Knowledge Transfer in Doctoral Education During the Pandemic Time: An Exploratory Study of the PhD Students’ Experiences

The research aims to explore how PhD students interacted with professors and peers and transferred knowledge during pandemic time. We firstly aim to provide an overview of communication media used by students, as well as to classify them for different kinds, social presence, and media richness. Furthermore, our research also aims to explore how doctoral students took their courses by interacting with professors and with peers, in terms of learning (KT) and social exchange relations (LMX, TMX, POS), through online learning platforms and communication media. We conducted exploratory research on 25 PhD students from 5 Italian PhD Programs in ‘economic and statistical sciences’ area. Data was collected through (a) the focus group interview with PhD students for collecting their opinions and experiences on the usage of media for communicating with professors and peers and (b) an online questionnaire aimed to measure their experiences or perceptions on technology usage and social relations. Results shown that PhD students used e-learning platform for communicating with peers and professors, so developing good social relations -even at a distance- which have encouraged knowledge transfer among them

Entrepreneurial Behaviour and New Venture Creation: the Psychoanalytic Perspective

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Repeated successful use of eltrombopag in chronic primary immune thrombocytopenia: description of an intriguing case.

Thrombopoietin receptor agonists (TPO-RAs) are used as effective alternative treatments in ITP patients unresponsive to first-/second-line therapies. TPO- RAs can also be used to normalize platelet count to safely perform invasive pro- cedures and chemotherapy, in case of malignancies. In few responsive patients, TPO-RAs can be suspended maintaining a sustained respons

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae from children attending day-care lefts in a central Italian city

ObjectiveTo undertake a survey of nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae, which reflects strains causing infection, in 100 children under 3 years of age attending day-care lefts in Frosinone, a city near Rome.MethodsFifty-three unique isolates of S. pneumoniae, isolated from 41 of the children tested, were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility to penicillin, cefotaxime, erythromycin, clindamycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol and trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole.ResultsResistance rates were as follows: penicillin, 20.7% (15% intermediate; 5.7% resistant); trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole, 64.2%; erythromycin, 64.2%; clindamycin, 30.2%; tetracycline, 32.1%; and chloramphenicol, 3.8%. Except for three intermediate strains, all strains were susceptible to cefotaxime. Only five strains were susceptible to all of the antibiotics tested. An unusual finding of this study was that 23 of the 34 erythromycin-resistant strains were penicillin susceptible, whereas erythromycin-resistant strains found in other countries are predominantly penicillin resistant as well. In addition, 18 of the 34 erythromycin-resistant strains were susceptible to clindamycin. Serogroups 6, 14, 19 and 23 accounted for 84.9% of the isolates.ConclusionsThese data show that carriage of antibiotic-resistant pneumococci in children under 3 years of age is high in Frosinone, Italy. Information on resistance rates in pneumococcal disease in different age groups and on prevalence of drug resistance in other parts of the country is urgently needed

Assembly and functional analysis of an S/MAR based episome with the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene

Improving the efficacy of gene therapy vectors is still an important goal toward the development of safe and efficient gene therapy treatments. S/MAR (scaffold/matrix attached region)-based vectors are maintained extra-chromosomally in numerous cell types, which is similar to viral-based vectors. Additionally, when established as an episome, they show a very high mitotic stability. In the present study we tested the idea that addition of an S/MAR element to a CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) expression vector, may allow the establishment of a CFTR episome in bronchial epithelial cells. Starting from the observation that the S/MAR vector pEPI-EGFP (enhanced green fluorescence protein) is maintained as an episome in human bronchial epithelial cells, we assembled the CFTR vector pBQ-S/MAR. This vector, transfected in bronchial epithelial cells with mutated CFTR, supported long term wt CFTR expression and activity, which in turn positively impacted on the assembly of tight junctions in polarized epithelial cells. Additionally, the recovery of intact pBQ-S/MAR, but not the parental vector lacking the S/MAR element, from transfected cells after extensive proliferation, strongly suggested that pBQ-S/MAR was established as an episome. These results add a new element, the S/MAR, that can be considered to improve the persistence and safety of gene therapy vectors for cystic fibrosis pulmonary disease

Tuning GABAergic Inhibition: Gephyrin Molecular Organization and Functions

To be highly reliable, synaptic transmission needs postsynaptic receptors (Rs) in precise apposition to the pre - synaptic release sites. At inhibitory synapses, the postsynaptic protein gephyrin self -assembles to form a scaffold that anchors glycine and GABA A Rs to the cytoskeleton, thus ensuring the accurate accumulation of postsynaptic receptors at the right place. This protein undergoes several post -translational modifications which control protein-protein interac- tion and downstream signaling pathways. In addition, through the constant exchange of scaffolding elements and recep- tors in and out of synapses, gephyrin dynamically regulates synaptic strength and plasticity.The aim of the present review is to highlight recent findings on the functional role of gephyrin at GABAergic inhibitory synapses. We will discuss different approaches used to interfere with gephyrin in order to unveil its function. In addition, we will focus on the impact of gephyrin structure and distribution at the nanoscale level on the functional properties of inhibitory synapses as well as the implications of this scaffold protein in synaptic plasticity processes. Finally, we will emphasize how gephyrin genetic mutations or alterations in protein expression levels are implicated in several neuropathological disorders, including aut- ism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, temporal lobe epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease, all associated with severe def- icits of GABAergic signaling. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Honoring Ricardo Miledi - outstanding neuroscientist of XX-XXI centuries. (c) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of IBRO. This is an open access article under the CC BY -NC -ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Investigation of pepsin in tears of children with laryngopharyngeal reflux disease

Objectives: Numerous investigations postulated that Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is implicated in the pathogenesis of various upper airway inflammatory diseases as sinusitis or dacryostenosis. The presence of pepsin in tears might be confirmed the presuntive hypothesis of the arrival in the nasolacrimal ducts and precorneal tears film through the laryngopharyngeal reflux of either gastric acid or stomach secretions (pepsin) with inflammatory potentialities. The aim of this preliminary study was to identify the presence or absence of pepsin in the tears collected from children with a high suspicion of LPR who underwent 24-h pH (MII-pH) monitoring to confirm the disease. Methods: This study enrolled twenty patients suffering from symptoms of laryngopharyngeal reflux that underwent 24-h multichannel intraluminal impedance (MII)-pH monitoring to confirm the disease. The findings of the study group were compared with those of a control group of patients with negative pH monitoring. The quantitative analysis of human pepsin concentration in the tear samples was performed by ELISA method in both groups. Results: Four children (20%) of the study group showed pepsin in the tears. All of the subjects belonging to the control group were negative for its presence. No difference differences in the total number of reflux episodes and the number of weakly basic reflux in the pepsin positive patients vs pepsin negative children were present. Conclusions: 20% of the children with diagnosed LPR showed pepsin in the tears. Our specific investigation might provide information regarding sinusitis or dacryostenosis

An innovative protocol to select the best growth phase for astaxanthin biosynthesis in H. pluvialis.

H. pluvialis is a green unicellular microalgae and it is the first producer of natural astaxanthin in the world if subjected to stress conditions such as high light, high salinity and nutrient starvation. Astaxanthin is a powerful antioxidant used in many fields, such as aquaculture, pharmaceutical, food supplements and cosmetic. To obtain a large amount of astaxanthin, researcher focused on the optimisation of H. pluvialis growth. H. pluvialis has four different size growth stage (macrozooids, microzooids, palmelloid and “red non-motile astaxanthin accumulated encysted”), and astaxanthin production occur in the last phase. Recent studies shown that non-motile cells can produce more astaxanthin than motile cells if subjected to light stress. For these reasons, the aim of this study is to find a new and innovative methodology to select and recovery H. pluvialis in his last growth phase thanks to an electrophoretic run, and optimize, in this way, astaxanthin production

Admission to the Long-Term Care Facilities and Institutionalization Rate in Community-Dwelling Frail Adults: An Observational Longitudinal Cohort Study

The worldwide aging and the increase of chronic disease impacted the Health System by generating an increased risk of admission to Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities for older adults. The study aimed to evaluate the admission rate to LTC facilities for community-dwelling older adults and investigate factors associated with these admissions. A secondary data analysis stemming from an observational longitudinal cohort study (from 2014 to 2017) was performed. The sample was made up by 1246 older adults (664 females and 582 males, mean age 76.3, SD ± 7.1). The LTC facilities access rate was 12.5 per 1000 observations/ year. Multivariable Linear Regression identified frailty, cardiovascular disease, and incapacity to take medicine and manage money as predictors of the LTC facilities' access rate. The Multiple Correspondence Analysis identified three clusters: those living at home with comorbidities; those living in LTC facilities who are pre-frail or frail; those very frail but not linked to residential LTC. The results indicate that access to LTC facilities is not determined by severe disability, severe comorbidity, and higher frailty levels. Instead, it is related to moderate disability associated with a lack of social support. Therefore, the care policies need to enhance social interventions to integrate medical, nursing, and rehabilitative care