Measuring takeover premiums in cross-border M&As: insights from Turkey

We investigate whether the merger announcement dates provided in a popular Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) database, SDC, serve as accurate event dates for estimating the wealth effects of mergers on target firms located in Turkey. We find that 74% of SDC’s merger announcement dates are preceded by merger-related events such as merger rumors, target firms’ search for potential acquirers, and early stage merger negotiation announcements. Target cumulative abnormal return (CAR) estimates around these early dates are almost twice as large as the CAR estimates around SDC’s merger announcement dates. We argue that our findings have implications for the recently flourishing cross-border M&A literature

Satın alım öncesi ve sonrası Türk hedef şirketlerinin finansal performansı

Türkiye’de çoğunluk hissesi satın alınan halka açık hedef şirketlerin ciddi bir kısmı satın alındıktan sonra faaliyetlerine halka açık olarak devam etmekte ve finansal raporlarını kamuyla paylaşmayı sürdürmektedirler. Bu durum, Türk hedef şirketlerin satın alım öncesi ve sonrası finansal performanslarının ölçülebilmesini ve hedef şirketlerin bu esnadaki performanslarını açıklayan hipotezlerin yansız olarak test edilebilmesini mümkün kılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, hedef şirketlerin performansları faaliyet kar oranları ve hisse senedi getirileri baz alınarak ölçülmüş ve bu değişkenler satın alım öncesi ve sonrasındaki dönemde incelenmiştir. Hedef şirketlerin satın alım öncesi düşük performans göstereceği hipotezinin aksine, Türk şirketlerinin satın alım tarihinden önceki üç yıllık dönemde akranlarına benzer faaliyet kar oranlarına sahip oldukları ve al-tut hisse senedi getirilerinin akranlarından daha yüksek olduğu gösterilmiştir. Satın alımdan sonraki üç yıllık dönemde faaliyet kar oranları nispeten düşse de hisse senedi getirileri yüksek seyretmeye devam etmiştir. Çalışmanın son kısmında ise çoklu regresyon yöntemi kullanılarak hedef şirket performansını etkileyen faktörler incelenmiştir

Combined metabolic activators improve metabolic functions in the animal models of neurodegenerative diseases

Background: Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD), are associated with metabolic abnormalities. Integrative analysis of human clinical data and animal studies have contributed to a better understanding of the molecular and cellular pathways involved in the progression of NDDs. Previously, we have reported that the combined metabolic activators (CMA), which include the precursors of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and glutathione can be utilized to alleviate metabolic disorders by activating mitochondrial metabolism. Methods: We first analysed the brain transcriptomics data from AD patients and controls using a brain-specific genome-scale metabolic model (GEM). Then, we investigated the effect of CMA administration in animal models of AD and PD. We evaluated pathological and immunohistochemical findings of brain and liver tissues. Moreover, PD rats were tested for locomotor activity and apomorphine-induced rotation. Findings: Analysis of transcriptomics data with GEM revealed that mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the underlying molecular pathways of AD. In animal models of AD and PD, we showed significant damage in the high-fat diet groups' brain and liver tissues compared to the chow diet. The histological analyses revealed that hyperemia, degeneration and necrosis in neurons were improved by CMA administration in both AD and PD animal models. These findings were supported by immunohistochemical evidence of decreased immunoreactivity in neurons. In parallel to the improvement in the brain, we also observed dramatic metabolic improvement in the liver tissue. CMA administration also showed a beneficial effect on behavioural functions in PD rats. Interpretation: Overall, we showed that CMA administration significantly improved behavioural scores in parallel with the neurohistological outcomes in the AD and PD animal models and is a promising treatment for improving the metabolic parameters and brain functions in NDDs.PoLiMeR Innovative Training Network ; SNIC ; ScandiBio Therapeutics ; ScandiBio Therapeutics and Knut ; Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftels

Combined metabolic activators improve cognitive functions in Alzheimer’s disease patients: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled phase-II trial

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with metabolic abnormalities linked to critical elements of neurodegeneration. We recently administered\ua0combined metabolic activators (CMA) to the AD rat model and observed that CMA improves the AD-associated histological parameters in the animals. CMA promotes mitochondrial fatty acid uptake from the cytosol, facilitates fatty acid oxidation in the mitochondria, and alleviates oxidative stress. Methods: Here, we designed a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled phase-II clinical trial and studied the effect of CMA administration on the global metabolism of AD patients. One-dose CMA included 12.35\ua0g L-serine (61.75%), 1\ua0g nicotinamide riboside (5%), 2.55\ua0g\ua0N-acetyl-L-cysteine (12.75%), and 3.73\ua0g L-carnitine tartrate (18.65%). AD patients received one dose of CMA or placebo daily during the first 28\ua0days and twice daily between day 28 and day 84. The primary endpoint was the difference in the cognitive function and daily living activity scores between the placebo and the treatment arms. The secondary aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of CMA. A comprehensive plasma metabolome and proteome analysis was also performed to evaluate the efficacy of the CMA in AD patients. Results: We showed a significant decrease of AD Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog) score on day 84 vs day 0 (P = 0.00001, 29% improvement) in the CMA group. Moreover, there was a significant decline (P = 0.0073) in ADAS-Cog scores (improvement of cognitive functions) in the\ua0CMA compared to the placebo group in patients with higher ADAS-Cog scores. Improved cognitive functions in AD patients were supported by the relevant alterations in the hippocampal volumes and cortical thickness based on imaging analysis. Moreover, the plasma levels of proteins and metabolites associated with NAD + and glutathione metabolism were significantly improved after CMA treatment. Conclusion: Our results indicate that treatment of AD patients with CMA can lead to enhanced cognitive functions and improved clinical parameters associated with phenomics, metabolomics, proteomics and imaging analysis. Trial registration\ua0ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04044131 Registered 17 July 2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04044131

Combined metabolic activators improve cognitive functions in Alzheimer's disease patients: A randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled phase-II trial

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with metabolic abnormalities linked to critical elements of neurodegeneration. We recently administered combined metabolic activators (CMA) to the AD rat model and observed that CMA improves the AD-associated histological parameters in the animals. CMA promotes mitochondrial fatty acid uptake from the cytosol, facilitates fatty acid oxidation in the mitochondria, and alleviates oxidative stress. Methods: Here, we designed a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled phase-II clinical trial and studied the effect of CMA administration on the global metabolism of AD patients. One-dose CMA included 12.35 g L-serine (61.75%), 1 g nicotinamide riboside (5%), 2.55 g N-acetyl-L-cysteine (12.75%), and 3.73 g L-carnitine tartrate (18.65%). AD patients received one dose of CMA or placebo daily during the first 28 days and twice daily between day 28 and day 84. The primary endpoint was the difference in the cognitive function and daily living activity scores between the placebo and the treatment arms. The secondary aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of CMA. A comprehensive plasma metabolome and proteome analysis was also performed to evaluate the efficacy of the CMA in AD patients. Results: We showed a significant decrease of AD Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog) score on day 84 vs day 0 (P = 0.00001, 29% improvement) in the CMA group. Moreover, there was a significant decline (P = 0.0073) in ADAS-Cog scores (improvement of cognitive functions) in the CMA compared to the placebo group in patients with higher ADAS-Cog scores. Improved cognitive functions in AD patients were supported by the relevant alterations in the hippocampal volumes and cortical thickness based on imaging analysis. Moreover, the plasma levels of proteins and metabolites associated with NAD + and glutathione metabolism were significantly improved after CMA treatment. Conclusion: Our results indicate that treatment of AD patients with CMA can lead to enhanced cognitive functions and improved clinical parameters associated with phenomics, metabolomics, proteomics and imaging analysis. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04044131 Registered 17 July 2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04044131

Prediction of railway switch point failures by artificial intelligence methods

In recent years, railway transport has been preferred intensively in local and intercity freight and passenger transport. For this reason, it is of utmost importance that railway lines are operated in an uninterrupted and safe manner. In order to carry out continuous operation, all systems must continue to operate with maximum availability. In this study, data were collected from switch motors, which are the important equipment of railways, and the related equipment and these data were evaluated with sector experience and the results related to the failure status of the switch points were revealed. The obtained results were processed with support vector machines and artificial neural networks, which are artificial intelligence methods, and machine learning was performed. In the light of this learning, a decision support model, which predicts possible failures and gives information about the root cause of the failures that have occurred, was developed. This model aims to ensure that the data obtained in each movement of the railway switch point are processed and the necessary corrective and preventive actions are communicated to the maintenance personnel; thus, failures are eliminated before they affect the railway operation and the solution process of the failures that have occurred is shortened. Considering the six switch points from which the data were collected, the experimental results were predicted with 24% RMSE error rates in the SVM method, while they were successfully predicted with RMSE error rates ranging from 2.4% to 6.6% in the ANN method. Therefore, it is observed that the ANN method is more appropriate in the implementation of the established model

Association of Leptin Levels and Disease Activity in Patients with Early Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective. Previous studies have reported a link between metabolic parameters and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), although the evidence is limited in early RA. We aimed to investigate the relationship between disease activity and adipocytokine levels in subjects with early RA