«Non ho scritto una tragedia, ma un drama per le scene di Venezia»: i libretti di Adriano Morselli per il San Giovanni Grisostomo (1688-1692)

This paper examines a series of drammi per musica written by Adriano Morselli during the last years of his own career as librettist for the Teatro di S. Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice: Amulio e Numitore (1689), Pirro e Demetrio (1690) and L’incoronazione di Serse (1691), with music by Giuseppe Felice Tosi; La pace fra Tolomeo e Seleuco (1691) and L’Ibraim sultano (1692), with music by Carlo Francesco Pollarolo. Investigating a series of topoi and dramaturgical devices that place this works in the wake of the writing conventions of late seventeenth-century Venetian opera, the paper takes into consideration the dramatic models employed by the poet, with their direct influences from the classical French theatre. This allows us to consider Morselli’s libretti as an example of a poetic trend, only partially studied by theatrologists and musicologists, which flourished in Venetian opera during the last quarter of the 17th century

Chapter Armidoro, Oristeo e altri principi giardinieri sulle scene dell’opera veneziana nel Seicento

The subject of aprince dressing as a gardener to approach his beloved is dear to the European theatrical tradition: the model of Don Duardos by Gil Vicente (1562), reprinted in El rincipe viñador by Luis Vélez de Guevara (1668), is also used in French theatre, which proposes a variation in Le Prince déguisé by Georges de Scudery (1636), partly based on the novel Grisel y Mirabella by Juan de Flores (1524). This subject was later integrated into 17th century Italian theatre, starting with Venetian opera. This essay analyses in particular some works produced in Venice in the middle of the century, starting with Il prencipe giardinieroby Benedetto Ferrari (1644), whose subject anticipates first L’Oristeo (1651) by Giovanni Faustini and Francesco Cavalli, and Laurindo by Gio. Andrea Moniglia, written in 1657 and printed as Il principe giardiniere under the name of Giacinto Andrea Cicognini starting from 1664

Zhang Yifei’s Notebooks: Contributions to Transnational Music Teaching

The aim of this paper is the presentation of reflections on the main issues that arose in the reorganization of the Second Cycle of Drama, Art and Music (University of Bologna), which is conducted by teachers of musicological and ethnomusicological disciplines together with students, in order to examine the need to employ different approaches to multidisciplinary teaching in graduate studies. Graduate studies have recorded a significant number of foreign students in recent years, mostly from the Far East, and especially from China, which represents a challenge for multidisciplinary teaching of musicology and ethnomusicology due to the differences between the language cultures. The authors recognize two levels of problems in the implementation of study programs and the organization of teaching: 1) the need to make a specific music lexicon suitable even for non-specialized students without lowering the level of didactic proposals for music curriculum students; 2) the strategy of relations with international students, mostly from the Far East, who generally possess excellent technical musical skills (resulting from the previous schooling at music academies or conservatories), who encounter several language problems, which are often related to the idea of studying and learning human sciences in general (in the case of students of the Far Eastern origin, the culture of learning and the perception of the methodology of teaching humanities differs significantly from the European approach to the same issue). The paper is based on sociological and ethnographic research on foreign students’ learning techniques and reflects on the analysis of collected notes of Chinese students as particular examples of the addressed problems in the perception and adoption of the musicological and ethnomusicological content taught in drama, art and music studies

Zhang Yifei’s Notebooks: Contributions to Transnational Music Teaching

The aim of this paper is the presentation of reflections on the main issues that arose in the reorganization of the Second Cycle of Drama, Art and Music (University of Bologna), which is conducted by teachers of musicological and ethnomusicological disciplines together with students, in order to examine the need to employ different approaches to multidisciplinary teaching in graduate studies. Graduate studies have recorded a significant number of foreign students in recent years, mostly from the Far East, and especially from China, which represents a challenge for multidisciplinary teaching of musicology and ethnomusicology due to the differences between the language cultures. The authors recognize two levels of problems in the implementation of study programs and the organization of teaching: 1) the need to make a specific music lexicon suitable even for non-specialized students without lowering the level of didactic proposals for music curriculum students; 2) the strategy of relations with international students, mostly from the Far East, who generally possess excellent technical musical skills (resulting from the previous schooling at music academies or conservatories), who encounter several language problems, which are often related to the idea of studying and learning human sciences in general (in the case of students of the Far Eastern origin, the culture of learning and the perception of the methodology of teaching humanities differs significantly from the European approach to the same issue). The paper is based on sociological and ethnographic research on foreign students’ learning techniques and reflects on the analysis of collected notes of Chinese students as particular examples of the addressed problems in the perception and adoption of the musicological and ethnomusicological content taught in drama, art and music studies

Transient Decrease of Circulating and Tissular Dendritic Cells in Patients With Mycobacterial Disease and With Partial Dominant IFN\u3b3R1 Deficiency

Interferon-\u3b3 receptor 1 (IFN\u3b3R1) deficiency is one of the inborn errors of IFN-\u3b3 immunity underlying Mendelian Susceptibility to Mycobacterial Disease (MSMD). This molecular circuit plays a crucial role in regulating the interaction between dendritic cells (DCs) and T lymphocytes, thus affecting DCs activation, maturation, and priming of T cells involved in the immune response against intracellular pathogens. We studied a girl who developed at the age of 2.5 years a Mycobacterium avium infection characterized by disseminated necrotizing granulomatous lymphadenitis, and we compared her findings with other patients with the same genetic condition. The patient carried a heterozygous 818del4 mutation in the IFNGR1 gene responsible of autosomal dominant (AD) partial IFN\u3b3R1 deficiency. During the acute infection blood cells immunophenotyping showed a marked reduction in DCs counts, including both myeloid (mDCs) and plasmacytoid (pDCs) subsets, that reversed after successful prolonged antimicrobial therapy. Histology of her abdomen lymph node revealed a profound depletion of tissue pDCs, as compared to other age-matched granulomatous lymphadenitis of mycobacterial origin. Circulating DCs depletion was also observed in another patient with AD partial IFN\u3b3R1 deficiency during mycobacterial infection. To conclude, AD partial IFN\u3b3R1 deficiency can be associated with a transient decrease in both circulating and tissular DCs during acute mycobacterial infection, suggesting that DCs counts monitoring might constitute a useful marker of treatment response

Increased use of high-flow nasal cannulas after the pandemic in bronchiolitis: a more severe disease or a changed physician's attitude?

After the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, we noticed a marked increase in high-flow nasal cannula use for bronchiolitis. This study aims to report the percentage of children treated with high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) in various seasons. The secondary outcomes were admissions for bronchiolitis, virological results, hospital burden, and NICU/PICU need. We conducted a retrospective study in four Italian hospitals, examining the medical records of all infants (< 12 months) hospitalized for bronchiolitis in the last four winter seasons (1 September-31 March 2018-2022). In the 2021-2022 winter season, 66% of admitted children received HFNC versus 23%, 38%, and 35% in the previous 3 years. A total of 876 patients were hospitalized in the study periods. In 2021-2022, 300 infants were hospitalized for bronchiolitis, 22 in 2020-2021, 259 in 2019-2020, and 295 in 2018-2019. The percentage of patients needing intensive care varied from 28.7% to 18%, 22%, and 15% in each of the four considered periods (p < 0.05). Seventy-seven percent of children received oxygen in the 2021-2022 winter; vs 50%, 63%, and 55% (p < 0.01) in the previous 3 years. NIV/CPAP was used in 23%, 9%, 16%, and 12%, respectively. In 2021-2020, 2% of patients were intubated; 0 in 2020-2021, 3% in 2019-2020, and 1% in 2018-2019

Multisystem autoimmune disease caused by increased STAT3 phosphorylation, and dysregulated gene expression

Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 is a member of the STAT family, and plays a major role in various immunological mechanisms.1 Mutations in STAT3 are associated with a broad spectrum of manifestations, including immunodeficiency, autoimmunity, and malignancy.2 In particular, heterozygous germline loss-of-function (LOF) mutations cause Hyper-IgE syndrome (HIES),3–5 while heterozygous germline gain-of-function (GOF) mutations have recently been associated to multi-organ autoimmune manifestations (i.e. type 1 diabetes, enteropathy, cytopenia, interstitial lung disease, hypothyroidism), lymphoproliferation, short stature, and recurrent infections (OMIM #615952).6–8 We report a 7-year-old boy who presented with early-onset severe enteropathy, and diffuse eczematous dermatitis since birth. During the first weeks of life, Hirschsprung disease was also suspected and surgically treated. Gastrointestinal and cutaneous manifestations were first ascribed to food allergy with quite a good response to amino acid-based formula. In the following months, the patient failed to thrive, and developed respiratory tract infections. At two years, the patient presented with progressive interstitial lung disease characterized by lymphocytic interstitial infiltration leading to pulmonary hypertension, tricuspid insufficiency, and right ventricular heart failure with hepatomegaly. Because of the increased risk of infections, he received intravenous (IV) immunoglobulin infusions (400 mg/kg), prophylaxis with cotrimoxazole and fluconazole. Methylprednisolone at 0.3 mg/kg/day was also given to treat autoimmune manifestations

Impaired natural killer cell functions in patients with signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) gain-of-function mutations

Gain-of-function (GOF) mutations affecting the coiled-coil domain or the DNA-binding domain of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) cause chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis disease. This condition is characterized by fungal and bacterial infections caused by impaired generation of TH17 cells; meanwhile, some patients with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis disease might also have viral or intracellular pathogen infections

Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells Depletion and Elevation of IFN-γ Dependent Chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10 in Children With Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome

BackgroundSARS-CoV-2 occurs in the majority of children as COVID-19, without symptoms or with a paucisymptomatic respiratory syndrome, but a small proportion of children develop the systemic Multi Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C), characterized by persistent fever and systemic hyperinflammation, with some clinical features resembling Kawasaki Disease (KD).ObjectiveWith this study we aimed to shed new light on the pathogenesis of these two SARS-CoV-2-related clinical manifestations.MethodsWe investigated lymphocyte and dendritic cells subsets, chemokine/cytokine profiles and evaluated the neutrophil activity mediators, myeloperoxidase (MPO), and reactive oxygen species (ROS), in 10 children with COVID-19 and 9 with MIS-C at the time of hospital admission.ResultsPatients with MIS-C showed higher plasma levels of C reactive protein (CRP), MPO, IL-6, and of the pro-inflammatory chemokines CXCL8 and CCL2 than COVID-19 children. In addition, they displayed higher levels of the chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10, mainly induced by IFN-gamma. By contrast, we detected IFN-alpha in plasma of children with COVID-19, but not in patients with MIS-C. This observation was consistent with the increase of ISG15 and IFIT1 mRNAs in cells of COVID-19 patients, while ISG15 and IFIT1 mRNA were detected in MIS-C at levels comparable to healthy controls. Moreover, quantification of the number of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), which constitute the main source of IFN-alpha, showed profound depletion of this subset in MIS-C, but not in COVID-19.ConclusionsOur results show a pattern of immune response which is suggestive of type I interferon activation in COVID-19 children, probably related to a recent interaction with the virus, while in MIS-C the immune response is characterized by elevation of the inflammatory cytokines/chemokines IL-6, CCL2, and CXCL8 and of the chemokines CXCL9 and CXL10, which are markers of an active Th1 type immune response. We believe that these immunological events, together with neutrophil activation, might be crucial in inducing the multisystem and cardiovascular damage observed in MIS-C