¿Es rentable «pensar por pensar»? Evidencia sobre innovación en España

ResumenLa evolución significativamente creciente de la investigación básica privada en EE. UU., Europa y Japón sugiere una fuerte asociación entre la capacidad de innovación y las actividades de investigación de las empresas destinadas estrictamente a trabajar en la vanguardia del conocimiento científico. Este trabajo indaga en las posibles razones de esta asociación utilizando una muestra de 8.416 empresas incluidas en el Panel de Innovación Tecnológica. Nuestros resultados ponen de manifiesto que la investigación básica mejora la habilidad de las empresas para asimilar, integrar y valorizar el conocimiento ajeno, y que de esta forma muestran sistemáticamente mayores niveles de innovación. Además, el artículo sugiere que esta capacidad para explotar el conocimiento externo puede llegar a condicionar la estrategia de la empresa a la hora de decidir operar en ciertos entornos con sistemas de propiedad intelectual más o menos desarrollados. Desde el punto de vista de la política pública, los resultados cuestionan el apoyo a las actividades de innovación más cercanas al mercado en detrimento de otras políticas con mayor capacidad para abordar externalidades relacionadas con el desarrollo del capital humano, la reducción de la incertidumbre de las inversiones, las asimetrías de información entre agentes o los problemas derivados de spillovers tecnológicos no deseados.AbstractThe significantly increasing evolution of private basic research in the U.S.A., Europe and Japan suggests a strong association between the capacity for innovation and research activities aimed strictly to work at the forefront of scientific knowledge. This paper explores the possible reasons for this association using a sample of 8,416 companies in the Spanish Technology Innovation Panel. Our results show that basic research enhances the ability of firms to assimilate, integrate and enhance other businesses’ knowledge, thus leading consistently to higher levels of innovation. In addition, the article suggests that the ability to exploit external knowledge can condition the business strategy when deciding to operate in certain environments with more or less developed intellectual property systems. From the standpoint of public policy, results question the support for innovation activities closer to the market to the detriment of other policies with greater capacity to address externalities related to the development of human capital, reducing the uncertainty of investments, addressing information asymmetries between agents or solving the problems inherent in accidental technology spillovers

Compósitos de colagénio/apatite de origem marinha para aplicação em engenharia de tecidos mineralizados

Devido ao aumento de lesões associadas ao envelhecimento da população, a regeneração do tecido ósseo tem sido alvo de estudo. Apesar da vasta investigação neste sentido, os auto-enxertos continuam a prevalecer como tratamento de primeira linha, apesar das suas limitações. A extração de compostos de recursos marinhos para uso em abordagens de engenharia de tecidos emerge como uma alternativa promissora para regeneração de lesões ósseas. Neste capítulo apresenta-se um biomaterial promissor para aplicação em engenharia de tecidos duros tendo como base uma estratégia de valorização de sub-produtos marinhos, nomeadamente pele e dentes de tubarão.Os autores agradecem o apoio financeiro recebido da União Europeia através do Programa INTERREG—POCTEP, no âmbito dos Projetos 0687_NOVOMAR_1_P e 0245_IBEROS_1_E, através do Programa de cooperação transnacional Espaço Atlântico, no âmbito do Projeto MARMED (2011-1/164) e através do 7º Programa-Quadro de Investigação e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (FP7), através do Projeto POLARIS (REGPOT-CT2012-316331). Os autores gostariam de agradecer também ao Centro Tecnológico del Mar (CETMAR, Vigo, Espanha) e COPEMAR SA (Espanha) pelo fornecimento dos subprodutos de tubarão. G.S.D agradece ao Programa Norte2020 (Portugal2020) pela bolsa de doutoramento (NORTE-08-5369-F SE-000044) e R.P. agradece à Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia pelo contrato IF/00347/2015

Psychological impact of anti-VEGF treatments for wet macular degeneration-a review.

To review the current literature on the psychological impact of anti-VEGF treatments for wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD), in terms of patients' experiences of receiving these treatments, and the impact of these treatments for patients' mental health and quality of life.We critically analyzed current literature evaluating psychological impact of anti-VEGF treatments for wAMD. Primary searches of PubMed, Science Direct, and Web of Science were conducted in July and August of 2015. We reviewed all papers on the topic published until August 5, 2015.Our literature search found 14 papers addressing the psychological impact of anti-VEGF treatments for wAMD. Results highlighted potential anxieties and experiences of pain caused by receiving regular intravitreal injections. A positive visual outcome of anti-VEGF therapy is associated with positive vision-related QOL outcomes, although such association seems to be dependent on improvements on visual acuity. In the literature reviewed, patients receiving anti-VEGF treatments showed a prevalence rate of depression between 20 and 26 %.Although anti-VEGF treatments can cause some anxiety and being experienced as a stressful event, especially in the beginning of the treatment, preliminary findings suggest a potential benefit for long-term vision-related quality of life. Further longitudinal and qualitative research should bring more evidence on the positive and negative effects of these treatments on patients' long-term mental health

Predicting participation of people with impaired vision in epidemiological studies

The characteristics of the target group and the design of an epidemiologic study, in particular the recruiting methods, can influence participation. People with vision impairment have unique characteristics because those invited are often elderly and totally or partially dependent on help to complete daily activities such as travelling to study sites. Therefore, participation of people with impaired vision in studies is less predictable than predicting participation for the general population.This study was supported by FCT (COMPETE/QREN) grant reference PTDC/DPT-EPI/0412/2012 in the context of the Prevalence and Costs of Visual Impairment in Portugal: a hospital based study (PCVIP-study). PLR is funded by FCT (COMPETE/QREN) grant reference SFRH/BD/119420/2016

Marine collagen/apatite composite scaffolds envisaging hard tissue applications

The high prevalence of bone defects has become a worldwide problem. Despite the significant amount of research on the subject, the available therapeutic solutions lack efficiency.  Autografts, the most common used approaches to treat bone defects have limitations such as donor site morbidity, pain and lack of donor site. Marine resources emerge as an attractive alternative to extract bioactive compounds for further use in bone tissue engineering approaches. On one hand they can be isolated from by-products, at low costs, creating value from products that are considered waste for the fish transformation industry. One the other hand, religious constraints will be avoided. We isolated two marine origin materials, collagen from shark skin (Prionace glauca) and calcium phosphates from teeth of two different shark species (Prionace glauca and Isurus oxyrinchus), and further proposed to mix them to produce 3D composite structures for hard tissue applications. Two crosslinking agents, EDC/NHS and HMDI, were tested to enhance scaffoldsâ properties, with EDC/NHS resulting in better properties. The characterization of the structures showed that the developed composites could support attachment and proliferation of osteoblast-like cells. A promising scaffold for the engineering of bone tissue is thus proposed, based on a strategy of marine by-products valorisation.This work was funded by INTERREG under the POCTEP Project 0687_NOVOMAR_1_P and the Atlantic Area Transnational Cooperation Programme Project MARMED (2011-1/164), as well as by European Union FP7 under the project POLARIS (REGPOT-CT2012-316331).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A systematic review and meta-analysis of bone metabolism in prostate adenocarcinoma

<p/> <p>Background</p> <p>Osteoporosis could be associated with the hormone therapy for metastatic prostate carcinoma (PCa) and with PCa <it>per se</it>. The objective of this review is to determine the incidence of bone loss and osteoporosis in patients with PCa who are or are not treated with hormone therapy (ADT).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Medline, Embase, Cancerlit, and American Society of Clinical Oncology Abstract databases were searched for published studies on prostate cancer and bone metabolism. The outcomes assessed were: fracture, osteoporosis and osteopenia.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty-two articles (116,911 participants) were included in the meta-analysis. PCa patients under ADT had a higher risk of osteoporosis (RR, 1.30; <it>p </it>< 0.00001) and a higher risk of fractures (RR, 1.17; <it>p </it>< 0.00001) as compared to patients not under ADT. The total bone mineral density was lower in patients under ADT when compared with patients not under ADT (<it>p </it>= 0.031) but it was similar to bone mineral density found in healthy controls (<it>p </it>= 0.895). The time of androgen deprivation therapy correlated negatively with lumbar spine and total hip bone mineral density (Spearman's rho = -0.490 and -0.773; <it>p </it>= 0.028 and 0.001, respectively) and with total hip <it>t </it>score (Spearman's rho = -0.900; <it>p </it>= 0.037).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We found consistent evidence that the use of androgen deprivation therapy in patients with PCa reduces bone mineral density, increasing the risk of fractures in these patients.</p

The striking geographical pattern of gastric cancer mortality in Spain: environmental hypotheses revisited

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gastric cancer is decreasing in most countries. While socioeconomic development is the main factor to which this decline has been attributed, enormous differences among countries and within regions are still observed, with the main contributing factors remaining elusive. This study describes the geographic distribution of gastric cancer mortality at a municipal level in Spain, from 1994-2003.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Smoothed relative risks of stomach cancer mortality were obtained, using the Besag-York-Molliè autoregressive spatial model. Maps depicting relative risk (RR) estimates and posterior probabilities of RR being greater than 1 were plotted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From 1994-2003, 62184 gastric cancer deaths were registered in Spain (7 percent of all deaths due to malignant tumors). The geographic pattern was similar for both sexes. RRs displayed a south-north and coast-inland gradient, with lower risks being observed in Andalusia, the Mediterranean coastline, the Balearic and Canary Islands and the Cantabrian seaboard. The highest risk was concentrated along the west coast of Galicia, broad areas of the Castile & Leon Autonomous community, the province of Cáceres in Extremadura, Lleida and other areas of Catalonia.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In Spain, risk of gastric cancer mortality displays a striking geographic distribution. With some differences, this persistent and unique pattern is similar across the sexes, suggesting the implication of environmental exposures from sources, such as diet or ground water, which could affect both sexes and delimited geographic areas. Also, the higher sex-ratios found in some areas with high risk of smoking-related cancer mortality in males support the role of tobacco in gastric cancer etiology.</p