Urban informality and confinement: toward a relational framework

In the 21st century, a growing number of people live ‘informal’ lives within fissures between legality and informality. Concomitantly, power relations are increasingly expressed through devices of confinement. While urban informality and confinement are on the rise often occurring simultaneously, scholars have so far studied them separately. By contrast, this article proposes a new framework for analysing urban informality and confinement relationally. It generates new insights into the role of informality in the (re)production of confinement and, vice versa, the role of confinement in shaping informal practices. While these insights are valuable for urban studies in general, the article charts new lines of research on urban marginality. It also discusses how the six articles included in this special issue signal the heuristic potential of this relational framework by empirically examining distinct urban configurations of ‘confined informalities’ and ‘informal confinements’ across the Global North and the Global South

Sarcoptic mange in Felidae: does Sarcoptes scabiei var. felis exist? A first molecular study.

Domestic and wild felids are considered suitable hosts for the parasitic mite Sarcoptes scabiei, and sarcoptic mange is reported in several felid species in the scientific literature. However, the historic classification of Sarcoptes mites into host-specific varieties does not include S. scabiei var. felis. It is unclear whether sarcoptic mange transmission in felids involves canids, other sympatric species, or exclusively felids. This study aimed to characterize the genetic structure of S. scabiei mites from domestic cats (Felis catus) and Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx carpathicus), comparing them with Sarcoptes mites from sympatric domestic and wild carnivores. Ten Sarcoptes microsatellite markers were used to genotype 81 mites obtained from skin scrapings of 36 carnivores: 4 domestic cats, one dog (Canis lupus familiaris), 4 Eurasian lynx, 23 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), and 4 grey wolves (Canis lupus lupus) from either Italy, Switzerland or France. Two genetic clusters of S. scabiei with a geographical distribution pattern were detected: mites from cats originating from Central Italy clustered with those from sympatric wolves. In contrast, all the other mites from Switzerland, France and Northern Italy clustered together. These results strengthen the previously advanced hypothesis that genetic variants of S. scabiei have a predominant geographic-related distribution with cryptic transmission patterns. These patterns may rely on the interactions between different hosts living in the same ecological niche rather than a simple infection among hosts belonging to the same taxon, reinforcing the idea that the S. scabiei historic classification into "var" might have little ongoing relevance

Leucine levels in low protein diets for pigs in the initial phase

The objective of this study was to evaluate the standardized ileal digestible (SID) leucine levels in low crude protein diets on Performance, backfat thickness, longissimus dorsi depth and biochemical blood parameters of starting pigs. A total of 50 pigs, with initial weight of 11.14±0.24 kg; were distributed in a randomized blocks design with five treatments (1.10; 1.25; 1.40; 1.55 and 1.70% SID leucine), five replicates and two animals per experimental unit, comprised for a barrow and a gilt. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) reduced (P=0.018) due to the increasing SID leucine levels, without affecting other growth performance parameters (final weight, average daily feed intake, average daily gain, backfat thickness, longissimus dorsi depth and lean meat percentage). There was a quadratic effect for plasma triglyceride (P=0.049) and plasma urea (P=0.001). The optimal SID leucine levels obtained for triglycerides and urea were 1.16% and 1.24%, respectively, by associating the quadratic model with the Linear Response Plateu. Low crude protein diets with SID leucine levels up to 1.70% improved the feed conversion with desired urea and triglycerides concentration in blood plasmas achieved at 1.16% and 1.24%, respectively

Sarcoptic mange in Felidae: does Sarcoptes scabiei var. felis exist? A first molecular study

Domestic and wild felids are considered suitable hosts for the parasitic mite Sarcoptes scabiei, and sarcoptic mange is reported in several felid species in the scientific literature. However, the historic classification of Sarcoptes mites into host-specific varieties does not include S. scabiei var. felis. It is unclear whether sarcoptic mange transmission in felids involves canids, other sympatric species, or exclusively felids. This study aimed to characterize the genetic structure of S. scabiei mites from domestic cats (Felis catus) and Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx carpathicus), comparing them with Sarcoptes mites from sympatric domestic and wild carnivores. Ten Sarcoptes microsatellite markers were used to genotype 81 mites obtained from skin scrapings of 36 carnivores: 4 domestic cats, one dog (Canis lupus familiaris), 4 Eurasian lynx, 23 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), and 4 grey wolves (Canis lupus lupus) from either Italy, Switzerland or France. Two genetic clusters of S. scabiei with a geographical distribution pattern were detected: mites from cats originating from Central Italy clustered with those from sympatric wolves. In contrast, all the other mites from Switzerland, France and Northern Italy clustered together. These results strengthen the previously advanced hypothesis that genetic variants of S. scabiei have a predominant geographic-related distribution with cryptic transmission patterns. These patterns may rely on the interactions between different hosts living in the same ecological niche rather than a simple infection among hosts belonging to the same taxon, reinforcing the idea that the S. scabiei historic classification into “var” might have little ongoing relevance

Organized Refugees and Fragmented Citizens: A Comparative Ethnography of Marginality, Solidarity, and Politics across the Green Line

This study aims to specify the mechanisms by which sociolegal control affects group solidarity in two localities of urban marginality in Israel-Palestine: the Mahatta, a segregated Palestinian district in Lod, an Israeli "mixed" city, and the Jalazon refugee camp in the West Bank, only 20 miles from Lod. This research contrasts two distinct social morphologies: internal cohesion in the Jalazon camp and atomization in the Mahatta district. It also highlights the opposition between feelings of trust and pride in the camp and feelings of distrust and shame in the district. Both localities have internal lines of division. In the camp, there are divisions on the basis of place of origin, clan membership and political affiliation. In the urban district, there are divisions on the basis of ethnicity and oldtimer/newcomer status. Yet, Jalazon camp dwellers actively work to deactivate potentially paralyzing fractures, to develop and preserve internal solidarity, prevent or quench camp infighting, and purse collective actions while symbolically investing in the camp as a source of dignity and pride. By contrast, in the Mahatta district, residents experience social fragmentation, mutual distrust, and routine violence and blame one another for their failed attempts at collective organizing. I explain these different profiles of group solidarity, moral worldviews, violence, and politics as products of their distinct regimes of sociolegal control. By "sociolegal control," I mean the control exercised by the institutions of the ruling power and enshrined in its legal norms and dominant discourses. I argue that the Jalazon camp dwellers navigate a regime of sociolegal control that has (unintended) collectivizing effects while the Mahatta residents negotiate their existence against a regime of sociolegal control that has (mostly intended) divisive effects. There is a triadic structure of authority at work in the refugee camp, which includes the Israeli army, the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) and the Palestinian Authority (PA); camp dwellers are pushed by all three to valorize their group solidarity as a fundamental resource to both nourish from within and defend collectively against external threats. In contrast to the processes in play between Jalazon refugees and the authorities that influence their solidarity in the camp, the Israeli state's security apparatus is the only institutional actor at work in the Mahatta district, and I argue that it serves to create social fragmentation and mutual suspicion among the urban residents, thus pushing them towards strategies of individual exit.This study has a threefold relevance for theorizing mechanisms of group solidarity among marginalized populations in their connection to the role of the state as a "group maker." First, I propose that a given state can distribute different techniques of control towards different segments of a population cast or kept outside of the sphere of official or full membership. This focus on the state's distribution of forms of sociolegal control towards subcategories within an "unwanted" population helps us understand the formation of internal cleavages among people that otherwise recognize nationhood as a principle of membership. Second, by focusing on place-specific forms of sociolegal control, this study problematizes two distinctions: that between democratic and illiberal forms of state and that between the post-industrial Global North and the Global South. Using localities of urban marginality--refugee camps, squatter settlements, and urban districts of relegation--as a terrain for the theorization of group formation draws attention to how modern states, including democratic ones, might use illiberal practices and discourses driven by ethnoracial or ethnonational motivations towards segments of their citizenry. A third related theoretical point emerging from this study is that legal categorization, especially the opposition between the categories of refugees and citizens, does not have a fixed content in terms of its effects on group solidarity and political identities

Durable camps: the state, the urban, the everyday

No abstract available

SEDICI CASI DI PSEUDOMICETOMA FELINO: TIPIZZAZIONE MOLECOLARE DEL FUNGO AGENTE CAUSALE

Lo pseudomicetoma dermatofitico rappresenta una localizzazione atipica e rara, che coinvolge neoformazione nodulare, spesso ulcerata, gemente un liquido giallastro nel quale sono conglobate delle masserelle colorate dal rosa al giallo, che rapprese M. canis e si ritrova con frequenza maggiore nel gatto: in letteratura sembrano predisposti i gatti Persiani. Si pensa che questa particolare forma clinica sia il delle lesioni descritte in conseguenza di una risposta immunitaria def parte, il fatto che spesso i ceppi fungini coinvolti siano pleomorfi, scarsamente sporulanti, con morfologia atipica e scarsamente rispondenti alle terapie antimicotiche potrebbe far sorgere il sospetto che lo PM sia causato da ceppi particolarmente virulenti del fungo. La casistica da noi descritta conferma M. canis come agente principale di PM, suggerisce che lo PM non e\u300 cosi\u300 ato che 5 animali su 16 erano Europei) e sminuisce la possibilita\u300 che nel determinismo dello PM entrino in gioco particolari genotipi dotati suo sistema immunitario