A non-standard numerical scheme for an age-of-infection epidemic model

We propose a numerical method for approximating integro-differential equations arising in age-of-infection epidemic models. The method is based on a non-standard finite differences approximation of the integral term appearing in the equation. The study of convergence properties and the analysis of the qualitative behavior of the numerical solution show that it preserves all the basic properties of the continuous model with no restrictive conditions on the step-length $h$ of integration and that it recovers the continuous dynamic as $h$ tends to zero.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

Investigating the Relationship between White Matter Connectivity and Motivational Circuits in Subjects with Deficit Schizophrenia: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) Study

Deficit schizophrenia is a subtype of schizophrenia presenting primary and enduring negative symptoms (NS). Although one of the most updated hypotheses indicates a relationship between NS and impaired motivation, only a few studies have investigated abnormalities of motivational circuits in subjects with deficit schizophrenia (DS). Our aim was to investigate structural connectivity within motivational circuits in DS. We analyzed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data from 46 subjects with schizophrenia (SCZ) and 35 healthy controls (HCs). SCZ were classified as DS (n = 9) and nondeficit (NDS) (n = 37) using the Schedule for Deficit Syndrome. The connectivity index (CI) and the Fractional Anisotropy (FA) of the connections between selected brain areas involved in motivational circuits were examined. DS, as compared with NDS and HCs, showed increased CI between the right amygdala and dorsal anterior insular cortex and increased FA of the pathway connecting the left nucleus accumbens with the posterior insular cortex. Our results support previous evidence of distinct neurobiological alterations underlying different clinical subtypes of schizophrenia. DS, as compared with NDS and HCs, may present an altered pruning process (consistent with the hyperconnectivity) in cerebral regions involved in updating the stimulus value to guide goal-directed behavior

Differences in DNA methylation profile of Th1 and Th2 cytokine genes are associated with tolerance acquisition in children with IgE-mediated cow's milk allergy

Epigenetic changes in DNA methylation could regulate the expression of several allergy-related genes. We investigated whether tolerance acquisition in children with immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated cow's milk allergy (CMA) is characterized by a specific DNA methylation profile of Th2 (IL-4, IL-5) and Th1 (IL-10, IFN-γ)-associated cytokine genes

Mismatch Negativity and P3a Impairment through Different Phases of Schizophrenia and Their Association with Real-Life Functioning

Impairment in functioning since the onset of psychosis and further deterioration over time is a key aspect of subjects with schizophrenia (SCZ). Mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a, indices of early attention processing that are often impaired in schizophrenia, might represent optimal electrophysiological candidate biomarkers of illness progression and poor outcome. However, contrasting findings are reported about the relationships between MMN-P3a and functioning. The study aimed to investigate in SCZ the influence of illness duration on MMN-P3a and the relationship of MMN-P3a with functioning. Pitch (p) and duration (d) MMN-P3a were investigated in 117 SCZ and 61 healthy controls (HCs). SCZ were divided into four illness duration groups: ≤ 5, 6 to 13, 14 to 18, and 19 to 32 years. p-MMN and d-MMN amplitude was reduced in SCZ compared to HCs, independently from illness duration, psychopathology, and neurocognitive deficits. p-MMN reduction was associated with lower “Work skills”. The p-P3a amplitude was reduced in the SCZ group with longest illness duration compared to HCs. No relationship between P3a and functioning was found. Our results suggested that MMN amplitude reduction might represent a biomarker of poor functioning in SCZ

Fatti da nulla. Considerazioni sul digitale e il reale

The film is a copy of the real or a phantasmagoria of dreams? This alternative should be considered one of the genetic matrices of the language and theory of cinema. Using digital technology, the reference to the referent and the ontological nature of cinema as a trace of reality, they entirely vanish. The complete dematerialization of bodily qualities is a generalphenomenon of the society of the spectacle, with the dominance of the commodity form. Digital technology brings this tendency to extremes, changing the ontological nature of the film. Digital technology, and now the three-dimensional, they realize a complete reversal of reality and fantasy and they change the basis of our mode of perception. The film “critic-expressive” is opposed to the phantasmagoria of the spectacle, calling for self-consciousness of the viewer. The techniques of three-dimensionality are part of a dream world, which aims to block all awareness of pain and conflict. The technique is not destiny, but dialectic, continuous contradiction, between two possible forms: the one is dominated by the will of power, the other by the idea of salvation of the phenomenon and the singularity. The three-dimensional cinema produce a magic, auratic film: what will it be a new “critic-expressive” film

La plebe e l’armonia perduta di Raffaele La Capria

Il libro L’armonia perduta nasce da una convinzione profonda: la storia, al di là della cronaca superficiale, è segnata da traumi che si inscrivono nell’inconscio sociale di un collettivo, e possono determinare condotte e azioni anche in generazioni successive a quella che il trauma ha sofferto direttamente. Perciò della storia fanno parte non solo gli atti compiuti, ma anche i sogni e i ricordi e talvolta in misura determinante: «Un trauma, una caduta da cavallo, un colpo alla testa, non han..

La Comune e la somma dei possibili

«19 marzo 1871: la più bella aurora che mai abbia dato luce a una città, l’alba più splendente in cui si compivano le attese, i presentimenti, gli annunci dei tempi nuovi: i sogni, le “utopie”». Con queste parole Henri Lefebvre ricorda la nascita della Comune e possiamo chiederci cosa gli detti un tale entusiasmo: in fondo la Comune ha avuto breve durata e si è conclusa in una triste tragedia. Il libro di Kristin Ross dà una risposta a questa domanda; per quanto sconfitta, essa ha dato voce a..

Un terrore amoroso

La madre adottiva porta Vincenzo Gemito, che è stato abbandonato dai genitori naturali, nel vicolo dove abita: qui egli – il protagonista del romanzo-biografia di Wanda Marasco – viene invaso dai colori che costituiscono la «base fisiologica di Napoli … il giallo, il rosso, il blu e il verde» (112). Sono «radiazioni spettrali», astrazioni dell’iride che si mescolano e sovrastano la realtà empirica, come un riverbero soprannaturale, che si rifletterà nella sua arte scintillando entro il realis..

Paesaggio con rovine

Quando uscì il film, nel 1963, l’attenzione si concentrò quasi interamente sul suo significato politico. Alcuni critici scrissero che alle buone e generose intenzioni ideologiche non corrispondeva una realizzazione estetica altrettanto efficace: come se il film fosse un puro materiale di propaganda, nel periodo che vedeva la nascita del centrosinistra in Italia e aspettative di cambiamento rapidamente deluse. A distanza di tempo esso rivela invece di essere una sempre attuale fenomenologia de..