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Innovation is crucial for companies to stay competitive, provide value to customers, and generate profits. Likewise, research and development (R&D) is critical for companies to sustain productivity growth. Spain has lagged behind other countries in terms of R&D investment, with only 1.4% of its GDP allocated to R&D, well below the European average. To improve this situation, the government offers subsidies to stimulate R&D in Spanish companies. This study examines the profile of subsidized companies in Spain. The aim is to provide insight into the support for companies that apply for innovation subsidies by analyzing the profile of subsidized companies and identifying key variables influencing the success of obtaining innovation grants. The study is based on advanced estimation methods. Natural language processing (NLP), artificial neural network (ANN) techniques, and clustering are used to perform rigorous and robust analysis of the profile of subsidized companies in Spain. The study thus contributes to knowledge in the field of innovation subsidies

Pesticides safeguard crop health but may diminish cholinesterase activity in farmers, potentially leading to psychiatric disorders like depression and suicide attempts. This study, with 453 participants (225 pesticide-exposed farmers, 228 non-farmers) in Almería, Spain, aimed to investigate the presence of depressive symptoms and suicide attempts, the decrease acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activity, and their relationship with pesticide exposure in farmers. Depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Spanish adaptation of the Beck Depression Inventory, and blood samples were analyzed for AChE and BChE activity. Farmers showed significantly increased risk of moderate/severe depression and suicide attempts compared to non-farmers (OR = 2.18; p = 0.001), with highest risks observed among mancozeb users (OR = 2.76; p = 0.001 for depression) and malathion users (OR = 3.50; p = 0.001 for suicide attempts). Findings emphasize elevated depression and suicide risks among pesticide-exposed farmers, particularly associated with chlorpyrifos, mancozeb, and malathion exposure., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This work examines cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in patients from Córdoba, Argentina, during two major waves characterized by different circulating viral variants and different social behavior. Using flow cytometry, we evaluated the main lymphocyte populations of peripheral blood from hospitalized patients with moderate and severe COVID-19 disease. Our results show disturbances in the cellular immune compartment, as previously reported in different cohorts worldwide. We observed an increased frequency of B cells and a significant decrease in the frequency of CD3 + T cells in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy donors (HD). We also found a reduction in Tregs, which was more pronounced in severe patients. During the first wave, the frequency of GZMB, CD107a, CD39, and PD-1-expressing conventional CD4 + T (T conv) cells was significantly higher in moderate and severe patients than in HD. During the second wave, only the GZMB + T conv cells of moderate and severe patients increased significantly. In addition, these patients showed a decreased frequency in IL-2-producing T conv cells. Interestingly, we identified two subsets of circulating CD8 + T cells with low and high CD8 surface expression in both HD and COVID-19 patients. While the percentages of CD8 hi and CD8 lo T cells within the CD8 + population in HD are similar, a significant increase was observed in CD8 lo T cell frequency in COVID-19 patients. CD8 lo T cell populations from HD as well as from SARS-CoV-2 infected patients exhibited lower frequencies of the effector cytokine-producing cells, TNF, IL-2, and IFN-γ, than CD8 hi T cells. Interestingly, the frequency of CD8 lo T cells increased with disease severity, suggesting that this parameter could be a potential marker for disease progression. Indeed, the CD8 hi /CD8 lo index helped to significantly improve the patient's clinical stratification and disease outcome prediction. Our data support the addition of, at least, a CD8 hi /CD8 lo index into the panel of biomarkers commonly used in clinical labs, since its determination may be a useful tool with impact on the therapeutic management of the patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Onofrio, Marin, Dutto, Brugo, Baigorri, Bossio, Quiróz, Almada, Ruiz Moreno, Olivera, Silvera-Ruiz, Ponce, Icely, Amezcua Vesely, Fozzatti, Rodríguez-Galán, Stempin, Cervi and ImmunoCovid-CBA, Maletto, Acosta Rodríguez, Bertone, Abiega, Escudero, Kahn, Caeiro, Maccioni, Motrán, Gruppi, Sotomayor, Chiapello and Montes.)

Design of innovative adjuvant strategies with an appropriate safety profile is relevant to developed subunit or inactivated microorganism vaccines for bovine mastitis. Minthostachys verticillata essential oil (EO) has demonstrated ability to stimulate the innate immune response and adjuvant effect similar to Al(OH) 3 . Here we evaluated the adjuvant effect of EO and its metabolite, limonene (L) alone and microencapsulated by spray-drying, using an inactivated Enterococcus faecium strain bovine-mastitis inducer. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis showed that microencapsulation process did not alter the EO or L chemistry. Microencapsulated EO (McEO) or L (McL) (2.0, 2.5 and 5.0 mg/ml) decreased the viability of bovine mammary gland epithelial cells in a dose-dependent way. Balb/c mice (n = 32) were subcutaneously inoculated (day 0) and revaccinated (day 14 and 28) with saline solution, inactivated bacteria alone or combined with Incomplete Freund's Adjuvant; EO or L (2.5 mg/ml); McEO or McL (5.0 mg/ml); or microcapsule wall material (Mc) alone (2.5 mg/ml). EO, L, McEO and McL stimulated E. faecium-specific IgG (IgG1 or IgG2a) with opsonizing capacity and increased the proportion of CD4 + and CD8 + T cells producers of IFN-γ. Microencapsulation was an effective strategy to increase the adjuvant potential of EO or L. These new adjuvants deserve further study to evaluate their incorporation into vaccines for bovine mastitis., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A technique is described by which congenital ectopic anorectum with normal intestinal tissue opening in to the vulva ("vaginal anus") was successfully corrected in two teen-age patients. The technique has several advantages: a new anal canal is formed and the wounds heal promptly with little postoperative pain and reduced risk of postoperative anal stenosis.

A report ist given on the successful correction of the rare anorectal agenesia with vestibular fistula in two patients. A new anal canal with good muscle function was created. The operation consists of a perineal and a vulval step and makes use of the existing sphincter muscle.