156 research outputs found
Not just chairs and tables: the social value of the proposal by Maria Montessori
No full textThe contribution has a historical focus with attention to current affairs and deals with Montessori education, which has recently been at the centre of a lively debate in Italy and new experiments. It wants to show the remarkable ethical and social value present in the proposal of Maria Montessori: a value that is currently somewhat neglected at the level of popularization because the Montessori concept is reduced in some cases to an educational method (child-friendly furnishings, materials and methods, single teacher). For this reason, the author of the contribution analyzes the inaugural speech on the occasion of the opening of a Children's Home in 1907, written and pronounced by Maria Montessori, focusing on some themes. The first theme is that of spaces: the Discourse highlights how Montessori thought of the symbolic and social value of the homes of children and their importance for the recovery of situations of degradation and misery. The second theme is that of the professional profile of the teacher: the words of Montessori show how the teacher has an important social function and is the person who grows future citizens, encouraging critical awareness through a relationship based on autonomy. A reinterpretation of the Montessori work in this light also encourages us to review the proposals of other authors of our cultural history not as educational methods, although innovative and interesting, but also and above all in their social message. This perspective appears ever more urgent and necessary in our age, which is facing very serious problems concerning the conditions of childhood
Differential effects of glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) inhibition by lithium or selective inhibitors in the central nervous system
No full textGlycogen synthase kinase (GSK3) is a constitutively active serine-threonine kinase associated to neurological and psychiatric disorders. GSK3 inhibition is considered a mediator of the efficacy of the mood-stabiliser lithium. This study aimed at comparing the central nervous system effect of lithium with the selective GSK3 inhibitors AZ1080 and compound A in biochemical, cellular, and behavioural tests. Collapsin response mediator protein 2 is a neuron-specific GSK3 substrate. Lithium, AZ1080, and compound A inhibited its phosphorylation in rat primary neurons with different pIC50. After systemic treatments with lithium or GSK3 inhibitors to assess specific functional responses, phosphorylation was unchanged in adult rat brain, while it was strongly inhibited by GSK3 inhibitors in pups, differently from lithium. Lithium may exert neurotrophic effect by increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels: in the present experimental conditions, lithium exerted opposite effects on plasma BDNF levels compared to GSK3 inhibitors, suggesting this effect might not be necessarily mediated by GSK3 inhibition alone. While plasma thyroid-stimulating hormone and luteinising hormone were not affected by lithium, they were decreased by selective inhibitors. GH and prolactin displayed similar responses towards reduction. Follicle-stimulating hormone levels were not altered by treatments, whereas melatonin was specifically increased by AZ1080. Lithium impaired mouse spontaneous locomotion and decreased amphetamine-induced hyper-locomotion. AZ1080 had no effects on locomotion, while compound A reduced spontaneous locomotor activity without effects on amphetamine-induced hyper-locomotion. The present results indicate that a broad correlation between the effects of lithium and selective GSK3 inhibitors could not be devised, suggesting alternative mechanisms, whereas overlapping results could be obtained in specific assays
Novel Drugs Targeting Microtubules: the Role of Epothilones
No full textAmong the drugs targeting microtubule functions by interfering with tubulin subunits, epothilones represent a class of anticancer agents which recently entered clinical development. Although epothilones share mechanisms of action similar to taxanes, they have non-overlapping mechanisms of resistance; in particular, while overexpression of class III β-tubulin plays a major role in taxane resistance, epothilones display their highest efficacy in class III β-tubulin overexpressing malignancies. Three compounds belonging to this family (patupilone, ixabepilone and sagopilone), have been actively investigated in clinical trials, and some of them are at an advanced stage of development. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the available literature on epothilones, focusing on their clinical development and potential as an additional weapon in the arsenal against tumors
Camorra-Clans und die Kontrolle von Territorium in heutigen Neapel
No full textThe article analyzes the history of some Neapolitan criminal groups by using a great judicial documentation. The author focuses on their morphology and their insertion in the city’s neighborhoods, and examines the relations between local territory and international criminal activities. Using a micro-analytic approach she analyzes the different activities that founded the big sphere of the illegal economy: drug trafficking, the production of fake products, racketeering, the illegal occupation of public houses. An organization emerged which assures regular salaries to the affiliates and many resources to a wide world marginalized by the official economic sphere: a sort of an alternative welfare system that, however, rests upon violence and arbitrary acts
Dal Convivio alla Monarchia: quale Livio per Dante?
No full textIn questo contributo si prendono in considerazione il riferimento a Livio in Convivio
IV.v, 11 e alcuni dei riferimenti allo storico romano ritenuti maggiormente significativi nel secondo libro della Monarchia. Si dimostra che il rimando a Livio nel primo trattato è introdotto in riferimento a una ripresa probabilmente dal suo abbreviatore Floro e in apertura di un passaggio in cui si utilizza una tradizione storiografica più articolata e complessa, comprendente anche Agostino. Si propone, di conseguenza, che il rimando a Livio non si basi su una conoscenza diretta dello storico latino ma si fondi sulla sintesi realizzata da Floro. Si dimostra poi che, contrariamente all’opinione vulgata, alcuni riferimenti a Livio nella Monarchia, particolarmente quello programmatico di II.iii, 6, non sono riconducibili
in toto alla tradizione indiretta e quindi sembrerebbero suggerire che Dante avesse avuto accesso a questo autore entro la composizione del suo trattato politico.This essay focuses on Dante’s references to Livy in Convivio IV.v, 11 as well as on some particularly important references to the Roman historian in the second book of the De Monarchia. The author argues that the first reference is most likely derived from the epitome compiled by Livy’s abbreviator Florus, and shows how it is placed at the beginning of a passage that refers to several different historiographical sources, including Agustine. The author therefore suggests that this reference to Livy in the Convivio is not based on Dante’s direct knowledge of the work of the Roman historian, but rather on the information contained in the synthesis by Florus. She also challenges the scholarly consensus on this
topic by showing that some references to Livy in the De Monarchia – especially the “programmatic” one in II.iii, 6 – do not appear in the indirect tradition and can only be traced back directly to Livy. This suggests that Dante likely accessed the work of Livy before the composition of his political treatise
Biosynthesis and characterization of glycoproteins in Koliella antarctica (Klebsormidiales, Chlorophyta)
No full textThe biosynthesis of the oligosaccharide chains of glycoproteins in cultures of Koliella antarctica (Klebsormidiales), a green filamentous microalga collected from samples of seawater near the Italian station of Terra Nova (Ross Sea, Antarctica), has been studied by using D-[U-C-14] glucosamine as a tracer. To characterize the oligosaccharide moieties of Koliella glycoproteins, immunolabelling experiments with different lectins have also been performed. The use of radioactive tracer has shown that exogenously supplied D-[U-C-14] glucosamine is taken up by the microalga and sequentially metabolized to soluble radioactive UDP-N-acetylglucosamine and UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine. N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylgalactosamine residues were incorporated mainly into the oligosaccharide chains of soluble and membrane-bound glycoproteins; the lowest amount of radioactive N-acetylhexosamines was detected in covalently and non-covalently linked cell-wall glycoproteins. Immunolabelling experiments with different lectins have shown similarities and differences among the patterns of soluble, membrane-bound and cell-wall glycoproteins. A peculiar characteristic of these microalgae is the presence of N-acetylgalactosamine residues as a component of the oligosaccharide chains of intracellular and cell wall N-linked glycoproteins
The True Cause of the 'Moral Collapse': People, Fascists and Authorities under the Bombs. Naples and the Countryside, 1940-1944
No full textThe article analyzes the experience of the civilian population under the bombings: material conditions, opinions and their transformations during the war, conflicts and relationship between fascist authorities and different social groups. It focuses on the case of Naples and Campania region. This area provides an illustrative example for studying the people’s experience of bombings. Naples was the most heavily bombarded Italian city. Campania and southern Lazio were also subjected to air raids linked to the Salerno landings. By several sources the author analyzes the process by which the people leaves the fascist regime and the role of allied aerial campaigne in growing the dinamics of detachment
The European Blue Economy Framework and Blue Bonds as new instruments of Blue Finance
No full textIn this chapter the author wants to investigate the growing relevance of the Blue Economy, considering in particular its European dimension, showing trends and drivers in creating a new Blue Economy Framework, necessary for pursuing the Goal n. 14 “Life below water” of the 17 SDGs of UN 2030 Agenda.
The Blue Economy includes not only those activities regarding the sustainable use of oceans, seas and coasts, but also all ones that make possible to exploit ocean resources more efficiently and sustainably.
In particular, the author, pointing out the necessity of the development of innovative financial instruments of Blue Finance, considers Blue Bonds as new instruments of Impact Investing able to reach this aim for re-orienting investments towards blue sustainable projects, underlining the necessary efforts for reaching a regulation of Blue Bond, actually absent, also following the Green Bond example as the most diffused Sustainable Bond.
Also the rising Blue Bond Market will be analysed, in its recent issuances of Blue Bonds at a global and European level, and considering also some issuances of Green Bonds having blue elements, pointing out how the Blue Bond Market is just moving its first steps showing some critical issues, which yet need to be solved
Precautionary Principle, Civil Liability and the Right to Health
No full textThe present essay deals with the impact of the so called precautionary principle on the civil liability regime, in particular in the field of the protection of human health. Firstly, the Author tries to give a definition of the precautionary principle and to frame it in its various legal sources: international, supra-national and domestic. In the second section, she analyses the applications of such principle in the field of human health protection and its relations with civil liability. To this aim, the Author takes into consideration different legal systems and in particular the French one and the Italian one
ANONYMOUS BIRTH, MEDICALLY ASSISTED PROCREATION TECHNIQUES AND RIGHT TO KNOW ONE’S ORIGINS IN A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
No full textThe present paper deals with the content and the autonomy of the right to know one’s
origins, with regards to the adopted children and to those born after assisted reproduction,
from a comparative point of view. It concerns, firstly, the conflict with the biological mother’s
right to anonymity, in those countries where anonymous birth is permitted - such as
France and Italy - and the new solutions due to the recent decisions of the European Court
of Human Rights and of the national courts. Secondly, the author gives a brief overview on
the donor’s anonymity rule in the European legal systems, wondering about the possible
consequences of the child’s access to the identifying information on the child’s filiation. In
this respect, she discusses the necessity to go beyond the traditional opposition biological/
legal truth, considering the existence of a pluralism of truths, such as the one grounded in
the affective relationship; the social truth (the tractatus) and the temporal truth
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