From Risorgimento to Il Politecnico : impegno and intellectual networks in the Einaudi publishing house, 1945

The article unveils the (dis)continuities between two post-WWII journals, Risorgimento and Il Politecnico, both published by Einaudi in 1945. By reassessing the publishing history of Risorgimento from a genealogical perspective, the article aims to chart the evolutions of the then current intellectual debate on impegno. Specifically, by analysing the relevant contributors’ correspondence and the essays that were published in the journals, the article examines the journals as sites of networking but also tension between different intellectual habitus. This will illuminate not only how the two editors-in-chief (Salinari and Vittorini, respectively) took different positions in relation to both the literary field and the PCI (Italian Communist Party), but also the opposition of editorial staffs – based, respectively, in Rome and in Milan – in relation to the publisher Einaudi

Translation and ideology in post-war Italy : left-wing publishers and the Italian Communist Party

In the transition towards democracy after the war, Italy moved towards an apparently more open dialogue with other European and non-European countries, which was reflected by a growing publishing interest in translations. This cultural exchange was not in any way neutral, but embedded in a specifically national political dimension as well as in the broader context of the Cold War. In the turmoil of post-war reconstruction, the influence of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) on intellectuals and cultural operators was particularly significant, although the party was never able to attain political power in the form of a government. The party also had to find its own identity both in relation to power dynamics on an international level, namely in terms of its proximity to the Soviet Union, and on a national level, with the need to develop a strong opposition to the Christian democrats in power and their allegiance with the United States

Impegno, national and transnational identities in Il Politecnico and Sud (1945–1947)

Long neglected by critical literature and historians, the Neapolitan journal Sud (1945–1947) shared similar aims and objectives with the more famous Il Politecnico, although the two journals were inserted into and connected with lively yet different cultural environments and networks, which crucially influenced their outputs. Most notably, both journals paid significant attention to politically committed literary and essay translations. By combining an analysis of the journals' articles and translations with the editors' published and unpublished correspondence, the article reassesses the journals' relationship and illuminates the engagement of the two editorial boards through translations. The analysis of the two intellectual networks and projects will re-establish the relevance of Sud in stimulating a transnational dialogue and will reconsider the role of translation in shaping the editors' political identities. Finally, the article offers a geo-cultural perspective on post-war Italian impegno by charting its multiple, both national and transnational, identities

Giuliana Iannaccaro - Giovanni Iamartino (Eds.), Enforcing and Eluding Censorship: British and Anglo-Italian Perspectives

Review of the book Enforcing and Eluding Censorship: British and Anglo-Italian PerspectivesEnforcing and Eluding Censorship: British and Anglo-Italian Perspectives is a wide-ranging edited collection offering fourteen contributions on the forms and practices of regulation and reaction connected with censorship. The collection spans several historical periods, media, methodologies and disciplines, from English literature to Linguistics and Translation Studies, thus offering a very broad – yet fragmentary at stages – set of perspectives on the complex and often not overt phenomena of (counter)censorship in the Anglo-American culture and Anglo-Italian cultural relationships.  The edited collection is introduced by a preface by one of the editors, Giuliana Iannaccaro, who outlines in rich detail the structure of the book

Introduction: rupture and continuity in the Italian literary field 1926-1960

Introduction to the Special Issu

Mendelian randomization integrating GWAS and eQTL data reveals genetic determinants of complex and clinical traits

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified thousands of variants associated with complex traits, but their biological interpretation often remains unclear. Most of these variants overlap with expression QTLs, indicating their potential involvement in regulation of gene expression. Here, we propose a transcriptome-wide summary statistics-based Mendelian Randomization approach (TWMR) that uses multiple SNPs as instruments and multiple gene expression traits as exposures, simultaneously. Applied to 43 human phenotypes, it uncovers 3,913 putatively causal gene-trait associations, 36% of which have no genome-wide significant SNP nearby in previous GWAS. Using independent association summary statistics, we find that the majority of these loci were missed by GWAS due to power issues. Noteworthy among these links is educational attainment-associated BSCL2, known to carry mutations leading to a Mendelian form of encephalopathy. We also find pleiotropic causal effects suggestive of mechanistic connections. TWMR better accounts for pleiotropy and has the potential to identify biological mechanisms underlying complex traits

Refining Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder Genetic Loci by Integrating Summary Data From Genome-wide Association, Gene Expression, and DNA Methylation Studies

Background: Recent genome-wide association studies (GWASs) identified the first genetic loci associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The next step is to use these results to increase our understanding of the biological mechanisms involved. Most of the identified variants likely influence gene regulation. The aim of the current study is to shed light on the mechanisms underlying the genetic signals and prioritize genes by integrating GWAS results with gene expression and DNA methylation (DNAm) levels. Methods: We applied summary-data–based Mendelian randomization to integrate ADHD and ASD GWAS data with fetal brain expression and methylation quantitative trait loci, given the early onset of these disorders. We also analyzed expression and methylation quantitative trait loci datasets of adult brain and blood, as these provide increased statistical power. We subsequently used summary-data–based Mendelian randomization to investigate if the same variant influences both DNAm and gene expression levels. Results: We identified multiple gene expression and DNAm levels in fetal brain at chromosomes 1 and 17 that were associated with ADHD and ASD, respectively, through pleiotropy at shared genetic variants. The analyses in brain and blood showed additional associated gene expression and DNAm levels at the same and additional loci, likely because of increased statistical power. Several of the associated genes have not been identified in ADHD and ASD GWASs before. Conclusions: Our findings identified the genetic variants associated with ADHD and ASD that likely act through gene regulation. This facilitates prioritization of candidate genes for functional follow-up studies

The transcriptional landscape of age in human peripheral blood

Disease incidences increase with age, but the molecular characteristics of ageing that lead to increased disease susceptibility remain inadequately understood. Here we perform a whole-blood gene expression meta-analysis in 14,983 individuals of European ancestry (including replication) and identify 1,497 genes that are differentially expressed with chronological age. The age-associated genes do not harbor more age-associated CpG-methylation sites than other genes, but are instead enriched for the presence of potentially functional CpG-methylation sites in enhancer and insulator regions that associate with both chronological age and gene expression levels. We further used the gene expression profiles to calculate the 'transcriptomic age' of an individual, and show that differences between transcriptomic age and chronological age are associated with biological features linked to ageing, such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, fasting glucose, and body mass index. The transcriptomic prediction model adds biological relevance and complements existing epigenetic prediction models, and can be used by others to calculate transcriptomic age in external cohorts.Peer reviewe