Precarious voice?: Types of "political citizens" and repertoires of action among European youth

In spite of cross national differences, one of the most relevant concerns for young European people nowadays, is represented by job insecurity. In this contribution, the authors aim to shed light on the triggering role of job precariousness and unemployment on individual repertoires of political actions among young people in three European cities (Lyon in France, Turin in Italy, Cologne in Germany). Theoretically, the paper addresses the existing limitations in the literature on precarious workers' political participation by proposing a new comprehensive framework which includes a broad set of actions, including institutionalized and non-institutionalized forms of political action (e.g. petitions, public demonstrations, disruptive actions). Empirically, a quantitative descriptive technique - Latent Class Cluster Analysis (LCCA)- is deployed allowing to take into account different variables (e.g. socio-demographic conditions, educational attainment, age, employment status and political beliefs) to portray, for each city under analysis and for each "mode" of participation, a set of ideal-typical individual profiles

La riforma dei servizi ispettivi in materia di lavoro e previdenza sociale. Commentario al decreto legislativo 23 aprile 2004, n. 124

Il presente volume nasce dalla volontà di contribuire alla diffusione dei contenuti di una riforma – quella dei servizi ispettivi e delle attività di vigilanza prevista dal d.lgs. n. 124/2004 – di cui ancora troppo poco si parla e discute, e che pure potrebbe risultare decisiva per il progetto di modernizzazione del nostro mercato del lavoro delineato con la c.d. legge Biagi. L’effettività delle regole del diritto del lavoro è, in effetti, la condizione primaria per una più efficiente tutela dei diritti dei lavoratori e, al tempo stesso, è anche garanzia di leale competizione tra le imprese

Immersion anaesthesia with ethanol in African giant land snails (Acathina fulica)

Giant African land snails (Achatina fulica) are becoming increasingly popular pets and may be anaesthetised to allow diagnostics and surgical procedures. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the anaesthetic effects and anaesthetic-related complications of immersion in 5% ethanol in client-owned African pet land snails, anaesthetised to allow biopsies of the foot for screening of parasites. Variables such as minutes elapsing from immersion to anaesthetic induction and from removal from the bath to return of tentacle withdrawal reflex and recovery from anaesthesia were recorded, as well as the occurrence of adverse effects. Of the 30 snails enrolled, one (3.3%) had a fatal outcome whereas the remaining 29 (96.7%) snails completed the study and recovered from anaesthesia. Time to anaesthetic induction was 25 [25–29] minutes. Recovery was prolonged in one snail, which required 210 minutes to regain normal muscular strength. Time from removal from the ethanol solution to return of tentacle withdrawal reflex was 20 [14–42] minutes. Beside death, other observed adverse effects were production of bubbles (n = 4; 13.3%), and mucus secretion (n = 4; 13.3%). Immersion in 5% ethanol may be regarded as suitable anaesthetic technique for African giant snails for brief and moderately invasive surgical procedures. Nevertheless, recovery from anaesthesia may be prolonged and unpredictable

Bioinformatics tools for marine biotechnology: A practical tutorial with a metagenomic approach

Background: Bioinformatics has pervaded all fields of biology and has become an indispensable tool for almost all research projects. Although teaching bioinformatics has been incorporated in all traditional life science curricula, practical hands-on experiences in tight combination with wet-lab experiments are needed to motivate students. Results: We present a tutorial that starts from a practical problem: finding novel enzymes from marine environments. First, we introduce the idea of metagenomics, a recent approach that extends biotechnology to non-culturable microbes. We presuppose that a probe for the screening of metagenomic cosmid library is needed. The students start from the chemical structure of the substrate that should be acted on by the novel enzyme and end with the sequence of the probe. To attain their goal, they discover databases such as BRENDA and programs such as BLAST and Clustal Omega. Students' answers to a satisfaction questionnaire show that a multistep tutorial integrated into a research wet-lab project is preferable to conventional lectures illustrating bioinformatics tools. Conclusion: Experimental biologists can better operate basic bioinformatics if a problem-solving approach is chosen

Application of Digital Terrain Model to volcanology

Three-dimensional reconstruction of the ground surface (Digital Terrain Model, DTM), derived by airborne GPS photogrammetric surveys, is a powerful tool for implementing morphological analysis in remote areas. High accurate 3D models, with submeter elevation accuracy, can be obtained by images acquired at photo scales between 1:5000-1:20000. Multitemporal DTMs acquired periodically over volcanic area allow the monitoring of areas interested by crustal deformations and the evaluation of mass balance when large instability phenomena or lava flows have occurred. The work described the results obtained from the analysis of photogrammetric data collected over the Vulcano Island from 1971 to 2001. The data, processed by means of the Digital Photogrammetry Workstation DPW 770, provided DTM with accuracy ranging between few centimeters to few decimeters depending on the geometric image resolution, terrain configuration and quality of photographs

A novel mutation in SACS gene in a family from southern Italy

A form of autosomal recessive spastic ataxia (ARSACS) has been described in the Charlevoix and Saguenay regions of Quebec. So far a frameshift and a nonsense mutation have been identified in the SACS gene. The authors report a new mutation (1859insC), leading to a frameshift with a premature termination of the gene product sacsin, in two sisters from consanguineous parents. The phenotype is similar to previously described patients with ARSACS

Congenital disorders of glycosylation: narration of a story through its patents

Congenital disorders of glycosylation are a group of more than 160 rare genetic defects in protein and lipid glycosylation. Since the first clinical report in 1980 of PMM2-CDG, the most common CDG worldwide, research made great strides, but nearly all of them are still missing a cure. CDG diagnosis has been at a rapid pace since the introduction of whole-exome/whole-genome sequencing as a diagnostic tool. Here, we retrace the history of CDG by analyzing all the patents associated with the topic. To this end, we explored the Espacenet database, extracted a list of patents, and then divided them into three major groups: (1) Drugs/therapeutic approaches for CDG, (2) Drug delivery tools for CDG, (3) Diagnostic tools for CDG. Despite the enormous scientific progress experienced in the last 30 years, diagnostic tools, drugs, and biomarkers are still urgently needed