Michelangelo e il progetto di architettura

Recensione della mostra "Benchè non sia mia professione. Michelangelo e il disegno di architettura", Vicenza, Palazzo Barbaran da Porto, 17 settembre - 10 dicembre 2006 Firenze, Casa Buonarroti, 15 dicembre 2006 - 19 marzo 2007. A oltre quarant'anni dalla discussa mostra romana di Zevi e Portoghesi, che confrontava le opere di Michelangelo con lavori di interpretazione visiva - secondo Tafuri "una dilettantesca traduzione del linguaggio architettonico in astratti e astorici giochi architettonici"-, una nuova occasione di ammirare, senza mediazioni critiche, i disegni di architettura di Michelangelo in tutta la loro straordinaria ricchezza e attualit

La townhouse berlinese Un esperimento tipologico / The Berliner Townhouse A Typological Experiment

Dopo la caduta del Muro nel 1989, i progettisti e gli architetti ancora una volta si sono chiesti se la società dei primi anni del ventunesimo secolo si fosse arenata tra i frammenti del junk space, in architetture di conglomerazione episodica, o se non ci fosse, forse, una possibilità per continuare a sviluppare la cultura secolare della città europea, con il suo ampio spettro di tipologie abitative e di complesse relazioni di proprietà, al fine di preservare la città come era stata per secoli: un luogo di innovazione, ma comunque ancorato nella tradizione. / After the fall of the Wall in 1989 the planners and architects once again asked whether the society of the early twenty-first century was stranded amongst the fragments of junk space, in architectures of episodic conglomeration, or whether there was not, perhaps, an opportunity to continue to develop the centuries-old culture of the European city, with its broad spectrum of housing typologies and complex ownership relationships in order to preserve the city as it has been for centuries: a site of innovation nevertheless anchored in tradition

Nuovo realismo e architettura della città/New realism and architecture of the city

La discussione filosofica sul nuovo realismo, che ha alimentato negli ultimi anni in Italia un ampio dibattito, non solo disciplinare, ha suscitato anche tra gli architetti alcuni interrogativi che riguardano, da un lato, il rapporto tra il mondo delle idee e il mondo degli oggetti fisici e più concretamente tra teoria e pratica dell'architettura e, dall'altro, il ruolo degli architetti e delle opere realizzate rispetto alla elaborazione del pensiero filosofico e speculativo. A questi interrogativi si è cercato di dare risposta in alcuni convegni, svoltisi tra Torino e Napoli nel 2012 e nel 2013, e per non perdere di vista il contatto con la realtà costruita dell'architettura, si è deciso di affiancare alla discussione teorica anche una mostra, con l'obiettivo di affrontare la questione del rapporto tra architettura e realismo anche sul piano delle opere realizzate. In particolare sono state individuate due questioni come il filo rosso che unisce nelle discussioni e nelle realizzazioni architettoniche degli ultimi trent'anni esperienze diverse, nel tempo e nello spazio, in una tensione comune verso la realtà: il rapporto con la città e il rapporto con la storia e la tradizione dell'architettura. A partire da queste due questioni il campo di indagine per questa mostra si è ristretto a tre generazioni di architetti, che poi corrispondono a tre fasi di costruzione della città, e a tre città europee con un impianto storicamente definito e consolidato che ha rappresentato una realtà concreta «inemendabile» con cui i progetti si sono confrontati. Le città scelte sono Amsterdam, Barcellona e Berlino, a cui si sono poi aggiunte come casi-studio, sui quali avviare una riflessione, le città ospiti della mostra, Torino e Napoli. Inoltre, per affrontare direttamente la questione del rapporto tra teoria e pratica dell'architettura, agli architetti sono state rivolte dieci domande, che cercano di mettere in relazione il dibattito filosofico sul nuovo realismo con la questione dell'architettura della città e più in generale aprono un confronto tra la discussione storico-critica e i progetti realizzati, tra la teoria e gli esemp

Un progetto per Nowa Huta

Il volume raccoglie i progetti presentati alla IX Biennale Internazionale di Cracovia, 2002, sul tema "Less ideology - more geometry in the space to live the city". Oggetto del concorso sono quegli spazi della città, costruita come città dormitorio durante gli anni del Realismo Socialista, che possono diventare spazi pubblici per la città contemporanea. Progetto vincitore del primo premio. Born from a political will (socialist realism), from a model of urban and territorial organization (a new way of life) that imprinted its processes of conception and construction, Nowa Huta is, like all foundation towns, a city without a past, a city that appears today fixed in the everlasting present of the time (the ideology) which conceived and built it, and projected towards a future balanced between failure of the ideals (which were the very reason for the existance of the city) and the shutting-down of the huge factories to which it was connected (its practical reason). A city without a past and with an uncertain future. But the shape of Nowa Huta, its spatial structure, has an immense debt to the history and the tradition of the architecture and, set free form its political and ideological charge, it represents today an important contribution to urban research, both on a territorial scale (location, means of transport, water supply, production settlements) and on a urban scale (quarters, residential units, public services, collective buildings, green areas, traffic in its different forms). Therefore our reflection starts from the actual reality of the city, from its built structure (the layout of streets and its relationship with architecture, the residential districts and the emerging monuments) which represents the more constant and convincing element: the aggregative systems, the building types and the architectural forms have changed in the course of time, but the plan remained unchanged in its geometrical clearness

Capnocytophaga canimorsus meningitis in a 38-year-old immunocompetent woman from household pet exposure.

A 38-year-old otherwise healthy woman with no history of immunocompromise, recent travel, or concerning exposures presented to the ED with several days of nonspecific cold-like symptoms with associated generalized headache. After the patient was symptomatically treated and discharged, she returned several hours later with worsening of symptoms and new vomiting, confusion, and sensorineural hearing loss. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures eventually returned positive for a Capnocytophaga canimorsus infection, a bacterial pathogen found in the saliva of dogs and cats. Only after that, the patient recalled being scratched and licked by her pets, two dogs and a cat. She was treated with a course of systemic steroids, antibiotics and discharged home

Riqualificazione di alcune piazze e vie a Trezzano Rosa (Milano). Progetto 1° classificato.

Pubblicazione del progetto primo classificato al concorso per la "Riqualificazione di alcune piazze e vie a Trezzano Rosa (Milano)". Questo concorso ha avuto lo scopo di promuovere la riqualificazione della zona centrale e nevralgica del paese della provincia di Milano. La piazza San Gottardo dovrà tornare ad essere uno spazio ad intenso uso collettivo, con un nuovo sagrato e accessi alla chiesa. Il progetto vincitore ha come obiettivo quello di rafforzare l’identità del luogo e consolidarne i caratteri distintivi di insediamento rurale dal punto di vista morfologico e della qualità dello spazio. All’interno di una strategia urbana unitaria e riconoscibile, il lavoro si è concentrato in particolare su tre questioni principali: gli assi stradali (via Roma, via Dante, via Madonna); il sistema delle piazze (piazza San Gottardo, piazza XXV Aprile); il sistema del verde pubblico e il viale di circonvallazione

Diagenetic Evolution and Porosity Destruction of Turbiditic Hybrid Arenites and Siliciclastic Sandstones of Foreland Basins: Evidence from the Eocene Hecho Group, Pyrenees, Spain

International audienceThis study aims to unravel the impact of diagenetic alterations on porosity loss of foreland-basin turbiditic hybrid arenites and associated siliciclastic sandstones of the Eocene Hecho Group (south-central Pyrenees, Spain). In this succession, hybrid arenites and calclithites are extensively cemented by mesogenetic calcite cement (delta18O VPDB = –10.0 per thousand to –5.8per thousand ; Th, mode = 80° C; salinity mode = 18.8 wt% eq. NaCl), Fe-dolomite (delta18O VPDB = –8.5 per thousand to –6.3 per thousand ) and trace amounts of siderite. The extent of carbonate cementation is interpreted to be related to the amounts of extrabasinal and intrabasinal carbonate grains, which provided nuclei and sources for the precipitation and growth of carbonate cements. Other diagenetic alterations, such as pyrite and albitization, had no impact on reservoir quality. Scarce early diagenetic cements, coupled with abundant ductile carbonate and siliciclastic framework grains, have led to rapid porosity loss owing to compaction. Conversely, abundant quartz in the sandstones prevented rapid loss of porosity by mechanical compaction. Reservoir quality was affected by mesogenetic cementation by quartz overgrowths, calcite and dolomite intergranular pressure dissolution of quartz grains, and formation of fracture-filling calcite cement (delta 18O V-PDB values from –10.4 per thousand to –7.8 per thousand ; Th temperatures of circa 150° C), which are attributed to deep circulation of hot meteoric waters during extensional stages of tectonism. The results of this study illustrate that diagenetic evolution pathways of the arenites and sandstones are closely linked to the variation in detrital composition, particularly the proportion and types of extrabasinal noncarbonates, extrabasinal carbonates, and intrabasinal carbonate grains. These insights suggest that marine turbiditic hybrid arenites and calclithites of foreland basins are subjected to more rapid and extensive porosity loss owing to compaction and cementation than associated siliciclastic sandstones. Degradation of reservoir quality makes these hybrid arenites, calclithites, and sandstones suitable as tight gas reservoirs, but only if fracture porosity and permeability develop during tectonic deformation

Sorafenib sensitizes hepatocellular carcinoma cells to physiological apoptotic stimuli

Sorafenib increases survival rate of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The mechanism underlying this effect is not completely understood. In this work we have analyzed the effects of sorafenib on autocrine proliferation and survival of different human HCC cell lines. Our results indicate that sorafenib in vitro counteracts autocrine growth of different tumor cells (Hep3B, HepG2, PLC-PRF-5, SK-Hep1). Arrest in S/G2/M cell cycle phases were observed coincident with cyclin D1 down-regulation. However, sorafenib's main anti-tumor activity seems to occur through cell death induction which correlated with caspase activation, increase in the percentage of hypodiploid cells, activation of BAX and BAK and cytochrome c release from mitochondria to cytosol. In addition, we observed a rise in mRNA and protein levels of the pro-apoptotic BH3-domain only PUMA and BIM, as well as decreased protein levels of the anti-apoptotic MCL1 and survivin. PUMA targeting knock-down, by using specific siRNAs, inhibited sorafenib-induced apoptotic features. Moreover, we obtained evidence suggesting that sorafenib also sensitizes HCC cells to the apoptotic activity of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) through the intrinsic pathway and to tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF) through the extrinsic pathway. Interestingly, sensitization to sorafenib-induced apoptosis is characteristic of liver tumor cells, since untransformed hepatocytes did not respond to sorafenib inducing apoptosis, either alone or in combination with TGF-beta or TNF. Indeed, sorafenib effectiveness in delaying HCC late progression might be partly related to a selectively sensitization of HCC cells to apoptosis by disrupting autocrine signals that protect them from adverse conditions and pro-apoptotic physiological cytokines. J. Cell. Physiol. 227: 1319-1325, 2012. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Caveolin-1 is required for TGF-β-induced transactivation of the EGF receptor pathway in hepatocytes through the activation of the metalloprotease TACE/ADAM17

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) plays a dual role in hepatocytes, inducing both pro- and anti-apoptotic responses, whose balance decides cell fate. Survival signals are mediated by the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway, which is activated by TGF-β in these cells. Caveolin-1 (Cav1) is a structural protein of caveolae linked to TGF-β receptors trafficking and signaling. Previous results have indicated that in hepatocytes, Cav1 is required for TGF-β-induced anti-apoptotic signals, but the molecular mechanism is not fully understood yet. In this work, we show that immortalized Cav1(-/-) hepatocytes were more sensitive to the pro-apoptotic effects induced by TGF-β, showing a higher activation of caspase-3, higher decrease in cell viability and prolonged increase through time of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). These results were coincident with attenuation of TGF-β-induced survival signals in Cav1(-/-) hepatocytes, such as AKT and ERK1/2 phosphorylation and NFκ-B activation. Transactivation of the EGFR pathway by TGF-β was impaired in Cav1(-/-) hepatocytes, which correlated with lack of activation of TACE/ADAM17, the metalloprotease responsible for the shedding of EGFR ligands. Reconstitution of Cav1 in Cav1(-/-) hepatocytes rescued wild-type phenotype features, both in terms of EGFR transactivation and TACE/ADAM17 activation. TACE/ADAM17 was localized in detergent-resistant membrane (DRM) fractions in Cav1(+/+) cells, which was not the case in Cav1(-/-) cells. Disorganization of lipid rafts after treatment with cholesterol-binding agents caused loss of TACE/ADAM17 activation after TGF-β treatment. In conclusion, in hepatocytes, Cav1 is required for TGF-β-mediated activation of the metalloprotease TACE/ADAM17 that is responsible for shedding of EGFR ligands and activation of the EGFR pathway, which counteracts the TGF-β pro-apoptotic effects. Therefore, Cav1 contributes to the pro-tumorigenic effects of TGF-β in liver cancer cells.This work was supported by grants from: (1) the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Spain (BFU2012-35538 and ISCIII-RTICC: RD12-0036-0029 to IF; SAF2013-43713 to PM-S; BFU2012-33932 to GE; SAF2011-25047 and CSD2009-00016 to MAdP); (2) AGAUR-Generalitat de Catalunya (2009SGR-312 to IF); and (3) People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement no. PITN-GA-2012-316549 (IT LIVER) to IF JM-C and RM-V were recipients of pre-doctoral fellowships from the FPU program (Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Spain) and the FPI program (associated to SAF201125047, MINECO, Spain), respectively. We acknowledge the review and suggestions of Dr. Christoph Meyer (University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany).S