Search results for "EXPA"
showing 10 items of 820 documents
The Impact of Credit on Economic Growth in the Global Crisis Context
2013
Abstract Is there a connection between credit and economic growth in the present economic context? Credit was one of the factors which triggered the global crisis, thus, in the present paper we attempt to show whether there is a connection between credit and economic growth, the economy being unable to develop in the absence of credit. With the aid of a statistic software we have tried to determine the supposed existence of a connection between the GDP, credits offered to public administration and credits offered to households. The results of the analysis show that credits offered to households contribute to a greater extent to the formation of the GDP than credits offered to public adminis…
Income inequality, fiscal stimuli and political (in)stability
2016
Using data for a large panel of countries, this paper investigates the role played by income inequality and fiscal stimuli episodes in shaping the likelihood of political stability. By means of Tobit estimations, we show that a rise in inequality increases the probability of government crises. However, such adverse distributional effect is reduced when expansionary or increasingly expansionary fiscal stimuli episodes or successful fiscal stimuli programs are put in place.
Rich regions, poor regions and bank branch deregulation in Spain
2016
Rich regions, poor regions and bank branch deregulation in Spain. Regional Studies. The links between financial deregulation and economic performance are evaluated in a European context. Specifically, the study analyses the relaxation of bank branching restrictions in Spain, which triggered a remarkable interregional expansion of savings banks that coincided with an unprecedented period of sustained economic expansion. Although related questions have been widely investigated for the United States, experiences in Europe have received far less research attention. An additional contribution of the paper lies in its use of quantile regression, which enables the investigation of the possibility …
Stimuli-responsive hybrid materials: breathing in magnetic layered double hydroxides induced by a thermoresponsive molecule
2014
[EN] A hybrid magnetic multilayer material of micrometric size, with highly crystalline hexagonal crystals consisting of CoAl-LDH ferromagnetic layers intercalated with thermoresponsive 4-(4-anilinophenylazo)benzenesulfonate (AO5) molecules diluted (ratio 9 : 1) with a flexible sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS) surfactant has been obtained. The resulting material exhibits thermochromism attributable to the isomerization between the azo (prevalent at room temperature) and the hydrazone (favoured at higher temperatures) tautomers, leading to a thermomechanical response. In fact, these crystals exhibited thermally induced motion triggering remarkable changes in the crystal morphology and volume. In…
ATNX2 is not a regulatory gene in Italian amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients with C9ORF72 GGGGCC expansion
2015
Abstract There are indications that both familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and sporadic ALS phenotype and prognosis are partly regulated by genetic and environmental factors, supporting the theory that ALS is a multifactorial disease. The aim of this article was to assess the role of ATXN2 intermediate length repeats in a large series of Italian and Sardinian ALS patients and controls carrying a pathogenetic C9ORF72 GGGGCC hexanucleotide repeat. A total of 1972 ALS cases were identified through the database of the Italian ALS Genetic consortium, a collaborative effort including 18 ALS centers throughout Italy. The study population included: (1) 276 Italian and 57 Sardinian ALS ca…
The Greeks in the West: genetic signatures of the Hellenic colonisation in southern Italy and Sicily
2015
Greek colonisation of South Italy and Sicily (Magna Graecia) was a defining event in European cultural history, although the demographic processes and genetic impacts involved have not been systematically investigated. Here, we combine high-resolution surveys of the variability at the uni-parentally inherited Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA in selected samples of putative source and recipient populations with forward-in-time simulations of alternative demographic models to detect signatures of that impact. Using a subset of haplotypes chosen to represent historical sources, we recover a clear signature of Greek ancestry in East Sicily compatible with the settlement from Euboea during the…
Disease-Modifying Therapies and Coronavirus Disease 2019 Severity in Multiple Sclerosis
2021
Objective: This study was undertaken to assess the impact of immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory therapies on the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). Methods: We retrospectively collected data of PwMS with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. All the patients had complete follow-up to death or recovery. Severe COVID-19 was defined by a 3-level variable: mild disease not requiring hospitalization versus pneumonia or hospitalization versus intensive care unit (ICU) admission or death. We evaluated baseline characteristics and MS therapies associated with severe COVID-19 by multivariate and propensity score (PS)-weighted ordinal logistic mod…
Inheritance patterns of ATCCT repeat interruptions in spinocerebellar ataxia type 10 (SCA10) expansions
2017
Spinocerebellar ataxia type 10 (SCA10), an autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia disorder, is caused by a non-coding ATTCT microsatellite repeat expansion in the ataxin 10 gene. In a subset of SCA10 families, the 5'-end of the repeat expansion contains a complex sequence of penta- and heptanucleotide interruption motifs which is followed by a pure tract of tandem ATCCT repeats of unknown length at its 3'-end. Intriguingly, expansions that carry these interruption motifs correlate with an epileptic seizure phenotype and are unstable despite the theory that interruptions are expected to stabilize expanded repeats. To examine the apparent contradiction of unstable, interruption-positive SCA10 e…
Genetic investigation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients in south Italy: a two-decade analysis
2020
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a multifactorial disease characterized by the interplay of genetic and environmental factors. In the majority of cases, ALS is sporadic, whereas familial forms occur in less than 10% of patients. Herein, we present the results of molecular analyses performed in a large cohort of Italian ALS patients, focusing on novel and already described variations in ALS-linked genes. Our analysis revealed that more than 10% of tested patients carried a mutation in one of the major ALS genes, with C9orf72 hexanucleotide expansion being the most common mutation. In addition, our study confirmed a significant association between ALS patients carrying the ATNX-1 interm…
The Impact of Coconut Oil and Epigallocatechin Gallate on the Levels of IL-6, Anxiety and Disability in Multiple Sclerosis Patients
2020
Background: Due to the inflammatory nature of multiple sclerosis (MS), interleukin 6 (IL-6) is high in blood levels, and it also increases the levels of anxiety related to functional disability. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) decreases IL-6, which could be enhanced by the anti-inflammatory effect of high ketone bodies after administering coconut oil (both of which are an anxiolytic). Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the impact of coconut oil and EGCG on the levels of IL-6, anxiety and functional disability in patients with MS. Methods: A pilot study was conducted for four months with 51 MS patients who were randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group. The …