Information Content of Equity Analyst Reports

This paper investigates the market reaction to the information released in security analyst reports. It shows that the market reacts significantly and positively to changes in recommendation levels, earnings forecasts, and price targets. While changes in price targets and earnings forecasts both provide information to the market, revisions in price targets have a larger and more significant impact than comparable revisions in earnings forecasts. The text of the report is also a significant source of information as it provides the justifications supporting an analyst's summary opinion. When all of this information is considered simultaneously, some of it, notably the earnings forecasts, is subsumed. The results further show that analysts correctly predict price targets slightly over 50% of the time. Finally, the valuation methodology used does not seem to be correlated with either the market's reaction or the analyst's accuracy.

Signal Processing on Graphs Using Kron Reduction and Spline Interpolation

In applications such as image processing, the data is given in a regular pattern with a known structure, such as a grid of pixels. However, it is becoming increasingly common for large datasets to have some irregular structure. In image recognition, one of the most successful methods is wavelet analysis, also commonly known as multi-resolution analysis. Our project is to develop and explore this powerful technique in the setting where the data is not stored in the form of a rectangular table with rows and columns of pixels. While the data sets will still have a lot of structure to be exploited, we want to extend the wavelet analysis to the setting when the data structure resembles is more like a network than a rectangular table. Networks provide a flexible generalization of the rigid structure of rectangular tables

Information Content of Equity Analyst Reports

This paper catalogs the complete text of a large sample of All-American Analyst reports and examines the market reaction to the information released. It shows that the text of the report, which provides the justifications supporting an analyst's summary opinion, provides information beyond that contained in earnings forecasts, recommendation levels, and price targets. Including the strength of the analyst's justifications, reduces, and in some models eliminates, the significance of the information available in earnings forecasts and recommendation revisions. By controlling for the simultaneous release of other information, we show that analyst reports do not merely repeat firm releases of information, but also provide both new information and/or interpretation of previously released information to the market. By examining whether the market's reaction differs by report type (i.e. upgrade, reiteration, or downgrade), we demonstrate that information in a report is most important for downgrades and that target prices and the strength of the justifications are the only elements that matter for reiterations. Finally, we find no correlation between the valuation methodology used by analysts and either the market's reaction to a report's release or the analyst's accuracy. Our adjusted R2 of nearly 26% is three or four times larger than that of other studies using only partial content from analyst reports

FARS2 mutations presenting with pure spastic paraplegia and lesions of the dentate nuclei.

Mutations in FARS2, the gene encoding the mitochondrial phenylalanine-tRNA synthetase (mtPheRS), have been linked to a range of phenotypes including epileptic encephalopathy, developmental delay, and motor dysfunction. We report a 9-year-old boy with novel compound heterozygous variants of FARS2, presenting with a pure spastic paraplegia syndrome associated with bilateral signal abnormalities in the dentate nuclei. Exome sequencing identified a paternal nonsense variant (Q216X) lacking the catalytic core and anticodon-binding regions, and a maternal missense variant (P136H) possessing partial enzymatic activity. This case confirms and expands the phenotype related to FARS2 mutations with regards to clinical presentation and neuroimaging findings

The Refugee Co-Location Model may be useful in addressing refugee barriers to care. What do refugees think?

Co-location of services for refugees may be beneficial in addressing barriers to care. This model of care involves support for a specialist refugee nurse service with general practice, as well as developing partnerships with settlement support agencies and Primary Health Networks. We consider published literature on refugee perceptions of co-location, different models of care, upcoming research and priorities in the area

Critical appraisal of trastuzumab in treatment of advanced stomach cancer

Advanced or metastatic gastric cancer constitutes the majority of patients in clinical practice. In North America, about 70% of cases are advanced or metastatic when diagnosed, which is higher than the 50% reported in Japan. This difference in presentation is reflected in 5-year overall survival, which is about 20% in North America and 40%–60% in Japan. Despite numerous efforts of randomized studies on advanced gastric cancer, no globally accepted standard regimen has yet been established. Systemic chemotherapy provides palliation and prolongs survival, but the prognosis remains poor. Several monotherapies and combined regimens are currently available and vary around the world. Additionally, several molecular targeting agents are under evaluation in international randomized studies. Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) is overexpressed or amplified in approximately 22% of patients with gastric cancer. Trastuzumab, a recombinant humanized anti-HER-2 monoclonal antibody, is the first biological therapy that has showed a survival improvement by nearly three months (reduced risk of death by 26%). Therefore, trastuzumab in combination with cisplatin is a reasonable treatment option for patients with advanced gastric cancer who are HER-2 positive. This paper will focus on trastuzumab, its chemical and pharmacological characteristics, and the relevant efficacy, safety, and tolerability studies

Prompt Reversal of Airway Obstruction Secondary to Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitor (ACEI) Induced Angioedema by Ecallantide: A Case Report

Case: A 54 year old African-American male with a history of hypertension treated with lisinopril daily, remote cocaine abuse associated myocardial infarction, seizures and prostate cancer, presented with a 2 day history of facial and throat swelling along with dysphagia. He was treated in the emergency department with intravenous methylprednisolone, epinephrine and diphenhydramine. He was admitted, but angioedema progressed overnight, confirmed by laryngoscopy. ICU transfer and intubation was undertaken the next morning for airway protection. Tryptase level was 2 ng/ml. C3 and C4 and routine chemistries were normal. Ecallantide 30mg was administered subcutaneously at 1014 hours. Presented at: American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology annual conference in Orlando Florida

Extracellular Dopamine Potentiates Mn-Induced Oxidative Stress, Lifespan Reduction, and Dopaminergic Neurodegeneration in a BLI-3–Dependent Manner in Caenorhabditis elegans

Parkinson's disease (PD)-mimicking drugs and pesticides, and more recently PD-associated gene mutations, have been studied in cell cultures and mammalian models to decipher the molecular basis of PD. Thus far, a dozen of genes have been identified that are responsible for inherited PD. However they only account for about 8% of PD cases, most of the cases likely involving environmental contributions. Environmental manganese (Mn) exposure represents an established risk factor for PD occurrence, and both PD and Mn-intoxicated patients display a characteristic extrapyramidal syndrome primarily involving dopaminergic (DAergic) neurodegeneration with shared common molecular mechanisms. To better understand the specificity of DAergic neurodegeneration, we studied Mn toxicity in vivo in Caenorhabditis elegans. Combining genetics and biochemical assays, we established that extracellular, and not intracellular, dopamine (DA) is responsible for Mn-induced DAergic neurodegeneration and that this process (1) requires functional DA-reuptake transporter (DAT-1) and (2) is associated with oxidative stress and lifespan reduction. Overexpression of the anti-oxidant transcription factor, SKN-1, affords protection against Mn toxicity, while the DA-dependency of Mn toxicity requires the NADPH dual-oxidase BLI-3. These results suggest that in vivo BLI-3 activity promotes the conversion of extracellular DA into toxic reactive species, which, in turn, can be taken up by DAT-1 in DAergic neurons, thus leading to oxidative stress and cell degeneration