Bioenergy chain building: a collective action perspective

Depletion of natural resources has become a key issue on the European policy agenda. Bottom-up measures have emerged in several countries with a view to promoting awareness campaigns and environmental sustainability, with the agenda set by individuals who start up collective initiatives at the local level. Such collective action provides an incentive to free-ride on the contribution of others. Social norms and the consequent behavior of individuals involved in collective action assume a key role in ensuring sustainable use of a public good, achieving significant, long-lasting success. The present study aims to ascertain which determinants most affect farmers’ willingness to contribute to common resources. The empirical study was conducted in an area in the province of Avellino (southern Italy) most affected by soil erosion problems. The study focused on the willingness of farmers to contribute to the public good through biomass production (Giant Cane). In all, 175 face-to-face questionnaires were administered to farmers in September-November 2013. Schwartz’s norm-activation model variables were collected. A Tobit model was implemented in which the dependent variable was the land farmers stated they were willing to cultivate with Giant Cane. Four on five psychological constructs, based on the NAM, proved statistically significant with the expected sign, showing that an altruistic behavioral approach is useful to predict the individual’s decision to adopt cooperation norms

Onset of valganciclovir resistance in two infants with congenital cytomegalovirus infection

Ganciclovir and its prodrug valganciclovir are elective treatments for cCMV. Neonates with important symptoms undergo 6 months of therapy to ameliorate/prevent symptoms and late sequelae, but evidence of resistance is emerging. Over the last 5 years, we took care of 59 cCMV infants and experienced two cases of resistance among nine cCMV infants receiving long-term valganciclovir therapy. In the first case, valganciclovir therapy was prolonged beyond 6 months due to severity of symptoms, control of viral load, and absence of adverse events. Resistance was detected in the 8th month of therapy. In the second case, after a significant reduction following valganciclovir administration and no adverse events, CMV viral load suddenly increased in the 6th month of therapy due to resistance. Both events were associated with UL97 gene mutation. The cCMV infants, affected by severe symptoms, remained in a steady state during treatment, and their later neurological development was coherent with initial seriousness of diagnosis. Prolonged therapeutic exposure may therefore be a risk for resistance, suggesting that constant dosage/weight adjustments, monthly surveillance of viral load, and therapeutic drug monitoring could be proposed to monitor resistance onset and optimize the therapy regime. The risk–benefit ratio for long-term therapy, including the possibility of resistance onset, alongside SNHL and neurodevelopmental improvement, should also be evaluated

The Beauty of the Commons? Consumers participation in Food Community Networks

Why are consumers increasingly joining farmers to co-produce and transact sustainable foods world-wide? May these networks be a new tool to promote sustainable practices? As stated by Sandler (2010): “Longitudinal collective action environmental problems are likely to be effectively addressed only by an enormous number of individuals each making a nearly insignificant contribution to resolving them”. Consumers-farmers networks may serve this scope by inducing individual actors to change their preferences towards sustainable products. However participation in these networks is still not well understood. On one hand new institutional economics explains consumers joining farmers in creating a network as a choice of the “most cost-economizing” governance structure to carry out a transaction where credence attributes are involved (i.e. sustainable-produced foodstuff). Thus a credence food is transacted through a consumers-farmers network if this governance structure can ensure the minimization of the transaction costs. However the way different (transactional) contexts can influence the change of consumers perceptions and preferences for credence foods is still not completely addressed. On the other hand behavioral economics underlines the role of social and psychological motivations such as altruism and fairness, to describe this type of decision making process. Still a clear link between transaction costs, motivations and the choice context to describe consumers participation in these networks is not completely understood and analysed. In this paper we use both new institutional and behavioural economics arguments to conceptualize the consumers participation in this new type of governance structures, which we have defined as food community network (FCN). More specifically we have investigated an Italian fast-spreading type of FCN named Solidarity Purchase Group . GAS are associations of consumers whose behavior is characterized by a strong philosophical and ethical agreement in which the territorial, economic and social ties between the individuals involved in it, tend to evolve into networks of participative economy. The present study, which is part of a wider study financed by the Sicilian Regional Authority, analyses the GAS presence in Sicily (a region in Southern Italy), where 32 active GAS are present, representing an estimated number of 1,200 families. Although this phenomenon is still marginal and limited to recent years, it can be particularly interesting because of its rapid proliferation. Attention to this type of participative consumerism is warranted for two reasons: firstly, because of its progressive expansion into rural areas, far from the main cities where the phenomenon originated, and secondly, because of its potential impact on the sustainability of food production in this region. To evaluate the potential impact of this phenomenon in Sicily a sample of involved consumers has been interviewed. This sample included some 200 individuals (those in the household in charge of buying) belonging to the main GAS operating in Sicily. This group represents 946 consumers. More specifically a survey was developed to investigate consumers participation in this GAS. In the questionnaire three main issues have been investigated: transaction costs, motivations and social preferences (i.e. altruism and trust), and choice context features as driving factors of consumers participation. Moreover we controlled for i) attitudes towards environmental protection and nature, industrial food production, technological progress, animal welfare, food and environment; ii) consumption frequencies and type of purchased products (i.e. organic, other certified products, conventional products, environmental friendly products and not certified products); and iii) socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, including food-related lifestyle (FRL). The transaction-costs-related, motivational and choice-context-related variables have used to analyse different level of participation, comparing results from a conditional logit model with a latent-class one. Results indicate different factors affecting participation and profiles of GAS participants, which we can classify as follow: environmentalism and ecological sensitivity (1); gourmet, innovations and creativity (2); cultural patriotism and ethnocentrism (3); animal welfarism (4); cost and price awareness (5); belief in food traditionalism and purity of cuisine (6). Based on these results policy implications have been drawn to promote public support of GAS and food community networks both in the Italian and European contexts

Modulation of the expression of folate cycle enzymes and polyamine metabolism by berberine in cisplatin-sensitive and -resistant human ovarian cancer cells

Berberine is a natural isoquinoline alkaloid with significant antitumor activity against many types of cancer cells, including ovarian tumors. This study investigated the molecular mechanisms by which berberine differently affects cell growth of cisplatin (cDDP)-sensitive and -resistant and polyamine analogue cross-resistant human ovarian cancer cells. The results show that berberine suppresses the growth of cDDP-resistant cells more than the sensitive counterparts, by interfering with the expression of folate cycle enzymes, dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and thymidylate synthase (TS). In addition, the impairment of the folate cycle also seems partly ascribable to a reduced accumulation of folate, a vitamin which plays an essential role in the biosynthesis of nucleic acids and amino acids. This effect was observed in both lines, but especially in the resistant cells, correlating again with the reduced tolerance to this isoquinoline alkaloid. The data also indicate that berberine inhibits cellular growth by affecting polyamine metabolism, in particular through the upregulation of the key catabolic enzyme, spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase (SSAT). In this regard, berberine is shown to stimulate the SSAT induction by the spermine analogue N1, N12 bisethylspermine (BESpm), which alone was also able to downregulate DHFR mRNA more than TS mRNA. We report that the sensitivity of resistant cells to cisplatin or to BESpm is reverted to the levels of sensitive cells by the co-treatment with berberine. These data confirm the intimate inter-relationships between folate cycle and polyamine pathways and suggest that this isoquinoline plant alkaloid could be a useful adjuvant therapeutic agent in the treatment of ovarian carcinoma

Cytomegalovirus-Specific T Cell Epitope Recognition in Congenital Cytomegalovirus Mother-Infant Pairs

Background: Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection is the most common infection acquired before birth and from which about 20% of infants develop permanent neurodevelopmental effects regardless of presence or absence of symptoms at birth. Viral escape from host immune control may be a mechanism of CMV transmission and infant disease severity. We sought to identify and compare CMV epitopes recognized by mother-infant pairs. We also hypothesized that if immune escape were occurring, then one pattern of longitudinal CD8 T cell responses restricted by shared HLA alleles would be maternal loss (by viral escape) and infant gain (by viral reversion to wildtype) of CMV epitope recognition. Methods: The study population consisted of 6 women with primary CMV infection during pregnancy and their infants with cCMV infection. CMV UL83 and UL123 peptides with known or predicted restriction by maternal MHC class I alleles were identified, and a subset was selected for testing based on several criteria. Maternal or infant cells were stimulated with CMV peptides in the IFN-gamma ELISpot assay. Results: Overall, 14 of 25 (56%; 8 UL83 and 6 UL123) peptides recognized by mother-infant pairs were not previously reported as CD8 T cell epitopes. Of three pairs with longitudinal samples, one showed maternal loss and infant gain of responses to a CMV epitope restricted by a shared HLA allele. Conclusions: CD8 T cell responses to multiple novel CMV epitopes were identified, particularly in infants. Moreover, the hypothesized pattern of CMV immune escape was observed in one mother-infant pair. These findings emphasize that knowledge of paired CMV epitope recognition allows exploration of viral immune escape that may operate within the maternal-fetal system. Our work provides rationale for future studies of this potential mechanism of CMV transmission during pregnancy or clinical outcomes of infants with cCMV infection

Peptide gH625 enters into neuron and astrocyte cell lines and crosses the blood-brain barrier in rats.

Peptide gH625, derived from glycoprotein H of herpes simplex virus type 1, can enter cells efficiently and deliver a cargo. Nanoparticles armed with gH625 are able to cross an in vitro model of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In the present study, in vitro experiments were performed to investigate whether gH625 can enter and accumulate in neuron and astrocyte cell lines. The ability of gH625 to cross the BBB in vivo was also evaluated. gH625 was administered in vivo to rats and its presence in the liver and in the brain was detected. Within 3.5 hours of intravenous administration, gH625 can be found beyond the BBB in proximity to cell neurites. gH625 has no toxic effects in vivo, since it does not affect the maximal oxidative capacity of the brain or the mitochondrial respiration rate. Our data suggest that gH625, with its ability to cross the BBB, represents a novel nanocarrier system for drug delivery to the central nervous system. These results open up new possibilities for direct delivery of drugs into patients in the field of theranostics and might address the treatment of several human disease

An Open Question in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Can Humans Transmit the Disease to Pets and Vice Versa?

SARS-CoV-2 infection apparently emerged in China in December 2019, causing the disease known as COVID-19,which can cause severe damage to vital organs (Ackermann et al, 2020). Spillover of SARS-CoV- 2 from bats to humans has been hypothesized (Ackermann et al, 2020). The virus spike protein is the main determinant of viral tropism because it is responsible for binding to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and subsequent entry of SARSCoV- 2 to host cells in humans and several animal species (Sun et al, 2020). Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesize that the spike proteineACE2 receptor complex may represent evolutionary exploitation to overcome speciesbarriers to infection, thushighlighting the zoonotic origin and transmission of the virus

Vulnerability analysis of satellite-based synchronized smart grids monitoring systems

The large-scale deployment of wide-area monitoring systems could play a strategic role in supporting the evolution of traditional power systems toward smarter and self-healing grids. The correct operation of these synchronized monitoring systems requires a common and accurate timing reference usually provided by a satellite-based global positioning system. Although these satellites signals provide timing accuracy that easily exceeds the needs of the power industry, they are extremely vulnerable to radio frequency interference. Consequently, a comprehensive analysis aimed at identifying their potential vulnerabilities is of paramount importance for correct and safe wide-area monitoring system operation. Armed with such a vision, this article presents and discusses the results of an experimental analysis aimed at characterizing the vulnerability of global positioning system based wide-area monitoring systems to external interferences. The article outlines the potential strategies that could be adopted to protect global positioning system receivers from external cyber-attacks and proposes decentralized defense strategies based on self-organizing sensor networks aimed at assuring correct time synchronization in the presence of external attacks

The High Impact of Astronomical Data Archives

Archives are widely recognized as a valuable resource for astronomy, but statistics on their use indicates they are even more important than most astronomers realize. Obviously much of the science from survey projects such as SDSS relies on the archive. Perhaps more surprisingly, archival data are also a major contributor to the science from targeted, PI-driven missions such as HST, Chandra, Spitzer and the ground-based observatories. Archival research currently accounts for half of the ~1200 Hubble and Chandra science papers published each year, and the use of the archive continues to increase. The archival data products are, in the long term, as important as the PI science programs. It is vital to recognize the large impact archives can have on the science generated by missions and observatories. The value of the archive should be an important factor in the establishment of new projects. Future missions and observatories should not only budget adequate resources to support a robust archive, but they also should consider the effects of mission design and operations decisions on the archive. Additional funding both for archive users and archive centers -- particularly with an eye to enabling cross-archive, multiwavelength science -- is a relatively inexpensive way to increase the science output from our major investments in large projects

Pro-Inflammatory and Immunological Profile of Dogs with Myxomatous Mitral Valve Disease

Simple Summary Myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) is the most commonly acquired cardiac disease in dogs and is responsible for congestive heart failure. In this research, some inflammatory, immunological, and echocardiographic parameters were evaluated in dogs affected by MMVD in order to assess the involvement of additional pathophysiological mechanisms during the disease. The main results revealed that inflammation parameters increased according to the severity of the disease and suggested that inflammatory activation may play an important role in cardiac remodeling associated with the progressive volumetric overload in MMVD. Also, a relative increase in Treg cells was detected, suggesting that they could represent a regulatory mechanism for limiting the inflammatory immune response. Myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) is a very frequently acquired cardiac disease in dog breeds and is responsible for congestive heart failure (CHF). The involvement of the immune system and pro-inflammatory cytokines in dogs with CHF due to mitral valve disease has not yet been extensively investigated. Here, we investigate the role of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the dysfunction of the immune system in dogs with different stages of severity through the blood assessment of CD4(+)FoxP3(+)regulatory T cells (Treg) cells, leptin, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1 beta and IL-6 pro-inflammatory cytokines, and immunological and echocardiographic parameters. A total of 36 cardiopathic dogs, 14 females and 22 males, with MMVD were included. Mean age and body weight (BW) at the time of enrollment were 10.7 +/- 2.77 years and 10.9 +/- 6.69 kg, respectively. For the comparison of the pro-inflammatory and immunological parameters, two groups of healthy dogs were also established. Control group 1 consisted of young animals (n. 11; 6 females and 5 males), whose age and mean weight were 4.1 +/- 0.82 years and 13.8 +/- 4.30 kg, respectively. Control group 2 consisted of elderly dogs (n. 12; 6 females and 6 males), whose age and BW were 9.6 +/- 0.98 years and 14.8 +/- 6.15 kg, respectively. Of particular interest, an increase in Treg cells was observed in the cohort of MMVD dogs, as compared to the healthy dogs, as Treg cells are involved in the maintenance of peripheral tolerance, and they are involved in etiopathogenetic and pathophysiological mechanisms in the dog. On the other hand, TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, and IL-6 significantly increased according to the severity of the disease in MMVD dogs. Furthermore, the positive correlation between IL-6 and the left ventricle diastolic volume suggests that inflammatory activation may be involved in cardiac remodeling associated with the progressive volumetric overload in MMVD