Institutional protection of minority employees and entrepreneurship: Evidence from the LGBT Employment Non-Discrimination Acts

A diverse workforce has long been associated with multiple firm benefits, but this is sometimes difficult to achieve due to employer discrimination. Although multiple institutional arrangements have been put in place to ban discriminatory behavior, the effects of such regulations remain relatively unexplored, often neglecting start-ups. We propose that institutional changes aiming to outlaw employment discrimination will trigger two main effects: they will (a) depress start-up founding rates through enhancement of wage-work appeal, and (b) increase the average start-up quality due to a higher threshold for leaving wage-work. We test our predictions by exploiting the staggered enactment of Employment Non-Discrimination Acts in the U.S. Consistent with our theory, we find that this institutional protection reduced the quantity of entrepreneurship but increased its quality

Tissue transglutaminase is involved in the inflammatory processes of active chronic gastritis

Since tissue transglutaminase-2 (TG2) can represent a marker of inflammation for some gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, we aimed to evaluate TG2 and inflammatory markers? mucosal content in gastric antrum biopsies to shed light on the histological and biochemical background of chronic gastritis inflammation. Fifty-one of 78 patients who underwent upper GI endoscopy (UGIE) for dyspeptic symptoms, had a gastric biopsy. The symptom profile was assessed by a GI symptom rating scale (GSRS) score. Thirty-five patients (69%) showed chronic gastritis. TG2, interleukin-6 (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-?, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 were evaluated in serum and the culture medium of gastric biopsies. TG2, IL-8, IL-10, TLR-4 and TNF-? were significantly higher in active chronic gastritis than in the inactive one and were linked to macrophage concentration. IL-6 was significantly lower in the active form of chronic gastritis than in the inactive one and negatively correlated with TG2. Lastly, IL-10 significantly correlated with the macrophage score. TG2 can exert an active role in chronic gastritis pathogenesis by cooperating with different markers of inflammation. It seems that TG2 can represent a possible therapeutic target for modulating inflammation and disease progression

Elite food between the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Some case studies from Latium

The study of plant and animal remains from archaeological sites provides important evidence about past human diets and habits: this includes species selection, food preparation, consumption and disposal practices. Furthermore, such information may also provide inferences about social status. Data from refuse disposal features identified in some elite contexts in central Italy – a high-status residence in Celleno Vecchio (Viterbo) and the Baglioni-Santacroce castle in Graffignano (Viterbo), both in northern Latium, as well as the Santi Quattro Coronati ecclesiastical complex in Rome – allow to explore, using archaeobotanical, archaeozoological and genetic data, some of the different ways in which people expressed wealth by means of food during a period between the late Middle Ages and Renaissance

Therapeutic strategies to prevent the recurrence of nasal polyps after surgical treatment: an update and in vitro study on growth inhibition of fibroblasts

Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is the most bothersome phenotype of chronic rhinosinusitis, which is typically characterized by a Type 2 inflammatory reaction, comorbidities and high rates of nasal polyp recurrence, causing severe impact on quality of life. Nasal polyp recurrence rates, defined as the number of patients undergoing revision endoscopic sinus surgery, are 20% within a 5 year period after surgery. The cornerstone of CRSwNP management consists of anti-inflammatory treatment with local corticosteroids. We performed a literature review regarding the therapeutic strategies used to prevent nasal polyp recurrence after surgical treatment. Finally, we report an in vitro study evaluating the efficacy of lysine-acetylsalicylic acid and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (ketoprofen and diclofenac) on the proliferation of fibroblasts, obtained from nasal polyp tissue samples. Our study demonstrates that diclofenac, even more so than lysine-acetylsalicylic acid, significantly inhibits fibroblast proliferation and could be considered a valid therapeutic strategy in preventing CRSwNP recurrence

Turbulence-driven ion beams in the magnetospheric Kelvin-Helmholtz instability

The description of the local turbulent energy transfer via a heuristic proxy derived from the third-order moment scaling law, and the high-resolution ion distributions measured by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, together provide a formidable tool to explore the cross-scale connection between the fluid-scale energy cascade and plasma processes at sub-ion scales. Using magnetospheric boundary layers measurements, we show that when the small-scale energy transfer is dominated by Alfvénic, correlated velocity and magnetic field fluctuations, beams of accelerated particles are more likely observed. Here, for the first time we report observations suggesting the nonlinear wave-particle interaction as one possible mechanism for the energy dissipation in space plasmas

Molecular and histological traits of reduced lysosomal acid lipase activity in the fatty liver

Recent studies demonstrated reduced blood lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) activity in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to verify hepatic LAL protein content and activity in in vitro and in vivo models of fat overload and in NAFLD patients. LAL protein content and activity were firstly evaluated in Huh7 cells exposed to high-glucose/high-lipid (HGHL) medium and in the liver of C57BL/6 mice fed with high-fat diet (HFD) for 4 and 8 months. LAL protein was also evaluated by immunohistochemistry in liver biopsies from 87 NAFLD patients and 10 controls, and correlated with hepatic histology. Huh7 cells treated with HGHL medium showed a significant reduction of LAL activity, which was consistent with reduced LAL protein levels by western blotting using an antibody towards the N-term of the enzyme. Conversely, antibodies towards the C-term of the enzyme evidenced LAL accumulation, suggesting a post-translational modification that masks the LAL N-term epitope and affects enzymatic activity. Indeed, we found a high rate of ubiquitination and extra-lysosomal localization of LAL protein in cells treated with HGHL medium. Consistent with these findings, inhibition of proteasome triggered dysfunctional LAL accumulation and affected LAL activity. Accumulation of ubiquitinated/dysfunctional LAL was also found in the liver of HFD fed mice. In NAFLD patients, hepatic levels of non-ubiquitinated/functional LAL were lower than in controls and inversely correlated with disease activity and some of the hallmarks of reduced LAL. Fat overload leads to LAL ubiquitination and impairs its function, possibly reducing hepatic fat disposal and promoting NAFLD activity

Genetic diversity of Italian goat breeds assessed with a medium-density SNP chip

Background: Among the European countries, Italy counts the largest number of local goat breeds. Thanks to the recent availability of a medium-density SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) chip for goat, the genetic diversity of Italian goat populations was characterized by genotyping samples from 14 Italian goat breeds that originate from different geographical areas with more than 50 000 SNPs evenly distributed on the genome. Results: Analysis of the genotyping data revealed high levels of genetic polymorphism and an underlying North-south geographic pattern of genetic diversity that was highlighted by both the first dimension of the multi-dimensional scaling plot and the Neighbour network reconstruction. We observed a moderate and weak population structure in Northern and Central-Southern breeds, respectively, with pairwise FST values between breeds ranging from 0.013 to 0.164 and 7.49 % of the total variance assigned to the between-breed level. Only 2.11 % of the variance explained the clustering of breeds into geographical groups (Northern, Central and Southern Italy and Islands). Conclusions: Our results indicate that the present-day genetic diversity of Italian goat populations was shaped by the combined effects of drift, presence or lack of gene flow and, to some extent, by the consequences of traditional management systems and recent demographic history. Our findings may constitute the starting point for the development of marker-assisted approaches, to better address future breeding and management policies in a species that is particularly relevant for the medium-and long-term sustainability of marginal regions

I cattolici nella fabbrica del cinema e dei media: produzione, opere, protagonisti (1940-1970)

Il volume contiene alcuni esiti delle ricerche condotte nell’ambito del progetto PRIN 2012 I cattolici e il cinema in Italia tra gli anni ’40 e gli anni ’70, coordinato dall’Università degli Studi di Milano, capitalizzando riflessioni emerse nel corso di una serie di convegni che si sono succeduti dal 2014 al 2016.The issue contains some outcomes of the research project PRIN 2012 The Catholics and Cinema in Italy between the 40s and the 70s, coordinated by University of Milan, capitalizing reflections shared during a series of congresses between 2014 and 2016

Pediatric tuberculosis in Italian children: Epidemiological and clinical data from the Italian register of pediatric tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Over the last decades, TB has also emerged in the pediatric population. Epidemiologic data of childhood TB are still limited and there is an urgent need of more data on very large cohorts. A multicenter study was conducted in 27 pediatric hospitals, pediatric wards, and public health centers in Italy using a standardized form, covering the period of time between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2012. Children with active TB, latent TB, and those recently exposed to TB or recently adopted/immigrated from a high TB incidence country were enrolled. Overall, 4234 children were included; 554 (13.1%) children had active TB, 594 (14.0%) latent TB and 3086 (72.9%) were uninfected. Among children with active TB, 481 (86.8%) patients had pulmonary TB. The treatment of active TB cases was known for 96.4% (n = 534) of the cases. Overall, 210 (39.3%) out of these 534 children were treated with three and 216 (40.4%) with four first-line drugs. Second-line drugs where used in 87 (16.3%) children with active TB. Drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were reported in 39 (7%) children. Improving the surveillance of childhood TB is important for public health care workers and pediatricians. A non-negligible proportion of children had drug-resistant TB and was treated with second-line drugs, most of which are off-label in the pediatric age. Future efforts should concentrate on improving active surveillance, diagnostic tools, and the availability of antitubercular pediatric formulations, also in low-endemic countries