Le imprese femminili in Italia: i risultati di un'indagine esplorativa

Entrepreneurship has usually been considered a male-dominated activity. In 2012, however, 224mout of 400mentrepreneurs worldwide were women (GEM 2012).Female entrepreneurship therefore clearly represents an important component of the business sector at global level. To date, however, the scope of research on such a relevant topic is still confined to the US and Anglo-Saxon countries. Also, academic research on Italian female entrepreneurship is very limited, despite Italy has the highest number of female-owned firms in Europe (Eurostat, 2013). This paper thus contributes to fill this research gap by investigating the characteristics, the main problems and motivations of 310 Italian female-owned firms

Predicting lymphoma development in patients with Sjögren's syndrome

ABSTRACTIntroduction: The issue of predicting lymphoma in primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) starts from its clinical and biologic essence, i.e., an autoimmune exocrinopathy with sicca syndrome, infl..

An empiric on geopolitical risk and the tourism-economic growth nexus

Purpose – This study empirically examines the moderating role of geopolitical risk on the tourism-economic growth nexus by applying a recent geopolitical risk indicator developed by Caldara and Iacoviello (2022) in a cross-country panel data growth model context for a sample of 24 countries.Design/methodology/approach – A Dummy Variable Least Squares (DVLS) panel data model, nonparametric covariance matrix estimator and SYS-GMM estimation techniques are employed for the analysis. We capture the GPR moderating effect by disaggregating the cross-country sample according to low vs. high country GPR score and through a GPR interaction coefficient. Several controls are included in our models such as gross fixed capital formation and - consistent with Barro (1990) - government consumption. Trade openness is used to account for the export-led growth effect. In line with neoclassical growth theory (e.g., Barro, 1991) we also include the real interest rate, to account for policy makers’ commitment to macroeconomic stability, financial depth, as a proxy for financial development, population growth, and the level of secondary school education. We also control for unobserved country-specific and time-invariant effects.Findings – The research finds that the interaction term of geopolitical risk significantly contributes to the predictive ability of the regression and provides empirical evidence that confirms that only in low geopolitical risk countries international tourism positively and significantly contributes to economic growth. Important theoretical and policy implications flow from these findings.Originality/value – The study not only contributes to advancing academic knowledge on the tourism-growth nexus, it also has impact beyond academia. Many countries have in the past pursued, and many continue to pursue, tourism specialization and/or tourism-led growth strategies based on the theoretically well-established and empirically validated positive link between inbound tourism and economic growth. Our findings alert policy makers in such countries to the significant moderating role that geopolitical risk plays in affecting the above-mentioned relationship and to the importance of prioritizing geopolitical stability as a policy precursor for the successful implementation of such strategies

Photoproduction of the ω\omega meson on the proton at large momentum transfer

The differential cross section, $d\sigma/dt$ for $\omega$ meson exclusive photoproduction on the proton above the resonance region ($2.6<W<2.9$ GeV) was measured up to a momentum transfer $-t = 5$ GeV$^2$ using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Laboratory. The $\omega$ channel was identified by detecting a proton and $\pi^+$ in the final state and using the missing mass technique. While the low momentum transfer region shows the typical diffractive pattern expected from Pomeron and Reggeon exchange, at large $-t$ the differential cross section has a flat behavior. This feature can be explained by introducing quark interchange processes in addition to the QCD-inspired two-gluon exchange.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Healthcare and economic burden of ANCA-associated vasculitis in Italy: an integrated analysis from clinical and administrative databases

ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV) comprise a group of systemic vasculitides characterized by inflammation of small-sized blood vessels leading to multi-organ involvement. The worldwide annual incidence of AAV ranges from 1.2 to 3.3 cases per 100 000 individuals with a prevalence of 4.6\u201342.1 cases per 100 000 individuals. The prevalence of AAV is geographically heterogeneous; therefore, regional epidemiological studies can be more informative to improve health care systems. Even though clinicians are aware that the healthcare burden and the risk of hospitalization of AAV appear high, data on hospitalization and cost of illness due to AAV are still scarce or even lacking. This study aims to characterize the economic burden of AAV in Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG), Italy. Thus, a retrospective study was conducted through the integration of many administrative health databases of the FVG as the source of information. From data integration, we estimated that more than two-thirds of AAV patients showed at least one hospitalization in their medical history, most frequently caused by the disease itself or superimposed infections. Around 10% of patients developed end-stage renal disease. In an 8-year follow-up, the overall healthcare cost was \u20ac 1,215,078, corresponding to \u20ac 6,168 patient-year. ANCA-positive patients showed much higher costs than ANCA-negative patients did. Overall, AAV are rare diseases, but imply very high healthcare costs. Early diagnosis and optimal treatment probably still remain unmet needs for AAV

Coupled decadal variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation, regional rainfall and karst spring discharges in the Campania region (southern Italy)

Abstract. Thus far, studies on climate change have focused mainly on the variability of the atmospheric and surface components of the hydrologic cycle, investigating the impact of this variability on the environment, especially with respect to the risks of desertification, droughts and floods. Conversely, the impacts of climate change on the recharge of aquifers and on the variability of groundwater flow have been less investigated, especially in Mediterranean karst areas whose water supply systems depend heavily upon groundwater exploitation. In this paper, long-term climatic variability and its influence on groundwater recharge were analysed by examining decadal patterns of precipitation, air temperature and spring discharges in the Campania region (southern Italy), coupled with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The time series of precipitation and air temperature were gathered over 90 yr, from 1921 to 2010, using 18 rain gauges and 9 air temperature stations with the most continuous functioning. The time series of the winter NAO index and of the discharges of 3 karst springs, selected from those feeding the major aqueducts systems, were collected for the same period. Regional normalised indexes of the precipitation, air temperature and karst spring discharges were calculated, and different methods were applied to analyse the related time series, including long-term trend analysis using smoothing numerical techniques, cross-correlation and Fourier analysis. The investigation of the normalised indexes highlighted the existence of long-term complex periodicities, from 2 to more than 30 yr, with differences in average values of up to approximately ±30% for precipitation and karst spring discharges, which were both strongly correlated with the winter NAO index. Although the effects of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) had already been demonstrated in the long-term precipitation and streamflow patterns of different European countries and Mediterranean areas, the results of this study allow for the establishment of a link between a large-scale atmospheric cycle and the groundwater recharge of carbonate karst aquifers. Consequently, the winter NAO index could also be considered as a proxy to forecast the decadal variability of groundwater flow in Mediterranean karst areas

AB0521 COST OF ILLNESS OF ANCA-ASSOCIATED VASCULITIS IN ITALY: DATA LINKAGE ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLE CLINICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DATABASES IN THE PROVINCE OF UDINE, ITALY

Background:ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV) are a group of systemic vasculitis carrying a high risk of hospitalization because the multiorgan involvement, the acute nature of some clinical manifestations, the chronic but very disabling course of some other manifestations and finally the risk of severe infections due to chronic glucocorticoid and immunosuppressor administration. However, data on cost of illness due to AAV are lacking.Objectives:to estimate the cost of illness in patients suffering from AAV in the province of Udine (about 500,000 inhabitants), Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG), Italy, from year 2010 to 2018.Methods:integration of the information coming from many administrative databases were used to this end. The Regional Health Information System of FVG was used as the source of information for this retrospective cohort study. The system covers the entire regional population and includes various electronic health administrative databases that can be linked with one another on an individual basis through a unique encrypted identifier. In particular, the following databases were matched: the database of the health care beneficiaries (including demographic information and the residential history of all of the subjects living in FVG), the hospital discharge database, the database of exemptions from medical charges, the database of the laboratories. The population under study was selected based on the following inclusion criteria: patients were residents in the province of Udine and they had to carry the exemption code for AAV, including GPA, or EGPA, or MPA. This population was observed from 2010 to 2018.Results:57 patients (201 patient-years) with AAV were identified. They were ANCA-positive in 44/57 (77%). GPA, EGPA and MPA was diagnosed in 18 (31,6%), 15 (26,3%), 11 (19,3%) patients, respectively. The mean age at diagnosis was 54,5 (17,5) years. The disease itself was the main cause of hospitalization in almost half of the hospital discharges (60/126, 47,6%). Four patients died during the observation period due to vasculitis itself (1), pneumonia (2), or haematological malignancy (1). Time to the first event (death or hospitalization) was significantly higher in ANCA-negative AAV patients than in ANCA-positive AAV patients (p=0,03, Log-Rank test), ANCA-positive AAV patients having a three-times higher risk (HR 3,38 95%CI 1,13-10,08, p=0,03). Total estimated cost was € 1,215,078, corresponding to € 6,168 patient-year. Costs for ANCA-positive AAV patients were much higher than those for ANCA-negative AAV patients (€ 1,115,253 vs € 99,825, and € 7058 per person-year vs € 2,559 per person-year, respectively). GPA and MPA showed the highest costs if compared to EGPA [GPA: € 239,168 (€ 5199 per person-year) vs MPA: € 281,502 (€ 4771 per person-year) vs EGPA: € 214,287 (2329 per person-year), respectively]. Costs for hospitalization were the highest [€ 734,957 (€ 3731 per person-year) vs other costs € 480,121 (€ 2437 per person-year)].Conclusion:costs for AAV are very high, confirming the high health care burden of this illness. Management of ANCA-positive patients rather than ANCA-negative patients was burdened by the highest costs. GPA and MPA showed the highest direct costs for hospitalization, which very frequently occurred due to the vasculitis itself.Disclosure of Interests:Luca Quartuccio Consultant of: Abbvie, Bristol, Speakers bureau: Abbvie, Pfizer, Elena Treppo: None declared, Salvatore De Vita Consultant of: Roche, GSK, Speakers bureau: Roche, GSK, Novartis, Francesca Valent: None declare