MÉTRICAS E DESEMPENHO: A PERCEPÇÃO DE GESTORES E PROFISSIONAIS DE MARKETING

Esse trabalho estuda a relação entre o uso de métricas de gestão de marketing e os resultados obtidos pelas ações nessa área, na percepção de seus gestores e executivos. Foram levantadas junto à literatura sobre prestação de contas em marketing (marketing accountability) e de gestão, diversas métricas que neste artigo foram divididas em métricas de marketing, financeiras e de gestão. Profissionais da área responderam questionário que buscou identificar qual é o grau de utilização dessas métricas e a influência de seu uso sobre o resultado percebido nas ações de marketing. Os dados encontrados sugerem uma contradição, pois, embora os gestores em geral afirmem usar algum tipo de métrica, os resultados da análise estatística não apontaram relação significativa entre esse uso e o desempenho percebido pelos mesmos gestores. Esses resultados corroboram grande parte dos trabalhos na área que apontam haver necessidade de utilização de métricas que comprovem os resultados obtidos pelas organizações em suas ações de marketing. A partir dos dados levantados é possível supor que os gestores levam em conta as métricas em suas ações de marketing no momento de formulação dessas ações. Entretanto, não as utilizam no decorrer ou após a execução de tais ações. A quantidade reduzida de indivíduos da amostra, dada certa dificuldade de contato e participação de gestores de marketing em pesquisas dessa natureza, traz algumas limitações ao estudo, dificuldade também encontrada por trabalhos anteriores na mesma área. O marketing poderia aumentar suas contribuições às organizações, caso a mensuração de seus resultados sejam compreendidas e disseminadas

A Agressividade Tributária Gera Custos Reputacionais no Brasil?

O objetivo desta pesquisa é investigar se as empresas brasileiras arcam com o custo de reputação ao se engajarem em atividade de agressividade tributária. Uti-lizaram-se regressões com dados em painel para testar a hipótese de que quanto maior o nível de agressividade tributária praticada pelas empresas, maiores são os custos reputacionais que elas sofrem por conta dessa prática. A amostra está nas empresas brasileiras de capital aberto no período de 2010 a 2018. Os resultados não confirmaram a hipótese e sugerem que as variações das vendas e do preço das ações, a admiração pela mídia e a troca de executivos não estejam associadas à prática de agressividade, indicando que as empresas referentes não sofreram cus-tos reputacionais associados à agressividade tributária. Em suma, esta pesquisa sugere um auxílio a gestores sobre a aceitação ou não da agressividade fiscal, so-bretudo na ideia de redução de gastos com pagamentos de tributos agressivos, por exemplo

Redox proteomics of the inflammatory secretome identifies a common set of redoxins and other glutathionylated proteins released in inflammation, influenza virus infection and oxidative stress

Protein cysteines can form transient disulfides with glutathione (GSH), resulting in the production of glutathionylated proteins, and this process is regarded as a mechanism by which the redox state of the cell can regulate protein function. Most studies on redox regulation of immunity have focused on intracellular proteins. In this study we have used redox proteomics to identify those proteins released in glutathionylated form by macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) after pre-loading the cells with biotinylated GSH. Of the several proteins identified in the redox secretome, we have selected a number for validation. Proteomic analysis indicated that LPS stimulated the release of peroxiredoxin (PRDX) 1, PRDX2, vimentin (VIM), profilin1 (PFN1) and thioredoxin 1 (TXN1). For PRDX1 and TXN1, we were able to confirm that the released protein is glutathionylated. PRDX1, PRDX2 and TXN1 were also released by the human pulmonary epithelial cell line, A549, infected with influenza virus. The release of the proteins identified was inhibited by the anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid, dexamethasone (DEX), which also inhibited tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α release, and by thiol antioxidants (N-butanoyl GSH derivative, GSH-C4, and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), which did not affect TNF-α production. The proteins identified could be useful as biomarkers of oxidative stress associated with inflammation, and further studies will be required to investigate if the extracellular forms of these proteins has immunoregulatory functions

The Treatment In Morning versus Evening (TIME) study:Analysis of recruitment, follow-up and retention rates post-recruitment

Abstract Background The use of information technology (IT) is now the preferred method of capturing and storing clinical research data. The Treatment In Morning versus Evening (TIME) study predominantly uses electronic data capture and IT to compare morning dosing of hypertensive medication against evening dosing. Registration, consent, participant demographics and follow-up data are all captured via the study website. The aim of this article is to assess the success of the TIME methodology compared with similar studies. Methods To assess the TIME study, published literature on similar clinical trials was reviewed and compared against TIME recruitment, follow-up and email interaction data. Results The TIME website registered 31,695 individuals, 21,116 of whom were randomised. Recruitment cost per randomised participant varied by strategy: £17.40 by GP practice, £3.08 by UK Biobank and £58.82 for GoShare. Twelve-month follow-up retention rates were 96%. A total of 1089 participants have withdrawn from their assigned time of dosing, 2% of whom have declined follow-up by record linkage or further contact. When the TIME data are compared with similar study data, study recruitment is very successful. However, TIME suffers difficulties with participant follow-up and withdrawal rates similar to those of conventional studies. Conclusions The TIME study has been successful in recruitment. Follow-up, retention rates and withdrawal rates are all acceptable, but ongoing work is required to ensure participants remain engaged with the study. Various recruitment strategies are necessary, and all viable options should be encouraged to maintain participant engagement throughout the life of studies using IT

Therapeutic Efficacy of Stable Analogues of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide against Pathogens

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is an anti-inflammatory neuropeptide recently identified as a potential antimicrobial peptide. To overcome the metabolic limitations of VIP, we modified the native peptide sequence and generated two stable synthetic analogues (VIP51 and VIP51(6–30)) with better antimicrobial profiles. Herein we investigate the effects of both VIP analogues on cell viability, membrane integrity, and ultrastructure of various bacterial strains and Leishmania species. We found that the two VIP derivatives kill various non-pathogenic and pathogenic Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria as well as the parasite Leishmania major through a mechanism that depends on the interaction with certain components of the microbial surface, the formation of pores, and the disruption of the surface membrane. The cytotoxicity of the VIP derivatives is specific for pathogens, because they do not affect the viability of mammalian cells. Docking simulations indicate that the chemical changes made in the analogues are critical to increase their antimicrobial activities. Consequently, we found that the native VIP is less potent as an antibacterial and fails as a leishmanicidal. Noteworthy from a therapeutic point of view is that treatment with both derivatives increases the survival and reduces bacterial load and inflammation in mice with polymicrobial sepsis. Moreover, treatment with VIP51(6–30) is very effective at reducing lesion size and parasite burden in a model of cutaneous leishmaniasis. These results indicate that the VIP analogues emerge as attractive alternatives for treating drug-resistant infectious diseases and provide key insights into a rational design of novel agents against these pathogens.This work was supported, in whole or in part, by National Institutes of Health Grant RO1 AI031078 (to S. M. B.). This work was also supported by Excellence Grants from Junta de Andalucia (P09/CTS-4705) (to E. G.-R.) and European Cost Action (BM0802) (to E. G.-R.).Peer reviewe

Performance status score: do patients and their oncologists agree?

Oncologists traditionally assess their patients' ECOG performance status (PS), and few studies have evaluated the accuracy of these assessments. In this study, 101 patients attending a rapid access clinic at Papworth Hospital with a diagnosis of lung cancer were asked to assess their own ECOG PS score on a scale between 0 and 4. Patients' scores were compared to the PS assessment of them made by their oncologists. Of 98 patients with primary non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), weighted kappa statistics showed PS score agreement between patient and oncologist of 0.45. Both patient- and oncologist-assessed scores reflected survival duration (in NSCLC and SCLC) as well as disease stage (in NSCLC), with oncologist-assessed scores being only marginally more predictive of survival. There was no sex difference in patient assessment of PS scores, but oncologists scored female patients more pessimistically than males. This study showed that, with few exceptions, patients and oncologists assessed PS scores similarly. Although oncologists should continue to score PS objectively, it may benefit their clinical practice to involve their patients in these assessments