Italian politics in an era of recession : the end of bipolarism?

Italian politics have undergone momentous change in the 2007–2017 decade under the impact of the eurozone crisis, whose peak in 2011–2013 could be equated to the earlier watershed years of 1992–1994. The lasting impact of the upheaval in Italian politics in the early 1990s could still be felt in the decade of economic recession, but there were also new challenges prompted by a crisis that had its roots in international financial contagion and which unravelled under the shadow of both recession and austerity. The changes were of an economic, social, cultural, institutional, policy-oriented and political nature. If one central quintessentially political theme stands out by the end of this decade it is the apparent exhaustion of the quest for bipolarisation that was initiated in the early 1990s

Nitinol Carbofilm coated stents for peripheral applications: Study in the porcine model

Purpose: Testing the safety and foreign body reaction (FBR) of a nitinol self-expandable carbon-coated stent system in the porcine animal model at different follow-up (FU) periods. Methods: Fifteen minipigs received 30 carbon-coated self-expandable nitinol stents in iliac arteries. Explants were carried out at 7 (3 animals), 30 (4 animals), 90 (4 animals) and 180 (4 animals) day FU, for evaluation of acute, sub-acute and chronic biological response to the implanted devices. Histological, immunohistochemical, histomorphometric and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were performed to assess inflammatory reaction, endothelialization process, neointimal growth and cellular composition. Results: Thirty stents were successfully implanted. No mural thrombi were observed at gross examination or by angiography. Histologically no significant inflammatory reaction was detected: the stents appeared covered by a thin monolayer of endothelial cells even at 7 day FU. The neointima presented homogeneous growth and moderate thickness after 30, 90 and 180 days explants (0.38± 0.36 mm, 0.33± 0.30 mm, 0.27± 0.25 mm respectively). Internal and external elastic laminae were intact in 95% of stented arteries. Histological data validations of vessel endothelialization was obtained with SEM for the seven day follow-up group. Conclusions: This study showed good remarkable technical performances, minimal FBR and biocompatibility comparable with other available pre-clinical experimentation

Effect of Sugars on Gelation Kinetics of Gelatin Gels

We investigate the rheological behavior of aqueous solutions containing animal gelatin, sugars and polyols. The aim is to study how the gelation kinetics, transition temperatures and gel strengths of an aqueous gelatin solution can be affected by the progressive addition of co-solutes. Aqueous solutions with a fixed mass percentage of gelatin of 6.8 wt% were prepared at various concentrations of sugars and polyols. Through Dynamic Temperature Ramp tests, performed at various ramp rates, and Dynamic Time Sweep and Dynamic Frequency Sweep tests, carried out at different temperatures, it was possible both to evaluate the transition temperatures and to monitor the gelation kinetics of the samples. It was found that the contribution of co-solutes positively affects both the gelation process and the thermal stability of the aqueous gelatin solution by reducing the gelation time and improving the mechanical properties of the gel in terms of network elasticity

Transient genome-wide interactions of the master transcription factor NLP7 initiate a rapid nitrogen-response cascade

Dynamic reprogramming of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) enables organisms to rapidly respond to environmental perturbation. However, the underlying transient interactions between transcription factors (TFs) and genome-wide targets typically elude biochemical detection. Here, we capture both stable and transient TF-target interactions genome-wide within minutes after controlled TF nuclear import using time-series chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP-seq) and/or DNA adenine methyltransferase identification (DamID-seq). The transient TF-target interactions captured uncover the early mode-of-action of NIN-LIKE PROTEIN 7 (NLP7), a master regulator of the nitrogen signaling pathway in plants. These transient NLP7 targets captured in root cells using temporal TF perturbation account for 50% of NLP7-regulated genes not detectably bound by NLP7 in planta. Rapid and transient NLP7 binding activates early nitrogen response TFs, which we validate to amplify the NLP7-initiated transcriptional cascade. Our approaches to capture transient TF-target interactions genome-wide can be applied to validate dynamic GRN models for any pathway or organism of interest. Conventional methods cannot reveal transient transcription factors (TFs) and targets interactions. Here, Alvarez et al. capture both stable and transient TF-target interactions by time-series ChIP-seq and/or DamID-seq in a cell-based TF perturbation system and show NLP7 as a master TF to initiate a rapid nitrogen-response cascade