Who do you Blame in Local Finance? An Analysis of Municipal Financing in Italy

A 1999 reform allowed Italian Mayors to partially substitute a more accountable source of tax revenue (the property tax) with a less transparent one (a surcharge on the personal income tax). Theoretical analysis suggests this should give incompetent Mayors a less costly way to hide themselves, so allowing them to be more easily re-elected. An empirical analysis on Piedmont municipalities confirms these hypotheses.partial decentralization, fiscal federalism, transparency, political behavior

Who do you blame in local finance? An analysis of municipal financing in Italy

A 1999 reform allowed Italian Mayors to partially substitute a more accountable source of tax revenue (the property tax) with a less trans- parent one (a surcharge on the personal income tax). Theoretical anal- ysis suggests this should give incompetent Mayors a less costly way to hide themselves, so allowing them to be more easily re-elected. An em- pirical analysis on Piedmont municipalities conrms these hypotheses.Partial decentralization, fiscal federalism, transparency, political behavior.

Archosauriform footprints in the Lower Triassic of Western Alps and their role in understanding the effects of the Permian-Triassic hyperthermal

The most accepted killing model for the Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) postulates that massive volcanic eruption (i.e., the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province) led to geologically rapid global warming, acid rain and ocean anoxia. On land, habitable zones were drastically reduced, due to the combined effects of heating, drought and acid rains. This hyperthermal had severe effects also on the paleobiogeography of several groups of organisms. Among those, the tetrapods, whose geographical distribution across the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) was the subject of controversy in a number of recent papers. We here describe and interpret a new Early Triassic (?Olenekian) archosauriform track assemblage from the Gardetta Plateau (Briançonnais, Western Alps, Italy) which, at the Permian-Triassic boundary, was placed at about 11° North. The tracks, both arranged in trackways and documented by single, well-preserved imprints, are assigned to Isochirotherium gardettensis ichnosp. nov., and are here interpreted as produced by a non-archosaurian archosauriform (erytrosuchid?) trackmaker. This new discovery provides further evidence for the presence of archosauriformes at low latitudes during the Early Triassic epoch, supporting a model in which the PTME did not completely vacate low-latitude lands from tetrapods that therefore would have been able to cope with the extreme hot temperatures of Pangaea mainland

DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF A NOVEL HUMAN-POWERED WATERCRAFT FOR PEOPLE WITH LOWER-BODY DISABILITIES

The purpose of this study was to develop a human-powered watercraft for people with lower-body disabilities and investigate its mechanical efficiency and metabolic cost of locomotion. Metabolic variables and mechanical power output was measured during different trials and the results showed a linear correlation between metabolic power and mechanical power. Energy expenditure when pedalling the watercraft was similar to other physical activities performed by people with lower-body disabilities and could as a result, be an alternative fitness tool for those who seek water activities

Protein kinase CK2 is widely expressed in follicular, Burkitt and diffuse large B-cell lymphomas and propels malignant B-cell growth.

Serine-threonine kinase CK2 is highly expressed and pivotal for survival and proliferation in multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma. Here, we investigated the expression of \u3b1 catalytic and \u3b2 regulatory CK2 subunits by immunohistochemistry in 57 follicular (FL), 18 Burkitt (BL), 52 diffuse large B-cell (DLBCL) non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) and in normal reactive follicles. In silico evaluation of available Gene Expression Profile (GEP) data sets from patients and Western blot (WB) analysis in NHL cell-lines were also performed. Moreover, the novel, clinical-grade, ATP-competitive CK2-inhibitor CX-4945 (Silmitasertib) was assayed on lymphoma cells. CK2 was detected in 98.4% of cases with a trend towards a stronger CK2\u3b1 immunostain in BL compared to FL and DLBCL. No significant differences were observed between Germinal Center B (GCB) and non-GCB DLBCL types. GEP data and WB confirmed elevated CK2 mRNA and protein levels as well as active phosphorylation of specific targets in NHL cells. CX-4945 caused a dose-dependent growth-arresting effect on GCB, non-GCB DLBCL and BL cell-lines and it efficiently shut off phosphorylation of NF-\u3baB RelA and CDC37 on CK2 target sites. Thus, CK2 is highly expressed and could represent a suitable therapeutic target in BL, FL and DLBCL NHL

Hybridisation of forklift trucks

In the past years, forklift manufacturers have started to hybridise their products under the worldwide interest toward electrification. This is generally made starting from existing standard products, and converting them into hybrid versions, rather than start from scratch and designing fully new vehicles. This approach involves several gaps from the inaccurate evaluation of the powertrain architecture and relative energy management strategy, up to a rough sizing of components. Therefore, this study suggests a structured methodology to follow, aimed to properly design hybrid forklift trucks. The first step is the analysis of the conventional working machine to hybridise, identifying one set of duty cycles. Then, the design of the new powertrain architecture, with a proper energy management strategy, and the definition of a numerical simulation model realised through a multiphysics object-oriented software package, to properly size the new powertrain components, and to verify energy and power flows. Finally, it is also presented a brief-cost–benefit analysis, as last verification of the proposed methodology, to verify the cost-effectiveness to bring the new products to the market. Results have shown the general feasibility of the operation since the significant reduction in fuel consumption is combined with sustainable costs of the new electrified components

Reduced fire blight susceptibility in apple cultivars using a high-efficiency CRISPR/Cas9-FLP/FRT-based gene editing system

The bacterium Erwinia amylovora, the causal agent of fire blight disease in apple, triggers its infection through the DspA/E effector which interacts with the apple susceptibility protein MdDIPM4. In this work, an MdDIPM4 knock-out has been produced in two Malus x domestica susceptible cultivars using the CRISPR/Cas9 system delivered via Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Fifty-seven transgenic lines were screened to identify CRISPR/Cas9-induced mutations. An editing efficiency of 75% was obtained. Seven edited lines with a loss-of-function mutation were inoculated with the pathogen. Highly significant reduction of susceptibility was observed compared to control plants. Sequencing of 5 potential off-target sites revealed no mutation event. Moreover, our construct contained a heat shock-inducible FLP/FRT recombination system designed specifically to remove the T-DNA harbouring expression cassettes for CRISPR/Cas9, marker gene and FLP itself. Six plant lines with reduced susceptibility to the pathogen were heat-treated and screened by real-time PCR to quantify the exogenous DNA elimination. The T-DNA removal was further validated by sequencing in one plant line. To our knowledge, this work demonstrates for the first time the development and application of a CRISPR/Cas9-FLP/FRT gene editing system for the production of edited apple plants carrying a minimal trace of exogenous DN

Stand-alone oblique lumbar interbody fusion (OLIF) for the treatment of adjacent segment disease (ASD) after previous posterior lumbar fusion: clinical and radiological outcomes and comparison with posterior revision surgery

Background: Radiological evidence of adjacent segment disease (ASD) has been reported to have a prevalence of more than 30% and several risk factors have been reported. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical and radiological outcomes of patients with symptomatic ASD treated with stand-alone OLIF and compare results with a posterior revision surgery cohort. Methods: This is a retrospective case-control study. Clinical-patient-reported outcomes were obtained at preoperative, postoperative and final follow-up visits using the Short Form (SF-36) scale, the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and the visual analog scale (VAS). Radiological measures include lumbar lordosis (LL), segmental lordosis (SL), pelvic incidence-lumbar lordosis (PI-LL) mismatch, segmental coronal Cobb angle and intervertebral disc height (DH). The data are compared with a retrospective series of patients that underwent a posterior revision surgery for ASD. Results: Twenty-eight patients in the OLIF group and 25 patients in the posterior group meet inclusion criteria. The mean ages at the time of the surgery are 65.1 years and 67.5, respectively. The mean follow-up time is 36.1 months (range of 14-56). The clinical outcomes significantly improve from preoperative values from the surgery in both groups. The radiological parameters are significantly improved postoperatively and were maintained at the last follow-up in both groups. A statistically significant difference is observed between the two groups for minor complication rate, length of surgery, blood loss and DH restoration. Conclusions: Stand-alone OLIF is an effective and safe technique with low morbidity and complication rates for the treatment of selected patients with symptomatic ASD following a previous lumbar fusion

Il modello econometrico multisettoriale del Piemonte : il modulo sulla politica fiscale del settore pubblico locale

Contributi di ricerca ; n.196/2005- Indice #3- Introduzione #5- I documenti di programmazione economico-finanziaria regionali: una rassegna #9- I modelli fiscali nazionali e regionali #19- Il modulo sulla politica fiscale del settore pubblico locale #41- Riferimenti bibliografici #67- Allegati #6

A study on occupational exposure of Sicilian farmers to Giardia and Cryptosporidium

Introduction. A cross-sectional study was undertaken to deter- mine the prevalence of Giardia and Cryptosporidium in calves of Palermo area (Sicily) and to evaluate the occupational risk associated with occurrence of zoonotic genotypes. Methods. A total of 217 faecal samples, from 149 calves (between 2 and 240 days of age) and 68 farmers, were collected in 19 cattle- farms of Palermo area. A questionnaire regarding demographic characteristics and personal hygienic measures was submitted to all farmers. All faecal samples were analyzed by Immunoflu- orescence assay and Polimerase Chain Reaction (PCR); geno- types were determined by DNA sequencing of Triose Phosphate Isomerase gene for Giardia and Small Subunit Ribosomal RNA gene for Cryptosporidium. Results. None farmer tested was positive for Giardia and Cryptosporidium, whereas these protozoa were respectively detected in 53 (including 5 with zoonotic G. duodenalis geno- type A) and 17 (of which 1 with zoonotic C. ubiquitum) of the examined calves. Discussion. The results indicate that the risk of transmitting both protozoa to farmers in Palermo area is negligible although it can- not be considered null because of identification of human geno- types/species in calves