From a distinctive sign to an exchangeable asset: exploring the U.S. market for trademark licensing

A remarkable growth in the value of trademark licensing has been recently recorded. Our paper contributes to the understanding of this under-explored phenomenon using a dataset newly released by the USPTO. Our study analyses the evolution of licensing activities in the U.S. during the 2003-2017 period, the characteristics of these trademarks and agreements, and certain features of the licensing parties involved. We found that licensing activities varied considerably during these years. They were usually signed between two parties only, and, on average, they involved more than one trademark. Excluding under-reporting effect, the analyses reveal that a large portion of heterogeneity in licensing activity is due to the NICE international classes associated with each trademark. Indeed, trademark licensing agreements appear to be unevenly distributed across these classes, suggesting that this activity and the way it is carried out is correlated with the market to which the licensed trademark refers

Study of the Expression and Function of Calcium-Sensing Receptor in Human Skeletal Muscle

From MDPI via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: accepted 2021-07-02, pub-electronic 2021-07-06Publication status: PublishedFunder: H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions; Grant(s): 675228Skeletal muscle has an outstanding capacity for regeneration in response to injuries, but there are disorders in which this process is seriously impaired, such as sarcopenia. Pharmacological treatments to restore muscle trophism are not available, therefore, the identification of suitable therapeutic targets that could be useful for the treatment of skeletal reduced myogenesis is highly desirable. In this in vitro study, we explored the expression and function of the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) in human skeletal muscle tissues and their derived satellite cells. The results obtained from analyses with various techniques of gene and protein CaSR expression and of its secondary messengers in response to calcium (Ca2+) and CaSR drugs have demonstrated that this receptor is not present in human skeletal muscle tissues, neither in the established satellite cells, nor during in vitro myogenic differentiation. Taken together, our data suggest that, although CaSR is a very important drug target in physiology and pathology, this receptor probably does not have any physiological role in skeletal muscle in normal conditions

Tumour cells incorporate exosomes derived from dendritic cells through a mechanism involving the tetraspanin CD9

Exosomes (Exos) are secreted nanovesicles that\ud contain membrane proteins and genetic material, which\ud can be transferred between cells and contribute to their\ud communication in the body. We show that Exos, obtained\ud from mature human dendritic cells (DCs), are incorporated\ud by tumour cells, which after Exos treatment, acquire the\ud expression of HLA‐class I, HLA‐class II, CD86, CD11c,\ud CD54 and CD18. This incorporation reaches its peak eight\ud hours after treatment, can be observed in different cell\ud tumour lines (SK‐BR‐3, U87 and K562) and could be a\ud means to transform non‐immunogenic into immunogenic\ud tumour cells. Interestingly, tetraspanins, which are\ud expressed by the tumour cells, have their surface level\ud decreased after Exo treatment. Furthermore, the intensity\ud of Exo incorporation by the different tumour cell lines was\ud proportional to their CD9 expression levels and pretreatment\ud of Exos with anti‐CD9 decreased their\ud incorporation (by SK‐BR‐3 cells). This modification of\ud tumour cells by DC‐derived Exos may allow their use in\ud new immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer.\ud Furthermore, by showing the involvement of CD9 in this\ud incorporation, we provide a possible selection criterion for\ud tumours to be addressed by this strategyFundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, #04/09956-0)Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, #07/58597-1)Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, #09/54599-5)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, #303731/2007-9

Valorizzazione di rifiuti inorganici nel settore ceramico

Valorizzazione di rifiuti inorganici nel settore ceramic

Multisite Near Infrared Spectroscopy During Cardiopulmonary Bypass in Pediatric Patients

Multisite near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) monitoring during pediatric cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has not been extensively validated. Although it might be rational to explore regional tissue saturation at different body sites (namely brain, kidney, upper body, lower body), conflicting results are currently provided by experience in children. The aim of our study was to evaluate absolute values of multisite NIRS saturation during CPB in a cohort of infants undergoing pediatric cardiac surgery to describe average differences between cerebral, renal, upper body (arm), and lower body (thigh) regional saturation. Furthermore, the correlation between cerebral NIRS and cardiac index (CI) at CPB weaning was evaluated. Twenty-five infants were enrolled: their median weight, age, and body surface area were 3.9 (3.3-6) kg, 111 (47-203) days, and 0.24 (0.22-0.33) m(2) , respectively. Median Aristotle score was 8 (6-10), and vasoactive inotropic score at CPB weaning was 16 (14-25). A total of 17\u2009430 data points were recorded by each sensor: two-way ANOVA showed that time (P\u2009<\u20090.0001) and site (P\u2009=\u20090.0001) significantly affected variations of NIRS values: however, if cerebral NIRS values are excluded, sensor site is no more significant (P\u2009=\u20090.184 in the no circulatory arrest [noCA] group and P\u2009=\u20090.42 in the circulatory arrest [CA] group). Analysis of NIRS saturation changes over time showed that, at all sites, average NIRS values increased after CPB start, even if the increase of cerebral saturation was less intense than other sites (P\u2009<\u20090.0001). Detailed analysis of interaction between site of NIRS measurement and time point showed that cerebral NIRS (ranging from 65 to 75%) was always significantly lower than that of other channels (P\u2009<\u20090.0001) that tended to be in the range of oversaturation (80-90%), especially during the CPB phase. Average cerebral NIRS values of patients who did not undergo circulatory arrest (CA) during CPB, 10 min after CPB weaning, were associated with average CI values with a significant correlation (r\u2009=\u20090.7, P\u2009=\u20090.003). In conclusion, during CPB, cerebral NIRS values are expected to remain constantly lower than somatic sensors, which instead tend to show similar elevated saturations, regardless of their position. Based on these results, positioning of noncerebral NIRS sensors during CPB without CA may be questioned

The impact of internal and external factors on Open Innovation Implementation: a multiple-case study on Italian firms

The issue and relevance of Open Innovation (OI) implementation have stimulated new research focused either on the employee-level or "human side" of OI or on the institutional context in which the firm operates. Our research contributes to this current debate, by putting a spotlight on the impact of both the internal and external factors on the adoption and implementation of OI activities. Based on a multiple case study on 12 Italian companies, we question whether the characteristics of human ware (e.g. leadership style, culture) and the type of business management tools used (e.g. as project management, KPI dashboards), as well as the intensity and type of ties with the external environment (e.g. institutional, competitive and territory surroundings) hamper or facilitate OI practices in Italy. Our findings reveal a positive correlation between OI and the internal factors: a sharing and proactive culture, the teamwork and the leadership style are of primary importance. The external factors impact is debatable instead: the weak and highly bureaucratic Italian ecosystem seems to inhibit the full potential of the OI \u2018Made in Italy\u2019; however, the structural weaknesses are sometimes overcome thanks to a very intense symbiotic relationship with the local industrial and cultural environment

Artificial neural networks test for the prediction of chemical stability of pyroclastic deposits-based AAMs and comparison with conventional mathematical approach (MLR)

Abstract: The investigation on the reticulation degree of volcanic alkali-activated materials, AAMs, were experimentally determined in terms of chemico-physical properties: weight loss after leaching test in water, ionic conductivity and pH of the leachate and compressive strength. Artificial neural network (ANN) was successfully applied to predict the chemical stability of volcanic alkali-activated materials. Nine input data per each chemico-physical parameter were used to train each ANN. The training series of specific volcanic precursors were tested also for the other one. Excellent correlations between experimental and calculated data of the same precursor type were found reaching values around one. The evidence of strong effect on chemical stability of the alkaline activator SiO2/Na2O molar ratio as well as the Si/Al ratio of precursor mixtures on the reticulation degree of ghiara-based formulation with respect to volcanic ash-based materials is presented. It must be noted that such effect was much less pronounced on the compressive strength values, appearing more insensitive the molar ratio of the alkaline activator. The comparison of the ANN results with more conventional multiple linear regression (MLR) testifies the higher prediction performance of the first method. MLRs results, less significant, are useful to confirm the powerful capacity of ANNs to identify the more suitable formulation using a set of experimental AAMs. This study, as few others, on the correlation between chemical stability and compressive strength of AAMs provide a great contribution in the direction of durability and in-life mechanical performance of these class of materials. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]