a sulphide-rich solution lake in Spain.

We have examined and quantified the anaerobic ciliates living in the hypolimnion of a 14 m deep sulphide-rich (up to 0.73 mM) solution lake in Spain. At least seven ciliate species were found, numbering up to 50 ml-1 in total and reaching maximum abundance close to the sediment. Caenomorpha medusula, Lacrymaria elegans, L. sapropelica and Lagynus sp. were the most abundant species. Their vertical distributions were not related to the sulphide profile. Most ciliates were dependent on the sedimentation of cryptomonads, photosynthetic bacteria (especially Chromatium and Oscillatoria) and other bacteria from their sites of production in closely-juxtaposed mid-water plates. All anaerobic ciliates contained at least one type of symbiotic bacterium which showed methanogen autofluorescence. C. medusula, Lagynus sp. and Lacrymaria sapropelica also contained a large, non-fluorescing rod-shaped bacterium. In C. medusula, the methanogens and the non-fluorescing rods were both attached to the hydrogenosomes. In this ciliate alone, a third bacterial type was attached to the external ventral surface of the ciliate. Digestion of sulphide-oxidising bacteria by ciliates which harbour methanogenic bacteria provides a short bridge between the anaerobic sulphur and carbon cycles. Theoretical considerations of the rate of ciliate consumption of microbial carbon in the anoxic hypolimnion indicate that it is significant and that it may amount to 4 × 10(-5) g cm(-2)d(-1).