Prevalence and attitudes to HIV testing among adults visiting public outpatient clinics in Rome: results of the MeDi (Measuring health Disparities in HIV prevention) survey. Part 1

Background. It is estimated that, in Italy, 12 000-18 000 (11-13% of 130 000) HIV-infected subjects are not aware of their serostatus. People in this condition may visit the healthcare system multiple times without being diagnosed. If tested on one of these occasions, they could modify their high-risk behaviours and benefit from treatment, factors that reduce HIV transmission. In Italy, no data on HIV testing in the general population are available so far and little is known on the relationship between socioeconomic determinants (at individual and neighbourhood levels) and testing uptake.Methods. A large anonymous survey was performed in 2012-2014 on more than 10 000 individuals 18-59 years old who underwent 21 public ambulatories in Rome to determine the proportion of subjects tested for HIV and factors related to testing uptake. Subjects’ socio-demographic characteristics, sexual orientation, number of sexual partners, HIV risk behaviour, HIV testing uptake were collected by a self-administered questionnaire. Level of area deprivation was measured at the postal code level by the index of social disadvantage (ISD). Multilevel Poisson regressions were carried out to take heterogeneity between clusters (post code and clinics) into account.Results. Among people participating in the study, 58.1% of subjects self-reported to have been tested at least once for HIV. Those who had one high risk behaviour for HIVinfection were 11% more likely to test than those not reporting any, and subjects who had had a STI (sexually-transmitted-infection) in the past were 12% more likely to test than those who had not had a STI. However only 44% (54% among subjects aged 18-35 years) of those with self-reported risks of contracting HIV had been tested at least once in life. This percentage increases, as expected, with the level of education, but, even so, about 40% of university educated subjects self-reporting risks of contracting HIV had never undergone an HIV test.Conclusions. This study highlights that, while the percentage of subjects tested is even higher than observed in other western nations, only 44% of subjects, self-reporting risks of contracting HIV, had tested at least once in life and about 40% of university educated subjects self reporting risks of contracting HIV had never tested.

HIV prevalence among adults in Rome: results of the MeDi (Measuring health Disparities in HIV prevention) survey. Part 2

Background. In Italy, out of 60 millions of inhabitants, 3000 (2700-4000) new HIV infections are estimated each year. As combined antiretroviral therapy (ART) prolongs life for HIV sufferers, the prevalence of HIV-infection is likely to increase over time. Few studies have assessed factors associated with being HIV positive in people accessing public outpatient clinics and, in particular, the influence of socio-economic circumstances on HIV prevalence. This study aims to evaluate the association between subjects’ serostatus and socio-economic determinants measured at the individual and neighbourhood levels.Methods. Data from a large anonymous survey performed in 2012-2014 on more than 10 000 individuals 18-59 years old who underwent 21 public ambulatories in Rome were analysed. Subjects’ socio-demographic characteristics, sexual orientation, number of sexual partners, HIV risk behaviour and HIV testing uptake were collected by a selfadministered questionnaire. Level of area deprivation was measured at the postal code level by the index of social disadvantage (ISD). Multilevel Poisson regressions were carried out to take heterogeneity between clusters (post code and clinics) into account.Results. Self-reported HIV-prevalence was 2.0% among subjects ever been tested (13.7% for the homosexual/lesbians 7.0% for the bisexual and 1.3% for the heterosexual). About 1% of subjects self-identified as low risk was HIV infected. This prevalence increased up to 2% in the age group 18-34 and up to 5% in the non-heterosexuals (i.e. self- identified homosexuals/lesbians and bisexuals). At the individual level, HIV-prevalence decreased linearly from lowest to highest levels of education. Living in a deprived neighbourhood was not associated with HIV-infection.Conclusions. Our study confirms high HIV prevalences among homosexuals/lesbians. Some infections occur in subjects who do not report high risk behaviours for HIV transmission

Le « gammadiae »

Sull'uso delle « gammadiae », simboli a forma di lettera disegnati sui tessuti, attestato nelle fonti iconografiche a partire dal 1° sec. a.C. e assunto nel 5°-6° sec. come emblema cristiano, legato probabilmente al riconoscimento del ruolo pubblico e ufficiale di chi lo indossava. Symbol elusive to the extent that have not its own name in antiquity, the gammadia, diversiform right from the beginning, has been an unsolvable riddle to scholars since the 1500. The analysis of the iconographic sources, attested from the first century AD, leads one to suppose that the use of representing gammadiae on tissue has been imported from the Near East and, hence, has gone to the catacombs: gradually, belatedly - probably since the beginning of the fourth century - and patchy. Only by the age of the churches in the West gammadiae take an official function, more explicit, becoming a Christian symbol. Although the vast gap in literary sources will not allow sharp statements, this symbol appears linked to hierarchy and power and would be understood as a symbol of apparatus, expression and celebration of auctoritas. Symbole fuyant au point à ne pas posséder un propre nom dans l'antiquité, le gammadia, multiforme déjà à l'origine, il a été un énigme sans solution pour les spécialistes depuis le '500. L'analyse des sources iconographiques, attesté depuis le Ie siècle apr. J.-C., laisse supposer que l'usage de représenter gammadiae sur les tissus a été importé par le Proche-Orient et, par conséquent, est passée dans les catacombes: graduellement, tardivement - sans doute depuis le début du quatrième siècle - et inégal. Il sera avec l'âge des basiliques seulement qui en Ouest les gammadiae prendront une fonction officielle plus explicite en devenant un symbole chrétien. Quoique la grande lacune de sources littéraires ne permette pas affirmations nettes, ce symbole apparaît lié à la hiérarchie et au pouvoir et il serait à s'entendre comme symbole d'apparat en expression et célébration de l'auctoritas

Per una ricostruzione del Calendario Italico nel Martirologio geronimiano

The Martyrologium Hieronymianum, the most trustworthy collection of martyrs’ memories bequeathal, is an assemblage of many different sources. The author of this paper tries to extract from that work only the part relating to Italy, collating an Italian calendar – also known as Calendarium Italicum – as complete as possible. Through the analysis of more than 250 memories, thus collected, and of the norms of the ancient Councils and of the regulae monasticae, the author identifies a direct relationship between fasting and exclusion of martyrs’ memories, which influenced, between fifth and sixth centuries, the position of memories on the ancient martyrology itself. Le Martyrologe Hiéronymien, la collection la plus fiable de souvenirs des martyrs transmis, est une sorte de spicilège de nombreuses sources différentes. L’auteur de cet article tente d’extraire du martyrologe la partie relative à l’Italie, rassemblant un calendrier italique, aussi complète que possible. À travers l’analyse de plus de 250 événements, ainsi recueillies, sur la base des normes des Conseils et des regulae monastiques, l’auteur identifie une relation directe entre le jeûne et l’exclusion de certaines mémoires des martyrs, qui ont influencé, entre les cinquième et sixième siècles, la disposition des souvenirs sur le martyrologe lui-même

L. H. Martin, D. Wiebe (a cura di), Religion Explained? The Cognitive Science of Religion after Twenty-Five Years, Bloomsbury, London-New York 2017, xi + 260 pp

Si tratta di un tentativo compiuto di fare il punto dello stato degli studi della cognitive science of religion (CSR), la scienza che si occupa dello studio del pensiero e del comportamento religiosi dalla prospettiva delle scienze cognitive, con il supporto della psicologia cognitiva, evolutiva e dello sviluppo, e dell’antropologia e dell’archeologia

L. Brubaker, L'invenzione dell'iconoclasmo bizantino, Viella, Roma 2016, 172 pp.

Il libro è la traduzione, a cura di M.C. Carne (Introduzione, 11-17), del volume lnventing Bizantine Iconoclasm, a sua volta compendio del testo molto più ampio, scritto da J. Haldon, con il contributo di R. Ousterhout, Byzantium and the Iconoclast Era (c. 680-850): the Sources. An Annotated Survey (2001)

V. Neri, B. Girotti (a cura di), La famiglia tardoantica. Società, diritto, religione, LED edizioni, Milano 2016, pp. 293.

Il volume raccoglie, riveduti e ampliati, alcuni interventi delle Giornate di Studio sulla famiglia tardoantica organizzate dalla Scuola superiore di Studi umanistici dell'Università di Bologna

D. Jaffé, Jésus sous la piume des historiens juifs du XX siècle, Les Éditions du Cerf, Paris 2009, pp. 412.

L'A., seguendo un ordine prevalentemente cronologico e operando una necessaria selezione tra gli storici, presenta un breve excursus bio-bibliografico e il pensiero di un considerevole numero di questi: dagli iniziatori, nel XIX secolo, Joseph Salvador e Heinrich Graetz ad Amy-Jill Levine, Joseph Klausner, Paula Fredriksen, Davide Flusser, Salomon ZeitIin, Shmuel Safrai e Geza Vermes, tra gli altri

Una edizione critica digitale per la cristianistica dell’antichità

Alcuni testi per loro natura suscettibile a cambiamenti, come calendari e opere computistiche, non hanno avuto una edizione critica in senso proprio. Tali opere di fondamentale interesse sono caratterizzate da un gran numero di testimoni e di varianti. L’edizione critica digitale è forse la soluzione a questa esigenza peculiare della letteratura cristiana antica