The Myth of ‘Mare Nostrum’: Themes and Exhibitions, Legacy and Experimentation in the Construction of Mediterranean Fascist Italy

This essay aims to analyse the ways in which the myth of the Mare nostrum entered into the artistic iconography of the early twentieth century. It was highly amplified during the Fascist regime thanks to some relevant graphic works, monumental commissions and, above all, temporary exhibitions that were characterized by a propagandistic overtone. The representation of a Mediterranean (in fact Italian) common identity became a fundamental part of a pervasive political strategy. The stylistic choices were conditioned both by the need to emphasize the glorious return of “Latinness” and the incardination of the “new” fascist modernity

Delirium in hip fractured patients

The current clinical case concerns the mixed delirium in a 70-year-old man with hip fracture, following a fall at home. In his medical history, the patient reported several comorbidities, among which also sarcopenia. Delirium was already diagnosed by the geriatrician on hospital admission. The patient underwent hip endoprosthesis surgery after 24 hours without any intra-operative complications. However, in the post-operative period delirium persisted, causing a prolonged hospital stay, a delayed physio-therapy rehabilitation with poor functional recovery, and subsequent insti-tutionalization. The prevalence of delirium in older people with hip fracture is extremely high and it is associated with several negative outcomes. Delirium is considered a multifactorial disorder, and, in particular, sarcopenia appears directly linked to the development of delirium. The systematic assessment of sarcopenia should be performed in hospitalized older patients with hip fracture, together with the other predisposing risk factors for delirium, to timely identify people at higher risk for both delirium and disability

Photochemical Ring-Opening Reaction of 1,3-Cyclohexadiene: Identifying the True Reactive State

The photochemically induced ring-opening isomerization reaction of 1,3-cyclohexadiene to 1,3,5-hexatriene is a textbook example of a pericyclic reaction and has been amply investigated with advanced spectroscopic techniques. The main open question has been the identification of the single reactive state which drives the process. The generally accepted description of the isomerization pathway starts with a valence excitation to the lowest lying bright state, followed by a passage through a conical intersection to the lowest lying doubly excited state, and finally a branching between either the return to the ground state of the cyclic molecule or the actual ring-opening reaction leading to the open-chain isomer. Here, in a joint experimental and computational effort, we demonstrate that the evolution of the excitation–deexcitation process is much more complex than that usually described. In particular, we show that an initially high-lying electronic state smoothly decreasing in energy along the reaction path plays a key role in the ring-opening reaction

Mostrare/Dimostrare. Gli allestimenti effimeri nella Roma del decennale fascista (1932) / Exhibiting/Showing. The ephemeral displays in Rome during the tenth anniversary of the March on Rome (1932)

Nonostante la ricca bibliografia inerente alla Mostra della Rivoluzione (1932), i festeggiamenti del decennale fascista non si esauriscono nella pur spettacolare cornice allestitiva del Palazzo delle Esposizioni di Roma. Infatti, sparsi per la città, in una prospettiva globalizzante e avvolgente, una serie di padiglioni tematici documentano, da un lato, il continuo processo di estetizzazione della vita politica e sociale operato dal regime, dall’altro, le infinite possibilità espressive e comunicative del medium espositivo. Questo studio, attraverso una puntuale ricerca documentaria e archivistica, si propone di riconnotare le mostre “minori” del ’32 come canale operativo d’eccezione per artisti d’avanguardia e architetti razionalisti, esclusi dal “novecentismo” imperante e dal monumentalismo piacentiniano delle committenze ufficiali. Despite the rich bibliography of the “Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution” (“Mostra della Rivoluzione Fascista”, 1932), the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the March on Rome does not end in the spectacular setting inside the Palace of Exhibitions. In fact, in a urban perspective, some thematic pavilions, scattered around the city, show, on the one hand, the continual “aestheticization” process of the political and social live by Mussolini's regime and, on the other hand, demonstrate the infinite possibilities of expression and communication of the exhibitions as “medium”. Through the archival and documentary research, this study seeks to describe the “minor” exhibitions that took place in 1932, where avant-garde artists and rationalist architects, that were excluded from official commissions, found their own way to create a different language from both “Novecento” movement and Piacentini’s monumentalism.

Uno scenario da film: la “Mostra del Lazio” di Armando Brasini

La Mostra dell’agricoltura, dell’industria e delle arti applicate, detta più comunemente “del Lazio”, tenutasi nel 1923 presso il Galoppatoio di Villa Borghese a Roma, impegna Armando Brasini nella realizzazione di una vera e propria “cittadella” espositiva, capace di solidificare la passione dell’architetto per la classicità e decretare la prima tappa di un'altisonante carriera come costruttore dell’effimero. A chiusura dell’evento, l’apparato posticcio, organico e magniloquente, è scelto come scenario perfetto di ambientazione della pellicola Quo Vadis, una coproduzione italo tedesca sotto la regia di Georg Jacoby e Gabriellino D’Annunzio; il peplum raccoglie la vocazione scenografica della mostra, sorta con l’intento di coinvolgere il pubblico nella mitopoietica del fascismo e di meravigliare i fruitori/spettatori attraverso un’immaginifica e, in parte utopica, ricostruzione urbana.The Mostra dell’agricoltura, dell’industria e delle arti applicate, also known as “del Lazio”, held in Rome at the Galoppatoio inside the Villa Borghese gardens in 1923, involves Armando Brasini in the construction of a real ephemeral “city”. All the monumental pavilions created on this occasion and the exhibition spaces demonstrate his great passion for historicism and his personal approach to eclecticism. The roman architect started in this way a brilliant career as builder of “non durable” structures. At the end of the event, before the destruction, the impressive work of architecture, urban design and art was reused as a film set for the remake of Quo Vadis, under the direction of Gabriellino D’Annunzio and Georg Jacoby. Both the exhibition and the film wanted to attract spectators with their theatrical elements and emphasize the close interconnection between the epic past and the mussolinian present. During the regime, the cult of classical history was one of the most important aspects of propaganda and the “romanità” was considered a sort of value, symbolic and rhetorical, for fascist ideology

Competencias sociales y bullying en adolescentes con Trastorno del Espectro Autista y su asociación con la conducta suicida: Un estudio piloto

Evidence suggests that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may be associated with an increased risk of suicidal ideation. In light of this situation, it becomes necessary to investigate whether social skills and bullying are factors that influence suicidal behavior. Therefore, this research explores the association between the state of social skills and experiences of bullying, and the degree of suicidal ideation in high-functioning adolescents with ASD. A pilot study was conducted with the participation of 24 high-functioning adolescents with ASD aged between 11 and 18 years. The instruments used for assessment included 1) the Okasha Scale, 2) the Aggression/Victimization Scale, and 3) the Adolescent Multidimensional Social Competence Questionnaire (AMSC-Q). Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and correlation analysis using the Spearman correlation coefficient. The results revealed an association between the level of suicidal ideation, bullying (rs 0.73; p<0.05), and specific dimensions of social skills: cognitive reappraisal (rs -0.44; p<0.05), normative adjustment (rs -0.659; p<0.05), and social efficacy (rs -0.45; p<0.05). It is concluded that there is a correlation between bullying and the degree of suicidal ideation. Additionally, it is observed that some dimensions of social competence are associated with suicidal ideation in the population of adolescents with ASD.La evidencia plantea que el Trastorno del Espectro Autista (TEA) puede estar asociado a un aumento en la ideación suicida. Ante esta situación se hace necesario estudiar si las competencias sociales y el bullying son factores que afectan a la conducta suicida. Por ello, en esta investigación se explora la asociación del estado de las competencias sociales y las experiencias de bullying con el nivel de ideación suicida en adolescentes con TEA de alto funcionamiento. Se realizó un estudio piloto en el que participaron 24 adolescentes con TEA de alto funcionamiento, cuyas edades fluctuaban entre los 11 y los 18 años. Los instrumentos de evaluación fueron: 1) Escala de Okasha, 2) Escalas de agresión y de victimización y 3) Cuestionario multidimensional de competencia social para adolescentes (AMSC-Q). En el análisis de los datos se consideró la estadística descriptiva y de correlación mediante el coeficiente de correlación de Spearman. Los resultados mostraron una asociación entre el nivel de ideación suicida, el bullying (rs 0,73; p<0,05) y algunas dimensiones de la competencia social: reevaluación cognitiva (rs-0,44; p<0,05), ajuste normativo (rs-0,659; p<0,05) y eficacia social (rs -0,45; p<0,05). Se concluye que existe una correlación entre bullying y nivel de ideación suicida. Además, se observa que algunas dimensiones de la competencia social están asociadas a la ideación suicida en la población de adolescentes con TEA

Photochemical Ring-Opening Reaction of 1,3-Cyclohexadiene: Identifying the True Reactive State

The photochemically induced ring-opening isomerization reaction of 1,3-cyclohexadiene to 1,3,5-hexatriene is a textbook example of a pericyclic reaction and has been amply investigated with advanced spectroscopic techniques. The main open question has been the identification of the single reactive state which drives the process. The generally accepted description of the isomerization pathway starts with a valence excitation to the lowest lying bright state, followed by a passage through a conical intersection to the lowest lying doubly excited state, and finally a branching between either the return to the ground state of the cyclic molecule or the actual ring-opening reaction leading to the open-chain isomer. Here, in a joint experimental and computational effort, we demonstrate that the evolution of the excitation–deexcitation process is much more complex than that usually described. In particular, we show that an initially high-lying electronic state smoothly decreasing in energy along the reaction path plays a key role in the ring-opening reaction

COVID-19 as a Paradigmatic Model of the Heterogeneous Disease Presentation in Older People: Data from the GeroCovid Observational Study

COVID-19 may have a heterogeneous onset, especially in older age. However, whether and how COVID-19 signs and symptoms may present and aggregate together according to sociodemographic and health factors is unclear, as well as their prognostic value. This study included 981 COVID-19 inpatients who participated in the GeroCovid Observational study. Signs/symptoms at disease onset, sociodemographic, health, cognitive status, and mobility were systematically recorded. Clusters of signs/symptoms were identified through agglomerative hierarchical clustering. The associations of single signs/symptoms and symptom clusters with longer hospitalization (>= 16 days) and in-hospital mortality were explored through logistic and Cox regressions. The signs/symptoms most reported in our sample (age 78.3 +/- 9.39 years; 49.4% women) were fever (62.5%), cough (45.5%), and dyspnea (62.7%). Atypical symptoms were reported by up to one-third of patients, and delirium by 9.1%. Atypical symptoms were more frequent with advancing age and with lower pre-COVID-19 cognitive and mobility levels. Older men more likely reported respiratory symptoms than women. Dyspnea (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.47, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-2.12), tachypnea (HR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.14-2.07), low oxygen saturation (HR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.32-2.88) and delirium (HR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.13-2.28) were associated with higher in-hospital mortality. Four symptom clusters were identified. Compared with the mild respiratory symptoms cluster, the severe clinical impairment cluster was associated with higher mortality (HR = 2.57, 95% CI: 1.58-4.18). The severe clinical impairment and aspecific symptoms clusters were associated with longer hospitalization (odds ratio [OR] = 2.38, 95% CI: 1.56-3.63, and OR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.08-2.83, respectively). Multiple health aspects influence COVID-19 clinical presentation. A symptom clusters approach may help predict adverse health outcomes in older patients. In addition to respiratory symptoms, delirium is independently associated with mortality risk.ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04379440)