Institutions In Spain Research Articles

Safety and Efficacy of Prolonged Use of Dalbavancin in Bone and Joint Infections.

Dalbavancin is a lipoglycopeptide with potent activity against Gram-positive microorganisms, a long half-life, a favorable safety profile, and a high concentration in bone, which makes it an interesting alternative for treatment of osteoarticular infections. We performed a multicentric retrospective study of all patients with an osteoarticular infection (septic arthritis, spondylodiscitis, osteomyelitis, or orthopedic implant-related infection) treated with at least one dose of dalbavancin between 2016 and 2017 in 30 institutions in Spain. In order to evaluate the response, patients with or without an orthopedic implant were separated. A total of 64 patients were included. Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus were the most frequent microorganisms. The reasons for switching to dalbavancin were simplification (53.1%), adverse events (25%), or failure (21.9%). There were 7 adverse events, and no patient had to discontinue dalbavancin. In 45 cases, infection was related to an orthopedic implant. The implant material was retained in 23 cases, including that in 15 (65.2%) patients that were classified as cured and 8 (34.8%) that presented improvement. In 21 cases, the implants were removed, including those in 16 (76.2%) cases that were considered successes, 4 (19%) cases were considered improved, and 1 (4.8%) case that was considered a failure. Among the 19 cases without implants, 14 (73.7%) were considered cured, 3 (15.8%) were considered improved, and 2 (10.5%) were considered failures. The results show that dalbavancin is a well-tolerated antibiotic, even when >2 doses are administered, and is associated with a high cure rate. These are preliminary data with a short follow-up; therefore, it is necessary to gain more experience and, in the future, to establish the most appropriate dose and frequency.

Insights of the Qualified ExoMars Laser and Mechanical Considerations of Its Assembly Process

1960 is the birth year of both the laser and the Mars exploration missions. Eleven years passed before the first successful landing on Mars, and another six before the first rover could explore the planet’s surface. In 2011, both technologies were reunited with the first laser landing on Mars as part of the ChemCam instrument, integrated inside the Curiosity Rover. In 2020, two more rovers with integrated lasers are expected to land on Mars: one through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Mars 2020 mission and another through the European Space Agency (ESA) ExoMars mission. The ExoMars mission laser is one of the components of the Raman Spectrometer instrument, which the Aerospace Technology National Institute of Spain (INTA) is responsible for. It uses as its excitation source a laser designed by Monocrom and manufactured in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering (IOF). In this paper, we present for the first time the final flight module laser that has been installed in the rover’s onboard laboratory and validated to be shipped to Mars in 2020. Particular emphasis is given to mechanical considerations and assembly procedures, as the ExoMars laser assembly has required soldering techniques in contrast to the standard adhesive technologies used for most laser assembly processes in order to fulfill the environmental and optical requirements of the mission.

Http://ijlter.org/index.php/ijlter/article/view/1347/pdf

Given the success that Positive Leadership has brought along in so many organizations of different nature, it seems clear that there might also be an opportunity for it to contribute to Higher Education in a valuable manner. This article describes how a group of professors from a Higher Education institution in Spain transferred the Positive Leadership principles to the teaching-learning process, with the expectation that it would improve academic performance, student satisfaction with faculty and the engagement of the faculty members themselves. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18.2.3

The Production of Academic Technological Knowledge: an Exploration at the Research Group Level

Public research institutions have a key role in a knowledge-based society as they lead scientific research and generate patentable technology directly applicable to industrial productive processes. In this paper, we address the latter role. Several well-known papers have dealt with the production of university patents at the level of universities and laboratories; however, despite the relevance of research groups in national research systems, their capacity as producers of patents has been neglected. In this paper, we fill this gap by testing the effect of previous collaborations and the scientific background of the group on the production of knowledge, measured by the number of patents. In the framework of a knowledge production function, we estimate several empirical count models with a sample of 1120 research groups affiliated to the three major public research institutions in Spain. Our findings suggest that the production of patents at the research group level is positively and significantly correlated with the variables capturing private collaboration and scientific background. The results also point to significant differences in the production of technological knowledge across institutions and areas of research.

Contestación al Homenaje a la Antigüedad Académica. Instituto de España

Contestación al Homenaje a la Antigüedad Académica. Instituto de España

Reforma económica laboral vs coyuntura económica: el impacto sobre las finanzas del Fondo de Garantía Salarial Español

The Wage Guarantee Fund (FOGASA) is a public institution in Spain that pays, up until the limit, labor credits to workers affected by a dismissal when the employer is bankrupt, which has been influenced by the policy of spending cuts as any other public institution. The objective of this paper is to examine whether the 2012 Labour Market Reform, adopted under the influence of the Budgetary Stability Law, has been successful and has had an impact on FOGASA’s expenses. To this end, the study analyzed budget settlement and looked for variables that can explain spending evolution in a better way, using a linear regression model. It is GDP and other economic variables that explain this evolution, not cuts in the benefit limits.

El acceso al empleo de preceptor de la cátedra de gramática de Benavente (Zamora)

Grammar Schools were one of the most characteristic educational institutions in Spain during the Ancien Régime, together with basic education schools (in which children learned the basic skills of reading, writing, arithmetic and the Christian doctrine). They were founded in towns of some importance – due to their geographical location, administrative function or economic level – and granted many young people the opportunity to access further studies, which mainly consisted of Latin grammar. The teacher charged with imparting such lessons was called a preceptor, though in historical documentation we often find them referred to by other names, such as bachiller, dómine or lector. On most occasions, prospective preceptors did not have to undergo any form of formal competitive examination, although there was such a requirement in some exceptional towns. In this regard, our research focuses on how these exams were organized, and the professional profile required to win the post of preceptor of the Chair of Grammar in Benavente, an educational institute founded using a bequest left in the will of don Alonso de Carvajal, a local canon. This case study enables us to provide a comprehensive and coherent overview of the various aspects that characterized the teaching of Grammar during the Ancien Régime.

Jesuits and education in Spain after the Second Vatican Council: theological renewal and pedagogical innovation

This study focuses on two major aspects of Jesuit pedagogy in Spain that should be held in mind in order to understand Jesuit educational transformations after the Second Vatican Council: Firstly (A), the theological renewal undertaken since the end of the 1960s, mainly by the Jesuit institute Fe y Secularidad founded in 1967 and the drive towards pedagogical innovation articulated especially in the Jesuit journal Razón y Fe. Secondly (B), the continuity of a process of philanthropic adaptation of Jesuit educational institutions in Spain after 1965. Before analysing these two main aspects, a brief introduction is given to the question how Spanish Jesuits have participated in the theological avant-garde during the 1940s and 1950s. In a final part of the paper, the present study summarises the key aspects of this analysis and highlights the character of Jesuit educational innovations after Second Vatican Council.

La cultura DIY en educación primaria. Aprendizaje transdisciplinar, colaborativo y compartido en Hub DIYLab

Este artículo da cuenta del proyecto europeo DIYLab y de su implementación en una escuela de educación primaria de España. El proyecto se desarrolló en centros de educación primaria, secundaria y superior de España, Finlandia y Chequia. El foco era incorporar, en las instituciones implicadas, modalidades de aprender relacionadas con la cultura Do it Yourself (DIY). Siguiendo una metodología basada en los principios de la investigación-acción colaborativa, organizamos grupos de discusión con familias, profesorado y alumnado. También, definimos su implementación partiendo de las características de cada centro y de las acciones formativas en el profesorado. Durante la formación, se planteó que los estudiantes realizaran de forma colaborativa una producción audiovisual sobre sus aprendizajes y los procesos que los habían propiciado. A su vez, se decidió en qué proyecto de indagación del centro se implementaría DIYLab para desarrollar características de la cultura DIY tales como la creatividad, la colaboración, la autorregulación, la autoría, la compartición y el uso de tecnologías. Simultáneamente, proporcionamos la plataforma abierta DIYLabHub creada para este proyecto donde se podían compartir las producciones audiovisuales de los estudiantes. Durante la implementación, los investigadores realizamos observaciones, grabaciones y notas de campo. A partir de estas fuentes, centramos los resultados y conclusiones en las producciones audiovisuales que estudiantes de educación primaria de España crearon colaborativamente y compartieron en el Hub así como en las fortalezas y debilidades del proyecto en torno a las relaciones pedagógicas, la competencia digital y la sostenibilidad del proyecto.

Dalbavancin in the treatment of different gram-positive infections: a real-life experience

Dalbavancin is a lipoglycopeptide with a very prolonged half-life enabling treatment with a single intravenous administration that has been approved to treat complicated skin and soft-tissue infections. Information on the efficacy and safety of dalbavancin in other situations is very scarce. This retrospective study included adult patients who received at least one dose of dalbavancin between 2016 and 2017 in 29 institutions in Spain. The primary objective was to report the use of dalbavancin in clinical practice, including its efficacy and tolerability. The potential impact of dalbavancin on reducing the length of hospital stay and hospital costs was also evaluated. A total of 69 patients received dalbavancin during the study period (58.0% male; median age 63.5 years). Dalbavancin was used to treat prosthetic joint infection (29.0%), acute bacterial skin and skin-structure infection (21.7%), osteomyelitis (17.4%) and catheter-related bacteraemia (11.6%). These infections were mainly caused by Staphylococcus aureus (27 isolates), coagulase-negative staphylococci (24 isolates) and Enterococcus spp. (11 isolates). All but two patients received previous antibiotics for a median of 18 days. Dalbavancin was administered for a median of 21 days (range 7–168 days), and concomitant antimicrobial therapy was prescribed to 25 patients (36.2%). The overall clinical success rate of dalbavancin was 84.1%. Adverse events, mainly mild in intensity, were reported in nine patients. Overall, dalbavancin was estimated to reduce hospitalisation by 1160 days, with an estimated overall cost reduction of €211 481 (€3064 per patient). Dalbavancin appears to be an effective therapy for many serious Gram-positive infections.

The Role of Argumentation and Institutions for Labour Migration in the European Union – Exemplified by Spanish labour migration to Germany

AbstractThis contribution will show how institutions in Spain and Germany facilitated intra‐European labour mobility as a solution to a mismatch in the labour market. To this end, we have chosen the recruitment of Spanish job candidates for German employers as an example. Employing Bourdieu's field‐theoretical framework as well as expert interviews, we highlight the role of institutional agents encouraging labour migration. We analysed 30 expert interviews to gain insights from institutional agents that facilitate labour migration in the Spanish and the German labour market. Our findings show how these agents use their resources to legitimize policies and create sustainable structures steering labour migration and integration.

El papel de las entidades de crédito en España durante los últimos cincuenta años

En el presente artículo se lleva a cabo una aproximación a la evolución de las entidades de crédito en España. Estas instituciones han desempeñado y lo siguen haciendo en la actualidad un papel relevante y definitivo en la financiación de la economía española. Su transformación a lo largo del periodo objeto de estudio permite observar cómo ha sido necesario e imprescindible la acomodación de los bancos a los avatares legislativos, acontecimientos económicos y sociales y con ello a diferentes modelos de negocio. En la actualidad se abre un abanico de posibilidades sobre la estrategia que deben adoptar estas entidades para superar el necesario cambio que las permita mantener su papel en la economía española.

Changes in livestock footprint and tree layer coverage in Mediterranean dehesas: a six-decade study based on remote sensing

ABSTRACTThe decade of the fifties of the twentieth century triggered huge changes in land use and management in ecosystems worldwide, including the iconic Mediterranean ecosystems known as dehesas. In this study, we have quantified the changes in dehesa landscape status within a geographic area of 200,000 km2 covering mainly the Spanish dehesa range over the last 60 years. We focused on changes of two important dehesa elements: tree density and live stocking rates. Tree density and tree cover change were measured via remote sensing in 29 sample plots (16 km2 each) and selected from the plot-monitoring network of Spanish Rural Landscapes (SISPARES). Live stocking (cattle, sheep, and pig) rates data were obtained from the National Statistical Institute of Spain and were used to assess the entire study area. During the 1950–80s, tree density and cover declined significantly (by 18% and 13%, respectively). By the 1960s, sheep was predominant over cattle in all provinces; pigs had higher stocking rates than in the following decades. However, during the 1970–80s, sheep and pig stocking rate declined drastically (by 90% and 70%, respectively) in just 20 years. In contrast, cattle stocking rate increased progressively since the 1960s, reaching a 60% increment by the 2000s. At the municipality level, we observed similar trends. Our multi-scaled analysis explains the impact of social, political, and economic factors on the conservation status of the main dehesa territory within Spain. We conclude that it is necessary to ensure the effectiveness of these systems through sustainable activities to avoid negative consequences of poor management practices which threaten dehesa perpetuation.

The Antecedents of Ethical Climates in the Spanish Business Higher Education Institutions

Ethical climate in organisations has been studied widely and its influence on ethical behaviour has been documented. However, little is known about the ethical climate at university context and about its antecedents. Universities are social change institutions and their ethical climate could influence the ethical behaviour of future economic, social and political leaders. The current study analyses the perceived ethical climate in Business Studies Higher Education Institutions in Spain and whether university’s ownership, size and signing up for international initiatives influence it. The study is based on survey responses of 385 lecturers of Spanish Business Studies Faculties to an ethical climate questionnaire and on survey responses of 33 Business Studies Deans to a questionnaire related to the commitment to ethics and social responsibility in each Faculty. An exploratory factor analysis has been used as well as ANOVA tests and lineal regressions. The results reveal the predominance of an instrumental ethical climate in Spanish Business Faculties, an ethical climate that does not promote ethical behaviour or organisational commitment among its members. The results also confirm the significant influence of university’s ownership and signing up for Principles for Responsible Management Education on the ethical climate in Business Higher Education institutions. This study advances the understanding of the ethical climate in Business Studies institutions, and suggests measures to be taken by university managers in order to improve ethical judgment and behaviour of the university community.

Bank Restructuring and Access to Financial Services: The Spanish Case

AbstractThe Spanish bank sector has restructured extensively since the crisis erupted in 2008 in an attempt to correct the imbalances accumulated during the preceding boom years. Thanks to this restructuring effort, Spain's branch network has been pared back by 32 percent, prompting questions about potential ramifications for the population's access to financial services. Against this backdrop, this paper quantifies, at the municipal level, the segment of the population without access to a bank branch in their home town between 2008 and 2015, paving the way for analysis of the impact of the restructuring effort. It also analyses the role played by the three kinds of deposit institutions in Spain in providing access to financial services via their branch networks. The results show that although the percentage of the Spanish population without access to a branch in their home town has risen, the increase has been small, albeit marked by significant differences from one province to the next. The savings banks (including the former cajas that have converted to banks) are still the most important financial institutions in terms of facilitating branch access to financial services.

Механизмы повышения экономической активности регионов Испании как возможность модернизации региональной политики России

Spain is a country that traditionally suffers a lot from high level of regional disparities. From the end of XX century Spanish government has taken different measures to smooth them. For example, the state of autonomies was established, statutes were approved for every region, more powers were transferred to regional authorities. There are several institutions in Spain that increase the efficiency of cooperation between different levels of authorities and between autonomies, such as conference of the presidents, sectoral conferences, agreements on cooperation and bilateral commissions. Activity of these mechanisms is of a great interest for the author. The author tries to find the ways to modernize Russian regional policy using Spanish experience, considering its pros and cons. Undoubtedly it is impossible to copy other countries practice as Russia and Spain differ a lot, for example, in size, population, the level of socialeconomic development and the supply of mineral resources. Still there is something in common, like high level of regional disparities and amount of authorities the territories obtain. Even though Spain is a unitary state, its autonomies are quite independent. Territorial status of the country is a hybrid between unitary and federative state. Its institutional structure of regional policy is pretty diversified. So both these aspects are worth considering. Regional policy is one the most important directions of the state activity in Russia, because of its extensive territories. Today Russia has to face a number of regional challenges and regional policy cannot cope with them. The growing territorial polarization slow down the development of the whole country. It is useful to analyze foreign institutions, which solve regional problems in the other states, to adapt their practice to the Russian realities.

Institutional resources as a source of trade union power in Southern Europe

Institutional resources are one of the sources of power available to trade unions, but recent literature has tended to pay less attention to these than to associational and organizational resources. We examine institutional resources in three Southern European countries, Greece, Portugal and Spain, which share many common characteristics. However, the character of institutional resources in Spanish industrial relations is distinctive. We examine the plasticity of industrial relations institutions in Spain in terms of labour market outcomes but argue that institutional security is an essential platform for unions seeking to develop other sources of power.

Expanding the use of flow diverters beyond their initial indication: treatment of small unruptured aneurysms

BackgroundExperience with the endovascular treatment of unruptured small intracranial aneurysms by flow diverter devices is still limited.ObjectiveTo assess the safety and efficacy of the SILK flow diverter (SFD) in the...

Management and outcome of children with neuroendocrine tumors of the appendix in Spain: Is there room for improvement?

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are, after lymphomas, the most frequent gastrointestinal tumors in children, mainly located in the appendix. Best management remains unclear, given the absence of pediatric guidelines. We present the first Spanish series of pediatric patients with NETs. Retrospective study of all pediatric patients (<18years) with NET treated in four oncology reference institutions in Spain between 1994 and 2015. Seventeen patients were included. All patients presented with acute abdomen. TNM stage was T1a (82%) and T1b (12%). Extension study was heterogenous, with only 4 patients undergoing an OctreoScan. Four patients met criteria for second surgery (affected surgical margins or mesoappendix invasion), but it was only performed in two. Despite the diverse management, none of the patients relapsed during follow-up. The disparity in diagnostic tests, second surgery criteria and follow-up shown in this study highlights the need for specific pediatric guidelines.

878P - Quantification of genetic variants as marker of Brca-like phenotype in ovarian cancer

PARP inhibitors have repeatedly been demonstrated to be active in BRCA mutant ovarian cancers. However, tumors with a BRCA-like phenotype could also benefit from such treatments. Thus, defining molecularly this subtype of ovarian neoplasias has become a priority. We aimed to study the potential role of the quantification of genetic variants in a limited set of genes in this regard. We designed a retrospective multicenter study in four collaborating institutions in Spain. Adult patients diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer, stage IC or superior, from 2008 to date were eligible. Clinical data (regarding demographics and treatment outcome) were extracted from medical records by an external data monitor. Whole exome sequencing was performed in extreme cases (best and worst responders) while a panel of five genes highly involved in homologous recombination (BRCA 1 and 2, ATM, CHEK2, RAD51C) was studied through Next Generation Sequencing in middle cases, not previously tested for BRCA mutations. We present the quantitative results of these last patients. In total 220 patients have been included so far. Discovery cohort accomplish for the first 90 cases. Median age was 61 (range 37-87) and tumor stage was I in 10 cases (9%), II in 5 (6%), III in 59 (66%), IV in 13 (14%) and not available in 3 (5%). Tumor histologies were papillary serous 73 (81%), mucinous 1 (1%), endometroid 5 (6%), clear cell 7 (13%), adenocarcinoma 2 (2%), and non-epithelial in 2 (2%). Up to 37 cases have been already analyzed. Median number of genetic variants was 26 (range 12-41). Kaplan Meier test showed a platinum-free interval of 14.3 months (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 10.2-18.5) vs 48.3 (95% CI 0-101.2) for patients with a number of variants below or above the median, respectively. Though exploratory, our results point towards an association between the number of genetic variants in selected genes and a better outcome in advanced ovarian cancer. Mature data of the whole cohort will be presented at the meeting.