Recent Empirical Analysis on Public Service Companies Transparency: Case of Italy

In recent years the role of public services has acquired increasing relevance on account of the growing awareness of the importance of such services in the social and economic development of a country. This is determined primarily by the demand for quality and good value (for money) by an ever more sensitive public (which has brought under analysis the methods of traditional service providers, no longer seen as able to respond efficiently to the changing and diversified needs of society), the need to conform to EU directives and the effects of liberalization and from an internal perspective of the industrial and institutional reorganization of the public sector. After a description of the theoretical background, the present study is aimed to analyse the transparency of the public service companies listed on the Italian Stock Exhange. Given the fundamental role played by these companies, this sudy investigates the levels of total and partial disclosure and identifies the successful elements as well as those areas where improvements could be made. In particular, for the research conducted, an attempt was made to adopt an index capable of showing a measure of the quality of transparency undertaken by the case-study companies in the FTSE Italy Public Services Sector. In order to meet this aim, the work is based on an index of “corporate e-governance” used by Gandia. Based on the variables considered in the analysis of the websites, no company provides total disclosure with maximum values; the company which offers total disclosure with the highest value is Enel (9.52) while Ergycapital has the lowest value (3.14). Research thus shows that, it is necessary to improve the quality of disclosure of the public utilities companies listed on the Italian Stock Exchange

Levels of self-reported depression and anxiety among HIV-positive patients in Albania: a cross-sectional study

Aim To gain an initial perspective of mental health issues facing the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-positive population at the University Hospital Center of Tirana (UHCT) HIV/AIDS Ambulatory Clinic. Methods From June-August 2009, we conducted semistructured interviews with 79 patients (93% response rate) at the UHCT HIV/AIDS Ambulatory Clinic. The interviews assessed patient-reported histories of mental health diagnoses, patients’ demographics, and current emotional health status. Results The percentage of patients who reported a history of diagnosis of depression or anxiety was high – 62.3% and 82.3%, respectively. Factors associated with a history of depression included having been diagnosed with anxiety (P < 0.001), having a higher number of barriers to care (P < 0.001), having a higher number of current medical and social needs (P < 0.001), or having not obtained antiretroviral therapy (ART) abroad (P = 0.004). Factors associated with a history of anxiety included having been on firstline ART (P = 0.008), having been diagnosed with HIV for shorter periods of time (P = 0.043), having been diagnosed with depression (P < 0.001), having a higher number of current medical and social needs (P = 0.035), or having not obtained ART abroad (P = 0.003). Conclusions Mental health problems are widespread among the known HIV-positive patient population in Albania. The high prevalences of anxiety and depression and of dual diagnoses of these conditions suggest the need for more mental health care for HIV-positive patients in Albania

Alpha-Synuclein Oligomers Interact with Metal Ions to Induce Oxidative Stress and Neuronal Death in Parkinson's Disease

Protein aggregation and oxidative stress are both key pathogenic processes in Parkinson's disease, although the mechanism by which misfolded proteins induce oxidative stress and neuronal death remains unknown. In this study, we describe how aggregation of alpha-synuclein (α-S) from its monomeric form to its soluble oligomeric state results in aberrant free radical production and neuronal toxicity

α-synuclein oligomers interact with ATP synthase and open the permeability transition pore in Parkinson's disease.

Protein aggregation causes α-synuclein to switch from its physiological role to a pathological toxic gain of function. Under physiological conditions, monomeric α-synuclein improves ATP synthase efficiency. Here, we report that aggregation of monomers generates beta sheet-rich oligomers that localise to the mitochondria in close proximity to several mitochondrial proteins including ATP synthase. Oligomeric α-synuclein impairs complex I-dependent respiration. Oligomers induce selective oxidation of the ATP synthase beta subunit and mitochondrial lipid peroxidation. These oxidation events increase the probability of permeability transition pore (PTP) opening, triggering mitochondrial swelling, and ultimately cell death. Notably, inhibition of oligomer-induced oxidation prevents the pathological induction of PTP. Inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)-derived neurons bearing SNCA triplication, generate α-synuclein aggregates that interact with the ATP synthase and induce PTP opening, leading to neuronal death. This study shows how the transition of α-synuclein from its monomeric to oligomeric structure alters its functional consequences in Parkinson's disease

An ex vivo human tumour assay reveals distinct patterns of EGFR trafficking in squamous cell carcinoma correlating to therapeutic outcomes

EGFR overexpression is associated with squamous cell carcinoma development. Altered endocytosis and polarization of receptor tyrosine kinases, including EGFR, affect migration and invasion in 3D culture. These studies have been completed via genetic sequencing, cell line or 3D in vitro and in vivo murine models. Here we describe an imaging method that allows ex-vivo examination of ligand-induced endocytosis of EGFR in non-dissociated human tumours. We analyzed sets of tumour samples from advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and Head and Neck squamous cell carcinoma, actinic keratosis, intra-epidermal carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. We demonstrate that EGFR endocytosis is dysregulated in advanced SCC and correlates with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody therapy outcomes. In actinic keratosis, intra-epidermal carcinoma and well-differentiated cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma different patterns of epidermal growth factor ligand uptake and binding were observed at the leading edge of different dysplastic lesions, suggesting that these differences in EGFR endocytosis might influence the metastatic potential of dysplastic squamous epithelium. These studies in live ex-vivo human tumours confirm that endocytosis dysregulation is a physiological event in human tumours and has therapeutic implications

Argininosuccinic aciduria fosters neuronal nitrosative stress reversed by Asl gene transfer

Argininosuccinate lyase (ASL) belongs to the hepatic urea cycle detoxifying ammonia, and the citrulline-nitric oxide (NO) cycle producing NO. ASL-deficient patients present argininosuccinic aciduria characterised by hyperammonaemia, multiorgan disease and neurocognitive impairment despite treatment aiming to normalise ammonaemia without considering NO imbalance. Here we show that cerebral disease in argininosuccinic aciduria involves neuronal oxidative/nitrosative stress independent of hyperammonaemia. Intravenous injection of AAV8 vector into adult or neonatal ASL-deficient mice demonstrates long-term correction of the hepatic urea cycle and the cerebral citrulline-NO cycle, respectively. Cerebral disease persists if ammonaemia only is normalised but is dramatically reduced after correction of both ammonaemia and neuronal ASL activity. This correlates with behavioural improvement and reduced cortical cell death. Thus, neuronal oxidative/nitrosative stress is a distinct pathophysiological mechanism from hyperammonaemia. Disease amelioration by simultaneous brain and liver gene transfer with one vector, to treat both metabolic pathways, provides new hope for hepatocerebral metabolic diseases

Molecular characterisation of a novel vipar interacting protein in health and disease

Arthrogryposis, Renal dysfunction, and Cholestasis (ARC) syndrome is a multisystem disorder caused by mutations in genes encoding two proteins VPS33B or VIPAR, which appear to be critical regulators of cell polarity. VPS33B and VIPAR may function as part of a multi-protein complex that interacts with an active form of RAB11A and is involved in the transcriptional regulation of E-cadherin. VPS33B and VIPAR are shown to interact at a protein level forming a stable binary complex. A novel interacting partner of VIPAR was identified, PLOD3, a posttranslational modification enzyme with lysyl hydroxylase (LH), collagen galactosyltransferase (GT), and glucosyltransferase (GGT) activities (Wang et al., 2012). In mIMCD-3 polarized cell lines VPS33B and VIPAR are involved in PLOD3 trafficking from the TGN compartment via RAB11A positive vesicles. Study of the topology of this ternary protein complex evidenced that VIPAR is a transmembrane protein with its luminal N-terminal interacting with PLOD3 and its cytosolic C-terminal being involved in the interaction with VPS33B. VPS33B/VIPAR mediates the trafficking of PLOD3 from the TGN to collagen carrier structures where the binding of PLOD3 with collagen takes place. The PLOD3-collagen binding is required for collagen trafficking and an abnormal accumulation of intracellular collagen, associated with failure in PLOD3 delivery to collagen, is observed in Vipar knockdown mIMCD-3 cells. Abnormal collagen modifications and trafficking in Vps33b/Vipar deficiency can explain the down-regulation of E-cadherin that characterises some polarized cell types in ARC and the cell model for this syndrome. These findings establish a role for VPS33B/VIPAR in the intracellular trafficking of collagen

Erdbebenbemessung von unterirdischen Stahlrohrleitungen

Earthquake hazards like seismic-induced landslides, lateral spreading due to soil liquefaction and faulting seriously threaten the safety of buried pipeline systems, highlighting the need to accurately evaluate their structural performance within the engineering design practice. In the last decades, this problem has been tackled numerically using the simplistic beam on Winkler foundation and the more complex continuum model. While the former is incapable to model the realistic soil-pipeline interaction for large deformations and to capture the pipeline local instabilities, the latter is computationally expensive and requires the operator's expertise. This thesis analyses the seismic performance of a straight buried steel pipeline subjected to strike-slip faulting within the finite element method, using the beam on Winkler foundation and the continuum approach. The effect of different soil and pipe parameters having a critical role on the pipeline response is carefully investigated, such as the fault inclination angle, the pipeline burial depth, the soil material, the pipe thickness and the internal pressure. To optimize the computational costs, each end of a limited pipe segment crossing the fault is connected to an equivalent-boundary spring, representing the interaction with the rest of the soil-pipeline system. Within the continuum model, both soil and pipe contact surfaces are meshed with a similar mesh size that guarantees solution convergence. Moreover, the introduced submodeling technique allows to focus with a finer mesh on the limited part of the model susceptible to local buckling, permitting to accurately evaluate the critical fault displacement for this performance limit state. The numerical results obtained using both models are properly compared between each other as well as with recent research literature data, giving better insight on the mechanical behaviour of the soil-pipeline system under strike-slip movement. In conclusion, a series of recommendations are proposed to enhance the seismic design of buried steel pipeline crossing active faults. The proposed modelling procedure, including the submodeling technique and the exact analytical formulation of the pipe boundaries in function of the system parameters, can be suitably used to accurately and efficiently analyse the seismic performance of buried pipelines.Erdbebenrisiken wie seismisch bedingte Erdrutsche, horizontale Bewegungen im Boden durch Bodenverflüssigung und Verwerfungen bedrohen die Sicherheit von unterirdischen Rohrleitungssystemen. Dadurch ergibt sich die Notwendigkeit, die Tragfähigkeit der Rohrleitungen bei diesen Einwirkungen zu bewerten. Diese Dissertation analysiert den Widerstand einer geraden, unterirdischen Stahlrohrleitung, die einer strike-slip-Störung im Boden ausgesetzt ist. Dabei werden die Methoden der Winkler-Bettung eines Balkens und des Kontinuumsansatzes im Rahmen der Finite-Elemente-Methode eingesetzt. Die Auswirkung unterschiedlicher Boden- und Rohrparameter, die eine maßgebliche Rolle bei der Reaktion der Rohrleitung spielen, werden sorgfältig untersucht. Dazu gehören beispielsweise der Neigungswinkel von Störungen, die Verschüttungstiefe der Rohrleitung, das Bodenmaterial, die Rohrdicke und der Rohrinnendruck. Um die Rechenzeit zu optimieren, ist jedes Ende des berechneten Rohrsegments, mit einer äquivalenten Randfeder verbunden, die die Wechselwirkung mit dem Rest des Bodenleitungssystems darstellt. Innerhalb des Kontinuumsmodells werden sowohl Boden- als auch Rohrleitungskontaktoberflächen mit einer ähnlichen Maschengröße vermischt, sodass eine Lösungskonvergenz gewährleistet ist. Mit dem eingeführten Submodellierungsmodell ist es möglich, auf einen begrenzten Teil des Modells zu fokussieren und diesen mit einer feineren Maschengröße zu berechnen. Dadurch können lokale Stauchungen und Ausbeulungen genau berechnet und die kritische Verschiebung für diesen Grenzzustand ausgewertet werden. Die numerischen Ergebnisse aus beiden Modellen werden sowohl untereinander als auch mit neueren Forschungsergebnissen verglichen, was einen besseren Einblick in das mechanische Verhalten des Boden-Pipelinesystems unter strike-slip-Störungen ermöglicht. Abschließend wird eine Reihe von Empfehlungen entwickelt, um die seismische Bemessung von Stahlrohrleitungen im Bereich von aktiven Störungen zu verbessern. Das vorgeschlagene Modellierungsverfahren, einschließlich der Submodellierungstechnik und der exakten analytischen Formulierung der Rohrgrenzen in Abhängigkeit der Systemparameter, ist dazu geeignet, das seismische Verhalten der unterirdischen Stahlrohrleitung genau und effizient zu berechnen und analysieren

Un modello semianalitico del comportamento meccanico di un dissipatore autocentrante per la protezione sismica delle strutture

Negli ultimi anni è stata rivolta una notevole attenzione alla ricerca e allo sviluppo di sistemi antisismici innovativi al fine di minimizzare il rischio sismico negli ambienti costruiti nonché aumentare i livelli di prestazione presentando soluzioni sempre più competitive dal punto di vista strutturale ed economico. L’adozione di tali tecnologie introduce nuove considerazioni rispetto alla progettazione delle strutture antisismiche tradizionali, le quali rendono neccessaria una conoscenza approfondita dei principi di funzionamento dei dispositivi antisismici innovativi. È quindi importante acquisire opportuni metodi di analisi, di modellazione, di dimensionamento e di verifica di tali dispositivi nel contesto strutturale in cui vengono inseriti. Il presente lavoro affronta lo studio di un dispositivo dissipativo autocentrante costruito interamente in acciaio a prestazioni sismiche ottimizzate e attualmente prottetto da brevetto. In particolare è stato studiato un modello semianalitico del dissipatore autocentrante con l’obiettivo di individuare eventuali leggi di correlazione tra i parametri meccanici e geometrici degli elementi costituenti il dispositivo e il comportamento globale del dissipatore. In questo modo è possibile modellare il dispositivo in fase progettuale all’interno dei sistemi strutturali più complessi a partire dalla conoscenza degli elementi costituenti il dispositivo stesso. Infine sono stati analizzati e confrontati i risultati teorici con quelli sperimentali ottenuti dalle prove a fatica oligociclica effettuate sul dissipatore presso il Laboratorio Ufficiale per le Esperienze sui Materiali da Costruzione del Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile dell’Università di Pisa, concludendo la validità della modellazione semianalitica del comportamento meccanico del dissipatore oggetto di studio

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF AN EARTHQUAKE DISASTER AND COVID-19 IN ALBANIA

The earthquake, occurred on 26th November 2019, caused considerable material and financial damages. According to a document compiled by the Albanian Government with the support of several International Institutions, the earthquake affected directly and indirectly over 202,000 people, including 51 victims, 17,000 displaced and about 985 million Euros in damage, mainly to housing and educational infrastructure. Reconstruction under the same document will cost 1 billion 78 million Euros. As if that were not enough, the vast majority of the decline in economic activity during the post-earthquake period was “due to Covid-19 pandemic” of 2020. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to evaluate the long-term impacts of these two major events in the Albanian economy. The impacts of earthquake and pandemic damages are expected to have a resultant slowdown in the economic growth of Albania, caused mainly by unemployment, inflation and productivity decline in the main economic sectors. However, even if not stronger growth what will be needed in the future is the readiness to be reduced significantly unemployment and poverty. This will require progress on a number of priority reform areas, including ongoing reforms to Albania’s system of economic governance, which is more important than everything in this country. Loss compensation is the driving force of the post disaster recovery, and social productivity and sustainable economic development are the economic basis of compensation for disaster losses. To this end, economic development is the most effective way to compensate for disaster losses. At the end, the question that arises is: How will all this change the Albanian economy