In-situ testing of innovative marine instrumentation for nutrients, heavy metals and pH in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard Islands

Marine ecosystems are integral part of fundamental environmental functions that support life on Earth like climate control, erosion prevention and absorption of carbon dioxide. Oceans contribute to economical activities too with the following prosperity, social welfare, and increase in life quality. Nevertheless, several marine environments also in the European framework show increasing challenges to tackle like the loss of biodiversity and habitats, pollution and impacts due to climate change. For Italy and for Europe a growing environmental interest and awareness in both the public and private sectors is combined with a common strategic goal to ensure sustainable development and the continuity of economic activities. In order to achieve this goal and to improve the competitiveness of Italy and the EU, new technologies and methods for monitoring the marine environment are required

Pleiotropic antitumor effects of the pan-HDAC inhibitor ITF2357 against c-Myc-overexpressing human B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas,

Histone deacetylases (HDAC) extensively contribute to the c-Myc oncogenic program, pointing to their inhibition as an effective strategy against c-Myc-overexpressing cancers. We, thus, studied the therapeutic activity of the new-generation pan-HDAC inhibitor ITF2357 (Givinostat®) against c-Myc-overexpressing human B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (B-NHLs). ITF2357 anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects were analyzed in B-NHL cell lines with c-Myc translocations (Namalwa, Raji and DOHH-2), stabilizing mutations (Raji) or post-transcriptional alterations (SU-DHL-4) in relationship to c-Myc modulation. ITF2357 significantly delayed the in vitro growth of all B-NHL cell lines by inducing G1 cell-cycle arrest, eventually followed by cell death. These events correlated with the extent of c-Myc protein, but not mRNA, downregulation, indicating the involvement of post-transcriptional mechanisms. Accordingly, c-Myc-targeting microRNAs let-7a and miR-26a were induced in all treated lymphomas and the cap-dependent translation machinery components 4E-BP1, eIF4E and eIF4G, as well as their upstream regulators, Akt and PIM kinases, were inhibited in function of the cell sensitivity to ITF2357, and, in turn, c-Myc downregulation. In vivo, ITF2357 significantly hampered the growth of Namalwa and Raji xenografts in immunodeficient mice. Noteworthy, its combination with suboptimal cyclophosphamide, achieved complete remissions in most animals and equaled or even exceeded the activity of optimal cyclophosphamide. Collectively, our findings provide the rationale for testing the clinical advantages of adding ITF2357 to current therapies for the still very ominous c-Myc-overexpressing lymphomas. They equally provide the proof-of-concept for its clinical evaluation in rational combination with the promising inhibitors of B-cell receptor and PI3K/Akt/mTOR axis currently in the process of development

COVID-19-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome in the early pandemic experience in Lombardia (Italy)

Objective To estimate the incidence and describe clinical characteristics and outcome of GBS in COVID-19 patients (COVID19-GBS) in one of the most hit regions during the frst pandemic wave, Lombardia. Methods Adult patients admitted to 20 Neurological Units between 1/3–30/4/2020 with COVID19-GBS were included as part of a multi-center study organized by the Italian society of Hospital Neuroscience (SNO). Results Thirty-eight COVID19-GBS patients had a mean age of 60.7 years and male frequency of 86.8%. CSF albuminocytological dissociation was detected in 71.4%, and PCR for SARS-CoV-2 was negative in 19 tested patients. Based on neurophysiology, 81.8% of patients had a diagnosis of AIDP, 12.1% of AMSAN, and 6.1% of AMAN. The course was favorable in 76.3% of patients, stable in 10.5%, while 13.2% worsened, of which 3 died. The estimated occurrence rate in Lombardia ranges from 0.5 to 0.05 GBS cases per 1000 COVID-19 infections depending on whether you consider positive cases or estimated seropositive cases. When we compared GBS cases with the pre-pandemic period, we found a reduction of cases from 165 to 135 cases in the 2-month study period in Lombardia. Conclusions We detected an increased incidence of GBS in COVID-19 patients which can refect a higher risk of GBS in COVID-19 patients and a reduction of GBS events during the pandemic period possibly due to a lower spread of more common respiratory infectious diseases determined by an increased use of preventive measures

Flexibilization and precarization in public services : the case of IBGE

Orientador: José Dari KreinDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de EconomiaResumo: As transformações operadas nas últimas décadas no campo da produção capitalista, da organização do trabalho e das relações de trabalho, fundadas em uma lógica de maior flexibilidade, constroem um ambiente desfavorável aos trabalhadores e à sua resistência coletiva. Essas modificações se processaram de maneira diferenciada e em tempos distintos nos mercados de trabalho ao redor do mundo. No mercado de trabalho brasileiro, historicamente flexível, desorganizado, desigual e heterogêneo, muitas alterações foram acionadas de maneira relativamente tardia. Mais recentemente, passaram a conviver no Brasil tendências contraditórias de melhora nos indicadores de emprego e ampliação de formas flexíveis e precárias de contratação, vinculadas à maior insegurança e instabilidade. No tocante à crescente flexibilidade como forma de reduzir custos, ou à consequente precarização adotada inclusive como estratégia de fragilizar as resistências dos trabalhadores, tal movimentação não só atingiu o mercado privado de trabalho, os trabalhadores a ele vinculados e suas representações sindicais, como afetou também em alguma medida as instituições do serviço público brasileiras. Desde o início dos anos 90, de forma sistemática, mas não linear, está em curso um processo de transformação do Estado que conflita com o que há de avanços inseridos na Constituição de 1988. No período 1990-2002, foi aplicado um modelo de contrarreforma do Estado brasileiro, cujos principais pilares, do ponto de vista das relações de trabalho, foram as EC 19 e 20/98, que, ao desmontar direitos trabalhistas e previdenciários, juntamente com outros dispositivos legais e administrativos, impuseram maior flexibilidade e uma lógica privada no serviço público. Desde 2003, os movimentos expressam maiores contradições. Estabeleceu-se uma nova onda de ingressos de servidores, muitos dos quais, à distinção do período anterior, vivenciaram alguma recomposição salarial, ainda que aplicada de maneira seletiva e segmentada. Ao mesmo tempo, sem o reconhecimento explícito do primeiro período, seguiu-se com a retirada de direitos dos servidores e manteve-se a aplicação do modelo gerencialista, intensificando o processo de flexibilização nas formas de contratação, de remuneração e de uso da força de trabalho no serviço público federal. A inserção de trabalhadores por meio de formas instáveis e precárias se ampliou nessa fase, o que é revelado tanto pela evolução do quantitativo de ingressos através de formatos como o contrato temporário ou o trabalho estágio, como pelo crescimento real dos gastos diretos com vários tipos de inserção atípicos ou vulneráveis (contrato por tempo determinado, terceirização, consultorias, etc.). Fundando-se nessa abordagem inicial, a dissertação discorre sobre o caso do IBGE, órgão constitucionalmente reconhecido como responsável pela produção estatística e geocientífica oficial do País. Esse Instituto apresenta desde os anos 90 um quadro de redução dramática de pessoal efetivo e, em particular na última década, um significativo e acelerado incremento de sua substituição por pessoal contratado de forma precária, através da Lei 8.745/1993. Ainda que tal legislação preveja a contratação temporária sob condições de excepcional interesse público, os contratados estão alocados em diversas etapas do processo de trabalho, em todas as pesquisas, e não somente nas de caráter temporário como preveem os dispositivos que autorizam sua contratação; desempenham tarefas de caráter contínuo e não sazonal, descaracterizando a ideia de excepcionalidade. Representam, atualmente, a metade do quadro em atividade do IBGE, que conta ainda com trabalhadores absorvidos sob outras formas precárias (terceirizados, estagiários, consultores, etc.). A absorção de força de trabalho precária em substituição à estável, mais do que às mudanças nas formas de produção, que passam a incorporar novas tecnologias, responde a um contexto de fortes restrições orçamentárias e de pessoal e reflete, junto a outros elementos, a incorporação do modelo da nova administração pública na gestão do IBGE. O estudo revela ainda que se processa, de maneira mais acirrada no período recente, uma mudança nas relações de trabalho dentro da instituição, com a implementação de maiores controles, intensificação do uso do trabalho e maior flexibilização das tarefas sob responsabilidade dos trabalhadores, além da recorrente repressão e retaliação a movimentações e expressões coletivas organizadas, entre outros exemplos detalhados ao longo do trabalho. Discorre, ainda, sobre as possíveis consequências do processo de precarização sobre os trabalhadores e sobre os serviços públicosAbstract: In recent decades, transformations in the areas of capitalist production, work organization and labor relations, based on a rationale of greater flexibility, have built an environment that is unfavorable to workers and their collective resistance. These modifications have come about in different ways and at different times in job markets around the world. In the Brazilian job market, historically flexible, disorganized, unequal and heterogeneous, many changes were enacted relatively late in time. More recently, contradictory trends started to coexist in Brazil, simultaneously improving employment indicators while expanding flexible and precarious ways of hiring people, in connection with the heightened insecurity and instability. With regard to the growing flexibility as a means of reducing costs, or the consequent job insecurity adopted, even as a strategy to weaken workers¿ resistance power, this movement has not only impacted the private labor market, its workers and their union representatives, it has also affected Brazilian public service institutions to some extent. Since the beginning of the 1990s, a process of state transformation that conflicts with advances included in the 1988 Constitution has been taking place in a systematic, although non-linear, manner. Between 1990 and 2002, a counter-reform model was applied to the Brazilian state, the main pillars of which, from the perspective of labor relations, were Constitutional Amendments 19 and 20 of 1998, which, by dismantling labor and social security rights, together with other legal and administrative provisions, imposed greater flexibility and a private sector logic upon public services. Since 2003, movements have expressed greater contradictions. A new wave of people entered government service, many of whom, unlike in the previous period, experienced pay increases to compensate for inflation, albeit applied in a selective and segmented way. At the same time, without the explicit recognition of the former period, the rights of government employees continued to be removed and the application of the managerial model was maintained, intensifying the process of increasing flexibility in the forms of hiring, remuneration and the use of the workforce in federal government services. The entry of workers in unstable and precarious ways was expanded during that phase. This is revealed by an increase in the number of people hired through formats such as temporary employment contracts and internships, and the effective growth of direct spending on various atypical or vulnerable hiring methods (such as fixed-term contracts, outsourcing and consultancy assignments). Based on this initial approach, this dissertation discusses the case of Brazil¿s national statistics agency, the IBGE, which is constitutionally recognized as the entity responsible for the country¿s official statistics and geoscientific production. Since the 1990s, this institution has experienced a dramatic reduction in its permanent official staff, and particularly in the last decade, a significant and accelerated increase in the replacement of such staff by people hired in a precarious manner, under the provisions of Law 8,745 of 1993. Although this law only provides for temporary hiring under exceptional conditions of public interest, those hired have been assigned to various stages of the work process, in all areas of research, and not only working in temporary surveys, as envisaged in the legal provisions that authorize their hiring. They perform tasks of a continuous rather than seasonal nature, thereby deviating from the idea of exceptionality. Such workers now represent half of the IBGE¿s workforce, which also includes workers hired in other precarious and provisional ways (such as outsourcing, internships and consulting assignments). The intake of temporary workers to replace government employees with stability, more than the changes in production methods, which have incorporated new technologies, comes in response to a context of strong budgetary and manpower restrictions, and together with other elements, reflects the incorporation of a new public administration model in the IBGE¿s management. This study also reveals a recent intensification of the shift in labor relations within the institution, involving the implementation of tighter controls, intensified use of labor and greater flexibility of tasks for which workers are responsible, as well as a recurring repression of and retaliation against organized collective movements and expressions, among other examples described over the course of this paper. This dissertation also looks at the possible consequences of this process of precarization for workers and for public servicesMestradoEconomia Social e do TrabalhoMestra em Desenvolvimento Econômic

Roles of tumor necrosis factor p55 and p75 receptors in TNF-α-induced vascular permeability

We have investigated the role of p55 and p75 tumor necrosis factor receptors 1 and 2 (TNFR1 and TNFR2, respectively) in TNF-induced alteration of endothelial permeability in vitro and in vivo. Stimulation of TNFR1 with an agonist antibody or a receptor-selective TNF mutein increased the flux of125I-albumin through endothelial cell monolayers. An antagonist anti-TNFR1 antibody, but not antagonist anti-TNFR2 antibodies, blocked the activity of TNF in vitro. Stimulation of TNFR1, but not TNFR2, induced cytoskeletal reorganization associated with increased permeability. SB-203580, a p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor, blocked TNFR1-induced cytoskeletal reorganization and permeability. A selective mouse TNFR1 agonist and human TNF, which binds to murine TNFR1, increased the leakage of trypan blue-albumin from liver vessels in mice. These results indicate that stimulation of TNFR1 is necessary and sufficient to increase endothelial permeability in vitro and in vivo. However, an antagonist anti-murine TNFR2 antibody partially inhibited the effect of murine TNF on liver vessels, suggesting that TNFR2 also plays a role in the regulation of TNF-induced vascular permeability in vivo

In-situ testing of innovative marine instrumentation for nutrients, heavy metals and pH in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard Islands

Marine ecosystems are integral part of fundamental environmental functions that support life on Earth like climate control, erosion prevention and absorption of carbon dioxide. Oceans contribute to economical activities too with the following prosperity, social welfare, and increase in life quality. Nevertheless, several marine environments also in the European framework show increasing challenges to tackle like the loss of biodiversity and habitats, pollution and impacts due to climate change. For Italy and for Europe a growing environmental interest and awareness in both the public and private sectors is combined with a common strategic goal to ensure sustainable development and the continuity of economic activities. In order to achieve this goal and to improve the competitiveness of Italy and the EU, new technologies and methods for monitoring the marine environment are required