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Policy Leadership Initiative Year III Addressing Energy Challenges for Low-income Families in Northern New Englan

Homeobox genes in normal and abnormal vasculogenesis

Homeobox containing genes are a family of transcription factors regulating normal development and controlling primary cellular processes (cell identity, cell division and differentiation) recently enriched by the discovery of their interaction with miRNAs and ncRNAs. Class I human homeobox genes (HOX genes) are characterized by a unique genomic network organization: four compact chromosomal loci where 39 sequence corresponding genes can be aligned with each other in 13 antero-posterior paralogous groups. The cardiovascular system is the first mesoderm organ-system to be generated during embryonic development; subsequently it generates the blood and lymphatic vascular systems. Cardiovascular remodelling is involved through homeobox gene regulation and deregulation in adult physiology (menstrual cycle and wound healing) and pathology (atherosclerosis, arterial restenosis, tumour angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis). Understanding the role played by homeobox genes in endothelial and smooth muscle cell phenotype determination will be crucial in identifying the molecular processes involved in vascular cell differentiation, as well as to support future therapeutic strategies. We report here on the current knowledge of the role played by homeobox genes in normal and abnormal vasculogenesis and postulate a common molecular mechanism accounting for the involvement of homeobox genes in the regulation of the nuclear export of specific transcripts potentially capable of generating endothelial phenotype modification involved in new vessel formation

Facing 2020: the 9 traits of successfull migrant entrepreneurs in the municipality of Rome

The distinctiveness of migrants’ entrepreneurial propensity can be explained by considering both internal characteristics of the individual migrant, as well as the external environment of the host economy he/she operates in (Kloosterman et al. 1999). Migrants can perceive and seek entrepreneurial opportunities through specific sets of resources and personality-traits (Kloosterman/Rath 2001, Kloosterman 2010). Despite of this, the topic is vastly under-studied compared to its economic importance. After an in-depth study of the literature status quo about it, the paper analyses the motivation, intention, self-efficacy, culture, entrepreneurial orientation and performance of immigrant entrepreneurs. The main aim is to verify to what extent perceptions and skills of these immigrant entrepreneurs are similar to entrepreneurial psychological constructs studied in the literature. The used research instrument was the semi-structured interview consisting of 49 open-ended questions directed at the sample under examination. The results of the study showed a significant correlation between motivation and business performance (a motivated entrepreneur is more likely to succeed in business than an unmotivated entre-preneur) and a significant positive correlation between culture and motivation to start a business (a culture that is supportive of entrepreneurial activities, lowuncertainty avoidance, high individualism and lowpower distance relates positively to a high level of entrepreneurial self-efficacy).peerReviewe

Urgency, utility, and time horizon of transplant benefit

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110847/1/lt24082.pd

Courage and representations of death in patients who are waiting for a liver transplantation

Context: In the last decade, a wide literature has highlighted the importance of religiosity as support of severe illnesses, especially the oncological ones, and in the end of life. In the field of the liver transplant there is a lack of similar research. This article aims to bridge this gap and presents an exploratory study on the relationships between fear of death, courage and religiosity among patients who wait for liver transplant. Method: Sixty-two participants awaiting a liver transplant were interviewed with regard to their quality of life, religiosity, ontological representations and fear of death, courage and fear of intervention, donor-related thoughts. The following instruments were utilized: a specific interview; the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36); the Testoni Death Representation Scale (TDRS) and the Courage Measure. Results: Patients reporting higher levels of fear for intervention showed less courage and were more likely to avoid the surgery. They also tended to be non-believers, to have a lower quality of life, and to represent death as an absolute annihilation. Conclusions: The less death was represented as a passage, the stronger the avoidance behaviour and the fear of transplant were. Since it is possible to develop a positive thought about death, the study underlined how the spiritual support could be useful to manage fear of transplantation

Hypoxia up-regulates SERPINB3 through HIF-2\u3b1 in human liver cancer cells.

SERPINB3 is a cysteine-proteases inhibitor up-regulated in a significant number of cirrhotic patients carrying hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and recently proposed as a prognostic marker for HCC early recurrence. SERPINB3 has been reported to stimulate proliferation, inhibit apoptosis and, similar to what reported for hypoxia, to trigger epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and increased invasiveness in liver cancer cells. This study has investigated whether SERPINB3 expression is regulated by hypoxia-related mechanisms in liver cancer cells. Exposure of HepG2 and Huh7 cells to hypoxia up-regulated SERPINB3 transcription, protein synthesis and release in the extracellular medium. Hypoxia-dependent SERPINB3 up-regulation was selective (no change detected for SERPINB4) and operated through hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-2\u3b1 (not HIF-1\u3b1) binding to SERPINB3 promoter, as confirmed by chromatin immuno-precipitation assay and silencing experiments employing specific siRNAs. HIF-2\u3b1-mediated SERPINB3 up-regulation under hypoxic conditions required intracellular generation of ROS. Immuno-histochemistry (IHC) and transcript analysis, performed in human HCC specimens, revealed co-localization of the two proteins in liver cancer cells and the existence of a positive correlation between HIF-2\u3b1 and SERPINB3 transcript levels, respectively. Hypoxia, through HIF-2\u3b1-dependent and redox-sensitive mechanisms, up-regulates the transcription, synthesis and release of SERPINB3, a molecule with a high oncogenic potential