Competition through innovation : ATMs in Italian banks

competition;innovation;banks

Management of patients with atrial fibrillation: different therapeutic options and role of electrophysiology-guided approaches.

At present the approach to atrial fibrillation treatment is based on the electrophysiological patterns of atrial fibrillation (on the basis of multiple intra-atrial recordings or sophisticated new mapping techniques) only in a restricted minority of patients, those who are candidate to ablation of the substrate and/or of the triggers. Atrial fibrillation has a broad spectrum of clinical presentations and a heterogeneous electrophysiological pattern. The treatment of this arrhythmia, both with drugs and non pharmacological treatments, has been based, classically, on empirical basis and on a clinically-guided staged-approach. The limitations of pharmacological treatment led in recent years to the development of a wide spectrum of non pharmacological treatments. This implies a change in the approach to atrial fibrillation and the need to identify potentially ideal candidates to complex and expensive treatments. In this view it is currently under investigation the possibility to identify potential responders to a definitive treatment or a combination of treatments (both pharmacological and non-pharmacological) on the basis of the electrophysiological pattern

Effect of parasympathetic stimulation on brain activity during appraisal of fearful expressions

Autonomic nervous system activity is an important component of human emotion. Mental processes influence bodily physiology, which in turn feeds back to influence thoughts and feelings. Afferent cardiovascular signals from arterial baroreceptors in the carotid sinuses are processed within the brain and contribute to this two-way communication with the body. These carotid baroreceptors can be stimulated non-invasively by externally applying focal negative pressure bilaterally to the neck. In an experiment combining functional neuroimaging (fMRI) with carotid stimulation in healthy participants, we tested the hypothesis that manipulating afferent cardiovascular signals alters the central processing of emotional information (fearful and neutral facial expressions). Carotid stimulation, compared with sham stimulation, broadly attenuated activity across cortical and brainstem regions. Modulation of emotional processing was apparent as a significant expression-by-stimulation interaction within left amygdala, where responses during appraisal of fearful faces were selectively reduced by carotid stimulation. Moreover, activity reductions within insula, amygdala, and hippocampus correlated with the degree of stimulation-evoked change in the explicit emotional ratings of fearful faces. Across participants, individual differences in autonomic state (heart rate variability, a proxy measure of autonomic balance toward parasympathetic activity) predicted the extent to which carotid stimulation influenced neural (amygdala) responses during appraisal and subjective rating of fearful faces. Together our results provide mechanistic insight into the visceral component of emotion by identifying the neural substrates mediating cardiovascular influences on the processing of fear signals, potentially implicating central baroreflex mechanisms for anxiolytic treatment targets

Fear processing is differentially affected by lateralized stimulation of carotid baroreceptors

Information processing, particularly of salient emotional stimuli, is influenced by cardiovascular afferent signals. Carotid baroreceptors signal the state of cardiovascular arousal to the brain, controlling blood pressure and heart rate via the baroreflex. Animal studies suggest a lateralization of this effect: Experimental stimulation of the right carotid sinus has a greater impact on heart rate when compared to left-sided stimulation. We tested, in humans, whether the processing of emotional information from faces was differentially affected by right versus left carotid afferents. To achieve so, we used an automated neck suction device to stimulate the carotid mechanoreceptors in the carotid sinus (parasympathetic pathway) synchronously with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) acquisition whilst participants were engaged in an emotional rating task of fearful and neutral faces. We showed that both right and left carotid stimulation influenced brain activity within opercular regions, although a stronger activation was observed within left insula during right stimulation compared to left stimulation. As regards the processing of fearful faces, right, but not left carotid stimulation attenuated the perceived intensity of fear, and (albeit to a lesser extent) enhanced intensity ratings of neutral faces. Mirroring the behavioural effects, there was a significant expression-by-stimulation interaction for right carotid stimulation only, when bilateral amygdala responses were attenuated to fear faces and amplified to neutral faces. Individual differences in basal heart rate variability (HRV) predicted the extent to which right carotid stimulation attenuated amygdala responses during fear processing. Our study provides unique evidence for lateralized viscerosensory effects on brain systems supporting emotional processing

The impact of digital start-up founders’ higher education on reaching equity investment milestones

This paper builds on human capital theory to assess the importance of formal education among graduate entrepreneurs. Using a sample of 4.953 digital start-ups the paper evaluates the impact of start-up founding teams’ higher education on the probability of securing equity investment and subsequent exit for investors. The main findings are: (1), teams with a founder that has a technical education are less likely to remain self-financed and are more likely to secure equity investment and to exit, but the impact of technical education declines with higher level degrees, (2) teams with a founder that has doctoral level business education are less likely to remain self-financed and have a higher probability of securing equity investment, while undergraduate and postgraduate business education have no significant effect, and (3) teams with a founder that has an undergraduate general education (arts and humanities) are less likely to remain self-financed and are more likely to secure equity investment and exit while postgraduate and doctoral general education have no significant effect on securing equity investment and exit. The findings enhance our understanding of factors that influence digital start-ups achieving equity milestones by showing the heterogeneous influence of different types of higher education, and therefore human capital, on new ventures achieving equity milestones. The results suggest that researchers and policy-makers should extend their consideration of universities entrepreneurial activity to include the development of human capital

African Financial Development Dynamics: Big Time Convergence

In the first critical assessment of convergence in financial development dynamics in Africa, we find overwhelming support for integration. The empirical evidence is premised on 11 homogenous panels based on regions(Sub-Saharan and North Africa), income-levels(low, middle, lower-middle and upper-middle), legal-origins(English common-law and French civil-law) and religious dominations(Christianity and Islam). We examine convergence in financial intermediary dynamics of depth, efficiency, activity and size. Findings suggest that countries with small-sized financial intermediary depth, efficiency, activity and size are catching-up with countries with large-sized financial intermediary depth, efficiency, activity and size respectively. We also provide the speeds of convergence and time necessary to achieve a full(100%) convergence. As a policy implication African governments should not relent in structural and institutional reforms