AIP and MEN1 mutations and AIP immunohistochemistry in pituitary adenomas in a tertiary referral center.

Background: Pituitary adenomas have a high disease burden due to tumor growth/ invasion and disordered hormonal secretion. Germline mutations in genes such as MEN1 and AIP are associated with early onset of aggressive pituitary adenomas that can be resistant to medical therapy. Aims: We performed a retrospective screening study using published risk criteria to assess the frequency of AIP and MEN1 mutations in pituitary adenoma patients in a tertiary referral center. Methods: Pituitary adenoma patients with pediatric/adolescent onset, macroadenomas occurring ≤30 years of age, familial isolated pituitary adenoma (FIPA) kindreds and acromegaly or prolactinoma cases that were uncontrolled by medical therapy were studied genetically. We also assessed whether immunohistochemical staining for AIP (AIP-IHC) in somatotropinomas was associated with somatostatin analogs (SSA) response. Results: Fifty-five patients met the study criteria and underwent genetic screening for AIP/MEN1 mutations. No mutations were identified and large deletions/duplications were ruled out using MLPA. In a cohort of sporadic somatotropinomas, low AIP-IHC tumors were significantly larger (P = 0.002) and were more frequently sparsely granulated (P = 0.046) than high AIP-IHC tumors. No significant relationship between AIP-IHC and SSA responses was seen. Conclusions: Germline mutations in AIP/MEN1 in pituitary adenoma patients are rare and the use of general risk criteria did not identify cases in a large tertiary-referral setting. In acromegaly, low AIP-IHC was related to larger tumor size and more frequent sparsely granulated subtype but no relationship with SSA responsiveness was seen. The genetics of pituitary adenomas remains largely unexplained and AIP screening criteria could be significantly refined to focus on large, aggressive tumors in young patients

Creating Strategies for Enhancing Complex New Product Development: Cluster Analysis of DEA Results

Firms need to constantly innovate to survive and remain competitive in the marketplace. Despite this, little research has examined the dynamics that affect innovation in large-scale, complex organizations that leverage multiple teams. This study utilizes data envelopment analysis output from a sample of new product development teams to create clusters based on how teams need to change communication-related inputs to increase creative efficiency. The study results exemplify how this approach can provide recommendations that sets of teams can implement, optimizing the use of resources compared to making individual adjustments. Implications are provided for new product development and large multinational enterprises

New Product Development Creativity: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

Innovation is critical for firm competitiveness and survival. A crucial part of innovation is team brainstorming and idea generation. Using a sample of one hundred and twenty-eight new product development managers in the United States, we examine communication factors that support the highest levels of efficiency for generating novel, useful, and manufacturable ideas during the initiation stage of the new product development process. The efficiency of new product development managers in achieving desirable creativity levels when examining these factors is assessed using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The study results provide practical recommendations to enhance team creative output by adjusting input values based on the performance of the most efficient units

Estudio descriptivo de los hábitos alimenticios y del consumo de alcohol en una muestra de estudiantes de la Universidad de Alicante

Objetivo. Describir la frecuencia de consumo de determinados alimentos y bebidas alcohólicas en una muestra de estudiantes de la Universidad de Alicante. Material y métodos. El instrumento utilizado para la recogida de datos fue un cuestionario de frecuencias de consumo, aplicado mediante entrevista personal a una muestra accidental de 1250 personas, (692 mujeres y 488 hombres), con un rango de edad de 17-40 años. Constaba de cuatro secciones: 1ª) número de comidas y lugar donde se realizan; 2ª) patrones de consumo de los distintos grupos de alimentos; 3ª) patrones de consumo de bebidas alcohólicas, diferenciando lo bebido de lunes a jueves y de viernes a domingo; y 4ª) datos de identificación y demográficos. Resultados. Los datos obtenidos coinciden con los expuestos por otros autores, y muestran que nuestro modelo alimentario se caracteriza por un alto consumo de carnes (=4 veces/semana), adecuada ingesta de huevos (=2,5 v/sem.) e hidratos de carbono complejos (arroz y pastas =4,2 v/sem.), consumo ligeramente inferior al recomendado de frutas (=5,3 v/sem.) e insuficiente de legumbres (=2,2 v:/sem.), verduras y hortalizas frescas (=3,9 v/sem.), y pescados (=2 v/sem.). El consumo de bebidas alcohólicas fue: 2,6 vasos/semana de cerveza, 2,1 v/sem. de combinados, 1,2 v/sem. de licores y 0,8 v/sem. de vino. Los porcentajes de consumidores fueron para la cerveza del 51,1 %, para los combinados del 61,4%, para los licores del 40,9%, y para el vino 18,7%. Los datos señalan que los hombres consumen más bebidas alcohólicas que las mujeres (t=7,79 p<0,001) y que quienes empiezan antes a consumirlas son quienes en mayor cantidad lo hacen (t=-3,17 p<0,001). Conclusiones. Pese a la diferencia existente entre medias de edad y nivel cultural, existe una similitud entre los datos obtenidos en este estudio y el realizado sobre la población de la ciudad de Alicante. Las encuestas alimentarias y de consumo de alcohol realizadas en España son escasas y con diversa metodología, lo que dificulta la comparación de los resultados obtenidos con otros estudios previos

Nurses’ Adherence to Patient Safety Principles: A Systematic Review

Background: Quality-of-care improvement and prevention of practice errors is dependent on nurses’ adherence to the principles of patient safety. Aims: This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the international literature, to synthesise knowledge and explore factors that influence nurses’ adherence to patient-safety principles. Methods: Electronic databases in English, Norwegian, and Finnish languages were searched, using appropriate keywords to retrieve empirical articles published from 2010–2019. Using the theoretical domains of the Vincent’s framework for analysing risk and safety in clinical practice, we synthesized our findings according to ‘patient’, ‘healthcare provider’, ‘task’, ‘work environment’, and ‘organisation and management’. Findings: Six articles were found that focused on adherence to patient-safety principles during clinical nursing interventions. They focused on the management of peripheral venous catheters, surgical hand rubbing instructions, double-checking policies of medicines management, nursing handover between wards, cardiac monitoring and surveillance, and care-associated infection precautions. Patients’ participation, healthcare providers’ knowledge and attitudes, collaboration by nurses, appropriate equipment and electronic systems, education and regular feedback, and standardization of the care process influenced nurses’ adherence to patient-safety principles. Conclusions: The revelation of individual and systemic factors has implications for nursing care practice, as both influence adherence to patient-safety principles. More studies using qualitative and quantitative methods are required to enhance our knowledge of measures needed to improve nurse’ adherence to patient-safety principles and their effects on patient-safety outcomes

Fault Diagnosis of Electric Transmission Lines Using Modular Neural Networks

"(c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works."This paper proposes a new method for fault diagnosis in electric power systems based on neural networks. With this method the diagnosis is performed by assigning a neural module for each type of component of the electric power system, whether it is a transmission line, bus or transformer. The neural modules for buses and transformers comprise two diagnostic levels which take into consideration the logic states of switches and relays, both internal and back-up. The neural module for transmission lines also has a third diagnostic level which takes into account the oscillograms of fault voltages and currents, as well as the frequency spectrums of these oscillograms, in order to verify if the transmission line had in fact been subjected to a fault. One important advantage of the diagnostic system proposed is that its implementation does not require the use of a network configurator for the system; it does not depend on the size of the power network, nor does it require retraining of the neural modules if the power network increases in size, making its application possible to only one component, a specific area, or the whole context of the power system..Flores, A.; Quiles Cucarella, E.; García Moreno, E.; Morant Anglada, FJ. (2016). Fault Diagnosis of Electric Transmission Lines Using Modular Neural Networks. IEEE Latin America Transactions. 14(8):3663-3668. doi:10.1109/TLA.2016.7786348S3663366814

E-cadherin expression is associated with somatostatin analogue response in acromegaly

Acromegaly is a rare disease resulting from hypersecretion of growth hormone (GH) and insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF1) typically caused by pituitary adenomas, which is associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Somatostatin analogues (SSAs) represent the primary medical therapy for acromegaly and are currently used as first‐line treatment or as second‐line therapy after unsuccessful pituitary surgery. However, a considerable proportion of patients do not adequately respond to SSAs treatment, and therefore, there is an urgent need to identify biomarkers predictors of response to SSAs. The aim of this study was to examine E‐cadherin expression by immunohistochemistry in fifty‐five GH‐producing pituitary tumours and determine the potential association with response to SSAs as well as other clinical and histopathological features. Acromegaly patients with tumours expressing low E‐cadherin levels exhibit a worse response to SSAs. E‐cadherin levels are associated with GH‐producing tumour histological subtypes. Our results indicate that the immunohistochemical detection of E‐cadherin might be useful in categorizing acromegaly patients based on the response to SSAs.ISCIII‐Subdirección General de Evaluación y Fomento de la Investigación PI13/02043 PI16/00175FEDER PI13/02043 PI16/00175Junta de Andalucía A‐0023‐2015 A‐0003‐2016 CTS‐1406 BIO‐0139Andalusian Ministry of Health C‐0015‐2014CIBERobn PI13/ 02043 PI16/0017

Metal-Semiconductor Interfaces in Thin-Film Transistors

The metal-semiconductor interface in thin-film transistors (TFTs) is one of the bottlenecks on the development of these devices. Although this interface does not play an active role in the transistor operation, a low-quality interface can be responsible for a low performance operation. In a-Si TFTs, a doped film can be used to improve this interface, however, in other TFT technologies, there is no doped film to be used. In this chapter, some alternatives to improve this interface are analysed. Also, the influence of this interface on the electrical stability of these devices is presented

The Influence of Parental Dietary Behaviors and Practices on Children’s Eating Habits

Poor dietary habits established during childhood might persist into adulthood, increasing the risk of developing obesity and obesity-related complications such as Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. It has been found that early modifications in eating habits, especially during childhood, might promote health and decrease the risk of developing diseases during later life. Various studies found a great influence of parental dietary habits on dietary behaviors of their children regardless of demographic characteristics such as gender, age, socioeconomic status and country; however, the exact mechanism is still not clear. Therefore, in this review, we aimed to investigate both parents' and children's dietary behaviors, and to provide evidence for the potential influence of parents' dietary behaviors and practices on certain children's eating habits. Family meals were found to contribute the most in modeling children's dietary habits as they represent an important moment of control and interaction between parents and their children. The parental practices that influenced their children most were role modeling and moderate restriction, suggesting that the increase of parental encouragement and decrease of excessive pressure could have a positive impact in their children's dietary behaviors. This narrative review highlights that parental child-feeding behaviors should receive more attention in research studies as modifiable risk factors, which could help to design future dietary interventions and policies to prevent dietary-related diseases