THE ROLE OF QMS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INNOVATION CLIMATE AND PERFORMANCE

The emergence of new global competitors, the convergence of high-technology industries and the increasing speed and cost of technological development promise an increasingly uncertain environment for organizations, making adaptation to changes in the environment a central theme in the study of the organization for both organization theory and strategic management. This paper is thus seeks principally to verify that, while innovation and QM alone do not possess the qualities required to provide organizations with sustainable competitive advantages, the bundle of innovation and QM together with other resources and competencies will allow organizations to obtain a competitive advantage and adapt to their environment. The results show that the factors determining innovation—such as resistance to change, cohesion, and workload pressures—have repercussions for the firms’ capacity to adapt to their environment, and that a QM context facilitates this adaptation. Finally, we can conclude that a climate of support for innovation is positively related to the organization’s performance

Caracterización fisico-quimica y ultraestructural de novel material regenerador óseo

La toma Rx panorámica desarrollada por el Dr Tatis permite realizar el análisis para el diagnóstico estructural en ortodoncia, en sentido sagital, vertical y transversal Objetivos: Comparar el tipo de crecimiento rotacional de la mandíbula y el biotipo facial en Tatis vs los datos correspondientes en el cefalograma de Jaraback y Ricketts Métodos: Estudio retrospectivo sobre material diagnóstico registrado durante el año 2014.En el centro Orthomax se evaluaron 31 pacientes elegidos al azar que asistieron a la consulta de ortodoncia en Colombia.Se tomaron fotos intra-extraorales, modelos, telerradiografía de perfil, Rx panorámica con y sin tope oclusal. Dos investigadores calibrados realizaron los estudios cefalométricos de Tatis, Jaraback y Ricketts. Se seleccionó el ángulo goníaco de Tatis. El ángulo goníaco de Jaraback y el arco mandibular de Ricketts para determinar la tendencia de crecimiento. Y el estudio de la cavidad glenoidea de Tatis para el biotipo facial. Se realizó la prueba t de Student. Resultados: No existe diferencia estadísticamente significativa (p>0.05) entre el ángulo goníaco lado derecho y el de lado izquierdo medido en Tatis. El promedio de ambos lados para el ángulo goníaco Tatis es de 118°. Según la tipificación establecida por Jaraback del total de la muestra, 26 pacientes son braquifaciales con un ángulo goníaco promedio de 118° y crecimiento rotacional anterior No hay diferencia estadísticamente significativa entre los valores hallados entre Tatis y Jaraback. Comparado los resultados con el valor del arco mandibular de Rickets no hay diferencias estadísticamente significativas (p>0.05) Los cefalograma de Jaraback y Ricketts coinciden con el biotipo braquifacial y tendencia al crecimiento rotacional anterior de la mandíbula; mientras tanto Tatis dice que el 70% de los pacientes tienen biotipo braquifacial y el 30% restantes son mesofaciales. Considerando el biotipo facial establecido por Tatis a través de la cavidad glenoidea este tampoco coincide con Jaraback y Ricketts, presentando gran variabilidad Conclusión: comparando los resultados tomando como referencia Ricketts y Jaraback los trazos en las radiografías de Tatis no son confiables para determinar el biotipo facial y la tendencia de crecimiento rotacional mandibular. Proyecto Subsidiado por PIUNT J/515 y PDTS N° 12Fil: Moreno Garcia, Maria Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos; ArgentinaFil: Jammal, María Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos; ArgentinaFil: Etchegorry, Victor Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos; ArgentinaFil: Feldman, Sara. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Missana, Liliana Raquel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos; ArgentinaXLIX Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación OdontológicaMar del PlataArgentinaSociedad Argentina de Investigación Odontológic

Lurbinectedin, a selective inhibitor of oncogenic transcription, in patients with pretreated germline BRCA1/2 metastatic breast cancer: results from a phase II basket study

Breast cancer; Lurbinectedin; Response rateCáncer de mama; Lurbinectedina; Tasa de respuestaCàncer de mama; Lurbinectedina; Taxa de respostaBackground Lurbinectedin, a selective inhibitor of oncogenic transcription, has shown preclinical antitumor activity against homologous recombination repair-deficient models and preliminary clinical activity in BRCA1/2 breast cancer. Patients and methods This phase II basket multitumor trial (NCT02454972) evaluated lurbinectedin 3.2 mg/m2 1-h intravenous infusion every 3 weeks in a cohort of 21 patients with pretreated germline BRCA1/2 breast cancer. Patients with any hormone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status were enrolled. The primary efficacy endpoint was overall response rate (ORR) according to RECIST v1.1. Secondary endpoints included duration of response (DoR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and safety. Results Confirmed partial response (PR) was observed in six patients [ORR = 28.6%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 11.3% to 52.2%] who had received a median of two prior advanced chemotherapy lines. Lurbinectedin was active in both BRCA mutations: four PRs in 11 patients (36.4%) with BRCA2 and two PRs in 10 patients (20.0%) with BRCA1. Median DoR was 8.6 months, median PFS was 4.1 months and median OS was 16.1 months. Stable disease (SD) was observed in 10 patients (47.6%), including 3 with unconfirmed response in a subsequent tumor assessment [ORR unconfirmed = 42.9% (95% CI 21.8% to 66.0%)]. Clinical benefit rate (PR + SD ≥ 4 months) was 76.2% (95% CI 52.8% to 91.8%). No objective response was observed among patients who had received prior poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors. The most common treatment-related adverse events (AEs) were nausea (61.9%), fatigue (38.1%) and vomiting (23.8%). These AEs were mostly grade 1/2. The most common grade 3/4 toxicity was neutropenia (42.9%: grade 4, 23.8%: with no febrile neutropenia). Conclusions This phase II study met its primary endpoint and showed activity of lurbinectedin in germline BRCA1/2 breast cancer. Lurbinectedin showed a predictable and manageable safety profile. Considering the exploratory aim of this trial as well as previous results in other phase II studies, further development of lurbinectedin in this indication is warranted.This work was supported by PharmaMar S.A, including partial funding by grants from the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico IndustrialCentro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI) during the conduct of the study (grant number IDI-20150006). VS is supported by NIH [grant number R01CA242845]. MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics is supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas [grant number RP1100584], the Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy [grant number 1U01 CA180964], NCATS [grant number UL1 TR000371] (Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences) and the MD Anderson Cancer Center Support [grant number P30 CA016672]

A comparison of Clinical Risk Index for babies (CRIB-II), Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology (SNAP-II) and SNAPPE-II in predicting parenteral nutrition necessity in low birth weight preterm neonates.

Advances in perinatal care have made it possible to improve survival of low birth weight neonates. Clinical risk index for babies (CRIB-II), score for neonatal acute physiology (SNAP-II), and SNAP-perinatal extension-II (SNAPPE-II) have been used as mortality predictors for preterm infants. Feeding intolerance is very frequent in preterm neonates, and the development of an early effective biomarker for its prediction could be useful for carrying out a proper feeding strategy. Our aim was to compare the ability of CRIB-II, SNAP-II and SNAPPE-II in predict the feeding intolerance and parenteral nutrition necessity in preterm neonates. Methods: A retrospective cohort study on preterm neonates’ born at Jaen Hospital Complex with low birth weight and ≤ 36 weeks of gestation was done. Epidemiological, clinical and clinical scores CRIB II, SNAP-II and SNAPPE-II were recorded. Results: 255 low birth weight preterm neonates, 131 males (51.4%), aged ≤32 weeks of gestation (71%), were enrolled at our hospital. Parenteral nutrition needed were significantly higher in preterm neonates weighed 2500-1500 g (73.3%) and ≤ 1000g (87%). CRIB-II, SNAP-II and SNAPPE-II mean values were higher in neonates group subjected to parenteral nutrition compared with oral nutrition (p<0.05). CRIB-II and SNAPPE-II scores significantly correlated with parenteral nutrition days (p<0.05). Overall mortality rate was 11%. The 78.6% of all deceased infants needed parenteral nutrition. Conclusion: Clinical Risk Index for babies (CRIB-II) better than SNAPPE-II correlated with the feeding intolerance and thus the parenteral nutrition days in preterm neonates with low birth weight.Subvencionado: Ayuda del Plan Propio de Investigación de la UMA. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Efficacy and safety of lurbinectedin and doxorubicin in relapsed small cell lung cancer: results from an expansion cohort of a phase I study

Lurbinectedin; Phase I study; Small cell lung cancerLurbinectedina; Estudio fase I; Cáncer de pulmón de células pequeñasLurbinectedina; Estudi de fase I; Càncer de pulmó de cèl·lules petitesBackground A phase I study found remarkable activity and manageable toxicity for doxorubicin (bolus) plus lurbinectedin (1-h intravenous [i.v.] infusion) on Day 1 every three weeks (q3wk) as second-line therapy in relapsed small cell lung cancer (SCLC). An expansion cohort further evaluated this combination. Patients and methods Twenty-eight patients with relapsed SCLC after no more than one line of cytotoxic-containing chemotherapy were treated: 18 (64%) with sensitive disease (chemotherapy-free interval [CTFI] ≥90 days) and ten (36%) with resistant disease (CTFI <90 days; including six with refractory disease [CTFI ≤30 days]). Results Ten patients showed confirmed response (overall response rate [ORR] = 36%); median progression-free survival (PFS) = 3.3 months; median overall survival (OS) = 7.9 months. ORR was 50% in sensitive disease (median PFS = 5.7 months; median OS = 11.5 months) and 10% in resistant disease (median PFS = 1.3 months; median OS = 4.6 months). The main toxicity was transient and reversible myelosuppression. Treatment-related non-hematological events (fatigue, nausea, decreased appetite, vomiting, alopecia) were mostly mild or moderate. Conclusion Doxorubicin 40 mg/m2 and lurbinectedin 2.0 mg/m2 on Day 1 q3wk has shown noteworthy activity in relapsed SCLC and a manageable safety profile. The combination is being evaluated as second-line therapy for SCLC in an ongoing, randomized phase III trial. Clinical trial registration www.ClinicalTrials.gov code: NCT01970540. Date of registration: 22 October, 2013.This work was supported by Pharma Mar, S.A

Twelve tips to make successful medical infographics

In the health sciences, professionals must keep up to date to conduct their evidence-based practise. Hence, there is a growing need to share medical knowledge efficiently among healthcare professionals, patients, and undergraduate health science students. Infographics (text and image) are a hybrid element that serves to represent information in an attractive and meaningful visual format. Actually, with the use of the Internet and social networks, infographics have become a popular format for sharing medical information around the world. On the basis of a published literature review, we provide 12 tips in this article to make a successfully health-related infographic with the aim of assisting clinicians, educators, and researchers in their task of communicating and transforming complex information into a visual, attractive, didactic and shareable format. By following these basic recommendations, it is possible to improve the dissemination of scientific and health-related knowledge to different audiences who can benefit from infographics

The Missing Link:Creating Value with Social Media use in Hotels

Social Media has transformed the way firms relate to their markets. Hotels all over the world are increasingly using these tools, integrating them into their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategies to engage customers in active conversations. The use of Social Networking and Review Sites, like TripAdvisor, has become all pervasive, and hotels are investing large sums of money in engaging customers via Social Media. However, there is a certain degree of skepticism about how these technologies can help to create value. To shed light on the topic, based on a sample of 222 Spanish hotels, this study examines the real impact of Social Media use, showing the key role played by Social CRM Capabilities in the process of value creation with these tools. By building on the Resource-based theory, the proposed model shows the pathway between Social Media use and organizational performance, in terms of profitability, sales and customer retention

Immunoanalytical Approach for Detecting and Identifying Ancestral Peptide Biomarkers in Early Earth Analogue Environments

Several mass spectrometry and spectroscopic techniques have been used in the search for molecular biomarkers on Mars. A major constraint is their capability to detect and identify large and complex compounds such as peptides or other biopolymers. Multiplex immunoassays can detect these com-pounds, but antibodies must be produced for a large number of sequence-dependent molecular targets. Ancestral Sequence Re-construction (ASR) followed by protein "resurrection" in the lab can help to narrow the selection of targets. Herein, we propose an immunoanalytical method to identify ancient and universally conserved protein/peptide sequences as targets for identifying ancestral biomarkers in nature. We have developed, tested, and validated this approach by producing antibodies to eight previously described ancestral resurrected proteins (three beta-lactamases, three thioredoxins, one Elongation Factor Tu, and one RuBisCO, all of them theoretically dated as Precambrian), and used them as a proxy to search for any potential feature of them that could be present in current natural environments. By fluorescent sandwich microarray immunoassays (FSMI), we have detected positive immunoreactions with antibodies to the oldest beta-lactamase and thioredoxin proteins (ca. 4 Ga) in samples from a hydrothermal environment. Fine epitope mapping and inhibitory immunoassays allowed the identification of well-conserved epitope peptide sequences that resulted from ASR and were present in the sample. We corroborated these results by metagenomic sequencing and found several genes encoding analogue proteins with significant matches to the peptide epitopes identified with the antibodies. The results demonstrated that peptides inferred from ASR studies have true counterpart analogues in Nature, which validates and strengthens the well-known ASR/protein resurrection technique and our immunoanalytical approach for investigating ancient environments and metabolisms on Earth and elsewhere

Blood parameters as biomarkers in a Salmonella spp. disease model of weaning piglets

peer-reviewedBackground The weaning pig is used as an experimental model to assess the impact of diet on intestinal health. Blood parameters (BP) are considered a useful tool in humans, but there is very scarce information of such indicators in the weaning pig. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the use of different BP as indicators in an experimental model of salmonellosis. Methodology Seventy-two 28-day-old piglets were divided into four groups in a 2x2 factorial arrangement, with animals receiving or not a probiotic combination based on B. infantis IM1® and B. lactis BPL6 (109 colony forming units (cfu)/d) and orally challenged or not a week later with Salmonella Typhimurium (5x108 cfu). Blood samples of one animal per pen (N = 24) were taken four days post-inoculation for the evaluation of different BP using an I-stat® System and of plasmatic concentrations of zinc, iron and copper. Principal findings Results reported marginal deficiencies of zinc in piglets at weaning. Moreover, plasmatic zinc, copper and iron presented good correlations with weight gain (r 0.57, r -0.67, r 0.54 respectively; P < 0.01). Blood electrolytes (Na+, Cl- and K+) decreased (P < 0.01) only when the performance of the animals was seriously compromised and clinical symptoms were more apparent. Acid-base balance parameters such as HCO3-, TCO2 and BEecf significantly correlated with weight gain, but only in the challenged animals (r -0.54, r -0.55, and r -0.51, respectively; P < 0.05), suggesting metabolic acidosis depending on Salmonella infection. Glucose was affected by the challenge (P = 0.040), while Htc and Hgb increased with the challenge and decreased with the probiotic (P < 0.05). Furthermore, correlations of Glu, Htc and Hgb with weight gain were observed (P < 0.05). Overall, BP could be regarded as simple, useful indexes to assess performance and health of weaning piglets