Introduction to the special issue on employment discrimination against immigrants

Purpose - This editorial aims to introduce the special issue on employment discrimination against immigrants. Design/methodology/approach - The first part is a commentary on key issues in the study of employment discrimination against immigrants. The second part presents the five articles in the special issue. Findings - The papers in this special issue focus on a variety of issues associated with employment discrimination against immigrants. For example, they consider: discrimination based on accents; differences among justice perceptions among immigrants and non-immigrants; the effects of negative stereotypes on workplace outcomes; the treatment of Hispanic immigrants; and the reasons for the lack of research on Hispanic immigrants. Research limitations/implications - The author comments on key issues that researchers of employment discrimination against immigrants have to take into account. These issues include: the appreciation of the diversity among immigrants; an understanding of the complexity of employment discrimination research; openness to cross-disciplinary approaches; and the consideration of employment discrimination within the context of the immigrant experience. The five articles that make up the special issues vary in their nature (empirical, critical), methodologies (quantitative, qualitative), locations (United States, Germany, and Canada), and implications. Practical implications - The issues discussed in the papers have important implications for understanding and overcoming employment discrimination against immigrants. Originality/value - The Journal of Managerial Psychology invited this special issue to initiate psychological research on employment discrimination against immigrants. The intent is to draw the attention of organizational scholars to the large, yet under-studied immigrant segment of the workforce.

Improved Innate and Adaptive Immunostimulation by Genetically Modified HIV-1 Protein Expressing NYVAC Vectors.

Attenuated poxviruses are safe and capable of expressing foreign antigens. Poxviruses are applied in veterinary vaccination and explored as candidate vaccines for humans. However, poxviruses express multiple genes encoding proteins that interfere with components of the innate and adaptive immune response. This manuscript describes two strategies aimed to improve the immunogenicity of the highly attenuated, host-range restricted poxvirus NYVAC: deletion of the viral gene encoding type-I interferon-binding protein and development of attenuated replication-competent NYVAC. We evaluated these newly generated NYVAC mutants, encoding HIV-1 env, gag, pol and nef, for their ability to stimulate HIV-specific CD8 T-cell responses in vitro from blood mononuclear cells of HIV-infected subjects. The new vectors were evaluated and compared to the parental NYVAC vector in dendritic cells (DCs), RNA expression arrays, HIV gag expression and cross-presentation assays in vitro. Deletion of type-I interferon-binding protein enhanced expression of interferon and interferon-induced genes in DCs, and increased maturation of infected DCs. Restoration of replication competence induced activation of pathways involving antigen processing and presentation. Also, replication-competent NYVAC showed increased Gag expression in infected cells, permitting enhanced cross-presentation to HIV-specific CD8 T cells and proliferation of HIV-specific memory CD8 T-cells in vitro. The recombinant NYVAC combining both modifications induced interferon-induced genes and genes involved in antigen processing and presentation, as well as increased Gag expression. This combined replication-competent NYVAC is a promising candidate for the next generation of HIV vaccines.

Recursos de información en una biblioteca virtual : la Biblioteca Virtual de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

La Biblioteca Virtual de la UOC té com a principal objectiu ésser al servei d'una comunitat acadèmica formada per estudiants, personal docent i personal de gestió i administració que desenvolupen la seva activitat totalment en línia, usant per a aquesta finalitat una intranet o Campus Virtual. Sobre la base d'aquest objectiu, es dissenyen i ofereixen tota una sèrie de serveis, recursos i eines que permetin cobrir les necessitats informatives que se'ls plantegin als membres d'aquesta comunitat virtual en el desenvolupament de les seves activitats - ja siguin aquestes laborals, docents o acadèmiques - i oferint diferents vies d'accés per tal d'aconseguir una major personalització.

Les enseignements de 25 ans de DRG en Suisse

La Suisse est très mal préparée à la généralisation des DRG, en raison surtout du manque d'efficacité de la gouvernance et de la régulation économique du système de santé. Une période de transition est nécessaire. [Ed.]

Validación de la versión española del cuestionario sobre la práctica basada en la evidencia en enfermería

Background: The lack of adequate instruments prevents the possibility of assessing the competence of health care staff in evidence-based decision making and further, the identification of areas for improvement with tailored strategies. The aim of this study is to report about the validation process in the Spanish context of the Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire (EBPQ) from Upton y Upton. Methods: A multicentre, cross-sectional, descriptive psychometric validation study was carried out. For cultural adaptation, a bidirectional translation was developed, accordingly to usual standards. The measuring model from the questionnaire was undergone to contrast, reproducing the original structure by Exploratory Factorial Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA), including the reliability of factors. Results: Both EFA (57.545% of total variance explained) and CFA (chi2=2359,9555; gl=252; p<0.0001; RMSEA=0,1844; SRMR=0,1081), detected problems with items 7, 16, 22, 23 and 24, regarding to the original trifactorial version of EBPQ. After deleting some questions, a reduced version containing 19 items obtained an adequate factorial structure (62.29% of total variance explained), but the CFA did not fit well. Nevertheless, it was significantly better than the original version (chi2=673.1261; gl=149; p<0.0001; RMSEA=0.1196; SRMR=0.0648). Conclusions: The trifactorial model obtained good empiric evidence and could be used in our context, but the results invite to advance with further refinements into the factor “attitude”, testing it in more contexts and with more diverse professional profiles.

Role of Leptin in the Activation of Immune Cells

Adipose tissue is an active endocrine organ that secretes various humoral factors (adipokines), and its shift to production of proinflammatory cytokines in obesity likely contributes to the low-level systemic inflammation that may be present in metabolic syndrome-associated chronic pathologies such as atherosclerosis. Leptin is one of the most important hormones secreted by adipocytes, with a variety of physiological roles related to the control of metabolism and energy homeostasis. One of these functions is the connection between nutritional status and immune competence. The adipocyte-derived hormone leptin has been shown to regulate the immune response, innate and adaptive response, both in normal and pathological conditions. The role of leptin in regulating immune response has been assessed in vitro as well as in clinical studies. It has been shown that conditions of reduced leptin production are associated with increased infection susceptibility. Conversely, immune-mediated disorders such as autoimmune diseases are associated with increased secretion of leptin and production of proinflammatory pathogenic cytokines. Thus, leptin is a mediator of the inflammatory response

Using problem-based learning for introducing producer theory and market structure in intermediate microeconomics

This paper shows how instructors can use the problem‐based learning method to introduce producer theory and market structure in intermediate microeconomics courses. The paper proposes a framework where different decision problems are presented to students, who are asked to imagine that they are the managers of a firm who need to solve a problem in a particular business setting. In this setting, the instructors’ role isto provide both guidance to facilitate student learning and content knowledge on a just‐in‐time basis

Effect of investigator experience in CT colonography.

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the learning curve on the diagnostic performances of CT colonography. Two blinded teams, each having a radiologist and gastroenterologist, prospectively examined 50 patients using helical CT scan followed by colonoscopy. Intermediate data evaluation was performed after 24 data sets (group 1) and compared with data from 26 subsequent patients (group 2). Parameters evaluated included sensitivity, specificity, false-positive and false-negative findings, time of data acquisition and interpretation. Using colonoscopy as the gold standard, sensitivity for CT colonography was for lesions >5 mm 63% for both teams for group 1 patients; for group 2 patients sensitivity was 45% for team 1 and 64% for team 2. Specificity per patients was for patient group 1 42% for team 1 and 58% for team 2; for patient group 2 it was 79% for both teams ( p=0.04 for team 1; p=0.2 for team 2). Comparing group 1 with group 2, the number of false-positive findings decreased significantly ( p=0.02). Furthermore, the mean time of data evaluation decreased from 45 to 17 min ( p=0.002) and the mean time of data acquisition from 19 to 17 min. With increasing experience, specificity and the time required for data interpretation improved and false positives decreased. There was no significant change of sensitivity, false-negative findings and time of data acquisition. A minimum experience of the readers is required for data interpretation of CT colonography.

Modelo de gestión por competencias en el Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía

Publicado en la página Web de la Consejería de Igualdad, Salud y Políticas Sociales (Consejería de Igualdad, Salud y Políticas sociales / Profesionales / Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación / Modelo de Gestión por Competencias / Modelo de gestión por competencias del Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía)

Innovation and new business through mutually beneficial collaboration and proactive procurement

ABSTRACT This dissertation focuses on new technology commercialization, innovation and new business development. Industry-based novel technology may achieve commercialization through its transfer to a large research laboratory acting as a lead user and technical partner, and providing the new technology with complementary assets and meaningful initial use in social practice. The research lab benefits from the new technology and innovation through major performance improvements and cost savings. Such mutually beneficial collaboration between the lab and the firm does not require any additional administrative efforts or funds from the lab, yet requires openness to technologies and partner companies that may not be previously known to the lab- Labs achieve the benefits by applying a proactive procurement model that promotes active pre-tender search of new technologies and pre-tender testing and piloting of these technological options. The collaboration works best when based on the development needs of both parties. This means that first of all the lab has significant engineering activity with well-defined technological needs and second, that the firm has advanced prototype technology yet needs further testing, piloting and the initial market and references to achieve the market breakthrough. The empirical evidence of the dissertation is based on a longitudinal multiple-case study with the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. The key theoretical contribution of this study is that large research labs, including basic research, play an important role in product and business development toward the end, rather than front-end, of the innovation process. This also implies that product-orientation and business-orientation can contribute to basic re-search. The study provides practical managerial and policy guidelines on how to initiate and manage mutually beneficial lab-industry collaboration and proactive procurement.

Insights into the transcriptome of oenocytes from Aedes aegypti pupae

Oenocytes are ectodermic cells present in the fat body of several insect species and these cells are considered to be analogous to the mammalian liver, based on their role in lipid storage, metabolism and secretion. Although oenocytes were identified over a century ago, little is known about their messenger RNA expression profiles. In this study, we investigated the transcriptome of Aedes aegypti oenocytes. We constructed a cDNA library from Ae. aegypti MOYO-R strain oenocytes collected from pupae and randomly sequenced 687 clones. After sequences editing and assembly, 326 high-quality contigs were generated. The most abundant transcripts identified corresponded to the cytochrome P450 superfamily, whose members have roles primarily related to detoxification and lipid metabolism. In addition, we identified 18 other transcripts with putative functions associated with lipid metabolism. One such transcript, a fatty acid synthase, is highly represented in the cDNA library of oenocytes. Moreover, oenocytes expressed several immunity-related genes and the majority of these genes were lysozymes. The transcriptional profile suggests that oenocytes play diverse roles, such as detoxification and lipid metabolism, and increase our understanding of the importance of oenocytes in Ae. aegypti homeostasis and immune competence.