Do high-performance human resource practices work? The mediating role of organizational learning capability

This study explores the relationship between high-performance human resource practices and organizational outcomes, using organizational learning capability as a mediating variable. By analyzing a sample of 85 Spanish companies in the chemical industry, the results suggest that the application of high-performance human resource practices is positively related to the development of organizational learning capability. This, in turn, is positively related to the financial and non-financial firm’s performance. The mediating role of learning capability is useful and should be considered in studies that analyze the link between human resource practices and performance, a central topic in the literature on strategic human resource management. Additionally, this study provides indications which can help companies design suitable conditions for promoting organizational learning capability, which is directly related to the development of human resource systems

Population structure and spatial distribution of the gastropod molluscs Osilinus atrata and Osilinus sauciatus in the rocky intertidal zone of the Canary Islands (Central East Atlantic)

Por medio de un diseño de muestreo jerárquico se estudió la estructura poblacional y los patrones espaciales de variabilidad horizontal (diferencias entre las islas, las localidades dentro de las islas y los sitios dentro de localidades) y vertical (diferencias entre bandas de la zona intermareal) de los moluscos gasterópodos Osilinus atrata y O. sauciatus a lo largo del intermareal rocoso de las Islas Canarias. Se observaron diferencias en los patrones espaciales de distribución, abundancia y tamaño para ambas especies. Osilinus atrata fue más abundante que O. sauciatus en todo el Archipiélago Canario. Su abundancia varió entre las islas, presentando una distribución heterogénea entre las bandas intermareales de una isla a otra, si bien fue más frecuente en las bandas intermedia y superior. Osilinus sauciatus sólo se encontró en las islas orientales y no exhibió diferencias significativas entre las bandas, a pesar de que 91.35% de los individuos aparecieron en la banda superior y el resto en la banda intermedia. Osilinus sauciatus mostró una talla mayor que las de O. atrata. A su vez, ambas especies presentaron en general las mayores tallas medias en la banda superior.A hierarchical sampling design was used to study the population structure and the horizontal (differences among islands, locations within islands and sites within locations) and vertical (differences among intertidal bands) distribution patterns of the gastropod molluscs Osilinus atrata and O. sauciatus along the rocky intertidal zone of the Canary Islands. Differences in the spatial patterns of abundance, size and distribution were recorded for both species. Osilinus atrata was more abundant than O. sauciatus throughout the archipelago. Its abundance varied among islands and it presented a heterogeneous distribution in the bands from one island to another, though it was more frequent in the middle and high bands. Osilinus sauciatus was only found at the eastern islands and did not exhibit significant differences between the bands, even though 91.35% of the individuals appeared in the high band and the rest in the middle band. On the other hand, O. sauciatus had a larger mean size than O. atrata, but both species presented the largest mean sizes in the high band.Este estudio se realizó dentro del proyecto “Canarias, por una Costa Viva” del Ministerio de Medio Ambiente (Secretaría General de Costas) y la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (http://www.canariasporunacostaviva.org)

Investigar educa en ciudadanía

Este documento recoge los resultados de la segunda parte del proyecto “Educación para el desarrollo basada en investigación y evaluación formativa”, mediante el cual se pretendía incrementar el corpus teórico de la educación para el desarrollo en los ámbitos de didáctica y evaluación.Está publicación ha sido realizada con el apoyo financiero de la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID)

Classical BSE dismissed as the cause of CWD in Norwegian red deer despite strain similarities between both prion agents

The first case of CWD in a Norwegian red deer was detected by a routine ELISA test and confirmed by western blotting and immunohistochemistry in the brain stem of the animal. Two different western blotting tests were conducted independently in two different laboratories, showing that the red deer glycoprofile was different from the Norwegian CWD reindeer and CWD moose and from North American CWD. The isolate showed nevertheless features similar to the classical BSE (BSE-C) strain. Furthermore, BSE-C could not be excluded based on the PrPSc immunohistochemistry staining in the brainstem and the absence of detectable PrPSc in the lymphoid tissues. Because of the known ability of BSE-C to cross species barriers as well as its zoonotic potential, the CWD red deer isolate was submitted to the EURL Strain Typing Expert Group (STEG) as a BSE-C suspect for further investigation. In addition, different strain typing in vivo and in vitro strategies aiming at identifying the BSE-C strain in the red deer isolate were performed independently in three research groups and BSE-C was not found in it. These results suggest that the Norwegian CWD red deer case was infected with a previously unknown CWD type and further investigation is needed to determine the characteristics of this potential new CWD strain

Polymorphisms within autophagy-related genes as susceptibility biomarkers for multiple myeloma: a meta-analysis of three large cohorts and functional characterization

Functional data used in this project have been meticulously catalogued and archived in the BBMRI-NL data infrastructure (https://hfgp.bbmri.nl/, accessed on 12 February 2020) using the MOLGENIS open-source platform for scientific data.Multiple myeloma (MM) arises following malignant proliferation of plasma cells in the bone marrow, that secrete high amounts of specific monoclonal immunoglobulins or light chains, resulting in the massive production of unfolded or misfolded proteins. Autophagy can have a dual role in tumorigenesis, by eliminating these abnormal proteins to avoid cancer development, but also ensuring MM cell survival and promoting resistance to treatments. To date no studies have determined the impact of genetic variation in autophagy-related genes on MM risk. We performed meta-analysis of germline genetic data on 234 autophagy-related genes from three independent study populations including 13,387 subjects of European ancestry (6863 MM patients and 6524 controls) and examined correlations of statistically significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; p < 1 × 10−9) with immune responses in whole blood, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) from a large population of healthy donors from the Human Functional Genomic Project (HFGP). We identified SNPs in six loci, CD46, IKBKE, PARK2, ULK4, ATG5, and CDKN2A associated with MM risk (p = 4.47 × 10−4−5.79 × 10−14). Mechanistically, we found that the ULK4rs6599175 SNP correlated with circulating concentrations of vitamin D3 (p = 4.0 × 10−4), whereas the IKBKErs17433804 SNP correlated with the number of transitional CD24+CD38+ B cells (p = 4.8 × 10−4) and circulating serum concentrations of Monocyte hemoattractant Protein (MCP)-2 (p = 3.6 × 10−4). We also found that the CD46rs1142469 SNP corre lated with numbers of CD19+ B cells, CD19+CD3− B cells, CD5+ IgD− cells, IgM− cells, IgD−IgM− cells, and CD4−CD8− PBMCs (p = 4.9 × 10−4−8.6 × 10−4 ) and circulating concentrations of interleukin (IL)-20 (p = 0.00082). Finally, we observed that the CDKN2Ars2811710 SNP correlated with levels of CD4+EMCD45RO+CD27− cells (p = 9.3 × 10−4 ). These results suggest that genetic variants within these six loci influence MM risk through the modulation of specific subsets of immune cells, as well as vitamin D3−, MCP-2−, and IL20-dependent pathways.This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, N° 856620 and by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and FEDER (Madrid, Spain; PI17/02256 and PI20/01845), Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades and FEDER (PY20/01282), from the CRIS foundation against cancer, from the Cancer Network of Excellence (RD12/10 Red de Cáncer), from the Dietmar Hopp Foundation and the German Ministry of Education and Science (BMBF: CLIOMMICS [01ZX1309]), and from National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers: R01CA186646, U01CA249955 (EEB).This work was also funded d by Portuguese National funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)—project UIDB/50026/2020 and UIDP/50026/2020 and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000055, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

Polymorphisms within Autophagy-Related Genes as Susceptibility Biomarkers for Multiple Myeloma: A Meta-Analysis of Three Large Cohorts and Functional Characterization

Multiple myeloma (MM) arises following malignant proliferation of plasma cells in the bone marrow, that secrete high amounts of specific monoclonal immunoglobulins or light chains, resulting in the massive production of unfolded or misfolded proteins. Autophagy can have a dual role in tumorigenesis, by eliminating these abnormal proteins to avoid cancer development, but also ensuring MM cell survival and promoting resistance to treatments. To date no studies have determined the impact of genetic variation in autophagy-related genes on MM risk. We performed meta-analysis of germline genetic data on 234 autophagy-related genes from three independent study populations including 13,387 subjects of European ancestry (6863 MM patients and 6524 controls) and examined correlations of statistically significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; p < 1 × 10−9) with immune responses in whole blood, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) from a large population of healthy donors from the Human Functional Genomic Project (HFGP). We identified SNPs in six loci, CD46, IKBKE, PARK2, ULK4, ATG5, and CDKN2A associated with MM risk (p = 4.47 × 10−4−5.79 × 10−14). Mechanistically, we found that the ULK4rs6599175 SNP correlated with circulating concentrations of vitamin D3 (p = 4.0 × 10−4), whereas the IKBKErs17433804 SNP correlated with the number of transitional CD24+CD38+ B cells (p = 4.8 × 10−4) and circulating serum concentrations of Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein (MCP)-2 (p = 3.6 × 10−4). We also found that the CD46rs1142469 SNP correlated with numbers of CD19+ B cells, CD19+CD3− B cells, CD5+IgD− cells, IgM− cells, IgD−IgM− cells, and CD4−CD8− PBMCs (p = 4.9 × 10−4−8.6 × 10−4) and circulating concentrations of interleukin (IL)-20 (p = 0.00082). Finally, we observed that the CDKN2Ars2811710 SNP correlated with levels of CD4+EMCD45RO+CD27− cells (p = 9.3 × 10−4). These results suggest that genetic variants within these six loci influence MM risk through the modulation of specific subsets of immune cells, as well as vitamin D3−, MCP-2−, and IL20-dependent pathways.This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, N° 856620 and by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and FEDER (Madrid, Spain; PI17/02256 and PI20/01845), Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades and FEDER (PY20/01282), from the CRIS foundation against cancer, from the Cancer Network of Excellence (RD12/10 Red de Cáncer), from the Dietmar Hopp Foundation and the German Ministry of Education and Science (BMBF: CLIOMMICS [01ZX1309]), and from National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers: R01CA186646, U01CA249955 (EEB). This work was also funded d by Portuguese National funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)—project UIDB/50026/2020 and UIDP/50026/2020 and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000055, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).Peer reviewe