Genotype 3 is associated with rapid histological progression in chronic HCV infection

While several risk factors for the histological progression of chronic hepatitis C have been identified, the contribution of HCV genotypes to liver fibrosis evolution remains controversial. The aim of the present study was to assess independent predictors for fibrosis progression. Methods: We identified 1540 patients from the Swiss Hepatitis C Cohort database with at least one liver biopsy prior to antiviral treatment. Factors associated with fibrosis stage, steatosis and histological activity were assessed in univariate and multivariate regression models. Fibrosis progression rate per year was calculated in a subgroup of 1263 patients, in whom risk factors were assessed by cumulative incidence curves, logistic and linear regression models. Results: Independent risk factors for rapid fibrosis progression included male sex (OR = 1.66, 95% CI 1.25-2.21, P <0.001), age at infection (OR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.06-1.10, P <0.001), histological activity (OR = 2.14, 95% CI 1.61-2.85, P <0.001) and genotype 3 (OR = 1.97, 95% CI 1.43-2.72, P <0.001). Genotype 2 was associated with slow progression (OR = 0.51, 95% CI 0.30-0.89, P = 0.02), but this observation may be due to the decreased prevalence of genotype 2 over the last decades, leading to an overrepresentation of subjects with genotype 2 with a slow progression rate. Conclusion: This study shows a significant association of genotype 3 with accelerated fibrosis. While assessing risk factors for fibrosis progression, the changing epidemiology of HCV genotypes over time needs to be taken into account.

Climatic niche shifts are rare among terrestrial plant invaders.

The assumption that climatic niche requirements of invasive species are conserved between their native and invaded ranges is key to predicting the risk of invasion. However, this assumption has been challenged recently by evidence of niche shifts in some species. Here, we report the first large-scale test of niche conservatism for 50 terrestrial plant invaders between Eurasia, North America, and Australia. We show that when analog climates are compared between regions, fewer than 15% of species have more than 10% of their invaded distribution outside their native climatic niche. These findings reveal that substantial niche shifts are rare in terrestrial plant invaders, providing support for an appropriate use of ecological niche models for the prediction of both biological invasions and responses to climate change.

Structure theorems for subgroups of homeomorphism groups

"Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt."

Bounding the residual finiteness of free groups

"Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt."

Why do creative industries cluster? An analysis of the determinants of clustering of creative industries

Creative industries tend to concentrate mainly around large- and medium-sized cities, forming creative local production systems. The text analyses the forces behind clustering of creative industries to provide the first empirical explanation of the determinants of creative employment clustering following a multidisciplinary approach based on cultural and creative economics, evolutionary geography and urban economics. A comparative analysis has been performed for Italy and Spain. The results show different patterns of creative employment clustering in both countries. The small role of historical and cultural endowments, the size of the place, the average size of creative industries, the productive diversity and the concentration of human capital and creative class have been found as common factors of clustering in both countries.

Technological innovation in creative clusters. The case of laser in conservation of artworks in Florence

The field of laser application to the restoration and cleaning of cultural assets is amongst the most thriving developments of recent times. Ablative laser technological systems are able to clean and protect inestimable works of art subject to atmospheric agents and degradation over time. This new technology, which has been developing for the last forty year, is now available to restorers and has received a significant success all over Europe. An important contribution in the process of laser innovation has been carried out in Florence by local actors belonging to a creative cluster. The objects of the analysis are the genesis of this innovation in this local Florentine context, and the relationships among the main actors who have contributed in it. The study investigates how culture can play a part in the generation of ideas and innovations, and which are the creative environments that can favour it. In this context, the issue of laser technologies for the restoration of cultural heritage has been analysed as a case study in the various paths taken by the Creative Capacity of the Culture (CCC).

Industrial district effects and innovation in the Tuscan shipbuilding industry

The aim of the present work is to investigate innovative processes within a geographical cluster, and thus contribute to the debate on the effects of industrial clusters on innovation capacity. In particular, we would like to ascertain whether the advantages of industrial districts in promoting innovation, as already revealed by literature (diffusion of knowledge, social capital and trust, efficient networking), are also keys to success in the Tuscan shipbuilding industry of pleasure and sporting boats. First, we verify the existence of clusters of shipbuilding in Tuscany, using a specific methodology. Next, in the identified clusters, we analyse three innovative networks financed in a policy to support innovation, and examine whether the typical features of a cluster for promoting innovation are at work, using a questionnaire administered to 71 actors. Finally, we develop a performance analysis of the cluster firms and ascertain whether their different behaviours also lead to different performances. The analysis results show that our case records effects of industrial clustering on innovation capacity, such as the important role given to trust and social capital, the significant worth put in interfirm relations and in each partner’s specific competencies, or even the distinctive performance of firms belonging to a cluster.

Poor value of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to investigate long-term scale epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is widely used for epidemic investigations of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In the present study, we evaluated its use in a long-term epidemiological setting (years to few decades, country to continent level). The clustering obtained from PFGE patterns after SmaI digestion of the DNA of 20 strains was compared to that obtained using a phylogenetic typing method (multiprimer RAPD). The results showed that the analysis of small PFGE bands (10-85kb) correlates better with multiprimer RAPD than the analysis of large PFGE bands (>85-700kb), suggesting that the analysis of small bands would be more suitable for the investigation of long-term epidemiological setting. However, given the technical difficulties to obtain a good resolution of these bands and the putative presence of plasmids among them, PFGE does not appear to be a method of choice for the long-term epidemiology analysis of MRSA.

Theory of mind tasks and executive functions: A systematic review of group studies in neurology.

A growing number of studies have been addressing the relationship between theory of mind (TOM) and executive functions (EF) in patients with acquired neurological pathology. In order to provide a global overview on the main findings, we conducted a systematic review on group studies where we aimed to (1) evaluate the patterns of impaired and preserved abilities of both TOM and EF in groups of patients with acquired neurological pathology and (2) investigate the existence of particular relations between different EF domains and TOM tasks. The search was conducted in Pubmed/Medline. A total of 24 articles met the inclusion criteria. We considered for analysis classical clinically accepted TOM tasks (first- and second-order false belief stories, the Faux Pas test, Happe's stories, the Mind in the Eyes task, and Cartoon's tasks) and EF domains (updating, shifting, inhibition, and access). The review suggests that (1) EF and TOM appear tightly associated. However, the few dissociations observed suggest they cannot be reduced to a single function; (2) no executive subprocess could be specifically associated with TOM performances; (3) the first-order false belief task and the Happe's story task seem to be less sensitive to neurological pathologies and less associated to EF. Even though the analysis of the reviewed studies demonstrates a close relationship between TOM and EF in patients with acquired neurological pathology, the nature of this relationship must be further investigated. Studies investigating ecological consequences of TOM and EF deficits, and intervention researches may bring further contributions to this question.

Renoncement aux soins: comment appréhender cette réalité en médecine de premier recours [Patients forgoing health care for economic reasons: how to identify this in a primary care setting?].

Although the performance of the Swiss health system is high, one out of ten patients in general practitioner's (GP) office declares having foregone care in the previous twelve months for economic reasons. Reasons for foregoing care are several and include a lack of knowledge of existing social aids in getting health insurance, unavailability of GPs and long waiting lists for various types of care. Although long term knowledge of patients or a psychosocial history of deprivation or poverty may help identify individuals at risk of foregoing care, many may remain undetected. We propose then a few instruments to help GPs to identify, in a simple and structured approach, patients at risk of forgoing care for economic reasons; these patients are frequently deprived and sometimes poor.

El Dios en la maleta. Análisis antropológico de las representaciones y prácticas religiosas de los ecuatorianos migrados a Bercelona y Nueva York

Nuestra investigación pretende abordar el estudio de la identidad católica ecuatoriana y su vivencia entre los migrantes residentes en Barcelona y New York. Cuando hablamos de identidad católica, pensamos en un determinado hábitat de sentido (Hannerz) o sistema cultural (Geertz) que satisface la sed de sentido de sus seguidores proveyéndoles de una determinada cosmovisión que éstos perciben como “emocionalmente convincente” (Geertz). A través de nuestra etnografía multisituada, desarrollada en Barcelona (6 meses), New York (6 meses) y Ecuador (3 meses), intentamos definir el tipo de influencia de este referente identitario en la manera de significar la realidad y de actuar de sus portadores, ante la experiencia de la movilidad y del encuentro con la alteridad. Para definir correctamente el influjo de este universo significativo en la experiencia migratoria vamos, paralelamente, a tratar de interpretar su “estructura significativa” (Geertz). En particular, reanudando los estudios propios de la Antropología de las Religiones (y el enfoque geertziano en la dimensión cultural de la religión), analizaremos sus creencias (sus mitos) y sus prácticas (los rituales); interpretándolos simbólicamente y analizando los efectos que estos dos diferentes niveles expresivos del universo católico (ecuatoriano) derraman tanto en la dimensión íntima del creyente, como en la social.