704 research outputs found
Open market operations during 1996.
During 1996, the Trading Desk at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York managed reserve conditions with the objective of maintaining the federal funds rate around the level desired by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). As was the case last year, the need for permanent reserve additions was relatively modest as demand for currency grew moderately and reserve requirements declined because of the continued spread of sweep programs at commercial banks. The decrease in operating balances of depository institutions at Reserve Banks had an impact on bank reserve management strategies and the Desk's choice of operations. The Desk paid close attention to the daily pattern of reserve demands and, by tailoring its operations accordingly, maintained funds trading close to the FOMC's desired rate.Open market operations ; Monetary policy ; Federal Open Market Committee ; Federal funds market (United States)
Macroeconomic Policy and Elections in OECD Democracies
The purpose of this paper is to test for evidence of opportunistic "political business cycles" in a large sample of 18 OECD economies. Our results can be summarized as follows: 1) We find very little evidence of pre-electoral effects of economic outcomes, in particular, on GDP growth and unemployment; 2) We see some evidence of "political monetary cycles." that is, expansionary monetary policy in election years; 3) We also observe indications of "political budget cycles," or "loose" fiscal policy prior to elections; 4) Inflation exhibits a postelectoral jump, which could be explained by either the preelectoral "loose" monetary and fiscal policies and/or by an opportunistic timing of increases in publicly controlled prices, or indirect taxes.
A practical guide to assessment of ventricular diastolic function using doppler echocardiography
AbstractDoppler assessment of diastolic function has become a standard part of routine echocardiographic examination and imparts information relevant to a patient's functional class, management and prognosis. This review describes the Doppler patterns of diastolic function relative to physical signs and physiology. A continuum of Doppler patterns of diastolic function exists, including normal diastolic function, impaired relaxation, pseudonormal filling, restriction, constriction and tamponade. These patterns evolve from one to another in a single individual, with changes in disease evolution, treatment and loading conditions. New applications of continuous wave Doppler, color Doppler M-mode and Doppler tissue imaging are refining our understanding of diastolic function
Graph Partitioning Induced Phase Transitions
We study the percolation properties of graph partitioning on random regular
graphs with N vertices of degree . Optimal graph partitioning is directly
related to optimal attack and immunization of complex networks. We find that
for any partitioning process (even if non-optimal) that partitions the graph
into equal sized connected components (clusters), the system undergoes a
percolation phase transition at where is the fraction of
edges removed to partition the graph. For optimal partitioning, at the
percolation threshold, we find where is the size of the
clusters and where is their diameter. Additionally,
we find that undergoes multiple non-percolation transitions for
Percolation theory applied to measures of fragmentation in social networks
We apply percolation theory to a recently proposed measure of fragmentation
for social networks. The measure is defined as the ratio between the
number of pairs of nodes that are not connected in the fragmented network after
removing a fraction of nodes and the total number of pairs in the original
fully connected network. We compare with the traditional measure used in
percolation theory, , the fraction of nodes in the largest cluster
relative to the total number of nodes. Using both analytical and numerical
methods from percolation, we study Erd\H{o}s-R\'{e}nyi (ER) and scale-free (SF)
networks under various types of node removal strategies. The removal strategies
are: random removal, high degree removal and high betweenness centrality
removal. We find that for a network obtained after removal (all strategies) of
a fraction of nodes above percolation threshold, . For fixed and close to percolation threshold
(), we show that better reflects the actual fragmentation. Close
to , for a given , has a broad distribution and it is
thus possible to improve the fragmentation of the network. We also study and
compare the fragmentation measure and the percolation measure
for a real social network of workplaces linked by the households of the
employees and find similar results.Comment: submitted to PR
The IMPROVEDD VTE risk score: Incorporation of D-dimer into the IMPROVE score to improve venous thromboembolism risk stratification
Background The IMPROVE score is a validated venous thromboembolism (VTE) assessment tool to risk stratify hospitalized, medically ill patients based on clinical variables. It was hypothesized that addition of D-dimer measurement to derive a new IMPROVEDD score would improve identification of at risk of VTE.
Methods The association of the IMPROVE score and D-dimer ≥ 2 × the upper limit of normal (ULN) with the risk of symptomatic deep vein thrombosis, nonfatal pulmonary embolism, or VTE-related death was evaluated in 7,441 hospitalized, medically ill patients randomized in the APEX trial. Based on the Cox regression analysis, the IMPROVEDD score was derived by adding two points to the IMPROVE score if the D-dimer was ≥ 2 × ULN.
Results Baseline D-dimer was independently associated with symptomatic VTE through 77 days (adjusted HR: 2.22 [95% CI: 1.38–1.58], p = 0.001). Incorporation of D-dimer into the IMPROVE score improved VTE risk discrimination (ΔAUC: 0.06 [95% CI: 0.02–0.09], p = 0.0006) and reclassification (continuous NRI: 0.34 [95% CI: 0.17–0.51], p = 0.001; categorical NRI: 0.13 [95% CI: 0.03–0.23], p = 0.0159). Patients with an IMPROVEDD score of ≥2 had a greater VTE risk compared with those with an IMPROVEDD score of 0 to 1 (HR: 2.73 [95% CI: 1.52–4.90], p = 0.0007).
Conclusion Incorporation of D-dimer into the IMPROVE VTE risk assessment model further improves risk stratification in hospitalized, medically ill patients who received thromboprophylaxis. An IMPROVEDD score of ≥2 identifies hospitalized, medically ill patients with a heightened risk for VTE through 77 days.</jats:p
Continental aridification and the vanishing of Australia\u27s megalakes
The nature of the Australian climate at about the time of rapid megafaunal extinctions and humans arriving in Australia is poorly understood and is an important element in the contentious debate as to whether humans or climate caused the extinctions. Here we present a new paleoshoreline chronology that extends over the past 100 k.y. for Lake Mega-Frome, the coalescence of Lakes Frome, Blanche, Callabonna and Gregory, in the southern latitudes of central Australia. We show that Lake Mega-Frome was connected for the last time to adjacent Lake Eyre at 50-47 ka, forming the largest remaining interconnected system of paleolakes on the Australian continent. The final disconnection and a progressive drop in the level of Lake Mega-Frome represents a major climate shift to aridification that coincided with the arrival of humans and the demise of the megafauna. The supply of moisture to the Australian continent at various times in the Quaternary has commonly been ascribed to an enhanced monsoon. This study, in combination with other paleoclimate data, provides reliable evidence for periods of enhanced tropical and enhanced Southern Ocean sources of water filling these lakes at different times during the last full glacial cycle. © 2011 Geological Society of America
A phase 1a/1b trial of CSF-1R inhibitor LY3022855 in combination with durvalumab or tremelimumab in patients with advanced solid tumors
Background LY3022855 is a recombinant, immunoglobulin, human monoclonal antibody targeting the colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor. This phase 1 trial determined the safety, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor activity of LY3022855 in combination with durvalumab or tremelimumab in patients with advanced solid cancers who had received standard anti-cancer treatments. Methods In Part A (dose-escalation), patients received intravenous (IV) LY3022855 25/50/75/100 mg once weekly (QW) combined with durvalumab 750 mg once every two weeks (Q2W) IV or LY3022855 50 or 100 mg QW IV with tremelimumab 75/225/750 mg once every four weeks. In Part B (dose-expansion), patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) or ovarian cancer (OC) received recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) of LY3022855 from Part A and durvalumab 750 mg Q2W. Results Seventy-two patients were enrolled (median age 61 years): PartA = 33, Part B = 39. In Part A, maximum tolerated dose was not reached, and LY3022855 100 mg QW and durvalumab 750 mg Q2W was the RP2D. Four dose-limiting equivalent toxicities occurred in two patients from OC cohort. In Part A, maximum concentration, area under the concentration-time curve, and serum concentration showed dose-dependent increase over two cycles of therapy. Overall rates of complete response, partial response, and disease control were 1.4%, 2.8%, and 33.3%. Treatment-emergent anti-drug antibodies were observed in 21.2% of patients. Conclusions LY3022855 combined with durvalumab or tremelimumab in patients with advanced NSCLC or OC had limited clinical activity, was well tolerated. The RP2D was LY3022855 100 mg QW with durvalumab 750 mg Q2W
Recommended from our members
Selective manganese deposition for CU_low k nano device interconnect
Chemistry and Chemical Biolog
Effects of Large CP-violating Soft Phases on Supersymmetric Electroweak Baryogenesis
We revisit the results of recent electroweak baryogenesis calculations and
include all allowed large CP-violating supersymmetric phases. If the phases are
large, the resulting baryon asymmetry can be considerably larger than the
observed value . Much of the asymmetry must
therefore be washed out, and we argue that the upper bound on the light Higgs
mass is larger than the value reported in previous work.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure
- …