Overheads as a Performance Indicator in the Local Public Sector Organizations

If we consider business forms from the point of view of satisfying needs, public companies are consumer companies that satisfy collective needs with the aim of redistributing income. They differ from production companies in that they do not have direct access to the market, so that the sources of financing derive from the taxes imposed by law, while the uses concern management costs, capital investments and debt repayments. Maintaining this interpretation, another category belonging to consumer companies is that of non-profit companies, which can be equated partially to public companies precisely because of the absence of a real market of reference and the finding of sources of funding for the performance of the activity mainly from external contributions without consideration. The only difference is inherent in the fact that such contributions cannot be imposed by law and are aimed at assisting and providing services and benefits to the community of reference, in the absence of profit and capital distribution. Therefore, if in the public sector performance is mainly and historically linked to the management of financial resources and public debt, in the field of nonprofit there is a different literature focused more on the control of economic aspects (and in particular the costs of the activity) as performance indicators of the company's activity. At the international level, and in particular in the United States, the use of the incidence of overheads is an element of examination to assess the performance of the non-profit sector. In this article, the subject of analysis is the possibility of using the overhead level to assess the performance of a public body. The analysis is carried out by comparing the incidence of overheads on the revenues of Italian municipalities in the years 2015-2017 with the performance indicators given by the deficit parameters established by current administrative legislation. From this analysis, it is possible to identify the presence of a correlation between the performance indicators and the incidence of overheads, in which the likelihood of the presence of \u201cgood\u201d, \u201cexcellent\u201d or \u201cexcellent\u201d indicators is given by levels of overhead in the region of 10% of the total revenue assessed, with a margin of tolerance of 3% in positive for smaller entities (up to 5,000 inhabitants), and 3% in negative for larger entities

Receptive music interventions improve apathy and depression in elderly patients with dementia

Individuals with dementia and their families often experience poor quality of life due to patient's behavioral and psychological symptoms. Increasing evidence has mounted on the potential role of music in improving social, emotional and cognitive skills. In the present study we aim to investigate whether a receptive music intervention might reduce apathy and depression in elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or vascular dementia (VaD) and improve their caregivers' burden. Among patients attending to a Memory Clinic, we have enrolled 48 AD or VaD elderly subjects. They were divided into two groups on the basis of family agreement to musictherapy. The experimental group (n=15) was asked to listen to a 80-minute audio CD, for at least 15 minutes per day, at least once a week, for three months. The overall sample was evaluated at baseline, at week 4 and at week 12 through the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Cornel- Brown Scale QoL in Dementia (CBSQoLD) and the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES); caregiver stress was assessed using the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI). Apathy and depression were significantly improved among patients treated with music interventions compared to control group (treatment effect =43.667; P<0.001 and treatment effect =61.238; P<0.001 respectively). Caregiver burden was significantly reduced after three months of receptive music approach (treatment effect =15.759; P<0.001). The results of this study are consistent with the efficacy of receptive music interventions on improving apathy and depression in AD or VaD elderly patients and lowering associated caregiver's burden

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery