Ion channel expression in human melanoma samples. in silico identification and experimental validation of molecular targets

Expression of 328 ion channel genes was investigated, by in silico analysis, in 170 human melanoma samples and controls. Ninety-one members of this gene-family (i.e., about 28%) show a significant (p 0.90 and p 90% in most cases). Such five genes (namely, SCNN1A, GJB3, KCNK7, GJB1, KCNN2) are novel potential melanoma markers or molecular targets, never previously related to melanoma. The “druggable genome” analysis was then carried out. Miconazole, an antifungal drug commonly used in clinics, is known to target KCNN2, the best candidate among the five identified genes. Miconazole was then tested in vitro in proliferation assays; it dose-dependently inhibited proliferation up to 90% and potently induced cell-death in A-375 and SKMEL-28 melanoma cells, while it showed no effect in control cells. Moreover, specific silencing of KCNN2 ion channel was achieved by siRNA transfection; under such condition miconazole strongly increases its anti-proliferative effect. In conclusion, the present study identified five ion channels that can potentially serve as sensitive and specific markers in human melanoma specimens and demonstrates that the antifungal drug miconazole, known to target one of the five identified ion channels, exerts strong and specific anti-melanoma effects in vitro

Copernicus high-resolution layers for land cover classification in Italy

The high-resolution layers (HRLs) are land cover maps produced for the entire Italian territory (approximately 30 million hectares) in 2012 by the European Environment Agency, aimed at monitoring soil imperviousness and natural cover, such as forest, grassland, wetland, and water surface, with a high spatial resolution of 20 m. This study presents the methodologies developed for the production, verification, and enhancement of the HRLs in Italy. The innovative approach is mainly based on (a) the use of available reference data for the enhancement process, (b) the reduction of the manual work of operators by using a semi-automatic approach, and (c) the overall increase in the cost-efficiency in relation to the production and updating of land cover maps. The results show the reliability of these methodologies in assessing and enhancing the quality of the HRLs. Finally, an integration of the individual layers, represented by the HRLs, was performed in order to produce a National High-Resolution Land Cover ma

La construcción del conflicto minero en Bajo La Alumbrera por el diario El Ancasti

Trabajo Final de Licenciatura en Comunicación Social de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, dirigido por Ileana Ibáñez. Aprobado el 4 de diciembre de 2017 con calificación 10 (diez).Desde el campo de la comunicación, el presente trabajo representa un aporte al estudio de una problemática socio ambiental, específicamente, el conflicto megaminero en Bajo La Alumbrera. La mina, ubicada en el departamento Belén al oeste de la provincia de Catamarca, es una reserva de cobre, oro y molibdeno, que inició sus operaciones en 1997, constituyéndose en el principal yacimiento de cielo abierto de Argentina

Global domestic workers: intersectional inequalities and struggles for rights

Drawing from the EU-funded DomEQUAL research project across 9 countries in Europe, South America and Asia, this comparative study explores the conditions of domestic workers around the world and the campaigns they are conducting to improve their labour rights. The book showcases how domestic workers’ movements put ‘intersectionality in action’ in representing the interest of various marginalized social groups from migrants and low-income groups to racialized and rural girls and women. Casting light on issues such as subjectification, and collective organizing on the part of a category of workers conventionally regarded as unorganizable, this ambitious volume will be invaluable for scholars, policy makers and activists alike

Intersectional Politics on Domestic Workers' Rights. The Cases of Ecuador and Colombia

The chapter looks at domestic workers’ movements as a telling case of collective action developed by multiply-marginalised social groups, in particular migrant, low-class, racialised, and rural women employed in the sector. The present study focuses on Ecuador and Colombia, exploring the ways in which organisations in both contexts used intersectionality differently, in various aspects of their mobilisation process, in the period between 2010 and 2018. Interestingly, activists in Ecuador appear to develop a complex discourse that articulates the role that gender and class, in addition to race, play in the inequalities that weigh on domestic workers, and yet when they lobby their government to ratify the ILO ‘Convention No. 189 on decent work for domestic workers,’ they privilege alliances based on class and the promotion of labour rights. On the contrary, in Colombia, activists are able to use their intersectional identities, as Afro-Colombian women domestic workers, to bring into the public sphere a discourse in which gender, race, and class are always present, and they do so by originally articulating a new frame rooted in a feminist analysis of the ‘care economy.

The feminist and domestic workers’ movements: disconnected practices, discursive convergences

The article explores the relationship between women’s rights and feminist and domestic workers’ movements by drawing on qualitative data gathered in a comparative study on domestic workers’rights in Italy, Germany, Spain, India, the Philippines, Taiwan, Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador (2016–21). Despite the frequent disconnection between the two movements at the practical level, a possible convergence may be identified in the discursive frames that domestic workers’ rights activists make use of. The analysis focuses on two feminist anti-capitalist frames recurring in mobilisations for domestic workers’ rights, addressing the valorisation of reproductive labour and the transnational commodification of care. Domestic workers’ activism tends to build on these frames beyond their mainstream forms and to expand them in intersectional ways, enlarging their capacity to include racialised, low-class, migrant and other minority groups. This becomes a creative force at the level of discourse, where different alliances may take place in a less visible way.The article explores the relationship between women’s rights and feminist and domestic workers’ movements by drawing on qualitative data gathered in a comparative study on domestic workers’ rights in Italy, Germany, Spain, India, the Philippines, Taiwan, Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador (2016–21). Despite the frequent disconnection between the two movements at the practical level, a possible convergence may be identified in the discursive frames that domestic workers’ rights activists make use of. The analysis focuses on two feminist anti-capitalist frames recurring in mobilisations for domestic workers’ rights, addressing the valorisation of reproductive labour and the transnational commodification of care. Domestic workers’ activism tends to build on these frames beyond their mainstream forms and to expand them in intersectional ways, enlarging their capacity to include racialised, low-class, migrant and other minority groups. This becomes a creative force at the level of discourse, where different alliances may take place in a less visible way

Perceived Parental Functioning, Self-Esteem, and Psychological Distress in Adults Whose Parents are Separated/Divorced

Objective. The objective of this research was to identify retrospectively the alienating behaviors and the parental bonding that occurred in an Italian sample of adults whose had parents separated or divorced and their associations with self-esteem and psychological distress. Methods. Four hundred seventy adults in Chieti, Italy, completed an anonymous and confidential survey regarding their childhood exposure to parental alienating behaviors (using the Baker Strategy Questionnaire), quality of the parent-child relationship (using Parental Bonding Instruments), self-esteem (using Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), and global psychological distress (using Global Severity Index of Symptom Checklist-90-Revised). Results. About 80% of the sample reported some exposure to parental alienating behaviors; about 65-70% of the sample has perceived non optimal parenting by mother and by father; individuals who experienced affectionless control (low care and high overprotection) reported significantly higher exposure to parental loyalty conflict behaviors. Overall rates of reported exposure to low care, and overprotection and parental loyalty conflict behaviors were statistically significantly associated with self-esteem as well as the measure of current psychological distress. Results revealed that exposure to parental loyalty conflict behaviors and self-esteem were associated with psychological distress over and above the effects of parental bonding and age. Conclusions. The pattern of findings supports the theory that children exposed to dysfunctional parenting, and with low self-esteem are at risk for their long-term psychological functioning. Implications for health policy changes and strengthening social services are discussed

Chapter 12 Intersectional politics on domestic workers’ rights

Examining the ways in which feminist and queer activists confront privilege through the use of intersectionality, this edited collection presents empirical case studies from around the world to consider how intersectionality has been taken up (or indeed contested) by activists in order to expose and resist privilege.The volume sets out three key ways in which intersectionality operates within feminist and queer movements: it is used as a collective identity, as a strategy for forming coalitions, and as a repertoire for inclusivity. The case studies presented in this book then evaluate the extent to which some, or all, of these types of intersectional activism are used to confront manifestations of privilege. Drawing upon a wide range of cases from across time and space, this volume explores the difficulties with which activists often grapple when it comes to translating the desire for intersectionality into a praxis which confronts privilege. Addressing inter-related and politically relevant questions concerning how we apply and theorise intersectionality in our studies of feminist and queer movements, this timely edited collection will be of interest to students and scholars from across the social sciences and humanities with an interest in gender and feminism, LGBT+ and queer studies, and social movement studies

Could time detect a faking-good attitude? A study with the MMPI-2-RF

Background and Purpose: Research on the relationship between response latency (RL) and faking in self-administered testing scenarios have generated contradictory findings. We explored this relationship further, aiming to add further insight into the reliability of self-report measures. We compared RLs and T-scores on the MMPI-2-RF (validity and restructured clinical [RC] scales) in four experimental groups. Our hypotheses were that: the Fake-Good Speeded group would obtain a different completion time; show higher RLs than the Honesty Speeded Group in the validity scales; show higher T-Scores in the L-r and K-r scales and lower T-scores in the F-r and RC scales; and show higher levels of tension and fatigue. Finally, the impact of the speeded condition in malingering was assessed. Materials and Methods: The sample was comprised of 135 subjects (M = 26.64; SD = 1.88 years old), all of whom were graduates (having completed at least 17 years of instruction), male, and Caucasian. Subjects were randomly assigned to four groups: Honesty Speeded, Fake-Good Speeded, Honesty Un-Speeded, and Fake-Good Un-Speeded. A software version of the MMPI-2-RF and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were administered. To test the hypotheses, MANOVAs and binomial logistic regressions were run. Results: Significant differences were found between the four groups, and particularly between the Honest and Fake-Good groups in terms of test completion time and the L-r and K-r scales. The speeded condition increased T-scores in the L-r and K-r scales but decreased T-scores in some of the RC scales. The Fake groups also scored higher on the VAS Tension subscale. Completion times for the first and second parts of the MMPI-2-RF and T-scores for the K-r scale seemed to predict malingering. Conclusion: The speeded condition seemed to bring out the malingerers. Limitations include the sample size and gender bias

Caratteristiche psicologiche e relazionali in coppie altamente conflittuali coinvolte nell'alienazione genitoriale

L’alienazione genitoriale insorge nell’ambito di una dinamica di coppia alta- mente conflittuale e si manifesta palesemente con sentimenti di disaffezione e di rifiuto di un figlio nei confronti di un genitore. I meccanismi di sviluppo di questa dinamica relazionale disfunzionale sono stati inquadrati da prospettive differenti evidenziando specifici fattori causali, tra i quali comportamenti disfunzionali di un unico genitore, tratti di personalità e atteggiamenti dei vari componenti del nu- cleo familiare, dinamiche relazionali della coppia genitoriale e della diade genito- re-figlio, fattori ambientali e sociali. Obiettivo del presente studio è fornire un ul- teriore contributo alla comprensione delle caratteristiche psicologiche dei genitori coinvolti in situazioni di alienazione genitoriale e di altre variabili associate a questo fenomeno in casi di procedimenti giudiziari in materia di affidamento dei figli. METODOLOGIA: Il campione è costituito da 160 nuclei familiari. Le in- formazioni sui partecipanti sono state raccolte tramite consulenti tecnici nominati da un giudice o dalle parti nell’ambito di procedimenti di separazione nei quali un figlio manifestava un rifiuto ingiustificato di un genitore. In questo studio verran- no presentati dati relativi alle caratteristiche psicologiche e psicopatologiche dei genitori, agli atteggiamenti e comportamenti nei confronti dei figli, alla qualità della relazione tra ex coniugi e tra questi e le loro famiglie di origine. RISULTA- TI: Il genitore prescelto tende a mostrare atteggiamenti di disprezzo e denigrazio- ne verso il genitore rifiutato e ad accettare in maniera passiva il rifiuto manifesta- to dal figlio. I profili psicologici dei genitori prescelti e rifiutati mostrano diffe- renze rilevanti. In un alto numero di casi, la famiglia di origine supporta l’ostilità nella dinamica di coppia. CONCLUSIONI: Maggiori conoscenze inerenti le ca- ratteristiche psicologiche e altri fattori associati al fenomeno dell’alienazione ge- nitoriale possono essere utili per i professionisti che intervengono in questo ambi- to per attuare valutazioni e interventi adeguati volti a tutelare il benessere psicolo- gico di tutti gli individui coinvolti