Pietro della Valle's research and documentation in the Levant, Part I: Della Valle's exploration of the ruins of Persepolis in 1621 excerpts from: Pietro della Valle: Viaggi di Pietro della Valle il Pellegrino. Con minuto ragguaglio di tutte le cose notabili osservate in essi (Roma 1650-1663), including: Giovan Pietro Bellori: Vita di Pietro Della Valle il Pellegrino, in: Viaggi di Pietro della Valle il Pellegrino, seconda edizione, vol. I, (Roma 1662) (FONTES 66)

FONTES 66 presents the exploration of the ruins of Persepolis in 1621 by the Roman traveller Pietro Della Valle (1586-1652). During his years of travel (1614-1626) Della Valle recorded his experiences in fifty-four letters, published in three parts – La Turchia, La Persia and L’India – between 1650 and 1663 under the title Viaggi di Pietro della Valle il Pellegrino. Recently studied by archaeologists and literary historians, Della Valle’s travels have received little if any attention by historians of art. While Della Valle’s letters follow in a tradition of earlier Italian travellers, his methods of recording ancient monuments, art and artefacts were guided by up-to-date archaeological and antiquarian methods, first established in Italy in the first half of the sixteenth century. It was his intention from the beginning not only to describe the monuments and works of art, inscriptions, landscapes and people but to record these also graphically. This documentation was planned for the last volume which never appeared: "le figure di molte cose memorabili, sparse per tutta l’opera, la loro esplicatione". His exact observation and verbal documentation together with an extensive graphic record served his hermeneutic intentions

Pietro della Valle's research and documentation in the Levant, Part II: Della Valle's descriptions, explications and documentation of "Troia", Babylon ("Babèl"), Sultaniyya ("Sultania"), Ikkeri and the tombs of the poets in Shiraz excerpts from: Pietro della Valle: Viaggi di Pietro Della Valle il Pellegrino. Con minuto ragguaglio di tutte le cose notabili osservate in essi (Roma 1650-1663), including: Giovan Pietro Bellori: Vita di Pietro Della Valle il Pellegrino, in: Viaggi di Pietro Della Valle il Pellegrino, seconda edizione, vol. I, (Roma 1662) (FONTES 67)

FONTES 67 is a continuation of and a supplement to FONTES 66: Pietro Della Valle’s Research and Documentation in the Levant, Part I: Della Valle’s exploration of the ruins of Persepolis in 1621, excerpts from: Pietro Della Valle, Viaggi di Pietro della Valle il Pellegrino. Con minuto ragguaglio di tutte le cose notabili osservate in essi Roma 1650-1663), including: Giovan Pietro Bellori, Vita di Pietro Della Valle il Pellegrino, in: Viaggi di Pietro della Valle il Pellegrino,seconda edizione, vol. I, (Roma 1662), edited with an introductory study by Margaret Daly Davis. The following texts from Della Valle’s "Viaggi" are published in full text transcriptions and discussed: "Troia", Babylon ("Babèl"), Sultaniyya ("Sultania"), the Hindu Temple of Aghoresvara in Ikkeri and the tombs of the Poets Chogià and Sceich Saadì in Shiraz

Patellar luxation in dogs

Patellar luxation is a common orthopedic problem in dogs. Medial luxation is more common than lateral luxation and is usually diagnosed in dogs of small breed. Diagnosis is based on clinical evidence of patellar instability; however, diagnostic imaging is required to assess the amount of skeletal deformity and then the most appropriate method of treatment. Surgical options include both soft tissue and osseous techniques, however, in most of the cases, a combination of more procedures is used to achieve the correction of the luxation. Complication rate is generally low and the most common complications include reluxation and implant-associated complications. Prognosis is generally favorable, with most of the dogs returning to normal limb function. This article describes patellar luxation features in dogs, including clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment options available

Tibial Tuberosity Advancement Techniques (TTAT): A Systematic Review

Background: Several surgical techniques were described for the treatment of cranial cruciate ligament rupture in dogs. This report aims to critically review the available literature focused on preoperative planning, surgical procedure, follow-up, and complications of cranial cruciate liga- ment rupture treated by tibial tuberosity advancement techniques; (2) Methods: three bibliographic databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus were used for a board search of TTAT (canine OR dog). Five GRADE recommendations according to Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation and Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklists were applied to the studies included. Data regarding preoperative planning (a measure of advancement), meniscal disease (meniscectomy, meniscal release, and late meniscal tears), and postoperative patellar tendon angle were recorded. Time frame, outcome, and complications were classified according to Cook’s guidelines; (3) Results: from 471 reports yielded, only 30 met the inclusion criteria. The common tangent method was the most commonly reported measurement technique for preoperative planning. The 40.21% of stifles presented meniscal tears at surgery, while 4.28% suffered late meniscal tears. In short-, mid-and long-term follow-ups examined showed a full/acceptable function was shown in >90% of cases. Among all new generation techniques, minor complications were reported in 33.5% of cases and major complications in 10.67%; (4) Conclusions: Compared to traditional TTA, new generation TTAT resulted effective in the treatment of cranial cruciate ligament failure, showing a lower rate of late meniscal injury but a higher rate of minor complications

Osservatorio Neologico della Lingua Italiana. Lessico e parole nuove dell’italiano

L’ONLI (Osservatorio Neologico della Lingua Italiana), costituito nel 1998, si è proposto di studiare il lessico italiano e la sua evoluzione nei decenni tra il XX e il XXI secolo, analizzando la neologia attraverso metodi d’indagine e regole dei meccanismi formativi delle parole nuove applicati ai contesti giornalistici raccolti nella sua banca dati tra il 1998 e il 2019. La proposta di classificazione dei neologismi adottata dall’ONLI ha permesso di evidenziare le linee di tendenza del lessico italiano, anche mediante il confronto di opinioni tra studiosi dei settori affini

Role of p75 Neurotrophin Receptor in the Neurotoxicity by β-amyloid Peptides and Synergistic Effect of Inflammatory Cytokines

The neurodegenerative changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are elicited by the accumulation of β-amyloid peptides (Aβ), which damage neurons either directly by interacting with components of the cell surface to trigger cell death signaling or indirectly by activating astrocytes and microglia to produce inflammatory mediators. It has been recently proposed that the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) is responsible for neuronal damage by interacting with Aβ. By using neuroblastoma cell clones lacking the expression of all neurotrophin receptors or engineered to express full-length or various truncated forms of p75NTR, we could show that p75NTR is involved in the direct signaling of cell death by Aβ via the function of its death domain. This signaling leads to the activation of caspases-8 and -3, the production of reactive oxygen intermediates and the induction of an oxidative stress. We also found that the direct and indirect (inflammatory) mechanisms of neuronal damage by Aβ could act synergistically. In fact, TNF-α and IL-1β, cytokines produced by Aβ-activated microglia, could potentiate the neurotoxic action of Aβ mediated by p75NTR signaling. Together, our results indicate that neurons expressing p75NTR, mostly if expressing also proinflammatory cytokine receptors, might be preferential targets of the cytotoxic action of Aβ in AD

Nitric Oxide Protects Neuroblastoma Cells from Apoptosis Induced by Serum Deprivation through cAMP-response Element-binding Protein (CREB) Activation

The transcription factor cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB) mediates survival in many cells, including neurons. Recently, death of cerebellar granule neurons due to nitric oxide (NO) deprivation was shown to be accompanied by down-regulation of CREB activity (1). We now provide evidence that overproduction of endogenous NO or supplementation with exogenous NO renders SK-N-BE human neuroblastoma cells more resistant to apoptosis induced by serum deprivation. Parental cells underwent apoptosis after 24 h of serum deprivation, an outcome largely absent in clones overexpressing human neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS). This protective effect was reversed by the inhibition of NOS itself or soluble guanylyl cyclase, pointing at cGMP as an intermediate effector of NO-mediated rescue. A slow-releasing NO donor protected parental cells to a significant extent, thus confirming the survival effect of NO. The impaired viability of serum-deprived parental cells was accompanied by a strong decrease of CREB phosphorylation and transcriptional activity, effects significantly attenuated in nNOS-overexpressing clones. To confirm the role of CREB in survival, the ectopic expression of CREB and/or protein kinase A largely counteracted serum deprivation-induced cell death of SK-N-BE cells, whereas transfection with a CREB negative mutant was ineffective. These experiments indicate that CREB activity is an important step for NO-mediated survival in neuronal cells

Extradural Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumour at T7 Level in a 2-Year-Old Dog

The aim of this report is to describe an unusual localization of nerve sheath tumour (NST), clinical presentation, imaging, surgical management, and outcome in a 2-year- old dog. A 2-year-old female American Staffordshire Terrier presented with non- ambulatory paraparesis, thoracolumbar hyperaesthesia, hindlimb hyperreflexia, and mild muscle atrophy. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed an extradural mass at T7-T8, without vertebral lesions. Surgical treatment consisted in resection of the soft tissue mass through dorsal laminectomy. The dog was ambulatory within 24hours and free of recurrence at 18 months postoperatively. Histopathologic and features of immunohistochemistry were consistent with NST. The NST of this report was similar to those described before, but exhibited unusual characteristics, such as being extradural, without extension into intervertebral forami- na, and being located in an atypical region (T7-T8). Moreover, survival time and relapse- free interval are greater than previously reported for similar cases

Clinical efficacy of an ultrasound-guided bilateral rectus sheath block for umbilical hernia repair in calves: A prospective randomized trial

Introduction: Surgical umbilical hernia repair is a frequent procedure in newborn calves, requiring mandatory pain management. This study aimed to develop an ultrasound-guided rectus sheath block (RSB) and to evaluate its clinical efficacy in calves undergoing umbilical herniorrhaphy under general field anesthesia. Methods: Gross and ultrasound anatomy of the ventral abdomen and the diffusion of a new methylene blue solution after injection within the rectus sheath were described in seven fresh calf cadavers. Then, fourteen calves undergoing elective herniorrhaphy were randomly assigned to receive either bilateral ultrasound-guided RSB with 0.3 mL/kg of bupivacaine 0.25% and 0.15 µg/kg of dexmedetomidine or 0.3 mL/kg of 0.9% NaCl (control). Intraoperative data included cardiopulmonary variables and anesthetic requirements. Postoperative data included pain scores, sedation scores and peri-incisional mechanical threshold assessed by force algometry at specific time points after anesthetic recovery. Treatments were compared using Wilcoxon rank-sum, Student's t-test, and Cox proportional hazard model as appropriate. Mixed effect linear models on rank, with random effect calf; fixed effects time, treatment, and their interaction were used to compare pain scores and mechanical thresholds over time. Significance was set at p = 0.05. Results and Discussion: Calves receiving RSB recorded lower pain scores between 45 – 120 minutes (p < 0.05) and at 240 min after recovery (p = 0.02). And they recorded higher mechanical thresholds between 45 and 120 min after surgery (p < 0.05). Ultrasound-guided RSB provided effective perioperative analgesia in calves undergoing herniorrhaphy under field conditions

Biometrics measurements in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in the Picentini area. Part I: intersexual differences between young adult and adult subjects.

A series of biometrics measurements have been obtained in 16 Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) duly hunted in the Picentini area, outside the protected area. Data recorded included the sex, bodyweight, and age class (young adults 2 y.o.) as determined on tooth wearing by an experienced wildlife operator. Occipito-coccygeal (OC), nasal-occipitalis (NO), tail and total lengths, wither height, ear and hind foot (HF) length, upper and lower canine length and width (UCL, LCL, UCW, LCW) and carnassial length and width (data not shown), were measured directly on the carcasses. Condilo-basal (CB), hard palate (HP), scapular, mandibular and upper dentition (UD) lengths, inter-carnassial (IC) and zygomatic (Z) width were measured on latero-lateral and ventro-dorsal radiograms. A Wilcoxon sum rank test was applied to compare variables not normally distributed. For normally distributed variables, homoscedasticity was investigated by using a Levene’s test, post hoc a Student’s t test or a Welch ANOVA was applied. Significance was set at P<0.05. Results are summarized in table 1