Workers’ Power in Resisting Precarity: Comparing Transport Workers in Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam

The growing precariousness of employment across the world has radically altered the conditions upon which the representation of workers’ interests has traditionally been built, as it has posed challenges for established trade unions: individualized employment and fragmented identities have displaced the centrality of the workplace and the employee–employer relationship in framing collective issues of representation. In this article, we compare the processes of collective organization of two groups of precarious workers in the transport and delivery sector of Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam. Through this comparison we investigate how existing trade union structures, industrial relations frameworks, socio-political contexts and labour processes interact with the processes of workers’ organization that take place even in the harsher conditions of informal work, critically engaging with the argument that the growing precariousness of work represents the end of trade unionism as we know it

Experimental utilization of interferometric radar techniques for structural monitoring

SUMMARY This paper presents a new surveying technique that can be employed with hardly reachable structures or extensive structures. The technique is based on an interferometric radar device, which can be positioned up to 2 km away from the structure to be examined and can record displacement measurements with a sampling frequency of up to 100 Hz and an accuracy of 0.1 mm. The results given by the radar are compared with those given by a set of three accelerometers on a test structure (namely, a steel cable-stayed footbridge) for three different loads: a symmetric dynamic load, an eccentric dynamic load and a symmetric quasi-static load. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

A multi-wavelength pipeline for pulsar searches

Pulsar studies in the recent years have shown, more than others, to have benefited from a multi-wavelength approach. The INAF - Astronomical Observatory in Cagliari (INAF-OAC) is a growing facility with a young group devoted to pulsar and fast transients studies across the electromagnetic spectrum. Taking advantage of this expertise we have worked to provide a suite of multi-wavelength software and databases for the observations of pulsars and compact Galactic objects at the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT). In turn, radio pulsar observations at SRT will be made available, in a processed format, to gamma-ray searches using AGILE and Fermi gamma-ray satellite and, in a near future, they will be complementary to polarimetric X-ray observations with IXPE.Comment: Accepted for publications in Rendiconti Lincei as Proceedings of "A Decade of AGILE: Results, Challenges and Prospects of Gamma-Ray Astrophysics

False negativity to carbohydrate-deficient transferrin and drugs: a clinical case

Introduction: In this work we report on the possible effect of the medical therapy on CDT concentration in a chronic alcohol abuser, with known medical history (July 2007 – April 2012) and alcohol abuse confirmed by relatives. Case history: At the end of 2007, patient displayed the following laboratory results: AST 137 U/L, ALT 120 U/L, GGT 434 U/L, MCV 101 fL and CDT 3.3%. On December 2007, after double coronary artery bypass surgery, he began a pharmacological treatment with amlodipine, perindopril, atorvastatin, isosorbide mononitrate, carvedilol, ticlopidine and pantoprazole. In the next months, until may 2011, the patient resumed alcohol abuse, as confirmed by relatives; however, CDT values were repeatedly found negative (0.8% and 1.1%) despite elevated transaminases and GGT, concurrent elevated ethyl glucuronide concentration (> 50 mg/L) and blood alcohol concentration (> 1 g/L). Alcohol consumption still continued despite increasing disulfiram doses ordered by an Alcohol Rehab Center. On May 2011, the patient was transferred to a private medical center where he currently lives. Conclusions: This study suggests the possibility that a medical therapy including different drugs may hamper the identification of chronic alcohol abusers by CDT

Free-style technique versus computed tomographic angiography-guided perforator selection in deep inferior epigastric perforator flap harvest: a prospective clinical study

Background: Computed tomographic angiography (CTA) is the preferred diagnostic tool in preoperative deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap assessment, though some surgeons prefer approaching perforator selection with intraoperative findings alone. Methods: This prospective observational study conducted between 2015 and 2020 assessed our intraoperative decision-making "free-style" technique for DIEP flap harvest. Any patient with indication for immediate or delayed breast reconstruction using abdominally based flaps and who received preoperative CTA was enrolled. Only unilateral cases performed by the same surgeon were considered. Allergy to iodine-based contrast media, renal impairment and claustrophobia were other exclusion criteria. Primary endpoint consisted in comparing operative times and complication rates between free-style technique and CTA-guided approach. Secondary endpoints included evaluation of agreement rate between intraoperative findings and CTA, and identification of variables affecting operative time and complication rate. Demographics, surgical information, agreement versus non-agreement and complications were collected. Results: Starting from 206 patients, 100 were enrolled. Fifty were assigned to Group A, receiving DIEP flap with free-style technique. The other 50 were assigned to Group B, receiving DIEP flap with CTA-guided perforators selection. Study groups' demographics were homogenous. Operative time was statistically lower (p = .036) in free-style group (252.4 ± 44.77 min vs. 265.6 ± 31.67 min). Complication rates were higher in CTA-guided group (10% vs. 2%) though this was not significant (p = .092). Overall agreement rate in dominant perforator selection between intraoperatively and CTA-based assessment was 81%. Multiple regression analysis showed no variable increased complication rate, though CTA-guided approach, BMI > 30 and harvesting more than one perforator were respectively associated with B-coefficient of 17.391 (2.430-32.351, 95% CI) [p = .023], 3.50 (0.640-6.379, 95% CI) [p = .017] and 18.887 (6.232-31.542, 95% CI) [p = .004], predicting increased operative time. Conclusions: The free-style technique proved to be a useful tool for guiding DIEP flap harvest with good sensibility in detecting the dominant perforator suggested by CTA without statistically increasing surgery duration and complications

Survival in Patients with Primary Parotid Gland Carcinoma after Surgery—Results of a Single-Centre Study

This study aims to analyse a single-centre cohort series of patients who underwent parotidectomy for primary malignant parotid tumours. A retrospective chart review of 64 consecutive patients treated from November 2010 to March 2022 was performed. Outcomes were analysed by Kaplan-Meier curves. Sixty-four patients with a primary parotid malignancy were included in the study, with one bilateral case in this cohort. Patients were classified as stage I–II in 39 cases and stage III–IV in 26 cases. The five-year overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), local relapse-free survival (LRFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) rates were 78.4%, 89%, 92.5%, and 87.1%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that high-risk histology, stage IV disease, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, node metastasis, skin involvement, facial nerve involvement, and positive or close margins were risk factors associated with poorer outcomes. At present, the best evidence suggests that radical surgery should be the standard approach, and adjuvant therapy, in terms of radiotherapy/chemoradiotherapy, is recommended in patients with risk factors

Arthritis in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: From 2022 International GISEA/OEG Symposium

Musculoskeletal involvement is one of the most common manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), with a negative impact on both quality of life and overall prognosis. SLE arthritis can be classified into three different subtypes, with different prevalence and characteristic biomarkers and MRI findings. Identifying the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying musculoskeletal manifestations' development is crucial to develop therapeutic strategies to suppress synovial inflammation, prevent erosions and deformities, and improve SLE patients' quality of life. Hence, here we discuss the main pathogenetic mechanisms and therapeutic approaches of musculoskeletal manifestations of SLE from the 2022 International GISEA/OEG Symposium

Implant Breast reconstruction in the setting of post-operative radiotherapy with protective lipofilling

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