The Myth of the Nation in Contemporary Italy: A Multimodal Analysis of Matteo Renzi’s Speeches in English

The article investigates how the Italian ex-Prime Minister Matteo Renzi produced a stereotypical view of Italy and the Italian national character to create shared background knowledge and construct his audience as ideological subjects. Although his political campaigning focused on radical innovation, his rhetorical strategies, both verbal and nonverbal, reinforced traditional values and the myth of the nation by turning it into common sense. These strategies were particularly noticeable in the speeches that he delivered in English to a lay audience, in which he frequently improvised and professional linguistic mediation was generally limited. The article presents the results of a pilot study that was conducted on two sample speeches that Renzi delivered in English at Georgetown University and Harvard. Based on the assumption that language expresses the system of values and beliefs of the speaker, the study applied Jeremy Munday’s model for evaluation in translation in order to foreground Renzi’s stance on the grounds of his discursive choices. Drawing upon Critical Discourse Analysis, Munday’s model was integrated with the analysis of implicit cognitive resources and culture-specific nonverbal language (hand gestures) in order to bring to the fore implied subtexts and, accordingly, the speaker’s axiological and ideological positioning. The article provides a brief overview of the relationship between discourse, power relations and identity, introduces the methodology adopted in research, provides an example of analysis and discusses the outcomes of research

Protective effect of oral administration of transgenic tobacco seeds against verocytotoxic Escherichia coli strain in piglets

The use of transgenic plants as delivery system for antigenic proteins is attractive for its simplicity and increases likelihood for local immune response at sites of infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of oral administration of tobacco seeds, expressing the FedA, the major protein of the F18 adhesive fimbriae, and B subunit of verocytotoxin, against verocytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC) strain in piglets. Forty-three early weaned piglets, were randomly divided into 4 experimental groups: 3 test groups and a control. Treatment groups orally received a bolus, with different dose of tobacco seeds on 0, 1, 2, 14 days post primary administration. After challenge, with 1*1010 CFU of O138 Escherichia coli strain, piglets showed clinical scores significantly higher in the control group compared to orally immunized groups (P<0.05) and the latter showed a faster recovery than in CG. In conclusion, oral administration of recombinant tobacco seeds expressing antigenic proteins against VTEC strains can induce a protective effect against challenger strain in piglets

Evaluation of leonardite as a feed additive on lipid metabolism and growth of weaned piglets

We evaluated the effects of leonardite supplementation, mainly composed of humic acids (HAs), as a functional feed additive in weaned piglets. One hundred and twenty piglets (Large Withe 7 Landrace) were weaned at 28\ub12 days, and randomly divided into two groups (6 pens per group, 10 piglets per pen). After one week of adaptation, for 40 days groups were fed a control diet (CTRL) and an HA enriched diet (0.25% of leonardite; HAG). Body weight (BW), average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured throughout the experimental period. On the last day of the trial four piglets per pen were randomly selected and the blood was collected to evaluate the serum metabolic profile and diamine oxidase content. Chemical analyses showed that leonardite was characterized by a high content of ash 23.27% (as-fed basis), polyphenolic content of 35.18\ub13.91 mg TAEq/g, and an antioxidant capacity of 73.31\ub18.22 \u3bcmol TroloxEq/g. The HAG group showed an increase in BW, ADG and ADFI (P&lt;0.01) compared to the CTRL group during the experimental period. In terms of the serum metabolic profile, the HAG group showed a significant increase in total protein content (P&lt;0.001), albumin (P&lt;0.001), albumin/globulin ratio (P&lt;0.01), phosphatase alkaline (P&lt;0.01), calcium, phosphorus and magnesium (P&lt;0.05) compared to the CTRL group. A modulation in the serum lipid profile was recorded. The HAG group showed a decrease in total triglycerides (P&lt;0.05) with higher total cholesterol (P&lt;0.05), however only high-density lipoprotein showed a significant increase (P&lt;0.001) compared to the CTRL group. No significant differences in the amount of diamine oxidase were found between groups. In conclusion, leonardite inclusion in the diet at 0.25% was shown to have a positive effect on the serum lipid profile and animal growth. This thus suggests that leonardite can be considered as a new feed additive, which improves the health and performance of weaned piglets

Expression of vaccine antigens to edema disease in tobacco seeds and evaluation of immunogenicity on mouse model

Plant-derived vaccines present many potential advantages related to the management in intensive livestock. They could be administered without restraint of the animals, with low stress and without labour costs related to multiple injections of traditional vaccines. The aim of this study was the construction and subsequent evaluation in mouse model of transgenic tobacco seeds as edible vaccines for swine Edema disease. We focalized our attention on Verocitotoxic Escherichia coli strains (O138, O139, O141), responsible of Edema disease, that occurs in pigs approximately one week after weaning and is characterized by edema in various sites and by damages to vascular endothelium. The adhesion of bacterial strains is related to different fimbriae and Shiga-like toxins (VT2e), that play an important role in the pathogenesis. Structural parts of F18 fimbriae and B-subunit of VT2e genes were inserted in expression vectors, under control of GLOB promoter to obtain specific seed accumulation of heterologous proteins, and transformed in tobacco by agroinfection. We obtained two stable lines of transformed tobacco expressing the proteins in the seed: one included F18 gene (F18+) and another one included B-subunit of Vt2e gene (VT2e-B+). Tobacco lines were characterized by molecular and immunoenzymatic techniques for the expression of F18 and VT2e-b proteins. The amount of transgenic proteins was estimated at around 10ug/g of seeds. 14 Balb-c mice were divided randomly in two groups Control (CG) and Treatment (TG), with 7 mice each. Treatment diet, prepared as pellet to avoid different feed intakes in animals, contained 10% of tobacco seeds from F18+ and 10% of tobacco seeds from VT2e-b+. CG received a diet containing 20% of not-transgenic tobacco seeds. Treatments were administered on days 0,5,8,14,19,23. TG revealed an increment of fecal IgA at day 26, while CG at the same period decreased. The histometric data of the small intestine showed that TG crypts of the duodenum were significantly deeper than those of the CG. Immunostaining of the intestine showed that administration of transgenic tobacco seeds promotes a significant increase in the IgA-positive plasma cells production of the tonaca propria if compared to control group. In conclusion our findings suggest that tobacco seeds might be a potential source of oral vaccines

Technical validation of real-world monitoring of gait : a multicentric observational study

Introduction: Existing mobility endpoints based on functional performance, physical assessments and patient self-reporting are often affected by lack of sensitivity, limiting their utility in clinical practice. Wearable devices including inertial measurement units (IMUs) can overcome these limitations by quantifying digital mobility outcomes (DMOs) both during supervised structured assessments and in real-world conditions. The validity of IMU-based methods in the real-world, however, is still limited in patient populations. Rigorous validation procedures should cover the device metrological verification, the validation of the algorithms for the DMOs computation specifically for the population of interest and in daily life situations, and the users’ perspective on the device. Methods and analysis: This protocol was designed to establish the technical validity and patient acceptability of the approach used to quantify digital mobility in the real world by Mobilise-D, a consortium funded by the European Union (EU) as part of the Innovative Medicine Initiative, aiming at fostering regulatory approval and clinical adoption of DMOs. After defining the procedures for the metrological verification of an IMU-based device, the experimental procedures for the validation of algorithms used to calculate the DMOs are presented. These include laboratory and real-world assessment in 120 participants from five groups: healthy older adults; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, proximal femoral fracture and congestive heart failure. DMOs extracted from the monitoring device will be compared with those from different reference systems, chosen according to the contexts of observation. Questionnaires and interviews will evaluate the users’ perspective on the deployed technology and relevance of the mobility assessment. Ethics and dissemination: The study has been granted ethics approval by the centre’s committees (London—Bloomsbury Research Ethics committee; Helsinki Committee, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Centre; Medical Faculties of The University of Tübingen and of the University of Kiel). Data and algorithms will be made publicly available. Trial registration number ISRCTN (12246987)

Mobilise-D insights to estimate real-world walking speed in multiple conditions with a wearable device

This study aimed to validate a wearable device’s walking speed estimation pipeline, considering complexity, speed, and walking bout duration. The goal was to provide recommendations on the use of wearable devices for real-world mobility analysis. Participants with Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Proximal Femoral Fracture, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Congestive Heart Failure, and healthy older adults (n = 97) were monitored in the laboratory and the real-world (2.5 h), using a lower back wearable device. Two walking speed estimation pipelines were validated across 4408/1298 (2.5 h/laboratory) detected walking bouts, compared to 4620/1365 bouts detected by a multi-sensor reference system. In the laboratory, the mean absolute error (MAE) and mean relative error (MRE) for walking speed estimation ranged from 0.06 to 0.12 m/s and − 2.1 to 14.4%, with ICCs (Intraclass correlation coefficients) between good (0.79) and excellent (0.91). Real-world MAE ranged from 0.09 to 0.13, MARE from 1.3 to 22.7%, with ICCs indicating moderate (0.57) to good (0.88) agreement. Lower errors were observed for cohorts without major gait impairments, less complex tasks, and longer walking bouts. The analytical pipelines demonstrated moderate to good accuracy in estimating walking speed. Accuracy depended on confounding factors, emphasizing the need for robust technical validation before clinical application. Trial registration: ISRCTN – 12246987

THE IMPACT OF THERAPEUTIC IMPROVEMENTS IN REDUCING PEPTIC-ULCER MORTALITY IN EUROPE

Trends in death certification rates from peptic ulcer between 1955 and 1989 have been analysed for 24 European countries on the basis of age-specific and age-standardized rates, and a log-linear model to estimate the effects of age, cohort of birth and period of death. For males, in all Western countries there were substantial declines in mortality. In the late 1950s, the range of variation of the world standardized rates was between 4/100 000 in France and 17.8 in Portugal. In the late 1980s, only Ireland had a rate over 5/100 000, and values for most Western countries ranged between 2 and 4/100 000. The average fall in rates over the last three decades was 56%. Of this, a high proportion (45%) was registered between 1975 and 1984. In Eastern Europe, no systematic change was observed until the early 1970s, but over the last 15 years peptic ulcer mortality declined by an average of 20%. In 1985-1989 the lowest rate was 4.5/100 000 in Bulgaria, and for all other countries peptic ulcer mortality ranged between 5 and 7.2/100 000. Peptic ulcer mortality was substantially lower in females, and showed no appreciable modification in Western Europe, and several increases in Eastern Europe until the mid 1970s. Thereafter, mortality declined by an overall 25% in the West and 15% in the East. Earlier declines for males in Western Europe were chiefly related to a cohort effect, reflecting more favourable risk factor exposure (such as diet, Helicobacter pylori or smoking) of subsequent generations. The recent falls, in contrast, were mainly on a period of death basis indicating therapeutic advancements (including the introduction of H-2-receptor-antagonists in the mid-1970s) as the major determinant. These falls correspond to about 20 000 deaths from peptic ulcer avoided every year in the whole of Europe