11C-meta-hydroxyephedrine: a promising PET radiopharmaceutical for imaging the sympathetic nervous system.11C-meta-hydroxyephedrine: a promising PET radiopharmaceutical for imaging the sympathetic nervous system.

Dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system underlies many cardiac diseases and can be assessed by molecular imaging using SPECT tracers as I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (I-MIBG). The norepinephrine analog C-meta-hydroxyephedrine (HED) has been used with PET to map the regional distribution of cardiac sympathetic neurons. Hydroxyephedrine is rapidly transported into sympathetic neurons by the norepinephrine transporter and stored in vesicles. This review describes the mechanism of action, radiosynthesis, and application of HED in the assessment of the cardiac sympathetic nervous system in heart failure, myocardial infarction, and arrhythmias. Noncardiac applications of HED in the clinical setting of sympathetic nervous system tumors and other emerging research applications are describe

Reputation Management in the Tourism Industry

This article will discuss reputational risk, its implications for companies involved in the tourism industry, and how companies’ supervisors assess the management’s ability to measure and monitor this risk. Reputational risk is defined as the potential impacts of negative publicity related to an institution’s/company’s/country’s business practices, regardless true or not; those impacts can range from a decline in the customer base or revenue reductions to costly litigations. Also, destination reputation is the public’s general feeling, impression and cognition of it. A good reputation is an intangible asset for tourism destinations and a vital aspect of sustainable development. Reserving a good reputation revolves around effectively communicating and building solid relationships. Reputational risk is managed through strong corporate governance. How should reputational risk be managed internally in tourism industry companies? The following are just a few examples of key elements for managing reputational risk: Maintaining timely and efficient communications amongst government, customers, boards of directors of companies in tourism industry, and employeesEstablishing strong enterprise risk management policies and procedures throughout the organization, including an effective anti-fraud programReinforcing a risk management culture by creating awareness at all staff levelsInstilling ethics throughout the organisation by enforcing a code of conduct for the board, management, and staffDeveloping a comprehensive system of internal controls and practices, including those related to computer systems and transactional websitesComplying with current laws and regulations and enforcing existing policies and proceduresImplementing independent testing and transactional testing on a regular basisEstablishing a crisis management team in the event there is a significant action that may trigger a negative impact on the organization and the touristic destination as a whole.Although building a destination’s reputation may take years, it can certainly be damaged or even destroyed very quickly. Reputational risk depends on a combination of factors daily facing the tourism industry. Governments, local authorities and senior management are responsible for measuring and monitoring reputational risk and therefore must remain vigilant and active in providing the safeguards to prevent loss of reputation. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The additional diagnostic value of contemporary evaluation of FDG PET/CT scan and contrast enhanced CT imaging both acquired by a last generation PET/CT system in oncologic patients.

Last generation PET tomographs are equipped with a state-of-the-art CT scanner. Normally, CT images are acquired with suboptimal parameters and without intravenous contrast media, being used for attenuation correction and localization only. For this reason, no CT report is usually provided. Most of the patients who are referred for an FDG PET/CT scan, however, present with a diagnostic CT indicating that a PET/CT is required to characterize otherwise equivocal findings and, in the end, undergo both the techniques to reach a final diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the contemporary execution of both the techniques employing a PET/CT scanner on the conclusiveness of the final report. Secondary aim was to verify the concordance of the two reports. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-eight patients affected by hypermetabolic malignant diseases (15F-23M, mean age 58\ub117 years) were enrolled. Twenty-two were in staging, 16 in restaging. They underwent a standard FDG PET/CT scan immediately followed by a diagnostic contrast enhanced (ce)CT scan acquired on the same tomograph. The PET/CT scan was reported by a nuclear medicine physician while the ceCT by a radiologist, independently. Then, they wrote a conclusive paragraph formulated by consensus. The results were compared in terms of stage (FDG PET/CT vs. ceCT and vs. final stage by consensus) and positivity of T, N and M by the inter-rater agreement K. RESULTS: In all the patients, a final, conclusive and agreed stage was reached. There was a high concordance in terms of stage between FDG PET/CT and ceCT (K=0.874), ceCT and final stage (K=0.936), FDG PET/CT and final stage (K=0.938). In two cases, ceCT contributed significantly to the final stage, while PET/CT in four patients. More in details, for the detection of T, there was a complete concordance between PET/CT and ceCT, despite PET/CT wasn't able to provide an accurate evaluation of nearby structures infiltration. K was 0.785 for the assessing of N and 0.718 for M. In general, ceCT was more sensitive for the detection of lung and brain metastasis. FDG PET/CT was more accurate for the identification of nodal metastasis and small distant lesions, especially in the abdomen. DISCUSSION: Our data show that the execution of PET/ceCT in the same session by using the same hybrid tomography increases the quality of the final report by nuclear physician and radiologist and provides clear diagnostic information to the clinician. Copyright \ua9 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. PMID: 23433901 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

The Sharing Economy and How It Affects the Conditions of Consumption and Competition in the Tourism Industry: The Case of Airbnb in Greece

The purpose of this study is to investigate the issue of new participatory economy online companies and how these affect the conditions of consumption and competition in the tourism sector. The main trigger for this research was the fact that in Greece there have been several studies on the subject, while there are no participatory economies with the success of international efforts. The paper has made a literature review on the possible effects of the sharing economy in the tourist industry, with a focus in the hotel industry, based on the literature review which has derived during the past 6 years by using relevant keywords, such as “airbnb and Greece”. The contribution of the paper is that it makes an investigation of the effect of airbnb in the Greek hotel industry’s consumption and competition based on the existing literature; therefore to make a critical analysis of the existing literature. It is a fact that sharing economies, and in particular Airbnb, have entered a very sudden way into the business process, with the result that there are no required regulatory safeguards to ensure fair competition on the market and consumer protection. However, it is necessary to set as a basic proposal of this study the further regulation of Airbnb transactions in the field of taxation, consumer protection and competition. It is certain that these companies offer very competitive services from an economic point of view, but it is also necessary for consumers to weigh all the benefits of doing so and to be particularly careful in choosing their place of stay. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG