66 research outputs found
Struttura e governo della cooperazione di credito a supporto del territorio: i casi italiano e francese a confronto
No full textIl sistema del credito cooperativo italiano, pur essendosi dimostrato capace di sostenere i territori e le economie locali anche in un momento economico difficile come l’attuale, palesa elementi di debolezza che possono minarne l’efficienza e l’efficacia. In questo contesto, l’obiettivo del lavoro è quello di individuare tratti comuni, pregi e limiti dei due sistemi, italiano e francese messi a confronto, al fine di trarre indicazioni utili al miglioramento del sistema italiano. Si utilizzerà lo studio dei casi e, in particolare, si farà un confronto tra il sistema delle Banche di Credito Cooperativo italiane (BCC) e il Crédit Mutuel francese, quest’ultimo ritenuto quale sistema più maturo. Dal confronto dei due sistemi sono emersi quali fronti di intervento significativi la struttura e il governo del sistema, la tecnologia e il capitale. Come drivers idonei a rendere il sistema di credito cooperativo italiano più efficiente ed efficace, la sussidiarietà e l’innovazione, che se correttamente declinati, secondo le specificità del sistema nazionale, potrebbero supportare al meglio la competitività delle imprese presenti sul territorio, trasfondendo nuova linfa vitale ai territori in cui le banche operano. L’approfondimento circoscritto soltanto a due realtà nazionali rappresenta un limite di questo studio. È inoltre da segnalare che il nostro contributo fornisce un’analisi generale dei sistemi esaminati e un approfondimento dell’efficienza e dell’efficacia degli stessi in termini generali, non dedicando attenzione specifica alla performance dei due sistemi, intesa in particolare come contributo alla competitività e vitalità dei territori; ciò potrà essere oggetto di uno sviluppo futuro della ricerca. Questo lavoro potrà essere utile tanto a stimolare la riflessione degli addetti ai lavori, quanto a guardare al tema del rapporto tra sistema finanziario locale e competitività delle imprese sotto una luce diversa e originale da parte degli studiosi. I profili di originalità sono molteplici: quello dell’approccio al tema del rapporto tra sistema finanziario locale e competitività delle imprese; quello del confronto tra realtà nazionali diverse; quello della proposta di due direttrici di cambiamento per il sistema del credito cooperativo italiano: la sussidiarietà e l’innovazione.The system of Italian cooperative banks, while demonstrating its capability to support territories and local economies also in this difficult economic season, it has shown some weaknesses which could negatively impact on its efficiency and effectiveness. In this context, the aim of the paper is to identify common features, strengths and limits of both systems, Italian and French which are compared, in order to get useful directions for the improvement of the Italian system. Case study methodology will be used. In particular, we will compare the Italian Banche di Credito Cooperativo (BCC) with the French Crédit Mutuel, which can be considered as a more advanced system. From the comparison of the two systems some important action areas have been highlighted as the structure and governance of the system, the technology and the capital. In addition, two drivers of intervention are focused, subsidiarity and innovation. These appear to be able to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the Italian cooperative banks system and, if correctly adapted, following the Italian system peculiarities, to support the local firm competitiveness and the overall economic context in which they operate. The main research limit is due to the fact that only two cases are studied. Moreover, our contribution is based only a general analysis of the two systems, in which efficiency and effectiveness have been studied, but no special attention is dedicated to the performance of the two systems intended as their support to territory competitiveness and vitality. This aspect could be considered as a focus of future research in this area. This contribution aims at stimulating both the local bank system management directly involved in the necessary shift that the changing environment calls for, and the academic world, suggesting a new perspective for studying the relationship between the cooperative financial system and firm competitiveness. This paper is original under several points of views: for its different approach to the subject of the relationship between the cooperative financial system and firm competitiveness; for the comparison between different systems and countries; for the two proposed drivers of change: subsidiarity and innovation
Breeding Performances as Welfare Indicator: A Comparative Study on C57BL/6J Mice in Three Different Individually Ventilated Caging Systems
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Gender-genotype interaction lead to an increase of cognitive impairment, locomotor dysfunctions and neurola damage in young and aged female TAU P301L mice model of tauopathy
No full textP301L transgenic (TG) mice well mimic features of human tauopathies and provide a good model for investigating Tau role in neurodegenerative events. We analysed the possible interaction among P-Tau, spine injury, neuronal death and sex differences in P301L transgenic mice at 15 months of age.
Comparing CTR versus P301L transgenic mice, TG mice present a lower body weight, a less survival rate, hyperphosphorylated Tau, spine injury and neuronal loss in both cerebral cortex and hippocampus at the time point analysed. Importantly, pathological features described are more pronounced in female than male TG mice. Recent reports underlined that Tau may be localized within both pre- and post-synaptic compartments, suggesting that it may possibly induce or contribute to synaptic dysfunction. Therefore, we focus our attention on Tau localization at the dendritic spine level. We detected a huge level of both Tau and P-Tau in dendritic spine of P301L transgenic mice. In addition, P-Tau correlated with a significant reduction of post-synaptic markers: NR2a, NR2b, Glur1, Glur2, Debrin and PSD-95 levels in P301L Tg. The P-Tau levels are higher in female than in male mice, and the increased P-Tau was consistent with a proportional decrease in the post-synaptic marker levels analysed. The P301L tg females presented a more severe synaptopathy compared to males. Future investigations on P-Tau postsynaptic role will be necessary for understanding its toxic effects and providing insights into new therapeutic targets for maintaining spine integrity, highlighting the importance of Tau toxicity as well as the impact of sex on tau-pathology
Intracerebroventricular administration of human umbilical cord blood cells ameliorates the disease progression of SOD1G93A ALS mice
No full textSex Impact on Tau-Aggregation and Postsynaptic Protein Levels in the P301L Mouse Model of Tauopathy
No full textP301L transgenic (tg) mice well mimic features of human tauopathies and provide a good model for investigating the role of tau in neurodegenerative events. We here analyzed the possible interactions among phosphorylation of tau (p-tau), spine injury, neuronal death, and sex in the P301L mouse model of tauopathy. When compared to control mice (ctr), P301L transgenic mice (tg) presented a lower body weight, reduced survival rate, hyperphosphorylated tau, spine injury, and neuronal loss in both cerebral cortex and hippocampus at 15 months of age. Importantly, we found that pathological features were more pronounced in female than male tg mice. Recent reports underline that tau may be localized within both pre- and post-synaptic compartments, suggesting that it may possibly induce or contribute to synaptic dysfunction. Therefore, we focused our attention on tau localization at dendritic spines. We detected high levels of both tau and p-tau in dendritic spine of P301L transgenic mice. In addition, p-tau correlated with a significant reduction of post-synaptic markers, such as GluN2A, GluN2B, GluA1, GluA2, Drebrin, and PSD-95, in P301L mice. The p-tau levels are higher in female than in male mice, and the increased p-tau was consistent with a proportional decrease in the post-synaptic marker levels analyzed. The P301L-tg females showed a more severe synaptopathy compared to males. Future investigations on the postsynaptic role of p-tau will be necessary to understand its toxic effects and provide insights into new therapeutic targets for maintaining spine integrity, highlighting the importance of tau toxicity as well as the impact of sex on tau-pathology
Neuroprotective effects of low fat-protein diet in the P301L mouse model of tauopathy
No full textTauopathies are a class of neurodegenerative diseases associated with the pathological aggregation of tau protein in the human brain. Although numerous studies in mouse models of Alzheimer disease (AD) have shown a correlation among diet, beta-amyloid and AD onset, little is known about the impact of diet on Tau. We investigated whether a low fat-protein diet (LFPD) may improve lifespan, cognitive and locomotor activity in P301L-tg mouse model of tauopathy. Our data indicate that LFPD has a beneficial effect on these parameters. Tg mice fed with standard diet shown a decrease in body weight, food intake and survival rate if compared to wild type animals. In contrast, LFPD counteracted weight loss, increased mortality and ameliorated cognitive and locomotor performances in tg mice. LFPD also reduced the abnormal accumulation of agglomerates of P-Tau (pathological features of tauopathies) and the expression of apoptotic markers (i.e., TUNEL immunopositive neurons) in the prefrontal cerebral cortex and hippocampus of P301L-tg mice. Interestingly, some of these effects are sex-dependent. For instance, tg females, but not males, fed with LFPD had a significant increase of body weight and a reduction of P-Tau agglomerates compared to tg fed with standard diet. These changes correlated with a more pronounced improvement of cognition and locomotor activity in females than in male tg fed with LFPD. Altogether, these results suggest a sex dependent neuroprotective effect of LFPD in P301L-tg mice, suggesting that lifestyle intervention strategies may be clinically relevant for delaying the onset of cognitive impairment and dementia, especially in females
Inter- and intracellular signaling in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: role of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase.
No full textThe pathogenetic processes underlying the selective motor neuron degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are complex and still not completely understood even in the cases of inherited disease caused by mutations in the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase-dependent (SOD1) gene. Recent evidence supports the view that ALS is not a cell-autonomous disease and that glial-neuron cross-talk, throughout cytokines and other toxic factors like the nitric oxide and superoxide, is a crucial determinant for the induction of motor neuron death. This cell-cell interaction may determine the progression of the disease through processes that are likely independent of the initial trigger and that may converge on the activation of intracellular death pathways in the motor neurons. In this review we provide support to the hypothesis that aberrant expression and activity of p38 mitogen protein-activated kinases cascade (p38MAPK) in motor neurons and glial cells may play a role in the development and progression of ALS. Increased activation of p38MAPK may phosphorylate neuron-specific substrates altering their physiological properties and it may turn on responsive genes leading to neurotoxicity
Endoglin and Systemic Sclerosis: A PRISMA-driven systematic review
No full textBackground: Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a rare autoimmune disease whose pathogenesis is still poorly understood. The Transforming Growth Factor β superfamily is considered pivotal and a crucial role has been suggested for the type III receptor, Endoglin (ENG). The aim of this systematic review is to investigate and combine the current clinical and molecular available data, to suggest novel hints for further studies.
Methods: We followed PRISMA guidelines; the search was performed on three databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, Embase) in date November 2nd, 2021. Subsequent to the exclusion of duplicates, we applied as inclusion criteria: 1. focus on the relationship between ENG and SSc; 2. English language. As exclusion criteria: 1. ENG exclusively as a cellular biomarker; 2. no focus on ENG-SSc relationship; 3. review articles and 4. abstracts that did not add novel data. Eligibility was assessed independently by each author to reduce biases. We divided records into clinical and molecular works and subgrouped them by their study features and aim.
Results: We selected 25 original papers and 10 conference abstracts. Molecular studies included 6 articles and 4 abstracts, whereas clinical studies included 17 articles and 6 abstracts; 2 articles presented both characteristics. Molecular studies were focussed on ENG expression in different cell types, showing an altered ENG expression in SSc-affected cells. Clinical studies mainly suggested that different disease phenotypes can be related to peculiar disregulations in soluble ENG concentrations.
Discussion: Concerning the possible limits of our search, boolean operators in our strings might have been uneffective. However, the use of different strings in different databases should have reduced this issue at a minimum. Another bias can be represented by the selection step, in which we excluded many articles based on the role of Endoglin as a histological vascular marker rather than a signaling receptor. We tried to reduce this risk by performing the selection independently by each author and discussing disagreements. Our systematic review pointed out that ENG has a pivotal role in activating different TGFβ-stimulated pathways that can be crucial in SSc pathogenesis and progression
Measurement by infrared thermography of skin temperature variations in mice undergoing a surgery event
No full textAs IRT is potentially a great tool according to the EU laws, a survey was carried out on mice after a surgery event recording skin temperature variations on selected body areas. Measures have been taken the day before the surgery, immediately after, at 1, 7, 14 and 21 days after. A similar trend was found: temperatures increase until the day 7 and then come down reaching values not significatively different from the basal ones at day 21. This first results are useful to provide reference values for a most common daily use of IRT technique in animal lab facilities
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