FEBBRE – FEVER

FEBBRE – FEVER

Feb 13, 2021 | BOOKS

Fever should be the positive sign that our body is fighting an infection, instead it has become something that terrifies.

But there are other types of fever too, such as the constant fever that exhausts those who are fighting their war against a disease

Continuing a bit the speech on the Strega Awards Monica said “you have to read it” and I couldn’t wait.

In this book, I personally found a further dimension of fever, a more occult level, which however is recognized by affinity: anxiety.

And I appreciated the absolute and total sincerity: a value in many cases rare.

Sincerity that turns into a gateway to life lived in Rozzano, a Milanese hinterland.

An unknown world for someone like me who was born and raised in the provinces, a ruthless world, a restricted world, made up of pre-established roles outside of which we become targets.

The author does not discount anyone, much less himself.

Did you already know Jonathan Bazzi? 

He wrote for a blog and various online publications before meeting with Fandango.
He has a degree in philosophy and in the book he talks about his intense and indispensable relationship with studying.

Another sort of “fever” perhaps more common than we can imagine.
In his case he turns into a trap due to stuttering, which he naturally manages to defeat.

Even in that: a winner.

SILENT DEATHS

SILENT DEATHS

Jan 23, 2021 | ENVIRONMENT

I have already talked about PM2.5 because frankly it is a topic that is very close to my heart and I find it absolutely important, despite continuing to pass more or less in silence.

The effects on health are hidden and manifest over time, there are no obvious infections or symptoms, but when the disease is noticed in many cases it is late.

The death tolls are terrible and yet they are rarely mentioned.

I find the latest publication from The Lancet Planetary Health absolutely frightening which indicates Brescia and Bergamo in first and second place among the European cities for mortality rate due to these damned particles.

And not only that: they are followed by Vicenza in fourth place and Saronno in eighth, meaning that out of ten cities, four are Italian, concentrated in the northern area, mainly in Lombardy.

But many other inhabited centers also have chilling levels of pollutants, available here. 

As if that were not enough, it should also be considered that despite everything there is also a hidden share: air pollution is a leading environmental cause of mortality around the world. Cities are generally hot spots for air pollution and disease. However, the exact extent of the health effects of city-wide air pollution is still largely unknown.

I have the hope of shaking some conscience, in the small, so that this theme is given an adequate echo, even if my voice falls into the same silence of all voices dull in the suffering among the indifference of most.

ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

Feb 15, 2020 | A COFFEE WITH, ROCK, WOMEN

I start with Debbie Harry, simply because I particularly like this photo and I hope it can be an inspiration for you too.
I would skip the details of his life more strictly personal and I would speak directly of the mythical times of the CBGB after the meeting with Chris Stein and the creation of Blondie who have characterized the scene since 1974 for a long period full of successes.
Without a doubt, I mention Call Me for the collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, which has become an iconic soundtrack and more generally a piece that evokes an emotional flashback at every listening: new wave, disco music, dance rock.
Debbie stayed with Chris for fifteen years during which they also fought a serious illness together.
A wonderful Heart of glass, but at the same time a strong heart, this is the first thought I have of all about her.
A woman who at fifty-three continues marking history with a first place in the chart that enters Guinness.
A woman who knows how to cross past present and future without distinction, like her portrait made by Andy Wharol with the Amiga 1000 computer.
A woman also celebrated in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who has been able to become a symbol with her ruffled hair and an uncalculated look but framed by her determination.
And his One way or another, deliberately covered with joy as a “survival mechanism”, resounds sadly current, making us reflect once again on the fact that over time, we persist in not treasuring experiences and that we cannot learn from mistakes, getting worse.
Anyway, let’s start from her smile and her intent to restore lightness and take an example, one way or another …

HOW ‘BOUT GETTING OFF OF THESE ANTIBIOTICS?

HOW ‘BOUT GETTING OFF OF THESE ANTIBIOTICS?

Jan 3, 2020 | SCIENCE, WORLD

Whenever I think to the word antibiotics I find myself humming this phrase by Alanis.
Of course, antibiotics are a phase from which we all hope to get out quickly.
What maybe not everyone knows, is that pharmaceutical companies, or more specifically investors, do not consider convenient anymore to invest in the research necessary to fight the new bacteria that have become resistant, since the economic return is small.
Sick people take antibiotics for a week at most.
Much more profitable to address to other types of medicines that treat patients for years, without eliminating the disease, such as medicines for diabetes.
In addition, manufacturers are experiencing problems due precisely to the ineffectiveness of antibiotics designed to defeat infections that can no longer eradicate fungi and bacteria that have developed defenses against medicines following decades of overuse.
Ironically, bacteria evolve more intelligently than we do.
It will be that they still have survival at heart, but we only are slaves to money.
Can you figure Fleming while being told that it is not economically convenient to continue researching his penicillin?
In reality, there is little to laugh: as reported by the New York Times, pharmaceutical giants such as Novartis have left the sector while other companies are bordering on insolvency.
Antibiotic start-ups have gained weight in recent times but an example of the situation may be the 15 years and above all the billion dollars used to approve and insert a medicine against urinary tract infections among essential. Sadly emblematic numbers.
In the past, scientists with modest means managed to obtain stunning results, in the past twenty years, only two new classes of antibiotics have been introduced, the rest are variations of existing drugs.
I am referring to the research data of the New York Times, the research situation in Italy is sad. While it was a researcher and medical officer of the Italian Navy who first understood the bactericidal power of some molds. Vincenzo Tiberio sensed a connection between the water taken from a well on whose walls there was a layer of mold, and the subsequent use of water from the same well once the walls were cleaned, managing to demonstrate the therapeutic action of some substances contained in molds.
Guess what: I feel like we have ended up at the bottom of the water well, and that the water is not clean.

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