How even the best papers still misreport HIV & AIDS (guest-blog)

This article is by the new POLIS Silverstone Scholar Marco Scalvini. The media play the important role of informing the public about what it means to live with HIV today. But journalists need to report about HIV with a more accurate language

The secret war: British nationals stripped of their citizenship

Stripping those born here of their citizenship by arbitrary acts of government has alarming historical overtones and raises serious questions about the British state. Why have such acts increased so rapidly under the Coalition

A crisis of religious diversity: debating integration in post-immigration Europe

The growing cultural complexity in the face of new immigration waves influences the public understanding of religious diversity. The two central questions of this article are as follows: first, ‘how much religious difference and of what kind is compatible within Europe?’ and second, ‘to what extent can Muslim diversity be integrated into Europe?’. This article undertakes an investigation of these questions and explores the extent to which discourses on religious diversity imply boundary making and aim at limiting the religious freedom of Muslims. Empirically, I scrutinize press coverage between 2009 and 2010, the years in which the minarets ban entered the sociopolitical arena of European public debate. The methodology adopts a social network analysis to uncover semantic macro-structures and elicit common discourses in the press of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. Subsequently, discourse analysis of relevant samples is applied to examine textual strategies used to legitimate inclusion or exclusion of religious difference

Obama: the rhetoric of justice (guest blog)

At approximately 11:35 p.m. on May 1, speaking from the East Room of the White House, President Obama announced “to the American people and the world” that “justice has been done,” that he had personally “authorized an operation to get Osama Bin Laden and bring him to justice.” POLIS Silverstone Scholar Marco Scalvini gives his analysis of Obama’s discourse

Europe’s double-standards on freedom for Libya (guest-blog)

The intervention in Libya has been portrayed in Europe as part of Western support for emerging democracies in north Africa and the Middle East. Yet, are there double-standards at work when it comes to dealing with one consequence of political upheaval: refugees? POLIS Silverstone scholar Marco Scalvini has been looking at Libya and Tunisia from an Italian/French perspective

The failure of the Italian constitutional reform signals a crisis of representation in politics

The reasons for the rejection of the Italian constitutional reform seem to be social-cultural rather than political. Marco Scalvini and Monica Fabris identify a new class of disadvantaged and disenchanted voters who feel that they have lost both the political influence and the social protections that existed pre-austerity

RICERCHE ICONOGRAFICHE SULLA SALA DELLO ZODIACO DI PALAZZO D'ARCO A MANTOVA

La Sala dello Zodiaco si trova al primo piano di uno dei vari corpi architettonici facenti parte del complesso noto come Palazzo d’Arco, a Mantova. La datazione della decorazione pittorica a circa il 1520 si deve a Giovanni Fiocco, che arrivò per primo anche ad attribuire l’opera al pittore e architetto veronese Giovanni Maria Falconetto (Verona 1464 – Padova 1535). Non è stato invece ancora possibile identificare il committente (il cui probabile ritratto è dipinto nell’affresco del Cancro); molte ipotesi sono state proposte, ma nessuna è convincente. La Sala dello Zodiaco, di forma rettangolare, presenta pareti riccamente affrescate con i segni zodiacali all’interno di finte architetture ad arcate, sopra le quali corre invece un fregio che illustra, su fondo dorato, sedici scene mitologiche, derivanti, per la maggior parte, dalle “Metamorfosi” di Ovidio. Le scene rappresentate seguono tutte uno schema compositivo molto simile: ogni finta arcata è dedicata ad un segno zodiacale, che si staglia sopra le nuvole. Alla sua destra o sinistra è raffigurato un personaggio nell’atto di collocare il segno in cielo. In primo piano si ha la rappresentazione dell’attività del mese insieme ad un mito classico o un episodio di storia antica. Per quanto riguarda la nascita mitologica dei segni zodiacali, Falconetto si basa sul “Poeticon Astronomicon” di Igino. Sullo sfondo appaiono sempre, tranne che nei Pesci, una o più architetture antiche. Questa impostazione decorativa è stata di certo ispirata dal “Ciclo dei Mesi” eseguito dal Pinturicchio, nel 1490, nel Palazzo di Domenico della Rovere a Roma. Di questa opera, gli unici frammenti pittorici rimasti sono quelli del Cancro e dello Scorpione, dove l’attività del mese, il mito e la figura che innalza in cielo il segno zodiacale sono affini a quelli rappresentati dal Falconetto. La Sala dello Zodiaco non solo si rifà all’astrologia, grazie ai dodici segni zodiacali, ma è indice anche dell’interesse per il mondo classico attraverso la ripresa di motivi antichi che si rispecchiano in determinate scene, composizioni o singole figure

Oral history as a method to analyse historical and cultural contexts and inform policymaking: the example of the early AIDS epidemic

On this World AIDS Day, Marco Scalvini and Chris Parkes describe how their new oral history project aims to create a new digital archive that will help researchers better understand the early AIDS epidemic and the new model of therapeutic alliance that emerged, in particular. Oral history is an effective research method to explore and analyse the historical and cultural contexts, interactions, and narratives of those either affected by or responding to HIV/AIDS. However, policymakers and caregivers remain reluctant to consider developing new services or treatments based on oral narratives

Infertility and hypergonadotropic hypogonadism as first evidence of hereditary apolipoprotein A-I amyloidosis

Purpose: We report that primary infertility and hypergonadotropic hypogonadism in young patients may be caused by testicular amyloidosis and it is associated with the presence of a mutation in the apoA-I gene, resulting in the replacement of proline for leucine at residue 75 of the protein. Materials and Methods: Ten patients presenting with infertility, gynecomastia, decreased libido, erectile dysfunction or a family history of amyloidosis underwent clinical evaluation, hormone assays, semen analysis, ultrasonographic investigation of the testicles, testicular biopsy and DNA sequencing of the apoA-I gene. Results: All patients showed azoospermia and 9 had increased testicular volume. Massive amyloid deposition was observed in all testicular biopsies and the apoA-I mutation of replacement of proline for leucine at residue 75 of the protein was noted. Five patients showed hypergonadotropic hypogonadism and 5 had normal testosterone values with high gonadotropin levels. Conclusions: Nonobstructive azoospermia and macro-orchidism with or without hypogonadism may be caused by hereditary apoA-I amyloidosis in young patients. Testicular amyloidosis can be the first manifestation of this systemic disease. Specific staining for amyloid deposits and genetic analysis of apoA-I mutations are recommended in young, infertile patients with macro-orchidism. Finally, surveillance in asymptomatic mutation carriers is suggested to evaluate the opportunity to implement sperm retrieval and start androgen replacement therapy when necessary