La Influencia del Consejo de Administración en la Adopción de un Código Ético: The Influence of the Board of Directors on Implementing an Ethics Code

Business ethics as a component of the corporate social responsibility, should be promoted from the Board of Directors. In this sense, the drawing up of a code of ethics would imply the formal statement of corporate principles which affect the responsibility with employees, shareholders, customers, the environment and every aspect of the society. Previous empirical evidence has emphasized the contradictory effect between the ownership of shares by directors and its effect on the shareholders’ economic interests, and a low concern with ethics issues by independent directors.In this line, this paper aims at establishing the effect of these two features of the Board of Directors on the incorporation of a ethical code for non-financial quoted Spanish companies. The finding show that the Board ownership leads to a entrenchment in the top management, by generating a divergence between owners’ and managers’ ethical interests. Faced with this situation, the presence of independent directors becomes necessary to reduce such conflicts.La ética empresarial, como uno de los componentes de la responsabilidad social corporativa, debe ser promovida desde el órgano superior de control de las organizaciones empresariales, el Consejo de Administración. En este sentido, la incorporación de un código ético supondría el establecimiento formal de los principios corporativos de la compañía que afectan a la responsabilidad con empleados, accionistas, consumidores, al entorno o a cualquier otro aspecto de la sociedad. La evidencia empírica previa pone de manifiesto efectos contradictorios entre la participación accionarial de los consejeros y su efecto sobre los intereses económicos de los accionistas, así como un reducido interés por parte de los consejeros independientes sobre temas éticos.En esta línea, el presente trabajo tiene como objetivo determinar el efecto de estas dos características del Consejo de Administración en la incorporación de un código ético por las empresas españolas no-financieras que cotizan en Bolsa. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que la participación accionarial provoca un atrincheramiento de la alta dirección, provocando una divergencia entre los intereses éticos de propietarios y directivos. En esta situación, la presencia de consejeros independientes se torna necesaria para reducir tales conflictos

Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) in the open Mediterranean Sea. I. Basin-Wide distribution and drivers of chromophoric DOM

Original research articleChromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in the open Mediterranean Sea (MedSea) is barely documented, remaining the basin–wide patterns in intermediate and deep waters still enigmatic. Here, full–depth distributions of CDOM absorption coefficients and spectral slopes recorded during the HOTMIX 2014 cruise are presented and their respective environmental drivers resolved. General Additive Models (GAMs) in surface waters and Optimum MultiParameter (OMP) water mass analysis in deep waters were applied. In the surface, apparent oxygen utilisation (AOU), a proxy to cumulative net community respiration, explained most of the variability of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the absorption coefficient at 254 nm (a254), whereas the absorption coefficient at 325 nm (a325), and the spectral slopes were mostly explained by potential temperature, a proxy to stratification and solar radiation, indicating that both water column stability and photobleaching may drive the variability of the UV–A absorbing CDOM components. In deep waters, the effect of water mass mixing and basin–scale mineralization were discerned from local mineralization processes. Water mass mixing and basin–scale mineralization contributed more substantially to explain the variability of DOC, a254 and a325 (82–91%) than the variability of the spectral slopes (35–64%). Local mineralization processes indicate that DOC and CDOM play a more relevant role in the carbon cycle in the Eastern (EastMed) than in the Western (WestMed) Mediterranean: whereas DOC contributed to 66 ± 10% of the oxygen demand in the EastMed, it represented only 24 ± 4% in the WestMed. Independently of basins and layers, a254 revealed as an excellent proxy to the concentration of DOC in the MedSea. Also, the unexpected inverse relationship of a325 with AOU indicates that the consumption of the UV–A absorbing CDOM fraction prevails over their productionSpanish Ministry of Education and Culture, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiviness, FEDER, CSIC, University of GranadaVersión del editor3,26

ABCG2 transporter plays a key role in the biodistribution of melatonin and its main metabolites

[EN] The ATP-binding cassette G2 (ABCG2) is an efflux transporter expressed in the apical membrane of cells from a large number of tissues, directly affecting bioavailability, tissue accumulation, and secretion into milk of both xenobiotics and endogenous compounds. The aim of this work was to characterize the role of ABCG2 in the systemic distribution and secretion into milk of melatonin and its main metabolites, 6-hydroxymelatonin, and 6-sulfatoxymelatonin. For this purpose, we first showed that these three molecules are transported by this transporter using in vitro transepithelial assays with MDCK-II polarized cells transduced with different species variants of ABCG2. Second, we tested the in vivo effect of murine Abcg2 in the systemic distribution of melatonin and its metabolites using wild-type and Abcg2−/− mice. Our results show that after oral administration of melatonin, the plasma concentration of melatonin metabolites in Abcg2−/− mice was between 1.5 and 6-fold higher compared to the wild-type mice. We also evaluated in these animals differences in tissue accumulation of melatonin metabolites. The most relevant differences between both types of mice were found for small intestine and kidney (>sixfold increase for 6-sulfatoxymelatonin in Abcg2−/− mice). Finally, melatonin secretion into milk was also affected by the murine Abcg2 transporter, with a twofold higher milk concentration in wild-type compared with Abcg2−/− lactating female mice. In addition, melatonin metabolites showed a higher milk-to-plasma ratio in wild-type mice. Overall, our results show that the ABCG2 transporter plays a critical role in the biodistribution of melatonin and its main metabolites, thereby potentially affecting their biological and therapeutic activity.SIPublicación en abierto financiada por el Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Castilla y León (BUCLE), con cargo al Programa Operativo 2014ES16RFOP009 FEDER 2014-2020 DE CASTILLA Y LEÓN, Actuación:20007-CL - Apoyo Consorcio BUCL

Role of the IFN I system against the VHSV infection in juvenile Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis)

Senegalese sole is susceptible to marine VHSV isolates but is not affected by freshwater isolates, which may indicate differences regarding virus-host immune system interaction. IFN I induces an antiviral state in fish, stimulating the expression of genes encoding antiviral proteins (ISG). In this study, the stimulation of the Senegalese sole IFN I by VHSV infections has been evaluated by the relative quantification of the transcription of several ISG (Mx, Isg15 and Pkr) after inoculation with marine (pathogenic) and freshwater (non-pathogenic) VHSV isolates. Compared to marine VHSV, lower levels of RNA of the freshwater VHSV induced transcription of ISG to similar levels, with the Isg15 showing the highest fold induction. The protective role of the IFN I system was evaluated in poly I:C-inoculated animals subse‑ quently challenged with VHSV isolates. The cumulative mortality caused by the marine isolate in the control group was 68%, whereas in the poly I:C-stimulated group was 5%. The freshwater VHSV isolate did not cause any mortality. Furthermore, viral RNA fold change and viral titers were lower in animals from the poly I:C + VHSV groups than in the controls. The implication of the IFN I system in the protection observed was confirmed by the transcription of the ISG in animals from the poly I:C + VHSV groups. However, the marine VHSV isolate exerts a negative effect on the ISG transcription at 3 and 6 h post-inoculation (hpi), which is not observed for the freshwater isolate. This difference might be partly responsible for the virulence shown by the marine isolateThis study was funded by the project P09-CVI-4579 from Junta de Andalucía (proyectos de Excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía), and partially by the CSD2007-00002 Aquagenomics grant (funded by the program Consolider-Ingenio 2010) from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (MEC). D. Alvarez-Torres was supported by a fellowship from Junta de Andalucía (Proyecto de Excelencia P09- CVI-4579)S

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the open Mediterranean Sea. II: Basin-wide distribution and drivers of fluorescent DOM

Research articleFluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM) in the Mediterranean Sea was analysed by excitation–emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy and parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis during the cruise HOTMIX 2014. A 4–component model, including 3 humic–like and 1 protein–like compounds, was obtained. To decipher the environmental factors that dictate the distributions of these components, we run generalized additive models (GAMs) in the epipelagic layer and an optimum multiparametric (OMP) water masses analysis in the meso– and bathypelagic layers. In the epipelagic layer, apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) and temperature presented the most significant effects on the variability of the marine humic-like peak M fluorescence, suggesting that its distribution was controlled by the net community respiration of organic matter and photobleaching. On the contrary, the variability of the soil humic-like peak E and the protein–like peak T fluorescence was explained mainly by the prokaryotic heterotrophic abundance, which decreased eastwards. In the meso– and bathypelagic layers, water mass mixing and basin–scale mineralization processes explained >72% and 63% of the humic–like and protein–like fluorescence variability, respectively. When analysing the two basins separately, the OMP model offered a better explanation of the distribution of fluorescence in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, as expected from the reduced biological activity in this ultra–oligotrophic basin. Furthermore, while western Mediterranean deep waters display the usual trend in the global ocean (increase of humic–like fluorescence and decrease of protein–like fluorescence with higher AOU values), the eastern Mediterranean deep waters presented an opposite trend. Different initial fluorescence intensities of the water masses that mix in the eastern basin, with Adriatic and Aegean origins, seem to be behind this contrasting pattern. The analysis of the transect–scale mineralization processes corroborate this hypothesis, suggesting a production of humic–like and a consumption of protein–like fluorescence in parallel with water mass ageing. Remarkably, the transect–scale variability of the chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) absorbing at the excitation wavelength of the humic–like peak M indicates an unexpected loss with increasing AOU, which suggests that the consumption of the non–fluorescent fraction of CDOM absorbing at that wavelength exceeded the production of the fluorescent fraction observed hereProject HOTMIX (reference CTM2011–30010–C02 01–MAR and 02–MAR), co–financed with FEDER funds (re ference BES–2012–056175) ; the project MODMED from CSIC (PIE, 201730E020) and the project FERMIO (MINECO, CTM2014–57334–JIN), co–financed with FEDER fundsVersión del editor3,26

Cross-cultural adaptation of children´s environmental health questionnaires for English nursing students

Objectives: Children are among the most vulnerable population groups with regard to environmental risks. Nursing students must be fully educated on children’s environmental health as they are in a key position to prevent and reduce the effects of environmental hazards. The main objective of this study was to adapt and validate an English language version of two questionnaires about children’s health and the environment, to assess the knowledge and skills of student nurses in England. Design: Observational cross-sectional study. Setting: A university in Southern England. Method: The study involves translating, adapting and validating the Children’s Environmental Health Knowledge Questionnaire (ChEHK-Q) and the Children’s Environmental Health Skills Questionnaire (ChEHS-Q) with nursing students in England (N = 232). Results: The psychometric characteristics of both questionnaires were strong. Infit and outfit values were close to 1. The reliability values for the items and people were 0.96 and 0.79 for ChEHK-Q and 0.98 and 0.89 for ChEHS-Q, respectively. Only 52 (22.41%) and 77 (33.62%) participants had at least good knowledge and skills, respectively. Higher knowledge and skills were found with respect to the vulnerability of children and identification of environmental risks in the home. Lower levels of knowledge and skills were found with respect to the effects of pesticides and the assessment of neoplastic pollutants. Conclusion: Findings demonstrate deficiencies in nursing competencies related to children’s environmental health. The use of these questionnaires will facilitate improvement in both knowledge and skills related to children’s environmental health among future nurses

Synthesis of titanium and zirconium complexes with 2-pyridonate and 2, 6-pyridinedithiolate ligands

Special Issue: Dedicated to Professor F. Ekkehardt Hahn on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday with our most Sincere Congratulations for his Outstanding Contributions to Chemistry and Best Wishes.Treatment of complex [Cp2TiCl2] with the lithium salt of 2-hydroxypyridine afforded complex [Cp2Ti(Opy)2] (1), whereas the same synthetic strategy applied to the analogous zirconium compound [Cp2ZrCl2] did not worked. However, the use of the metallocene [Cptt 2ZrMe2] with protic ligands allowed directing the reactivity towards protonation of the methyl groups attached to zirconium. To check this approach we reacted [Cptt 2ZrMe2] with methanol affording complex [Cptt 2ZrMe(OMe)] (2), which was characterized in situ by NMR techniques. In the same line, the reaction of [Cptt 2ZrMe2] with 2-hydroxypyridine gave complex [Cptt 2Zr(Me)(Opy)] (3); forcing the conditions of this reaction did not lead to the expected complex [Cptt 2Zr(Opy)2], most probably due to the steric hindrance exerted by the bulky cyclopentadienyl ligands. Further reactions of complex 3 with ligands having acidic protons also led to the recovery of the starting complex. However, when shifting to the bifunctional ligand 2, 6-dimercaptopyridine [py(SH)2] a double protonation of the methyl ligands in [Cptt 2ZrMe2] occurred, allowing the isolation of mononuclear complex [Cptt 2Zr(κS,κS,κN-pyS2)] (4), upon evolution of methane. The molecular structure of complex 4 was determined by X-ray methods, showing the zirconium atom in a highly distorted trigonal bipyramidal arrangement; structural parameters indicate a conventional Zr-N bond, but rather weak Zr-S interactions.Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO/FEDER, Projects CTQ2012-35665 and CTQ2013-42532-P), MICINN (Project Consolider Ingenio 2010, CSD2009-00050) and Diputación General de Aragón (DGA/ FSE-E07 and E70) is gratefully acknowledged.Peer Reviewe

Efectividad del índice de Brass en la planificación del alta por enfermeras gestoras de casos

Classifying patients according to complexity and frailty during hospitalization allows efficient planning of the scope of care required by the patient at discharge. The aim of this study was to measure the screening validity of the Blaylock Risk Assessment Screening Score and its effectiveness in discharge planning.Methods: We analyzed the variables hospital stay, destination at discharge, use of healthcare resources and mortality in 370 patients. Results: Analysis of the relationship between mortality and the BRASS-Sp index with regard to gender and number of days of stay yielded a hazard ratio of 1.73 (95% CI 1.22-2.46; p=0.002) for male gender and 2.08 (95% CI 1.43-3.04; p<0.001) for the BRASS-Sp score. Patients who continued in case management in Primary Care had a mean BRASS-Sp of 20.97 (standard deviation 6.11), while in the other patients the mean was 19.35 (standard deviation 5.60), p=0.02. Conclusions: The BRASS-Sp proved easy-to-use with verified content validity that is effective for screening hospitalized patients by case management nursesEstratificar a los pacientes en relación con la complejidad y fragilidad durante la hospitalización, nos permite planificar de manera más eficiente los cuidados y el ámbito de atención que precisa al alta. El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar la efectividad de la traducción al español de índice de BRASS en la planificación del alta hospitalaria por enfermeras gestoras de casos de atención hospitalaria.Método: Se analizaron variables relacionadas con la estancia hospitalaria, destino al alta, utilización de recursos sanitarios y mortalidad en 370 pacientes.. Resultados: La edad media fue 72.6 años (DE 14.05), 191 (51.6%) eran mujeres. Cuando analizamos la relación entre mortalidad e índice de BRASS-Sp en relación al sexo y número de días de ingreso encontramos una HR=1.73 (95% CI de 1.22 a 2.46) con una p=0.002 para sexo masculino y una HR=2.08 (95% CI 1.43 a 3.04) con una p<0.001 para puntuación del índice de BRASS_Sp. Los pacientes que continuaron en gestión de casos en Atención Primaria obtuvieron una media del BRASS-Sp de 20.97 (DE 6.11) mientras que en los demás fue de 19.35 (DE 5.60), p=0.02. Conclusiones: La traducción al español del índice de BRASS se muestra como un instrumento fácil de usar y con validez de contenido y efectividad para cribado de pacientes hospitalizados por enfermeras gestoras de casos. &nbsp