Truth, fact, fiction, lies: Italo svevo’s search for the subject

Cogliendo lo spunto di Altieri, che cerca di superare la decostruzionepostmoderna del soggetto, si vuol suggerire che la crisi del soggetto è giàdecisamente attraversata dallo Svevo nell’arco degli anni a cavallo dellaGrande Guerra e segnatamente nella Coscienza di Zeno. È proprio laguerra che rende imprescindibile per lo scrittore il quesito autobiografico sulleproprie responsabilità e sulla sua autonomia come individuo, come anche ilquesito antropologico sul come e perché della guerra. Si cerca qui,soppesando recenti contributi critici su Svevo, di tracciare le linee deltentativo di Svevo di “ricostituire” l’io attraverso lo scrivere tramite il rapportoinstaurato tra la saltuaria “coscienza” del protagonista, gli altri personaggi,l’autore implicito e il lettore

Serotonin transporter polymorphism moderates the effects of caregiver intrusiveness on ADHD symptoms among institutionalized preschoolers

Research consistently chronicles a variety of mental health difficulties that plague institutionally reared children, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), even if not all institutionalized children evince such problems. In seeking to extend work in this area, this research on gene × environment (GXE) interplay investigated whether the effect of the quality of institutional care-most notably, caregiver intrusiveness-on ADHD symptoms is moderated by the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism. One hundred and twenty-seven institutionalized preschoolers were evaluated using the Child Behavior Checklist. Caregiver-rated attention problems and hyperactivity were unrelated to both 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and caregiver intrusiveness. A significant GXE effect, independent of age at placement or duration of institutionalization, emerged, however, consistent with the differential-susceptibility hypothesis: s/s homozygotes manifest the most and least ADHD symptoms when they experienced, respectively, more and less intrusive caregiving. These results provide new insight into the reasons why some institutionalized children, but not others, exhibit ADHD symptoms.This study was conducted within the Psychology Research Centre, University of Minho, and partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/ PSI-PCL/101506/2008 and PTDC/PSI-PCL/116897/2010; also grant SFRH/BPD/100994/2014 assigned to the first author) and by the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and when applicable co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (UID/PSI/01662/2013). This study was also partially supported by grant 13/06 from Fundação BIAL. The authors are very grateful to the students who helped in data collection. Special thanks go to the children, caregivers, and other institutional staff who participated in the study.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gene-environment interactions in the etiology of human violence

This chapter reviews the current research on gene-environment interactions (G × E) with regard to human violence. Findings are summarized from both behavioral and molecular genetic studies that have investigated the interplay of genetic and environmental factors in terms of influencing violence-related behavior. Together, these studies reveal promising evidence that genetic factors combine with environmental influences to impact on the development of violent behavior and related phenotypes. G × E have been identified for a number of candidate genes implicated in violence. Moreover, the reviewed G × E were found to extend to a broad range of environmental characteristics, including both adverse and favorable conditions. As has been the case with other G × E research, findings have been mixed, with considerable heterogeneity between studies. Lack of replication together with serious methodological limitations remains a major challenge for drawing definitive conclusions about the nature of violence-related G × E. In order to fulfill its potential, it is recommended that future G × E research needs to shift its focus to dissecting the neural mechanisms and the underlying pathophysiological pathways by which genetic variation may influence differential susceptibility to environmental exposures