Toma de decisiones estratégicas soportadas por un modelo de optimización que integra la manufactura y distribución en una compañía química global

A medida que las organizaciones crecen, las cadenas de suministro lo hacen también en complejidad, lo cual plantea un reto importante que representa al mismo tiempo oportunidades de mejora que pueden tornarse en ventajas competitivas; por ello surge la necesidad de tomar mejores decisiones a un nivel estratégico tales como la definición de en dónde producir materiales y desde dónde distribuir a los clientes, de tal manera que los beneficios se maximicen. Este problema es conocido como el de rediseño de una red logística. En esta ponencia se presenta un problema de este tipo donde se busca mejorar la utilidad bruta de una compañía química global en cinco plantas y ocho centro de distribución de la región latinoamericana.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Potential Protection of Pre-Existent Antibodies to Human Coronavirus 229E on COVID-19 Severity

The causes of the broad spectrum of severity in COVID-19 are unknown. A protective effect through humoral immunity from previous infections by viruses of the SARS-CoV-2 family could explain a mild form of this disease. This study aimed to address whether the presence of antibodies against human seasonal coronaviruses (HCoVs) could prevent severe manifestations of COVID-19. A cross-sectional study was carried out in 165 participants. The presence of pre-existent antibodies against the seasonal HCoV-OC43, HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-229E, and HCoV-NL63 were detected. From all of the seasonal HCoVs studied, it was only found that being seropositive to HCoV-229E presented an association (p = 0.012) with developing mild clinical symptoms of COVID-19 or being asymptomatic. Multinomial regression analysis showed that being seropositive to HCoV-229E is associated with mild or moderate clinical symptoms for COVID-19. Statistical analysis also showed that being female is associated with being asymptomatic for SARS-CoV-2 infection or developing mild COVID-19. A subgroup analysis taking only seropositive to HCoV-229E revealed that females are more likely to develop asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR = 27.242, 95% CI 2.092–354.706, p = 0.012). Our results suggest that previous infections by HCoV-229E could prevent more serious clinical manifestations of COVID-19, but these are not the only variables that influence this event