Does a defendant have the authority to raise a question of "substantial rights" on an appeal from the Court of Appeal?

Defendant also argues that Penal Code section 1259 permits him to raise this question. It does not. That section provides: "Upon an appeal taken by the defendant, the appellate court may, without exception having been taken in the trial court, review any question of law involved in any ruling, order, instruction, or thing whatsoever said or done at the trial or prior to or after judgment, which thing was said or done after objection made in and considered by the lower court, and which affected the substantial rights of the defendant. The appellate court may also review any instruction given, refused or modified, even though no objection was made thereto in the lower court, if the substantial rights of the defendant were affected thereby." (Italics added.) This section distinguishes claims of instructional error, which may be asserted even without objection if they affect the defendant's substantial rights, from other claims of error, which require a trial objection. (See, e.g., People v. Hillhouse (2002) 27 Cal.4th 469, 505-506, 117 Cal.Rptr.2d 45, 40 P.3d 754.)