Alcune considerazioni sulle parrocchie alla luce delle prospettive aperte dal D.lgs.n.460 del 1997.

ALCUNE CONSIDERAZIONI SULLE PARROCCHIE ALLA LUCE DELLE PROSPETTIVE APERTE DAL D.LGS. N. 460 DEL 1997 ABSTRACT Il D.lgs. n. 460 del 1997 ha considerato anche gli enti ecclesiastici civilmente riconosciuti tra i possibili fruitori del regime agevolato introdotto per la nuova categoria fiscale delle ONLUS, predisponendo allo scopo delle apposite deroghe, nel pieno rispetto della loro peculiare natura. Tra la vasta gamma di enti facenti parte dell’organizzazione della Chiesa cattolica che potrebbero beneficiare delle innovazioni fiscali spiccano le parrocchie, in quanto esse di sovente esercitano assieme alle attività di religione e di culto altre attività sussidiarie e proprio in quei settori di utilità sociale che la normativa ha inteso agevolare. Il presente lavoro si propone pertanto di approfondire questo aspetto, analizzando i vantaggi che potrebbero derivare alle parrocchie da un’eventuale configurazione come ONLUS ma anche i problemi ed i possibili inconvenienti connessi a questo tipo di scelt

Il matrimonio celebrato secondo l'Intesa con l'Unione delle Comunità ebraiche

IL MATRIMONIO CELEBRATO SECONDO L’INTESA CON L’UNIONE DELLE COMUNITA’ EBRAICHE ABSTRACT Il notevole incremento del fenomeno migratorio ci porta a confrontarci costantemente con soggetti portatori di altre culture e civiltà ed il campo del diritto di famiglia è sicuramente tra quelli dove le differenze emergono con maggiore evidenza e attorno al quale possono sorgere insanabili contrasti. Risulta perciò ancora attuale, nonostante siano passati parecchi anni dalla stipulazione dell’Intesa con l’Unione delle Comunità ebraiche, lo studio della disciplina del matrimonio ebraico con effetti civili contenuta nella legge 8 marzo 1989, n. 101. Essa ha recepito, infatti, una forma particolare di celebrazione nuziale in cui la donna manifesta il suo consenso in maniera implicita, dando così apparentemente per scontata l’esistenza di un elemento fondante, quale l’effettiva volontà della donna, indispensabile per la valida costituzione del vincolo coniugale. Tutto ciò denota una maggiore attenzione da parte del legislatore rispetto al passato verso le scelte religiose dell’individuo, lascia un più ampio margine di autonomia alla confessione che non è più obbligata a modellare il rito su quello civile perché la celebrazione sia riconosciuta dallo Stato, e dimostra che attraverso il dialogo, che porta ad una migliore comprensione degli stessi, a volte è possibile superare differenze anche non lievi tra istituti in nome dell’integrazione e della tolleranz

Current and emerging treatment options in the management of Friedreich ataxia

Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is the most common autosomal recessive ataxia. Oxidative damage within the mitochondria seems to have a key role in the disease phenotype. Therefore, FRDA treatment options have been mostly directed at antioxidant protection against mitochondrial damage. Available evidence seems to suggest that patients with FRDA should be treated with idebenone, because it is well tolerated and may reduce cardiac hypertrophy and, at higher doses, also improve neurological function, but large controlled clinical trials are still needed. Alternatively, gene-based strategies for the treatment of FRDA may involve the development of small-molecules increasing frataxin gene transcription. Animal and human studies are strongly needed to assess whether any of the potential new treatment strategies, such as iron-chelating therapies or treatment with erythropoietin or histone deacetylase inhibitors and other gene-based strategies, may translate into an effective therapy for this devastating disorder. In this review, we try to provide an answer to some questions related to current and emerging treatment options in the management of FRDA

La presenza islamica in Italia: forme di organizzazione, profili problematici e rapporti con le Istituzioni

Contributo sottoposto a valutazione, destinato alla pubblicazione negli Atti del Convegno di studi sul tema “La rappresentatività istituzionale delle confessioni religiose prive di intesa”, organizzato dall’Università di Palermo ( 21-22 maggio 2010).SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. L’immigrazione islamica in Italia - 3. L’Islam come religione e le sue peculiarità - 4. I tentativi di intesa con lo Stato italiano e le iniziative dello Stato per conoscere l’Islam italiano - 5. Conclusioni

Assessing mental health therapeutic communities functioning

Empirical and clinical evidence shows that therapeutic communities produce changes in people’s mental health and well-being. Treatment in communities has effects on improving interpersonal relationships, acceptance among members, ability to recognize other people’s feelings, symptomatology, life satisfaction and self-esteem. This paper aims to investigate which factors can explain the treatment effectiveness, measured by an index which incorporates the point of view of the communities staff members, by means of a beta regression model with random intercept. The results show the influence of some organizational dimension as well as staff roles, providing a meaningful insights into the functioning of mental therapeutic communities with implications of particular interest to the mental health sector stakeholders

Digital construction for analysis: the Scalambri defensive system in Sicily

[EN] This research is focused around Italian defensive system on the southern coast of Sicily, in the territory of Ragusa. Object of this study is the system consisting in three coastal watchtowers, located in three hamlets in Santa Croce Camerina, a small town near Ragusa. These works of military engineering are nominated as Torre Vigliena in Punta Braccetto, Torre di Mezzo (or Torre di Pietro) in the homonym hamlet and Torre Scalambri in Punta Secca. Despite their poor state of preservation, these towers have always been an eye catcher for their territory. Today, observing this defensive system, one can note a variable state of decay: their original geometric characteristics and morphological shapes are not clearly legible. This work consist in a first historical investigation, useful for the temporal location and for the comprehension of the roles of these towers. Following, the study develops with the investigation of the environmental characteristics, to better understand the tower orientations and their observation devices. The comparison between the three towers and with other examples from Sicily, numerous not only on the coastal area, will create a volumetric hypothesis; this construction, positioned in the virtual world of Google Earth, will complete the analysis providing valid observation points for the evaluation of their placement on the coast. The study presented will be completed with an overview of the inner relations of the defensive tower system, regarding their volumes, geometry, materials and functions: this to better understand design strategy of settlement and to create a model comparable with other similar defensive configurations.Frascari, A.; Mancuso, A.; Pasquali, A. (2015). Digital construction for analysis: the Scalambri defensive system in Sicily. En Defensive architecture of the mediterranean: XV to XVIII centuries. Vol. I. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 307-314. https://doi.org/10.4995/FORTMED2015.2015.1712OCS30731

Prevalence and time course of post-stroke pain: A multicenter prospective hospital-based study

OBJECTIVE: Pain prevalence data for patients at various stages after stroke. DESIGN: Repeated cross-sectional, observational epidemiological study. SETTING: Hospital-based multicenter study. SUBJECTS: Four hundred forty-three prospectively enrolled stroke survivors. METHODS: All patients underwent bedside clinical examination. The different types of post-stroke pain (central post-stroke pain, musculoskeletal pains, shoulder pain, spasticity-related pain, and headache) were diagnosed with widely accepted criteria during the acute, subacute, and chronic stroke stages. Differences among the three stages were analyzed with χ(2)-tests. RESULTS: The mean overall prevalence of pain was 29.56% (14.06% in the acute, 42.73% in the subacute, and 31.90% in the chronic post-stroke stage). Time course differed significantly according to the various pain types (P < 0.001). The prevalence of musculoskeletal and shoulder pain was higher in the subacute and chronic than in the acute stages after stroke; the prevalence of spasticity-related pain peaked in the chronic stage. Conversely, headache manifested in the acute post-stroke stage. The prevalence of central post-stroke pain was higher in the subacute and chronic than in the acute post-stroke stage. Fewer than 25% of the patients with central post-stroke pain received drug treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Pain after stroke is more frequent in the subacute and chronic phase than in the acute phase, but it is still largely undertreated

A Case of Fatal Drug Rash Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms from Allopurinol

Hypereosinophilia is a systemic condition that has several possible etiologies: allergies, medications, infectious, autoimmune or other systemic diseases, and finally idiopathic forms. Skin involvement seems to relate to subcutaneous inflammatory infiltration in this condition, as can be observed in parasitic, autoimmune and bullous diseases, as well as in drug reactions. Generalizing, a severe adverse drug-induced reaction may cause a systemic inflammatory disease: Drug Rash with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS). Its diagnosis requires the application of a complex diagnostic algorithm and immediate identification to prevent inauspicious evolution. The prognosis is severe; drug discontinuation is sometimes not enough and so far the proposed therapies are not always valid. We describe a case of fatal DRESS in which we report: a) difficulties in the management and therapy of the syndrome in its most severe form, and b) need for caution in prescribing drugs potentially inducing DRESS, especially in elderly patients

Cardiac hypertrophy is inhibited by a local pool of cAMP regulated by phosphodiesterase 2

Rationale: Chronic elevation of 3'-5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels has been associated with cardiac remodelling and cardiac hypertrophy. However, enhancement of particular aspects of cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) signalling appears to be beneficial for the failing heart. cAMP is a pleiotropic second messenger with the ability to generate multiple functional outcomes in response to different extracellular stimuli with strict fidelity, a feature that relies on the spatial segregation of the cAMP pathway components in signalling microdomains. Objective: How individual cAMP microdomains impact on cardiac pathophysiology remains largely to be established. The cAMP-degrading enzymes phosphodiesterases (PDEs) play a key role in shaping local changes in cAMP. Here we investigated the effect of specific inhibition of selected PDEs on cardiac myocyte hypertrophic growth. Methods and Results: Using pharmacological and genetic manipulation of PDE activity we found that the rise in cAMP resulting from inhibition of PDE3 and PDE4 induces hypertrophy whereas increasing cAMP levels via PDE2 inhibition is anti-hypertrophic. By real-time imaging of cAMP levels in intact myocytes and selective displacement of PKA isoforms we demonstrate that the anti-hypertrophic effect of PDE2 inhibition involves the generation of a local pool of cAMP and activation of a PKA type II subset leading to phosphorylation of the nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT). Conclusions: Different cAMP pools have opposing effects on cardiac myocyte cell size. PDE2 emerges as a novel key regulator of cardiac hypertrophy in vitro and in vivo and its inhibition may have therapeutic applications

Does the evolution of the radio luminosity function of star-forming galaxies match that of the star-formation rate function?

The assessment of the relationship between radio continuum luminosity and star formation rate (SFR) is of crucial importance to make reliable predictions for the forthcoming ultra-deep radio surveys and to allow a full exploitation of their results to measure the cosmic star formation history. We have addressed this issue by matching recent accurate determinations of the SFR function up to high redshifts with literature estimates of the 1.4 GHz luminosity functions of star forming galaxies (SFGs). This was done considering two options, proposed in the literature, for the relationship between the synchrotron emission (L_\rm synch), that dominates at 1.4 GHz, and the SFR: a linear relation with a decline of the L_\rm synch/SFR ratio at low luminosities or a mildly non-linear relation at all luminosities. In both cases we get good agreement with the observed radio luminosity functions but, in the non-linear case, the deviation from linearity must be small. The luminosity function data are consistent with a moderate increase of the L_\rm synch/SFR ratio with increasing redshift, indicated by other data sets, although a constant ratio cannot be ruled out. A stronger indication of such increase is provided by recent deep 1.4 GHz counts, down to $\mu$Jy levels. This is in contradiction with models predicting a decrease of that ratio due to inverse Compton cooling of relativistic electrons at high redshifts. Synchrotron losses appear to dominate up to $z\simeq 5$. We have also updated the Massardi et al. (2010) evolutionary model for radio loud AGNs. Copyright The Authors 201