Search

AIMS: to assess radiological and clinical outcomes, in terms of safety and efficacy, of symptomatic vertebral fractures with and without posterior wall and\or both endplates involvement, treated with vesselplasty technique (Vessel-X, Dragon Crown Medical Co., Ltd Shandong, China). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 66 Patients who underwent 92 vesselplasty procedures, performed for the treatment of symptomatic vertebral body fractures from March 19 to September 2020. We divided the fractures in two subgroups: 36 vertebral fractures with posterior wall and/or both endplates involvement, which we defined complex, while all the others were defined simple. Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) values has been registered 1 day before the procedure and at 1, 6 and 12 months follow-up. We also evaluated vertebral height restoration by comparing pre-interventional with post-interventional imaging. RESULTS: 92 vertebrae were treated (58 lumbar, 34 thoracic), with 24 multilevel procedures. We observed a technical success rate of 100%, without major complications; a single case of asymptomatic paravertebral cement leak was reported. Both simple and complex subgroups registered a significative statistical difference in NRS and ODI between preoperative and at 1, 6 and 12 months (p 0.05). A significant statistical difference was demonstrated in vertebral height comparing pre-operative and post-operative data (p 0.05). No significant difference in vertebral height restoration was observed between simple and complex vertebral fractures groups. CONCLUSIONS: Vesselplasty represents a safe and effective technique for the treatment of both simple and complex painful vertebral fractures, granting a significant reduction of symptoms, excellent cement leakage control and proper vertebral height restoration.

Abstract – Samuel Beckett's interest in St. Augustine is manifest throughout his oeuvre, both in terms of content and style, and can be traced from his very first works, such as Whoroscope, to his last plays and short stories. Although this interplay has been touched upon in the critical discourse on Beckett, a systematic analysis is still to be done. This paper represents a preliminary investigation into the Augustinian influence in the early Beckett, in particular Dream of Fair to Middling Women and Murphy. By considering the presence of the Confessions in these two novels I intend to show how St. Augustine's work played a significant role in the development of the young author, offering him the occasion to overcome his theory of habit as outlined in his early essay, Proust. In this text, Beckett posits habit as merely “the generic name for the countless treaties concluded between the countless subjects that constitute the individual and their countless correlative objects”. Dream still endorses this perspective, but already suggests a different dialectic of memory, will, and habit. This shift, I argue, can be connected to Beckett’s reading of Augustine's meditations, in book VIII of the Confessions, on the cleavage between the spirit and the flesh. In Murphy, we see Beckett’s 'Augustinian dialectic' fully formed: habit is no longer a veil of Maya that hides the real essence of the individual, but the condition of possibility for the subject's flight from the “mercantile Gehenna” world towards the truth of the inner self.Riassunto – L'interesse di Samuel Beckett per Sant'Agostino è evidente nell'intero corpus dell'autore – a partire dai suoi primissimi lavori, in particolare la poesia Whoroscope, fino agli ultimi drammi e racconti – e si manifesta sia sul piano del contenuto che dello stile. Nonostante il rapporto tra i due autori sia già stato oggetto dell'attenzione dei critici, una sua analisi sistematica deve essere ancora compiuta. Nel presente saggio si offre una proposta di lettura della presenza agostiniana nel primo Beckett, in particolare Dream of Fair to Middling Women e Murphy. Considerando la presenza delle Confessioni in questi due romanzi intendo mostrare come i lavori di Sant'Agostino abbino giocato un ruolo fondamentale nello sviluppo del giovane autore, offrendogli l'occasione di superare la sua teoria dell'abitudine così come l'aveva rappresentata nel saggio giovanile Proust. In questo testo, Beckett descrive l'abitudine come “il nome generico per gli innumerevoli accordi stipulati fra gli innumerevoli soggetti che costituiscono l'individuo e i rispettivi innumerevoli oggetti”. In Dream si presenta la stessa prospettiva, ma già si intravedono i segni di una differente dialettica fra memoria, volontà e abitudine. Tale slittamento può essere ricondotto alla lettura delle meditazioni agostiniane nel libro VIII delle Confessioni, nelle quali si tematizza la scissione fra la volontà dello spirito e quella del corpo. In Murphy la dialettica agostiniana di Beckett giunge a compimento: l'abitudine non è più il velo di Maya che nascone l'essenza reale dell'individuo, ma la condizione di possibilità per la fuga del soggetto dalla “mercantile Gehenna” verso la verità dell'interiorità.

Relying on Max Weber’s and Colin Campbell’s description of the Spirit of Capitalism, I plan to interpret the narrators of Melville’s Bartleby and Cock-A-Doodle-Doo! as embodying two com­plementary aspects of the same ethical attitude informing such spirit. This is characterized by the oscillation between sentimentalism and individualism, charity and egoism, idealism and pragmatism, which Melville detected in the everyman of his time. In particular, I will focus on the references to the theological debate on free will and to the theme of melancholy as pivotal elements to comprehend Melville’s insight. Finally, I will show how Merrymusk and Bartleby, the two other main characters of the stories, may be seen as representing Melville’s attempt to question the American society of his time.

Il saggio tratta del significato della sedia a dondolo nel romanzo Murphy di Samuel Beckett, considerata come esempio della ‘simbologia geometrica’ dell’autore. Si sostiene che la forma della sedia a dondolo possa essere interpretata in relazione all’interesse di Beckett per i numeri irrazionali quali mezzo per illustrare il tipo di relazione fra i suoi personaggi e il mondo. Si propone inoltre di mettere in relazione in questo senso la sedia a dondolo con un altro oggetto tipicamente beckettiano, la bicicletta, che si rivela caratterizzata da una simbologia a essa complementare. La relazione fra questi due oggetti, si sostiene infine, può fungere da paradigma per una tipologia dei personaggi beckettiani, tesi fra una fuga verso un altrove indefinito e una fuga verso un’interiorità staccata dal mondo.