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Ractopamine is a drug used as an additive in animal production to improve growth, body composition, and production efficiency, although its use in fish is still poorly known. This study aimed to evaluate ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC) effects at increasing levels (0, 10, 20, and 40 mg kg-1) in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) diets during 40 days by considering growth performance, body composition, and muscle fiber morphometry. One hundred and twelve fish (mean initial weight 518.63 ± 5.49 g) were housed in 16 circular tanks (450 L), following a completed randomized design with four treatments and four replicates. Body composition was significantly affected (P < 0.05), and the content of lipids in fish fillets dropped 26.7% (20 mg kg-1 RAC) and 26.1% (40 mg kg-1 RAC), as well as the amount of unsaturated fatty acids C14:0 and C18:0 in fish fillets (P < 0.05) by treatment with 10 mg kg-1 of RAC. Results demonstrate that fish fed 20 mg kg-1 RAC for 40 days changed Nile tilapia fillet chemical composition, decreasing lipid levels, altering the fatty acid profile, and increasing protein levels. RAC did not affect any productive performance parameters evaluated for muscle fiber morphometry.

Objetivo: verificar o conhecimento da população de Águas Claras acerca da doença de Chagas, promovendo educação em saúde relacionada a essa patologia. Métodos: Estudo transversal descritivo, realizadas entrevistas sobre a doença em março e abril de 2019. Elaborada cartilha explicativa para educação em saúde. Os dados foram analisados quanto à sua frequência seguido de teste qui-quadrado em nível de significância de 5%. Resultados: Dos 387 participantes, 78% eram mulheres, a idade variou de 18 a 85 anos, 82,9% dos participantes reconheceram o vetor. Variáveis como alimentação e habitat do vetor, apenas 31,5% e 19,1%, respectivamente, dos participantes acertaram a resposta. Perguntas como transmissão e sintomas da doença, apenas 3,9% e 22,1%, respectivamente, dos participantes acertaram a resposta, 96,1% e 77,7% não sabiam responder. Conclusão: A fragilidade de conhecimento da população indica a negligência do Estado em promover educação em saúde. O uso da cartilha disponibilizou as informações de forma de fácil acesso.

The European Semester (ES) and the country-specific recommendations (CSRs) have been introduced with the purpose to promote flexibility and adaptation to national circumstances in the governance of fiscal policies. To assess whether the ES has contributed to reconcile economic and social objectives, we measured, through the distance to frontier (DTF) score methodology, the distance of each member country from a benchmark based on EU aims and values defined in the EU treaties. Results show that EU member countries are far from the benchmark and CSRs have not prevented a progressive deterioration of stability and cohesion from an economic, political and social perspective. A content analysis of the CSRs issued from 2011 to 2018 and a comparison with the DTF scores reveal a weak connection between member countries’ performance and CSRs. Despite the social content of many CSRs, we actually observe a “commodification” of their goals. CSRs promote a society functional to flexible and competitive markets, and compatible with the requirements of fiscal discipline and sustainability. This neoliberal approach apparently played a role in the EU deterioration and makes the “socialization” of the ES a process with ambiguous implications for European citizens. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41294-021-00171-2.

The paper proposes the construction of a multi-speed, multi-track and multi-level European Union framework as a way to increase the flexibility of the integration process and facilitate inter-country conflict resolution. The paper shows that this malleable framework is superior, even for sensitive macroeconomic spillover issues like monetary union and immigration.

Ractopamine is a drug used as an additive in animal production to improve growth, body composition and production efficiency, although its use in fish is still poorly known. This study aimed to evaluate ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC) effects at increasing levels (0, 10, 20 and 40 mg kg− 1) in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) diets during 40 days by considering productive performance, body composition and muscle fiber morphometry. One hundred and twelve fish (mean initial weight 518.63 ± 5.49 g) were housed in 16 circular tanks (450 L), following a completed randomized design with four treatments and four replicates. Body composition was significantly affected (P − 1 RAC) and 26,1% (40 mg kg− 1 RAC), as well as the amount of unsaturated fatty acids C14:0 and C18:0 in fish fillets (P − 1 of RAC. RAC did not affect any productive performance parameters evaluated, as well for muscle fiber morphometry. Taken together, our results demonstrate that fish fed 20 mg kg− 1 RAC for 40 days changes Nile tilapia fillet chemical composition, decreasing lipid levels and altering the fatty acid profile, as well as increasing protein levels.

The European sovereign debt crisis has demonstrated the need for a rethinking of the European Integration Project. The strong variety between member countries prevented the Eurozone to become a fiscal and political union and the asymmetric architecture of the European Monetary Union (EMU) revealed different weaknesses. The outbreak of the Covid-19 emergency may represent a turning point for the EU and makes even more evident that the future of the Eurozone will depend also on the ability of member countries to make their institutional frameworks coexist. Helping member countries to achieve sustainable and stable outcomes, although in idiosyncratic ways, is the task of the European benchmark. It is a framework, inspired by European treaties, that aims to identify inefficiencies in terms of market, state and social failures and negative externalities inside economic, social, and political institutions. This benchmark represents a new tool for a correct evaluation of the economic, social, and political performance of the European member countries.

Performance evaluation is commonly based on objective indicators which do not explicitly consider the role of perceptions. Especially when evaluating countries’ performance, citizens’ perceptions can influence public debate and socio-economic narratives. Since these may influence policy making and countries’ performance, perceptions should not be ignored. The objective of this article is to investigate the presence of discrepancies between objective performance and self-perception (subjective performance) among European Union countries. The aim is to raise awareness of the importance of recognizing biases in performance perception as factors that may hamper European debate, countries’ relations and, thus, the political and social sustainability of the European project. The article considers five spending areas that may influence the public opinion’s assessment about countries’ performance (education, environmental protection, health, public order and safety and social protection) and compares objective and subjective indicators for 28 EU countries from 2007 to 2017 using the distance-to-frontier score methodology. The results indicate that the discrepancies are significant, with a generalized tendency toward overestimation, especially among some Central and Northern European countries. The opposite occurred in Greece and some Eastern European countries. These results represent a starting point for grasping an undervalued aspect of the complexity of the European socio-economic environment.

In addition to the long-established role in erythropoiesis, erythropoietin (Epo) has protective functions in a variety of tissues, including the heart. This is the most affected organ in chronic Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Despite seven million people being infected with T. cruzi worldwide, there is no effective treatment preventing the disease progression to the chronic phase when the pathological involvement of the heart is often observed. Chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy has a wide variety of manifestations, like left ventricular systolic dysfunction, dilated cardiomyopathy, and heart failure. Since Epo may help maintain cardiac function by reducing myocardial necrosis, inflammation, and fibrosis, this study aimed to evaluate whether the Epo has positive effects on experimental Chagas disease. For that, we assessed the earlier (acute phase) and also the later (chronic phase) use of Epo in infected C57BL/6 mice. Blood cell count, biochemical parameters, parasitic load, and echocardiography data were evaluated. In addition, histopathological analysis was carried out. Our data showed that Epo had no trypanocide effect nor did it modify the production of anti-T. cruzi antibodies. Epo-treated groups exhibited parasitic burden much lower in the heart compared to blood. No pattern of hematological changes was observed combining infection with treatment with Epo. Chronic Epo administration reduced CK-MB serum activity from d0 to d180, irrespectively of T. cruzi infection. Likewise, echocardiography and histological results indicate that Epo treatment is more effective in the chronic phase of experimental Chagas disease. Since treatment is one of the greatest challenges of Chagas disease, alternative therapies should be investigated, including Epo combined with benznidazole.

The Eurozone is at a crossroads. Its neoliberal and ordoliberal construction proved to be unworkable and, after the crisis, made the macroeconomic adjustment slow and costly – causing financial and real divergence among the member countries. Kolodko’s writings offer interesting insights. This article considers Kolodko’s study of Poland and Greece and adds two other paradigmatic cases, those of Germany and Italy. Kolodko’s case studies and criticism of neoliberalism lead him to propose a New Pragmatism in policy making. This proposal offers important insights, but neglects two fundamental problems: moral hazard and institutional differences. These have to be included in the New Pragmatism to give this the strength and ability to contribute to solve the Eurozone problems.

The European debt crisis has shown that the future of the European Union (EU) depends on the willingness of each member country to implement responsible policies, avoid moral hazard and uncooperative attitudes, and ensure stability and soundness. However, the European institutional variety means that each member country reacts differently to shocks and policies, follows a different path of recovery, and adapts to common institutions, including the common currency, in different ways. Helping countries to converge toward a situation that guarantees well-being, stability, and development at the national and community level is the goal of the European benchmark. This benchmark is a framework inspired by European treaties that, through the distance-to-frontier score methodology, aims to measure member countries’ performance and identify inefficiencies and negative externalities within the economic, social, and political institutions of each member country. The paper presents an empirical investigation of the European benchmark. Based on the results obtained, all countries can improve their performance, and none of them can be considered a model for the others. However, the Mediterranean and post-communist countries have more challenges to face and therefore need to make greater efforts.

The chapter assesses the new comparative economics’ (NCE) contribution to the analysis and comparison of economic systems and economies. It highlights the NCEs aims and research program and compares these to the traditional field of comparative economic systems (CES). The comparison shows that both approaches are useful for a better understanding of the working of economies and the management of change. Being different in both their theoretical stance and the method they use, they heuristically compete, but normatively they provide useful contributions in different ways and cases. They should thus continue to compete for improving our knowledge and analysis of different institutional constructions. The chapter also considers the development of the field and looks at the number and topic of scientific publications since 1991.

This article clarifies the challenge posed by Brexit for post-Brexit European integration. The principal finding is that Brexit is apt to be less disruptive than initially supposed because the EU has the ability to respond constructively filling gaps in its institutional setup that reduces the system’s vulnerability to asymmetric shocks.

Universities in the European Union are called to support integration and pursue economic value, as evidenced in both European and national strategies. In line with this perspective, European higher education institutions strengthen the value of their education and knowledge output while reinforcing their economic basis. The former goal is in line with the greater competition among economies, the latter became important following the international crisis and the fiscal crisis of many European states. A particular feature of higher education institutions in the European Union is their role in supporting European integration, with particular concern for a unified labor market. Much of the EU action has thus been concentrated on moving governments and universities in the direction of pursuing the integration of national education systems. To do so, and given the limited EU competences in education, the European Commission has proposed strategies and goals and has provided (part of) the necessary resource basis. National governments in turn are called to implement the necessary reforms. The fundamental component of this approach is the so-called Bologna Process that created the European Higher Education Area. The core of the Process is to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher-education qualifications among European countries. The outcome of these processes has been important, but much remains to be done. The paper critically analyzes the evolution of the European higher education and research system within the frame of European integration and with a view to the goals pursued, the results achieved, and the challenges ahead.

Due to rigid rules, incomplete institutions and concentration on short-run fiscal discipline, economic and institutional diversity and insufficient reforms caused the progressive segmentation of the Eurozone. Insufficient integration process is due to lack of trust among member countries and the need to keep a hard budget constraint of national budgets to avoid uncontrolled inflationary pressure and moral hazard. Although understandable in the short run, this situation is causing serious economic and social costs and damages to the development of vulnerable countries. The paper enquires possible solutions to this dangerous stalemate, that could also provide useful suggestions for other countries.

Transformation processes in Central and Eastern Europe and deep economic reforms in China and other emerging countries did not end the variety of economic systems. Various brands of comparative economics have shown this variety in both theory and different countries. An increasingly important form of this variety concerns the process of European integration. Systemic differences within the European Union are the source of difficulties and tensions, of a European conundrum that appears in different forms and ways and that make the sustainability and progress of integration difficult. This article looks at the logic of and proposals by the “New Comparative Economics” and the “Variety of Capitalisms” literature to find an explanation to the problems and difficulties that the European integration is meeting, going beyond the standard technical explanations based on European convergence criteria. It finds that both theories, although important and useful for contributing to solving the European conundrum, do n...

Privatization was a fundamental component of the process of transformation in Central and Eastern European countries. It was also the most important case of privatization when considering the number of countries involved, the number of enterprises privatized, and the value of privatized assets and jobs in proportion to the size of the economies and employment. The apparent similarity of privatization blueprints notwithstanding, different countries operated under different conditions, faced different constraints, and had different political and social preferences concerning transformation and privatization. These led countries to pursue different goals via privatization and to use different methods. Consequently, economic and institutional outcomes were also different. It turns out that there was a clear, direct relation between the quality of institutions and the outcome of privatization: Central European countries fared much better than Eastern European countries thanks to the more developed market-institutional context and the perspective of EU access in the former.

The consultative referendum held on June 23, 2013, showed that a majority of British voters are in favour of leaving the EU. Markets reacted and adapted, and politics made the first steps towards a UK outside the EU and an EU without Britain. This paper looks at the expected effects of Brexit in different fields: political and social effects, consequences for production and trade, and financial and fiscal effects. It then presents the institutional process of leaving the EU, stressing its indeterminacy, and considers the first steps undertaken so far. It concludes that the EU negotiation position is weak because of its internal problems and calls for the priority given in reforming the EU.

1. Where is Europe Headed? An Introduction Bruno Dallago, Gert Guri and John McGowan Part One: The European Project: Moving Forward with Dry Eyes Steven Rosefielde 3. The EU in Stormy Seas: Beginning of the End or End of the Beginning Klaus Gretschmann 4. Signalling imbalances in the EMU Nicola Acocella 5. On the Crisis of the EMU: Failed Construction, Failed Implementation or Failed Crisis Management? Laszlo Csaba 6. The European Crisis: Testing the Trust Foundations of an Economic and Monetary Union Simona Piattoni 7. Assessing the Europe 2020 Strategy Paolo Pasimeni 8. Reinforcing Europe's failed fiscal regulatory state Scott Greer and Holly Jarman 9. The monetary union and migration Bruno Dallago 10. The Future of the German Model after the Labour Market Reforms Joachim Moller Part Two: Introduction to Part Two John McGowan 12. The Euro and Eastern Europe Paul Marer 13. Global Value Chains, Changing Divisions of Labour, and the Regulation of Work in EU27 and Euro-Med John Pickles 14. The Euro as a House of Straw: Why Europe's Crisis is (still) Linked to American Housing Herman Mark Schwartz 15. Where goes Russia? The risks of a continental divide Eric Brunat 16. Russia, The European Union, and the Ukrainian Crisis: A European or a Eurasian Affair? Jacob Kipp

The concluding chapter considers the findings of the book at the light of academic studies and research of entrepreneurship and looks at what explains the evolution of entrepreneurship in transition countries. The chapter stresses that there are still differences between these countries, even those integrated in the European Union (EU), and the most developed countries of Western Europe and North America. Differences are of economic, political and social nature and, increasingly so, also in geostrategic sense. These differences apparently justify that the need for, the role of and the features of entrepreneurship in transition countries may be different compared to what we are used to see and consider in mature economic contexts. This is so for different reasons: the context that globalization brought about; the need to contribute to the success of transition; the peculiar origin of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs and their evolution in the process of transition first and consolidation of the new market context then; the similarities and differences among Central and Easter Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries in a comparative perspective. The chapter looks at the relevant literature and properly places the contributions presented in the book.

The paper deals with the role that universities can have in promoting innovation in general and at local and regional level in particular. In doing this, the nature of universities and the quality of their relations to industry and governments is of paramount importance. During the last three decades university-industry relationships and the supportive role of governments moved from more general, upstream approaches in line with the traditional public role of universities to more specific, downstream focused approaches. The latter approaches lead to universities playing directly an economically useful role. This move is complementary to the move in the dominant relationship between universities and industry from large transnational companies and few large and prestigious universities to mostly small and medium size enterprises and regional universities. Universities contribution to local development is thus increasingly important, although not without dangers for the integrity of universities. Yet it turns out that producing knowledge is not enough and also the absorptive capacity of the local context and its actors is necessary. The concept of learning regions is aimed to stress this relationship and is therefore particularly useful and productive to analyze and understand the role of universities in innovation.