“Like the Flame of Fire”

The so-called Hearst Chalice at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is widely regarded as one the most significant works of Mexican silversmithing from the sixteenth century. Its style, technique, and above all its unique combination of materials—including precious metals, feathers, wood carvings, and rock crystal—have led scholars to describe it as the perfect fusion of European and Ancient American (or pre-Columbian) traditions. Surprisingly, despite the consensus about the chalice’s importance, the cultural and artistic conditions that led to the creation of this singular object have not been thoroughly analyzed. By closely examining the different material components of the imposing artifact—which though carefully assembled also stand as independent units—we can better understand its uniqueness and symbolic potential. This essay espouses a synoptic approach by considering a range of agencies, perspectives, and sources—documentary and material—to restore the “Hearst” Chalice to its rightful context, without aspiring to a totalizing view of the past or a definitive decoding of its system of meaning. Categorizing its form and function as purely Indigenous and European poses a distinct set of challenges and limits its hermeneutic possibilities. The work—like many others created during the volatile period following the fall of Tenochtitlan—encodes a new visual language that reveals the highly subtle process of negotiation of these two cultures in a particular space and time. Moving away from the reductive concept of syncretism, the essay offers a fresh look at this impressive contact period work and its shifting values over time.

Multidisciplinary ecological assessment of the Alcantara River (Sicily, Italy) using bioindicators

This study was developed within the framework of a broad international project, ‘Ecological water quality assessment of the Alcantara (Italy), James (USA) and Guadalfeo (Spain) rivers using bioindicators’, established by the Center for Integrative Mediterranean Studies (CIMS), a collaborative research centre consisting of the University of Messina – Italy, Virginia Commonwealth University – USA, and the University of Cordoba – Spain. The primary objective of the study was the validation of a multi-disciplinary ecological approach at different taxonomic levels for biomonitoring of the Alcantara River (Sicily, Italy) using bioindicators. This study examined the primary physical, chemical and biological features of the river through an interdisciplinary and synoptic approach using bioindicators that included riparian plant physiology, the microbial, zooplanktonic and macroinvertebrate assemblages, Coleoptera (Insecta) and river hydrology. Sampling of the river and riparian areas was conducted at sites from the river’s headwaters to the mouth. The study provided information on the ecological status of the Alcantara River along its course and tested the use of a variety of bioindicators, rather than a single biotic or physicalattribute, to determine the river’s health.

Protocol for the Examination of Specimens From Patients With Primary Pituitary Tumors

In an effort to improve the diagnosis of pituitary tumors, we propose a synoptic approach to pituitary pathology reporting that will provide clear information to endocrinologists, neurosurgeons, neuropathologists, and surgical pathologists to advance the diagnosis and classification of pituitary adenomas.