A Controlled Increase in Dietary Phosphate Elevates BP in Healthy Human Subjects.

Background Despite epidemiologic evidence for increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated with both high dietary and serum phosphate in humans with normal renal function, no controlled phosphate intervention studies of systemic hemodynamics have been reported. Higher serum 25(OH) vitamin D levels are associated with better cardiovascular outcomes, but vitamin D increases intestinal phosphate absorption.Methods We conducted a prospective outpatient study with blinded assessment in 20 young adults with normal renal function randomized to high phosphate (regular diet plus 1 mmol/kg body wt per day of Na as neutral sodium phosphate) or low phosphate (regular diet plus lanthanum, 750 mg thrice/day, plus 0.7 mmol/kg body wt per day of Na as NaCl) for 11 weeks. After 6 weeks, all subjects received vitamin D3 (600,000 U) by intramuscular injection. Outcome parameters were 24-hour ambulatory systolic and diastolic BP (SBP and DBP), pulse rate (PR), biomarkers, and measures of endothelial and arterial function.Results Compared with the low-phosphate diet group, the high-phosphate diet group had a significant increase in mean±SEM fasting plasma phosphate concentration (0.23±0.11 mmol/L); 24-hour SBP and DBP (+4.1; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 2.1 to 6.1; and +3.2; 95% CI, 1.2 to 5.2 mm Hg, respectively); mean 24-hour PR (+4.0; 95% CI, 2.0 to 6.0 beats/min); and urinary metanephrine and normetanephrine excretion (54; 95% CI, 50 to 70; and 122; 95% CI, 85 to 159 µg/24 hr, respectively). Vitamin D had no effect on any of these parameters. Neither high- nor low-phosphate diet nor vitamin D affected endothelial function or arterial elasticity.Conclusions Increased phosphate intake (controlled for sodium) significantly increases SBP, DBP, and PR in humans with normal renal function, in part, by increasing sympathoadrenergic activity

Nadia Urbinati (2019) Me the people. How Populism Transforms Democracy. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

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The Great Recession vs The Covid-19 Pandemic: Unemployment and Implications for Public Policy

The Great Recession lasted from December 2007 until June 2009 and was one of the most severe recessions since the post-war period. It took about two years from the time of the unraveling of the U.S. housing market and mortgages, until the collapse of Lehman Brothers—as the crisis spread to the rest of the financial sector of the economy. The Covid-19 Pandemic erupted from a public health crisis at the end of January 2020 and unlike the Great Recession, employment collapsed sharply in a matter of weeks, leaving millions without work by April 2020. The Covid-19 Pandemic has demonstrated an extraordinary example of how the response to the crisis produced a negative impact on the economy, regardless of social class. However, the negative impact has been disproportionately spread in the economy, with some communities devoid of any assistance from the government. This thesis seeks to answer the question of how to reorient public policy in the face of a recession. Namely, the question about how to generate the relief that households need to undertake the virus and flatten the curve, while also combatting the employment problem at the same time. Due to the tangible feeling of insecurity across households at all levels of income, Covid-19 has created a rare policy window to execute an unconventional policy to mitigate the record employment losses, especially in sectors of the economy that were affected the most, such as leisure and hospitality. It also opens a policy window to rethink the ways in which to go about Pandemics and Recessions in the future. This thesis concludes with the policy solution that to address the mass employment losses in all sectors, it is viable to combine counter-cyclical, short-term targeted cash transfers to households. This policy should be followed by job creation, with the goal of a sustainable and “green recovery” as another national priority

Using WebQuests to improve oral English performance in university courses with non-linguistic programmes

Students in non-language programmes may struggle with oral English exams. The present study aims at exploring strategies to facilitate the acquisition of a foreign language (FL), particularly English as an FL, in university and higher education courses that require the passing of an oral exam. The study focuses on how students at non-linguistic university specialties and varying English proficiency levels, can perform well on an oral exam through WebQuests, a web-based learning methodology which provides students with a controlled and well-structured context to practice authentic tasks using the language and grammar information provided throughout the course and relevant to the exam. By creating a WebQuest with clear steps to follow and material provided by the teacher, students can produce domain-specific language and practical apply technical vocabulary in a controlled environment for the academic purposes of the final exam. A case study was carried out on a cohort of students enrolled in a master’s degree programme in sports science. Class observations, final exam grades, and an optional student questionnaire were used to assess the effectiveness of the WebQuests. The findings suggest that WebQuests can enhance students' oral performance by engaging them in authentic tasks that facilitate the topic-related vocabulary use and can improve students’ motivation and satisfaction within the academic experience. This research suggests that WebQuests can be a valuable tool for educators looking to improve their students' oral English skills in university settings, especially for non-linguistic disciplines. 

Escape room virtuali: uno strumento innovativo per la valutazione dell’apprendimento dell’educazione civica in lingua inglese

Il presente contributo esplora la sfida della valutazione dell'Educazione Civica in lingua inglese, introdotta obbligatoriamente dal 2020/2021 per la cittadinanza globale (Agenda 2030), che richiede di misurare competenze linguistiche e concetti civici. Si propone l'uso di escape room virtuali come strumento innovativo e coinvolgente per una valutazione efficace e interattiva, capace di sviluppare entrambe le aree. Osservazioni in classi di scuola secondaria di primo grado ne evidenziano il potenziale valutativo. This paper examines the challenge of assessing Civic Education learning in English as a foreign language, a compulsory subject in Italian schools since the 2020/2021 academic year to promote global citizenship (Agenda 2030), where language and civic understanding are intertwined. It suggests virtual escape rooms as a fresh, immersive method for impactful, hands-on assessment, nurturing both areas. Observations in lower secondary school show its potential

Populist Government and Constitutional Democracy

Until the first decade of the 21th century, scholars and reporters have identified contemporary populism as an element of anti-systemic revolt; furthermore, they have also recognized an incompatibility between populist phenomenon and government function. However, some recent cases of populist parties in power seem to be able to put into crisis more than one certainty regarding the nature and scope of the populist phenomenon. This observation raises the questions of this work: what harmful effects does populism in government produce on liberal institutions, pluralism, and representation in constitutional democracies? Do these effects merely erode the liberal component, or do they extend to produce a degeneration of democracy as a whole? And finally: what are the risks for democracy? The article corroborates the diarchic theories of democracy and aims to demonstrate the lack of compatibility between the principles of liberal democracy and populist principles, which have a negative impact not only on the liberal component, but also on the quality of democracy in its entirety

Pier Giorgio Ardeni, Le radici del populismo. Disuguaglianze e consenso elettorale in Italia. Bari-Roma, Editori Laterza, 2020.

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Re‐evaluation of phosphoric acid–phosphates – di‐, tri‐ and polyphosphates (E 338–341, E 343, E 450–452) as food additives and the safety of proposed extension of use

The Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings added to Food (FAF) provided a scientific opinion re‐evaluating the safety of phosphates (E 338–341, E 343, E 450–452) as food additives. The Panel considered that adequate exposure and toxicity data were available. Phosphates are authorised food additives in the EU in accordance with Annex II and III to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008. Exposure to phosphates from the whole diet was estimated using mainly analytical data. The values ranged from 251 mg P/person per day in infants to 1,625 mg P/person per day for adults, and the high exposure (95th percentile) from 331 mg P/person per day in infants to 2,728 mg P/person per day for adults. Phosphate is essential for all living organisms, is absorbed at 80–90% as free orthophosphate excreted via the kidney. The Panel considered phosphates to be of low acute oral toxicity and there is no concern with respect to genotoxicity and carcinogenicity. No effects were reported in developmental toxicity studies. The Panel derived a group acceptable daily intake (ADI) for phosphates expressed as phosphorus of 40 mg/kg body weight (bw) per day and concluded that this ADI is protective for the human population. The Panel noted that in the estimated exposure scenario based on analytical data exposure estimates exceeded the proposed ADI for infants, toddlers and other children at the mean level, and for infants, toddlers, children and adolescents at the 95th percentile. The Panel also noted that phosphates exposure by food supplements exceeds the proposed ADI. The Panel concluded that the available data did not give rise to safety concerns in infants below 16 weeks of age consuming formula and food for medical purposes