Intralesional treatment with mesenchymal stem cells in horses with suspensory ligament desmitis and super cial digital exor tendonitis: a retrospective study

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) promote the regeneration of scarless tendon tissue after injury. Various sources have been described and used to obtain MSCs, adipose tissue and bone-marrow are one of the most used. A population of 49 horses, that suffered superficial digital flexor tendonitis or suspensory ligament desmitis and were treated either with the combination of stromal vascular fraction and platelet rich plasma, or with allogenic bone marrow derived MSCs, was analyzed retrospectively. The influence of different factors (age, breed, discipline, injury chronicity, treated structure and type of MSCs used) on the outcome of the therapy was evaluated. The re-injury rate observed on the total population was 4% six months after MSC therapy, and 17,8% after 12 months. The results obtained are similar to results obtained in other studies that evaluated the therapeutic effect of MSCs in horses, encouraging the use of these cells in the treatment of tendinoligamentous disorders; Resumo: Tratamento intralesional com células estaminais mesenquimatosas em cavalos com desmite do ligamento suspensor e tendinite do tendão flexor superficial digital: um estudo retrospetivo. As células estaminais mesenquimatosas (MSCs) promovem regeneração de tecido tendinoso saudável após a lesão. Vários tecidos têm sido usados para obter MSCs, mas o tecido adiposo e a medula óssea têm sido os mais populares. Este estudo analisou retrospetivamente uma população de 49 cavalos, com tendinite do tendão flexor digital superficial ou desmite do ligamento suspensor, que foram tratados com uma combinação de fração estromal vascular com plasma rico em plaquetas, ou com células estaminais mesenquimatosas alogénicas derivadas de medula óssea, avaliando a influência de diversos fatores (idade, disciplina, raça, cronicidade da lesão, estrutura tratada e tipo de células estaminais usadas) sobre o resultado da terapia. A taxa de lesões recidivas na população em estudo era de 4% 6 meses depois do tratamento com células estaminais, e 17,8% após 12 meses. Os resultados obtidos neste estudo são semelhantes a outros estudos que avaliaram o mesmo tipo de terapias

IT Project Selection in an Agile Organisation

Organisations face a persistent challenge in achieving sustained competitive advantage in the rapidly changing business landscape. Organisational agility (OA), enabled by information technology (IT), offers hope. However, organisations that pursue agility encounter incompatibility with IT project selection (ITPS), where projects are selected and funded before implementation. Existing literature highlights the dual capability of ITPS to enable and disable agility, underscoring its continued importance for agile organisations. To tackle the incompatibility between ITPS and OA, this study presents a case study conducted at Infrastructure Co, an agile organisation that actively undertakes ITPS. Findings show the need for a redesign of traditional ITPS governance to facilitate agility. Infrastructure Co achieved this by delegating and decentralising ITPS processes and decisions away from the enterprise-project-management-office into projects. This study contributes by presenting revelatory empirical findings, addressing this important new research question

Fodder Resources and Grazing Management in a Savanna Environment: an Ecosystem Approach

The desirability for students of social and natural sciences to pool their abilities and resources in investigations concerned with man and his environment has often been noted, but genuine efforts in this direction are conspicuously less frequent. Admittedly, examples could be quoted of studies which synthetise the findings of individual researchers, many of which have been commissioned by those involved in the planning for and implementation of development. But few cases are known to the present authors of researchers who have tried to im-prove on the relevance, consistency, and coherenoe of their basic investigations into different, though related, aspects by seeking right from the start an interdisciplinary approaoh to a jointly delimited theme. Even among students of strongly interdependent disciplines such as geography and ecology, as represented by the present authors, these 'joint ventures' are believed to be rare. Those who set out on this challenging path therefore not only have to face occasional difficulties due to different frames of reference and jargon, but also and more important, the problem of designing a functionally integrated approach without being able to resort to previous endeavours for guidance