Fashion as an Aesthetic Form of Life: A Wittgensteinian Interpretation

Fashion is an aesthetic practice that concerns the ordinary sphere of our life: it is associated with everydayness and it is a source of endless aesthetic experiences. The purpose of this paper is to validate a new perspective on fashion based on Wittgenstein’s later aesthetic conception. In Philosophical Perspectives on Fashion (2017), Matteucci introduces the idea of combining the Wittgensteinian concept of “form of life” with fashion. In accordance with this thesis, the paper aims at showing how fashion is constituted as a “form of life”. Specifically, I shall argue that fashion is an “aesthetics form of life” which structurally employs a language of an aesthetic type ––one with a specific grammar (or set of rules) of its own. I claim that there is in fashion a contact point between the grammar of language and socially encoded aesthetic responses: fashion follows slavishly its own grammar, through its cyclical seasonality, while at the same time tending to creatively reinvent itself. Thus, anyone who daily commits to the practices of fashion acquires sensitivity to its rules, contributing to a social dialectic of identification/diversification typically belonging to fashion itself. Finally, on the basis of the claim that fashion is a “form of life”, and indeed since fashion is primarily an aesthetic practice, I claim that Wittgenstein’s aesthetic notions can coherently be related to fashion as well: concepts such as ‘aesthetic reaction’, ‘gesture’, and ‘correctness’ will be shown to be crucial to an analysis of the aesthetic phenomenon of fashion

Nuovi equilibri metropolitani tra città e territori alpini: il progetto Artaclim per l'adattamento e la resilienza di fronte ai cambiamenti climatici.

La Città Metropolitana di Torino nella sua atipicità rappresenta oggi lo spazio su cui sperimentare in un’ottica post covid19 il rapporto tra la città (Torino con i suoi 880mila abitanti pari al 39% della Città Metropolitana) e le proprie aree interne (52% la superficie montana e 80% i comuni sotto i 5000 abitanti). Torino città densa è stata il traino fin dai tempi della Provincia di Torino, anni in cui la forte dimensione manifatturiera ne ha consolidato la centralità. In città c’era soprattutto più lavoro, ma anche più servizi (scuole, università, ospedali), più svaghi (edicole, cinema, stadi, musei, alimentari, super e ipermercati), e più relazioni, scambi, stimo- li, occasioni. Per questa “contropartita” sempre più persone avevano scelto la migrazione in città o nei comuni della prima e seconda cintura, consapevoli di sacrificare parte della propria qualità di vita (in termini soprattutto di spazi privati, semi privati, contatto con la natura e qualità dell’aria) per maggiori opportunità. In seguito alla pandemia, questa relazione tra ciò che la città è in grado di offrire e ciò che chiede in cambio sembra in parte venir meno. In molti casi si tratta di fenomeni già in atto – dovuti ai cambiamenti degli stili di vita, agli effetti del cambia- mento climatico o alla preoccupazione per i livelli di inquinamento delle aree urbane – che l’attuale rischio sanitario ha accentuato aggiungendone di nuovi. Il risultato è la ricerca di nuovi equilibri nei rapporti tra città e montagna. Già da qualche anno, infatti, le ondate di calore che hanno caratterizzato le ultime primavere-estati hanno visto un forte aumento delle presenze estive nei territori montani con un ritorno alle seconde case per periodi lunghi sul modello degli anni ’70, anche grazie alle possibilità offerte dalle nuove tecnologie e alla maggior flessibilità lavorativa (smartworking). A partire dai risultati emersi nell’ambito del progetto Interreg Artaclim, di cui la Città Metropolitana ed il Politecnico di Torino sono partner, il presente contributo indaga le conseguenze dei crescenti rischi climatici (e dei rischi a essi correlati, tra cui le pandemie) sul rapporto tra aree dense e aree in- terne, mettendo in luce quegli aspetti che possono favorire nuove forme di residenzialità. Lo studio evidenzia il difficile equilibrio di questo rapporto: se da un lato i territori interni possono mostrarsi resilienti nel garantire il distanziamento fisico o ad alcuni effetti del cambiamento climatico (come le ondate di calore), dall’altro restano territori fragili fortemente esposti al crescente dissesto idrogeologico dovuto agli eventi climatici estremi

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POLYMORPHISMS OF TAS2R38 BITTER TASTE RECEPTOR AND CHRONIC UPPER AIRWAY INFECTIONS

1Department of Neuroscience, ENT Section, “Federico II” University of Naples, Italy 2Department of Translational Medical Sciences, European Laboratory for Food Induced Diseases, Napoli, Italy The presence of taste receptors in extra-oral tissues may suggest additional roles apart from taste perception. Recently, an increasing number of reports demonstrated that the bitter taste G-protein coupled receptors family T2R, expressed in ciliated epithelial cells of the respiratory tract, are able to detect bacterial products and to stimulate innate immune defense against pathogens. Most microbial agents, secretes chemical signals known as quorum-sensing molecules that regulate the expression of genes involved in biofilm formation, virulence and other vital processes for microorganisms. Among the quorum-sensing molecules, the AHLs produced by P. aeruginosa, activate the receptor for bitter T2R38 expressed in ciliated epithelial cells of the respiratory tract, whereas mutants of P. aeruginosa lacking the AHL are not able to activate it. The activation of the receptor results in an increase of the Ca2+ flow and the ciliary beat frequency, as well as stimulating the production of NO which acts as a bactericide against the pathogen. The Caucasian population express three common polymorphisms (Pro49Ala, Ala262Val, Val296Ile) for TAS2R38 that lead to two major haplotypes PAV and AVI. The expression of either haplotype gives respectively 2 forms of receptors ̶ functional or non-functional ̶ i.e. unable to respond to specific agonists such phenylthiocarbamide and propylthiouracil (PROP). The two haplotypes PAV and AVI segregate into two major phenotypic classes: the "functional", sensitive to bitter, are homo- or heterozygous for the allele PAV, the "non-functional", are homozygous for the allele AVI. The genetic variations of the receptor TAS2R38 that affect sensitivity to bitter taste can help determine individual differences in susceptibility to bacterial infections of the respiratory tract allowing to plan a “target therapy”. Cellular cultures from homozygous PAV/PAV individuals showed a more effective NO production, mucociliary clearance and bactericide effect than cultures from AVI/PAV or AVI/AVI individuals. As a consequence it is reasonable to assume that patients with genotype AVI/PAV or AVI/AVI are at greater risk of contracting infections from gram-negative, compared with homozygous PAV. Some authors have studied the correlation between genotype and microbiological results TAS2R38 tissue of respiratory mucosa. The result of this analysis proved to be very interesting, because it showed a significant difference in the frequency of non-functional (AVI) than functional (PAV) among patients whose cultures were positive for Gram-negative bacteria, including P. aeruginosa. The aim of the study was to characterize phenotypically the sensitivity to PROP and the receptor polymorphisms of TAS2R38, in patients with chronic or recurrent infections of the upper respiratory tract to identify high risk patients. The identification of high-risk individuals would allow to draw up protocols for specific follow-up and appropriate “target therapy”

Etiological Definition and Diagnostic Work-Up

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a heart muscle disease characterized by left ventricular or biventricular dilatation or systolic dysfunction without either pressure or volume overload or coronary artery disease sufficient to explain the dysfunction. It is pivotal to exclude possible removable causes of left ventricular dysfunction because this has prognostic implications. A comprehensive integrated approach, including third-level diagnostic tools, should be systematically implemented in clinical practice to remove every possible reversible cause through specific therapeutic interventions. This issue appears essential to promote left ventricular reverse remodeling and subsequent outcome improvement. Thus, the clinical approach to a suspected DCM requires a step-by-step work-up. In this chapter, we dissect the "red flags approach" to DCM with particular focus on easily missed diagnosis

MitraClip after heart transplantation: A case report

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Role of Cardiac Imaging: Echocardiography

Echocardiography has crucial importance in the diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Echocardiographic features of DCM are left ventricular (LV) dilation and systolic dysfunction with impaired global contractility and normal LV wall thickness and LV diastolic dysfunction with elevation in LV filling pressure. Other frequent characteristics are LV dyssynchrony, right ventricular (RV) dysfunction, atrial dilation, functional mitral and tricuspid regurgitation, and secondary pulmonary hypertension. New echocardiographic technologies can be helpful, i.e., three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography for more accurate assessment of LV volumes and ejection fraction (EF) and speckle tracking for analysis of strain particularly for early diagnosis. Of note, many echocardiographic parameters have demonstrated important prognostic value in DCM

Prilog poznavanju kseno-raznolikosti životinja duž obale Kalabrije (južna Italija, srednji Mediteran)

In this paper a contribution to the knowledge of marine and brackish water alien species recorded along the Calabrian coasts (Southern Italy, Central Mediterranean) during the period 2000-2013 is given. The study area is located in the center of the Mediterranean. Records of alien species come from 13 years of both field and opportunistic fishing surveys. Also a bibliographical search in the scientific literature and public and private archives was performed. Eighteen of marine alien species recorded: 1 cnidarian, 11 molluscs, 3 crustaceans, and 4 bony fishes; in addition to these, was considered also the presence of four bony fish, that have naturally spread into the Mediterranean: Sphoeroides pachygaster, Gymnothorax moringa, Pseunes pellucidus and Zenopsis conchifera. The highest number of records comes from the Messina Strait. The most common and widest observed species were Percnon gibbesi, Callinectes sapidus, Fistularia commersonii and Procambarus clarckii. The record of Ruditapes philippinarum in the Foce Crati is the first for the Ionian Sea and for the Central Mediterranean. Gymnothorax moringa is here recorded for the first time in the Mediterranean.Ovaj rad predstavlja prilog poznavanju stranih vrsta pronađenih u morskoj i boćatoj vodi duž Kalabrijske obale (južna Italija, Središnji Mediteran) u razdoblju od 2000. do 2013. godine. Područje istraživanja se nalazi u središtu Mediterana. Evidencija stranih vrsta je proizišla iz 13 godina terenskog rada i oportunističkih istraživanja. Također su izvršena bibliografska pretraživanja u znanstvenoj literaturi u javnim i privatnim arhivima. Ukupno je zabilježeno 18 morskih stranih vrsta: 1 cnidaria, 11 mekušaca, 3 raka i 4 ribe koštunjače koje su se prirodno proširile u Mediteranu: Sphoeroides pachygaster, Gymnothorax moringa, Pseunes pellucidus i Zenopsis conchifera. Najveći broj nalaza dolazi iz Mesinskog tjesnaca. Najčešće i najšire promatrane vrste su Percnon gibbesi, Callinectes sapidus, Fistularia commersonii i Procambarus clarkii. Zapis o nalazu vrste Ruditapes philippinarum, kod mjesta Foce Crati, je prvi za Jonsko more i središnji Mediteran. Gymnothorax moringaje po prvi put zabilježena u Mediteranu

Midgut microbiota of the malaria mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae and Interactions with plasmodium falciparum Infection

The susceptibility of Anopheles mosquitoes to Plasmodium infections relies on complex interactions between the insect vector and the malaria parasite. A number of studies have shown that the mosquito innate immune responses play an important role in controlling the malaria infection and that the strength of parasite clearance is under genetic control, but little is known about the influence of environmental factors on the transmission success. We present here evidence that the composition of the vector gut microbiota is one of the major components that determine the outcome of mosquito infections. A. gambiae mosquitoes collected in natural breeding sites from Cameroon were experimentally challenged with a wild P. falciparum isolate, and their gut bacterial content was submitted for pyrosequencing analysis. The meta-taxogenomic approach revealed a broader richness of the midgut bacterial flora than previously described. Unexpectedly, the majority of bacterial species were found in only a small proportion of mosquitoes, and only 20 genera were shared by 80% of individuals. We show that observed differences in gut bacterial flora of adult mosquitoes is a result of breeding in distinct sites, suggesting that the native aquatic source where larvae were grown determines the composition of the midgut microbiota. Importantly, the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae in the mosquito midgut correlates significantly with the Plasmodium infection status. This striking relationship highlights the role of natural gut environment in parasite transmission. Deciphering microbe-pathogen interactions offers new perspectives to control disease transmission.Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD); French Agence Nationale pour la Recherche [ANR-11-BSV7-009-01]; European Community [242095, 223601]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio