Profiling identification with Europe and the EU project in the European regions

Recent political events in the European Union (EU) highlighted a growing dissatisfaction of citizens in several EU regions with the EU institutions' management of socio-economic and financial challenges. This eventually led to a political legitimization crisis, whose drivers are partially shared among EU regions and partially area-specific. However, the relation between citizens' identification with the EU project and the regions' characteristics has not been analysed yet. In this article, we fill in this gap by addressing three research questions: i) To what extent do EU citizens identify with Europe and the EU project? ii) Do European regions have different patterns and level of identification? iii) Are the results driven by specific socio-economic variables? Answering these questions is crucial to inform a more inclusive and resilient design of the EU Cohesion Policy in a crucial period for reforming the EU. To this purpose, we develop a novel probabilistic classification model, IdentEU, which embeds with the concept of individual identification with Europe. We use micro-level data from a survey implemented within the PERCEIVE project. We find that the influencing variables that mostly affect (citizens and) regions' identification with the European project are: trust in the EU institutions, the effectiveness of EU Cohesion Policy and spending, and the level of corruption. These issues gain relevance at the light of three main challenges that affected the EU socio-economic development path in the last decade, i.e. the 2008 financial crisis, the globalization process, and Brexit

University teaching and potential of geographic information systems in Project Cycle Management cycle in international development for cooperation

This paper presents the first results of a pilot project tackling the nexus among Gis and spatial analysis, international cooperation and higher education. This experience shows that it seems appropriate to use a dialectical approach between theory and practice to develop knowledge, competences and operational skills to be used potentially in all project cycle management phases. The teaching pilot project held at the University of Bologna within the undergraduate curriculum in Development and International Cooperation (Svic) has led to develop a syllabus and a methodological framework for a full laboratory-course allowing students to be professionally ready to apply Gis in practice

Ultrasound delivery of Surface Enhanced InfraRed Absorption active gold-nanoprobes into fibroblast cells: a biological study via Synchrotron-based InfraRed microanalysis at single cell level

Ultrasound (US) induced transient membrane permeabilisation has emerged as a hugely promising tool for the delivery of exogenous vectors through the cytoplasmic membrane, paving the way to the design of novel anticancer strategies by targeting functional nanomaterials to specific biological sites. An essential step towards this end is the detailed recognition of suitably marked nanoparticles in sonoporated cells and the investigation of the potential related biological effects. By taking advantage of Synchrotron Radiation fourier transform infrared micro-spectroscopy (SR-microftiR) in providing highly sensitive analysis at the single cell level, we studied the internalisation of a nanoprobe within fibroblasts (NIH-3T3) promoted by low-intensity US. To this aim we employed 20 nm gold nanoparticles conjugated with the IR marker 4-aminothiophenol. The significant Surface Enhanced Infrared Absorption provided by the nanoprobes, with an absorbance increase up to two orders of magnitude, allowed us to efficiently recognise their inclusion within cells. Notably, the selective and stable SR- microftiR detection from single cells that have internalised the nanoprobe exhibited clear changes in both shape and intensity of the spectral profile, highlighting the occurrence of biological effects. Flow cytometry, immunofluorescence and murine cytokinesis-block micronucleus assays confirmed the presence of slight but significant cytotoxic and genotoxic events associated with the US-nanoprobe combined treatments. our results can provide novel hints towards US and nanomedicine combined strategies for cell spectral imaging as well as drug delivery-based therapies

DNA-functionalized gold nanoparticle assemblies for Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering

The programmable assembly of DNA strands is a promising tool for building tailored bottom-up nanostructures. Here, we present a plasmonic nanosystem obtained by the base-pairing mediated aggregation of gold nanoparticles (NPs) which are separately functionalized with two different single-stranded DNA chains. Their controlled assembly is mediated by a complementary DNA “bridge” sequence. We monitor the formation of DNA assembled NP aggregates in solution, and we study their Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) response by comparison with the single NP constituents. We interpret the revealed SERS signatures in terms of the molecular and NP organization at the nanoscale, demonstrating that the action of the DNA bridge molecule yields regular NP aggregates with controlled interparticle distance and reproducible SERS response. In perspective, this demonstrates the potential of the present system as a stable, biocompatible, and recyclable SERS sensor

Exhaustive CoMFA and CoMSIA analyses around different chemical entities: a ligand-based study exploring the affinity and selectivity profiles of 5-HT1A ligands

The 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT1A) receptors represent an attractive target in drug discovery. In particular, 5-HT1A agonists and partial agonists are deeply investigated for their potential role in the treatment of anxiety, depression, ischaemic brain disorder and more recently, of pain. On the other hand, 5-HT1A antagonists have been revealed promising compounds in cognition disorders and, lately, in cancer. Thus, the discovery of 5HT1A ligands is nowadays an appealing research activity in medicinal chemistry. In this work, Comparative Molecular Fields Analysis (CoMFA) and Comparative Molecular Similarity Index Analysis (CoMSIA) were applied on an in-house library of 5-HT1A ligands bearing different chemical scaffolds in order to elucidate their affinity and selectivity for the target. Following this procedure, a number of structural modifications have been drawn for the development of much more effective 5-HT1AR ligands

Citizens' perception of the Cohesion Policy and support for the European Union

Using a novel database, this study assesses the impact of the perception of the personal benefits of the EU Cohesion Policy on support for the European project. The results show that the gap in support between people who claim to have benefited from the Cohesion Policy and those who feel they have not vanished once differences in individual traits and reverse causality are taken into account. This means that, despite the significant positive effect that the intensity of the Cohesion Policy in the region exerts on the perception of the policy, it does not stimulate support for the EU

Regional Income Convergence in Portugal (1991-2002)

Our research aims to address the problem of inequality in income distribution from a different perspective than the usual. We intend to verify if geography influences the pattern of inequality, that is, if the standard of living varies from region to region and if, in the process of growth, spatial units in Portugal have been converging in terms of most relevant variables, such as income. We search the answers to these questions by introducing the treatment of convergence between smaller territorial units, the municipalities as individuals. We intend to evaluate convergence or divergence in income growth and test empirically the theoretical hypothesis that β-convergence, although necessary, is not a sufficient condition for σ-convergence. To study convergence, we use information about GDP and wages for NUTS III regions, and wages for municipalities. We observe spatial dependence between municipalities, so we estimate spatial econometric models to test convergence. With regard to conditional convergence between municipalities, the model most appropriate is the one which includes in the explanatory variables the weight of primary sector employment, leading us to conclude that this variable distinguishes the "steady state" of the small economies. Variables like the activity rate and percentage of active population with higher education also reveal highly significant on the growth of wages, reflecting the different contexts of the labor market at regional level

BS148 Reduces the Aggressiveness of Metastatic Melanoma via Sigma-2 Receptor Targeting

: The management of advanced-stage melanoma is clinically challenging, mainly because of its resistance to the currently available therapies. Therefore, it is important to develop alternative therapeutic strategies. The sigma-2 receptor (S2R) is overexpressed in proliferating tumor cells and represents a promising vulnerability to target. Indeed, we have recently identified a potent S2R modulator (BS148) that is effective in melanoma. To elucidate its mechanism of action, we designed and synthesized a BS148 fluorescent probe that enters SK-MEL-2 melanoma cells as assessed using confocal microscopy analysis. We show that S2R knockdown significantly reduces the anti-proliferative effect induced by BS148 administration, indicating the engagement of S2R in BS148-mediated cytotoxicity. Interestingly, BS148 treatment showed similar molecular effects to S2R RNA interference-mediated knockdown. We demonstrate that BS148 administration activates the endoplasmic reticulum stress response through the upregulation of protein kinase R-like ER kinase (PERK), activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) genes, and C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP). Furthermore, we show that BS148 treatment downregulates genes related to the cholesterol pathway and activates the MAPK signaling pathway. Finally, we translate our results into patient-derived xenograft (PDX) cells, proving that BS148 treatment reduces melanoma cell viability and migration. These results demonstrate that BS148 is able to inhibit metastatic melanoma cell proliferation and migration through its interaction with the S2R and confirm its role as a promising target to treat cancer

New trajectories of the Hungarian regional development: balanced and rush growth of territorial capital

The basic assumption of the paper is that numerous similarities exist between the patterns of economic growth and territorial capital growth. The rush economic growth and rush growth of territorial capital are compared empirically at Hungarian micro-regional level from 2004 until 2010. After normalizing the dataset, a very novel spatial econometric method is applied, called a penalty for bottleneck. The results show that the constant rush growth of territorial capital is as harmful as economic recession. On the other hand, the decrease of infrastructural and social capital caused the rush growth of territorial capital in this period. Moreover, the key findings of two case studies suggest that the balanced growth of territorial capital will be created by the falling social inequalities and increasing infrastructural capita

Performance Assessment in Fingerprinting and Multi Component Quantitative NMR Analyses

An interlaboratory comparison (ILC) was organized with the aim to set up quality control indicators suitable for multicomponent quantitative analysis by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. A total of 36 NMR data sets (corresponding to 1260 NMR spectra) were produced by 30 participants using 34 NMR spectrometers. The calibration line method was chosen for the quantification of a five-component model mixture. Results show that quantitative NMR is a robust quantification tool and that 26 out of 36 data sets resulted in statistically equivalent calibration lines for all considered NMR signals. The performance of each laboratory was assessed by means of a new performance index (named Qp-score) which is related to the difference between the experimental and the consensus values of the slope of the calibration lines. Laboratories endowed with a Qp-score falling within the suitable acceptability range are qualified to produce NMR spectra that can be considered statistically equivalent in terms of relative intensities of the signals. In addition, the specific response of nuclei to the experimental excitation/relaxation conditions was addressed by means of the parameter named NR. NR is related to the difference between the theoretical and the consensus slopes of the calibration lines and is specific for each signal produced by a well-defined set of acquisition parameters