Entrepreneurial intention: An analysis of the role of Student‑Led Entrepreneurial Organizations

Although a great deal of attention has been paid to entrepreneurship education, only a few studies have analysed the impact of extra-curricular entrepreneurial activities on students’ entrepreneurial intention. The aim of this study is to fill this gap by exploring the role played by Student-Led Entrepreneurial Organizations (SLEOs) in shaping the entrepreneurial intention of their members. The analysis is based on a survey that was conducted in 2016 by one of the largest SLEOs in the world: the Junior Enterprises Europe (JEE). The main result of the empirical analysis is that the more time students spent on JEE and the higher the number of events students attended, the greater their entrepreneurial intention was. It has been found that other important drivers also increase students’ entrepreneurial intention, that is, the Science and Technology field of study and the knowledge of more than two foreign languages. These results confirm that SLEOs are able to foster students’ entrepreneurial intention. The findings provide several theoretical, practical and public policy implications. SLEOs are encouraged to enhance their visibility and lobbying potential in order to be recognized more as drivers of student entrepreneurship. In addition, it is advisable for universities and policy makers to support SLEOs by fostering their interactions with other actors operating in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, who promote entrepreneurship and technology transfer activities. Lastly, this paper advises policy makers to assist SLEOs’ activities inside and outside the university context

Optical spectroscopic observations of gamma-ray blazar candidates II. The 2013 KPNO campaign in the Northern Hemisphere

We recently started a systematic search of low-energy counterparts of the unidentified gamma-ray sources (UGSs) listed in the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) First Source Catalog (1FGL) and the Fermi-LAT 2-Year Source Catalog (2FGL).} The main goal of our investigation is to find active galaxies belonging to the blazar class that lie within the positional uncertainty region of the UGSs and thus could be their potential low-energy counterparts. To achieve our aims, we first adopted several procedures based on the peculiar observational properties of blazars in the radio and in the IR. Then we carried out a follow-up spectroscopic campaign in the optical band to verify the nature of the candidates selected as potential counterparts of the UGSs. Here we present the results of the observations carried out in 2013 in the Northern Hemisphere at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO). Optical spectroscopy is crucial to confirm the nature of the sources and can be used to estimate their redshifts; it will also allow us to test the robustness of our methods when the whole campaign is completed. Here we present the optical spectroscopic observations of 39 sources. Within our sample we found that 6 sources are blazars, candidates to be low-energy counterparts of the UGSs listed in the 2FGL. We confirm that an additional 8 sources, previously classified as active galaxies of uncertain type and associated in the 2FGL, are also all BL Lac objects. Moreover, we also present 20 new spectra for known blazars listed in the Multi-frequency Catalogue of Blazars as having an uncertain redshift and/or being classified as BL Lac candidates. We conclude that our methods for selecting gamma-ray blazar candidates allows us to discover new blazars and increase the list of potential low-energy counterparts for the Fermi UGSs.Comment: 27 pages, 39 figures, 1 table, A&A accepted for publication (pre-proof version

Pharmacokinetics of erythromycin after intravenous, intramuscular and oral administration to cats

The aim of this study was to characterise the pharmacokinetic properties of different formulations of erythromycin in cats. Erythromycin was administered as lactobionate (4 mg/kg, intravenously (IV)), base (10 mg/kg, intramuscularly (IM)) and ethylsuccinate tablets or suspension (15 mg/kg, orally (PO)). After IV administration, the major pharmacokinetic parameters were (mean ± SD): area under the curve (AUC)(0-∞) 2.61 ± 1.52 µg.h/mL; volume of distribution (Vz) 2.34±1.76 L/kg; total body clearance (Clt) 2.10±1.37 L/h.kg; elimination half-life (t½λ) 0.75±0.09 h and mean residence time (MRT) 0.88±0.13 h. After intramuscular administration, the principal pharmacokinetic parameters were (mean ± DS): peak concentration (Cmax), 3.54±2.16 µg/mL; time of peak (Tmax), 1.22±0.67 h; t½λ, 1.94±0.21 h and MRT, 3.50±0.82 h. The administration of erythromycin ethylsuccinate (tablets and suspension) did not produce measurable serum concentrations. After IM and IV administrations, erythromycin serum concentrations were above minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)90=0.5 µg/mL for 7 and 1.5 h, respectively. However, these results should be cautiously interpreted since tissue erythromycin concentrations have not been measured and, it is recognised that they can reach much higher concentrations than in blood, correlating better with clinical efficacy.Fil: Albarellos, G. A.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Montoya, L.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Landoni, Maria Fabiana. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentin

Ethical issues associated with in-hospital emergency from the medical emergency team's perspective: a national survey

Medical Emergency Teams (METs) are frequently involved in ethical issues associated to in-hospital emergencies, like decisions about end-of-life care and intensive care unit (ICU) admission. MET involvement offers both advantages and disadvantages, especially when an immediate decision must be made. We performed a survey among Italian intensivists/anesthesiologists evaluating MET's perspective on the most relevant ethical aspects faced in daily practice

Development and validation of an in vivo model for pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic studies of antimicrobials in domestic animals

The increase in bacterial resistance to antimicrobials has motivated researchers to develop experimental animal models to integrate pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/ PD) profiles to predict the effectiveness of antimicrobials treatments. The models used to date have a weakness based on the use of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), whose value is obtained only in vitro , determined under constant conditions with an exponential error, regarding to the double dilution used. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a device for subcutaneous implantation, which can be applied in any animal species, allowing simultaneous description of in vivo bacterial killing curve and pharmacokinetic profile of the drug under study. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the use of this model will allow researchers to apply PK/ PD decreasing the error originated in the use of MIC as a measure of antimicrobial pharmacodynamics.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Facing the pandemic together as citizens and cardiovascular practitioners

Despite their highbrow name, coronarvirus have proved eminently disruptive in recent years. Since the epidemic of severe respiratory distress syndrome (SARS) due to the SARS-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MER S) due to the MER S-related coronavirus (MER S-CoV), several experts could expect the advent of additional epidemics due to coronaviruses. Yet, the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus-associated disease 2019 (COVID -2019) due to the infection from SARS-CoV-2 (also known as 2019-nCoV) has wreaked havoc worldwide (Figure 1). As Italian citizens and cardiovascular practitioners, we are now facing this storm, with a mix of incredulity, fear, boldness, and sense of duty