Tra amor sacro e amor profano: "Kabale und Liebe"

In "Freigeisterei der Leidenschaft", Schiller claims that the conventions established by society and family suffocate the rights of passion. Freigeisterei is a libertarian philosophy born in France in the 17th Century, and Schiller’s writing supports the right to refuse the duty of obedience in favour of a greater autonomy of thought and of auto-determination. Similar claims are made also in "Die Kindsmörderin", but in more moderate terms, since the work deals with the consequences of an infanticide. The seduced and abandoned mother, who chooses to kill her own offspring, reflects on how sentiments often lead towards the wrong path. "Kabale und Liebe" is the summa of young Schiller’s philosophical, psychological and dramatic knowledge. In it, the linguistic experimentation and the variety of linguistic registers, particularly with regards to the theme of love, are of fundamental value. The article examines the relationship between love and power in the play, its language, as well as the figure of the woman and some aspects concerning the female gender, focusing on the character of Luise who is the emblem of an ideal of Neoplatonic love Schiller discusses in his younger years in his "Philosophische Briefe"

Effects of long term application of compost and poultry manure on soil quality of citrus orchards in Southern Italy.

A six-year study was carried out in an organically managed orange orchard located in Sicily (Southern Italy) to assess the effect of compost and organic fertilizers utilisation on soil quality. Adopting a randomized-block experimental design with three replicates, four treatments were carried out. In treatments 1 and 2, two different composts (C1 from distillery by products and C2 from livestock wastes) were applied. The plots of treatment 3 were fertilized using dried poultry manure. The control treatment was fertilized with mineral/synthetic fertilizers. In order to verify the hypothesis that composts and organic fertilizers improve soil fertility, soil quality was evaluated by selecting dynamic soil parameters, as indicators linked to C and N cycles. Total organic C, total N, C/N ratio, humified fraction, isoelectric focusing (IEF) of extracted organic matter, microbial biomass C, potentially mineralisable N under anaerobic conditions, potenzially mineralizable C, C mineralization quotient and metabolic quotient were determined for each sample. Furthermore, the Comunity level Physiological Profile (by Biolog tecnique) was defined, calculating derived functional biodiversity and versatility indexes. Parameters related to IEF and potentially mineralizable C showed significant differences among the treatments. Moreover, total C, total N and humification parameters tended to increase, while no differences were observed in biodiversity indexes. On these findings, it was concluded that composts and poultry manure only weakly affected soil properties, though they increased soil nutritive elements potentially available to crops

Testo. Dialogo. Traduzione. Per una analisi del tedesco tra codici e varietà

"Testo. Dialogo. Traduzione. Per una analisi del tedesco tra codici e varietà" applies the terminology and methods of various subfields addressing textual analysis in German, namely textual linguistics, semiotics, pragmatics, speech linguistics and linguistic psychology, which are brought together in this study to attempt to develop, along with the specific research, a methodology for the science of the text in its general characteristics. Some translations of the nineteenth-century humorist Wilhelm Busch, the Italian version of a key test of the Bauhaus and the transcription of the TV electoral duel of 2005 between Angela Merkel and Helmut Schröder illustrate the broad chronological and typological spectrum of the investigation."Testo. Dialogo. Traduzione. Per una analisi del tedesco tra codici e varietà" applica la terminologia e i metodi di analisi di diverse discipline che, in area tedesca, si occupano di analisi testuale, ovvero la linguistica testuale, la semiotica, la pragmatica, la linguistica del discorso e la psicologia linguistica, che si ritrovano unite in questo studio per tentare di sviluppare, insieme alla ricerca specifica, una metodologia della scienza del testo nei suoi caratteri generali. Alcune traduzioni dall'umorista ottocentesco Wilhelm Busch, la versione italiana di un testo chiave del Bauhaus e la trascrizione dal duello televisivo elettorale tra Angela Merkel e Helmut Schröder del 2005 documentano l'ampio spettro cronologico e variazionale dell'indagine

Modulation of the Senescence-Associated Inflammatory Phenotype in Human Fibroblasts by Olive Phenols

Senescent cells display an increase in the secretion of growth factors, inflammatory cytokines and proteolytic enzymes, termed the “senescence-associated-secretory-phenotype” (SASP), playing a major role in many age-related diseases. The phenolic compounds present in extra-virgin olive oil are inhibitors of oxidative damage and have been reported to play a protective role in inflammation-related diseases. Particularly, hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein are the most abundant and more extensively studied. Pre-senescent human lung (MRC5) and neonatal human dermal (NHDF) fibroblasts were used as cellular model to evaluate the effect of chronic (4–6 weeks) treatment with 1 μM hydroxytyrosol (HT) or 10 μM oleuropein aglycone (OLE) on senescence/inflammation markers. Both phenols were effective in reducing β-galactosidase-positive cell number and p16 protein expression. In addition, senescence/inflammation markers such as IL-6 and metalloprotease secretion, and Ciclooxigenase type 2 (COX-2) and α-smooth-actin levels were reduced by phenol treatments. In NHDF, COX-2 expression, Nuclear Factor κ-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NFκB) protein level and nuclear localization were augmented with culture senescence and decreased by OLE and HT treatment. Furthermore, the inflammatory effect of Tumor Necrosis Factor α (TNFα) exposure was almost completely abolished in OLE- and HT-pre-treated NHDF. Thus, the modulation of the senescence-associated inflammatory phenotype might be an important mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of olive oil phenols

Cholesterol esterification during differentiation of mouse erythroleukemia (Friend) cells

Cholesterol is an essential constituent of all mammalian cell membranes and its availability is therefore a prerequisite for cellular growth and other functions. Several lines of evidence are now indicating an association between alterations of cholesterol homeostasis and cell cycle progression. However, the role of cholesterol in cell differentiation is still largely unknown. To begin to address this issue, in this study we examined changes in cholesterol metabolism and in the mRNA levels of proteins involved in cholesterol import and esterification (multi-drug resistance, MDR-3) and acylCoA: cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) and cholesterol export (caveolin-1) in Friend virus-induced erythroleukemia cells (MELC), in the absence or in the presence of the chemical inducer of differentiation, hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA). FBS-stimulated growth of MELC was accompanied by an immediate elevation of cholesterol synthesis and cholesterol esterification, and by an increase in the levels of MDR-3 and ACAT mRNAs. A decrease in caveolin-1 expression was also observed. However, when MELC were treated with HMBA, the inhibition of DNA synthesis caused by HMBA treatment, was associated with a decrease in cholesterol esterification and in ACAT and MDR-3 mRNA levels and an increase in caveolin-1 mRNA. Detection of cytoplasmic neutral lipids by staining MELC with oil red O, a dye able to evidence CE but not FC, revealed that HMBA-treatment also reduced growth-stimulated accumulation of cholesterol ester to approximately the same extent as the ACAT inhibitor, SaH. Overall, these results indicate for the first time a role of cholesterol esterification and of some related genes in differentiation of erythroid cells

Effect of biofertilizers application on soil biodiversity and litter degradation in a commercial apricot orchard

The aim of the present experiment was to determine if the supply of biofertilizers could differently stimulate the native microbiota, thus determining different patterns of organic material decomposition processes. The microbial composition of soil and litter was investigated by next generation sequencing using a metabarcoding approach. The chemical structure of the decomposing litterbags was investigated through the TG-DTA analysis and NIR spectroscopy. The study was conducted in an apricot orchard in Italy, and two different type of biofertilizers (AMF and Trichoderma spp.) were compared to unfertilized control over one year. Bacteria and fungi in soil, 162 days from litter deposition, evidenced differentiated clusters for control and both biofertilizers; on the other hand, only fungal composition of litterbags was modified as a consequence of Trichoderma spp. supply; no effect was observed in the bacterial community of litterbags. NIR and TG-DTA analysis evidenced a significant change over time of the chemical composition of litterbags with a faster degradation as a consequence of Trichoderma spp. supply testified by a higher degradation coefficient (1.9) than control (1.6) and AMF (1.7). The supply of biofertilizers partially modified the bacteria community of soil, while Trichoderma spp. Influenced the fungal community of the litter. Moreover, Trichoderma spp. Evidenced a faster and higher degradation of litter than AMF-biofertilizers, laying the foundation for an efficient use in orchard

Fungi, P-Solubilization, and Plant Nutrition

The application of plant beneficial microorganisms is widely accepted as an efficient alternative to chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It was shown that annually, mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria are responsible for 5 to 80% of all nitrogen, and up to 75% of P plant acquisition. However, while bacteria are the most studied soil microorganisms and most frequently reported in the scientific literature, the role of fungi is relatively understudied, although they are the primary organic matter decomposers and govern soil carbon and other elements, including P-cycling. Many fungi can solubilize insoluble phosphates or facilitate P-acquisition by plants and, therefore, form an important part of the commercial microbial products, with Aspergillus, Penicillium and Trichoderma being the most efficient. In this paper, the role of fungi in P-solubilization and plant nutrition will be presented with a special emphasis on their production and application. Although this topic has been repeatedly reviewed, some recent views questioned the efficacy of the microbial P-solubilizers in soil. Here, we will try to summarize the proven facts but also discuss further lines of research that may clarify our doubts in this field or open new perspectives on using the microbial and particularly fungal P-solubilizing potential in accordance with the principles of the sustainability and circular economy