Implantación de Lean Six Sigma en una compañía de Seguros

Màster de Direcció d'Entitats Asseguradores i Financeres, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa, Curs: 2002-2003, Tutor: Anna Valverde VelascoEl objetivo de esta tesis es, por una parte, argumentar por qué esta metodología, y no otra, es la mejor estrategia de trabajo a la hora de afrontar la indispensable tarea de mejorar y eficientar los procesos de una compañía aseguradora. Y por otra parte, compartir mi experiencia de cómo ejecutar un proyecto de estas características, así como las dificultades con las que me he topado y soluciones que he utilizado, para adaptar esta metodología (concebida por y para la industria), al sector de las compañías aseguradoras, donde la excelencia operacional de cara a sus Clientes, internos y externos, debe ser su principal objetivo para poder ser competitivos

Interdigital tissue regression in the developing limb of vertebrates

ABSTRACT Here we we have chosen the regression of the interdigital tissue which sculpts the digits from the hand/foot plate in tetrapod embryos to review the most relevant aspects concerning the regulation and biological significance of programmed cell death. We gather abundant information showing that the initiation of the degenerative process is the result of a complex interplay between the different signaling pathways which are also responsible for limb outgrowth and skeletal tissue differentiation, rather than being regulated by a specific signaling pathway. The model further shows that once the death response is triggered, several different routes of cell disruption, including caspase-dependent apoptosis, lysosomal-mediated cell death, and even a cell senescence process, are activated in the interdigits to ensure their elimination. Transcriptional and structural changes accompanying the degenerative process, and their posible contribution to the control of the death process, are also revised in detail. Finally we survey a number of issues still awaiting clarification, such as the functional implication of interdigital cell death as a source of signals acting on the surrounding tissues, as occurs in the so called “regenerative cell death”

Confluence of Cellular Degradation Pathways During Interdigital Tissue Remodeling in Embryonic Tetrapods

Digits develop in the distal part of the embryonic limb primordium as radial prechondrogenic condensations separated by undifferentiated mesoderm. In a short time interval the interdigital mesoderm undergoes massive degeneration to determine the formation of free digits. This fascinating process has often been considered as an altruistic cell suicide that is evolutionarily-regulated in species with different degrees of digit webbing. Initial descriptions of interdigit remodeling considered lysosomes as the primary cause of the degenerative process. However, the functional significance of lysosomes lost interest among researcher and was displaced to a secondary role because the introduction of the term apoptosis. Accumulating evidence in recent decades has revealed that, far from being a unique method of embryonic cell death, apoptosis is only one among several redundant dying mechanisms accounting for the elimination of tissues during embryonic development. Developmental cell senescence has emerged in the last decade as a primary factor implicated in interdigit remodeling. Our review proposes that cell senescence is the biological process identified by vital staining in embryonic models and implicates lysosomes in programmed cell death. We review major structural changes associated with interdigit remodeling that may be driven by cell senescence. Furthermore, the identification of cell senescence lacking tissue degeneration, associated with the maturation of the digit tendons at the same stages of interdigital remodeling, allowed us to distinguish between two functionally distinct types of embryonic cell senescence, "constructive" and "destructive."This work was supported by a grant (BFU2017-84046-P) from the Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry to JM

Experiencias y metodologías en asignaturas b-learning para la formación y evaluación en competencias genéricas en Ingeniería

La integración del sistema universitario español en el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior y el Real Decreto 1393/2007 por el que se establece la ordenación de las enseñanzas universitarias oficiales, suponen un cambio radical en el modelo de enseñanza con respecto a la situación actual. Este modelo tiene como objetivos la adquisición de competencias y debe tener orientado al proceso de aprendizaje del estudiante. Este cambio de modelo implica un esfuerzo importante por parte de los profesores para adaptarse desde el sistema tradicional de enseñanza centrado en los conocimientos. En la EUIT de Telecomunicación de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, hemos venido desarrollando diferentes experiencias en modelos centrados en el aprendizaje utilizando metodologías docentes y evaluadoras basadas en competencias. En varias asignaturas se han venido utilizando en los útimos años procedimientos de formación semi-presencial (“b-learning”) mediante un entorno virtual de aprendizaje como Moodle, donde poder desarrollar a distancia buena parte de los contenidos, procedimientos de aprendizaje y evaluación. En estas asignaturas, impartidas por profesores de diferentes departamentos, se ha venido experimentando con diferentes actividades formativas y soluciones que permitan la obtención de capacidades, habilidades y actitudes, es decir de competencias, tanto generales como específicas. En este artículo se describen los diferentes procedimientos y actividades formativas elaboradas, los criterios de organización, los métodos evaluadores utilizados y los resultados obtenidos desde un punto de vista académico y desde las opiniones de los alumnos, obtenidas mediante encuestas

Work-in-Progress: An Undergraduate B-Learning Experience for the Teaching of Politics of Telecommunications and Information Society

The Telecommunications Act of 1998, approved by the Spanish House of Representatives, set up the beginning of the telecommunications market liberalization process in Spain and the establishment of a new economic and social model based on the Information Society Paradigm, as already highlighted by the European Commission in 1993. Taking advantage of the necessity for undergraduate students to have a subject related to this matter, a new course on Politics of Telecommunications and Information Society was initially designed by a group of five professors from the Technical University of Madrid, four of which still maintain the project alive after eight years. The resulting course is teaching at the Technical University of Madrid since 1999. The course was initially conceived as an e-learning initiative based on the well-known Moodle Learning Management System and it comprises the next four lessons: Information Society, Telecommunications Regulation in Spain, Telecommunication Standardization and Certification and, e-Commerce & Internet Security

Expression and Functional Study of Extracellular BMP Antagonists during the Morphogenesis of the Digits and Their Associated Connective Tissues

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the role of BMP signaling in the diversification of the embryonic limb mesodermal progenitors destined to form cartilage, joints, and tendons. Given the importance of extracellular BMP modulators in in vivo systems, we performed a systematic search of those expressed in the developing autopod during the formation of the digits. Here, we monitored the expression of extracellular BMP modulators including: Noggin, Chordin, Chordin-like 1, Chordin-like 2, Twisted gastrulation, Dan, BMPER, Sost, Sostdc1, Follistatin, Follistatin-like 1, Follistatin-like 5 and Tolloid. These factors show differential expression domains in cartilage, joints and tendons. Furthermore, they are induced in specific temporal patterns during the formation of an ectopic extra digit, preceding the appearance of changes that are identifiable by conventional histology. The analysis of gene regulation, cell proliferation and cell death that are induced by these factors in high density cultures of digit progenitors provides evidence of functional specialization in the control of mesodermal differentiation but not in cell proliferation or apoptosis. We further show that the expression of these factors is differentially controlled by the distinct signaling pathways acting in the developing limb at the stages covered by this study. In addition, our results provide evidence suggesting that TWISTED GASTRULATION cooperates with CHORDINS, BMPER, and NOGGIN in the establishment of tendons or cartilage in a fashion that is dependent on the presence or absence of TOLLOID

Expression of Id2 in the developing limb is associated with zones of active BMP signaling and marks the regions of growth and differentiation of the developing digits

Here we report the pattern of expression of inhibitor of DNA binding/differentiation factor 2 (Id2) in the developing chicken limb. We show that prior to stage 25, Id2 is expressed in the anterior and posterior mesoderm, the AER, and in the early skeletal chondrogenic aggregates. At more advanced stages of limb development Id2 is expressed in the undifferentiated subectodermal and interdigital mesenchyme and exhibits specific domains of expression in the growing digits. These expression domains were closely coincident with zones of activation of BMP-signaling as deduced from the distribution of phosphorylated SMADs 1/5/8. In micromass cultures transcripts of Id2 are associated with the nodules of chondrogenic differentiation. Expression of Id2 both in vivo and in vitro was up-regulated in experiments of BMP-gain-offunction and down-regulated after treatments with BMP-antagonists. Interestingly, interdigital application of TGF?2 transiently upregulates Id2 in coincidence with the inhibition of interdigital cell death and the commitment of the interdigital mesenchyme to form an ectopic digit. These data suggest that Id2 is a molecular mediator of BMP signaling acting in concert with the TGF? pathway during the formation of the digits

Effects of Berberine on the Chondrogenic Differentiation of Embryonic Limb Skeletal Progenitors

Introduction: Berberine (BBR) is an isoquinoline plant alkaloid with demonstrated anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and immunosuppressive pharmacological properties that functions via multiple signaling pathways and epigenetic modulators. Numerous studies have proposed BBR as a promising therapeutic agent for joint cartilage degeneration, and other connective tissue diseases. Purpose and methods: This work aimed to evaluate the effects of BBR on the growth and differentiation of embryonic skeletal progenitors using the limb mesoderm micromass culture assay. Results: Our findings show that at difference of its apoptotic influence on a variety of tumor tissues, cell death was not induced in skeletal progenitors by the addition of 12 or 25 µM BBR concentration to the culture medium. Morphological and transcriptional analysis revealed dual and opposite effects of BBR treatments on chondrogenesis depending on the stage of differentiation of the cultured progenitors. At early stage of culture, BBR was a potent chondrogenic inhibitor, while chondrogenesis was intensified in treatments at advanced stages of culture. The chondrogenic promoting effect was accompanied by a moderate upregulation of gene markers of prehypertrophic cartilage, including ColXa1, alkaline phosphatase Alpl, Runx2, and Indian Hedgehog Ihh. We further observed a positive transcriptional influence of BBR in the expression of DNA methyltransferase genes, Dnmt1, Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b, suggesting a potential involvement of epigenetic factors in its effects. Conclusion: Our study uncovers a new pharmacological influence of BBR in cartilage differentiation that must be taken into account in designing clinical protocols for its employment in the treatment of cartilage degenerative diseases

Cell death in the developing vertebrate limb: A locally regulated mechanism contributing to musculoskeletal tissue morphogenesis and differentiation

Our aim is to critically review current knowledge of the function and regulation of cell death in the developing limb. We provide a detailed, but short, overview of the areas of cell death observed in the developing limb, establishing their function in morphogenesis and structural development of limb tissues. We will examine the functions of this process in the formation and growth of the limb primordia, formation of cartilaginous skeleton, formation of synovial joints, and establishment of muscle bellies, tendons, and entheses. We will analyze the plasticity of the cell death program by focusing on the developmental potential of progenitors prior to death. Considering the prolonged plasticity of progenitors to escape from the death process, we will discuss a new biological perspective that explains cell death: this process, rather than secondary to a specific genetic program, is a consequence of the tissue building strategy employed by the embryo based on the formation of scaffolds that disintegrate once their associated neighboring structures differentiate.Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry, Grant/Award Numbers: BFU2017-84046-P, BES-2015-07426

Modeling the differentiation of embryonic limb chondroprogenitors by cell death and cell senescence in high density micromass cultures and their regulation by FGF signaling

Considering the importance of programmed cell death in the formation of the skeleton during embryonic development, the aim of the present study was to analyze whether regulated cell degeneration also accompanies the differentiation of embryonic limb skeletal progenitors in high-density tridimensional cultures (micromass cultures). Our results show that the formation of primary cartilage nodules in the micromass culture assay involves a patterned process of cell death and cell senescence, complementary to the pattern of chondrogenesis. As occurs in vivo, the degenerative events were preceded by DNA damage detectable by ?H2AX immunolabeling and proceeded via apoptosis and cell senescence. Combined treatments of the cultures with growth factors active during limb skeletogenesis, including FGF, BMP, and WNT revealed that FGF signaling modulates the response of progenitors to signaling pathways implicated in cell death. Transcriptional changes induced by FGF treatments suggested that this function is mediated by the positive regulation of the genetic machinery responsible for apoptosis and cell senescence together with hypomethylation of the Sox9 gene promoter. We propose that FGF signaling exerts a primordial function in the embryonic limb conferring chondroprogenitors with their biological properties.Funding: This research was funded by a Grant (PID2021-125651NB-I00) from the Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry to J.A.M. C.D-O. is a recipient of a predoctoral grant from the University of Cantabria