A Model to Measure the Service Quality of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers

The study constituters a model to measure the service quality of pharmaceutical wholesalers in South Africa. Several pharmaceutical wholesalers distribute medical supplies throughout South Africa in a very regulated and competitive market where high service quality levels are anticipated. In this price-undifferentiated market, service quality can have a significant impact on the competitiveness of a pharmaceutical wholesaler. As a result, the primary objective was to develop a model to measure the service quality levels of large pharmaceutical wholesalers. The literature study compiled an industry profile of the South African pharmaceutical market, analysed service quality and then proposed an adapted SERVQUAL model to measure the service quality. A review of the literature also highlighted the general structure of the pharmaceutical industry and the regulatory framework in the supply of pharmaceutical products. The literature study also focuses specifically on the role and function of the pharmaceutical wholesaler in the supply chain. Data was collected from clients of a pharmaceutical wholesaler using to record the service expectations and perceptions on a seven-point Likert scale. Some 385 of the 4468 clients completed and returned the industry-adapted SERVQUAL survey questionnaires on the electronic platform Google Forms (signifying an 8.6% response rate). The results showed that the data were reliable with a Cronbach alpha coefficient higher than 0.70. The results also show that in five, the service dimensions gap where perceptions and expectations are measured had negative gaps. This means that the clients expected better service quality than what they received. The service dimension Assurance showed the largest gap, while Tangibility had the smallest gap. However, none of these gaps was practically significant. Further analysis using exploratory factor analysis identified three underlying service quality variables, namely Positive employee actions, Business process management and Marketing channels. These factors explained a favourable cumulative variance of 67.7%. The study finally proposes a model to measure service quality in the pharmaceutical wholesale industry

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30

P2 receptor-mediated modulation of neurotransmitter release—an update

Presynaptic nerve terminals are equipped with a number of presynaptic auto- and heteroreceptors, including ionotropic P2X and metabotropic P2Y receptors. P2 receptors serve as modulation sites of transmitter release by ATP and other nucleotides released by neuronal activity and pathological signals. A wide variety of P2X and P2Y receptors expressed at pre- and postsynaptic sites as well as in glial cells are involved directly or indirectly in the modulation of neurotransmitter release. Nucleotides are released from synaptic and nonsynaptic sites throughout the nervous system and might reach concentrations high enough to activate these receptors. By providing a fine-tuning mechanism these receptors also offer attractive sites for pharmacotherapy in nervous system diseases. Here we review the rapidly emerging data on the modulation of transmitter release by facilitatory and inhibitory P2 receptors and the receptor subtypes involved in these interactions

LIF-Dependent Signaling: New Pieces in the Lego

LIF, a member of the IL6 family of cytokine, displays pleiotropic effects on various cell types and organs. Its critical role in stem cell models (e.g.: murine ES, human mesenchymal cells) and its essential non redundant function during the implantation process of embryos, in eutherian mammals, put this cytokine at the core of many studies aiming to understand its mechanisms of action, which could benefit to medical applications. In addition, its conservation upon evolution raised the challenging question concerning the function of LIF in species in which there is no implantation. We present the recent knowledge about the established and potential functions of LIF in different stem cell models, (embryonic, hematopoietic, mesenchymal, muscle, neural stem cells and iPSC). We will also discuss EVO-DEVO aspects of this multifaceted cytokine

Search for supersymmetry in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least one tau lepton in 20 fb−1 of √s=8 TeV proton-proton collision data with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry (SUSY) in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, at least one hadronically decaying tau lepton and zero or one additional light leptons (electron/muon), has been performed using 20.3fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at √s= 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed in the various signal regions and 95% confidence level upper limits on the visible cross section for new phenomena are set. The results of the analysis are interpreted in several SUSY scenarios, significantly extending previous limits obtained in the same final states. In the framework of minimal gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models, values of the SUSY breaking scale Λ below 63 TeV are excluded, independently of tan β. Exclusion limits are also derived for an mSUGRA/CMSSM model, in both the R-parity-conserving and R-parity-violating case. A further interpretation is presented in a framework of natural gauge mediation, in which the gluino is assumed to be the only light coloured sparticle and gluino masses below 1090 GeV are excluded

A rights revolution in Europe? Regulatory and judicial approaches to nondiscrimination in insurance

In a recent decision, the European Court of Justice has ruled that insurers cannot discriminate on grounds of sex in setting premiums or determining benefits. This paper discusses the background to this decision. It asks whether we are seeing a US-style ‘rights revolution’, fuelled by judicial activism, as suggested by Dobbin et al’s hypothesis of ‘the strength of weak states’ or Kagan and Kelemen’s account of ‘adversarial legalism’. It is shown that neither of these theories captures the distinctive nature of the ECJ’s intervention. An industry-friendly policy was pursued in regulatory venues, but this was overridden by the ECJ’s interpretation of the fundamental right of equal treatment. However, it is also shown that the judicial defence of fundamental rights is a weak basis for social policy, and does not foreshadow a revolution in the development of social rights in Europe

Ménétrier disease and gastrointestinal stromal tumors: hyperproliferative disorders of the stomach

Ménétrier disease and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are hyperproliferative disorders of the stomach caused by dysregulated receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). In Ménétrier disease, overexpression of TGF-α, a ligand for the RTK EGFR, results in selective expansion of surface mucous cells in the body and fundus of the stomach. In GISTs, somatic mutations of the genes encoding the RTK KIT (or PDGFRA in a minority of cases) result in constitutive kinase activity and neoplastic transformation of gut pacemaker cells (interstitial cells of Cajal). On the basis of the involvement of these RTKs in the pathogenesis of these disorders, Ménétrier disease patients have been effectively treated with a blocking monoclonal antibody specific for EGFR and GIST patients with KIT and PDGFRA tyrosine kinase inhibitors