Building a Theoretical Framework for Corporate Sustainability

[EN] Literature about sustainability and sustainable businesses has become a large field of study during the last years. This field is growing so fast that there are sub-areas or bodies of literature within the sustainability which scopes with clear boundaries between each other. This has caused the apparition of several methodologies and tools for turning traditional companies into sustainable business models. This paper aims to develop the descriptive stage of the theory building process through a careful review of literature to create the first phase of a theory about corporate sustainability. It provides the following classification of concepts retrieved from the observation of the state of art: holistic sustainability, sustainable business models, sustainable methodologies, sustainable operations, and sustainability-oriented innovation. In addition, it seeks to establish relationships between the sustainable concepts and the expected outcomes that their implementation can generate among companies and organizations. Finally, it gives an overview of possibilities for managers that want to embed sustainability in their firms and clear paths of research for keeping the building of the theory about corporate sustainability as a process of constant iteration and improvement.This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, project number: PID2019-105497GB-100.Sanchez-Planelles, J.; Segarra-Oña, M.; Peiró Signes, A. (2021). Building a Theoretical Framework for Corporate Sustainability. Sustainability. 13(1):1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010273S12113

Growth and inequality in the Mexican states: Regimes, thresholds, and traps

Using the inter-regional economic inequality index and the gross state product per capita for the Mexican states over the period 1940–2015, we apply regime dynamics and hierarchical cluster analysis for segmenting the sample into regimes of Mexican states with similar performance. Robust econometric models are studied showing the direction of causality between economic inequality and income per capita, and the existence of a U-shaped curve for the interdependence between economic growth vs economic inequality, and threshold levels. We additionally demonstrate the existence of inequality traps. The education literacy rate as a control variable indicates an inverted U-shaped curve

High temperature systems using solid particles as TES and HTF material: a review

Thermal energy constitutes up to 90% of global energy budget, centering on heat conversion, transmission, and storage; therefore, the technology for harvesting solar energy worth to be developed. One of them is the concentrated solar power (CSP) solar towers where sun-tracking heliostats reflect solar radiation to the top of a tower where the receiver is located. The great advantage of CSP over other renewable energy sources is that energy storage is feasible, particularly when the heat transfer fluid (HTF) is also used as thermal energy storage (TES) material which is the case of solid particles. A lot of development efforts are under way for achieving commercial direct solar solid-particle systems. Solid particle systems for transferring high temperature thermal energy are purposed for increasing the efficiency of these systems when converting heat into electric power. This review recapitulates the concept of these systems taking into account the main receiver designs, particle conveyance, particle storage systems and components, the heat exchanger, and the main challenges that must be overcome to split this technology as a commercial one, especially from the materials availability point of view. This review summarizes the actual status of the use of solid particles for TES and as HTF for CSP Tower, and condenses all the available information and classifies them considering the main functional parts and remarking the current research in each part as well as the future challenging issues

Review of solid particle materials for heat transfer fluid and thermal energy storage in solar thermal power plants

Current concentrated solar power (CSP) plants that operate at the highest temperature use molten salts as both heat transfer fluid (HTF) and thermal energy storage (TES) medium. Molten salts can reach up to 565°C before becoming chemically unstable and highly corrosive. This is one of the higher weaknesses of the technology. Solid particles have been proposed to overcome current working temperature limits, since the particle media can be stable for temperatures close to 1000°C. This work presents a review of solid particles candidates to be used as HTF and TES in CSP plants in open receivers. In addition, the interactions between solid particles with major system components are described in this review, for example, with TES system or heat exchanger. The parameters and properties of solid particles are identified from the material science point of view explaining their nature and the relation to the power plant efficiency and lifetime durability. Finally, future development is proposed; such as material selection according to each specific design, materials characterization, or durability test

Synaptic activity-induced glycolysis facilitates membrane lipid provision and neurite outgrowth

The formation of neurites is an important process affecting the cognitive abilities of an organism. Neurite growth requires the addition of new membranes, but the metabolic remodeling necessary to supply lipids for membrane expansion is poorly understood. Here, we show that synaptic activity, one of the most important inducers of neurite growth, transcriptionally regulates the expression of neuronal glucose transporter Glut3 and rate-limiting enzymes of glycolysis, resulting in enhanced glucose uptake and metabolism that is partly used for lipid synthesis. Mechanistically, CREB regulates the expression of Glut3 and Siah2, the latter and LDH activity promoting the normoxic stabilization of HIF-1 alpha that regulates the expression of rate-limiting genes of glycolysis. The expression of dominant-negative HIF-1 alpha or Glut3 knockdown blocks activity-dependent neurite growth in vitro while pharmacological inhibition of the glycolysis and specific ablation of HIF-1 alpha in early postnatal mice impairs the neurite architecture. These results suggest that the manipulation of neuronal glucose metabolism could be used to treat some brain developmental disorders

3D Timelapse Analysis of Muscle Satellite Cell Motility

Skeletal muscle repair and regeneration requires the activity of satellite cells, a population of myogenic stem cells scattered throughout the tissue and activated to proliferate and differentiate in response to myotrauma or disease. While it seems likely that satellite cells would need to navigate local muscle tissue to reach damaged areas, relatively little data on such motility exist, and most studies have been with immortalized cell lines. We find that primary satellite cells are significantly more motile than myoblast cell lines, and that adhesion to laminin promotes primary cell motility more than fourfold over other substrates. Using timelapse videomicroscopy to assess satellite cell motility on single living myofibers, we have identified a requirement for the laminin-binding integrin α7β1 in satellite cell motility, as well as a role for hepatocyte growth factor in promoting directional persistence. The extensive migratory behavior of satellite cells resident on muscle fibers suggests caution when determining, based on fixed specimens, whether adjacent cells are daughters from the same mother cell. We also observed more persistent long-term contact between individual satellite cells than has been previously supposed, potential cell-cell attractive and repulsive interactions, and migration between host myofibers. Based on such activity, we assayed for expression of “pathfinding” cues, and found that satellite cells express multiple guidance ligands and receptors. Together, these data suggest that satellite cell migration in vivo may be more extensive than currently thought, and could be regulated by combinations of signals, including adhesive haptotaxis, soluble factors, and guidance cues. Stem Cells 2009;27:2527–253

Hydroxychloroquine is associated with a lower risk of polyautoimmunity: data from the RELESSER Registry

OBJECTIVES: This article estimates the frequency of polyautoimmunity and associated factors in a large retrospective cohort of patients with SLE. METHODS: RELESSER (Spanish Society of Rheumatology Lupus Registry) is a nationwide multicentre, hospital-based registry of SLE patients. This is a cross-sectional study. The main variable was polyautoimmunity, which was defined as the co-occurrence of SLE and another autoimmune disease, such as autoimmune thyroiditis, RA, scleroderma, inflammatory myopathy and MCTD. We also recorded the presence of multiple autoimmune syndrome, secondary SS, secondary APS and a family history of autoimmune disease. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate possible risk factors for polyautoimmunity. RESULTS: Of the 3679 patients who fulfilled the criteria for SLE, 502 (13.6%) had polyautoimmunity. The most frequent types were autoimmune thyroiditis (7.9%), other systemic autoimmune diseases (6.2%), secondary SS (14.1%) and secondary APS (13.7%). Multiple autoimmune syndrome accounted for 10.2% of all cases of polyautoimmunity. A family history was recorded in 11.8%. According to the multivariate analysis, the factors associated with polyautoimmunity were female sex [odds ratio (95% CI), 1.72 (1.07, 2.72)], RP [1.63 (1.29, 2.05)], interstitial lung disease [3.35 (1.84, 6.01)], Jaccoud arthropathy [1.92 (1.40, 2.63)], anti-Ro/SSA and/or anti-La/SSB autoantibodies [2.03 (1.55, 2.67)], anti-RNP antibodies [1.48 (1.16, 1.90)], MTX [1.67 (1.26, 2.18)] and antimalarial drugs [0.50 (0.38, 0.67)]. CONCLUSION: Patients with SLE frequently present polyautoimmunity. We observed clinical and analytical characteristics associated with polyautoimmunity. Our finding that antimalarial drugs protected against polyautoimmunity should be verified in future studies

Impact of previous tobacco use with or without cannabis on first psychotic experiences in patients with first-episode psychosis

Objective: There is high prevalence of cigarette smoking in individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP) prior to psychosis onset. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of previous tobacco use with or without cannabis on first psychotic experiences in FEP and the impact of this use on age of onset of symptoms, including prodromes. Methods: Retrospective analyses from the naturalistic, longitudinal, multicentre, “Phenotype-Genotype and Environmental Interaction. Application of a Predictive Model in First Psychotic Episodes (PEPs)” Study. The authors analysed sociodemographic/clinical data of 284 FEP patients and 231 matched healthy controls, and evaluated first psychotic experiences of patients using the Symptom Onset in Schizophrenia Inventory. Results: FEP patients had significantly higher prevalence of tobacco, cannabis, and cocaine use than controls. The FEP group with tobacco use only prior to onset (N = 56) had more sleep disturbances (42.9% vs 18.8%, P = 0.003) and lower prevalence of negative symptoms, specifically social withdrawal (33.9% vs 58%, P = 0.007) than FEP with no substance use (N = 70), as well as lower prevalence of ideas of reference (80.4% vs 92.4%, P = 0.015), perceptual abnormalities (46.4% vs 67.4%, P = 0.006), hallucinations (55.4% vs 71.5%, P = 0.029), and disorganised thinking (41.1% vs 61.1%, P = 0.010) than FEP group with previous tobacco and cannabis use (N = 144). FEP patients with cannabis and tobacco use had lower age at first prodromal or psychotic symptom (mean = 23.73 years [SD = 5.09]) versus those with tobacco use only (mean = 26.21 [SD = 4.80]) (P = 0.011). Conclusions: The use of tobacco alone was not related to earlier age of onset of a first psychotic experience, but the clinical profile of FEP patients is different depending on previous tobacco use with or without cannabis. © 2021 The Author

Epigenetic clocks in relapse after a first episode of schizophrenia

The main objective of the present study was to investigate the association between several epigenetic clocks, covering different aspects of aging, with schizophrenia relapse evaluated over a 3-year follow-up period in a cohort of ninety-one first-episode schizophrenia patients. Genome-wide DNA methylation was profiled and four epigenetic clocks, including epigenetic clocks of chronological age, mortality and telomere length were calculated. Patients that relapsed during the follow-up showed epigenetic acceleration of the telomere length clock (p = 0.030). Shorter telomere length was associated with cognitive performance (working memory, r = 0.31 p = 0.015; verbal fluency, r = 0.28 p = 0.028), but no direct effect of cognitive function or symptom severity on relapse was detected. The results of the present study suggest that epigenetic age acceleration could be involved in the clinical course of schizophrenia and could be a useful marker of relapse when measured in remission stages