The Humble Charisma of a White-Dressed Man in a Desert Place: Pope Francis’ Communicative Style in the Covid-19 Pandemic

The context of deep uncertainty, fear, and “social distancing” characterizing the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a need for cultural anchorages and charismatic leaders who may conjointly and effectively support human beings, strengthen their identity, and empower social commitment. In this perspective, the charismatic leadership of Pope Francis, which is widely shared not only within the religious world, may play a crucial role in facing emergency with existential reasons and psychological resources. The general aim of this work is to shed light on the communicative features of the charismatic leadership of Pope Francis during the pandemic emergency; in order to better understand his effectiveness, we analyzed both the core issues and his multimodal body signals in the global TV event of the Universal Prayer with the Urbi et Orbi Blessing. The multimodal and discursive analyses of the homily enabled us to define the “humble” charisma of the Pope, which is based upon on authentic and informal presence, manifested emotional signals (and, in particular commotion) showing features of equity and familiarity. From a discursive point of view, the common and overarching affiliation is constructed through a multiple focus on the “we” pronoun, which is constructed through socio-epistemic rhetoric. The results show how this integrated methodological perspectives, which is multimodal and discursive, may offer meaningful pathways detection of effective and persuasive signals

La costruzione sociale delle malattie rare: posizionamenti identitari e negoziazione di senso

La diagnosi di malattia rara in età evolutiva costituisce un punto di svolta destabilizzante nella storia delle famiglie, sia rispetto al “prima” – la vita condotta fino a quel momento – sia rispetto a ciò che viene considerato “normale”, dai modelli culturali vigenti (Emiliani, Palaret & Mellotti, 2010). I genitori tendono a costruire rappresentazioni sociali (Moscovici, 1961; Jodelet, 2009) sulla malattia del proprio figlio, intese come forme di costruzione sociale della realtà, sistemi di significato. Il presente studio ha l’obiettivo di approfondire l’esperienza dei genitori con figli affetti da malattia rara, cogliendo il significato e i quadri interpretativi che la disabilità assume per l’identità genitoriale, nell’ambito di una prospettiva di ricerca culturale (Mazzara, 2007) e discorsiva (Mininni, 2013). Sono state realizzate interviste narrative semi-strutturate rivolte a 5 coppie di genitori di bambini affetti da malattia rara. I testi sono stati analizzati mediante una doppia procedura analitica: Analisi del contenuto, con l’ausilio del software T-Lab (Lancia, 2004) e Analisi Diatestuale, con l’ausilio del Modello SAM (Mininni, 2013). I primi risultati mostrato peculiarità tematiche e retoriche nella costruzione di posizionamenti identitari in base al genere: discorsi delle madri tendono a rappresentare la malattia come sofferenza emotiva, nei confronti della quale indossano i panni della “mamma guerriera”; i discorsi dei padri, invece, la rappresentano per lo più come ostacolo ad una vita “normale” e la posizione enunciativa oscilla tra difficoltà nel fronteggiare le problematiche e forza d’animo nel superarle

Magnetic resonance imaging for deep infiltrating endometriosis: current concepts, imaging technique and key findings

Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent chronic disease affecting about 10% of reproductive-age women with symptoms like pelvic pain and infertility. Pathologically, it is defined by the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity responsible for a chronic inflammatory process. For decades the diagnosis of endometriosis was based on surgical exploration and biopsy of pelvic lesions. However, laparoscopy is not a risk-free procedure with possible false negative diagnosis due to an underestimate of retroperitoneal structures such as ureters and nerves. For these reasons nowadays, the diagnosis of endometriosis is based on a noninvasive approach where clinical history, response to therapy and imaging play a fundamental role. Trans-vaginal ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging are suitable for recognizing most of endometriotic lesions; nevertheless, their accuracy is strictly determined by operators’ experience and imaging technique. This review paper aims to make radiologists aware of the diagnostic possibilities of pelvic MRI and familial with the MR acquisition protocols and image interpretation for women with endometriosis

Health Technology Assessment: a value-based tool for the evaluation of healthcare technologies. Reassessment of the cell-culture-derived quadrivalent influenza vaccine: Flucelvax Tetra® 2.0

1. Health Technology Assessment: strumento value‑based per la valutazione delle tecnologie sanitarie 2. Il burden dell'influenza stagionale in Italia 3. Epidemiologia dell’influenza stagionale in Italia 4. Vaccini antinfluenzali attualmente disponibili in Italia 5. Flucelvax Tetra®, il vaccino quadrivalente su coltura cellulare: una revisione sistematica e meta-analisi di immunogenicità, efficacia e sicurezza 6. Valutazione economica dell’introduzione del nuovo vaccino antinfluenzale quadrivalente da coltura cellulare nel contesto di cura italiano (update da nuova indicazione) 7. Aspetti organizzativi della vaccinazione antinfluenzale in Italia 8. Valutazione etica dell'introduzione del vaccino antinfluenzale quadrivalente da coltura cellulare 9. Il valore della vaccinazione antinfluenzale nel quadro più complesso della Value-Based Healthcare 10. Elelemnti chiave per il processo decisional

The perceived vulnerability to disease scale: Cross‐cultural measurement invariance and associations with fear of COVID‐19 across 16 countries

Using cross‐sectional data from N = 4274 young adults across 16 countries during the COVID‐19 pandemic, we examined the cross‐cultural measurement invariance of the perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) scale and tested the hypothesis that the association between PVD and fear of COVID‐19 is stronger under high disease threat [that is, absence of COVID‐19 vaccination, living in a country with lower Human Development Index (HDI) or higher COVID‐19 mortality]. Results supported a bi‐factor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling model where items loaded on a global PVD factor, and on the sub‐factors of Perceived Infectability and Germ Aversion. However, cross‐national invariance could only be obtained on the configural level with a reduced version of the PVD scale (PVD‐r), suggesting that the concept of PVD may vary across nations. Moreover, higher PVD‐r was consistently associated with greater fear of COVID‐19 across all levels of disease threat, but this association was especially pronounced among individuals with a COVID‐19 vaccine, and in contexts where COVID‐19 mortality was high. The present research brought clarity into the dimensionality of the PVD measure, discussed its suitability and limitations for cross‐cultural research, and highlighted the pandemic‐related conditions under which higher PVD is most likely to go along with psychologically maladaptive outcomes, such as fear of COVID‐19