“La lira mi sia cara e l’arco ricurvo”: una trama di tensioni opposte

The opposition between tecnomania and technophobia has an ideological and fideistic character. This essay proposes a philosophical critique of that opposition, carried out through genealogy and anthropology of technology. On the guidelines of ontology, biology and paleoanthropology of machines, it is detected the fundamental difference between “apotelestic” and “sympleromatic” machines, two dimensions that converged in ancient techne. On this basis it becomes evident that the era of technological civilization, in which only the apotelestic size prevails, it is a time of impoverishment and anthropological erosion, insofar as humanity continues to make and to recognize itself in the mirror of its own machinations

Sopravvivenza e libertà: il dilemma impossibile

In Survival and Freedom: the impossible dilemma, the violence issue in late Anders’ philosophy is examined starting from his philosophy of technology, rather than a moral perspective which would deeply characterize and compromise it. It has come to light both his thesis’s extreme nature and their ratio essendi, furthermore some primary clues about: 1) the matter concerning the philosopher’s role within his age and time, 2) the nexus between the problem regarding the conditions of possibility of a human existence, and the problem of freedom

Anamnesi e ipomnesi. La memoria (e l'oblio) tra narrazione, immaginazione e scrittura digitale

Definizione dei nessi tra memoria e immagine. Descrizione della teoria digitale della memoria ed elaborazione di una teoria alternativa della memoria come narrazione

A combination of tryptophan, Satureja montana, Tribulus terrestris, Phyllanthus emblica extracts is able to improve sexual quality of life in patient with premature ejaculation

Objective: The management of patient affected by premature ejaculation (PE) is nowadays not highly satisfactory. Here, we aimed to evaluate the tolerability and efficacy of a combination of tryptophan, Satureja montana, Tribulus terrestris, Phyllanthus emblica extracts in order to improve sexual quality of life in patients with premature ejaculation. Materials and methods: All patients attending to 5 urological centers from January 2015 to March 2015, due to premature ejaculation were enrolled in this study. At the enrolment visit, all subjects underwent self-administered IIEF-5, Male Sexual Health Questionnaire-Ejaculation Disorder (MSHQ-EjD), PEDT and IELTS (calculated as mean from that perceived by partner and that perceived by patient) and underwent urological visit and laboratory examinations. All patients received one tablet per day of a combination of tryptophan, Satureja montana, Tribulus terrestris, Phyllanthus emblica extracts for 3 months (Group A). After 3 months all patients underwent follow-up visit with the same investigations that have been carried out in the enrolment visit. The results were compared with a cohort of patients enrolled in the same period in another urological center and considered as a control group (Group B). All patients in the control group underwent counseling and sexual behavioral treatment without any pharmacological compound. Results: At the follow-up analysis, significant changes in terms of IELT in the Group A (mean difference: 31.90; p < 0.05) at 3 months and versus Group B at the intergroup analysis (mean difference: 30.30; p < 0.05) were reported. In the group A, significant differences from baseline to last follow-up were observed relative to IIEF-5 (mean difference: 1.04; p < 0.05), PEDT (mean difference: -2.57; p < 0.05) and FSH (mean difference: -16.46; p < 0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, patients affected by PE may significantly benefit from oral therapy with a combination of tryptophan, Satureja montana, Tribulus terrestris, Phyllanthus emblica extracts in terms of IELT and PEDT scores improvement

A quantitative evaluation of drive pattern selection for optimizing EIT-based stretchable sensors

Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a medical imaging technique that has been recently used to realize stretchable pressure sensors. In this method, voltage measurements are taken at electrodes placed at the boundary of the sensor and are used to reconstruct an image of the applied touch pressure points. The drawback in EIT-based sensors however, is their low spatial resolution due to the ill-posed nature of the EIT reconstruction. In this paper, we show our performance evaluation of different EIT drive patterns, specifically strategies for electrode selection when performing current injection and voltage measurements. We compare voltage data with Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and Boundary Voltage Changes (BVC), and study image quality with Size Error (SE), Position Error (PE) and Ringing (RNG) parameters, in the case of one-point and two-point simultaneous contact locations. The study shows that, in order to improve the performance of EIT based sensors, the electrode selection strategies should dynamically change correspondingly to the location of the input stimuli. In fact, the selection of a drive pattern over another can improve the target size detection and position accuracy up to 4.7% and 18% respectively

Ophthalmological findings in myotonic dystrophy

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Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation

Background: Despite the favourable effects of new therapeutic approaches during the acute phase of cardiac diseases and consequent favourable short-term outcomes, post-acute management and long term prognosis still remain unsatisfactory. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a multidisciplinary treatment with established beneficial effects for the vast majority of cardiac patients and universally considered an important aspect of secondary prevention. Although it has been shown to reduce both morbidity and mortality and it is a class I recommendation in the guidelines, its use remains still rather limited in Europe and in the rest of the world. Aim: The aim of this PhD research was to examine some aspects still little known, or unknown at all, in this field. In particular, the research aimed to evaluate safety and efficacy of a structured, exercise-based, CR in specific cohorts of patients: after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation, and early after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in high risk subjects. Methods: All patients (78 TAVI, mean age 82.1±3.6 years, 42 LVAD, 63.4 ± 7.4 years, and 376 AMI, 64.4±12.3 years) were referred to the Institute Codivilla-Putti (in Cortina d’Ampezzo, BL, Italy) for a two week, in-hospital, CR training and comprehensive risk factors interventions early after the acute event (within two weeks TAVI and AMI, within two months after LVAD implantation). TAVI patients were compared with 80 consecutive peer patients who were admitted for CR in the same period after surgical aortic valve replacement (sAVR) and LVAD patients compared with 47 coeval chronic heart failure (CHF) patients who were admitted for CR in the same period after an acute heart failure event. In LVAD cohort, cardiac autonomic function was evaluated by means of heart rate variability. AMI patients were divided into 2 groups according to a 40% left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) cut-off at enrolment, in order to evaluate the influence of a reduced LVEF on the rehabilitative process; furthermore, in 326 patients a glucometabolic characterization was obtained by means of a standard oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in patients without known diabetes. In all patients the training protocol consisted of a low-medium intensity exercise protocol developed in three sets of exercises, 6 days per week: 30 min of respiratory workout, followed by an aerobic session on a cyclette (or on an arm ergometer in those patients who were not able to cycle) in the morning and, in the afternoon, 30 min of callisthenic exercises. Each session was supervised by a physician and a physiotherapist and all patients were ECG monitored by a telemetry system. Functional capacity was assessed by a six min walking test (6MWT) on admission, and a second test at discharge; when possible, a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) was also performed. The Barthel Index (BI) was used as an autonomy index in TAVI and LVAD cohorts. In AMI patients rate of death, hospitalizations, smoke cessation, physical activity and adherence to pharmacological treatment were recorded at follow up (up to 5 years, median 2 years). Results: Despite the high risk profile of the population, the drop out rate was quite low (1.3% of TAVI, 1.1% of AMI and 11.9% of LVAD patients had to be transferred due to non fatal complications). All the subjects who completed the program had enhanced independence, mobility and functional capacity (mean BI increment was 9.9±12.6, p<0.01 and 11.9±10.5, p<0.01, in TAVI and LVAD patients respectively; mean 6MWT gain was 60.4±46.4 mt, p<0.01, 83.2±36.0 mt, p<0.05, 70.7±55.7 mt, p<0.01, in TAVI, LVAD and AMI patients, respectively). Analysing the specific cohorts, a smaller proportion of TAVI patients, compared with sAVR, was able to complete at least a 6MWT (82% vs 92%) or a CPET (61% vs 95%) but, in those who did, the distance walked at 6MWT at discharge did not significantly differ between the groups (272.7±108 vs. 294.2±101 mt, p=0.42), neither did the exercise capacity assessed by CPET (peak-VO2 12.5±3.6 vs. 13.9±2.7 ml/kg/min, p=0.16). At the end of the program, physical performance in LVAD patients was still generally poor, but not dissimilar from that found in CHF patients (peak-VO2 reached at CPET was 12.5±3.0 vs. 13.6±2.9 ml/kg/min, p=0.20). Evaluating AMI patients, subjects with LVEF<40% achieved significantly lower peak-VO2 at CPET than the controls (15.2±3.9 vs. 18.2±5.2 ml/kg/min, p<0.01). After OGTT administration, a high prevalence of abnormal glucose metabolism was found (54%). As expected, exercise capacity was poorer in diabetic and pre-diabetic patients when compared with normoglicemic (peak-VO2 at CPET 15.3±4.1 vs 17.9±4.8 vs 19.4±5.5 ml/kg/min, p<0.01). At follow up 73% of the subjects reported to exercise regularly, 77% of the smokers definitively quitted and a high adherence to the therapy was registered. Cardiac and all cause mortality resulted 5.0% and 8.0 % at 1 year and 8.0 % and 13.0 % at 5 years, respectively and resulted higher in older people and in those with lower LVEF. Conclusions: Patients who underwent TAVI and LVAD implantation are characterized by a long-term deconditioning status. In this perspective, benefit is not automatically achieved through high-technology interventions and pharmacological management alone. This study have shown that a short-term, supervised, exercise-based CR is feasible, safe and effective in elderly patients after TAVI, as well as after traditional surgery, and after LVAD implantation. An early CR programme enhances independence, mobility and functional capacity and should be encouraged in these subjects. An early and intensive CR, based on physical activity and counselling, resulted to be safe and effective also in high risk patients after AMI, both in the short and in the long period. Indeed, a significant improvement in functional capacity in the short term - independent from the basal ventricular function or glucometabolic status - and a high adherence to therapy and to lifestyle modifications in the long term were achieved. Despite the high risk profile of these patients, this produced a favourable effect on cardiac and total mortality

Della congenialità di scienza e filosofia

Attraverso pochi cenni storici ad alcune fasi alterne nei rapporti tra la comunità scientifica e i filosofi dalla metà dell'ottocento a oggi, il saggio intende individuare alcune delle ragioni delle difficoltà del loro dialogo: le mode intellettuali, i processi di formazione, ma soprattutto il sempre crescente volume del sapere. Difficoltà non invalicabili, se si riconosce la congenialità di scienza e filosofia, come negli ultimi anni avviene sempre più frequentemente su entrambi i versanti. Congenialità che non indica solo l'esser nate un tempo come la stessa cosa, ma anche il nascere sempre di nuovo insieme e il saper rigenerarsi l'una tramite l'altra. Da questo punto di vista, emerge la necessità di figure di confine, di mediatori che siano scienziati filosofi, figure insostituibili per l'istituzione di una koiné e così per la preservazione di una comunità complessivamente dedita alla conoscenza e al sapere puri

Touch Position Detection in Electrical Tomography Tactile Sensors Through Quadratic Classifier

Traditional electrical tomography tactile sensors consider the usage of the system’s finite element model. This approach brings disadvantages that jeopardise their applicability aspect and wide use. To address this limitation, the main thrust of this work is to present a method for touch position identification for an electrical tomography flexible tactile sensor. This is done by using a supervised machine learning algorithm for performing classification, namely quadratic discriminant analysis. This approach provides accurate contact location identification, increasing the detection speed and the sensor versatility when compared to traditional electrical tomography approaches. Results obtained show classification accuracy rates of up to 91.6% on unseen test data and an average euclidean error ranging from 1 to 10 mm depending on the contact location over the sensor. The sensor is then applied in real case scenarios to show its efficiency. These outcomes are encouraging since they promote the future practical usage of flexible and low-cost sensors

Signal transduction through tyrosine-phosphorylated C-terminal fragments of amyloid precursor protein via an enhanced interaction with Shc/Grb2 adaptor proteins in reactive astrocytes of Alzheimer's disease brain.

The proteolytic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP) through the formation of membrane-bound C-terminal fragments (CTFs) and of soluble beta-amyloid peptides likely influences the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We show that in human brain a subset of CTFs are tyrosine-phosphorylated and form stable complexes with the adaptor protein ShcA. Grb2 is also part of these complexes, which are present in higher amounts in AD than in control brains. ShcA immunoreactivity is also greatly enhanced in patients with AD and occurs at reactive astrocytes surrounding cerebral vessels and amyloid plaques. A higher amount of phospho-ERK1,2, likely as result of the ShcA activation, is present in AD brains. In vitro experiments show that the ShcA-CTFs interaction is strictly confined to glial cells when treated with thrombin, which is a well known ShcA and ERK1,2 activator and a regulator of APP cleavage. In untreated cells ShcA does not interact with either APP or CTFs, although they are normally generated. Altogether these data suggest that CTFs are implicated in cell signaling via Shc transduction machinery, likely influencing MAPK activity and glial reaction in AD patients