52 research outputs found
La tutela degli interessi collettivi nel diritto dell'Unione europea
No full textAs a result of some scandals (such as that of Dieselgate), collective actions have recently returned to the fore. While these mechanisms are particularly common in the United States, the European Union has always been quite dubious about the adoption of a comprehensive regulation on the matter. In recent times, however, as a result of the Commission's initiative, they have come back into vogue. In particular, the Commission presented a proposal of a directive on the protection of collective consumer interests in April 2018. The legislative procedure has gone ahead and it is now nearing its conclusion. In this context it is appropriate to evaluate, both the legitimacy of the action of the European political institutions, with regard to the division of competences in procedural matters, and the need for the same, in the light of certain provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. In particular, according to the author, an action by European institutions is necessary with reference to articles 37 and 38 of the Charter, concerning, respectively, the protection of the environment and consumers. In fact, in the absence of specific instruments for the protection of collective interests, the rights of these two categories would remain devoid of effective judicial protection, in sharp contrast with Section 47 of the same regulatory instrument. In this context, the author examines the current state of European legislation with reference to access to justice in environmental issues and the judicial protection of consumer rights
Il Recovery Fund
No full textThe Next Generation EU (also called Recovery Fund for its function of restructuring the economy of the member States, after the COVID-19 pandemic) is a plan with which the European Union aims to raise funds on the market through the issue of bonds and, subsequently, to disburse sums of money, including non-repayable funds, for the realization of projects of common European interest. With this plan, the EU intends to finance the so-called green transition, bridge the digital divide and, in addition, support the structural reforms necessary for each member State. The program is very ambitious and marks a turning point in the European Union’s approach to managing economic crises, in the sense that, instead of the so-called ‘austerity’, the supranational legislator prefers to finance investments capable of supporting growth and industrial reconversion. The paper analyzes the conclusions of the extraordinary meeting of the European Council in July and the main draft acts published by the European Commission. The author notes that the program presents certain provisions which, at first glance, may appear incompatible with the Treaty, such as the power of the Commission to issue bonds and the incidence of the no bail-out clause on the legitimacy of non-repayable aids. However, these doubts can be resolved in the light of the correct reading of the provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The problem is that the Next Generation EU plan ends up restricting the already limited room for maneuver of national parliaments in defining economic policies, so it does not seem really lawful in the light of the democratic principle enshrined in Article 10 TEU
Intelligenza artificiale e dati personali
No full textThe European Commission, on April 21, 2021, adopted a legislative proposal of a regulation on artificial intelligence.
This proposal was formulated after a long preparatory work, in which all the political institutions of the EU have been involved.
The proposal does not intend to interfere with the regulatory framework for the protection of personal data (regulation 2016/679).
However, there appears to be some overlap between the two sources of EU law. These overlaps concern the principle of consent, the so called minimization, the pseudoanonymization, the improper use of involuntary discriminatory biases and the right to the explanation of the outcome of a specific system of artificial intelligence.
The author tries to overcome the overlaps and the disharmonies due to the cumulative application of the two sources of EU law (reg. 2016/679 and the future regulation on AI), but it would be better for the European legislator to clarify how to solve the difficulties discending from the application of the GDPR to artificial intelligence systems
La proposta della Commissione europea di adozione del “Digital Markets Act”
No full textI mercati digitali presentano caratteristiche molto peculiari, che ne hanno determinato una struttura fortemente oligopolistica. Questo assetto ha, fino a questo momento, prodotto diverse conseguenze dannose, sia sul funzionamento del mercato che sullo sviluppo di nuove imprese e nuovi prodotti. In questo contesto, diversi Stati hanno cercato di contrastare il fenomeno attraverso l’intervento delle autorità antitrust. Tuttavia, al momento, i tentativi sembrano non aver prodotto gli effetti sperati. L’approccio ora tentato dalla Commissione europea, che sta cercando di introdurre una specifica regolamentazione ex ante delle piattaforme online, fa sperare in una parziale soluzione del problema. La proposta non appare, tuttavia, molto chiara su una questione cruciale, che è il rapporto della stessa con la normativa antitrust. A parere dell’Autore, il Digital Markets Act deve essere considerato come una fonte di diritto complementare, il che significa che gli obblighi previsti al suo interno devono sommarsi agli obblighi previsti dagli artt. 101 e 102 TFUE.Digital markets present very peculiar characteristics, which have determined a strongly oligopolistic structure of the market. This structure has produced several harmful consequences, both on the functioning of the market and on the development of new businesses and new products. In this context, several States have tried to tackle the phenomenon through the intervention of the antitrust authorities. However, at the moment, the attempts do not seem to have produced the desired effects. In this context, the approach now attempted by the European Commission, which is trying to introduce specific ex ante regulation of online platforms, gives hope for a partial solution to the problem. The proposal is not very clear on a crucial matter, which is the relationship between the proposal itself and the antitrust rules. According to the opinion of the Author, the Digital Markets Act must be regarded as a complementary source of law, which means that the obligations provided within should add up to the obligations provided for by Articles 101 and 102 TFEU
Percutaneous treatment of patients with heart diseases: selection, guidance and follow-up. A review
No full textAortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation, patent foramen ovale, interatrial septal defect, atrial fibrillation and perivalvular leak, are now amenable to percutaneous treatment. These percutaneous procedures require the use of Transthoracic (TTE), Transesophageal (TEE) and/or Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE). This paper provides an overview of the different percutaneous interventions, trying to provide a systematic and comprehensive approach for selection, guidance and follow-up of patients undergoing these procedures, illustrating the key role of 2D echocardiography. © 2012 Contaldi et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd
Evaluation of the left ventricular anatomy in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: comparison between echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.
No full textPrognostic significance of left atrial volume dilatation in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
No full textTo evaluate the prognostic role of left atrial (LA) volume in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), LA volume was measured at baseline and during follow-up in 140 patients with HCM. Unfavorable outcome, defined as occurrence of sudden death, heart transplantation, or invasive reduction of obstruction, developed in 16 patients. In patients with enlarged LA volume (>27 mL/m(2)), there was an increased risk for unfavorable outcome (P = .0152). Patients with normal LA volume at baseline in whom volume increased more than 3 mL per year (fast dilating LA volume) had a worse prognosis than patients with normal and stable volume (P < .001) and similar to patients with dilated LA volume at baseline (P = not significant). LA volume dilated at baseline, fast dilating LA volume, and New York Heart Association functional class were independent predictors of unfavorable outcome development (odds ratio: 11.453; P = .021, P = 2.019, P = .020, respectively). The assessment of LA volume at baseline and during follow-up adds information regarding prognosis in patients with HCM. (J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2009; 22: 76-81.
Pharmacologic Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension Due to Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: Are There More Arrows on Our Bow?
No full textPulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (PH-HFpEF) represents a frequent form of PH related to left ventricular dysfunction. The pathophysiology of PH-HFpEF is intricate, and varied and includes vascular, cardiac, and pulmonary factors that contribute synergistically to developing this clinical syndrome. Improved knowledge of the pathophysiology of PH-HFpEF has paved the way for the use of new drugs such as angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitors (ARNIs), non-steroidal mineral corticoid receptor antagonist (nsMRA), sodium-glucose cotransporter inhibitors (SGLT2is), levosimendan, and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists. ARNIs are a widely used drug for the treatment of PH associated with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. They have also recently been used in PH-HFpEF patients with hemodynamic benefits that need to be confirmed in future research. Finerenone is an innovative non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that exhibits notable cardioprotective and renoprotective properties in individuals suffering from chronic diabetic kidney disease. It also enhances outcomes for patients with heart failure, whether they have mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction. Moreover, in experimental studies, finerenone has been found to lower pulmonary artery pressure, reduce muscularization, and decrease the wall thickness of pulmonary arteries. SGLT2i have revolutionized the treatment of patients with heart failure irrespective of left ventricular ejection fraction, and their treatment is also associated with an improvement in the hemodynamics profile in patients with PH-HFpEF. Levosimendan is a widely used inodilator in the treatment of acute and advanced heart failure. In addition, its use in patients with PH-HFpEF (supported by the positive effects on pulmonary hemodynamics that levosimendan exerts) has recently demonstrated hemodynamic benefit in a small phase 2 study that paved the way for phase 3 studies and the creation of an oral formulation of levosimendan. Finally, GLP1 agonists are a class of drugs that, in preliminary evidence, have shown a positive effect on cardiac hemodynamics, mainly by facilitating left ventricular unloading. These effects, along with the reduction in insulin resistance and weight loss, likely lead to beneficial outcomes for PH-HFpEF patients, especially those with obesity as a comorbidity
Three errors in the article:" The OPERA neutrino velocity result and the synchronisation of clocks, arXiv:1109.6160"
No full textWe found three mistakes in the article " The OPERA neutrino velocity result and the synchronisation of clocks" by Contaldi \cite{Contaldi}. First, the definition of the angle of the latitude in the geoid description leads to a prolate spheroid (rugby ball shape) instead of an oblate spheroid with the usual equatorial flattening. Second, Contaldi forgot a cosine of the latitude in the centripetal contribution term. And last but not least, a profound conceptual mistake was done in believing that an atomic clock or any timekeeper apparatus was carried in a journey by car or plane between CERN and Gran Sasso; instead of that atomic clocks are continuously resynchronized through a GPS device, and the variation of the potential term applies only for the neutrino travel itself. Thus instead of a correction claimed by the author in a travel of 12 hours plus 4 days at rest for an atomic clock, we have found a time correction only for the neutrino itself ! That means, that this paper \cite{Contaldi} does not give the right explanation why the neutrino is seen travelling faster than the speed of light in the OPERA neutrino experiment
Valutazione delle relazioni tra le pressioni di riempimento ventricolare sinistro e la fibrosi miocardica nei pazienti con ipertensione arteriosa non complicata
No full textIntroduzione. Studi recenti hanno evidenziato la presenza di aumento delle pressioni di riempimento del ventricolo sinistro in fasi molto precoci di coinvolgimento cardiaco in pazienti con ipertensione arteriosa. Scopo dello studio. Lo scopo dello studio è di esplorare le relazioni tra la fibrosi miocardica e le pressioni di riempimento ventricolare sinistro nei pazienti con ipertensione arteriosa non complicata. Metodi . Abbiamo arruolato consecutivamente 14 pazienti con ipertensione arteriosa sistemica non complicata (età media 64± 10 anni) con rapporto transmitralico E/A 13 o rapporto E/e' 34 ml/m2) erano presenti nel 75% dei pazienti con LGE ed assenti nei pazienti senza LGE (p=0.01). Il tempo di decelerazione dell'onda E (348.5 ± 79 vs 269.3 ± 47.8 msec; p=0.03) e LAVI (32.9 ± 4.2 vs 25.1 ± 4.1 ml/m2, p=0.007) erano significativamente maggiori nel gruppo di pazienti con LGE rispetto al gruppo di pazienti senza LGE. La frazione di eiezione non era significativamente diversa nel gruppo di pazienti con e senza LGE, mentre il valore s' medio era significativamente inferiore nel gruppo di pazienti con LGE rispetto al gruppo di pazienti senza LGE (0.06 ± 0.001 vs 0.08 ± 0.02 m/sec, p= 0.02). Lo strain globale longitudinale, invece, sebbene inferiore nei pazienti con LGE rispetto ai pazienti senza LGE, non era significativamente differente nei due gruppi. Con un'analisi di regressione lineare multipla stepwise, abbiamo identificato il valore s' medio come principale predittore (r parziale = - 0.75; p = 0.003) di E/e' nei pazienti con ipertensione arteriosa non complicata. Conclusioni. Il 29% dei pazienti con ipertensione arteriosa non complicata mostra LGE alla MRI, con patterns di distribuzione diversi. I pazienti con LGE mostrano un maggior grado di disfunzione diastolica e di compromissione subclinica della funzione sistolica del ventricolo sinistro rispetto ai pazienti senza evidenza di LGE
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