Rising household debt. Its causes and macroeconomic implications: a long period analysis

The article analyses the rise in household indebtedness from the point of view of its causes and long-run macroeconomic implications. The analysis is focussed on the US case. Differently from life-cycle interpretations of the phenomenon, and from interpretations in terms of erratic deviations of current income flows from their long- run trend, the rising household debt is viewed as the outcome of persistent changes in income distribution and growing income inequalities. Through household debt, low wages appear to have been brought to coexist with relatively high levels of aggregate demand, thus providing the solution to the contradiction between the necessity of high and rising consumption levels, for the growth of the system’s actual output, and a framework of antagonistic conditions of distribution which keeps within limits the real income of the vast majority of society. The question of the long- run sustainability of this substitution of loans for wages is finally discussed

Social representations of coronavirus/COVID-19 in Italy: Psychosocial anchoring to conspiracy beliefs, vaccine hesitancy, and the psychological dimension

From the societal approach of the Theory of Social Representations, this study aimed to investigate the social representations of coronavirus/COVID-19 among the Italian population. By means of an online questionnaire, 599 individuals participated in the research, with a mean age of 38.09 years (SD = 14.44), 62.1% being women. The instrument was composed of sociodemographic questions, free association technique for the inductive term “coronavirus/COVID-19” and scales on conspiracy beliefs, vaccine hesitancy, and psychological dimension. The results allowed us to identify four social representations: “Citizens driven by Social Representations anchored to factual Covid-19 pandemic data,” with lower vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy beliefs, and greater faith in science; “Citizens with low confidence in anti-pandemic preventive measures by government,” with lower agreement with restriction measures; “Emotional people,” with higher agreement with restriction measures and expression of psychological distress; and “Minority group of Citizens driven by denial of Covid-19,” with higher vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy beliefs. We discuss the different social representations identified from the psychological and psychosocial anchoring processes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Data collection and advanced statistical analysis in phytotoxic activity of aerial parts exudates of Salvia spp

In order to define the phytotoxic potential of Salvia species a database was developed for fast and efficient data collection in screening studies of the inhibitory activity of Salvia exudates on the germination of Papaver rhoeas L. and Avena sativa L.. The structure of the database is associated with the use of algorithms for calculating the usual germination indices reported in the literature, plus the newly defined indices (Weighted Average Damage, Differential Weighted Average Damage, Germination Weighted Average Velocity) and other variables usually recorded in experiments of phytotoxicity (LC50, LC90). Furthermore, other algorithms were designed to calculate the one-way ANOVA followed by Duncan's multiple range test to highlight automatically significant differences between the species. The database model was designed in order to be suitable also for the development of further analysis based on the artificial neural network approach, using Self-Organising Maps (SOM)

CRITERI DI SCELTA DEL MATERIALE PER L’ALLEGGERIMENTO DI VETTURE SPORTIVE AD ALTE PRESTAZIONI

Per le vetture di lusso ad alte prestazioni, il primo elemento di competitività è dato dalle prestazioni dinamichedella vettura, ragion per cui il fattore peso sta assumendo nel tempo una rilevanza crescente. L’introduzionedi normative sempre più severe in ambito di emissioni, strettamente correlate al consumo dellavettura ha inoltre indotto i progettisti a spostare la propria attenzione non più sulla potenza pura ma sulrapporto potenza/peso. In questo ambito, è stato studiato l’alleggerimento di una vettura sportiva adalte prestazioni, in particolare di una Lamborghini Murciélago, andando a proporre nuovi materiali perla realizzazione di particolari del gruppo sospensivo. Ottimizzando la scelta del materiale, è possibile ridurreil peso, rispetto alla soluzione attuale, del 30-35% relativamente alla molla sospensione anteriore, del 50-70%relativamente alla barra antirollio posteriore, nonché alleggerire il braccio anteriore inferiore dal 3 al30%, dipendentemente dallo stato tensionale del componente, impiegando opportunamente acciai basso legati,leghe di alluminio e leghe di titanio

Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer in families from southern Italy (Sicily)—Prevalence and geographic distribution of pathogenic variants in BRCA1/2 genes

Recent advances in the detection of germline pathogenic variants (PVs) in BRCA1/2 genes have allowed a deeper understanding of the BRCA-related cancer risk. Several studies showed a significant heterogeneity in the prevalence of PVs across different populations. Because little is known about this in the Sicilian population, our study was aimed at investigating the prevalence and geographic distribution of inherited BRCA1/2 PVs in families from this specific geographical area of Southern Italy. We retrospectively collected and analyzed all clinical information of 1346 hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer patients genetically tested for germline BRCA1/2 PVs at University Hospital Policlinico “P. Giaccone” of Palermo from January 1999 to October 2019. Thirty PVs were more frequently observed in the Sicilian population but only some of these showed a specific territorial prevalence, unlike other Italian and European regions. This difference could be attributed to the genetic heterogeneity of the Sicilian people and its historical background. Therefore hereditary breast and ovarian cancers could be predominantly due to BRCA1/2 PVs different from those usually detected in other geographical areas of Italy and Europe. Our investigation led us to hypothesize that a higher prevalence of some germline BRCA PVs in Sicily could be a population-specific genetic feature of BRCA-positive carriers

Not all KIT 557/558 codons mutations have the same prognostic influence on recurrence-free survival: breaking the exon 11 mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs)

Background: Although the gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) genotype is not currently included in risk-stratification systems, a growing body of evidence shows that the pathogenic variant (PV) type and codon location hold a strong prognostic influence on recurrence-free survival (RFS). This information has particular relevance in the adjuvant setting, where an accurate prognostication could help to better identify high-risk tumors and guide clinical decision-making. Materials and Methods: Between January 2005 and December 2020, 96 patients with completely resected GISTs harboring a KIT proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase (KIT) exon 11 PV were included in the study. We analyzed the type and codon location of the PV according to clinicopathological characteristics and clinical outcome; the metastatic sites in relapsed patients were also investigated. Results: Tumors harboring a KIT exon 11 deletion or deletion/insertion involving the 557 and/or 558 codons, showed a more aggressive clinical behavior compared with tumors carrying deletion/deletion/insertion in other codons, or tumors with duplication/insertion/single-nucleotide variant (SNV) (7-year RFS: 50% versus 73.1% versus 88.2%, respectively; p < 0.001). Notably, among 18 relapsed patients with 557 and/or 558 deletion or deletion/insertion, 14 patients (77.8%) harbored deletions simultaneously involving 557 and 558 codons, while only 4 patients (22.2%) harbored deletions involving only 1 of the 557/558 codons. Thus, when 557 or 558 deletions occurred separately, the tumor showed a prognostic behavior similar to the GIST carrying deletions outside the 557/558 position. Remarkably, patients with GISTs stratified as intermediate risk, but carrying the 557/558 deletion, showed a similar outcome to the high-risk patients with tumors harboring deletions in codons other than 557/558, or duplication/insertion/SNV. Conclusion: Our data support the inclusion of the PV type and codon location in routine risk prediction models, and suggest that intermediate-risk patients whose GISTs harbor 557/558 deletions may also need to be treated with adjuvant imatinib like the high-risk patients