Gestao de beneficios na etapa de projecto em empreendimentos hospitalares do reino unido [Managing benefits in the design of healthcare favilities in the UK]

Proposal: The healthcare system in the United kingdomis passing through transformation and change for improvement and innovation. Within this context, healthcare facilities are being developed in a complex multi-stakeholder environment, which usually have diverse and conflicting interests and no experience in design. This contributes for difficulties in managing their requirements, leading to low quality of design. Aiming to contribute for the management of these projects, a benefits management model is being developed and introduced in the sector by the University of Salford. This model intends to support the consideration of different stakeholders’ expectations in project development. In this sense, the aim of this paper was to bring discussions about how such approach could be adopted to support the design process within those projects. This research was developed through the participation on the model implementation, in addition to a literature review on benefits management and design approaches that are used in the UK and that could support benefits management in the design process. Main findings are related to a need for anticipating the participation of designers on project development and straightening the relationship between designers and decision makers. As a result, recommendations could be done to support benefits management throughout the design process. Keywords: Design process, project management, benefits realisatio

Process transparency on construction sites : examples from construction companies in Brazil

Process transparency is the core concept in Visual Management (VM), which is one of the founding blocks of the Toyota Production System. This paper presents the preliminary results of a collaborative research conducted between Brazil and the UK, as part of a research effort focused on the application of Visual Management in construction. How process transparency is realized on construction sites is the main research question of the paper. The use of this concept and the implementation of the transparency theory were investigated through multiple case studies, carried out in nine different construction companies. The findings are explained through six theoretical transparency increasing approaches. The affecting parameters in the application of, the management’s perception of and several methods in process transparency in construction were identified. Further work, especially exploring the functions of process transparency on construction sites and reflecting the worker perception of the issue, is necessary to elaborate the process transparency concept

The identification and analysis of making-do waste: insights from two Brazilian construction sites

Making-do has been pointed out as an important category of waste in the construction industry. It refers to a situation in which a task starts or continues without having available all the inputs required for its completion, such as materials, machinery, tools, personnel, external conditions, and information. By contrast, the literature points out that improvisation is a ubiquitous human practice even in highly structured business organizations, and plays an important role when rules and methods fail. The aim of this paper is to provide some insights on the nature of making-do as a type of waste, based on two exploratory case studies carried out on construction sites. The main contributions of this research work are concerned with the identification of different categories of making-do and its main causes. This paper also discusses some strategies for reducing making-do on construction sites

Increased glycation and oxidative damage to apolipoprotein B100 of LDL cholesterol in patients with type 2 diabetes and effect of metformin

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate whether apolipoprotein B100 of LDL suffers increased damage by glycation, oxidation, and nitration in patients with type 2 diabetes, including patients receiving metformin therapy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS For this study, 32 type 2 diabetic patients and 21 healthy control subjects were recruited; 13 diabetic patients were receiving metformin therapy (median dose: 1.50 g/day). LDL was isolated from venous plasma by ultracentrifugation, delipidated, digested, and analyzed for protein glycation, oxidation, and nitration adducts by stable isotopic dilution analysis tandem mass spectrometry. RESULTS Advanced glycation end product (AGE) content of apolipoprotein B100 of LDL from type 2 diabetic patients was higher than from healthy subjects: arginine-derived AGE, 15.8 vs. 5.3 mol% (P < 0.001); and lysine-derived AGE, 2.5 vs. 1.5 mol% (P < 0.05). Oxidative damage, mainly methionine sulfoxide residues, was also increased: 2.5 vs. 1.1 molar equivalents (P < 0.001). 3-Nitrotyrosine content was decreased: 0.04 vs. 0.12 mol% (P < 0.05). In diabetic patients receiving metformin therapy, arginine-derived AGE and methionine sulfoxide were lower than in patients not receiving metformin: 19.3 vs. 8.9 mol% (P < 0.01) and 2.9 vs. 1.9 mol% (P < 0.05), respectively; 3-nitrotyrosine content was higher: 0.10 vs. 0.03 mol% (P < 0.05). Fructosyl-lysine residue content correlated positively with fasting plasma glucose. Arginine-derived AGE residue contents were intercorrelated and also correlated positively with methionine sulfoxide. CONCLUSIONS Patients with type 2 diabetes had increased arginine-derived AGEs and oxidative damage in apolipoprotein B100 of LDL. This was lower in patients receiving metformin therapy, which may contribute to decreased oxidative damage, atherogenicity, and cardiovascular disease

Caracterización de parámetros reproductivos y endocrinos en una población de conejas ibicencas

El conejo ibicenco o conill pagès d’Eivissa es una población originaria de esta isla que actualmente presenta un escaso número de efectivos, ya que está siendo desplazada por otras razas con mayores rendimientos productivos. La conservación de este tipo de poblaciones precisa de la creación de bancos de germoplasma, con lo que es necesario establecer primeramente sus características reproductivas. Por ello, el objetivo del presente trabajo ha sido caracterizar algunos parámetros reproductivos de hembras ibicencas y compararlos con el cruce comercial de California x Neozelandés blanco, que es el habitualmente utilizado en cunicultura para producción. La fertilidad obtenida fue similar en ambos grupos, siendo de un 76,8% y de un 81,3% para las conejas híbridas e ibicencas, respectivamente. La prolificidad, el peso de la camada a 21 días de vida, la producción de leche, el número de gazapos destetados, el peso de la camada al destete y su ganancia media diaria fue superior en los cruces comerciales que en la población ibicenca, presentando ésta última una mayor duración de la gestación y un mayor peso individual al destete. Los ibicencos tardaron un par de días más en alcanzar el peso de sacrificio que los híbridos comerciales, puesto que su ganancia media diaria fue menor y el índice de conversión fue siempre superior, salvo en la última semana que disminuyó y se equiparó al de los híbridos. Respecto a los parámetros endocrinos, tanto las concentraciones de LH como las de progesterona post-ovulación fueron superiores para las hembras híbridas comerciales. finalmente, los datos de caracterización de la respuesta ovárica muestran que las hembras de cruce comercial presentaron un mayor número de folículos preovulatorios y de oocitos por ovario, así como un mayor número de cuerpos lúteos y embriones recuperados, que presentaron además una mayor velocidad de desarrollo embrionario, que las ibicencas. Por tanto, se ha comprobado experimentalmente que el conejo ibicenco, al ser una especie rústica, no seleccionada, presenta características reproductivas menos mejoradas que las de los cruces comerciales, si bien sigue siendo importante su conservación desde el punto de vista del mantenimiento de la biodiversidad genética

La suplementación de los piensos de las conejas con EPA y DHA mejora el perfil insaturado de los ácidos grasos de la leche y sus parámetros reproductivos

Se ha valorado la influencia del enriquecimiento de las dietas de conejas reproductoras con ácidos grasos poliinsaturados de cadena larga (AGPI) de origen animal (EPA y DHA) durante 2 ciclos sobre sus parámetros reproductivos y la composición de su leche. Un total de 124 conejas se alimentaron desde la recría hasta el segundo destete con dos dietas isofibrosas, isoenergéticas e isoproteicas formuladas con dos fuentes de grasa distintas. El grupo control (C;n=62) recibió un pienso con un 3% de grasa mezcla mientras que el del grupo experimental (P;n=62) contenía un 6% de un suplemento con un 50% de extracto etéreo concentrado en DHA y EPA a partir de aceite de salmón atlántico (Optomega-50, Optivite International Ltd., Barcelona, España)