Riti vudù e reato di riduzione in schiavitù: un nuovo riconoscimento giudiziale della variabile culturale (nota a Cass. pen., sez. I, del 3 febbraio 2022, n. 3796)

Voodoo rites and the crime of enslavement: a new judicial recognition of the cultural variable (note to Criminal Court of Cass., sect. I, 3 February 2022, no. 3796) ABSTRACT: This contribution analyses the ways in which the Supreme Court dealt with a cultural element, that of the voodoo ritual, in a case of enslavement of some young Nigerian girls, forced into prostitution. Through a focus on the arguments that the judges of legitimacy use to attribute to this cultural variable a leading role in the compression of the personal freedom of the victims, it will be highlighted how the instrument of the anthropological expertise was important to bring out the network of meanings assumed by the ritual in the cultural perspective of the victims and to explicate its binding force. The attention given to the cultural context of the victims is interpreted here as symptomatic of an openness to cultural diversity, capable of providing effective protection and, for this very reason, a model that can also be replicated in other areas of the legal system, such as that of international protection. This point of view is explored through a brief analysis of some of the cultural contexts in which voodoo rituals are widespread and of their potential harm to constitutionally guaranteed rights, even outside of hypotheses strictly related to trafficking and prostitution. SOMMARIO. 1. I fatti all’origine della sentenza - 2. La trattazione dell’elemento culturale da parte dei giudici - 3. La complessità del fenomeno vudù - 4. Dal diritto penale alla protezione internazionale: vudù, stregoneria ed effettività della tutela dei diritti fondamentali

Riti vudù e reato di riduzione in schiavitù: un nuovo riconoscimento giudiziale della variabile culturale (nota a Cass. pen., sez. I, del 3 febbraio 2022, n. 3796)

Voodoo rites and the crime of enslavement: a new judicial recognition of the cultural variable (note to Criminal Court of Cass., sect. I, 3 February 2022, no. 3796) ABSTRACT: This contribution analyses the ways in which the Supreme Court dealt with a cultural element, that of the voodoo ritual, in a case of enslavement of some young Nigerian girls, forced into prostitution. Through a focus on the arguments that the judges of legitimacy use to attribute to this cultural variable a leading role in the compression of the personal freedom of the victims, it will be highlighted how the instrument of the anthropological expertise was important to bring out the network of meanings assumed by the ritual in the cultural perspective of the victims and to explicate its binding force. The attention given to the cultural context of the victims is interpreted here as symptomatic of an openness to cultural diversity, capable of providing effective protection and, for this very reason, a model that can also be replicated in other areas of the legal system, such as that of international protection. This point of view is explored through a brief analysis of some of the cultural contexts in which voodoo rituals are widespread and of their potential harm to constitutionally guaranteed rights, even outside of hypotheses strictly related to trafficking and prostitution. SOMMARIO. 1. I fatti all’origine della sentenza - 2. La trattazione dell’elemento culturale da parte dei giudici - 3. La complessità del fenomeno vudù - 4. Dal diritto penale alla protezione internazionale: vudù, stregoneria ed effettività della tutela dei diritti fondamentali

A scientometric analysis of the effect of COVID-19 on the spread of research outputs

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 had a huge impact on the life course of all of us. This rapid spread has also caused an increase in the research production in topics related to different aspects of COVID-19. Italy has been one of the first countries to be massively involved in the outbreak of the disease. In this paper, we present an extensive scientometric analysis of the research production both at global (entire literature produced in the first 2 years after the beginning of the pandemic) and local level (COVID-19 literature produced by authors with an Italian affiliation). Our results showed that US and China are the most active countries in terms of number of publications and that the number of collaborations between institutions varies depending on geographical distance. Moreover, we identified the medical-biological as the field with the greatest growth in terms of literature production. As regards the analysis focused on Italy, we have shown that most of the collaborations follow a geographical pattern, both externally (with a preference for European countries) and internally (two clusters of institutions, north versus center-south). Furthermore, we explored the relationship between the number of citations and variables obtained from the data set (e.g. number of authors). Using multiple correspondence analysis and quantile regression we shed light on the role of journal topics and impact factor, the type of article, the field of study and how these elements affect citations

[1,2,3]triazolo[4,5-<i>H</i>]chinoloni: una nuova classe di promettenti chemioterapici antitubercolari

Alcuni acidi triazolo[4,5-h] e [4,5-f]chinoloncarbossilici angolari, sintetizzati in precedenza come antiinfettivi del tratto urinario, hanno mostrato interessanti valori di MIC90 nei confronti di M. tuberculosis H37Rv. Allo scopo di approfondire le nostre conoscenze sui rapporti struttura-attività di questa classe, abbiamo pertanto preparato una nuove serie di derivati

LC-QTOF/MS Untargeted Metabolomics of Sheep Milk under Cocoa Husks Enriched Diet

The aim of this work was to evaluate, by an untargeted metabolomics approach, changes of milk metabolites induced by the replacement of soybean hulls with cocoa husks in the ewes’ diet. Animals were fed with a soybean diet integrated with 50 or 100 g/d of cacao husks. Milk samples were analyzed by an ultra high performance liquid chromatograph coupled to a time of flight mass spectrometer (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) platform. Multivariate statistical analysis showed that the time of sampling profoundly affected metabolite levels, while differences between treatments were evident at the fourth week of sampling. Cocoa husks seem to induce level changes of milk metabolites implicated in the thyroid hormone metabolism and ubiquinol-10 biosynthesis

Neurological, psychological, and cognitive disorders in patients with chronic kidney disease on conservative and replacement therapy

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a highly prevalent condition in the world. Neurological, psychological, and cognitive disorders, related to CKD, could contribute to the morbidity, mortality, and poor quality of life of these patients. The aim of this study was to assess the neurological, psychological, and cognitive imbalance in patients with CKD on conservative and replacement therapy. Seventy-four clinically stable patients affected by CKD on conservative therapy, replacement therapy (hemodialysis (HD), peritoneal dialysis (PD)), or with kidney transplantation (KT) and 25 healthy controls (HC), matched for age and sex were enrolled. Clinical, laboratory, and instrumental examinations, as renal function, inflammation and mineral metabolism indexes, electroencephalogram (EEG), psychological (MMPI-2, Sat P), and cognitive tests (neuropsychological tests, NPZ5) were carried out. The results showed a significant differences in the absolute and relative power of delta band and relative power of theta band of EEG (P=0.008, P<0.001, P=0.051), a positive correlation between relative power of delta band and C-reactive protein (CRP) (P< 0.001) and a negative correlation between estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (P<0.001) and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-(OH)2D3) (P<0.001), in all the samples. Qualitative analysis of EEG showed alterations of Grade 2 (according to Parsons-Smith classification) in patients on conservative therapy, and Grade 2-3 in KT patients. The scales of MMPI-2 hysteria and paranoia, are significantly correlated with creatinine, eGFR, serum nitrogen, CRP, 1,25-(OH)2D3, intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), phosphorus, and cynical and hysterical personality, are correlated with higher relative power of delta (P=0.016) and theta band (P= 0.016). Moreover, all NPZ5 scores showed a significant difference between the means of nephropathic patients and the means of the HC, and a positive correlation with eGFR, serum nitrogen, CRP, iPTH, and vitamin D. In CKD patients, simple and noninvasive instruments, as EEG, and cognitive-psychological tests, should be performed and careful and constant monitoring of renal risk factors, probably involved in neuropsychological complications (inflammation, disorders of mineral metabolism, electrolyte disorders, etc.), should be carried out. Early identification and adequate therapy of neuropsychological, and cognitive disorders, might enable a better quality of life and a major compliance with a probable reduction in the healthcare costs

New amide derivatives of quinoxaline 1,4-di-N-oxide with leishmanicidal and antiplasmodial activities

ABSTARCT: Malaria and leishmaniasis are two of the World’s most important tropical parasitic diseases. Continuing with our efforts to identify new compounds active against malaria and leishmaniasis, twelve new 1,4-di-N-oxide quinoxaline derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antimalarial and antileishmanial activity against Plasmodium falciparum FCR-3 strain, Leishmania infantum and Leishmania amazonensis. Their toxicity against VERO cells (normal monkey kidney cells) was also assessed. The results obtained indicate that a cyclopentyl derivative had the best antiplasmodial activity (2.9 µM), while a cyclohexyl derivative (2.5 µM) showed the best activity against L. amazonensis, and a 3-chloropropyl derivative (0.7 µM) showed the best results against L. infantum. All these compounds also have a Cl substituent in the R7 positio