World literature and the Italian literary canon : from Elena Ferrante to Natalia Ginzburg

Variously intended as a field of study, a paradigm, and/or a method of literary criticism, World Literature has in the last two decades become a central subject in literary studies. The current debate around World Literature is certainly central to the present and the future of the discipline of Comparative Literature. At the same time, as I show in this paper, a redefinition of World Literature, which would include a deeper understanding of both its risks and its potential benefits, can push us towards a revision of the canon(s) of our national literary traditions. Moving from Tim Park’s assertion that the popularity of Elena Ferrante’s “dull global novel” would contribute to obscuring more deserving authors – among whom he cites Natalia Ginzburg – this paper argues that Ferrante’s literary success could, on the contrary, pave the way for a rediscovery of past writers within the Italian literary tradition. Through a comparison of Ferrante’s L’Amica Geniale and Ginzburg’s La Strada che Va in Città, the article shows how both works are, in Pheng Cheah’s terms, “literature that worlds and makes a world”, insofar as they foreground a world that is open and unstable, crucially caught between tradition and modernity, as well as the local and the global. Ultimately, both works call for a conception of World Literature that does not need to imply the loss of the local, but that can rather promote what Florian Mussgnug calls “responsible and responsive local sensitivity”.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Mediterranean resistance in Paolo Rumiz's Il Ciclope : the island and the lighthouse

Within the growing scholarly attention, in the field of Italian Studies, devoted to contemporary travel writing, on the one hand, and to writers coming from the geo-historical ‘margins’ of the peninsula, on the other, Paolo Rumiz’s works have sparked critical interest in recent years. In contrast with the prevailing reading of Rumiz’s work as mostly concerned with Eastern Europe, in this essay I assess the centrality of the Mediterranean in the author’s narrative imaginary, as it emerges in Il Ciclope (2015). Drawing on geocritical and ecocritical theories, I show how Rumiz’s Mediterranean island – where the real and imaginary travel of Il Ciclope takes place – narratively reveals itself as a space that comprises land and sea at the same time; a space that, while being localised, can also address global concerns, and that, from its supposedly marginal position in the global world, can become a centre of critical thinking.PostprintPeer reviewe

Developing a Ring-Based Optical Network Structure with Glass-Through Nodes, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2012, nr 2

An important issue in designing optical transport networks (OTN) is security. The concept of 1+1 protection requires to connect each origin-destination(OD)-pair by at least two node-disjoint paths. In the case of a single edge or node failure, the connection of all OD-pairs is maintained under 1+1 protection. On a ring, 1+1 protection is given naturally. Moreover, on rings, the routing effort is typically decreasing. These observations motivate the investigation of ring structures for OTN. When developing a ring structure for telecommunication networks, several subtasks can be identified. Rings have to be designed, OD-pairs have to be assigned to rings, communication among rings has to be defined, a proper flow routing has to be chosen, and rings have to be dimensioned regarding flow capacity. In this paper, we address the first two issues, namely generation of rings and assignment of OD-pairs to rings. Our approach allows to distinguish active and non-active (glass-through) nodes in OTN. Active nodes are equipped with active routing hardware that weakens the optical signal and has impact on feasible ring lengths. Non-active nodes do not influence the optical signal. Although a consideration of active/non-active nodes is important in ring design, only a few references address this issue. We propose an algorithm for generating random ring candidates. Moreover, we present a mathematical model for the assignment of OD-pairs to rings subject to a feasible choice of active nodes. We test our methods using a case of Deutsche Telekom

An audiological perspective on ''Two further patients with Warsaw breakage syndrome. Is a mild phenotype possible?"

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The calculation of the cardiac troponin T 99th percentile of the reference population is affected by age, gender, and population selection: A multicenter study in Italy.

Background: The aim of this study is to determine the 99th upper-reference limit (URL) for cardiac troponin T (cTnT) in Italian apparently healthy subjects. Methods: The reference population was selected from 5 cities: Bolzano (n = 290), Milano (CAMELIA-Study, n = 287), Montignoso (MEHLP-Study, n = 306), Pisa (n = 182), and Reggio Calabria (MAREA-Study, n = 535). Subjects having cardiac/systemic acute/chronic diseases were excluded. Participants to MEHLP project underwent cardiac imaging investigation. High-sensitive cTnT was measured with Cobas-e411 (Roche Diagnostics). Results: We enrolled 1600 healthy subjects [54.6%males; age range 10–90 years; mean (SD): 36.4 (21.2) years], including 34.6% aged b20 years, 54.5% between 20 and 64 years, and 10.9% over 65 years. In the youngest the 99th URL was 10.9 ng/L in males and 6.8 ng/L in females; in adults 23.2 ng/L and 10.2 ng/L; and in elderly 36.8 ng/L and 28.6 ng/L. After the exclusion of outliers the 99th URL values were significantly decreased (P b 0.05) in particular those of the oldest (13.8 ng/L and 14 ng/L). MEHLP participants were divided in healthy and asymptomatic, according to known cardiovascular risk factors (HDL, LDL, glucose, C-reactive protein): the 99th URL of cTnT values of these subgroups was significantly different (19.5 vs. 22.7, P b 0.05). Conclusions: 99th URL of cTnT valueswas strongly affected by age, gender, selection of subjects and the statistical evaluation of outliers

Metabolically Healthy Obesity and High Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Children and Adolescents: International Childhood Vascular Structure Evaluation Consortium

OBJECTIVE It has been argued that metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) does not increase cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. This study examines the association of MHO with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), a proxy of CVD risk, in children and adolescents. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Data were available for 3,497 children and adolescents aged 6–17 years from five population-based cross-sectional studies in Brazil, China, Greece, Italy, and Spain. Weight status categories (normal, overweight, and obese) were defined using BMI cutoffs from the International Obesity Task Force. Metabolic status (defined as "healthy" [no risk factors] or "unhealthy" [one or more risk factors]) was based on four CVD risk factors: elevated blood pressure, elevated triglyceride levels, reduced HDL cholesterol, and elevated fasting glucose. High cIMT was defined as cIMT ≥90th percentile for sex, age, and study population. Logistic regression model was used to examine the association of weight and metabolic status with high cIMT, with adjustment for sex, age, race/ethnicity, and study center. RESULTS In comparison with metabolically healthy normal weight, odds ratios (ORs) for high cIMT were 2.29 (95% CI 1.58–3.32) for metabolically healthy overweight and 3.91 (2.46–6.21) for MHO. ORs for high cIMT were 1.44 (1.03–2.02) for unhealthy normal weight, 3.49 (2.51–4.85) for unhealthy overweight, and 6.96 (5.05–9.61) for unhealthy obesity. CONCLUSIONS Among children and adolescents, cIMT was higher for both MHO and metabolically healthy overweight compared with metabolically healthy normal weight. Our findings reinforce the need for weight control in children and adolescents irrespective of their metabolic status

Defining Kawasaki disease and pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome-temporally associated to SARS-CoV-2 infection during SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Italy: results from a national, multicenter survey

Background: There is mounting evidence on the existence of a Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome-temporally associated to SARS-CoV-2 infection (PIMS-TS), sharing similarities with Kawasaki Disease (KD). The main outcome of the study were to better characterize the clinical features and the treatment response of PIMS-TS and to explore its relationship with KD determining whether KD and PIMS are two distinct entities. Methods: The Rheumatology Study Group of the Italian Pediatric Society launched a survey to enroll patients diagnosed with KD (Kawasaki Disease Group - KDG) or KD-like (Kawacovid Group - KCG) disease between February 1st 2020, and May 31st 2020. Demographic, clinical, laboratory data, treatment information, and patients' outcome were collected in an online anonymized database (RedCAP®). Relationship between clinical presentation and SARS-CoV-2 infection was also taken into account. Moreover, clinical characteristics of KDG during SARS-CoV-2 epidemic (KDG-CoV2) were compared to Kawasaki Disease patients (KDG-Historical) seen in three different Italian tertiary pediatric hospitals (Institute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS "Burlo Garofolo", Trieste; AOU Meyer, Florence; IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genoa) from January 1st 2000 to December 31st 2019. Chi square test or exact Fisher test and non-parametric Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test were used to study differences between two groups. Results: One-hundred-forty-nine cases were enrolled, (96 KDG and 53 KCG). KCG children were significantly older and presented more frequently from gastrointestinal and respiratory involvement. Cardiac involvement was more common in KCG, with 60,4% of patients with myocarditis. 37,8% of patients among KCG presented hypotension/non-cardiogenic shock. Coronary artery abnormalities (CAA) were more common in the KDG. The risk of ICU admission were higher in KCG. Lymphopenia, higher CRP levels, elevated ferritin and troponin-T characterized KCG. KDG received more frequently immunoglobulins (IVIG) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) (81,3% vs 66%; p = 0.04 and 71,9% vs 43,4%; p = 0.001 respectively) as KCG more often received glucocorticoids (56,6% vs 14,6%; p < 0.0001). SARS-CoV-2 assay more often resulted positive in KCG than in KDG (75,5% vs 20%; p < 0.0001). Short-term follow data showed minor complications. Comparing KDG with a KD-Historical Italian cohort (598 patients), no statistical difference was found in terms of clinical manifestations and laboratory data. Conclusion: Our study suggests that SARS-CoV-2 infection might determine two distinct inflammatory diseases in children: KD and PIMS-TS. Older age at onset and clinical peculiarities like the occurrence of myocarditis characterize this multi-inflammatory syndrome. Our patients had an optimal response to treatments and a good outcome, with few complications and no deaths

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities(.)(1,2) This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity(3-6). Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017-and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions-was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing-and in some countries reversal-of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories.Peer reviewe

Orientalismo e alterità. Percorso attraverso i resoconti di viaggio e la memorialistica coloniale italiana.

Il presente lavoro si inserisce all’interno del PRIN Colonialismo italiano: letteratura e giornalismo portato avanti dall’Unità di ricerca dell’Università di Macerata in collaborazione con altri atenei italiani negli anni 2006-2011. Il mio interesse si è rivolto nello specifico ai resoconti di viaggio redatti da italiani che si trovarono a visitare, durante tutto l’arco dell’avventura coloniale nazionale, le zone del continente africano su cui si andavano progressivamente consolidando gli interessi espansionistici della giovane nazione. Si tratta di un corpus di testi ben nutrito, per la cui individuazione mi ha fornito un prezioso punto di partenza l’archivio digitale “Italia coloniale” − approntato grazie alle indagini catalografiche e documentarie svolte dallo stesso gruppo di lavoro maceratese − nel quale sono poi confluiti, in forma di dati bibliografici essenziali, i risultati delle mie stesse ricerche. Data l’ampiezza del materiale disponibile, la mia selezione delle opere si è avvalsa di un criterio “a campione”, che fosse in grado di dare conto dell’evoluzione ideologica e culturale parallela allo sviluppo politico-militare del movimento coloniale.\ud L’introduzione al lavoro prende le mosse dalla constatazione di una forma incerta e frammentata di memoria storica coloniale italiana. Una tendenza estrema all’oblio è bilanciata dall’immagine mistificante e rassicurante degli “italiani brava gente”, ossia di un colonialismo non solo “straccione”, ma soprattutto benevolo e più umano se paragonato a quello di tutte le altre potenze. Di una simile distorsione memoriale, che può almeno in parte essere ricondotta a effettive peculiarità del fenomeno coloniale nella sua specifica declinazione italiana (brevità e tardiva realizzazione dell’impero, mancato processo di decolonizzazione, semplicistico assorbimento nell’alveo del fascismo) ma che l’evidenza storica ha da tempo dimostrato priva di un fondamento reale, si trovano spie eloquenti nelle elaborazioni letterarie del recente passato offerte negli anni Cinquanta da Flaiano, Berto e Tobino: Tempo di uccidere, Guerra in camicia nera e Il deserto della Libia si muovono, con accenti in parte differenti, alla ricerca di un equilibrio tra desiderio di espiazione e volontà di deresponsabilizzazione personale e collettiva, tra nostalgia per gli ideali di gioventù ormai perduti e tragica consapevolezza del loro drammatico crollo. \ud Le premesse di un siffatto atteggiamento sono peraltro sapientemente gettate e consolidate in un decennale percorso di elaborazione ideologica di cui possiamo seguire le tracce, come ho inteso fare nel mio lavoro, proprio attraverso l’analisi della memorialistica di viaggio, genere di ampia fortuna e vasta circolazione all’epoca. Rispetto alla produzione romanzesca di argomento coloniale, fatta oggetto peraltro di maggiore attenzione da parte della critica, la scrittura di viaggio si distingue per la ricerca, destinata a perenne insoddisfazione, di un equilibrio tra le forti istanze autobiografiche, insite nella riproposizione di un’esperienza personale, e la concomitante volontà di fornire al lettore un ritratto esemplare in cui identificarsi, da cui deriva spesso un atteggiamento didattico e pedagogico. \ud I resoconti degli esploratori e dei viaggiatori della seconda metà dell’Ottocento (cui è dedicato il II capitolo), non riconducibili alla fase propriamente coloniale ma essenziali figure di “pionieri” sulla via delle imprese future, volendo dare una parvenza di giustificazione morale a una missione “civilizzatrice” di sfruttamento e di conquista − peraltro ancora di là da venire, ma già prevedibile almeno per i più accorti − abbondano di ipocriti pretesti dal vago sapore umanitario. \ud Con il volgere del nuovo secolo, e soprattutto in seguito alla nuova stagione coloniale inaugurata dalla guerra italo-turca del 1911 e dalla conquista, effimera, della quarta sponda libica, esploratori ma anche i sempre più numerosi giornalisti che visitano le colonie (i cui resoconti sono oggetto del III capitolo) non si fanno scrupoli di avanzare più decise pretese di legittimazione dell’operato italiano, basate sull’autorità materiale e spirituale ereditata da Roma. \ud Infine, con l’avvento al potere del regime fascista, parallelamente a quella escalation della violenza destinata a culminare nell’aggressione all’Etiopia del 1935, i viaggiatori che attraversano con sempre meno difficoltà i territori eritrei, libici ed etiopi si fanno non solo testimoni, ma anche spesso enunciatori e sostenitori in prima persona di un’orgogliosa ideologia di supremazia razziale, soffocando ogni rigurgito di tolleranza e di vera umanità. \ud Così, da un testo all’altro, sorvolando su contraddizioni e spesso misconoscendo la realtà dei fatti cui si è direttamente assisito, gli autori mascherano se stessi e la Patria di cui sono rappresentanti dietro un alone di “bontà”, tutta specificamente italiana appunto, che sembra qualificare la condotta dei connazionali in colonia, distanziandola in maniera sempre più profonda, quanto immaginaria, da quella delle altre nazioni europee. Ecco dunque poste le basi ideologiche di quella retorica degli “italiani brava gente” destinata a protrarsi per lungo tempo, e di cui ancora oggi, almeno a livello di percezione comune e diffusa, permangono tracce sul suolo nazionale. \u