Insulin receptor signaling and glucagon-like peptide 1 effects on pancreatic beta cells

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a potent gluco-incretin hormone, which plays a central role on pancreatic beta cell proliferation, survival and insulin secreting activity and whose analogs are used for treating hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Notably, abnormal insulin signaling affects all the above-mentioned aspects on pancreatic beta cells. The aim of our study was to investigate whether the protective effects of GLP1-1 on beta cells are affected by altered insulin receptor signaling. To this end, several effects of GLP-1 were studied in INS-1E rat beta cells transfected either with an inhibitor of insulin receptor function (i.e., the Ectonucleotide Pyrophosphatase Phosphodiesterase 1, ENPP1), or with insulin receptor small interfering RNA, as well as in control cells. Crucial experiments were carried out also in a second cell line, namely the βTC-1 mouse beta cells. Our data indicate that in insulin secreting beta cells in which either ENPP1 was up-regulated or insulin receptor was down-regulated, GLP-1 positive effects on several pancreatic beta cell activities, including glucose-induced insulin secretion, cell proliferation and cell survival, were strongly reduced. Further studies are needed to understand whether such a scenario occurs also in humans and, if so, if it plays a role of clinical relevance in diabetic patients with poor responsiveness to GLP-1 related treatments

Green synthesis of vanillin: Pervaporation and dialysis for process intensification in a membrane reactor

In the present work, two different membrane processes (pervaporation and dialysis) are compared in view of their utilization in a membrane reactor, where vanillin, which is probably the most important aroma of the food industry, is synthesized in a green and sustainable way. The utilized precursor (ferulic acid, which is possibly a natural product from agricultural wastes) is partially oxidized (photocatalytically or biologically) and the product is continuously recovered from the reacting solution by the membrane process to avoid its degradation. It is observed that pervaporation is much more selective towards vanillin than dialysis, but the permeate flux of dialysis is much higher. Furthermore, dialysis can work also at lower temperatures and can be used to continuously restore the consumed substrate into the reacting mixture. A mathematical model of the integrated process (reaction combined with membrane separation) reproduces quite satisfactorily the experimental results and can be used for the analysis and the design of the process

Maintaining the Mandate: China\u27s Territorial Consolidation

This thesis constitutes an attempt to better comprehend and understand the People’s Republic of China (PRC) effort to consolidate territory it believed rightfully belonged to China and its implications moving forward. China is a fascinating, complicated and confusing country. It is the most populated country in the world with 1,349,585,8381 people, 91.5% of whom are ethnic Han Chinese. The remaining 8.5% of the population is split amongst 55 ethnic minorities.2 While 8.5% may seem like a small number, 8.5% of 1,349,585,838 is just under 115 million people. That is over one-third of the population of the United States. If the 55 minorities were to be considered their own country they would be the thirteenth most populated country in the world.3 Most of the minority population lives on China’s periphery and were incorporated into China by the expansionistic Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). Typically they do not speak Mandarin, the official state language of the PRC. In this regard ironically roughly 400 million PRC citizens do not speak Mandarin either and millions of others speak it poorly.4 Millions of Han Chinese speak one of the over 1,500 dialects of Chinese, most notably Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaineese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minna (Hokkien-Taiwanese) along with the Xiang, Gan and Hakka dialects. Beijing seeks to unify the citizens of the PRC through Mandarin

Three Essays on Insurance Coverage in the U.S. Healthcare System

The purpose of these three studies is to advance our understanding of the impact of the uninsured on the U.S. healthcare system and specifically the professional components, accounting for 20% of healthcare expenditures in the U.S., roughly $772 billion in 2019. Two of the three studies use linear mixed effects models investigating the consequences of uninsurance on physician providers at the county level. The first study examines the impact of community uninsurance rate on primary care and specialist providers to explain the effect that uninsurance has on the healthcare system and stress on available resources for both insured and uninsured. The second study investigates the impact of Medicaid eligibility expansion on supply of physician providers, and the impact is more serious among specialty providers than to the primary care providers. The third study using a linear regression model and the ordinary least square method to evaluate the strength of the public health infrastructure following the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the effect on insurance enrollment to identify factors for future system-wide improvements. Public health department accreditation was used as a proxy for the strength of public health infrastructure. In these studies, our results showed a statistically significant association between PCP supply and uninsurance rate. This study suggested that the availability of providers increases as uninsurance decreases. My findings also implied that the insured population suffers from a high uninsurance rate since the number of professional providers would decrease with the increase of uninsurance rate in the area. My results showed a statistically significant association between the Medicaid eligibility expansion and physician supply. The results suggested that professional providers would be influenced by the improvement of insurance rate due to Medicaid eligibility expansion since this would extend the payment methodologies of their patients thus improving their compensation. My findings also suggested that increases in insurance enrollment are greater in counties with stronger public health infrastructures. In addition, counties in stronger county public health infrastructures located in non-expansion states have a greater improvement than in the county level medical insurance enrollment with stronger county public health infrastructures and located within expansion states. @font-face {font-family: Cambria Math ; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536869121 1107305727 33554432 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:DengXian; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:等线; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610612033 953122042 22 0 262159 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;}@font-face {font-family: \@DengXian ; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610612033 953122042 22 0 262159 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent: ; margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family: Calibri ,sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:DengXian; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}span.referencesnote {mso-style-name:references__note; mso-style-unhide:no;}span.eop {mso-style-name:eop; mso-style-unhide:no;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family: Calibri ,sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:DengXian; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;

Measuring Investment Distortions when Risk-Averse Managers Decide Whether to Undertake Risky Projects

This paper examines distortions in corporate investment decisions when a new project changes firm risk. It presents a dynamic model in which a self-interested, risk-averse manager makes investment decisions at a levered firm. The model, calibrated using data from public firms, is used to estimate the magnitude of distortions in investment decisions. Despite potential wealth transfers from debtholders, managers compensated with equity prefer safe projects to risky ones. Important factors in this decision are the expected changes in the values of future tax shields and bankruptcy costs when firm risk changes. We also evaluate the extent to which this effect varies with firm leverage, managerial risk aversion, managerial non-firm wealth, project size, debt duration, and the structure of management compensation packages.

Arendtian Sardines. A failed attempt at participatory democracy

Starting from a phenomenological description of the unprecedented Italian movement of the 6000Sardines as presented by Adriana Cavarero in her surgive paradigm, the aim of my paper is to target the lack of constituency and permanence that makes democracy fragile when based only on the spontaneous dimension of a collective and grass-root uprising. Taking seriously the Arendtian challenge to ground a new body politic on the paradoxical nature of action, participatory democracy is here presented as an irresolvable tension between the dynamic and potentially limitless power of plurality and the internal bonds that any founding act presupposes. A duality that represents the circular nature of politics between power and authority and, thanks to Arendt’s remarks on Roman auctoritas, provides us with the coordinates for a democratic political institution that does not suppress freedom, but also never allows action to run out in an endless anarchic process.On the afternoon of November 14th, 2019, an unprecedented event occurred in the Italian city of Bologna. Against the discriminatory policies of former Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini, four very different people, represented by Mattia Sartori, began to sing in Piazza Santo Stefano. Within a few hours, this single chant became a call that grew into a crowd of six thousand people. In a couple of days, the new political phenomenon of the 6000Sardines spread throughout the country. Journalists across Italy described it as a “joyful,” “hopeful,” and communal event that was “moved by feelings of humanity” (Pucciarelli et al., 2019). It is no coincidence that in the same period, Adriana Cavarero, using Arendt’s idea of natality, defined democracy as a public arena based on the exaltation of the surging character of action and as a political space characterized by its detachment from fixed institutions (Cavarero, 2019). The 6000Sardines are a perfect example of this new Arendtian paradigm. A group of young people singing and dancing together, without any political affiliation, inherently anti-fascist (6000Sardines, 2020), free to exist as a plurality that thrives on the sheer power of their physical presence in the streets (Butler, 2015), animated by a simple desire for public happiness (Guaraldo, 2018b). Nevertheless, the nascent democracy of these “Arendtian sardines,” as I will try to suggest, tragically failed to take the necessary step of organizing their spontaneity (Flores D’Arcais, 2019). As a result of their anti-institutional choices, the Sardines struggled to find a place in the sea of real politics. Being always on the border between an unformed political action and the denial of a constitutive moment, they lost their initiative power. After a phenomenological description of the 6000Sardines movement as a failed attempt at participatory politics, I want to make clear that the defeat of this democratic action was due to a lack of constituency. Taking seriously the Arendtian challenge to ground a new body politic based on the mutual coexistence of the dual nature of action, I will present democracy as an irreducible tension between the plural act of “manyness” which is constitutively dynamic and potentially limitless, and the internal bonds that any founding act presupposes (Ricœur, 1997). Thanks to a critical perspective on the question of beginning in Arendt’s philosophy, as presented in On Revolution and The Life of the Mind (Arendt, 1963; 1978), I will attempt to elucidate this space of appearance as situated on both ontological configurations (Arendt, 1963). This internal duality, which represents the circular nature of politics between power and authority (Guaraldo, 2018a; Esposito, 1996, 2021), allows power to flourish in a founded political order that does not suppress freedom, but it also never leaves action to run out in an endless anarchic process, since we know, thanks to the lesson of the 6000Sardines, that any democratic space of appearance cannot survive without the political institution of liberty (Keenan, 1994; Vatter, 2000)

Thirty years of invasion: the distribution of the invasive crayfish Procambarus clarkii in Italy

The presence of the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii in Italy is documented since 1989, but no comprehensive data are available on its spread through time at the national scale. New confirmed records for Procambarus clarkii are continuously arising in recent years across the country. By reviewing the scientific and grey literature, we obtained an up-to-date map of the species invasion in Italy. This information can help to monitor and understand the spread of this highly invasive crayfish and to implement more effective management measures.

LA DESERCIÓN Y LOS EFECTOS DE LA TENSIÓN ESTUDIO-TRABAJO SEGÚN LOS PERFILES ESTUDIANTILES

El objetivo del presente artículo es analizar las tensiones existentes en la dupla estudio-trabajo que condicionan la permanencia de los estudiantes en la institución en relación con sus perfiles estudiantiles