Donne custodi della Parola: Note sullo studio femminile della Torah in epoca contemporanea

In recent years, Israel has experienced an explosion of interest on the part of Modern Orthodox women in intense study of Talmud and Halakich texts, areas of male exclusivity for centuries. Since the institution of the first midrashah in 1976, both the number of women scholars and the quality of education has increased in a remarkable way and the greater erudition of women in both written and oral Torah is now a matter of fact. The debate on women’s right to study Torah originates from Talmud and it has been investigated from late antiquity until today. The texts define the roles of the Jewish women in the past and in the present within the realm of religious studies and raise the question what will be the effects of the women’s study of Torah on daily life and from a juridical perspective

Free-living marine nematodes from San Antonio Bay (Río Negro, Argentina)

The dataset of free-living marine nematodes of San Antonio Bay is based on sediment samples collected in February 2009 during doctoral theses funded by CONICET grants. A total of 36 samples has been taken at three locations in the San Antonio Bay, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina on the coastal littoral at three tidal levels. This presents a unique and important collection for benthic biodiversity assessment of Patagonian nematodes as this area remains one of the least known regions. In total 7,743 specimens of free-living marine nematodes belonging to two classes, eight orders, 37 families, 94 genera and 104 species were collected.Fil: Villares, Maria Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Lo Russo, Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto de Diversidad y Evolución Austral; ArgentinaFil: Pastor, Catalina Teresa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto de Diversidad y Evolución Austral; ArgentinaFil: Milano, Viviana. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia; ArgentinaFil: Miyashiro, Lidia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Mazzanti, Renato. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentin

Poverty and cancer at the beginning of the third millennium

L’étude ci-dessous constitue un recueil des principaux articles et publications concernant l’importance du contexte social, et plus particulièrement de la pauvreté, dans le diagnostic, le traitement et l’évolution des patients atteints de diverses pathologies, principalement oncologiques. À cela, s’ajoutent les expériences personnelles et institutionnelles observées au sein de milieux modestes en Argentine, pays plusieurs fois frappé par la crise. L’analyse de ces différents articles montre que les classes les plus pauvres et les plus démunies tombent plus souvent malades, mettent plus de temps à recevoir un diagnostic, sont moins bien traitées et par conséquent, ont une espérance de vie moindre. Les conclusions visent en particulier l’accès à la santé, la disparité économique, la nécessité et l’urgence de politiques de santé dans les pays en voie de développement pour s’acheminer, depuis la médecine sociale, vers une médecine pour tous.The present work is a compilation of the major articles and publications referring to the importance of social context and poverty in particular, in the diagnosis, treatment and progress of patients carrying several pathologies, especially oncological ones. In addition, personal and institutional experiences developed within an impoverished environment in a country like Argentina, hit so many times by crisis, must be considered. Results of several studies agree on the fact that the poorest and most unprotected classes fall more regularly ill, are later diagnosed, worse treated and, consequently, die earlier. Conclusions emphasize access to health care, economical disparities, and the urgent need of health policies in developing countries in order to progress from Social Medicine towards medicine for everyone

Congenital rhabdomyosarcoma: a different clinical presentation in two cases

Background: Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), one of the most common soft tissue sarcomas of childhood, is very rare in the neonatal period (0.4-2% of cases). In order to gain a deeper understanding of this disease at such age, patient and tumor features, as well as treatment modality and outcome need to be reported. Case presentation: We describe two cases with congenital RMS treated at Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital between 2000 and 2016. They represent only 2.24% of all RMS patients diagnosed during that period in our Institution; this data is in agreement with the incidence reported in the literature. They reflect the two different clinical forms in which the disease may manifest itself. One patient, with the alveolar subtype (positive for specific PAX3-FOXO1 fusion transcript) and disseminated disease, had a fatal outcome with central nervous system (CNS) progression despite conventional and high dose chemotherapy. The other child, with the localized embryonal subtype, was treated successfully with conservative surgery and conventional chemotherapy, including prolonged maintenance therapy. He is disease free at 7 years of follow-up. Conclusions: RMS can also be diagnosed during the neonatal period. Given the young age, disease management is often challenging, and especially for the alveolar subtype, the outcome is dismal despite intensified multimodality therapy. In fact, it characteristically manifests with multiple subcutaneous nodules and progression most commonly occurs in the CNS (Rodriguez-Galindo et al., Cancer 92(6):1613-20, 2001). In this context, CNS prophylaxis could play a role in preventing leptomeningeal dissemination, and molecular studies can allow a deeper tumor characterization, treatment stratification and identification of new potential therapeutic targets

Viaggio esplorativo nei bisogni di formazione della medicina generale in previsione dei nuovi assetti organizzativi

Background. A practice-based learning, realized for all the 430 GPs of Local Health Authority TO3, highlighted problems related to the difficulty of being group and working as such. To focus these issues, it was organized an “Outdoor Training Experience” addressed to their representatives of the Regional Team, identified as facilitators between GPs. At the end of the course it was given an interview to explore the related lived experiences. Method. The rich texts of the answers of the narrative interview were analysed with Conventional Content Analyses, in triangulation between the two authors, in order to find generalizable categories and meanings. Result. Four main areas were identified: 17% of reports about communication and team building, 25% team working and problem solving, 10% proactivity / creativity, 48% leadership. All these areas were under articu-lated in critical issues and solutions. Reported as significant elements: awareness of the role, development of teamwork and ability to listen to everyone with respect, learning from the mistake and development of hetero centrism. Two conflicting lines of thought were revealed: the priority is the group over targets versus using the group to achieve the objective. Conclusion. Experience has shown that it is possible to learn to cope with complex relational situations and bring out also not aware training needs, worthy of attention and care: it could be that the issue of pro-activity / creativity, fundamental in impending reorganization of the GPs, may have been considered less significant because it needs more time for reflection and processing

CULTURAL IDENTITY AND CONSERVATION OF INDIGENOUS AND NATIVE DIVERSITY

The economic development of rural areas has rarely followed that of urban centres, with greater evidence of this in developing countries where the outlying communities have remained considerably more remote from the systems of cultural and economic growth. Even if this has had negative repercussions in terms of social equilibrium within the various countries, from a strictly agronomic point of view it has often resulted in the natural conservation of indigenous and native biodiversity. This has been affected by the natural and daily use of local plant extracts both for nutritional purposes and for a variety of other reasons. The exchange of genetic material between one community and another, often a sign of respect and friendship, has helped to increase plant diversity and to enhance its role in the everyday diet of rural populations. Any activity aimed at conserving biodiversity cannot disregard the fact that native plant species (and even more indigenous species) now play a vital role in the cultural identity of rural communities, and that making such communities aware of this precious asset can also play a strategic part in the idea of promoting biological diversity as a way of developing local economies. Such evidence clearly emerged through the various activities conducted in the context of the project, FAO GTF/RAF/426/ITA Promoting Origin-linked Quality Products in Four Countries in West Africa, financed by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity Onlus. This project, conducted in 4 West African countries (Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Senegal and Mali), aimed to carry out a study of these 4 states and draw up an inventory of the traditional plant and animal species, to examine the link between these and the diet of rural populations, and to assess the risks of genetic erosion by actions to safeguard the native biodiversity

Rosiglitazone promotes AQP2 plasma membrane expression in renal cells via a Ca-dependent/cAMP-independent mechanism.

Background/Aims: Thiazolidinediones are highly beneficial in the treatment of type II diabetes. However, they are also associated with edema and increased risk of congestive heart failure. Several studies demonstrated that rosiglitazone (RGZ) increases the abundance of aquaporin-2 (AQP2) at the plasma membrane of renal cells. The aim of this study was to investigate whether RGZ might activate a transduction pathway facilitating AQP2 membrane accumulation in renal cells. Methods: We analyzed the effect of RGZ on renal AQP2 intracellular trafficking in MCD4 renal cells by confocal microscopy and apical surface biotinylation. Cytosolic Ca2+ dynamics were measured by a video-imaging approach in single cell. Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels expression was determined by RT-PCR. Results: We showed that in MCD4 cells, short-term exposure to RGZ dramatically increases the amount of apically expressed AQP2 independently on cAMP production, PKA activation and AQP2 phosphorylation. RGZ elicited a cytosolic Ca2+ transient due to Ca2+ influx prevented by ruthenium red, suggesting the involvement of TRP plasma membrane channels. We identified TRPV6 as the possible candidate mediating this effect. Conclusions: Taken together these results provide a possible molecular mechanism explaining the increased AQP2 membrane expression under RGZ treatment: in renal cells RGZ elicits Ca2+ transients facilitating AQP2 exposure at the apical plasma membrane, thus increasing collecting duct water permeability. Importantly, this effect suggests an unexplored application of RGZ in the treatment of pathological states characterized by impaired AQP2 trafficking at the plasma membrane