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

Rapidly Solidified Melt-spun Bi-Sn Ribbons: Surface Composition Issues

Tin-bismuth alloy ribbons were produced using melt-spinning technique. The two main surfaces (in contact with the rotating wheel and exposed to the air) were characterized with Optical Microscopy and AFM, revealing that the surface exposed to the air is duller (due to a long-range heterogeneity) than the opposite surface. Also the XPS chemical composition revealed many differences between them both on the corrosion extension and on the total relative amounts of tin and bismuth. For instance, for the specific case of an alloy with a composition Bi-4 wt % Sn, the XPS atomic ratios Sn/Bi are 1.1 and 3.7 for the surface in contact with the rotating wheel and for the one exposed to air, respectively, showing, additionally, that a large segregation of tin at the surface exists (nominal ratio should be 0.073). This segregation was interpreted as the result of the electrochemical process yielding the corrosion products

A perspectiva do género nas políticas de remuneração como requisito de governo justo das sociedades

Este artigo analisa a persistência de diferenças salariais entre homens e mulheres no mercado de trabalho português, contribuindo para a explicação do diferencial de remuneração entre homens e mulheres exercendo funções de topo e de nível inferior das empresas portuguesas. Na sequência da investigação que tem vindo a ser realizada por Duarte et al. (2008), este trabalho propõe uma linha de investigação holística, abrangendo a análise e caracterização das determinantes de remuneração de executivos; remuneração de não-executivos; remuneração nas empresas familiares; presença dos sindicatos nas políticas de remuneração; e discriminação do empregador nos processos de recrutamento. É objectivo dos autores contribuir para um melhor conhecimento que permita rever e melhorar as políticas de igualdade como desafios e metas a atingir nos próximos anos

IMP dehydrogenase rod/ring structures in acral melanomas

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) is a rare subtype of melanoma with aggressive behavior. IMPDH enzyme, involved in de novo GTP biosynthesis, has been reported to assemble into large filamentary structures called rods/rings (RR) or cytoophidium (cellular snakes). RR assembly induces a hyperactive state in IMPDH, usually to supply a high demand for GTP nucleotides, such as in highly proliferative cells. We investigate whether aggressive melanoma tumor cells present IMPDH-based RR structures. Forty-five ALM paraffin-embedded tissue samples and 59 melanocytic nevi were probed with anti-IMPDH2 antibody. Both the rod- and ring-shaped RR could be observed, with higher frequency in ALM. ROC curve analyzing the proportions of RR-positive cells in ALM versus nevi yielded a 0.88 AUC. Using the cutoff of 5.5% RR-positive cells, there was a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 85% for ALM diagnosis. In ALM, 36 (80%) showed RR frequency above the cutoff, being classified as RR-positive, compared with only 9 (15%) of the nevi (p 4.0mm, compared with only 29% in the RR-low/negative (p = .039). We propose that screening for RR structures in biopsy specimens may be a valuable tool helping differentiate ALM from nevi and accessing tumor malignancy

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

Quinone oxidoreductase from Staphylococcus aureus

Funding Information: Helena Gaspar is acknowledged for the HPLC analyses and Bruno Victor for advice on modelling. F.M.S. and M.S.S. are recipients of fellowships by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PD/BD/128213/2016 and PD/BD/128202/2016, respectively, both within the scope of the PhD program Molecular Biosciences PD/00133/2012). A.B. is recipient of a fellowship by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia UI/BD/153052/2022. The work was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia ( PTDC/BIA-BQM/2599/2021 to M.M.P). The project was further supported by UIDB/04046/2020 and UIDP/04046/2020 Centre grants from FCT , Portugal (to BioISI), by LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007660 cofunded by FEDER through COMPETE2020-POCI and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and by UIDB/04612/2020 and UIDP/04612/2020 research unit grants from FCT (to Mostmicro). The NMR spectrometers are part of the National NMR Network (PTNMR) and are supported by Infrastructure Project N° 022161 (co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE 2020, POCI, and PORL and FCT through PIDDAC). Funding Information: Helena Gaspar is acknowledged for the HPLC analyses and Bruno Victor for advice on modelling. F.M.S. and M.S.S. are recipients of fellowships by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PD/BD/128213/2016 and PD/BD/128202/2016, respectively, both within the scope of the PhD program Molecular Biosciences PD/00133/2012). A.B. is recipient of a fellowship by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia UI/BD/153052/2022. The work was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PTDC/BIA-BQM/2599/2021 to M.M.P). The project was further supported by UIDB/04046/2020 and UIDP/04046/2020 Centre grants from FCT, Portugal (to BioISI), by LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007660 cofunded by FEDER through COMPETE2020-POCI and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and by UIDB/04612/2020 and UIDP/04612/2020 research unit grants from FCT (to Mostmicro). The NMR spectrometers are part of the National NMR Network (PTNMR) and are supported by Infrastructure Project N° 022161 (co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE 2020, POCI, and PORL and FCT through PIDDAC). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen and one of the most frequent causes for community acquired and nosocomial bacterial infections. Even so, its energy metabolism is still under explored and its respiratory enzymes have been vastly overlooked. In this work, we unveil the dihydroorotate:quinone oxidoreductase (DHOQO) from S. aureus, the first example of a DHOQO from a Gram-positive organism. This protein was shown to be a FMN containing menaquinone reducing enzyme, presenting a Michaelis-Menten behaviour towards the two substrates, which was inhibited by Brequinar, Leflunomide, Lapachol, HQNO, Atovaquone and TFFA with different degrees of effectiveness. Deletion of the DHOQO coding gene (Δdhoqo) led to lower bacterial growth rates, and effected in cell morphology and metabolism, most importantly in the pyrimidine biosynthesis, here systematized for S. aureus MW2 for the first time. This work unveils the existence of a functional DHOQO in the respiratory chain of the pathogenic bacterium S. aureus, enlarging the understanding of its energy metabolism.publishersversionpublishe

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

Mechanism of Dinitrochlorobenzene-Induced Dermatitis in Mice: Role of Specific Antibodies in Pathogenesis

Dinitrochlorobenzene-induced contact hypersensitivity is widely considered as a cell-mediated rather than antibody-mediated immune response. At present, very little is known about the role of antigen-specific antibodies and B cells in the development of dinitrochlorobenzene-induced hypersensitivity reactions, and this is the subject of the present investigation.Data obtained from multiple lines of experiments unequivocally showed that the formation of dinitrochlorobenzene-specific Abs played an important role in the development of dinitrochlorobenzene-induced contact hypersensitivity. The appearance of dinitrochlorobenzene-induced skin dermatitis matched in timing the appearance of the circulating dinitrochlorobenzene-specific antibodies. Adoptive transfer of sera containing dinitrochlorobenzene-specific antibodies from dinitrochlorobenzene-treated mice elicited a much stronger hypersensitivity reaction than the adoptive transfer of lymphocytes from the same donors. Moreover, dinitrochlorobenzene-induced contact hypersensitivity was strongly suppressed in B cell-deficient mice with no DNCB-specific antibodies. It was also observed that treatment of animals with dinitrochlorobenzene polarized Th cells into Th2 differentiation by increasing the production of Th2 cytokines while decreasing the production of Th1 cytokines.In striking contrast to the long-held belief that dinitrochlorobenzene-induced contact hypersensitivity is a cell-mediated immune response, the results of our present study demonstrated that the production of dinitrochlorobenzene-specific antibodies by activated B cells played an indispensible role in the pathogenesis of dinitrochlorobenzene-induced CHS. These findings may provide new possibilities in the treatment of human contact hypersensitivity conditions