Un felice incontro

Il testo di Remo Ceserani dal titolo "Un felice incontro" fa parte di "Nel cuore della meraviglia" [Atti del convegno, marzo 2000] a cura di Isabelle Mallez e Raffaele Milani, "Quaderni di PsicoArt", n. 1, 2010

La Storia della letteratura italiana come romanzo

La Storia della letteratura italiana di Francesco De Sanctis viene letta in questa relazione come un romanzo, forse il romanzo di maggior successo dell'Ottocento italiano, dopo I promessi sposi di Alessandro Manzoni. Nell'interpretazione di Ceserani la struttura del libro è basata su tre tipi molto popolari di narrazione praticati in quel secolo: 1) il romanzo storico, in cui realtà e invenzione sono mescolate e scene di movimento di grandi masse si alternano con scene in cui singoli grandi eroi (Dante, Machiavelli) sono celebrati e rappre­sentati nella loro monumentalità: 2) il romanzo di educazione o Bildungsroman, nel quale tuttavia il protagonista non è un singolo personaggio, che costruisce la sua individualità dalla giovinezza alla maturità, ma è, invece, un intero popolo, che passa attraverso fasi suc­cessive: una fase creativa e spontanea nel Trecento, una fase di decadenza nel Cinquecento e Seicento, una nuova partenza e un vero rinascimento nell'età moderna; 3) il dramma borghese e l'opera in musica, con il loro gusto per i contrasti dialettici e i forti conflitti.Francesco De Sanctis' History of Italian Literature is read in this paper as a novel, proba­bly the most successful novel of the Italian Nineteenth-Century after The betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni. According to Ceserani's interpretation, the structure of the book is based on three popular types of narrations written in that century: 1) the historical novel (or romance), in which reality and invention are combined and scenes of large masses alternate with scenes in which single great heroes (Dante, Machiavelli) are celebrated and represented in their monumentality; 2) the novel of education or Bildungsroman, but in this case the protagonist is not a single character, who constructs his individuality from youth to maturity; instead it is an entire people, who passes through different stages: a very creative and genuine one in the Trecento, an age of decadence during the Cinquecento and Seicento, a new start and a true renaissance in the modern times; 3) the bourgeois drama and the opera, with their penchant for dialectical contrasts and sharp conflicts

Le antologie e le grandi opere come contributi alla costruzione dei canoni

In this paper, Remo Ceserani reflects upon the notions of canon and anthology in relation to the institutions behind them. After a short premise in which the traditional role of Church and school in the process of canonization is taken into account, the discussion moves to the present age, focusing on the idea of canon that lies at the basis of both North-American and Italian anthologies. In the former case, Ceserani highlights how the emergence of world literature has led to revise the structure of anthologies; in the latter case, the author argues that the canon mutuated from the work of Francesco De Sanctis still functions as the main source for many anthologies. He then concludes by stating that a thematical approach could constitute an alternative structuring criterion for a scholastic anthology.Nel presente intervento Remo Ceserani riflette sui concetti di «canone» e «antologia» in relazione alle istituzioni che li determinano. Dopo una premessa in cui è discussa la funzione ‘canonizzante’ di Chiesa e scuola già a partire dall’antichità, la riflessione si sposta verso la contemporaneità e si concentra in particolare sull’idea di canone sottesa alle antologie scolastiche, sia nordamericane che italiane. Nel caso delle prime, Ceserani sottolinea fra l’altro come l’affermazione della world literature abbia portato a rivedere la forma stessa delle antologie; nel caso delle seconde, l’autore argomenta invece intorno al canone desanctisiano su cui ancora oggi molte di esse sono costruite, e suggerisce come una possibile via alternativa sia rappresentata da un’impostazione di tipo tematico

Davanti alla grande macchina della legge

Literature and its representations of the legal world.Remarkable differences between the administration of the  law in countries that follow the tradition of the Roman law and those that operate according to Anglo-Saxon customs. The protagonists of the court-room drama:  the defendant, the prosecutor, the lawyers, the testifiers, the expert witness, the judge, the jurors, the audience. The machine of the law, its functioning, the atmosphere of the court in their metaphorical representations in literary texts. The frequent difficulty experienced by defendants and audience to understand the machinery of the law. Examples from many literary and filmic texts, from the Book of Job to the novels by Grisham.La letteratura e le sue rappresentazioni del mondo della legge. Differenze profonde tra l’amministrazione della giustizia nei paesi eredi del diritto romano e quella nei paesi di tradizione anglosassone. I protagonisti della scena giudiziaria: l’imputato, il procuratore, gli avvocati, i testimoni, il perito di parte, il giudice, la giuria, il pubblico. La macchina della giustizia, i suoi funzionamenti, l’atmosfera delle udienze nelle metafore letterarie. La frequente incomprensione dei suoi meccanismi da parte di imputati e pubblico. Gli esempi di molti testi letterari e filmici, dal Libro di Giobbe ai romanzi di Grisham

El ofrecimiento y la producción de prueba en la insolvencia trasnacional

El sistema probatorio internacional actual, siguiendo a Khun (1971), representa un paradigma erosionado, acabado, e imposible de resistir los embates del falsacionismo popperiano fuertemente impregnado del fenómeno global. La normativa de fuente interna -Código Civil y Comercial, Ley de Quiebras n° 24.522- así como los instrumentos normativos regionales del Mercosur (Protocolo de Las Leñas de 1992) establecen pautas relativas a la recepción u obtención de las pruebas y a su diligenciamiento, más nada establecen respecto al ofrecimiento y la producción de aquellas en el marco de la insolvencia internacional. Entendiendo que el rol de todo doctrinario es alumbrar a la legislación -fuente del derecho- y a los operadores del derecho, en general, proponemos este breve trabajo fruto de analizar y repensar la normativa actual a partir de la gran cantidad de casos fraudulentos y de insolvencia trasnacional que asolan no solo a nuestro país sino también a los fronterizos. En pos de ello proponemos en la norma el ofrecimiento y la producción de la prueba, en otras palabras, descorsetar el sistema probatorio internacional de los parámetros actuales en los cuales se halla inmerso. Creemos que ello permitirá lograr un margen importante de eficacia probatoria. Se requiere arbitrar los medios que permitan una verdadera internacionalización de la prueba, la celeridad y la premura que ella necesita. Sintetizando, el presente trabajo versará sobre el ofrecimiento y la producción probatoria en el marco de la insolvencia trasnacional. Al final se esbozará una conclusión de tendencia de “Lege Ferenda” a los fines de dejar plasmado el camino para un futuro cambio normativo

Il fantastico e l’immaginario postmoderno

Questo articolo corrisponde alla relazione che Remo Ceseraniha presentato al XXX Convegno ADILLI, “Lo fantástico en las letras italianas”, tenutosi Buenos Aires, presso l’Universidad del Salvador, il 1 ottobre 2014 ed è qui pubblicato per la prima volta in lingua italiana

Angiogenic and anti-inflammatory properties of micro-fragmented fat tissue and its derived mesenchymal stromal cells.

BACKGROUND: Adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (Ad-MSCs) are a promising tool for advanced cell-based therapies. They are routinely obtained enzymatically from fat lipoaspirate (LP) as SVF, and may undergo prolonged ex vivo expansion, with significant senescence and decline in multipotency. Besides, these techniques have complex regulatory issues, thus incurring in the compelling requirements of GMP guidelines. Hence, availability of a minimally manipulated, autologous adipose tissue would have remarkable biomedical and clinical relevance. For this reason, a new device, named Lipogems® (LG), has been developed. This ready-to-use adipose tissue cell derivate has been shown to have in vivo efficacy upon transplantation for ischemic and inflammatory diseases. To broaden our knowledge, we here investigated the angiogenic and anti-inflammatory properties of LG and its derived MSC (LG-MSCs) population. METHODS: Human LG samples and their LG-MSCs were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for pericyte, endothelial and mesenchymal stromal cell marker expression. Angiogenesis was investigated testing the conditioned media (CM) of LG (LG-CM) and LG-MSCs (LG-MSCs-CM) on cultured endothelial cells (HUVECs), evaluating proliferation, cord formation, and the expression of the adhesion molecules (AM) VCAM-1 and ICAM-1. The macrophage cell line U937 was used to evaluate the anti-inflammatory properties, such as migration, adhesion on HUVECs, and release of RANTES and MCP-1. RESULTS: Our results indicate that LG contained a very high number of mesenchymal cells expressing NG2 and CD146 (both pericyte markers) together with an abundant microvascular endothelial cell (mEC) population. Substantially, both LG-CM and LG-MSC-CM increased cord formation, inhibited endothelial ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression following TNFα stimulation, and slightly improved HUVEC proliferation. The addition of LG-CM and LG-MSC-CM strongly inhibited U937 migration upon stimulation with the chemokine MCP-1, reduced their adhesion on HUVECs and significantly suppressed the release of RANTES and MCP-1. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that LG micro-fragmented adipose tissue retains either per se, or in its embedded MSCs content, the capacity to induce vascular stabilization and to inhibit several macrophage functions involved in inflammation

Gemcitabine-releasing mesenchymal stromal cells inhibit in vitro proliferation of human pancreatic carcinoma cells

BACKGROUND AIMS: Pancreatic cancer (pCa) is a tumor characterized by a fibrotic state and associated with a poor prognosis. The observation that mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) migrate toward inflammatory micro-environments and engraft into tumor stroma after systemic administration suggested new therapeutic approaches with the use of engineered MSCs to deliver and produce anti-cancer molecules directly within the tumor. Previously, we demonstrated that without any genetic modifications, MSCs are able to deliver anti-cancer drugs. MSCs loaded with paclitaxel by exposure to high concentrations release the drug both in vitro and in vivo, inhibiting tumor proliferation. On the basis of these observations, we evaluated the ability of MSCs (from bone marrow and pancreas) to uptake and release gemcitabine (GCB), a drug widely used in pCa treatment. METHODS: MSCs were primed by 24-h exposure to 2000 ng/mL of GCB. The anti-tumor potential of primed MSCs was then investigated by in vitro anti-proliferation assays with the use of CFPAC-1, a pancreatic tumor cell line sensitive to GCB. The uptake/release ability was confirmed by means of high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. A cell-cycle study and secretome evaluation were also conducted to better understand the characteristics of primed MSCs. RESULTS: GCB-releasing MSCs inhibit the growth of a human pCa cell line in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: The use of MSCs as a "trojan horse" can open the way to a new pCa therapeutic approach; GCB-loaded MSCs that integrate into the tumor mass could deliver much higher concentrations of the drug in situ than can be achieved by intravenous injection

Decellularized silk fibroin scaffold primed with adipose mesenchymal stromal cells improves wound healing in diabetic mice

Introduction: Silk fibroin (SF) scaffolds have been shown to be a suitable substrate for tissue engineering and to improve tissue regeneration when cellularized with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). We here demonstrate, for the first time, that electrospun nanofibrous SF patches, cellularized with human adipose-derived MSCs (Ad-MSCs-SF) or decellularized (D-Ad- MSCs-SF) are effective in the treatment of skin wounds, improving skin regeneration in db/db diabetic mice. Methods: The conformational and structural analyses of SF and D-Ad-MSCs-SF patches were performed by scanning electron microscopy, confocal microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Wounds were performed by a 5mm punch biopsy tool on the mouse\u2019s back. Ad-MSCs-SF and D-Ad-MSCs-SF patches were transplanted and the efficacy of treatments was assessed by measuring the wound closure area, by histological examination and by gene expression profile. We further investigated the in vitro angiogenic properties of Ad-MSCs-SF and D-Ad-MSCs-SF patches by affecting migration of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), keratinocytes (KCs) and dermal fibroblasts (DFs), through the aortic ring assay and, finally, by evaluating the release of angiogenic factors. Results: We found that Ad-MSCs adhere and grow on SF, maintaining their phenotypic mesenchymal profile and differentiation capacity. Conformational and structural analyses on SF and D-Ad- MSCs-SF samples, showed that sterilization, decellularization, freezing and storing did not affect the SF structure. When grafted in wounds of diabetic mice, both Ad-MSCs-SF and DAd- MSCs-SF significantly improved tissue regeneration, reducing the wound area respectively by 40% and 35%, within three days, completing the process in around 10 days compared to 15-17 days of controls. RT2 gene profile analysis of the wounds treated with Ad- MSCs-SF and D-Ad-MSCs-SF showed an increment of genes involved in angiogenesis and matrix remodelling. Finally, Ad-MSCs-SF and D-Ad-MSCs-SF co-cultured with HUVECs, DFs and KCs, preferentially enhanced the HUVECs\u2019 migration and the release of angiogenic factors stimulating microvessel outgrowth in the aortic ring assay. Conclusions: Our results highlight for the first time that D-Ad-MSCs-SF patches are almost as effective as Ad-MSCs-SF patches in the treatment of diabetic wounds, acting through a complex mechanism that involves stimulation of angiogenesis. Our data suggest a potential use of DAd- MSCs-SF patches in chronic diabetic ulcers in humans

Drug-releasing mesenchymal cells strongly suppress B16 lung metastasis in a syngeneic murine model

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are considered an important therapeutic tool in cancer therapy. They possess intrinsic therapeutic potential and can also be in vitro manipulated and engineered to produce therapeutic molecules that can be delivered to the site of diseases, through their capacity to home pathological tissues. We have recently demonstrated that MSCs, upon in vitro priming with anti-cancer drug, become drug-releasing mesenchymal cells (Dr-MCs) able to strongly inhibit cancer cells growth