Performance of Czech Companies by Ownership Structure

Our main Finding is that ownership concentration in the Czech Republic is associated with improvements in the performance of operating companies, but only if ownership is concentrated in hands other than investment funds. We assessed the effects of ownership structure on economic performance by measuring the relationship between changes in performance and the composition of ownership shares at the beginning of the period. Other studies measured the association between levels of performance and the composi6on of ownership. We used robust estimation techniques, in addition to OLS estimation, since we were able to strongly reject normality. Since the data comes from surveys and since accounting, standards during this period were far from uniform; it is not surprising that the data would be subject to large measurement errors. These measurement errors may have generated the results observed in other studies.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39573/3/wp186.pd

Foreign Portfolio Investment Improves Performance: Evidence from the Czech Republic

When foreigners became the major shareholders of publicly traded firms in the Czech Republic, those firms experienced improvements in performance and increases in investment. In contrast, controlling for ownership type, ownership concentration had no independent effect on performance or investment. The results are robust to the estimation technique used, the choice of independent variables, and the methods used to control for selection bias.

Nematicidal activity of menthol and its dithiophosphoric derivatives

The effects of (–)-(1R,2S,5R)-menthol and its dithiophosphoric derivatives - O,O-di-(–)-menthyldithiophosphoric acid, its sodium, 8S,9R-quinine, (S)-(–)-nicotinic and pyridoxonium salts on the organism of the free-living soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans were investigated. (–)-(1R,2S,5R)-menthol had no toxic effect on nematodes. O,O-di-(–)-menthyldithiophosphoric acid and its sodium salt caused dose-dependent death of nematodes. The toxic effect of these substances on the C. elegans organism developed with a lag-phase and reached its maximum value after 24 hours at concentrations of O,O-di-(–)-menthyldithiophosphoric acid and its sodium salt of 500 and 400 μg/mL, respectively. The LC50 values were 191.5 μg/mL for O,O-di-(–)-menthyldithiophosphoric acid, and 181.6 μg/mL for its sodium salt. 8S,9R-quinine, (S)-(–)-nicotinium and pyridoxonium salts of O,O-di-(–)-menthyldithiophosphoric acid were less toxic against C. elegans, causing 89.5–98.5% death of nematodes upon 24 hour exposure at a concentration of 2000 μg/mL. The study of the antihelmintic properties of (–)-(1R,2S,5R)-menthyl dithiophosphoric derivatives is promising for the creation of drugs both for the treatment of helminthiasis in domestic animals and humans, and as well as nematicides to control phytonematodes parasitizing in plants

Five Different <i>Artemisia</i> L. Species Ethanol Extracts’ Phytochemical Composition and Their Antimicrobial and Nematocide Activity

Among the plants that exhibit significant or established pharmacological activity, the genus Artemisia L. deserves special attention. This genus comprises over 500 species belonging to the largest Asteraceae family. Our study aimed at providing a comprehensive evaluation of the phytochemical composition of the ethanol extracts of five different Artemisia L. species (collected from the southwest of the Russian Federation) and their antimicrobial and nematocide activity as follows: A. annua cv. Novichok., A. dracunculus cv. Smaragd, A. santonica cv. Citral, A. abrotanum cv. Euxin, and A. scoparia cv. Tavrida. The study of the ethanol extracts of the five different Artemisia L. species using the methods of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS) allowed establishing their phytochemical profile. The obtained data on the of five different Artemisia L. species ethanol extracts’ phytochemical composition were used to predict the antibacterial and antifungal activity against phytopathogenic microorganisms and nematocidal activity against the free-living soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The major compounds found in the composition of the Artemisia L. ethanol extracts were monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, flavonoids, flavonoid glycosides, coumarins, and phenolic acids. The antibacterial and antifungal activity of the extracts began to manifest at a concentration of 150 µg/mL. The A. dracunculus cv. Smaragd extract had a selective effect against Gram-positive R. iranicus and B. subtilis bacteria, whereas the A. scoparia cv. Tavrida extract had a selective effect against Gram-negative A. tumefaciens and X. arboricola bacteria and A. solani, R. solani and F. graminearum fungi. The A. annua cv. Novichok, A. dracunculus cv. Smaragd, and A. santonica cv. Citral extracts in the concentration range of 31.3–1000 µg/mL caused the death of nematodes. It was established that A. annua cv. Novichok affects the UNC-63 protein, the molecular target of which is the nicotine receptor of the N-subtype