Collaboration experience in the supply chain of knowledge and patent development

In this paper we aim at understanding the role of collaboration experience in supply chains of knowledge (SCoK). The SCoK of a company is its supply chain not related to the flow of physical goods but to the flow of R&D commodities. R&D commodities are for example patents, technologies, research services, studies, and projects, and, in high-tech industries, their development and commercialization is considered as important as real products. To accomplish our aim in this paper we fulfil the following research objectives: 1) investigate the relationship between the collaboration experience in SCoK and the propensity of the firm to develop new patents; 2) examine how the structural embeddedness of the firm within its SCoK mediates this relationship. We ground our conceptual model on the supply chain, open innovation and social capital literatures and empirically test our hypotheses on a cross-sectional dataset of 208 biotech companies that have signed 612 SCoK agreements in the years 2006–2010. The key findings of this study are: first, accumulating experience in SCoK collaborations facilitates the development of new patents; second, being central and bridging structural holes within the SCoK are two means by which the experience in SCoK collaborations is translated into new patents

Context Change Detection for an Ultra-Low Power Low-Resolution Ego-Vision Imager

With the increasing popularity of wearable cameras, such as GoPro or Narrative Clip, research on continuous activity monitoring from egocentric cameras has received a lot of attention. Research in hardware and software is devoted to find new efficient, stable and long-time running solutions; however, devices are too power-hungry for truly always-on operation, and are aggressively duty-cycled to achieve acceptable lifetimes. In this paper we present a wearable system for context change detection based on an egocentric camera with ultra-low power consumption that can collect data 24/7. Although the resolution of the captured images is low, experimental results in real scenarios demonstrate how our approach, based on Siamese Neural Networks, can achieve visual context awareness. In particular, we compare our solution with hand-crafted features and with state of art technique and propose a novel and challenging dataset composed of roughly 30000 low-resolution images

Fertility sparing treatment of endometrial cancer with and without initial infiltration of myometrium: A single center experience

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the fourth largest female cancer in Europe and North America. In 5% of cases, the diagnosis is made in women who wish to become pregnant. In our retrospective study, we reported our experience about fertility sparing treatment of G1 endometrioid endometrial cancer (G1 EEC) or atypical endometrial hyperplasia/endometrial intraepithelial neoplasm (AEH/EIN) in young women desiring pregnancy treated in our Center. Conservative treatment was based on operative hysteroscopy and hormone therapy with megestrol acetate (160 mg/die for 9 months). For the first time we included women with G1 EEC with minimal myometrial infiltration. The minimum follow-up period was two years and consisted of serial outpatient hysteroscopies with endometrial biopsies. Among the 36 women with G1 EEC we observed one case of disease persistence and four recurrences and four recurrences among the 46 women diagnosed with AEH/EIN. To date, 35 live births were obtained in both groups. Our results advance the hypothesis that conservative treatment can represent a safe and feasible alternative to propose to young women with desire for pregnancy. Further randomized and multicentric studies are needed to arrive at unambiguous and standardized guidelines on the surgical and medical treatment of young women with EEC or AEH/EIN

Is preoperative ultrasound tumor size a prognostic factor in endometrial carcinoma patients?

Objective: We aimed to assess the prognostic value of preoperative ultrasound tumor size in EC through a single center, observational, retrospective, cohort study. Methods: Medical records and electronic clinical databases were searched for all consecutive patients with EC, preoperative ultrasound scans available to ad hoc estimate tumor size, and a follow-up of at least 2-year, at our Institution from January 2010 to June 2018. Patients were divided into two groups based on different dimensional cut-offs for the maximum tumor diameter: 2, 3 and 4 cm. Differences in overall survival (OS), disease specific survival (DSS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were assessed among the groups by using the Kaplan–Meier estimator and the log-rank test. Results: 108 patients were included in the study. OS, DSS and PFS did not significantly differ between the groups based on the different tumor diameter cut-offs. No significant differences were found among the groups sub-stratified by age, BMI, FIGO stage, FIGO grade, lymphovascular space invasion status, myometrial invasion, lymph nodal involvement, histotype, and adjuvant treatment. Conclusions: Preoperative ultrasound tumor size does not appear as a prognostic factor in EC women

Osservatorio comorbidità nei grandi anziani con Fibrillazione Atriale

La Fibrillazione Atriale (FA) è una patologia correlata all’età - colpisce il 16% degli ultra ottantacinquenni - che aumenta di circa cinque volte il rischio di ictus cerebrale. La terapia anticoagulante ha un ruolo centrale nel trattamento della FA, e la sua applicazione nel paziente anziano è ostacolata dalla presenza di comorbidità, di politerapia e dalla necessità di gestione delle possibili interazioni farmacologiche. Ulteriori elementi di difficoltà derivano dalla interazione tra diversi specialisti, dall’inerzia prescrittiva, dalla complessità del sistema di accesso alle cure e, non ultimo, anche dalle difficoltà di gestione del paziente anziano in terapia anticoagulante da parte dei caregiver familiari. Obiettivo dell’Osservatorio è stato identificare le problematiche dei pazienti con FA riguardo la gestione della terapia anticoagulante in presenza di diverse patologie e terapie concomitanti, attraverso il contributo del Board multistakeholder, dell’analisi della comunicazione on line sulla FA, nonché a due survey su medici e pazienti. È stato delineato un quadro della condizione dei pazienti anziani con FA e delle difficoltà nella gestione quotidiana della malattia, a partire dal quale sono state formulate alcune proposte di intervento rivolte ai decisori, ai clinici e in generale a tutti coloro che sono chiamati alla gestione concreta della malattia insieme a pazienti e caregive

Scale effect on hydraulic conductivity and solute transport: Small and large-scale laboratory experiments and field experiments

[EN] Hydraulic conductivity (K), dispersivity (alpha) and partition coefficient (K-d) can change according to the measurement support (scale) and that is referred to as scale effect. However, there is no clear consensus about the behavior of these parameters with the change in the scale. Comparison between results obtained in different support of measurements in the field and in the laboratory can promote the discussion about scale effects on K, alpha, and K-d, and contribute to understanding how these parameters behave with the change in the scale of measurement, the main objectives of the present paper. Small and large-scale laboratory tests using undisturbed soil samples and field experiments at different scales were performed. Results show that for the same measurement condition, K, alpha, and K-d increase with scale in all studied magnitudes. Caution should be taken when using K, alpha, and K-d values in numerical models with no concern about the scale effect. The lack of consideration of the difference of scale between field and laboratory measurements and numerical model may compromise the reliability of the predictions and misrepresent the responses.The authors thank the financial support by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (Project 401441/2014-8). The doctoral fellowship awarded to the first author by the Coordination of Improvement of Higher Level Personnel (CAPES) is gratefully acknowledged. The first author also thanks the international mobility grant awarded by CNPq, through the Science Without Borders program (grant number: 200597/2015-9), and the international mobility grant awarded by Santander Mobility in cooperation with the University of Sao Paulo.Almeida De-Godoy, V.; Zuquette, L.; Gómez-Hernández, JJ. (2018). Scale effect on hydraulic conductivity and solute transport: Small and large-scale laboratory experiments and field experiments. Engineering Geology. 243:196-205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2018.06.020S19620524

Frequency of left ventricular hypertrophy in non-valvular atrial fibrillation

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is significantly related to adverse clinical outcomes in patients at high risk of cardiovascular events. In patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), data on LVH, that is, prevalence and determinants, are inconsistent mainly because of different definitions and heterogeneity of study populations. We determined echocardiographic-based LVH prevalence and clinical factors independently associated with its development in a prospective cohort of patients with non-valvular (NV) AF. From the "Atrial Fibrillation Registry for Ankle-brachial Index Prevalence Assessment: Collaborative Italian Study" (ARAPACIS) population, 1,184 patients with NVAF (mean age 72 \ub1 11 years; 56% men) with complete data to define LVH were selected. ARAPACIS is a multicenter, observational, prospective, longitudinal on-going study designed to estimate prevalence of peripheral artery disease in patients with NVAF. We found a high prevalence of LVH (52%) in patients with NVAF. Compared to those without LVH, patients with AF with LVH were older and had a higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and previous myocardial infarction (MI). A higher prevalence of ankle-brachial index 640.90 was seen in patients with LVH (22 vs 17%, p = 0.0392). Patients with LVH were at significantly higher thromboembolic risk, with CHA2DS2-VASc 652 seen in 93% of LVH and in 73% of patients without LVH (p <0.05). Women with LVH had a higher prevalence of concentric hypertrophy than men (46% vs 29%, p = 0.0003). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that female gender (odds ratio [OR] 2.80, p <0.0001), age (OR 1.03 per year, p <0.001), hypertension (OR 2.30, p <0.001), diabetes (OR 1.62, p = 0.004), and previous MI (OR 1.96, p = 0.001) were independently associated with LVH. In conclusion, patients with NVAF have a high prevalence of LVH, which is related to female gender, older age, hypertension, and previous MI. These patients are at high thromboembolic risk and deserve a holistic approach to cardiovascular prevention

Role of collaborative supply chain of innovation in firm’s performance

This work depicts the Supply Chain of Innovation (SCoI) including only those kinds of relationships related to the purchase and selling of R&D commodities. The theoretical framework represents the propensity of a firm in improving its innovation performance thanks to its collaboration experience and positioning in SCoI. We validate our theoretical framework on a sample of 208 biotechnology companies involved in 814 SCoI agreements. Our results show the positive direct impact of SCoI collaboration experience on innovation performance and a mediating role of positioning in SCoI on the abovementioned link

Role of collaborative supply chain of innovation in firm’s performance

This work depicts the Supply Chain of Innovation (SCoI) including only those kinds of relationships related to the purchase and selling of R&D commodities. The theoretical framework represents the propensity of a firm in improving its innovation performance thanks to its collaboration experience and positioning in SCoI. We validate our theoretical framework on a sample of 208 biotechnology companies involved in 814 SCoI agreements. Our results show the positive direct impact of SCoI collaboration experience on innovation performance and a mediating role of positioning in SCoI on the abovementioned link