The “Mobility-M”-framework for Application of Mobile Technology in Business Processes

In order to provide a structural framework for the application of mobile technology in business processes that can serve as a basis for understanding the organizational impacts of mobile technologies, we present a model, the „Mobility-M“. It puts the technology and the business processes in context with each other by using the theory of informational added values. The aim is to facilitate and visualize the use of mobile technologies according to their potential benefits and effects. This model and its graphical representation significantly enhance the orientation within the introduction of mobile business processes.

Usage of mobile communication technologies in construction industry

The construction industry is a special case of companies whose operational business is mobile. Especially during the construction phase there is on the one hand a high cost pressure but on the other hand an opportunity for significant increase in efficiency through better coordination. Reasons therefore are the high number of mobile work places, the mobility of the equipment pool and the cross-company processes which are necessary due to the increasing specialisation. This article analyses this problem and shows on the basis of chosen use cases how mobile technology can be used with the principles of mobile business processes to generate an integrated process chain over distances that leads to a significant enhancement in costs, time and quality

The “Mobility-M”-framework for Application of Mobile Technology in Business Processes

In order to provide a structural framework for the application of mobile technology in business processes that can serve as a basis for understanding the organizational impacts of mobile technologies, we present a model, the „Mobility-M“. It puts the technology and the business processes in context with each other by using the theory of informational added values. The aim is to facilitate and visualize the use of mobile technologies according to their potential benefits and effects. This model and its graphical representation significantly enhance the orientation within the introduction of mobile business processes

Einsatz mobiler Kommunikationstechnologien in der Baubranche

The construction industry is a special case of companies whose operational business is mobile. Especially during the construction phase there is on the one hand a high cost pressure but on the other hand an opportunity for significant increase in efficiency through better coordination. Reasons therefore are the high number of mobile work places, the mobility of the equipment pool and the cross-company processes which are necessary due to the increasing specialisation. This article analyses this problem and shows on the basis of chosen use cases how mobile technology can be used with the principles of mobile business processes to generate an integrated process chain over distances that leads to a significant enhancement in costs, time and qualit

Einsatz mobiler Kommunikationstechnologien in der Baubranche

The construction industry is a special case of companies whose operational business is mobile. Especially during the construction phase there is on the one hand a high cost pressure but on the other hand an opportunity for significant increase in efficiency through better coordination. Reasons therefore are the high number of mobile work places, the mobility of the equipment pool and the cross-company processes which are necessary due to the increasing specialisation. This article analyses this problem and shows on the basis of chosen use cases how mobile technology can be used with the principles of mobile business processes to generate an integrated process chain over distances that leads to a significant enhancement in costs, time and qualit

Oral antibiotic bowel decontamination in open and laparoscopic sigmoid resections for diverticular disease

PURPOSE There is an ongoing debate on whether or not to use oral antibiotic bowel decontamination in colorectal surgery, despite the numerous different regimens in terms of antibiotic substances and duration of application. As we routinely use oral antibiotic bowel decontamination (selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) regimen and SDD regimen plus vancomycin since 2016) in surgery for diverticular disease, our aim was to retrospectively analyze the perioperative outcome in two independent centers. METHODS Data from two centers with a routine use of oral antibiotic bowel decontamination for up to 20 years of experience were analyzed for the perioperative outcome of 384 patients undergoing surgery for diverticular disease. RESULTS Overall morbidity was 12.8%, overall mortality was 0.3%, the overall rate of anastomotic leakage (AL) was 1.0%, and surgical site infections (SSIs) were 5.5% and 7.8% of all infectious complications including urinary tract infections and pneumonia. No serious adverse events were related to use of oral antibiotic bowel decontamination. Most of the patients (93.8%) completed the perioperative regimen. Additional use of vancomycin to the SDD regimen did not show a further reduction of infectious complications, including SSI and AL. CONCLUSION Oral antibiotic decontamination appears to be safe and effective with low rates of AL and infectious complications in surgery for diverticular disease

New in vitro interaction-parasite reduction ratio assay for early derisk in clinical development of antimalarial combinations

The development and spread of drug-resistant phenotypes substantially threaten malaria control efforts. Combination therapies have the potential to minimize the risk of resistance development but require intensive preclinical studies to determine optimal combination and dosing regimens. To support the selection of new combinations, we developed a novel in vitro-in silico combination approach to help identify the pharmacodynamic interactions of the two antimalarial drugs in a combination which can be plugged into a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model built with human monotherapy parasitological data to predict the parasitological endpoints of the combination. This makes it possible to optimally select drug combinations and doses for the clinical development of antimalarials. With this assay, we successfully predicted the endpoints of two phase 2 clinical trials in patients with the artefenomel-piperaquine and artefenomel-ferroquine drug combinations. In addition, the predictive performance of our novel in vitro model was equivalent to that of the humanized mouse model outcome. Last, our more informative in vitro combination assay provided additional insights into the pharmacodynamic drug interactions compared to the in vivo systems, e.g., a concentration-dependent change in the maximum killing effect (Emax) and the concentration producing 50% of the killing maximum effect (EC50) of piperaquine or artefenomel or a directional reduction of the EC50 of ferroquine by artefenomel and a directional reduction of Emax of ferroquine by artefenomel. Overall, this novel in vitro-in silico-based technology will significantly improve and streamline the economic development of new drug combinations for malaria and potentially also in other therapeutic areas

Preclinical antimalarial combination studies: the case of M5717, a P. falciparum elongation factor 2 inhibitor and pyronaridine, a hemozoin formation inhibitor

Antimalarial drug resistance in the; Plasmodium falciparum; parasite poses a constant challenge for drug development. To mitigate this risk, new antimalarial medicines should be developed as fixed-dose combinations. Assessing the pharmacodynamic interactions of potential antimalarial drug combination partners during early phases of development is essential in developing the targeted parasitological and clinical profile of the final drug product. Here, we have studied the combination of M5717, a; P. falciparum; translation elongation factor 2 inhibitor, and pyronaridine, an inhibitor of hemozoin formation. Our test cascade consisted of; in vitro; isobolograms as well as; in vivo; studies in the; P. falciparum; severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mouse model. We also analyzed pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters, including genomic sequencing of recrudescent parasites. We observed no pharmacokinetic interactions with the combination of M5717 and pyronaridine. M5717 did not negatively impact the rate of kill of the faster-acting pyronaridine, and the latter was able to suppress the selection of M5717-resistant mutants, as well as significantly delay the recrudescence of parasites both with suboptimal and optimal dosing regimens

The DNA methylation landscape of the human oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR): data-driven clusters and their relation to gene expression and childhood adversity

The oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) is of interest when investigating the effects of early adversity on DNA methylation. However, there is heterogeneity regarding the selection of the most promising CpG sites to target for analyses. The goal of this study was to determine functionally relevant clusters of CpG sites within the OXTR CpG island in 113 mother-infant dyads, with 58 of the mothers reporting childhood maltreatment (CM). OXTR DNA methylation was analyzed in peripheral/umbilical blood mononuclear cells. Different complexity reduction approaches were used to reduce the 188 CpG sites into clusters of co-methylated sites. Furthermore, associations between OXTR DNA methylation (cluster- and site-specific level) and OXTR gene expression and CM were investigated in mothers. Results showed that, first, CpG sections differed strongly regarding their statistical utility for research of individual differences in DNA methylation. Second, cluster analyses and Partial Least Squares (PLS) suggested two clusters consisting of intron1/exon2 and the protein-coding region of exon3, respectively, as most strongly associated with outcome measures. Third, cross-validated PLS regression explained 7% of variance in CM, with low cross-validated variance explained for the prediction of gene expression. Fourth, substantial mother-child correspondence was observed in correlation patterns within the identified clusters, but only modest correspondence outside these clusters. This study makes an important contribution to the mapping of the DNA methylation landscape of the OXTR CpG island by highlighting clusters of CpG sites that show desirable statistical properties and predictive value. We provide a Companion Web Application to facilitate the choice of CpG sites