Umanesimo e post-umanesimo: lo sguardo della pedagogia generale

2014-2015The purpose of this PhD thesis is to examine in a pedagogical vision the transition period of the crisis of classical and philological humanism through the arrival and obsolescence of human sciences, up to the current current system which is called by many a kind of post humanism. This transition brings a new kind of pedagogical theorizing, from the context and frame in the sense of humanism to the context and frame of the sense of post humanism. This thesis signals the passage from a supporting framework which is modeled on philosophy to a framework which is based on techno-biology and neurobiology, passing through the crisis of the so-called human sciences. Along the way, the theorietical inquiry is centered on the bipolarization of humanism/post humanism. Such dialectic radicalization is represented, within the philosophical horizon, by the development of positions such as that of Jacques Martin(philosophical humanist) and of Peter Sloterdijk (post humanism philosopher). The form of the theoretical approach is developed through a critical analysis of the current biological and techno-biological paradigm represented by positions such as those of Edoardo Boncinelli and Giacomo Rizzolatti, who seek their supporting frameworks in biology, as the latest of the human sciences. [edited by Author]XIV n.s

Increasing information accessibility on the Web: a rating system for specialized dictionaries

The paper illustrates the features of the WLR (Web Linguistic Resources) portal, which collects specialized online dictionaries and asses their suitability for different functions using a specifically designed rating system. The contribution aims to demonstrate how the existing tool has improved the usefulness of lexico-graphical portals and how its effectiveness can be further increased by transforming the portal into a collaborative resource.Questo contributo descrive le caratteristiche del portale WLR (Web Linguistic Resources) che raccoglie dizionari specialistici della Rete e ne stima l’utilizzabilità per diverse funzioni, avvalendosi di uno specifico sistema di valutazione. Viene quindi mostrato come questo strumento incrementi l’utilizzabilità dei portali lessicografici finora sviluppati e come la sua efficacia possa essere ulteriormente migliorata trasformandolo in risorsa collaborativa

Revisiting Linking Early Geospatial Documents with Recogito

Recogito is a web-based environment for collaborative semantic annotation. It is open source software, and provides support for working with either text or image documents, including those served via the IIIF protocol. Originally, the tool has been designed for geographic annotation, i.e. the transcription, marking up and geo-resolving of maps and geographical texts (such as itineraries and travel reports) in the context of historical scholarship, e.g. to map or extract data from a source, or to prepare a digital edition. Over time, however, Recogito’s feature set has grown to provide more general annotation functionality, broadening the scope for further potential application areas. Following up from an earlier article we published in e-Perimetron in 2015, in which we first introduced Recogito, this article looks back on the past four years of use and development. We present how Recogito has technologically evolved; how it has been applied in practice in different projects and for different purposes; and how a vibrant user community has sprung up around it that is shaping its further development. The paper also looks forward to some planned next steps, and sets out our future vision for Recogito’s long-term development and sustainability

The Proper Ki-67 Cut-Off in Hormone Responsive Breast Cancer. A Monoinstitutional Analysis with Long-Term Follow-Up

Introduction: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease. Our study focuses on a monoinstitutional series of patients affected by Hormone Responsive carcinomas (luminal A and luminal B) and aims to define an optimal Ki-67 cut-off, to correctly stratify these patients into risk classes, using the ImmunoHistoChemical (IHC) surrogates of the Molecular Subtypes, according to the St. Gallen guidelines. Methods: We analyzed 1685 patients. These patients underwent both radical and conservative surgeries with Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy eventually followed by Axillary Dissection (AD). Furthermore, all the patients underwent adjuvant therapies according to the guidelines. A retrospective univariate analysis was performed and survival curves (Disease-Related Survival, DRS, and Disease-Free Survival, DFS) were carried out according to the following ki-67 risk classes: Low Risk (Ki-67 ≤ 14%); Intermediate Risk (Ki-67 15% ÷ 20%); High Risk (Ki-67 > 20%). Results: 14 yy DRS was 98% in LA and 85% in LB with a ki-67 cut-off of 14% (p=0.037) vs 95% (LA) and 83% (LB) with a ki-67 cut-off of 20% (p=0.003). 14yy DFS was 85% in LA and 72% in LB with a ki-67 cut-off of 14% (p=0.017) vs 83% (LA) and 66% (LB) with a ki-67 cut-off of 20% (p<0.000). Discussion: Our results confirmed that the 20% Ki-67 cut-off is more reliable in differentiating patients at low or high risk of recurrence and death, and stratifying patients eligible for adjuvant chemotherapy. Thus, despite its poor reproducibility, the identification of the most accurate ki-67 index assumes a pivotal relevance in guiding a tailored strategy among patients with this specific profile of breast cancer, as well as the molecular surrogates, in order to avoid harmful overtreatments

Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome in adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes: A case series

: Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS) primarily affects children and rarely adults with immunodepression. We describe two cases of adults diagnosed with SSSS with no additional cause of immunological compromise other than obesity and uncontrolled diabetes. An increased risk of infection should be considered in cases of obesity and diabetes

Contralateral prophylactic mastectomies. Correlations between primary tumor and histological findings of controlateral breast

Backgound: In Italy in 2015 48,000 new cases of breast carcinomas were diagnosed. Women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have a significant risk of developing contralateral breast cancer during the rest of their lives and this risk is closely associated to the family history, to the onset of breast cancer at a young age and is expressed at about 0.5 to 1% of metachronous tumors per year. The purpose of this work was to evaluate which and how many neoplastic lesions were seen in the contralateral breast that underwent prophylactic mastectomy and to understand what factors predict the appearance of such lesions. Methods: 168 bilateral mastectomies were analyzed in patients with an average age of 47 years, carried out from July 2008 to April 2016, at the Breast Unit of the Sant’Andrea Hospital. We considered women of any age suffering from unilateral breast cancer without either clinical or radiological evidence of a malignant lesion in the contralateral breast and negative for mutations of the BRCA1-BRCA2 genes test. Of the 168 bilateral mastectomies 35 patients were excluded from the study because they underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, another 35 patients because they were suffering from a bilateral neoplasia and 7 cases because they had mutated BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Therefore the remaining 91 patients were included in the study. Results: Both the histological features of the primary tumor and any lesions found in the contralateral prophylactic breast were analyzed. Histological examination of the main breast showed 59 cases of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC), 17 cases of Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC), 9 cases of In Situ Ductal Carcinoma (ISDC), 3 microinvasive ductal, 1 invasive tubular carcinoma, 1 in situ lobular and 1 widespread in situ. In the contralateral breast, the definitive histological examination revealed that 47 patients had an occult lesion in the prophylactic contralateral breast; in particular 2 cases of LIN 1, 7 cases of LIN2, 6 cases of lobular carcinoma in situ, 26 between DIN1A/DIN1A-B/DIN1B, 4 cases of carcinoma in situ and 2 cases of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. The correlation obtained from the observation of the main tumor has shown that in a total of 59 invasive ductal carcinoma 32 have a controlateral occult lesions and in a total of 17 cases of invasive lobular carcinoma 9 have an occult lesion in the prophylactic breast. Of these lesions, the multicentric relationship is that 50% of invasive ductal and invasive lobular carcinoma of the main breast have a contralateral lesion. Conclusion: In conclusion we would like to remind, as demonstrated by our follow-up data and as the literature reiterates, that this surgery does not improve patient survival. Certainly patients with unilateral breast cancer have many surgical therapies to be able to deal with not only having a bilateral mastectomy. The end point of this work is try to understand the risk factors of having a contralateral breast lesion to reduce the probability of a metachronous cance

Correlates of calcaneal quantitative ultrasound parameters in patients with diabetes: the study on the assessment of determinants of muscle and bone strength abnormalities in diabetes

OBJECTIVE: Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) provides an estimate of bone mineral density (BMD) and also evaluates bone quality, which has been related to increased fracture risk in people with diabetes. This study aimed at assessing the correlates of calcaneal QUS parameters in diabetic subjects encompassing various degrees of micro and macrovascular complications and a wide-range of peripheral nerve function. METHODS: Four hundred consecutive diabetic patients were examined by QUS to obtain values of broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA), the speed of sound (SOS), quantitative ultrasound index (QUI), and BMD. RESULTS: Among surrogate measures of complications, sensory and motor nerve amplitude and heart rate response to cough test and standing correlated with QUS parameters at univariate analysis, together with age, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, lipid profile, and renal function. Multivariate analysis revealed that BUA, SOS, QUI, and BMD were independently associated with age, male gender, hemoglobin A1c, BMI (or fat, but not fat-free mass), and somatic and autonomic nerve function parameters. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that peripheral nerve dysfunction is associated with worse QUS parameters, possibly contributing to increased fracture risk in diabetes. The positive relation of QUS measures with adiposity needs further investigation. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01600924)

Importance of perforating vessels in nipple-sparing mastectomy. an anatomical description

BACKGROUND: Nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM), understood as an oncologically valid procedure, is relatively new, and is an evolution of traditional mastectomy, particularly in relation to breast-conserving surgery. The anterior perforating branches are responsible for the cutaneous vascularization of the breast skin, and their preservation is a fundamental step to avoid possible postoperative necrosis. Therefore, evaluating the potential complications of cancer-related reconstructive surgical procedures such as NSM, both the distance of the tumoral lesion from the skin and the surgical incision site should be carefully considered. The preferred site of incision corresponds to the inframammary fold or possibly the periareolar area. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 113 patients who underwent NSM from January 2005 to October 2012 to evaluate skin complications. The anatomical study was performed by magnetic resonance imaging of the breast. RESULTS: Only one of the 113 women who had undergone a NSM procedure had total necrosis (0.9%) and six patients had partial necrosis (5.8%) of the nipple-areola complex

Artificial intelligence applied to neuroimaging data in Parkinsonian syndromes: Actuality and expectations

Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease (iPD) is a common motor neurodegenerative disorder. It affects more frequently the elderly population, causing a significant emotional burden both for the patient and caregivers, due to the disease-related onset of motor and cognitive disabilities. iPD's clinical hallmark is the onset of cardinal motor symptoms such as bradykinesia, rest tremor, rigidity, and postural instability. However, these symptoms appear when the neurodegenerative process is already in an advanced stage. Furthermore, the greatest challenge is to distinguish iPD from other similar neurodegenerative disorders, "atypical parkinsonisms", such as Multisystem Atrophy, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Cortical Basal Degeneration, since they share many phenotypic manifestations, especially in the early stages. The diagnosis of these neurodegenerative motor disorders is essentially clinical. Consequently, the diagnostic accuracy mainly depends on the professional knowledge and experience of the physician. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have made it possible to analyze the large amount of clinical and instrumental information in the medical field. The application machine learning algorithms to the analysis of neuroimaging data appear to be a promising tool for identifying microstructural alterations related to the pathological process in order to explain the onset of symptoms and the spread of the neurodegenerative process. In this context, the search for quantitative biomarkers capable of identifying parkinsonian patients in the prodromal phases of the disease, of correctly distinguishing them from atypical parkinsonisms and of predicting clinical evolution and response to therapy represent the main goal of most current clinical research studies. Our aim was to review the recent literature and describe the current knowledge about the contribution given by machine learning applications to research and clinical management of parkinsonian syndromes