I filosofi a teatro? Fanno ridere. Le "Nuvole" di Aristofane

The aim of this paper is to illustrate how the Greek comedy of 5th and 4th century constructs the character of the philosopher, that becomes a typical role of New Comedy. The prototype is the Socrates of Aristophanes\u2019 Clouds, who has indeed some realistic connotations (as we can infer from the works of Plato and Xenophon) but combines also caricatural elements drawn from comical portraits of scientists and other intellectuals (Thales, Meton, Protagoras). Aristophanes\u2019 Socrates is a funny sophist, who looks up to heaven (to the aetheric inconsistency of the clouds) but doesn\u2019t forget to point at more material satisfactions. After the Clouds, and having this play as a model, Greek comedy develops the type character of the hungry philosopher, who pretends to be virtuous but wants only to fill his belly

L'iperbole numerica nell'epica omerica

In this paper I discuss many passages of the Homeric poems in which numeric figures are used to measure facts or events. My analysis shows that the poet seems to select a very small range of numbers which clearly receive a privileged treatment. That means that Homeric numbers do not have an arithmetic value but a symbolic one. For example, the nine and the ten (and their multiples) are used to express the exceptional dimension of something and to mark its relevance (in particular to stress the difference between the human and divine level). In other words, the formulaic nature of the Homeric language applies also to numbers: numbers are formulae rather than realistic quantities. This is also true for hyperbolic expressions, which are by their very nature unrealistic: their numbers have a magic suggestion, not an arithmetic meaning

Fighting on the River : The Alpheus and the ‘Pylian Epic’

In the Iliad the old Pylian king Nestor talks in several occasions about his past glorious accomplishments (cattle raids, battles, athletic competitions). Scholars think that these passages are what remains of the \u2018Pylian Epic\u2019, i.e. of the epic songs which in Mycenaean age celebrated the glory of the lords of Pylos. This paper discusses these narrations, focusing on the presence of a river which is an important element of the scenery: the river is the line of contact between the armies or the boundary beyond which the stolen herd must be pushed, the plain of the river is the setting of the horce-race. We can therefore argue that in the songs performed in the Palace of Pylos the river was often the background of the action. When the Pylians moved to Kakovatos of Triphylia, they had to adapt their traditional stories to the new geographical context. The Alphaios, the river which marks the border between Triphylia and Elis, became the new setting of the Pylian exploits. This is the reason why the Alphaios is so often referred to in Nestor\u2019s speeches in the Iliad and in the archaic texts which reflect the poetic traditions of the \u2018Pylian Epic\u2019

Per una edizione critica del "Pluto" di Aristofane

In this paper I try to give a general idea of the most important issues that any new editor of Aristophanes\u2019 Plutus must tackle. To be sure, I do not propose to present a history of the text, but a collection of data organized by key points: the double staging of Plutus (on a second drama with the same title we have information from many ancient sources), the evidence offered by ancient papyri (papyri share some readings with later witnesses, showing that the division into families begins already in late antiquity), the medieval transmission. The most extended section of the paper is devoted to the examination of a selection of 13 medieval manuscripts that represent the subsequent stages in the critical approach to the text (middle Byzantine manuscripts, late Byzantine manuscripts, Thoman manuscripts, Triclinian manuscripts, manuscripts reflecting the so called \u201cmixed recension\u201d). The final section discusses some passages of the play that can suggest very interesting clues for the ecdotic strategy

P.Oxy. LXX 4762 e il "Romanzo dell'asino"

This paper discusses the fragment edited by D. Obbink in Oxyrhynchus Papyri LXX, trying to illustrate the possible literary sources of the text. The "Ass-Romance" (well known through Apuleius' Metamorphoseis and Ps.-Lucian's Onos) is the most obvious scenario, but our text can be better understood if we have in mind also other narratives, like the so called "Aesopus Novel"

Dario Del Corno (1933 - 2010)

L'articolo \ue8 un ricordo di Dario Del Corno, l'illustre studioso scomparso nel gennaio 2010: se ne ricostruisce la carriera scientifica, con particolare attenzione per gli studi sul teatro attico (tragico e comico), e se ne ricorda l'intensa attivit\ue0 di traduttore, divulgatore, pubblicista

Markers of acute rejection and graft acceptance in liver transplantation.

The evaluation of the immunosuppression state in liver transplanted patients is crucial for a correct post-transplant management and a major step towards the personalisation of the immunosuppressive therapy. However, current immunological monitoring after liver transplantation relies mainly on clinical judgment and on immunosuppressive drug levels, without a proper assessment of the real suppression of the immunological system. Various markers have been studied in an attempt to identify a specific indicator of graft rejection and graft acceptance after liver transplantation. Considering acute rejection, the most studied markers are pro-inflammatory and immunoregulatory cytokines and other proteins related to inflammation. However there is considerable overlap with other conditions, and only few of them have been validated. Standard liver tests cannot be used as markers of graft rejection due to their low sensitivity and specificity and the weak correlation with the severity of histopathological findings. Several studies have been performed to identify biomarkers of tolerance in liver transplanted patients. Most of them are based on the analysis of peripheral blood samples and on the use of transcriptional profiling techniques. Amongst these, NK cell-related molecules seem to be the most valid marker of graft acceptance, whereas the role CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cells has still to be properly defined

Philia. Dieci contributi per Gabriele Burzacchini

Extensive review of the ten papers which are collected in the volume "Phil\ueca. Essays in Honour of Gabriele Burzacchini

6-channel CMOS-based instrument for optical absorption spectroscopy and chemical identification

A multichannel portable instrument for on-chip optical absorption spectroscopy is presented. The system can house photonic chips having up to 6 sensing sites operating in parallel, allowing real-time simultaneous detection of multiple chemicals. A 6-channel CMOS lock-in front-end performs the amplification and demodulation of the signals from the integrated light detectors, while an FPGA is chosen for signal acquisition and analysis. A digital real-time ratiometric processing cancels out the effect of laser power fluctuations to achieve high sensitivity in monitoring the presence of the analytes, as demonstrated with the detection of an acetone sample. Compact size for portability, real-time parallel detection and flexible FPGA processing make this system suitable for environmental investigations on many different pollutants, both in the near- and mid-infrared wavelength range

Polyclonal and monoclonal B lymphocytes response in HCV-infected patients treated with direct-acting antiviral agents

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronic infection can be associated with extrahepatic manifestations such as mixed cryoglobulinaemia and lymphoproliferative disorders that are endowed with increased rates of morbidity and all-cause mortality. In this study, we used flow cytometry to evaluate the effect of interferon-free antiviral treatment on peripheral blood lymphocytes in HCV-infected patients with or without associated lymphoproliferative disorders. Flow cytometry analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes was performed at baseline and at the end of treatment. In HCV-infected patients with lymphoproliferative disorders, we evaluated immunoglobulin (Ig) light chain \u3ba/\u3bb ratio variations as a measure of monoclonal B-cell response to antiviral therapy. Healthy volunteers were enrolled as controls. A total of 29 patients were included, nine with and 20 without lymphoproliferative disorders. Sustained virological response was achieved in 29 of 29 patients. We observed a significant reduction in the B-cell compartment (39% global reduction) in eight of nine HCV-infected patients with lymphoproliferative disorders after viral clearance. We recognized the same trend, even if less pronounced, in HCV-infected patients without lymphoproliferative disorders (9% global reduction). Among HCV-infected patients with lymphoproliferative disorders, three showed an improvement/normalization of the immunoglobulin light chain ratio, whereas in the remaining six patients monoclonal B cells persisted to be clonally restricted even 1\ua0year after the end of treatment. Our data show that DAAs treatment can be effective in reducing the frequency of pathological B cells in the peripheral blood of HCV-infected patients affected by HCV-associated lymphoproliferative disorders; however, monoclonal populations can persist after viral eradication