Letteratura ed esperienza magistrale femminile nell\u2019Italia di fine Ottocento. La costruzione di una difficile identit\ue0 in \uabScuola Normale Femminile\ubb di Matilde Serao (1885)

Agli inizi del 1885 Matilde Serao pubblicava per la prima volta, a puntate, sulla \uabNuova Antologia\ubb, la novella Scuola Normale Femminile, destinata a inaugurare un filone letterario \u2013 quello dei racconti e romanzi dedicati alle vicende di maestre e maestri e alle vicissitudini della scuola e dell\u2019istruzione pubblica nell\u2019Italia postunitaria \u2013 che avrebbe registrato una notevole fortuna nell\u2019ultimo quindicennio del secolo XIX. Attraverso l\u2019esame del racconto, viene attentamente ricostruita la temperie sociale e culturale, come anche la fase storica particolarmente significativa dell\u2019evoluzione della scuola e dell\u2019identit\ue0 magistrale femminile nell'Italia del secondo Ottocento. At the beginning of the year 1885, Matilde Serao first published, in installments in the journal "Nuova Antologia", the short story Scuola Normale Femminile (Normal School for women), which was destined to meet with considerable success in the last fifteen years of the 19th century and consequently to inaugurate a new literary genre - that of novels and tales focused on stories of male and female teachers and on the vicissitudes of school and public education in post-unitary Italy. Through an examination of the stories and the characters, the social and cultural climate is carefully reconstructed along with the historical moment - particularly significant in the historical evolution of schools and the professional identity of women teachers

The image of Giuseppe Mazzini in history textbooks from italian unification to the end of world war II (1861-1945)

The image of Giuseppe Mazzini and the Mazzinian movement is reconstructed as chronicled in Italian history texts used in public primary and secondary schools, that is to say those textbooks which enjoyed a much wider circulation and therefore contributed far more significantly to the creation of a collective image of the life and work of this figure. Analyzing omissions, as well as censorship and myths, the infinite and surprising metamorphoses for ideological and political purposes that this historical figure has undergone, can be followed and rebuilt through manuals of five historical periods: the first decade following Unification; the period from the early 1870s to the late 1880s; the last decade of the nineteenth century; the Giolitti era; and finally the post-WWI period through the mid-1920s and the years of Fascist totalitarianism. The scholastic texts return to us the trends of the national historiographic point and the different projects designed to build the national identity and shape the civil and political ethic for new generations. At the same time, the history schoolbooks witness the development process of that national pedagogy which, in different post-Unification periods, inspired and nurtured the teaching activity in Italian schools. L'articolo ricostruisce l\u2019immagine di Giuseppe Mazzini e del movimento mazziniano cos\uec come essi venivano raccontati nei manuali di storia in uso nelle scuole pubbliche primarie e secondarie, vale a dire quei libri di testo che conobbero una diffusione molto ampia e, quindi, contribuirono in modo assai significativo alla creazione di un'immagine collettiva della vita e dell\u2019operato di questa figura. Analizzando le omissioni cos\uec come l\u2019opera di censura e di mitizzazione, \ue8 possibile seguire le infinite e sorprendenti metamorfosi, per fini ideologici e politici, che questa figura storica sub\uec, ricostruendole attraverso i manuali di cinque diversi periodi storici: il decennio successivo all\u2019unificazione, il periodo dai primi anni 1870 alla fine del 1880, l'ultimo decennio del XIX secolo, l'et\ue0 giolittiana, e infine il periodo tra il primo dopoguerra, passando per il ventennio e il totalitarismo fascista. I testi scolastici riflettono le tendenze della storiografia nazionale e dei diversi progetti volti a costruire l'identit\ue0 nazionale e a modellare l'etica civile e politica per le nuove generazioni. Allo stesso tempo, i manuali di storia testimoniano il processo di sviluppo della pedagogia nazionale che, nei diversi periodi successivi all\u2019unificazione, ispirarono e nutrirono l'attivit\ue0 didattica nelle scuole italiane

The magnetospheric radius of an inclined rotator in the magnetically threaded disk model

The estimate of the magnetospheric radius in a disk-fed neutron star X-ray binary is a long standing problem in high energy Astrophysics. We review the magnetospheric radius calculations in the so-called magnetically threaded disk model, comparing the simplified approach originally proposed by Ghosh & Lamb (1979) with the revised version proposed by Wang (1987), Wang (1995), and Wang (1997). We show that for a given set of fixed parameters (assuming also a comparable screening factor of the neutron star magnetic field by the currents induced on the disk surface) the revised magnetically threaded disk model predicts a magnetospheric radius that is significantly smaller than that derived from the Ghosh & Lamb (1979) treatment. For a fixed value of the neutron star magnetic field and a wide range of mass accretion rates, the inclusion of a large inclination angle between the neutron star rotation and magnetic field axes ($\chi$$\gtrsim$60 deg) leads to a further decrease of the magnetospheric radius. To illustrate the relevance of these calculations, we consider, as an example, the case of the transitional pulsars. During the so-called "high mode" of their sub-luminous accretion disk state, these sources have shown X-ray pulsations interpreted as due to accretion at an unprecedented low luminosity level compared to other neutron stars in X-ray binaries. In the context of the magnetic threaded disk model, we show that accretion at luminosities of $\sim$10$^{33}$ erg s$^{-1}$ (and thus accretion-driven X-ray pulsations) can be more easily explained when the prescription of the magnetospheric radius provided by Wang (1997) is used. This avoids the need of invoking very strong propeller outflows in the transitional pulsars, as proposed in other literature works.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

School museums as dynamic areas for widening the heuristic potential and the socio-cultural impact of the history of education. A case study from Italy

The contribution aims at introducing some points to reflect on the new role which university museums of schools and education can play today in the wake of current international processes of revitalisation of university heritage and museums, particularly in the light of the new objectives of the University Third Mission. Starting from the experience of the \u201cPaolo and Ornella Ricca\u201d School Museum in Macerata University, the authors illustrate how university museums can achieve several goals: on the one hand, to foster the opening up of the universities and academic research towards civil society, and the dissemination of the results of the most innovative historical-educational research; on the other hand, to promote the meaning and the value of the educational heritage as a collective cultural asset able to give participation and knowledge; finally, to make the historical-educational disciplines more valuable as a specialised knowledge which, through such heritage, can express a new specificity and a more active role within academic community

The Pigna Paper Mill and the exercise books of the \u201cNew Italy\u201d (1870-1960)

For the very first time this in-depth paper studies the archives of the historic Paolo Pigna Paper Mill in Alzano Lombardo (Bergamo, Italy), which played a leading role in Italian history and culture: so much so that it ended up with fusing its own image to the very market where it operated, that is, the Italian schools. After being taken over by Paolo Pigna in 1867, the great paper mill immediately became known not only for its high-quality production but also for keeping abreast of technology and emerging in a sector of the economy, which in the mid-1800s was fragmented into a multitude of small and poorly mechanized artisan workshops. The Author retraces one hundred years of the history of the company and its production for schools: in particular its production of exercise books \u2013 a simple but effective and all-pervading medium of iconic-verbal messages (moral, educational, propagandistic, religious, etc.). Questo saggio analizza, per la prima volta in maniera approfondita, gli archivi delle storiche Cartiere Pigna di Alzano Lombardo (Bergamo), che ebbero un ruolo fondamentale nella storia e nella cultura italiane, al punto da arrivare a fondere la propria immagine con il mercato stesso su cui operarono, vale a dire la scuola italiana. Dopo la fondazione da parte di Paolo Pigna nel 1867, la Pigna divenne nota non solo per la produzione di alta qualit\ue0 ma anche per la modernit\ue0 delle tecnologie impiegate \u2013 ci\uf2 che la fece subito emergere in un settore economico che, a met\ue0 dell\u2019Ottocento, era frammentato in una miriade di piccole industrie di tipo artigianale e scarsamente avanzate dal punto di vista tecnologico. L\u2019autrice ricostruisce un secolo di storia della cartiera e la sua produzione per le scuole, in particolare di quaderni scolastici, strumenti semplici, ma allo stesso tempo efficaci e assai pervasivi, capaci di veicolare messaggi sia iconici che verbali (di tipo morale, educativo, propagandistico, religioso, etc.)

Ibuprofen modulates allosterically NO dissociation from ferrous nitrosylated human serum heme-albumin by binding to three sites

Human serum albumin (HSA) is a monomeric allosteric protein. Here, the effect of ibuprofen on denitrosylation kinetics (k(off)) and spectroscopic properties of HSA-heme-Fe(II)-NO is reported. The k(off) value increases from (1.4 +/- 0.2) x 10(-4) s(-1), in the absence of the drug, to (9.5 +/- 1.2) x 10(-3) s(-1), in the presence of 1.0 x 10(-2) M ibuprofen, at pH 7.0 and 10.0 degrees C. From the dependence of k(off) on the drug concentration, values of the dissociation equilibrium constant for ibuprofen binding to to HSA-heme-Fe(II)-NO (K-1 = (3.1 +/- 0.4) x 10(-7) M, K-2= (1.7 +/- 0.2) x 10(-4) M. and K-3 (2.2 +/- .2) x 10(-3) M) were determined. The K-3 value corresponds to the HSA-heme-Fe(II)-NO determined by monitoring drug-dependent absorbance spectroscopic changes (H = (2.6 +/- 0.3) x 10(-3) M). Present data indicate that ibuprofen binds to the FA3-FA4 cleft (Sudlow's site II), to the FA6 site, and possibly to the FA2 pocket, inducing the hexa-coordination of HSA-heme-Fe(II)-NO and triggering the heme-ligand dissociation kinetics. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus: insight the Filoviridae family

Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus (belonging to the Filoviridae family) emerged four decades ago and cause epidemics of haemorrhagic fever with high case-fatality rates. The genome of filoviruses encodes seven proteins. No significant homology is observed between filovirus proteins and any known macromolecule. Moreover, Marburgvirus and Ebolavirus show significant differences in protein homology. The natural maintenance cycle of filoviruses is unknown, the natural reservoir, the mode of transmission, the epidemic disease generation, and temporal dynamics are unclear. Lastly, Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus are considered as potential biological weapons. Vaccine appears the unique therapeutic frontier. Here, molecular and clinical aspects of filoviral haemorrhagic fevers are summarized

Ferrous Campylobacter jejuni truncated hemoglobin P displays an extremely high reactivity for cyanide - A comparative study

Campylobacter jejuni hosts two hemoglobins (Hbs). The Camplylobacter jejuni single-domain Hb (called Cgb) is homologous to the globin domain of flavohemoglobin, and it has been proposed to protect the bacterium against nitrosative stress. The second Hb is called Ctb (hereafter Cj-trHbP), belongs to truncated Hb group III, and has been hypothesized to be involved in O 2 chemistry. Here, the kinetics and thermodynamics of cyanide binding to ferric and ferrous Cj-trHbP [Cj-trHbP(III) and Cj-trHbP(II), respectively] are reported and analyzed in parallel with those of related heme proteins, with particular reference to those from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The affinity of cyanide for Cj-trHbP(II) is higher than that reported for any known (in)vertebrate globin by more than three orders of magnitude (K = 1.2 × 10-6 m). This can be fully attributed to the highest (ever observed for a ferrous Hb) cyanide-binding association rate constant (kon = 3.3 × 103 m-1·s-1), even though the binding process displays a rate-limiting step (kmax = 9.1 s -1). Cj-trHbP(III) shows a very high affinity for cyanide (L = 5.8 × 10-9 m); however, cyanide association kinetics are independent of cyanide concentration, displaying a rate-limiting step (l max = 2.0 × 10-3 s-1). Values of the first-order rate constant for cyanide dissociation from Cj-trHbP(II)-cyanide and Cj-trHbP(III)-cyanide (koff =5.0 × 10-3 s -1 and loff ≥ 1 × 10-4 s-1, respectively) are similar to those reported for (in)vertebrate globins. The very high affinity of cyanide for Cj-trHbP(II), reminiscent of that of horseradish peroxidase(II), suggests that this globin may participate in cyanide detoxification. © 2008 The Authors

Structural bases for substrate and inhibitor recognition by matrix metaloproteinases

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of zinc-dependent endopeptidases which are involved in the proteolytic processing of several components of the extracellular matrix. As a consequence, MMPs are implicated in several physiological and pathological processes, like skeletal growth and remodelling, wound healing, cancer, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis, raising a very widespread interest toward this class of enzymes as potential therapeutic targets. Here, structure-function relationships are discussed to highlight the role of different MMP domains on substrate/inhibitor recognition and processing and to attempt the formulation of advanced guidelines, based on natural substrates, for the design of inhibitors more efficient in vivo. © 2008 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd