Ventajas competitivas en empresas manufactureras, resultado de los sistemas de producción y la innovación

Actualmente, es vital para la empresa manufacturera contar con determinadas características, las cuales, logren establecer claramente la diferencia entre éstas y sus similares, por lo tanto es necesario avanzar en el desarrollo de las ventajas competitivas; y así, demostrar cuales son las fortalezas con las que cuenta la empresa, para competir con sus similares y salir adelante sobre éstas, aunque se trate de épocas adversas. Es por ello que la presente investigación, tiene como objetivo, determinar si el desarrollo de ventajas competitivas, tiene alguna relación con la situación en la que se encuentran los sistemas de producción, así como la innovación en las empresas manufactureras en Aguascalientes, México. Finalmente el estudio hace notar que en Aguascalientes, en este momento, el desarrollo de ventajas competitivas, se ve influenciado por lo que acontece en los sistemas de producción y la innovación con que cuentan las empresas manufacturera

Monocyte Activation and Ageing Biomarkers in the Development of Cardiovascular Ischaemic Events or Diabetes in People with HIV

HIV infection; Cardiovascular disease; DiabetesInfecció pel VIH; Malaltia cardiovascular; DiabetisInfección por VIH; Enfermedad cardiovascular; DiabetesWe investigated whether blood telomere length (TL), epigenetic age acceleration (EAA), and soluble inflammatory monocyte cytokines are associated with cardiovascular events or diabetes (DM) in people living with HIV (PLHIV). This was a case–control study nested in the Spanish HIV/AIDS Cohort (CoRIS). Cases with myocardial infarction, stroke, sudden death, or diabetes after starting antiretroviral therapy were included with the available samples and controls matched for sex, age, tobacco use, pre-ART CD4 cell count, viral load, and sample time-point. TL (T/S ratio) was analysed by quantitative PCR and EAA with DNA methylation changes by next-generation sequencing using the Weidner formula. Conditional logistic regression was used to explore the association with cardiometabolic events. In total, 180 participants (94 cases (22 myocardial infarction/sudden death, 12 strokes, and 60 DM) and 94 controls) were included. Of these, 84% were male, median (IQR) age 46 years (40–56), 53% were current smokers, and 22% had CD4 count ≤ 200 cells/mm3 and a median (IQR) log viral load of 4.52 (3.77–5.09). TL and EAA were similar in the cases and controls. There were no significant associations between TL, EAA, and monocyte cytokines with cardiometabolic events. TL and EAA were mildly negatively correlated with sCD14 (rho = −0.23; p = 0.01) and CCL2/MCP-1 (rho = −0.17; p = 0.02). We found no associations between TL, EAA, and monocyte cytokines with cardiovascular events or diabetes. Further studies are needed to elucidate the clinical value of epigenetic biomarkers and TL in PLHIV.This study was funded by an unrestricted and competitive grant from “The Fellowship Program” of Gilead Sciences (Exp. GLD16/00133). CoRIS is supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III through the Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Sida (RD06/006, RD12/0017/0018 and RD16/0002/0006) as part of the Plan Nacional I + D + i and co-financed by Instituto de Salud Carlos III-Subdirección General de Evaluación and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). The integrated HIV BioBank is supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III RD12/0017/0037

Remdesivir for 5 or 10 Days in Patients With Severe Covid-19

Background: Remdesivir is an RNA polymerase inhibitor with potent antiviral activity in vitro and efficacy in animal models of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Methods: We conducted a randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial involving hospitalized patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, oxygen saturation of 94% or less while they were breathing ambient air, and radiologic evidence of pneumonia. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive intravenous remdesivir for either 5 days or 10 days. All patients received 200 mg of remdesivir on day 1 and 100 mg once daily on subsequent days. The primary end point was clinical status on day 14, assessed on a 7-point ordinal scale. Results: In total, 397 patients underwent randomization and began treatment (200 patients for 5 days and 197 for 10 days). The median duration of treatment was 5 days (interquartile range, 5 to 5) in the 5-day group and 9 days (interquartile range, 5 to 10) in the 10-day group. At baseline, patients randomly assigned to the 10-day group had significantly worse clinical status than those assigned to the 5-day group (P = 0.02). By day 14, a clinical improvement of 2 points or more on the ordinal scale occurred in 64% of patients in the 5-day group and in 54% in the 10-day group. After adjustment for baseline clinical status, patients in the 10-day group had a distribution in clinical status at day 14 that was similar to that among patients in the 5-day group (P = 0.14). The most common adverse events were nausea (9% of patients), worsening respiratory failure (8%), elevated alanine aminotransferase level (7%), and constipation (7%). Conclusions: In patients with severe Covid-19 not requiring mechanical ventilation, our trial did not show a significant difference between a 5-day course and a 10-day course of remdesivir. With no placebo control, however, the magnitude of benefit cannot be determined. (Funded by Gilead Sciences; GS-US-540-5773 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04292899.)

EBioMedicine

BACKGROUND: Previous epigenome-wide association studies have shown that HIV infection can disrupt the host DNA methylation landscape. However, it remains unclear how antiretroviral therapy (ART) affects the HIV-induced epigenetic modifications. METHODS: 184 individuals with HIV from the NEAT001/ANRS143 clinical trial (with pre-ART and post-ART samples [96 weeks of follow-up]) and 44 age-and-sex matched individuals without HIV were included. We compared genome-wide DNA methylation profiles in whole blood between groups adjusting for age, sex, batch effects, and DNA methylation-based estimates of leucocyte composition. FINDINGS: We identified 430 differentially methylated positions (DMPs) between HIV+ pre-ART individuals and HIV-uninfected controls. In participants with HIV, ART initiation modified the DNA methylation levels at 845 CpG positions and restored 49.3% of the changes found between HIV+ pre-ART and HIV-uninfected individuals. We only found 15 DMPs when comparing DNA methylation profiles between HIV+ post-ART individuals and participants without HIV. The Gene Ontology enrichment analysis of DMPs associated with untreated HIV infection revealed an enrichment in biological processes regulating the immune system and antiviral responses. In participants with untreated HIV infection, DNA methylation levels at top HIV-related DMPs were associated with CD4/CD8 ratios and viral loads. Changes in DNA methylation levels after ART initiation were weakly correlated with changes in CD4+ cell counts and the CD4/CD8 ratio. INTERPRETATION: Control of HIV viraemia after 96 weeks of ART initiation partly restores the host DNA methylation changes that occurred before antiretroviral treatment of HIV infection. FUNDING: NEAT-ID Foundation and Instituto de Salud Carlos III, co-funded by European Union

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of the Largest HIV-1 CRF02_AG Outbreak in Spain: Evidence for Onward Transmissions

Background and Aim: The circulating recombinant form 02_AG (CRF02_AG) is the predominant clade among the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) non-Bs with a prevalence of 5.97% (95% Confidence Interval-CI: 5.41–6.57%) across Spain. Our aim was to estimate the levels of regional clustering for CRF02_AG and the spatiotemporal characteristics of the largest CRF02_AG subepidemic in Spain.Methods: We studied 396 CRF02_AG sequences obtained from HIV-1 diagnosed patients during 2000–2014 from 10 autonomous communities of Spain. Phylogenetic analysis was performed on the 391 CRF02_AG sequences along with all globally sampled CRF02_AG sequences (N = 3,302) as references. Phylodynamic and phylogeographic analysis was performed to the largest CRF02_AG monophyletic cluster by a Bayesian method in BEAST v1.8.0 and by reconstructing ancestral states using the criterion of parsimony in Mesquite v3.4, respectively.Results: The HIV-1 CRF02_AG prevalence differed across Spanish autonomous communities we sampled from (p < 0.001). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 52.7% of the CRF02_AG sequences formed 56 monophyletic clusters, with a range of 2–79 sequences. The CRF02_AG regional dispersal differed across Spain (p = 0.003), as suggested by monophyletic clustering. For the largest monophyletic cluster (subepidemic) (N = 79), 49.4% of the clustered sequences originated from Madrid, while most sequences (51.9%) had been obtained from men having sex with men (MSM). Molecular clock analysis suggested that the origin (tMRCA) of the CRF02_AG subepidemic was in 2002 (median estimate; 95% Highest Posterior Density-HPD interval: 1999–2004). Additionally, we found significant clustering within the CRF02_AG subepidemic according to the ethnic origin.Conclusion: CRF02_AG has been introduced as a result of multiple introductions in Spain, following regional dispersal in several cases. We showed that CRF02_AG transmissions were mostly due to regional dispersal in Spain. The hot-spot for the largest CRF02_AG regional subepidemic in Spain was in Madrid associated with MSM transmission risk group. The existence of subepidemics suggest that several spillovers occurred from Madrid to other areas. CRF02_AG sequences from Hispanics were clustered in a separate subclade suggesting no linkage between the local and Hispanic subepidemics

Administración de operaciones y su impacto en el desempeño de las empresas

The fast-paced business world demands a continuous adaptation of operations management techniques in the functional areas of companies and a better understanding of the impact on performance, to allow professionals to improve management and decision-making techniques. This research aims to examine the use of operations management techniques and their impact on the performance of companies. The methodology used has a quantitative approach, for which 317 surveys were carried out to managers in manufacturing companies in the Aguascalientes region, Mexico. The operations management variable was measured by four dimensions: distribution and care of the company, continuous improvement of processes, production control and materials management. To examine the data, a correlation analysis was performed and a linear regression was carried out to measure the impact between variables. The results showed that the use of operations management techniques positively impacts the performance of the surveyed companies, but at an elementary level. It is concluded that it represents a foundation of the situation of companies that require greater adoption of knowledge management in contexts, to increase their performance, and compete with foreign global companies.El acelerado mundo empresarial exige una adaptación continua de técnicas de administración de operaciones en las áreas funcionales de las empresas y una mejor comprensión del impacto sobre el desempeño, para permitir a los profesionales mejorar técnicas de gestión y toma de decisiones. Esta investigación tiene como objetivo examinar el uso de técnicas de administración de operaciones y su impacto en el desempeño de las empresas. La metodología empleada tiene un enfoque cuantitativo, para el cual se realizaron 317 encuestas a gerentes en empresas manufactureras, de la región de Aguascalientes, México. La variable administración de operaciones se midió por cuatro dimensiones: distribución y cuidado de la empresa, mejora continua de los procesos, control de producción y gestión de materiales. Para examinar los datos se realizó un análisis de correlación y para medir el impacto entre variables se llevó a cabo una regresión lineal. Los resultados demostraron que el uso de técnicas de gestión de operaciones impacta positivamente en el desempeño de las empresas encuestadas, pero a un nivel elemental. Se concluye, que representa un fundamento de la situación de empresas que requieren mayor adopción de administración de conocimiento en contextos, para aumentar su desempeño, y competir con empresas globales extranjeras

Relación de los sistemas de producción con la logística en mipymes de Aguascalientes

La presente investigación busca encontrar el estado en que operan los sistemas de producción y la logística de la empresa en las micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas (mipymes) de Aguascalientes, México, así como determinar el impacto que ejercen los sistemas de producción sobre la logística de las empresas. Se trata de una investigación transversal, no experimental y cuantitativa. Para cumplir con el objetivo trazado se diseñó una encuesta que giró en torno a ambos constructos, sistemas de producción y logística empresarial, y se aplicó a 148 empresas en Aguascalientes. Para evaluar las encuestas se utilizó una escala Likert de cinco puntos. Los resultados indican que existe una correlación positiva y significativa entre ambos constructos e igualmente ponen de manifiesto que por el momento tanto los sistemas de producción como la logística de la empresa carecen de orden y de actualización en las organizaciones participantes

Mejores pequeñas y medianas empresas de acuerdo con sus prácticas logísticas

In the last decade, authors had emphasized the importance of small and medium enterprises in economics of countries, as well as in the short time that these keep working, situation that obviously affects the world economy. Because of the importance of this topic, this article shows a study of the characteristics of best small and medium enterprises, depending of logistics activities that they perform. The objective of this work was to know the characteristics of enterprises that have a better level of sophistication in logistics practices as well as lower costs. The study was made in Querétaro, Mexico, with 99 enterprises. The results showed that the best companies are those with a source of foreign capital and exportation.Na última década, os autores enfatizaram a importância das pequenas e médias empresas na economia dos países, bem como no pouco tempo que ainda estão trabalhando, situação que obviamente afeta a economia mundial. Devido à importância deste tema, este artigo apresenta um estudo sobre as características das melhores pequenas e médias empresas de acordo com as atividades logísticas que realizam. O objetivo deste trabalho foi conhecer as características das empresas que apresentam melhor nível de sofisticação nas práticas logísticas, além de menores custos logísticos. O estudo foi realizado em Querétaro, no México, com 99 empresas. Os resultados mostraram que as melhores empresas são aquelas que possuem fonte de capital estrangeiro e aquelas que exportam.En la última década, los autores han puesto énfasis en la importancia de las pequeñas y medianas empresas en la economía de los países, así como en el poco tiempo que estas siguen funcionando, situación que, obviamente, afecta a la economía mundial. Por la importancia de este tema, este artículo muestra un estudio sobre las características de las mejores pequeñas y medianas empresas en función de las actividades de logística que realizan. El objetivo de este trabajo fue conocer las características de las empresas que tienen un mejor nivel de sofisticación en las prácticas de logística, así como los costos logísticos más bajos. El estudio se realizó en Querétaro, México, con 99 empresas. Los resultados mostraron que las mejores empresas son las que tienen una fuente de capital extranjero y las que exportan

Increased Indoleamine-2,3-Dioxygenase Activity Is Associated With Poor Clinical Outcome in Adults Hospitalized With Influenza in the INSIGHT FLU003Plus Study

Background. Indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) mediated tryptophan (TRP) depletion has antimicrobial and immuno-regulatory effects. Increased kynurenine (KYN)-to-TRP (KT) ratios, reflecting increased IDO activity, have been associated with poorer outcomes from several infections. Methods. We performed a case-control (1: 2; age and sex matched) analysis of adults hospitalized with influenza A(H1N1) pdm09 with protocol-defined disease progression (diedtransferred to ICU/mechanical ventilation) after enrollment (cases) or survived without progression (controls) over 60 days of follow-up. Conditional logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between baseline KT ratio and other metabolites and disease progression. Results. We included 32 cases and 64 controls with a median age of 52 years; 41% were female, and the median durations of influenza symptoms prior to hospitalization were 8 and 6 days for cases and controls, respectively (P = .04). Median baseline KT ratios were 2-fold higher in cases (0.24 mMM; IQR, 0.13-0.40) than controls (0.12; IQR, 0.09-0.17; P = .001). When divided into tertiles, 59% of cases vs 20% of controls had KT ratios in the highest tertile (0.21-0.84 mMM). When adjusted for symptom duration, the odds ratio for disease progression for those in the highest vs lowest tertiles of KT ratio was 9.94 (95% CI, 2.25-43.90). Conclusions. High KT ratio was associated with poor outcome in adults hospitalized with influenza A(H1N1) pdm09. The clinical utility of this biomarker in this setting merits further exploration