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Olfactory neuroepithelium alterations and cognitive correlates in schizophrenia
- Carlo Idotta, Elena Tibaldi, Anna Maria Brunati, Mario Angelo Pagano, Massimiliano Cadamuro, Alessandro Miola, Alessandro Martini, Niccolò Favaretto, Diego Cazzador, Angela Favaro, Chiara Pavan, Giorgio Pigato, Elena Tenconi, Federica Gentili, Carla Cremonese, Igor Bertocci, Marco Solmi, Tommaso Toffanin
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- Journal:
- European Psychiatry / Volume 61 / September 2019
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 01 January 2020, pp. 23-32
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Background.
Few studies have investigated alterations of olfactory neuroepithelium (ONE) as a biomarker of schizophrenia, and none its association with cognitive functioning.
Method.Fresh ONE cells from twelve patients with schizophrenia and thirteen healthy controls were collected by nasal brushing, cultured in proper media and passed twelve times. Markers of cell proliferation (BrdU incorporation, Cyclin-D1 and p21 protein level) were quantified.Cognitive function was measured using Brief Neuropsychological Examination-2. Primary outcome: proliferation of ONE cells from schizophrenic patients at passage 3. Secondary outcome: association between alteration of cell proliferation and cognitive function.
Results.Fresh ONE cells from patients showed a faster cell proliferation than those from healthy controls at passage 3. An opposite trend was observed at passage 9, ONE cells of patients with schizophrenia showing slower cell proliferation as compared to healthy controls. In schizophrenia, overall cognitive function (Spearman’s rho -0.657, p < 0.01), verbal memory – immediate recall, with interference at 10 s and 30 s (Spearman’s rho from -0.676 to 0.697, all p < 0.01) were inversely associated with cell proliferation at passage 3.
Conclusion.Fresh ONE cells collected by nasal brushing might eventually represent a tool for diagnosing schizophrenia based upon markers of cell proliferation, which can be easily implemented as single-layer culture. Cell proliferation at passage 3 can be regarded as a promising proxy of cognitive functioning in schizophrenia. Future studies should replicate these findings, and may assess whether ONE alterations are there before onset of psychosis, serving as an early sign in patients with at risk mental state.
How to avoid the perfect storm: The role of energy and photovoltaics
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- Maurizio Fermeglia, Vanni Lughi, Alessandro Massi Pavan
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- Journal:
- MRS Energy & Sustainability / Volume 7 / 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 28 September 2020, E34
- Print publication:
- 2020
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Energy, water, and food shortages, along with irreversible environmental damage and climate changes, are bound to happen within a decade if the current course of action is maintained, preparing the “perfect storm” – a chain of interrelated events that could lead to major stress on the global system.
Energy plays a central role in the complex balance between humankind and the planet: poor strategies for the energy system will lead to disaster; but immediate, radical action can still mitigate what will otherwise be an unprecedented crisis. Reduction of the carbon intensity at the level of primary energy demand is one of the most impactful strategies. Current actions toward this goal, however, including the Nationally Determined Contributions (i.e., the climate actions pledged by the countries that ratified the Paris Agreements), are far from being adequate, and a much stronger effort is required. In this perspective, we draw inspiration from a visionary scientist of the past century, who pioneered the idea of a society powered by solar energy, and show, by a critical presentation of energy and carbon emission data, how this vision is now coming true. We focus our attention in particular to photovoltaics and analyze the factors that make it one of the key energy sources for the short and for the long term: economical convenience, the opening of very large markets, and the push by key players of the energy system.
1 - Dynamic Mechanism Design: Robustness and Endogenous Types
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- By Alessandro Pavan, Northwestern University and CEPR
- Edited by Bo Honoré, Princeton University, New Jersey, Ariel Pakes, Harvard University, Massachusetts, Monika Piazzesi, Stanford University, California, Larry Samuelson, Yale University, Connecticut
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- Advances in Economics and Econometrics
- Published online:
- 27 October 2017
- Print publication:
- 02 November 2017, pp 1-62
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Summary
This article was prepared for an invited session at the 2015 World Congress of the Econometric Society. Through a unifying framework, I survey recent developments in the dynamic mechanism design literature and then introduce two new areas that I expect will draw attention in the years to come: robustness and endogenous types.
INTRODUCTION
Long-term contracting plays an important role in a variety of economic problems including trade, employment, regulation, taxation, and finance. Most long-term relationships take place in a “changing world,” that is, in an environment that evolves (stochastically) over time. Think, for example, of (a) the provision of private and public goods to agents whose valuations evolve over time, as the result of shocks to their preferences or learning and experimentation, (b) the design of multi-period procurement auctions when firms’ costs evolve as the result of past investments, (c) the design of optimal tax codes when workers’ productivity evolves over time as the result of changes in technology or because of learning-by-doing, (d) the matching of agents whose values and attractiveness is learned gradually over time through private interactions.
Changes to the environment (either due to exogenous shocks, or to the gradual resolution of uncertainty about constant, but unknown, payoffs) are often anticipated at the time of initial contracting, albeit rarely jointly observed by the parties. By implication, optimal long-term contracts must be flexible to accommodate such changes, while at the same time provide the parties with incentives to share the information they receive over time.
Understanding the properties of optimal long-term contracts is important both for positive and for normative analysis. It permits one to address questions such as: How does the provision of quantity/quality evolve over time under profit-maximizing contracts? How do the dynamics of the allocations under profit maximization compare to their counterparts under welfare maximization? In particular, when do distortions due to profit maximization decrease over time and vanish in the long run? In what environments does the private observability of the “shocks” (i.e., the changes to the environment subsequent to the signing of the initial contract) play no role? When is the nature of the shocks (i.e., whether they are transitory or permanent) relevant for the dynamics of the decisions under optimal contracts?
Heterogeneity of the Departments of Mental Health in the Veneto Region ten years after the National Plan 1994-96 for Mental Health. Which implication for clinical practice? Findings from the PICOS Project
- Antonio Lasalvia, Bruno Gentile, Mirella Ruggeri, Alessandro Marcolin, Flavio Nosè, Lodovico Cappellari, Dario Lamonaca, Emanuele Toniolo, Claudio Busana, Antonio Campedelli, Giancarlo Cuccato, Andrea Danieli, Fabio De Nardi, Vincenzo De Nardo, Ernesto Destro, Gerardo Favaretto, Silvio Frazzingaro, Mario Giacopuzzi, Paolo Pristinger, Giuseppe Pullia, Sandro Rodighiero, Paolo Tito, Francesco Aprile, Stylianos Nicolaou, Giuseppe Coppola, Nicola Garzotto, Umberto Gottardi, Ermanna Lazzarin, Giuseppe Migliorini, Luigi Pavan, Fabrizio Ramaciotti, Paolo Roveroni, Salvatore Russo, Pierpaolo Urbani, Michele Tansella
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- Journal:
- Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale / Volume 16 / Issue 1 / March 2007
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 18 May 2011, pp. 59-70
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Aims - This study aims to present data on structural and human resources of public mental health services located in the Veneto Region, Italy, and to discuss them in the light of implementation of the first National Target Plan for Mental Health (“Progetto Obiettivo 1994-1996”) ten years after its launch. Methods - The study was conducted in the context of the PICOS (Psychosis Incident Cohort Outcome Study) Project, a large first-presentation multisite study on patients with psychotic disorders attending community mental heath services in the Veneto Region. Human and structural resources were surveyed in 26 study sites using a structured interview administered by the PICOS local referents. Results - CMHCs and Day Centres were homogeneously distributed across the Region and their overall rates per resident population met the national standards; a wide variability in the distribution of Day Hospitals was found, with the overall rate per resident population very far from meeting the national standard; the overall rate for Residential Facilities beds was higher than the recommended national standard, showing however an high variability across sites. The overall rate of mental health professionals per resident population was only slightly below the national standard: this was mainly achieved thanks to non-profit organizations which supplement the public system with unspecialised professionals; however, a wide variability in the local rates per resident population was found, with the 50% of the sites showing rates far lower the national standard. Specific lack of trained professionals involved in the provision of psychosocial interventions was found in most sites. Conclusions - A marked variability in human and structural resources across community mental health services in the Veneto Region was found. Possible reasons for this heterogeneity were analysed and implications for mental health care provision were further discussed.
Declaration of Interest: The study has been supported by the Regione del Veneto, Giunta Regionale, Ricerca Sanitaria Finalizzata 2004, Venezia, Italia (grant to Professor M. Ruggeri).