Aby Warburg: His Aims and Methods

In this issue of Engramma: Giulia Zanon’s "Zooming Mnemosyne" deals with the use of details in Warburg’s Bilderatlas, Monica Centanni’s "Collateral effects of the “visibile parlare” (Dante, Pg. X, v. 95)" reconstructs the hypothesis of a visual model for the legend of Trajan’s Justice, according to Warburg intuition about it; this contribution is connected of the paper by Filippo Perfetti’s "Dante, Botticelli, and Trajan. An Open Note" where the author investigates how Botticelli could have come to know that the bas-relief of the Arch of Constantine liberatori urbis was related to an episode in Trajan's life”. The focus of this issue is then extended to Warburg's cultural environment. Matilde Sergio’s "Aby Warburg, Walter Benjaming, and the Memory of Images" investigates the influence of Warburg's essay about Luther, on Benjamin's thought, while Dorothee Gelhard’s "Gertrud Bing’s Scientific Beginnings" reconstructs the intellectual history of Bing's doctoral thesis and its influences on Warburgian work. The theme of Warburg’s Denkraum is the focal point of Salvatore Settis’ "Anselm Kiefer's Logic of Inversion": a fundamental overview of Kiefer's Questi scritti, quando verranno bruciati, daranno finalmente un po’ di luce (Andrea Emo) on display at Sala dello Scrutinio in Palazzo Ducale, Venezia from March to October 2022. The third section of the issue is dedicated to new publications and exhibitions. Echoing Settis’ reflection on Denkraum, we present Clio Nicastro’s "La Dialettica del Denkraum in Aby Warburg", published this year for Palermo University Press; an introduction to "Cultural Memories": a series published by Peter Lang and edited by Katia Pizzi. Giacomo Calandra di Roccolino with "Mary Hertz Warburg: Free and Unconventional" reviews the exhibition of the artist Mary Hertz Warburg. The issue closes with the important "Choral Reading of "Il metodo di Aby Warburg" by Kurt W. Forster. L’antico dei gesti. Il futuro della memoria", where Barbara Baert, Victoria Cirlot, Georges Didi-Huberman, Michael Diers, Andrea Pinotti and Ianick Takaes offer us their personal reading of Warburg’s life and thought as they are presented by Forster’s newly translated book, edited by Ronzani editore

The unmet need for pertussis prevention in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the Italian context

Despite high rates of vaccination, pertussis resurgence has been reported worldwide in recent years, including in Italy, especially in older adults. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a respiratory disease associated with progressive inflammation of the respiratory tract. Regional population studies have shown the prevalence of COPD in Italy to be approximately 15% with an age-dependent increase in proportion of COPD cases. Emerging data shows that individuals with COPD are at high risk of contracting pertussis. Furthermore, those who develop pertussis could experience exacerbation of their pre-existent COPD and further susceptibility to other infections. Immunization programs in Italy currently recommend a decennial reduced-antigen-content diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis booster vaccine dose for adults. Active measures to encourage booster vaccination, especially for high-risk adults such as those with COPD, could positively impact pertussis morbidity and the associated healthcare burden

Bronchoscopic sampling techniques in the era of technological bronchoscopy

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Chest pain and a left parasternal soft tissue swelling in an immunocompetent refugee with disseminated tuberculosis

An immunocompetent migrant with chest pain was admitted to an Italian hospital. CT scan showed a left pectoral abscess and osteomyelitis of the sternum. The infection spread into the anterior mediastinum near to the pericardium and the heart, where an atrial mass was confirmed by echocardiography. Disseminated tuberculosis was diagnosed

Bronchoscopic techniques in the management of patients with tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Early diagnosis and treatment are key to prevent Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission. Bronchoscopy can play a primary role in pulmonary TB diagnosis, particularly for suspected patients with scarce sputum or sputum smear negativity, and with endobronchial disease. Bronchoscopic needle aspiration techniques are accurate and safe means adopted to investigate hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes in cases of suspected TB lymphadenopathy. Tracheobronchial stenosis represents the worst complication of endobronchial tuberculosis. Bronchoscopic procedures are less invasive therapeutic strategies than conventional surgery to be adopted in the management of TB-related stenosis. We conducted a non-systematic review aimed at describing the scientific literature on the role of bronchoscopic techniques in the diagnosis and therapy of patients with TB. We focused on three main areas of interventions: bronchoscopic diagnosis of smear negative/sputum scarce TB patients, endobronchial TB diagnosis and treatment and needle aspiration techniques for intrathoracic TB lymphadenopathy. We described experiences on bronchoalveolar lavage, bronchial washing, and biopsy techniques for the diagnosis of patients with tracheobronchial and pulmonary TB; furthermore, we described the role played by conventional and ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration in the diagnosis of suspected hilar and mediastinal TB adenopathy. Finally, we assessed the role of the bronchoscopic therapy in the treatment of endobronchial TB and its complications, focusing on dilation techniques (such as balloon dilation and airway stenting) and ablative procedures (both heat and cold therapies)

Bronchoscopy to assess patients with hemoptysis : which is the optimal timing?

Background: Bronchoscopy plays a key role to diagnose the etiology, to localize the site, and to identify the sources of the bleeding in patients with hemoptysis, but the ideal timing of an endoscopic examination is still unclear. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of an observational and multicenter study, aimed at evaluating the epidemiology of hemoptysis in Italy and the diagnostic yield of the most frequently prescribed examinations. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether an early bronchoscopy (i.e., performed during active bleeding/ 6448 h after hemoptysis stopped) helps localize bleeding (i.e., site, lobe, lung) and increase diagnostic yield in comparison with a delayed examination. Results: Four hundred eighty-six consecutive adult patients (69.2% males; median [IQR] age: 67 [53-76] years) with hemoptysis requiring an etiological diagnosis and undergoing bronchoscopy were recruited. Bleeding focus could be located more frequently in case of moderate-severe bleedings than in cases of mild hemoptysis (site: 70/154, 45.4%, VS. 73/330, 22.1%; p-value < 0.0001; lobe: 95/155, 61.3%, VS. 95/331, 28.7%; p-value < 0.0001; lung: 101/155, 65.1%, VS. 111/331, 33.5%; p-value < 0.0001). Early bronchoscopy showed a higher detection rate of bleeding source in comparison with delayed examination (site: 76/214, 35.5%, VS. 67/272, 24.6%; p-value = 0.01; lobe: 98/214, 45.8%, VS. 92/272, 33.8%; p-value = 0.007; lung: 110/214, 51.4%, VS. 102/272, 37.5%; p-value = 0.002). Early bronchoscopy did not provide any advantages in terms of increased diagnostic yield, in the total cohort (113/214, 52.8%, VS. 123/272, 45.2%; p-value = 0.10) and in the severity subtypes (mild: 56/128, 43.8%, VS. 88/203, 43.4%; p-value = 0.94; moderate-severe: 57/86, 66.2%, VS. 35/69, 50.7%; p-value = 0.051). Conclusions: Early bronchoscopy helps detect bleeding sources, particularly in cases of moderate-severe hemoptysis, without increasing diagnostic accuracy. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier: NCT02045394)

COVID-19 in Severe Asthma Network in Italy (SANI) patients: Clinical features, impact of comorbidities and treatments

none17noNo abstract availablenoneHeffler, Enrico; Detoraki, Aikaterini; Contoli, Marco; Papi, Alberto; Paoletti, Giovanni; Malipiero, Giacomo; Brussino, Luisa; Crimi, Claudia; Morrone, Daniela; Padovani, Marianna; Guida, Giuseppe; Gerli, Alberto Giovanni; Centanni, Stefano; Senna, Gianenrico; Paggiaro, Pierluigi; Blasi, Francesco; Canonica, Giorgio WalterHeffler, Enrico; Detoraki, Aikaterini; Contoli, Marco; Papi, Alberto; Paoletti, Giovanni; Malipiero, Giacomo; Brussino, Luisa; Crimi, Claudia; Morrone, Daniela; Padovani, Marianna; Guida, Giuseppe; Gerli, Alberto Giovanni; Centanni, Stefano; Senna, Gianenrico; Paggiaro, Pierluigi; Blasi, Francesco; Canonica, Giorgio Walte

The mechanism of transglutaminase 2 externalisation in renal tubular epithelial cells

Transglutaminase type 2 (TG2) catalyses the formation of an ε-(γ-glutamyl)-lysine isopeptide bonds between adjacent peptides or proteins including those of the extracellular matrix(ECM). ECM crosslinking has been associated with both the acceleration of collagen deposition while conferring the ECM with resistance to proteolytic degradation. Subsequently the cellular secretion of TG2 has been associated with wound healing and aberrant wound healing leading to kidney, lung, liver and heart fibrosis as well as atherosclerosis. TG2 has no signal peptide and cannot be transported classically. It is unknown how TG2 is targeted to the cell surface and secreted into ECM. Understanding TG2 transport may help to develop specific mechanisms to interfere with TG2 action in the scarring process. In this study, we identified that amino acids 88-106 in N-terminal β-sandwich domain of TG2 molecule is crucial for TG2 externalisation using deletion and mutation analysis in three renal tubular epithelial cells (TEC). Of interest, this TG2 export motif (aa88-106) itself appeared to be able to target other proteins for extracellular secretion. Yeast-two-hybrid studies were then performed to identify what the TG2 export motif would bind to and thus give clues as to the downstream mechanism of trafficking. Large T antigen (LTA) and tapasin were identified as binding partners. The interaction between LTA or tapasin and TG2 was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation using endogenous protein from wild-type cells. TG2 externalisation was significantly decreased when LTA and tapasin were knockdown using siRNA suggesting that large T antigen and tapasin is involved in TG2 externalisation process. The possible TG2 externalisation pathway was explored further using fluorescent imaging including co-localisation analysis and live cell imaging. TG2 was predominantly co-localised with endoplasmic reticulum (ER) around the cell nucleus, but not localised with Golgi apparatus and lysosomes. We observed plasma membrane blebbing in the cells transfected with wild-type TG2 but not in the cells transfected withTG2 carrying a mutation in the export motif. Plasma membrane blebbing or a direct molecular trap is the most likely mechanism for TG2 externalisation based on the data generated. In conclusion, the amino acid sequence 88-106 in β-sandwich domain of TG2 is critical to TG2 externalisation in TEC. This export motif binds to large T antigen and tapasin. Large T antigen and tapasin is involved in TG2 externalisation possibly through plasma membrane blebbing or direct molecular trap in TEC.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo