Business ethics crisis and social sustainability. The case of the product "Pura Vida" in Peru

Peru is a Latin American country with one of the most powerful and dynamic emerging economies in the world; however, it reveals considerable inconsistencies and socioeconomic inequalities. This research demonstrates that business ethics and corporate social responsibility are closely related with the welfare state of the country/region where a company is incorporated. Research work has been carried out on the case of the product "Pura Vida", of the Gloria Company, implementing a mixed research method (documentary, quan and qual) in which a descriptive collection of data from different sources, in relation to the company and the crisis with Pura Vida milk, has been used; additionally, an ad hoc survey has been conducted on a sample of Peruvian citizens to know their insight in relation to the relevant aspects of business ethics and corporate responsibility and their opinion regarding the specific case being investigated; finally, in-depth interviews were held with the company's management staff. It is shown that without a certain degree of welfare state, it is difficult to implement ethics and social responsibility in companies and in society as a whole. In addition, the main concerns of Peruvians regarding ethics and social responsibility can be observed

Polarization effects due to coupling of elastic to compound states

From a compound nucleus level-density-dependent imaginary potential an energy-and angular-momentum-dependent polarization potential is obtained by using the dispersion relation. The effect of coupling in this way the compound nucleus states to the elastic channel is to introduce a strongly attractive real polarization potential at small separation of the centers of mass of the colliding nuclei. The effective potential at distances around the strong absorption radii of the systems 16O+24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca at different energies above the barrier is very slightly modified. Thus, the elastic and fusion cross sections of these reactions are hardly affected by the polarization potential

On the thermogravimetric analysis of polymers: Polyethylene oxide powder and nanofibers

Thermogravimetric analysis of polyethylene oxide (powder and nanofibers obtained by force spinning water or chloroform solutions of polyethylene oxide) was studied using different theoretical models such as Friedman and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa. A semiempirical approach for estimating the “sigmoid activation energy” from the thermal degradation was suggested and confirmed by the experimental data on PEO powder and nanofibers\u27 mats. The equation allowed for calculating a “sigmoid activation energy” from a single thermogram using a single heating rate without requiring any model for the actual complex set of chemical reactions involved in the thermal degradation process. For PEO (powder and nanofibers obtained from water solutions), the “sigmoid activation energy” increased as the heating rate was increased. The sigmoid activation energy for PEO mats obtained from chloroform solutions exhibited a small decrease as the heating rate was increased. Thermograms\u27 derivatives were fitted to determine the coordinates of the inflection points. The “sigmoid activation energy” was compared to the activation energy determined from the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa model. Similarities between the thermal degradation of polyethylene oxide powder and of the nanofibers obtained from water solutions were discussed. Significant differences between the sigmoid activation energies of the mats obtained from water and chloroform solutions were reported

Caracterización mineralógica y textural del yacimiento de zeolitas de "Los Murcianos" (Cabo de Gata, Almería). Resultados preliminares

Depto. de Mineralogía y PetrologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

Multiple Sporadic Colorectal Cancers Display a Unique Methylation Phenotype

The members of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Group of the Spanish Gastroenterological Association are: Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid: Juan Diego Morillas (local coordinator), Raquel Muñoz, Marisa Manzano, Francisco Colina, Jose Díaz, Carolina Ibarrola, Guadalupe López, Alberto Ibáñez; Hospital Clínic, Barcelona: Antoni Castells (local coordinator), Virgínia Piñol, Sergi Castellví-Bel, Francesc Balaguer, Victoria Gonzalo, Teresa Ocaña, María Dolores Giráldez, Maria Pellisé, Anna Serradesanferm, Leticia Moreira, Miriam Cuatrecasas, Josep M. Piqué; Hospital Clínico Universitario, Zaragoza: Ángel Lanas (local coordinator), Javier Alcedo, Javier Ortego; Hospital Cristal-Piñor, Complexo Hospitalario de Ourense: Joaquin Cubiella (local coordinator), Ma Soledad Díez, Mercedes Salgado, Eloy Sánchez, Mariano Vega; Hospital del Mar, Barcelona: Montserrat Andreu (local coordinator), Anna Abuli, Xavier Bessa, Mar Iglesias, Agustín Seoane, Felipe Bory, Gemma Navarro, Beatriz Bellosillo, Josep Ma Dedeu, Cristina Álvarez, Begoña Gonzalez; Hospital San Eloy, Baracaldo and Hospital Donostia, CIBERehd, University of Country Basque, San Sebastián: Luis Bujanda (local coordinator) Ángel Cosme, Inés Gil, Mikel Larzabal, Carlos Placer, María del Mar Ramírez, Elisabeth Hijona, Jose M. Enríquez-Navascués, Jose L. Elosegui; Hospital General Universitario de Alicante: Artemio Payá (EPICOLON I local coordinator), Rodrigo Jover (EPICOLON II local coordinator), Cristina Alenda, Laura Sempere, Nuria Acame, Estefanía Rojas, Lucía Pérez-Carbonell; Hospital General de Granollers: Joaquim Rigau (local coordinator), Ángel Serrano, Anna Giménez; Hospital General de Vic: Joan Saló (local coordinator), Eduard Batiste-Alentorn, Josefina Autonell, Ramon Barniol; Hospital General Universitario de Guadalajara and Fundación para la Formación e Investigación Sanitarias Murcia: Ana María García (local coordinator), Fernando Carballo, Antonio Bienvenido, Eduardo Sanz, Fernando González, Jaime Sánchez, Akiko Ono; Hospital General Universitario de Valencia: Mercedes Latorre (local coordinator), Enrique Medina, Jaime Cuquerella, Pilar Canelles, Miguel Martorell, José Ángel García, Francisco Quiles, Elisa Orti; CHUVI-Hospital Meixoeiro, Vigo: EPICOLON I: Juan Clofent (local coordinator), Jaime Seoane, Antoni Tardío, Eugenia Sanchez; EPICOLON II: Ma Luisa de Castro (local coordinator), Antoni Tardío, Juan Clofent, Vicent Hernández; Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona and Section of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL: Xavier Llor (local coordinator), Rosa M. Xicola, Marta Piñol, Mercè Rosinach, Anna Roca, Elisenda Pons, José M. Hernández, Miquel A. Gassull; Hospital Universitari Mútua de Terrassa: Fernando Fernández-Bañares (local coordinator), Josep M. Viver, Antonio Salas, Jorge Espinós, Montserrat Forné, Maria Esteve; Hospital Universitari Arnau de Vilanova, Lleida: Josep M. Reñé (local coordinator), Carmen Piñol, Juan Buenestado, Joan Viñas; Hospital Universitario de Canarias: Enrique Quintero (local coordinator), David Nicolás, Adolfo Parra, Antonio Martín; Hospital Universitario La Fe, Valencia: Lidia Argüello (local coordinator), Vicente Pons, Virginia Pertejo, Teresa Sala; Hospital Sant Pau, Barcelona: Dolors Gonzalez (local coordinator), Eva Roman, Teresa Ramon, Maria Poca, Ma Mar Concepción, Marta Martin, Lourdes Pétriz; Hospital Xeral Cies, Vigo: Daniel Martinez (local coordinator); Fundacion Publica Galega de Medicina Xenomica (FPGMX), CIBERER, Genomic Medicine Group-University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain: Ángel Carracedo (local coordinator), Clara Ruiz-Ponte, Ceres Fernández-Rozadilla, Ma Magdalena Castro; Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias: Sabino Riestra (local coordinator), Luis Rodrigo; Hospital de Galdácano, Vizcaya: Javier Fernández (local coordinator), Jose Luis Cabriada; Fundación Hospital de Calahorra (La Rioja) La Rioja: Luis Carreño (local coordinator), Susana Oquiñena, Federico Bolado; Hospital Royo Villanova, Zaragoza: Elena Peña (local coordinator), José Manuel Blas, Gloria Ceña, Juan José Sebastián; Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba: Antonio Naranjo (local coordinator).Epigenetics are thought to play a major role in the carcinogenesis of multiple sporadic colorectal cancers (CRC). Previous studies have suggested concordant DNA hypermethylation between tumor pairs. However, only a few methylation markers have been analyzed. This study was aimed at describing the epigenetic signature of multiple CRC using a genome-scale DNA methylation profiling. We analyzed 12 patients with synchronous CRC and 29 age-, sex-, and tumor location-paired patients with solitary tumors from the EPICOLON II cohort. DNA methylation profiling was performed using the Illumina Infinium HM27 DNA methylation assay. The most significant results were validated by Methylight. Tumors samples were also analyzed for the CpG Island Methylator Phenotype (CIMP); KRAS and BRAF mutations and mismatch repair deficiency status. Functional annotation clustering was performed. We identified 102 CpG sites that showed significant DNA hypermethylation in multiple tumors with respect to the solitary counterparts (difference in β value ≥0.1). Methylight assays validated the results for 4 selected genes (p = 0.0002). Eight out of 12(66.6%) multiple tumors were classified as CIMP-high, as compared to 5 out of 29(17.2%) solitary tumors (p = 0.004). Interestingly, 76 out of the 102 (74.5%) hypermethylated CpG sites found in multiple tumors were also seen in CIMP-high tumors. Functional analysis of hypermethylated genes found in multiple tumors showed enrichment of genes involved in different tumorigenic functions. In conclusion, multiple CRC are associated with a distinct methylation phenotype, with a close association between tumor multiplicity and CIMP-high. Our results may be important to unravel the underlying mechanism of tumor multiplicity.This work was supported by grants from the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona (Josep Font grant), Ministerio de Economí­a y Competitividad (SAF 2007-64873 and SAF2010-19273), Fundación Científica de la Asociación Española contra el Cáncer, and Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI10/00384). “Cofinanciado por el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). Unión Europea. Una manera de hacer Europa”. CIBEREHD is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III

An In Vitro Pipeline for Screening and Selection of Citrus-Associated Microbiota with Potential Anti-"Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus" Properties.

Huanglongbing (HLB) is a destructive citrus disease that is lethal to all commercial citrus plants, making it the most serious citrus disease and one of the most serious plant diseases. Because of the severity of HLB and the paucity of effective control measures, we structured this study to encompass the entirety of the citrus microbiome and the chemistries associated with that microbial community. We describe the spatial niche diversity of bacteria and fungi associated with citrus roots, stems, and leaves using traditional microbial culturing integrated with culture-independent methods. Using the culturable sector of the citrus microbiome, we created a microbial repository using a high-throughput bulk culturing and microbial identification pipeline. We integrated an in vitro agar diffusion inhibition bioassay into our culturing pipeline that queried the repository for antimicrobial activity against Liberibacter crescens, a culturable surrogate for the nonculturable "Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus" bacterium associated with HLB. We identified microbes with robust inhibitory activity against L. crescens that include the fungi Cladosporium cladosporioides and Epicoccum nigrum and bacterial species of Pantoea, Bacillus, and Curtobacterium Purified bioactive natural products with anti-"Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus" activity were identified from the fungus C. cladosporioides Bioassay-guided fractionation of an organic extract of C. cladosporioides yielded the natural products cladosporols A, C, and D as the active agents against L. crescens This work serves as a foundation for unraveling the complex chemistries associated with the citrus microbiome to begin to understand the functional roles of members of the microbiome, with the long-term goal of developing anti-"Ca Liberibacter asiaticus" bioinoculants that thrive in the citrus holosystem.IMPORTANCE Globally, citrus is threatened by huanglongbing (HLB), and the lack of effective control measures is a major concern of farmers, markets, and consumers. There is compelling evidence that plant health is a function of the activities of the plant's associated microbiome. Using Liberibacter crescens, a culturable surrogate for the unculturable HLB-associated bacterium "Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus," we tested the hypothesis that members of the citrus microbiome produce potential anti-"Ca Liberibacter asiaticus" natural products with potential anti-"Ca Liberibacter asiaticus" activity. A subset of isolates obtained from the microbiome inhibited L. crescens growth in an agar diffusion inhibition assay. Further fractionation experiments linked the inhibitory activity of the fungus Cladosporium cladosporioides to the fungus-produced natural products cladosporols A, C, and D, demonstrating dose-dependent antagonism to L. crescens

Thermal Transport and Rheological Properties of Hybrid Nanofluids Based on Vegetable Lubricants

Nanofluids based on vegetal oil with different wt.% of carbon nanotubes (CNT), hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and its hybrid (h-BN@CNT) were produced to investigate the effects of these nano-additives on the thermal conductivity and rheological properties of nanofluids. Stable suspensions of these oil/nanostructures were produced without the use of stabilizing agents. The dispersed nanostructures were investigated by SEM, EDS, XRD, and XPS, while the thermal conductivity and rheological characteristics were studied by a transient hot-wire method and steady-state flow tests, respectively. Increases in thermal conductivity of up to 39% were observed for fluids produced with 0.5 wt.% of the hybrid nanomaterials. As for the rheological properties, it was verified that both the base fluid and the h-BN suspensions exhibited Newtonian behavior, while the presence of CNT modified this tendency. This change in behavior is attributed to the hydrophobic character of both CNT and the base oil, while h-BN nanostructures have lip-lip “bonds”, giving it a partial ionic character. However, the combination of these nanostructures was fundamental for the synergistic effect on the increase of thermal conductivity with respect to their counterparts

Novel gold(III)-dithiocarbamate complex targeting bacterial thioredoxin reductase: antimicrobial activity, synergy, toxicity, and mechanistic insights

IntroductionAntimicrobial resistance is a pressing global concern that has led to the search for new antibacterial agents with novel targets or non-traditional approaches. Recently, organogold compounds have emerged as a promising class of antibacterial agents. In this study, we present and characterize a (C^S)-cyclometallated Au(III) dithiocarbamate complex as a potential drug candidate.Methods and resultsThe Au(III) complex was found to be stable in the presence of effective biological reductants, and showed potent antibacterial and antibiofilm activity against a wide range of multidrug-resistant strains, particularly gram-positive strains, and gram-negative strains when used in combination with a permeabilizing antibiotic. No resistant mutants were detected after exposing bacterial cultures to strong selective pressure, indicating that the complex may have a low propensity for resistance development. Mechanistic studies indicate that the Au(III) complex exerts its antibacterial activity through a multimodal mechanism of action. Ultrastructural membrane damage and rapid bacterial uptake suggest direct interactions with the bacterial membrane, while transcriptomic analysis identified altered pathways related to energy metabolism and membrane stability including enzymes of the TCA cycle and fatty acid biosynthesis. Enzymatic studies further revealed a strong reversible inhibition of the bacterial thioredoxin reductase. Importantly, the Au(III) complex demonstrated low cytotoxicity at therapeutic concentrations in mammalian cell lines, and showed no acute in vivo toxicity in mice at the doses tested, with no signs of organ toxicity.DiscussionOverall, these findings highlight the potential of the Au(III)-dithiocarbamate scaffold as a basis for developing novel antimicrobial agents, given its potent antibacterial activity, synergy, redox stability, inability to produce resistant mutants, low toxicity to mammalian cells both in vitro and in vivo, and non-conventional mechanism of action

Aberrant Gene Promoter Methylation Associated with Sporadic Multiple Colorectal Cancer

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) multiplicity has been mainly related to polyposis and non-polyposis hereditary syndromes. In sporadic CRC, aberrant gene promoter methylation has been shown to play a key role in carcinogenesis, although little is known about its involvement in multiplicity. To assess the effect of methylation in tumor multiplicity in sporadic CRC, hypermethylation of key tumor suppressor genes was evaluated in patients with both multiple and solitary tumors, as a proof-of-concept of an underlying epigenetic defect. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We examined a total of 47 synchronous/metachronous primary CRC from 41 patients, and 41 gender, age (5-year intervals) and tumor location-paired patients with solitary tumors. Exclusion criteria were polyposis syndromes, Lynch syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. DNA methylation at the promoter region of the MGMT, CDKN2A, SFRP1, TMEFF2, HS3ST2 (3OST2), RASSF1A and GATA4 genes was evaluated by quantitative methylation specific PCR in both tumor and corresponding normal appearing colorectal mucosa samples. Overall, patients with multiple lesions exhibited a higher degree of methylation in tumor samples than those with solitary tumors regarding all evaluated genes. After adjusting for age and gender, binomial logistic regression analysis identified methylation of MGMT2 (OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.10 to 1.97; p = 0.008) and RASSF1A (OR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.01 to 4.13; p = 0.047) as variables independently associated with tumor multiplicity, being the risk related to methylation of any of these two genes 4.57 (95% CI, 1.53 to 13.61; p = 0.006). Moreover, in six patients in whom both tumors were available, we found a correlation in the methylation levels of MGMT2 (r = 0.64, p = 0.17), SFRP1 (r = 0.83, 0.06), HPP1 (r = 0.64, p = 0.17), 3OST2 (r = 0.83, p = 0.06) and GATA4 (r = 0.6, p = 0.24). Methylation in normal appearing colorectal mucosa from patients with multiple and solitary CRC showed no relevant difference in any evaluated gene. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide a proof-of-concept that gene promoter methylation is associated with tumor multiplicity. This underlying epigenetic defect may have noteworthy implications in the prevention of patients with sporadic CRC

A Measurement of B Meson Production and Lifetime Using D`− Events in Z0 Decays

A study of B meson decays into D l- X final states is presented. In these events, neutral and charged D mesons originate predominantly from B+ and B0 decays, respectively. The dilution of this correlation due to D** production has been taken into account. From 263700 hadronic Z0 decays collected in 1991 with the DELPHI detector at the LEP collider, 92 D0 --> K- pi+, 35 D+ --> K- pi+ pi+ and 61 D*+ --> D0 pi+ followed by D0 --> K- pi+ or D0 --> K- pi+ pi+ pi-, are found with an associated lepton of the same charge as the kaon. From the D0 l- and D*+ l-, the probability f(d) that a b quark hadronizes into a B- (or B0BAR),meson is found to be 0.44 +/-0.08 +/-0.09, corresponding to a total (B(s) + LAMBDA(b)) hadronization fraction of 0.12(-0.12)+0.24 .By reconstructing the energy of each B meson, the b quark fragmentation is directly measured for the first time. The mean value of the B meson energy fraction is: [X(E)(B)] = 0.695+/-0.015(stat.)+/-0.029(syst.) Reconstructing D-lepton vertices, the following B life-times are measured: tau(B) = 1.27(-0.18)+0.22(stat.)+/-0.15(syst.) ps, where bBAR --> D0 l- X, tau(B) = 1.18(-0.27)+0.39(stat.)+/-0.15(syst.) ps, where BBAR --> D+ l- X, T(B) = 1.19(-0.19)+0.25(stat.)+/-0.15(syst.) ps where BBAR --> D*+ l- X, and an average tau(B) = 1.23(-0.13)+0.14(stat.)+/-0.15(syst.) ps is found. Allowing for decays into D** l- vBAR, the B+ and B0 lifetimes are: tau(B+)= 1.30(0.29)+0.33(stat.)+/-0.15(syst. exp.) +/-0.05(syst. D**) ps, tau(B0)= 1.17(-0.23)+0.29(stat.)+/-0.15(syst. exp.) +/-0.05 (syst. D**) ps, tau(B+)/tau(B0) = 1.11(0.39)+0.51(stat.)+/-0.05(syst. exp.) +/-0.10(syst. D**) ps