Raccontare gli Antichi: le "Imagini" di Vincenzo Cartari

Con le "Imagini degli dei degli antichi", pubblicate a Venezia nel 1556 e poi in più edizioni arricchite e illustrate, l’impegnato gentiluomo estense Vincenzo Cartari realizza il primo, fortunatissimo manuale mitografico italiano in lingua volgare, diffuso e tradotto in tutta l’Europa moderna. Cartari rimodula, secondo accenti divulgativi ma fedeli, fonti latine tradizionali: come le ricche "Genealogie deorum gentilium" di Giovanni Boccaccio, l’appena precedente "De deis gentium varia et multiplex historia" di Lilio Gregorio Giraldi, i curiosi "Fasti" ovidiani, da lui stesso commentati e tradotti. Soprattutto, però, introduce il patrimonio millenario di favole ed esegesi classiche, di aperture egiziane, mediorientali, sassoni, a una chiave di lettura inedita, agile e vitalissima: l’ecfrasi. Le divinità e i loro cortei di creature minori, aneddoti leggendari e attributi identificativi si susseguono secondo un taglio iconico e selettivo. Sfilano, in trionfi intrisi di raffinato petrarchismo neoplatonico e di emblematica picta poesis rinascimentale, soltanto gli aspetti figurabili e distintivi dei personaggi mitici: perché siano «raccontate interamente» tutte le cose attinenti alle figure antiche, «con le imagini quasi di tutti i dei, e le ragioni perché fossero così dipinti». Così, le "Imagini" incontrano il favore di lettori colti e cortigiani eleganti, di pittori e ceramisti, di poeti e artigiani. Allestiscono una sorta di «manuale d’uso» pronto all’inchiostro del poeta o al pennello dell’artista, una suggestiva raccolta di «libretti figurativi» ripresi tanto dalla maniera di Paolo Veronese o di Giorgio Vasari, quanto dal classicismo dei Carracci e di Nicolas Poussin. Si rivelano, infine, summa erudita capace di attirare appunti e revisioni: l’antiquario padovano Lorenzo Pignoria, nel 1615 e di nuovo nel 1626, vi aggiunge appendici archeologiche e comparatistiche, interessate al remoto regno dei faraoni quanto agli esotici idoli orientali e dei Nuovi Mondi.

The James Lind Library: explaining and illustrating the evolution of fair tests of medical treatments

The James Lind Library (www.jameslindlibrary.org) has been established to improve public and professional general knowledge about fair tests of treatments in healthcare and their history. Its foundation was laid ten years ago at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and its administrative centre is in the College's Sibbald Library, one of the most important collections of historic medical manuscripts, papers and books in the world. The James Lind Library is a website that introduces visitors to the principles of fair tests of treatments, with a series of short, illustrated essays, which are currently available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. A 100-page book-- Testing Treatments--is now available free through the website, both in English and in Arabic and Spanish translations. To illustrate the evolution of ideas related to fair tests of treatments from 2000 BC to the present, the James Lind Library contains key passages and images from manuscripts, books and journal articles, many of them accompanied by commentaries, biographies, portraits and other relevant documents and images, including audio and video files. New material is being added to the website continuously, as relevant new records are identified and as methods for testing treatments evolve. A multinational, multilingual editorial team oversees the development of the website, which currently receives tens of thousands of visitors every month.

Swiss Social Report: Generations in Perspective

Based on systematically prepared data and indicators, the Social Report 2012 informs about the current status and development trends in the Swiss society. This issue focuses on intergenerational relationships: How, for example, are intergenerational transfers carried out and what are they caused by? Does different cultural behaviour depend on the age group or do other social differences play a role? Do age-specific discriminations exist? Are young adults less politically involved than their parents? What impact has the demographic development of recent years had on the geographic structure? In addition to a selection of 75 indicators on these and other subjects, the Social Report contains five analytically oriented in-depth articles that are written from the perspective of the generational issue and which are dedicated to the following individual aspects: Equality of opportunities, cultural behaviour, age-specific discrimination, political involvement and the spatial reflection of the demographic changes. The Social Report 2012 is rooted in the tradition of the earlier issues of 2000, 2004 and 2008, which have been completely updated and supplemented with additional indicators. All the data are graphically presented and available in electronic form on this website. The five in-depth articles and all the short commentaries on the indicators were completely rewritten.

Vom Kommentieren

In Germanistic philological editing, theoretical discussion on the commentary assumes traditionally a secondary role compared to the manifold contributions on other subjects of textual philology. Already in 1924, Georg Witkowski admonished to enhance scholarly debates on the commentary, and the claim has since been repeated several times. This paper reflects current discussions in the context of contemporary annotation practice, wishing to trigger new considerations of how the intellectual genesis of text and the contexts of literary works can be adequately illustrated in the commentaries.

Surgical treatments for esophageal cancers.

The following, from the 12th OESO World Conference: Cancers of the Esophagus, includes commentaries on the role of the nurse in preparation of esophageal resection (ER); the management of patients who develop high-grade dysplasia after having undergone Nissen fundoplication; the trajectory of care for the patient with esophageal cancer; the influence of the site of tumor in the choice of treatment; the best location for esophagogastrostomy; management of chylous leak after esophagectomy; the optimal approach to manage thoracic esophageal leak after esophagectomy; the choice for operational approach in surgery of cardioesophageal crossing; the advantages of robot esophagectomy; the place of open esophagectomy; the advantages of esophagectomy compared to definitive chemoradiotherapy; the pathologist report in the resected specimen; the best way to manage patients with unsuspected positive microscopic margin after ER; enhanced recovery after surgery for ER: expedited care protocols; and long-term quality of life in patients following esophagectomy.

Adenocarcinoma at the gastroesophageal junction.

The following, from the 12th OESO World Conference: Cancers of the Esophagus, includes commentaries on the clinical differences between carcinomas arising slightly above, slightly below, and within the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ); information provided by biopsies; information provided by resection specimens following neoadjuvant therapy; histologic differences existing between carcinomas arising slightly above, slightly below, and within the GEJ; differences provided by immunohistochemistry in these tumors; information given by endoscopic mucosal resection specimens; the role of esophageal pyloric gland adenomas as precursors of adenocarcinomas in the region of the cardia; the role of pancreatic metaplasia; Her2 immunoreactivity to make distinctions in the site of origin; and intestinal metaplasia limited to the cardia as a precursor of adenocarcinoma.

Coping with esophageal cancer approaches worldwide.

The following, from the 12th OESO World Conference: Cancers of the Esophagus, includes commentaries on approaches to the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of esophageal cancer in Europe, South Africa, Kenya, Australia, and China; the molecular classification of esophageal cancers (including cancers at the gastroesophageal junction); the Japanese classification; the scope of the Human Variome Project; and the topographic-anatomic subclassification of adenocarcinomas of the gastroesophageal junction.