The Beauty of Being Involved: The Case of Cooperative Banks

Is greater stakeholder engagement associated with greater stability? We provide readers with novel empirical evidence that this is indeed the case. Cooperative banks (where stakeholders are involved in the business by law) are an excellent case to study the association between stakeholder engagement and stability. Focusing on Italy, we show that cooperative banks differ substantially in risk-taking from each other, and these differences are mostly related to the engagement of stakeholders. A greater overlap between shareholders, borrowers and depositors is associated with lower non-performing loans, suggesting that greater stakeholder engagement reduces problems of asymmetric information and bank risk appetite

Systemic inflammatory response in erderly patients following hernioplastical operation

The number of old and oldest old patients undergoing surgery of varying severity is increasing. Ageing is a process that changes the performances of most physiological systems and increases susceptibility to diseases and death; accordingly, host responses to surgical stress are altered with ageing and the occurrence of age-related increase in susceptibility to post-operative complications has been claimed. Twenty-four male patients undergoing Lichtenstein (LH) hernioplasty for unilateral inguinal hernia were included in this study and divided in two groups (Young and Old respectively), according to their age. As expression of the acute phase response, we measured changes in concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines Tumor necrosis factor-α and Interleukin-1β, leukocytes, acute phase proteins C-reactive protein and α 1-antitrypsin. Elderly humans showed prolonged and strong inflammatory activity compared to younger subjects in response to surgical stress, indicating that the acute-phase response to surgical stress of elderly humans varies from that of the young, showing initial hyperactivity and a delayed termination of the response. Thus, the acute phase response to surgical stress is higher in old subjects, but the clinical significance of this remains unclear. It is not known whether a causal relationship exists between this stronger acute phase response and the increases in susceptibility to post-operative complications observed in aged patients

Fibromatosis of the breast mimicking cancer: A case report

Breast fibromatosis, also referred to as desmoid tumor or aggressive fibromatosis, is a very rare, locally aggressive disease that does not metastasize. Bilateral lesions are extremely rare and are found in only 4% of patients with breast fibromatosis. Tumor recurrence following surgery occurs in 18%-29% of patients, most often within the first 2 years after surgery. In this report, we discuss a case of breast fibromatosis, mimicking a breast carcinoma both clinically and radiologically, that presented clinically with dimpling of the skin of the left breast in a 31-year-old woman. The patient relapsed a few months after surgery, with a multicentric and bilateral disease

The Beauty of Being Involved: The Case of Cooperative Banks

Is greater stakeholder engagement associated with greater stability? We provide readerswith novel empirical evidence that this is indeed the case. Cooperative banks (where stake-holders are involved in the business by law) are an excellent case to study the associationbetween stakeholder engagement and stability. Focusing on Italy, we show that cooper-ative banks differ substantially in risk-taking from each other, and these differences aremostly related to the engagement of stakeholders. A greater overlap between sharehold-ers, borrowers and depositors is associated with lower non-performing loans, suggestingthat greater stakeholder engagement reduces problems of asymmetric information andbank risk appetite

La movimentazione manual edei pazienti: un metodo sintetico per la valutazione del rischio.

La movimentazione manuale dei carichi e le patologie ad essa correlate sono oggetto di crescente interesse da parte degli addetti alla prevenzione negli ambienti di lavoro. Gli operatori sanitari rappresentano una delle categorie a rischio, in quanto adibiti alla movimentazione manuale dei pazienti che rappresentano un “carico "tipico”. È necessaria, quindi, la valutazione del rischio relativo alla movimentazione manuale, ai movimenti ripetuti degli arti superiori ed a posture incongrue e frequentemente instabili. Lo studio prevede il confronto di un metodo integrato con i tre metodi maggiormente utilizzati (MAPO, REBA, OCRA). I risultati evidenziano la possibilità e la convenienza dell’utilizzare un unico metodo integrato nella valutazione della movimentazione manuale dei pazienti

Photodynamic Therapy in Ocular Oncology

Although introduced for the treatment of maculopathies, photodynamic therapy (PDT) is now largely used in some eye cancers treatment. The selective tissue damage with PDT is achieved by sequestration of the photosensitizer in the target tissue and focal activation of the photosensitizer by low energy directed light. In this way, it is possible to achieve the destruction of the tumor tissue by safeguarding the surrounding healthy structures. Our study describes the clinical uses and efficacy of photodynamic therapy in ocular oncology