Report of the First ONTOX Stakeholder Network Meeting: Digging Under the Surface of ONTOX Together With the Stakeholders

The first Stakeholder Network Meeting of the EU Horizon 2020-funded ONTOX project was held on 13–14 March 2023, in Brussels, Belgium. The discussion centred around identifying specific challenges, barriers and drivers in relation to the implementation of non-animal new approach methodologies (NAMs) and probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), in order to help address the issues and rank them according to their associated level of difficulty. ONTOX aims to advance the assessment of chemical risk to humans, without the use of animal testing, by developing non-animal NAMs and PRA in line with 21st century toxicity testing principles. Stakeholder groups (regulatory authorities, companies, academia, non-governmental organisations) were identified and invited to participate in a meeting and a survey, by which their current position in relation to the implementation of NAMs and PRA was ascertained, as well as specific challenges and drivers highlighted. The survey analysis revealed areas of agreement and disagreement among stakeholders on topics such as capacity building, sustainability, regulatory acceptance, validation of adverse outcome pathways, acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI) in risk assessment, and guaranteeing consumer safety. The stakeholder network meeting resulted in the identification of barriers, drivers and specific challenges that need to be addressed. Breakout groups discussed topics such as hazard versus risk assessment, future reliance on AI and machine learning, regulatory requirements for industry and sustainability of the ONTOX Hub platform. The outputs from these discussions provided insights for overcoming barriers and leveraging drivers for implementing NAMs and PRA. It was concluded that there is a continued need for stakeholder engagement, including the organisation of a ‘hackathon’ to tackle challenges, to ensure the successful implementation of NAMs and PRA in chemical risk assessment

La densità delle cose. Oggetti ambasciatori tra Oceania ed Europa

L'interesse è rivolto ai processi che "densificano" gli oggetti, cioè li estraggono dai flussi ordinari di circolazione o di smaltimento, o almeno li fanno circolare più "lentamente". I processi di singolarizzazione e di densificazione presi in esame nel volume non riguardano solo le pratiche patrimoniali più istituzionali, sostenute ad esempio dall'UNESCO o da differenti realtà museali, ma anche i percorsi attraverso cui gli oggetti si inseriscono in mondi peculiari della vita quotidiana, assumendo significati mutevoli. Il volume è articolato in tre parti. La prima presenta tre interventi (più teorici) che riflettono sul patrimonio e sui processi di patrimonializzazione. La seconda si sviluppa attraverso quattro ricerche etnografiche (due in area polinesiana, due in area melanesiana) incentrate sulla densificazione degli oggetti. L'ultima parte offre una serie di sollecitazione su nuove pratiche museali e nuovi modi di intendere il rapporto tra le persone e le cose, indicando non solo che gli oggetti possono cambiare statuto nel corso del tempo ma anche aprire connessioni e spazi creativi e inediti di condivision

G\ue9rer le pass\ue9 pour fa\ue7onner l\u2019avenir \ue0 W\uebt\ue9 et Drueulu

This article proposes an interlacing of the ethnographic experiences of two researchers working in two different field sites, one in the north of the Grande Terre (W\uebt\ue9), the other in Lifou (Drueulu), with the aim of better understanding how, in this pre-referendum historic moment, Kanak men and women refer to their own past and redefine it. Each author presents his/her respective analysis, which results from this dialogue. The text highlights an increased desire on the part of the Kanak people to be protagonists in redeploying and valorizing elements of their own societies in the face of the challenges of the future. The historic moment of the 2018 referendum is not only unfolding around political issues, it also entails a vision that makes the idea of a sustainable society rooted in Kanak cultural elements a central concern

Nuovi fermenti dell’antropologia oceanistica italiana

Il volume fa il punto delle ricerche italiane condotte in Oceania da una nuova generazione di antropologhi e antropologh

Introduzione. L’oceanistica italiana: un’antropologia in movimento

Questo saggio scritto a tre mani introduce il volume dell'Uomo .che raccoglie tutti articoli frutto di ricerche etnografiche e d’archivio compiute in vari paesi dell’Oceania insulare (Nuova Caledonia, Nuova Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii) da una nuova generazione di antropologhe e antropologi italiani. Negli ultimi dieci anni, nonostante le difficoltà legate alla crisi economica che ha colpito pesantemente anche il mondo della ricerca e nonostante l’imporsi di criteri e forme di valutazione del lavoro accademico che scoraggiano lunghi soggiorni di campo, l’antropologia oceanistica italiana si è arricchita di “nuovi fermenti” che vengono tratteggiati e problematizzati in questa introduzione

L\u2019oceanistica italiana: un\u2019antropologia in movimento

Il saggio introduttivo scritto dai curatori del volume fa il punto sulle ricerche sull'Oceania in Italia e sul contributo da esso dato al dibattitto antropologic

Subjective experience of language impairment and psychopathology in schizophrenia

The principal concern of this paper lies in the exploration of the possible role of the subjective experience of language impairment in shaping schizophrenic symptomatology. A previous model embracing the basic symptom theory and the vulnerability paradigm hypothesized that (self-perceived) impairment of receptive and expressive language and alexithymia may play a relevant role in facilitating the development of a nonparanoid prototype of schizophrenia. The experimental protocol which led to this model [emphasizing the comprehensive notion of 'language capacity' as pathoplastic modulator of overt schizophrenic syndromes (i.e. pathoplastic model)] was replicated on a wider schizophrenic sample, assessing contextually with diagnostic symptoms, depressive symptoms, alexithymia, subjective experience of negative symptoms and hedonic capacity. Since schizophrenics with self-experienced language capacity impairment did not differ from other schizophrenics, as regards positive, negative and disorganized symptoms, but just in negative symptom-related distress, an alternative interpretation of the possible role of the subjective experience of language impairment in schizophrenic psychopathology is proposed (i.e. idioplastic hypothesis). Copyright (C) 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel

Can we get out of the COVID pandemic without adequate vaccination coverage in the pediatric population?

During the first and second COVID-19 pandemic waves, children, despite susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, appeared at lower risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death than adults and the elderly. Moreover, they seemed to play a minor role in the diffusion of the virus. The aim of this manuscript is to show epidemiological surveillance on COVID-19 incidence and hospitalization in the pediatric cohort in order to explain the importance of an adequate COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the pediatric population