La grande crisi e l’imperialismo globale

The economic collapse of 2007-10 is described as a debt deflation crisis triggered by a speculative bubble. The basic causes are traced back to the policy choices of the great capitalist powers governing globalization. Market liberalization and the TRIPS agreements work as a sort of global capitalist pact against the working classes. The high tech capital of the advanced countries has a monopolistic advantage over scientific and technological research. The great capital of the emerging countries succeeds in fully exploiting the competitive advantages of their low labour costs. Their trade penetration in advanced capitalist markets has led to a reduction in labour demand and an increase in labour supply. This weakens the Trade Union movements and favours income redistribution from wages to profits. The governments of some advanced countries like Germany and Japan have reinforced redistribution processes by implementing restrictive fiscal and monetary policies. By the same token they have maintained the systematic current account surpluses that help to strengthen their currencies. The United States is unable to implement the same policy because they have to maintain a huge budget deficit to sustain the military expenditure required to ensure the opening of recalcitrant countries to globalization. Moreover they have to maintain a big trade deficit to expand the supply of international currency. Therefore they adopt expansionary fiscal and monetary policies. Finally, to feed domestic demand they favour residential and financial speculation, an expansion of debt-funded consumption and deregulation of financial markets. Emerging countries have reaped great advantages from this policy, as it enables them to maintain the systematic current account surpluses through which they stimulate their GDP growth and by means of which they have accumulated enormous dollar assets. But in the United States the disproportionate increase in private and public debt has nourished a speculative bubble that has dragged financial capital from all over the world into highly risky positions. The trade and industrial crisis was provoked by the debt deflation process triggered by the bubble burst. Probably it paves the way for rebalancing power relations among major geopolitical areas and redesigning the global governance system. China has reacted to the crisis by implementing expansionary fiscal policies, by which it intends to underpin the continuation of its growth. It is preparing to substitute the United States as a major engine of world economy. At the same time it is manoeuvring its currency reserves to pilot a smooth dollar devaluation followed by stabilization. Its goal is to flank the Dollar with a composite currency created by an IMF in which the influence of China is duly strengthenedGlobal crisis, globalisation, financial bubbles

Karl Marx and the employment contract: from natural abstraction to formal subsumption

Marx develops two alternative theories of the employment contract: one treats it as an agreement of commodity exchange, and one as a relational arrangement. In the former theory Marx introduces the notion of 'labour power' as a physical stock of labour capacity. Then he argues that the worker, in exchange for a wage, sells a flow of labour whose use-value consists in the capacity to produce value. He calls this flow "abstract labour" and regards it as a "natural" abstraction, i.e. as an objective good which can be bought in the market as a commodity and used in a factory as a productive force. Exploitation emerges because the value of the flow of labour power is lower than the value-creating capacity of abstract labour. The theory produces various inconveniences, for example: an essentialist theory of value; a notion of value which makes it insensitive to changes in income distribution; and the transformation problem. Its origin, contrary to common opinion, is not just Ricardian. Saint-Simon's propensity to treat labour as a productive force had some influence on Marx's theory of abstract labour as a value-creating power. Hegel's influence is still more important. Marx, in fact, tries to justify the 'natural' character of labour abstraction by resorting to Hegel's doctrine of the 'posited presuppositions', by which a universal and abstract category effectively generates (posits) the empirical phenomena in which it shows itself. On the other hand this way of treating wage labour clearly originates from Hegel's propensity to reduce the employment contract to a contracts for services. In the second theory the employment contract does not consist of an exchange of commodities. Rather it is seen as an institution shaping the conditions for a formal subsumption of labour under capital. This kind of subsumption entails a relation of real subordination of the worker to the capitalist in the production process. Now wage labour is treated as a real abstraction not in a natural sense but only in a historical sense, i.e. as an effectual institution which is typical of capitalist social relations. Exploitation is seen as based on the power relationship by which the capitalists use labour activity in the production process. The theory is not fully elaborated by Marx, but is developed well enough to make it the earliest anticipation of the modern theory of the employment contract as an institution which generates an authority relationship. Furthermore, it is not exposed to criticisms of essentialism and hypostatisation, whilst it is apt to uphold a consistent and enlightening theory of value and exploitation

Effect of Argania spinosa oil extract on proliferation and Notch1 and ERK1/2 signaling of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines

The Argan tree, called Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels, is a tropical plant, which belongs to the Sapotaceae family, it is exploited essentially for its fruits. The endosperm seed of the fruit constitutes a good potential source of edible oil for human consumption and is endowed with important medicinal properties such as antioxidant, antimalarial and anti-proliferative. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the anti-proliferative effect of the oil extracted from seeds of A. spinosa in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia human (T-ALL) context. The activity was assessed through an in vitro test on three T-ALL cell lines: JURKAT, MOLT3 and DND41. The cytotoxicity effects of A. spinosa oil extract were checked by MTT assay and the change in the activity levels of two T-ALL proliferation-related proteins (Notch1 and ERK) was investigated by Western blot, the results demonstrate that treatment with A. spinosa oil extract at the dose of 100 μg/mL inhibited the growth of JURKAT, MOLT3 and DND41 cells, and reduced the expression levels and the activity of proliferation-related proteins such as ERK1/2 and Notch1 intracellular domain. A. spinosa oil extract could be a potential preventive and therapeutic approach recommended as anti-proliferative against leukemia

Wnt, notch, and TGF-β pathways impinge on hedgehog signaling complexity: an open window on cancer

Constitutive activation of the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway is associated with increased risk of developing several malignancies. The biological and pathogenic importance of Hh signaling emphasizes the need to control its action tightly, both physiologically and therapeutically. Evidence of crosstalk between Hh and other signaling pathways is reported in many tumor types. Here, we provide an overview of the current knowledge about the communication between Hh and major signaling pathways, such as Notch, Wnt, and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), which play critical roles in both embryonic and adult life. When these pathways are unbalanced, impaired crosstalk contributes to disease development. It is reported that more than one of these pathways are active in different type of tumors, at the same time. Therefore, starting from a plethora of stimuli that activate multiple signaling pathways, we describe the signals that preferentially converge on the Hh signaling cascade that influence its activity. Moreover, we highlight several connection points between Hh and Notch, Wnt, or TGF-beta pathways, showing a reciprocal synergism that contributes to tumorigenesis, supporting a more malignant behavior by tumor cells, such as in leukemia and brain tumors. Understanding the importance of these molecular interlinking networks will provide a rational basis for combined anticancer drug development

Notch3 targeting. A novel weapon against ovarian cancer stem cells

Notch signaling is frequently activated in ovarian cancer (OC) and contributes to the proliferation and survival of cultured OC cells as well as to tumor formation and angiogenesis in xenograft models. Several studies demonstrate that Notch3 expression renders cancer cells more resistant to carboplatin, contributing to chemoresistance and poor survival of OC-bearing patients. This suggests that Notch3 can represent both a biomarker and a target for therapeutic interventions in OC patients. Although it is still unclear how chemoresistance arises, different lines of evidence support a critical role of cancer stem cells (CSCs), suggesting that CSC targeting by innovative therapeutic approaches might represent a promising tool to efficiently reduce OC recurrence. To date, CSC-directed therapies in OC tumors are mainly targeted to the inhibition of CSC-related signaling pathways, including Notch. As it is increasingly evident the involvement of Notch signaling, and in particular of Notch3, in regulating stem-like cell maintenance and expansion in several tumors, here we provide an overview of the current knowledge of Notch3 role in CSC-mediated OC chemoresistance, finally exploring the potential design of innovative Notch3 inhibition-based therapies for OC treatment, aimed at eradicating tumor through the suppression of CSCs

Notch and NF-kB: Coach and Players of Regulatory T-Cell Resposnse in Cancer

The Notch signaling pathway plays multiple roles in driving T-cell fate decisions, proliferation, and aberrant growth. NF-kB is a cell-context key player interconnected with Notch signaling either in physiological or in pathological conditions. This review focuses on how themultilayered crosstalk between different Notches and NF-kB subunits may converge on Foxp3 gene regulation and orchestrate CD4+ regulatory T (Treg) cell function, particularly in a tumor microenvironment. Notably, Treg cells may play a pivotal role in the inhibition of antitumor immune responses, possibly promoting tumor growth. A future challenge is represented by further dissection of both Notch and NF-kB pathways and consequences of their intersection in tumor-associated Treg biology. This may shed light on themolecularmechanisms regulating Treg cell expansion andmigration to peripheral lymphoid organs thought to facilitate tumor development and still to be explored. In so doing, new opportunities for combined and/or more selective therapeutic Q25 approaches to improve anticancer immunity may be found

Advanced or posponed wage payments: Sraffa validates Marx

In his theoretical model of production prices Marx follows the classical economists in treating wages as being paid in advance. Sraffa, instead, tends to treat them as being paid post factum. However, when Marx tackles the problem under less abstract scrutiny, he abandons the classical approach and declares that, as a matter of fact, wages are postponed. We prove that, if the period of postponed wage payment differs from the length of the production process, the correct prices are better approximated by an equation with the full post-payment of wages than by one with full prepayment. Under perfect competition and postponed wage payments, Sraffa’s approach to price determination is the correct one, and validates Marx’s non-classical vision, whatever the period of wage payment

Early Assessment of Biodegradability of Small Molecules to Support the Chemical Design in Agro & Pharma R&D

The use of agrochemical and pharmaceutical active ingredients is essential in our modern society. Given the increased concern and awareness of the potential risks of some chemicals, there is a growing need to align with ‘green chemistry’ and ‘safe and sustainable by design’ principles and thus to evaluate the hazards of agrochemical and pharmaceutical active ingredients in early stages of R&D. We give an overview of the current challenges and opportunities to assess the principle of biodegradability in the environment. Development of new medium/high-throughput methodologies, combining predictive tools and wet-lab experimentation are essential to design biodegradable chemicals early in the active ingredient discovery and selection process

The epigenetic factor BORIS/CTCFL regulates the NOTCH3 gene expression in cancer cells.

Aberrant upregulation of NOTCH3 gene plays a critical role in cancer pathogenesis. However, the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. We tested here the hypothesis that aberrant epigenetic modifications in the NOTCH3 promoter region might account for its upregulation in cancer cells. We compared DNA and histone methylation status of NOTCH3 promoter region in human normal blood cells and T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cell lines, differentially expressing NOTCH3. We found that histone methylation, rather than DNA hypomethylation, contributes towards establishing an active chromatin status of NOTCH3 promoter in NOTCH3 overexpressing cancer cells. We discovered that the chromatin regulator protein BORIS/CTCFL plays an important role in regulating NOTCH3 gene expression. We observed that BORIS is present in T-ALL cell lines as well as in cell lines derived from several solid tumors overexpressing NOTCH3. Moreover, BORIS targets NOTCH3 promoter in cancer cells and it is able to induce and to maintain a permissive/active chromatin conformation. Importantly, the association between NOTCH3 overexpression and BORIS presence was confirmed in primary T-ALL samples from patients at the onset of the disease. Overall, our results provide novel insights into the determinants of NOTCH3 overexpression in cancer cells, by revealing a key role for BORIS as the main mediator of transcriptional deregulation of NOTCH3. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved