Measuring Nepotism through Shared Last Names: The Case of Italian Academia

Nepotistic practices are detrimental for academia. Here I show how disciplines with a high likelihood of nepotism can be detected using standard statistical techniques based on shared last names among professors. As an example, I analyze the set of all 61,340 Italian academics. I find that nepotism is prominent in Italy, with particular disciplinary sectors being detected as especially problematic. Out of 28 disciplines, 9 – accounting for more than half of Italian professors – display a significant paucity of last names. Moreover, in most disciplines a clear north-south trend emerges, with likelihood of nepotism increasing with latitude. Even accounting for the geographic clustering of last names, I find that for many disciplines the probability of name-sharing is boosted when professors work in the same institution or sub-discipline. Using these techniques policy makers can target cuts and funding in order to promote fair practices

Mapping replication origins by quantifying relative abundance of nascent DNA strands using competitive polymerase chain reaction.

A procedure was developed for mapping origins of DNA replication in mammalian cell chromosomes based on determining the relative abundance of nascent DNA strands throughout a specific genomic region. The method entails purification of short strands of nascent DNA derived from recently activated origins and the quantification, within this sample, of the relative abundances of different adjacent DNA segments by a competitive polymerase chain reaction technique. It is expected that the abundance of defined markers within the origin region is greatest at the site where DNA replication begins. This origin mapping procedure (i) allows analysis of single-copy genomic regions, (ii) can be performed on cultured and primary cells in the absence of any chemical treatment, (iii) does not require cell synchronization, and (iv) allows mapping origins to within a few hundred base pairs. This high degree of resolution permits a study of the cis- and trans-acting elements required for origin function. Application of this method to single-copy sequences in mammalian cells has identified replication origins within an approximately 500-bp segment in the human lamin B2 gene domain and within an approximately 800-bp segment in the hamster dihydrofolate reductase gene locus

High-resolution mapping of the origin of DNA replication in the hamster dihydrofolate reductase gene domain by competitive PCR.

By the use of a highly sensitive mapping procedure allowing the identification of the start sites of DNA replication in single-copy genomic regions of untreated, exponentially growing cultured cells (M. Giacca, L. Zentilin, P. Norio, S. Diviacco, D. Dimitrova, G. Contreas, G. Biamonti, G. Perini, F. Weighardt, S. Riva, and A. Falaschi, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91:7119-7123, 1994), the pattern of DNA replication of the Chinese hamster dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene domain was investigated. The method entails the purification of short stretches of nascent DNA issuing from DNA replication origin regions and quantification, within this sample, of the abundance of different adjacent segments by competitive PCR. Distribution of marker abundance peaks around the site from which newly synthesized DNA had emanated. The results obtained by analysis of the genomic region downstream of the DHFR single-copy gene in asynchronous cultures of hamster CHO K1 cells are consistent with the presence of a single start site for DNA replication, located approximately 17 kb downstream of the gene. This site is coincident with the one detected by other studies using different techniques in CHO cell lines containing an amplified DHFR gene domain

Immunomodulatory activities associated with β-glucan derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In this study we investigated the effect of β-glucan derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae on fungicidal activity, cytokine production and natural killer activity. Spleen and peritoneal cells from female C57BL/6 mice, previously injected (24 or 48 h) with 20 or 100 μg of glucan by i.p. route, were assayed. In vivo β-glucan administration primed spleen cells for a higher production of IL-12 and TNF-α when S. aureus was used as a stimulus. In addition, β-glucan increased NK spleen cells activity against YAC target cells. Some immunomodulatory activities not yet described for β-glucan were observed in this work. © 2005 Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Immunomodulatory activities associated with beta-glucan derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In this study we investigated the effect of beta-glucan derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae on fungicidal activity, cytokine production and natural killer activity. Spleen and peritoneal cells from female C57BL/6 mice, previously injected (24 or 48 h) with 20 or 100 mu g of glucan by i.p. route, were assayed. In vivo mu-glucan administration primed spleen cells for a higher production of IL-12 and TNF-alpha when S. aureus was used as a stimulus. In addition, beta-glucan increased NK spleen cells activity against YAC target cells. Some immunomodulatory activities not yet described for beta-glucan were observed in this work

Assessment of the neutralizing potency of ovine antivenom in a swiss mice model of Bothrops jararaca envenoming

Alternative sources of anti-ophidic serum are being investigated due to the secondary effects associated with types I and II hypersensitivity reactions. In the present study we raised and evaluated the protective effect of an ovine antibothropic serum in a Swiss mice envenoming model. Ovine antiserum was obtained by immunization with seven increasing doses of bothropic venom associated with adjuvants. The neutralizing ability was tested by the lethal activity (2 LD50) neutralization and serum and splenic venom levels after antivenom administration to experimentally envenomed mice. The antiserum effect on local edema was also tested by injection of venom/antivenom mixtures into the mice footpads. Ovine antiserum neutralized lethal activity and also significantly decreased serum and splenic venom levels. However, this antiserum was not able to mediate any protective effect on edema triggered by bothropic venom