128 research outputs found
A monoclonal antibody generated against a recombinant peptide fragment of the B3 domain of carcinoembryonic antigen reacts with intact carcinoembryonic antigen
The effect of corporate governance on the performance of US investment banks
This paper focuses on the impact of the corporate governance, using a plethora of measures, on the performance of the US investment banks over the 2000-2012 period. This time period offers a unique set of information, related to the credit crunch, that we model using a dynamic panel threshold analysis to reveal new insights into the relationship between corporate governance and bank performance. Results show that the board size asserts a negative effect on performance consistent with the ‘agency cost’ hypothesis, particularly for banks with board size higher than ten members. Threshold analysis reveals that in the post-crisis period most of investment banks opt for boards with less than ten members, aiming to decrease agency conflicts that large boards suffer from. We also find a negative association between the operational complexity and performance. Moreover, the CEO power asserts a positive effect on performance consistent with the ‘stewardship’ hypothesis. In addition, an increase in the bank ownership held by the board has a negative impact on performance for banks below a certain threshold. On the other hand, for banks with board ownership above the threshold value this effect turns positive, indicating an alignment between shareholders’ and managers’ incentives
3D echocardiographic reference ranges for normal left ventricular volumes and strain: Results fromthe EACVI NORRE study
Aim To obtain the normal ranges for 3D echocardiography (3DE) measurement of left ventricular (LV) volumes, function, and strain from a large group of healthy volunteers. Methods and results A total of 440 (mean age: 45613 years) out of the 734 healthy subjects enrolled at 22 collaborating institutions of the Normal Reference Ranges for Echocardiography (NORRE) study had good-quality 3DE data sets that have been analysed with a vendor-independent software package allowing homogeneous measurements regardless of the echocardiographic machine used to acquire the data sets. Upper limits of LV end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes were larger in men (97 and 42 mL/m2) than in women (82 and 35 mL/m2; P<0.0001). Conversely, lower limits of LV ejection fraction were higher in women than in men (51% vs. 50%; P<0.01). Similarly, all strain components were higher in women than in men. Lower range was -18.6% in men and -19.5% in women for 3D longitudinal strain, -27.0% and -27.6% for 3D circumferential strain, -33.2% and -34.4% for 3D tangential strain and 38.8% and 40.7% for 3D radial strain, respectively. LV volumes decreased with age in both genders (P<0.0001), whereas LV ejection fraction increased with age only in men. Among 3DE LV strain components, the only one, which did not change with age was longitudinal strain. Conclusion The NORRE study provides applicable 3D echocardiographic reference ranges for LV function assessment. Our data highlight the importance of age- and gender-specific reference values for both LV volumes and strain. All rights reserved
The Shareholder Wealth Effects of Insurance Securitization: Preliminary Evidence from the Catastrophe Bond Market
Insurance securitization has long been hailed as an important tool to increase the underwriting capacity for companies exposed to catastrophe-related risks. However, global volumes of insurance securitization have remained surprisingly low to date which raises questions over its benefits. In this paper, we examine changes in the market value of insurance and reinsurance firms which announce their engagement in insurance securitization by issuing catastrophe (Cat) bonds. Consistent with the hitherto underwhelming contribution of Cat bonds to global catastrophe coverage, we do not find evidence that Cat bonds lead to strong wealth gains for shareholders in the issuing firm. More importantly, we report large variations in the distribution of wealth effects in response to the issue announcement. We show that the wealth effects for shareholders in firms which issue Cat bonds appear to be driven by explanations according to which Cat bonds offer cost savings relative to other forms of catastrophe risk management (and less by the potential of Cat bonds to hedge catastrophe risk). Thus, abnormal returns are particularly large for issues by firms which face low levels of loss uncertainty (which reduces the information acquisition costs in financial markets) as well as for issues during periods when prices for catastrophe coverage (including Cat bonds) are low
Desempenho de fusões e aquisições cross border: análise empÃrica do caso brasileiro
Women on boards of Malaysian firms: Impact on market and accounting performance
We seek to offer some reconciliation for the conflicting theoretical arguments and empirical findings regarding the impact of women’s participation in boards on firms’ performance.We suggest that this impact differs in relation to market- and accounting-performance, and it is firm-specific, and varies by firms’ ownership type and the composition of their boards.These arguments find theoretical underpinnings in agency and resource-dependency theories, combined with behavioral and discrimination theories that articulate women behavior in the workplace and market perception of gender equality.The empirical analysis is based on a dataset of 841 publicly-listed firms in Malaysia.The results show positive impact of women’s participation on accounting-performance and negative impact on market-performance, suggesting that women directors create economic value, which is undervalued by the market. We interpret the findings with reference to the perception of women’s role in society and business in Malaysia, and the nature of corporate governance and ownership types prevalent among Malaysian firms.We suggest that the relationships might be context-specific, and hence the desired level of women’s participation varies across countries.We discuss the normative implications of the findings for government authorities considering legislation of gender-quota on boards, and for firms
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