Saperi profani e cultura pagana nei dialoghi di Gregorio Magno

This work, analyzing the way of definition of the profane knowledge and the pagan culture in the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, proposes that Gregory have four manners to speak of this knowledge: a) Connect the profane knowledge to the devil, as in the case of Basil the magician in the story of Egitius the monk; the story of the women possessed by the devil and exorcised by Fortunato and, finally, the conflicts between the devil and Benedict after the destruction of the Temple of Apollus in Montecassino. b) Criticize the profane knowledge, considering this knowledge a sin. We found this situation in the story of the abandonment of the studies of St. Benedict, in the praises of the simple and ingnorant monks and finally the critiquess to the interpretation of dreams. c) Incorporate the profane knowledge as background or content in the stories. We see this in the case of the medical vocabulary. d) Connect the profane knowledge to positive situations, For example, using medical instruments as symbol of the divine word, or in the story of Paulinus of Nola in Africa.Questo lavoro, analizzando come nei Dialoghi di Gregorio Magno vengono definiti i saperi profani e la cultura pagana, propone che Gregorio ha quattro maniere di riferirsi a questi saperi nell’opera: a) Collegare il sapere profano al demonio, come nel caso del mago Basilio nella storia del monaco Equizio, la storia della donna posseduta dal demonio ed esorcizzata da Fortunato e gli scontri tra il demonio e Benedetto dopo la distruzione del tempio di Apollo a Montecassino. b) Criticare il sapere profano e considerarlo peccaminoso, che troviamo nel racconto dell’abbandono degli studi di Benedetto, nelle lodi dei monaci semplici e ignoranti, o le critiche all’interpretazione dei sogni. c) Integrare il sapere profano come elemento di sfondo o di contenuto del racconto, nel caso della medicina e del vocabolario medico. d) Collegarlo a situazioni positive, utilizzando strumenti medici come simbolo della parola divina, o come succede nella storia di Paolino di Nola in Africa

State of the Art of Aviation Safety Reporting in Europe

Since the introduction of Regulation (EU) No 376/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council in 2014, [1], EU Member States and EASA have been required to publish the Annual Safety Review (ASR). The ASR contains an overview of the safety statistics in each Member State, reporting numerical indicators and graphical representations. Its goal is to describe national aviation safety scenarios on which appropriate preventive measures can be based. Among the diversity of reporting practices within the EU Member States, it is possible to find a common set of criteria for the analysis of ASRs, to design homogeneous and data-driven safety measures across the continent. Currently, the main obstacles to our approach arise from the wide variety of reporting styles and the lack of shared guidelines for ASRs. This paper proposes a template to assist EU Member States in the process of producing their ASRs and presents a comparative analysis of a selected subset of these documents

Impact of Mast Cells on Multiple Sclerosis: Inhibitory Effect of Natalizumab

Mast cells (MCs) derive from a distinct precursor in the bone marrow and are predominantly found in tissues at the interface between the host and the external environment where they can secrete mediators without overt degranulation. Mast cells mature under local tissue microenvironmental factors and are necessary for the development of allergic reactions, through crosslinking of their surface receptors for IgE (FcεRI), leading to degranulation and the release of vasoactive, pro-inflammatory and nociceptive mediators that include histamine, pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines and proteolytic enzymes. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory demylination within the central nervous system. MCs are involved in the pathogenesis of MS by generating various vasoactive mediators and cytokines and participate in the destruction of the myelin sheath and the neuronal cells. The process of the development of demyelinating plaques in MS is probably linked with the rupture of the blood-brain barrier by MC products. The effects of natalizumab, which is a very effective drug in reducing the annualized relapse rate and other relapse-based endpoints, are discussed. Here, we report the relationship between MCs and MS

Autoimmunity and parasites.

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On the effect of interactions beyond nearest neighbours on non-convex lattice systems

We analyse the rigidity of non-convex discrete energies where at least nearest and next-to-nearest neighbour interactions are taken into account. Our purpose is to show that interactions beyond nearest neighbours have the role of penalising changes of orientation and, to some extent, they may replace the positive-determinant constraint that is usually required when only nearest neighbours are accounted for. In a discrete to continuum setting, we prove a compactness result for a family of surface-scaled energies and we give bounds on its possible Gamma-limit in terms of interfacial energies that penalise changes of orientation

Impact of neuropeptide substance P an inflammatory compound on arachidonic acid compound generation

There is much evidence that neuropeptide substance P is involved in neurogenic inflammation and is an important neurotransmitter and neurmodulator compound. In addition, substance P plays an important role in inflammation and immunity. Macrophages can be activated by substance P which provokes the release of inflammatory compounds such as interleukins, chemokines and growth factors. Substance P is involved in the mechanism of pain through the trigeminal nerve which runs through the head, temporal and sinus cavity. Substance P also activates mast cells to release inflammatory mediators such as arachindonic acid compound, cytokines/chemokines and histamine. The release of these chemical mediators is crucial for inflammatory response. Among these mediators there are prostoglandins and leukotrines. Here we review the impact of substance P on inflammatory compounds

Derivation of a linearised elasticity model from singularly perturbed multiwell energy functionals

Linear elasticity can be rigorously derived from finite elasticity under the assumption of small loadings in terms of Gamma-convergence. This was first done in the case of one-well energies with super-quadratic growth and later generalised to different settings, in particular to the case of multi-well energies where the distance between the wells is very small (comparable to the size of the load). In this paper we study the case when the distance between the wells is independent of the size of the load. In this context linear elasticity can be derived by adding to the multi-well energy a singular higher order term which penalises jumps from one well to another. The size of the singular term has to satisfy certain scaling assumptions whose optimality is shown in most of the cases. Finally, the derivation of linear elasticty from a two-well discrete model is provided, showing that the role of the singular perturbation term is played in this setting by interactions beyond nearest neighbours

Notulae to the Italian native vascular flora: 5.

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records and confirmations to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Allium, Arabis, Campanula, Centaurea, Chaerophyllum, Crocus, Dactylis, Dianthus, Festuca, Galanthus, Helianthemum, Lysimachia, Milium, Pteris, and Quercus. Nomenclature and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as supplementary material

Notulae to the Italian alien vascular flora: 11

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1

Rethinking the import-productivity nexus for Italian manufacturing

We provide evidence on the firm level productivity effects of imports of intermediates. By exploiting a large panel of Italian manufacturing firms, we are able to separately explore the role of importing from high and low income countries. Importing does not permanently affect the firm productivity growth. This finding holds both when we test for the import entry by means of Propensity Score Matching techniques and when we analyse the import intensity within a dynamic panel data model framework. On the contrary, we confirm the existence of self-selection into importing. Also, our evidence supports the learning-by-exporting effects in Italian manufacturing and we prove that this result is robust to the control of firm import activity