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This article analyses to what extent and under which conditions revolving door practices relate to access to the European Commission (EC). The revolving door hypothesis is analysed by combining two data sources: a dataset with publicly available records about the meetings between interest organizations and senior EC officials and evidence collected through the Comparative Interest Group-survey (CIG-survey). It is especially in professionalized organizations, where staff and organizational leadership dominate, that we observe a significant positive relationship between revolving door practices and access. In contrast, the extent to which the membership decides on political positioning and advocacy strategies has no impact on the relationship between revolving door and access. These results show that the revolving door is primarily connected with a logic of influence, implying that revolvers are especially advantageous for professionalized organizations.

We read with interest the letter by D’Antiga evaluating the early experience with Coronavirus‐19 disease (COVID‐19) in liver transplant (LT) recipients in Bergamo and suggesting the absence of correlation between immunosuppression and severity of disease. We report two cases of early liver transplant recipients infected by SARS‐CoV‐2 with only mild clinical manifestations. On the contrary, long‐term recipients with comorbities showed a more aggressive course and worse prognosis. Considering the emerging evidence of the contribution of immune activation in the severity of the COVID‐19, immunosuppression may in part prevent a more aggressive course of the disease.

Autoantibodies are frequently detected after liver transplantation (LT), but their role is unclear. This study was designed to address three points: autoantibody prevalence pre-LT and over time up to five yr after LT, identification of possible predictors of autoantibody formation, and correlation between autoantibodies and graft dysfunction. To these aims, we retrospectively evaluated 92 consecutive LT recipients for whom prospectively stored frozen sera were available for autoantibodies assessment by immunofluorescence. The overall autoantibody prevalence resulted significantly higher after LT than before LT (64% vs. 27%, p < 0.001 and 35.9% vs. 8.7%, p < 0.001 considering cutoff titer of ≥ 1:80 and ≥ 1:160, respectively). Recipient gender, donor age and gender, and indication for LT and main immunosuppressant (cyclosporine vs. tacrolimus) were not associated with the presence of autoantibodies. Patients with graft dysfunction had a significantly higher autoantibody prevalence irrespective of the etiology of liver injury as compared to those patients with persistently normal liver biochemistry, but only for cutoff titers ≥ 1:160 (p = 0.004). No cases of de novo autoimmune hepatitis were observed. In conclusion, autoantibodies are very frequently detected after LT also at high titers and their association with graft dysfunction likely represents an aspecific indicator of liver injury.

escaping a colectomy. The question, raised by Dr Barreiro-de Acosta and Dr Gisbert, whether infliximab is useful and safe for all patients is clinically very relevant. Advanced age has been associated with increased risk of severe infections and mortality after anti-tumour necrosis factor therapy in inflammatory bowel disease. Our data do not provide a definite answer on safety in older patients, as the study was not designed for such an analysis and the number of patients >65 years of age was small (n = 6). Although the overall mortality within 3 months was low (1.4%), it must be pointed out that two of three deaths occurred in this age group. However, it must be emphasised that we did not assess the contribution of severity of bowel disease and concomitant therapy such as corticosteroids to the lethal outcome in these patients. Increased age and comorbidity are also associated with a higher risk for post-operative complications after a colectomy. 7 Altogether, this underscores the need for specific therapeutic guidelines for elderly patients with a severe attack of UC.

Two related patients with similar clinical features consisting of a few dysmorphic signs and psychiatric disturbance were reported to have a partial trisomy of chromosomes 15(pter-q13.3) and 18(q23-qter) deriving from a familial translocation t(15;18). One patient is affected by bipolar disorder and the other by schizoaffective disorder. Both cases have a predominantly affective course; nevertheless, a clear diagnosis is difficult in the first patient, who is 15 years of age, and only a longitudinal course will allow us to establish a definite diagnosis. The possibility that these two pathologies belong to a single category is discussed, and the presence of a susceptibility locus on chromosome 18 is hypothesized. Cytogenetic data, FISH, and DNA studies indicate that the myelin basic protein (MPB) gene is not involved in the translocation, and localize it centromeric to the breakpoint on chromosome 18(q22.3). Thus, it is unlikely to be involved in the disease.

Ecological stoichiometry requires accurate measurement of carbon : nitrogen : phosphorus ratios in organic matter. Currently, carbon : nitrogen : phosphorus ratios are typically determined by analyzing one sample for carbon : nitrogen and another sample for percent phosphorus. Not only does this approach require multiple samples and accurate sample weights, but it also obscures natural variability. We developed a method which allows us to obtain carbon : nitrogen : phosphorus ratios from a single, small sample of organic matter. The analysis consists of a single persulfate digestion in sealed vials that converts the organic carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) to carbon dioxide gas (CO2), nitrate ion, and phosphate ion. The combination of 3% persulfate in 0.15 M NaOH provides a digestion that is initially alkaline but becomes acidic after about 30 min. In the final acidic solution, CO2 is driven into the vial headspace and is measured on a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. Nitrate and phosphate are measured on an ion chromatograph and by using standard colorimetric methods, respectively. We assessed the method by evaluating recovery of C, N, and P from chemical standards and by comparing values obtained with this method to those obtained by current, conventional methods. We used cultured algae and pond seston on filters, leaf litter, and zooplankton samples for the method comparisons. The method is precise at low mass; we were able to confidently measure C : N : P ratios on individual Daphnia magna. The method showed high recovery for standards and produced C : N : P ratio values similar to those found by other analytical approaches and to values in the literature.

A polycentric mortality study was performed in five Italian harbours: Savona, Marina di Carrara, Livorno, Civitavecchia, and Ravenna. The cohort included active and retired workers (longshoremen), who had been employed between 1960 and 1981. Causes of death were ascertained from death certificates; expected numbers of deaths were generated from age, sex, calendar year, and cause-specific national mortality rates. A low overall mortality was found, which is in agreement with procedures of health selection, typical of physically demanding jobs; an excess of lung cancer was, however, found in four out of five harbours.