Economic crisis and firm exit: do intangibles matter?

The crisis regarding the Euro area has caused several business closures, especially in the periphery of the EMU. In this paper we use an orginal Italian firm-level dataset to determine why firms exit the market during times of economic crisis, paying particular attention to the role of intangibles. We argue that intangibles strenghten a firm's resilience, which improves the firm's ability to cope with adverse events and unexpected shocks. We obtain two main results: first, we show that the presence of intangibles significantly reduces the probability of firm exit, especially during the initial phase of the crisis, second, we find that financial constraints become more relevant than intangibles in explaining firm exit during the latest stages of the crisis. Thus, the process of firm selection during the crisis has undergone a rapid transformation, with distorsions that may lead even skilled firms to exit. Implications of these findings for EU recovery policies are discussed

Swimming upstream throughout the turmoil: evidence on firm growth during the Great recession

In contrast to the so-called cleansing effect, during the Great Recession we observe highly heterogeneous firm performances. In particular, a not negligible subset of firms grew considerably despite of the general tendency towards downsizing. In this paper we explain the behaviour of theseswimming upstream firms(SUFs). We obtain three main results. First, SUFs exhibitcertainfirm-specific characteristics: they are younger and relatively more productive than non-SUFs. Second, SUFs adopt highly proactive strategic profiles, which assignsignificant importancetoactivities related to innovation, intangibles and internationalization. Third, SUFs tend to react to changes in market opportunities, although they suffer from sticky processes of resourcereallocation between exiting and surviving firms. Moreover, their growth seems to take place primarily within a regime of cumulative destruction rather thancreative destruction. Some of the implications of these results for managers and policy makers are discussed

Beyond the enclave? Break-outs into mainstream markets and multicultural hybridism in ethnic firms

The literature on immigrant entrepreneurship has richly described the characteristics and peculiarities of ethnic businesses catering to enclave markets. However, several indications suggest that immigrant-owned firms are increasingly entering mainstream markets and changing both their internal structures and their external networks with resource providers. One of the most substantial changes, which has been overlooked by researchers, consists of the appearance of what we define as \u2018multiculturally hybrid firms\u2019, which are firms that rely on inter-ethnic managerial or labour resources to carry out their activities. Therefore, in this paper we provide an understanding of the variables that affect the recourse to solutions of multicultural hybridism in the entrepreneurial teams and personnel of immigrant-owned firms. We conduct our empirical analyses on data collected through interviews on a sample of 130 immigrant entrepreneurs in Italy. Our results show that multicultural hybridism is mainly driven by the size of the founding team, the business's maturity, the entrepreneurs' host-country language competence and by entrepreneurs' motivation by individual goals rather than community goals. This research advances our knowledge about immigrant entrepreneurship by focusing on firm-level dimensions such as the diversity of entrepreneurial teams and employees, which are increasingly relevant in our multicultural societies

Combining secukinumab with dimethyl fumarate for treatment of a patient with psoriasis and recent diagnosis of multiple sclerosis

Results We report the case of a 44-year-old male patient referred to our department in 2006 for evaluation and management of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis not responding to previous topical therapies and to conventional systemic treatments. On initial evaluation, his Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) was 23 so it was decided to start a biological therapy. Etanercept was firstly introduced with partial control of both cutaneous and articular manifestations and stopped after 2 years due to a loss of efficacy. Then, other different biological drugs were administered but discontinued for loss of efficacy or no clinical response. In 2017, we started a treatment with secukinumab with significant clinical improvement. These results were still maintained after 2 years. In January 2019, due to several episodes of hypoesthesia and paraesthesia, the patient performed a neurological examination and a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with gadolinium revealing multiple encephalic and spinal hyperintense lesions compatible with focal demyelinated areas. A diagnosis of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis was made and therapy with dimethyl fumarate (240 bid) started. Secukinumab therapy was maintained but decreasing the dose to 150 mg/month in order to reduce the immunosuppressive risks. After 12 months of follow-up, the patient tolerates the association of the two therapies and presents good control of both diseases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of a combination of two immunosuppressive drugs, secukinumab and dimethyl fumarate, for the treatment of a patient with concomitant psoriasis and multiple sclerosis. Among the widely different conventional therapies available to treat these two diseases, only dimethyl fumarate has been approved for both conditions. Moreover, interleukin 17 (IL-17) appears to play a key role in the pathogenesis of both diseases; it is produced by lymphocytes Th17, but also by CD8+ cells, Tγδ lymphocytes and some cells of the central nervous system, such as astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, in the context of active lesions of multiple sclerosis. Currently, the efficacy of anti IL-17 has been described only in few cases of multiple sclerosis. In conclusion, our case emphasizes the potential efficacy and safety of combination therapy of secukinumab and dimethyl fumarate, which may be a therapeutic option for such challenging patients

Nutritional habits and incidence of diseases in the elderly

Conocer la alimentación del adulto mayor es de vital importancia con el fin de disminuir la prevalencia de enfermedades crónicas y mejorar la calidad de vida. Este es un estudio descriptivo, donde se seleccionaron de manera no probabilística a 103 adultos mayores que voluntariamente se sumaron al proyecto, hombres y mujeres mayores de 60 años, del gran Mendoza. Se analizaron variables sociodemográficas, antropométricos, estilo de vida, comorbilidades, indicadores dietéticos y escala de depresión geriátrica

Kin discrimination and possible cryptic species in the social amoeba Polysphondylium violaceum

Abstract Background The genetic diversity of many protists is unknown. The differences that result from this diversity can be important in interactions among individuals. The social amoeba Polysphondylium violaceum, which is a member of the Dictyostelia, has a social stage where individual amoebae aggregate together to form a multicellular fruiting body with dead stalk cells and live spores. Individuals can either cooperate with amoebae from the same clone, or sort to form clonal fruiting bodies. In this study we look at genetic diversity in P. violaceum and at how this diversity impacts social behavior. Results The phylogeny of the ribosomal DNA sequence (17S to 5.8S region) shows that P. violaceum is made up of at least two groups. Mating compatibility is more common between clones from the same phylogenetic group, though matings between clones from different phylogenetic groups sometimes occurred. P. violaceum clones are more likely to form clonal fruiting bodies when they are mixed with clones from a different group than when they are mixed with a clone of the same group. Conclusion Both the phylogenetic and mating analyses suggest the possibility of cryptic species in P. violaceum. The level of divergence found within P. violaceum is comparable to the divergence between sibling species in other dictyostelids. Both major groups A/B and C/D/E/F show kin discrimination, which elevates relatedness within fruiting bodies but not to the level of clonality. The diminished cooperation in mixes between groups suggests that the level of genetic variation between individuals influences the extent of their cooperation

The Silent Epidemic of Diabetic Ketoacidosis at Diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes in Children and Adolescents in Italy During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020

To compare the frequency of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 with the frequency of DKA during 2017-2019