Letter from Italy\u27s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to M. Cherif Bassiouni

Response to M. Cherif Bassiouni\u27s invitation to the International Association of Penal Law\u27s XV International Congress of Penal Lawhttps://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/documents_780/1051/thumbnail.jp

Travail et politique. Marx et Arendt

L’essai de Luciano Ferrari Bravo analyse les différences entre la notion de travail chez Marx et Hannah Arendt et reprend l’analyse des enjeux politiques associés au « travail vivant » et des formes étatiques de son gouvernement par le capital

Safety and effectiveness of the high-frequency chest wall oscillation vs intrapulmonary percussive ventilation in patients with severe COPD

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Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Enhances Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) Transcriptional Activity in Gastric Cancer Cells

BACKGROUND: Increased expression of the cyclooxygenase-2 enzyme (COX2) is one of the main characteristics of gastric cancer (GC), which is a leading cause of death in the world, particularly in Asia and South America. Although the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway has been involved in the transcriptional activation of the COX2 gene, the precise mechanism modulating this response is still unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we studied the transcriptional regulation of the COX2 gene in GC cell lines and assessed whether this phenomenon is modulated by Wnt/β-catenin signaling. We first examined the expression of COX2 mRNA in GC cells and found that there is a differential expression pattern consistent with high levels of nuclear-localized β-catenin. Pharmacological treatment with either lithium or valproic acid and molecular induction with purified canonical Wnt3a significantly enhanced COX2 mRNA expression in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Serial deletion of a 1.6 Kbp COX2 promoter fragment and gain- or loss-of-function experiments allowed us to identify a minimal Wnt/β-catenin responsive region consisting of 0.8 Kbp of the COX2 promoter (pCOX2-0.8), which showed maximal response in gene-reporter assays. The activity of this pCOX2-0.8 promoter region was further confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis and DNA-protein binding assays. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We conclude that the pCOX2-0.8 minimal promoter contains a novel functional T-cell factor/lymphoid enhancer factor (TCF/LEF)-response element (TBE Site II; -689/-684) that responds directly to enhanced Wnt/β-catenin signaling and which may be important for the onset/progression of GC

On the influence of ram-pressure stripping on the star formation of simulated spiral galaxies

We investigate the influence of ram-pressure stripping on the star formation and the mass distribution in simulated spiral galaxies. Special emphasis is put on the question where the newly formed stars are located. The stripping radius from the simulation is compared to analytical estimates. Disc galaxies are modelled in combined N-body/hydrodynamic simulations (GADGET-2) with prescriptions for cooling, star formation, stellar feedback, and galactic winds. These model galaxies move through a constant density and temperature gas, which has parameters comparable to the intra-cluster medium (ICM) in the outskirts of a galaxy cluster (T=3 keV ~3.6x10^7 K and rho=10^-28 g/cm^3). With this numerical setup we analyse the influence of ram-pressure stripping on the star formation rate of the model galaxy. We find that the star formation rate is significantly enhanced by the ram-pressure effect (up to a factor of 3). Stars form in the compressed central region of the galaxy as well as in the stripped gas behind the galaxy. Newly formed stars can be found up to hundred kpc behind the disc, forming structures with sizes of roughly 1 kpc in diameter and with masses of up to 10^7 M_sun. As they do not possess a dark matter halo due to their formation history, we name them 'stripped baryonic dwarf' galaxies. We also find that the analytical estimate for the stripping radius from a Gunn & Gott (1972) criterion is in good agreement with the numerical value from the simulation. Like in former investigations, edge-on systems lose less gas than face-on systems and the resulting spatial distribution of the gas and the newly formed stars is different.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Near-Chandrasekhar-mass type Ia supernovae from the double-degenerate channel

Recent observational evidence has demonstrated that white dwarf (WD) mergers are a highly efficient mechanism for mass accretion onto WDs in the galaxy. In this paper, we show that WD mergers naturally produce highly magnetized, uniformly rotating WDs, including a substantial population within a narrow mass range close to the Chandrasekhar mass (MCh). These near-MCh WD mergers subsequently undergo rapid spin up and compression on a ~ 102 yr timescale, either leading to central ignition and a normal SN Ia via the DDT mechanism, or alternatively to a failed detonation and SN Iax through pure deflagration. The resulting SNe Ia and SNe Iax will have spectra, light curves, polarimetry, and nucleosynthetic yields similar to those predicted to arise through the canonical near-MCh single degenerate (SD) channel, but with a t-1 delay time distribution characteristic of the double-degenerate channel. Furthermore, in contrast to the SD channel, WD merger near-MCh SNe Ia and SNe Iax will not produce observable companion signatures. We discuss a range of implications of these findings, from SNe Ia explosion mechanisms, to galactic nucleosynthesis of iron peak elements including manganesePeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Risk perception and ethnic background in construction workers: Results of a cross-sectional study in a group of trainees of a vocational school in italy

Risk perception can be influenced by cultural background. The study aims to evaluate risk perception, considering different ethnicities of construction workers from vocational schools in Italy. We administered a questionnaire investigating four different dimensions: Perceived behavioral control (PBC), Danger perception (DP), Safety climate (SC), and Attitude towards safe actions (ATSA). 562 workers answered: 72.4% from Italy, 14.2% from eastern Europe, 9.4% from Balkans, and 3.9% from North Africa. The participants indicated quite low control, attributable to the haste in performing the job. The workers perceived their specific job tasks as riskier compared to the tasks of their colleagues. They reported as fundamental the respecting of safety rules, but indicating that supervisors do not adequately promote safety behaviors. Finally, construction workers judged as \u201cbrave\u201d the colleagues working without protective equipment. When compared to Italians, North Africa workers showed a lower perception of the possibility to control their safe behaviors (p = 0.040), while both eastern Europeans and Balkan obtained higher scores at the ATSA dimension, indicating a kind of fatalistic acceptance of the risky situations at work. Eastern Europeans also showed a lower perception of the dangers (p = 0.002), while Balkan demonstrated a perception of SC even better than the Italian group (p = 0.005)

Enhanced CRAd Activity Using Enhancer Motifs Driven by a Nucleosome Positioning Sequence

Cancer development involves changes driven by the epigenetic machinery, including nucleosome positioning. Recently, the concept that adenoviral replication may be driven by tumor specific promoters (TSPs) gained support, and several conditionally replicative adenoviruses (CRAd) exhibited therapeutic efficacy in clinical trials. Here, we show for the first time that placing a nucleosome positioning sequence (NPS) upstream of a TSP combined with Wnt-responsive motifs (pART enhancer) enhanced the TSP transcriptional activity and increased the lytic activity of a CRAd. pART enhanced the transcriptional activity of the gastrointestinal cancer (GIC)-specific REG1A promoter (REG1A-pr); moreover, pART also increased the in vitro lytic activity of a CRAd whose replication was driven by REG1A-Pr. The pART enhancer effect in vitro and in vivo was strictly dependent on the presence of the NPS. Indeed, deletion of the NPS was strongly deleterious for the in vivo antitumor efficacy of the CRAd on orthotopically established pancreatic xenografts. pART also enhanced the specific activity ofmother heterologous promoters; moreover, the NPS was also able to enhance the responsiveness of hypoxia- and NFκ B-response elements. We conclude that NPS could be useful for gene therapy approaches in cancer as wellas other diseases.Fil: Bravo, Soraya. Universidad Andrés Bello; ChileFil: Núñez Aguilera, Felipe Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Cruzat, Fernando. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Cafferata, Eduardo Gustavo Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: De Ferrari, Giancarlo V. Universidad Andrés Bello; ChileFil: Montecino, Martín. Universidad Andrés Bello; ChileFil: Podhajcer, Osvaldo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; Argentin