Stock Picking Techniques: The Practice Of Applied Money Managers

This study examines the diverse methods practitioners of money management use in order to choose stock investments. The authors discover they use discounted cash flow, multiples, balance sheet approaches. Additionally, they consider industry forces such as demographics and psychographics

Uptake of hexavalent chromium by tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plants and mediated effects on their physiology and productivity, along with fruit quality and safety

Cr(VI) is known to induce hormesis in plants. Nevertheless, its effects on the quality of agricultural produce are poorly studied. In the present study, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plants were exposed to incremental Cr(VI) concentrations through irrigation with water containing K2Cr2O7 in escalating concentrations (0.05, 0.5, 1, 5 and 10 mg L−1), aiming at investigating potential mediated effects on (1) yield, (2) stress responses in leaves, (3) the biosafety of fruits and (4) the mediated alterations in tomato fruit quality attributes. Plants in all Cr(VI) treatments displayed similar phenotype, with no modulations in fruit setting. Plants irrigated with water containing 10 mg L-1 K2Cr2O7 had lower photosynthetic pigment concentration and suffered from oxidative stress in their leaves (evidenced by increased MDA and H2O2 content). Elevated Cr(VI) treatments (5 or 10 mg L-1 K2Cr2O7) resulted in the production of fruits with lower weight and smaller size, along with increased ripening index and soluble solids, lycopene, β-carotene and soluble carbohydrate (fructose, sucrose, total sugars) content. Alterations in fruit quality attributes were at least in part corroborated by the abundance of transcripts related to sucrose (SlSuSys, SlLin5, SlLin6, SlLin7) and carotenoid (SlZDS, SlCRTISO, SlbLCY) biosynthesis. The concentration of total Cr in all fruit samples was far below the maximum permissible limits, thus indicating safety for human consumption. Overall, results presented herein provide novel evidence that Cr(VI) can exert significant effects on the quality of agricultural produce at the biochemical and molecular level, indicating that Cr(VI)-contaminated water should be cautiously used after rigorous investigation

Uptake of hexavalent chromium by Lactuca sativa and Triticum aestivum plants and mediated effects on their performance, linked with associated public health risks

Plants exposed to toxic Cr(VI) concentrations show reduced biomass production and yield. The present study examined (1) the impacts of increasing Cr(VI) exposure (0.05, 0.5, 1, 5 and 10 mg L-1 K2Cr2O7 in irrigation water) on the growth and development, yield, and stress physiology of two important crop species, such as wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), and (2) the associated human health risks due to the consumption of these commodities. Plants in all Cr(VI) treatments preserved similar growth rates and phenotypes with control, untreated plants, with no remarkable modulations in biomass yield (fresh/dry weight, plant height, straw/grain weight). Grains harvested from plants exposed to all Cr(VI) treatments had increased size and 1000 grain weight, partially suggesting hormetic effect. Elevated K2Cr2O7 concentrations (5 and 10 mg L-1) resulted in increased photosynthetic pigments' levels in lettuce leaves. Lipid peroxidation and H2O2 content also revealed the absence of oxidative stress in lettuce plants. Non-carcinogenic (target hazard quotient) and carcinogenic risks from the consumption of these commodities grown under the conditions described in this study were found de minimis. However, more studies are needed in order to obtain more solid information on the safety of Cr(VI)-contaminated water irrigation

Preliminary results of the study MEETinCY

Background: Even though heart failure (HF) management programmes have been improved and proved their efficient, no such proramme has been offered untilrecently in Cyprus. Since 2008 MEETinCY research programme is the first one in Cyprus and it is also a nurse-led management programme for HF patients in Cyprus.Purpose: To determine the effect of a structured educational intervention and / ortelephone follow-up programme for patients with HF.Methods: The present study is a randomized control trial with various interventions and longitudinal monitoring. As a part of the larger MEETinCY research project, sam-pling was extracted from the parent sample, which was conducted between April2014 and June 2014, using the electronic medical records of patients of five government hospitals. Total acute events of HF decompensation including their clinicaland demographic characteristics were recorded in 12 and 24 weeks post discharge.Additional information to support the existence or not of decompensation, if needed,was provided by patients and their relatives, through telephone calls. Events were classified as decompensation of pre-existing HF, or decompensation from othercauses.Results: A number of 195 Cypriot HF patients, who received educational inter-vention and / or telephone follow up calls. were recruited. A reduction of instantrisk of HF decompensation at 3 months in 51% [HR: 0,49 (95CI: 0,27-0,88](p = 0,001), was found in the group of telephone follow up, compared to con-trol group. There was no difference between groups regarding the occurrenceof death [Control n = 1 (1,8%) vs Intervention n = 2 (2,2%) p = 1], the total vis-its to emergency department (p = 0,52), the total readmissions (p = 0,52), and thecumulative events (visits & readmissions) (p = 0,79). No statistically significant dif-ference was found in the mean hospital length of stay [Control 6,17 ± 8,2 vs Inter-vention 6,54 ± 9,5 (p = 0.874)]. Unfortunately, t he promising results of the beneficial effect of the i ntervention in disease-free survival time for the first 3 monthsafter randomization and perspective monitoring, does not appear to be maintainedfor long.Conclusions: The present study results showed that advanced nurses in HF whoapply structured educational programmes combined with telephone follow up, canenhance the outcome of patients with HF