Auxiliary Companies of the Horticultural Sector as a Competitiveness Element: The Case of Almeria (Spain)

The horticultural model of Almeria (Spain) based on the operation of greenhouses is an international reference and has been considered as an economic miracle. Alongside this agricultural development has been the deployment of the diverse productive activity of auxiliary companies. The objective of this article is to understand how these companies operate and analyze their factors of competitiveness, competing needs, and future competitive improvements, taking as reference four of the most important subsectors (machinery, greenhouse infrastructure, plastics, and seeds). The Delphi method was used and through a panel of experts the conditioning factors of each of the variables to be analyzed (factors, needs, and competitiveness improvements) was chosen. Of the 120 companies that were sent questionnaires, 72 participated. The sectors that make up the auxiliary companies are heterogeneous and therefore the results obtained have differed among them. The synergies between the greenhouse crops and the auxiliary companies are an example of diversification of productive activity that can be extrapolated to other production areas worldwide. The future of the auxiliary companies is linked to that of the intensive agriculture and the key variables must be underscored by competitiveness and sustainability

Training on Emotional Intelligence for Caregivers of Patients with Acquired Brain Injury and Cognitive Impairment: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Background: Cognitive-behavioral alterations can occur after an acquired brain injury (ABI). Objectives: To develop and evaluate a synchronous online training program on emotional intelligence (EI) for the caregivers of adult patients with cognitive-behavioral impairment due to ABI. Methods: Quasi-experimental study. Ten caregivers attended a one-month virtual synchronous course about EI. The emotional status of the caregivers was registered one-month-previous and one-month-post program using comparative measures: The Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS-24), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Caregiver Burden Interview, the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Emotional Health Survey. Results: After the training course, the favorable changes related to emotional affect measured with the PANAS questionnaire were found; both positive (increase; Mdn = 39.5; effect size −12.79; adjusted variance 95.75) and negative (decrease; Mdn = 14.5; effect size 0.73; adjusted variance 95.50) presented a statistical significance of p < 0.05. The TMMS-24 post-test showed that 90% of the caregivers reported an adequate or excellent emotional repair (p < 0.05; effect size −0.68; adjusted variance 94.75). No other significant differences were found. Conclusions: After this training in EI, the caregivers had a more positive mood and improved aspects of their emotional intelligence, such as emotional regulation. More studies need to be conducted.Partial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málag

Vitamin D, a modulator of musculoskeletal health in chronic kidney disease

The spectrum of activity of vitamin D goes beyond calcium and bone homeostasis, and growing evidence suggests that vitamin D contributes to maintain musculoskeletal health in healthy subjects as well as in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), who display the combination of bone metabolism disorder, muscle wasting, and weakness. Here, we review how vitamin D represents a pathway in which bone and muscle may interact. In vitro studies have confirmed that the vitamin D receptor is present on muscle, describing the mechanisms whereby vitamin D directly affects skeletal muscle. These include genomic and non-genomic (rapid) effects, regulating cellular differentiation and proliferation. Observational studies have shown that circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels correlate with the clinical symptoms and muscle morphological changes observed in CKD patients. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to low bone formation rate and bone mineral density, with an increased risk of skeletal fractures. The impact of low vitamin D status on skeletal muscle may also affect muscle metabolic pathways, including its sensitivity to insulin. Although some interventional studies have shown that vitamin D may improve physical performance and protect against the development of histological and radiological signs of hyperparathyroidism, evidence is still insufficient to draw definitive conclusions

Grupo SMU: su compleja reestructuración corporativa

This case examines the corporate restructuring process of SMU Group, a Chilean retail supermarket chain. The restructuring process was triggered by an internal situation involving operational inefficiencies between the years 2007 and 2012, following an aggressive acquisition process. These problems were the result of an aggressive “Buy-and-Build” strategy, thanks to which by the end of 2012 the Group had grown to become the third largest player in the supermarket industry in Chile. Although this strategy allowed the conglomerate to consolidate its competitive position, it was based on inorganic growth that hid the differences in the operational performance of the different chains and did not allow the Group to take advantage of its own synergies in the process of consolidating the holding company. Around mid-2013, this lack of definition in SMU's competitive strategy resulted in a serious deterioration of its financial position, due to the significant indebtedness taken on to finance acquisitions, as well as the insufficient generation of cash flow. Furthermore, when compared to the two main players in the industry, SMU showed lower levels of profitability and sales per square meter. To overcome this crisis, SMU implemented a three-year strategic plan (2014-2016), reinforcing three fundamental areas: finance, operations and commercial. The goal was to restore financial viability to the conglomerate by the end of 2016. After executing its plan, SMU achieved an improvement at the operational and commercial levels. However, in the first months of 2017, the risk rating agencies still had doubts about SMU's future performance and its crisis management capacity. For this reason, Álvaro Saieh, who was serving at the time as Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors, had several questions: could SMU's 3-year operational and strategic restructuring plan be considered successful? what are the critical variables that will ensure the sustainability of the company and its growth in the coming years? will I be questioned again like I was in 2013? and finally, what possibilities do I have to create corporate value in the future?El presente caso relata el proceso de reestructuración corporativa del Grupo SMU, ligado a la industria chilena de supermercados minoristas, detonado por una situación interna provocada por ineficiencias operativas posteriores a un agresivo proceso de adquisiciones ocurrido entre los años 2007 y 2012. Esta problemática la experimentó el Grupo SMU, quien a través de una política de “Buy and Build” se convirtió en el tercer actor de la industria de supermercados en Chile a finales del año 2012. Si bien esta estrategia le permitió afianzar la posición competitiva del conglomerado, causó un crecimiento inorgánico que ocultó las diferencias en el desempeño operacional de las diferentes cadenas y no permitió el aprovechamiento de sinergias propias en el proceso de consolidación de un holding. Por ello, a mediados del año 2013, la falta de definición en la estrategia competitiva de SMU tuvo como consecuencia un fuerte debilitamiento en su posición financiera debido al significativo endeudamiento que se utilizaba para financiar las adquisiciones, así como por la insuficiente generación de flujos de caja. Por otro lado, comparado con los dos principales actores de la industria, SMU mostraba menores niveles de rentabilidad y de ventas por metro cuadrado. Así, para hacer frente a la crisis, SMU implementó un plan estratégico trianual (2014-2016) sobre el fortalecimiento de tres pilares fundamentales: financiero, operacional y comercial, cuya meta era devolver la viabilidad financiera al conglomerado a finales del año 2016. Tras la implementación de dicho plan, SMU logró una mejora a nivel operacional y comercial. Sin embargo, en los primeros meses de 2017 las Clasificadoras de Riesgo aún tenían dudas sobre el desempeño futuro de SMU y su capacidad de gestión de la crisis. Por ello, Álvaro Saieh, quien se desempeñaba en ese momento como presidente del Directorio de la empresa, tenía diversas interrogantes relacionadas principalmente a si: ¿Fue exitoso el plan de reestructuración operacional y estratégico que llevó a cabo SMU en los últimos tres años? ¿Cuáles serían las variables críticas para asegurar la sostenibilidad de la compañía y su crecimiento en los próximos años? ¿Volveré a ser cuestionado como en 2013? Finalmente, ¿qué posibilidades tengo para crear valor corporativo en el futuro

Paving the way to collaborative context-aware mobile applications: a case study on preventing worsening of allergy symptoms

En los últimos años, la evolución de los teléfonos inteligentes y sus aplicaciones de software ha crecido exponencialmente; junto con el avance del Internet de las Cosas y las ciudades inteligentes, ha generado una gran demanda de servicios y aplicaciones en estos dominios. Aunque la amplia gama de aplicaciones móviles es incuestionable, los ciudadanos ya exigen que las aplicaciones se adapten a sus necesidades y situaciones específicas en tiempo real, es decir, que sean conscientes del contexto. Sin embargo, las aplicaciones móviles conscientes del contexto a menudo son muy limitadas y pierden la oportunidad de beneficiarse de la retroalimentación proporcionada por la colaboración ciudadana. Para llenar este vacío, este documento propone una arquitectura de software y una aplicación móvil colaborativas y conscientes del contexto. En particular, los hemos implementado en el ámbito de la e-salud, más específicamente en el área de las alergias estacionales, que causan que las personas alérgicas experimenten síntomas molestos que podrían evitarse si tuvieran acceso a información sobre el polen en tiempo real. Además, también se beneficiarán de la colaboración ciudadana a través del conocimiento de los síntomas que otras personas alérgicas con la misma alergia y en la misma ubicación están experimentando. Para ello, los usuarios podrán proporcionar sus síntomas en cualquier momento a través de su aplicación móvil y la arquitectura propuesta procesará constantemente esa información en tiempo real, enviando notificaciones a los usuarios tan pronto como se vea que los síntomas reportados superan un cierto umbral. Se han probado el rendimiento de la arquitectura, el consumo de recursos de la aplicación y una encuesta de satisfacción sobre la usabilidad y utilidad de la aplicación; todos los resultados han sido completamente satisfactorios.In recent years, the evolution of smartphones and their software applications has grown exponentially; together with the advance of the Internet of Things and smart cities, it has raised huge demand for services and applications in these domains. Although the wide range of mobile applications is unquestionable, citizens already demand that applications adapt to their specific needs and situations in real time, that is, that they are context-aware. However, context-aware mobile applications are often very limited and miss out on the opportunity of benefiting from feedback provided by citizen collaboration. In order to fill this gap, this paper proposes a context-aware and collaborative software architecture and mobile application. In particular, we have implemented them in the scope of e-health, more specifically in the area of seasonal allergies, which cause allergic people to experience annoying symptoms that could be avoided by having access to pollen information in real time. Furthermore, they will also benefit from citizen collaboration through the knowledge of the symptoms other allergic people with the same allergy and in the same location are experiencing. To this end, users will be able to provide their symptoms at any time through their mobile application and the proposed architecture will constantly process that information in real time, sending notifications to users as soon as reported symptoms are seen to exceed a certain threshold. The architecture’s perfor mance, the application’s resource consumption and a satisfaction survey of the app’s usability and usefulness have been tested; all results have been fully satisfactoryThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Union FEDER Funds [grant numbers RTI2018-093608-B-C33, RED2018-102654-T

The causes, consequences, and treatment of left or right heart failure

Chronic heart failure (HF) is a cardiovascular disease of cardinal importance because of several factors: a) an increasing occurrence due to the aging of the population, primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular events, and modern advances in therapy, b) a bad prognosis: around 65% of patients are dead within 5 years of diagnosis, c) a high economic cost: HF accounts for 1% to 2% of total health care expenditure. This review focuses on the main causes, consequences in terms of morbidity, mortality and costs and treatment of HF

The ERα membrane pool modulates the proliferation of pituitary tumours

The molecular mechanisms underlying the ERα nuclear/cytoplasmic pool that modulates pituitary cell proliferation have been widely described, but it is still not clear how ERα is targeted to the plasma membrane. The aim of this study was to analyse ERα palmitoylation and the plasma membrane ERα (mERα) pool, and their participation in E2-triggered membrane-initiated signalling in normal and pituitary tumour cell growth. Cell cultures were prepared from anterior pituitaries of female Wistar rats and tumour GH3 cells, and treated with 10 nM of oestradiol (E2). The basal expression of ERα was higher in tumour GH3 than in normal pituitary cells. Full-length palmitoylated ERα was observed in normal and pituitary tumour cells, demonstrating that E2 stimulation increased both, ERα in plasma membrane and ERα and caveolin-1 interaction after short-term treatment. In addition, the Dhhc7 and Dhhc21 palmitoylases were negatively regulated after sustained stimulation of E2 for 3 h. Although the uptake of BrdU into the nucleus in normal pituitary cells was not modified by E2, a significant increase in the GH3 tumoural cell, as well as ERK1/2 activation, with this effect being mimicked by PPT, a selective antagonist of ERα. These proliferative effects were blocked by ICI 182780 and the global inhibitor of palmitoylation. These findings indicate that ERα palmitoylation modulated the mERα pool and consequently the ERK1/2 pathway, thereby contributing to pituitary tumour cell proliferation. These results suggest that the plasma membrane ERα pool might be related to the proliferative behaviour of prolactinoma and may be a marker of pituitary tumour growth.Fil: Sosa, Liliana del Valle. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Microscopía Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Petiti, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Microscopía Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Picech, Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Microscopía Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Chumpen Ramirez, Sabrina Vanesa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Nicola, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Pérez, Pablo Aníbal. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Microscopía Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: de Paul, Ana Lucia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Microscopía Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Valdez Taubas, Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Guitierrez, Silvina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Microscopía Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Torres, Alicia Ines. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Microscopía Electrónica; Argentin

Semiautomatic method for the ultra-trace arsenic speciation in environmental and biological samples via magnetic solid phase extraction prior to HPLC-ICP-MS determination

A novel magnetic functionalized material based on graphene oxide and magnetic nanoparticles (MGO) was used to develop a magnetic solid phase extraction method (MSPE) to enrich both, inorganic and organic arsenic species in environmental waters and biological samples. An automatic flow injection (FI) system was used to preconcentrate the arsenic species simultaneously, while the ultra-trace separation and determination of arsenobetaine (AsBet), cacodylate, AsIII and AsV species were achieved by high performance liquid chromatog raphy combined with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS). The sample was introduced in the FI system where the MSPE was performed, then 1 mL of eluent was collected in a chromatographic vial, which was introduced in the autosampler of HPLC-ICP-MS. Therefore, preconcentration and separation/deter mination processes were automatic and conducted separately. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first method combining an automatic MSPE with HPLC-ICP-MS for arsenic speciation, using a magnetic nanomaterial based on MGO for automatic MSPE. Under the optimized conditions, the LODs for the arsenic species were 3.8 ng L− 1 AsBet, 0.5 ng L− 1 cacodylate, 1.1 ng L− 1 AsIII and 0.2 ng L− 1 AsV with RSDs <5%. The developed method was validated by analyzing Certified Reference Materials for total As concentration (fortified lake water TMDA 64.3 and seawater CASS-6 NRC) and also by recovery analysis of the arsenic species in urine, well-water and seawater samples collected in Malaga. ´ The developed method has shown promise for routine monitoring of arsenic species in environmental waters and biological fluids.This work has been partially supported by the University of Malaga (Proyecto Puente UMA), FEDER funds, Junta de Andalucia, Project UMA18FEDERJA060 and the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia (fellowship FPU18/05371). Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU