Sustainability practice within supply chains remains in an early development phase. Enterprises still need tools that support the integration of sustainability strategy into their activity, and to ...align their sustainability strategy with the supplier selection process. This paper proposes a methodology using a multi-criteria technique to support supplier selection decisions by taking two groups of inputs that integrate sustainability performance: supply chain performance and supplier assessment criteria. With the proposed methodology, organisations will have a tool to select suppliers based on their development towards sustainability and on their alignment with the supply chain strategy towards sustainability. The methodology is applied to an agri-food supply chain to assess sustainability in the supplier selection process.
•IL-8 is a chemokine frequently produced in the tumor microenvironment by human malignant cells.•IL-8 plays key roles in the immunobiology of human malignancies and resistance to ...treatments.•Circulating IL-8 concentration reflects tumor burden.•Change in serum IL-8 is a biomarker to follow immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors.
Interleukin-8 (CXCL8) was originally described asa chemokine whose main function is the attraction of a polymorphonuclear inflammatory leukocyte infiltrate acting on CXCR1/2. Recently, it has been found that tumors very frequently coopt the production of this chemokine, which in this malignant context exerts different pro-tumoral functions. Reportedly, these include angiogenesis, survival signaling for cancer stem cells and attraction of myeloid cells endowed with the ability to immunosuppress and locally provide growth factors. Given the fact that in cancer patients IL-8 is mainly produced by tumor cells themselves, its serum concentration has been shown to correlate with tumor burden. Thus, IL-8 serum concentrations have been shown to be useful asa pharmacodynamic biomarker to early detect response to immunotherapy. Finally, because of the roles that IL-8 plays in favoring tumor progression, several therapeutic strategies are being developed to interfere with its functions. Such interventions hold promise, especially for therapeutic combinations in the field of cancer immunotherapy.
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) plays several physiological roles in plants. Despite the evidence, the role of H2S on cell wall disassembly and its implications on fleshy fruit firmness remains unknown. In ...this work, the effect of H2S treatment on the shelf-life, cell wall polymers and cell wall modifying-related gene expression of Chilean strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis) fruit was tested during postharvest storage. The treatment with H2S prolonged the shelf-life of fruit by an effect of optimal dose. Fruit treated with 0.2 mM H2S maintained significantly higher fruit firmness than non-treated fruit, reducing its decay and tripling its shelf-life. Additionally, H2S treatment delays pectin degradation throughout the storage period and significantly downregulated the expression of genes encoding for pectinases, such as polygalacturonase, pectate lyase, and expansin. This evidence suggests that H2S as a gasotransmitter prolongs the post-harvest shelf-life of the fruit and prevents its fast softening rate by a downregulation of the expression of key pectinase genes, which leads to a decreased pectin degradation.
Governments, companies and citizens around the world consider necessary to adopt a new circular economy (CE) model that allows solving the planet's environmental challenges and guaranteeing ...sustainable economic growth. Europe advocates this philosophy, but there is no widely accepted index to measure CE implementation at a macro level. This paper proposes a new index based on principal component analysis for European Union countries that use all information available without losing any information by the dimensionality reduction and consider objective weights based on the percentage of variance that each one retains. Moreover, we develop a disaggregated analysis considering the CE dimensions set out in the 'CE monitoring framework', allowing a more comprehensive analysis than when using a single indicator of CE implementation. This method is also used to build an index of the degree of achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) to see how they relate to the CE; the relationships between CE dimensions; and between SDGs. The results by geographical areas reveal a higher level of CE implementation in western European and EU-15 countries, with Luxembourg, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium alternately holding the top positions depending on the CE dimension considered. Therefore, the new European countries and the countries in the east must encourage measures to improve the implementation of the economy. In addition, there is a positive, strong and significant relationship with SDGs 8, 9 and 11, with both the overall CE implementation index and the disaggregated indices, and a negative one with 7 and 15.
Neutrophils are expanded and abundant in cancer-bearing hosts. Under the influence of CXCR1 and CXCR2 chemokine receptor agonists and other chemotactic factors produced by tumors, neutrophils, and ...granulocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) from cancer patients extrude their neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). In our hands, CXCR1 and CXCR2 agonists proved to be the major mediators of cancer-promoted NETosis. NETs wrap and coat tumor cells and shield them from cytotoxicity, as mediated by CD8+ T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, by obstructing contact between immune cells and the surrounding target cells. Tumor cells protected from cytotoxicity by NETs underlie successful cancer metastases in mice and the immunotherapeutic synergy of protein arginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) inhibitors, which curtail NETosis with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Intravital microscopy provides evidence of neutrophil NETs interfering cytolytic cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and NK cell contacts with tumor cells.
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•Tumor-secreted CXCR1 and CXCR2 ligands induce extrusion of NETs•NETs protect tumor cells from CTL and NK cytotoxicity in 3D cultures•Inhibition of NETosis sensitizes tumors to PD-1+CTLA-4 dual checkpoint blockade•NETs impair contact of immune cytotoxic cells with tumor cells in living mice
Extrusion of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) constitutes an adhesive mechanism employed by polymorphonuclear leukocytes in microbial defense and plays a role in cancer metastasis. Teijeira et al. show that intratumoral NETs protect malignant cells against cytotoxic attacks of the immune system, such as those elicited by checkpoint-based immunotherapy.
BACKGROUND: Titi monkeys, Callicebus, comprise the most species-rich primate genus—34 species are currently recognised, five of them described since 2005. The lack of molecular data for titi monkeys ...has meant that little is known of their phylogenetic relationships and divergence times. To clarify their evolutionary history, we assembled a large molecular dataset by sequencing 20 nuclear and two mitochondrial loci for 15 species, including representatives from all recognised species groups. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred using concatenated maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses, allowing us to evaluate the current taxonomic hypothesis for the genus. RESULTS: Our results show four distinct Callicebus clades, for the most part concordant with the currently recognised morphological species-groups—the torquatus group, the personatus group, the donacophilus group, and the moloch group. The cupreus and moloch groups are not monophyletic, and all species of the formerly recognized cupreus group are reassigned to the moloch group. Two of the major divergence events are dated to the Miocene. The torquatus group, the oldest radiation, diverged c. 11 Ma; and the Atlantic forest personatus group split from the ancestor of all donacophilus and moloch species at 9–8 Ma. There is little molecular evidence for the separation of Callicebus caligatus and C. dubius, and we suggest that C. dubius should be considered a junior synonym of a polymorphic C. caligatus. CONCLUSIONS: Considering molecular, morphological and biogeographic evidence, we propose a new genus level taxonomy for titi monkeys: Cheracebus n. gen. in the Orinoco, Negro and upper Amazon basins (torquatus group), Callicebus Thomas, 1903, in the Atlantic Forest (personatus group), and Plecturocebus n. gen. in the Amazon basin and Chaco region (donacophilus and moloch groups).
The effort to close the gender gaps in employment is one of the priorities worldwide to help address the disparity that exists between men and women in terms of rights and opportunities and to grow ...the economy in a sustainable way. Several academics and international organizations are interested in understanding its evolution, as well as the reasons and consequences of its existence. In this sense, the crisis alters the labor markets, affecting male and female employment ratios to varying degrees. To determine the foundations and consequences of the COVID‐19 in the labor sphere: we first discuss the most relevant international analysis of employment in pre‐and post‐COVID‐19 times. Second, we synthesize the state of the art of the most relevant literature on gender gap in employment and its drivers, especially those related to the impact of the coronavirus. To achieve this, we revised 731 papers since 1989 until January 2024. The reports of different organizations, as well as scientific studies indicate that the coronavirus has represented a setback for female empowerment. This is evident in higher rates of destroyed employment due to the pandemic impact on more feminized sectors, and women have assumed greater responsibilities at home compared to males. With a sample of 394 articles published between 2020 and January 2024, we employed a bibliometric approach to understand the evolution of scientific research on the subject. Our results provide a theoretical and conceptual framework that facilitates academic progress in understanding gender inequality, as well as practical guidance in identifying gaps.
Neuroinflammation constitutes a pathogenic process leading to neurodegeneration in several disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease (PD) and sepsis. Despite microglial cells ...being the central players in neuroinflammation, astrocytes play a key regulatory role in this process. Our previous results indicated that pharmacologic-antagonism or genetic deficiency of dopamine receptor D3 (DRD3) attenuated neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in two mouse models of PD. Here, we studied how DRD3-signalling affects the dynamic of activation of microglia and astrocyte in the context of systemic inflammation.
Neuroinflammation was induced by intraperitoneal administration of LPS. The effect of genetic DRD3-deficiency or pharmacologic DRD3-antagonism in the functional phenotype of astrocytes and microglia was determined by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry at different time-points.
Our results show that DRD3 was expressed in astrocytes, but not in microglial cells. DRD3 deficiency resulted in unresponsiveness of astrocytes and in attenuated microglial activation upon systemic inflammation. Furthermore, similar alterations in the functional phenotypes of glial cells were observed by DRD3 antagonism and genetic deficiency of DRD3 upon LPS challenge. Mechanistic analyses show that DRD3 deficiency resulted in exacerbated expression of the anti-inflammatory protein Fizz1 in glial cells both in vitro and in vivo.
These results suggest that DRD3 signalling regulates the dynamic of the acquisition of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory features by astrocytes and microglia, finally favouring microglial activation and promoting neuroinflammation.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the use of open innovation (OI) practices and firm performance, and the role of organizational mechanisms (OMs) (formalization ...and decentralization) as moderator variables.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors build a theoretical framework to define a set of hypotheses that are then verified in an empirical study. These theoretical propositions are tested by using the data gathered from a survey addressed to 244 firms in Spanish low- and medium-technology industries.
Findings
With regard to inbound practices, the practices oriented to cooperate with partners in a R&D context have a positive influence. The results show that outbound practices, either by direct generation of revenues from licensing payments or, more indirectly, through the indirect marketing and technical benefits that can stem from revealing have a positive effect on firm performance. Coupled practices, which are related to participation in clusters and innovation networks, have the highest impact on firm performance. In the industrial context examined, decentralization exerts a positive effect which enhances the effect of outbound practices meanwhile formalization reduces their positive effect.
Practical implications
This study helps practitioners in low- and medium-technology firms to determine which OI practices are most beneficial to firm performance and how formalization and decentralization can influence the relationship between OI and firm performance.
Originality/value
This study helps determine the influence of OI practices in terms of inbound, outbound and coupled types through an analysis of low- and medium-technology firms. The OI literature is enriched by the types herein of the role of OMs, which includes an analysis of how formalization and decentralization moderate the influence of OI practices on firm performance.
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