Whose Comatose Girlfriend? Figures of Crisis in Neoliberal Italy

The Italian body politic has a long history of being “feminized”: Italy has long been imagined through the metaphor of the nation as a woman both within and beyond national borders. The documentary Girlfriend in a coma is a recent example of this strategy: the film is based on the metaphor of Italy as a woman who has been beaten into a coma by a crass and criminal ruling class. In the film, Bill Emmott, who narrates, presents himself as Italy’s disillusioned lover, who wishes to rescue her from the dramatic situation she is in. Implicitly, by arguing that Italy is a woman, Emmott stresses Italy’s fragility and dependence on stronger cultures to save it. An apparent contradiction structures the film: on the one hand ‘gender inequality’ is one of the themes that the film foregrounds amongst the problems that Italy has to solve to get out of its ‘coma’, on the other, the films relies on a series of problematic cultural associations with woman as state of victimhood in order to make its case. The article will argue that the gendered metaphor in the film is instrumental in creating a cultural, social and economic programme, the goal of which is for Italy to move on from the economic crisis. Ultimately, by interrogating closely the apparent contradiction outlined above, it seeks to unpick the concept of ‘gender equality’ in this particular phase of capitalist progress and cast some light on what is intended exactly when the question of gender equality is invoked in contemporary debates on Italy’s political and economic decline

The effect of different volumes and temperatures of saline on the bladder pressure measurement in critically ill patients

INTRODUCTION: Intra-abdominal hypertension is common in critically ill patients and is associated with increased severity of organ failure and mortality. The techniques most commonly used to estimate intra-abdominal pressure are measurements of bladder and gastric pressures. The bladder technique requires that the bladder be infused with a certain amount of saline, to ensure that there is a conductive fluid column between the bladder and the transducer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different volumes and temperatures of infused saline on bladder pressure measurements in comparison with gastric pressure. METHODS: Thirteen mechanically ventilated critically ill patients (11 male; body mass index 25.5 +/- 4.6 kg/m2; arterial oxygen tension/fractional inspired oxygen ratio 225 +/- 48 mmHg) were enrolled. Bladder pressure was measured using volumes of saline from 50 to 200 ml at body temperature (35 to 37 degrees C) and room temperature (18 to 20 degrees C). RESULTS: Bladder pressure was no different between 50 ml and 100 ml saline (9.5 +/- 3.7 mmHg and 13.7 +/- 5.6 mmHg), but it significantly increased with 150 and 200 ml (21.1 +/- 10.4 mmHg and 27.1 +/- 15.5 mmHg). Infusion of saline at room temperature caused a significantly greater bladder pressure compared with saline at body temperature. The lowest difference between bladder and gastric pressure was obtained with a volume of 50 ml. CONCLUSION: The bladder acts as a passive structure, transmitting intra-abdominal pressure only with saline volumes between 50 ml and 100 ml. Infusion of a saline at room temperature caused a higher bladder pressure, probably because of contraction of the detrusor bladder muscl

Genetic alterations analysis in prognostic stratified groups identified TP53 and ARID1A as poor clinical performance markers in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

The incidence and mortality rates of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma have been rising worldwide. Few patients present an early-stage disease that is amenable to curative surgery and after resection, high recurrence rates persist. To identify new independent marker related to aggressive behaviour, two prognostic groups of patient were selected and divided according to prognostic performance. All patients alive at 36 months were included in good prognostic performers, while all patients died due to disease within 36 months in poor prognostic performers. Using high-coverage target sequencing we analysed principal genetic alterations in two groups and compared results to clinical data. In the 33 cases included in poor prognosis group, TP53 was most mutated gene (p\u2009=\u20090.011) and exclusively present in these cases. Similarly, ARID1A was exclusive of this group (p\u2009=\u20090.024). TP53 and ARID1A are mutually exclusive in this study. Statistical analysis showed mutations in TP53 and ARID1A genes and amplification of MET gene as independent predictors of poor prognosis (TP53, p\u2009=\u20090.0031, ARID1A, p\u2009=\u20090.0007, MET, p\u2009=\u20090.0003 in Cox analysis). LOH in PTEN was also identified as marker of disease recurrence (p\u2009=\u20090.04) in univariate analysis. This work improves our understanding of aggressiveness related to this tumour type and has identified novel prognostic markers of clinical outcome

Loss of ap4s1 in zebrafish leads to neurodevelopmental defects resembling spastic paraplegia 52.

Autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia 52 is caused by biallelic mutations in AP4S1 which encodes a subunit of the adaptor protein complex 4 (AP-4). Using next-generation sequencing, we identified three novel unrelated SPG52 patients from a cohort of patients with cerebral palsy. The discovered variants in AP4S1 lead to reduced AP-4 complex formation in patient-derived fibroblasts. To further understand the role of AP4S1 in neuronal development and homeostasis, we engineered the first zebrafish model of AP-4 deficiency using morpholino-mediated knockdown of ap4s1. In this model, we discovered several phenotypes mimicking SPG52, including altered CNS development, locomotor deficits, and abnormal neuronal excitability

Tolerogenic IL-10-engineered dendritic cell-based therapy to restore antigen-specific tolerance in T cell mediated diseases

Tolerogenic dendritic cells play a critical role in promoting antigen-specific tolerance via dampening of T cell responses, induction of pathogenic T cell exhaustion and antigen-specific regulatory T cells. Here we efficiently generate tolerogenic dendritic cells by genetic engineering of monocytes with lentiviral vectors co-encoding for immunodominant antigen-derived peptides and IL-10. These transduced dendritic cells (designated DCIL-10/Ag) secrete IL-10 and efficiently downregulate antigen-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses from healthy subjects and celiac disease patients in vitro. In addition, DCIL-10/Ag induce antigen-specific CD49b+LAG-3+ T cells, which display the T regulatory type 1 (Tr1) cell gene signature. Administration of DCIL-10/Ag resulted in the induction of antigen-specific Tr1 cells in chimeric transplanted mice and the prevention of type 1 diabetes in pre-clinical disease models. Subsequent transfer of these antigen-specific T cells completely prevented type 1 diabetes development. Collectively these data indicate that DCIL-10/Ag represent a platform to induce stable antigen-specific tolerance to control T-cell mediated diseases

All in the Game. The Wire: un campo di ricerca sociologica

Analyzing with an ethnographic approach The Wire, one of the most important TV series on American ghettos, to understand and question the sociological perspective that emerges from the series, positioning it into the broader scientific debate. This is, in a nutshell, the work presented in the book It's all in the Game, the outcome of a laboratorial research activity carried out in 2020 by students and teachers of the Sociology of Communities and Urban Neighborhoods class, at the University of Bologna. The text is structured into four chapters, resulting from the four topics used to analysis the TV series: forms of social capital, the relationship between structural forces- culture of poverty and individual agency, neighborhood effects mechanism and the relationship between statistics and political action. Four subjects that are the core of many neighborhood- studies related researches and on which the TV series makes a clear stand. We analyzed those topics through a critical perspective, not considering them as a truth about ghettos, but as a very precise way of thinking about life in the American suburbs

A systems-wide understanding of photosynthetic acclimation in algae and higher plants

The ability of phototrophs to colonise different environments relied on the robust protection against oxidative stress in phototrophs, a critical requirement for the successful evolutionary transition from water to land. Photosynthetic organisms have developed numerous strategies to adapt their photosynthetic apparatus to changing light conditions in order to optimise their photosynthetic yield, crucial for life to exist on Earth. Photosynthetic acclimation is an excellent example of the complexity of biological systems, in which highly diverse processes, ranging from electron excitation over protein protonation to enzymatic processes coupling ion gradients with biosynthetic activity interact on drastically different timescales, ranging from picoseconds to hours. An efficient functioning of the photosynthetic apparatus and its protection is paramount for efficient downstream processes including metabolism and growth. Modern experimental techniques can be successfully integrated with theoretical and mathematical models to promote our understanding of underlying mechanisms and principles. This Review aims to provide a retrospective analysis of multidisciplinary photosynthetic acclimation research carried out by members of the Marie Curie Initial Training Project “AccliPhot”, placing the results in a wider context. The Review also highlights the applicability of photosynthetic organisms for industry, particularly with regards to the cultivation of microalgae. It aims to demonstrate how theoretical concepts can successfully complement experimental studies broadening our knowledge of common principles in acclimation processes in photosynthetic organisms, as well as in the field of applied microalgal biotechnology

Is "option B+" also being adopted in pregnant women in high-income countries? Temporal trends from a national study in Italy

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