Claudio Giunta, Cuori intelligenti : mille anni di letteratura, Novara, Garzanti De Agostini Scuola, 2016, 3 voll.

Cuori intelligenti, il manuale curato da Claudio Giunta per Garzanti De Agostini Scuola, mira a un obiettivo ambizioso: \uabnon a formare giovani specialisti di Petrarca, o di Ariosto, o di Montale, ma a far crescere gli studenti sia dal punto di vista emotivo sia dal punto di vista intellettuale\ub

Memoria della trincea: appunti sullo stile di: Un anno sull'Altipiano

Il presente contributo si propone di analizzare alcuni aspetti dello stile di Un anno sull'Altipiano di Emilio Lussu in prospettiva metacomunicativa (Brioschi 2002), mettendoli in relazione con la situazione compositiva e, soprattutto, con l'esplicita volont\ue0 dell'autore di fornire una testimonianza veridica della Grande Guerra. Si mostrer\ue0 come il rifiuto delle convenzioni abusate del diario di guerra e lo sforzo di spogliarsi delle esperienze e delle riflessioni accumulate nei vent'anni intercorsi tra la guerra e il momento della scrittura, nel tentativo di rivivere quell'esperienza \uabcon le idee e i sentimenti di allora\ubb, diano origine ad una struttura narrativa originale e ad una scrittura asciutta e sincopata, in cui brevi descrizioni fotografiche diventano un mezzo privilegiato per fissare il ricordo drammatico di quegli eventi.Purpose of this contribute is to analyse some stylistic aspects of Emilio Lussu's Un anno sull'Altipiano (engl. title: Sardinian Brigade) in a meta-communicative perspective (Brioschi 2002). By all means, on the one hand, Lussu's style may be well related to the actual circumstances of Lussu's writing; on the other hand, the author's likeness in giving a truthful document of the Great War should be taken into account. Besides, both the author's refusal of the common pattern of personal journal, and his own struggle against the experiences and meditations he had undergone for the twenty years elapsed between the end of the war and the moment of Lussu's actual writing of the novel, will be dutifully pointed out. That is, in doing so, Lussu manages to recover the very same mood he experienced during his own years of war, so that he can create an original narrative structure and a dry, as well as exact, style, where short and photographic descriptions reveal themselves as a fundamental means in order to fix the tragic memories of those events

Adipocytes and micrornas crosstalk: A key tile in the mosaic of breast cancer microenvironment

Breast cancer (BC) is a disease characterized by a high grade of heterogeneity. Consequently, despite the great achievements obtained in the last decades, most of the current therapeutic regimens still fail. The identification of new molecular mechanisms that will increase the knowledge of all steps of tumor initiation and growth is mandatory in finding new clinical strategies. The BC microenvironment, consisting of endothelial cells, fibroblasts, immune cells and adipocytes, plays an essential role in regulating BC development, and recently it has gained great attention in the scientific community. In particular, adipose tissue is emerging as an important target to investigate among mammary gland components. The mechanisms underlying BC progression driven by adipocytes are predominantly unexplored, especially that involving the switch from normal adipocytes to the so-called cancer-associated adipocytes (CAAs). MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of gene expression modulators, have emerged as the regulators of key oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes that affect multiple pathways of the tumor microenvironment and adipose tissue. This review concerns a presentation of the role of adipocytes in breast tissue, and describes the most recent discoveries about the interplay between adipocytes and miRNAs, which collaborate in the arrangement of a pro-inflammatory and cancerous microenvironment, laying the foundations for new concepts in the prevention and treatment of BC

Non come un romanzo : retoriche scolastiche ed educazione alla lettura

Uno degli obiettivi a lungo termine dell'insegnamento dell'italiano nella scuola secondaria dovrebbe essere la formazione di giovani lettori abituali, competenti ed autonomi. Eppure, nei fatti, l'istituzione scolastica dedica all'educazione alla lettura scarsa attenzione e modalit\ue0 operative poco efficaci e spesso irrigidite dall'abitudine. Questo contributo si propone innanzitutto di evidenziare le contraddizioni presenti nelle retoriche scolastiche, sia istituzionali sia didattiche, che fanno s\uec che la maggior parte dei giovani italiani legga poco o per nulla: un dettato ministeriale che oscilla tra la quasi totale assenza di indicazioni normative, teoriche e metodologiche (si vedano le recenti Indicazioni Nazionali per la scuola secondaria di II grado) e l'eccesso di prescrittivit\ue0 contenutistica (gli intoccabili Promessi Sposi, un canone letterario fortemente poetocentrico); le condizioni strutturali del dispositivo pedagogico scolastico (Massa 1987) che confliggono con le necessit\ue0 della fruizione romanzesca, favorendo pratiche quali la smaterializzazione e parcellizzazione antologica (nonostante la diffusa retorica dell'imprescindibilit\ue0 di un contatto diretto con i testi) e l'enfasi sulle tecniche di analisi e smontaggio dei testi e sulle procedure di verifica, pi\uf9 che sullo sviluppo di reali competenze di lettura. Infine, saranno proposte alcune pratiche didattiche, anche sperimentate direttamente sul campo, che cerchino di conciliare il necessario rigore metodologico e l'acquisizione di competenze specifiche con la rivalutazione del piacere della lettura e del valore esperienziale e vitale che essa pu\uf2 (e dovrebbe) avere per qualunque adolescente

Total Energy Expenditure and Body Composition of Children with Developmental Disabilities

Background Obesity prevalence is increased in children with developmental disabilities, specifically in children with spina bifida and Down syndrome. Energy expenditure, a critical aspect of weight management, has been extensively studied in the typically developing population, but not adequately studied in children with developmental disabilities. Objective Determine energy expenditure, fat-free mass and body fat percentile and the impact of these findings on recommended caloric intake in children with spina bifida and Down syndrome. Methods/Measures This pilot study included 36 children, 18 with spina bifida, 9 with Down syndrome and 9 typically developing children. Half of the children with spina bifida were non-ambulatory. Doubly labeled water was used to measure energy expenditure and body composition. Descriptive statistics described the sample and MANOVA and ANOVA methods were used to evaluate differences between groups. Results Energy expenditure was significantly less for children with spina bifida who primarily used a wheelchair (p = .001) and children with Down syndrome (p = .041) when compared to children without a disability when adjusted for fat-free mass. However, no significant difference was detected in children with spina bifida who ambulated without assistance (p = .072). Conclusions Children with spina bifida and Down syndrome have a significantly decreased energy expenditure which directly impacts recommended caloric intake. No significant difference was detected for children with spina bifida who ambulated, although the small sample size of this pilot study may have limited these findings. Validating these results in a larger study is integral to supporting successful weight management of these children

Reversibility of airflow obstruction by hypoglossus nerve stimulation in anesthetized rabbits

Rationale: Anesthesia-induced uncoupling of upper airway dilating and inspiratory pump muscles activation may cause inspiratory flow limitation, thereby mimicking obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea. Objectives: Determine whether inspiratory flow limitation occurs in spontaneously breathing anesthetized rabbits and whether this can be reversed by direct hypoglossal nerve stimulation and by the application of continuous positive airway pressure. Methods: Ten New Zealand White rabbits were anesthetized, instrumented, and studied supine while breathing spontaneously at ambient pressure or during the application of positive or negative airway pressure. Under each of these conditions, the effect of unilateral or bilateral hypoglossal nerve stimulation was investigated. Measurements: Inspiratory flow and tidal volume were measured together with esophageal pressure and the electromyographic activity of diaphragm, alae nasi, and genioglossus muscles. Main results: Anesthesia caused a marked increase in inspiratory resistance, snoring, and in eight rabbits, inspiratory flow limitation. Hypoglossus nerve stimulation was as effective as continuous positive airway pressure in reversing inspiratory flow limitation and snoring. Its effectiveness increased progressively as airway opening pressure was lowered, reached a maximum at -5 cm H2O, but declined markedly at lower pressures. With negative airway opening pressure, airway collapse eventually occurred during inspiration that could be prevented by hypoglossus nerve stimulation. The recruitment characteristics of hypoglossus nerve fibers was steep, and significant upper airway dilating effects already obtained with stimulus intensities 36 to 60% of maximum. Conclusion: This study supports hypoglossus nerve stimulation as a treatment option for obstructive sleep apnea

Naïve orangutans (Pongo abeliiand Pongo pygmaeus) individually acquire nut‐cracking using hammer tools

Nut-cracking with hammer tools (henceforth: nut-cracking) has been argued to be one of the most complex tool-use behaviors observed in nonhuman animals. So far, only chimpanzees, capuchins, and macaques have been observed using tools to crack nuts in the wild (Boesch and Boesch, 1990; Gumert et al., 2009; Mannu and Ottoni, 2009). However, the learning mechanisms behind this behavior, and the extent of nut-cracking in other primate species are still unknown. The aim of this study was two-fold. First, we investigated whether another great ape species would develop nut-cracking when provided with all the tools and appropriate conditions to do so. Second, we examined the mechanisms behind the emergence of nut-cracking by testing a naïve sample. Orangutans (Pongo abelii and Pongo pygmaeus) have the second most extensive tool-use repertoire among the great apes (after chimpanzees) and show flexible problem-solving capacities. Orangutans have not been observed cracking nuts in the wild, however, perhaps because their arboreal habits provide limited opportunities for nut-cracking. Therefore, orangutans are a valid candidate species for the investigation of the development of this behavior. Four nut-cracking-naïve orangutans at Leipzig zoo (P. abelii; Mage = 16; age range = 10–19; 4F; at the time of testing) were provided with nuts and hammers but were not demonstrated the nut-cracking behavioral form. Additionally, we report data from a previously unpublished study by one of the authors (Martina Funk) with eight orangutans housed at Zürich zoo (six P. abelii and two P. pygmaeus; Mage = 14; age range = 2–30; 5F; at the time of testing) that followed a similar testing paradigm. Out of the twelve orangutans tested, at least four individuals, one from Leipzig (P. abelii) and three from Zürich (P. abelii and P. pygmaeus), spontaneously expressed nut-cracking using wooden hammers. These results demonstrate that nut-cracking can emerge in orangutans through individual learning and certain types of non-copying social learning