La partecipazione finanziaria nelle moderne teorie filosofiche

Il dibattito sulla partecipazione dei lavoratori all’impresa e sul suo rapporto con la flessibilità retributiva ha suscitato, negli ultimi anni, un interesse che è andato ben oltre l’ambito strettamente giuridico o politico-sindacale, scomodando, all’occorrenza, filosofi, sociologi e studiosi di economia politica. L’opera e le teorie di Louis Kelso, solo recentemente approfondite in Europa, sono alla base di una crescente discussione e stanno influenzando anche le ultime scelte del legislatore Europeo in tale ambito. / ℎ ℎ ’ ℎ , ℎ , ℎ , ℎ ℎℎ, , . ℎ ℎ , , ℎ ℎ

Improvement of ALT decay kinetics by all-oral HCV treatment: Role of NS5A inhibitors and differences with IFN-based regimens

Background: Intracellular HCV-RNA reduction is a proposed mechanism of action of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), alternative to hepatocytes elimination by pegylated-interferon plus ribavirin (PR). We modeled ALT and HCV-RNA kinetics in cirrhotic patients treated with currently-used all-DAA combinations to evaluate their mode of action and cytotoxicity compared with telaprevir (TVR)+PR. Study design: Mathematical modeling of ALT and HCV-RNA kinetics was performed in 111 HCV-1 cirrhotic patients, 81 treated with all-DAA regimens and 30 with TVR+PR. Kinetic-models and Cox-analysis were used to assess determinants of ALT-decay and normalization. Results: HCV-RNA kinetics was biphasic, reflecting a mean effectiveness in blocking viral production >99.8%. The first-phase of viral-decline was faster in patients receiving NS5A-inhibitors compared to TVR+PR or sofosbuvir+simeprevir (p<0.001), reflecting higher efficacy in blocking assembly/secretion. The second-phase, noted \u3b4 and attributed to infected-cell loss, was faster in patients receiving TVR+PR or sofosbuvir+simeprevir compared to NS5A-inhibitors (0.27 vs 0.21 d-1, respectively, p = 0.0012). In contrast the rate of ALT-normalization, noted \u3bb, was slower in patients receiving TVR+PR or sofosbuvir+simeprevir compared to NS5A-inhibitors (0.17 vs 0.27 d-1, respectively, p<0.001). There was no significant association between the second-phase of viral-decline and ALT normalization rate and, for a given level of viral reduction, ALT-normalization was more profound in patients receiving DAA, and NS5A in particular, than TVR+PR. Conclusions: Our data support a process of HCV-clearance by all-DAA regimens potentiated by NS5A-inhibitor, and less relying upon hepatocyte death than IFN-containing regimens. This may underline a process of "cell-cure" by DAAs, leading to a fast improvement of liver homeostasis

HIV-1 transmitted drug resistance in newly diagnosed individuals in Italy over the period 2015–21

Background: Transmitted drug resistance (TDR) is still a critical aspect for the management of individuals living with HIV-1. Thus, its evaluation is crucial to optimize HIV care. Methods: Overall, 2386 HIV-1 protease/reverse transcriptase and 1831 integrase sequences from drug-naïve individuals diagnosed in north and central Italy between 2015 and 2021 were analysed. TDR was evaluated over time. Phylogeny was generated by maximum likelihood. Factors associated with TDR were evaluated by logistic regression. Results: Individuals were mainly male (79.1%) and Italian (56.2%), with a median (IQR) age of 38 (30-48). Non-B infected individuals accounted for 44.6% (N = 1065) of the overall population and increased over time (2015-2021, from 42.1% to 51.0%, P = 0.002). TDR prevalence to any class was 8.0% (B subtype 9.5% versus non-B subtypes 6.1%, P = 0.002) and remained almost constant over time. Overall, 300 transmission clusters (TCs) involving 1155 (48.4%) individuals were identified, with a similar proportion in B and non-infected individuals (49.7% versus 46.8%, P = 0.148). A similar prevalence of TDR among individuals in TCs and those out of TCs was found (8.2% versus 7.8%, P = 0.707).By multivariable analysis, subtypes A, F, and CFR02_AG were negatively associated with TDR. No other factors, including being part of TCs, were significantly associated with TDR. Conclusions: Between 2015 and 2021, TDR prevalence in Italy was 8% and remained almost stable over time. Resistant strains were found circulating regardless of being in TCs, but less likely in non-B subtypes. These results highlight the importance of a continuous surveillance of newly diagnosed individuals for evidence of TDR to inform clinical practice

Delphi cookbook

Intended to refresh the basics of Delphi as well as advance your knowledge to the next level, it is assumed you will know RAD studio and the Object Pascal language. However, if you are not an experienced RAD studio programmer this accessible guide will still develop those initial crucial skills

Effects of oil price fall on the betas in the unconventional oil & gas industry

We examine the consequences of the oil prices movements started in July 2014 on the financial systematic risk – proxied by Betas – of firms operating in the Unconventional Oil & Gas Industry, compared to that of the Conventional Oil & Gas players. The analysis is developed using two cross section regressions, performed before and after the 2014 oil price drop respectively. The results look coherent with the reasonable belief that a sharp and sudden decrease in the oil price can generally lead to higher Betas in the Oil & Gas Industry. Interestingly, it emerged that the market tends to attribute an additional risk to unconventional firms and, analyzing the regression coefficients evolution, it appears that this circumstance has been substantially amplified by the 2014 oil price shock. To our knowledge this is the first paper covering the topic treated

RESULTS OF THE DEPLOYABLE MEMBRANE & ADEO PASSIVE DE-ORBIT SUBSYSTEM ACTIVITIES LEADING TO A DRAGSAIL DEMONSTRATOR

The development of a passive de-orbiting subsystem was pursued in the ESA GSTP projects “Deployable Membrane” (DM) and “Architectural Design and Testing of a De-orbiting Subsystem” (ADEO) raising the TRL of the subsystem to TRL 5/6. The ADEO subsystem is a scalable drag augmentation device that uses the residual Earth atmosphere present in low Earth orbit. For initiation of the de-orbit maneuver a large surface is deployed which multiplies the drag effective surface of the satellite. Thereby the drag force is increased as well causing accelerated decay in orbit altitude. Advantageous about a drag augmentation device is that it does not require any active steering and can be designed for passive attitude stabilization thereby making it applicable for non-operational, tumbling spacecraft as well

Highly Conductive Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composite Electronic Box: Out-Of-Autoclave Manufacturing for Space Applications

One of the main advantages of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) electronic housings, when compared with traditionally used aluminum ones, is the potential for mass savings. In recent years, the power consumption of electronics has been growing, resulting in the need for higher thermal dissipation of electronic housings, requiring the use of highly thermally conductive materials. In this work, the manufacturing of a highly conductive CFRP electronic housing is reported. With a view to reducing total energy costs on manufacturing, an out-of-the autoclave manufacturing process was followed. Due to the inherent low thermal conductivity of typical raw materials for composite materials, strategies were evaluated to increase its value by changing the components used. The use of pitch-based carbon fibers was found to be a very promising solution. In addition, structural, thermal and manufacturing simulations were produced in the design phase. Improved performance was demonstrated from materials manufacturing to final breadboard testing. The results indicate potential gains of around 23% in mass reduction when compared to conventional aluminum electronic boxes. Moreover, the proposed design and the manufactured breadboard showed good compliance with mechanical and electrical requirements for spacecraft structures. The thermal balance results showed a performance slightly below to what would be expected from the detailed design

Bacteroides fragilis-Derived Lipopolysaccharide Produces Cell Activation and Lethal Toxicity via Toll-Like Receptor 4

Bacteroides fragilis, which is part of the normal intestinal flora, is a frequent cause of serious disease, especially in diabetic and surgical patients. In these conditions, B. fragilis lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is likely to play a major pathophysiologic role. B. fragilis LPS is structurally different from classical enterobacterial LPS, whose biological activities are mediated by Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) activation. The ability of B. fragilis LPS to activate TLR4 and TLR2 was investigated here, since evidence on this issue is scarce and controversial. Each of four different protein-free B. fragilis LPS preparations could induce interleukin-8 responses in cells cotransfected with TLR4/CD14/MD2 but not TLR4/CD14 alone. Two of the preparations also induced cytokine production in cells cotransfected with TLR2/CD14 or in peritoneal macrophages from TLR4 mutant C3H/HeJ mice. Both of these activities, however, were lost after repurification with a modified phenol reextraction procedure. Importantly, all preparations could induce endotoxic shock in TLR2-deficient mice, but not in TLR4 mutant C3H/HeJ mice. Consistent with these findings, anti-TLR4 and anti-CD14, but not anti-TLR2, antibodies could inhibit B. fragilis LPS-induced cytokine production in human monocytes. Collectively, these results indicate that B. fragilis LPS signals via a TLR4/CD14/MD2-dependent pathway, and it is unable to activate TLR2. Moreover, our data document the occurrence of TLR2-activating contaminants even in highly purified B. fragilis LPS preparations. This may explain earlier contradictory findings on the ability of B. fragilis LPS to activate cells in the absence of functional TLR4. These data may be useful to devise strategies to prevent the pathophysiologic changes observed during B. fragilis sepsis and to better understand structure-activity relationships of LPS