Financial Turmoil in the Banking Sector and the Asian Lamfalussy Process: The Case of Four Economies

This paper investigates the prevailing financial regulatory structures and impact of the current financial turmoil on banking performance in four economies: the People's Republic of China (PRC); Hong Kong China; Singapore; and Taipei,China. Both the PRC and Hong Kong, China operate under a fragmented financial regulatory structure, while Singapore and Taipei,China have integrated structures. We examine the role of an integrated financial regulatory structure in helping financial institutions mitigate the impact of the financial crisis, using financial indicators of banks' capital structure and operating performance in these four economies between 2003 and 2008. Our analysis of the indicators reveals that banking performance under a fragmented financial regulatory structure is not worse than under integrated regulation. This implies that financial regulatory structure is not the main reason why Asian financial institutions suffered only limited losses from the current global financial crisis. However, given the growing complexity of the global financial system, and the relative weakness of current financial regulatory structures in Asia, this paper suggests that East Asian governments should refer to the Lamfalussy Process in the European Union and set up an Asia Financial Stability Dialogue to facilitate policy coordination for regional financial sector stability and development.asian financial regulation; global financial crisis; asian banking; prc; asian financial institutions; asian financial sector

An Evolutionary Method for Financial Forecasting in Microscopic High-Speed Trading Environment

The advancement of information technology in financial applications nowadays have led to fast market-driven events that prompt flash decision-making and actions issued by computer algorithms. As a result, today’s markets experience intense activity in the highly dynamic environment where trading systems respond to others at a much faster pace than before. This new breed of technology involves the implementation of high-speed trading strategies which generate significant portion of activity in the financial markets and present researchers with a wealth of information not available in traditional low-speed trading environments. In this study, we aim at developing feasible computational intelligence methodologies, particularly genetic algorithms (GA), to shed light on high-speed trading research using price data of stocks on the microscopic level. Our empirical results show that the proposed GA-based system is able to improve the accuracy of the prediction significantly for price movement, and we expect this GA-based methodology to advance the current state of research for high-speed trading and other relevant financial applications

Honokiol Protected against Heatstroke-Induced Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Diabetic Rats

We aimed at investigating the effect of honokiol on heatstroke in an experimental rat model. Sprogue-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups: normothermic diabetic rats treated with vehicle solution (NTDR+V), heatstroke-diabetic rats treated with vehicle (HSDR+V), and heatstroke rats treated with konokiol (0.5–5 mg/ml/kg) (HSDR+H). Sixty minutes before the start of heat stress, honokiol or vehicle solution was administered. (HSDR+H) significantly (a) attenuated hyperthermia, hypotension and hypothalamic ischemia, hypoxia, and neuronal apoptosis; (b) reduced the plasma index of the toxic oxidizing radicals; (c) diminished the indices of hepatic and renal dysfunction; (d) attenuated the plasma systemic inflammatory response molecules; (e) promoted plasma levels of an anti-inflammatory cytokine; (f) reduced the index of infiltration of polymorphonuclear neutrophils in the serum; and (g) promoted the survival time fourfold compared with the (HSDR+V) group. In conclusion, honokiol protected against the outcome of heatstroke by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress-mediated multiple organ dysfunction in diabetic rats

Novel Observer-Based Suboptimal Digital Tracker for a Class of Time-Delay Singular Systems

This paper presents a novel suboptimal digital tracker for a class of time-delay singular systems. First, some existing techniques are utilized to obtain an equivalent regular time-delay system, which has a direct transmission term from input to output. The equivalent regular time-delay system is important as it enables the optimal control theory to be conveniently combined with the digital redesign approach. The linear quadratic performance index, specified in the continuous-time domain, can be discretized into an equivalent decoupled discrete-time performance index using the newly developed extended delay-free model. Additionally, although the extended delay-free model is large, its advantage is the elimination of all delay terms (which included a new extended state vector), simplifying the proposed approach. As a result, the proposed approach can be applied to a class of time-delay singular systems. An illustrative example demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed design methodology

Clinical application of tumor volume in advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma to predict outcome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Current staging systems have limited ability to adjust optimal therapy in advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study aimed to delineate the correlation between tumor volume, treatment outcome and chemotherapy cycles in advanced NPC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A retrospective review of 110 patients with stage III-IV NPC was performed. All patients were treated first with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, then concurrent chemoradiation, and followed by adjuvant chemotherapy as being the definitive therapy. Gross tumor volume of primary tumor plus retropharyngeal nodes (GTVprn) was calculated to be an index of treatment outcome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>GTVprn had a close relationship with survival and recurrence in advanced NPC. Large GTVprn (≧13 ml) was associated with a significantly poorer local control, lower distant metastasis-free rate, and poorer survival. In patients with GTVprn ≧ 13 ml, overall survival was better after ≧4 cycles of chemotherapy than after less than 4 cycles.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The incorporation of GTVprn can provide more information to adjust treatment strategy.</p

Adiponectin gene (ADIPOQ) polymorphisms correlate with the progression of nephropathy in Taiwanese male patients with type 2 diabetes

Aims: Polymorphisms of the ADIPOQ gene were associated with diabetic nephropathy (DN) in case-control studies predominantly among European populations. Gender may modify the ADIPOQ associated risk for DN. We investigated the association of 18 ADIPOQ polymorphisms with DN in a prospective Taiwanese cohort of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and explored whether gender plays a role in this genetic association. Methods: Selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of ADIPOQ were genotyped in 566 T2D patients with normoalbuminuria at baseline. DN was defined based on urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR). The Cox proportional hazard model was used to explore the association of individual SNP to DN events under different genetic models over a 6-year follow-up period. Analyses were further stratified by gender. Results: In male patients, the adjusted hazard ratios under the recessive models were 1.81 for rs2241766 TT (vs. GT+GG, 95% CI=1.10-2.96, p=0.019) and 1.89 for rs1063537 CC (vs. CT+TT, 95% CI=1.15-3.11, p=0.013). In the Kaplan-Meier survival curve, males carrying rs2241766 TT (vs. GT+GG, p=0.050) and rs1063537 CC (vs. CT+TT, p=0.037) recessive homozygotes also had a reduced nephropathy-free survival rate. SNPs rs2241767 and rs2082940, both in strong correlation with tag SNP rs1063537 (r≥0.96), were also associated with DN progression in males. In females, ADIPOQ polymorphisms were not associated with the progression of DN. Conclusions: ADIPOQ genetic polymorphisms rs2241766 (+45T>G), rs1063537, rs2241767 and rs2082940 were correlated with the progression of DN in Taiwanese male patients with T2D. The role of gender in this ADIPOQ genetic association needs to be further investigated in other populations