Kymenlaaksolaisten kuljetusyritysten taloudellisen suorituskyvyn kehitys vuosina 1997-2007

Tämän Pro gradu -tutkielman tarkoituksena on tutustua suomalaiseen kuljetustoimialaan erityisesti liiketoiminnallisesta näkökulmasta ja tarkastella suurimpien kymenlaaksolaisten kuljetusyritysten taloudellisen suorituskyvyn sekä muun talouden kehitystä vuosien 1997–2007 aikana. Lisäksi tässä tutkimuksessa pyritään löytämään selittäviä strategisia tekijöitä kymenlaaksolaisyritysten taloudelliselle menestykselle. Kymenlaakson alueen kuljetusyritysten taloudellisen suorituskyvyn osatekijät pysyttelevät koko Suomen kuljetusyritysten lukujen tavoin tutkimuksen tarkastelujakson ajan keskimäärin tyydyttävällä tasolla. Kannattavuuden ja vakavaraisuuden osalta kymenlaaksolaisyritykset näyttävät menestyvän hieman muuta Suomea paremmin, mutta toisaalta yritysten maksukykyisyys jää muita alemmaksi. Tutkimusjakson selkein kehitys kuljetusyrityksillä liittyy sekä huomattavaan toimintakustannusten että liiketoiminnan koon kasvuun. Tutkimuksen kuljetusyrityksistä erityisesti pienimmät ja perinteikkäät, ainoastaan kuljetuspalveluiden tarjontaan keskittyneet toimijat vaikuttavat menestyvän taloudellisesti muita yrityksiä paremmin. Tutkimusyritysten joukossa esiintyy kuitenkin paljon vaihtelua ja mukaan mahtuu niin menestyjiä kuin heikompiakin toimijoita.

Organización de la reanimación cardiopulmonar intrahospitalaria. Situación actual en España.

La parada cardiorrespiratoria (PCR) dentro del hospital es considerada una emergencia vital y está demostrado que existe una relación directa entre la respuesta asistencial y la mortalidad asociada a este evento. Los resultados del tratamiento de la PCR son un indicador de calidad de los centros sanitarios. En el caso en concreto de España, la mayoría de hospitales no disponen de un sistema organizado e integral de atención a la PCR. A pesar de los avances en medicina y tecnológicos, la tasa de supervivencia no ha variado significativamente en los últimos 30 años por lo que se ha de considerar como un problema social, económico y sanitario de gran magnitud que cabe abordar con todas las herramientas disponibles. Objetivos: Conocer cómo se organiza la reanimación cardiopulmonar (RCP) dentro del hospital y conocer los planes integrales de RCP publicados por los hospitales españoles. Metodología: Se realiza una revisión de la literatura a través de las bibliotecas indexadas Pubmed y Web of Science mediante criterios de inclusión/exclusión, uso de operadores booleanos y búsqueda bibliográfica manual. Además se realiza una entrevista a un médico referente nacional en la investigación sobre RCP. Resultados: Se han encontrado 7 planes integrales para la atención a la PCR y solo 2 de ellos están avalados por el Plan Nacional de RCP (PNRCP), miembro del Consejo Español de RCP (CERCP). Conclusiones: Existe una falta de publicaciones por parte de los hospitales españoles sobre planes integrales para la organización de la RCP que cumplan los criterios de calidad necesarios. Si bien todos los hospitales disponen de protocolos propios dirigidos a sus profesionales para la actuación en caso de PCR, estos son de uso interno y solo tienen en común entre ellos el hecho de seguir las recomendaciones de las guías del European Resuscitation Council (ERC). III Es necesario que los centros sanitarios fomenten y compartan su actividad investigadora sobre el tema. Palabras clave: parada cardíaca hospitalaria, resucitación cardiopulmonar, Plan hospitalario de resucitación.

Creating customer relationship management concept for engineering and service business

Customer relationship management has been one essential part of marketing for over 20 years. Today’s business environment is fast changing, international and highly competitive, and that is why the most important factor for long-term profitability is one-to-one customer relationships. However, managing relationships and serving customers that are profitable has been always challenging. In this thesis the objective was to define the main obstacles that the case company must overcome to succeed in CRM. Possible solutions have also been defined. The main elements of the implementation i.e. people, processes and technologies, can clearly be found behind these matters and solutions. This thesis also presents theoretical information about CRM and it is meant to act as a guide book inside the organisation to spread information about CRM for those who are not so familiar with the topic.

Avaluació d’un programa de prevenció de luxacions i subluxacions d’espatlla en el judo

Aquest projecte està encarat a avaluar un protocol de prevenció de luxacions i subluxacions d’espatlla en el judo. L’objectiu principal és el de reduir el nombre de luxacions i subluxacions d’espatlla en judokes de categories compreses entre les categories cadet i absoluta millorant paràmetres com la força, la elasticitat muscular, la propiocepció, l’alimentació i la condició física dels esportistes. Aquest serà un estudi experimental amb dos grups, on el Centre de Tecnificació del Bages un realitzarà el protocol objecte d’estudi i el grup de la Federació Catalana de Judo i D.A seguiran amb la seva activitat habitual. Cada grup estarà format per 37 esportistes amb un risc alfa de 0.05 i un risc beta inferior al 0.2, amb una taxa de pèrdua de seguiment d’un 10%. Aquest protocol de prevenció pot ser útil en la nostre comunitat, però no té perquè ser-ho en altres països o regions depenent del tipus de judo que es realitza a cada lloc. Abans de començar amb l’actuació del protocol es realitzaran avaluacions biomecàniques per conèixer l’estat dels esportistes i poder actuar analíticament on més ho necessiti cada integrant de l’estudi.

"Hit the primary": A paradigm shift in the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer?

Patients with metastatic prostate cancer (PC) represent a heterogeneous group with survival rates varying between 13 and 75 months. The current standard treatment in this setting is hormonal therapy, with or without docetaxel-based chemotherapy. In the era of individualized medicine, however, maximizing treatment options, especially in long-term surviving patients with limited disease burden, is of capital importance. Emerging data, mainly from retrospective surgical series, show survival benefits in men diagnosed with metastatic PC following definitive therapy for the prostate. Whether the irradiation of primary tumor in a metastatic disease might improve the therapeutic ratio in association with systemic treatments remains investigational. In this scenario, modern radiation therapy (RT) can play a significant role owing to its intrinsic capability to act as a more general immune response modifier, as well as to the potentially better toxicity profile compared to surgery. Preclinical data, clinical experience, and challenges in local treatment in de novo metastatic PC are reviewed and discussed.

L-Lactate protects neurons against excitotoxicity: implication of an ATP-mediated signaling cascade.

Converging experimental data indicate a neuroprotective action of L-Lactate. Using Digital Holographic Microscopy, we observe that transient application of glutamate (100 μM; 2 min) elicits a NMDA-dependent death in 65% of mouse cortical neurons in culture. In the presence of L-Lactate (or Pyruvate), the percentage of neuronal death decreases to 32%. UK5099, a blocker of the Mitochondrial Pyruvate Carrier, fully prevents L-Lactate-mediated neuroprotection. In addition, L-Lactate-induced neuroprotection is not only inhibited by probenicid and carbenoxolone, two blockers of ATP channel pannexins, but also abolished by apyrase, an enzyme degrading ATP, suggesting that ATP produced by the Lactate/Pyruvate pathway is released to act on purinergic receptors in an autocrine/paracrine manner. Finally, pharmacological approaches support the involvement of the P2Y receptors associated to the PI3-kinase pathway, leading to activation of KATP channels. This set of results indicates that L-Lactate acts as a signalling molecule for neuroprotection against excitotoxicity through coordinated cellular pathways involving ATP production, release and activation of a P2Y/KATP cascade.

How diverse is Cologne Carnival? How migrants appropriate popular art spaces

The present article contributes to the ongoing academic debate on migrants' appropriation of artistic and political spaces in Germany. Cologne, one of the largest cities in Germany, is an interesting example of the tension between political discourse centred around multiculturalism and cultural segregation processes. The 'no fool is illegal' carnival organised by asylum seekers shows their capacity to act, as they reinvent an old local tradition by reinterpreting medieval rituals. Today, different groups and associations appropriate this festive art space: migrants, gays and lesbians, feminists and far-left groups either organise their own parties or take part in the official parties and parades as separate groups. As a result, the celebration of diversity figures on the local political agenda and becomes part of the official carnival festivities. This leads to a blurring of boundaries, whereby mainstream popular culture becomes more and more influenced by multicultural elements.

Reduction and Analysis Methods of Indigo

Throughout history indigo was derived from various plants for example Dyer’s Woad (Isatis tinctoria L.) in Europe. In the 19th century were the synthetic dyes developed and nowadays indigo is mainly synthesized from by-products of fossil fuels. Indigo is a so-called vat dye, which means that it needs to be reduced to its water soluble leucoform before dyeing. Nowadays, most of the industrial reduction is performed chemically by sodium dithionite. However, this is considered environmentally unfavourable because of waste waters contaminating degradation products. Therefore there has been interest to find new possibilities to reduce indigo. Possible alternatives for the application of dithionite as the reducing agent are biologically induced reduction and electrochemical reduction. Glucose and other reducing sugars have recently been suggested as possible environmentally friendly alternatives as reducing agents for sulphur dyes and there have also been interest in using glucose to reduce indigo. In spite of the development of several types of processes, very little is known about the mechanism and kinetics associated with the reduction of indigo. This study aims at investigating the reduction and electrochemical analysis methods of indigo and give insight on the reduction mechanism of indigo. Anthraquinone as well as it’s derivative 1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone were discovered to act as catalysts for the glucose induced reduction of indigo. Anthraquinone introduces a strong catalytic effect which is explained by invoking a molecular “wedge effect” during co-intercalation of Na+ and anthraquinone into the layered indigo crystal. The study includes also research on the extraction of plant-derived indigo from woad and the examination of the effect of this method to the yield and purity of indigo. The purity has been conventionally studied spectrophotometrically and a new hydrodynamic electrode system is introduced in this study. A vibrating probe is used in following electrochemically the leuco-indigo formation with glucose as a reducing agent.

O uso de sílica gel organofuncionalizada como agente sequestrante para metais

An overview about the homogeneous and heterogeneous methods of synthesizing silylating agents and applications of the organofunctionalized silica-gel samples was explored. The pendant molecules attached covalently to the inorganic surface displayed important properties to act as sequestrating agents for metals in aqueous and non-aqueous solutions. The large variety of basic centres anchored on organic molecules improve the capacity in adsorbing cations. The increase in adsorption is dependent on the number of basic atoms disposed on the pendant molecules on the surface. The combination of acidic and basicity properties favours the selectivity, such is exemplified by the thiol modified silicas towards mercury (II) cations.

Targeted ablation of gonadotropin dependent endocrine tumors in transgenic mice through their luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR)

Gonadal somatic cell and adrenocortical endocrine tumors are rare. The incidence of adrenocortical carcinomas is only 1-2/1000000 a year. However, they are aggressive, especially in adulthood and currently surgery is the only curative treatment. Cytotoxic agents are in use in advanced cancers, but side effects and multidrug resistance are often problems. Thus there is a need for novel curative treatment methods. In contrast, ovarian granulosa cell tumors and testicular Leydig cell tumors are usually benign, especially at a younger age. The aim of the present thesis was to study a novel targeted treatment method through luteinizing hormone/chorionic gonadotropin receptor (LHCGR) in a transgenic mouse tumor model. The cytotoxic agent was lytic peptide Hecate-CGbeta conjugate where 23 amino acid Hecate, a synthetic form of honeybee venom melittin, was conjugated to 15 amino acid fragment of human chorionic gonadotropin β subunit. Lytic peptides are known to act only on negatively charged cells, such as bacteria and cancer cells and hereby, due to hCGbeta fragment, the conjugate is able to bind directly to LHCGR bearing cancer cells, saving the healthy ones. The experiments were carried out in inhibin-alpha-Simian Virus 40-T-antigen transgenic mice that are known to express LHCGR-bearing gonadal tumors, namely Leydig and granulosa cell tumors by 100% penetrance. If the mice are gonadectomized prepubertally they form adrenocortical tumors instead. Transgenic and wild type mice were treated for three consecutive weeks with control vehicle, Hecate or Hecate-CGbeta conjugate. GnRH antagonist or estradiol was given to a group of mice with or without Hecate-CGbeta conjugate to analyze the additive role of gonadotropin blockage in adrenocortical tumor treatment efficacy. Hecate-CGbeta conjugate was able to diminish the gonadal and adrenal tumor size effectively in males. No treatment related side effects were found. Gonadotropin blockage through GnRH antagonist was the best treatment in female adrenal tumors. The mode of cell death by Hecate-CGbeta conjugate was proven to be through necrosis. LHCGR and GATA-4 were co-expressed in tumors, where the treatment down-regulated their expression simultaneously, suggesting their possible use as tumor markers. In conclusion, the present thesis showed that Hecate-CGbeta conjugate targets its action selectively through LHCGR and selectively kills the LHCGR bearing tumor cells. It works both in gonadal somatic and in ectopic LHCGR bearing adrenal tumors. These results establish a more general principle that receptors expressed ectopically in malignant cells can be exploited in targeted cytotoxic therapies without affecting the normal healthy cells.

Novos produtos naturais capazes de atuar na estabilização de microtúbulos, um importante alvo no combate ao câncer

Microtubules are involved in many aspects of cellular biology and represent an important target of anticancer chemotherapeutics. In the past five years, novel natural products such as epothilones, discodermolide, sarcodictyin, eleutherobin, and laulimalide, all of which have biological activities similar to those of paclitaxel (Taxolâ), have been discovered. Taxolâ is an important antitumor drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of ovarian, breast and non-small-cell lung carcinomas and became the first natural product described that stabilized microtubules avoiding the cellular replication. The present article reports new natural products that are able to act on the stabilization of microtubules.

Shot-noise spectroscopy of energy resolved ballistic currents

We investigate the shot noise of nonequilibrium carriers injected into a ballistic conductor and interacting via long-range Coulomb forces. Coulomb interactions are shown to act as an energy analyzer of the profile of injected electrons by means of the fluctuations of the potential barrier at the emitter contact. We show that the details in the energy profile can be extracted from shot-noise measurements in the Coulomb interaction regime, but cannot be obtained from time-averaged quantities or shot-noise measurements in the absence of interactions.

Effect of Seasonal Dynamics on Queen Densities of the Argentine Ant (Linepithema Humile) in an Invaded Natural Area of the NE Iberian Peninsula

The annual elimination of large numbers of Argentine ant queens near the advance front of an invasion could be a useful tool for weakening the species’ dispersion and, therefore, limiting its establishment in non-invaded areas. However, before carrying out trials to test the effectiveness of this method it would be essential to have sufficient knowledge of the effect of seasonal dynamics acting on the queens’ densities of the species in order to determine the most favourable period of the year to act. We analyzed the seasonal densities and nest dynamics of Argentine ant queens in an invaded Mediterranean natural ecosystem. We observed that the queens’ density varied depending on the season of the year and that this variation was mainly due to the seasonal dynamics of nest aggregations in winter and ant dispersions in summer. The greatest densities per litre of nest soil were observed in winter (December to March, approximately) and the lowest densities were observed in summer ( June to July). This information is essential for improving current knowledge of the Argentine ant’s biology and developing control methods based on the elimination of queens in invaded natural areas

Hipertensión arterial y enfermedad de Alzheimer

Hypertension (HT) is the most prevalent cardiovascular risk factor associated with dementia and Alzheimer disease (AD). The evidence about the association within hight blood pressure (BP) level in the middle age and dementia and Alzheimer’s disease incidence in the advanced age has increased. Longitudinal studies show that in the previous years of onset AD, BP is similar or lower in the patients who develop AD with regard to those who not develop. When patients has developed AD the case is the same that the previous one. Most studies show that BP reduction is beneficious to prevent cognitive impairment, dementia and AD. Is spite of some discordant studies, health authorities recommend to treat isolated systolic HT with an ‘A’ evidence degree, level 1, to prevent AD. Animal experimentation prove different ways to act of antihypertensive drugs in the AD prevention and has established the pathophysiological bases in this relation, until now only showed through various clinical studies

Avainhyödyke doktriinin kehitys ja soveltaminen Euroopan yhteisön kilpailuoikeudessa

Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan avainhyödyke doktriini kehittymistä ja sen soveltamista Euroopan yhteisön kilpailuoikeudessa. Avainhyödyke doktriinissa määräävässä markkina asemassa olevalla yrityksellä on hallussaan hyödyke, palvelu tai infrastruktuuri, jonka uudelleen tuottaminen samoilla markkinoilla ei ole kannattavaa. Määräävässä asemassa olevan yrityksen kilpailijoille tai alalle pyrkiville uusille yrityksille on kuitenkin välttämätöntä päästä käyttämään kyseistä avainhyödykettä, mikäli he haluavat toimia alalla. Tällaisissa tilanteissa avainhyödykkeen haltijalle voidaan asettaa kilpailuoikeudellinen velvollisuus ryhtyä liikesuhteeseen kilpailijoiden ja alalle pyrkivien yritysten kanssa. Avainhyödyke doktriinin soveltaminen nousee erityisen tärkeäksi aloilla, joilta on juuri purettu sääntely. Näillä aloilla doktriinin voidaan katsoa turvaavan jonkinlaisen tasapuolisuuden markkinoilla ja lisäävän kilpailua. Tästä huolimatta avainhyödyke doktriinia on kritisoitu runsaasti, sillä siinä ei oteta huomioon omistusoikeutta, sopimusvapautta tai yleensä taloudellisen toimijan autonomiaa. Avainhyödyke doktriinin kilpailuoikeudellisesta ristiriitaisuudesta olennaisena osoituksena on, ettei Euroopan yhteisön tuomioistuin ei ole ottanut kantaa doktriinin olemassaoloon.