Distress classification measures in the banking sector

This paper investigates distress classification measures in the banking sector. The power of ten different accounting measures is tested using media coverage as the benchmark for a sample of 1,175 banks which participated in merger and acquisitions or divestiture deals over the past 22 calendar years. According to the results of the study, a bank should be defined as distressed if the ratio of its non-performing loans to total loans is in the two highest deciles of the industry, using a three-year moving average. This measure is typically favored by practitioners, who maintain that other common measures, e.g., those involving provisions for loan losses, are not as accurate as they express only a managerial forecast. Interestingly, measures that capture capital adequacy too often depict the bank as healthy even if it is de facto distressed, while measures of asset quality, though highly correlated with each other, tend to overestimate the number of distressed banks

Distress resolution strategies in the banking sector: Implications for global financial crises

This chapter investigates the effectiveness and the motivation behind the choice of different types of distress resolution strategies in the banking sector. This is a global study that analyzes key financial characteristics of distressed banks that were either acquired by other banks, divested assets, or were subject to government intervention, as well as the change in the financial profile of those distressed institutions from one year pre-deal to three years post-deal. The results show that governments intervene in the (relatively) best performers that only underperform in liquidity ratios, an indication of critical short-term flow problems. Distressed sellers, the underperformers of the three groups, enjoy much improved performance, in particular in cross-border deals. There is some evidence of foreign acquirers ‘cherry picking’ the least distressed banks, though no significant differences in target performance remain post-deal between cross-border and domestic deals. These findings provide some useful guidance for policy makers globally and for future financial crises that impact the banking sector

TiO 2

Nanocomposites TiO2-CdS with different relative contents of CdS (molar ratios Cd/Ti = 0.02, 0.03, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5) were studied. The structural, photophysical, and chemical properties were investigated using XRD, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, GSDR, and LIL. XRD and Raman results confirmed the presence of TiO2 and CdS with intensities dependent on the ratio Cd/Ti. The presence of CdSO4 was detected by XPS at the surface of all TiO2-CdS composites. The relative amount of sulphate was dependent on the CdS loading. Luminescence time-resolved spectra clearly proved the existence of an excitation transfer process from CdS to TiO2 through the luminescence emission from TiO2 after excitation of CdS at λexc=410 nm, where no direct excitation of TiO2 occurs. Photodegradation of a series of aromatic carboxylic acids—benzoic, salicylic, 4-bromobenzoic, 3-phenylpropionic, and veratric acids—showed a great enhancement in the photocatalytic efficiency of the TiO2-CdS composites, which is due, mainly, to the effect of the charge carriers’ increased lifetime. In addition, it was shown that the oxidation of CdS to CdSO4 did not result in the deactivation of the photocatalytic properties and even contributed to enhance the degradation efficiency

A preexisting rare PIK3CA e545k subpopulation confers clinical resistance to MEK plus CDK4/6 inhibition in NRAS melanoma and is dependent on S6K1 signaling

Combined MEK and CDK4/6 inhibition (MEKi + CDK4i) has shown promising clinical outcomes in patients with NRAS- mutant melanoma. Here, we interrogated longitudinal biopsies from a patient who initially responded to MEKi + CDK4i therapy but subsequently developed resistance. Whole-exome sequencing and functional validation identified an acquired PIK3CA E545K mutation as conferring drug resistance. We demonstrate that PIK3CA E545K preexisted in a rare subpopulation that was missed by both clinical and research testing, but was revealed upon multiregion sampling due to PIK3CA E545K being nonuniformly distributed. This resistant population rapidly expanded after the initiation of MEKi + CDK4i therapy and persisted in all successive samples even after immune checkpoint therapy and distant metastasis. Functional studies identified activated S6K1 as both a key marker and specific therapeutic vulnerability downstream of PIK3CA E545K -induced resistance. These results demonstrate that difficult-to-detect preexisting resistance mutations may exist more often than previously appreciated and also posit S6K1 as a common downstream therapeutic nexus for the MAPK, CDK4/6, and PI3K pathways. SIGNIFICANCE: We report the first characterization of clinical acquired resistance to MEKi + CDK4i, identifying a rare preexisting PIK3CA E545K subpopulation that expands upon therapy and exhibits drug resistance. We suggest that single-region pretreatment biopsy is insufficient to detect rare, spatially segregated drug-resistant subclones. Inhibition of S6K1 is able to resensitize PIK3CA E545K -expressing NRAS-mutant melanoma cells to MEKi + CDK4i. © 2018 AAC

Flora Vascular of Algarve (Portugal): new Project

Trabajo presentado al: XI International Meeting of Phytosociology. Natural and semi-natural habitats of the Natura 2000 network: Improving knowledge to support conservation measures. Faro (Portugal), 10-11 septiembre 2019.Peer reviewe