El director de comunicación (Dircom)y su rol de guardián de marca. Proceso de Brand Guardian

El Director de Comunicación (Dircom) en una empresa tiene la responsabilidad de la gestión de la comunicación, por lo tanto, es responsable de la comunicación de la identidad corporativa. Entre sus objetivos está implantar una única voz institucional bajo un mismo discurso, utilizando los medios más convenientes para alcanzar a los destinatarios de sus mensajes, buscando crear, en lo inmediato, una imagen positiva y una reputación favorable a través del tiempo. La investigación recaba información en las grandes empresas que operan en Argentina para definir la práctica del Brand Guardian y su relación con la creación de una única voz institucional. Identifica beneficios y resultados relevando el enfoque, procedimientos, herramientas y requerimientos para su implementación. Durante la etapa cualitativa de esta investigación, se realizaron entrevistas en profundidad a Dircoms de empresas mencionadas en el ranking anual de imagen publicado por la revista Apertura en la Argentina (2017) y a miembros del Círculo Dircoms Argentina. Participaron Telefónica de Argentina SA, Arcos Dorados, YPF, L’Oreal, Frávega, Banco Galicia, DirecTV, Profertil, Naturgy, Edenor y la Cámara de la Industria Aceitera de la República Argentina y el Centro Exportador de Cereales. A partir de las expresiones de los Dircoms, surgen las siguientes definiciones: 1) El Dircom establece la expresión de la marca en territorios conceptuales para operar y organizar los elementos de su estrategia de comunicación, materializados en guías de diseño, recomendaciones estéticas, tono verbal o fotográfico, entre otros. Toda gestión de comunicación se encuentra dentro de un territorio de marca. 2) Para implantar una voz única institucional, el Dircom debe aplicar su rol de guardián gestionando la comunicación dentro del territorio de marca. El rol existe, pero la práctica no posee una metodología definida. 3) El proceso aporta una mirada holística del resguardo de la identidad y otra sobre la comunicación y sus formas. Hay dos momentos: auditoría de identidad sobre la marca y validación de piezas de comunicación. La tarea básica consiste en comprobar que la comunicación esté dentro del territorio de marca y, si así no lo fuera, recomendar los ajustes a realizar. En la etapa cuantitativa se utilizó un formulario digital para cuantificar las construcciones teóricas relevadas en la etapa cualitativa.La invitación a participar se realizó a través del Círculo Dircoms Argentina. El campo estuvo abierto entre septiembre y octubre de 2019. A partir de las respuestas, surgen las siguientes conclusiones: 1) El Dircom mantiene la gestión y el control de la comunicación, por lo tanto, lo hace sobre la comunicación de la identidad corporativa. Tiene autoridad sobre la marca. Es responsable de impulsar planes que garantizan una voz institucional única (visual o verbal) y, aunque no se conozca la terminología Brand Guardian o estar ON/OFF —dentro o fuera— del territorio de marca, existen procesos que cumplen esa función. 2) El branding, principalmente, se gestiona bajo el modelo de partners (agencias de diseño, marketing, publicidad, digital, otras) liderados por un equipo de Branding Corporativo o Comunicación.Las herramientas principales son los manuales de identidad. 3) El branding se organiza en relación con la identidad corporativa, los equipos de trabajo especializados y los recursos disponibles (presupuesto y equipamiento). 4) Tanto el rol de Brand Guardian como la validación de piezas son vistoscomo generadores de valor por parte de los equipos de comunicación. Todas las piezas de comunicación se deberían validar (corporativas o de negocios). La frecuencia óptima varía de actividad diaria a semana

Progress and Perspectives of Spectroscopic Studies on Carbon K-Edge Using Novel Soft X-ray Pulsed Sources

The development of novel coherent and brilliant sources, such as soft X-ray free electron laser (FEL) and high harmonic generation (HHG), enables new ultrafast analysis of the electronic and structural dynamics of a wide variety of materials. Soft X-ray FEL delivers high-brilliance beams with a short pulse duration, high spatial coherence and photon energy tunability. In comparison with FELs, HHG X-ray sources are characterized by a wide spectral bandwidth and few- to sub-femtosecond pulses. The approach will lead to the time-resolved reconstruction of molecular dynamics, shedding light on different photochemical pathways. The high peak brilliance of soft X-ray FELs facilitates investigations in a nonlinear regime, while the broader spectral bandwidth of the HHG sources may provide the simultaneous probing of multiple components. Significant technical breakthroughs in these novel sources are under way to improve brilliance, pulse duration, and to control spectral bandwidth, spot size, and energy resolution. Therefore, in the next few years, the new generation of soft X-ray sources combined with novel experimental techniques, new detectors, and computing capabilities will allow for the study of several extremely fast dynamics, such as vibronic dynamics. In the present review, we discuss recent developments in experiments, performed with soft X-ray FELs and HHG sources, operating near the carbon K-absorption edge, being a key atomic component in biosystems and soft materials. Different spectroscopy methods such as time-resolved pump-probe techniques, nonlinear spectroscopies and photoelectron spectroscopy studies have been addressed in an attempt to better understand fundamental physico-chemical processes

Peptides Derived from the Transmembrane Domain of Bcl‑2 Proteins as Potential Mitochondrial Priming Tools

The Bcl-2 family of proteins is crucial for apoptosis regulation. Members of this family insert through a specific C-terminal anchoring transmembrane domain (TMD) in the mitochondrial outer membrane where they hierarchically interact to determine cell fate. While the mitochondrial membrane has been proposed to actively participate in these protein–protein interactions, the influence of the TMD in the membrane-mediated interaction is poorly understood. Synthetic peptides (TMD-pepts) corresponding to the putative TMD of antiapoptotic (Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bcl-w, and Mcl-1) and pro-apoptotic (Bax, Bak) members were synthesized and characterized. TMD-pepts bound more efficiently to mitochondria-like bilayers than to plasma membrane-like bilayers, and higher binding correlated with greater membrane perturbation. The Bcl-2 TMD peptides promoted mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) and cytochrome c release from isolated mitochondria and different cell lines. TMD-pepts exhibited nonapoptotic pro-death activity when apoptosis stimuli were absent. In addition, the peptides enhanced the apoptotic pathway induced by chemotherapeutic agents in cotreatment. Overall, the membrane perturbation effects of the TMD-pepts observed in the present study open the way for their use as new chemical tools to sensitize tumor cells to chemotherapeutic agents, in accordance with the concept of mitochondria priming

FEL Performance of the EuPRAXIA@SPARC LAB AQUA Beamline

The AQUA beamline of the EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB infrastructure consists of a Free-Electron Laser facility driven by an electron beam with 1 GeV energy, produced by an X-band normal conducting LINAC followed by a plasma wakefield acceleration stage, with the goal to deliver variable polarization photons in the 3-4 nm wavelength range. Two undulator options were considered for the AQUA FEL amplifier, a 16 mm period length superconducting undulator and an APPLE-X variable polarization permanent magnet undulator with 18 mm period length. The amplifier is composed by an array of ten undulator sections 2m each. Performance associated to the electron beam parameters and to the undulator technology is investigated and discussed

Integrating Red Blood Cell Features and Hemoglobin Levels in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Patients Treated with Pazopanib or Cabozantinib: An Easily Exploitable Prognostic Score

Background: The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has revolutionized the metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) therapeutic landscape. Nevertheless, tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs) targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) axis still play a key role. The aim of the present study was to explore the prognostic performance of an integrated blood score, based on hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and red cell distribution width (RDW), in mRCC patients treated with anti-VEGF TKIs. The primary endpoint was to correlate Hb, MCV, and RDW with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Materials and Methods: Our multicenter retrospective observational study involved mRCC patients treated with pazopanib or cabozantinib from January 2012 to December 2020 in nine Italian centers. Clinical records and laboratory data, including Hb levels, MCV, and RDW, were collected at baseline. Descriptive statistics and univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Results: We enrolled 301 mRCC patients of which 179 (59%) underwent pazopanib, and 122 (41%) cabozantinib. We considered baseline Hb ≥ 12 g/dL, MCV > 87 fL, and RDW ≤ 16% as good prognostic factors; hence, developing a multiparametric score capable of delineating 4 different categories. The number of good prognostic factors was associated with significantly longer PFS and OS (p < 0.001 for both). Therefore, we developed a red blood cell-based score by stratifying cases into two groups (2–3 versus 0–1, good factors). The impact on PFS and OS was even more striking (median PFS (mPFS): 16.3 vs 7.9 months; median OS (mOS): 33.7 vs 14.1 months)), regardless of the TKI agent. When challenged with univariate and multivariate analysis, the blood score maintained its high prognostic significance in terms of OS (multivariate analysis HR for OS: 0.53, 95% CI 0.39–0.75; p < 0.001, respectively), while the impact on PFS resulted in borderline significance. Conclusions: Our analyses demonstrate the prognostic role of a multiparametric score based on easily exploitable blood parameters, such as Hb concentration, MCV, and RDW. The red blood cell-based score may underlie the upregulation of the HIF-1α pathway and VEGF axis, thereby identifying a selected population who is likely to benefit from TKI therapy