Using smart services as a key enabler for collaboration in global production networks

Collaboration in global production networks becomes more important in times of increased interconnectivity and complexity. However, due to various resistors the collaboration potential has not been realized, yet. At the same time digitalization has become a key enabler in today’s world of high complexity leading to new, disruptive solutions. Part of digitalization are smart services, triggering incentives by including business models. This and further characteristics of smart services have the potential of overcoming the resistors of collaboration. In this paper an approach is proposed for developing collaborative relationships - from strategy and collaboration scenario modelling to a service-oriented implementation

An Adaptive Supply Chain Cyber Risk Management Methodology

Maritime information infrastructures have developed to highly interrelated cyber ecosystems, where ports as well as their partners are connected in dynamic Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based maritime supply chains. This makes them open and vulnerable to the rapidly changing ICT threat landscape. Hence, attacks on a seemingly isolated system of one business partner may propagate through the whole supply chain, causing cascading effects and resulting in large-scale impacts. In this article, we want to present a novel risk management methodology to assess the risk level of an entire maritime supply chain. This methodology builds upon publicly available information, well-defined mathematical approaches and best practices to automatically identify and assess vulnerabilities and potential threats of the involved cyber assets. This leads to a constantly updated risk evaluation of each business partner’s cyber assets together with their cyber interconnections with other business partners. The presented risk management methodology is based on qualitative risk scales, which makes the assessment as well as the results more intuitive. Furthermore, it enables a holistic view on all of the integrated ICT-systems as well as their interdependencies and thus can increase the security level of both a whole supply chain and every participating business partner

CRISTOPH – A cluster-randomised intervention study to optimise the treatment of patients with hypertension in General Practice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recent guidelines for the management of hypertension focus on treating patients according to their global cardiovascular risk (CVR), rather than strictly keeping blood pressure, or other risk factors, below set limit values. The objective of this study is to compare the effect of a simple versus a complex educational intervention implementing this new concept among General Practitioners (GPs).</p> <p>Methods/design</p> <p>A prospective longitudinal cluster-randomised intervention trial with 94 German GPs consecutively enroling 40 patients each with known hypertension. All GPs then received a written manual specifically developed to transfer the global concept of CVR into daily General Practice. After cluster-randomisation, half of the GPs additionally received a clinical outreach visit, with a trained peer discussing with them the concept of global CVR referring to example study patients from the respective GP. Main outcome measure is the improvement of calculated CVR six months after intervention in the subgroup of patients with high CVR (but no history of cardiovascular disease), defined as 10-year-mortality ≥ 5% employing the European SCORE formula. Secondary outcome measures include the intervention's effect on single risk factors, and on prescription rates of drugs targeting CVR. All outcome measures are separately studied in the three subgroups of patients with 1. high CVR (defined as above), 2. low CVR (SCORE < 5%), and 3. a history of cardiovascular disease. The influence of age, sex, social status, and the perceived quality of the respective doctor-patient-relation on the effects will be examined.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>To our knowledge, no other published intervention study has yet evaluated the impact of educating GPs with the goal to treat patients with hypertension according to their global cardiovascular risk.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ISRCTN44478543</p

Peroxisomal alterations in Alzheimer’s disease

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), lipid alterations are present early during disease progression. As some of these alterations point towards a peroxisomal dysfunction, we investigated peroxisomes in human postmortem brains obtained from the cohort-based, longitudinal Vienna-Transdanube Aging (VITA) study. Based on the neuropathological Braak staging for AD on one hemisphere, the patients were grouped into three cohorts of increasing severity (stages I–II, III–IV, and V–VI, respectively). Lipid analyses of cortical regions from the other hemisphere revealed accumulation of C22:0 and very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA, C24:0 and C26:0), all substrates for peroxisomal β-oxidation, in cases with stages V–VI pathology compared with those modestly affected (stages I–II). Conversely, the level of plasmalogens, which need intact peroxisomes for their biosynthesis, was decreased in severely affected tissues, in agreement with a peroxisomal dysfunction. In addition, the peroxisomal volume density was increased in the soma of neurons in gyrus frontalis at advanced AD stages. Confocal laser microscopy demonstrated a loss of peroxisomes in neuronal processes with abnormally phosphorylated tau protein, implicating impaired trafficking as the cause of altered peroxisomal distribution. Besides the original Braak staging, the study design allowed a direct correlation between the biochemical findings and the amount of neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and neuritic plaques, quantified in adjacent tissue sections. Interestingly, the decrease in plasmalogens and the increase in VLCFA and peroxisomal volume density in neuronal somata all showed a stronger association with NFT than with neuritic plaques. These results indicate substantial peroxisome-related alterations in AD, which may contribute to the progression of AD pathology