Towards ‘bogus employment?’ The contradictory outcomes of ride-hailing regulation in Berlin, Lisbon and Paris

The issue of employment classification has been central in the politics around the platform economy. Crucial has been the phenomenon of ‘bogus self-employment’, whereby workers in de facto dependent employment relationships conduct services as independent contractors. Legislators around the world have aimed to tackle this issue by obliging platforms to classify their workers as employees. Based on empirical research in the ride-hailing industry of Berlin, Paris and Lisbon, where such classification exists already, we highlight its contradictory outcomes. We argue that platform companies have managed to introduce forms of ‘bogus employment’ whereby even formally employed workers lack basic worker rights

The Regulation of Tea and Its Health-Related Claims in the Wake of Developing Scientific Evidence: Food, Drug, or Dietary Supplement?

This paper examines the place of tea in cultural and regulatory American society. Scientific evidence now abounds about the potential health benefits of tea, and this has put pressure on regulators at the Food and Drug Administration to insure that consumers are well protected. The health claims of tea must be evaluated and screened to avoid consumer fraud. To accomplish this, regulators must first determine what category tea falls under for purposes of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Unfortunately, this is no easy task given the wide array of potential uses for tea. Therefore, in a modern society where the Internet supplies much of consumers’ information, lawmakers and regulators will have to adopt a regulatory scheme that is equipped to handle a diverse and emerging product

Towards ‘bogus employment?’ The contradictory outcomes of ride-hailing regulation in Berlin, Lisbon and Paris

The issue of employment classification has been central in the politics around the platform economy. Crucial has been the phenomenon of ‘bogus self-employment’, whereby workers in de facto dependent employment relationships conduct services as independent contractors. Legislators around the world have aimed to tackle this issue by obliging platforms to classify their workers as employees. Based on empirical research in the ride-hailing industry of Berlin, Paris and Lisbon, where such classification exists already, we highlight its contradictory outcomes. We argue that platform companies have managed to introduce forms of ‘bogus employment’ whereby even formally employed workers lack basic worker rights.Peer Reviewe

Small airway inflammation and extrafine inhaled corticosteroids plus long-acting beta2-agonists formulations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract Objectives To summarize the evidence of small airways involvement in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathophysiology, and to evaluate the efficacy of extrafine formulations of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in combination with long-acting beta2-agonists (LABAs) in the treatment of COPD. Data source A search of the PubMed database was conducted using the keywords "COPD", "small airways", "inflammation" and "extrafine formulation." The search was limited to entries published in English before August 2016. Only studies conducted in humans were considered. Study selection Publications were included on the basis of relevance. Results COPD is a common preventable and treatable disease, characterized by persistent and progressive airflow limitation. With improved understanding of COPD pathophysiology, small airways (internal diameter Conclusion There is an urgent need for improved and reliable techniques for small airways assessment in order to detect early damage, disease progression and response to treatment. Evidence from randomized clinical trials supports the benefits of extrafine ICS/LABA formulations in COPD, real world studies are necessary to confirm this

The socio-material infrastracture of platform capitalism. A research in Bologna and Lisbon

Inserendoci nel recente dibattito sul capitalismo delle piattaforme, e ricorrendo alla nozione di socio-materialità, investigheremo la contraddizione capitale-lavoro-natura incorporata nel digitale. Per investigare la relazione tra piattaforme digitali e trasformazioni urbane e del lavoro, dialogheremo con diversi approcci disciplinari: dagli urban studies, agli studi sulla scienza e la tecnologia, passando per la letteratura delle catene e reti globali di produzione e la sociologia del lavoro.Scopo di questa tesi, quindi, è far emergere la socio-materialità del digitale, criticando l’idea di una dematerializzazione dei processi produttivi dovuta alle tecnologie digitali. Lo faremo a partire dall’analisi empirica di due casi di piattaformizzazione del lavoro negli spazi urbani: il food delivery a Bologna e il ride-hailing a Lisbona. Entrambi gli studi di caso mostrano, con le proprie specificità, la persistenza di processi ambivalenti, in cui l’attore pubblico e politico – il Comune di Bologna e il Parlamento portoghese – ha cercato di porre un argine normativo alle trasformazioni urbane e del lavoro dovute alle piattaforme digitali della gig economy. I processi di piattaformizzazione sono, ad un tempo, causa e conseguenza di altre due componenti della socio-materialità del digitale: la degradazione del lavoro nei nodi produttivi degli spazi extra-urbani e l’impatto ecologico. Perciò, abbiamo identificato la propagazione digitale come infrastruttura socio-materiale del capitalismo delle piattaforme, in quanto rappresenta un contributo diretto allo sfruttamento del lavoro e all’impatto ecologico nella fase contemporanea del capitalismo. Sul solco della cornice dell’etnografia multi-situata, la metodologia utilizzata per i due studi di caso sarà quella non-standard in quanto ci ha permesso di rispondere meglio agli stimoli emersi dal campo, in particolare l’intervista in profondità a testimoni qualificati (lavoratori, policy-makers, attivisti, sindacalisti). Inoltre, l’approccio netnografico, ci ha permesso di mantenere un legame, seppur mediato, con il campo di indagine. La ricerca empirica è stata condotto tra il 2019 ed il 2020.By situating in the critical framework of platform capitalism and adopting the socio-material approach, we investigate the capital-work-nature contradiction embodied in the digital. Thus, this research aim to highlight the socio-materiality of the digital, with a critique to the dematerialisation of the productive process as a result of digital technologies. On the contrary, this thesis make explicit the exploitation of work and nature along the global value chains of the platform capitalism. This hypothesis was developed on the basis of the case of platformisation of work in the urban spaces: the food delivery in Bologna and the ride-hailing in Lisbon. Both these cases show the persistance of contradictory and ambivalent process, for which the public actor and policy-makers (in our case the Municipality of Bologna and the Portuguese parliament) have tried to regulate the gig economy. But the process of platformization in the urban spaces are, at once, cause-and-effect of two more elements of the socio-materiality of the digital: the degradation of work in the productive nodes in the extra-urban spaces and the ecological impact. Thus, we identified the "digital propagation" as the socio-material infrastracture of platform capitalism, since it is a direct contribution to the increment of the exploitation of work and nature in the contemporary phase of capitalism. On the basis of a multi-situated etnography, we adopt a qualitative methodology, in particualar the in-depth interview to qualified witness (specifically workers, policy-makers, union representatives, activists). The field research was conducted between 2019 and 2020

A case-report of a pulmonary tuberculosis with lymphadenopathy mimicking a lymphoma.

Abstract Clinical and radiological manifestations of tuberculosis (TB) are heterogeneous, and differential diagnosis can include both benign and malignant diseases (e.g., sarcoidosis, metastatic diseases, and lymphoma). Diagnostic dilemmas can delay appropriate therapy, favoring Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission. We report on a case of TB in an immunocompetent, Somalian 22-year-old boy admitted in the respiratory unit of an Italian university hospital. His symptoms and clinical signs were thoracic pain, weight loss, latero-cervical, mediastinal, and abdominal lymphadenopathy. Smear microscopy and PCR were negative for Mycobacterium tuberculosis . The unclear histological pattern, the unusual clinical presentation, the CT scan signs, the BAL lymphocytes suggested the suspicion a lymphoma. Culture conversion proved Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. This case report highlights the risk of misdiagnosis in patients with generalized lympho-adenopathy and pulmonary infiltrates, particularly in Africans young patients

The Coexistence of asthma and Chronic Ostructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): prevalence and risk factors in young, middle-aged and elderly people from the general population

Background: The joint distribution of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has not been well described. This study aims at determining the prevalence of self-reported physician diagnoses of asthma, COPD and of the asthma-COPD overlap syndrome and to assess whether these conditions share a common set of risk factors. Methods: A screening questionnaire on respiratory symptoms, diagnoses and risk factors was administered by mail or phone to random samples of the general Italian population aged 20–44 (n = 5163) 45–64 (n = 2167) and 65–84 (n = 1030) in the frame of the multicentre Gene Environment Interactions in Respiratory Diseases (GEIRD) study. Results: A physician diagnosis of asthma or COPD (emphysema/chronic bronchitis/COPD) was reported by 13% and 21% of subjects aged &lt;65 and 65–84 years respectively. Aging was associated with a marked decrease in the prevalence of diagnosed asthma (from 8.2% to 1.6%) and with a marked increase in the prevalence of diagnosed COPD (from 3.3% to 13.3%). The prevalence of the overlap of asthma and COPD was 1.6% (1.3%–2.0%), 2.1% (1.5%–2.8%) and 4.5% (3.2%–5.9%) in the 20–44, 45–64 and 65–84 age groups. Subjects with both asthma and COPD diagnoses were more likely to have respiratory symptoms, physical impairment, and to report hospital admissions compared to asthma or COPD alone (p&lt;0.01). Age, sex, education and smoking showed different and sometimes opposite associations with the three conditions. Conclusion: Asthma and COPD are common in the general population, and they coexist in a substantial proportion of subjects. The asthma-COPD overlap syndrome represents an important clinical phenotype that deserves more medical attention and further research.</br

Assembly and disassembly – The module as a compositional element for a ‘new’ sustainability – The Spanish case

This paper investigates the concept of module based on Argan’s proposed dual definition of module-measure and module-object, reflecting on architectural design by ‘elements’ from a circular economy perspective. This reflection is conducted by selecting case studies on prefabricated architecture within the Iberian context, comparing contemporary projects with selected works by 20th-century Masters, following a reverse process. These works are offered as emblematic, in a logic of interaction and ‘synthesis’ between technology and design in relation to the contemporary global challenges of sustainability and energy transition. The investigation into new ways of understanding and designing architecture introduces the method of Design for Disassembly and extends the reflection on the reuse of buildings to the individual elements they are composed of.   Article info Received: 15/09/2023; Revised: 19/10/2023; Accepted: 26/10/202

Usefulness of the CAT, LCOPD, EQ-5D and COPDSS Scales in Understanding the Impact of Lung Disease in Patients with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency

Alpha-1-antitrypsin defi ciency (AATD) is an inherited disorder responsible for early onset emphysema associated with a signifi cant impairment of healthrelated quality of life (HRQoL). Our aim was to assess the usefulness of different instruments to evaluate the HRQoL in patients with AATD compared to non-AATD COPD. Observational, cross-sectional study in which all patients fi lled out a series of questionnaires: the COPD severity score (COPDSS), the EuroQoL 5-Dimensions (EQ-5D), the Living with COPD (LCOPD) and the COPD Assessment Test (CAT). A total of 96 patients were included, 35 with AATD (mean age 56.5 yrs, 57.1% male and mean FEV1(%) 48.7% and 61 non-AATD COPD (70.3 yrs, 80.3% men and FEV1(%) 47%. The questionnaire scores were similar, with a tendency towards worse scores in AATD for the EQ-5D (VAS) (64.8 (20.2) vs. 71.6 (17.1); p = 0.08). The correlations between the different scores and FEV1(%) were signifi cant in both groups for COPDSS and LCOPD, but not for CAT and EQ-5D. In general, the correlations of scores with FEV1(%) were stronger for AATD compared with non-AATD COPD patients: COPDSS r = –0.570, p < 0.01 for AATD and r = –0.260, p < 0.05 for COPD; LCOPD r = –0.502, p < 0.001 for AATD and r = –0.304, p < 0.05 for non-AATD COPD. Patients with AATD have a similar degree of HRQoL impairment as older subjects with non-AATD COPD and showed a stronger correlation between HRQoL measurements and lung function impairment compared with non-AATD COPD. This may be related to the characteristics of the disease in these patients who are usually younger, with less co-morbidity and lower smoking consumption

Arginines Plasma Concentration and Oxidative Stress in Mild to Moderate COPD

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background Elevated plasma concentrations of the endogenous nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) have been observed in respiratory conditions such as asthma and cystic fibrosis. Since oxidative stress has been shown to increase the activity of arginine methylating enzymes, hence increased ADMA synthesis, and to reduce ADMA degrading enzymes, hence increased ADMA concentrations, we assessed methylated arginines concentrations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a disease characterized by increased oxidative stress. Methods Plasma arginine, ADMA and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA), oxidative stress markers (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, TBARS, and plasma proteins SH, PSH) and antioxidants (taurine and paraoxonase 1, PON1, activity) were measured in 43 COPD patients with mild (n = 29) or moderate (n = 14) disease and 43 age- and sex-matched controls. Results TBARS significantly increased with COPD presence and severity (median 2.93 vs 3.18 vs 3.64 μmol/L, respectively in controls, mild and moderate group, p<0.0001 by ANOVA) whereas PSH decreased (6.69±1.15 vs 6.04±0.85 vs 5.33±0.96 μmol/gr prot, p<0.0001 by ANOVA). Increased ADMA/arginine ratio, primarily due to reduced arginine concentrations, was also observed with COPD presence and severity (median 0.0067 vs 0.0075 vs 0.0100, p<0.0001 by ANOVA). In multiple logistic regression analysis, only TBARS (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.25–0.77; p = 0.0045) and ADMA/Arginine ratio (OR 1.72, 95% CI 2.27–13.05; p = 0.02) were independently associated with COPD severity. Conclusion COPD presence and severity are associated with increased oxidative stress and alterations in arginine metabolism. The reduced arginine concentrations in COPD may offer a new target for therapeutic interventions increasing arginine availability