The Economic Consequences of the Covid-19 First Wave and the New International Scenarios. An Historical Dimension

The Covid-19 crisis is urging scholars to ponder the perspectives of the globalization process which started at the end of the XXth Century. The pandemic is creating a sense of insecurity and uncertainty which has few precedents in the current age, pervading wider and wider sectors of the population. Moving from the analysis of the first wave of the pandemic (March 2020), this essay proposes a model of analysis of the effects of the pandemic by framing the economic emergency produced by it from a historical and theoretical perspective. The paper will also try to indicate the traits and the model of a new economic paradigm: the birth of a new globalization that would surely feature competitions between its biggest geoeconomics areas, but that would also offer the opportunity to promote novel perspectives for development and to achieve a brand-new convergence between the private and public interest

The Economic Consequences of the Covid-19 First Wave and the New International Scenarios. An Historical Dimension

The Covid-19 crisis is urging scholars to ponder the perspectives of the globalization process which started at the end of the XXth Century. The pandemic is creating a sense of insecurity and uncertainty which has few precedents in the current age, pervading wider and wider sectors of the population. Moving from the analysis of the first wave of the pandemic (March 2020), this essay proposes a model of analysis of the effects of the pandemic by framing the economic emergency produced by it from a historical and theoretical perspective. The paper will also try to indicate the traits and the model of a new economic paradigm: the birth of a new globalization that would surely feature competitions between its biggest geoeconomics areas, but that would also offer the opportunity to promote novel perspectives for development and to achieve a brand-new convergence between the private and public interest

The Economic Consequences of the COVID-19 First Wave and the New International Scenarios: An Historical Dimension

The COVID-19 crisis is urging scholars to ponder the perspectives of the globalization process which started at the end of the XX Century, while the pandemic is increasing a sense of insecurity and uncertainty which has few precedents in the current age, pervading wider and wider sectors of the population. This paper focuses on analyzing the effects of the first wave of the pandemic (March 2020) using a historical-economic methodology based on a diachronic and comparative model. The effects of the crisis produced by the spread of Coronavirus are thus part of a wider analysis, in which the comparison of the behaviours of the different geoeconomic areas is carried out within the evolution of the long-term business cycles, considering both development and crisis phases. Finally, the article also proposes some hypotheses on the possible models of organization that the current globalization may encounter in the coming years

A Longitudinal Study Of Post-traumatic Growth And Psychological Distress In Colorectal Cancer Survivors

The stability of post-traumatic growth overtime and the relationship between post-traumatic growth and traditional distress outcomes remains unclear. We tracked post-traumatic growth in a population-based sample of colorectal cancer patients from soon after diagnosis to five years subsequently to assess the heterogeneity of a post-traumatic growth response to cancer over time and describe the simultaneous and longitudinal relationships between post-traumatic growth and psychological distress. 1966 colorectal patients who were five months post diagnosis were assessed six times over a five year period. There was considerable heterogeneity associated with both psychological distress and benefit finding scores over time. However, both for benefit finding and psychological distress, the variation in individual scores suggested an underlying positive linear trend and both lagged and lagged change components. Specifically, benefit finding and psychological distress are mutual leading indicators of each other. First, benefit finding served as a leading indicator of distress, in that increases in reported benefit finding from year to year predicted higher future increases in psychological distress. As well, in an inverse relationship, psychological distress served as a leading indicator of benefit finding, such that increases in reported distress from year to year predicted lower future increases in benefit finding. Post-traumatic growth may reflect patients coping efforts to enhance perceptions of wellbeing in response to escalating cancer-related threats, acting as harbinger of increasing trajectories of psychological distress. This explanation is consistent with a cognitive dissonance response in which threats to the integrity of the self then lead to a tendency to accentuate positive aspects of the self

Clostridium difficile outbreak: epidemiological surveillance, infection prevention and control

INTRODUCTION: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is currently considered the most common cause of health care-associated infections. The aim is to describe the trend of CDI in an Italian hospital and to assess the efficacy of the measures adopted to manage the burden. METHODS: we looked at CDI from 2016 to 2018. The incidence rate of CDIs was calculated as the number of new infected persons per month by the overall length of stay (incidence per 10,000 patient-days). Changes in the CDI rate during the period considered were analysed using a joinpoint regression model. RESULTS: thanks to the monitoring activity it was possible to adopt a new protocol, in order to manage CDI: the CDI episodes decreased from 85 in 2017 to 31 in 2018 (63% decrease). The joinpoint regression model was a useful tool to identify an important decrement during 2017, statistically significant (slope=-15.84; p= 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: reports based on routine laboratory data can accurately measure population burden of CDI with limited surveillance resources. This acitivity can help target prevention programs and evaluate their effect

Soft Leptogenesis in Higgs Triplet Model

We consider the minimal supersymmetric triplet seesaw model as the origin of neutrino masses and mixing as well as of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, which is generated through soft leptogenesis employing a CP violating phase and a resonant behavior in the supersymmetry breaking sector. We calculate the full gauge--annihilation cross section for the Higgs triplets, including all relevant supersymmetric intermediate and final states, as well as coannihilations with the fermionic superpartners of the triplets. We find that these gauge annihilation processes strongly suppress the resulting lepton asymmetry. As a consequence of this, successful leptogenesis can occur only for a triplet mass at the TeV scale, where the contribution of soft supersymmetry breaking terms enhances the CP and lepton asymmetry. This opens up an interesting opportunity for testing the model in future colliders.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures; version accepted for publicatio

Paediatric Behçet's disease presenting with recurrent papillitis and episcleritis: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Behçet's disease is a chronic multisystem vasculitis characterized by mucocutaneous, articular, neurological, gastrointestinal and ophthalmological lesions. Ocular involvement is mainly represented by recurrent uveitis, especially posterior uveitis; however, iridocyclitis, retinal and choroidal vasculitis, optic neuritis and retinal vascular occlusion can also occur.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 12-year-old Caucasian boy with a history of recurrent buccal aphthosis and nonspecific gastrointestinal symptoms was admitted to our hospital with blurred vision associated with acute episcleritis and papillitis. The patient's pathergy test was positive, suggesting a diagnosis of Behçet's disease. Corticosteroid and cyclosporine therapy was started, but further episodes were noted in both eyes. The patient was then switched to intravenous infliximab, with complete resolution of the inflammation after the second infusion.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Episcleritis and papillitis should be added to the list of uncommon manifestations of pediatric Behçet's disease. Infliximab is an effective, new therapeutic approach for Behçet's disease that is refractory to the conventional corticosteroid and immunosuppressive therapy.</p