(Agro)ecologia politica dei conflitti per la terra e il cibo in Ecuador

The contemporary corporate food regime (McMichael 2018) is characterized by reduction of food to commodity, rural-urban divide, profound asymmetries in access to resources (land and water), extractivism in the form of industrial agriculture (Gudynas 2013; Svampa 2019) and processes of accumulation by dispossession (Harvey 2003). In this context, the paper relies on the approach of political agroecology (González de Molina et al. 2019) to retrace the transformation of food conflicts in Ecuador, from traditional land struggles towards a more complex collective action in the name of food sovereignty, which deals with a scenario of recurring economic and ecological crises

What means to do politics? Constituent power and constitution of the common

Diálogo con Antonio Negri, sobre el poder constituyente y el activismo político.A Dialogue with Antonio Negr

Involvement of GTA protein NC2β in Neuroblastoma pathogenesis suggests that it physiologically participates in the regulation of cell proliferation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The General Transcription Apparatus (GTA) comprises more than one hundred proteins, including RNA Polymerases, GTFs, TAFs, Mediator, and cofactors such as heterodimeric NC2. This complexity contrasts with the simple mechanical role that these proteins are believed to perform and suggests a still uncharacterized participation to important biological functions, such as the control of cell proliferation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To verify our hypothesis, we analyzed the involvement in Neuroblastoma (NB) pathogenesis of GTA genes localized at 1p, one of NB critical regions: through RT-PCR of fifty eight NB biopsies, we demonstrated the statistically significant reduction of the mRNA for NC2β (localized at 1p22.1) in 74% of samples (p = 0.0039). Transcripts from TAF13 and TAF12 (mapping at 1p13.3 and 1p35.3, respectively) were also reduced, whereas we didn't detect any quantitative alteration of the mRNAs from GTF2B and NC2α (localized at 1p22-p21 and 11q13.3, respectively). We confirmed these data by comparing tumour and constitutional DNA: most NB samples with diminished levels of NC2β mRNA had also genomic deletions at the corresponding locus.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data show that NC2β is specifically involved in NB pathogenesis and may be considered a new NB biomarker: accordingly, we suggest that NC2β, and possibly other GTA members, are physiologically involved in the control of cell proliferation. Finally, our studies unearth complex selective mechanisms within NB cells.</p

Colorectal Cancer Stage at Diagnosis Before vs During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

IMPORTANCE Delays in screening programs and the reluctance of patients to seek medical attention because of the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 could be associated with the risk of more advanced colorectal cancers at diagnosis. OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was associated with more advanced oncologic stage and change in clinical presentation for patients with colorectal cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This retrospective, multicenter cohort study included all 17 938 adult patients who underwent surgery for colorectal cancer from March 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021 (pandemic period), and from January 1, 2018, to February 29, 2020 (prepandemic period), in 81 participating centers in Italy, including tertiary centers and community hospitals. Follow-up was 30 days from surgery. EXPOSURES Any type of surgical procedure for colorectal cancer, including explorative surgery, palliative procedures, and atypical or segmental resections. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was advanced stage of colorectal cancer at diagnosis. Secondary outcomes were distant metastasis, T4 stage, aggressive biology (defined as cancer with at least 1 of the following characteristics: signet ring cells, mucinous tumor, budding, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, and lymphangitis), stenotic lesion, emergency surgery, and palliative surgery. The independent association between the pandemic period and the outcomes was assessed using multivariate random-effects logistic regression, with hospital as the cluster variable. RESULTS A total of 17 938 patients (10 007 men [55.8%]; mean [SD] age, 70.6 [12.2] years) underwent surgery for colorectal cancer: 7796 (43.5%) during the pandemic period and 10 142 (56.5%) during the prepandemic period. Logistic regression indicated that the pandemic period was significantly associated with an increased rate of advanced-stage colorectal cancer (odds ratio [OR], 1.07; 95%CI, 1.01-1.13; P = .03), aggressive biology (OR, 1.32; 95%CI, 1.15-1.53; P &lt; .001), and stenotic lesions (OR, 1.15; 95%CI, 1.01-1.31; P = .03). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This cohort study suggests a significant association between the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the risk of a more advanced oncologic stage at diagnosis among patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer and might indicate a potential reduction of survival for these patients

Siamo parte della soluzione: la via contadina per la sovranità alimentare

Dottorato di ricerca in Conoscenze e innovazioni per lo sviluppo, XXVI ciclo. A.a. 2013-2014The subject of the thesis is the international peasant movement Vía Campesina, born in 1993 with the aim to fight against the invisibility imposed to the peasantry by the dominant narrative of agricultural modernization. Vía Campesina claims that the peasant social figure is contemporaneous and that is caracterized by the ability to innovate and to produce alternative visions of future. Its main proposal is the food sovereignty. Our study is focused on the collective actions aimed to promote the food sovereignty principles and conducted at national level by organizations affiliated to this international movement. We analyze the articulation between heterogeneous actors, their mechanisms to produce collective horizons and actions, as well as the impacts produced, especially in terms of institutional innovation. In reference to the Ecuadorian case study, the Constitution (2008) declared food sovereignty a strategic goal and a government obligation, embracing many of the proposals put forth since the late 1990s by Ecuadorian federations linked to Vía Campesina. The issue of food sovereignty has expanded from the inner circles of peasant organizations to the wider context of the whole Ecuadorian society. We provide an overview of this process, describing the collective actions that made it possible. Moreover, we attempt to explain the reasons why the ‘Agrarian Revolution’ is currently evaluated as weak, and the motivations for a gap between constitutional mandates and the ongoing official policies. The Italian case study shows fewer results, mainly concentrated at local and European level, however the organizations linked to Via Campesina are engaged in political advocacy to obtain institutional instruments aimed to promote food sovereignty. In this framework, we consider that the food sovereignty proposal works as a polysemic and an open signifier, capable of providing a renewed sense to the historical peasant claims, such as access to land and other means of production, but joining them with new buzzwords, dictated by the political, socio-ecologic and economic global transformations, but also by the changes experienced by the same social actors. Finally, there is a constituent power in the collective action conducted by the organizations of Via Campesina and aimed to political advocacy: they work as motors of social and institutional transformations

Sovranità alimentare e politiche locali del cibo per superare la dipendenza?

Sovranità alimentare e politiche locali del cibo per superare la dipendenza

Crecimiento económico inclusivo y sostenible en la Agenda 2030: un análisis crítico desde la perspectiva de la soberanía alimentaria y los derechos de la naturaleza

In the article, it is discussed the objective of «Economic Growth and Decent Work» (SDG 8) of the 2030 Agenda, where it is associated growth with inclusion and environmental sustainability, in its intersection with SDG 2 (eradication of hunger) and SDG 13 (climate action). This analysis is carried out from two transformative horizons of development proposed by social movements and organizations in Ecuador —food sovereignty and the rights of nature—, asking: how are inclusion and environmental sustainability conceptualized and what are their scope?, are there any official actions taken to break with discrimination, dispossession and overexploitation produced metabolically by the capitalist system? The main objective is to analyze to what extent the actions reported by Ecuador in compliance with the 2030 Agenda related to «inclusive and sustainable growth», «zero hunger», and «climate action» take distance from the logics of accumulation and extractivism and how collective action could contribute to a critical and transformative orientation of the territorialization of the SDGs.En el artículo, se reflexiona sobre el objetivo «Crecimiento Económico y Trabajo Decente» (ODS 8) de la Agenda 2030, donde se asocia el crecimiento con inclusión y sostenibilidad ambien-tal, en su intersección con el ODS 2 (erradicación del hambre) y el ODS 13 (acción climática). El análisis se realiza desde dos horizontes transformadores del desarrollo planteados por movimien-tos sociales en Ecuador —soberanía alimentaria y derechos de la naturaleza— preguntándose: ¿cómo se conceptualizan inclusión y sostenibilidad ambiental?; ¿se adoptan acciones oficiales para romper con la discriminación, la desposesión y la sobreexplotación producidas metabólicamente por el sistema capitalista? El objetivo es analizar en qué medida las acciones reportadas por Ecua-dor en cumplimiento de la Agenda 2030, relativas a «crecimiento inclusivo y sostenible», «hambre cero» y «acción climática», toman distancia de las lógicas de acumulación y extractivismo y cómo la acción colectiva podría contribuir a una orientación crítica y transformadora de la territorializa-ción de los ODS