“G7: Go for 100% Renewables”

Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany. As the G7 meeting gets underway in Elmau, Greenpeace activists from Germany and Austria early this morning laser-projected a 1000 meter-wide message onto the Zugspitz massif near the summit which read: “G7: Go for 100% renewables!” to demand a global energy transition from world leaders.At the G7-meeting, host Chancellor Merkel has put climate change high on the agenda Monday morning.Greenpeace head of international climate politics, Martin Kaiser, said:“Now is the moment for Merkel to mark the beginning of the end of coal and oil. It is only by the G7 agreeing on their complete phase out of coal and oil by mid-century that she can regain her reputation as the “Climate-Chancellor’.”In 2009, at the G8 summit in Italy the G7, including Russia, had committed themselves to a 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 from 1990 emissions. Directly before the summit in Elmau, Merkel called on the G7 to contribute to the success of the COP21 global climate agreement happening at the end of the year in Paris.“The only way that Elmau can be seen as a success is when Obama, Abe and Harper show some responsibility to our planet and take their feet off of the throat of a climate agreement. This means an unequivocal commitment and support for competitive renewable energy technologies. Nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage are risky and misleading pipe-dreams if you want a climate-safe future,“ added Kaiser.

Football’s First Billion Dollar Brand? Not Barcelona, Manchester United!

Despite another season without silverware, Manchester United has reclaimed its position at the top of the Brand Finance Football 50, knocking Bayern Munich off the top spot. The Red Devils have become the first billion dollar football brand, with 63% growth bringing total brand value to $1.2 billion. Barca’s resounding 3-1 win over Juventus caps a year of stunning successes (including La Liga title and the Copa del Rey) in which the club has made history by becoming the first to win the treble twice. Saturday’s game alone added $28 million to Barca’s brand value, contributing to a overall increase on 2014 of $151 million dollars, bringing the total value of the brand to $773 million.However as glorious as Barca’s record may be, it simply has not been able to harness its brand to the same extent as rivals Real Madrid (whose brand is $100 million more valuable) or the rapidly growing English teams. Man City and Chelsea have both overtaken it for the first time, pushing Barca into 6th place in the Brand Finance Football 50.Thanks to sporting success and a squad stacked with legendary figures such as Messi and Neymar, Barcelona actually has the strongest brand of any club, rated AAA+ by Brand Finance. However ‘brand strength’ only reflects the notional potential of the brand. For a club’s brand to generate income a business team that is as star-studded and tactically brilliant as the team on the pitch is required. That is how to build brand value.

New LexisNexis® PatentStrategies℠ Enables Patent-Driven Companies, M&A Teams to Make Better Strategic Monetization and Licensing Decisions

LEIDEN, Netherlands, LexisNexis® Legal & Professional, a leading provider of content and technology solutions, today announced the launch of LexisNexis PatentStrategies, a robust analytics tool that helps intellectual property-driven organizations, groups focused on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and other firms focused on evaluating company value uncover licensing and whitespace opportunities to gain competitive advantage. Providing a full understanding of an organization’s market position, market strengths, weaknesses and potential opportunities, LexisNexis PatentStrategies reveals insights that fuel productive and defensible monetization and patent ownership decisions.Manually assessing technology areas for licensing opportunities and competition can take days or weeks of laborious data analysis, often resulting in incomplete, narrow views of the intellectual property (IP) landscape. Additionally, keyword-based approaches to identifying technologies can be hampered by differences in language or industry vocabulary, or even intentional differences in terminology introduced to conceal IP assets.
LexisNexis PatentStrategies correlates worldwide patent records with financial, litigation, market and key business data to provide a complete picture of the international business landscape within minutes. A clear picture emerges to quickly produce a 360-degree view of an organization’s or a patent’s value with more than 50 data analysis visualizations available based on data from over 100 diverse sources.Deep business analysis powered by big data is ideal for organizations with complex portfolios spanning multiple technology areas, in addition to financial institutions or consulting firms evaluating value for research and development or investment opportunities. Smaller companies aggressively filing patents in highly competitive or unfamiliar international markets and those with a wide range of licensing opportunities across a varied patent portfolio can also effectively leverage PatentStrategies data analytics.PatentStrategies joins LexisNexis TotalPatent®, LexisNexis PatentAdvisor℠, LexisNexis PatentOptimizer™, LexisNexis IP DataDirect, PAIR Watch℠ and IP Services (formerly ReedFax®) as part of a comprehensive and growing portfolio of IP solutions from Reed Tech, a LexisNexis company. For more information, please visit http://www.lexisnexis.nl or speak to your LexisNexis account representative.
LexisNexis Legal & Professional is a leading global provider of content and technology solutions that enable professionals in legal, corporate, tax, government, academic and non-profit organizations to make informed decisions and achieve better business outcomes. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis® and Nexis® services. Today, LexisNexis Legal & Professional harnesses leading-edge technology and world-class content to help professionals work in faster, easier and more effective ways. Through close collaboration with its customers, the company ensures organizations can leverage its solutions to reduce risk, improve productivity, increase profitability and grow their business. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 175 countries with 10,000 employees worldwide, is part of RELX Group PLC, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries.
Reed Tech is the provider of best-in-class information-based solutions and services to meet the broad needs of the global Intellectual Property market as well as key regulatory needs of the Life Sciences industry. Our customers include the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, IP-driven companies, law firms, and a wide range of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. The corporate culture is driven by a commitment to excellence, innovation, and a strong dedication to its customers, employees and community. Reed Tech has worked in the patent arena since 1970 and has electronically captured and prepared for publication well over half of all U.S. patents ever granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Reed Tech is a LexisNexis company.

Over 7,000 professionals discussing new answers to old questions in allergies and immunology

Barcelona. Researchers and physicians from almost 100 countries have registered for the 34th Annual Congress of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) held in Barcelona (Spain) on 6-10 June. The attendees, including around 500 members of faculty with a passion for exchanging knowledge and discussing recent developments in allergies, have submitted close to 2,000 abstracts under the congress theme “Allergy: new answers to old questions”.Grass pollen is the major cause of allergic sensitisations to outdoor allergens all over Europe.1 Research conducted by Prof. Jeroen Buters, from the ZAUM–Center of Allergy & Environment, Helmholtz Center Munich/Technische Universität München, has contributed to our understanding on how global climate change has affected the duration and distribution of grass pollen allergen, and has suggested the need to consider molecular aerobiology in addition to counting pollen for the assessment of exposure to airborne allergens, especially in clinical trials and epidemiologic studies.”Although pollen counts are indispensable for agriculture, phenology, climate change and health, airborne allergen adds a new dimension to understanding allergic rhinitis and asthma”, says Prof. Buters. The study shows that airborne grass pollen is present everywhere in Europe, but there are large variations in pollen counts between countries; for instance, the Finnish station had the lowest pollen counts, whereas the Portuguese station recorded the highest.There is an enormous variety of bacteria living in and on specific sites of the human body. Although some of them can cause infections, we could not live without some others because they play an important role in the correct functioning of the metabolic or immune system. For this reason they can be considered both friends and foes, as pointed out by Prof. Liam O’Mahony, from the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research, University of Zurich (Switzerland). He has explained that a healthy immune response to bacteria involves the activation of cells that fight the infection, but there is also activation of regulatory cells that dampen down the immune response so that it does not damage the tissue or organ involved. These regulatory cells, stimulated by exposure to bacteria, can also dampen down the immune responses that cause allergy or autoimmune diseases.”As our exposure to bacteria has been altered, perhaps also the stimulation of these regulatory cells is reduced and that’s why we have more allergies and autoimmune disorders,” argues Prof. O’Mahony. “Therefore there is the potential that certain bacteria can then be used to stimulate these regulatory cells and rebalance the immune system so it no longer becomes activated by allergens or self-proteins.”Medical psychologist Dr. Audrey Dunn Galvin, from the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork (Ireland), states that food allergy in a child – in combination with the everyday activities of caring for a family – pose challenges to parents, only fragments of which are revealed to clinicians. Intervention programmes for parents involve imparting knowledge or teaching effective strategies for managing food allergy. For some parents, however, not effectively managing food allergy is linked to ways of thinking or beliefs rather than the lack of knowledge. These beliefs may sometimes be based on inaccurate information gleaned from a multitude of sources.A new study2 led by Prof. Gideon Lack at Kings College London now provides proof that the early introduction of peanuts dramatically decreases the risk of developing a peanut allergy by a staggering 70-80%. The findings of the study suggest that the advice given for decades by allergists recommending that young infants should avoid consuming allergenic foods such as peanuts to prevent food allergies is incorrect and may have contributed to the rise in peanut and other food allergies.Dr. Dunn Galvin explains that this is a very controversial topic: “Parental beliefs will interfere with effective management, particularly when they are based on inaccurate information, leading to feelings of stress, lack of control, mistrust and uncertainty. These negative feelings distract parents from the task of parenting, and make it more difficult for them to react appropriately and effectively to the practical everyday challenges of balancing safety with positive socio-emotional and cognitive development in the growing child”. Therefore, the quality of life of children and their families can be affected together with their safety, health and well being.Given the need for more education and information, the EAACI Patients Organisations Committee (POC) Workshop will be held at the congress and will be attended by 23 representatives from Patients Organisations from around the world. They will share knowledge about experimental strategies for food allergy, how to bridge the gap between patients and clinicians and how to enhance patient safety in allergic therapies.”Patient Organisations bring real life into the scientific world; we are a bridge between medical scientific activities and the daily lives of allergic patients,” says Frans Timmermans, Chair of the EAACI Patient Organisations Committee. “This platform is where we can work together to raise awareness within the political field and with policymakers so that allergy health care becomes a major EU health issue resulting in policies and measures to raise the quality of life of people with allergies.”The outstanding achievements of female scientists will be acknowledged at the Annual Congress “Women in Science” Symposium on Sunday 7 June. This year’s theme “At the forefront of asthma research” will feature lectures by Prof. Mübeccel Akdis, Prof. Monica Kraft and Prof. Wytske Fokkens.The Symposium will be chaired by EAACI women leaders Antonella Muraro, EAACI President, and Ioana Agache, Vice-President for Communication and Membership. “The event addresses the needs of women in science from well deserved acknowledgement to mentorship and representation in scientific and leadership bodies,” they say. “By sharing their journey through science EAACI women can inspire and empower and thus forge a strong community.”
The EAACI Annual Congress brings together leading scientists and researchers, but also national allergy societies (NAS) from all over Europe, thus spreading the newest scientific research and best practice to numerous countries. The EAACI and the NAS work together to identify common goals and action plans at both the national and European levels to tackle the allergy crisis.

G7 countries expand renewable energy too slowly

Hamburg. The seven largest western industrial countries (G7) have not expanded renewable energy fast enough to significantly reduce their CO2 emissions. The share of renewables (excluding hydropower) in the G7 countries’ electricity generation rose to 8% in 2013. However, CO2 emissions of these countries only decreased by 1.3 % by 2012 compared to 1990. The biggest problem is the burning coal for electricity, according to an analysis Greenpeace released online today, two days ahead of the G7 summit [1]. Climate protection will be part of the the Elmau discussions.Greenpeace head of international climate politics, Martin Kaiser, said: “Simply put, the G7 are laggards when they should be leaders in making the shift to renewables. It is their moral and social responsibility. If Angela Merkel wants to be Germany’s ‘Climate Chancellor’, she must bind the G7 leaders to a 100% renewable energy commitment.” The G7 countries only represent 10% of the global population, but they are responsible for more than 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, their responsibility is comparatively large for leading on the protection of the climate. Greenpeace’s analysis shows the differing speeds of renewables expansion amongst the G7 countries. While Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom are progressing quickly, the expansion of renewables in the United States, Japan, France and Canada is far less ambitious. “The resources and brainpower put towards this G7 summit is totally wasted without a game-changing agreement being reached in Elmau,” said Kaiser.Merkel’s national actions have to reflect her international commitments. While the Chancellor emphasizes the long-term reduction of climate-harming CO2 to zero on the international stage, she is not turning her words into action at home. Until today, she has not publicly supported the proposal of Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), German Minister of Economic Affairs, to ask for a fee from old and dirty coal power plants. This will harm Merkel’s credibility massively. Without directly addressing climate-harming coal power plants, Germany stands to miss its own climate target.”The next few days will show if Angela Merkel is a ‘Climate Chancellor’ or in fact a ‘Coal Chancellor’, ” added Kaiser.
Ahead of the summit, the German Government pressured the G7 members for an ambitious long-term goal for climate protection. Nevertheless, apparently Canada and Japan have rejected this goal. The United States are holding back as well. China’s latest developments are encouraging: after stagnating CO2 emissions in 2014, emissions dropped for the first time in the first months of 2015.

Facing the Allergy Crisis through Education and Prevention

Barcelona (Spain) Allergy is a public health problem of pandemic proportions that affects more than 150 million people in Europe, where it is one of the most common chronic diseases. It is predicted that this number will increase within 10 years by 50%.The European Academy for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) works in different fields, ultimately striving to ease patients’ lives. Since June 2014, EAACI raises awareness for the burden of allergies through its Beware of Allergy Campaign, addressing the following allergic diseases: Asthma, Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis, and Allergic Rhinitis, together with allergy targeted treatment based on Allergen Immunotherapy. The online campaign has been well received and generated a total of 53 million impressions with almost 170,000 clicks in its first two waves.More than 20 organisations from all around Europe endorse the campaign, including European National Allergy Societies, Patients Organisations and community pharmacists (The Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union).In addition to this pan-European Allergy Awareness campaign EAACI will organise two activities during its annual congress in Barcelona (6-10 June) to inform the general public about allergy: the Anaphylaxis School and the Beat Allergy Run & Walk.Together with the Spanish Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (SEAIC), the Spanish Pediatric Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (SEICAP) and the patients organisations AEPNAA and Immunitas Vera, EAACI will set up an “Anaphylaxis School” on 6 June 2015 in Plaza de la Universidad. The event has the format of a classroom with a corner for younger children to play in, while parents and older children can learn more about anaphylactic symptoms, how to use an autoinjector and how to prevent anaphylaxis. A certificate will be given to the graduates with the most important information summarised on it.Anaphylaxis is a very serious allergic reaction triggered by foods, insect stings, some medicines and latex. If it is not treated in time, it can be fatal. Prompt adrenaline administration may be lifesaving. In the past 10 years, the number of hospitalisations caused by anaphylaxis has increased 7 fold.More knowledge on allergic diseases will help to identify preventive measures, allow more scientific research and increase standardisation in patient care. To bring the burden of allergy to the attention of the people in Barcelona, the public together with participants of the EAACI Congress are invited to participate in the Beat Allergy Run & Walk on Sunday 7 June, starting at 20.00 at the Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona. Registration is required either online or directly on-site.EAACI’s Beware of Allergy campaign is available in 5 languages: http://www.bewareofallergy.com

European Parliament Italia: Anteprima della sessione plenaria, 8-11 giugno 2015

 Mercoledì mattina, saranno discusse e successivamente votate le raccomandazioni del Parlamento sui negoziati in corso con gli Stati Uniti sull’Accordo transatlantico per il commercio e gli investimenti. Il sistema di protezione degli investitori (ISDS) è il tema prioritario del dibattito, con pareri contrastati sull’eventualità che il Parlamento chieda l’esclusione dalle discussioni del ricorso all’arbitrato privato per risolvere le controversie tra investitori e autorità pubbliche.
I deputati invitano l’UE a contrastare la propaganda russa e la minaccia nel Mar Nero. In due risoluzioni non legislative che saranno discusse mercoledì e votate giovedì, i deputati evidenziano che l’UE e i suoi Stati membri dovrebbero monitorare il finanziamento della Russia ai partiti politici europei, stanziare fondi per contrastare la propaganda russa e affrontare le minacce alla sicurezza nel Mar Nero, derivante dall’annessione illegale della Crimea. Frontiere intelligenti all’ingresso dell’UE: interrogazione a Commissione e Consiglio
Il sistema di ingresso/uscita e il programma per viaggiatori registrati non appartenenti all’UE sono “opportuni e adeguati” per far fronte al crescente numero di persone che attraversano le frontiere esterne dell’UE? I deputati martedì interrogheranno al riguardo Commissione e Consiglio.
Più potere agli azionisti sulla retribuzione dei direttori e nuove regole di trasparenza fiscale per le imprese Un progetto di legge, che permetterebbe agli azionisti di votare, almeno ogni tre anni, la politica di remunerazione dei direttori di società quotate, sarà discusso martedì e messo al voto mercoledì. I deputati hanno inoltre inserito, durante i negoziati con i governi nazionali, l’obbligo per le grandi imprese e gli enti di interesse pubblico – come banche e assicurazioni – di rivelare gli utili realizzati, le tasse pagate e le sovvenzioni pubbliche ricevute paese per paese.
Sport: scandalo corruzione della FIFA, i Giochi di Baku e i prigionieri politici dell’Azerbaigian. Le rivelazioni sulla corruzione delle alte sfere della Federazione internazionale di calcio FIFA e l’invito a prendere in considerazione i diritti umani di un Paese prima di sceglierlo come sede di eventi sportivi internazionali, saranno discussi mercoledì. Una risoluzione sulla corruzione della FIFA sarà posta in votazione giovedì.
Strategia per l’uguaglianza di genere: i deputati chiedono obiettivi più chiari e un migliore monitoraggio
Nella risoluzione che sarà discussa lunedì e votata martedì, si evidenzia che la nuova strategia per l’uguaglianza di genere dell’UE dopo il 2015 necessita di obiettivi più chiari e di un monitoraggio più efficace di quelli odierni, se si vuole progredire nella lotta alla discriminazione nel mercato del lavoro, nell’istruzione e nel processo decisionale.
Voto sui progressi compiuti nel 2014 dalla Turchia Nella votazione di mercoledì, i deputati chiederanno alla Turchia di intensificare la lotta contro la corruzione, garantire la libertà dei media e di espressione e rispettare l’indipendenza del sistema giudiziario.
Posizione dell’Ungheria su pena di morte e sull’immigrazione: i deputati voteranno una risoluzione
Dopo ACTA: idee su come proteggere più efficacemente i diritti di proprietà intellettuale europei all’estero.

Greenpeace: Two degree target only attainable with drastic CO2 reductions – China’s coal decline leads the way for G7

Elmau. To stay below the two degree climate target, the G7 countries will have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions quickly and significantly. This will only be possible if climate-harming coal-based power generation is reduced, as shown by Greenpeace at the beginning of today’s G7 summit [1]. Based on the size of their populations, the G7 members only have about 60 billion tons of CO2 out of a total budget of 565 billion which they can release into the atmosphere until 2050 if global warming is to be kept under the two degree Celsius mark. Based on the member countries’ latest annual emissions, the remaining 60 billion tons will be used up in less than seven years.Between 1990 and 2013, the G7 group has reduced the share of coal in their energy mix by 8.2%. As a result, the 1.3% reduction of CO2 emissions between 1990 and 2012 was meagre. Recently, even China was able to show that emissions from coal-powered plants can be reduced rapidly. While the country was responsible for 50% of the increase of global CO2 emissions between 2000 ad 2010, energy-related emissions dropped for the first time by 1% in 2014. With a lowering of 5% this promising trend has continued in the first four months of this year. For years the G7 leaders hid their unambiguous climate targets behind China. “For years the G7 has used China’s climate protection paralysis as an excuse to do nothing, but now China is starting to reduce its emissions. The ball is now in the G7’s court to get serious about rapidly getting rid of coal,” said Kaiser.Worldwide, more and more experts agree with climate science’s assertion that large parts of coal and oil resources have to stay in the ground to keep global warming under the limit of 2 degrees. Only last Friday the Norwegian Parliament decided unanimously that the country’s pension fund – one of the largest independent funds globally – will pull its investments out of companies that are doing business with fossil fuel energy. Companies such as the insurance group AXA, the Rockefeller Foundation or the Church of England have come to similar conclusions. “The G7 could stymie any unified attempt at climate protection. The success of the summit in Elmau depends on Merkel and her six colleagues kick-starting the phase-out of coal,” said Kaiser. German Minister of Economic Affairs, Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), proposed a fee that would curtail the oldest and dirtiest coal power plants. But Chancellor Merkel is keeping silent about this available solution. “Without the Chancellor’s clear commitment for tackling climate change, Merkel will not be in the position to demand more climate protection from her G7 partners in Elmau,” added Kaiser.

BPM e Legg Mason annunciano un accordo per il collocamento dei prodotti Martin Currie in Italia

Banca Popolare di Milano e Legg Mason Global Asset Management, gestore globale con 703 miliardi di dollari di asset in gestione, rafforzano la loro collaborazione per ampliare l’offerta di prodotti distribuiti sul mercato italiano.Grazie a questo nuovo accordo infatti BPM diventa il primo collocatore in Italia dei fondi Martin Currie, l’ultima arrivata tra le società affiliate del gruppo Legg Mason, specializzata nella gestione azionaria attiva, con sede nel Regno Unito. Attraverso BPM gli investitori potranno accedere in particolare al fondo Legg Mason Martin Currie GF European Absolute Alpha, fondo azionario europeo gestito con una strategia long/short.Marco Negri country head Italia di Legg Mason, ha dichiarato: “Siamo molto lieti di questo nuovo passo in avanti con Banca Popolare di Milano. Si tratta infatti del rafforzamento di una collaborazione avviata lo scorso settembre, quando abbiamo reso disponibili alcuni nostri prodotti di punta attraverso questo storico marchio della distribuzione in Italia. Le sinergie che siamo riusciti a costruire con la rete di Private Banking hanno ricevuto riscontri fortemente positivi in breve tempo e abbiamo quindi deciso, di comune accordo, di affidare a BPM il lancio sul mercato italiano dell’ultima casa di gestione acquisita dal gruppo Legg Mason lo scorso anno, che propone un approccio assolutamente innovativo sul mercato azionario europeo. Crediamo molto nel prodotto di punta della nostra nuova affiliata, il Legg Mason Martin Currie GF European Absolute Alpha, un fondo azionario europeo long/short che mira a generare alfa tramite la selezione di posizioni lunghe e corte sui singoli titoli e con un processo di analisi macroeconomica volto a ridurre il rischio complessivo di portafoglio”.Gianfranco Venuti, Responsabile Private Banking e Wealth Management di Banca Popolare di Milano, aggiunge: “Per Banca Popolare di Milano si tratta di un accordo che conferma la strategia di perfezionamento e di diversificazione dell’offerta ai nostri clienti, parte di un disegno di più ampio respiro che vede il franchise BPM Private quale leva di crescita nel Piano Industriale. Attualmente il nostro servizio può contare su di una rete composta da 70 gestori (che diventeranno 150 a orizzonte di Piano) organizzati in 10 team in altrettanti headquarter fisici sul territorio, che si occupano di consigliare gli investimenti migliori, assistendo circa 10 mila clienti. Aver scelto Legg Mason Global Asset Management testimonia la forte spinta all’ottimizzazione della gestione di portafogli flessibili finalizzata a generare rendimenti assoluti. Questo tipo di approccio consente di far leva sulla differenziazione anche degli asset, così da offrire le migliori soluzioni di investimento alla nostra clientela. Puntiamo alla capacità di selezione delle best expertise gestionali di mercato, per essere dei manager-of manager capaci di dare al cliente una consulenza continuativa e qualificata. La collaborazione con Legg Mason ci consentirà di realizzare al meglio il rafforzamento della gamma prodotti, in ottica multi-brand”.Banca Popolare di Milano è una banca cooperativa con sede a Milano. Fondata nel 1865 e quotata in Borsa Italiana dal 1994; BPM conta 117 mila azionisti, di cui circa la metà sono anche soci. Con circa 7.700 dipendenti, un’articolata struttura distributiva presente sul territorio nazionale e formata da oltre 700 punti vendita, il Gruppo BPM è al servizio di un milione e 400mila clienti. Grazie ad un portafoglio di clientela nelle aree più produttive del paese e alla combinazione ottimale tra presidio di territorio ed eccellenze di prodotto, il Gruppo punta a divenire Banca di riferimento nel sistema.
Legg Mason è una società di gestione patrimoniale che opera su scala globale, con attivi in gestione (AUM) pari a 703mldUSD al 31 marzo 2015. Legg Mason offre soluzioni di gestione attiva degli asset presso numerosi centri d’investimento presenti in tutto il mondo. La sede ufficiale si trova a Baltimora, Maryland, e le azioni ordinarie della società sono quotate alla borsa di New York (simbolo: LM).

Progetto Cuore Chagas, test al femminile per proteggere i nascituri

Nel 2014 sono state dieci le donne gravide risultate positive al test per il morbo di Chagas, su oltre 80 latinoamericane che hanno partorito all’ospedale di Bergamo. L’ambulatorio inaugurato oggi al Papa Giovanni XXIII ha come obiettivo quello di individuare le donne che hanno contratto l’infezione prima della gravidanza. Per questo propone uno screening alla popolazione femminile sudamericana fra i 17 e i 45 anni. Realizzato con il contributo dell’Associazione Amici di Santina Zucchinelli onlus, e probabilmente unica realtà di questo genere realizzata finora in un ospedale pubblico italiano, l’ambulatorio si avvarrà della collaborazione di infettivologi, cardiologi e microbiologi con una formazione specifica, e grazie alla presenza di un’infettivologa spagnola, le utenti potranno essere accolte nella loro lingua madre. Il Progetto Cuore Chagas, partito ad aprile, come ha spiegato il direttore generale Carlo Nicora, “è un ulteriore frutto dell’amicizia con l’Associazione, presieduta da mons. Luigi Ginami. Abbiamo creato una collaborazione fra diversi specialisti per evitare che i nascituri possano ammalarsi”.
“Questa è infatti la sola forma di contagio possibile in Italia – ha sottolineato il direttore sanitario Laura Chiappa -, per una malattia che in America Latina ha dimensioni endemiche e si diffonde attraverso le punture di cimici che in Europa non sono presenti”.
Il morbo di Chagas è una malattia capace di restare silenziosa anche per decenni. Una volta contratta, può mantenersi per tutta la vita, portare a gravi complicanze cardiache o intestinali e manifestarsi quando ha già causato gravi danni all’organismo della persona infetta. La presenza a Bergamo dei latinoamericani è importante, basti pensare che qui vive la più numerosa comunità di Boliviani all’estero, con 14 mila persone. Per loro e con loro, ha ricordato mons. Ginami, “è nato questo progetto: sono loro i veri ospiti d’onore di oggi”, in risposta al ringraziamento della signora Isidora, a nome della popolazione latinoamericana.
All’inaugurazione erano presenti anche l’agente consolare della Bolivia e Maurizio Zancanaro, amministratore delegato di Banca Aletti e sostenitore dell’Associazione. (foto: Progetto Cuore Chagas)