A Two-stage Architecture for Stock Price Forecasting by Integrating Self-Organizing Map and Support Vector Regression

Stock price prediction has attracted much attention from both practitioners and researchers. However, most studies in this area ignored the non-stationary nature of stock price series. That is, stock price series do not exhibit identical statistical properties at each point of time. As a result, the relationships between stock price series and their predictors are quite dynamic. It is challenging for any single artificial technique to effectively address this problematic characteristics in stock price series. One potential solution is to hybridize different artificial techniques. Towards this end, this study employs a two-stage architecture for better stock price prediction. Specifically, the self-organizing map (SOM) is first used to decompose the whole input space into regions where data points with similar statistical distributions are grouped together, so as to contain and capture the non-stationary property of financial series. After decomposing heterogeneous data points into several homogenous regions, support vector regression (SVR) is applied to forecast financial indices. The proposed technique is empirically tested using stock price series from seven major financial markets. The results show that the performance of stock price prediction can be significantly enhanced by using the two-stage architecture in comparison with a single SVR model

A Note on Environment-dependent Time Preferences

In this paper we investigate the growth effect of environmental taxes when the time preference is endogenously determined by the environmental quality. We find that if people become more patient due to a cleaner environment, raising the environmental tax may reduce pollution and stimulate growth. Moreover, the Pigouvian principle may be inefficient in the presence of an endogenous time preference

A Note on Environment-dependent Time Preferences

In this paper we investigate the growth effect of environmental taxes when the time preference is endogenously determined by the environmental quality. We find that if people become more patient due to a cleaner environment, raising the environmental tax may reduce pollution and stimulate growth. Moreover, the Pigouvian principle may be inefficient in the presence of an endogenous time preference

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To evaluate the relationship between circulating adiponectin and insulin sensitivity in patients with hyperthyroid Graves' disease, we studied 19 adult patients with this disease and 19 age-and sex-matched euthyroid controls. All hyperthyroid patients were treated with antithyroid drugs and were re-evaluated after thyroid function normalized. Before antithyroid treatment, the adiponectin plasma concentrations were not different comparing with those in control group. The adiponectin levels remained unchanged after treatment. The homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in hyperthyroid group was higher before treatment than after treatment. There was no significant difference in serum glucose and insulin levels between hyperthyroid and control groups and in the hyperthyroid group before and after treatment. BMI-adjusted adiponectin levels were not different among three groups. On the other hand, BMI-adjusted insulin levels and HOMA-IR values were significantly decreased after management of hyperthyroidism. Pearson's correlation revealed that insulin and HOMA-IR values positively correlated with triiodothyronine (T3) and free thyroxine (FT4) levels. However, adiponectin did not correlate with T3, FT4, insulin, HOMA-IR and thyrotropin receptor autoantibody (TRAb) levels. In conclusion, insulin resistance associated with hyperthyroidism is not mediated by the levels of plasma adiponectin

Soluble Form of Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products Is Associated with Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in Adolescents

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the relationship between soluble form of receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE), obesity, and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adolescents. A total of 522 male and 561 female adolescents were enrolled into the final analyses. Anthropometric parameters, blood pressure, blood biochemistry, fasting insulin, and plasma sRAGE levels were measured. In males, sRAGE was significantly and inversely correlated with waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure, triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Only WC and BMI were significantly and inversely correlated with sRAGE in females. Using linear regression analysis adjusting for age and gender, significant association was found between sRAGE and WC, BMI, TG, LDL-C, and HOMA-IR in adolescents of either gender (P<0.05). This association was abolished when further adjusting BMI. In addition, sRAGE was significantly and inversely correlated with the increasing number of components of MetS in males (P for trend = 0.006) but not in females (P for trend = 0.422). In conclusion, plasma sRAGE is associated with obesity and MetS among adolescents. BMI may be the most important determinant of sRAGE levels in adolescents

Taiwanese Dermatological Association consensus for the management of atopic dermatitis

AbstractBackground/ObjectiveThis report describes the 2014 consensus of the Taiwanese Dermatological Association (TDA) regarding the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD). The TDA consensus is distributed to practices throughout Taiwan to provide recommendations for therapeutic approaches for AD patients to improve their quality of life.MethodsThe information in the consensus was agreed upon by a panel of national experts at TDA AD consensus meetings held on March 16, May 4, and June 29, 2014. The consensus was in part based on the 2013 Asia–Pacific AD guidelines and the guidelines of the American Academy of Dermatology, with modification to reflect the clinical practice in Taiwan.ResultsThe amendments were drafted after scientific discussions focused on the quality of evidence, risk, and benefits; all the consensus contents were voted on by the participating dermatologists, with approval by at least 75% for inclusion.ConclusionThe consensus provides a comprehensive overview of treatment for AD, with some local and cultural considerations for practitioners in Taiwan, especially the use of wet dressings/wraps, systemic immunomodulatory agents, and complementary therapies

Highly reliable GIGA-sized synthetic human therapeutic antibody library construction

BackgroundMonoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and their derivatives are the fastest expanding category of pharmaceuticals. Efficient screening and generation of appropriate therapeutic human antibodies are important and urgent issues in the field of medicine. The successful in vitro biopanning method for antibody screening largely depends on the highly diverse, reliable and humanized CDR library. To rapidly obtain potent human antibodies, we designed and constructed a highly diverse synthetic human single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody library greater than a giga in size by phage display. Herein, the novel TIM-3-neutralizing antibodies with immunomodulatory functions derived from this library serve as an example to demonstrate the library’s potential for biomedical applications.MethodsThe library was designed with high stability scaffolds and six complementarity determining regions (CDRs) tailored to mimic human composition. The engineered antibody sequences were optimized for codon usage and subjected to synthesis. The six CDRs with variable length CDR-H3s were individually subjected to β-lactamase selection and then recombined for library construction. Five therapeutic target antigens were used for human antibody generation via phage library biopanning. TIM-3 antibody activity was verified by immunoactivity assays.ResultsWe have designed and constructed a highly diverse synthetic human scFv library named DSyn-1 (DCB Synthetic-1) containing 2.5 × 1010 phage clones. Three selected TIM-3-recognizing antibodies DCBT3-4, DCBT3-19, and DCBT3-22 showed significant inhibition activity by TIM-3 reporter assays at nanomolar ranges and binding affinities in sub-nanomolar ranges. Furthermore, clone DCBT3-22 was exceptionally superior with good physicochemical property and a purity of more than 98% without aggregation.ConclusionThe promising results illustrate not only the potential of the DSyn-1 library for biomedical research applications, but also the therapeutic potential of the three novel fully human TIM-3-neutralizing antibodies

Evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of miglitol in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus inadequately controlled by diet and sulfonylureas

The objective of this study is to examine the efficacy and tolerability of miglitol with respect to improving glycemic control in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus inadequately controlled by diet and sulfonylurea treatment. This was a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, multicenter study. A total of 105 patients were randomized to receive 24 weeks of treatment with miglitol (n = 52; titrated from 50 mg to 100 mg 3 times daily) or placebo (n = 53). Concomitant sulfonylurea treatment and diet remained unchanged. The primary endpoint was change in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) from baseline at 24 weeks. Secondary endpoints were changes in fasting plasma glucose (FPG), postprandial plasma glucose (PPG), and postprandial serum insulin (PSI). The miglitol treatment group showed significantly greater reductions in HbA1c and PPG levels compared with the placebo group. With respect to adverse events, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, and hypoglycemia occurred with similar frequency in both groups. Results of this study indicate that miglitol significantly improves metabolic control in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Miglitol is safe and well tolerated, with the exception of abdominal discomfort. Therefore, miglitol may be a useful adjuvant therapy for Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus inadequately controlled by diet and sulfonylurea treatment