Does investor attention influence stock market activity? The case of spin-off deals

This paper investigates empirically the nature of the interactions between mass media, investor attention and the stock market using data from a sample of 16 spin-off deals traded on NYSE and published between 2004 and 2010 in “Wall Street Journal”, the US’s second-largest newspaper by circulation. The results show that: i) the impact of media sentiment on the stock market reactions is enhanced / moderated by the level of attention of investors; ii) individual investors’ attention is grabbed by stocks experiencing high trading volumes on the previous day; iii) high attention could result in downward pressure on stock market returns.Media Sentiment, Investor Attention, Internet Search, Spin-off

Role of the glassy dynamics and thermal mixing in the dynamic nuclear polarization and relaxation mechanisms of pyruvic acid

The temperature dependence of $^1$H and $^{13}$C nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ has been studied in the 1.6 K - 4.2 K temperature range in pure pyruvic acid and in pyruvic acid containing trityl radicals at a concentration of 15 mM. The temperature dependence of $1/T_1$ is found to follow a quadratic power law for both nuclei in the two samples. Remarkably the same temperature dependence is displayed also by the electron spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_{1e}$ in the sample containing radicals. These results are explained by considering the effect of the structural dynamics on the relaxation rates in pyruvic acid. Dynamic nuclear polarization experiments show that below 4 K the $^{13}$C build up rate scales with $1/T_{\text{1e}}$, in analogy to $^{13}$C $1/T_1$ and consistently with a thermal mixing scenario where all the electrons are collectively involved in the dynamic nuclear polarization process and the nuclear spin reservoir is in good thermal contact with the electron spin system.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure

Modeling of MLL-AF9-rearranged pediatric leukemia:Identification of mechanisms and potential targets

Het onderzoek in dit proefschrift richt zich op het ontwikkelen van nieuwe in vitro en in vivo modellen om zo meer inzicht te krijgen in de mechanismen die betrokken zijn bij leukemische transformatie, met als doel nieuwe therapeutische targets te identificeren. De studies beschreven in dit proefschrift zijn voornamelijk gefocust op leukemie geïnduceerd door MLL-AF9, een oncogen dat een veelvoorkomend subtype van kinderleukemie veroorzaakt. Voor het ontwikkelen van een in vivo model werd gebruikt gemaakt van keramische partikels gecoat met humane mesenchymale stromale cellen welke vervolgens subcutaan geïmplanteerd werden in immuun deficiënte muizen. Dit resulteerde in een humane beenmerg omgeving in de muis waarin de ontwikkeling van leukemie bestudeerd kon worden. In dit model hebben we, met behulp van lenti- en retroviraal MLL-AF9-getransduceerde hematopoietische stamcellen alsmede primair patiënten materiaal zowel myeloïde als lymfatische leukemie kunnen initiëren in de muis. Een aantal cytokines, zoals interleukine-3 (IL-3) en trombopoietine (TPO), zijn belangrijk voor de ontwikkeling van MLL-AF9-geïnitieerde leukemie, maar worden niet door stromale cellen zelf geproduceerd. Daarom hebben we het in vivo model verder ontwikkeld door de mesenchymale stromale cellen genetisch te modificeren en ze zo IL-3 en TPO te laten produceren. Deze manier van modificatie van de humane beenmerg omgeving stelt ons in de toekomst ook in staat om het belang van omgevingsfactoren in beenmerg in verder detail te bestuderen. Tenslotte, in een poging om essentiële signaaltransductie netwerken in MLL-AF9 patiënten te identificeren, hebben we ontdekt dat deze leukemie cellen sterk afhankelijk zijn van signaaltransductie routes gerelateerd aan zowel het FLT3 ligand als BRD3/4

Chemical and kinematical properties of BSSs and HB stars in NGC 6397

We used three sets of high-resolution spectra acquired with the multifiber facility FLAMES at the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory to investigate the chemical and kinematical properties of a sample of 42 horizontal branch (HB) stars, 18 Blue Straggler Stars (BSSs) and 86 main sequence turn-off and sub-giant branch stars in the nearby globular cluster NGC 6397. We measured rotational velocities and Fe, O and Mg abundances. All the unevolved stars in our sample turn out to have low rotational velocites (v sin i< 10\kms), while HB stars and BSSs show a broad distribution, with values ranging from 0 to 70 \kms. For HB stars with T<10500 K there is a clear temperature-oxygen anti-correlation, that can be understood if the star position along the HB is mainly determined by the He content. The hottest BSSs and HB stars (with temperatures T>8200 K and T> 10500 K, respectively) also show significant deviations in their iron abundance with respect to the cluster metallicity (as traced by the unevolved stars, [Fe/H]=-2.12). While similar chemical patterns have been already observed in other hot HB stars, this is the first evidence ever collected for BSSs. We interprete these abundance anomalies as due to the metal radiative levitation, occurring in stars with shallow or no convective envelopes

Does investor attention influence stock market activity? The case of spin-off deals

This paper investigates empirically the nature of the interactions between mass media, investor attention and the stock market using data from a sample of 16 spin-off deals traded on NYSE and published between 2004 and 2010 in “Wall Street Journal”, the US’s second-largest newspaper by circulation. The results show that: i) the impact of media sentiment on the stock market reactions is enhanced / moderated by the level of attention of investors; ii) individual investors’ attention is grabbed by stocks experiencing high trading volumes on the previous day; iii) high attention could result in downward pressure on stock market returns

Time evolution of restless legs syndrome in haemodialysis patients

Abstract Background Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is characterized by an urge to move the extremities, accompanied by paraesthesiae, in the evening and at night. Uraemic RLS, a type of secondary RLS, occurs commonly in chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. Progression of uraemic RLS over time is unclear. Therefore we investigated the prevalence, progression over time, risk factors and impact on survival of uraemic RLS in a cohort of dialysis patients. Methods We reviewed at the 7-year follow-up a cohort of haemodialysis (HD) patients we had previously investigated for RLS, through interviews, validated questionnaires and analysis of demographic and clinical data. Results At the 7-year follow-up, RLS was present in 16% of patients, with a persistence rate of 33%. A correlation was obtained between RLS and older age, diabetes, low albumin and low body mass index. RLS was associated with reduced overall survival (median survival of 3.3 versus 3.7 years), particularly with the continuous form of RLS (1.61 years). There was a higher incidence of myocardial infarction and peripheral vascular disease, although not reaching statistical significance. RLS patients had absolute higher scores in all quality of life domains. A large majority of study patients (96%) reported being symptom-free within a few days or weeks following kidney transplantation. Conclusions The development of RLS, especially the continuous form, in patients undergoing HD has important consequences associated with decreased survival. Our results indicated an association between uraemic RLS and ageing, diabetes and malnutrition. Considerable efforts should be focused on the treatment of RLS, since it significantly and persistently impacts the quality of life of HD patients. Kidney transplantation could represent an effective treatment option for that RLS impacts on dialysis patients' quality of life, thus confirming the secondary nature of RLS in most HD patients

Blockade of beta-adrenergic receptors reduces cancer growth and enhances the response to anti-CTLA4 therapy by modulating the tumor microenvironment

The development of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) marks an important breakthrough of cancer therapies in the past years. However, only a limited fraction of patients benefit from such treatments, prompting the search for immune modulating agents that can improve the therapeutic efficacy. The nonselective beta blocker, propranolol, which for decades has been prescribed for the treatment of cardiovascular conditions, has recently been used successfully to treat metastatic angiosarcoma. These results have led to an orphan drug designation by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas. The anti-tumor effects of propranolol are suggested to involve the reduction of cancer cell proliferation as well as angiogenesis. Here, we show that oral administration of propranolol delays tumor progression of MCA205 fibrosarcoma model and MC38 colon cancer model and increases the survival rate of tumor bearing mice. Propranolol works by reducing tumor angiogenesis and facilitating an anti-tumoral microenvironment with increased T cell infiltration and reduced infiltration of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Using T cell deficient mice, we demonstrate that the full anti-tumor effect of propranolol requires the presence of T cells. Flow cytometry-based analysis and RNA sequencing of FACS-sorted cells show that propranolol treatment leads to an upregulation of PD-L1 on tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) and changes in their chemokine expression profile. Lastly, we observe that the co-administration of propranolol significantly enhances the efficacy of anti-CTLA4 therapy. Our results identify propranolol as an immune modulating agent, which can improve immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies in soft tissue sarcoma patients and potentially in other cancers

Collagen density regulates the activity of tumor-infiltrating T cells

The number of reads per kilobase per million mapped (RPKM) for all RefSeq annotated genes. (XLSX 5563 kb

The metabolic enzyme arginase-2 is a potential target for novel immune modulatory vaccines

One way that tumors evade immune destruction is through tumor and stromal cell expression of arginine-degrading enzyme arginase-2 (ARG2). Here we describe the existence of pro-inflammatory effector T-cells that recognize ARG2 and can directly target tumor and tumor-infiltrating cells. Using a library of 34 peptides covering the entire ARG2 sequence, we examined reactivity toward these peptides in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from cancer patients and healthy individuals. Interferon-γ ELISPOT revealed frequent immune responses against several of the peptides, indicating that ARG2–specific self-reactive T-cells are natural components of the human T-cell repertoire. Based on this, the most immunogenic ARG2 protein region was further characterized. By identifying conditions in the microenvironment that induce ARG2 expression in myeloid cells, we showed that ARG2-specific CD4T-cells isolated and expanded from a peripheral pool from a prostate cancer patient could recognize target cells in an ARG2-dependent manner. In the ‘cold’ in vivo tumor model Lewis lung carcinoma, we found that activation of ARG2-specific T-cells by vaccination significantly inhibited tumor growth. Immune-modulatory vaccines targeting ARG2 thus are a candidate strategy for cancer immunotherapy