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This comment on Bottaccioli & Bottaccioli’s (2024a) article critically analyzes Franz Alexander’s role in developing contemporary psychosomatics in both its innovative aspects and limitations. On the one hand, Alexander contributed to emancipating the explanation of physical symptoms from the classical approach of the early 20th century stiffened on the model of hysterical conversion and promoted the organization of the international psychosomatic movement, including the Italian one. On the other hand, his limitations mainly concern the theoretical approach typical of 20th century psychoanalysis: adopting a one-dimensional model centered on intrapsychic conflict and the indeterminacy – necessary for the time – of a biological “X” factor as mediator. Instead, in the second half of the 20th century, a deficit-centered model of explanation (e.g., alexithymia) and complexity (e.g., biopsychosocial model) emerged, in which various moderating biomedical, psychological, and socio-cultural factors assume different relative weights in the explanation of physical illnesses and the clinical management of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sixty years after the death of Franz Alexander, it is necessary to investigate what is alive and what is dead in his thought about psychosomatics, focusing in particular on the notions of emotion and vegetative neurosis as central to his model of explanation. It is then worth noting, in the light of the developments after Alexander, the today’s difficulty in supporting psychosomatics as an autonomous discipline, to the point of questioning the legitimacy of the expression itself: Bottaccioli & Bottaccioli’s (2024a) proposal to identify it with Psycho-Neuro-EndocrineImmunology (PNEI) must be measured in this problematic context. In any case, the always valid need remains, already supported by Alexander, for a unitary, “holistic” consideration of the human being, sick and healthy. However, this is a paradigm that has to be justified and clarified conceptually in the actual role it plays as an inspirer of research and specific explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problems posed by Leonardo’s pathographies written by Freud are examined. The historical path of the problem of the relationship between genius and psychopathology is reconstructed, showing that psychoanalysis fits into a very active vein at the end of the 19th century, expressing different theoretical approaches with which Freud relates. The interest for the problem then continued, with alternate answers, until the current days. The distortions made by Freud in Leonardo’s pathographical description are examined; these distortions are extensively examined by several authors, which, however, is not distant from what Freud implements in his other works, nor from what other pathographists of the time did. It is a common behavior in the history of science and well known in modern epistemology that identifies in the development of theories also the importance of rhetorical tools with which scientists support them. It is emphasized that one cannot read particular psychological aspects in these Freudian behaviors, making in fact a pathography of the author of pathographies, but only lead his work to the coherence of the historical contexts in which he operates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imbalance between the prevalence of patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF) and acute-on-chronic respiratory failure (ACRF) and the number of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds requires new solutions. The increasing use of non-invasive respiratory tools to support patients at earlier stages of ARF and the increased expertise of non-ICU clinicians in other types of supportive care have led to the development of adult Pulmonary Intensive Care Units (PICU) and Pulmonary Intermediate Care Units (PIMCU). As in other European countries, Italian PICUs and PIMCUs provide an intermediate level of care as the setting designed for managing ARF patients without severe non-pulmonary dysfunction. The PICUs and PIMCUs may also act as step-down units for weaning patients from prolonged mechanical ventilation, and for discharging patients still requiring ventilatory support at home. These units may play an important role in the on-going coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This position paper promoted by the Italian Thoracic Society (ITS-AIPO) describes the models, facilities, staff, equipment and operating methods of PICUs and PIMCUs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After having tried to reconstruct the nature of Giuseppe Civitarese’s (2023a, 2023b, 2023c) proposal to found intersubjective psychoanalysis on the thought of the philosopher Husserl, and the subsequent discussions by Filippo Maria Ferro & Giuseppe Riefolo (2023) and by Mauro Fornaro (2023a, 20323b), it is proposed to try to reconstruct the history of intersubjectivity in psychoanalysis starting from its foundation by Harry Stack Sullivan who preferred to use the term “interpersonal”. Only after the introduction of the concept of projective identification by Melanie Klein in 1946 and the revisitation of the concept of countertransference by Paula Heimann in 1950, also the psychoanalytic mainstream begun moving in this direction, partly also utilizing the important contribution of those European philosophers who put the topic of intersubjectivity at the center of their work. This is how the analyst’s participation and the co-creation of the session are so important today. This is the context in which such a debate has to be placed and through which it can be further developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is proposed a fine-tuning of the definition of intersubjectivity as inferable by Giuseppe Civitarese (2023a) – especially with regard to the expression “with-being” which is included therein – in order to overcome certain ambiguities within a constructive perspective, also paying particular attention to compatibility with Bion’s notion of group (and therefore of “field”). It is urged also to stick to the most consolidated interpretations of the philosophers mentioned, if their ideas are used in non-philosophical disciplines; in this way it is further attested to Husserl’s unlikely compatibility with psychoanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of presentification finds an important place in clinical models of trauma. In psychotherapy, do “present moment”, focus on the “here and now” and mindfulness refer to the same semantic field? Or is it sufficient to distinguish its contents through the favorable/maladaptive polarity? Are the concepts of “defensive automatism” and of “defensive style” overlapping? Is maladaptive presentation a metahistorical fact? Does adolescence show always behaviors of maladaptive presentification? The brief critical argument presented in this intervention on Luca Degasperi’s (2023) article starts from the need to clarify the epistemological field of the construct of presentification, suggesting an alternative terminological hypothesis to the maladaptive meaning and a socio-cultural recontextualization of the clinical pictures described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

German art historian Aby Moritz Warburg (1866-1929) was the first to introduce a revolution in the traditional criteria for classifying works of art. He challenged the 'organ pipes' conception of the various art genres and advocated its opposite, the 'blending', thus valorising, rather than the canonical division, the melting, the synergies and the mutual contamination. The catalogue-book Beni svelati, by studying the agglomeration that has accumulated over time in the closed rooms of the State, illustrates precisely how this fusion, accidental at the start, resolved itself, as time passed, into something historically meaningful in itself. This is even truer at the present moment, now that the advent of the digital format has decisively affected the traditional division by subject, characterising the culture of the last centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In dialogue with the paper by Civitarese (2023), some reflections are suggested. Intersubjectivity shifts the focus of psychoanalytic interest from the subject to the "intersubject". Psychoanalytic interest, therefore, moves from a study of phenomena toward a continuously unstable and fluid process. Such a process identifies fields and no more tòpoi in which it can organize itself. Our reflection seeks to emphasize the suggestions of Civitarese and, above all, is oriented toward underlining the three levels of intersubjectivity as proposed by Infant Research, preliminary to the more radical positions of Stolorow's group, and then of Jessica Benjamin and of Ogden. Intersubjectivity necessarily identifies a third type of unconscious, which is not only dynamic and pre-reflexive, but above all not validated. Finally, enactments, by disengaging action from acting-out, assume a function of creative evolution in the therapeutic process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The report of the medical laboratory is the final result of the complex analytical activity that requires technology, automation, organization and competence. The content of the report has been defined since 2015, but the application of the legislative requirements is still incomplete. The need for interoperability of the medical laboratory reports in order to be easily accessible and understandable throughout Europe, increases the requirements for the development of standards for reporting of test names, units of measurement, qualitative expressions. The adoption of LOINC codes may improve interoperability, but the codes have to be used correctly and a stewardship from Scientific Societies is needed. The laboratory reports are moving from paper to electronic format, and this should help the readability and simplicity favoring the interpretation, but the increasing amount of data and information may make them more difficult to read. This aspect together with the rapid development of new analytical technologies increases the need for interpretative comments, that should be clear, avoid acronyms or excessive technical terms and tackle the real relevant aspects. Being the final product of our activity, the report deserves more attention from our profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author responds to the critical remarks in the comments by Ferro & Riefolo (2023) and by Fornaro (2023). The main points are, in the first comment, the status of reality in psychoanalysis, enactment, the various conceptions of the unconscious, self-disclosure, and the dialogue between philosophy and psychoanalysis. As for the second comment, on the other hand, the issues addressed concern the interpretation of Husserl's contribution to a better definition of the concept of intersubjectivity in psychoanalysis and methodological aspects related to the use of notions derived from speculative thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the papermaking inventions that, beginning with the Flemish physician Andreas Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica (1543), became part of anatomy books. In particular, flaps became the tactile and visual tool that allowed, by progressively lifting individual flaps of paper (lift the flap), to represent the layered arrangement of organs and apparatuses of the human body. These movable devices, along with others (e.g., volvelle) widely employed especially in astronomy texts, became the educational complements of the new science. The paper reconstructs, through some significant samples, the evolution of interactive anatomical books up to the threshold of the 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Das hier betrachtete Quellenkorpus umfasst Urkunden, die zwischen dem 8. und 11. Jahrhundert im Gebiet von Benevento und Avellino von lokalen Notaren geschrieben wurden. Diese setzten Urkunden über Rechtsgeschäfte zwischen Privatpersonen auf und unterschieden sich dadurch von den scriniarii, referendarii, notarii und scribi, die, öffentliche' Urkunden am Hof der Fürsten und in der bischöflichen Kanzlei der Hauptstadt des Fürstentums ausfertigten. Im 10. Jahrhundert, jener Zeitspanne, auf die sich der vorliegende Beitrag konzentriert, gab es eine Entwicklung der dokumentarischen Praxis und Typologien: Der Formierungsprozess von bestimmten dokumentarischen Modellen kam damals zu einem Abschluss und es werden Transformationen erkennbar, die - wie etwa die Anwesenheit von Richtern bei der Rechtshandlung - für die cartula und das süditalische memoratorium charakteristisch werden sollten. Der dokumentarische Anhang enthält die Regesten der 48 im 10. Jahrhundert entstandenen Urkunden. Diese werden von einem historisch- diplomatischen Kommentar begleitet: Für jedes Dokument wird die Überlieferung und der gegenwärtige Aufbewahrungsort angegeben. Ebenso wird auf eine etwaige kritische Ausgabe verwiesen. Schließlich wird auf wichtige formale Charakteristika eingegangen, und zwar auf die Datierungsformel, die Actum-Formel, sowie, falls vorhanden, auf die Namen der Rogators, des Richters und der Subskribenten. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When narratives become fixed, not open to change or modification, they are expressions of stupidity, as described by Kohon, be it in pathology, psychoanalysis, political discourse, or the present upsurge of identity politics: a symbolic impoverishment that amounts to a collapse of thirdness. The longing for certitudes based on the illusion of completeness, present in all of us, is linked to the ideal ego, an archaic narcissistic fusion with an omnipotent mother. In our work, our identification with Freud as an ego ideal prevents any incestuous acting out of the transferential bond by introducing a symbolic third, difference, and the world of culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mark Solms' revision of the concept of drive represents the latest in a series of his indepth reviews of the most fundamental Freudian concepts. The movement of neuropsychoanalysis begun in 2000 with the first Congress focused precisely on a neuroscientific definition of affects and emotions. In 2013, Solms proposed a substantial and profound modification of Freud's structural model, motivating his theses which argue that the instinctual id can only be conscious. In the current paper, Solms (2021a) reaffirms and re-evaluates the centrality of drive theory in psychoanalysis and neuroscience as a starting point for understanding conscious and unconscious phenomena, in normality as well in pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biography of a person allows us to reconstruct his lifestyle, his personality, and this finds correspondence in his thought. The early recollections which, according to Adler, can provide valuable clues like projective tests and dreams cannot be considered a biography and, especially if taken from multiple sources, must be carefully screened and verified. If you don't do it, the Individual Psychology is banalized and discredited. Similarly, the important assessment of the position in the family constellation cannot be simplistically transferred to the fruitful contrast of ideas between Freud and Adler, especially now that there is documentary evidence of their debate and the schism of the psychoanalytic movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1980s, Sándor Ferenczi's (1873-1933) theories have stirred up a lot of interest also in Italy and motivated the publication of both his scientific papers (of psychoanalytic as well as non-psychoanalytic topics) and his letters. However, a lot of material of both theoretical and historical interest still remains to be translated. Among the many instances of important material that has not been translated into Italian we can mention the third volume of the Freud-Ferenczi letters and the correspondence between Ferenczi and Ernest Jones, and many minor but quite interesting papers. Three of these documents are translated here into Italian for the first time: two short articles and a newly discovered letter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why psychoanalysts came to conceive what Howard Levine (2021) calls a "problematic either-or extremity" between conflict theories and developmental trauma theories? It is hypothesized that at the roots of the polarity between these two different clinical attitudes there is an "originary trauma", a trauma that can never reach a full and effective figurability: a trauma that cannot be represented. Such a trauma constituted the caesura that on the one hand has produced a progress on the intellectual level (in the history of psychoanalysis, the birth of the psychoanalytic theory of unconscious fantasy), but, on the other hand, at the price of creating the lack of development of an affective capacity, not only of a cognitive capacity, of listening the traumaticity within the patient's communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After an epistemological reflection on the necessity of a metapsychology for psychoanalysis, it is pointed out that Howard B. Levine's (2021) representational hypothesis on the problem of trauma leads to rethinking its economic dimension in particular; this is especially true in the light of Freud's last theoretical developments around the concept of trauma and of the technical difficulties of a treatment based only on historical reconstruction. To the extent that trauma is linked to processes of psychic unbinding, it is important to develop a technique apt to repair and reconstruct the symbolic capacities of the patient's ego because of the severity of its structural impairment. Such a reflection implies fundamental questions on the validity of those approaches which, whether they emphasize the representational component or the affective one, are limited to pursuing only hermeneutic or cathartic purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the construction sector, the new Industry 4.0 and circular economy paradigms are currently playing an increasingly important role in order to respond to demands for energetic efficiency, optimisation of resource usage, automation and production activities monitoring. Therefore, this article aims to at illustrate industrial research and an experimental development activity that led to the creation of an innovative product named MULTIFId. It consists of an intelligent, economical and low-emission panel, made with waste from the paper and cardboard industrial manufacturing process which intends to contribute to the development of the fundamental enabling technology of "Advanced Materials" for Intelligent Factories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper "Revision of drive theory" (Psicoterapia e Scienze Umane, 2022, 56, 3: 363-422) Mark Solms (2021a) correctly argues that the basic motivational forces are affect systems, activated following the general homeostatic principles that govern biological processes that assure survival and reproduction. However, psychoanalytic object relation theory points to a specifically human, supraordinate integrative motivational system that condenses component affect systems into the affiliative and counteraffiliative motivations described by Freud with the concepts of libido and aggression. They are not "drives" in the psychobiological sense, but profoundly define unconscious intrapsychic conflict and are relevant in clinical psychoanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes specific usage scenarios of an innovative platform, interfacing users, monitoring, and simulations for building energy simulations and the computation of key performance indicators to support, in an interoperable and open vision, design and management choices exploiting the enabling capabilities of ICT in architecture. The modularity of the proposed solution allows the development of pre-defined usage scenarios for professionals: impact of modifications in technological design choices, model calibration, and performance gap between simulated and monitored building data. The paper faces some new architectural usage scenarios of the tool, considering its enabling capabilities, and focuses on the tool's components developed and tested in the EU H2020 E-DYCE project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Track circuits (TC) are special electrical circuits composed in part of the rails of the tracks, Electrical signals are circulated in them by which it is possible to determine the status of free (no rolling stock) or occupied (rolling stock presence) within a controlled portion of track can be determined. They therefore represent a fundamental element of the Control command and Signalling Sub-System (CCS) whose operation has a significant impact on the safety and regularity of railway operations. In this paper, the problem of proper TC modeling and simulation setup for the purposes of the issues of interest to be analyzed will be addressed. The discussion will analyze several case studies of interest for Class B systems referring further ones to subsequent publications. The method presented here, excluding the electrical modeling part of the track, consists of a generic method developed by the author during his experience on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freud’s lecture given on December 1, 1909, at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society on Leonardo da Vinci is examined. This lecture is a forerunner of his later article Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of his Childhood (Freud, 1910b). An attempt is made to emphasize the inconsistency between Freud’s hypotheses and the historical data by then at his disposal. Avoiding entering Freud’s vulture slip that many scholars have pointed out and Freud never acknowledged, concerns are expressed about Freud’s required documentation in the field of art history and about the method he employed for the portrayal of Leonardo da Vinci’s personality. It seems that Freud willingly avoided historical data choosing almost entirely to rely on applied psychoanalysis widely employing his own phantasies in attempting to overcome the paucity of knowledge on Leonardo da Vinci’s childhood. Freud himself later acknowledged that his 1910 paper was partly a fictional story along the lines of Mereskovskij’s 1895 book on Leonardo. A crucial inconsistency of this lecture, that will not be amended in his paper of 1910, relates to the fact that Freud changed into a phantasy what Leonardo had reported as a childhood memory. Many scholars have taken for granted this shift so that they talked about Leonardo’s “phantasy” or “dream”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Viennese historian Johannes Reichmayr has edited the Collected Works of the psychoanalyst Paul Parin (1916-2009) in 19 volumes, published by the Viennese publisher Mandelbaum from 2018 to 2024. A pioneer of ethnopsychoanalysis, Parin has lived psychoanalysis as a form of social critique and political action, whose gradual and systematic articulation comes out very clearly from his Collected Works. Parin’s works are reconstructed in great detail in the context of his life, of the Zurich Psychoanalytic Seminar (PSZ) founded by him, and of his close collaboration with the journal Psicoterapia e Scienze Umane. The same is true for his successful literary activity, and for his participation in political life, documented as they are by a whole series of autobiographical papers and by various collections of letters, as it is shown also in the light of volumes 9 and 10, the latter being centered around “The burning problems of our times” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: the increase of Mean Corpuscolar Hemoglobin Concentration (MCHC) in the Complete Blood Count (CBC) test is a complex issue, deserving great attention. Erytrocytes (RBC) count by impedance and the photometric hemoglobin (HGB) measurement can be influenced by both biological variables (cold agglutinins, lipemia, icterus, hemolysis, RBC alterations) and pre-analytical factors (collection, storage and transport of the sample). In this paper, the Complete Blood Count-Optical (CBC-O) algorithm is evaluated for the identification of the cause of the MCHC increase and for the suggested corrective action to correctly report the CBC parameters. Methods: 255 samples, collected with K2-EDTA anticoagulant, for the CBC test were used. The algorithm was triggered after the reticulocytes reflex testing (XN-RET) using the XN hematology analyzer (Sysmex), when MCHC was >365 g/L. The CBC-O tool uses a number of RBC and HGB measures and indices. Results: the samples were classified by the CBC-O algorithm into 5 groups according to the causes of the MCHC increase: cold agglutinins (n=70), cold agglutinins and HGB interferences (n=10), HGB interferences (n=6), RBC pathologies or hemolysis (n=32) and unclear situations with normal RBC profile (n=137). Discussion: MCHC elevation is a rare occurrence in routine daily practice, but it needs to be managed properly. The CBC-O algorithm is a useful tool since, in a short time, it allows to give indications on the probable causes of the increase and to report correct erythrocyte indices, without the need to treat the sample, which would otherwise lengthen the turn around time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the clinical case of a couple psychoanalysis, the paper shows the complexity of the relationship between jealousy and the primary relationship experienced by each partner. The author shows how jealousy with its enigmatic aspects tends to mask pragmatic infantile dimensions connected to emotion and affect regulation (Atlas, 2023) and embodies a reactualization of the aesthetic conflict theorised by Meltzer (1981). The focus is on the dynamics of recognition in the couple and in the transference with the analyst: jealousy leads the partners not to recognize each other and not to recognize themselves; the analytical work opens for them a freer and deeper path of knowledge capable of tolerating ambivalence and complexity, towards shared thinkability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author addresses the issue of relationship between the organ transplantation and the migratory experience. In the transplant practice the organs “migrate”, prolonging their own existence and at the same time ensuring life to the recipient. The experience of organ transplantation shocks not only the body, but also the sense of Self, and the integration process is very complicated, because the hospitality is inseparable from the intrusion. The alienating experience of transplantation reveals the foreign in our own bodies. The new organ, in fact, is an intensily ambiguous object, that evokes the Freudian concept of Unheimlich. In this contribution the author tries to identify some analytical paths that could favour the psychosomatic integration of transplanted organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book by Lucio Gambetti, An editorial Odyssey: one hundred years after Joyce's Ulysses, little more than a hundred pages, leads us on a journey through the publishing history of one of the most important and influential novels of the twentieth century, James Joyce's Ulysses. In particular, the book focuses on the Italian edition of the novel, exploring its publishing history, its critical reception, and the linguistic challenges that made it difficult to translate and interpret such a complex work. In the past, the issues related to the question of copyright for the various editions of the novel over the decades has been already addresses, the copyright claims made by the heirs, in particular by the late Stephen James Joyce (who passed away in January 2020), and the double expiration of the author's copyright, first in 1992 and then in 2012. The subsequent battles over the copyright of the unpublished manuscripts, the veto on investigating what the original text of the work was, the censorship biographers were subjected to at the hands of Stephen Joyce, and the editions that disappeared from the market are all issues that the author of this article is familiar with. Throughout the twentieth century, numerous acts of censorship slowed down the availability of translations or revisions in the publishing market in various countries. Therefore, this paper is an essay-review, with some new references missing in Gambetti's book, such as the recovery of a sentence of an Italian Court, which can be found at the end of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes both the method and the preliminary outcomes of the "Blind-assistive autonomous Droid Device: BUDD-e" research experience, funded by Polisocial Award 2021 of Politecnico di Milano, and designed to exploit a multidisciplinary approach to bridge the gap of inclusive design, making spaces and services accessible, functional, and usable by Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) people. The research purpose is to develop accessible public places and indoor environments where the autonomous robot BUDD-e will act as guide for the BVI people. User-centred design principles will be applied to support accessibility to - both outdoor and indoor - public places, where the robot guide BUDD-e will be a primary feature in allowing access to services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at analysing the main legal issues and implications related to the digitalization in the financial sector (the so-called FinTech). The applications of technological innovation foster a reduction in the costs of activities and services, a greater speed of transactions and a substantial increase in financial inclusion. However, they imply new risks, in general, for the stability of the financial system, the integrity of the market, the fair competition and security and, in particular, for the protection of the investor. These issues, that are made more complex by the cross-border and cross-sectoral nature of digital finance, highlight not only the inadequacy of the current legislation, but also of the traditional methods of regulation and supervision. The access of global players in the financial market also triggers anti-competitive dynamics towards authorized intermediaries and does not allow the investor to interact consciously. Taking into account the need to guarantee the financial stability and to protect investors, the essay focuses on the regulatory and supervisory approaches adopted so far in relation to this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]