Economía Política de la crisis de deuda en Europa

Il saggio analizza la crisi del debito pubblico nell'Eurozona discutendo le principali interpretazioni del fenomeno, sia quella che ne attribuisce la responsabilità alle autorità politiche dei paesi in crisi, per avere concesso ai propri cittadini di vivere al di sopra elle possibilità reali dell'economia, sia quella che ne attribuisce la responsabilità alle autorità di tutta l'UNione Europa per avere mantenuto in vita un'iorganizzazione istituzionale difettosa del processo di coordinazione tra le politiche monetarie e fiscali. L'articolo presenta argumenti teorici ed empirici che criticano l'ipotesi che l'austerità stabilizza il debito pubblico e propone come alternativa di politica economica una riforma del processo di coordinamento delle politiche basata nell'istituzione di un'Agenzia Fiscale Europea che possa generare migliori risultati favorendo l'adozione di politiche fiscali coordinate ed espansive

Development of an electrochemical ELISA for the screening of 17 beta-estradiol and application to bovine serum

A sensitive electrochemical enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of 17 beta-estradiol (17 beta-E(2)) was developed. Optimisation of two ELISA competition assays, using monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies anti-17 beta-estradiol, coupled with the electrochemical detection was firstly performed. The activity of the label enzyme (horseradish peroxidase) was measured electrochemically using 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine as substrate. The use of the polyclonal antibody resulted in a more sensitive assay and the detection limit of the assay was estimated to be 20 pg ml(-1). The analytical performances of the method were compared to those obtained using a dissociation enhanced lanthanide fluorescence immunoassay (DELFIA). Although sample extraction is not usually required by DELFIA, both extracted and non extracted samples were assayed. The comparison between the two screening techniques revealed similar results for the extracted samples and showed a comparable precision (RSD%), ranging from 6.2 to 13.4 and from 6.7 to 14.3 for DELFIA and ELISA, respectively. The results obtained by these screening assays were confirmed by liquid chromatography atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation tandem mass spectrometry which is currently used to confirm illegal hormone administration for regulatory purposes. The electrochemical enzyme immunoassay appears suitable as a screening tool for routine analysis of bovine serum estradiol and can be extended to other anabolic hormones using appropriate antibodies.[...

ccl2 induction by 1,25 (oh)2d3 in debdritic cells from healty donors and ms patients

CCL2 plays a pivotal role in the recruitment of different immune cells to sites of inflammation and evidence indicates its involvement in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis. MS lesions are characterized by an inflammatory infiltrate, whose nature is controlled by chemokines and cytokines, and elevated expression of CCL2 has been found in acute and chronic MS plaques within the brain. Vitamin D deficiency is currently considered one of the main environmental MS risk factors. In this study we analyzed the role of 1,25(OH)2D3, the bioactive vitamin D metabolite, in the regulation of CCL2 expression by dendritic cells (DC) obtained from healthy donors and relapsing-remitting MS patients. We report that 1,25(OH)2D3, as well as 25OHD3, its main blood precursor, induce the secretion of high levels of CCL2. 1,25(OH)2D3-induced CCL2 levels are comparable to those secreted in response to a classical DC maturation stimulus. Moreover, we observed that 1,25(OH)2D3 is able to induce a significant CCL2 secretion in DC obtained from relapsing-remitting MS patients, although CCL2 levels in these latter are lower with respect to healthy controls. The cause(s) of this apparently defective response of DC from patients and its consequences in the context of MS remain to be elucidated. However, we propose CCL2 as a molecular player contributing to the immunomodulatory activity of 1,25(OH)2D3 on DC, and hypothesize a role for this chemokine in the response of MS patients to vitamin D therapy. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled '16th Vitamin D Workshop'

Determinazione degli ormoni sessuali naturali nel sangue bovino mediante tecniche radioimmunologiche. Nota I. Dosaggio del 17beta-estradiolo

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR). Biblioteca Centrale / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal

Development and cross-validation of predictive equation for estimating total body lean in children

Aim. To develop and cross-validate a predictive equation for estimating lean body mass (LBM) in children, based on bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and anthropometric parameters, and to compare our equation with other predictive methods.Methods. We evaluated body composition of 155 children (age 5-14 years) by BIA and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Children were divided in two groups: developing set and cross-validation set. Statistical analysis as multiple regression and BlandAltman methods were performed.Results. From developing set (105 children) a predictive LBM (kg) equation was created. From the cross-validated set (35 children), our equation was seen to agree with LBM (kg) by DXA. On the contrary, LBM predicted by Schaefer's equation and BIA did not agree with the criterion measure.Conclusions. This cross-validated equation can be useful in epidemiological studies and also in clinical practice, permitting a better definition and follow up of children's body composition

Requisiti minimi dei laboratori per la ricerca dei residui negli animali vivi e nei prodotti alimentari

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal

Simit epidemiological multicentric study on hospitalized immigrants in Italy during 2002

The aim of this article is to retrospectively evaluate the patient characteristics and the most common infectious diseases in immigrant patients hospitalized in 46 Italian infectious disease clinics during 2002. The main Italian infectious disease clinics were invited to fill in a questionnaire that regarded the number and type of hospital admissions, the country of origin, and demographic features (age, sex, and resident state) of immigrants. A total of 46 clinics including 2255 patients participated in the study. Most patients were men (63%) with an age between 16 and 40 years (63.4%) covered by the National Health Service (71%) and coming from Africa (44.3%). The main infectious diseases observed were: 378 (16.76%) cases of HIV infection, 303 (13.43%) cases of tuberculosis diseases, 282 (12.5%) cases of various forms of viral hepatitis, 177 (7.84%) cases of respiratory diseases, and 196 (8.69%) gastrointestinal diseases. Tropical diseases found were 134 (5.94%) including 95 cases of malaria (70.9%). In conclusion, a broad range of diseases was noted in immigrants which were directly correlated with conditions of poverty. Only a few tropical diseases were diagnosed and therefore the immigrant should not be considered as an infectious disease carrier. \ua9 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2005