Location of the Deposit of Papyri from the Temple Library at Tebtunis Identified

In 1931 at Tebtunis in the Fayyum oasis, Carlo Anti and Gilbert Bagnani discovered one of the largest deposit of Egyptian literary papyri ever made and moreover it originally derived from the library of the temple itself. The precise location of this deposit, however, has never been clear, because there was not the possibility to see and study the whole archive, collected by Anti, made by photographic materials and written documents. On the contrary, now Carlo Anti\u2019s archive has recently been reordered at the Istituto Veneto and in the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Arts (University of Padua)

Archaeology and virtual acoustics. A pan flute from ancient Egypt

This paper presents the early developments of a recently started research project, aimed at studying from a multidisciplinary perspective an exceptionally well preserved ancient pan flute. A brief discussion of the history and iconography of pan flutes is provided, with a focus on Classical Greece. Then a set of non-invasive analyses are presented, which are based on 3D scanning andmaterials chemistry, and are the starting point to inspect the geometry, construction, age and geographical origin of the instrument. Based on the available measurements, a preliminary analysis of the instrument tuning is provided, which is also informed with elements of theory of ancient Greek music. Finally, the paper presents current work aimed at realizing an interactive museum installation that recreates a virtual flute and allows intuitive access to all these research facets

The still under-investigated role of cognitive deficits in PML diagnosis

Background: Despite cognitive deficits frequently represent the first clinical manifestations of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML) in Natalizumab-treated MS patients, the importance of cognitive deficits in PML diagnosis is still under-investigated. The aim of the current study is to investigate the cognitive deficits at PML diagnosis in a group of Italian patients with PML. Methods: Thirty-four PML patients were included in the study. The demographic and clinical data, the lesion load and localization, and the longitudinal clinical course was compared between patients with (n = 13) and without (n = 15) cognitive deficit upon PML suspicion (the remaining six patients were asymptomatic). Clinical presentation of cognitive symptoms was described in detail. Result: After symptoms detection, the time to diagnosis resulted to be shorter for patients presenting with cognitive than for patients with non cognitive onset (p = 0.03). Within patients with cognitive onset, six patients were presenting with language and/or reading difficulties (46.15%); five patients with memory difficulties (38.4%); three patients with apraxia (23.1%); two patients with disorientation (15.3%); two patients with neglect (15.3%); one patients with object agnosia (7.7%), one patient with perseveration (7.7%) and one patient with dementia (7.7%). Frontal lesions were less frequent (p = 0.03), whereas temporal lesions were slightly more frequent (p = 0.06) in patients with cognitive deficits. The longitudinal PML course seemed to be more severe in cognitive than in non cognitive patients (F = 2.73, p = 0.03), but differences disappeared (F = 1.24, p = 0.29) when balancing for the incidence of immune reconstitution syndrome and for other treatments for PML (steroids, plasma exchange (PLEX) and other therapies (Mefloquine, Mirtazapine, Maraviroc). Conclusion: Cognitive deficits at PML onset manifest with symptoms which are absolutely rare in MS. Their appearance in MS patients should strongly suggest PML. Clinicians should be sensitive to the importance of formal neuropsychological evaluation, with particular focus on executive function, which are not easily detected without a formal assessment

Ritratti tra l\u2019et\ue0 repubblicana e la prima et\ue0 imperiale

The National Archeological Museum in Venice preserves numerous Roman sculpture portraits that may be dated back to the first and second century AD. While in the process of being filed as part of the SHARED CULTURE project, these works have already provided numerous research hints regarding that ancient society and its art; this despite having been the object of previous studies. The inspiration for this paper came from the fine features of a youth, whose dating and attribution provided thus far we wished to discuss. We then compared it to other works available in the museum that portray similar subjects, by investigating the materials and techniques that were used, reconstructing whether they originated from heads, busts, or statues, ascertaining their original posture, and finally analysing the details of our descriptions. The works were then dated by means of tables, which helped to deepen our stylistic analysis regarding the choices of the artists compared to those of their clients. Finally, we discussed the attribution of the sculpture of the boy, a member of the gens augusta, the most likely hypothesis being that it is a portrait of Nero Caesar, son of Germanicus and Agrippina I

Tracce d\u2019Egitto. Ricerca su un vaso globulare a rilievo del Museo Civico Agli Eremitani di Padova

Lo studio ha interessato una serie di frammenti pertinenti ad un vaso egiziano, conservato presso i Musei Civici di Padova e rinvenuto nella stessa citt\ue0 durante lavori edili