Orientación al mercado, resultados e indicadores básicos de competitividad, interrelación en las agencias de viajes

El presente trabajo analiza los efectos de la orientación al mercado en una doble vertiente: de un lado, estudia los efectos de la orientación al mercado sobre los resultados y, de otro, mide los efectos de la misma sobre los indicadores básicos de la competitividad. A su vez, se han considerado los efectos de las diferentes dimensiones de la orientación al mercado sobre diversas medidas de resultados empresariales. Los hallazgos obtenidos en el sector de las agencias de viaje permiten confirmar la existencia de una relación indirecta entre orientación al mercado y resultados, a través de su contribución a los indicadores básicos de competitividad. Asimismo se ha comprobado que las dimensiones de la orientación al mercado ejercen diferentes influencias sobre los resultados, de tal forma que no todas ellas poseen un efecto positivo.The present study analyses the consequences of market orientation from two perspectives: firstly, it studies the market orientation effects on results, and secondly, it measures those effects on competitiveness indicators. Additionally, the effects of market orientation on different dimensions of business performance have been considered. The results on travel agency sector support the relationship between market orientation and performance, through the contribution of competitiveness indicators. Furthermore, market orientation dimensions have diverse influences on performances; same of them have not showed a positive effect

Development of a Blended Course for Online Teaching: Process and Outcomes

In this study, we outline the different steps and strategies followed to develop an online formation program aimed to higher education teachers. The aim of this program is to provide with teaching competencies to face the challenges of the next decade's classroom, with a special focus on the role of digital technology in learning environments, through a combination of a self-managed course with a guided on-site training with real cases. A multicultural, multidisciplinary team conceives this blended learning format, which applies a storytelling approach for content generation and communication. A detailed description of the different factors and stages followed to undertake the project is presented, together with a series of recommendations to face similar activities in the applied teaching and educational innovation field. Specifically, the importance of an appropriate project design, management and timing is stressed. In this way, we contribute with the diffusion of an innovative, hybrid program to develop digital competences in higher education practitioners and a selection of criteria to undertake other supranational projects that count on a wide reach and follow a didactical approach

Programa de intervención psicológica en futbolistas : evaluación de habilidades psicológicas mediante el CPRD

Psychological training is a form of sports training that is gradually inserting itself into the work methods of many athletes and sports teams. We present the implementation of a psychological training programme whose goal is for athletes to learn psychological techniques and strategies and apply them to improving their psychological skills, both during training and competition; we also sought to ascertain whether there were any differences between the CPRD scores taken at the start of the intervention and those taken at the end of it. The sample consisted of 22 footballers ages 14 to 18 from a professional football club who compete in the children's and junior categories. The psychological intervention was conducted for five months through individualised (voluntary) work and group (obligatory) work. The results indicate that there were no significant differences between the initial and final scores on the different factors of the CPRD

Chloroacetylation of cyclostreptin influences its interaction with tubulin

Comunicaciones a congreso

Telemedicina i VIH

L'atenció de malalties cròniques complexes (diabetis, MPOC, VIH/Sida...) necessita cada vegada més recursos sanitaris. En el cas del VIH/Sida, els problemes a què s'enfronta una persona infectada han canviat força darrerament. Abans els principals esforços se centraven a augmentar el temps de vida dels pacients i ara es vol millorar la seva qualitat de vida, que és afectada per múltiples factors (mèdics, psicològics i socials). L'Hospital VIHrtual és un sistema de telemedicina que millora el seguiment i l'atenció a domicili de pacients VIH/Sida. Els principals serveis que el sistema ofereix tant als pacients com al personal sanitari per Internet són les consultes (per videoconferència, per xat i per missatges), la visualització de les dades del pacient, la gestió de cites, la telefarmàcia, les comunitats virtuals i la biblioteca. La principal innovació del sistema és que inclou tot el procés d'atenció del pacient de forma global per Internet (consultes, seguiment mèdic, psicològic i social, medicació, qualitat de vida, coordinació de l'equip d'atenció, etc.) sense pretendre grans innovacions tecnològiques sinó de serveis, ja que s'empren tecnologies provades i de baix cost. Durant dos anys es duu a terme una experiència pilot a l'Hospital Clínic de Barcelona amb un total de cent pacients (cinquanta en el grup experimental i cinquanta en el grup control, intercanviant-se al cap de l'any) i vint professionals sanitaris (metges, infermers, psicòlegs, psiquiatres, treballadors socials, farmacèutics, etc.). Amb aquest experiment es vol observar en quins casos el sistema de telemedicina és viable i millora l'atenció del pacient i en quins casos no, ja sigui per l'estat de salut del pacient, per la seva situació o pels seus coneixements, o ja sigui per limitacions en la coordinació dels professionals sanitaris

RUNX/AML and C/EBP factors regulate CD11a integrin expression in myeloid cells through overlapping regulatory elements

10 Figures. The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. Therefore, and solely to indicate this fact, this article is hereby marked ‘‘advertisement’’ in accordance with 18 U.S.C. section 1734.The CD11a/CD18 (leukocyte function-associated antigen 1 [LFA-1]) integrin mediates critical leukocyte adhesive interactions during immune and inflammatory responses. The CD11a promoter directs CD11a/CD18 integrin expression, and its activity in lymphoid cells depends on a functional RUNX1/AML-1–binding site (AML-110) within the MS7 sequence. We now report that MS7 contains a C/EBP-binding site (C/EBP-100), which overlaps with AML-110 and is bound by C/EBP factors in myeloid cells. C/EBP and RUNX/AML factors compete for binding to their respective cognate elements and bind to the CD11a promoter MS7 sequence in a cell lineage- and differentiation-dependent manner. In myeloid cells MS7 is primarily recognized by C/EBP factors in proliferating cells whereas RUNX/AML factors (especially RUNX3/AML-2) bind to MS7 in differentiated cells. RUNX3/AML-2 binding to the CD11a promoter correlates with increased RUNX3/AML-2 protein levels and enhanced CD11a/CD18 cell surface expression. The relevance of the AML-110 element is underscored by the ability of AML-1/ETO to inhibit CD11a promoter activity, thus explaining the low CD11a/CD18 expression in t(8;21)–containing myeloid leukemia cells. Therefore, the expression of the CD11a/CD18 integrin in myeloid cells is determined through the differential occupancy of the CD11a proximal promoter by transcription factors implicated in the pathogenesis of myeloid leukemia.From the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain; Clínica Universitaria, Universidad de Navarra, Spain; Institute of Human Genetics, Aarhus, Denmark; Hospital Universitario Gregorio Maranón, Madrid, Spain; University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver; and Department of Molecular Genetics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot Israel. Supported by grants 08.3/0026/2000.1 from Comunidad Auto´noma de Madrid, 01/0063-01 from Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias, and SAF2002-04615- C02-01 from Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (A.L.C.). We gratefully acknowledge Drs Ana Aranda and Aurora Sánchez-Pacheco for their very generous help with ChIP assays.Peer reviewe

Epigenetic signatures associated with different levels of differentiation potential in human stem cells

BACKGROUND: The therapeutic use of multipotent stem cells depends on their differentiation potential, which has been shown to be variable for different populations. These differences are likely to be the result of key changes in their epigenetic profiles. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: to address this issue, we have investigated the levels of epigenetic regulation in well characterized populations of pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESC) and multipotent adult stem cells (ASC) at the trancriptome, methylome, histone modification and microRNA levels. Differences in gene expression profiles allowed classification of stem cells into three separate populations including ESC, multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPC) and mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC). The analysis of the PcG repressive marks, histone modifications and gene promoter methylation of differentiation and pluripotency genes demonstrated that stem cell populations with a wider differentiation potential (ESC and MAPC) showed stronger representation of epigenetic repressive marks in differentiation genes and that this epigenetic signature was progressively lost with restriction of stem cell potential. Our analysis of microRNA established specific microRNA signatures suggesting specific microRNAs involved in regulation of pluripotent and differentiation genes. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study leads us to propose a model where the level of epigenetic regulation, as a combination of DNA methylation and histone modification marks, at differentiation genes defines degrees of differentiation potential from progenitor and multipotent stem cells to pluripotent stem cells

Imatinib inhibits proliferation of Ewing tumor cells mediated by the stem cell factor/KIT receptor pathway, and sensitizes cells to vincristine and doxorubicin-induced apoptosis

Purpose and Experimental Design: The stem cell factor/ KIT receptor loop may represent a novel target for molecular- based therapies of Ewing tumor. We analyzed the in vitro impact of KIT blockade by imatinib in Ewing tumor cell lines. Results: KIT expression was detected in 4 of 4 Ewing tumor cell lines and in 49 of 110 patient samples (44.5%) by immunohistochemistry and/or Western blot analysis. KIT expression was stronger in Ewing tumors showing EWSFLI1 nontype 1 fusions. Despite absence of c-kit mutations, constitutive and ligand-inducible phosphorylation of KIT was found in all tumor cell lines, indicating an active receptor. Treatment with KIT tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib (0.5–20 M) induced down-regulation of KIT phosphorylation and dose response inhibition of cell proliferation (IC50, 12–15 M). However, imatinib administered alone at doses close to IC50 for growth inhibition (10 M) did not induce a significant increase in apoptosis. We then analyzed if blockade of KIT loop through imatinib (10 M) was able to increase the antitumor in vitro effect of doxorubicin (DXR)and vincristine (VCR), drugs usually used in Ewing tumor treatment. Addition of imatinib decreased in 15–20 and 15–36% of the proliferative rate of Ewing tumor cells exposed to DXR and VCR, respectively, and increased in 15 and 30% of the apoptotic rate of Ewing tumor cells exposed to the same drugs. Conclusions: Inhibition of Ewing tumor cell proliferation by imatinib is mediated through blockade of KIT receptor signaling. Inhibition of KIT increases sensitivity of these cells to DXR and VCR. This study supports a potential role for imatinib in the treatment of Ewing tumor

Usefulness of manufactured tomato extracts in the diagnosis of tomato sensitization: Comparison with the prick-prick method

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Commercial available skin prick test with fruits can be negative in sensitized or allergic patients due to a reduction in biological activity during the manufacturing process. Prick-prick tests with fresh foods are often preferred, but they are a non-standardized procedure. The usefulness of freeze-dried extracts of Canary Islands tomatoes, comparing the wheal sizes induced by prick test with the prick-prick method in the diagnosis of tomato sensitization has been analyzed.</p> <p>The objective of the study was to assess the potential diagnostic of freeze-dried extracts of Canary Islands tomatoes, comparing the wheal sizes induced by prick test with the prick-prick method.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two groups of patients were analyzed: Group I: 26 individuals reporting clinical symptoms induced by tomato contact or ingestion. Group II: 71 control individuals with no symptoms induced by tomato: 12 of them were previously skin prick test positive to a tomato extract, 39 were atopic and 20 were non-atopic. All individuals underwent prick-prick with fresh ripe peel Canary tomatoes and skin prick tested with freeze-dried peel and pulp extracts obtained from peel and pulp of Canary tomatoes at 10 mg/ml. Wheal sizes and prick test positivity (≥ 7 mm²) were compared between groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In group I, 21 (81%) out of 26 patients were prick-prick positive. Twenty patients (77%) had positive skin prick test to peel extracts and 12 (46%) to pulp extracts. Prick-prick induced a mean wheal size of 43.81 ± 40.19 mm²compared with 44.25 ± 36.68 mm²induced by the peel extract (Not significant), and 17.79 ± 9.39 mm²induced by the pulp extract (p < 0.01).</p> <p>In group II, 13 (18%) out of 71 control patients were prick-prick positive. Twelve patients (all of them previously positive to peel extract) had positive skin prick test to peel and 3 to pulp. Prick-prick induced a mean wheal size of 28.88 ± 13.12 mm²compared with 33.17 ± 17.55 mm²induced by peel extract (Not significant), and 13.33 ± 4.80 mm²induced by pulp extract (p < 0.05 with peel extract and prick-prick).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Canary peel tomato extract seems to be as efficient as prick-prick tests with ripe tomatoes to diagnose patients sensitized to tomato. The wheal sizes induced by prick-prick and peel extracts were very similar and showed a high correlation coefficient.</p

Transcriptional silencing of the Dickkopfs-3 (Dkk-3) gene by CpG hypermethylation in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Dkk-3 is a newly characterised mortalisation-related gene and an antagonist of the Wnt oncogenic signalling pathway whose expression is decreased in a variety of cancer cell lines, suggesting that the Dkk-3 gene, located at chromosome 11p15.1, functions as a tumour suppressor gene. Although 11p15 is a ‘hot spot’ for methylation in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), the role of Dkk-3 abnormalities has never been evaluated in this disease. We analysed CpG island methylation of the Dkk-3 promoter in six ALL cell lines and 183 ALL patients. We observed Dkk-3 hypermethylation in all cell lines and in cells from 33% (60/183) of ALL patients. Moreover, Dkk-3 methylation was associated with decreased Dkk-3 mRNA expression and this expression was restored after exposure to the demethylating agent 5-AzaC. Clinical features did not differ between hypermethylated and unmethylated patients. Estimated disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival at 10 and 11 years, respectively, were 49.8 and 45.6% for normal patients and 10.5 and 15.1% for hypermethylated patients (P¼0.001 and 0.09). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that Dkk-3 methylation was an independent prognostic factor predicting DFS (P¼0.0009). Our data suggest that Dkk-3 methylation occurs at an early stage in ALL pathogenesis and probably influences the clinical behaviour of the disease