Impact of merger and acquisition announcements on stock return, volatility and liquidity of acquirers: evidence from the Indian banking sector / Pinky Mal and Kapil Gupta.

This study attempts to examine the stock behaviour of acquirer banks during pre and post-merger and acquisition (M&A) announcement period in the Indian banking sector. Data of M&A events that took place in the Indian banking sector during 2000-2018 was collected from the prowessdx database. The sample consisted of 31 merger and 351 acquisition announcements during 2000-2018 in the Indian Banking sector. Stock prices of sample banks were extracted from the NSE for an event window of -10 to +10 days and the event study methodology was used for analysis. The results suggest that shareholders of Indian acquirer banks generate small and insignificant abnormal returns from M&A deals. Return variability was also noticed from the curvy jumps in the average abnormal spread of returns during the announcement period. Whereas, the average abnormal change in liquidity witnessed a sharp hike on day 0 i.e. the date of deal announcement and it remained negative throughout the post-deal period

Varied presentations of cutaneous vasculitis: a case series

Vasculitis involves a wide spectrum of clinicopathological process with reactive damage to the involved blood vessels. There is loss of vessel integrity instigating haemorrhage & luminal compromise leading to ischemia and necrosis of the tissue supplied by the involved vessels. It may affect varied size and type of blood vessels at different locations. It may be primary or secondary to systemic disease. It may involve a single organ like skin or may involve different organ systems at the same time. This case series include six cases of cutaneous vasculitis affecting different organs with varied presentations. Skin biopsies of six patients with unusual presentations were studied. Their complete history, physical examinations, laboratory investigations including serology were analysed and correlated with histopathological findings. The patients presented with different duration of symptoms varying from as short as 15 days to 1 year. Skin lesions were present in all cases while cardiac manifestation was seen in one. Serology and autoimmune disease markers were negative in all cases except one. However, histopathological features were in concordance with the clinical diagnosis of vasculitis. They were further classified as vasculitis secondary to Churg Strauss syndrome, venous stasis, Henoch Schonlein purpura or leucocytoclastic vasculitis.Vasculitis though a rare disease may manifest as an acute or chronic condition. It needs timely diagnosis by histopathological examination to aid in further management. It is important to assess the clinical severity in primary and secondary vasculitis, as it determines morbidity and mortality

Human protein reference database—2006 update

Human Protein Reference Database (HPRD) () was developed to serve as a comprehensive collection of protein features, post-translational modifications (PTMs) and protein–protein interactions. Since the original report, this database has increased to >20 000 proteins entries and has become the largest database for literature-derived protein–protein interactions (>30 000) and PTMs (>8000) for human proteins. We have also introduced several new features in HPRD including: (i) protein isoforms, (ii) enhanced search options, (iii) linking of pathway annotations and (iv) integration of a novel browser, GenProt Viewer (), developed by us that allows integration of genomic and proteomic information. With the continued support and active participation by the biomedical community, we expect HPRD to become a unique source of curated information for the human proteome and spur biomedical discoveries based on integration of genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data

Gabapentin for chronic pelvic pain in women (GaPP2):a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

BackgroundChronic pelvic pain affects 2–24% of women worldwide and evidence for medical treatments is scarce. Gabapentin is effective in treating some chronic pain conditions. We aimed to measure the efficacy and safety of gabapentin in women with chronic pelvic pain and no obvious pelvic pathology.MethodsWe performed a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised trial in 39 UK hospital centres. Eligible participants were women with chronic pelvic pain (with or without dysmenorrhoea or dyspareunia) of at least 3 months duration. Inclusion criteria were 18–50 years of age, use or willingness to use contraception to avoid pregnancy, and no obvious pelvic pathology at laparoscopy, which must have taken place at least 2 weeks before consent but less than 36 months previously. Participants were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive gabapentin (titrated to a maximum dose of 2700 mg daily) or matching placebo for 16 weeks. The online randomisation system minimised allocations by presence or absence of dysmenorrhoea, psychological distress, current use of hormonal contraceptives, and hospital centre. The appearance, route, and administration of the assigned intervention were identical in both groups. Patients, clinicians, and research staff were unaware of the trial group assignments throughout the trial. Participants were unmasked once they had provided all outcome data at week 16–17, or sooner if a serious adverse event requiring knowledge of the study drug occurred. The dual primary outcome measures were worst and average pain scores assessed separately on a numerical rating scale in weeks 13–16 after randomisation, in the intention-to-treat population. Self-reported adverse events were assessed according to intention-to-treat principles. This trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISCRTN77451762.FindingsParticipants were screened between Nov 30, 2015, and March 6, 2019, and 306 were randomly assigned (153 to gabapentin and 153 to placebo). There were no significant between-group differences in both worst and average numerical rating scale (NRS) pain scores at 13–16 weeks after randomisation. The mean worst NRS pain score was 7·1 (standard deviation [SD] 2·6) in the gabapentin group and 7·4 (SD 2·2) in the placebo group. Mean change from baseline was −1·4 (SD 2·3) in the gabapentin group and −1·2 (SD 2·1) in the placebo group (adjusted mean difference −0·20 [97·5% CI −0·81 to 0·42]; p=0·47). The mean average NRS pain score was 4·3 (SD 2·3) in the gabapentin group and 4·5 (SD 2·2) in the placebo group. Mean change from baseline was −1·1 (SD 2·0) in the gabapentin group and −0·9 (SD 1·8) in the placebo group (adjusted mean difference −0·18 [97·5% CI −0·71 to 0·35]; p=0·45). More women had a serious adverse event in the gabapentin group than in the placebo group (10 [7%] of 153 in the gabapentin group compared with 3 [2%] of 153 in the placebo group; p=0·04). Dizziness, drowsiness, and visual disturbances were more common in the gabapentin group.InterpretationThis study was adequately powered, but treatment with gabapentin did not result in significantly lower pain scores in women with chronic pelvic pain, and was associated with higher rates of side-effects than placebo. Given the increasing reports of abuse and evidence of potential harms associated with gabapentin use, it is important that clinicians consider alternative treatment options to off-label gabapentin for the management of chronic pelvic pain and no obvious pelvic pathology.FundingNational Institute for Health Research

Infected pancreatic necrosis: outcomes and clinical predictors of mortality. A post hoc analysis of the MANCTRA-1 international study

: The identification of high-risk patients in the early stages of infected pancreatic necrosis (IPN) is critical, because it could help the clinicians to adopt more effective management strategies. We conducted a post hoc analysis of the MANCTRA-1 international study to assess the association between clinical risk factors and mortality among adult patients with IPN. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify prognostic factors of mortality. We identified 247 consecutive patients with IPN hospitalised between January 2019 and December 2020. History of uncontrolled arterial hypertension (p = 0.032; 95% CI 1.135-15.882; aOR 4.245), qSOFA (p = 0.005; 95% CI 1.359-5.879; aOR 2.828), renal failure (p = 0.022; 95% CI 1.138-5.442; aOR 2.489), and haemodynamic failure (p = 0.018; 95% CI 1.184-5.978; aOR 2.661), were identified as independent predictors of mortality in IPN patients. Cholangitis (p = 0.003; 95% CI 1.598-9.930; aOR 3.983), abdominal compartment syndrome (p = 0.032; 95% CI 1.090-6.967; aOR 2.735), and gastrointestinal/intra-abdominal bleeding (p = 0.009; 95% CI 1.286-5.712; aOR 2.710) were independently associated with the risk of mortality. Upfront open surgical necrosectomy was strongly associated with the risk of mortality (p < 0.001; 95% CI 1.912-7.442; aOR 3.772), whereas endoscopic drainage of pancreatic necrosis (p = 0.018; 95% CI 0.138-0.834; aOR 0.339) and enteral nutrition (p = 0.003; 95% CI 0.143-0.716; aOR 0.320) were found as protective factors. Organ failure, acute cholangitis, and upfront open surgical necrosectomy were the most significant predictors of mortality. Our study confirmed that, even in a subgroup of particularly ill patients such as those with IPN, upfront open surgery should be avoided as much as possible. Study protocol registered in ClinicalTrials.Gov (I.D. Number NCT04747990)

Kinetics of oxidation of sulphur(IV) by peroxodisulphate: Relative reactivity of bisulphite and sulphite ions

201-204In the pH region 4.3-8.5, the oxidation of sulphur(IV) by peroxodisulphate (Eq. i) obeys the experimental rate law (ii). where kSo3 and kHSO3 are bimolecular rate constants for the S2O- SO- and S2O- HSO- reactions and Kd(2) is the dissociation constant of HSO3-· kSO3 and kHSO3 values are 6 x 10- 2 and 2.8 x 19- 3 dm3mol- 1s -1 respectively at I = 1.0 mol dm - 3 and 40°C