Alternative splicing of human prostaglandin G/H synthase mRNA and evidence of differential regulation of the resulting transcripts by transforming growth factor beta 1, interleukin 1 beta, and tumor necrosis factor alpha.

Prostaglandin G/H synthase (PGG/HS) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins and thromboxanes. We screened a human lung fibroblast cDNA library with an ovine PGG/HS cDNA and isolated a 2.3-kilobase clone (HCO-T9). Sequence analysis of this clone showed that (a) it contained the entire translated region of PGG/HS and (b) it displayed an in-frame splicing of the last 111 base pairs encoded by exon 9, which resulted in the elimination of the N-glycosylation site at residue 409. Polymerase chain reaction amplification with specific oligonucleotides of reverse-transcribed mRNA from diverse human tissues and cultured cells yielded 400- and 300-base pair fragments that corresponded, respectively, to the intact and spliced transcripts. The expression of these two transcripts in cultured human lung fibroblasts was differentially regulated by serum, transforming growth factor beta 1, interleukin 1 beta, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, as each of these conditions stimulated preferentially the expression of the unspliced transcripts. The elimination of one of the four N-glycosylation sites by the alternative splicing of exon 9 and the differential regulation of this process by relevant cytokines and growth factors may represent a mechanism for the regulation of PGG/HS enzymatic activity under physiological or pathological conditions

A free boundary model for oxygen diffusion in a spherical medium

The goal of this article is to find a correct approximated solution using a polynomial of sixth degree for the free boundary problem corresponding to the diffusion of oxygen in a spherical medium with simultaneous absorption at a constant rate, and to show some mistakes in previously published solutions.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures and 2 tables. Paper accepted, in press in Journal of Biological Systems (2015

D2=H+1/4{\mathsf D}^2={\mathsf H}+1/4 with point interactions

Let ${\mathsf D}$ and ${\mathsf H}$ be the self-adjoint, one-dimensional Dirac and Schr\"odinger operators in $L^{2}(\mathbb{R};\mathbb{C}^{2})$ and $L^{2}(\mathbb{R};\mathbb{C})$ respectively. It is well known that, in absence of an external potential, the two operators are related through the equality ${\mathsf D}^2 = ({\mathsf H} + \frac{1}{4}){\mathbb 1}$. We show that such a kind of relation also holds in the case of $n$-point singular perturbations: given any self-adjoint realization $\widehat {\mathsf D}$ of the formal sum ${\mathsf D}+\sum_{k=1}^{n}\gamma_{k}\delta_{y_{k}}$, we explicitly determine the self-adjoint realization $\widehat{\mathsf H}$ of ${\mathsf H}{\mathbb 1}+\sum_{k=1}^{n}(\alpha_{k}\delta_{y_{k}}+\beta_{k}\delta'_{y_{k}})$ such that ${\widehat{\mathsf D}}^2 = \widehat{\mathsf H} + \frac{{\mathbb 1}}{4}$. The found correspondence preserves the subclasses of self-adjoint realizations corresponding to both the local and the separating boundary conditions. The case on nonlocal boundary conditions allows the study of the relation ${\mathsf D}^{2}={\mathsf H}+\frac14$ for quantum graphs with (at most) two ends; in particular, the square of the extension corresponding to Kirchhoff-type boundary conditions for the Dirac operator on the graph gives the direct sum of two Schr\"odinger operators on the same graph, one with the usual Kirchhoff boundary conditions and the other with a sort of reversed Kirchhoff ones

Modern public internal control systems and accountability in health care organizations

The introduction of NPM principles changed the meaning and the contents of public sector accountability as it is no longer intended as a mere compliance with rules and procedures but as the need to give an account to the citizenry, in terms of how results are achieved and resources are used in their pursuit. Accountability for results requires the modernisation of traditional control systems. These check whether regulations are followed without ensuring that the achievement of objectives is controlled. Confirming the growing need in modernizing internal control systems and increasing managerial accountability and transparency in spending public money, the European Commission has developed a reference model for the public sector: Public Internal Financial Control – PIfC. The paper tries to contribute the relevant debate on the usefulness of internal control systems by exploring the implicit positive relationship between them and managerial accountability envisaged in the PIfC model. To this end the research focuses on a case study set in the context of Italian health care sector and in the main health care organization located in the Region of Sardinia

I redditi dichiarati dai modenesi. Anno 2018

Lo studio analizza i redditi imponibili dichiarati ai fini Irpef nel Comune di Modena per l'anno d'imposta 2018. I redditi imponibili medio e mediano dei contribuenti sono stati rispettivamente 24.775,43 euro e 19.769,00 euro, entrambi inferiori rispetto ai valori rivalutati del 2016. Differenziando l'analisi per sesso, si osserva che il reddito mediano degli uomini è circa un terzo maggiore di quello delle donne. Confrontando i dati del 2018 con quelli del 2002 per studiarne le va- riazioni di lungo periodo, emerge che solo i contribuenti con età nel 2018 fra i 60 e gli 80 anni presentano un reddito mediano più elevato rispetto ai contribuenti con la stessa età nel 2002. L'indice di Gini nel 2018 è stato di 0,489, in aumento rispetto al 2016. L'incrocio con i dati anagrafici ha permesso di focalizzare l'analisi sui contribuenti residenti, che sono stati 130.790. Studiandone i red- diti mediani per rione urbanistico di residenza, si nota una sostanziale omogenietà nella distribuzione territoriale con Cucchiari, Cognento e Baggiovara in testa alla classifica. Rispetto al 2016, a fronte di una riduzione del reddito mediano dello 0,2% a livello comunale, si rileva- no andamenti molto diversi a seconda del rione. La quota di residenti a basso reddito imponibile dichiarato è risultata in linea con quella rilevata due anni prima. Passando allo studio dei redditi per nazio- nalità del contribuente, sono stati confermati i precedenti risultati: i contribuenti stranieri sono relativamente più giovani degli italiani e hanno redditi mediani significativamente più bassi. Analizzando i redditi delle famiglie anagrafiche, emerge che negli ultimi due anni vi è stato un miglioramento delle condizioni dei nu- clei con due e cinque o più componenti e delle famiglie composte dal capofamiglia e da figli maggiorenni. In aumento anche il reddito delle madri con figli minorenni, che tuttavia rimangono tra le tipologie più svantaggiate. Tutte le figure e le tabelle hanno quale fonte elaborazioni personali sulle Dichiarazioni dei Redditi con riferimento agli anni di imposta 2002, 2011, 2016, 2017 e/o 2018 nel Comune di Modena. Per lefigure relative alle distribuzioni territoriali si ringrazia l'arch. Paola Dotti del Settore Pianificazione Territoriale e Edilizia Privata del Comune di Modena

Quality of Government and Well-being: An Empirical Analysis of 158 European Regions

The aim of the study is twofold: on the one hand, it assesses the association between well-being and the quality of government, on the other it evaluates the impact exerted on the same well-being by the different components into which the quality of government can be broken down. The analysis is conducted at the regional level. A composite indicator derived from OECD data on regional well-being is used to assess its association with the quality of government. The latter is measured using the European Quality of Government Survey Index (EQI) data. The EQI breaks down the quality of government into three key elements: the impartiality of administration, the quality of services provided and the degree of corruption. The association between well-being and quality of government is verified considering, at first, the EQI index as a whole, being the product of the three different components, and then separately considering its key elements.The results confirmed the existence of a strong positive association between well-being and the overall quality of government, as between the former and the single components of the EQI index. Furthermore, the same association is observed when the assessment is made on the whole sample, but also when subsamples are made, considering the geographical macro-area to which the regions belong