The effect of collective brand on advertising productivity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the advertising productivity of a collective brand strategy vs a non-collective brand strategy, as well as the moderating role of company characteristics (age of the company, individual brand reputation and degree of competition that the company faces). The main hypothesis is that a collective brand has a positive influence on the advertising productivity of its member companies, as it is a collective reputation indicator in experience goods. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on the application of regression models with panel data of companies in a Spanish experience goods industry between 2004 and 2012. The empirical analysis is made in the Spanish winery sector, given the proliferation in the wine market of public collective brands (i.e. protected designation of origin labels). Findings – The results show that a company associated with a collective brand has greater advertising productivity than a non-associated company. Advertising productivity is also higher for brands with better individual reputations associated with a collective brand. Moreover, the relative effect of a collective brand on advertising productivity is higher when the company competes in a market with a higher level of competition. Originality/value – The literature has paid little attention to the relationship between collective brand strategy and the advertising productivity of member companies. This study considers that the advertising productivity of companies in collective brands could be explained by the effects derived from the collective brand reputation

Reconstrucción de la articulación temporomandibular con prótesis personalizadas

La reconstrucción de la articulación temporomandibular (ATM) tras la resección de una anquilosis postraumática es un reto para el cirujano maxilofacial. Entre estas opciones reconstructivas se hallan las osteotomías deslizantes, los injertos autólogos y las prótesis (de stock o personalizadas). El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar las ventajas de la reconstrucción de las ATM con prótesis personalizadas utilizando tecnología CAD/CAM, en el tratamiento de pacientes con deformidades anatómicas complejas. Presentamos 4 pacientes varones con una media de 54 años de edad (rango 48-70 años). Todos presentaban antecedente de traumatismo facial con afectación de las ATM, que cursaba con limitación de la apertura oral (media12.25 mm, rango 9mm-17 mm) y restricción dietética (media 6.75 puntos, rango 5.5-8 puntos) según escala analógica visual (EAV) siendo 0= función normal y 10= no función. El número de cirugías previas en todos los pacientes fue 2.75 de media (rango 1-4 cirugías) Se practicó una tomografía computerizada (TC) craneofacial a todos los pacientes, que sirvió de base para fabricar un modelo esterolitográfico a escala 1:1, sobre el cual se planeó la cirugía a realizar y las futuras prótesis articulares a medida o personalizadas, que posteriormente fueron fabricadas. Los resultados postquirúrgicos mostraron una mejoría de la apertura oral (media 31.5 mm, rango 29-34 mm) y de la función masticatoria (media 0.75 puntos en EAV, rango 0-1.5 puntos). No hubo complicaciones permanentes, y no se observó rechazo ni rotura al material implantado, así como tampoco infección, tras un seguimiento de 26.7 meses (rango 8- 46 meses). En conclusión, la reconstrucción de la ATM con prótesis a medida es una alternativa válida o, en ocasiones, la única para reconstruir pacientes con deformidades craneofaciales severas tras traumatismos.Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) reconstruction after postraumatic ankylosis resection is a challenge for maxillofacial surgeons. Sliding osteotomies, autogenous grafts and prostheses (stock o custom-made prostheses) are described among these reconstructive options. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the advantages of TMJ reconstruction by means of custom-made prostheses, performing CAD/CAM technology, in the treatment of severe craniofacial deformities. The sample included 4 males (average age at surgery 54 years, range 48-70 years). All of them had suffered severe facial trauma involving the TMJ complex, resulting in a limited mouth opening (average mouth opening 12.25 mm, range 9mm- 17 mm) and masticatory restrictions (average masticatory restriction 6.75 points, range 5.5-8 points), measured by means of a visual analogic scale (VAS), VAS=0 no function and VAS=10 normal function. The average number of previous surgical procedures that suffered the patients was 2.75 (range 1-4 procedures). As part of the presurgical workup, a craniofacial computed tomography (CT) was obtained at all the patients and a CAD/CAM model of the craniofacial skeleton was created (1:1 scale). The planned surgical procedures and the prostheses samples were executed on the model and after the definitive prosthetic devices were manufactured. The postsurgical results showed an improvement in mouth opening (average postsurgical mouth opening 31.5 mm, range 29-34 mm) and masticatory function (average postsurgical masticatory function,0.75 points, range 0-1.5 points). No permanent complications were found, and no failure neither infection of the alloplastic fitted components was observed, after a 26.7 months follow-up (range 8-46 months). In conclusion, TMJ reconstruction by means of custom made prostheses is a valid choice (or sometimes the only one) to treat patients with severe deformities after craniofacial trauma

A redox-active radical as an effective nanoelectronic component: stability and electrochemical tunnelling spectroscopy in ionic liquids

A redox-active persistent perchlorotriphenylmethyl (PTM) radical chemically linked to gold exhibits stable electrochemical activity in ionic liquids. Electrochemical tunnelling spectroscopy in this medium demonstrates that the PTM radical shows a highly effective redox-mediated current enhancement, demonstrating its applicability as an active nanometer-scale electronic component.We acknowledge the financial support from the EU projects ACMOL (FET Young Explorers, GA no. 618082), ERC StG 2012-306826 e-GAMES, ITN iSwitch (GA no. 642196), COST Action TD1002, the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant No. 200020-144471), the Networking Research Center of Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), the DGI (Spain) with project BE-WELL CTQ2013-40480-R, the Generalitat de Catalunya with project 2014-SGR-17, and the Severo Ochoa program. N. C acknowledges the RyC program. C. F. is enrolled in the Materials Science PhD program of UAB. We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI). Editoria

A Clinical and Epidemiological Investigation of the First Reported Human Infection With the Zoonotic Parasite Trypanosoma evansi in Southeast Asia

Background. Trypanosoma is a genus of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. Trypanosoma brucei species and Trypanosoma cruzi are the major agents of human trypanosomiasis; other Trypanosoma species can cause human disease, but are rare. In March 2015, a 38-year-old woman presented to a healthcare facility in southern Vietnam with fever, headache, and arthralgia. Microscopic examination of blood revealed infection with Trypanosoma. Methods. Microscopic observation, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of blood samples, and serological testing were performed to identify the infecting species. The patient's blood was screened for the trypanocidal protein apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1), and a field investigation was performed to identify the zoonotic source. Results. PCR amplification and serological testing identified the infecting species as Trypanosoma evansi. Despite relapsing 6 weeks after completing amphotericin B therapy, the patient made a complete recovery after 5 weeks of suramin. The patient was found to have 2 wild-type APOL1 alleles and a normal serum APOL1 concentration. After responsive animal sampling in the presumed location of exposure, cattle and/or buffalo were determined to be the most likely source of the infection, with 14 of 30 (47%) animal blood samples testing PCR positive for T. evansi. Conclusions. We report the first laboratory-confirmed case of T. evansi in a previously healthy individual without APOL1 deficiency, potentially contracted via a wound while butchering raw beef, and successfully treated with suramin. A linked epidemiological investigation revealed widespread and previously unidentified burden of T. evansi in local cattle, highlighting the need for surveillance of this infection in animals and the possibility of further human cases

Les microalgues com alternativa de futur en l'alimentació

Treballs Finals de Grau de Nutrició Humana i Dietètica, Facultat de Farmàcia i Ciències de l'Alimentació, Campus de l'Alimentació de Torribera, Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2022-2023. Tutor: Elvira López Tamames[cat] Les fonts proteiques actuals majoritàries tenen un greu impacte sobre el medi ambient i el seu consum per a l’alimentació humana està augmentant atès el creixement de la població. És necessària la cerca de noves fonts i les microalgues poden esdevenir una opció sostenible per nodrir als humans, així com a la vegada respectuosa amb el medi ambient. Són organismes aquàtics amb molt potencial, degut al contingut en proteïnes, àcids grassos omega-3, minerals, vitamines i prebiòtics, entre d’altres. També contenen altres compostos bioactius que poden resultar d’interès. Aquest article de revisió pretén recollir la informació actual sobre les diferents espècies de microalgues, comparant-les nutricionalment amb altres fonts alimentàries, així com mostrar si poden resultar una opció saludable per l’alimentació humana en un futur pròxim. Tot i el seu potencial, actualment existeixen reptes com l’organolèptic i la innocuïtat, entre d’altres, els quals s’han d’abordar perquè pugui esdevenir un aliment quotidià.[eng] The majority of current protein sources have a serious impact on the environment and their consumption for human feeding is increasing due to population growth. The search for new sources is necessary and microalgae can become a sustainable option for feeding humans, as well as being environmentally friendly. They are aquatic organisms with great potential, due to their protein content, omega—3 fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and prebiotics, among others. They also contain other bioactive compounds that may be of interest. This review article aims to gather current information on the different species of microalgae, comparing them nutritionally with other food sources, as well as to show whether they may prove to be a healthy option for human consumption in the near future. Despite its potential, there are currently challenges such as organoleptic and security issues, among others, which must be addressed so that it can become an everyday food

Probing the Dust Properties of Galaxies at Submillimetre Wavelengths II. Dust-to-gas mass ratio trends with metallicity and the submm excess in dwarf galaxies

We are studying the effects of submm observations on the total dust mass and thus dust-to-gas mass ratio measurements. We gather a wide sample of galaxies that have been observed at submm wavelengths to model their Spectral Energy Distributions using submm observations and then without submm observational constraints in order to quantify the error on the dust mass when submm data are not available. Our model does not make strong assumptions on the dust temperature distribution to precisely avoid submm biaises in the study. Our sample includes 52 galaxies observed at submm wavelengths. Out of these, 9 galaxies show an excess in submm which is not accounted for in our fiducial model, most of these galaxies being low- metallicity dwarfs. We chose to add an independant very cold dust component (T=10K) to account for this excess. We find that metal-rich galaxies modelled with submm data often show lower dust masses than when modelled without submm data. Indeed, these galaxies usually have dust SEDs that peaks at longer wavelengths and require constraints above 160 um to correctly position the peak and sample the submillimeter slope of their SEDs and thus correctly cover the dust temperature distribution. On the other hand, some metal-poor dwarf galaxies modelled with submm data show higher dust masses than when modelled without submm data. Using submm constraints for the dust mass estimates, we find a tightened correlation of the dust-to-gas mass ratio with the metallicity of the galaxies. We also often find that when there is a submm excess present, it occurs preferentially in low-metallicity galaxies. We analyse the conditions for the presence of this excess and find a relation between the 160/850 um ratio and the submm excess.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in A&

A Clinical and Epidemiological Investigation of the First Reported Human Infection With the Zoonotic Parasite Trypanosoma evansi in Southeast Asia.

BACKGROUND: Trypanosomais a genus of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa.Trypanosoma bruceispecies and Trypanosoma cruziare the major agents of human trypanosomiasis; other Trypanosomaspecies can cause human disease, but are rare. In March 2015, a 38-year-old woman presented to a healthcare facility in southern Vietnam with fever, headache, and arthralgia. Microscopic examination of blood revealed infection with Trypanosoma METHODS: Microscopic observation, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of blood samples, and serological testing were performed to identify the infecting species. The patient's blood was screened for the trypanocidal protein apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1), and a field investigation was performed to identify the zoonotic source. RESULTS: PCR amplification and serological testing identified the infecting species as Trypanosoma evansi.Despite relapsing 6 weeks after completing amphotericin B therapy, the patient made a complete recovery after 5 weeks of suramin. The patient was found to have 2 wild-type APOL1 alleles and a normal serum APOL1 concentration. After responsive animal sampling in the presumed location of exposure, cattle and/or buffalo were determined to be the most likely source of the infection, with 14 of 30 (47%) animal blood samples testing PCR positive forT. evansi. CONCLUSIONS: We report the first laboratory-confirmed case ofT. evansiin a previously healthy individual without APOL1 deficiency, potentially contracted via a wound while butchering raw beef, and successfully treated with suramin. A linked epidemiological investigation revealed widespread and previously unidentified burden ofT. evansiin local cattle, highlighting the need for surveillance of this infection in animals and the possibility of further human cases

Estrategia marina demarcación marina levantino-balear parte IV. Descriptores del buen estado ambiental. Descriptor 1: biodiversidad evaluación inicial y buen estado ambiental

El descriptor 1 de la Ley 41/2010 de protección del medio marino, trasposición a la ley española de la Directiva Marco sobre la Estrategia Marina (DMEM: 2008/56/CE) dice textualmente "Se mantiene la biodiversidad. La calidad y la frecuencia de los hábitats y la distribución y abundancia de las especies están en consonancia con las condiciones fisiográficas, geográficas y climáticas". Según el Convenio sobre la Diversidad Biológica (UNCED, 1992), ésta se define como: "La variabilidad de organismos vivos de cualquier fuente, incluidos, entre otras cosas, los ecosistemas terrestres y marinos y otros ecosistemas acuáticos y los complejos ecológicos de los que forman parte; comprende la diversidad dentro de cada especie, entre especies y de los ecosistemas"

Systems Medicine: from molecular features and models to the clinic in COPD

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients are characterized by heterogeneous clinical manifestations and patterns of disease progression. Two major factors that can be used to identify COPD subtypes are muscle dysfunction/wasting and co-morbidity patterns. We hypothesized that COPD heterogeneity is in part the result of complex interactions between several genes and pathways. We explored the possibility of using a Systems Medicine approach to identify such pathways, as well as to generate predictive computational models that may be used in clinic practice. OBJECTIVE AND METHOD: Our overarching goal is to generate clinically applicable predictive models that characterize COPD heterogeneity through a Systems Medicine approach. To this end we have developed a general framework, consisting of three steps/objectives: (1) feature identification, (2) model generation and statistical validation, and (3) application and validation of the predictive models in the clinical scenario. We used muscle dysfunction and co-morbidity as test cases for this framework. RESULTS: In the study of muscle wasting we identified relevant features (genes) by a network analysis and generated predictive models that integrate mechanistic and probabilistic models. This allowed us to characterize muscle wasting as a general de-regulation of pathway interactions. In the co-morbidity analysis we identified relevant features (genes/pathways) by the integration of gene-disease and disease-disease associations. We further present a detailed characterization of co-morbidities in COPD patients that was implemented into a predictive model. In both use cases we were able to achieve predictive modeling but we also identified several key challenges, the most pressing being the validation and implementation into actual clinical practice. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm the potential of the Systems Medicine approach to study complex diseases and generate clinically relevant predictive models. Our study also highlights important obstacles and bottlenecks for such approaches (e.g. data availability and normalization of frameworks among others) and suggests specific proposals to overcome them

Evolutive Unification in Composite Active Galactic Nuclei

In this paper we explore an evolutionary Unified scenario involving super massive black hole and starburst with outflow, that seems capable of explaining most of the observational properties of at least part of AGNs. Our suggestion is explored inside the expectations of the Starburst model close associated with the AGN where the NLR, BLR and BAL region are produced in part by the outflow process with shells and in compact supernova remnants. The outflow process in BAL QSOs with extreme IR and Fe II emission is studied. In addition, the Fe II poblem regarding the BLR of AGN is analysed. Neither the correlations between the BAL, IR emission, FeII intensity and the intrinsic properties of the AGN are clearly understood. We suggest here that the behaviour of the BAL, IR and FeII emission in AGNs can be understood inside an evolutionary and composite model for AGNs. In our model, strong BAL systems and Fe II emission are present (and intense) in young IR objects. Orientation/ obscuration effects take the role of a second parameter providing the segregation between Sy1/Sy2 and BLRG/NLRG.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures (submitted MNRAS