Giuseppe Brotzu and the Discovery of Cephalosporins

Giuseppe Brotzu (1895-1976), for over thirthy years Professor of Hygiene in the Medical Faculty and Rector (1936-1945) of the University of Cagliari, was also superintendent of Public Health during the campaign for the eradication of malaria in Sardinia. As a scientist, his fame is due to the discovery of cephalosporins that he made in Cagliari, at the end of the 2nd World War. He isolated from the outfalls of a local sewage a microorganism, identified as Cephalosporium acremonium, whose cultures inhibited several important Gram negatives as Salmonella typhi and Brucella Melitensis. Even if he was aware of the importance of his discovery, owing to the lack of facilities and financial support he was unable to study further the activity of the fungus. Thus, in the year 1946, after the publication of his results on the journal "Lavori dell'Istituto di Igiene di Cagliari", he sent the fungus to the Laboratory of Pathology at Oxford University. Here Edward Abraham, who had been part of Florey team in the study of penillin, succeeded in producing the Cephalosporin antibiotics, one of the most important tool in the therapy of infectious diseases. For his discoveries Brotzu was awarded in 1971 the honorary degree in Science by Oxford University

Corporate Governance in Downturn Times: Detection and Alert \u2013 The New Italian Insolvency and Crisis Code

In its life cycle, an enterprise may experience periods of crisis. If the crisis is monitored promptly and appropriate measures are taken, not only may the enterprise continue to operate but it may also be able to seize opportunities for growth. The Italian legislator is introducing a procedure aimed at supporting companies to detect the very irst warning signs of a crisis. The supervisory board of auditors, the audit irm, and certain qualiied creditors will have the right and duty to start the early warning procedure (\u201callerta\u201d). The board of statutory auditors (Collegio Sindacale) plays a fundamental role: its ex-ante supervisory and control activities over management allow it to efectively play an important role as main recipient of any crisis warning signs. The new regulatory framework lays down certain indicators and critical thresholds, which may trigger the alert process. Initially, the Delegated Legislation (Bill No.3671-bis) sets forth certain speciic inancial indicators. The new bill (Crisis and Insolvency Code) on the contrary refers to a more complex and sector-speciic system of indicators. The indings of an empirical research conducted by analysing a sample of more than 600 enterprises and testing the discriminating capacity of the indicators initially considered are presented herein

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