Prime evidenze sul Carpooling in Italia: chi, dove e quando

Le pratiche di mobilità innovativa (carsharing, carpooling, mobilità elettrica, etc.) mostrano una sempre maggiore penetrazione nel mercato italiano. Sebbene ancora marginali in termini di mobilità complessiva, esse rappresentano nicchie sempre più importanti in alcuni contesti, oltre che un’interessante fonte di informazioni sulle pratiche di mobilità. In questo articolo viene presentato e studiato un primo campione di dati raccolto dalla più conosciuta piattaforma web per il carpooling (BlaBlaCar). Il duplice fine che ci si propone è quello di poter, da un lato, comprendere meglio quali siano le dinamiche e la diffusione del servizio a scala nazionale e, dall'altro, di ottenere alcune informazioni sul segmento della mobilità meno noto alle statistiche, cioè la mobilità occasionale di lunga percorrenza. I primi risultati ottenuti mostrano come gli utilizzatori del servizio rappresentino ancora una quota marginale degli spostamenti che interessano la nostra penisola, ma diano utili indicazioni sulle attuali pratiche di mobilità. I viaggi offerti, ad esempio, si svolgono su distanze medie nell'ordine dei 300 km e sono maggiori a nord rispetto al resto della penisola. Inoltre, presentano diversi pattern di distribuzione settimanale a seconda del luogo di origine, così come una diversa diffusione geografica. Le grandi città, Milano in primo luogo, generano viaggi su aree molto ampie, mentre i capoluoghi di provincia presentano catchment area molto più limitate e polarizzate

Are prices reduced from direct competition in high-speed rail? Some unexpected evidences from Italy

The literature on open-access rail competition has been quite unanimous in pointing out the positive effects of the entry of the (few) newcomers in their respective markets. Generally speaking, quality has increased and frequency too. The effect on prices has also generally been what everybody expected: the newcomer is pricing less than the incumbent and overall the prices on the liberalised market are lower than the counterfactual ones. Without denying all the positive effects that rail competition in Italy has brought since 2012, thanks to the large-scale direct competition of NTV/Italo vs. the incumbent Trenitalia, in this paper we will provide the first evidence of something new, happened in the last 12 months. Since 2018, in fact, while frequencies and passengers continue to grow, for the first time also the average prices started increasing, even in those routes just opened to competition. The scope of this work is limited to analyse everyday train prices in a period of three years on numerous Italian routes, showing how prices changed over time and in particular according to the presence of competition and route characteristics. Findings are interesting: prices do not fall in all routes where competition starts, or at least just for a short period. In general, 2019 saw a consistent realignment of prices to a higher level than 2017-2018, for both competitors. One obvious explanation could be that the competitors are just apparently competing, or that production costs have raised (or both). This would be by far the worst outcome of a liberalisation process: costs up and cartel prices up with the costs. But the same phenomenon could be explained differently if there is no overcapacity: competition is working on parameters different than average prices (quality, frequency, product differentiation, price discrimination). We are still not able to demonstrate the existence of a cartel, so this work is just intended to show what has happened, and not why

Are prices reduced from direct competition in high-speed rail? Some unexpected evidences from Italy

The literature on open-access rail competition has been quite unanimous in pointing out the positive effects of the entry of the (few) newcomers in their respective markets. Generally speaking, quality has increased and frequency too. The effect on prices has also generally been what everybody expected: the newcomer is pricing less than the incumbent and overall the prices on the liberalised market are lower than the counterfactual ones. Without denying all the positive effects that rail competition in Italy has brought since 2012, thanks to the large-scale direct competition of NTV/Italo vs. the incumbent Trenitalia, in this paper we will provide the first evidence of something new, happened in the last 12 months. Since 2018, in fact, while frequencies and passengers continue to grow, for the first time also the average prices started increasing, even in those routes just opened to competition. The scope of this work is limited to analyse everyday train prices in a period of three years on numerous Italian routes, showing how prices changed over time and in particular according to the presence of competition and route characteristics. Findings are interesting: prices do not fall in all routes where competition starts, or at least just for a short period. In general, 2019 saw a consistent realignment of prices to a higher level than 2017-2018, for both competitors. One obvious explanation could be that the competitors are just apparently competing, or that production costs have raised (or both). This would be by far the worst outcome of a liberalisation process: costs up and cartel prices up with the costs. But the same phenomenon could be explained differently if there is no overcapacity: competition is working on parameters different than average prices (quality, frequency, product differentiation, price discrimination). We are still not able to demonstrate the existence of a cartel, so this work is just intended to show what has happened, and not why

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and coronary artery disease: comparison between coronary artery bypass grafting and percutaneous coronary intervention.

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by a low platelet count and an increased risk of bleeding. At the same time, ITP patients present an increased risk of thrombosis and atherosclerosis related to the high presence of haemostatic factors and chronic steroid therapy. Although relatively rare, the association of ITP and coronary artery disease represents a complex therapeutic challenge. In particular, no recommendations exist regarding the best management approach. We reviewed the literature making a comparison between coronary artery bypass grafting and percutaneous coronary intervention. © 2011 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved

FIGARO: reinForcement learnInG mAnagement acRoss the computing cOntinuum

The widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence applications to analyze data generated by Internet of Things sensors leads to the development of the edge computing paradigm. Deploying applications at the periphery of the network effectively addresses cost and latency concerns associated with cloud computing. However, it generates a highly distributed environment with heterogeneous devices, opening the challenges of how to select resources and place application components. Starting from a state-of-the-art design-time tool, we present in this paper a novel framework based on Reinforcement Learning, named FIGARO (reinForcement learnInG mAnagement acRoss the computing cOntinuum). It handles the runtime adaptation of a computing continuum environment, dealing with the variability of the incoming load and service times. To reduce the training time, we exploit the design-time knowledge, achieving a significant reduction in the violations of the response time constraint

Extracellular Vesicles and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Activation: Interplay of Drivers in Cancer Progression

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are of great interest to study the cellular mechanisms of cancer development and to diagnose and monitor cancer progression. EVs are a highly heterogeneous population of cell derived particles, which include microvesicles (MVs) and exosomes (EXOs). EVs deliver intercellular messages transferring proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and metabolites with implications for tumour progression, invasiveness, and metastasis. Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is a major driver of cancer. Tumour cells with activated EGFR could produce EVs disseminating EGFR itself or its ligands. This review provides an overview of EVs (mainly EXOs and MVs) and their cargo, with a subsequent focus on their production and effects related to EGFR activation. In particular, in vitro studies performed in EGFR-dependent solid tumours and/or cell cultures will be explored, thus shedding light on the interplay between EGFR and EVs production in promoting cancer progression, metastases, and resistance to therapies. Finally, an overview of liquid biopsy approaches involving EGFR and EVs in the blood/plasma of EGFR-dependent tumour patients will also be discussed to evaluate their possible application as candidate biomarkers

Abundance and Distribution of Enteric Bacteria and Viruses in Coastal and Estuarine Sediments—a Review

The long term survival of fecal indicator organisms (FIOs) and human pathogenic microorganisms in sediments is important from a water quality, human health and ecological perspective. Typically, both bacteria and viruses strongly associate with particulate matter present in freshwater, estuarine and marine environments. This association tends to be stronger in finer textured sediments and is strongly influenced by the type and quantity of clay minerals and organic matter present. Binding to particle surfaces promotes the persistence of bacteria in the environment by offering physical and chemical protection from biotic and abiotic stresses. How bacterial and viral viability and pathogenicity is influenced by surface attachment requires further study. Typically, long-term association with surfaces including sediments induces bacteria to enter a viable-but-non-culturable (VBNC) state. Inherent methodological challenges of quantifying VBNC bacteria may lead to the frequent under-reporting of their abundance in sediments. The implications of this in a quantitative risk assessment context remain unclear. Similarly, sediments can harbor significant amounts of enteric viruses, however, the factors regulating their persistence remains poorly understood. Quantification of viruses in sediment remains problematic due to our poor ability to recover intact viral particles from sediment surfaces (typically <10%), our inability to distinguish between infective and damaged (non-infective) viral particles, aggregation of viral particles, and inhibition during qPCR. This suggests that the true viral titre in sediments may be being vastly underestimated. In turn, this is limiting our ability to understand the fate and transport of viruses in sediments. Model systems (e.g., human cell culture) are also lacking for some key viruses, preventing our ability to evaluate the infectivity of viruses recovered from sediments (e.g., norovirus). The release of particle-bound bacteria and viruses into the water column during sediment resuspension also represents a risk to water quality. In conclusion, our poor process level understanding of viral/bacterial-sediment interactions combined with methodological challenges is limiting the accurate source apportionment and quantitative microbial risk assessment for pathogenic organisms associated with sediments in aquatic environments

The Prognostic Role of Preoperative PSMA PET/CT in cN0M0 pN+ Prostate Cancer: A Multicenter Study

CONTEXT: Despite negative preoperative conventional imaging, up to 10% of patients with prostate cancer (PCa) harbor lymph-node involvement (LNI) at radical prostatectomy (RP). The advent of more accurate imaging modalities such as PET/CT improved the detection of LNI. However, their clinical impact and prognostic value are still unclear. We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of preoperative PET/CT in patients node positive (pN+) at RP. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: We retrospectively identified cN0M0 patients at conventional imaging (CT and/or MRI, and bone scan) who had pN+ PCa at RP at 17 referral centers. Patients with cN+ at PSMA/Choline PET/CT but cN0M0 at conventional imaging were also included. Systemic progression/recurrence was the primary outcome; Cox proportional hazards models were used for multivariate analysis. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: We included 1163 pN+ men out of whom 95 and 100 had preoperative PSMA and/or Choline PET/CT, respectively. ISUP grade ≥4 was detected in 66.6%. Overall, 42% of patients had postoperative PSA persistence (≥0.1 ng/mL). Postoperative management included initial observation (34%), ADT (22.7%) and adjuvant RT+/-ADT (42.8%). Median follow-up was 42 months. Patients with cN+ on PSMA PET/CT had an increased risk of systemic progression (52.9% vs. 13.6% cN0 PSMA PET/CT vs. 21.5% cN0 at conventional imaging; P .05). Observation as an initial management strategy instead of adjuvant treatments was related with an increased risk of metastases (HR 1.808; 95% CI: 1.069-3.058; P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: PSMA PET/CT cN+ patients with negative conventional imaging have an increased risk of systemic progression after RP compared to their counterparts with cN0M0 disease both at conventional and/or molecular imaging

The Prognostic Role of Preoperative PSMA PET/CT in cN0M0 pN+ Prostate Cancer:A Multicenter Study

Context: Despite negative preoperative conventional imaging, up to 10% of patients with prostate cancer (PCa) harbor lymph-node involvement (LNI) at radical prostatectomy (RP). The advent of more accurate imaging modalities such as PET/CT improved the detection of LNI. However, their clinical impact and prognostic value are still unclear. We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of preoperative PET/CT in patients node positive (pN+) at RP. Evidence Synthesis: We retrospectively identified cN0M0 patients at conventional imaging (CT and/or MRI, and bone scan) who had pN+ PCa at RP at 17 referral centers. Patients with cN+ at PSMA/Choline PET/CT but cN0M0 at conventional imaging were also included. Systemic progression/recurrence was the primary outcome; Cox proportional hazards models were used for multivariate analysis. Evidence Acquisition: We included 1163 pN+ men out of whom 95 and 100 had preoperative PSMA and/or Choline PET/CT, respectively. ISUP grade ≥4 was detected in 66.6%. Overall, 42% of patients had postoperative PSA persistence (≥0.1 ng/mL). Postoperative management included initial observation (34%), ADT (22.7%) and adjuvant RT+/-ADT (42.8%). Median follow-up was 42 months. Patients with cN+ on PSMA PET/CT had an increased risk of systemic progression (52.9% vs. 13.6% cN0 PSMA PET/CT vs. 21.5% cN0 at conventional imaging; P &lt; .01). This held true at multivariable analysis: (HR 6.184, 95% CI: 3.386-11-295; P &lt; .001) whilst no significant results were highlighted for Choline PET/CT. No significant associations for both PET types were found for local progression, BCR, and overall mortality (all P &gt; .05). Observation as an initial management strategy instead of adjuvant treatments was related with an increased risk of metastases (HR 1.808; 95% CI: 1.069-3.058; P &lt; .05). Conclusions: PSMA PET/CT cN+ patients with negative conventional imaging have an increased risk of systemic progression after RP compared to their counterparts with cN0M0 disease both at conventional and/or molecular imaging.</p