Does War Make States? Military Spending and the Italian State building, 1861-1945

We present empirical evidence on the relationship between military spending and the expansion of other governmental budgetary heading and tax revenues from the Unification of Italy (1861) up to the end of World War II. Mainly in the years preceding 1922, investments in education and social transfers to families moves together with the defense spending. That is, positive changes in defense implies both an increase in education and in transfers. Moreover, transfers also have a compensatory role during recessive phases. Positive changes in defence do not crowd out the investment in capital spending, while disinvestments in defense are associated with an increase in the investment in capital. The pro-cyclical behavior of the tax revenues is compatible with a debt financing dynamic of many government expenditures. Although our analytic narrative is not universally valid, it can support the persistent centrality of external war in the discontinuous development and expansion of the Italian central State, with some exceptions explained by the historical experience

Does War Make States? Military Spending and the Italian State building, 1861-1945

We present empirical evidence on the relationship between military spending and the expansion of other governmental budgetary heading and tax revenues from the Unification of Italy (1861) up to the end of World War II. Mainly in the years preceding 1922, investments in education and social transfers to families moves together with the defense spending. That is, positive changes in defense implies both an increase in education and in transfers. Moreover, transfers also have a compensatory role during recessive phases. Positive changes in defence do not crowd out the investment in capital spending, while disinvestments in defense are associated with an increase in the investment in capital. The pro-cyclical behavior of the tax revenues is compatible with a debt financing dynamic of many government expenditures. Although our analytic narrative is not universally valid, it can support the persistent centrality of external war in the discontinuous development and expansion of the Italian central State, with some exceptions explained by the historical experience

Thyroid hormone inhibition in L6 myoblasts of IGF-I-mediated glucose uptake and proliferation: New roles for integrin αvβ3

Thyroid hormones L-thyroxine (T4) and 3,3′,5-triiodo-L-thyronine (Se

The Developmental and Physiological Interactions between Free Radicals and Antioxidant Defense System: Effect of Environmental Pollutants

This review explores the relation between antioxidant defense system and reactive oxygen species (ROS) during the development and shows the effect of environmental pollutants on this process. In normal state, the decline in levels of free radicals is coupled with increased antioxidant and the reverse is true, but there is a critical balance between them during the development. Also, redox signaling induced by environmental pollutants (stressors) involves both alterations in antioxidant defenses and accumulation of ROS leading to oxidative stress which acts as a critical pathophysiological mechanism. This disturbance has deleterious effect on male/female reproductive functions, on the development of the blastocysts and on the health of the embryos, newborns (perinatal life) and adulthood. Also, this overview shows that sperm, egg, zygote or blastocyst derived during the abnormal production of ROS due to environmental pollutants may result into offspring with high risk of any type of diseases producing developmental delay, embryopathy, teratogenic changes and apoptosis. These early insults may then lead to an increased rate of miscarriage and congenital anomalies depending on free radicals signaling and cell-death pathways. Thus, maintaining the balance between antioxidants and ROS during pregnancy or lactation period may modulate normal fetal/neonates growth and development, and may play an important role in a healthy life for the newborns. However, this argument is still ambiguous because of the difficulties of to what degree oxidants could participate as signaling molecules controlling fundamental and developmentally relevant cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, and death

EGF modulation of Na/H antiport in rat hepatocytes: different sensitivity in adult and fetal cells

The modulation by epidermal growth factor (EGF) of the Na+/H+ antiport in fetal and adult rat hepatocytes was studied in nominally HCO3- free solution. EGF (10 nM) activated the antiport in adult rat hepatocytes by 0.22 +/- 0.03 (mean +/- SD;n=10) pH units over basal value, measured with the fluorescent pH-sensitive intracellular probe, 2',7'-bis(carboxyethyl)-5(6)- carboxyfluorescein (BCECF). The effect of EGF was inhibited by amiloride analogue 5-(N-ethyl-N-isopropyl) amiloride (EIPA), by ouabain, inhibitor of the Na+ pump, and by erbstatin analogue, an inhibitor of the tyrosine kinase activity of the EGF receptor. The effect of EGF on Na+/H+ antiport in adult rat hepatocytes appeared to be mediated by both protein kinase C (PKC) and G protein system. No effect of EGF and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, an activator of PKC, on the Na+/H+ antiport was observed in fetal hepatocytes of 20 and 22 days. A different sensitivity of the antiport to high concentrations of amiloride and EIPA suggests that altered amount of the Na+/H+ antiport units or different isoforms could be expressed in fetal compared with adult cells.</jats:p

Tyrosine aminotransferase activity of frog (Rana esculenta) liver--II. Comparative aspects of intracellular distribution.

A subcellular fractionation procedure for frog liver is reported and validated by the distribution pattern of several marker enzymes, also in comparison with rat liver. 2. The subcellular distribution of tyrosine aminotransferase was investigated in frog liver as compared to rat liver: a different distribution of the enzyme was observed, being the activity mostly recovered in mitochondrial and cytosolic compartments. 3. Results indicate that mitochondrial tyrosine aminotransferase of both frog and rat liver is a matrix enzyme, even if differences are observed concerning its release from the organelles upon detergent treatment