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Daniele Barbaro’s treatise on perspective is one of the most authoritative technical-scientific sources of the sixteenth century. Although largely based on the unpublished work of Piero della Francesca, the treatise had the precise and original purpose of filling a gap in the Vitruvian text about the contents of the so-called ‘scaenographia’, a discipline based on optical geometry of which Vitruvius provided only meagre and sibylline words. The subdivision of the treatise, examined here into the individual parts that constitute it, follows a clearly Vitruvian structure, with the first three parts dedicated to ichnographia (perspective drawing of plans), orthographaia (perspective drawing of solid bodies) and scaenographia (perspective drawing of the buildings and their ornaments), and with two other parts specifically dedicated to the measurements of the human body and to the drawing of the planisphere, themes treated by Vitruvius respectively in the third and ninth books of De architectura. In this sense, La pratica della perspettiva, published in 1568, should be considered as an integral text of the most authoritative commentary on Vitruvius’ I Dieci libri dell’architettura, published in 1556 and 1567.

Ligament laxity in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome hypermobility type (EDS-HT) patients can influence the intrinsic information about posture and movement and can have a negative effect on the appropriateness of postural reactions. Several measures have been proposed in literature to describe the planar migration of CoP over the base of support, and the most used in clinical field are the CoP excursions in antero-posterior and medio-lateral direction. In recent years a growing number of studies have been designed to explore the complexity of the COP trajectories during quiet standing. We assessed 13 adults with EDS-HT (EDSG) and 20 healthy adults (CG) during static posture, evaluating the CoP using time and frequency domain analysis and entropy analysis (SampEn and ApEn parameters). Higher values of CoP displacements in medio-lateral and anterior-posterior directions for EDSG than CG were found; no differences were observed in CoP frequency. The entropy analysis showed lower value for EDSG than CG, pointing out the needing of EDSG to concentrate more attention on postural control, loosing complexity and reflecting a less automatized postural control. (Contains 2 tables.)

This article explores the transmission of practical knowledge in the XV and XVI centuries. According to cosmographer Egnatio Danti, optics and other mathematical sciences had "been banished" from the main philosophical schools of his period, and "the little which remains to us is limited to some practical aspects learned from the mechanical artificers". The "mechanical artificers" were architects, painters and surveyors whose mathematical training constitutes the subject dealt with in this article. The context of Danti's remark was the letter to the "Accademici del Disegno" of Perugia which introduce his Italian translation of Euclid's "Optics". After the great Medieval season of optical studies, in effect, this science progressed mainly through its practical applications, especially through "that part of perspective which pertains to painting" (Piero della Francesca), and through the spread of methods and instruments for measuring by sight.

Background: In this clinical and psychophysical study, we aimed to verify whether patients with fibromyalgia with and without small‐fibre pathology and patients with pure small‐fibre neuropathy share common sensory phenotypes. Methods: Using an algorithm based on quantitative sensory testing variables, we grouped 64 consecutive patients with fibromyalgia (20 with small‐fibre pathology, 44 without) and 30 patients with pure small‐fibre neuropathy into different sensory phenotypes: sensory loss, thermal hyperalgesia, mechanical hyperalgesia and healthy phenotypes. Results: We found that the frequency of the different sensory phenotypes differed markedly between patients with fibromyalgia and patients with small‐fibre neuropathy. In patients with fibromyalgia, with and without small‐fibre pathology, healthy and hyperalgesia phenotypes (both thermal and mechanical) were similarly represented, whilst sensory loss and mechanical hyperalgesia phenotypes were the most frequent phenotypes in patients with small‐fibre neuropathy. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that small‐fibre damage is associated with distinct sensory phenotypes in patients with fibromyalgia and in patients with small‐fibre neuropathy. The lack of phenotype differences between patients with fibromyalgia with and without small‐fibre pathology and the relatively high frequency of the healthy phenotype in these patients highlight a complex relationship between small‐fibre pathology and pain in patients with fibromyalgia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]