Metabolic syndrome and the immunological affair with the blood-brain barrier

Copyright © 2015 Mauro, De Rosa, Marelli-Berg and Solito. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms

Global Value Chains during the Great Trade Collapse: A Bullwhip Effect?

This paper analyzes the performance of global value chains during the trade collapse. To do so, it exploits a unique transaction-level dataset on French firms containing information on cross-border monthly transactions matched with data on worldwide intra-firm linkages as defined by property rights (multinational business groups, hierarchies of firms). This newly assembled dataset allows us to distinguish firm-level transactions among two alternative organizational modes of global value chains: internalization of activities (intra-group trade/trade among related parties) or establishment of supply contracts (arm’s length trade/trade among unrelated parties). After an overall assessment of the role of global value chains during the trade collapse, we document that intra-group trade in intermediates was characterized by a faster drop followed by a faster recovery than arm’s length trade. Amplified fluctuations in terms of trade elasticities by value chains have been referred to as the "bullwhip effect" and have been attributed to the adjustment of inventories within supply chains. In this paper we first confirm the existence of such an effect due to trade in intermediates, and we underline the role that different organizational modes can play in driving this adjustment.trade collapse, multinational firms, global value chains, hierarchies of firms, vertical integration.

Sivers Asymmetry for the proton and the neutron

A formalism is presented to evaluate the Sivers function in constituent quark models. A non-relativistic reduction of the scheme is performed and applied to the Isgur-Karl model. The results obtained are consistent with a sizable Sivers effect and the signs for the u and d flavor contributions turn out to be opposite. The Burkardt Sum Rule is fulfilled to a large extent. After the estimate of the QCD evolution of the results from the momentum scale of the model to the experimental one, a reasonable agreement with the available data is obtained. A calculation of nuclear effects in the extraction of neutron single spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering off 3He is also described. In the kinematics of forth-coming experiments at JLab, it is found that the nuclear effects arising within an Impulse Approximation approach are under control.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, Invited talk at the "6th International Conference on Hadronic Physics", ICTP, Trieste, Italy, 12-16 May 2008. To appear in AIP Proceedings Serie

The role of Akt signalling in the mammalian ovary

The serine/threonine protein kinase Akt is involved in many cellular processes including cell growth, survival, proliferation and metabolism. Akt activity is modulated downstream of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) in response to different extracellular stimuli. In the mammalian ovary, Akt collaborates with other kinases in the regulation of coordinate follicle and oocyte development. Akt determines the pool of primordial follicles and the transition from quiescent to growing phase. In addition, the kinase modulates granulosa cell apoptosis throughout folliculogenesis. In oocytes Akt participates in the control of meiosis resumption and, at metaphase II stage, regulates polar body emission and spindle organization. Its inhibition negatively affects preimplantation embryo development. As a consequence of such a central role, Akt dysregulation is associated with several human diseases including infertility and ovarian cancer.[...

Color space distortions in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Color vision impairment was examined in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) without retinopathy. We assessed the type and degree of distortions of individual color spaces. DM2 patients (n = 32), and age-matched controls (n = 20)were tested using the Farnsworth D-15 and the Lanthony D-15d tests. In addition, subsets of caps from both tests were employed in a triadic procedure (Bimler & Kirkland, 2004). Matrices of inter-cap subjective dissimilarities were estimated from each subject’s “odd-one-out” choices, and processed using non-metric multidimensional scaling. Two-dimensional color spaces, individual and group (DM2 patients; controls), were reconstructed, with the axes interpreted as the R0G and B0Y perceptual opponent systems. Compared to controls, patient results were not significant for the D-15 and D-15d. In contrast, in the triadic procedure the residual distances were significantly different compared to controls: right eye, P 0.021, and left eye, P 0.022. Color space configurations for the DM2 patients were compressed along the B0Y and R0G dimensions. The present findings agree with earlier studies demonstrating diffuse losses in early stages of DM2. The proposed method of testing uses color spaces to represent discrimination and provides more differentiated quantitative diagnosis, which may be interpreted as the perceptual color system affected. In addition, it enables the detection of very mild color vision impairment that is not captured by the D-15d test. Along with fundoscopy, individual color spaces may serve for monitoring early functional changes and thereby to support a treatment strategy

Gravitomagnetic corrections to the lensing deflection angle for spiral galaxy models

We investigate the effects of the gravitomagnetic corrections to the usual gravitational lens quantities for a specific lensing mass distribution modelled after spiral galaxies. An exponential disk is embedded into two different spherical halo models where disk and haloes parameters are fixed according to the observed mass to light ratios, galaxy magnitudes and rotation curves. The general expressions for the lensing deflection angle are given also taking into account the orientation of the galaxy disk plane with respect to the lens plane. It is found that the gravitomagnetic term changes the deflection angle by a typical amount of the order of ten microarcseconds

An infinite-period phase transition versus nucleation in a stochastic model of collective oscillations

A lattice model of three-state stochastic phase-coupled oscillators has been shown by Wood et al (2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 145701) to exhibit a phase transition at a critical value of the coupling parameter, leading to stable global oscillations. We show that, in the complete graph version of the model, upon further increase in the coupling, the average frequency of collective oscillations decreases until an infinite-period (IP) phase transition occurs, at which point collective oscillations cease. Above this second critical point, a macroscopic fraction of the oscillators spend most of the time in one of the three states, yielding a prototypical nonequilibrium example (without an equilibrium counterpart) in which discrete rotational (C_3) symmetry is spontaneously broken, in the absence of any absorbing state. Simulation results and nucleation arguments strongly suggest that the IP phase transition does not occur on finite-dimensional lattices with short-range interactions.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Lambliasis-associated Schönlein-Henoch purpura in an Italian traveller: first case report in Italy

A unique report of Schonlein-Henoch purpura (SHP) associated with a recent Giardia lamblia enteric infec-tion is described and discussed on the ground of the available literature. Tinidazole plus an appropriate probiotic therapy, including Lactobacillus reuteri and vitamin D, proved to be effective in the condition. SHP is an immunocomplex-mediated disorder characterised by a number of differently associated signs and symptoms, leading to the possible involvement of the skin, joints, abdomen and kidneys. Recent bacterial, viral, or protozoan infections may trigger the disease onset in patients of all ages. The paper de-scribes the first case of SHP triggered by a giardiasis. Tinidazole plus an appropriate probiotic therapy, i.e. L. reuteri and vitamin D proved to be effective in this condition. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of lambliasis-associated SHP described in an international traveller

On the Thermodynamic Limit in Random Resistors Networks

We study a random resistors network model on a euclidean geometry \bt{Z}^d. We formulate the model in terms of a variational principle and show that, under appropriate boundary conditions, the thermodynamic limit of the dissipation per unit volume is finite almost surely and in the mean. Moreover, we show that for a particular thermodynamic limit the result is also independent of the boundary conditions.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX IOP journal preprint style file `ioplppt.sty', revised version to appear in Journal of Physics