Kritinės pastabos apie Schmitto politinį realizmą

According to a widely accepted line of interpretation, Carl Schmitt’s political philosophy is a classic example of political realism. In this article I propose, starting with an analysis of some themes from the essay published in 1923 Die geistesgeschichtliche Lage des heutigen Parlamentarismus, to challenge this interpretation. An in-depth analysis of Schmitt’s critique of parliamentarism and identitarian democracy may, in fact, suggest that his proposal is a normative theory of political enmity.Remiantis plačiai pripažįstama interpretacija, Carlo Schmitto politinė filosofija laikoma klasikiniu politinio realizmo pavyzdžiu. Šiame straipsnyje, pradėdamas nuo kai kurių temų, išdėstytų 1923 m. publikuotoje jo esė Die geistesgeschichtliche Lage des heutigen Parlamentarismus, siūlau užklausti šią interpretaciją. Nuodugni Schmitto parlamentarizmo ir identitarinės demokratijos kritikos analizė gali, tiesą sakant, rodyti, kad jis siūlo normatyvinę politinio priešiškumo teoriją

La città ostile. Princìpi filosofici per una critica materiale

[The Hostile City. Philosophical Principles for a Material Critique]. This contribution analyses the concept of the “hostile city” by formulating a critical framework focused on the artefactual dimension. The hostile city expresses the political will to stigmatise certain categories of subjects. To this end, the hostile city is disseminated with particular artefacts that make this hostilisation possible. The article proposes to elaborate an urban semeiotics, a science of symptoms capable of analysing the material structure of the city by focusing on elements that are insignificant at first sight. The article focuses on a particular political artefact characteristic of the hostile city, namely the bench on which it is impossible to rest

Nature-derived compounds modulating Wnt/β-catenin pathway: a preventive and therapeutic opportunity in neoplastic diseases

Abstract The Wnt/β-catenin signaling is a conserved pathway that has a crucial role in embryonic and adult life. Dysregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has been associated with diseases including cancer, and components of the signaling have been proposed as innovative therapeutic targets, mainly for cancer therapy. The attention of the worldwide researchers paid to this issue is increasing, also in view of the therapeutic potential of these agents in diseases, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), for which no cure is existing today. Much evidence indicates that abnormal Wnt/β-catenin signaling is involved in tumor immunology and the targeting of Wnt/β-catenin pathway has been also proposed as an attractive strategy to potentiate cancer immunotherapy. During the last decade, several products, including naturally occurring dietary agents as well as a wide variety of products from plant sources, including curcunim, quercetin, berberin, and ginsenosides, have been identified as potent modulators of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling and have gained interest as promising candidates for the development of chemopreventive or therapeutic drugs for cancer. In this review we make an overview of the nature-derived compounds reported to have antitumor activity by modulating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling, also focusing on extraction methods, chemical features, and bio-activity assays used for the screening of these compounds

TM6SF2 rs58542926 is not associated with steatosis and fibrosis in largecohort of patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C

Background & Aims: We tested the putative association of the rs58542926 variant of TM6SF2, a recently described genetic determinant of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, with steatosis and fibrosis in genotype 1(G1) chronic hepatitis C(CHC) patients. Methods: A total of 694 consecutively biopsied Caucasian G1 CHC patients were genotyped for TM6SF2 rs58542926, IL28B rs12979860 and PNPLA3 rs738409. Steatosis was classified as absent (<5%), mild-moderate(5-29%) and severe( 6530%), Fibrosis was considered severe if=F3-F4. Results: Carriers of TM6SF2 rs58542926 (6.3% of patients) exhibited lower serum levels of cholesterol (P=0.04) and triglycerides (P=0.01), but a similar distribution of steatosis severity (P=0.63), compared to noncarriers. Prevalence and severity of steatosis were reduced in IL28B C allele carriers (P=0.005) and elevated in PNPLA3G allele carriers (P<0.001). After adjustment for age, gender, body mass index and homoeostasis model assessment score, steatosis severity was independently associated with IL28B rs12979860 (odds ratio [OR] 0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55-0.86, P=0.001) and PNPLA3 rs738409 (OR 1.84, 95% CI 1.46-2.83, P<0.001), but not TM6SF2 rs58542926 (OR 1.48, 95% CI 0.82-2.69, P=0.19). Variants of TM6SF2 (30.9% vs. 25%, P=0.40), IL28B and PNPLA3 were not directly associated with fibrosis severity, although variants of IL28B and PNPLA3 promoted steatosis (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.06-1.75, P=0.01) that in turn is associated with severe fibrosis. Conclusions: In G1 CHC patients, TM6SF2 rs58542926 does not affect the histological severity of liver damage. However, IL28B rs12979860 and PNPLA3 rs738409 modify steatosis

On the pearl size of hydrophobic polyelectrolytes

Hydrophobic polyelectrolytes have been predicted to adopt an unique pearl-necklace conformation in aqueous solvents. We present in this Letter an attempt to characterise quantitatively this conformation with a focus on $D_p$, the pearl size. For this purpose polystyrenesulfonate (PSS) of various effective charge fractions $f_{eff}$ and chain lengths $N$ has been adsorbed onto oppositely charged surfaces immersed in water in condition where the bulk structure is expected to persist in the adsorbed state. \emph{In situ} ellipsometry has provided an apparent thickness $h_{app}$ of the PSS layer. In the presence of added salts, we have found: $h_{app}\sim aN^{0}f_{eff}^{-2/3}$ ($a$ is the monomer size) in agreement with the scaling predictions for $D_p$ in the pearl-necklace model if one interprets $h_{app}$ as a measure of the pearl size. At the lowest charge fractions we have found $h_{app}\sim aN^{1/3}$ for the shorter chains, in agreement with a necklace/globule transition.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Published in Europhysics Letters, Vol. 62, Number 1, pp. 110-116 (2003

Diagnostic performance of Wells score combined with point-of-care lung and venous ultrasound in suspected pulmonary embolism

Objective: Lung and venous ultrasound are bedside diagnostic tools increasingly used in the early diagnostic approach of suspected pulmonary embolism (PE). However, the possibility of improving the conventional prediction rule for PE by integrating ultrasound has never been investigated. Methods: We performed lung and venous ultrasound in consecutive patients suspected of PE in four emergency departments. Conventional Wells score (Ws) was adjudicated by the attending physician, and ultrasound was performed by one of 20 investigators. Signs of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) at venous ultrasound and signs of pulmonary infarcts or alternative diagnoses at lung ultrasound were considered to recalculate two items of the Ws: signs and symptoms of DVT and alternative diagnosis less likely than PE. The diagnostic performances of the ultrasound-enhanced Ws (USWs) and Ws were then compared after confirmation of the final diagnosis. Results: A total of 446 patients were studied. PE was confirmed in 125 patients (28%). USWs performed significantly better than Ws, with a sensitivity of 69.6% versus 57.6% and a specificity of 88.2% versus 68.2%. In combination with D-dimer, USWs showed an optimal failure rate (0.8%) and a significantly superior efficiency than Ws (32.3% vs. 27.2%). A strategy based on lung and venous ultrasound combined with D-dimer would allow to avoid CT pulmonary angiography in 50.5% of patients with suspected PE, compared to 27.2% when the rule without ultrasound is applied. Conclusions: A pretest risk stratification enhanced by ultrasound of lung and venous performs better than Ws in the early diagnostic process of PE

Interface localisation-delocalisation transition in a symmetric polymer blend: a finite-size scaling Monte Carlo study

Using extensive Monte Carlo simulations we study the phase diagram of a symmetric binary (AB) polymer blend confined into a thin film as a function of the film thickness D. The monomer-wall interactions are short ranged and antisymmetric, i.e, the left wall attracts the A-component of the mixture with the same strength as the right wall the B-component, and give rise to a first order wetting transition in a semi-infinite geometry. The phase diagram and the crossover between different critical behaviors is explored. For large film thicknesses we find a first order interface localisation/delocalisation transition and the phase diagram comprises two critical points, which are the finite film width analogies of the prewetting critical point. Using finite size scaling techniques we locate these critical points and present evidence of 2D Ising critical behavior. When we reduce the film width the two critical points approach the symmetry axis $\phi=1/2$ of the phase diagram and for $D \approx 2 R_g$ we encounter a tricritical point. For even smaller film thickness the interface localisation/delocalisation transition is second order and we find a single critical point at $\phi=1/2$. Measuring the probability distribution of the interface position we determine the effective interaction between the wall and the interface. This effective interface potential depends on the lateral system size even away from the critical points. Its system size dependence stems from the large but finite correlation length of capillary waves. This finding gives direct evidence for a renormalization of the interface potential by capillary waves in the framework of a microscopic model.Comment: Phys.Rev.

Molecular subtypes, metastatic pattern and patient age in breast cancer: An analysis of italian network of cancer registries (airtum) data

Breast cancer stage at diagnosis, patient age and molecular tumor subtype influence disease progression. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between these factors and survival in breast cancer patients among the Italian population using data from the AIRTUM national database. We enrolled women with primary breast cancer from 17 population‐based cancer registries. Patients were subdivided into older (&gt;69 years), middle (50–69 years) and younger age groups (&lt;50 years) and their primary tumors categorized into four molecular subtypes based on hormone receptor (HR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status. There were 8831 patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2012 included. The most represented age group was 50– 69 years (41.7%). In 5735 cases the molecular subtype was identified: HER2–/HR+ was the most frequent (66.2%) and HER2+/HR− the least (6.2%). Of the 390 women with metastases at diagnosis, 38% had simultaneous involvement of multiple sites, independent of age and molecular profile. In women with a single metastatic site, bone (20% of cases), liver (11%), lung (7%) and brain (3%) were the most frequent. In the studied age groups with different receptor expression profiles, the tumor metastasized to target organs with differing frequencies, affecting survival. Five‐year survival was lowest in women with triple‐negative (HER2−/HR–) tumors and women with brain metastases at diagnosis

Intrinsic profiles and capillary waves at homopolymer interfaces: a Monte Carlo study

A popular concept which describes the structure of polymer interfaces by ``intrinsic profiles'' centered around a two dimensional surface, the ``local interface position'', is tested by extensive Monte Carlo simulations of interfaces between demixed homopolymer phases in symmetric binary (AB) homopolymer blends, using the bond fluctuation model. The simulations are done in an LxLxD geometry. The interface is forced to run parallel to the LxL planes by imposing periodic boundary conditions in these directions and fixed boundary conditions in the D direction, with one side favoring A and the other side favoring B. Intrinsic profiles are calculated as a function of the ``coarse graining length'' B by splitting the system into columns of size BxBxD and averaging in each column over profiles relative to the local interface position. The results are compared to predictions of the self-consistent field theory. It is shown that the coarse graining length can be chosen such that the interfacial width matches that of the self-consistent field profiles, and that for this choice of B the ``intrinsic'' profiles compare well with the theoretical predictions.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev.