The Internet as a Small Business E-Commerce Ecosystem.

The purpose of this chapter is to analyse how the ecosystem concept can be applied to small businesses and how the Internet and e-commerce can help SMEs harness the required resources to enhance their competitive performance in the marketplace. The chapter will investigate the wide variety of e-commerce applications that are available to small businesses to help address the issue of limited resources. It will provide an ecosystem map illustrating how each functional area of a small business can utilise Internet e-commerce applications to enhance their resource base. The chapter also explores the opportunities and threats that the e-commerce ecosystem model poses for small, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is based upon empirical research consisting of three focus group interviews undertaken with small and medium-sized retail service firms located in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire regions of the United Kingdom in January–February 2014

Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia: An updated appraisal of national guidelines

Recent reports from several developed countries have documented a resurgence of biliru-bin encephalopathy causing both healthcare and forensic issues. For these reasons, many national pediatric societies have issued recommendations on the diagnosis and the treatment of clinically significant neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. The differences among individual national documents may have an impact on neonatal healthcare. This paper shortly reviews the advantages and the shortcom-ings of the main international guidelines with a focus on the available evidence

Collagen type I synthesized by pancreatic periacinar stellate cells (PSC) co-localizes with lipid peroxidation-derived aldehydes in chronic alcoholic pancreatitis.

Chronic alcoholic pancreatitis (CAP) is characterized by progressive pancreatic fibrosis and loss of the acinar cell mass, but the pathogenesis of pancreatic fibrosis in the human is poorly understood. It has been recently suggested that lipid peroxidation-derived aldehydes such as 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) are involved in tissue damage and fibrosis in other organs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of oxidative stress in the development of alcohol-induced pancreatic fibrosis in humans, and to assess the contribution of pancreatic periacinar stellate cells (PSC) in the in vivo synthesis of extracellular matrix components during CAP. Lipid peroxidation was evaluated in tissue specimens obtained from patients with CAP who underwent surgical procedures, by immunohistochemistry using a monoclonal antibody directed against HNE-protein adducts. Immunohistochemical determination of collagen type I, \u3b1-smooth muscle actin (\u3b1-SMA), and the \u3b2 subunit of human platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-R\u3b2) was also performed. In addition, the tissue mRNA expression of procollagen I, PDGF-R\u3b2, and transforming growth factor-\u3b21 (TGF-\u3b21) was evaluated by in situ hybridization. In CAP, increased formation of HNE-protein adducts was evident in acinar cells adjacent to the interlobular connective tissue that stained positively for collagen type I. HNE staining was absent in normal pancreas. Several non-parenchymal periacinar cells (PSC) underlay the HNE-stained acinar cells. Those PSC stained positively for \u3b1-SMA and PDGF-R\u3b2 and showed active synthesis of procollagen type I by in situ expression of the specific mRNAs. The pattern of expression of PDGF-R\u3b2 mRNA reflected that observed in immunostaining, showing increased amounts of transcripts in PSC. TGF-\u3b21 mRNA expression was increased in CAP, but transcripts were found in several cell types including PSC, acinar, and ductal cells. These results indicate that significant lipid peroxidation phenomena occur in CAP and that they are associated with active synthesis of collagen by PSC

Novel organ-specific genetic factors for quantitative resistance to late blight in potato.

Potato, Solanum tuberosum, is one of the major consumed food in the world, being the basis of the diet of millions of people. The main limiting and destructive disease of potato is late blight, caused by Phytophtora infestans. Here, we present a multi-environmental analysis of the response to P. infestans using an association panel of 150 accessions of S. tuberosum Group Phureja, evaluated in two localities in Colombia. Disease resistance data were merged with a genotyping matrix of 83,862 SNPs obtained by 2b-restriction site-associated DNA and Genotyping by sequencing approaches into a Genome-wide association study. We are reporting 16 organ-specific QTL conferring resistance to late blight. These QTL explain between 13.7% and 50.9% of the phenotypic variance. Six and ten QTL were detected for resistance response in leaves and stem, respectively. In silico analysis revealed 15 candidate genes for resistance to late blight. Four of them have no functional genome annotation, while eleven candidate genes code for diverse proteins, including a leucine-rich repeat kinase

Antidiabetic thiazolidinediones inhibit invasiveness of pancreatic cancer cells via PPARγ independent mechanisms

Background/Aims: Thiazolidinediones (TZD) are a new class of oral antidiabetic drugs that have been shown to inhibit growth of some epithelial cancer cells. Although TZD were found to be ligands for peroxisome proliferators activated receptor γ (PPARγ) the mechanism by which TZD exert their anticancer effect is currently unclear. Furthermore, the effect of TZD on local motility and metastatic potential of cancer cells is unknown. The authors analysed the effects of two TZD, rosiglitazone and pioglitazone, on invasiveness of human pancreatic carcinoma cell lines in order to evaluate the potential therapeutic use of these drugs in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Methods: Expression of PPARγ in human pancreatic adenocarcinomas and pancreatic carcinoma cell lines was measured by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and confirmed by western blot analysis. PPARγ activity was evaluated by transient reporter gene assay. Invasion assay was performed in modified Boyden chambers. Gelatinolytic and fibrinolytic activity were evaluated by gel zymography. Results: TZD inhibited pancreatic cancer cells’ invasiveness, affecting gelatinolytic and fibrinolytic activity with a mechanism independent of PPARγ activation and involving MMP-2 and PAI-1 expression. Conclusion: TZD treatment in pancreatic cancer cells has potent inhibitory effects on growth and invasiveness suggesting that these drugs may have application for prevention and treatment of pancreatic cancer in humans