Case studies of multi-day 3He-rich solar energetic particle periods

Context. Impulsive solar energetic particle events in the inner heliosphere show the long-lasting enrichment of 3He. Aims. We study the source regions of long-lasting 3He-rich solar energetic particle (SEP) events Methods. We located the responsible open magnetic field regions, we combined potential field source surface extrapolations (PFSS) with the Parker spiral, and compared the magnetic field of the identified source regions with in situ magnetic fields. The candidate open field regions are active region plages. The activity was examined by using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and STEREO together with radio observations from STEREO and WIND. Results. Multi-day periods of 3He-rich SEP events are associated with ion production in single active region. Small flares or coronal jets are their responsible solar sources. We also find that the 3He enrichment may depend on the occurrence rate of coronal jets.Comment: 7page, 4 figure

Managerial Overconfidence and Earnings Quality

本研究以2005年至2014年台灣上市櫃電子工業公司為樣本，檢測經理人過度自信傾向與盈餘穩健性之關係。本研究以當年度持股增加達10%以上做為經理人過度自信之衡量，以應計數及裁決性應計數做為盈餘穩健性之代理變數。結果顯示當經理人具過度自信傾向，公司負值的應計盈餘數愈少，表示經理人過度自信使盈餘報導較不穩健。本研究進一步探討裁決性應計數與經理人過度自信之關係，結果發現經理人過度自信與正裁決性應計數呈顯著正相關，表示過度自信經理人會有從事正向盈餘管理的現象，導致盈餘穩健程度降低。整體 而言，本研究證實具過度自信心理特質之經理人會有樂觀的盈餘報導及正向的盈餘管理，因而減少盈餘穩健性，不利影響盈餘品質。Overconfident managers tend to overestimate future returns from their firms' investment. Thus, this study predicts that overconfident managers will tend to delay loss recognition and use less conservative accounting. Based on a sample of Taiwanese listed companies in the electronics industry from 2005 to 2014, this study investigates the relationship between managerial overconfidence and earnings quality. This study classifies managers as overconfident using a dichotomous variable where OverCon is set equal to 1 if managers increase their ownership in the firm by 10% during the fiscal year. This study uses accruals and discretionary accruals as proxies to measure earnings conservatism. The empirical results show that managerial overconfidence is significantly and negatively associated with negative accruals, indicating that overconfident managers use less conservative accounting. This study further finds that managerial overconfidence is positively associated with positive discretionary accruals, suggesting that overconfident managers tend to manage their earnings upward. Thus, this study suggests a negative association between managerial overconfidence and earning equality

Effects of Acute Aquatic High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise on Blood Pressure and Arterial Stiffness in Postmenopausal Women with Different ACE Genotypes

The present study investigated the effects of acute aquatic high-intensity intermittent jumping (HIIJ) on blood pressure (BP) and arterial stiffness in postmenopausal women with different angiotensin-converting enzyme genotypes (ACE). We recruited 12 postmenopausal women carrying the ACE deletion/deletion (DD) genotype and 61 carrying the insertion/insertion or insertion/deletion (II/ID) genotype. The participants performed 12 trials of 30 s, 75% heart rate reserve (HRR) jumping, and 60 s, 50% HRR recovery, and 3 trials of 40 s upper limb resistance exercises were performed as fast as possible. The heart rate (HR) and BP were measured before exercise, immediately, 10 min, and 45 min after exercise. The brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) was measured before and after exercise. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) of the DD genotype increased more significantly than those with the II/ID genotype post-exercise (30.8 ± 4.48 vs. 20.4 ± 2.00 mmHg, p = 0.038). The left and right sides of baPWV increased significantly after exercise (1444.8 ± 29.54 vs. 1473.4 ± 32.36 cm/s, p = 0.020; 1442.1 ± 30.34 vs. 1472.0 ± 33.09, p = 0.011), and there was no significant difference between the two groups. The HIIJ increased baPWV. The postmenopausal women with the DD genotype have a higher SBP increased post-exercise than those with II/ID genotype. These findings suggest that the aquatic exercise program has better effects in decreasing blood pressure in postmenopausal women with the II/ID genotype. Those with the DD genotype should pay attention to the risk of increasing blood pressure after aquatic HIIJ exercise

Comparison of admission random glucose, fasting glucose, and glycated hemoglobin in predicting the neurological outcome of acute ischemic stroke: a retrospective study

Background Hyperglycemia is a known predictor of negative outcomes in stroke. Several glycemic measures, including admission random glucose, fasting glucose, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), have been associated with bad neurological outcomes in acute ischemic stroke, particularly in nondiabetic patients. However, the predictive power of these glycemic measures is yet to be investigated. Methods This retrospective study enrolled 484 patients with acute ischemic stroke from January 2009 to March 2013, and complete records of initial stroke severity, neurological outcomes at three months, and glycemic measures were evaluated. We examined the predictive power of admission random glucose, fasting glucose, and HbA1c for neurological outcomes in acute ischemic stroke. Furthermore, subgroup analyses of nondiabetic patients and patients with diabetes were performed separately. Results Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed that admission random glucose and fasting glucose were significant predictors of poor neurological outcomes, whereas HbA1c was not (areas under the ROC curve (AUCs): admission random glucose = 0.564, p = 0.026; fasting glucose = 0.598, p = 0.001; HbA1c = 0.510, p = 0.742). Subgroup analyses of nondiabetic patients and those with diabetes revealed that only fasting glucose predicts neurological outcomes in patients with diabetes, and the AUCs of these three glycemic measures did not differ between the two groups. A multivariate logistic regression analysis of the study patients indicated that only age, initial stroke severity, and fasting glucose were independent predictors of poor neurological outcomes, whereas admission random glucose and HbA1c were not (adjusted odds ratio: admission random glucose = 1.002, p = 0.228; fasting glucose = 1.005, p = 0.039; HbA1c = 1.160, p = 0.076). Furthermore, subgroup multivariate logistic regression analyses of nondiabetic patients and those with diabetes indicated that none of the three glycemic measures were associated with poor neurological outcomes. Discussion Fasting glucose is an independent predictor of poor neurological outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke and had greater predictive power than that of admission random glucose and HbA1c. The predictive power of glycemic measures for poor neurological outcomes did not differ significantly between the nondiabetic patients and those with diabetes

Roundabout Guidance Receptor 1 Is an Emerging Prognostic Biomarker for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant tumor originating from the nasopharynx with high morbidity and mortality in Southeast Asia and south of China. Roundabout guidance receptor 1 (ROBO1) can regulate axonogenesis (axon-like protrusion), which may play an important role in migration. However, the roles of ROBO1 in NPC have not been clarified. Methods: A comparative analysis employing the NPC transcriptome (GSE12452) and the axonogenesis-related genes (GO: 0050772) was performed. In total, 124 tissue blocks from patients primarily diagnosed as NPC (1993-2002) were examined using immunohistochemical staining. The connections between clinicopathological variables and protein immunoexpression were analyzed by Pearson’s chi-square test. The Kaplan–Meier method with a log-rank test was employed to plot survival curves. Multivariate analysis was performed using the Cox proportional hazards model to identify independent prognostic biomarker. Results: According to transcriptome analysis, we found that ROBO1 is significantly highly expressed in NPC tissues compared with normal tissues. The immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining showed that high expression of ROBO1 was significantly related to primary tumor (T1T2 and T3T4) ( P  = .024), nodal metastasis status (N0N1 and N2N3) ( P  = .030), stage (I-II and III-IV) ( P  = .019), and histological grade (keratinizing, non-keratinizing, and undifferentiated) ( P  = .065). Importantly, NPC patients with high ROBO1 expression had poorer disease-specific survival (DSS) ( P  = .0001), distal metastasis-free survival (DMeFS) ( P  < .0001), and local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) ( P  = .0001) compared with NPC patients with low ROBO1 expression through the uni-/multivariate and the Kaplan–Meier survival analyses. Conclusion: Our report indicates that ROBO1 might be a potential prognostic biomarker for NPC