Lesser Citizens: Poverty and Social Exclusion among the Juvenile Italian and European Population

This article deals with the spread of poverty and social exclusion throughout the juvenile, Italian population, comparing it with its European counterparts. Besides the information concerning the distribution of income in families with children, the family units\u2019 living conditions will also be taken into consideration as well as the number of young people who are not enrolled at school, taking part on professional training courses and who are not even employed. The juvenile, Italian situation is distinctly marked, as you will see, compared to the European one, by a greater spread of poverty, poor living conditions and the simultaneous lack of work or professional training. If the families are foreign, the children\u2019s situation is even more precarious, in view of the fact that their salaries are \u2013 in spite of performing the same duties \u2013 lower, on average, for immigrant workers. Many social factors, connected with the labour market structure and economic policy choices all, undoubtedly, contribute to this, but the Italian Welfare State\u2019s set up is also extremely important in that it invests very little in the support of family units

The image of Roma people in a group of social workers. Some reflections on the presence of stereotypes and on the burden of discrimination in social services following the conclusion of a research study

Roma and Sinti people experience a particular, specific type of stigmatisation and social injustice, that have built up over 5 centuries. This paper intends to investigate the image of Roma people in a professional group of 246 social workers in boroughs in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Investigating the perceptions expressed by the social workers on such a socially stigmatised ethnic minority, that is often subjected to institutional controls and repression, serve to check the weight that social representations have on the operators who in their work should express the ideals of social justice, equality and the refusal of social exclusion and discrimination that are expressed in international and national social services’ code of ethics

The “Dark Side” of Community Social Work: An Instrument of Control or a Promoter of Citizen Participation? Reflections on the Results of a Research Project

The article discusses the ideas expressed by a group of social workers of the local authorities in a region of north-eastern Italy (Friuli Venezia Giulia) about community social work. Since renewed scientific and operational interest on the part of the social work in community intervention has coincided with the emergence of neoliberal policies to contain spending on welfare systems, this article seeks to understand whether social workers view community social work as a tool to compensate for cuts in social spending or, rather, as a strategy to promote an independent social and political awareness on the part of citizens

\u2018It\u2019s all their Fault\u2019. Immigrants as Scapegoats and a Mirror Revealing Social Contradictions

This article analyses the role as scapegoat and the \u2018mirroring\u2019 function performed by immigrants in societies where levels of economic inequality are increasing, and welfare structures are being constantly contracted. The central argument of this article is that, in a situation of prolonged economic crisis, political elites can blame certain minority groups for causing difficulties that really arise from macrosocial factor

What kind of social capital is generated through sport? The difficult, educational alliance between parents, children and the world of sport.

This work investigates the relationship between sports clubs for youngpeople and the production of social capital. This article analyzes 34 interviews with people who work in some sport associations for young of the lower Friuli, such as: parents, kids, coaches and sports administrators. For this people the great difficulty of keeping original, solidarity and prosocial type motivations alive often emerges in a context in which the ssociation\u2019s life is rigidly governed by bureaucratic rules and where associates and families do not always help and sustain each other. Inspite of this, the world of sport that emerges from this analysis still seems to be perceived as being a place that provides an opportunity to meet and enjoy social commitmen

Subjective wellbeing of Italian healthcare professionals during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak: A quasi-experiment

Italy was one of the strongest hit countries from the SARS-CoV-2 and the healthcare system was put under exceptional stress during the outbreak. The lockdown imposed on the population put the economy on hold and opened the way for a crisis that would have an impact on the healthcare system and the economy of the country. This study compares levels of subjective wellbeing among healthcare professionals before the outbreak and during the most critical moment of the lockdown, when Italy was the first country in the world by number of infections. Subjective wellbeing was measured with emotional wellbeing, job satisfaction, global happiness and satisfaction with life. Each measure was compared before and during the outbreak as well as among different subgroups of respondents. A special attention was put on inequalities in professional level, gender and educational level as well as their effect on subjective wellbeing. The study finds that while emotional wellbeing had a slight decrease, other measures were untouched and job satisfaction even increased during the lockdown period. Present wellbeing differences based in inequalities in professional and educational level were lifted once professionals were fighting the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. This decrease in inequalities and increase in job satisfaction might be strongly related to a newfound trust in healthcare professionals, a high gratitude from the population and a feeling of accomplishment and meaning as described in the PERMA model. The findings of this study should help healthcare organizations to keep inequalities low as well as other organizations to apply those learnings in their structure

Echocardiography in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: usefulness of old and new techniques in the diagnosis and pathophysiological assessment

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is one of the most common inherited cardiomyopathy. The identification of patients with HCM is sometimes still a challenge. Moreover, the pathophysiology of the disease is complex because of left ventricular hyper-contractile state, diastolic dysfunction, ischemia and obstruction which can be coexistent in the same patient. In this review, we discuss the current and emerging echocardiographic methodology that can help physicians in the correct diagnostic and pathophysiological assessment of patients with HCM

The physiological linkage between molar inclination and dental macrowear pattern

Objectives: Exact symmetry and perfect balance between opposite jaw halves, as well as between antagonistic teeth, is not frequently observed in natural masticatory systems. Research results show that asymmetry in our body, skull, and jaws is often related to genetic, epigenetic, environmental and individual ontogenetic factors. Our study aims to provide evidence for a significant link between masticatory asymmetry and occlusal contact between antagonist teeth by testing the hypothesis that tooth inclination is one of the mechanisms driving distribution of wear in masticatory phases in addition to dietary and cultural habits. Materials and Methods: The present work investigates the relationship between dental macrowear patterns and tooth inclinations on a sample of complete maxillary and mandibular 3D models of dental arches from 19 young and adult Yuendumu Aboriginal individuals. The analysis was carried out on first molars (M1) from all quadrants. Occlusal Fingerprint Analysis was used for the quantification of macrowear patterns, and 2D cross-sectional geometric analysis was carried out to investigate asymmetry in dental arches. Results: The asymmetry is highly variable on both arches, and it is associated with differences in the inclination of upper M1 crowns. Each molar has variable inclination (buccal/lingual) which influence tooth to tooth contact, producing greater or lesser variation in wear pattern. Interindividual variability of morphological variation of the occlusal relationship has to be considered in macrowear analysis. Discussion: Our results suggest that overall asymmetry in the masticatory apparatus in modern humans affects occlusal contact areas between antagonist teeth influencing macrowear and chewing efficiency during ontogeny

Loss of Caveolin-1 Accelerates Neurodegeneration and Aging

The aged brain exhibits a loss in gray matter and a decrease in spines and synaptic densities that may represent a sequela for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Membrane/lipid rafts (MLR), discrete regions of the plasmalemma enriched in cholesterol, glycosphingolipids, and sphingomyelin, are essential for the development and stabilization of synapses. Caveolin-1 (Cav-1), a cholesterol binding protein organizes synaptic signaling components within MLR. It is unknown whether loss of synapses is dependent on an age-related loss of Cav-1 expression and whether this has implications for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.We analyzed brains from young (Yg, 3-6 months), middle age (Md, 12 months), aged (Ag, >18 months), and young Cav-1 KO mice and show that localization of PSD-95, NR2A, NR2B, TrkBR, AMPAR, and Cav-1 to MLR is decreased in aged hippocampi. Young Cav-1 KO mice showed signs of premature neuronal aging and degeneration. Hippocampi synaptosomes from Cav-1 KO mice showed reduced PSD-95, NR2A, NR2B, and Cav-1, an inability to be protected against cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury compared to young WT mice, increased Aβ, P-Tau, and astrogliosis, decreased cerebrovascular volume compared to young WT mice. As with aged hippocampi, Cav-1 KO brains showed significantly reduced synapses. Neuron-targeted re-expression of Cav-1 in Cav-1 KO neurons in vitro decreased Aβ expression.Therefore, Cav-1 represents a novel control point for healthy neuronal aging and loss of Cav-1 represents a non-mutational model for Alzheimer's disease

Directing Astroglia from the Cerebral Cortex into Subtype Specific Functional Neurons

Forced expression of single defined transcription factors can selectively and stably convert cultured astroglia into synapse-forming excitatory and inhibitory neurons