Uncertainty, optimal specialization and growth

We present a novel argument demonstrating that when trade is characterized by uncertainty the comparative advantages doctrine is misleading and a positive level of diversification is growth enhancing. Applying a result developed in the mathematical biological literature, we show that, in Ricardian trade model in which capital available for investment depends on previous periods returns, incomplete specialization is optimal. We also demonstrate that, in this case, the decentralized solution is characterized by an inefficiently high level of specialization with respect to the social optimal one. Finally, we present a taxation scheme that, reconciling individual incentives and social optimum, is able to induce individual agents to adopt the optimal specialization strategy, i.e. the one that maximizes the country growth rate

Development of a new expendable probe for the study of pelagic ecosystems from voluntary observing ships

Physical and biological processes of the marine ecosystem have a high spatial and temporal variability, whose study is possible only through high resolution and synoptic observations. The Temperature and Fluorescence Launchable Probe was charted in order to answer to the claim of a cost effective temperature and fluorescence expendable profiler, to be used in ships of opportunity. The development of the expendable fluorometer has followed similar concepts of the XBT (a wire conducting the signal to a computer card), but differently from the latter it was developed with an electronic system which can be improved and adapted to several variables measure channels. To reach the aim of a low-cost probe, were utilized commercial components:a glass bulb temperature resistor for the temperature measurement, blue LEDs, a photodiode and available selective glass filters, for the fluorescence measurement. The measurement principle employed to detect phytoplankton’s biomass is the active fluorescence. This method is an in vivo chlorophyll estimation, that can get the immediate biophysical reaction of phytoplankton inside the aquatic environment; it is a non-disruptive method which gives real time estimation and avoids the implicit errors due to the manipulation of samples. The possibility of using a continuous profiling probe, with an active fluorescence measurement, is very important in real time phytoplankton’s study; it is the best way to follow the variability of sea productivity. In fact, because of the high time and space variability of phytoplankton, due to its capability to answer in a relatively short time to ecological variations in its environment and because of its characteristic patchiness, there isn’t a precise quantitative estimation of the biomass present in the Mediterranean Sea.L'articolo è disponibile sul sito dell'editore http://publications.copernicus.org

What is in your cup of tea? DNA Verity Test to characterize black and green commercial teas

In this study, we used several molecular techniques to develop a fast and reliable protocol (DNA Verity Test, DVT) for the characterization and confirmation of the species or taxa present in herbal infusions. As a model plant for this protocol, Camellia sinensis, a traditional tea plant, was selected due to the following reasons: its historical popularity as a (healthy) beverage, its high selling value, the importation of barely recognizable raw product (i.e., crushed), and the scarcity of studies concerning adulterants or contamination. The DNA Verity Test includes both the sequencing of DNA barcoding markers and genotyping of labeled-PCR DNA barcoding fragments for each sample analyzed. This protocol (DVT) was successively applied to verify the authenticity of 32 commercial teas (simple or admixture), and the main results can be summarized as follows: (1) the DVT protocol is suitable to detect adulteration in tea matrices (contaminations or absence of certified ingredients), and the method can be exported for the study of other similar systems; (2) based on the BLAST analysis of the sequences of rbcL+matK±rps7-trnV(GAC) chloroplast markers, C. sinensis can be taxonomically characterized; (3) rps7-trnV(GAC) can be employed to discriminate C. sinensis from C. pubicosta; (4) ITS2 is not an ideal DNA barcode for tea samples, reflecting potential incomplete lineage sorting and hybridization/introgression phenomena in C. sinensis taxa; (5) the genotyping approach is an easy, inexpensive and rapid pre-screening method to detect anomalies in the tea templates using the trnH(GUG)-psbA barcoding marker; (6) two herbal companies provided no authentic products with a contaminant or without some of the listed ingredients; and (7) the leaf matrices present in some teabags could be constituted using an admixture of different C. sinensis haplotypes and/or allied species (C. pubicosta)

Progetto ARGA (Allergopatie Respiratorie: studio di monitoraggio delle linee guida GINA e ARIA): studio osservazionale tra i Medici di Medicina Generale del territorio nazionale.

non presenteBackground: le linee guida (LG) internazionali GINA (Global Initiative for Asthma) ed ARIA (Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma) per la gestione dell\u27asma e RA non sono sufficientemente applicate nella pratica clinica. Obiettivi: valutare il grado di applicabilit? delle LG ed il loro impatto sulla qualit? della vita del paziente in Medicina Generale. Metodi: studio osservazionale prospettico; 168 Medici di Medicina Generale (MMG) (71 del gruppo A (+ corso sulle LG) e 97 del gruppo B (- corso)) sono stati selezionati per arruolare i pazienti con diagnosi di asma/RA. Sia il MMG sia il paziente hanno compilato il questionario sulle Allergopatie Respiratorie e la scheda per la rilevazione delle Reazioni Avverse da Farmaci. Il follow-up verr? eseguito dopo 12 mesi

Interfering with HuR-RNA Interaction: Design, Synthesis and Biological Characterization of Tanshinone Mimics as Novel, Effective HuR Inhibitors

The human antigen R (HuR) is an RNA-binding protein known to modulate the expression of target mRNA coding for proteins involved in inflammation, tumorigenesis, and stress responses and is a valuable drug target. We previously found that dihydrotanshinone-I (DHTS, 1) prevents the association of HuR with its RNA substrate, thus imparing its function. Herein, inspired by DHTS structure, we designed and synthesized an array of ortho-quinones (tanshinone mimics) using a function-oriented synthetic approach. Among others, compound 6a and 6n turned out to be more effective than 1, showing a nanomolar Kiand disrupting HuR binding to RNA in cells. A combined approach of NMR titration and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations suggests that 6a stabilizes HuR in a peculiar closed conformation, which is incompatible with RNA binding. Alpha screen and RNA-electrophoretic mobility shift assays (REMSA) data on newly synthesized compounds allowed, for the first time, the generation of structure activity relationships (SARs), thus providing a solid background for the generation of highly effective HuR disruptors

Relazione tecnica sulle attività della campagna oceanografica “Evatir 2016”

La presente relazione tecnica descrive tutte le attività svolte nella Campagna oceanografica “Evatir 2017” condotta a bordo della N/O “G. Dallaporta” (dal 25 luglio al 21 agosto 2016). La Campagna “Evati 2016” è parte integrante del Progetto "Estensione della Campagna acustica Medias (Mediterranean International Acoustic Survey) nelle sub aree geografiche (GSA) 9 (Mar Ligure e Mar Tirreno settentrionale) e 10 (Mar Tirreno centrale e meridionale)", finanziato dal Ministero delle politiche agricole alimentari e forestali (Mipaaf) nell'ambito del Fondo Europeo per gli Affari Marittimi e la Pesca (FEAMP). E’ la sesta campagna rivolta alla valutazione acustica e alla distribuzione spaziale delle popolazioni di piccoli pelagici, insieme allo studio delle condizioni ambientali dell’area di studio. Le specie target del progetto sono state l’acciuga europea (Engraulis encrasicolus) e la sardina (Sardina pilchardus), specie chiave sia a livello commerciale che ecologico. La gestione di tali risorse è abbastanza complessa a causa del loro breve ciclo di vita e dall’ampia oscillazioni inter-annuali nell’abbondanza dello stock, legata al successo o al fallimento del reclutamento annuale. Insieme alle attività di acquisizione acustiche sono stati realizzati campionamenti bilogici, misurazioni, misurazioni di parametri fisico-chimici, rilevamenti di variabili oceanografiche e campionamento di acque (nei Golfi di Salerno, Napoli e Gaeta), monitoraggio della rete da pesca e campionamenti di fitoplancton, zooplancton, solidi sospesi e rilievo delle principali variabili oceanografiche (in prossimità dello stabilimento SOLVAY di Rosignano)

Tomorrow brings greater knowledge: large language models join dynamic temporal knowledge graphs

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated exceptional capabilities in understanding and generating human-like text. In this paper, we leverage their powerful skills in the scope of lifelong learning agents. Instead of relying on fine-tuning procedures, we exploit Temporal Knowledge Graphs (TKGs) to continually store and update fresh information. In particular, we introduce a novel in-context learning approach called Continual In-context Knowledge LLM (CIK-LLM) capable of bridging an LLM with a dynamically changing TKG. The graph is updated whenever new knowledge becomes available, while the LLM is instructed to find the relational paths that are most relevant to the input instruction, with the goal of identifying smaller subgraphs of evidences. We propose to encode the subgraphs in a compressed-and-prompt-friendly manner, efficiently bridging the LLMs and TKGs. Then, the LLM provides an answer which is conditioned to the knowledge in the graph, exploiting its skills to support the reasoning process. We evaluate our approach on a TKG Question Answering benchmark which includes questions about events that happened at different times. The same questions are asked to models equipped with obsolete or incomplete information and models including progressively more up-to-date knowledge. CIK-LLM overcomes pre-trained LLMs, being able to immediately adapt to newly accumulated knowledge, and it reaches performances that are not far from the ones of a state-of-the art model which is trained not only exploiting LLMs but also large datasets of questions and answers. Furthermore, our model represents a valuable “forgetting-free” approach to quickly adapt an LLM to novel domains without any fine-tuning, QA datasets, or incremental learning procedures

Unusual paraneoplastic neurological syndrome secondary to a well differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor: A case report and review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Paraneoplastic neurological syndrome (PNS) is a heterogeneous group of disorders affecting any part of the nervous system, in a patient affected by cancer. PNS is estimated to occur in 0.01 to 8 % of cancer patients, with higher incidence in those with small cell lung cancer, gynecological tumours or hematological disease. Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) is the most common PNS, but it has never been reported in patients with pancreatic well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumours. CASE PRESENTATION: A 61-year-old man presented with an unusual PNS and absence of circulating neural auto-antibodies. Subsequently, contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed a large pancreatic mass, together with multiple liver metastases, histologically diagnosed as a well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor. Initial treatment with long-acting somatostatin analogue (octreotide LAR) and prednisone achieved a biochemical response (reduction of chromogranin A level) and a radiological disease control, but patient experienced only a brief improvement of neurological symptoms. Seven months after the onset of the symptoms, he died from neurological impairment. CONCLUSIONS: PNS can be associated with metastatic non-functioning well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. These tumors may be unresponsive to treatment with somatostatin analogues and an early neurological treatment should be considered for the optimal management of these uncommon cases

Rationale and design of MILES-3 and MILES-4 studies: two randomized phase III trials comparing single-agent chemotherapy versus cisplatin-based doublets in elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND: Platinum-based chemotherapy is the cornerstone of treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, but the efficacy of adding cisplatin to single-agent chemotherapy remains to be demonstrated in prospective phase III trials dedicated to elderly patients. Furthermore, the superiority of cisplatin/pemetrexed over cisplatin/gemcitabine in non-squamous NSCLC has not been confirmed prospectively. We present the rationale and design of two open-label, multicenter, randomized phase III trials for elderly patients with advanced NSCLC∶ Multicenter Italian Lung cancer in the Elderly Study (MILES)-3 and MILES-4. The aim is to evaluate the efficacy of adding cisplatin to single-agent chemotherapy (both trials) and the efficacy of pemetrexed versus gemcitabine in non-squamous tumors (MILES-4). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Both trials are dedicated to first-line therapy of patients older than 70 years with advanced NSCLC, ECOG performance status 0-1. In the MILES-3 trial, patients are randomized in a 1∶1 ratio to gemcitabine or cisplatin/gemcitabine. In the MILES-4 study patients with non-squamous histology are randomized, in a factorial design with 1∶1∶1∶1 ratio, to four arms: gemcitabine (A), cisplatin/gemcitabine (B), pemetrexed (C), cisplatin/pemetrexed (D). Two comparisons are planned∶ A+C vs B+D to test the role of cisplatin; A+B vs C+D to test the role of pemetrexed. Primary endpoint of both trials is overall survival. Secondary and exploratory endpoints include progression-free survival, response rate, toxicity, and quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: MILES-3 and MILES-4 results will add important evidence about the role of cisplatin-based doublets and pemetrexed in the first-line therapy of elderly patients with advanced NSCLC