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Attraverso i suoi scritti odeporici la scrittrice pugliese Fulvia Miani Perotti (1844 - 1931) ri-afferma l’identità regionale e con essa le tradizioni del genius loci secondo l’azione di propaganda di quelli che sono gli assi portanti della ricerca demologica in Italia negli anni post-unitari, ovvero il rapporto tra identità regionale e identità nazionale. Il saggio prende in analisi, in particolare, il suo volume di racconti, Profili e paesaggi, che contiene tre lunghi racconti di viaggio (Su pe’ Colli, Riva Adriatica, Nella Magna Grecia), in cui la scrittrice descrive la società rurale pugliese. L’analisi dei testi dimostra che Miani Perotti privilegia gli aspetti storiografici ed etnografici a scapito di una trama che diventa un mero pretesto per narrare usi e costumi, passato e presente, di un territorio familiare e, pertanto, non straniante., In her odeporic writings, the Apulian writer Miani Perotti (1844 – 1931) reaffirms the regional identity and the traditions of the genius loci in line with the propaganda based on the backbone of demological research in Italy in the post-unification years; that is, the relationship between regional and national identity. The essay analyses a collection of short stories, Profili e paesaggi, which contains three long travel stories (Su pe’ Colli, Riva Adriatica, Nella Magna Grecia) that describe the rural society of Apulia. The analysis shows that Miani Perotti favours historiographical and ethnographic aspects at the expense of the plot, which is therefore used as a mere pretext to write about the past and present uses and customs of a familiar, therefore not alienated, land.

Nel presente saggio il volume La Dalmazia romana- veneta-moderna. Note e ricordi di viaggio (1892) dello scrittore di origine zaratina Giuseppe Modrich e analizzato nel suo rapporto con la letteratura pregressa, cogliendo gli eventuali nessi con gli scritti di Fortis relativi agli aspetti antropologici e storico-culturali. La Dalmazia è descritta da Modrich con dovizia di particolari relativi alle abitudini di vita degli abitanti delle varie province ma anche al patrimonio artistico-architettonico, proposto dall'autore quale testimonianza delle diverse dominazioni che nei secoli si sono succedute. Un capitolo è dedicato ai Morlacchi e alla loro cultura e, più in generale, all'entroterra dalmata, poco frequentato dai viaggiatori e, dunque, poco noto ai più. Un secondo ambito di analisi riguarda le strutture e le strategie narrative utilizzate dall'autore, che vanno dall'uso spinto del dialogismo, che si alterna a lunghe e dettagliatissime descrizioni, che rendono quasi tangibile al lettore gli scenari, siano essi paesaggi, monumenti o abitudini di vita, con cui lo scrittore intende promuovere la sua patria., The paper analyzes the volume Roman-Venetian- modern Dalmatia: Travel Notes and Memories (1892) written by Giuseppe Modrich from Zadar and compares it to previous literature, establishing links with Fortis's writings by focusing on anthropological, historical, and cultural aspects. Modrich's descriptions of Dalmatia and its many provinces abound with details concerning the population's habitual behaviors in daily life, as well as its artistic and architectural heritage, which the author recognizes as evidence of various foreign powers that had dominated the region over the centuries. A chapter is dedicated to the Morlachs and their culture and, more generally, to the Dalmatian hinterland, not very popular with travelers and, therefore, little known to most people. The second part of the analysis focuses on the narrative structures and strategies employed by the author, shifting between the overuse of dialogism and the long and detailed descriptions that make the imagery almost tangible to the reader, be they landscapes, monuments, or habitual behaviors; strategies with which the author intends to promote his homeland.

Recent studies have suggested that microenvironmental stimuli play a significant role in regulating cellular proliferation and migration, as well as in modulating self-renewal and differentiation processes of mammary cells with stem cell (SCs) properties. Recent advances in micro/nanotechnology and biomaterial synthesis/engineering currently enable the fabrication of innovative tissue culture platforms suitable for maintenance and differentiation of SCs

Recent studies have suggested that microenvironmental stimuli play a significant role in regulating cellular proliferation and migration, as well as in modulating self-renewal and differentiation processes of mammary cells with stem cell (SCs) properties. Recent advances in micro/nanotechnology and biomaterial synthesis/engineering currently enable the fabrication of innovative tissue culture platforms suitable for maintenance and differentiation of SCs in vitro. Here, we report the design and fabrication of an open microfluidic device (OMD) integrating removable poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) based electrospun scaffolds, and we demonstrate that the OMD allows investigation of the behavior of human cells during in vitro culture in real time. Electrospun scaffolds with modified surface topography and chemistry can influence attachment, proliferation, and differentiation of mammary SCs and epigenetic mechanisms that maintain luminal cell identity as a function of specific morphological or biochemical cues imparted by tailor-made fiber post-treatments. Meanwhile, the OMD architecture allows control of cell seeding and culture conditions to collect more accurate and informative in vitro assays. In perspective, integrated systems could be tailor-made to mimic specific physiological conditions of the local microenvironment and then analyze the response from screening specific drugs for more effective diagnostics, long-term prognostics, and disease intervention in personalized medicine.

This paper describes a procedure to measure the permeability P, diffusivity D, and rate of adsorption k1, thus determining the solubility S and rate of desorption k2 of He, N2, O2, CH4, and CO2 on a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane. The described procedure is able to determine experimentally all the physical quantities that characterize the gas transport process through a thin rubber polymer membrane. The experiments were carried out at room temperature and at a transmembrane pressure of 1 atm. The results are in good agreement with the available data in the literature and offer an evaluation of k1 and k2.

Il saggio analizza le traduzioni inglesi e americani della poesia di Montale

We propose ion-induced dewetting of Au thin films as a mechanism to modify and control the morphology of Si nanowires formed through metal-assisted chemical etching. We show that the patterns formed upon irradiation resemble those typical of dewetting phenomena, with a characteristic length in the nanometer range. Irradiated Au films are then used as a template for the fabrication of Si nanowires, and we show that a long-range order exists also in etched substrates, although at much longer length scales in the micrometer range. Investigation of the optical properties reveals that the Si nanowires emit broadband photoluminescence peaked at 700 nm. The proposed synthesis method allows tuning the morphological features of the nanowire bundles at the nanoscale without affecting the optical properties. This approach can be exploited for the engineering of nanowires-based devices where the morphological features become important.

Le prime traduzioni americane delle poesie di Rocco Scotellaro risalgono al 1953, quando il poeta era pressocché sconosciuto in Italia in quanto gran parte dei suoi scritti fu pubblicata postuma grazie all’interessamento di Carlo Levi e Rossi Doria. Nonostante i premi e i riconoscimenti l’opera di Scotellaro, ed in partricolare la sua poesia, è rimasta confinata in quella sorta di periferia culturale ben separata dal novero di autori “degni” di essere inseriti nelle antologie nazionali. Non così nel sistema culturale anglo-americano. Scotellaro fu infatti uno dei primi poeti italiani ad essere tradotto e presentato al pubblico americano e le sue poesie furono inserite in antologie e riviste accanto a quelle di Ungaretti, Montale, Saba e Quasimodo, solo per citare i più famosi a livello internazionale. Il presente saggio ricostruisce la presenza di Scotellaro negli USA e propone un’analisi delle traduzioni dei diversi traduttori che nel corso di mezzo secolo si sono cimentati con i versi del poeta lucano, evidenziandone l’approccio traduttivo e le strategie editoriali.

The purpose of this investigation is to fabricate PDMS membranes with reliable surface roughness in order to reduce the surface resistances and to study its impact on the permeation rate. The permeance of CO2 through PDMS membranes with rough surfaces at nanoscale is studied and compared with the one of membranes with flat surfaces. At very low thickness, rough membranes have a permeance greater than that of membranes with flat surfaces. The enhancement occurs in a regime where the gas transport is sorption desorption surface rate limited, and cannot be explained by the increase in surface area due to the corrugation. The analysis, introducing a phenomenological model in analogy with electrical flow, indicates that nano-corrugation reduces the surface resistance. To test the model, the permeance of N2 is also measured in the same experimental conditions and the influence of surface roughness on permeation rate of CO2, He, CH4 and N2 is studied. The comparison among the gases suggests that the Henry’s coefficient depends on the surface roughness and allows discussing the role of roughness on membrane selectivity.

Il saggio analizza le traduzioni inglesi e americane delle poesie di Montale.

Nanofluidic structures are often the key element of many lab-on-chips for biomedical and environmental applications. The demand for these devices to be able to perform increasingly complex tasks triggers a request for increasing the performance of the fabrication methods. Soft lithography and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) have since long been the basic ingredients for producing low-cost, biocompatible and flexible devices, replicating nanostructured masters. However, when the desired functionalities require the fabrication of shallow channels, the &ldquo, roof collapse&rdquo, phenomenon, that can occur when sealing the replica, can impair the device functionalities. In this study, we demonstrate that a &ldquo, focused drop-casting&rdquo, of h-PDMS (hard PDMS) on nanostructured regions, provides the necessary stiffness to avoid roof collapse, without increasing the probability of deep cracks formation, a drawback that shows up in the peel-off step, when h-PDMS is used all over the device area. With this new approach, we efficiently fabricate working devices with reproducible sub-100 nm structures. We verify the absence of roof collapse and deep cracks by optical microscopy and, in order to assess the advantages that are introduced by the proposed technique, the acquired images are compared with those of cracked devices, whose top layer, of h-PDMS, and with those of collapsed devices, made of standard PDMS. The geometry of the critical regions is studied by atomic force microscopy of their resin casts. The electrical resistance of the nanochannels is measured and shown to be compatible with the estimates that can be obtained from the geometry. The simplicity of the method and its reliability make it suitable for increasing the fabrication yield and reducing the costs of nanofluidic polymeric lab-on-chips.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) modulate gene expression at post-transcriptional level, while their aberrant presence in circulation correlates with the most common human disorders such as cancer, neuro-degenerative and immune-related diseases. Currently, the pre-concentration of such important bio-markers present at low concentrations in biological fluids, which would make their identification and quantification easier, remains a challenging issue for biosensor-based non-invasive analyses. This paper describes a new nanostructure-based polymeric platform for enhancing adsorption capability of microRNAs, such as the cancer-associated miRNA-21. In this purification strategy, a nano-hole pattern was manufactured by Replica Molding (REM) and fabricated on Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) large-areas. Interestingly, the microRNAs adsorption is resulted favoured by this proper topography. In planning to concentrate the patient’s miRNAs used as biomarkers, PDMS surfaces with nanostructures were not further coated with any adhesive molecules to prevent forced surface-biomolecule adhesive regions and evaluate the mere influence of the surface topography and the ionic microenvironment. Both the nanopattern and the solution ionic strength promote adsorption of miRNAs by a sensitive and efficient method, which do not need probe immobilization, enzymatic reaction or further treatments. These studies revealed a two-fold higher fluorescent signal after solid-phase purification protocol compared to standard PDMS obtained by spin-coating. While this paper focuses on nanostructure-miRNA adsorption, the general strategy of trapping miRNAs on nano-hole patterns should be broadly applicable for purification of other miRNAs through microfluidic biosensors and should have basic as well as clinical research applications.

We present the first detailed experimental observation and analysis of nanoparticle electrophoresis through a nanochannel obtained with synchronous high-bandwidth electrical and camera recordings. Optically determined particle diffusion coefficients agree with values extracted from fitting electrical transport measurements to distributions from 1D Fokker–Planck diffusion-drift theory. This combined tracking strategy enables optical recognition and electrical characterization of nanoparticles in solution, which can have a broad range of applications in biology and materials science.

CLC proteins are a nine-member gene family of Cl- channels that have diverse roles in the plasma membrane and in intracellular organelles. The recent structure determination of bacterial CLC homologues by Dutzler et al. was a breakthrough for the structure-function analysis of CLC channels. This review describes the mechanisms of inhibition of muscle type CLC channels by two classes of small organic substances: 9-anthracene carboxylic acid (9AC) and p-chlorophenoxy propionic acid (CPP). Both substances block muscle type CLC channels (CLC-0 and CLC-1) from the intracellular side. For CPP, one could show that it inhibits the individual protopores of the double-barrelled channel. A major difference between the two types of blockers is the extremely slow binding- and unbinding-kinetics of 9AC (time scale of min), compared to that of CPP block (time scale of s), while the general mechanism of block seems to be quite similar. In the case of the chiral CPP only the S(-) enantiomer is effective. Both substances exhibit a strongly voltage-dependent block with strong inhibition at negative voltages and relief of block at depolarizing potentials at which the channels tend to open maximally. A quantitative kinetic model was developed for the CPP block of CLC-0 in which the closed state has a much larger affinity for CPP than the open state and opening of drug-bound channels is greatly slowed compared to drug-free channels. First experiments with mutated CLC-0 channels and with derivatives of CPP strongly support the pore localization of the CPP binding site. This work provides the basis for the use of these small organic substances as tools to investigate the pharmacological properties of mammalian CLC channels guided by the crystallographic structure of bacterial CLC homologues. They might also turn out to be useful to obtain information about the intricate coupling of gating and permeation that characterizes CLC channels.

In the last years, nanopore technology has been increasingly exploited for biomolecule detection and analysis. Recently, the main focus of the research has moved from the study of nucleic acids to the analysis of proteins and DNA-protein complexes. In this paper, chemically functionalized solid-state nanopore has been used to recognize Nuclear Factor-kappa B proteins (NF-κB), that are involved in several disorders and inflammation processes, so that their identification is of crucial importance for prognostic applications. In particular, we show that it is possible to electrically detect the specific interaction between p50, a protein belonging to the NF-κB family, and dsLNA probe molecules covalently attached to the surface of a FIB fabricated SiN pore. The obtained results have been compared with those related to BSA protein, which does not interact with the used probes. Finally, the potential of the device has been further tested by analyzing a whole cell extract. In this case, three principal peaks in the distribution of electrical event duration can be identified, corresponding to different interacting NF-κB complexes, so that the methodology appears to be effective also to study biological samples of considerable complexity. Ultimately, the presented data emphasize the selectivity and versatility of the functionalized nanopore device, demonstrating its applicability in bioanalytics and advanced diagnostics.

(2001). L'eclissi del cittadino in Pianissimo di Camillo Sbarbaro. Italian Culture: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 53-65.

Il saggio esamina la traduzione inglese della Coscienza di Zeno curata da Beryl de Zoete (1930), evidenziando le strategie traduttive e gli scarti rispetto all’opera originale. La traduzione inglese è di tipo etnocentrico: nel ricondurre, tuttavia, il testo sveviano alla cultura e alla lingua di arrivo, l’idioletto e lo stile dell’autore risu ltano compromessi nonostante l’apparente fedeltà. The aim of this article is to analyze the English translation of La Coscienza di Zeno by Beryl de Zoete (1930). We will attempt to define the choices and the swerves of the translation compared to the original text. The English translation is ethnocentric because, despite it apparent accuracy, it threatens the authorial style and its linguistic peculiarities forcing Svevo’s text to metamorphose in an “Anglo-Saxon” novel.

Aims: Sensitivity, selectivity and tunability are keywords to develop effective and reliable diagnostic and bioanalytical tools. In this context, micro and nanofluidic devices constitute a powerful and versatile answer to the growing and urgent demand for innovative solutions. Nevertheless, a precise control of size and functionality of such structures is necessary for ensuring advanced manipulation and sensing capabilities, up to single molecule level. Methods: We report here on different strategies for the development of micro and nanofluidic platforms for advanced diagnostics based on the exploitation of the elastic properties of deformable materials, and on surface chemical functionalization processes. Results: We demonstrated that applying a macroscopic mechanical compression to elastomeric nanostructures it is possible to increase their confining power and vary the dynamics of DNA translocation process, while the use of the chemical functionalization allows to tune both the size and the functionality of the biosensor. Conclusion: We believe that a smart integration of these two approaches would allow a significant step forward for the fabrication of next-generation lab-on-chip devices for biomedical diagnostic applications.

N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors (NRs) are glutamate-gated channels critical for the functioning of the nervous system. They are assembled from two types of subunits, the essential GluN1 and at least one type of GluN2 (A, B, C, D) subunit. Nickel (Ni) modulates the NR current in a way dependent on the GluN2 subunit present. Besides voltage-dependent and voltage-independent inhibition, in GluN2B-containing channels Ni enhances channel activity. We have recently identified several domains of the channel involved in Ni interaction, but many aspects of this modulation remain elusive. The purpose of the present work is to investigate the role of calcium (Ca) in the effect of Ni on the NR current measured by voltage- and patch-clamp in RNA-injected Xenopus laevis oocytes or in transiently transfected mammalian HEK293 cells expressing GluN1/GluN2B recombinant receptors. In both expression systems, in the presence of a physiological concentration of Ca (1.8 mM), Ni increased the NR current with EC(50) in the μM range, but this potentiation was reduced by decreasing Ca concentration or when Ca was substituted with Ba. In injected oocytes, the effect of Ni in 0.3 mM external Ba was only inhibitory (IC(50) = 65 μM). Increasing the internal calcium buffering by EGTA and BAPTA application, as well as incubation with cytoskeleton perturbing agents, colchicine and cytochalasin-D, did not produce major modifications in the Ni effect. These observations indicate that Ni-mediated potentiation is not dependent on Ca influx and internal Ca concentration, but it is dependent on external Ca, which possibly interacts with the extracellular portion of the protein through a modulatory binding site.

Nickel (Ni(2+)) is a toxic metal that affects the function of several neuronal ionic channels. Ni(2+) inhibits N-methyl-D: -aspartate receptor (NR) channel in a voltage-dependent manner, but also causes enhancement of NR2B-containing channel activity and voltage-independent inhibition of those containing NR2A. The present work was aimed to find the sites of Ni(2+) interaction on the NR2A and NR2B subunits by expressing wild-type and mutated NRs in either HEK293 cells or Xenopus laevis oocytes. The point mutation N616G in the pore region of the NR2B subunit completely removed the voltage-dependent block. In NR2 subunits deleted for their entire amino terminal domain (ATD) and expressed with wild-type NR1 subunit, voltage-independent inhibition of NR2A-containing channels was not modified, but the potentiation effect was abolished in NR2B-containing channels. In the latter channels, potentiation of the current was also removed by H127A, D101A, D104A point mutations and by the double mutation H127AD101A, all located in lobe I of ATD, and reduced by the point mutation T233A in lobe II, suggesting that the interaction site that causes potentiation shares common determinants with the Zn(2+) and ifenprodil binding sites. In contrast, in NR2A-containing channels, we postulate the existence of an additional divalent cation binding site in the M3-M4 extracellular loop. In these channels, the point mutation H801A in the NR2A subunit caused an important reduction of the voltage-independent block, with a 7-time increase in IC(50). The block was also partially, but not as prominently, reduced by the double mutation H705AH709A in the same region of NR1. This additional binding site can be responsible of specific heavy metal interaction with NR channels

CLC channels are a gene family of Cl(-) channels that serve a variety of functions, several of which are involved in genetic diseases. Few specific ligands of CLC channels are known that could be useful as pharmacological tools or potential drugs. We synthesized various derivatives of 2-(p-chlorophenoxy)propionic acid, the S(-)-enantiomer of which is a specific blocker of the muscle channel CLC-1. In particular, compounds with different alkyl or phenoxy-alkyl groups on the chiral center, isosteres of the oxygen in the aryloxy moiety, or bioisosteres of the carboxy function were prepared. We found that compounds containing a phenoxy and a phenoxy-alkyl group on the chiral center (bis-phenoxy derivatives) specifically inhibited renal CLC-K channels from the extracellular side with an affinity in the 150-microM range and with almost no effect on other CLC channels when applied from the outside. Surprisingly, the same substances inhibited CLC-1 from the intracellular side in a voltage-dependent manner with an apparent K(D) of5 microM at -140 mV, thus being the most potent blockers of a CLC channel known so far. Although the chlorine atom in para- position of the second phenoxy group was essential for inhibition of CLC-K channels from the outside, it could be substituted by a methoxy group without changing the potency of block for CLC-1 from the inside. These newly identified substances provide powerful tools for studying the structure-function relationship and the physiological role of CLC channels and may represent a starting point for the development of useful drugs targeting CLC-K channels.

Si analizzano i "Bozzetti di viaggio" di Cosimo De Giorgi, nel quadro della letteratura di viaggio del XIX secolo