The Italian National Register of infants with congenital hypothyroidism: twenty years of surveillance and study of congenital hypothyroidism

All the Italian Centres in charge of screening, diagnosis, and follow-up of infants with congenital hypothyroidism participate in the Italian National Registry of affected infants, which performs the nationwide surveillance of the disease. It was established in 1987 as a program of the Health Ministry and is coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. The early diagnosis performed by the nationwide newborn screening programme, the prompt treatment and the appropriate clinical management of the patients carried out by the Follow-up Centres, and the surveillance of the disease performed by the National Register of infants with congenital hypothyroidism are the components of an integrated approach to the disease which has been successfully established in our country

Comparison between Culture Conditions Improving Growth and Differentiation of Blood and Bone Marrow Cells Committed to the Endothelial Cell Lineage

The aim of this study was to compare different cell sources and culture conditions to obtain endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) with predictable antigen pattern, proliferation potential and in vitro vasculogenesis. Pig mononuclear cells were isolated from blood (PBMCs) and bone marrow (BMMCs). Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were also derived from pig bone marrow. Cells were cultured on fibronectin in the presence of a high concentration of VEGF and low IGF-1 and FGF-2 levels, or on gelatin with a lower amount of VEGF and higher IGF-1 and FGF-2 concentrations. Endothelial commitment was relieved in almost all PBMCs and BMMCs irrespective of the protocol used, whilst MSCs did not express a reliable pattern of EPC markers under these conditions. BMMCs were more prone to expand on gelatin and showed a better viability than PBMCs. Moreover, about 90% of the BMMCs pre-cultured on gelatin could adhere to a hyaluronan-based scaffold and proliferate on it up to 3 days. Pre-treatment of BMMCs on fibronectin generated well-shaped tubular structures on Matrigel, whilst BMMCs exposed to the gelatin culture condition were less prone to form vessel-like structures. MSCs formed rough tubule-like structures, irrespective of the differentiating condition used. In a relative short time, pig BMMCs could be expanded on gelatin better than PBMCs, in the presence of a low amount of VEGF. BMMCs could better specialize for capillary formation in the presence of fibronectin and an elevated concentration of VEGF, whilst pig MSCs anyway showed a limited capability to differentiate into the endothelial cell lineage

Educazione sessuale come educazione morale

Il saggio introduce e analizza il dibattito che vede tra i protagonisti il ginecologo Doléris e il sociologo Durkheim permettendo di osservare in che termini e con quali osservanze, alle porte della Grande Guerra, la sessualità entrava nei dibattiti, come anche nelle scuole e negli istituti; dall’altro lato aiuta nella comprensione di una figura poliedrica, eclettica, quella del padre putativo del funzionalismo organicista, tassello fondamentale per l’intera storia della sociologia, Émile Durkheim. Ancora oggi la figura del sociologo è piuttosto dibattuta e si muove all’interno di un paradosso che lo vede sia come un progressista che come un conservatore.The essay introduces and analyzes the debate that sees the gynecologist Doléris and the sociologist Durkheim among the protagonists, allowing us to observe in what terms and with what observances, at the gates of the Great War, sexuality entered debates, as well as in schools and institutes; on the other hand, it helps in the understanding of a multifaceted, eclectic figure, that of the putative father of organicist functionalism, a fundamental piece for the entire history of sociology, Émile Durkheim. Even today the figure of the sociologist is rather debated and moves within a paradox that sees him as both a progressive and a conservative

Maschilità “detenute”. Fare e disfare le maschilità in carcere

Gender is a cultural product that is constructed, negotiated, performed within specific arenas equipped with peculiar symbol systems. Masculinity will be the main topic discussed in this article. Trying to question the naturalizing association of masculinity and violent conduct/crime, we will focus on the construction of an ideal masculine identity which puts emphasis on doing masculinity doing deviant behavior/crime. Finally, we will observe a specific arena – what can be defined as the field of penitentiary – in which different representations of gender compete to acquire power, to alleviate the frustration and to reconstruct their own erotic-sexual dimension. Taking that masculinity is built primarily in opposition to femininity, what kind of masculinity dominates and becomes a winning model in such gender segregated space

SULL’EDUCAZIONE SESSUALE

On sexual education as a moral educatio

Disabili, sì, ma “normali”. Abilismo interiorizzato e riproduzione della norma (etero)sessuale

The main aim of the article based on an exploratory research consists precisely in analyzing the processes of normative gender construction in disabled embodiment interpreted through the heterosexual matrix and sexual binarism lenses, processes that intersect with the dimension of disability providing the consolidation of an uncritical construction of disabled bodies subjected to overall processes of normalization. The conclusions and discussions focus on the further depoliticization of those complicit disabled identities who don’t challenge ableism and heterosexism

Devianze sessuali

La sessualit\ue0 \ue8 una delle dimensioni umane che hanno ricevuto maggiori forme di controllo, regolamentazione e normalizzazione. In particolare, essa \ue8 divenuta argomento di studio tramite approcci essenzialisti riconducibili al concetto di scientia sexualis, che proponeva una sessualit\ue0 monolitica, ancorata ai concetti di giusto e sbagliato, morale e immorale, normale e anormale. dipendentemente dalle culture e organizzazioni di riferimento. Ancora oggi, nonostante le riflessioni in chiave simbolico-interazionista offerta da autori quali Garfinkel, Goffman e Simon e Gagnon, la sessualit\ue0 appare regolamentata dal discorso medico e legata a doppio nodo dalla dimensione morale. Anche le discipline sociologiche e criminologiche non sono state esenti dagli influssi delle concezioni moralistiche della sessualit\ue0 sviluppate in epoca tardovittoriana, e con difficolt\ue0 hanno rinunciato all\u2019impalcatura bio-psico-medica per considerare l\u2019atto sessuale come un fenomeno umano ancorato a precisi significati simbolici, condivisi, rielaborati e adattati costantemente all\u2019interno delle interazioni umane e luenzati e capaci di esercitare ancora un forte e decisivo controllo in ogni aspetto della sessualit\ue0 dell\u2019individuo.Sexuality is one of the human dimensions that have received major forms of control, regulation and normalization. In particular, it has become a subject of study through essentialist approaches that can be traced back to the concept of scientia sexualis, which proposed a monolithic sexuality, anchored to the concepts of right and wrong, moral and immoral, normal and abnormal. depending on the reference cultures and organizations. Even today, despite the symbolic-interactionist reflections offered by authors such as Garfinkel, Goffman and Simon and Gagnon, sexuality appears to be regulated by the medical discourse and tied to a double knot by the moral dimension. Even the sociological and criminological disciplines have not been exempt from the influences of the moralistic conceptions of sexuality developed in the late Victorian era, and with difficulty they have renounced the bio-psycho-medical framework to consider the sexual act as a human phenomenon anchored to precise symbolic meanings, shared, reworked and constantly adapted within human and luenzati interactions and capable of still exercising a strong and decisive control in every aspect of the individual's sexuality

Colourful Childhoods. Linee guida per lo sviluppo di protocolli per prevenire e combattere la violenza contro le bambine e i bambini LGBTIQ nei contesti di vulnerabilità

This handbook is part of Colourful Childhoods, a project de- signed to empower LGBTIQ children in vulnerable situations to combat violence across Europe. The information contained here is informed by fieldwork carried out in a number of Euro- pean Union countries (Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Por- tugal and Spain) during 2022 and 2023 as part of the Colourful Childhoods project. The fieldwork included a transnational survey with the participation of over 3,000 teenagers, eight fo- cus groups with children and teenagers and 83 interviews with professionals who work with children and teenagers. Therefore, this handbook uses data and testimony from project partici- pants throughout the text. The expertise of the project partners was applied to transform the information gathered during the fieldwork into key ideas and recommendations