Sono un operaio del suono. Un viaggio tra le parole di Alvin Curran, dette e scritte

Una lunga intervista/dialogo con il musicista e compositore Alvin Curran sul rapporto tra la sua musica e le arti performative

SOCIALITÀ DIGITALE E COVID-19. Service Design per l’analisi del coinvolgimento emotivo nella città digitale

La recente emergenza mondiale e la conseguente virtualizzazione della quotidianità che l’essere umano ha dovuto fronteggiare, hanno fatto emergere il ruolo delle tecnologie digitali nella vita di ognuno e le criticità ad esse connesse. L’articolo riporta l’analisi delle piattaforme digitali più diffuse durante il periodo di lockdown 2020, volta a evidenziare una correlazione fra il successo in termine di fruizione e la componente emotiva-relazionale dei servizi stessi. A tal fine, è stato definito uno strumento di indagine derivante dal Service Design in grado di affiancare a un’azione di analisi prestazionale del servizio i relativi effetti in termini di fattori emozionali: un’opportunità per la comunità scientifica di riflettere sul miglioramento delle componenti socio-relazionali di una metaforica città digitale.The recent world health emergency and the consequent virtualisation of daily life that human beings had to tackle, have brought to light the role of digital technologies in our lives and the problems linked to them. In this context, the article deals with the analysis of the most used digital platforms during the 2020 lockdown, aimed at highlighting the link between its success and the emotional-relational component of the services.To this purpose, an investigation tool coming from Service Design was created. A tool capable of supporting the action of a service performance analysis and its effects in terms of emotional factors: an opportunity for the scientific community to think on the improvement of the socio-relational components of a metaphorical digital city

Combined treatment with inhibitors of ErbB Receptors and Hh signaling pathways is more effective than single treatment in reducing the growth of malignant mesothelioma both in vitro and in vivo

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a rare orphan aggressive neoplasia with low survival rates. Among the other signaling pathways, ErbB receptors and Hh signaling are deregulated in MM. Thus, molecules involved in these signaling pathways could be used for targeted therapy approaches. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of inhibitors of Hh- (GANT-61) and ErbB receptors (Afatinib)-mediated signaling pathways, when used alone or in combination, on growth, cell cycle, cell death and autophagy, modulation of molecules involved in transduction pathways, in three human MM cell lines of different histotypes. The efficacy of the combined treatment was also evaluated in a murine epithelioid MM cell line both in vitro and in vivo. This study demonstrated that combined treatment with two inhibitors counteracting the activation of two different signaling pathways involved in neoplastic transformation and progression, such as those activated by ErbB and Hh signaling, is more effective than the single treatments in reducing MM growth in vitro and in vivo. This study may have clinical implications for the development of targeted therapy approaches for MM

Un altro ordine del tempo, seconda parte

Negli ultimi dieci anni si è assistito nella scena europea a un radicale ripensamento delle modalità narrative e di fruizione dell'opera teatrale e performativa. Le pratiche di artisti come Milo Rau, Tino Sehgal, Marten Spangberg, Rabih Mrouè, Amir Reza Koohestani, Richard Maxwell si strutturano intorno a una riflessione sul tempo e sul modo in cui questo viene restituito sulla scena. "Un altro ordine del tempo" è un testo in tre parti, che muove dall'analisi del lavoro di una serie di artisti e punta a far dialogare questi lavori con lo stato attuale dell'indagine sul tempo da un punto di vista filosofico, sociale e scientifico. In quali modi l'arte performativa disegna oggi il nostro costituirci in quanto individui, attraverso la relazione con il tempo? Come si configura il racconto collettivo attraverso questa narrazione, artistica e utopica allo stesso tempo? Di quali strumenti di analisi bisogna dotarsi per poter effettivamente incontrare queste opere

Suono in movimento

Un'analisi dell'uso del suono e della musica nella produzione teatrale di Peter Handke, a partire da un focus particolare sull'opera "Undertag Blues"

Un altro ordine del tempo, prima parte

Negli ultimi dieci anni si è assistito nella scena europea a un radicale ripensamento delle modalità narrative e di fruizione dell'opera teatrale e performativa. Le pratiche di artisti come Milo Rau, Tino Sehgal, Marten Spangberg, Rabih Mrouè, Amir Reza Koohestani, Richard Maxwell si strutturano intorno a una riflessione sul tempo e sul modo in cui questo viene restituito sulla scena. "Un altro ordine del tempo" è un testo in tre parti, che muove dall'analisi del lavoro di una serie di artisti e punta a far dialogare questi lavori con lo stato attuale dell'indagine sul tempo da un punto di vista filosofico, sociale e scientifico. In quali modi l'arte performativa disegna oggi il nostro costituirci in quanto individui, attraverso la relazione con il tempo? Come si configura il racconto collettivo attraverso questa narrazione, artistica e utopica allo stesso tempo? Di quali strumenti di analisi bisogna dotarsi per poter effettivamente incontrare queste opere

EUS-guided endoscopic internal drainage with lumen-apposing metal stent for symptomatic hepatic cysts: a case series (with video)

: Background and study aims  Simple hepatic cysts (SHCs) are usually asymptomatic and detected incidentally. However, larger cysts may present with clinical signs and require treatment such as percutaneous aspiration or surgery with non negligeable rate of recurrence. We report a series of 13 consecutive patients who underwent EUS-guided lumen-apposing metal stent (LAMS) drainage of SHCs of the right and left liver. Patients and methods  Nine men and four women, average age 71.9 years, underwent EUS-guided LAMS cyst drainage because of significant symptoms. At 1 month, LAMS was exchanged for a double pigtail stent (DPS), which was left in place for 3 months. Nine of the SHCs were located in the right liver and four in the left. The average diameter was 22.2 cm. Results  Thirteen LAMS were successful delivered in all patients. However only 12 of 13 (92.3 %) remained in place. In one case, the LAMS slipped out immediately and was promptly removed and the cyst treated percutaneously. One of 12 patients experienced bleeding, which was treated conservatively. In seven patients, the LAMS was exchanged for a DPS; in the other five, it was successfully left in place until the patients died, given their comorbidities. At 10.5 months of follow-up, none of the SHCs had recurred. Conclusions  EUS-guided LAMS drainage permits treatment of symptomatic SHCs without recurrence and with few adverse events. Comparative studies are needed to consider this approach as first intention

Chronic Inhibition of PDE5 Limits Pro-Inflammatory Monocyte-Macrophage Polarization in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Mice.

Diabetes mellitus is characterized by changes in endothelial cells that alter monocyte recruitment, increase classic (M1-type) tissue macrophage infiltration and lead to self-sustained inflammation. Our and other groups recently showed that chronic inhibition of phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5i) affects circulating cytokine levels in patients with diabetes; whether PDE5i also affects circulating monocytes and tissue inflammatory cell infiltration remains to be established. Using murine streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes and in human vitro cell-cell adhesion models we show that chronic hyperglycemia induces changes in myeloid and endothelial cells that alter monocyte recruitment and lead to self-sustained inflammation. Continuous PDE5i with sildenafil (SILD) expanded tissue anti-inflammatory TIE2-expressing monocytes (TEMs), which are known to limit inflammation and promote tissue repair. Specifically, SILD: 1) normalizes the frequency of circulating pro-inflammatory monocytes triggered by hyperglycemia (53.7 ± 7.9% of CD11b+Gr-1+ cells in STZ vs. 30.4 ± 8.3% in STZ+SILD and 27.1 ± 1.6% in CTRL, P<0.01); 2) prevents STZ-induced tissue inflammatory infiltration (4-fold increase in F4/80+ macrophages in diabetic vs. control mice) by increasing renal and heart anti-inflammatory TEMs (30.9 ± 3.6% in STZ+SILD vs. 6.9 ± 2.7% in STZ, P <0.01, and 11.6 ± 2.9% in CTRL mice); 3) reduces vascular inflammatory proteins (iNOS, COX2, VCAM-1) promoting tissue protection; 4) lowers monocyte adhesion to human endothelial cells in vitro through the TIE2 receptor. All these changes occurred independently from changes of glycemic status. In summary, we demonstrate that circulating renal and cardiac TEMs are defective in chronic hyperglycemia and that SILD normalizes their levels by facilitating the shift from classic (M1-like) to alternative (M2-like)/TEM macrophage polarization. Restoration of tissue TEMs with PDE5i could represent an additional pharmacological tool to prevent end-organ diabetic complications