2,814 research outputs found

    Big Shoes to Fill: the ANC and Zuma’s Leadership Deficit

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    This introductory chapter guides the reader through South Africa’s major political developments in the post-apartheid era and provides an important overview of the main motives behind the current deterioration of the country’s political and economic situation. Building on an in-depth dissection of the milestones, lights and shadows that have shaped the ANC’s more than two decades of unchallenged dominance, the author stresses how this long “reign” resulted in the party losing touch with the needs and urgency for better distribution of the dividends of democracy and, eventually, in a broader falling apart of elite consensus in the country. The author also argues that the ascent of a questionable leader like Jacob Zuma to the forefront of South Africa’s – and the ANC’s – political scene has seriously contributed to the rapid jading of the long-term legitimation capital the ANC had gained by guiding the country’s transition to democracy under Mandela, hence opening the way to the increasing success of contenders that are now seriously challenging the ANC’s hegemony

    Nuit des Museés - La notte dei sensi.Percorsi multisensoriali in PAVIA MUSEI: "Suoni e sensazioni dal passato al Museo per la Storia dell Università di Pavia"

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    Il Museo per la Storia dell’Università è stato prestigioso teatro di esperienze sensoriali realizzate dall'autore attraverso la ripetizione di esperimenti storici con una macchina elettrostatica costruita sul modello di quelle settecentesche che permette di “sentire” una leggera scossa; e con una serie di strumenti in cui il suono è protagonista nella spiegazione di differenti concetti fisici, quali il “martello filosofico”, la “sirena di Cagnard de la Tour” (dagli infrasuoni agli ultrasuoni), il microfono a carbone

    Conservative Approach in Patients with Pemphigus Gingival Vulgaris: A Pilot Study of Five Cases

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    Objectives. The aim of this pilot study was to describe the clinical efficacy of a conservative oral hygiene protocol in patients affected by gingival pemphigus vulgaris (PV) applied in a case series. Methods. Subjects suffering from PV with gingival localisation and slightly responsive to conventional treatment with systemic corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs were selected among individuals treated in the Unit of Oral Medicine Section of the University of Turin. Five subjects received nonsurgical periodontal therapy, over a 7-day period, including oral hygiene instructions; patients were instructed about domiciliary oral hygiene maintenance and instructions were reinforced at each visit and personalised if necessary. Clinical outcome variables were recorded at baseline (before starting) and 16 weeks after intervention, including full mouth plaque score (FMPS), bleeding scores (FMBS), probing pocket depth (PPD), oral pemphigus clinical score (OPCS), and patient related outcomes (visual analogue score of pain). Results. Five patients were treated and, after finishing the proposed therapy protocol, a statistical significant reduction was observed for FMBS (P=0.043) and OPCS (P=0.038). Conclusions. Professional oral hygiene procedures with nonsurgical therapy are related to an improvement of gingival status and a decrease of gingival bleeding in patients affected by PV with specific gingival localization

    Author Correction: Gluten consumption and inflammation affect the development of celiac disease in at-risk children

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    The original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the authors Renata Auricchio, Ilaria Calabrese, Martina Galatola, Donatella Cielo, Fortunata Carbone, Marianna Mancuso, Giuseppe Matarese, Riccardo Troncone, Salvatore Auricchio & Luigi Greco which were incorrectly given as Auricchio Renata, Calabrese Ilaria, Galatola Martina, Cielo Donatella, Carbone Fortunata, Mancuso Marianna, Matarese Giuseppe, Troncone Riccardo, Auricchio Salvatore & Greco Luigi. The original article has been corrected

    Response to: The association between hypertension and rotator cuff disease: a spurious result?

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    Response to: The association between hypertension and rotator cuff disease: a spurious result? Dear editor, Thank you for giving me the opportunity to answer to letter to the Editor JSES-D-12-00464. As mentioned by the author of this letter, it is well known that the incidence of rotator cuff tears increases with age and that a large proportion of tears is completely asymptomatic4,5,6. The population prevalence of full thickness rotator cuff tears is 22.2% in females of age 60-83 years and 47% of these tears are completely asymptomatic3. The author affirms that the failure to consider the presence of asymptomatic cuff tears in the control group could fully account for the authors observation of an association between hypertension and rotator cuff tears. If we hypothetically assume that we had a plausible prevalence in the control group of asymptomatic cuff tears of 22.2%,3 it will not not affect the result that in the cuff tear patient group the prevalence of hypertension is significantly higher, but, on the contrary, it makes it more evident. In our article, we selected 201 patients negative for shoulder pathologies because shoulder painless2 and because negative to clinical tests for cuff tears. Of course, as the author state, there is no radiological assessment of their rotator cuff.2 On the other side, a patient affected by a cuff tear (symptomatic or asymptomatic) usually does not have normal shoulder external or internal rotation strength or does have a negative external rotation lag sign.1 In addition, the main result of our study is that there is an association between size of cuff tear and hypertension and, thus, this result is not affected by eventual bias of selection of the control group, being this result calculated only in the study group (patients who underwent arthroscopic cuff repair). Best personal regards, Prof. Stefano Gumina (MD, PhD) References 1)Castoldi F, Blonna D, Hertel R. External rotation lag sign revisited: Accuracy for diagnosis of full thickness supraspinatus tear. J Shoulder Elbow Surg 2009; 18: 529-534. 2)Gumina S, Arceri V, Carbone S, Albino P, Passaretti D, Campagna V, Fagnani C, Postacchini F. The association between arterial hypertension and rotator cuff tear: the influence on rotator cuff tear sizes. J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2012 Jun 27. doi: 10.1016/j.jse.2012.05.023 3) Oag HCL, Daines MD, Nichols AS, Arden NK, Carr AJ. The association between rotator cuff tears, shoulder pain and activities of daily living: Normal population data. Presented at BESS (British Shoulder and Elbow Society) 2012 and awaiting publication in Proceedings of BESS. 4) Yamaguchi K, Ditsios K, Middleton WD, Hildebolt CF, Galatz LM, Teefey SA. The demographic and morphological features of rotator cuff disease. A comparison of asymptomatic and symptomatic shoulders. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2006; 88: 1699-1704. doi:10.2106/JBJS.E.00835 5) Yamamoto A, Takagishi K, Kobayashi T, Shitara H, Osawa T. Factors involved in the presence of symptoms associated with rotator cuff tears: a comparison of asymptomatic and symptomatic rotator cuff tears in the general population. J Shoulder Elbow Surg 2011; 20:1133-1137. doi:10.1016/j.jse.2011.01.011 6) Yamamoto A, Takagishi K, Osawa T, Yanagawa T, Nakajima D, Shitara H, Kobayashi T. Prevalence and risk factors of a rotator cuff tear in the general population. J Shoulder Elbow Surg 2010; 19: 116-20. doi:10.1016/j.jse.2009.04.00

    Blood Clotting Dissolution in the Presence of a Magnetic Field and Preliminary Study with MG63 Osteoblast-like Cells—Further Developments for Guided Bone Regeneration?

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    Background: The influence of a magnetic field on the activation of bone cells and remodelling of alveolar bone is known to incite bone regeneration. Guided Bone Regeneration (GBR) aims to develop biomimetic scaffolds to allow for the functioning of the barrier and the precise succession of wound healing steps, including haemostasis. The effect of a magnetic field on blood clot dissolution has not been studied yet. Methods: We conducted a methodological study on the clot stability in the presence of a static magnetic field (SMF). Preformed whole blood (WB) clots were treated with either a broad proteolytic enzyme (trypsin) or a specific fibrinolytic agent, i.e., tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA). MG63 osteoblast-like cells were added to preformed WB clots to assess cell proliferation. Results: After having experienced a number of clotting and dissolution protocols, we obtained clot stability exerted by SMF when tissue factor (for clotting) and t-PA + plasminogen (for fibrinolysis) were used. WB clots allowed osteoblast-like cells to survive and proliferate, however no obvious effects of the magnetic field were noted. Conclusions: Paramagnetic properties of erythrocytes may have influenced the reduction in clot dissolution. Future studies are warranted to fully exploit the combination of magnetic forces, WB clot and cells in GBR applied to orthodontics and prosthodontics

    Critical Ergonomics and (Dis)Comfort Factors While Performing Tasks with Hand Tools on a Ladder: A Pilot Study

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    Falls at height are among the major causes of fatal accidents at work, especially in the construction sector. Maintaining balance while performing a tool with both hands generates physical efforts and mental loading that needs to be managed for workers' safety and health. The purpose of the study is to compare perceived (dis)comfort (overall and localized), the ergonomic risk, and the perceived effort through the acquired postures that subjects assumed during the execution of simple and common tasks both on a ladder and on the ground. 26 subjects were asked to perform four tasks in both conditions: top screwing, frontal screwing, object picking from the bottom forward, and object picking from the bottom sideways. Subjective and objective data were gathered for assessing subjective experience (discomfort and effort, perceived) and ergonomic risk. Results highlighted few ergonomic risk differences among "on ladder" and "on ground" tasks, while subjective data reveal significant differences in different scenarios. Furthermore, the knees and neck areas are the most critical ones

    Diritto di famiglia e Unione europea

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    The book is edited by Ilaria Queirolo and Sergio Maria Carbone, that collected and co-ordinated the contributions written by many professors and researchers who devoted their studies to the topic of family relationships within the European Union. To this purpose, the book considers all the aspects related to family law that have been touched by European Community and European Union legislation (i.e: Part I: Family in the perspective of the free movement of persons; Part II: Family in the perspective of the protection of fundamental rights; Part III: The dissolution of marriage in the Brussels II (bis) Regulation; Part IV: The discipline of parental responsibility; Part V: Maintenance obligations), giving a critical reconstruction of the legal framework and a complex view to the critical issues arising from it. In this context Ilaria Queirolo is also the author of two chapters of the book: the first one (Premise), written together with prof. Carbone, underlines the legal basis of the European intervention in the field of family law, therefore giving a solid structure to the book by the identification of a common thread to all other contributions. The second chapter written by the Author (Chapter VIII) is precisely devoted to the critical analysis of the 2006 Commission proposal of amendment of Regulation 2201/2003 and considers the impact and the relapses that such amendments would entail for the Italian discipline. To this purpose, particular attention is given to the impact of introducing the relevance of parties’ autonomy in the field of family law, with reference to both jurisdiction and applicable law

    The Critical Reception of Cartesian Physiology in Tommaso Cornelio’s Progymnasmata physica

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    This article highlights certain key moments in the dissemination of Cartesianism in Naples in the 17th century. It focuses, in particular, on the "Progymnasmata physica" (1663), written by Tommaso Cornelio (1614–1684), who derived a great deal of his conceptions of physics and physiology from Descartes. Although precise references to Descartes’ texts are thin on the ground, the author hypothesizes that Cornelio was familiar with "L’Homme", probably also on the basis of the fifth part of the "Discours de la méthode", in which, as is well known, there is a summary and a completion of the treatise that Descartes declined to publish. Finally, the article stresses the critical aspects of Cornelio’s reception of Cartesianism and the fact that he introduces the novelty of Cartesian teachings and positions to a wider context
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