•Uses the DILC-model to analyze co-evolution of climate-change problem and strategic responses from American carmakers.•Applies a mixed-methodology, combining quantitative analysis of various ...time-series with in-depth qualitative case study.•Assesses the degree to which automakers are engaging in low-carbon reorientation.•Proposes three elaborations to the DILC-model.
This paper uses the Dialectic Issue LifeCycle-model (DILC-model) to analyze the co-evolution of the climate change problem and strategic responses from the American car industry. The longitudinal and multi-dimensional analysis investigates the dynamics of the climate change problem in terms of socio-political mobilization by social movements, scientists, wider publics and policymakers. It also analyses how U.S. automakers responded to mounting pressures with socio-political, economic and innovation strategies oriented towards low-carbon propulsion technologies. We use a mixed methodology with a quantitative analysis of various time-series and an in-depth qualitative case study, which traces interactions between problem-related pressures and industry responses. We conclude that U.S. automakers are slowly reorienting towards low-carbon technologies, but due to weakening pressures have not yet fully committed to comprehensive development and marketing. The paper not only applies the DILC-model, but also proposes three elaborations: (a) the continued diversity of technical solutions, and ‘ups and downs’ in future expectations, creates uncertainty which delays strategic reorientation; (b) firms may develop radical innovations for political and social purposes in early phases of the model; (c) issue lifecycles are also shaped by external influences from other problems and contexts.
The morbidity and mortality from coronary artery disease (CAD) remain significant worldwide. The treatment for acute myocardial infarction has improved over the past decades, including early ...reperfusion of culprit coronary arteries. Although it is mandatory to reperfuse the ischaemic territory as soon as possible, paradoxically this leads to additional myocardial injury, namely ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, in which redox stress plays a pivotal role and for which no effective therapy is currently available. In this review, we report evidence that the redox environment plays a pivotal role not only in I/R injury but also in cardioprotection. In fact, cardioprotective strategies, such as pre‐ and post‐conditioning, result in a robust reduction in infarct size in animals and the role of redox signalling is of paramount importance in these conditioning strategies. Nitrosative signalling and cysteine redox modifications, such as S‐nitrosation/S‐nitrosylation, are also emerging as very important mechanisms in conditioning cardioprotection. The reasons for the switch from protective oxidative/nitrosative signalling to deleterious oxidative/nitrosative/nitrative stress are not fully understood. The complex regulation of this switch is, at least in part, responsible for the diminished or lack of cardioprotection induced by conditioning protocols observed in ageing animals and with co‐morbidities as well as in humans. Therefore, it is important to understand at a mechanistic level the reasons for these differences before proposing a safe and useful transition of ischaemic or pharmacological conditioning. Indeed, more mechanistic novel therapeutic strategies are required to protect the heart from I/R injury and to improve clinical outcomes in patients with CAD.
Linked Articles
This article is part of a themed section on Conditioning the Heart – Pathways to Translation. To view the other articles in this section visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bph.2015.172.issue‐8
The paper develops a typological framework of the roles of state investment banks (SIBs) in the economy. The typology identifies four different roles: countercyclical; developmental; venture ...capitalist; and challenge-led. The paper conceptually elaborates the typology by first providing a historical overview of SIBs, and then discussing how the mainstream "market failure theory" justifies them. It then advances a different conceptualization based on insights from heterodox economics, showing that all roles of SIBs are more about market creating/shaping rather than market-failure fixing. The paper concludes with a proposal of a new agenda for research on SIBs based on our typological framework.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infects host cells following binding with the cell surface ACE2 receptors, thereby leading to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). ...SARS-CoV-2 causes viral pneumonia with additional extrapulmonary manifestations and major complications, including acute myocardial injury, arrhythmia, and shock mainly in elderly patients. Furthermore, patients with existing cardiovascular comorbidities, such as hypertension and coronary heart disease, have a worse clinical outcome following contraction of the viral illness. A striking feature of COVID-19 pandemics is the high incidence of fatalities in advanced aged patients: this might be due to the prevalence of frailty and cardiovascular disease increase with age due to endothelial dysfunction and loss of endogenous cardioprotective mechanisms. Although experimental evidence on this topic is still at its infancy, the aim of this position paper is to hypothesize and discuss more suggestive cellular and molecular mechanisms whereby SARS-CoV-2 may lead to detrimental consequences to the cardiovascular system. We will focus on aging, cytokine storm, NLRP3/inflammasome, hypoxemia, and air pollution, which is an emerging cardiovascular risk factor associated with rapid urbanization and globalization. We will finally discuss the impact of clinically available CV drugs on the clinical course of COVID-19 patients. Understanding the role played by SARS-CoV2 on the CV system is indeed mandatory to get further insights into COVID-19 pathogenesis and to design a therapeutic strategy of cardio-protection for frail patients.
•Dialectic Issue LifeCycle model (DILC) conceptualises the co-evolution of societal problems and technical solutions.•Paper further develops DILC model by embedding in relevant literatures and ...elaborating causal mechanisms.•Paper empirically explores a ‘cyclical’ issue lifecycle pattern.•Paper offers a new case study of auto-safety and the U.S. car industry (1900–1995).
Addressing societal problems requires the reorientation of firms-in-industries, including changes in technology, belief systems, and mission. The paper aims to make two contributions to the Dialectic Issue LifeCycle (DILC) model, which captures the dynamics of socio-political mobilization around societal problems and industry responses. First, the five phases in the DILC-model are elaborated with insights from social movement theory, political science, public attention, issue management, corporate political strategy, and innovation management. Second, a ‘cyclical’ lifecycle pattern is explored, in which a social problem does not linearly progress through successive phases, but can also move ‘backwards’ if public attention or political will decrease. We explore these contributions with a longitudinal study of the car-safety problem and responses from American automakers (1900–1995). We use a combined quantitative–qualitative method that employs coupled time-series analyses as support for an in-depth case study. The case study showed that the industry long denied the influence of car design on fatalities, and reluctantly changed its position in the mid-1960s (under pressure from public opinion and policymakers). In the late-1980s, when markets emerged because safety became part of consumer preferences, the industry implemented comprehensive changes in technology, beliefs and mission.
This paper aims to make two conceptual contributions to the greening of industry literature. Firstly, we propose that the greening process can be conceptualized as an issue lifecycle dynamics with ...multi-dimensional struggles between ‘greening’ pressures and industry response strategies. To capture the endogenous dynamics, we develop a Dialectic Issue LifeCycle model with five phases, which conceptualize how these struggles play out over time. Secondly, we propose that issue lifecycle dynamics are also influenced by (external) alignments with contextual field-level developments. This proposition accommodates the notion that industries not only face ‘green’ issues but also other relevant pressures. We apply the model to a historical case study: air pollution problems and responses from American automakers (1943–1985). The case study presents a good match with the first three phases of the model, but shows deviations in the fourth and fifth phase, which are due to: a) decreasing pressure from public opinion; b) limited spillovers from air pollution to consumer demand; c) rise of competing issues; and d) strong resistance from the car industry. The findings underline that the greening of industry cannot be fully understood by looking only at the focal issue (e.g. air pollution). Broader developments in industry and external contexts also need to be taken into account.
► An industry greening process is marked by multiple struggles over the focal issue. ► This internal dynamics is also influenced by external field-level developments. ► Actors' strategies to green issues reflect both internal and external dynamics. ► We accommodate this insight in a Dialectic Issue LifeCycle (phase) model. ► A case study illustrates the dialectical dynamics and tests the model.
Minas artisanal cheese, produced in the Campo das Vertentes region of Brazil, is made from raw milk and endogenous starter cultures. Although this cheese is of great historical and socioeconomic ...importance, little information is available about its microbiological and physical-chemical qualities, or about its beneficial microbiota. This work was aimed at evaluating the qualities of the cheese and the components used for its production, comparing samples collected during the dry and rainy seasons. We also conducted molecular identification and isolated 50 samples of lactic acid bacteria from cheese (n=21), water (n=3), raw milk (n=9), and endogenous starter culture (n=17). The microbiological quality of the cheese, water, raw milk, and endogenous starter culture was lower during the rainy period, given the higher counts of coagulase-positive Staphylococcus and total and thermotolerant coliforms. Enterococcus faecalis was the lactic acid bacteria isolated most frequently (42.86%) in cheese samples, followed by Lactococcus lactis (28.57%) and Lactobacillus plantarum (14.29%). Lactobacillus brevis (5.88%), Enterococcus pseudoavium (5.88%), Enterococcus durans (5.88%), and Aerococcus viridans (5.88%) were isolated from endogenous starter cultures and are described for the first time in the literature. The lactic acid bacteria identified in the analyzed cheeses may inhibit undesirable microbiota and contribute to the safety and flavor of the cheese, but this needs to be evaluated in future research.
Revisiting the Mechanism of Hydrolysis of Betanin Esteves, Larissa C.; Pinheiro, Amanda C.; Pioli, Renan M. ...
Photochemistry and photobiology,
September/October 2018, Letnik:
94, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Betanin (betanidin 5‐O‐β‐D‐glucoside) is a water‐soluble plant pigment used as a color additive in food, drugs and cosmetic products. Despite its sensitivity to light and heat, betanin maintains ...appreciable tinctorial strength in low acidic and neutral conditions, where the color of other plant pigments, such as anthocyanins, quickly fades. However, betanin is an iminium natural product that experiences acid‐ and base‐catalyzed hydrolysis to form the fairly stable betalamic acid and cyclo‐DOPA‐5‐O‐β‐D‐glucoside. Here, we show that the decomposition of betanin in aqueous phosphate solution pH 2–11 is subject to general base catalysis by hydrogen phosphate ion and intramolecular general acid and base catalysis, providing new insights on the mechanism of betanin hydrolysis. UV/Vis absorption spectrophotometry, 1H NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry were used to investigate product formation. Furthermore, theoretical calculations support the hypothesis that the nitrogen atom of the tetrahydropyridine ring of betanin is doubly protonated, as observed for structurally simpler amino dicarboxylic acids. Our results contribute to the study of betanin and other pigments belonging to the class of betalains and to deepen the knowledge on the chemical properties of imino acids as well as on iminium‐catalyzed modifications of carbonyl compounds in water.
The mechanism of betanin decomposition in aqueous solution as a function of pH and temperature is investigated. Results are of importance for the application of betanin, other betalains and iminium ions.
Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are being increasingly used for data acquisition and control of remote devices. However, they present some constraints in critical and large-scale scenarios. The main ...limitations come from the nature of their components, such as lossy links, and devices with power supply limitations, poor processing power and limited memory. The main feature of software-defined networks (SDN) is the separation between the control plane and the data plane, making available a logically unified view of the topology in the controllers. In this way, it is possible to build network applications that take into account this unified view, which makes the SDN an alternative approach to solve the mentioned limitations. This paper presents the SD6WSN (software-defined 6LoWPAN wireless sensor network) architecture, developed to control the behavior of the data traffic in 6LoWPAN according to the SDN approach. It takes into account the specific characteristics of WSN devices, such as low data transfer rate, high latency, packet loss and low processing power, and takes advantage of the flexibility provided by flow-based forwarding, allowing the development of specific networking applications based on a unified view. We provide a detailed description of how we have implemented SD6WSN in the Contiki operating system. The new architecture is assessed in two experiments. The first considers a typical advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network and measures the overhead of SD6WSN control messages in configurations involving different path lengths. The results indicate that the overhead introduced is not excessive, given the advantages that the SDN approach can bring. The second considers a grid-topology to evaluate the average latency of the peer-to-peer communication. It was observed that the average latency in the SD6WSN is considerably lower than that obtained with standard 6LoWPAN, showing the potential of the proposed approach.
Thyroid cancer derived from follicular cells (TCDFC) comprises well-differentiated (papillary and follicular) carcinoma, poorly differentiated carcinoma, and anaplastic carcinoma. Papillary thyroid ...carcinoma is the most common endocrine cancer, and its incidence is steadily increasing. Lethality and aggressiveness of TCDFC is inversely correlated with differentiation degree. In this review, an emphasis has been put on molecular markers involved in tumorigenesis of thyroid carcinoma with a focus on aggressive histotypes and the role of such biomarkers in predicting thyroid cancer outcome. Genetic rearrangements in TCDFC (RET/PTC, PAX8/PPARG) and mutations in RAS, BRAF, TERT promoter (TERTp), TP53, PIK3CA, and AKT1 are discussed. The majority of the studies to date indicate that TERTp mutations can serve as a marker of more aggressive disease in all the subtypes of thyroid carcinoma, being the best current marker of poor prognosis, due to its independent association with distant metastases and increased disease-specific mortality. Some studies suggested that a more accurate prediction of thyroid cancer outcome may be possible through a more extensive genetic analysis. The same is true concerning the identification of other mutations that are only relatively frequent in advanced tumors (e.g., TP53, PIK3CA, or AKT1). A better understanding of the prognostic role of TERTp mutation (together with additional ones like BRAF, RAS, PIK3CA, AKT1, or TP53) and the clarification of their putative role in fine-needle aspiration biopsies are likely to allow, in the future, an early refinement of the stratification risk in patients with well-differentiated carcinomas. It is worth noting that, as with any categorical staging system, the risk evaluation within each category (low, intermediate, and high) varies depending on the specific clinicopathologic features of individual patients and the specific biological behavior of the tumor. Finally, besides the diagnostic and/or prognostic significance of the above-mentioned mutations, it is crucial to understand that the molecular pathways and epigenetic alterations will likely turn into interesting targets for new therapies.
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