I partiti politici a livello europeo

La tesi di Dottorato ha per oggetto il tema dei partiti politici europei. Scopo del presente lavoro \ue8 descriverne la natura, la struttura ed organizzazione, analizzarne il processo di elaborazione politico-programmatica oltre che i profili di coor-dinamento con i gruppi al Parlamento europeo, originario strumento di azione politica a livello europeo. Il punto di partenza del presente lavoro \ue8 rappresentato dai gruppi parlamentari, i quali hanno costituito, sino alle prime elezioni dirette dei rappresentati al Parlamento europeo (tenutesi nel 1979), il pi\uf9 dinamico e attivo centro di aggregazione politica sul piano europeo. Il primo Capitolo si concentra sulla figura del gruppo al Parlamento europeo, del quale si analizza la posizione giuridica nel quadro dei Trattati e del \u201cdiritto parlamentare europeo\u201d, si racconta la storia, si descrivono la struttura e la disciplina statutaria. Il secondo Capitolo si occupa in modo specifico della figura del partito politico europeo. Se ne traccia la storia, descrivendo la costituzione delle Internazionali di partito, nate negli anni Cinquanta intorno alle tre maggiori famiglie politiche europee (quella Cristiano Democratica, quella Socialista e quella Liberale), la successiva formazione delle pi\uf9 ristrette organizzazioni \u201ctransnazionali\u201d, impegnate a svolgere attivit\ue0 politica in ambito europeo, ed infine l\u2019introduzione dei \uabpartiti politici a livello europeo\ubb. Quindi, si analizza la struttura giuridica dei partiti europei e la loro peculiare posizione \u201ccostituzionale\u201d nel quadro dei Trattati, oltre che la struttura, l\u2019organizzazione e la disciplina statutaria. Da ultimo, il terzo Capitolo analizza il processo di trasformazione del sistema politico-partitico italiano nel corso degli ultimi quindici anni alla luce dei pi\uf9 significativi processi politici verificatisi sulla scena europea. Il Capitolo mira a descrivere le relazioni esistenti tra il livello politico nazionale e quello europeo ed in quale misura essi appaiano idonei a contaminarsi reciprocamente. Gli elementi che si traggono dai tre capitoli portano a concludere che l\u2019azione politica svolta da alcuni partiti politici a livello europeo ha effettivamente esercitato un\u2019importante influenza su taluni sistemi partitici nazionali. Tuttavia, malgrado il riconoscimento giuridico e \u201ccostituzionale\u201d da parte dei Trattati, i partiti politici europei non esercitano ancora un ruolo realmente incisivo nel quadro del \u201csistema politico europeo\u201d, essenzialmente a causa della carente partecipazione da parte dei cittadini-elettori e del ruolo chiave tuttora svolto dai singoli partiti politici nazionali al loro interno.The PhD thesis focuses on the European political parties. It aims to explain what European parties concretely are, how do they organize themselves, carry on political projects at the European level and manage the relationship with their national political partners. The starting point of the thesis are the party groups at the European Parliament, which until the first direct elections held in 1979 have been the most dynamic and committed political actors at the European level. The first Chapter fo-cuses on the EP party groups, studying their legal position in the Treaties and EP parliamentary law at first, and then describing their history, analyzing their structural organization and comparing their statutes and rules of procedure. In the second Chapter, the thesis focuses on the European political parties. It starts telling the history of the Interna-tionals of national parties created around the three most important political families (the Christian Democrats, the So-cialists and the Liberals) in the Fifties, then it describes their transformation during the Seventies into \u201ctransnational\u201d EC-oriented organizations struggling for the creation of European-based policies; finally it represents the introduction into the Treaties of the \uabPolitical Parties at the European level\ubb by the Maastricht process. The Chapter then analyzes the legal and \u201cconstitutional\u201d position of the Europarties, their structure, organization and statutes. The third Chapter analyzes the transformation of the Italian political system during the last fifteen years in the light of the most important political processes taking place in the European arena. The Chapter aims to show what kind of rela-tions do exist between the national and the European political systems, and how the two levels are able to influence each other. The findings of the three Chapters lead to the conclusion that the political strategy of the European parties did exercise some influence over the national political parties. But, in spite of their legal and \u201cconstitutional\u201d recognition by the Treaties, European political parties still do not play a decisive role in the EU system, essentially because of the almost complete lack of participation by the European citizens-voters and the key role still played by each single national party within them

Assessing the Impact of Rutting Depth of Bituminous Airport Runway Pavements on Aircraft Landing Braking Distance during Intense Precipitation

A runway pavement during its useful life is subject to a series of deteriorations because of repeated load cycles and environmental conditions. One of the most common deteriorations is the formation of rutting (surface depression in the wheel path) on the runway surface. Rutting negatively affects aircraft performance during landings and will behave even worse during precipitation or with the existence of fluid contaminations on the surface. This paper aims to develop a model for calculating aircraft braking distance during landing on wet-pavement runways affected by rutting based on dynamic skid resistances generated by tire–fluid–pavement interactions. Intense precipitation, variable rutting depths for a 100 m length step, water film depths (e.g., 1 to 26 mm), and aircraft wheel loads (e.g., 10 to 140 kN) are considered as the boundary conditions of the developed model. The output is a model that can estimate aircraft braking distance as a function of rutting depth and can perform further assessment of the probability of the occurrence of landing overrun. After validating the model with existing methodologies and calibrating it according to the actual landing distance required for each type of aircraft, an Italian airport is simulated using a model with real data regarding the level of service of its pavement surface characteristics

Tryptophan-derived Catabolites Are Responsible for Inhibition of T and Natural Killer Cell Proliferation Induced by Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase

Macrophages exposed to macrophage colony-stimulating factor acquire the capacity to suppress T cell proliferation; this effect is associated with de novo expression of the tryptophan-catabolizing enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO). We have purified IDO and tested its activity in in vitro models of T cell activation. IDO was able to inhibit proliferation of CD4+ T lymphocytes, CD8+ T lymphocytes, and natural killer (NK) cells; proliferation of B lymphocytes was not affected. The inhibitory role of tryptophan and of its catabolites was then tested. In the presence of tryptophan, only l-kynurenine and picolinic acid inhibit cell proliferation. In a tryptophan-free medium cell proliferation was not affected. In the absence of tryptophan inhibition induced by l-kynurenine and picolinic acid was observed at concentrations below the lowest concentration that was effective in the presence of tryptophan, and quinolinic acid acquired some inhibitory capacity. Inhibition of cell proliferation induced by the tryptophan catabolites resulting from IDO activity was selective, applying only to cells undergoing activation. Resting cells were not affected and could subsequently activate normally. We suggest that IDO exerts its effect on cell proliferation by (i) starting the cascade of biochemical reactions that produce the three catabolites and by (ii) enhancing their inhibitory potential by depriving the extracellular microenvironment of tryptophan

[First reporting of the signal crayfish (Decapoda, Astacidae) in the Province of Savona, Italy]

In this short note we report the sudden and numerically significant expansion of signal crayfish (P. leniusculus) from Piedmont towards Liguria. P. leniusculus (Decapode Astacidae) is native to northwestern America, introduced in Italy in 1981 in the province of Bolzano, a few years later it was reported in Brugneto Lake (Genova district) and during the 2009 in the Valla stream (Alessandria district). The peculiarities of this species, originally from "cold water", making it potentially invasive in the Apennine watercourses and also the presence of this allochthonous decapod in the Savona district, would like to suggest the implementation of containment plans, acts at least to limit its spread

Stem cells isolated from human dental pulp and amniotic fluid improve skeletal muscle histopathology in mdx/SCID mice

Introduction: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), caused by a lack of the functional structural protein dystrophin, leads to severe muscle degeneration where the patients are typically wheelchair-bound and die in their mid-twenties from cardiac or respiratory failure or both. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) and human amniotic fluid stem cells (hAFSCs) to differentiate toward a skeletal myogenic lineage using several different protocols in order to determine the optimal conditions for achieving myogenic commitment and to subsequently evaluate their contribution in the improvement of the pathological features associated with dystrophic skeletal muscle when intramuscularly injected into mdx/SCID mice, an immune-compromised animal model of DMD. Methods: Human DPSCs and AFSCs were differentiated toward myogenic lineage in vitro through the direct co-culture with a myogenic cell line (C2C12 cells) and through a preliminary demethylation treatment with 5-Aza-2\u2032-deoxycytidine (5-Aza), respectively. The commitment and differentiation of both hDPSCs and hAFSCs were evaluated by immunofluorescence and Western blot analysis. Subsequently, hDPSCs and hAFSCs, preliminarily demethylated and pre-differentiated toward a myogenic lineage for 2 weeks, were injected into the dystrophic gastrocnemius muscles of mdx/SCID mice. After 1, 2, and 4 weeks, the gastrocnemius muscles were taken for immunofluorescence and histological analyses. Results: Both populations of cells engrafted within the host muscle of mdx/SCID mice and through a paracrine effect promoted angiogenesis and reduced fibrosis, which eventually led to an improvement of the histopathology of the dystrophic muscle. Conclusion: This study shows that hAFSCs and hDPSCs represent potential sources of stem cells for translational strategies to improve the histopathology and potentially alleviate the muscle weakness in patients with DMD

A distinct epigenetic program underlies the 1;7 translocation in myelodysplastic syndromes

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Improving Therapy of Pharmacoresistant Epilepsies: The Role of Fenfluramine

Epilepsy is among the most common neurological chronic disorders, with a prevalence of 0.5–1%. Despite the introduction of new antiepileptic drugs during recent years, about one third of the epileptic population remain drug-resistant. Hence, especially in the pediatric population limited by different pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and by ethical and regulatory issues it is needed to identify new therapeutic resources. New molecules initially used with other therapeutic indications, such as fenfluramine, are being considered for the treatment of pharmacoresistant epilepsies, including Dravet Syndrome (DS) and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS). Drug-refractory seizures are a hallmark of both these conditions and their treatment remains a major challenge. Fenfluramine is an amphetamine derivative that was previously approved as a weight loss drug and later withdrawn when major cardiac adverse events were reported. However, a new role of fenfluramine has emerged in recent years. Indeed, fenfluramine has proved to be a promising antiepileptic drug with a favorable risk–benefit profile for the treatment of DS, LGS and possibly other drug-resistant epileptic syndromes. The mechanism by which fenfluramine provide an antiepileptic action is not fully understood but it seems to go beyond its pro-serotoninergic activity. This review aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the literature, including ongoing trials, regarding the efficacy and safety of fenfluramine as adjunctive treatment of pharmacoresistant epilepsies

Whole Plant Temperature Manipulation Affects Flavonoid Metabolism and the Transcriptome of Grapevine Berries

Among environmental factors, temperature is the one that poses serious threats to viticulture in the present and future scenarios of global climate change. In this work, we evaluated the effects on berry ripening of two thermal regimes, imposed from veraison to harvest. Potted vines were grown in two air-conditioned greenhouses with High Temperature (HT) and Low Temperature (LT) regimes characterized by 26 and 21\ub0C as average and 42 and 35\ub0C as maximum air daily temperature, respectively. We conducted analyses of the main berry compositional parameters, berry skin flavonoids and berry skin transcriptome on HT and LT berries sampled during ripening. The two thermal conditions strongly differentiated the berries. HT regime increased sugar accumulation at the beginning of ripening, but not at harvest, when HT treatment contributed to a slight total acidity reduction and pH increase. Conversely, growing temperatures greatly impacted on anthocyanin and flavonol concentrations, which resulted as strongly reduced, while no effects were found on skin tannins accumulation. Berry transcriptome was analyzed with several approaches in order to identify genes with different expression profile in berries ripened under HT or LT conditions. The analysis of whole transcriptome showed that the main differences emerging from this approach appeared to be more due to a shift in the ripening process, rather than to a strong rearrangement at transcriptional level, revealing that the LT temperature regime could delay berry ripening, at least in the early stages. Moreover, the results of the in-depth screening of genes differentially expressed in HT and LT did not highlight differences in the expression of transcripts involved in the biosynthesis of flavonoids (with the exception of PAL and STS) despite the enzymatic activities of PALs and UFGT being significantly higher in LT than HT. This suggests only a partial correlation between molecular and biochemical data in our conditions and the putative existence of post-transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms playing significant roles in the regulation of flavonoid metabolic pathways and in particular of anthocyanins

Apolipoprotein E in idiopathic nephrotic syndrome and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis

Apolipoprotein E in idiopathic nephrotic syndrome and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.BackgroundHyperlipemia characterizes nephrotic syndrome (NS) and contributes to the progression of the underlying nephropathy. The data in the literature support an implication of apolipoprotein E (apoE) in both hyperlipemia and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a malignant condition associated with NS.MethodsThe apoE genotype was determined in 209 nephrotic patients, who were classified according to age and their response to steroids as resistant children (N = 96) and adults (43), and steroid dependent (33) and steroid responder (37) children. A total of 123 presented the histological features of FSGS. In a subgroup of 28 patients, serum and urinary levels of apoE and renal deposits were evaluated by immunofluorescence.ResultsThe allelic frequencies of the three major haplotypes γ2, γ3, and γ4 were the same in nephrotic patients versus controls, and homozygosity for γ3γ3 was comparably the most frequent genotype (70 vs. 71%) followed by γ3γ4, γ2γ3, γ2γ4, γ4γ4. Serum levels of apoE were fivefold higher in NS and in FSGS patients than in controls, with a direct correlation with hypercholesterolemia and proteinuria. ApoE genotypes did not influence serum levels. Urinary levels were 1/10,000 of serum with an increment in nephrotic urines. Finally, immunofluorescence demonstrated the absence of apoE in sclerotic glomeruli, while comparably nephrotic patients with membranous nephropathy had an increased glomerular expression of apoE.ConclusionsApoE is dysregulated in NS with a marked increment in serum, which is a part of the complex lipid metabolism. Down-regulation of glomerular apoE instead is a peculiarity of FSGS and may contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease. The normal distribution of apoE genotypes in nephrotic patients with FSGS excludes a pathogenetic role of genetic variants

Disciplinary problems among high achiever students: the types and the causes

This qualitative study has been done to 24 teachers and 72 students from various secondary schools in Penang, Malaysia, in order to investigate the effect of between class ability grouping (BCAG) on high achiever secondary school students. Studies reported that BCAG triggered correspondence bias among teachers, which eventually affect them to show different perception and expectations towards high achiever classes (HAC) and low achiever classes (LAC) students. Symbolic interaction theories explained that individuals tend to be affected by others’ expectation, and therefore behave in a way they were expected to. Therefore, according to the previous studies on BCAG, it was assumed that HAC students would achieve better and would not be significantly involved in disciplinary problems. After semi-structured interview had been conducted in order to collect the data, and two-cycled analyses method, namely In-Vivo and Thematic Analyses had been operated in order to analyze the massive amount of qualitative data, the it was discovered that HAC students were involved with disciplinary problems, such as being disrespectful to teachers, paying less attention in the classroom, neglecting assignments and doing external work during classes. Other findings of this study showed that the disciplinary problems among HAC are related to their self-esteem types due to locus of control difference, as well as bigger issues apart from the competition among themselves. School management system, BCAG itself, reciprocal envy between HAC and LAC students, as well as their inclination towards tuition centers contributed to disciplinary problems among HAC students