Liderazgo en la cultura organizacional de Mipymes hoteleras

This research approaches subjects that have been object of analysis in other researches, however, it aims to contribute with knowledge to the MSMEs of the hotel sector about the perception that the administrative collaborators have about the importance of leadership style exercised and its possible influence in the organizational culture as a matter of integrity and identity. The research is descriptive type with non-experimental transversal design, the small hotels in the city of Campeche were considered as a population under analysis, to which a sample was not determined considering its number, but they were registered according to the data of the Mexican Business Information System; results obtained based on the indicators built ex professo, indicate that the leadership style doesn’t face the problems with opportunity, nor challenges and risks to innovate, even when the trust levels given by the employees are acceptable, there are required structured processes for the transmission of the organizational culture as a matter of identity and business integration.Este trabajo aborda temas que han sido objeto de análisis en otras investigaciones, sin embargo, pretende aportar conocimiento a las mipymes del sector hotelero, sobre la percepción que tienen los colaboradores que integran su administración, sobre la importancia del estilo de liderazgo ejercido y su posible influencia en la cultura organizacional como factor de integración e identidad. El estudio es descriptivo con diseño no experimental transversal, se consideró como población a los hoteles pequeños de la ciudad de Campeche, a la que no se determinó una muestra considerando su número, sino que fueron censados según datos del Sistema de Información Empresarial Mexicano; los resultados obtenidos con base a los índices construidos exprofeso, indican que el estilo de liderazgo ejercido no enfrenta los problemas con oportunidad, ni desafíos y riesgos para innovar, aun cuando los niveles de confianza depositada por los empleados son aceptables, se requieren procesos estructurados para la transmisión de la cultura organizacional como factor de identidad e integración empresarial

Mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with dough quality in a soft × hard bread wheat progeny

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) quality is a key trait for baking industry exigencies and broad consumer preferences. The main goal of this study was to undertake quantitative trait loci (QTL) analyses for bread wheat quality in a set of 79 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a soft × hard bread wheat cross. Field trials were conducted over two years, utilizing a randomized complete block design. Dough quality was evaluated by sedimentation test, mixograph and alveograph analysis. Protein content was measured by near-infrared reflectance analysis and grain hardness was determined by the single kernel characterization system (SKCS). A genetic map based on 263 SSR markers and glutenin loci was constructed. Composite interval mapping (CIM) analysis detected a total of 20 QTLs distributed among ten chromosomes which were associated with variations in quality traits. Results confirmed the previous investigations on the known relationship between storage-protein alleles and dough quality, and detected new and stable QTLs related to dough quality parameters on chromosomes 2A, 7A, 5B and 1D. These new QTLs could be further investigated. Also, in this study, some RILs showed very high dough extensibility values which involve future validation studies for QTLs associated with to this trait

Improving the power performance of urine-fed microbial fuel cells using PEDOT-PSS modified anodes

© 2020 The Authors The need for improving the energy harvesting from Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) has boosted the design of new materials in order to increase the power performance of this technology and facilitate its practical application. According to this approach, in this work different poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT-PSS) modified electrodes have been synthesised and evaluated as anodes in urine-fed MFCs. The electrochemical synthesis of PEDOT-PSS was performed by potentiostatic step experiments from aqueous solution at a fixed potential of 1.80 V (vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode) for different times: 30, 60, 120 and 240 s. Compared with other methods, this technique allowed us not only to reduce the processing time of the electrodes but also better control of the chemical composition of the deposited polymer and therefore, obtain more efficient polymer films. All modified anodes outperformed the maximum power output by MFCs working with the bare carbon veil electrode but the maximum value was observed when MFCs were working with the PEDOT-PSS based anode obtained after 30 s of electropolymerisation (535.1 µW). This value was 24.3% higher than using the bare carbon veil electrode. Moreover, the functionality of the PEDOT-PSS anodes was reported over 90 days working in continuous mode

Coastal sea level monitoring in the Mediterranean and Black seas

Employed for over a century, the traditional way of monitoring sea level variability by tide gauges – in combination with modern observational techniques like satellite altimetry – is an inevitable ingredient in sea level studies over the climate scales and in coastal seas. The development of the instrumentation, remote data acquisition, processing, and archiving in the last decades has allowed the extension of the applications to a variety of users and coastal hazard managers. The Mediterranean and Black seas are examples of such a transition – while having a long tradition of sea level observations with several records spanning over a century, the number of modern tide gauge stations is growing rapidly, with data available both in real time and as a research product at different time resolutions. As no comprehensive survey of the tide gauge networks has been carried out recently in these basins, the aim of this paper is to map the existing coastal sea level monitoring infrastructures and the respective data availability. The survey encompasses a description of major monitoring networks in the Mediterranean and Black seas and their characteristics, including the type of sea level sensors, measuring resolutions, data availability, and existence of ancillary measurements, altogether collecting information about 240 presently operational tide gauge stations. The availability of the Mediterranean and Black seas sea level data in the global and European sea level repositories has been also screened and classified following their sampling interval and level of quality check, pointing to the necessity of harmonization of the data available with different metadata and series in different repositories. Finally, an assessment of the networks' capabilities for their use in different sea level applications has been done, with recommendations that might mitigate the bottlenecks and ensure further development of the networks in a coordinated way, a critical need in the era of human-induced climate changes and sea level rise.En prens

Transcriptome sequencing of three Pseudo-nitzschia species reveals comparable gene sets and the presence of Nitric Oxide Synthase genes in diatoms

Diatoms are among the most diverse eukaryotic microorganisms on Earth, they are responsible for a large fraction of primary production in the oceans and can be found in different habitats. Pseudo-nitzschia are marine planktonic diatoms responsible for blooms in coastal and oceanic waters. We analyzed the transcriptome of three species, Pseudo-nitzschia arenysensis, Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima and Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata, with different levels of genetic relatedness. These species have a worldwide distribution and the last one produces the neurotoxin domoic acid. We were able to annotate about 80% of the sequences in each transcriptome and the analysis of the relative functional annotations allowed comparison of the main metabolic pathways, pathways involved in the biosynthesis of isoprenoids (MAV and MEP pathways), and pathways putatively involved in domoic acid synthesis. The search for homologous transcripts among the target species and other congeneric species resulted in the discovery of a sequence annotated as Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS), found uniquely in Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata. The predicted protein product contained all the domains of the canonical metazoan sequence. Putative NOS sequences were found in other available diatom datasets, supporting a role for nitric oxide as signaling molecule in this group of microalgae

Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Modeling in Pediatric Drug Development, and the Importance of Standardized Scaling of Clearance.

Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PKPD) modeling is important in the design and conduct of clinical pharmacology research in children. During drug development, PKPD modeling and simulation should underpin rational trial design and facilitate extrapolation to investigate efficacy and safety. The application of PKPD modeling to optimize dosing recommendations and therapeutic drug monitoring is also increasing, and PKPD model-based dose individualization will become a core feature of personalized medicine. Following extensive progress on pediatric PK modeling, a greater emphasis now needs to be placed on PD modeling to understand age-related changes in drug effects. This paper discusses the principles of PKPD modeling in the context of pediatric drug development, summarizing how important PK parameters, such as clearance (CL), are scaled with size and age, and highlights a standardized method for CL scaling in children. One standard scaling method would facilitate comparison of PK parameters across multiple studies, thus increasing the utility of existing PK models and facilitating optimal design of new studies

Global Metabolomic Profiling of Acute Myocarditis Caused by Trypanosoma cruzi Infection

© 2014 Gironès et al. Chagas disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi infection, being cardiomyopathy the more frequent manifestation. New chemotherapeutic drugs are needed but there are no good biomarkers for monitoring treatment efficacy. There is growing evidence linking immune response and metabolism in inflammatory processes and specifically in Chagas disease. Thus, some metabolites are able to enhance and/or inhibit the immune response. Metabolite levels found in the host during an ongoing infection could provide valuable information on the pathogenesis and/or identify deregulated metabolic pathway that can be potential candidates for treatment and being potential specific biomarkers of the disease. To gain more insight into those aspects in Chagas disease, we performed an unprecedented metabolomic analysis in heart and plasma of mice infected with T. cruzi. Many metabolic pathways were profoundly affected by T. cruzi infection, such as glucose uptake, sorbitol pathway, fatty acid and phospholipid synthesis that were increased in heart tissue but decreased in plasma. Tricarboxylic acid cycle was decreased in heart tissue and plasma whereas reactive oxygen species production and uric acid formation were also deeply increased in infected hearts suggesting a stressful condition in the heart. While specific metabolites allantoin, kynurenine and p-cresol sulfate, resulting from nucleotide, tryptophan and phenylalanine/tyrosine metabolism, respectively, were increased in heart tissue and also in plasma. These results provide new valuable information on the pathogenesis of acute Chagas disease, unravel several new metabolic pathways susceptible of clinical management and identify metabolites useful as potential specific biomarkers for monitoring treatment and clinical severity in patients.This work was supported by ‘‘Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación’’ (SAF2010-17833); ‘‘Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias’’ (PS09/00538 and PI12/00289); ‘‘Red de Investigación de Centros de Enfermedades Tropicales’’ (RICET RD12/0018/0004); European Union (HEALTH-FE-2008-22303, ChagasEpiNet);‘‘Universidad Autónoma de Madrid’’ and ‘‘Comunidad de Madrid’’ (CC08-UAM/SAL-4440/08); AECID Cooperation with Argentine (A/025417/09 and A/031735/10), Comunidad de Madrid (S-2010/BMD-2332) and ‘‘Fundación Ramón Areces’Peer Reviewe

Structure-Based Design of Non-Natural Amino Acid Inhibitors of Amyloid Fibrillation

Many globular and natively disordered proteins can convert into amyloid fibers. These fibers are associated with numerous pathologies1 as well as with normal cellular functions2,3, and frequently form during protein denaturation4,5. Inhibitors of pathological amyloid fibers could serve as leads for therapeutics, provided the inhibitors were specific enough to avoid interfering with normal processes. Here we show that computer-aided, structure-based design can yield highly specific peptide inhibitors of amyloid formation. Using known atomic structures of segments of amyloid fibers as templates, we have designed and characterized an all D-amino acid inhibitor of fibrillation of the tau protein found in Alzheimer’s disease, and a non-natural L-amino acid inhibitor of an amyloid fiber that enhances sexual transmission of HIV. Our results indicate that peptides from structure-based designs can disrupt the fibrillation of full-length proteins, including those like tau that lack fully ordered native structures.We thank M.I. Ivanova, J. Corn, T. Kortemme, D. Anderson, M.R. Sawaya, M. Phillips, S. Sambashivan, J. Park, M. Landau, Q. Zhang, R. Clubb, F. Guo, T. Yeates, J. Nowick, J. Zheng, and M.J. Thompson for discussions, HHMI, NIH, NSF, the GATES foundation, and the Joint Center for Translational Medicine for support, R. Peterson for help with NMR experiments, E. Mandelkow for providing tau constructs, R. Riek for providing amyloid beta, J. Stroud for amyloid beta preparation. Support for JK was from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, for HWC by the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, for JM from the programme for junior-professors by the ministry of science, Baden-Württemberg, and for SAS by a UCLA-IGERT bioinformatics traineeship

Setting priorities for land management to mitigate climate change

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>No consensus has been reached how to measure the effectiveness of climate change mitigation in the land-use sector and how to prioritize land use accordingly. We used the long-term cumulative and average sectorial C stocks in biomass, soil and products, C stock changes, the substitution of fossil energy and of energy-intensive products, and net present value (NPV) as evaluation criteria for the effectiveness of a hectare of productive land to mitigate climate change and produce economic returns. We evaluated land management options using real-life data of Thuringia, a region representative for central-western European conditions, and input from life cycle assessment, with a carbon-tracking model. We focused on solid biomass use for energy production.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In forestry, the traditional timber production was most economically viable and most climate-friendly due to an assumed recycling rate of 80% of wood products for bioenergy. Intensification towards "pure bioenergy production" would reduce the average sectorial C stocks and the C substitution and would turn NPV negative. In the forest conservation (non-use) option, the sectorial C stocks increased by 52% against timber production, which was not compensated by foregone wood products and C substitution. Among the cropland options wheat for food with straw use for energy, whole cereals for energy, and short rotation coppice for bioenergy the latter was most climate-friendly. However, specific subsidies or incentives for perennials would be needed to favour this option.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>When using the harvested products as materials prior to energy use there is no climate argument to support intensification by switching from sawn-wood timber production towards energy-wood in forestry systems. A legal framework would be needed to ensure that harvested products are first used for raw materials prior to energy use. Only an effective recycling of biomaterials frees land for long-term sustained C sequestration by conservation. Reuse cascades avoid additional emissions from shifting production or intensification.</p

Immunity and vaccine development efforts against Trypanosoma cruzi

Artículo de revisión especializadoTrypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) is the causative agent for Chagas disease (CD). There is a critical lack of methods for prevention of infection or treatment of acute infection and chronic disease. Studies in experimental models have suggested that the protective immunity against T. cruzi infection requires the elicitation of Th1 cytokines, lytic antibodies and the concerted activities of macrophages, T helper cells, and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). In this review, we summarize the research efforts in vaccine development to date and the challenges faced in achieving an efficient prophylactic or therapeutic vaccine against human CD.UTM