6 research outputs found
Forme e funzioni dell'autodiegesi nella 'Relatio' di Odorico da Pordenone
No full textThe present paper aims at examining the effects of autodiegetic perspective in Odoric of Podenone's Relatio. Odoric's narrative, as well as other medieval travel accounts, such as Marco Polo's Devisement dou Monde, results from collaboration between a traveller, the Friar Minor Odoric, and a scribe, Brother William of Solagna. Nevertheless, the narration is entirely conducted in the first person. First af all, the autodiegetic narration serves a 'structural' and 'contextualizing' function, since it defines the geographical and chronological coordinates of the traveller's experience. Elsewhere the author represents himself as taking part in the action, in order to warrant the truthfulness of his stories. In some cases, the first-person narration enables the author to offer an interpretation of reality to the reader. Finally, in the last chapters of Odoric's account, the "autodiegesis" acquires exemplary value: the first-person narrator presents his own experience as an edifying example for other Christians
Calcitonin gene-related peptide: possible role in formation and maintenance of neuromuscular junctions
No full textThe expression and content of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and secretogranin II (SgII) in adult rat motor neurons were examined by in situ hybridization, Northern blot analysis, and immunocytochemistry. Normal motor nerve terminals did not contain detectable CGRP or SgII. Ten to 15 days after a peripheral nerve crush about 80% of the motor nerve terminals reinnervating the soleus (SOL) muscle contained detectable CGRP but no SgII. Thereafter, the percentage of CGRP-positive terminals declined towards zero. In the spinal cord, CGRP expression was higher than normal 1 d after a sciatic nerve crush and increased during the next few days. No increase in SgII expression was observed. Nerve blocks by tetrodotoxin (TTX) and botulinum toxin (BoTX) increased CGRP content and expression in motor neurons but had no effect on SgII. After 10 d of BoTX treatment and 33 d of TTX treatment (the longest time points studied), more than 90% of the motor nerve terminals stained for CGRP. The density of large dense core vesicles (LDCVs) was also higher than normal in such terminals. Some increase in CGRP content and expression occurred in the nontreated side. In a group of rats, the peroneal nerve was stimulated electrically with brief, intermittent pulse trains at 100 Hz. The stimulation was applied below a TTX block that had started 7 or 19 d earlier. One minute of such stimulation was sufficient to remove CGRP from most of the terminals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS
Degradation of two AChR populations at rat neuromuscular junctions: regulation in vivo by electrical stimulation
No full textThe effect of electrical stimulation on the stability of junctional ACh receptors (AChR) on soleus muscles of Wistar rats was compared to that of denervation and reinnervation. Denervation causes the degradation rate of the slowly degrading AChRs (Rs) at the neuromuscular junction to accelerate and be replaced by rapidly degrading AChRs (Rr), while reinnervation restabilizes the accelerated Rs. Electrical stimulation initiated at the time of denervation prevented the acceleration of the Rs. It could not, however, reverse the effect of denervation if initiated after the AChRs became destabilized, nor could it slow the degradation rate of the Rr. We conclude that electrical stimulation of denervated muscle downregulates the expression of the Rr and prevents the destabilization of Rs.</jats:p
Esploratrice dei percorsi dell'invenzione. Maria Corti lettrice di Dante
No full textThe essay is focused on Maria Corti's contribution to the study of Dante, as an author of poetry - especially La divina Commedia - but also as "father of the Italian language", in his De vulgari eloquentia and certainly not there only. Many different levels of Dante's works are considered: his language, his various metalinguistic contributions, mainly on grammar at its different stages - on metaphor, on what can just be suggested or merely alluded, eventually his tremendous culture and originalit
L’archéologie française en Algérie et la résistance à la romanisation : les enjeux d’un débat,
No full textInternational audienceIn the XIXth century and until the beginning of the decolonization process, the Roman period had been manipulated to justify European colonialism in the Maghreb. Decolonization changed the historians’ perspective. Previously presented as a successful assimilation, romanization could be the mark of oppression. Currently, the interest has shifted from resistance to the affirmation of identities. For the author, these two concepts are closely related: the resistance to foreign domination is a component of national identity. The importance of the debate on African resistance to Romanization is strengthened. Ph. Leveau took part to the discussion on African resistance with his contributions on Caesarea of Mauretania/Cherchell. Beyond the anecdotes related to basic concepts carried on a priori, a critical reconstruction of the debates allows you to measure the expected goals.Au XIXe siècle et jusqu’à ce que s’amorce la décolonisation, la période romaine avait été instrumentalisée pour légitimer la colonisation européenne au Maghreb. La décolonisation changea le regard des historiens. Autrefois présentée comme une assimilation réussie, la romanisation pouvait être la marque d’une oppression. Actuellement, l’intérêt s’est déplacé de la résistance à l’affirmation des identités. Pour l’auteur, ces deux concepts sont étroitement liés : la résistance à une domination étrangère est un élément constitutif d’une identité nationale. L’intérêt du débat sur la résistance africaine à la romanisation s’en trouve renforcé. Ph. Leveau avait participé au débat sur la résistance africaine à la suite de ses travaux sur Caesarea de Maurétanie/Cherchell. Au-delà d’anecdotes témoignant des blocages entraînés par des a priori, un historique des débats permet d’en mesurer les enjeux
Eyewitness accounts of 'the Indies' in the Later Medieval West: reading, reception, and re-use (c. 1300-1500)
No full textDespite increased mercantile and missionary contact between the Latin West and India and China between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, scholars have often
noted that Western Europe's knowledge of India, as judged by geographical texts from the period, changed surprisingly little during this time. This thesis employs
some of the methodologies of reception studies in order to investigate the role played by first-hand travel accounts in the construction and change of concepts of the Indies
during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It investigates in particular the reception in Italy, France and England of the information about the area known as
India or the 'three Indies' presented in the texts produced by two Italian travellers to the East: the Divisament dou monde of the Venetian merchant Marco Polo (c. 1298),
and the Relatio of the Franciscan missionary Odorico da Pordenone (1330).
The thesis falls into three distinct parts. In the first section, I contextualise the project with a broad survey of the Latin European ideas of India in the late thirteenth
and early fourteenth centuries and with an outline of the travellers' journeys and their contexts. The second part of the thesis provides a broad overview of the
circumstances of diffusion of the two travel accounts in England, France and Italy over the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, before conducting a detailed, manuscriptbased
investigation of the ways in which the two accounts of India were approached by their early readers. This investigation focuses principally upon the presentation
and possible modes of reception of the texts' geographical and ethnographic details and relies heavily on the evidence of presentation, paratext and the traces of reading
present in the physical texts of the accounts.
The third and final part of the thesis considers the evidence of the reception of elements from first-hand travel accounts in other textual and cartographic
productions. Proceeding on the basis of case studies, it demonstrates that first-hand accounts of 'the Indies' were used by the authors and compilers of cosmo graphical
texts in this period in a variety of ways. It suggests, however, that the manner and context of the deployment of elements from such accounts often tended to assimilate
these with, rather than distinguish them from, the writings of accepted authorities. This section also contrasts the way that details from travel accounts were re-used in
texts with the way the same information was handled in the composition of maps. Finally, by analysis of the ways eyewitness accounts of the Indies were re-used in
certain ambiguous and comic texts produced in this period, the thesis sheds light on an underexplored aspect of the reception both of eyewitness information and of the
genres in which it appeared. The appendices contain tables presenting information relative to the manuscripts discussed that support the arguments presented in section
two
