123 research outputs found
INFLUENCE OF MICRO- AND MACROENVIRONMENT IN COLON CANCER
No full textAn increasing body of evidence supports a contribute of the immune system in cancer development and progression, in fact recent data have demonstrated that, virtually, every tumor has an inflammatory cell infiltrate as part of a complex tumor microenvironment (TME). Cancer progression is also directed by the involvement of organs located at distant sites from the primary tumor due to the release of tumor-derived soluble factors (TDSFs). Therefore, it is very important to consider not only the role of the tumor-associated stroma, which is known as TME, but also the creation of a network even with distal compartments due to the release of many TDSFs leading to the generation of the so-called tumor macroenvironment. Recently, the macroenvironment changes have been underlined in the genetic model of colon cancer ApcMin/+, where a significantly higher total IgA levels in ApcMin/+ tumor-bearing mice has been demonstrated. In this work, the possible mechanisms of the IgA skewing have been dissected in the colorectal cancer (CRC) context. The data demonstrated that the sole IgA skewing is not a tract present in all CRC models, but that it is peculiar of the ApcMin/+ mice; the presence of the IgA sewing in mouse tumor models not associated with the intestinal tract was also excluded. Considering the association of several intestinal diseases with increased intestinal permeability, the damaged intestinal barrier, which can lead to the translocation of bacteria, was proposed to be associated with the tumor progression. A higher presence of bacterial level in the ApcMin/+ compared to the WT mice was detected, indicating an increased microbial translocation to the liver. Furthermore, the presence of Bacteroides fragilis in the ApcMin/+ mice was found, a type of bacteria that was instead absent in the WT counterpart. Our data indicate the carcinogenic potential of the microbiota in the ApcMin/+ tumor context, since it has been demonstrated a tumorigenic role for B. fragilis. The data, herein presented, suggest a direct or indirect association of the microbiota in the ApcMin/+ tumor setting compared to the healthy mice. The progresses in the study of the immune microenvironment have mainly highlighted the role of immunosuppressive T cell in the inhibition of the antitumor immune response. Instead, the role of B cells is less well understood. In the present work, the presence of a accumulation of MDSCs in the CRC TME and the ability of splenic MDSCs from MC38 tumor-bearing mice to affect the phenotype of B cells, inducing a shift towards an immunosuppressive B cell phenotype, have been highlighted. In particular, the ability of splenic MDSCs isolated from MC38 tumor-bearing mice was reported to induce the expansion of the IL-10 competent B cells and to increase the expression of FasL, PD-L1, and IgA on naïve B cells. This work might be, therefore, helpful for clarifying the alteration of the systemic tumor environment occurring in CRC and for the development of new potential immunotherapeutic strategies
Indigenous peoples and climate justice. A critical analysis of international human rights law and governance
No full textThis book provides a new interpretation of international law specifically dedicated to Indigenous peoples in the context of a climate justice approach. The book presents a critical analysis of past and current developments at the intersection of human rights and international environmental law and governance. The book suggests new ways forward and demonstrates the need for a paradigmatic shift that would enhance the meaningful participation of Indigenous peoples as fundamental actors in the conservation of biodiversity and in the fight against climate change. The book offers guidance on a number of critical intersecting and interdependent issues at the forefront of climate change law and policy – inside and outside of the UN climate change regime. The author suggests that the adoption of a critical perspective on international law is needed in order to highlight inherent structural and systemic issues of the international law regime which are all issues that ultimately impede the pursue of climate justice for Indigenous peoples.
Giada Giacomini is an experienced researcher in international human rights law, international environmental law, climate change law and policy, and with an interest in climate vulnerable communities. She holds a PhD in Public, Comparative and International Law. She specializes in climate justice, critical legal studies and non-anthropocentric law. Upon completion of her PhD studies, she completed an Internship at the Independent Redress Mechanism of the Green Climate Fund. She is currently involved in several research projects dealing with ecosocial work, environmental conservation and Indigenous peoples, and climate litigation
Indigenous peoples and climate change. The Yanesha people’s case from a participatory justice perspective
No full textThis paper analyses the main results of the fieldwork conducted by the author for the purposes of determining the impacts of climate change in traditionally living Yanesha communities of the Palcazu, Peru. It gives an overview of the relationship between the Yanesha people and their sacred territory before delving into the data gathered during the fieldwork carried out in November 2018. It concludes by linking the Yanesha people’s case to the broader issue of climate justice, arguing that Indigenous peoples’ participatory rights should be at the centre of a fair and inclusive international and national climate governance regime that recognizes both their vulnerability and their role as agents of environmental conservation
Low-budget music video editing and production: a case study of “Lost Ones” (Joan Thiele) by Giada Bossi
No full textEste artículo realiza un análisis de la producción y un análisis de contenido de un videoclip actual, como estudio de caso de "Lost Ones", interpretado por Joan Thiele y dirigido por Giada Bossi con producción de Universal Music Italia y Red Bull Music. El objetivo principal será relacionar la influencia de los condicionantes iniciales de la producción del vídeo musical (en lo relativo a presupuesto y a la necesidad de comunicación comercial y creación de identidad de marca de la cantante) con las opciones aplicadas en la realización y la edición de la pieza. Comprobaremos que el ritmo acelerado en el cambio de plano y la aplicación de filtros de post-producción consiguen hacer de las limitaciones de calidad de la imagen una virtud, por cuanto crean una voluntad de estilo al envejecer las imágenes, dotándolas de un carácter "retro" apropiado a las intenciones comunicativas de los creadores del vídeo. La programación del vídeo en un canal en TDT de calidad broadcast como VH1 Italia no viene condicionada, por tanto, tanto por el nivel financiero de la producción como por su origen desde una de las grandes discográficas.This paper carries out a production and content analysis of a current music video using “Lost Ones” as a case study. “Lost Ones,” is performed by Joan Thiele, directed by Giada Bossi and produced by Universal Music Italy and Red Bull Music. The main objective will be to connect the influence of music video productions initial constraints with the options applied in direction and editing (such as the budget, the need for commercial communication and the creation of the singer’s branding). We will ascertain whether the accelerated pace of the shot change and the use of post-production filters can make the use of a low-quality image ideal as it creates a stylistic device that ages the image, thus giving it a “retro” look, which is the video creators’ communication intentions. Therefore, video programming on a TDT broadcast quality channel such as VH1 Italy is neither conditioned by the production nor the fact that the video is from an important record label
Orientarsi tra le nuvole: cartografie, atlanti e pratiche mappanti nel racconto a fumetti
No full textA partire dalla recente nascita della ‘comic book geography’ (Dittmer 2014), il contributo intende proporre la ‘comic book cartography’ come un’ulteriore linea di ricerca volta ad esplorare le contaminazioni tra fumetto e cartografia.
L’approccio transdisciplinare proposto si fonda sull’intersezione tra geografia e analisi geocritica, tra ‘comics studies’ e teoria cartografica post-rappresentazionale. Attraverso una lettura ‘carto-centrata’ di alcuni casi di studio italiani e internazionali, il fumetto viene inteso come una mappa che coinvolge autore e lettore in una vera e propria pratica di orientamento.
[Abstract eng] Orientating among the balloons: maps, atlases and mapping practices in comic books
Starting from the recently emerged field of ‘comic book geography’ (Dittmer 2014), the article proposes ‘comic book cartography’ as a further research line to explore the intersections bewteen comics and cartography.
The proposed transdisciplinary approach is based on the encounter between geography and geocriticism, comics studies and post-representational theories in cartography. Through a ‘carto-centred’ reading of both Italian and international case studies, the comic book is interpreted as a map inolving author and reader in an orientation practice
Use of Cocultures for the Study of Cellular Interactions Influencing B-Cell Regulatory Functions
No full textAlthough IL-10-producing B cells have been shown to play key roles in regulating immune responses involved in autoimmunity, inflammation, and cancer, the mechanisms at the base of the generation and maintenance of the pool of regulatory B cells are still poorly characterized. Several evidences show that the cross talk between B cells and other immune cell types promotes IL-10 production by B lymphocytes. Soluble mediators released into the microenvironment, together with direct cell-cell contact, are key signals in the process of regulatory B-cell development and differentiation. Here we describe the methods required to follow IL-10-producing B cells in MC- and MDSC-B-cell cocultures as examples of in vitro systems that induce the expansion of the regulatory B-cell population. These protocols can be also adapted for the study of other immune cell systems
Playing it fashionably queer: Mae West's performing sexuality
No full text“Marriage is a fine institution, but I’m not ready for an institution”. With this challenging innuendo, the American actress and author Mae West offers an insight into gender performativity and heteronormativity through marriage in a period, the “Roaring Twenties”, in which sexual and gender politics could not be put into scrutiny. Her vamp persona and the elaborated iconography that she crafted on her character gave birth to a meticulous semiotics of the body that eventually undermined the American social context of the time fostering on the one hand, an image of heterosexual desire, and on the other hand an appealing icon to a gay market. This article ventures a queer-oriented perspective on West’s charismatic character and on the intertwined effects that tie semiotics to body language, especially focussing on the plays Sex (1926) and The Drag (1927)
Comic Book Cartographies: A Cartocentred Reading of 'City of Glass', the Graphic Novel
No full textThis paper responds to the call for a deeper theoretical and methodological
exchange between the disciplines involved in geohumanities research and
proposes comic books as an environment for interdisciplinary,
geo/cartographical and literary critical research practice. The analysis
considers the emerging field of ‘comic book geographies’ and suggests a
further opening to ‘comic book cartographies’. Hence, by referring to the
‘spatiocentred’ approaches emerging in literary theory and criticism, I
propose a ‘geocritical’ and ‘cartocentred’ reading of comics to explore the
‘cartographies of the comic book’. I individuate the peculiar map-like
features of comics’ spatial grammar to interpret the comic book as both a
cartographer and a map. Moreover, taking into account the recent shift in
cartographic theory towards an ‘emergent cartography’, I propose an
‘ontogenetic’ understanding of comics as maps. Through both their
representational and non-representational, map-like features, comics are
intended ‘as always mappings’, providing the author/reader with a truly
mapping experience. The analysis of the exemplary case study of City of
Glass, the graphic novel transposition of Auster’s novel by Paul Karasik and
David Mazzucchelli, counts as a first attempt to propose a ‘cartocentred’
reading of the cartographies inserted within and emerging from a comic
book. This article suggests that a ‘cartocritical’ reading of comics could
provide comic studies, cultural geography and literary theory with new
insights, as well as cartographic theory with an unexplored laboratory to
keep on ‘rethinking maps’ from an ‘emergent’ perspective
«Nach dem französischen von Sonnleithner». Questioni storico-filologiche per un’edizione critica della Faniska di Luigi Cherubini
No full textFaniska è l’unica opera di Luigi Cherubini ad essere stata scritta
espressamente per i teatri di corte viennesi. Rappresentata la prima volta il 25 febbraio 1806, essa fu ripresa per
decenni in diverse città dell’area germanofona. Ciononostante, nessuno
dei due autografi a noi pervenuti è in tedesco: il testimone primario, una partitura completa dell’opera, è basato su un libretto italiano, mentre il secondo autografo, formato da pochi numeri, ne mette in musica una
traduzione francese. Il saggio discute le fonti testuali e
musicali della Faniska, costituendo uno studio preparatorio per l’edizione
critica. Al fine di stabilire le relazioni tra le fonti, l’autrice ricostruisce il
processo creativo dell’opera e il sistema produttivo dei teatri di corte viennesi
nel periodo in cui Cherubini la compose. Lo scopo è di chiarire perché
l’opera fu sempre rappresentata in tedesco, benché originariamente
composta su un libretto italiano, e a qual fine Cherubini ne intraprese una seconda versione basata su una
traduzione francese.The opera Faniska is the only work by Luigi Cherubini to be specially written for the Viennese Court
Theaters. After its premiere on 25th February 1806, the opera was performed over many decades in
different German-speaking cities. Nevertheless, none of both preserved autographs contain German words: the main source is a complete score based on an Italian libretto, the second autograph consists of few musical numbers which set a French
translation of the Italian libretto. The paper discusses Faniska’s musical and textual sources as a preparatory study for the critical
edition. In order to understand the relations among the sources, the author reconstructs Faniska’s
creative process and the production system of the Viennese Court Theaters during the time Cherubini
composed this work. The aim is to explain why the opera was always performed in German, although it was originally composed on an
Italian libretto, and for which purpose Cherubini undertook a second version based on a French translatio
Gamification: a motivating approach in English language teaching
No full textMotivation is the key word in the study of a foreign language. Teachers are eager to boost their English language teaching to persuade and motivate students and abandon the misleading and out-of-date concept of learning for the learning’s sake. Thus, gamification is becoming an increasingly enthralling and challenging approach in English teaching. The fast pace of several computer games seems to fit today’s digital generations and teachers can benefit from teaching in a google-friendly environment in order to keep their students fully engaged in the process of learning. In this light, games can offer a personalised support to create collaborative contexts and foster critical thinking, creativity, and communication in the student-teacher relationship. The present article analyses the positive aspects of gamification in English Language Teaching and explains how educational technology can provide framework to appeal our students’ engagement in the study of English and make it a fundamental element of the undergoing revolution in contemporary learning activities
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