Il dovere di essere ospitali. Notazioni su giustizia e accoglienza

The era in which we are living could be defined as the era of global migration. Masses of inividuals – in the most part coming from countries tormented by hunger, epidemics or wars – are crossing the sea, the ocean or the desert, in search of safer shores where to find shelter and hospitality. From their part, Western people feel the strong pressure of this massive exodus, evaluate with increasing concern the consequences – for economy and public order –, and basically divide themselves into two different groups: the few who want to offer hospitality and the many who would rather raise higher and higher walls to segregate misery and despair on the other side of a frontier. Where does the distrust of the foreigner come from? What are the psychological and sociological mechanisms that favor its diffusion? Could we find a philosophical guideline to address such problems? Inspired by such questions, the present essay detect in the duty of hospitality the original and foundational position of philosophy of law.L’epoca che stiamo vivendo potrebbe essere definita come l’epoca delle migrazioni globali. Ingenti masse di individui – nella più gran parte provenienti da Paesi tormentati dalla fame, dalle epidemie o dalle guerre – attraversano il mare, l’oceano o il deserto alla ricerca di lidi più sicuri dove trovare riparo e accoglienza. Dal canto loro, i popoli occidentali avvertono la pressione di questo massiccio esodo, ne ponderano con crescente preoccupazione le conseguenze – in termini economici e di ordine pubblico –, si dividono tra i pochi che vorrebbero garantire ai migranti ospitalità e accoglienza e i molti che preferirebbero alzare mura sempre più alte per segregare la miseria e la disperazione dall’altra parte di una frontiera. Da dove nasce questa diffidenza nei confronti dello straniero? Quali sono i meccanismi psicologici e sociologici che ne favoriscono la diffusione? Prendendo spunto da simili domande, il presente saggio intende rintracciare nel dovere di ospitalità la posizione originaria e fondativa della filosofia del diritto

Symbolon. I simboli religiosi nei luoghi pubblici

La creazione e l’interpretazione dei simboli appartiene al novero di quelle attività che potrebbero essere correttamente definite metasociali e al tempo stesso metabiologiche. Eppure, la sorte dei simboli - ed in particolar modo dei simboli religiosi - appare oggi chiaramente in pericolo, tanto che alcuni vorrebbero estrometterli definitivamente dallo spazio pubblico, immaginando una città composta esclusivamente da luoghi laici e dunque neutrali. Esaminando la differenza che separa il simbolo dal segno, i luoghi dai (non) luoghi ed il principio di laicità dal laicismo, il presente studio intende criticare la postura iconoclastica assunta da una parte della dottrina, al fine di salvaguardare i simboli religiosi dall'esilio in cui qualcuno li vorrebbe relegare, giustificandone la presenza nei luoghi pubblici.The creation and interpretation of symbols is one of the few activities that could be properly defined metasocials and are, at the same time, metabiological. Still, the fate of symbols —and especially of religious ones— appears nowadays to be clearly in danger. As a matter of fact, someone would permanently remove them from the public space, imagining a city composed exclusively of lay and therefore neutral spaces. Examining the difference between symbol and sign, places and (non) places secularism and laicism, the present study intends to criticize the iconoclastic posture assumed by a part of the doctrine. In order to safeguard religious symbols from an unfair exile and justify their presence in public places

Management of self-inflicted orchiectomy in psychiatric patient. Case report and non-systematic review of the literature.

INTRODUCTION: Self-inflicted orchidectomy and auto-castration, also known as "Eshmun complex" is a rare phenomenon. The aim of our study it to present the management of a patient who performed a self orchiectomy and propose a non-systematic review of literature about self-orchiectomy. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A 27-years old male Patient with psychiatric disorder was admitted to our ward to have been cutted his scrotum with scissors and cut away his left testicle causing active bleeding from the left spermatic artery. The patient underwent emergency surgery with clamping of the spermatic cord and hemostasis of the wound. RESULTS: After surgery the clinical condition of the patient remained good during whole hospitalization. Urgent psychiatric evaluation was performed in order to administer proper therapy for acute management. To best of our knowledge, only 11 cases of self-orchidectomy are reported in literature and all of them except 1 case, underwent surgical exploration. CONCLUSIONS: Self-orchidectomy is an extremely rare phenomenon, often associated with psychiatric disorders, compounded by the use of drugs. In our opinion, emergency surgery should be the first choice of treatment, offering diagnostic and hemostatic purpose in a single act, aimed to prevent acute and postacute complications

Clinical Characteristics and Treatment-Related Biomarkers Associated with Response to High-Dose Interleukin-2 in Metastatic Melanoma and Renal Cell Carcinoma: Retrospective Analysis of an Academic Community Hospital\u27s Experience.

Background Immunotherapy in the treatment of metastatic melanoma and renal cell carcinoma can produce durable therapeutic responses, which may improve survival. We aimed to identify clinical characteristics and biomarkers associated with response to high-dose interleukin-2 therapy (IL-2) in patients with metastatic melanoma and renal cell carcinoma treated at an academic community hospital. Patients/Methods We retrospectively analyzed clinical variables and biomarkers of 50 consecutive metastatic melanoma or renal cell carcinoma patients treated at our institution with IL-2 during 2004 – 2012. We evaluated clinical characteristics: metastatic sites of disease, prior therapies, number of IL-2 doses per cycle, response duration, autoimmune phenomena, and peak fever, as well as laboratory biomarkers: baseline LDH, platelet nadir, and baseline and highest absolute lymphocyte count (ALC). Survival outcomes were calculated using Kaplan-Meier curves. Results Variables differing between responders (clinical benefit group) and non-responders (no clinical benefit group) in metastatic melanoma included platelet nadir during treatment (p = 0.015), autoimmune phenomena (p = 0.049), and in renal cell carcinoma, platelet nadir (p = 0.026). There were no significant differences between number of doses of IL-2 received per cycle and response in either cancer subtype. Clinical benefit occurred in 25% of patients (9/36) when IL-2 was given as first-line therapy. Median overall survival for the clinical benefit group from the initiation of IL-2 to death or last follow-up was 61 months versus 17 months for the no clinical benefit group (p \u3c 0.001) for metastatic melanoma. In renal cell carcinoma overall survival for clinical benefit patients was 48 months versus 17 months. No treatment-related deaths occurred. Conclusions High-dose IL-2 can be safely administered by an experienced team in a non–intensive care oncology unit. The clinical benefit group developed autoimmune phenomena (melanoma patients), lower platelet nadir, and on average, received the same number of IL-2 doses as the no clinical benefit group, suggesting a response relationship to the patient’s baseline immune status. Further investigation of immune predictors of response may be useful to select appropriate patients for this therapy. Keywords: Interleukin-2, Metastatic melanoma, Metastatic renal cell carcinoma, IL-2, Biomarkers, Safety, Respons

Efficacy of extremely low-frequency magnetic field in fibromyalgia pain: a pilot study

The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the efficacy of an extremely low-frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF) in decreasing chronic pain in fibromyalgia (FM) patients. Thirty-seven females were recruited and randomized into two groups: one group was first exposed to systemic ELF-MF therapy (100 microtesla, 1 to 80 Hz) and then to sham therapy, and the other group received the opposite sequence of intervention. Pain, FM-related symptoms, and the ability to perform daily tasks were measured using the Visual Analog Scale, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), Fibromyalgia Assessment Scale (FAS), and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) at baseline, end of first treatment cycle, beginning of second treatment cycle (after 1 mo washout), end of second treatment cycle, and end of 1 mo follow-up. ELF-MF treatment significantly reduced pain, which increased on cessation of therapy but remained significantly lower than baseline levels. Short-term benefits were also observed in FIQ, FAS, and HAQ scores, with less significant effects seen in the medium term. ELF-MF therapy can be recommended as part of a multimodal approach for mitigating pain in FM subjects and improving the efficacy of drug therapy or physiotherapy

Mini-invasive robotic assisted pyelolithotomy: Comparison between the transperitoneal and retroperitoneal approach.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the retroperitoneal with the transperitoneal approach in a series of patients underwent to robotic-assisted pyelolithotomy (RP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 2015 to December 2018 we evaluated 20 patients subjected to robotic pyelolithotomy; 11 patients were treated with retroperitoneal approach (RRP) and 9 with transperitoneal approach (TRP). For each patient intra and perioperative data were recorded: operative time (OT), blood loss (BL), length of hospital stay (LOS), stone clearance, post-operative complications and time to remove the drain. The presence of stone fragments < 4 mm was considered as stone free rate. RESULTS: The principal stone burden was greater in the TRP group than in the RRP group (48 ± 10 mm vs 32 ± 14 mm, p = 0.12). Preoperative hydronephrosis was present in 7 (64%) patients in RRP group and a mild hydronephrosis in 3 of TRP group (p = 0.04). The average operative time was higher in the RRP group than in the TRP group (203 ± 45 min vs 137 ± 31 min, p = 0.002). The average blood loss was 305 ± 175 ml in the RRP group versus 94 ± 104 ml in the TRP group (p = 0.005). The stone free rate was similar between the two groups, 36% (4 patients) in the RRP group and 44% (4 patients) in the TRP (p = 0.966). CONCLUSIONS: RP appears to be a safe and effective minimally invasive treatment for some patients with renal staghorn calculi or urinary tract malformations. The TRP may give lower operative time and better results in terms of blood loss and length of hospital stay