The Renminbi Central Parity: An Empirical Investigation

On August 11 2015, China revamped its procedure of setting the official central parity of the renminbi (RMB) against the US dollar. Our empirical investigation shows that the intertemporal dynamics of China’s central parity are not the same before and after this policy change. They are more variable and have a few new determining factors. Both the deviation of the RMB offshore rate from the central parity and the US dollar index are the two significant determinants of the central parity both before and after the policy change. The VIX index has explanatory power before August 2015, but not after. After August 2015, the onshore RMB rate and the difference between the one-month offshore and onshore RMB forward points show a significant impact on the central parity. While the US dollar index effect remains, we find no evidence of a role for the RMB exchange rate against the currency basket revealed by China in December 2015 in the fixing process

Four Levels of Hierarchical Organization, Including Noncovalent Chainmail, Brace the Mature Tumor Herpesvirus Capsid against Pressurization

SummaryLike many double-stranded DNA viruses, tumor gammaherpesviruses Epstein-Barr virus and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus withstand high internal pressure. Bacteriophage HK97 uses covalent chainmail for this purpose, but how this is achieved noncovalently in the much larger gammaherpesvirus capsid is unknown. Our cryoelectron microscopy structure of a gammaherpesvirus capsid reveals a hierarchy of four levels of organization: (1) Within a hexon capsomer, each monomer of the major capsid protein (MCP), 1,378 amino acids and six domains, interacts with its neighboring MCPs at four sites. (2) Neighboring capsomers are linked in pairs by MCP dimerization domains and in groups of three by heterotrimeric triplex proteins. (3) Small (∼280 amino acids) HK97-like domains in MCP monomers alternate with triplex heterotrimers to form a belt that encircles each capsomer. (4) One hundred sixty-two belts concatenate to form noncovalent chainmail. The triplex heterotrimer orchestrates all four levels and likely drives maturation to an angular capsid that can withstand pressurization

Sulfonylurea is associated with higher risks of ventricular arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death compared with metformin: A population-based cohort study

Background Commonly prescribed diabetic medications such as metformin and sulfonylurea may be associated with different arrhythmogenic risks. This study compared the risk of ventricular arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death between metformin and sulfonylurea users in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods and Results Patients aged ≥40 years who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or prescribed antidiabetic agents in Hong Kong between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2009, were included and followed up until December 31, 2019. Patients prescribed with both metformin and sulfonylurea or had prior myocardial infarction were excluded. The study outcome was a composite of ventricular arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death. Metformin users and sulfonylurea users were matched at a 1:1 ratio by propensity score matching. The matched cohort consisted of 16 596 metformin users (47.70% men; age, 68±11 years; mean follow‐up, 4.92±2.55 years) and 16 596 sulfonylurea users (49.80% men; age, 70±11 years; mean follow‐up, 4.93±2.55 years). Sulfonylurea was associated with higher risk of ventricular arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death than metformin hazard ratio (HR, 1.90 [95% CI, 1.73–2.08]). Such difference was consistently observed in subgroup analyses stratifying for insulin usage or known coronary heart disease. Conclusions Sulfonylurea use is associated with higher risk of ventricular arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death than metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes

Rapid induction of orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma in immune-competent rats by non-invasive ultrasound-guided cells implantation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The fact that prognoses remain poor in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma highlights the demand for suitable animal models to facilitate the development of anti-cancer medications. This study employed a relatively non-invasive approach to establish an orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma model in immune-competent rats. This was done by ultrasound-guided implantation of cancer cells and the model was used to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of short-term and low-dose epirubicin chemotherapy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Rat Novikoff hepatoma cells were injected percutaneously into the liver lobes of Sprague-Dawley rats under the guidance of high resolution ultrasound. The implantation rate and the correlation between dissected and ultrasound-measured tumor sizes were evaluated. A similar induction procedure was performed by means of laparotomy in a different group of rats. Pairs of tumor measurement were compared by ultrasound and computerized tomography scan. Rats with a successful establishment of the tumor were divided into the treatment (7-day low-dose epirubicin) group and the control group. The tumor sizes were non-invasively monitored by the same ultrasound machine. Blood and tumor tissues from tumor-bearing rats were examined by biochemical and histological analysis respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ultrasound-guided implantation of Novikoff hepatoma cells led to the formation of orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma in 60.4% (55/91) of the Sprague-Dawley rats. Moreover, tumor sizes measured by ultrasound significantly correlated with those measured by calipers after sacrificing the animals (<it>P </it>< 0.00001). The rate of tumor induction by ultrasound-guided implantation was comparable to that of laparotomy (55/91, 60.4% vs. 39/52, 75%) and no significant difference in sizes of tumor was noted between the two groups. There was a significant correlation in tumor size measurement by ultrasound and computerized tomography scan. In tumor-bearing rats, short-term and low-dose epirubicin chemotherapy caused a significant reduction in tumor growth, and was found to be associated with enhanced apoptosis and attenuated proliferation as well as a decrease in the microvessel density in tumors.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Ultrasound-guided implantation of Novikoff hepatoma cells is an effective means of establishing orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma in Sprague-Dawley rats. Short-term and low-dose epirubicin chemotherapy had perturbed tumor progression by inducing apoptosis and neovascularization blockade.</p

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P &lt; 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M&gt;70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0&lt;e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

A Liquidity Risk Stress-Testing Framework with Interaction between Market and Credit Risks

This study develops a stress-testing framework to assess liquidity risk of banks, where liquidity and default risks can stem from the crystallisation of market risk arising from a prolonged period of negative asset price shocks. In the framework, exogenous asset price shocks increase banks¡¯ liquidity risk through three channels. First, severe mark-to-market losses on the banks¡¯ assets increase banks¡¯ default risk and thus induce significant deposits outflows. Secondly, the ability to generate liquidity from asset sales continues to evaporate due to the shocks. Thirdly, banks are exposed to contingent liquidity risk, as the likelihood of drawdowns on their irrevocable commitments increases in such stressful financial environments. In the framework, the linkage between market and default risks of banks is implemented using a Merton-type model, while the linkage between default risk and deposit outflows is estimated econometrically. Contagion risk is also incorporated through banks¡¯ linkage in the interbank and capital markets. Using the Monte Carlo method, the framework quantifies liquidity risk of individual banks by estimating the expected cash-shortage time and the expected default time. Based on publicly available data as at the end of 2007, the framework is applied to a group of banks in Hong Kong. The simulation results suggest that liquidity risk of the banks would be contained in the face of a prolonged period of asset price shocks. However, some banks would be vulnerable when such shocks coincide with interest rate hikes due to monetary tightening. Such tightening is, however, relatively unlikely in a context of such shocks.Liquidity risk, stress testing, default risk, banks