The Institutional Arrangements of Innovation: Antecedents and Performance Effects of Trust in High-Tech Alliances

In this study we investigate the institutional arrangements of innovation processes in high-tech alliances, focusing on the role of trust. A major strength of the research is the opportunity to address antecedents as well as performance effects of trust. The antecedents of interorganizational trust include a shared past, detailed interfirm contracts, relational openness and mutual dependence. We control for the size and cooperative culture of the focal firm and the knowledge value of the partner firm. Data from a field study of 391 Dutch firms in high-tech industries generally support the research model. The results provide convincing evidence to support the value of interorganizational trust in durable business relationships that strive for the development of new technological knowledge.     

Extracellular Vesicles as a Therapeutic Tool for Kidney Disease: Current Advances and Perspectives

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been described as important mediators of cell communication, regulating several physiological processes, including tissue recovery and regeneration. In the kidneys, EVs derived from stem cells have been shown to support tissue recovery in diverse disease models and have been considered an interesting alternative to cell therapy. For this purpose, however, several challenges remain to be overcome, such as the requirement of a high number of EVs for human therapy and the need for optimization of techniques for their isolation and characterization. Moreover, the kidney’s complexity and the pathological process to be treated require that EVs present a heterogeneous group of molecules to be delivered. In this review, we discuss the recent advances in the use of EVs as a therapeutic tool for kidney diseases. Moreover, we give an overview of the new technologies applied to improve EVs’ efficacy, such as novel methods of EV production and isolation by means of bioreactors and microfluidics, bioengineering the EV content and the use of alternative cell sources, including kidney organoids, to support their transfer to clinical applications.     

A catalytic route to acyclic chiral building blocks: Applications of the catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of organozinc reagents to cyclic enones

Through the Cu-phosphoramidite-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition a number of chiral cyclic enones are available with high ee. Here we report the sequential conjugate addition to these enones as a route towards multisubstituted chiral cyclic ketones. A subsequent Baeyer—Villiger oxidation followed by ring-opening results in various linear synthons containing multiple stereocenters. This procedure represents a short, catalytic, and highly enantioselective route to a variety of acyclic chiral building blocks.     

Interaction of fluorescein with the dicarboxylate carrier in rat kidney cortex mitochondria

The interaction of the organic anion, fluorescein (FL), with mitochondria in renal proximal tubule cells was investigated. Confocal microscopy was used to demonstrate FL accumulation in mitochondria of intact cells. Phenylsuccinate inhibited the mitochondrial accumulation of the FL analog, carboxyfluorescein (CF) indicating that the dicarboxylate carrier may be involved in the intracellular compartmentation of organic anions. To characterize the interaction, radio-tracer uptake and respiration studies with renal mitochondria were carried out using succinate as a substrate. Respiration measurements in freshly isolated kidney cortex mitochondria revealed that FL inhibited ADP-stimulated and uncoupled respiratory rate, indicating that the organic anion inhibited the availability of succinate as a reducing agent. A similar effect on mitochondrial respiration was found for PAH and phenylsuccinate. FL inhibited 14C-succinate uptake concentration-dependently, and Dixon analysis revealed that the nature of interaction between FL and succinate was competitive, Ki values of 0.5 +/- 0.2 and 1.1 +/- 0.8 mM were calculated for respiration experiments and tracer uptake studies, respectively. The data demonstrate that FL competitively interacts with a mitochondrial dicarboxylate transporter.