The Ship ‘Maria’ in Grammata, Syros (Cyclades)

Among the graffiti engraved on the rocks of Grammata, Syros-Cyclades, classified as 'Christian' by age and content, four are invocations for help for the ship called ‘Maria’. After the description of the site, the history of the studies and a brief presentation of the graffiti, the problem of the proper name ‘Maria’ is faced from a linguistic and pragmatic point of view, especially in comparison with the various onomastic formular types that we find in other texts from the Cyclades, such as Agia Maria and Theotokos.Tra i graffiti incisi sulle rocce di Grammata, Syros-Cicladi, per epoca e contenuto classificati come ‘cristiani’, quattro sono invocazioni di soccorso e aiuto per la nave chiamata ‘Maria’. Dopo la descrizione del sito, la storia degli studi e una breve presentazione dei graffiti, viene affrontato il problema del nome proprio ‘Maria’ dal punto di vista linguistico e pragmatico soprattutto in concorrenza con i differenti tipi onomastici formulari quali Agia Maria e Theotokos che troviamo in altre testi dalle Cicladi

Un ‘pallium’ dalla Britannia

In the ancient site of Aquae Sulis, now Bath in Somerset, there was a temple dedicated to the goddess Sulis-Minerva and the only natural spa complex in Roman Britain. Here a group of laminae written on lead was discovered, many of which were composed after a theft suffered from the petitioner, who always asks for restitution of the stolen good and in some cases also for punishment for the guilty. In one of these laminae in particular, nr. 62, the integration that has been proposed affects the way in which the complaint is made (“I X have lost (my) Italian, Greek, Gallic cloak”) and raises some problems. After the analysis of the editio princeps, whose interpretation is also accepted in subsequent works, we will offer an alternative which consists in a different integration of the lacuna concerning the first word (la[neum] instead of la[enam]). This new interpretation is based also on the double function of pallium, that, specified as woollen cloth, is not to be considered as a garment, but as an accessory to be used after the bath, as it is well explained by the semantic ambivalence of the word ‘cloak or cloth’, due to the fact that it is wrapped around the body

Danza e musica nelle Tavole Iguvine

In questo lavoro si propone un percorso fra i passi delle Tavole Iguvine, interpretabili come musica e danza, connessi ad alcuni momenti rituali. Dall'analisi è emerso che l'azione del danzare si svolge dopo la preghiera e con un movimento circolare a conclusione del rito accompagnato o meno dalla musica

‘Come il sale nell’acqua’: una formula tra magia e medicina

‘As salt (melts) in water’: a formula between magic and medicine: among similia similibus formulae. The solvability of salt does not only offer an image of great impact but also fulfils to the needs of those who wish the total annihilation of someone or something considered to be an enemy both in the field of ‘private’ communication (defixiones) and of ‘public’ communication (medical formulas). In four defixiones we find the comparative introduced by ut, a[d qu]em modum, comodo + sal in/et aqua, the same formula (liquescas tamquam salis in aqua) used by Marcellus Empiricus to eliminate gland-related diseases through the recitation of a carmen mirum. Among the phenomena that deal with defissory formulae and medical formulae, including the specific use of several verbs, this figure similia similibus does not allude to a magical praxis but to the knowledge of the phenomenon as such

Un ‘Pallium’ dalla Britannia

In the ancient site of Aquae Sulis, now Bath in Somerset, there was a temple dedicated to the goddess Sulis-Minerva and the only natural spa complex in Roman Britain. Here a group of laminae written on lead was discovered, many of which were composed after a theft suffered from the petitioner, who always asks for restitution of the stolen good and in some cases also for punishment for the guilty. In one of these laminae in particular, nr. 62, the integration that has been proposed affects the way in which the complaint is made (“I X have lost (my) Italian, Greek, Gallic cloak”) and raises some problems. After the analysis of the editio princeps, whose interpretation is also accepted in subsequent works, we will offer an alternative which consists in a different integration of the lacuna concerning the first word (la[neum] instead of la[enam]). This new interpretation is based also on the double function of pallium, that, specified as woollen cloth, is not to be considered as a garment, but as an accessory to be used after the bath, as it is well explained by the semantic ambivalence of the word ‘cloak or cloth’, due to the fact that it is wrapped around the body

Evaluation of the management of Hr-HPV+/PapTest- women. Results at 1-year recall

With cervical cancer screening the choice of 1-year as a period of follow-up in positive high-risk HPV women without cytological lesions is still under discussion. We evaluated the management of these women and the role of HPV genotyping test. We did a cervical cancer screening study of women aged 35-64 with primary high-risk HPV test. Women positive for high-risk HPV with negative cytology were followed-up after 1 year. In this study we selected women with high-risk HPV+/PapTest- resulted high-risk HPV+ at recall and performed the PapTest and HPV genotyping test. The detection rate of squamous high grade (CIN2+) relative to the total screened cohort was 2.1‰, and it was 0.2‰ at the 1-year recall. The colposcopy performed in women referred at the 1-year recall accounted for 48.8% of the total (baseline + 1-year recall), and 84.3% of these women had no cytological lesions. The most frequent hr-HPV genotype detected was HPV16 and 66.7% of co-infections were due to HPV16 and HPV18. 54.5% of women presented a persistent infection at 1-year recall with the same HPV subtype, 50% of persistent infections was due to HPV16 and 16.7% of these were determined to be CIN2+ histological lesions. Our data show that it may be useful to extend the period of follow-up for women hr-HPV+/PapTest- so as to reduce the number of unnecessary colposcopies due to the transitory infections and that the genotyping test could help to identify the persistent infections in which HPV16 is involved

Management of women aged 25-34 with diagnosis of ASCUS in the screening center of Latina.

In cervical cancer screening program of Latina (Italy) the hr-HPV as primary test is performed only on women aged 35-64 while women aged 25-34 are invited to perform PapTest. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the application of the PapTest in women aged 25-34 and to evaluate the management of ASCUS. Women aged 25-34 were invited to perform PapTest according to the Italian guidelines; women with diagnosis of LSIL+ were referred to colposcopy while women with diagnosis of ASCUS were referred to hr-HPV test and only women resulted positive were referred to colposcopy. The 4.0% of women resulted positive to PapTest and the referral rate to colposcopy was 3.5%. The PPV value for CIN2+ at colposcopy was 7.2% and the Detection Rate (DR) for CIN2+ was 2.40‰. The ASCUS category was diagnosed in 41.8% of women resulted positive to PapTest and between them the 70.6% resulted positive to the hr-HPV test. The referral rate to colposcopy of women resulted positive to hr-HPV test was 1.1%. The PPV for CIN2+ at colposcopy and the DR of CIN2+ was 8.4% and 0.96‰ respectively. Between women with diagnosis of ASCUS, only 6 women showed a CIN2+ lesion (4 CIN2 and 2 CIN3). The present study showed that this algorithm, applied to women aged 25-34, obtained a good performance in term of test specificity (98%) and confirm that the application of hr-HPV test in the management of ASCUS leads to a decreased of inappropriate colposcopy due to transitory infection in young women

Thromboxane biosynthesis in cancer patients and its inhibition by aspirin: a sub-study of the Add-Aspirin trial

BACKGROUND: Pre-clinical models demonstrate that platelet activation is involved in the spread of malignancy. Ongoing clinical trials are assessing whether aspirin, which inhibits platelet activation, can prevent or delay metastases.METHODS: Urinary 11-dehydro-thromboxane B2 (U-TXM), a biomarker of in vivo platelet activation, was measured after radical cancer therapy and correlated with patient demographics, tumour type, recent treatment, and aspirin use (100 mg, 300 mg or placebo daily) using multivariable linear regression models with log-transformed values.RESULTS: In total, 716 patients (breast 260, colorectal 192, gastro-oesophageal 53, prostate 211) median age 61 years, 50% male were studied. Baseline median U-TXM were breast 782; colorectal 1060; gastro-oesophageal 1675 and prostate 826 pg/mg creatinine; higher than healthy individuals (similar to 500 pg/mg creatinine). Higher levels were associated with raised body mass index, inflammatory markers, and in the colorectal and gastro-oesophageal participants compared to breast participants (P < 0.001) independent of other baseline characteristics. Aspirin 100 mg daily decreased U-TXM similarly across all tumour types (median reductions: 77-82%). Aspirin 300 mg daily provided no additional suppression of U-TXM compared with 100 mg.CONCLUSIONS: Persistently increased thromboxane biosynthesis was detected after radical cancer therapy, particularly in colorectal and gastro-oesophageal patients. Thromboxane biosynthesis should be explored further as a biomarker of active malignancy and may identify patients likely to benefit from aspirin

Thromboxane biosynthesis and future events in diabetes: the ASCEND trial

Background and aims: Thromboxane (TX) A2, released by activated platelets, plays an important role in atherothrombosis. Urinary 11-dehydro-TXB2 (U-TXM), a stable metabolite reflecting the whole-body TXA2 biosynthesis, is reduced by ∼70% by daily low-dose aspirin. The U-TXM represents a non-invasive biomarker of in vivo platelet activation and is enhanced in patients with diabetes. This study assessed whether U-TXM is associated with the risk of future serious vascular events or revascularizations (SVE-R), major bleeding, or cancer in patients with diabetes. Methods: The U-TXM was measured pre-randomization to aspirin or placebo in 5948 people with type 1 or 2 diabetes and no cardiovascular disease, in the ASCEND trial. Associations between log U-TXM and SVE-R (n = 618), major bleed (n = 206), and cancer (n = 700) during 6.6 years of follow-up were investigated by Cox regression; comparisons of these associations with the effects of randomization to aspirin were made. Results: Higher U-TXM was associated with older age, female sex, current smoking, type 2 diabetes, higher body size, urinary albumin/creatinine ratio of ≥3 mg/mmol, and higher estimated glomerular filtration rate. After adjustment for these, U-TXM was marginally statistically significantly associated with SVE-R and major bleed but not cancer [hazard ratios per 1 SD higher log U-TXM (95% confidence interval): 1.09 (1.00-1.18), 1.16 (1.01-1.34), and 1.06 (0.98-1.14)]. The hazard ratio was similar to that implied by the clinical effects of randomization to aspirin for SVE-R but not for major bleed. Conclusions: The U-TXM was log-linearly independently associated with SVE-R in diabetes. This is consistent with the involvement of platelet TXA2 in diabetic atherothrombosis