Picturing North African Cities in the Sixteenth Century

This article provides an approach to North African urban landscapes of the sixteenth century. To that end, it focuses primarily on the views in the Civitates orbis terrarum by Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg, which are explored through a comparative analysis to other contemporary graphic materials. The purpose is to deepen our understanding of the image of the city by looking at the methods used to represent the city during the Renaissance, the importance and degree of verisimilitude that these views were expected to achieve through a language that relied on direct, in-situ observation

Risk of Cancer in Connective Tissue Diseases in Northeastern Italy over 15 Years

Objective: To evaluate cancer risk among individuals with connective tissue disease (CTD) in Friuli Venezia Giulia, northern Italy. Methods: A population-based cohort study was conducted based on data from health records available in the regional healthcare database. Demographic characteristics, hospital discharges, exemption from medical charges, drug prescriptions, were individually matched with data from the population-based cancer registry. Cancer risk was assessed in people diagnosed with the following diseases: systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjögren’s syndrome (SS), systemic sclerosis (SSc), polymyositis (PM), and dermatomyositis (DM). Results: In all, 2504 patients were followed for a total of 18,006 person-years (median follow-up: 6.8 years). After 5 and 10 years of follow-up, the cumulative cancer incidence was 2.6% and 8.5%, respectively. The most common cancers were breast (n = 34), lung (n = 24), colon–rectum–anus (n = 20), and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) (n = 20). Overall, no excess cancer risk was noted (SIR = 0.87), whereas the number of observed NHL cases was more than two-fold significantly higher than expected (SIR = 2.52). The subgroup analysis showed a higher risk of NHL among SS patients (SIR = 3.84) and SLE patients (SIR = 2.69). Conversely, the study population showed a decreased risk for breast cancers (SIR = 0.61) and corpus uteri (SIR = 0.21). Conclusions: The incidence of NHL was higher among patients with SS and SLE. Careful surveillance for hematological malignancies in these patients is recommended

Predicting lymphoma in Sjögren's syndrome and the pathogenetic role of parotid microenvironment through precise parotid swelling recording

Objective: Parotid swelling (PSW) is a major predictor of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). However, since detailed information on the time of onset and duration of PSW is scarce, this was investigated to verify whether it may lead to further improved prediction. NHL localisation was concomitantly studied to evaluate the role of the parotid gland microenvironment in pSS-related lymphomagenesis. Methods: A multicentre study was conducted among patients with pSS who developed B cell NHL during follow-up and matched controls that did not develop NHL. The study focused on the history of salivary gland and lachrymal gland swelling, evaluated in detail at different times and for different durations, and on the localisation of NHL at onset. Results: PSW was significantly more frequent among the cases: at the time of first referred pSS symptoms before diagnosis, at diagnosis, and from pSS diagnosis to NHL. The duration of PSW was evaluated starting from pSS diagnosis, and the NHL risk increased from PSW of 2-12 months to > 12 months. NHL was prevalently localised in the parotid glands of the cases. Conclusion: A more precise clinical recording of PSW can improve lymphoma prediction in pSS. PSW as a very early symptom is a predictor, and a longer duration of PSW is associated with a higher risk of NHL. Since lymphoma usually localises in the parotid glands, and not in the other salivary or lachrymal glands, the parotid microenvironment appears to be involved in the whole history of pSS and related lymphomagenesis

Ingenieros itinerantes: el caso de la familia Sesti

Efficiency and maintenance of the defensive apparatus was systematically entrusted to engineers-architects, often involved in tasks very different from each other. In the case of the dominions of the Hispanic monarchy, technicians were committed to the idea of interacting with urban issues on a large territorial scale. The necessary interventions to ensure the defences efficiency of the territories determined the periodic displacement of the military technicians from strength to strength, involved in new missions that responded to the priorities of the cities, aiming at improve their fortifications. This contribution tries to construct or make known new biographical data on the technicians who participated in the fortifications sponsored by the Habsburgs. The archival sources shed new light on the figure and activity of Milanese engineer Giovanni Paolo Sesti and that of his son, Giovanni Battista, technicians specialized in military works between Italy and Spain

Imágenes modernas y coleccionismo geográfico en la Sicilia de Edad Moderna

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Departamento de Historia y Teoría del Arte. Fecha de lectura: 27-06-201

Realidad, artificio y ficción: la representación de la ciudad mediterránea

Throughout the Renaissance we witness a renewed exaltation of sight as one of the most acute senses, as well as the increasingly important role of the painter in relation to the narrator and the image in relation to the word. The very act of looking seems to exert an extraordinary fascination and becomes the subject of a specific iconography. In keeping with this new culture, the view of the city had to be accredited through a direct visual experience, which led many European artists, mainly painters and architects, to travel around the Mediterranean. The case of the cities of Sicily has been chosen from among the many examples of Western art and will be studied through the graphic or pictorial accounts provided by some of the most important authors, who helped make views and maps of cities a highly impactful field, one exploited by monarchies, princes and viceroys.A lo largo del Renacimiento asistimos a una renovada exaltación de la vista como uno de los sentidos más certeros y a la creciente importancia del papel del pintor respecto al narrador y de la imagen respecto a la palabra. El mismo acto de mirar parece ejercer una fascinación extraordinaria, convirtiéndose en el objeto de una iconografía específica. En virtud de esta nueva cultura, el retrato de ciudad debe acreditarse a través de una experiencia visual directa, que provocó el deseo de diferentes artistas europeos, – principalmente pintores y arquitectos – de viajar por el Mediterráneo. Entre los testimonios del arte occidental se ha elegido el caso de las urbes sicilianas, mediante el testimonio gráfico o pictórico de algunos de los autores más emblemáticos. Así pues, las vistas y los mapas se convirtieron en una temática de gran impacto, instrumentalizada por las monarquías, los príncipes y los virreyes

Reseñas. Volumen 11 (2022)

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