Rodolfo Sacco and the Multiple Relations Between Law and Language

Rodolfo Sacco has devoted much of his research to the relations between law and language. His analysis were focused on the problem of legal translation for comparative law research, on mute law, and on the importance of understanding the dynamics of the different languages in Europe today

A Suitable Boy: the abolition of feudalism in India

This article focuses on law and literature as a challenging tool in teaching courses in comparative law. Certain representative novels may provide important analytical instruments, especially in approaching legal systems that do not belong to the Western legal tradition but that involve a set of values profoundly rooted in a specific conception of society. In these instances, literature is used as a key in understanding the social impact of particular legal institutions, the nature of which seems difficult for European scholars to comprehend. This is particularly true in cases such as those in India, where the legal system is composed of different layers: the traditional, the religious and that of the colonial period. The article examines a concrete literary example offered by Vikram Seth in his novel A Suitable Boy, in which the author deals with the debate about peasants’ property in the form of land and about the abolition of the zamindari system, which had been introduced in India by the Mughals to collect land taxes from the peasants. It was continued by British rulers during the colonial period, but after independence in 1947 the system was abolished and the land was turned over to the peasants. To Westerners, the abolition of the zamindari system would seem to have been a sign of real independence and of the will to abolish feudalism. Nevertheless, the abrogation did not prevent the emergence of farm suicides in India, which have occurred since the middle of the 1990s. Seth’s novel allows us to witness firsthand the events that took place during the period when the law that put an end to the zamindari system was passed and to see with new eyes the genuine impact of such a reform

FEDERATED HBIM MODELS FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE: SURVEY MODEL AND CONCEPTUAL MODEL

The archaeological site is a mine of data and information that helps to deepen the knowledge of its origin, history, and structure. This virtuous approach becomes even more effective when these data, properly processed and structured, form the basis for a project of conservation and enhancement of the cultural asset. The Roman mosaics dug in Castiglione delle Stiviere in 1995 represent an interesting case in which all the archaeological information, made available by the Superintendence, was used through an HBIM (Historical Building Information Modeling) approach for the conservation project. The Stratigraphic Units (US) of the findings have identified the strategy for the geometric and informative modeling of the BIM (Building Information Modeling) model and have also been exploited in the design phase for the project of the new roof structure and especially for the cost analysis. The structuring of the data by stratigraphic units was also used in the drafting of the preventive and planned conservation, necessary to enhance and prolong the state of good health of the property. This work has been developed in the internship activity within a training course on HBIM, in collaboration with the Diocese of Mantua, owner of the property

HBIM AND THEMATIC MAPPING: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Geomatics' interest in Building Information Modelling (BIM) processes applied to Cultural Heritage is evolving in many directions. The traditional fields of Geomatics -data acquisition and processing- have been largely dealt with about HBIM (Historical Building Information Modelling) systems, but there are still some issues that need to be explored in more detail. In addition to modelling, it is essential to consider the information content of the model, how it is generated, recorded and managed. If the objective of the HBIM model is the conservation project, it becomes essential to understand what types of data can be inserted in the model, how to record them and, above all, what their purpose is. The HBIM approach did not start out as a simple data repository, but as an information tool with the aim of helping the designer at all stages of the construction process. Moving to the field of preservation, much information about the building is represented by thematic maps. They allow to have a graphical image of the state of conservation of a façade or to understand the structural situation of a building. This research, tested on the Arch of Augustus in Aosta, starts from the big amount of data acquired by the RAVA Laboratory of the Superintendency of Aosta during a long period. These data allowed to test different approaches to thematic mapping, according to the specific themes to be represented (previous restoration interventions, diagnostics, decay mapping, etc). Anyway, this experiment also required a theoretical reasoning that preceded the operational phases. Faced with a new system, in fact, it is always advisable to reason about the method applied, to avoid the error of simply translating a method that could instead be developed in new directions. The question, to which this article wants only to begin answering, concerns the role of thematic mappings in the preservation design made by a HBIM approach, their necessity and their implementation towards a truly three-dimensional data, which thus maintains all the information that is acquired directly in three dimensions and which instead, today, are reprojected in 2D or used as a placeholder in the 3D spac

The Citrus Flavanone Naringenin Protects Myocardial Cells against Age-Associated Damage

In recent years, the health-promoting effects of the citrus flavanone naringenin have been examined. The results have provided evidence for the modulation of some key mechanisms involved in cellular damage by this compound. In particular, naringenin has been revealed to have protective properties such as an antioxidant effect in cardiometabolic disorders. Very recently, beneficial effects of naringenin have been demonstrated in old rats. Because aging has been demonstrated to be directly related to the occurrence of cardiac disorders, in the present study, the ability of naringenin to prevent cardiac cell senescence was investigated. For this purpose, a cellular model of senescent myocardial cells was set up and evaluated using colorimetric, fluorimetric, and immunometric techniques. Relevant cellular senescence markers, such as X-gal staining, cell cycle regulator levels, and the percentage of cell cycle-arrested cells, were found to be reduced in the presence of naringenin. In addition, cardiac markers of aging-induced damage, including radical oxidative species levels, mitochondrial metabolic activity, mitochondrial calcium buffer capacity, and estrogenic signaling functions, were also modulated by the compound. These results suggested that naringenin has antiaging effects on myocardial cells

Paediatric serum sickness-like reaction: A 10-year retrospective cohort study

Background: Serum sickness-like reaction (SSLR) is an acute inflammatory condition affecting predominantly children. The pathophysiology remains unclear, but drugs are considered the main trigger. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the clinical and laboratory features, triggers, and treatment modalities in children diagnosed with SSLR. Methods: We conducted a 10-year retrospective cohort study including all paediatric patients (0 to 18 years old) with query SSLR referred to the Adverse Drug Reactions Clinic at the Children\u27s Hospital of Western Ontario. Diagnostic criteria included acute skin rash plus joint inflammation with or without fever. Results: We included 83 patients (47 females). Age ranged from 11 months to 12 years (mean 3.2 years). Amoxicillin was the trigger in 82.7% of patients. The mean time between the exposure to the triggering drug and the development of the symptoms was 8.5 days. Urticaria-like and Erythema multiforme-like lesions were present in 35% and 38.5% of the cases, respectively. Joint inflammation affecting hands/feet was present in 60%. Pruritus, lip/eye swelling, and fever were reported in 33, 31, and 45% of patients, respectively. The lymphocyte toxicity assay (LTA) showed incremental T-cell toxicity in 32 of 34 patients. Children that received treatment with antihistamines/nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) plus oral steroids had a mean recovery time shorter than those treated only with antihistamines/NSAIDs (6 versus 8 days; P=0.09). Conclusions: In our study, SSLR was mostly triggered by amoxicillin and had a mean time presentation of 8.5 days. Further prospective and well-conducted studies are needed

TSPO ligand residence time: a new parameter to predict compound neurosteroidogenic efficacy

The pharmacological activation of the cholesterol-binding Translocator Protein (TSPO) leads to an increase of endogenous steroids and neurosteroids determining benefic pleiotropic effects in several pathological conditions, including anxiety disorders. The relatively poor relationship between TSPO ligand binding affinities and steroidogenic efficacies prompted us to investigate the time (Residence Time, RT) that a number of compounds with phenylindolylglyoxylamide structure (PIGAs) spends in contact with the target. Here, given the poor availability of TSPO ligand kinetic parameters, a kinetic radioligand binding assay was set up and validated for RT determination using a theoretical mathematical model successfully applied to other ligand-target systems. TSPO ligand RT was quantified and the obtained results showed a positive correlation between the period for which a drug interacts with TSPO and the compound ability to stimulate steroidogenesis. Specifically, the TSPO ligand RT significantly fitted both with steroidogenic efficacy (Emax) and with area under the dose-response curve, a parameter combining drug potency and efficacy. A positive relation between RT and anxiolytic activity of three compounds was evidenced. In conclusion, RT could be a relevant parameter to predict the steroidogenic efficacy and the in vivo anxiolytic action of new TSPO ligands