Un nomos atopos? Gli Efori e i baffi degli Spartani. Nota esegetica a De sera num. vind. 4.550B

At De sera num. vind. 550B, among the examples of atypical laws, Plutarch cites the ban issued by the Spartan Ephors to let the whiskers grow. Witness of this prescription is Aristotle (fr. 539 Rose), specifically mentioned by Plutarch at Cleom. 9.3, where the latter again refers to the odd Spartan law: the text of the biography, however, shows how the same nomos, held as atopos in the aforementioned passage of the treatise, has indeed a precise motivation for Plutarch. Here we propose to discuss some of the ecdotic and exegetic doubts raised by a comparison between the two texts, and further consider the third witness of the Aristotelian quote, Plu. fr. 90 Sandbach

Elastographic presentation of medullary thyroid carcinoma

Aim of the study was to evaluate the elastographic appearance of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) by a retrospective evaluation of 18 nodules histologically proven as MTC. Free-hand qualitative elastography was performed using Hitachi Logos EUB 7500. The elasticity score (ES), was assessed based on a colour elastogram, the blue colour being correlated with hard tissue, red colour with soft tissue, and green with intermediate hardness. Nodules were classified into four classes. A alleged diagnosis of malignancy was assigned to nodules with ES3 or 4 and a presumptive diagnosis of benignity was assigned to nodules with an ES1 or 2. More than half (55.6 %) of MTCs have a low-intermediate grade of elasticity. The hardest lesions (ES4) were those with ultrasonographic features highly suspicious for malignancy. In conclusion, most of MTCs present an elastographic pattern of benignity. Therefore, qualitative elastography does not add useful information in pointing out MTC on the basis of its hardness. Our data suggest a marginal role for this technique in MTC evaluation

Il mare nemico di Serse: i «Persiani» di Eschilo e «Die Seeschlacht bei Salamis» di Kaulbach

«Il teatro nell'Atene del V a.C. era assai meno simile a un edifico che a quella che oggi chiameremmo opera di architettura paesaggistica»: così si esprime R. Rehm in un volume dedicato alla spazio nella tragedia greca, volendo evidenziare l'impatto che la natura (da intendersi come paesaggio) ha appunto sullo spazio (e non edificio) teatrale delle origini. Se dunque la natura abbraccia e, in certo qual modo, plasma lo spazio teatrale degli antichi Greci, nei loro drammi essa - data la mancanza o l'esiguità di quello che oggi chiameremmo apparato scenografico - non viene raffigurata, ma piuttosto narrata, descritta dai personaggi sulla scena. Proprio su un paesaggio naturale "dipinto a parole" in un testo drammatico - i Persiani di Eschilo - ci si vuole soffermare in questo intervento, al fine di evidenziare come l'elemento naturale e paesaggistico, anche se confinato nello spazio extrascenico e affidato interamente alle capacità descrittive-evocative della parola recitata e/o cantata, non sia una mera appendice esornativa, ma possa svolgere un ruolo di assoluto protagonismo in aperta dialettica con l'uomo e il suo agire. In questa ricognizione si prenderà le mosse dal principale dipinto dedicato in età moderna alla Battaglia di Salamina, Die Seeschlacht bei Salamis, opera del pittore tedesco Wilhelm Von Kaulbach, che occupa oggi buona parte della parete ovest della cosiddetta "Sala del Senato" del Maximilianeum a Monaco di Baviera. Attraverso le scelte pittoriche dell’artista moderno, che mescola con qualche consapevolezza, dovuta ai suoi studi, immagini tratte da diverse fonti classiche (Eschilo ed Erodoto in primo luogo) si può forse recuperare anche visivamente quell’assoluta centralità del mare che è già elemento costitutivo della tragedia antica. In essa infatti le acque di Salamina si rivelano per i Persiani qualcosa di ben diverso da un neutrale campo di battaglia, e rappresentano piuttosto un protagonista attivo e decisivo del confronto navale, incarnando così il duplice volto della natura, madre benevola e alleata per i Greci e al contempo matrigna, ostile e spietata per Serse e la sua armata

Storia di un'esesgesi: Nota a Plu., Ser. Num. 548B7-C4

Starting from Humanism this paper retraces the exegetical history of ser. num. 548B7-C4 and examines the semantic problems of the text. The main issue is the meaning of the verb  μύνασθαι, whose semantic value is determined by the anecdote, just-mentioned by Timon, about the Spartan king Brasidas

Linear and nonlinear influences of climatic changes on migration flows: a case study for the 'Mediterranean bridge'

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Somatic symptoms and parental attachment in middle childhood: the mediating role of anxiety, depressive symptomatology, and peer attachment

Somatic symptoms represent a multi-determined phenomenon that need to be addressed in both clinical and non-clinical settings in light of their impact on child emotional and psychosocial functioning. According to a developmental perspective, children with insecure attachment are more likely to experience somatic symptoms and to perceive greater symptom severity. The present study was designed to increase our understanding of the relationship between parental attachment and somatic symptoms by testing the mediational role of anxiety, peer attachment and depressive symptoms in a non-clinical sample of 332 Italian children (49.4% males) aged 8 to 11 years (Mage= 9.26; SD= 0.89) A serial multiple mediation model was used to verify the study’s hypothesis. Somatic symptoms correlated with attachment, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Anxiety, peer attachment and depression mediated the association between parental attachment and somatic symptoms. This association remained significant after controlling for mediators (b= - 0.185, p < .05), suggesting that low levels of child-parent attachment security relationships can predispose children to experience more somatic symptoms. Results are discussed considering clinical implications

Primordial dark matter halos from fifth forces

We argue that primordial dark matter halos could be generated during radiation domination by long-range attractive forces stronger than gravity. In this paper, we derive the conditions under which these structures could dominate the dark matter content of the Universe while passing microlensing constraints and cosmic microwave background energy injection bounds. The dark matter particles would be clumped in objects in the solar mass range with typical sizes of the order of the solar system. Consequences for direct dark matter searches are important.Peer reviewe

Non-linear dark energy clustering

We consider a dark energy fluid with arbitrary sound speed and equation of state and discuss the effect of its clustering on the cold dark matter distribution at the non-linear level. We write the continuity, Euler and Poisson equations for the system in the Newtonian approximation. Then, using the time renormalization group method to resum perturbative corrections at all orders, we compute the total clustering power spectrum and matter power spectrum. At the linear level, a sound speed of dark energy different from that of light modifies the power spectrum on observationally interesting scales, such as those relevant for baryonic acoustic oscillations. We show that the effect of varying the sound speed of dark energy on the non-linear corrections to the matter power spectrum is below the per cent level, and therefore these corrections can be well modelled by their counterpart in cosmological scenarios with smooth dark energy. We also show that the non-linear effects on the matter growth index can be as large as 10-15 per cent for small scales.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures. Improved presentation. References added. Matches published version in JCA