Ancora su Bartolomeo Cancellieri, pittore itinerante e sul ritratto di Carlo V attribuito a Parmigianino.

Nella seconda metà del XVI secolo in Italia e in Europa si diffonde, come noto, una particolare interpretazione della ritrattistica, definibile internazionale e di corte, in cui la persona rappresentata, in una messa in posa rigidamente aulica e stereotipata, si sottrae a una condizione temporale e diventa una sorta di stemma o emblema del ritratto (Jenkins 1977; Pommier 2003). Non affronteremo in questa sede gli esiti più elevati di tale tipologia, alla cui formazione concorsero in prevalenza gli artisti fiamminghi, ma anche italiani, romani e fiorentini, ma prenderemo in esame l’attività di un pittore studiato per primo da Federico Zeri (1978) la cui attività, documentabile a Ferrara, Napoli, Roma, Parma, non doveva escludere, operando una sorta di traduzione semplificata, l’esercizio della copia.In the second half of the sixteenth century in Italy and in Europe spreads, as is known, an international interpretation of court portraiture, in which the person represented, in a posing noble and rigidly stereotyped, escapes from a temporal condition and becomes a sort of crest or emblem of the portrait(Jenkins 1977; Pommier 2003). Omitting here the results of this higher type - the formation of which competed mainly Flemish artists, but also Italian, Roman and Florentine – we will examine the work of a painter – Bartolomeo Cancellieri - studied by Federico Zeri at the first place (1978). The activity of Cancellieri, documented in Ferrara, Naples, Rome and Parma, includes the exercise of the copy, inwhich he operates a sort of simplified translation

Italian municipalities' NPFM reforms: an institutional theory perspective

Entender las razones del fracaso o el éxito de las reformas impulsada por el NPFM es un tema que ha atraído recientemente la atención de la literatura sobre la gestión del sector público. Sobre la base de un estudio de caso realizado en el gobierno local italiano, la investigación analiza el estado de real aplicación de las reformas mencionadas anteriormente, y contribuye al debate teórico sobre las razones que explican las diferencias entre los cambios formales y sustanciales en la administración utilizando un enfoque institucional. Para este fin se realizó una encuesta sobre una muestra estadísticamente representativa de los municipios italianos con más de 5.000 habitantes y una serie de entrevistas semi-estructuradas con observadores privilegiados. Basándose en los resultados del análisis, la introducción de reformas inspiradas en el NPFM en Italia se puede considerar como un caso en el que la innovación anunciada por la ley es más formal que de fondo. En cuanto a las razones de la brecha entre los cambios administrativos de forma y de fondo, los resultados del estudio sugieren la hipótesis de una correlación directa entre las prácticas contables y, respectivamente, las presiones isomorfas que han acompañado a la introducción de nuevas herramientas de contabilidad -nuevo institucionalismo sociológico (NIS)- la cultura organizacional de los municipios -viejo institucionalismo económico (VIE)- y el tamaño de los gobiernos locale

Informal payments and performance in the health care sector: possible relationships in a sub-national perspective

The paper explores the relationship between corruption and performance dimensions of the Italian regional health care systems (RHSs). In Europe, Italy shows the widest sub-national in performance and corruption levels. The research focuses on petty corruption in health care. So-called informal payments are the most common form and were measured using data from the European Quality of Government Index Survey. The performance of Italian RHSs was assessed using key indicators divided into three analytical dimensions: health status; access to care; and quality of care. OECD Health Data was used as source data for health status and access to care. As a proxy for quality of care, the study used avoidable mortality, with data drawn from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). The study formulated a research hypothesises that petty corruption has a negative influence on RHS performance. The findings showed considerable regional differences. The results did not confirm the research hypotheses. However, informal payments did show an adverse effect on renunciations to specialist medical examinations due to costs

Antilisterial Activity of Nisin-Like Bacteriocin-Producing Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis Isolated from Traditional Sardinian Dairy Products

With the aim of selecting LAB strains with antilisterial activity to be used as protective cultures to enhance the safety of dairy products, the antimicrobial properties of 117 Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis isolated from artisanal Sardinian dairy products were evaluated, and six strains were found to produce bacteriocin-like substances. The capacity of these strains to antagonize Listeria monocytogenes during cocultivation in skimmed milk was evaluated, showing a reduction of L. monocytogenes counts of approximately 4 log units compared to the positive control after 24 h of incubation. In order for a strain to be used as bioprotective culture, it should be carefully evaluated for the presence of virulence factors, to determine what potential risks might be involved in its use. None of the strains tested was found to produce biogenic amines or to possess haemolytic activity. In addition, all strains were sensitive to clinically important antibiotics such as ampicillin, tetracycline, and vancomycin. Our results suggest that these bac+ strains could be potentially applied in cheese manufacturing to control the growth of L. monocytogenes

Role of the (Mn)superoxide dismutase of Enterococcus faecalis in the in vitro interaction with microglia

Enterococcus faecalis is a significant human pathogen worldwide and is responsible for severenosocomial and community-acquired infections. Although enterococcal meningitis is rare,mortality is considerable, reaching 21 %. Nevertheless, the pathogenetic mechanisms of thisinfection remain poorly understood, even though the ability of E. faecalis to avoid or survivephagocytic attack in vivo may be very important during the infection process. We previouslyshowed that the manganese-cofactored superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) SodA of E. faecalis wasimplicated in oxidative stress responses and, interestingly, in the survival within mouse peritonealmacrophages using an in vivo\u2013in vitro infection model. In the present study, we investigated therole of MnSOD in the interaction of E. faecalis with microglia, the brain-resident macrophages. Byusing an in vitro infection model, murine microglial cells were challenged in parallel with the wildtypestrain JH2-2 and its isogenic sodA deletion mutant. While both strains were phagocytosedby microglia efficiently and to a similar extent, the DsodA mutant was found to be significantlymore susceptible to microglial killing than JH2-2, as assessed by the antimicrobial protectionassay. In addition, a significantly higher percentage of acidic DsodA-containing phagosomes wasfound and these also underwent enhanced maturation as determined by the expression ofendolysosomal markers. In conclusion, these results show that the MnSOD of E. faecaliscontributes to survival of the bacterium in microglial cells by influencing their antimicrobial activity,and this could even be important for intracellular killing in neutrophils and thus for E. faecalispathogenesis

Influence of Autochthonous Putative Probiotic Cultures on Microbiota, Lipid Components and Metabolome of Caciotta Cheese

The present study was undertaken to produce probiotic Caciotta cheeses from pasteurized ewes' milk by using different combinations of autochthonous microbial cultures, containing putative probiotic strains, and evaluate their influence on gross composition, lipid components, sensory properties and microbiological and metabolite profiles of the cheeses throughout ripening process. A control cheese was produced using commercial starter cultures. The hydrophilic molecular pools (mainly composed by amino acids, organic acids, and carbohydrates) were characterized by means of H-1 NMR spectroscopy, while the cholesterol, alpha-tocopherol and fatty acid composition by HPLC-DAD/ELSD techniques. Conventional culturing and a PCR-DGGE approach using total cheese DNA extracts were used to analyze cheese microbiota and monitor the presence and viability of starters and probiotic strains. Our findings showed no marked differences for gross composition, total lipids, total cholesterol, and fatty acid levels among all cheeses during ripening. Differently, the multivariate statistical analysis of NMR data highlighted significant variations in the cheese' profiles both in terms of maturation time and strains combination. The use of autochthonous cultures and adjunct probiotic strains did not adversely affect acceptability of the cheeses. Higher levels of lactobacilli (viability of 10(8)-10(9) cfu/g of cheese) were detected in cheeses made with the addition of probiotic autochthonous strains with respect to control cheese during the whole ripening period, suggesting the adequacy of Caciotta cheese as a carrier for probiotic bacteria delivery

Far-IR/Submillimeter Spectroscopic Cosmological Surveys: Predictions of Infrared Line Luminosity Functions for z<4 Galaxies

Star formation and accretion onto supermassive black holes in the nuclei of galaxies are the two most energetic processes in the Universe, producing the bulk of the observed emission throughout its history. We simulated the luminosity functions of star-forming and active galaxies for spectral lines that are thought to be good spectroscopic tracers of either phenomenon, as a function of redshift. We focused on the infrared (IR) and sub-millimeter domains, where the effects of dust obscuration are minimal. Using three different and independent theoretical models for galaxy formation and evolution, constrained by multi-wavelength luminosity functions, we computed the number of star-forming and active galaxies per IR luminosity and redshift bin. We converted the continuum luminosity counts into spectral line counts using relationships that we calibrated on mid- and far-IR spectroscopic surveys of galaxies in the local universe. Our results demonstrate that future facilities optimized for survey-mode observations, i.e., the Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) and the Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT), will be able to observe thousands of z>1 galaxies in key fine-structure lines, e.g., [SiII], [OI], [OIII], [CII], in a half-square-degree survey, with one hour integration time per field of view. Fainter lines such as [OIV], [NeV] and H_2 (0-0)S1 will be observed in several tens of bright galaxies at 1<z<2, while diagnostic diagrams of active-nucleus vs star-formation activity will be feasible even for normal z~1 galaxies. We discuss the new parameter space that these future telescopes will cover and that strongly motivate their construction.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal on 20/10/2011, 17 pages, 13 figure

Interferon regulatory factor 8-deficiency determines massive neutrophil recruitment but T cell defect in fast growing granulomas during tuberculosis

Following Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, immune cell recruitment in lungs is pivotal in establishing protective immunity through granuloma formation and neogenesis of lymphoid structures (LS). Interferon regulatory factor-8 (IRF-8) plays an important role in host defense against Mtb, although the mechanisms driving anti-mycobacterial immunity remain unclear. In this study, IRF-8 deficient mice (IRF-8−/−) were aerogenously infected with a low-dose Mtb Erdman virulent strain and the course of infection was compared with that induced in wild-type (WT-B6) counterparts. Tuberculosis (TB) progression was examined in both groups using pathological, microbiological and immunological parameters. Following Mtb exposure, the bacterial load in lungs and spleens progressed comparably in the two groups for two weeks, after which IRF-8−/− mice developed a fatal acute TB whereas in WT-B6 the disease reached a chronic stage. In lungs of IRF-8−/−, uncontrolled growth of pulmonary granulomas and impaired development of LS were observed, associated with unbalanced homeostatic chemokines, progressive loss of infiltrating T lymphocytes and massive prevalence of neutrophils at late infection stages. Our data define IRF-8 as an essential factor for the maintenance of proper immune cell recruitment in granulomas and LS required to restrain Mtb infection. Moreover, IRF-8−/− mice, relying on a common human and mouse genetic mutation linked to susceptibility/severity of mycobacterial diseases, represent a valuable model of acute TB for comparative studies with chronically-infected congenic WT-B6 for dissecting protective and pathological immune reactions