Simondon reconsidered : An interview with Nathalie Simondon

Nel presente contributo proponiamo un’intervista a Nathalie Simondon, responsabile dell’edizione dell’opera di Gilbert Simondon, al fine di fare luce sui temi di ecologia, enciclopedismo, transdisciplinarità e umanismo nella produzione filosofica di Gilbert Simondon.In this paper we propose an interview with Nathalie Simondon, responsible for the edition of Gilbert Simondon’s work, in order to shed a light on the topics of ecology, encyclopedism, transdisciplinarity and humanism in Gilbert Simondon’s philosophical production

Frailty, psychological well-being, and social isolation in older adults with cognitive impairment during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: data from the GeroCovid initiative

Background: The containment measures linked to the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the phyco-physical well-being of the population, especially older adults with neurocognitive disorders (NCDs). This study aims to evaluate whether the frailty of NCD patients was associated with different changes in multiple health domains, in particular in relation to loneliness and social isolation, pre- and post-lockdown. Materials and methods: Patients were recruited from 10 Italian Centers for Cognitive Disorders and Dementia. Data were collected in the pre-pandemic period (T0), during the pandemic lockdown (T1), and 6-9 months post-lockdown (T2). The UCLA Loneliness Scale-3, Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Instrumental ADL (IADL), Mini-Mental State Examination, and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) were administered. Caregivers' burden was also tested. Patients were categorized as non-frail, pre-frail, and frail according to the Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation, Illness, and Loss of Weight scale. Results: The sample included 165 subjects (61.9% women, mean age 79.5 ± 4.9 years). In the whole sample, the ADL, IADL, and NPI scores significantly declined between T0 and T2. There were no significative variations in functional and cognitive domains between the frail groups. During lockdown we recorded higher Depression Anxiety Stress Scales and Perceived Stress Scale scores in frail people. In multivariable logistic regression, frailty was associated with an increase in social isolation, and a loss of IADL. Conclusions: We observed a global deterioration in functional and neuro-psychiatric domains irrespective of the degree of frailty. Frailty was associated with the worsening of social isolation during lockdown. Frail patients and their caregivers seemed to experience more anxiety and stress disorders during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

"Delirium Day": A nationwide point prevalence study of delirium in older hospitalized patients using an easy standardized diagnostic tool

Background: To date, delirium prevalence in adult acute hospital populations has been estimated generally from pooled findings of single-center studies and/or among specific patient populations. Furthermore, the number of participants in these studies has not exceeded a few hundred. To overcome these limitations, we have determined, in a multicenter study, the prevalence of delirium over a single day among a large population of patients admitted to acute and rehabilitation hospital wards in Italy. Methods: This is a point prevalence study (called "Delirium Day") including 1867 older patients (aged 65 years or more) across 108 acute and 12 rehabilitation wards in Italian hospitals. Delirium was assessed on the same day in all patients using the 4AT, a validated and briefly administered tool which does not require training. We also collected data regarding motoric subtypes of delirium, functional and nutritional status, dementia, comorbidity, medications, feeding tubes, peripheral venous and urinary catheters, and physical restraints. Results: The mean sample age was 82.0 ± 7.5 years (58 % female). Overall, 429 patients (22.9 %) had delirium. Hypoactive was the commonest subtype (132/344 patients, 38.5 %), followed by mixed, hyperactive, and nonmotoric delirium. The prevalence was highest in Neurology (28.5 %) and Geriatrics (24.7 %), lowest in Rehabilitation (14.0 %), and intermediate in Orthopedic (20.6 %) and Internal Medicine wards (21.4 %). In a multivariable logistic regression, age (odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.05), Activities of Daily Living dependence (OR 1.19, 95 % CI 1.12-1.27), dementia (OR 3.25, 95 % CI 2.41-4.38), malnutrition (OR 2.01, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), and use of antipsychotics (OR 2.03, 95 % CI 1.45-2.82), feeding tubes (OR 2.51, 95 % CI 1.11-5.66), peripheral venous catheters (OR 1.41, 95 % CI 1.06-1.87), urinary catheters (OR 1.73, 95 % CI 1.30-2.29), and physical restraints (OR 1.84, 95 % CI 1.40-2.40) were associated with delirium. Admission to Neurology wards was also associated with delirium (OR 2.00, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), while admission to other settings was not. Conclusions: Delirium occurred in more than one out of five patients in acute and rehabilitation hospital wards. Prevalence was highest in Neurology and lowest in Rehabilitation divisions. The "Delirium Day" project might become a useful method to assess delirium across hospital settings and a benchmarking platform for future surveys

Immanence and method

Laruelle è stato e rimane uno dei grandi misteri della filosofia contemporanea. Escludendo la recentissima ripresa del pensiero laruelleiano da parte di alcuni esponenti del cosiddetto realismo speculativo, il lavoro di Laruelle ha sempre mantenuto una posizione, all’interno del canone filosofico continentale contemporaneo, che oscilla fra la totale assenza e la marginalità. Eppure, nel recente passato, nessuno è riuscito a concettualizzare, in modo tanto preciso quanto radicale, il rapporto che unisce la pratica filosofica, con tutti i suoi stili ed i suoi strumenti, al modo in cui la filosofia articola e descrive il mondo. In questo nostro lavoro, tenteremo di ripercorrere i passi del pensiero laruelleiano, cercando di mettere in luce come, per Laruelle, il problema ontologico sia inscindibile da una costante riproposizione della domanda circa il metodo e gli strumenti utilizzati. Prendendo in esame l'ontologia immanentista e la critica del metodo filosofico avanzate da Laruelle, cercheremo di mostrare come l'investigazione filosofica sul reale debba necessariamente passare dalla domanda:«Che cosa facciamo quando parliamo del reale?»Laruelle has been and still is one of contemporary philosophy’s great mysteries. Excluding the very recent recovery of laruelleian thought by some members of the so-called speculative realist movement, Laruelle’s work has always maintained, in the contemporary continental philosophy’s canon, a position that oscillates between total absence and marginality. Nonetheless, in the recent past, no one has been capable of conceptualizing, in such a precise and radical way, the relationship that unites the philosophical praxis, with all its styles and its instruments, and the way in which philosophy articulates and describes the world. In our work, we will try to retrace the footsteps of laruelleian thought, trying to highlight how, for Laruelle, the ontological problem is inseparable from a constant repetition of the question concerning the methods and the instruments involved. Examining the immanentist ontology and the critique of the philosophical method put forth by Laruelle, we will try to demonstrate how the philosophical investigation concerning the real must undergo the scrutiny of the question: «What are we doing when we talk about the real?

Two isoflavones and a flavone from the fruits of Maclura pomifera

[No abstract available

Lipolytic isoenzymes from Euphorbia latex

The activity and substrate specificity of latex lipases from Euphorbia species (E. characias, E. wulfenii, E. pinea, E. myrsinites and E. dendroides) were investigated. High lipolytic activity was found only in E. characias and for the first time in E. wulfenii latex. For both species the lipolytic activity on various triglycerides, and under different temperature and pH conditions, in both crude latex and in partially purified enzymes was quantified. Optimised extraction and purification methods permitted the recovery of the enzymatic fraction with high lipolytic activity. This fraction is probably constituted by a pool of different lipolytic enzymes. Finally, lipolytic activity was also measured for E. characias and E. wulfenii during vegetative and reproductive stages

Eight short notes on the parallel tables

The paper contains the comments of the chairs who coordinated the eight parallel tables that took place during the conference. The organization of the tables started from the three main tracks (track A: genealogy/Poetic; track B: Metamprphosis/Actions; track C: Multiplicity/Communication), but it has undergone decisive variations according to some thematic and/or interpretative affinities and/ or divergences. These variations were identified among some papers that do not necessarily adhere to the same track and which were presented by the authors who participated in the parallel sessions

Clinical Features Associated with Delirium Motor Subtypes in Older Inpatients: Results of a Multicenter Study

Objective To date motor subtypes of delirium have been evaluated in single-center studies with a limited examination of the relationship between predisposing factors and motor profile of delirium. We sought to report the prevalence and clinical profile of subtypes of delirium in a multicenter study. Methods This is a point prevalence study nested in the â\u80\u9cDelirium Day 2015â\u80\u9d, which included 108 acute and 12 rehabilitation wards in Italy. Delirium was detected using the 4-AT and motor subtypes were measured with the Delirium Motor Subtype Scale (DMSS). A multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with delirium subtypes. Results Of 429 patients with delirium, the DMSS was completed in 275 (64%), classifying 21.5% of the patients with hyperactive delirium, 38.5% with hypoactive, 27.3% with mixed and 12.7% with the non-motor subtype. The 4-AT score was higher in the hyperactive subtype, similar in the hypoactive, mixed subtypes, while it was lowest in the non-motor subtype. Dementia was associated with all three delirium motor subtypes (hyperactive, OR 3.3, 95% CI: 1.2-8.7; hypoactive, OR 2.8, 95% CI: 1.2-6.5; mixed OR 2.6, 95% CI: 1.1-6.2). Atypical antipsychotics were associated with hypoactive delirium (OR 0.23, 95% CI: 0.1-0.7), while intravenous lines were associated with mixed delirium (OR 2.9, 95% CI: 1.2-6.9). Conclusions The study shows that hypoactive delirium is the most common subtype among hospitalized older patients. Specific clinical features were associated with different delirium subtypes. The use of standardized instruments can help to characterize the phenomenology of different motor subtypes of delirium