House price comovements in the Eurozone economies

The house price boom in major industrialized countries since the early 1990s has been unprecedented. Co-movement is a key feature of it and it has been attributed by scholars to synchronization of monetary policy, financial liberalization, integration of international financial markets, as well as global business cycle linkages. In this paper we focus on seven European countries, all members of the EMU, and ask the question if, the apparent co movement of the housing prices in the seven major euro zone economies implies convergence of their housing markets. Using monthly data from DSI Statistical Bases for 1990(1)-2009(4), we concentrate on the impact of the adoption of the common currency on real house prices movements. We conduct the analysis using country-specific macroeconomic variables and then extend it by adding foreign-specific macro variables to each country’s model. The empirical analysis includes cointegration analysis and VAR specifications. Our findings suggest that the movement of the housing prices of the euro zone countries apart from the well known fundamentals of GDP, interest rates and stock returns is also based on a number of idiosyncratic and structural factors like demographics, the tax system and government intervention which determine the duration and the strength of the housing cycles in each country. Furthermore, it seems that the degree of convergence underlying housing prices co movement is limited given the diversities in living standards, regulation of property markets, government intervention and attitudes to residential housing.peer-reviewe

Mergers And Acquisitions In The Shipping Industry

The purpose of our research is to analyze Acquired and Acquiring companies in the Maritime Transport sector in order to determine whether the two groups can be distinguished from each other based on their different financial characteristics. Although this area of research is considered as very fruitful by many academics, it was given less attention due to the rare sequence of such events and the difficulty to gain access to valuable data. The authors are not aware of any other papers that have examined the maritime transport sector in such a way in the past.However, since many shipping companies have taken the opportunity to access stock markets around the world, in order to gain equity finance to upgrade or expand their merchant fleets, their financial statements became public. Moreover, the fact that over the last decades Mergers and Acquisitions are considered by many managers as very efficient method of company expansion, the view of the past that considered Mergers & Acquisitions in the maritime sector as a difficult area of research is starting to change. The study will be based upon a sample of 60 companies, consisting of 37 targets (either through merger or acquisition), occurring during the calendar years from 1994 to 2009 and 23 acquirers (some of them multiple acquirers). In the analysis, ratios measuring different aspects of business activity will be investigated; such as profitability, liquidity, efficiency and leverage, with the utilization of multiple Logit Regression Analysis

Anti-inflammatory activity of Chios mastic gum is associated with inhibition of TNF-alpha induced oxidative stress

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gum of Chios mastic (<it>Pistacia lentiscus var. chia) </it>is a natural antimicrobial agent that has found extensive use in pharmaceutical products and as a nutritional supplement. The molecular mechanisms of its anti-inflammatory activity, however, are not clear. In this work, the potential role of antioxidant activity of Chios mastic gum has been evaluated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Scavenging of superoxide radical was investigated by electron spin resonance and spin trapping technique using EMPO spin trap in xanthine oxidase system. Superoxide production in endothelial and smooth muscle cells stimulated with TNF-α or angiotensin II and treated with vehicle (DMSO) or mastic gum (0.1-10 μg/ml) was measured by DHE and HPLC. Cellular H₂O₂was measured by Amplex Red. Inhibition of protein kinase C (PKC) with mastic gum was determined by the decrease of purified PKC activity, by inhibition of PKC activity in cellular homogenate and by attenuation of superoxide production in cells treated with PKC activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Spin trapping study did not show significant scavenging of superoxide by mastic gum itself. However, mastic gum inhibited cellular production of superoxide and H₂O₂in dose dependent manner in TNF-α treated rat aortic smooth muscle cells but did not affect unstimulated cells. TNF-α significantly increased the cellular superoxide production by NADPH oxidase, while mastic gum completely abolished this stimulation. Mastic gum inhibited the activity of purified PKC, decreased PKC activity in cell homogenate, and attenuated superoxide production in cells stimulated with PKC activator PMA and PKC-dependent angiotensin II in endothelial cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We suggest that mastic gum inhibits PKC which attenuates production of superoxide and H₂O₂by NADPH oxidases. This antioxidant property may have direct implication to the anti-inflammatory activity of the Chios mastic gum.</p

The prognostic value of electroencephalography in epilepsy: a long-term follow-up study

Predicting the evolution of epilepsy is of obvious importance for patients and their families. Value of electroencephalography (EEG) is extensively used in the diagnosis of epilepsy yet its role as a prognostication method remains unclear. The aim of the present retrospective study is to investigate the relationship between serial EEG recordings and long-term clinical and social outcomes in a cohort of patients with epilepsy. Thirty-nine epileptic patients were monitored clinically and with repeat EEG recordings for more than 15 years. All patients who initially had epileptiform discharges ended up with poor or moderate seizure control whereas more than half of the patients with normal initial recordings had good clinical outcomes and satisfactory social adjustment. Deterioration of the recordings over time was associated with unfavourable results in a significant proportion of patients (90 %), while stable or improved EEG findings predicted a favourable outcome. It is concluded that serial EEG recordings can be used in the prognostic evaluation of epilepsy

Depression and anxiety in epilepsy: the association with demographic and seizure-related variables

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Depression and anxiety are common psychiatric symptoms in patients with epilepsy, exerting a profound negative effect on health-related quality of life. Several issues, however, pertaining to their association with psychosocial, seizure-related and medication factors, remain controversial. Accordingly, the present study was designed to investigate the association of interictal mood disorders with various demographic and seizure-related variables in patients with newly-diagnosed and chronic epilepsy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We investigated 201 patients with epilepsy (51.2% males, mean age 33.2 ± 10.0 years, range 16–60) with a mean disease duration of 13.9 ± 9.5 years. Depression and anxiety were assessed in the interictal state with the Beck Depression Inventory, 21-item version (BDI-21) and the state and trait subscales of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S and STAI-T), respectively. The association of mood disorders with various variables was investigated with simple and multiple linear regression analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>High seizure frequency and symptomatic focal epilepsy (SFE) were independent determinants of depression, together accounting for 12.4% of the variation of the BDI-21. The STAI-S index was significantly associated with the type of epilepsy syndrome (SFE). Finally, high seizure frequency, SFE and female gender were independent determinants of trait anxiety accounting for 14.7% of the variation of the STAI-T.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results confirm the prevailing view that depression and anxiety are common psychological disorders in epileptics. It is additionally concluded that female gender, high seizure frequency and a symptomatic epilepsy syndrome are independent risk factors for the development of anxiety and/or depression.</p

Intraoperative Sentinel Lymph Node Evaluation:Implications of Cytokeratin 19 Expression for the Adoption of OSNA in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative analysis of sentinel lymph nodes would enhance the care of early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). We determined the frequency and extent of cytokeratin 19 (CK19) expression in OSCC primary tumours and surrounding tissues to explore the feasibility of a “clinic-ready” intraoperative diagnostic test (one step nucleic acid amplification—OSNA, sysmex). METHODS: Two cohorts were assembled: cohort 1, OSCC with stage and site that closely match cases suitable for sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB); cohort 2, HNSCC with sufficient fresh tumour tissue available for the OSNA assay (>50 mg). CK19 assays included qRT-PCR, RNA in situ hybridisation (ISH), and immunohistochemistry (IHC), as well as OSNA. RESULTS: CK19 mRNA expression was detected with variable sensitivity, depending on method, in 60–80% of primary OSCC tumours, while protein expression was observed in only 50% of tumours. Discordance between different techniques indicated that OSNA was more sensitive than qRT-PCR or RNA-ISH, which in turn were more sensitive than IHC. OSNA results showed CK19 expression in 80% of primary cases, so if used for diagnosis of lymph node metastasis would lead to a false-negative result in 20% of patients with cervical lymph node metastases. CONCLUSIONS: OSNA in its current form is not suitable for use in OSCC SLNB due to inadequate expression of the CK19 target in all case. However, the same assay technology would likely be very promising if applied using a more ubiquitous squamous epithelial target. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1245/s10434-016-5337-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Halide Post-Perovskite 3-Cyanopyridinium Lead Tribromide for Optoelectronic Applications

2D halide perovskite-like semiconductors are attractive materials for various optoelectronic applications, from photovoltaics to lasing. To date, the most studied families of such low-dimensional halide perovskite-like compounds are Ruddlesden–Popper, Dion–Jacobson, and other phases that can be derived from 3D halide perovskites by slicing along different crystallographic directions, which leads to the spatially isotropic corner-sharing connectivity type of metal-halide octahedra in the 2D layer plane. In this work, a new family of hybrid organic–inorganic 2D lead halides is introduced, by reporting the first example of the hybrid organic–inorganic post-perovskite 3-cyanopyridinium lead tribromide (3cp)PbBr3. The post-perovskite structure has unique octahedra connectivity type in the layer plane: a typical “perovskite-like” corner-sharing connectivity pattern in one direction, and the rare edge-sharing connectivity pattern in the other. Such connectivity leads to significant anisotropy in the material properties within the inorganic layer plane. Moreover, the dense organic cation packing results in the formation of 1D fully organic bands in the electronic structure, offering the prospects of the involvement of the organic subsystem into material's optoelectronic properties. The (3cp)PbBr3 clearly shows the 2D quantum size effect with a bandgap around 3.2 eV and typical broadband self-trapped excitonic photoluminescence at temperatures below 200 K