The Hired Gun Mechanism

We present and experimentally test a mechanism that provides a simple, natural, low cost, and realistic solution to the problem of compliance with socially determined efficient actions, such as contributing to a public good. We note that small self-governing organizations often place enforcement in the hands of an appointed leader–the department chair, the building superintendent, the team captain. This hired gun, we show, need only punish the least compliant group member, and then only punish this person enough so that the person would have rather been the second least compliant. We show experimentally this mechanism, despite having very small penalties out of equilibrium, reaches the full compliance equilibrium almost instantly.

Metals, Machinery, and Mining Equipment Industries in South Africa: The Relationship between Power, Governance, and Technological Capabilities

The metals, machinery, and mining equipment industries have been at the heart of South Africa’s industrial ecosystem. Their central position is associated with the long-term importance of mining, with which there are extensive demand- and supply-side linkages. This chapter reviews key turning points in the development and restructuring of these value chains in post-apartheid South Africa, from 1994 to 2019. The overall record is of a basic steel industry that performed better in terms of value added relative to the more diversified downstream industries, despite government industrial policy targeting more labour-intensive downstream industries. The downstream machinery and equipment industry struggled to compete with imports in the 2000s and 2010s and only partially engaged with digitalization. In explaining these developments the grand bargains struck by the state with the main company producing basic steel and the use of procurement as a demand-side industrial policy are critically examined. The chapter also provides micro-level evidence of the evolving relationships between mining houses; engineering, procurement, and construction management services companies; and input suppliers along the value chain. Overall, it is argued that the relatively poor performance of this industry grouping in South Africa has been due to power asymmetries along the value chains, upstream concentration, high levels of fragmentation in the domestic ecosystem, the lack of key institutional ingredients, and poor policy design. Lessons for resource-endowed middle-income countries are discussed, and policy challenges for upgrading and diversification are presented

Archaeobotanical studies in Argentina: current situation and new perspectives

El estudio de los restos botánicos recuperados en los sitios arqueológicos emplazados en toda Argentina posee una larga historia, cuyo máximo exponencial se inició hacia la década de 1990. A partir de este momento comenzaron a realizarse estudios sistemáticos. Reseñas ya elaboradas sobre el desarrollo de la Arqueobotánica y Paleoetnobotánica en nuestro país (Capparelli y Lema 2010; Capparelli et al. 2001) y en su contexto sudamericano (Archila et al. 2008; Planella y Capparelli 2015; Rossen 2015) han demostrado el camino recorrido tanto metodológico como teórico. Aquellos primeros investigadores provenientes de la botánica como de la agronomía y quienes ayudaron a los arqueólogos de principios del siglo XX a identificar los vegetales en diferentes contextos espacio-temporales, dieron lugar al surgimiento de equipos de trabajo dedicados a desentrañar problemáticas acordes a la relación hombre-planta en el pasado o a interpretar el papel jugado por las plantas en las prácticas sociales y políticas pretéritas. Numerosas técnicas específicas se han desarrollado para la recuperación y el análisis del material macroscópico y microscópico de diferentes órganos vegetales, en distintas condiciones de preservación (carbonizados/ desecados) y con variadas cronologías a lo largo del Holoceno. A su vez, diversas temáticas fueron incluidas en los proyectos de investigación, que involucraron no solo el análisis sobre el material vegetal propiamente dicho, sino también estudios etnobotánicos de campo y bibliográficos que permitieron ampliar la perspectivas de interpretación de las prácticas pretéritas de las cuales los vegetales formaron parte. El objetivo del presente dossier surge al observar el incremento en los últimos años de nuevas metodologías de análisis, la apertura de nuevas regiones para la investigación arqueobotánica y nuevas cronologías. Asimismo, del surgimiento y fortalecimiento de equipos de trabajo específicos en esta disciplina, que forman parte de proyectos arqueológicos mayores. De esta manera, se reúne un conjunto de artículos de carácter metodológico, de integración regional y/o temáticos que permiten observar el tratamiento de la evidencia arqueobotánica desde distintas perspectivas, con el propósito de contribuir a la actualización y discusión de problemáticas comunes a distintas áreas y que han sido abordadas, muchas veces, independientemente.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Archaeobotanical studies in Argentina: current situation and new perspectives

El estudio de los restos botánicos recuperados en los sitios arqueológicos emplazados en toda Argentina posee una larga historia, cuyo máximo exponencial se inició hacia la década de 1990. A partir de este momento comenzaron a realizarse estudios sistemáticos. Reseñas ya elaboradas sobre el desarrollo de la Arqueobotánica y Paleoetnobotánica en nuestro país (Capparelli y Lema 2010; Capparelli et al. 2001) y en su contexto sudamericano (Archila et al. 2008; Planella y Capparelli 2015; Rossen 2015) han demostrado el camino recorrido tanto metodológico como teórico. Aquellos primeros investigadores provenientes de la botánica como de la agronomía y quienes ayudaron a los arqueólogos de principios del siglo XX a identificar los vegetales en diferentes contextos espacio-temporales, dieron lugar al surgimiento de equipos de trabajo dedicados a desentrañar problemáticas acordes a la relación hombre-planta en el pasado o a interpretar el papel jugado por las plantas en las prácticas sociales y políticas pretéritas. Numerosas técnicas específicas se han desarrollado para la recuperación y el análisis del material macroscópico y microscópico de diferentes órganos vegetales, en distintas condiciones de preservación (carbonizados/ desecados) y con variadas cronologías a lo largo del Holoceno. A su vez, diversas temáticas fueron incluidas en los proyectos de investigación, que involucraron no solo el análisis sobre el material vegetal propiamente dicho, sino también estudios etnobotánicos de campo y bibliográficos que permitieron ampliar la perspectivas de interpretación de las prácticas pretéritas de las cuales los vegetales formaron parte. El objetivo del presente dossier surge al observar el incremento en los últimos años de nuevas metodologías de análisis, la apertura de nuevas regiones para la investigación arqueobotánica y nuevas cronologías. Asimismo, del surgimiento y fortalecimiento de equipos de trabajo específicos en esta disciplina, que forman parte de proyectos arqueológicos mayores. De esta manera, se reúne un conjunto de artículos de carácter metodológico, de integración regional y/o temáticos que permiten observar el tratamiento de la evidencia arqueobotánica desde distintas perspectivas, con el propósito de contribuir a la actualización y discusión de problemáticas comunes a distintas áreas y que han sido abordadas, muchas veces, independientemente.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Switching to nevirapine-based HAART in virologically-suppressed patients: influence of a longer twice-daily induction period on once-a-day dosing

We are conducting a multicenter, randomized, controlled, prospective, open trial to evaluate both the efficacy and toxicity of nevirapine (NVP) (given twice [BID] or once daily [QD]) in virologically-suppressed patients on a PIbased HAART. NVP BID dosing is maintained for 2 months after the switch in both groups

El estudio de la dinámica de interacciones humanos-plantas en Argentina: historia de la construcción de un abordaje interdisciplinar desde el Museo de La Plata (FCNYM-UNLP)

Fil: Capparelli, Aylen. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Lema, Verónica Soledad. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Laboratorio de Etnobotánica y Botánica Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: López, María Laura. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Andreoni, Diego. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Ciampagna, María Laura. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Martínez, Analía. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Fisiología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Petrucci, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Laboratorio de Etnobotánica y Botánica Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Gobbo, Juan Diego. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; ArgentinaFil: Pochettino, María Lelia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Laboratorio de Etnobotánica y Botánica Aplicada; Argentin

Complication of nasal piercing by Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis: a case report and a review of literature

Body piercing, a growing trend especially in young people, is often complicated by severe infections. We present a case of acute bacterial endocarditis by Staphylococcus aureus complicated by multiple cerebral, kidney, spleen embolisms in a young girl, with no known previous cardiac abnormalities, following the piercing of nasal septum. This case highlights the importance of education of patients with and without structural heart disease to the potential dangerous and even life threatening infectious complications of piercing, and stimulate further discussion on the possibility of antibiotic prophylaxis of such procedures

Dysregulated Epstein-Barr virus infection in the multiple sclerosis brain

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a ubiquitous B-lymphotropic herpesvirus, has been associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS), but direct proof of its involvement in the disease is still missing. To test the idea that MS might result from perturbed EBV infection in the CNS, we investigated expression of EBV markers in postmortem brain tissue from MS cases with different clinical courses. Contrary to previous studies, we found evidence of EBV infection in a substantial proportion of brain-infiltrating B cells and plasma cells in nearly 100% of the MS cases examined (21 of 22), but not in other inflammatory neurological diseases. Ectopic B cell follicles forming in the cerebral meninges of some cases with secondary progressive MS were identified as major sites of EBV persistence. Expression of viral latent proteins was regularly observed in MS brains, whereas viral reactivation appeared restricted to ectopic B cell follicles and acute lesions. Activation of CD8+ T cells with signs of cytotoxicity toward plasma cells was also noted at sites of major accumulations of EBV-infected cells. Whether homing of EBV-infected B cells to the CNS is a primary event in MS development or the consequence of a still unknown disease-related process, we interpret these findings as evidence that EBV persistence and reactivation in the CNS play an important role in MS immunopathology

Human Arboviral Infections in Italy: Past, Current, and Future Challenges

: Arboviruses represent a public health concern in many European countries, including Italy, mostly because they can infect humans, causing potentially severe emergent or re-emergent diseases, with epidemic outbreaks and the introduction of endemic circulation of new species previously confined to tropical and sub-tropical regions. In this review, we summarize the Italian epidemiology of arboviral infection over the past 10 years, describing both endemic and imported arboviral infections, vector distribution, and the influence of climate change on vector ecology. Strengthening surveillance systems at a national and international level is highly recommended to be prepared to face potential threats due to arbovirus diffusion

Resistance to Ceftazidime/Avibactam in Klebsiella pneumoniae KPC-Producing Isolates: A Real-Life Observational Study

Background: Ceftazidime/avibactam (CAZ-AVI) resistance amongst Enterobacterales is worryingly increasing worldwide. Objectives: The aim of this study was to collect and describe real-life data on CAZ-AVI-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) isolates in our University Hospital, with the ultimate goal of evaluating possible risk factors related to the acquisition of resistance. Methods: This is a retrospective observational study, including unique Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) isolates resistant to CAZ-AVI (CAZ-AVI-R) and producing only KPC, collected from July 2019 to August 2021 at Policlinico Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy. The pathogen's list was obtained from the microbiology laboratory; clinical charts of the corresponding patients were reviewed to collect demographic and clinical data. Subjects treated as outpatients or hospitalized for <48 h were excluded. Patients were then divided into two groups: S group, if they had a prior isolate of CAZ-AVI-susceptible KP-KPC, and R group, if the first documented isolate of KP-KPC was resistant to CAZ-AVI. Results: Forty-six unique isolates corresponding to 46 patients were included in the study. The majority of patients (60.9%) were hospitalized in an intensive care unit, 32.6% in internal medicine wards and 6.5% in surgical wards. A total of 15 (32.6%) isolates were collected from rectal swabs, representing a colonization. Amongst clinically relevant infections, pneumonia and urinary tract infections were the most commonly found (5/46, 10.9% each). Half of the patients received CAZ-AVI prior to isolation of the KP-KPC CAZ-AVI-R (23/46). This percentage was significantly higher in patients in the S group compared to patients in the R group (69.3% S group vs. 25% R group, p = 0.003). No differences between the two groups were documented in the use of renal replacement therapy or in the infection site. The clinically relevant CAZ-AVI-R KP infections (22/46, 47.8%) were all treated with a combination therapy, 65% including colistin and 55% including CAZ-AVI, with an overall clinical success of 38.1%. Conclusions: Prior use of CAZ-AVI was associated with the emergence of drug resistance