Does religion matter to informal finance? Evidence from trade credit in China

<p>Informal finance plays an important role in transitional economies with weak legal institutions, such as China. As a major informal finance instrument, trade credit relies on informal institutions and enforcement. The paper argues that religion enhances the ethical climate in which firms do business, and it predicts that religiosity increases trade credit, in that religion enhances enforcement by increasing non-pecuniary cost and reducing risk-taking. The results based on Chinese non-state listed firms between 2003 and 2013 confirm the prediction that firms located in high-religiosity regions are associated with more trade credit, especially in regions where formal institutions are weak or formal financing channels are limited. Furthermore, the paper shows that religiosity reduces overdue trade credit. Finally, the results are driven by Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity, but not Islam.</p

Prediction of steady-state plasma concentrations of olanzapine in Chinese Han in patients based on a retrospective population pharmacokinetic model

Purpose: To develop robust methods of establishing a population pharmacokinetics (Pop-PK) model of olanzapine, using existing hospital in-patient information, in order to predict the steady-state plasma concentration of olanzapine tablets in Chinese Han inpatients, thus providing guidance for individualized therapy for mental disorders.Methods: A retrospective study analyzing and predicting the steady-state plasma olanzapineconcentration was performed using nonlinear mixed-effect modeling (Phoenix® NLME8). The effects of ten potential covariates, including age, gender, Body Mass Index, fasting lipid, family history, alcohol and smoking status in 107 Chinese Han patients with steady-state plasma olanzapine concentration were collected from the hospital information system (HIS) in Wuhan Mental Health Center from Feb 2017 to Jul 2019.Results: The final model was validated using bootstrap and visual predictive check (VPC) and was found to fit the one-compartment mixed error model. Smoking status was found to be the only factor affecting olanzapine tablets clearance. The standard Pop-PK parameters apparent volume of distribution (VL/F) and clearance (CL/F) were 223 L and 12.4 Lꞏh-1, respectively.Conclusion: The Pop-PK model for olanzapine established with the data from HIS is effective inpredicting the plasma olanzapine tablets concentration of individual Chinese in-patients. This Pop-PK model approach can now be adapted to optimize other antipsychotic drugs