The Spanish mathematician Norberto Cuesta recovered from oblivion

This paper1 outlines the activity as a mathematician, historian, and compromised person of the Spanish mathematician Norberto Cuesta Dutari (1907-1989) and its relationship with the social and political situation in Spain under General Franco’s regime between 1939 and 1977 and the first years of the democratic restoration. It is shown that he was able to achieve a good mathematical production, though he never was close to the establishment and therefore could not profit from a number of opportunities for personal and institutional promotion. This article is the result of an elaboration of information directly gathered from its main protagonist, a number of secondary sources, and the primary sources: his papers and books, from which a hopefully complete list can be found in Appendix I

Following the steps of spanish mathematical analysis: from Cauchy to Weierstrass between 1880 and 1914

[EN] Rigorous Mathematical Analysis in the Cauchy style was not accepted in a straightforward manner by the European mathematical community of the central years of the 19th Century. In average, only around forty years after the 1821 Cours d'Analyse did Cauchy's treatment become a standard in the more mathematically advanced countries, as a paradigm that remained in use until the arithmetisation of Analysis by Weierstrass replaced it before the end of the century. ln this paper the authors show how rigorous Mathematical Analysis à la Cauchy was adopted in Spain quite late -around 1880- and how in sorne more forty years, the Weierstrassian formulation became the usual presentation in Spanish texts

Muscular development and physical activity as major determinants of femoral bone mass acquisition during growth

[EN] OBJECTIVES: To investigate to what extent bone mass accrual is determined by physical activity and changes in lean, fat, and total body mass during growth. METHODS: Twenty six physically active and 16 age matched control boys were followed up for three years. All subjects were prepubertal at the start of the survey (mean (SEM) age 9.4 (0.3) years). The weekly physical activity of the active boys included compulsory physical education sessions (80-90 minutes a week), three hours a week of extracurricular sports participation, and occasional sports competitions at weekends. The physical activity of the control group was limited to the compulsory physical education curriculum. Bone mineral content (BMC) and areal density (BMD), lean mass, and fat mass were measured by dual energy x ray absorptiometry. RESULTS: The effect of sports participation on femoral bone mass accrual was remarkable. Femoral BMC and BMD increased twice as much in the active group as in the controls over the three year period (p < 0.05). The greatest correlation was found between the increment in femoral bone mass and the increment in lean mass (BMC r = 0.67 and BMD r = 0.69, both p < 0.001). Multiple regression analysis revealed enhancement in lean mass as the best predictor of the increment in femoral bone BMC (R = 0.65) and BMD (R = 0.69). CONCLUSIONS: Long term sports participation during early adolescence results in greater accrual of bone mass. Enhancement of lean mass seems to be the best predictor of this bone mass accumulation. However, for a given muscle mass, a greater level of physical activity is associated with greater bone mass and density in peripubertal boys.