Acquiring control in emerging markets: Foreign acquisitions in Eastern Europe and the effect on shareholder wealth

YesThis paper examines stock market reaction to cross-border acquisition announcements that involve Eastern European emerging-market targets. Using a unique and a manually collected dataset, we identify 125 cross-border acquisitions in which developed-market firms from France, Germany, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom acquire ownership stakes in emerging as well as developed-markets in Europe during the period January 2000 through December 2011. In line with previous findings on foreign cross-border merger and acquisitions (M&As) in emerging- markets, evidence suggests that when the target firm is located in either the Czech- Republic, Hungary, Poland, or Russia, cumulative abnormal return (CAR) to the acquiring developed-market firm shows a statistically significant increase of 1.26% over a three day event window, following the announcement. Thereby, the relative size of the acquirer to the target appears to be the only significant factor that contributes to positive acquirer returns. The result is robust to the inclusion of controls for country, industry, as well as acquirer, target, and firm specific characteristics. Moreover, cross-border M&As involving an emerging-market target result in higher value creation for the acquiring shareholders than cross-border transactions into developed-markets

Post-haemorrhagic hydrocephalus is associated with poorer surgical and neurodevelopmental sequelae than other causes of infant hydrocephalus.

PURPOSE: This retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate the surgical and neurodevelopmental outcomes (NDO) of infant hydrocephalus. We also sought to determine whether these outcomes are disproportionately poorer in post-haemorrhagic hydrocephalus (PHH) compared to other causes of infant hydrocephalus. METHODS: A review of all infants with hydrocephalus who had ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunts inserted at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) from 2008 to 2018 was performed. Demographic, surgical, neurodevelopmental, and other clinical data extracted from electronic patient notes were analysed by aetiology. Shunt survival, NDO, cerebral palsy (CP), epilepsy, speech delay, education, behavioural disorders, endocrine dysfunction, and mortality were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 323 infants with median gestational age of 37.0 (23.29-42.14) weeks and birthweight of 2640 g (525-4684 g) were evaluated. PHH was the most common aetiology (31.9%) and was associated with significantly higher 5-year shunt revision rates, revisions beyond a year, and median number of revisions than congenital or "other" hydrocephalus (all p < 0.02). Cox regression demonstrated poorest shunt survival in PHH, related to gestational age at birth and corrected age at shunt insertion. PHH also had the highest rate of severe disabilities, increasing with age to 65.0% at 10 years, as well as the highest CP rate; only genetic hydrocephalus had significantly higher endocrine dysfunction (p = 0.01) and mortality rates (p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Infants with PHH have poorer surgical and NDO compared to all other aetiologies, except genetic hydrocephalus. Research into measures of reducing neurodisability following PHH is urgently required. Long-term follow-up is essential to optimise support and outcomes

Poisson-Hopf limit of quantum algebras

The Poisson-Hopf analogue of an arbitrary quantum algebra U_z(g) is constructed by introducing a one-parameter family of quantizations U_{z,h}(g) depending explicitly on h and by taking the appropriate h -> 0 limit. The q-Poisson analogues of the su(2) algebra are discussed and the novel su_q^P (3) case is introduced. The q-Serre relations are also extended to the Poisson limit. This approach opens the perspective for possible applications of higher rank q-deformed Hopf algebras in semiclassical contexts.Comment: 13 pages, no figure

Linear and non-linear dependencies between copy number aberrations and mRNA expression reveal distinct molecular pathways in breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Elucidating the exact relationship between gene copy number and expression would enable identification of regulatory mechanisms of abnormal gene expression and biological pathways of regulation. Most current approaches either depend on linear correlation or on nonparametric tests of association that are insensitive to the exact shape of the relationship. Based on knowledge of enzyme kinetics and gene regulation, we would expect the functional shape of the relationship to be gene dependent and to be related to the gene regulatory mechanisms involved. Here, we propose a statistical approach to investigate and distinguish between linear and nonlinear dependences between DNA copy number alteration and mRNA expression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We applied the proposed method to DNA copy numbers derived from Illumina 109 K SNP-CGH arrays (using the log R values) and expression data from Agilent 44 K mRNA arrays, focusing on commonly aberrated genomic loci in a collection of 102 breast tumors. Regression analysis was used to identify the type of relationship (linear or nonlinear), and subsequent pathway analysis revealed that genes displaying a linear relationship were overall associated with substantially different biological processes than genes displaying a nonlinear relationship. In the group of genes with a linear relationship, we found significant association to canonical pathways, including purine and pyrimidine metabolism (for both deletions and amplifications) as well as estrogen metabolism (linear amplification) and BRCA-related response to damage (linear deletion). In the group of genes displaying a nonlinear relationship, the top canonical pathways were specific pathways like PTEN and PI13K/AKT (nonlinear amplification) and Wnt(B) and IL-2 signalling (nonlinear deletion). Both amplifications and deletions pointed to the same affected pathways and identified cancer as the top significant disease and cell cycle, cell signaling and cellular development as significant networks.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This paper presents a novel approach to assessing the validity of the dependence of expression data on copy number data, and this approach may help in identifying the drivers of carcinogenesis.</p

Targeted Delivery of Chemotherapy Agents Using a Liver Cancer-Specific Aptamer

Using antibody/aptamer-drug conjugates can be a promising method for decreasing toxicity, while increasing the efficiency of chemotherapy.In this study, the antitumor agent Doxorubicin (Dox) was incorporated into the modified DNA aptamer TLS11a-GC, which specifically targets LH86, a human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line. Cell viability tests demonstrated that the TLS11a-GC-Dox conjugates exhibited both potency and target specificity. Importantly, intercalating Dox into the modified aptamer inhibited nonspecific uptake of membrane-permeable Dox to the non-target cell line. Since the conjugates are selective for cells that express higher amounts of target proteins, both criteria noted above are met, making TLS11a-GC-Dox conjugates potential candidates for targeted delivery to liver cancer cells.Considering the large number of available aptamers that have specific targets for a wide variety of cancer cells, this novel aptamer-drug intercalation method will have promising implications for chemotherapeutics in general

Site-selective protein-modification chemistry for basic biology and drug development.

Nature has produced intricate machinery to covalently diversify the structure of proteins after their synthesis in the ribosome. In an attempt to mimic nature, chemists have developed a large set of reactions that enable post-expression modification of proteins at pre-determined sites. These reactions are now used to selectively install particular modifications on proteins for many biological and therapeutic applications. For example, they provide an opportunity to install post-translational modifications on proteins to determine their exact biological roles. Labelling of proteins in live cells with fluorescent dyes allows protein uptake and intracellular trafficking to be tracked and also enables physiological parameters to be measured optically. Through the conjugation of potent cytotoxicants to antibodies, novel anti-cancer drugs with improved efficacy and reduced side effects may be obtained. In this Perspective, we highlight the most exciting current and future applications of chemical site-selective protein modification and consider which hurdles still need to be overcome for more widespread use.We thank FCT Portugal (FCT Investigator to G.J.L.B.), the EU (Marie-Curie CIG to G.J.L.B. and Marie-Curie IEF to O.B.) and the EPSRC for funding. G.J.L.B. is a Royal Society University Research Fellow.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from NPG via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchem.239

Lung Adenocarcinoma of Never Smokers and Smokers Harbor Differential Regions of Genetic Alteration and Exhibit Different Levels of Genomic Instability

Recent evidence suggests that the observed clinical distinctions between lung tumors in smokers and never smokers (NS) extend beyond specific gene mutations, such as EGFR, EML4-ALK, and KRAS, some of which have been translated into targeted therapies. However, the molecular alterations identified thus far cannot explain all of the clinical and biological disparities observed in lung tumors of NS and smokers. To this end, we performed an unbiased genome-wide, comparative study to identify novel genomic aberrations that differ between smokers and NS

Integrative Genomic Analyses Identify BRF2 as a Novel Lineage-Specific Oncogene in Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma

William Lockwood and colleagues show that the focal amplification of a gene, BRF2, on Chromosome 8p12 plays a key role in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung

Maternal and offspring intelligence in relation to BMI across childhood and adolescence

Objective: The present study tested the association between both mothers’ and offspring’s intelligence and offspring’s body mass index (BMI) in youth. Method: Participants were members of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY-79) Children and Young Adults cohort (n = 11,512) and their biological mothers who were members of the NLSY-79 (n = 4932). Offspring’s IQ was measured with the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT). Mothers’ IQ was measured with the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). A series of regression analyses tested the association between IQ and offspring’s BMI by age group, while adjusting for pre-pregnancy BMI and family SES. The analyses were stratified by sex and ethnicity (non-Black and non-Hispanic, Black, and Hispanic). Results: The following associations were observed in the fully adjusted analyses. For the non-Blacks and non-Hispanics, a SD increment in mothers’ IQ was negatively associated with daughters’ BMI across all age-groups, ranging from β = −0.12 (95% CI −0.22 to −0.02, p = 0.021) in late childhood, to β = −0.17 (95% C.I. −0.27 to −0.07, p = 0001), in early adolescence and a SD increment in boys’ IQ was positively associated with their BMI in early adolescence β = 0.09 (95% CI 0.01–0.18, p = 0.031). For Blacks, there was a non-linear relationship between mothers’ IQ and daughters’ BMI across childhood and between girls’ IQ and BMI across adolescence. There was a positive association between mothers’ IQ and sons’ BMI in early adolescence (β = 0.17, 95% CI 0.02–0.32, p = 0.030). For Hispanic boys, there was a positive IQ-BMI association in late childhood (β = 0.19, 95% CI 0.05–0.33, p = 0.008) and early adolescence (β = 0.17, 95% CI 0.04–0.31, p = 0.014). Conclusion: Mothers’ IQ and offspring’s IQ were associated with offspring’s BMI. The relationships varied in direction and strength across ethnicity, age group and sex. Obesity interventions may benefit from acknowledging the heterogeneous influence that intelligence has on childhood BMI