Nuevas aportaciones a la flora de la provincia de Alicante

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Datos sobre la pteridoflora subespontánea ibérica: Cyrtomium falcatum (Dryopteridaceae) y Nephrolepis cordifolia (Nephrolepidaceae)

Data about the subspontaneous iberian pterydophyte flora: Cyrtomium falcatum (Dryopteridaceae), and Nephrolepis cordifolia (Nephrolepidaceae).Palabras clave. Pteridoflora, Corologfa, Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, España.Key words. Pterydophyte flora, Corology, Alicante, Valencian County, Spain

Barriers to Innovation and Public Policy in Catalonia.

The present paper analyses the link between firms’ decisions to innovate and the barriers that prevent them from being innovative. The aim is twofold. First, it analyses three groups of barriers to innovation: the cost of innovation projects, lack of knowledge and market conditions. Second, it presents the main steps taken by Catalan Government to promote the creation of new firms and to reduce barriers to innovation. The data set used is based on the 2004 official innovation survey of Catalonia which was taken from the Spanish CIS-4 sample. This sample includes individual information on 2,954 Catalan firms in manufacturing industries and knowledge-intensive services (KIS). The empirical analysis reveals pronounced differences regarding a firm’s propensity to innovate and its perception of barriers. Moreover, the results show that cost and knowledge barriers seem to be the most important and that there are substantial sectoral differences in the way that firms react to barriers. The results of this paper have important implications for the design of future public policy to promote entrepreneurship and innovation together.Obstacles to innovation, Industrial policy, Innovation system

Novel approaches against pancreatic cancer based on adenoviral targeting and tumor ablation preclinical evaluation of antitumor efficacy

Els tractaments actuals pel càncer de pàncreas presenten un eficàcia limitada de manera que es necessari el desenvolupament de noves teràpies antitumorals. La teràpia gènica pel càncer de pàncreas basada en l’ús d’adenovirus es troba limitada per la baixa capacitat dels virus d’arribar a les masses tumoral, de distribuir-se pel tumor i d’infectar les cèl·lules tumorals. Nosaltres hem observat que l’administració intraductal d’adenovirus al ducte biliar de ratolins Ela-myc permet arribar als tumors pancreàtics de manera més eficient que per la via sistèmica. A més a més permet transduir la majoria de la massa tumoral restringint l’expressió adenoviral al teixit pancreàtic. D’altre banda, l’administració intraductal del tractament AduPARTat8TK/GCV retarda significativament el creixement tumoral i disminueix la toxicitat associada al tumor. El nou adenovirus AdTATMMP és activat per les MMP2/9 restaurant la capacitat de transducció de l’AdYTGRE in vitro, i incrementant 7,3 vegades la infecció del tumor pancreàtic. El tractament combinat de l’AduPARTat8TK/GCV amb gemcitabina presenta un efecte sinèrgic in vitro, però no millora la eficàcia antitumoral de les teràpies simples. D’altre banda el tractament de l’electroporació irreversible presenta efectes antitumorals significatius en tumors ortotòpics de la línia cel·lular BxPC-3-Luc i allarga la supervivència dels ratolins provocant una toxicitat mínima.Novel therapies are needed to overcome the limited efficacy of current treatments in pancreatic cancer. Adenoviral gene therapy against pancreatic tumors is challenged by the limitation of viruses to reach the tumor mass, poorly distribute within the tumor and inefficiently transduce tumor cells. We show that intraductal administration of adenoviruses into the common bile duct of Ela-myc mice targets pancreatic tumors more efficiently than systemic delivery with relevant transduction of the bulk of the tumor and restricts expression to pancreatic tissue. Moreover, intraductal administration of AduPARTat8TK/GCV treatment significantly delayed tumor growth ameliorating tumor-associated toxicity. Noticeable the new generated MMP-activatable adenovirus AdTATMMP was susceptible to MMP2/9 activation, restored the transduction capacity of AdYTRGE in vitro, and increased 7.3 times tumor pancreas transduction. The multimodal treatment AduPARTat8TK/GCV and gemcitabine showed synergistic effects in vitro; however, did not enhance the antitumoral efficacy of single therapies. Interestingly, IRE treatment exhibited significant antitumor effects in BxPC-3-Luc orthotopic tumors and prolonged mice survival with minimal toxicity

El eco del tercer sector en adicciones

La explosión de la 'burbuja del bienestar' ha puesto a prueba las costuras de la red de tratamiento de las adicciones en la Comunidad Valenciana, que hace casi veinte años era un referente estatal por sus planteamientos y capacidad para vertebrar la participación de las ONG. No obstante, la administración pública ha dado un paso atrás en este espacio sociosanitario, generando una reacción en cadena en los últimos años. La mayoría de las ONG están inmersas en un profundo proceso de transformación 'a veces cainita- en el que da la sensación que los criterios de rentabilidad dejan de lado su componente social. Muchas de ellas han asumido la función de ser gestoras de servicios públicos 'se han acomodado en esta función- y, en algunos casos, se han convertido en la plataforma de entrada de las empresas privadas en las licitaciones públicas. Otras han desaparecido y algunas subsisten, en gran medida, gracias al voluntariado. La administración debe velar porque se mantenga el pluralismo en los servicios o responsabilizarse de las consecuencias que conlleva apostar, especialmente en el ámbito de las adicciones, por un modelo único para el tratamiento. Transparencia y calidad son básicas para construir el futuro del Tercer Sector, especialmente en el ámbito de las adicciones. Y quizás, uno de los principales retos pendientes es que las organizaciones redefinan su relación con la sociedad civil organizada. Tienen que ser capaces de transmitir a la ciudadanía activa el valor añadido que aportan para ser reconocidas como agentes socialmente relevantes.The burst bubble of the welfare society has tested the strengths of the addiction treatment sphere in the Valencian Community, which was a state benchmark almost twenty years ago, for its approaches and ability to structure the participation of NGOs. Public administration has however taken a step backward in the public health sphere, generating chain reactions in the last few years. Most NGOs find themselves in a deep process of change, which is sometimes vengeful, where it seems that profit criteria ignore the social component. A lot of them have turned into public service managers 'and become settled in this role' and, in some cases, have turned into the tool used by private enterprises to get into public tenders. Other organizations have disappeared, but some of them survive largely due to volunteers. Public administration should ensure pluralism in services, or assume responsibility for the consequences involved by going for a single treatment model, specifically in the field of addictions. Transparency and quality are the basis for building the future of the Third Sector associations, especially in the field of the addictions. One of the main challenges facing us perhaps involves organizations and their relationship with civic society. They must be able to transmit the added value that they provide to active citizenship, in order to be recognized as relevant social agents

Service Quality and Customer Loyalty in a Post-Crisis Context. Prediction-Oriented Modeling to Enhance the Particular Importance of a Social and Sustainable Approach

Research into the influence of service quality on customer loyalty has typically focused on confirming isolated direct causal influences regarding particular dimensions of quality, usually undertaken in the context of positive, firm-customer relations. The present study extends analysis of these factors through a new lens. First, the study was undertaken in a market context following a crisis that has had far-reaching consequences for customers’ relational behaviors. We explore the case of the Spanish banking industry, a sector that accurately reflects these new relational conditions, including a rising demand for more socially responsible banking. Second, we propose a holistic model that combines the effects of four key factors associated with service quality (outcome, personnel, servicescape and social qualities). We also apply an innovative predictive methodological technique using partial least squares (PLS) and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) that enables us not only to determine the direct causal effects among variables, but also to consider different scenarios in which to predict customer loyalty. The results highlight the role of outcome and social qualities. The novelty of the social qualities factor helps to underscore the importance of social, ethical and sustainable practices to customer loyalty, although personnel and servicescape qualities must also be present to improve the predictive capability of service quality on loyalty

Species Boundaries and Population Divergence in the Pyrenean Endemic Relict Genus Borderea (Dioscoreaceae) as Revealed by Microsatellite (SSR) and Other Hypervariable Markers

Microsatellite alleles were used to delimit the genetic boundaries and divergence of the two relictual endemic Pyrenean taxa Borderea chouardii and B. pyrenaica (Dioscoreaceae), and to infer the different life histories followed by each species. Our study was conducted on the same populations previously analyzed with allozymes and RAPD markers. The three studied data sets were congruent in the inference of a single evolutionary scenario for the split of the two Borderea taxa from a common Tertiary ancestor in the Prepyrenees, thus supporting their taxonomic treatment as separate species. However, the more variable SSR and RAPD data provided better resolution for a stepping-stone model of local colonization of B. pyrenaica populations from southern Prepyrenean refugia to the northern Pyrenees. SSR markers proved to be more robust than RAPD markers in assessing the genetic structure of recently diverged populations of B. pyrenaica and thus qualified as the best molecular markers for fine-scale evolutionary investigations of Dioscoreaceae. Furthermore, microsatellites rendered unique clues to decipher the mechanisms involved in the origin of these relictual species and their genetic background. Borderea was shown to be a tetraploid genus of hybrid origin with a chromosome base number of x = 6. Phylogenetic data, karyological evidence, and our present knowledge based on microsatellite analyses allowed us to speculate that the Pyrenean endemic genus Borderea and its sister taxon, the Mediterranean genus Tamus, represent some of the oldest paleopolyploid lineages of the mostly pantropical yam family

Risk factors associated with colistin resistance in carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales: a multicenter study from a low-income country

Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the risk factors for colistin-resistant carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CR-CPE), and describe the mortality associated with this organism, in a low-income country. Methods A descriptive, observational, and prospective multicenter study was carried out in Guayaquil, Ecuador. All patients with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales admitted between December 2021 and May 2022 were enrolled. Infection definitions were established according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protocols. The presence of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales was confirmed with a multiplex PCR for blaKPC, blaNDM, blaOXA-48, blaVIM, and blaIMP genes. MCR-1 production was studied molecularly, and MLST assays were carried out. Results Out of 114 patients enrolled in the study, 32 (28.07%) had at least one positive sample for CR-CPE. Klebsiella pneumoniae ST512-KPC-3 was the most frequent microorganism isolated. Parenteral feeding, β-lactamase inhibitor use, recent hemodialysis, and renal failure were all considered independent risk factors for carrying CR-CPE. A mortality of 41.22% was detected, but we could not find any difference between colistin-resistant and colistin-susceptible CPE. MCR-1 production was not detected in any of the isolates studied. Conclusion A significant burden for CR-CPE was found in a South American country that was mainly caused by the high-risk clone K. pneumoniae ST512-KPC-3 and not mediated by mcr-1 production. Its acquisition involved parenteral feeding, β-lactamase inhibitor use, recent hemodialysis, and renal failure as independent risk factors, demonstrating the critical need for infection prevention and stewardship programs to avoid dissemination to other countries in the region.Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil SIU#510‑29

El sistema de gestión de calidad (norma iso 9001:2000) en la Biblioteca de la Universitat Jaume I de Castellón

The library of the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló, Spain, has implemented a quality management system based on ISO 9001:2000. The aim of such system is to improve both the quality of services and users’ satisfaction. As a result ofgood practices, a number of improvements in the service has been achieved. Inthis article we describe the main procedures and methods that have led to a better management and excellence of the services offered by our library.La biblioteca de la Universitat Jaume I de Castellón implanta su sistema de gestión de la calidad en base a las normas ISO 9001:2000 con el propósito de mejorar los servicios prestados y la satisfacción de los usuarios. Los resultados obtenidos son consecuencia de las buenas prácticas consolidadas. Este trabajo describe los principales procedimientos y métodos que han constituido los factores clave para una mejor gestión y excelencia en los servicios de biblioteca

The Importance of Local Aspects in Traditional Industries’ Competitiveness: an Overview of the State of the Art

The process of globalization of the economy has modified the productive activity, enlarging the level of rivalry among firms. If it wants to respond with success to this new situation, a high competitiveness level should be maintained. The word is to the order of the day, with an implicit meaning of progress and advance, although it is not easy to find a definition of it. Many authors have tried this theme in depth. As Pérez (2001) indicates, there are four factors that determine the success of a business: the region where it is located, the industry to which it belongs, the cluster, and its own resources. According to other authors, the succes or failure of a business will be determined by the resources, the capacities and the strategies applied. There are many authors that affirm that competitiveness is a very located process, based on aglomerations of firms organized around one or various related industries, that converge. (Porter, 1985, 1998, Grant, 1996b, Mintzberg 1999). Some other affirm that the strategy of the firms must be based on internal resources, having these the main importance upon the market (Grant, 1996b). According to Grant (1996b), it is more advisable for the businesses that they become competitive based on its endogenous factors. The capacity of reaction of a firm requires not only a deep knowledge of the environment, but it also depends on the function of management, and the degree in which the culture of the organization affects the profit of value and the obtention of benefits of the business. Although these two theories, the external one the internal one have been presented like different alternatives for the study of an industry, other authors consider them complementary (Henderson, 2000), since, while the first one focuses its attention on the structure of the industry, the second does it in the fact that the capabilities (abilities, investments, knowledge, etc.) developed by an organization are the ones that build an strong competitive advantage. The study has focused on the macroeconomic focus, distinguishing also the internal and external aspects of it. Some of the most accepted models by the scientific comunity are presented within the external focus. The analysis of the geographical variable as base of a sinergic action of the businesses and of the related agencies established in an specific surroundings, the cluster, has been considered as part and development of the competitive strategy Finally both theries have been opposed and a new theoretical model, based on the adaptation of the main two currents that currently exist, has been proposed.