823 research outputs found
Claudio Claudiano, Carmina Selecta. Introduzione, testo, traduzione e commento di Alessia Prontera
No full textThis monograph offers the text, Italian translation, and commentary on a selection of Claudian’s Carmina Minora together with the so-called Appendix Claudianea. Its focus is the poet’s epigrammatic production on secular themes, leaving aside both the major authentic works (Laus Serenae, Epistula ad Serenam, Epithalamium Palladio et Celerinae, Gigantomachia) and those transmitted under his name (Laus Herculis, Epithalamium Laurenti). The study likewise does not consider the Christian poems (De Salvatore, Miracula Christi, and Laus Christi)
Green Superpowers. China, the European Union, and the United States in the Global Energy Transition
No full textFossil fuels have been key to major powers' foreign policies for a long time. In the context of the current global energy transition, renewables and low-carbon technologies are emerging as elements that can have a similarly important impact on twenty-first century world politics. Green Superpowers: China, the European Union, and the United States in the Global Energy Transition offers an in-depth comparative analysis of the green foreign energy policies and green power strategies of the three main international actors in this transformative process: China, the European Union, and the United States. These green superpowers alone account for about half of global carbon dioxide emissions, which is the primary driver of climate change, and they are frontrunners in the global race for promoting and deploying renewables and innovative low-carbon technologies. To analyse this changing landscape, Prontera combines insights from international political economy, comparative public policy, international relations, and energy policy scholarship. The book develops an original framework for mapping and studying the green foreign energy policies and green power strategies of major international actors and applies this framework to shed light on the recent efforts of China, the European Union, and the US. In doing so, it illustrates the links between the domestic green approaches that these green superpowers are promoting and their external actions regarding renewables and low-carbon technologies, whilst drawing attention to the limits and potential of green power strategies in the transition away from fossil fuels and the struggles to address a mounting climate crisis
Beyond the regulatory state: rethinking energy security governance and politics in the European Union
No full textThe regulatory state model has traditionally been used to analyse the process of integrating the European energy sector, including the sensitive area of security of gas supply. This article argues that, due to recent innovations, this conceptualisation has become increasingly problematic and cannot provide an accurate picture of the current governance and politics of European energy security. This article applies the catalytic state model to the EU and contrasts it with the regulatory state approach. The catalytic state describes a peculiar pattern of governance which combines—rather than resolves—the tensions between market-centred and state-centred approaches and supranational and national views on EU energy security. This article also illustrates how this stylised form of state can be used to better frame the guiding principles, strategies and tools that are currently emerging as EU institutions address the issue of security of gas supply
Italy, Russia and the Great Reconfiguration in East–West Energy Relations
No full textItaly is the second largest market for Russian gas in the EU, and Italy–Russia energy relations stretch back to the Cold War period. By developing an original framework for the study of the politics of producer–consumer cooperation based on an international political economy approach and the analytical concept of forms of state, this article examines the origins, evolution and current features of Italy–Russia dyadic energy relations. This analysis, in turn, offers an important contribution to the study of EU–Russia relations and sheds light on the reconfiguration of East–West gas interdependence within the context of the integration and liberalisation of the EU energy sector
Aldosterone in the ovarian cycle of low renin hypertensive women.
No full textAldosterone in the Ovarian Cycle of Low Renin Hypertensive Women.
E. Fommei, S. Maffei, S. Ghione, A. Iervasi, C. Prontera.
Institute of Clinical Physiology, C.N.R., Pisa, Italy
"ish2006ab"
Abstract Registration [11693]
Objective. We previously reported an increase in plasma aldosterone levels during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle in low renin hypertensive women. Recent in vitro observations indicate a stimulating effect of LH in aldosterone secreting adenomas (Amigh,2006). We here extend our observations and compare aldosterone changes with those of other hormonal parameters.
Design and Method. In fourteen low renin hypertensive women (range 33-53 yrs) plasma was taken at 08:30 hr a.m. and assayed for LH, FSH, 17beta-estradiol, progesterone, aldosterone (ALDO), PRA, cortisol (CORT) and BNP during one menstrual cycle (at days 7, 14, 21, 28).
Results. ALDO levels increased in the luteal phase (ANOVA p<0.005), clearly above the normal range in seven patients in the presence of low PRA. ALDO was related positively to PRA (<0.05), CORT(<0.05) and progesterone (<0.03) but negatively to estrogen (p<0.05) and BNP (p<0.005), the last two being directly related to each other (p<0.01).
Conclusions. Our results 1) confirm our previous observations that ALDO may abnormally increase during the menstrual cycle in low renin women; 2) support a possibile role of LH in ALDO stimulation, as recently suggested; 3) suggest that ALDO may increase in response to the natriuretic effect of progesterone whereas estrogen may be opposed by natriuretic peptide.
These findings should be considered when examining endocrine cardiovascular profile in women, particularly when screening for primary aldosteronism; in many hypertensive women the occurrence of hyperaldosteronism in the luteal phase could induce or aggravate pre-menstrual syndrome that might be relieved by aldosterone antagonist therapy
Catalytic Power Europe and gas infrastructural policy in the Visegrad countries
No full textBy focusing on the natural gas sector and infrastructural policy in the Visegrad countries this article aims to reassess the EU's role in energy security governance. It argues that the EU can be conceptualised as a catalytic state rather than a regulatory state. It develops the notion of Catalytic Power Europe to highlight the specific type of power that the EU (as a catalytic state) can deploy to achieve its objectives. Catalytic Power Europe differs from existing conceptions of Regulatory and Market Power Europe. It relies on nodality and treasury rather than authority and on mechanism of connectivity and mobilisation rather than enforcement. It highlights the role of the European Commission as a facilitator and coalition builder rather than a regulator and market builder as in the regulatory state perspective. This role is illustrated by analysing the major gas interconnector projects and liquefied natural gas importing terminal that are under development in the V4 and that can affect their energy security. Catalytic Power Europe influences the V4 inter-group dynamics reducing the scope for uncoordinated and unilateral strategies. In this way, it also affects the prospect of EU-Russia energy relations undermining Moscow's divide et impera strategies in the region
Catalytic Power Europe: Blended Finance in European External Action
No full textThe global influence of the European Union (EU) has been debated in overlapping strands of literature as 'normative', 'regulatory' and 'market power'. They identify the diffusion of its rules and standards as a vehicle of European power. We argue that European power extends beyond its regulatory capacities and includes new 'catalytic' capacities in the realm of financing and network building. We analyse blended finance as an instrument of 'catalytic power', defined as the mobilisation of partners and their resources to pursue external objectives. The analysis reveals that financial leverage, the original motivation behind the tool's creation, has declined in importance. Instead, blended finance is designed to facilitate and structure cooperation with other European and multilateral financial institutions, positioning the European Commission as a central node in international cooperation and increasing its influence in this sphere. The article closes with a discussion of blended finance as a tool of catalytic power and related trade-offs
Sulle tracce della fortuna dei Carmina di Ennodio tra Tardoantico e Medioevo
No full textKnowledge of the poems of Magnus Felix Ennodius in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages is a field of research that has not yet been explored. The essay provides some food for thought on the possible fortune of the Late Antique author starting from Columbanus up to Radulfus Tortarius, identifying in the greatest medieval poets (Aldhelm, Paul the Deacon, Sedulius Scotus) expressions, verbal sequences and original clauses of the poet of Ticinum. The last section is dedicated to the epigraphic field and above all to the Fortleben of notable iuncturae minted by Ennodius in some inscriptions of the 8th-9th century
Awake craniotomy anesthetic management using dexmedetomidine, propofol, and remifentanil
No full textAndrea Prontera,1 Stefano Baroni,2 Andrea Marudi,2 Franco Valzania,3 Alberto Feletti,1 Francesca Benuzzi,4 Elisabetta Bertellini,2 Giacomo Pavesi1 1Department of Neurosurgery, Nuovo Ospedale Civile SAgostino-Estense, 2Department of Anesthesiology, Nuovo Ospedale Civile SAgostino-Estense, 3Department of Neurology, Nuovo Ospedale Civile S Agostino-Estense, 4Department of Neuroscience, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy Introduction: Awake craniotomy allows continuous monitoring of patients’ neurological functions during open surgery. Anesthesiologists have to sedate patients in a way so that they are compliant throughout the whole surgical procedure, nevertheless maintaining adequate analgesia and anxiolysis. Currently, the use of α2-receptor agonist dexmedetomidine as the primary hypnotic–sedative medication is increasing.Methods: Nine patients undergoing awake craniotomy were treated with refined monitored anesthesia care (MAC) protocol consisting of a combination of local anesthesia without scalp block, low-dose infusion of dexmedetomidine, propofol, and remifentanil, without the need of airways management.Results: The anesthetic protocol applied in our study has the advantage of decreasing the dose of each drug and thus reducing the occurrence of side effects. All patients had smooth and rapid awakenings. The brain remained relaxed during the entire procedure.Conclusion: In our experience, this protocol is safe and effective during awake brain surgery. Nevertheless, prospective randomized trials are necessary to confirm the optimal anesthetic technique to be used. Keywords: dexmedetomidine, awake surgery, anesthesi
Pagan and Christian guttura: an intertextual study between Prudentius and the Laus Herculis
No full textThe challenge of dating an anonymous or spurious work is often addressed through intertextual comparison with texts of established chronology. This is the case of the Laus Herculis (Anth. 494b), an unfinished Latin hexameter encomium of the Greek hero and three of his nine labors. The attribution to the poet Claudian has been largely rejected by modern scholarship. This study offers a comparison between the episode of the slaying of the Nemean lion and two passages from Prudentius: the parable of the Good Shepherd (Cath. 8.33-37) and the duel between Virtus and Avaritia (Psych. 589-591). The analysis suggests that the author may have been a Christian writing in the late fifth century
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