The sticky cost on Greek food, beverages and tobacco limited companies

The cost behavior is one of the most important aspects of the analysis of businesses profitability. The traditional model of study of its behavior requires strict proportion with the level of activity, something that is not shared by modern studies. To better understand the behavior of asymmetric cost, our work examines the behavior of the Greek retail food, beverages and tobacco companies. We studied 438 limited companies for a period of 12 years and noticed that a 1% increase in sales leads to an increase of 1.011% of the cost, while the corresponding reduction lowers the cost of sales by 0,905%. The industry addressed by our study, has a direct relation to all households. So it is important that the industry, be studied further in order to give more opportunities and benefits for consumers and state. Finally, future studies can use our study in an attempt to better understand the behavior of asymmetric costs.peer-reviewe

The Effects of Commodities and Financial Markets on Crude Oil

Investigating crude oil price volatility is crucial, because crude oil price certainly affects the economy through many channels. This study applies a Vector Auto Regression (VAR) model to examine the impact of crude oil market on basic commodities, financial markets and industrial production. We find that the production in the US economy has an important effect on the crude oil prices. In addition we noticed a higher increase in crude oil price volatility after a large negative shock, contrary to a large positive one. Also, it was found that, in the short-run, oil price volatility is not influenced by short-run interest rates or industrial production. An adverse linkage between crude oil prices and industrial production has been proved confirming the economic theorists claiming that there is a close linkage between oil price shocks and economic activity. Finally, our findings indicate that there is Granger causality between crude oil and the endogenous variables used in the Granger causality framework

Principle Characteristics in Firms’ Competitiveness Endeavour: Use of Managerial and Strategic Reasoning Technics for Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

The purpose of this paper is to study the characteristics of competitiveness in firms’ sectors of the Greek manufacturing industry, based on firm-level accounting and qualitative data attempting to identify key issues regarding Greek SMEs. An unbalanced data set of 407 Greek manufacturing SMEs is implemented, covering the period of 2003-2011 with the use of a multivariate regression model (EGLS) with explanatory variables characterizing firms’ operational activity. Although considerable empirical work has been done on this subject, research on the topic is limited and non-existent for Greece. An Index is developed in order to measure competitiveness characteristics in the Greek SMEs. The method to determine these characteristics in Greek manufacturing SMEs is novel using factors related to knowledge management, information technology, innovation in comparison with accounting data presenting main competitiveness characteristics especially in the during the crisis period

Distinguish regional performance with the use of shift-share analysis and MCDA methods: a gross value added perspective

International audienc

Are We Identifying Malnutrition in Hospitalized Patients with Hematologic Malignancies? Results from a Quality Clinical Audit

Disease-related malnutrition (DRM) is highly prevalent among patients with hematologic malignancies. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of DRM in hospitalized patients with hematologic malignancies and investigate the level of awareness of DRM among the medical team treating this group of patients. A cross sectional quality clinical audit took place in two hematology units of a tertiary university hospital. Inpatients were screened within 48 h of their admission using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) to identify their nutritional risk, and they were reassessed to identify the implemented interventions during their hospitalization. One hundred eighty-five patients were included in the audit analysis. On admission, 37.3% of the audited population was identified as being at high risk of malnutrition according to the MUST score. Forty-nine (26.5%) patients reported reduced food intake during the past 5 days, while four (2.2%) reported no food intake. During the hospitalization, only five patients (2.7%) received nutritional support, as indicated. Low levels of awareness of the early detection and treatment of DMS were found. Moreover, the prevalence of DRM and low nutritional intake was reported to be low. Measures to increase awareness of DMR in the medical team and better coordination of the nutrition support teams is vital to ensure better management and early nutrition intervention in hematological patients

Isolated skeletal muscle recurrence of an originally nodal diffuse large B cell lymphoma A case report and review of the literature

Rationale: Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a malignancy of the B cells with extranodal primary involvement being estimated at 30% to 40% of cases. Primary skeletal muscle presentation of DLBCL is extremely rare, with an estimated incidence of about 0.5% of extranodal lymphomas, presenting mostly in the lower extremities. The possible mechanisms of muscle involvement of DLBCL include primary extranodal disease, extension from adjacent organs (such as lymph nodes) or disseminated disease. Patient concerns: We report a case of a 70-year-old woman with an advanced initially nodal DLBCL, treated with R-CHOP, that presented with an enlargement of her left thigh and restricted mobility 3 months after completion of chemotherapy. Imaging studies were performed, which showed possible infiltration of the muscles of the left thigh, without any nodal disease present. Diagnoses: Muscle biopsy documented the recurrence of the lymphoma at the left thigh. Interventions: The patient started second-line treatment with gemcitabine and vinorelbine. Outcomes: A partial response was achieved after the first cycle. Lessons: The remarkable element lies in the reappearance of the lymphoma at the left thigh muscles, with no radiographic or clinical evidence of involvement of lymph nodes, despite the extensive lymph node disease at initial presentation. The further management of such recurrences remains to be clarified, as the odd biological behavior of the malignant cells dictates a special handling of the disease

Distinguish regional performance with the use of shift-share analysis and MCDA methods: a gross value added perspective

Summarization: This study aims to take into account regional gross value added, to assess the performance of this macroeconomic component for all thirteen Regions of Greece. We apply two different methods for the period between 2010 and 2016, (1) the PROMETHEE II Multi-criteria method and (2) Shift and Share Analysis (SHA). In a nutshell, in nine out of thirteen Regions of Greece, the Promethee II method ranks the regions of Greece in a wholly identical or relatively similar manner to the SHA method, indicating that there is a robust framework considering the joint review for both proposed methods regarding regional performance.Presented on: Operational Research - An International Journa