El valor percibido de un servicio

En los últimos años, las empresas y los académicos son cada vez más conscientes de los beneficios que se derivan de la creación y entrega de valor a los clientes. Sin embargo, la investigación empírica desarrollada sobre el valor de un servicio es todavía escasa. Este articulo se orienta hacia esta cuestión, centrándose en la medida del valor percibido en el ámbito del consumidor de servicios (telefonía móvil) y desde una perspectiva relacional. Después de una revisión de la literatura relevante sobre el concepto de valor percibido, proponemos dos instrumentos alternativos de medida del mismo y utilizamos la estrategia de modelos estructurales competitivos para comparar y apreciar la validez y fiabilidad de los modelos alternativos propuestos

The moderating effect of tourist’s involvement on the relationship between destination’s image and its future behavior

Building on the services-marketing literature, the present study develops an innovative model for evaluation of the effect of customer perceptions on the loyalty intentions of customer. The study then explores whether market heterogeneity affects this relationship by performing a latent cluster analysis in the tourism industry. Three major clusters of tourists emerge—according to the tourists’ involvement. The results show that there are significant differences among these segments in terms of the effects of a destination’s image on tourists’ intentions to return to a destination and their intentions to recommend it to friends and relatives

Los frentes de investigación dominantes en Marketing

En este trabajo se pretende identificar las principales corrientes o frentes de investigación que en el pasado reciente (1992-2002) han definido el área científica del marketing. A diferencia de otras propuestas de sistematización, en este estudio se ha utilizado un método empírico mediante el análisis de las referencias bibliográficas de los artículos publicados en algunas de las principales revistas de nuestro campo de estudio

Los frentes de investigación dominantes en marketing

En este trabajo se pretende identificar las principales corrientes o frentes de investigación que en el pasado reciente (1992-2002) han definido el área científica del marketing. A diferencia de otras propuestas de sistematización, en este estudio se ha utilizado un método empírico mediante el análisis de las referencias bibliográficas de los artículos publicados en algunas de las principales revistas de nuestro campo de estudio

Análisis de la influencia de la imagen en la cadena de lealtad en un mercado heterogéneo

Son numerosas las investigaciones que han analizado la cadena de lealtad como instrumento que profundiza en el comportamiento futuro del cliente y en las interrelaciones entre sus variables intermedias: la calidad de servicio percibida y el grado de satisfacción del cliente. Tomando como referencia estos estudios, en esta investigación se persiguen tres objetivos concretos: en primer lugar, analizar la influencia indirecta que tiene la imagen percibida por el cliente sobre esa cadena de lealtad; en segundo lugar, estudiar la heterogeneidad del mercado en función de las características personales de los individuos, realizando una segmentación ‘a priori’ a través de la ‘necesidad de variedad’ o ‘nivel óptimo de estimulo’; en tercer lugar, analizar el comportamiento dispar del modelo propuesto en función de los cluster alcanzados. Para la contrastación de las hipótesis se realiza un estudio empírico en el sector turístico. Las conclusiones ponen de manifiesto que la influencia de la imagen sobre la cadena de lealtad está condicionada a la heterogeneidad del mercado.There is plenty of evidence analyzing the loyalty chain as a valid instrument to study customer’s future behaviour. Building on this framework, authors pursue three research objectives: first, to study the indirect influence of perceived image on this loyalty chain; secondly, to explore the effect of market heterogeneity according to customer’s personal characteristics, conducting an “a priori” segmentation through “variety seeking” or “optimum level of stimulus”; finally, we analyze how these clusters account for the significant differences in the model. An empirical study is conducted within the tourism industry in order to test the hypotheses. Results evidence that image has a strong influence on the loyalty chain, although this influence is partially conditioned by market heterogeneity

Telomere length reveals cumulative individual and transgenerational inbreeding effects in a passerine bird

Inbreeding results in more homozygous offspring that should suffer reduced fitness, but it can be difficult to quantify these costs for several reasons. First, inbreeding depression may vary with ecological or physiological stress and only be detectable over long time periods. Second, parental homozygosity may indirectly affect offspring fitness, thus confounding analyses that consider offspring homozygosity alone. Finally, measurement of inbreeding coefficients, survival and reproductive success may often be too crude to detect inbreeding costs in wild populations. Telomere length provides a more precise measure of somatic costs, predicts survival in many species and should reflect differences in somatic condition that result from varying ability to cope with environmental stressors. We studied relative telomere length in a wild population of Seychelles warblers (Acrocephalus sechellensis) to assess the lifelong relationship between individual homozygosity, which reflects genome-wide inbreeding in this species, and telomere length. In juveniles, individual homozygosity was negatively associated with telomere length in poor seasons. In adults, individual homozygosity was consistently negatively related to telomere length, suggesting the accumulation of inbreeding depression during life. Maternal homozygosity also negatively predicted offspring telomere length. Our results show that somatic inbreeding costs are environmentally dependent at certain life stages but may accumulate throughout life

Modulation of KDM1A with vafidemstat rescues memory deficit and behavioral alterations

Transcription disequilibria are characteristic of many neurodegenerative diseases. The activity-evoked transcription of immediate early genes (IEGs), important for neuronal plasticity, memory and behavior, is altered in CNS diseases and governed by epigenetic modulation. KDM1A, a histone 3 lysine 4 demethylase that forms part of transcription regulation complexes, has been implicated in the control of IEG transcription. Here we report the development of vafidemstat (ORY-2001), a brain penetrant inhibitor of KDM1A and MAOB. ORY-2001 efficiently inhibits brain KDM1A at doses suitable for long term treatment, and corrects memory deficit as assessed in the novel object recognition testing in the Senescence Accelerated Mouse Prone 8 (SAMP8) model for accelerated aging and Alzheimer's disease. Comparison with a selective KDM1A or MAOB inhibitor reveals that KDM1A inhibition is key for efficacy. ORY-2001 further corrects behavior alterations including aggression and social interaction deficits in SAMP8 mice and social avoidance in the rat rearing isolation model. ORY-2001 increases the responsiveness of IEGs, induces genes required for cognitive function and reduces a neuroinflammatory signature in SAMP8 mice. Multiple genes modulated by ORY-2001 are differentially expressed in Late Onset Alzheimer's Disease. Most strikingly, the amplifier of inflammation S100A9 is highly expressed in LOAD and in the hippocampus of SAMP8 mice, and down-regulated by ORY-2001. ORY-2001 is currently in multiple Phase IIa studies

Modulation of KDM1A with vafidemstat rescues memory deficit and behavioral alterations

Transcription disequilibria are characteristic of many neurodegenerative diseases. The activity-evoked transcription of immediate early genes (IEGs), important for neuronal plasticity, memory and behavior, is altered in CNS diseases and governed by epigenetic modulation. KDM1A, a histone 3 lysine 4 demethylase that forms part of transcription regulation complexes, has been implicated in the control of IEG transcription. Here we report the development of vafidemstat (ORY-2001), a brain penetrant inhibitor of KDM1A and MAOB. ORY-2001 efficiently inhibits brain KDM1A at doses suitable for long term treatment, and corrects memory deficit as assessed in the novel object recognition testing in the Senescence Accelerated Mouse Prone 8 (SAMP8) model for accelerated aging and Alzheimer's disease. Comparison with a selective KDM1A or MAOB inhibitor reveals that KDM1A inhibition is key for efficacy. ORY-2001 further corrects behavior alterations including aggression and social interaction deficits in SAMP8 mice and social avoidance in the rat rearing isolation model. ORY-2001 increases the responsiveness of IEGs, induces genes required for cognitive function and reduces a neuroinflammatory signature in SAMP8 mice. Multiple genes modulated by ORY-2001 are differentially expressed in Late Onset Alzheimer's Disease. Most strikingly, the amplifier of inflammation S100A9 is highly expressed in LOAD and in the hippocampus of SAMP8 mice, and down-regulated by ORY-2001. ORY-2001 is currently in multiple Phase IIa studies

Prevalence and Clinical Characteristics of Refractory Hypertension

Background- We aimed to estimate the prevalence of refractory hypertension (RfH) and to determine the clinical differences between these patients and resistant hypertensives (RH). Secondly, we assessed the prevalence of white-coat RfH and clinical differences between true- and white-coat RfH patients. Methods and Results- The present analysis was conducted on the Spanish Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Registry database containing 70 997 treated hypertensive patients. RH and RfH were defined by the presence of elevated office blood pressure (≥140 and/or 90 mm Hg) in patients treated with at least 3 (RH) and 5 (RfH) antihypertensive drugs. White-coat RfH was defined by RfH with normal (<130/80 mm Hg) 24-hour blood pressure. A total of 11.972 (16.9%) patients fulfilled the standard criteria of RH, and 955 (1.4%) were considered as having RfH. Compared with RH patients, those with RfH were younger, more frequently male, and after adjusting for age and sex, had increased prevalence of target organ damage, and previous cardiovascular disease. The prevalence of white coat RfH was lower than white-coat RH (26.7% versus 37.1%, P<0.001). White-coat RfH, in comparison with those with true RfH, showed a lower prevalence of both left ventricular hypertrophy (22% versus 29.7%; P=0.018) and microalbuminuria (28.3% versus 42.9%; P=0.047). Conclusions- The prevalence of RfH was low and these patients had a greater cardiovascular risk profile compared with RH. One out of 4 patients with RfH have normal 24-hour blood pressure and less target organ damage, thus indicating the important role of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in guiding antihypertensive therapy in difficult-to-treat patients