Giorgio Manganelli, Estrosità rigorose di un consulente letterario, a cura di Salvatore Silvano Nigro, Milano, Adelphi, 2016. [Recensione]

Nel ripercorrere le tappe dell’avventura editoriale di Giorgio Manganelli, il libro curato da Nigro presenta le lettere che l’autore ha scambiato con gli addetti delle case editrici con cui ha collaborato (Garzanti, Einaudi, Mondadori, Rizzoli, Adelphi) e i giudizi “e-strosi” che in questa lunga militanza ha avanzato sui testi italiani e inglesi, in vista di una eventuale pubblicazione.Runningthrough the steps of the editorialadventure of Giorgio Manganelli, the book edited by Nigropresents the letters the authorexchanged with the employees of the publishinghouses he worked with (Garzanti, Einaudi, Mondadori, Rizzoli, Adelphi) and the “whimsical” opinions he proposed in this long militancy on italian and englishtexts, in view of an eventual publication

«Diario mio e di tutti». ‘Pane duro’ di Silvio Micheli

The debut book by the forgotten author Silvio Micheli, Pane duro (Turin 1946), winner of the Viareggio Prize just resurrected after the war, is a genuine neo-realist fresco that describes the «vita pratica» of «gente sconsiderata, sperduta nel vortice della vita, gente sfruttata, oppressa, dilaniata» in the period between the late 1930s and the Resistance. The anonymous protagonist, employed in a factory, autobiographical projection of the writer, is the representative of a community oppressed by a social, political and economic «system» which she cannot rebel against. To this anonymous crowd, alienated by the barbarous conditions of life, the man tries to give voice through a novel that matures during the war experience and significantly entitled Diario mio e di tutti, to seal the identity between individual destiny and universal history, testimony of a world that suffers abuses, injustices, war. The chorus is explained thanks to the special condition of the protagonist, a survivor, who lived at the limit between the condition of the “saved” and the “submerged” and for this reason he’s able to rise as particular voice of a collective experience. This effort is also witnessed by the linguistic face, which attempts a camouflage of reality with a mixture of sublime style and humble style, a symbol of the intention to insert the objective reproduction of the facts into an established linguistic-literary tradition

Comparison of the Emissions, Noise, and Fuel Consumption Comparison of Direct and Indirect Piezoelectric and Solenoid Injectors in a Low-Compression-Ratio Diesel Engine

An experimental investigation has been carried out to compare the performance and emissions of a low-compression-ratio Euro 5 diesel engine featuring high EGR rates, equipped with dierent injector technologies, i.e., solenoid, indirect-acting, and direct-acting piezoelectric. The comparisons, performed with reference to a state-of-the-art double fuel injection calibration, i.e., pilot-Main (pM), are presented in terms of engine-out exhaust emissions, combustion noise (CN), and fuel consumption, at low–medium engine speeds and loads. The dierences in engine performance and emissions of the solenoidal, indirect-acting, and direct-acting piezoelectric injector setups have been found on the basis of experimental results to mainly depend on the specific features of their hydraulic circuits rather than on the considered injector driving system

The Bradley–Terry Regression Trunk approach for Modeling Preference Data with Small Trees

This paper introduces the Bradley-Terry regression trunk model, a novel probabilistic approach for the analysis of preference data expressed through paired comparison rankings. In some cases, it may be reasonable to assume that the preferences expressed by individuals depend on their characteristics. Within the framework of tree-based partitioning, we specify a tree-based model estimating the joint effects of subject-specific covariates over and above their main effects. We, therefore, combine a tree-based model and the log-linear Bradley-Terry model using the outcome of the comparisons as response variable. The proposed model provides a solution to discover interaction effects when no a-priori hypotheses are available. It produces a small tree, called trunk, that represents a fair compromise between a simple interpretation of the interaction effects and an easy to read partition of judges based on their characteristics and the preferences they have expressed. We present an application on a real dataset following two different approaches, and a simulation study to test the model's performance. Simulations showed that the quality of the model performance increases when the number of rankings and objects increases. In addition, the performance is considerably amplified when the judges' characteristics have a high impact on their choices

Ribavirin Impairs Salivary gland function During Combination Treatment With Pegylated Interferon Alfa-2a In HEpatitis C patients

Background: Xerostomia is a common adverse event of unknown etiology observed during pegylated interferon (PegIFN)/Ribavirin (Rbv) treatment. Objectives: To assess the frequency and mechanisms of xerostomia during PegIFN/Rbv therapy. Patients and Methods: Thirty-one naive patients with chronic hepatitis C consecutively received PegIFN-alpha 2a (180 mu g/week) plus Rbv (800-1200 mg/day). The controls were 10 patients with chronic hepatitis B who received PegIFN-alpha 2a (180 mu g/week). During treatment and follow-up, all patients underwent basal and masticatory stimulated sialometry, otorhinolaryngoiatric (ORL) examination, and a questionnaire survey to subjectively assess symptoms of oral dryness. Results: Twenty-seven patients on PegIFN/Rbv and 4 on PegIFN (87% vs. 40%, P = 0.006) reported xerostomia. Thirty patients on PegIFN/Rbv combination therapy and 2 patients on monotherapy had ORL signs of salivary gland hypofunction (97% vs. 20%, P < 0.0001). Mean basal (A) and stimulated (B) salivary flow rates (mL/min) progressively decreased during PegIFN/Rbv treatment (A, 0.49 at baseline vs. 0.17 at the end of treatment, P < 0.0001; B,1.24 at baseline vs. 0.53 at the end of treatment, P = 0.0004). At week 24 following PegIFN/Rbv treatment, salivary flow rates were similar to baseline (A, 0.53 at the end of follow-up vs. 0.49 at baseline; B,1.19 at the end of follow-up vs. 1.24 at baseline). Salivary function was unaffected in monotherapy patients. Conclusions: Rbv causes salivary gland hypofunction in hepatitis C patients receiving PegIFN/Rbv therapy, which promptly reverts to normal upon cessation of treatment

The effect of inflammation and its reduction on brain plasticity in multiple sclerosis: MRI evidence

Brain plasticity is the basis for systems-level functional reorganization that promotes recovery in multiple sclerosis (MS). As inflammation interferes with plasticity, its pharmacological modulation may restore plasticity by promoting desired patterns of functional reorganization. Here, we tested the hypothesis that brain plasticity probed by a visuomotor adaptation task is impaired with MS inflammation and that pharmacological reduction of inflammation facilitates its restoration. MS patients were assessed twice before (sessions 1 and 2) and once after (session 3) the beginning of Interferon beta (IFN-beta), using behavioural and structural MRI measures. During each session, 2 functional MRI runs of a visuomotor task, separated by 25-minutes of task practice, were performed. Within-session between-run change in task-related functional signal was our imaging marker of plasticity. During session 1, patients were compared with healthy controls. Comparison of patients’ sessions 2 and 3 tested the effect of reduced inflammation on our imaging marker of plasticity. The proportion of patients with gadolinium-enhancing lesions reduced significantly during IFN beta. In session 1, patients demonstrated a greater between-run difference in functional MRI activity of secondary visual areas and cerebellum than controls. This abnormally large practice-induced signal change in visual areas, and in functionally connected posterior parietal and motor cortices, was reduced in patients in session 3 compared with 2. Our results suggest that MS inflammation alters short-term plasticity underlying motor practice. Reduction of inflammation with IFN-beta is associated with a restoration of this plasticity, suggesting that modulation of inflammation may enhance recovery-oriented strategies that rely on patients’ brain plasticity

Charged-Higgs phenomenology in the Aligned two-Higgs-doublet model

The alignment in flavour space of the Yukawa matrices of a general two-Higgs-doublet model results in the absence of tree-level flavour-changing neutral currents. In addition to the usual fermion masses and mixings, the aligned Yukawa structure only contains three complex parameters, which are potential new sources of CP violation. For particular values of these three parameters all known specific implementations of the model based on discrete Z_2 symmetries are recovered. One of the most distinctive features of the two-Higgs-doublet model is the presence of a charged scalar. In this work, we discuss its main phenomenological consequences in flavour-changing processes at low energies and derive the corresponding constraints on the parameters of the aligned two-Higgs-doublet model.Comment: 46 pages, 19 figures. Version accepted for publication in JHEP. References added. Discussion slightly extended. Conclusions unchange

Physical activity influences adherence to pharmacological treatments in patients with severe mental disorders: results from the multicentric, randomized controlled LIFESTYLE trial

Introduction: Poor adherence to pharmacological treatment is frequent in people with severe mental disorders and it often causes lack of effectiveness of many psychotropic drugs. Thus, efforts should be made to improve adherence to pharmacological treatments in patients with these disorders.Methods: In this paper, based on the LIFESTYLE randomized, controlled multicentric trial, we aim to: 1) assess the level of adherence in a real-world sample of patients with severe mental disorders; 2) evaluate differences in treatment adherence according to patients’ socio-demographic and clinical characteristics; 3) evaluate the impact of an innovative psychosocial intervention, on patients’ adherence to treatments. The Lifestyle Psychosocial Group Intervention consists of group sessions, focused on different lifestyle behaviours, including healthy diet; physical activity; smoking habits; medication adherence; risky behaviours; and regular circadian rhythms. At end of each session a 20-min moderate physical activity is performed by the whole group.Results: The sample consists of 402 patients, mainly female (57.1%, N = 229), with a mean age of 45.6 years (±11.8). Less than 40% of patients reported a good adherence to pharmacological treatments. Adherence to treatments was not influenced by gender, age, diagnosis and duration of illness. At the end of the intervention, patients receiving the experimental intervention reported a significant improvement in the levels of adherence to treatments (T0: 35.8% vs. T3: 47.6%, p &lt; 0.005). Patients practicing moderate physical activity reported a two-point improvement in the levels of adherence [odds ratio (OR): 1,542; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1,157–2,055; p &lt; 0.001], even after controlling for several confounding factors.Discussion: The experimental lifestyle intervention, which can be easily implemented in the routine clinical practice of mental health centres, was effective in improving adherence to pharmacological treatments