Società in-house per la gestione dei rifiuti solidi urbani: alcune evidenze empiriche sui fattori che influenzano la performance economico-finanziaria

In addition to being at the center of attention because of its delicate economic balance, also highlighted by legislation, the in-house sector can also affect environmental aspects as in the case of in-house companies operating in the municipal solid waste sector. Hence, the choice of the investigated statistical universe, represented by all the in-house companies of the Italian provincial capitals operating in this sector, with the aim of investigating the factors influencing their economic and financial performance. Applying the GLS methodology (period 2011-2017), the analysis allows the authors to conclude that: 1) the size of the companies considered has an inversely proportional impact on performance; 2) the technical characteristics of the service provided influence the results in a non-univocal way; 3) the political orientation of the owner municipality negatively influences the economic and financial performance of the selected companies; 4) the higher the average age of the directors, the better the company’s performance.Il settore delle società in-house oltre ad essere al centro dell’attenzione per il suo delicato equilibrio economico, sottolineato anche dalla normativa, può interessare aspetti ambientali come nel caso delle in-house operanti nel settore dei rifiuti solidi urbani. Da qui la scelta di indagare l’universo statistico composto da tutte le società in-house dei comuni italiani capoluoghi di provincia operanti in tale settore, con l’obiettivo di indagarne i fattori di influenza sulla performance economico-patrimoniale. Applicando la metodologia GLS (periodo 2011-2017), l’analisi consente di concludere che: 1) la dimensione delle aziende considerate ha un impatto inversamente proporzionale sulla performance; 2) le caratteristiche tecniche del servizio erogato influenzano in maniera non univoca i risultati; 3) l’orientamento politico del comune proprietario influenza negativamente le prestazioni economico-patrimoniali delle aziende selezionate; 4) maggiore è l’età media degli amministratori e migliore è la performance aziendale.Le secteur des entreprises in-house n’est pas seulement au centre de l’attention en raison de son équilibre économique délicat, qui est également souligné par la législation, mais il peut également avoir des répercussions sur les aspects environnementaux, comme dans le cas des entreprises in-house opérant dans le secteur des déchets solides municipaux. D’où le choix de l’univers statistique étudié, représenté par toutes les entreprises in-house des capitales provinciales italiennes opérant dans ce secteur, dans le but d’étudier les facteurs influençant leurs performances économiques et financières. En appliquant la méthodologie GLS (période 2011-2017), l’analyse permet de conclure que 1) la taille des entreprises considérées a un impact inversement proportionnel sur les performances ; 2) les caractéristiques techniques du service fourni influencent les résultats de manière non univoque ; 3) l’orientation politique de la municipalité propriétaire influence négativement les performances économiques et financières des entreprises sélectionnées ; 4) plus l’âge moyen des directeurs est élevé, meilleures sont les performances de l’entreprise

Pretreatment with verapamil in patients with persistent or chronic atrial fibrillation who underwent electrical cardioversion

AbstractOBJECTIVESTo evaluate, in a prospective and randomized fashion, the efficacy of a pretreatment with verapamil (V) in reducing recurrences of atrial fibrillation (AF) after electrical cardioversion (C).BACKGROUNDThe increased vulnerability for AF recurrence is probably due to AF-induced changes in the electrophysiologic properties of the atria. This electrical remodeling seems to be due to intracellular calcium overload.METHODSOne hundred seven patients with persistent or chronic AF underwent external and/or internal C. All patients received oral propafenone (P) (900 mg/day) three days before and during the entire period of follow-up (three months). In the first group, patients received only the P. In the second group, in adjunct to P, oral V (240 mg/day) was initiated three days before C and continued during the follow-up. Finally, in the third group, oral V was administered three days before and continued only for three days after electrical C.RESULTSDuring the three months of follow-up, 23 patients (23.7%) had AF recurrence. Mantel-Haenszel cumulative chi-square reached a significant level only when comparing AF free survival curves of group I versus group II and group III (chi-square = 5.2 and 4, respectively; p < 0.05). Significantly, 15 (65.2%) AF relapses occurred during the first week after cardioversion with a higher incidence in group I (10/33 patients, 30.3%) than group II (2/34 patients, 5.9%; p = 0.01) and group III (3/30 patients, 10%; p = 0.04).CONCLUSIONSSix days of oral V administration centered on the C day, combined with P, significantly reduce the incidence of early recurrences of AF compared with P alone

Response to flecainide infusion predicts long-term success of hybrid pharmacologic and ablation therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation

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Tuberculous Arthritis of the Ankle

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC). Pulmonary TB is the most common form of presentation, but extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality. Rarely, patients with EPTB develop a form of ankle or foot arthritis. The diagnosis of TB arthritis is often overlooked because of the insidious onset and the non-specific clinical symptoms. Prognosis is generally poor; early diagnosis and delivery of the most appropriate treatment is critical to avoid functional disability

Seismic noise cross-correlation in the urban area of Benevento city (Southern Italy)

This article has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Journal International ©: The Authors 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.In the last decade the use of passive methods has become appealing in reconstructing the properties of the propagation medium by seismic ambient noise data, without the use of localized natural or artificial sources. A temporary seismic network was installed in the urban area of Benevento (southern Italy) in order to characterize the shallow structure of the city using stable methods for the analysis of the seismic noise continuously acquired by stations. The city of Benevento is one of the italian areas with highest seismic hazard, and at present the region is affected by low energy swarms and sparse events (Ml ≤ 4.1). It has been struck by several destructive historical earthquakes, the strongest of which occurred in 1456, 1688, 1805 with associated MCS intensity up to X–XI. We used the sixteen seismic stations installed in Benevento to record ambient noise for about 1 month. The stations were equipped with different seismic instruments: (i) digitizers Quanterra Q330 connected to Le3d-5 s short-period sensors; (ii) Nanometrics Centaur digitizers coupled with Trillium Compact 120s broad-band velocimeters; (iii) one station with Episensor force balance accelerometer connected to a D6BB-DIN Staneo digitizer. Interstations Green's functions were reconstructed by the cross-correlation of continuous ambient noise data, and surface waves signals were extracted from Green's Functions (GFs) for investigating the elastic properties of the subsurface structure. In this regard, we performed the beamforming analysis to test the hypothesis of isotropy distribution of noise sources on which the cross-correlation method is based, and the particle motion analysis to confirm the presence of surface Rayleigh waves in the GFs. We analysed the temporal stability of the cross-correlated signals and the results show that 2 weeks of continuous measurements are sufficient to stabilize the surface waves signal extracted from the GFs. The phase velocity dispersion curves are computed for 115 station pairs through the use of a far-field representation of the surface-wave GFs and an image transformation technique. Our strategy based on cross-correlation analysis provides robust phase-velocity dispersion curves that vary approximately from 1.4 km s–1 at 0.7 Hz to 0.6 km s–1 at 5 Hz. Different pairs were selected for the inversion of phase-velocity dispersion curves aimed to derive 1-D shear-wave velocity (Vs) profiles (up to a maximum depth of about 500 m) representative of some areas of the city characterized by different soil deposits.Published1524–15425T. Sismologia, geofisica e geologia per l'ingegneria sismicaJCR Journa

Nutritional counselling for head and neck cancer patients treated with (chemo)radiation therapy: why, how, when, and what?

Nutritional counselling for head and neck cancer patients treated with (chemo)radiation therap

Increased PARylation impacts the DNA methylation process in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, can influence the genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the progression of the disease. Our previous studies demonstrated that the regulation of the DNA methylation pattern involves the poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation (PARylation) process, a post-translational modification of proteins catalysed by the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) enzymes. Experimental data showed that the hyperactivation of PARylation is associated with impaired glucose metabolism and the development of T2DM. Aims of this case-control study were to investigate the association between PARylation and global and site-specific DNA methylation in T2DM and to evaluate metabolic correlates

Case Report: Circulating Myeloid-Derived Suppressive-Like Cells and Exhausted Immune Cells in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Treated With Three Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

: Immune checkpoint inhibition induced a great step forward in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer patients. In cancer immune microenvironment many checkpoints were studied and their involvement could represent a mechanism of resistance to cancer immunotherapy. For this reason, the inhibition of multiple immune checkpoints is under development. However, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and exhausted immune cells could limit the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. We analyzed the variation of circulating immune suppressive-like cell subsets and exhausted immune cells in three non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with the combination of anti-CTLA-4 plus anti-PD-1 plus anti-LAG-3 at T0 (baseline), T1 (after 2 months) and T2 (after 4 months). We also describe the clinical and radiological course of the disease during this treatment in all three patients. We observed both clinical differences and changes in the composition of immune suppressive-like cell subsets and exhausted immune cells between the patients receiving the same schedule of treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. The study on a wider patient population and experimental model design could help to clarify the kinetics of these cell subpopulations with the perspective to find new targets for treatment or new biomarkers for resistance to cancer immunotherapy