Raman Spectroscopy for Noninvasive Monitoring of Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells Viability Transitions

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Herpes zoster infection associated with acute coronary syndrome: a population-based retrospective cohort study

[[abstract]]BACKGROUND: Vasculopathy in varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection and a proposed association between herpes virus infection and atherosclerosis suggest a possible link between VZV infection and vascular thrombosis. OBJECTIVES: To determine the risk of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) associated with herpes zoster infection. METHODS: We used the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database to identify 57,958 patients newly diagnosed with herpes zoster between 1999 and 2010; 231,832 patients without herpes zoster were examined as the control group. Both cohorts were followed up until the end of 2010 to measure the incidence of ACS. Cox proportional-hazards regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to measure the hazard ratios (HR) and the cumulative incidences of ACS, respectively. RESULTS: The incidence of ACS was 1·24-fold higher in the herpes zoster group than in the control group [36·8 vs. 29·6 per 10,000 person-years, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·16-1·33]. After adjusting for age, sex and comorbidities, the HR of ACS for the herpes zoster group compared with the control group was 1·15 (95% CI 1·07-1·24). Analysis by the time lag (≤ 3 months, ≤ 1 year, > 1 year) showed that the incidence of ACS remained significantly higher in the herpes zoster group than in the control group, with an adjusted HR of 1·10 (95% CI 1·02-1·19) after the 1-year follow-up period. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that the risk of ACS was significantly higher in the herpes zoster group than in the control group (P < 0·001). CONCLUSION: Herpes zoster infection is associated with an increased risk of ACS. © 2013 British Association of Dermatologists

Managing professions for knowledge management

In the last years, Knowledge Management (KM) studies have focused on the foundations of this \u201cnew managerial discipline\u201d. Nowadays, there is an increasing need to transform the theoretical speculations into managerial tools, and to find solutions to practical questions concerning daily KM activity. A key issue that still requires investigation regards the management of human resources devoted to KM. The paper aims at analyzing this topic by means of an in-depth investigation of the relevant experience of some leading companies. In particular it examines the problem of managing new roles and tasks for KM, the issue of developing structured KM units, and the question of evaluating KM activities. A discussion of the possible implications for research and management is carried out in the conclusions