L’équilibrisme de la Cour constitutionnelle italienne en matière d’euthanasie et d’assistance au suicide : entre activisme et respect du rôle du législateur

Par une décision très attendue, la Cour constitutionnelle italienne a dépénalisé l’assistance au suicide dans certaines hypothèses et sous certaines conditions bien déterminées. Elle s’est prononcée en ce sens après avoir, par une précédente décision, imparti un délai au législateur pour qu’il adopte une loi en matière de fin de vie. Considérant l’inertie de ce dernier, la Cour fait preuve d’équilibrisme dans sa seconde décision, oscillant entre garantie des droits fondamentaux et respect du pouvoir discrétionnaire du Parlement. Par ces deux décisions, les juges constitutionnels italiens ont ainsi mis en place une technique inédite pour parvenir, en deux étapes, aux mêmes effets qu’une déclaration d’inconstitutionnalité à effet différé, afin de ne pas laisser des droits fondamentaux dépourvus de garantie en raison de l’inaction du législateur

La prise en compte du premier avis de la Cour EDH par la Cour de cassation italienne : nouvelles perspectives pour le dialogue des juges en matière de droits fondamentaux dans l’espace européen

Alors que le statut des enfants nés d’une gestation pour autrui à l’étranger a donné lieu à un dialogue florissant entre la Cour de cassation française et la Cour de Strasbourg, la question n’est pas moins riche de rebondissements sur le versant italien. Par une décision du 29 avril 2020, la Cour de cassation italienne a renvoyé à la Cour constitutionnelle une question de constitutionnalité essentiellement fondée sur l’avis rendu par la Cour EDH le 10 avril 2019. Dans cette décision, l’avis de la Cour EDH est pris en compte tantôt comme droit vivant conventionnel constituant la norme de référence du contrôle de conventionnalité, tantôt comme élément mobilisé dans l’interprétation des dispositions constitutionnelles internes dans le cadre du contrôle de constitutionnalité. Cette mobilisation inédite de l’avis consultatif rendu par la Cour européenne mérite ainsi attention non seulement pour l’intérêt de la question sur le fond, mais surtout du point de vue des techniques interprétatives mobilisées en matière des droits fondamentaux dans l’espace européen

El uso de precedentes extra sistémicos en el diálogo entre la Corte Interamericana y el Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos: una investigación empírica

The judicial dialogue between the two oldest regional human rights courts, the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, has been studied for several years. However, many of these studies are not based on a large empirical analysis, which could demonstrate the effectiveness of this dialogue. Therefore, this article aims to verify, through empirical and systematic research, some academic conclusions and reflections on the interactions between these two regional courts. The methodology is the same as that applied in other empirical studies on the circulation of foreign precedents among constitutional courts. Only explicit references have been considered.El diálogo entre las dos más antiguas Cortes regionales de tutela de derechos humanos, el Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos (TEDH) y la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (Corte IDH), ha despertado desde hace tiempo la atención de la doctrina. De manera frecuente tales estudios no cuentan con una base documental adecuada, que demuestre la efectividad de la circulación jurisprudencial. Por este motivo, en este artículo se desea verificar de manera completa y sistemática algunas de las consideraciones que se señalan con frecuencia en la doctrina sobre las relaciones entre las dos cortes regionales, siguiendo la misma metodología ya usada en algunas investigaciones empíricas relativas al uso de precedentes extranjeros por parte las cortes constitucionales, que se han limitado a tomar en consideración las meras referencias explícitas

las referencias reciprocas entre la corte europea y la corte interamericana de derechos humanos de la influencia al dialogo

Este trabajo tiene por objeto ofrecer el resultado de una investigacion empirica sobre las referencias y citas reciprocas entre la Corte Europea y la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos reconocibles en la motivacion de sus resoluciones. El analisis de la jurisprudencia de ambas cortes muestra claramente la influencia original de la Corte Europea sobre la Corte Interamericana, pero en los ultimos anos ha operado una convergencia interpretativa, especialmente en el ambito del debido proceso y de violaciones graves de derechos humanos, materias en que la corte interamericana tiene avanzada experiencia. Las reciprocas citas e influencias entre ambas cortes auspician un avance hacia un dialogo enriquecedor

The open body: a “new” book

At the beginning of the ‘300, Mondino de’ Liuzzi, a physician from Bologna, was the first anatomist who started again the dissection of human body neglected from the III century. He hinted at the existence of the conflict between book and body, between “auctoritas” and the direct observation of the human body . The Mondino’s masterwork “Anothomia” remained the key book up to the middle of the sixth century, when Andrea Vesalio wrote “De Umani Corporis Fabrica,” in which the body (cadaver) eventually became the main player of the book . During the years, the technologic evolution led to the wrong conviction that dissection could be dismissed, albeit, still in our day, doctors in training feel the need to associate the direct experience on the cadaver with the very valuable digital means and the modern imaging technologies even in 3D. Thinking to Anatomy as an already fully well known discipline is a mistake. The most advanced methodologies for surgical access, namely the minimally invasive surgery, require the evolution of the traditional anatomical knowledge. The Human Anatomy Institute of the University of Bologna, among the first in Italy, has recognized this need. Thanks to the generosity of the people enrolled in the Body donation programme for research and teaching, our Institute allows medical students to practice dissection on cadavers, beginning as Freshman, then Sophomore, Junior and Senior. The sharing of Bologna’s experience could be the chance to think about the perspectives offered by the dissection of the corpse: a wide range of possibilities spanning from research projects to advanced training courses in collaboration with clinicians and surgeons belonging to different branches. Moreover the practice of corpse dissection is extremely important for the recruitment of young graduates in Medicine which, by means of the experience vested acting as “tutor of anatomy”, acquire interest in the field of research of morphological sciences, spanning from macroscopic up to the cellular and molecular level. Hic mors gaudet succurrere vitae: the motto, reported in dissection room of most of the Italian anatomical institutes, represents the synthesis of the experience of an ancient discipline which, nowadays , has the chance to rewrite a new chapter dedicated to modern frontiers of scientific research and medical education

A Novel Mutation in Lamin A/C Gene: Phenotype and Consequences on the Protein Structure and Flexibility

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Diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) involvement in K562 erythroleukemia cell proliferation

Nuclear phosphoinositide metabolism has been widely described as involved in many regulatory mechanisms including cell cycle and cell proliferation (1). Our recent studies demonstrated that an increase of nuclear Diacylglycerol (DAG) regulated the G2/M progression of erythroleukemia cells, K562 (2). As nuclear DAG can be synthesized by Phospholipases C (PLC) located in the nucleus, it can also be converted to Phosphatidic acid (PA) by a class of proteins called Diacylglycerol Kinases (DGK), which phosphorylate it utilizing ATP as a source of phosphate. PA levels in the nuclear compartments peak after G2/M progression, controlling cell cycle progression (1). We found that a particular DGK isoform, DGKa, is highly localized in the nuclear compartment of K562 cells. Then, we decided to investigate if this isozyme could be involved in cell proliferation of K562 cells, stimulating the exit from G2/M checkpoint through the production of PA in the nuclear compartment. Our data show that inhibition of DGK activity by two specific inhibitors, DI (R59022) and DII (R59949), blocks K562 cell proliferation. This effect is probably due to nuclear DGKa, indeed its modulation can affect cell proliferation too. Moreover, many cell cycle related proteins seem to be targeted by DGK activity. These evidences suggest a role for DGKa in the control of cell cycle progression acting on nuclear DAG levels and increase our knowledge about the importance of PI metabolism in the nuclei of eucaryotic cells

Immune and Epstein-Barr virus gene expression in cerebrospinal fluid and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Background: Gene expression analyses in paired cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are restrained by the low RNA amounts from CSF cells and low expression levels of certain genes. Here, we applied a Taqman-based pre-amplification real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) (PreAmp RT-PCR) to cDNA from CSF cells and PBMC of MS patients and analyzed multiple genes related to immune system function and genes expressed by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a herpesvirus showing strong association with MS. Using this enhanced RT-PCR method, we aimed at the following: (1) identifying gene signatures potentially useful for patient stratification, (2) understanding whether EBV infection is perturbed in CSF and/or blood, and (3) finding a link between immune and EBV infection status. Methods: Thirty-one therapy-free patients with relapsing-remitting MS were included in the study. Paired CSF cells and PBMC were collected and expression of 41 immune-related cellular genes and 7 EBV genes associated with latent or lytic viral infection were determined by PreAmp RT-PCR. Clinical, radiological, CSF, and gene expression data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate (cluster analysis, factor analysis) statistical approaches. Results: Several immune-related genes were differentially expressed between CSF cells and PBMC from the whole MS cohort. By univariate analysis, no or only minor differences in gene expression were found associated with sex, clinical, or radiological condition. Cluster analysis on CSF gene expression data grouped patients into three clusters; clusters 1 and 2 differed by expression of genes that are related mainly to innate immunity, irrespective of sex and disease characteristics. By factor analysis, two factors grouping genes involved in antiviral immunity and immune regulation, respectively, accurately discriminated cluster 1 and cluster 2 patients. Despite the use of an enhanced RT-PCR method, EBV transcripts were detected in a minority of patients (5 of 31), with evidence of viral latency activation in CSF cells or PBMC and of lytic infection in one patient with active disease only. Conclusions: Analysis of multiple cellular and EBV genes in paired CSF cell and PBMC samples using PreAmp RT-PCR may yield new information on the complex interplay between biological processes underlying MS and help in biomarker identification

A Role for Nuclear Phospholipase Cβ1 in Cell Cycle Control

Phosphoinositide signaling resides in the nucleus, and among the enzymes of the cycle, phospholipase C (PLC) appears as the key element both in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in mammalian cells. The yeast PLC pathway produces multiple inositol polyphosphates that modulate distinct nuclear processes. The mammalian PLCbeta(1), which localizes in the nucleus, is activated in insulin-like growth factor 1-mediated mitogenesis and undergoes down-regulation during murine erythroleukemia differentiation. PLCbeta(1) exists as two polypeptides of 150 and 140 kDa generated from a single gene by alternative RNA splicing, both of them containing in the COOH-terminal tail a cluster of lysine residues responsible for nuclear localization. These clues prompted us to try to establish the critical nuclear target(s) of PLCbeta(1) subtypes in the control of cell cycle progression. The results reveal that the two subtypes of PLCbeta(1) that localize in the nucleus induce cell cycle progression in Friend erythroleukemia cells. In fact when they are overexpressed in the nucleus, cyclin D3, along with its kinase (cdk4) but not cyclin E is overexpressed even though cells are serum-starved. As a consequence of this enforced expression, retinoblastoma protein is phosphorylated and E2F-1 transcription factor is activated as well. On the whole the results reveal a direct effect of nuclear PLCbeta(1) signaling in G(1) progression by means of a specific target, i.e. cyclin D3/cdk4