The Reggio Childhood Studies PhD as a learning community

Exploring visions and methods to pursue high level education means to study how each person is allowed to develop new intellectual, aesthetic, and operational perspective, as well as grasp new insights for growth and enrichment of one’s understanding of the world. The authors present the pilot phase of an analysis of the first industrial doctorate in Reggio Chilhood Studies, organized by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in collaboration with the Reggio Children Foundation: its socio-constructivist matrix is highlighted. In fact, constructing a community of learners allows cross-fertilization among diverse disciplinary knowledge and many cultures. The study hereby presented explores the variables of such learning community, through the analysis of in-depth interviews of the PhD fellows. Results show factors and variables that can affect and challenge the existence of the community. Recommendations are made to continue exploring the doctoral community, bringing in the picture all the stakeholders involved

Listening and Documenting in the Reggio Approach: The Challenge and the Vision Stemming from Bruner’s Contribution

The pedagogy of listening was born and developed in Reggio Emilia’s schools, in northern Italy. This article analyses the pedagogy of listening in the light of the fundamental texts of the Reggio Approach’s literature. The aim is to explore some key-concepts such as language, context, relationship and evaluation and also to link them to Jerome Bruner’s work and contributions. Moreover, the authors attempt to offer an in-depth view of “documentation” as the crucial tool to ground the listening into the dynamics among the many educational actors involved. In the last part of the article, we underline the importance of democratic values in the Reggio Approach and in its socio-constructivist approach to active citizenship and children’s rights

COMPETENZE PSICOLOGICHE DEGLI EDUCATORI E CONDUZIONE DI GRUPPO

La presente ricerca muove da una sperimentazione didattica in corso dal 2006 presso l’insegnamento di Processi e Dinamiche di Gruppo a Reggio Emilia (Mineo, 2007): accanto al corso obbligatorio per gli iscritti al II anno di Scienze dell’Educazione, viene offerto un percorso ‘avanzato’ con la possibilità di sperimentare de vivo le dinamiche evolutive dei gruppi di grande formato e, attraverso la conoscenza analitica dei processi sottesi al funzionamento degli stessi, la formazione in un contesto a conduzione psicodinamica.Il focus della ricerca è quello di esplorare e ripensare il metodo di intervento con i grandi gruppi, ritenendo inadeguata la letteratura sulle finalità e sugli obiettivi di tali dispositivi, che elude un ragionamento approfondito sulle dinamiche proprie della fondazione dei gruppi e sulle motivazioni che la sottendono. Tali dinamiche, nel gruppo di formazione, rimandano alla questione del primary task (Miller & Rice, 1990): compito che si declina a seconda dello stadio evolutivo del gruppo (Tuckman, 1965), del set/ting specifico (Lo Verso, 1994) e dello “spazio mentale ed esperenziale che coinvolge gli universi soggettivi e transpersonali” dei partecipanti e dei conduttori (Di Maria, Formica, 2009, p.101).La sperimentazione didattica, che deve fare i conti con un curricolo accademico e una dimensione istituzionale che marginalizza la psicologia dinamica nel profilo in uscita, consta di tre fasi: nella prima, lo studente, oltre ad assistere alle lezioni frontali che inquadrano i temi della psicodinamica in una cornice teorica e metodologica che va da Lewin a Bion, da Foulkes a Kaes, dalla Klein a Rice, partecipa a gruppi mediani ed allargati, lavora in piccoli gruppi alla presentazione di approfondimenti tematici e si incontra su un forum online moderato dalla docente. Nella seconda fase, intraprende un percorso di osservazione dei gruppi, offre consulenza agli studenti junior sui lavori di piccolo gruppo e partecipa ad un gruppo di supervisione. Nella terza infine, co-conduce i gruppi e partecipa alle sessioni di supervisione. Il percorso formativo, dunque, prevede un graduale passaggio da ruoli discenti a ruoli di co-responsabilità dei contenuti del corso, offrendo l’opportunità di giocare ruoli diversi e differenziati, a servizio del gruppo: in questa altalena di funzioni, si attiva un processo di esplorazione e di contaminazione di attese, desideri, ansie, consapevolezze e tecniche, che diventano oggetto del percorso individuale di crescita e formazione alla conduzione di gruppi educativi.Rimane da verificare quanto il percorso formativo sia sufficiente all’elaborazione di un profilo di educatore in grado di progettare e realizzare gruppi a vertice psicodinamico.Tuttavia, l’opportunità di esplorare il campo controtransferale da una molteplicità di punti di vista –partecipante, osservatore, co-conduttore, facilitatore, esperto, consulente-, attiva ed esplicita un pensiero riflessivo sulle relazioni inter-soggettive, sui fenomeni di risonanza, sui rispecchiamenti, sulle co-responsabilità del processo e dei compiti. Il gruppo di formazione diventa così uno spazio di transito, di elaborazione rituale di eventi critici, e “assume una valenza emotiva e una presenza tanto più forte quanto più nel sociale sembrano scomparire i luoghi culturalmente deputati all’organizzazione e ritualizzazione dei passaggi evolutivi del singolo e della comunità” (Profita et al., 2007, p.118)

Understanding the interaction between soft protons and X-ray mirrors

Low energy (< 300 keV) protons entering the field of view of the XMM-Newton telescope and scattering with the mirror surface are observed in the form of a sudden increase in the background level. Such flaring events, affecting about 30-40% of the XMM-Newton observing time, can hardly be disentangled from true X-ray events and cannot be rejected on board. All future high throughput gracing incidence X-ray telescopes operating outside the radiation belts (e.g. ATHENA) are potentially affected by soft proton induced contamination that must be foreseen and limited since the design phase. On the other side, a clear description of the interaction model would link the observed soft proton spectra by XMM-Newton to the ones hitting the telescope pupil, mapping the low energy particle environment along its orbit. Thanks to the latest validation studies on the physics models describing the reflection process of protons at grazing angles, we build a proton response matrix for the XMM-Newton and ATHENA missions, describing the effective area and energy redistribution of protons entering the mirror aperture. The simulation pipeline comprises two independent simulation frameworks for the X-ray optics reflectivity, based on ray-tracing and Geant4, and a Geant4 simulation for the proton transmission efficiency caused by the combination of optical filters, on-chip electrodes and the detection depletion regions, requiring a detailed mass model of the focal plane assemblies. The response matrix for protons will allow a better understanding of the proton radiation environment, with the aim of modeling the in-flight non X-ray background of current and future X-ray focusing telescopes. The XMM-Newton matrix will be used to analyze the mean energy spectra of the background flares, converting the mission into a “proton telescope”, while characterizing its particle background. The matrices for the ATHENA telescope will allow for a fast evaluation of the soft proton induced background for any input population, driving the design of shielding solutions. The response matrix is formatted according to the NASA OGIP (Office of Guest Investigators Program) calibration database (caldb) format, and it consists of an RMF and ARF file in FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) format. X-ray data analysis tools available to the X-ray astronomy community such as Xspec and SPEX can be used to simulate or analyse the soft proton-induced background spectra

Rottlerin-mediated inhibition of Toxoplasma gondii growth in BeWo trophoblast-like cells

Autophagy is a crucial and physiological process for cell survival from yeast to mammals, including protozoan parasites. Toxoplasma gondii, an intracellular parasite, typically exploits autophagic machinery of host cell; however host cell upregulates autophagy to combat the infection. Herein we tested the efficacy of Rottlerin, a natural polyphenol with autophagic promoting properties, against Toxoplasma infection on the chorioncarcinoma-derived cell line BeWo. We found that Rottlerin, at sub-toxic doses, induced morphological and biochemical alterations associated with autophagy and decreased Toxoplasma growth in infected cells. Although autophagy was synergically promoted by Toxoplasma infection in combination with Rottlerin treatment, the use of the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine revealed that Rottlerin anti-parasitic effect was largely autophagy-independent and likely mediated by the converging inhibitory effect of Rottlerin and Toxoplasma in host protein translation, mediated by mTOR inhibition and eIF2α phosphorylation. Both events, which on one hand could explain the additive effect on autophagy induction, on the other hand led to inhibition of protein synthesis, thereby depriving Toxoplasma of metabolically essential components for multiplication. We suggest that modulation of the competition between pathogen requirement and host cell defense might be an attractive, novel therapeutic approach against Toxoplasma infection and encourage the development of Rottlerin-based new therapeutic formulations

Prophylactic Clipping After Colorectal Endoscopic Resection Prevents Bleeding of Large, Proximal Polyps: Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials

Background & Aims The benefits of prophylactic clipping to prevent bleeding after polypectomy are unclear. We conducted an updated meta-analysis of randomized trials to assess the efficacy of clipping in preventing bleeding after polypectomy, overall and according to polyp size and location. Methods We searched the Medline/PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus databases randomized trials that compared effects of clipping vs not clipping to prevent bleeding after polypectomy. We performed a random-effects meta-analysis to generate pooled relative risks (RRs) with 95% CIs. Multilevel random-effects meta-regression analysis was used to combine data on bleeding after polypectomy and estimate associations between rates of bleeding and polyp characteristics. Results We analyzed data from 9 trials, comprising 7197 colorectal lesions (22.5% 20 mm or larger, 49.2% with proximal location). Clipping, compared with no clipping, did not significantly reduce the overall risk of post-polypectomy bleeding (2.2% with clipping vs 3.3% with no clipping; RR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.45–1.08; P=.072). Clipping significantly reduced risk of bleeding after removal of polyps that were 20 mm or larger (4.3% had bleeding after clipping vs 7.6% had bleeding with no clipping; RR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.33–0.78; P=.020) or that were in a proximal location (3.0% had bleeding after clipping vs 6.2% had bleeding with no clipping; RR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.35–0.81; P<.001). In multilevel meta-regression analysis that adjusted for polyp size and location, prophylactic clipping was significantly associated with reduced risk of bleeding after removal of large proximal polyps (RR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.22–0.61; P=.021) but not small proximal lesions (RR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.48–1.62; P=0.581). Conclusions In a meta-analysis of randomized trials, we found that routine use of prophylactic clipping does not reduce risk of post-polypectomy bleeding, overall. However, clipping appeared to reduce bleeding after removal of large (more than 20 mm), proximal lesions