Le implicazioni giuridiche della ricerca genetica. Spunti dal "Genetic Information Non Discrimination Act"

In the last two decades genetic research achieved very significant results. In 2015, only few years since the completion of the Human Genome Project, scientists launched new experimental studies to genetically modify the DNA sequence of human embryos. These scientific advances have raised several ethical concerns, promoting issues that involve both natural and human science\u2013 including legal studies. Law and ethics frequently have to address the issues originated from these innovations and finding a common toolset often proves to be an arduous task. Genetics has a transnational dimension, experiences a continuous and rapid evolution and spreads new unfamiliar concepts, which ask to be integrated in social and legal culture. Analyzing the path that conducted the US Congress to approve the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, this essay assesses the most common problems in genetic information management in the legal field. In recent studies, the first issue concerns the qualification of genetic data, considering their legal value to identify possible suitable models of protection. With regard to this, U.S. genetic legislation originally presented two different complementary options \u2014 antidiscrimination and privacy laws. With the clear intent to foster genetic research and scientific investments, the Federal legislator decided to endorse the protection against discriminations \u2014 the most evident effects of the distort use of genetic information \u2014 moving privacy to the background. Nevertheless, the limited scope of the Act \u2014 health insurance and employment \u2014 and the rapid diffusion of genetic tests for extremely varied purposes stressed the loopholes of GINA, suggesting the need to address some issues through the different legal lens of data protection. For such reasons, the Congress, in 2016, introduced a new bill to handle the problem, considering, in particular, privacy in genetic research. Covering the misuses of genetic information safeguarding a lawful employment of data seems a possible way to encourage an aware usage of genetic tests and scientific techniques, taking advantage of their silver linings without harming fundamental rights

Diritti fondamentali e big data. I profili costituzionali della protezione dei dati personali tra diritto italiano e europeo

La tesi si propone di affrontare le questioni legate all'impatto dei big data sui diritti fondamentali, concentrando l'attenzione sulla funzione costituzionale del diritto alla protezione dei dati personali nel contesto italiano ed europeo. Dopo aver dato conto del percorso svolto dal diritto internazionale ed europeo per definire i fondamenti di tale disciplina e le implicazioni costituzionali delle garanzie che propone, viene esaminato con particolare attenzione il quadro normativo interno, analizzando come il Giudice delle leggi e il legislatore nel tempo abbiano affrontato il rapporto tra diritti e informazioni. Specifica attenzione è rivolta soprattutto all'individuazione dei molteplici interessi intercettati da questa disciplina e ai criteri di bilanciamento da essa indicati per procedere alla ricomposizione dei conflitti tra prerogative confliggenti. L'analisi si sofferma inoltre sul sistema di tutele elaborato a livello comunitario, concentrandosi inizialmente sul primo c.d. data protection package, per poi passare a considerare la nuova strategia di data-governance europea e i contenuti del reg. 679/2016. Facendo ciò, si approfondiscono in particolare il percorso che ha portato il legislatore europeo a riconoscere la protezione dei dati personali come diritto fondamentale dell'UE (art. 8 CDFUE) e le implicazioni che questo ha avuto sul piano delle competenze comunitarie (art. 16 TFUE). Da ultimo, alla luce delle considerazioni appena accennate, viene proposto un case-study in cui si affrontano i problemi che vengono emergendo da questa progressiva comunitarizzazione della disciplina sulla protezione dei dati personali, soprattutto nei rapporti tra la Corte di giustizia UE e i giudici costituzionali nazionali. Chiude il lavoro una riflessione circa le prospettive che si aprono per il c.d. costituzionalismo tecnologico europeo a il ruolo che spetta all'Unione e agli Stati membri nel promuovere questa trasposizione delle tradizionali garanzie a favore dei diritti fondamentali

Governing with urban big data in the smart city environment: an italian perspective

A smart city is more than its mere technological components. From a legal standpoint, smartness means a civic-enabling regulatory environment, access to technological resources, and openness to the political decision-making process. No doubt, the core asset of this socio-technical revolution is the data generated within the urban contest. However, national and EU law does not provide a specific regulation for using this data. Indeed, the next EU data strategy, with the open data and non-personal data legislation and the forthcoming Data Act, aims to promote a more profitable use of urban and local big data. Nonetheless, at present, this latter still misses a consistent approach to this issue. A thorough understanding of the smart city requires, first of all, the reconceptualization of big data in terms of urban data. Existing definitions and studies about this topic converge on the metropolises of East Asia and, sometimes, the USA. Instead, we approach the issues experienced in medium-size cities, focusing on the main Italian ones. Especially in this specific urban environment, data can help provide better services, automatize administrations, and further democratization only if they are understood holistically - as urban data. Cities, moreover, are a comprehensive source of data themselves, both collected from citizens and urban things. Among the various types of data that can be gathered, surveillance recordings play a crucial role. On the one hand, video surveillance is essential for many purposes, such as protecting public property, monitoring traffic, controlling high-security risk areas, and preventing crime and vandalism. From another standpoint, these systems can be invasive towards citizens' rights and freedoms: in this regard, urban data collected from video surveillance systems may be shared with public administrations or other interested entities, only afterward they have been anonymized. Even this process needs to be aligned with the transparency and participation values that inform the city's democracy. Thus, the anonymization process must be fully compliant with data protection legislation, looking for the most appropriate legal basis and assessing all the possible sources of risks to the rights and freedoms of people (DPIA). Urban data, indeed, is a matter of local democracy. The availability of data and the economy of platforms can significantly transform a city's services and geography as well as citizens' lifestyles. However, the participation of citizens to express their views on both the use of urban data for public policy and the regulation of the digital economy is still a challenge. The paper aims to analyze the projects of some Italian cities - including Milan, Rome, and Turin - which have tried to introduce participatory urban data management tools and to highlight the possible challenges of a democratic management of service platforms and data transfer for social and economic development

Fat emulsion intragastric stability and droplet size modulate gastrointestinal responses and subsequent food intake in young adults

Background: Intragastric creaming and droplet size of fat emulsions may affect intragastric behavior and gastrointestinal and satiety responses.Objectives: We tested the hypotheses that gastrointestinal physiologic responses and satiety will be increased by an increase in intragastric stability and by a decrease in fat droplet size of a fat emulsion.Methods: This was a double-blind, randomized crossover study in 11 healthy persons [8 men and 3 women, aged 24 ± 1 y; body mass index (in kg/m2): 24.4 ± 0.9] who consumed meals containing 300-g 20% oil and water emulsion (2220 kJ) with 1) larger, 6-μm mean droplet size (Coarse treatment) expected to cream in the stomach; 2) larger, 6-μm mean droplet size with 0.5% locust bean gum (LBG; Coarse+LBG treatment) to prevent creaming; or 3) smaller, 0.4-μm mean droplet size with LBG (Fine+LBG treatment). The participants were imaged hourly by using MRI and food intake was assessed by using a meal that participants consumed ad libitum.Results: The Coarse+LBG treatment (preventing creaming in the stomach) slowed gastric emptying, resulting in 12% higher gastric volume over time (P < 0.001), increased small bowel water content (SBWC) by 11% (P < 0.01), slowed appearance of the 13C label in the breath by 17% (P < 0.01), and reduced food intake by 9% (P < 0.05) compared with the Coarse treatment. The Fine+LBG treatment (smaller droplet size) slowed gastric emptying, resulting in 18% higher gastric volume (P < 0.001), increased SBWC content by 15% (P < 0.01), and significantly reduced food intake by 11% (P < 0.05, equivalent to an average of 411 kJ less energy consumed) compared with the Coarse+LBG treatment. These high-fat meals stimulated substantial increases in SBWC, which increased to a peak at 4 h at 568 mL (range: 150–854 mL;P < 0.01) for the Fine+LBG treatment.Conclusion: Manipulating intragastric stability and fat emulsion droplet size can influence human gastrointestinal physiology and food intake

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements