ObjectiveGonadotoxicity is considered one of the most distressing side effects of cancer treatment. Although fertility preservation can be a valid solution, it also involves a challenging process. A clear understanding of the features of women who decide to pursue fertility preservation after cancer diagnosis is missing. The purpose of the present study was therefore to analyze the personality profile of female patients referred to oncofertility prior to gonadotoxic treatment.MethodsFifty-two female cancer patients took part in the study. The Temperament and Character (...) Inventory-Revised, the Response Evaluation Measure-71, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y Form were administered to examine personality characteristics, defense mechanisms, depression and anxiety symptoms.ResultsCompared with reference data of the Italian population, our sample reported significantly lower scores in Harm Avoidance and trait anxiety, and significantly higher levels of mature defense mechanisms. Most of the patients reported low scores in immature defense mechanisms, depression, and trait anxiety, and medium scores in state anxiety.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that these women display functional personality traits and defensive style, in association with low levels of depression and trait anxiety. These features may enable a proactive attitude to cancer and the ability to make long-term plans. This may favor psychological adjustment to cancer and a projection toward the future. (shrink)

Objective: Fertility loss due to cancer treatment can be a devastating experience for women and the couple. Undergoing fertility preservation can be a complex decision from both a medical and emotional point of view. The aim of the present study was to evaluate which socio-demographic and psychological factors predict a high motivation to undergo fertility preservation.Methods: Fifty-eight female cancer patients who accessed an Oncofertility Unit completed: a questionnaire to collect socio-demographic characteristics and the level of motivation, the Beck-Depression Inventory-II, the (...) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y, and the Fertility Problem Inventory.Results: Almost half of the sample declared a high motivation. At multiple logistic regression analysis only the “Need for parenthood” subscale of the FPI predicted a high motivation. We alternatively evaluated as possible predictor the construct “Representations about the importance of parenthood” in place of the two separate subscales. At multiple logistic regression analysis, only this variable predicted a high motivation to undergo fertility preservation.Conclusion: The most important predictor of a high motivation to undergo fertility preservation is the individual desire for parenthood. This implies that, regardless of socio-demographic characteristics, any woman of childbearing age should receive an appropriate counseling about fertility preservation. (shrink)

Ontologies represent the standard way to model the knowledge about specific domains. This holds also for the legal domain where several ontologies have been put forward to model specific kinds of legal knowledge. Both for standard users and for law scholars, it is often difficult to have an overall view on the existing alternatives, their main features and their interlinking with the other ontologies. To answer this need, in this paper, we address an analysis of the state-of-the-art in legal ontologies (...) and we characterise them along with some distinctive features. This paper aims to guide generic users and law experts in selecting the legal ontology that better fits their needs and in understanding its specificity so that proper extensions to the selected model could be investigated. (shrink)

Ontologies represent the standard way to model the knowledge about specific domains. This holds also for the legal domain where several ontologies have been put forward to model specific kinds of legal knowledge. Both for standard users and for law scholars, it is often difficult to have an overall view on the existing alternatives, their main features and their interlinking with the other ontologies. To answer this need, in this paper, we address an analysis of the state-of-the-art in legal ontologies (...) and we characterise them along with some distinctive features. This paper aims to guide generic users and law experts in selecting the legal ontology that better fits their needs and in understanding its specificity so that proper extensions to the selected model could be investigated. (shrink)

Ontologies represent the standard way to model the knowledge about specific domains. This holds also for the legal domain where several ontologies have been put forward to model specific kinds of legal knowledge. Both for standard users and for law scholars, it is often difficult to have an overall view on the existing alternatives, their main features and their interlinking with the other ontologies. To answer this need, in this paper, we address an analysis of the state-of-the-art in legal ontologies (...) and we characterise them along with some distinctive features. This paper aims to guide generic users and law experts in selecting the legal ontology that better fits their needs and in understanding its specificity so that proper extensions to the selected model could be investigated. (shrink)

Negation can be considered a shared social action that develops since early infancy with very basic acts of refusals or rejection. Inspired by an approach to the embodiment of concepts known as Multiple Representation Theories, the present paper explores negation as an embodied action that relies on both sensorimotor and linguistic/social information. Despite the different variants, MRT accounts share the basic ideas that both linguistic/social and sensorimotor information concur to the processes of concepts formation and representation and that the balance (...) between these components depends on the kind of concept, the context, or the performed task. In the present research we will apply the MRT framework for exploring negation in Italian sign language. The nature of negation in LIS has been explored in continuity with the co-speech gesture where negative elements are encoded through differentiated prosodic and gestural strategies across languages. Data have been collected in naturalistic settings that may allow a much wider understanding of negation both in speech and in spoken language with a semi-structured interview. Five LIS participants with age range 30–80 were recruited and interviewed with the aim of understanding the continuity between gesture and sign in negation. Results highlight that negation utterances mirror the functions of rejection, non-existence and denial that have been described in language acquisition both in deaf and hearing children. These different steps of acquisition of negation show a different balance between sensorimotor, linguistic and social information in the construction of negative meaning that the MRT is able to enlighten. (shrink)

El proceso de globalización ha puesto en crisis al Estado-nación y ha incrementado la desigualdad y la exclusión en el mundo. Por ello, la justicia no puede seguir siendo pensada exclusivamente, como se hizo en tiempos pasados, a partir del estrecho margen estatal. Frente a la jerarquización de la ciudadanía y de los Estados en el nuevo orden mundial, una teoría de la justicia global debe plantearse a largo plazo la consolidación de un constitucionalismo global que garantice los derechos fundamentales (...) para todas las personas y promueva una distribución justa de los beneficios que genera la globalización. (shrink)

Oggi il mondo dell’arte si apre a un’ibridizzazione di forme e generi. La bellezza e la creatività, categorie fondamentali dell’arte secondo la tradizione idealistica e romantica, trovano nella vita quotidiana nuovi territori da colonizzare. In questo panorama di esteticità diffusa un fenomeno acquista particolare interesse: la DesignArt. La DesignArt costituisce un’intersezione tra due ambiti della creatività storicamente volti l’uno a progettare per l’industria oggetti seriali, utili ed esteticamente gradevoli, l’altro a ideare opere uniche e belle, ma senza scopo. Il luogo (...) precipuo della DesignArt è l’ambiente vissuto, dove contemplazione e consumo si intrecciano in un’esperienza sinestetica in cui l’arte può offrire dei servizi ai fruitori. Pertanto la contemplazione disinteressata, tradizionalmente connotativa dell’opera d’arte, viene ora sostituita da un’esperienza a più livelli, una sorta di “consumo contemplativo”, poiché la bellezza si può fruire simultaneamente alla soddisfazione di altri scopi. Attraverso l’esame di opere convergenti in quest’ambito sia dalla sfera dell’arte sia da quello della produzione industriale, questo saggio cercherà di mettere a fuoco le categorie estetiche della DesignArt. Particolare attenzione sarà rivolta al concetto di atmosfera introdotto nel dibattito sull’estetica contemporanea da Gernot Boheme. Il concetto di atmosfera può fornire una chiave di lettura per i nuovi territori dell’estetizzazione quotidiana, in cui il valore di “messa in scena” prevale sul valore d’uso degli oggetti, e di conseguenza può costituire una categoria ermeneutica per questa intersezione creativa tra bellezza e funzionalità. (shrink)

L’architettura fin dalle origini è stata un’arte ancipite tra utile e bello. Nel corso del tempo tale declinazione si è variamente alternata, approdando da un lato alle derivazioni funzionaliste, propugnate in varia misura dai teorici del Movimento Moderno, dall’altro, in casi estremi, a quelle forme di architettura/scultura in cui la destinazione d’uso si annulla nell’esperienza estetica. Questo numero della “Rivista di estetica” vuole fare il punto sullo stato attuale del dibattito, mettend...

Las fronteras han experimentado grandes cambios ligados principalmente al desarrollo de la globalización, la desigualdad de sus beneficios y el aumento inédito de las migraciones y movilidad internacionales. Este artículo se centra en la discriminación como uno de los grandes desafíos de la sociedad democrática asociado a la resignificación de las fronteras. Frente a las graves desigualdades y exclusiones que atentan contra la libertad y dignidad de las personas, se reivindica a la política, en diversos ámbitos y escalas, como posibilidad (...) de construir un mundo menos injusto y violento, dejando atrás la ley del más fuerte. (shrink)

Everyday Aesthetics was born in the 21 st Century as a sub-discipline of Anglo-American Aesthetics and it has spread in the international debate. However, the contribute of historical perspective has not properly explored yet. Is it possible to trace the history of everyday aesthetics before the official birth of this discipline? I will try and give an affirmative answer by focusing on an exemplary category: that of the decorum. Using the history of ideas, I will analyse the Greek concept of (...) prepon and the similar Latin concepts of decorum which express the idea of ‘convenience’ or ‘fitness to purpose’ in the ethical and rhetorical sphere. Later I will analyse the evolution of the concept of decorum in the theory of Ancient and Renaissance architecture. My goal is to demonstrate that in Ancient and Renaissance culture decorum is a category that refers to the objects and practices of everyday life but also a principle that regulates appropriate behaviour in the sphere of good manners. Consequently, given its pervasiveness in the different areas of everyday life, the concept of decorum can be a paradigmatic example to trace the history of everyday aesthetics. (shrink)

Everyday Aesthetics was born in the 21 st Century as a sub-discipline of Anglo-American Aesthetics and it has spread in the international debate. However, the contribute of historical perspective has not properly explored yet. Is it possible to trace the history of everyday aesthetics before the official birth of this discipline? I will try and give an affirmative answer by focusing on an exemplary category: that of the decorum. Using the history of ideas, I will analyse the Greek concept of (...) prepon and the similar Latin concepts of decorum which express the idea of ‘convenience’ or ‘fitness to purpose’ in the ethical and rhetorical sphere. Later I will analyse the evolution of the concept of decorum in the theory of Ancient and Renaissance architecture (Vitruvius, Leon Battista Alberti). My goal is to demonstrate that in Ancient and Renaissance culture decorum is a category that refers to the objects and practices of everyday life but also a principle that regulates appropriate behaviour in the sphere of good manners. Consequently, given its pervasiveness in the different areas of everyday life, the concept of decorum can be a paradigmatic example to trace the history of everyday aesthetics. (shrink)

According to Hegel and to the romantic theory, Aesthetics is a philosophy of art. However, nowadays we can experience the beauty not only with art, but also with every product . So we can query if the realm of aesthetics should hold also everyday products and how this could transform the traditional aesthetic categories.This essay aim to answer these questions. It aim furthermore to sketch the product’s theoretical foundations referring to national and international debate which have dealt with everyday aesthetics (...) according to different point of view. (shrink)

This article aims at elucidating the logic of Arist. SE 22, 178b36–179a10 and, in particular, of the sophism labelled "Third Man" discussed in it. I suggest that neither the sophistic Walking Man argument, proposed by ancient commentators, nor the Aristotelian Third Man of the , suggested by modern interpreters, can be identified with the fallacious argument Aristotle presents and solves in the passage. I propose an alternative reconstruction of the Third Man sophism and argue that an explanation of the lines (...) regarding the identity of Coriscus and Coriscus the musician (178b39–179a3) is indispensable for its correct understanding, since they hint at another sophism in some important aspects analogous. Finally, I show that two contradictions concerning spotted by scholars in the passage are only apparent and can be dissolved once the assumption that the anti-Platonic Third Man argument is at stake here is discarded, and once the passage is read in the light of its agonistic context. (shrink)

En este artículo se señalan algunas condiciones que son necesarias para el desarrollo y estabilidad de la democracia contemporánea, las cuales están vinculadas tanto al problema de la limitación de su poder como al de la justicia social. El texto está estructurado en tres partes: en la primera, se presenta un breve panorama de los niveles de apoyo que tiene la democracia en América Latina, destacando en especial las condiciones de desigualdad que hay en México; en la segunda, se analiza (...) la propuesta de Norberto Bobbio, para quien la democracia se caracteriza por ser representativa, política y formal; en la tercera, se recuperan algunos elementos de uno de sus principales discípulos, Luigi Ferrajoli, quien ha señalado la necesidad de la democracia sustancial y los derechos fundamentales para limitar el poder de la democracia formal. Palabras clave: Democracia; derechos fundamentales; desigualdad social Limits of Democracy and Social JusticeIn this article I point out some necessary conditions for the development and stability of contemporary democracy; conditions which are linked to both, the problem of the limitation of its power and social justice. The text is structured into three parts. In the first I present a brief overview of the levels of support that democracy has in Latin America, focusing especially on the inequality conditions existing in Mexico. In the second part I analyze the proposal of Norberto Bobbio´s, for whom democracy is characterized by being representative, political and formal. In the third part, I recall some points dealt with by one of his disciples, Luigi Ferrajoli, who has pointed to the need for substantial democracy and fundamental rights to limit the power of formal democracy. Keywords: Democracy; fundamental rights; social inequality. (shrink)

Between Nightmare and Reality: Dystopian Reflections on the Contemporary Society Resum: Per mitjà de la narració de fantasia i de ciència ficció, la utopia i la distopia promouen una anàlisi crítica de la realitat. En particular, la distopia ens alerta de les possibles conseqüències catastròfiques derivades de problemes sociopolítics existents i contribueix a la reflexió constructiva sobre les amenaces antidemocràtiques que posen en perill la nostra societat. Aquest article examina la representació de l’autoritat, la coacció, la propaganda, la plasmació, l’espai (...) i el llenguatge en distopies sociopolítiques seleccionades i reconegudes, com Nosaltres de Zamiatin, Un món feliç de Huxley, La nit de l’esvàstica de Burdekin, 1984 d’Orwell i El conte de la serventa de Atwood, i compara aquestes ficcions amb esdeveniments històrics i contemporanis, amb l'esperança d’il·luminar la manera real en què el poder opera sobre els cossos i les ments en sistemes tant repressius com liberals.: Through fantasy and science fiction storytelling, utopia and dystopia promote a critical analysis of reality. In particular, dystopia warns against the possible nightmarish consequences of factual socio-political issues, as well as it fosters a constructive and thought-provoking reflection on the undemocratic threats that jeopardize our society. This article examines the representation of authority, coercion, propaganda, embodiment, space, and language in selected and renowned socio-political dystopias, including Zamyatin’s We, Huxley’s Brave New World, Burdekin’s Swastika Night, Orwell’s 1984, and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and it subsequently compares these fictional depictions with historical and contemporary events, hoping to shed light on the real way that power operates on bodies and minds both in repressive and liberal systems. Paraules clau: distopia, utopia, control, violència, realització Keywords: Dystopia, Utopia, Control, Violence, Embodiment. (shrink)

The most complete edition yet published of Wittgenstein’s1929 lecture includes a never-before published first draft andmakes fresh claims for its significance in Wittgenstein’soeuvre. The first available print publication of all known drafts ofWittgenstein’s Lecture on Ethics Includes a previously unrecognized first draft of the lectureand new transcriptions of all drafts Transcriptions preserve the philosopher’s emendationsthus showing the development of the ideas in the lecture Proposes a different draft as the version read by Wittgensteinin his 1929 lecture Includes introductory essays on (...) the origins of the material andon its meaning, content, and importance. (shrink)

Every organization has to deal with operational risks, arising from the execution of a company’s primary business functions. In this paper, we describe a legal knowledge management system which helps users understand the meaning of legislative text and the relationship between norms. While much of the knowledge requires the input of legal experts, we focus in this article on NLP applications that semi-automate essential time-consuming and lower-skill tasks—classifying legal documents, identifying cross-references and legislative amendments, linking legal terms to the most (...) relevant definitions, and extracting key elements of legal provisions to facilitate clarity and advanced search options. The use of Natural Language Processing tools to semi-automate such tasks makes the proposal a realistic commercial prospect as it helps keep costs down while allowing greater coverage. (shrink)

Every organization has to deal with operational risks, arising from the execution of a company’s primary business functions. In this paper, we describe a legal knowledge management system which helps users understand the meaning of legislative text and the relationship between norms. While much of the knowledge requires the input of legal experts, we focus in this article on NLP applications that semi-automate essential time-consuming and lower-skill tasks—classifying legal documents, identifying cross-references and legislative amendments, linking legal terms to the most (...) relevant definitions, and extracting key elements of legal provisions to facilitate clarity and advanced search options. The use of Natural Language Processing tools to semi-automate such tasks makes the proposal a realistic commercial prospect as it helps keep costs down while allowing greater coverage. (shrink)

IntroductionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers in Italy have been exposed to an unprecedented pressure and traumatic events. However, no direct comparison with the general population is available so far. The aim of this study is to detail mental health outcomes in healthcare workers compared to the general population.Methods24050 respondents completed an on-line questionnaire during the contagion peak, 21342 general population, 1295 second-line healthcare workers, and 1411 front-line healthcare workers. Depressive, anxious, post-traumatic symptoms and insomnia were assessed. Specific COVID-19 related (...) potential risk factors were also considered in healthcare workers.ResultsDepressive symptoms were more frequent in the general population and front-line healthcare workers compared to the second-line healthcare workers groups. Anxiety symptoms showed a prevalence of 21.25% in the general population, 18.05% for second-line healthcare workers, and 20.55% for front-line healthcare workers. Insomnia showed a prevalence of 7.82, 6.58, and 9.92% for the general population, second-line healthcare workers, and front-line healthcare workers, respectively. Compared to the general population, front-line healthcare workers had higher odds of endorsing total trauma-related symptoms. Both second-line healthcare workers and front-line healthcare workers had higher odds of endorsing core post-traumatic symptoms compared to the general population, while second-line healthcare workers had lower odds of endorsing negative affect and dissociative symptoms. Higher total traumatic symptom score was associated with being a front-line healthcare worker, having a colleague infected, hospitalized, or deceased, being a nurse, female gender, and younger age.ConclusionThis study suggests a significant psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Italian general population and healthcare workers. Front-line healthcare workers represent a specific at-risk population for post-traumatic symptoms. These findings underline the importance of monitoring and intervention strategies. (shrink)

Communicating an unfavourable prognosis while maintaining patient hope represents a critical challenge for healthcare professionals. Duty requires respect for the right to patient autonomy while at the same time not doing harm by causing hopelessness and demoralisation. In some cases, the need for therapeutic privilege is discussed. The primary objectives of this study were to explore HPs’ perceptions of hope in the prognosis communication and investigate how they interpret and operationalise key ethical principles. Sixteen qualitative semistructured interviews with HPs from (...) different positions and experience, including doctors and nurses in four different departments, were conducted in the Ticino Cantonal Hospital, Switzerland. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. HPs defined prognosis and patient hope as interdependent concepts related to future perspectives for subjective quality of life. Two main factors allow HPs to maximise the benefits and minimise the harm of their communication: respecting the patient’s timing and sharing the patient’s wishes. Time is required to reframe needs and expectations. Furthermore, communication needs to be shared by HPs, patients and their relatives to build common awareness and promote a person-centred approach to prognosis. In this process, interprofessional collaboration is key: doctors and nurses are complementary and can together guarantee that patients and relatives receive information in the most appropriate form when they need it. Organisational aspects and the HPs’ emotional difficulties, particularly in coping with their own despair, are barriers to effective communication that need further investigation. (shrink)

Recent studies reported the development of psychological distress symptoms in patients who recovered from COVID-19. However, evidence is still scarce and new data are needed to define the exact risk and protective factors that can explain the variability in symptoms manifestation. In this study, we enrolled 257 patients who recovered from COVID-19 and we evaluated the levels of psychological distress through the Symptoms Checklist-90-R scale. Data concerning illness-related variables were collected from medical records, while the presence of subjective cognitive difficulties, (...) both before and after the illness, as well as the level of the cognitive reserve, were assessed over a clinical interview. Results revealed that being female and reporting the presence of subjective cognitive difficulties after COVID-19 were associated with higher levels of psychological distress. At the same time, being admitted to the hospital and having a high CR were protective factors. Adding new information to this emerging research field, our results highlight the importance of a complete psychological and cognitive assessment in patients with COVID-19. (shrink)

Health care systems can positively influence our personal decision-making and health-related behavior only if we trust them. I propose a conceptual analysis of the trust relation between the public and a healthcare system, drawing from healthcare studies and philosophical proposals. In my account, the trust relation is based on an epistemic component, epistemic authority, and on a value component, the benevolence of the healthcare system. I argue that it is also modified by the vulnerability of the public on healthcare matters, (...) and by the system’s credibility. I apply my proposed analysis of public trust in health care systems to the phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy, a tendency to question vaccine policies, and to seek alternative vaccine schedules or to refuse vaccination. Understanding the role of trust and its components can be key to understanding the phenomenon. (shrink)

È possibile perseguire intenzionalmente la speranza o si tratta di una postura interiore che sfugge alla volontà? E se scaturisce da una ricerca, può essere trasmessa, sollecitata?Declinata in una pratica da perseguire nella relazione di aiuto? È realistico considerare la capacità di schiudere nuove possibilità per abitare con senso la vita, una competenza professionale del lavoro di cura? Nell’intento di dare risposta a questi interrogativi la riflessione attraversa il pensiero di alcuni tra i maggiori filosofi del Novecento, secondo un orientamento (...) fenomenologico che prende le mosse dall’esperienza vissuta.Is it possible to “intentionally” pursue the hope or is it an inner attitude beyond anyone’s will? And if it derives from a research, can it be transmitted, aroused? Can it be declined as a practice to be followed in a helping relationship? Is it realistic to consider the capacity of disclosing new possibilities of living a meaningful as a professional skill in care job?The intention of giving an answer to these questions crosses the beliefs of some of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century, in compliance with a phenomenological orientation taking its moves from lived experience. (shrink)

The mathematical scenario in Italy during the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance is mainly dominated by the treatises on the abacus, which developed together with the abacus schools. In that context, between approximately the last thirty years of the fourteenth century and the first twenty years of the sixteenth century, the manuscript and printed tradition tell us of queries and challenges, barely known or totally unknown, in which the protagonists were abacus masters. We report in this work on the (...) most significant examples and draw out interesting cues for thoughts and remarks of a scientific, historical and biographical nature. Five treatises, written in the fifteenth and sixteenth century, have been the main source of inspiration for this article: the Trattato di praticha d’arismetricha and the Tractato di praticha di geometria included in the codices Palat. 573 and Palat. 577 (c. 1460) kept in the Biblioteca Nazionale of Florence and written by an anonymous Florentine disciple of the abacist Domenico di Agostino Vaiaio; another Trattato di praticha d’arismetrica written by Benedetto di Antonio da Firenze in 1463 and included in the codex L.IV.21 kept in the Biblioteca Comunale of Siena; the Tractatus mathematicus ad discipulos perusinos written by Luca Pacioli between 1477 and 1480, manuscript Vat. Lat. 3129 of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; and Francesco Galigai’s Summa de arithmetica, published in Florence in 1521. (shrink)