Nutrition and growth in Italy, 1861-1911 what macroeconomic data hide

We investigate how nutritional status responded to economic growth in Italy during 1861-1911. By combining household-level data on food consumption with population censuses, we estimate that the incidence of undernutrition decreased by about 10-15 percent between 1881 and 1901. Consumption of calories responded elastically to income changes, although declining with the level of household income: on average, income elasticity of calories in 1901 was in the range of 0.3-0.6. Malnutrition, defined as the inadequate intake of macroand micro-nutritients, was reduced. Overall, our findings do not support the pessimists' view, ubiquitous in the Italian literature. On the contrary, the early phase of Italian industrialization was beneficial to the nutritional status of the bulk of the population, and even more so for the poorest among the poor

NUTRITION AND GROWTH IN ITALY, 1861-1911 WHAT MACROECONOMIC DATA HIDE

We investigate how nutritional status responded to economic growth in Italy during 1861-1911. By combining household-level data on food consumption with population censuses, we estimate that the incidence of undernutrition decreased by about 10-15 percent between 1881 and 1901. Consumption of calories responded elastically to income changes, although declining with the level of household income: on average, income elasticity of calories in 1901 was in the range of 0.3-0.6. Malnutrition, defined as the inadequate intake of macroand micro-nutritients, was reduced. Overall, our findings do not support the pessimists’ view, ubiquitous in the Italian literature. On the contrary, the early phase of Italian industrialization was beneficial to the nutritional status of the bulk of the population, and even more so for the poorest among the poor.

The Well-Being of Italians: A Comparative Historical Approach

The paper describes the evolution of the well-being of the Italians during the 150 years since the country's unification. The progress in material standard of living was substantial, with GDP per capita growing 13 times between 1861 and 2010 and hours of work (and hence effort) falling considerably, but was roughly in line with that experienced by most other European countries. By relying on a novel database on household budgets, the paper shows that economic growth was accompanied by a long-run reduction of inequality that appears however to have been reversed in the last two decades. Progress was not limited to the economic domain: educational attainment improved considerably, although less than in other countries; on the other hand, the increase in life expectancy was spectacular and brought Italians to lead the international ranking.Italian history, human progress, income inequality

Thin glass shells for active optics for future space telescopes

We present a method for the manufacturing of thin shells of glass, which appears promising for the development of active optics for future space telescopes. The method exploits the synergy of different mature technologies, while leveraging the commercial availability of large, high-quality sheets of glass, with thickness up to few millimeters. The first step of the method foresees the pre-shaping of flat substrates of glass by replicating the accurate shape of a mold via hot slumping technology. The replication concept is advantageous for making large optics composed of many identical or similar segments. After the hot slumping, the shape error residual on the optical surface is addressed by applying a deterministic sub-aperture technology as computer-controlled bonnet polishing and/or ion beam figuring. Here we focus on the bonnet polishing case, during which the thin, deformable substrate of glass is temporary stiffened by a removable holder. In this paper, we report on the results so far achieved on a 130 mm glass shell case study.Comment: This is a pre-print of an article published in CEAS Space Journal. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12567-019-00259-

Vulnerability to poverty in Italy

The article empirically analyses the phenomenon of vulnerability to poverty – meant as an individual’s likelihood of becoming poor in the future. On the basis of studies conducted by the Italian Institute of Statistics on the consumption of Italian households in the years 1985-2001 and whose data have been rearranged in a pseudo-panel form, the article estimates the incidence of vulnerability to poverty at national and regional level. We find that potential poverty concerns an unexpectedly high percentage of the population – even as much as 50% in some years. Regional differences are broad, persistent and on the rise: moving from north to south, the risk of becoming poor in the future triples. Vulnerability analysis turns out to be a useful tool which should complement the traditional analysis of poverty

Prospective evaluation of hepatic steatosis in HIV-infected patients with or without hepatitis C virus co-infection

SummaryBackgroundLimited data are available on hepatic steatosis (HS) in HIV patients who are not infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). The aims of this study were to assess the prevalence of HS and its risk factors in HIV patients with and without HCV infection, and to evaluate whether HS correlates with advanced liver fibrosis and/or cardiovascular disease risk.MethodsFifty-seven HIV mono-infected and 61 HIV/HCV co-infected patients were enrolled consecutively. All patients underwent liver ultrasound and transient elastography. The main parameters of liver function, HIV and HCV viral loads, CD4+ cell counts, and data on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) were recorded. Cardiovascular disease risk was evaluated using the 10-year Framingham risk score.ResultsHS prevalence in the whole HIV population was 53% (54% in mono-infected patients and 51% in co-infected patients). HS was associated with lipodystrophy and triglyceride values (p1 year (p<0.01). By multivariate analysis, only triglyceride levels (p<0.02) and Framingham risk score (p<0.05) were independently associated with HS in both HIV groups. No correlation was observed between HS and advanced liver fibrosis, measured by transient elastography.ConclusionsHS was common in HIV patients, occurring in about half of the population. HS was found to be linked with the Framingham risk score, but was not correlated with advanced liver fibrosis. We suggest that in our HIV population with HS, the burden of cardiovascular disease risk is greater than that of liver disease progression

Il costo della vita al Nord e al Sud d'Italia dal dopoguerra a oggi. Stime di prima generazione.

Despite the fact that in 2011 Italy will celebrate the 150th anniversary of its political unification, geographical disparities stand out as a prominent characteristic of the country. The paper estimates the trend of the cost-of-living differentials across regions in the half-century after the Second World War. We find that the North-South gap has steadily increased, from 10 percent in 1951 to almost 20 percent in recent years. The divergence in prices highlights the delay, possibly the failure, of Italy’s economic integration. Its cost, in terms of both foregone economic growth and distributive equity, is borne by the entire Italian society

Il costo della vita al Nord e al Sud d'Italia dal dopoguerra a oggi. Stime di prima generazione.

Despite the fact that in 2011 Italy will celebrate the 150th anniversary of its political unification, geographical disparities stand out as a prominent characteristic of the country. The paper estimates the trend of the cost-of-living differentials across regions in the half-century after the Second World War. We find that the North-South gap has steadily increased, from 10 percent in 1951 to almost 20 percent in recent years. The divergence in prices highlights the delay, possibly the failure, of Italy’s economic integration. Its cost, in terms of both foregone economic growth and distributive equity, is borne by the entire Italian society

Biological and Molecular Heterogeneity of Breast Cancers Correlates with Their Cancer Stem Cell Content

SummaryPathways that govern stem cell (SC) function are often subverted in cancer. Here, we report the isolation to near purity of human normal mammary SCs (hNMSCs), from cultured mammospheres, on the basis of their ability to retain the lipophilic dye PKH26 as a consequence of their quiescent nature. PKH26-positive cells possess all the characteristics of hNMSCs. The transcriptional profile of PKH26-positive cells (hNMSC signature) was able to predict biological and molecular features of breast cancers. By using markers of the hNMSC signature, we prospectively isolated SCs from the normal gland and from breast tumors. Poorly differentiated (G3) cancers displayed higher content of prospectively isolated cancer SCs (CSCs) than did well-differentiated (G1) cancers. By comparing G3 and G1 tumors in xenotransplantation experiments, we directly demonstrated that G3s are enriched in CSCs. Our data support the notion that the heterogeneous phenotypical and molecular traits of human breast cancers are a function of their CSC content