Frailty as a novel concept: exploring the impact of acute events and malnutrition on vulnerable critically ill patients

This thesis investigated frailty as a multidimensional clinical syndrome marked by diminished physiological and cognitive reserves, increasing vulnerability to adverse outcomes in critically ill and surgical elderly patients. Frailty, closely linked to aging but also influenced by comorbidities and malnutrition, predisposes patients to complications such as functional decline, prolonged hospitalization, and mortality. The first prospective study assessed the effects of major elective surgery ...

Epidermodysplasia verruciformis as a human model to elucidate the ?-HPVs life cycle and their role in skin cancer development

Molecular concepts of virus infections causing skin cancer in epidermodysplasia verruciformis patients

Contextualizing the Value of Freedom

Away from bread: the parable of the celiac between deprivation and replacement

Questa ricerca antropologica esplora la celiachia oltre l’ambito clinico, focalizzandosi sulle implicazioni identitarie, culturali e sociali della diagnosi. A partire da un’indagine etnografica, condotta attraverso questionari e interviste presso l’Ospedale Maggiore della Carità di Novara, la tesi analizza il vissuto dei pazienti celiaci, mettendo in luce come l'esclusione del glutine influenzi il rapporto con il corpo, il cibo e la dimensione relazionale. Al centro dello studio vi è il conce...

Philosophical Methods Explored: Thought Experiments, Paradoxes, and Hypothetical Scenarios

This dissertation contributes to metaphilosophy by examining two central tools in philosophical methodology: thought experiments and paradoxes. Both have shaped philosophical inquiry from antiquity to contemporary analytic philosophy, prompting foundational questions about their nature, function, and epistemic value. Despite their widespread use, the definitions and roles of thought experiments and paradoxes remain contested, with unresolved theoretical challenges. The first section of the di...

Moral Intuition: its Nature and Its Normative Roles

This thesis offers a characterisation of moral intuition and presents its normative roles. I aim at describing accurately the nature and the main features of moral intuition and its connections with other mental states, and I defend the justificatory power of moral intuition within a realist and moderately foundationalist framework. In the first chapter, I support the status of moral intuition as a sui generis mental state and argue against its reduction to doxastic attitudes. I clarify the f...

Ateismo, Naturalismo e Clandestinità: il Colloquium Heptaplomeres di Jean Bodin e la sua fortuna in Francia e Germania (XVII - XVIII secolo)

This doctoral project investigates the reception and circulation of Jean Bodin’s thought in France and Germany from the late Renaissance to the early eighteenth century, with particular attention to the fortune of the Colloquium Heptaplomeres. The dissertation is structured in three parts, each devoted to a distinct phase in the dissemination and interpretation of Bodin’s intellectual legacy. The first part reconstructs the initial two phases of Bodin’s reception. The first period, from 1577 ...

Integrative Multi-Omics Pofiling of Major Depressive Disorder Patients: Unveiling Biomarkers of Disease Severity and Therapy Response

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a widespread psychiatric illness that profoundly impacts social and occupational functioning. Despite its prevalence, diagnosis remains clinical, based on DSM-5 criteria, with no validated biomarkers available to guide diagnosis or predict treatment response. Therapeutic decisions often rely on a trial-and-error approach, leading to poor outcomes for many patients. Recent studies highlight the gut-immune-brain axis as a key player in MDD pathophysiology, inv...