Political, general, or economic strikes? New types of strikes and workers’ contention in Italy (2008–2018)

The article provides an overview of workers’ collective actions in Italy between 2008 and 2018, which characterized a new wave of contention; the article focuses on the development of strike activities in this period. While the literature suggests an increase in general/political strikes and a decline of economic strikes, we argue that this distinction does not sufficiently account for the variety of strikes that has recently occurred. Our contribution aims to clarify the differences between three types of strikes: general political strike, general/large-scale economic strike, and local economic strike. The empirical analysis is based on a new data set of workers’ collective actions, including strikes, observed in Italy in the decade 2008–2018. The data set was built using protest event analysis (PEA). Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) reveals three types of strikes that differ along these dimensions: the actors promoting them, the workers’ occupations involved, the issues claimed, the scale of action, and the addressee of the actions. Conclusions compare the characteristics of workers’ contentious actions between 2008 and 2018 with the old cycle of protests observable in the 1960s and 1970s, and suggest an integration of economic and political explanations to account for the new types of strikes

Political, General or Economic Strikes? New Types of Strikes and Workers' Contention

The article provides an overview of workers' collective actions occurred in Italy, characterizing a new wave of contention between 2008 and 2018. It focuses on the development of strike activities. While the literature suggests an increase in general/political strikes and a decline of economic strikes, we argue that this distinction does not sufficiently account for the variety of strikes that has recently occurred. Our contribution aims to clarify the differences between three types of strikes: general political strike, general/large-scale economic strike and local economic strike. The empirical analysis is based on a new dataset on workers' collective actions, including strikes, observed in Italy in the decade 2008-2018. The dataset was built using protest event analysis (PEA). Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) allows us to show that the three types of strikes differ along the actors promoting them, the workers' occupations involved, the issues claimed, the scale of action and the target of the actions. Conclusions compare the characteristics of workers contention between 2008 and 2018 with the old cycle of protest and suggest to join economic and political explanations of strikes to account for the new types of strikes

L’organizzazione e il valore sociale del lavoro pubblico tra riforme e crisi pandemica

This paper offers a discussion concerning the social value of the labour in public sector as perceived by the public employees and emerging from some research conducted from 2017 onwards in different sector of the public administration. The issue of public administration has been pertinent given that regulatory and market failures have been attributed to its inefficiencies. The last reforms have changed the public administration and modified the relationship with citizens. In this context, public employees are copying growing difficulty to reconcile their professional ethos with the aims of the public administration

Madri, figlie e sorelle. Donne, famiglie e società nel pensiero sociologico di Anna Oppo

The aim of this contribute is to commemorate the sociologist Anna Oppo, who dead recently. Through her research, teaching activity and personal prestige, Anna Oppo supported the entrance of the sociology in the Sardinian University and the diffusion of the discipline in the public and political debate. In this manner, Anna Oppo supported the diffusion of the sociology in Sardinian University and she became an intecllectual reference for her professional community, for students and all Sardinian society. The list of her research subject allows to us to retrace the most important social change that endured the recent history of the Sardinian society. Specific attention could be reserved for the women’s condition, individualization and self-determination process and, particularly the history and change of the family in contemporary society. This subject is the fil rouge of the Anna Oppo research activity and her favorite point of view of the society

Introduzione al volume degli Atti. Territori, senso comune e intellettuali: il racconto di un’esperienza politica

This is the Abstract of the Introduction to the volume of the Proceedings of the international conference Gramsci nel mondo di oggi published in the IGJ issue 16, summer 2022

Non-Invasive Detection of a De Novo Frameshift Variant of STAG2 in a Female Fetus: Escape Genes Influence the Manifestation of X-Linked Diseases in Females

Background: We report on a 20-week-old female fetus with a diaphragmatic hernia and other malformations, all of which appeared after the first-trimester ultrasound. Methods and Results: Whole trio exome sequencing (WES) on cell-free fetal DNA (cff-DNA) revealed a de novo frameshift variant of the X-linked STAG2 gene. Loss-of-function (LoF) STAG2 variants cause either holoprosencephaly (HPE) or Mullegama–Klein–Martinez syndrome (MKMS), are de novo, and only affect females, indicating male lethality. In contrast, missense mutations associate with milder forms of MKMS and follow the classic X-linked recessive inheritance transmitted from healthy mothers to male offspring. STAG2 has been reported to escape X-inactivation, suggesting that disease onset in LoF females is dependent on inadequate dosing for at least some of the transcripts, as is the case with a part of the autosomal dominant diseases. Missense STAG2 variants produce a quantity of transcripts, which, while resulting in a different protein, leads to disease only in hemizygous males. Similar inheritance patterns are described for other escapee genes. Conclusions: This study confirms the advantage of WES on cff-DNA and emphasizes the role of the type of the variant in X-linked disorders

Distinct Mechanisms Are Responsible for Nrf2-Keap1 Pathway Activation at Different Stages of Rat Hepatocarcinogenesis

Activation of the Nrf2-Keap1 pathway, the main intracellular defense against environmental stress, has been observed in several human cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we assessed whether distinct mechanisms of activation may be involved at different stages of hepatocarcinogenesis. We adopted an experimental model consisting of treatment with diethylnitrosamine (DENA) followed by a choline-devoid methionine-deficient (CMD) diet for 4 months. The CMD diet was then replaced with a basal diet, and the animals were killed at 6, 10 or 13 months after DENA injection. Nrf2 activation occurred at early steps of hepatocarcinogenesis and persisted throughout the tumorigenic process. WhileNrf2mutations were extremely frequent at early steps (90%), their incidence diminished with the progression to malignancy (25%). Conversely, while p62 was almost undetectable in early nodules, its accumulation occurred in HCCs, suggesting that Nrf2 pathway activation at late stages is mainly due to Keap1 sequestration by p62. We demonstrate that, in a model of hepatocarcinogenesis resembling human non-alcoholic fatty liver disease,Nrf2mutations are the earliest molecular changes responsible for the activation of the Nrf2-Keap1 pathway. The progressive loss of mutations associated with a concomitant p62 accumulation implies that distinct mechanisms are responsible for Nrf2-Keap1 pathway activation at different stages of hepatocarcinogenesis

Natural killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors trigger differences in immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection

Background: The diversity in the clinical course of COVID-19 has been related to differences in innate and adaptative immune response mechanisms. Natural killer (NK) lymphocytes are critical protagonists of human host defense against viral infections. It would seem that reduced circulating levels of these cells have an impact on COVID-19 progression and severity. Their activity is strongly regulated by killer-cell immuno-globulin-like receptors (KIRs) expressed on the NK cell surface. The present study's focus was to investigate the impact of KIRs and their HLA Class I ligands on SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: KIR gene frequencies, KIR haplotypes, KIR ligands and combinations of KIRs and their HLA Class I ligands were investigated in 396 Sardinian patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Comparisons were made between 2 groups of patients divided according to disease severity: 240 patients were symptomatic or paucisymptomatic (Group A), 156 hospitalized patients had severe disease (Group S). The immunogenetic characteristics of patients were also compared to a population group of 400 individuals from the same geographical areas. Results: Substantial differences were obtained for KIR genes, KIR haplotypes and KIR-HLA ligand combinations when comparing patients of Group S to those of Group A. Patients in Group S had a statistically significant higher frequency of the KIR A/A haplotype compared to patients in Group A [34.6% vs 23.8%, OR = 1.7 (95% CI 1.1-2.6); P = 0.02, Pc = 0.04]. Moreover, the KIR2DS2/HLA C1 combination was poorly represented in the group of patients with severe symptoms compared to those of the asymptomatic-paucisymptomatic group [33.3% vs 50.0%, OR = 0.5 (95% CI 0.3-0.8), P = 0.001, Pc = 0.002]. Multivariate analysis confirmed that, regardless of the sex and age of the patients, the latter genetic variable correlated with a less severe disease course [ORM = 0.4 (95% CI 0.3-0.7), PM = 0.0005, PMC = 0.005]. Conclusions: The KIR2DS2/HLA C1 functional unit resulted to have a strong protective effect against the adverse outcomes of COVID-19. Combined to other well known factors such as advanced age, male sex and concomitant autoimmune diseases, this marker could prove to be highly informative of the disease course and thus enable the timely intervention needed to reduce the mortality associated with the severe forms of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, larger studies in other populations as well as experimental functional studies will be needed to confirm our findings and further pursue the effect of KIR receptors on NK cell immune-mediated response to SARS-Cov-2 infection