The Effect of Firm's Age, Size and Growth on Its Profitability: Evidence from Jordan

This study aims at testing the effect firm's age, size and growth on its profitability based on the financial data of (22) Jordanian insurance firms that are registered in  the Amman Security Exchange (ASE)  during the period (2008-2017). They represent 95.2 % of insurance firms. The study relied on secondary data of insurance firms that have been published on their website and on  ASE website In the study, the mean, standard deviations were used to describe the characteristics of the variables. Simple regression analysis was used to test the study's hypotheses. Simple. the skewness test of all variable is used to know if they have a normal distribution.The study shows that there is an insignificant effect of the insurance firm's age, size, and growth on its profitability.  It recommends financial managers to analyze the relationship between a firm's age, size, growth, and profitability before making any decision in the fields of expanding business, renewing assets, manufacturing high-quality products and appointing new employers. In a recession period, managers should not adopt a strategy to achieve high growth in the short run, they should also reduce the size of the firm's operations. These procedures are important for these firms to maintain a balance between growth and profitability. Keywords: Firm's Age, Firm's Size, Firm's Growth, and firm's Profitability. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-5-10 Publication date: February 29th 202

Familial Retinoblastoma: Raised Awareness Improves Early Diagnosis and Outcome

Purpose. To study the impact of awareness of retinoblastoma in the affected families on the management and outcome of familial retinoblastoma patients. Methods and Materials. This is a retrospective, clinical case series of 44 patients with familial retinoblastoma. Collected data included patient’s demographics, laterality, family history, age at diagnosis, presenting signs, treatment modalities, tumor stage, eye salvage rate, metastasis, and mortality. Results. Out of 200 retinoblastoma patients in our registry, 44 (22%) patients were familial, 18 were probands, and 26 were second, third, or fourth affected family members. There were 76 affected eyes: 31 eyes of probands and 45 eyes of the other affected family members. Among probands, all patients (100%) had at least one eye enucleated: 58% (18 eyes) of the affected eyes were enucleated and 32% (10 eyes) of the affected eyes were radiated. On the other hand, among the nonprobands, only 20% had one eye enucleated, and only 4 eyes (9%) received radiation. The eye salvage rate was significantly higher in the nonprobands than in the probands in this series (p=0.00206). Patients diagnosed by screening (38%) had excellent visual outcome, and both eyes were salvaged. Conclusion. Awareness of families of the possibility of retinoblastoma and adequate screening led to a significantly higher rate of eye salvage in patients with familial retinoblastoma

Scleromalacia perforans as the presenting sign for rheumatoid arthritis — a case report

Scleromalacia perforans is a rare but well-recognised extra-articular complication of rheumatoid arthritis. It is diagnosedusually late in the course of the disease. In this paper we present a case of scleromalacia perforans in which the patient was not diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis previously; the elderly female presented with bilateral foreign body sensation and was found to have scleromalacia perforans, which was treated medically with a bolus dose of steroids followed by combined oral steroids and methotrexate, from which she developed the devastating side effect of thrombocytopaenia. The patient was planned for surgical therapy for the scleromalacia, but unfortunately she passed away during the follow-up

Causes of death and survival analysis for patients with retinoblastoma in Jordan

PurposeTo analyze causes and prognostic factors for death among Retinoblastoma (Rb) patients treated at a single specialized tertiary cancer center in Jordan.MethodsWe reviewed the mortality causes for all Rb patients who have been treated at the King Hussein Cancer Center between 2003 and 2019 and were followed for at least 3 years after diagnosis. The main outcome measures included demographics, laterality, tumor stage, treatment modalities, metastasis, survival, and causes of death.ResultsTwenty-four (5%) of the 478 patients died from retinoblastoma and 5-year survival was 94%. The mean age at diagnosis was 15 months (median, 18 months; range, 4–38 months); eight (33%) received diagnoses within the first year of life. Eleven (46%) were boys, 16 (67%) had bilateral disease, and 3 (13%) had a positive family history. The stage for the worst eye was C for 1 (4%) patient, D in 6 (25%) patients, and E (T3) in 15 (63%) patients. Two patients had extraocular Rb at diagnosis, and four of the patients who had intraocular Rb at diagnosis refused treatment and then came back with extraocular Rb. In total, extraocular disease was encountered in six eyes (six patients). After a 120-month median follow-up period, 24 patients (5%) died of second neoplasms (n = 3) or metastases (n = 21). Significant predictive factors for metastasis and death included advanced IIRC tumor stage (p < 0.0001), the presence of high-risk pathological features in the enucleated eyes (p = 0.013), parental refusal of the recommended primary treatment plan (p < 0.0001), and extraocular extension (p < 0.0001).ConclusionThe 5-year survival rates of Rb patients in Jordan are as high as those in high-income countries. However, 5% are still dying from metastatic disease, prompting the need for awareness campaigns to educate the public about the high cure rates and to prevent treatment abandonment

The relationship between Financial Flexibility, Investment Ability, CashFlows, and Sales Growth: Evidence from Jordan

The study aims at testing the relationships between financial flexibility, investment activities, cash flows and sales growth in 41 Jordanian industrial companies registered in the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). The financial statements of these companies were obtained from their published financial statements, covering the period during (2010-2019). In the study descriptive statistics was used to describe the data, and correlation and regression tests to verify the hypotheses of the study. The research shows that there are a negative and statistically significant relationshipsbetween financial flexibility, investment, cash flows and sales growth. The study recommends financial managers to analyze the relationships between financial flexibility, the ability to invest, cash flows, sales growth, and the ability to borrow in owning more new assets to contribute to increasing sales growth, and thus profitability growth, which will be reflected in increasing job opportunities and reducing unemployment

Resistant retinoblastoma in a 23-year-old patient

Retinoblastoma is a very rare disease in adults. We are reporting a rare case of resistant retinoblastoma in 23-year-old patient. A 23-year-old male patient presented with loss of vision in the right eye over one-month duration. Examination showed an epiretinal membrane in the right macula in addition to a white mass located inferiorly and associated with vitreous seeds. The diagnosis of retinoblastoma was established. In order to save the patient′s life and to preserve the eye and vision, he was treated with chemotherapy, focal therapy, and radioactive Iodine 125 plaque therapy. The tumor was resistant for treatment and recurred two years after plaque therapy, and enucleation showed well-differentiated retinoblastoma. Retinoblastoma may present in adults, and it was resistant to both chemotherapy and plaque radiation therapy in our case

Management outcome(s) in eyes with retinoblastoma previously inadequately treated with systemic chemotherapy alone without focal therapy

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the outcome of management in eyes with intraocular retinoblastoma (RB) that had received inadequate initial therapy (chemotherapy without focal therapy) before eventually receiving necessary consolidation therapy at a tertiary referral center. METHODS: A retrospective observational case series of 30 eyes from 26 RB patients who had initially received systemic chemotherapy as a sole therapy. The main outcome measures were demographics, laterality, International Classification of RB (ICRB), treatments, tumor control, and survival. RESULTS: The median age at diagnosis was 24 months and the median delay between time at diagnosis and time at referral to a tertiary center that has adequate focal therapy for RB was 9.5 months (range 5–20 months). Sixteen (62%) patients were monocular from enucleation of the contralateral eye. Features of ICRB Group A tumors were seen in 3 (10%) eyes, Group B in 7 (23%) eyes, Group C in 2 (7%) eyes, Group D in 16 (53%) eyes, and Group E in 2 (7%) eyes. Eighteen (69%) patients required more systemic chemotherapy (median, 4.4 cycles; range, 2–8 cycles), and 8 (26%) eyes received local chemotherapy (subtenon, intravitreal, or intra-arterial). All treated eyes received consolidation therapy as transpupillary thermotherapy and/or cryotherapy. Radioactive plaque therapy was used in 1 (3%) eye and external beam radiation therapy in 3 (10%) eyes. At a mean follow-up of 13 months (median, 11.5 months; range, 9–27 months), enucleation was avoided in 25 (83%) eyes. Two (7%) eyes were enucleated initially, and 3 (10%) were enucleated after failure of additional therapy. Twenty-three (77%) eyes did not show any viable tumor after a median of 11.5 months of follow-up after the last treatment, and 2 (7%) eyes still have residual tumor recurrences that need more consolidation focal therapy. CONCLUSION: Chemotherapy alone cannot eradicate RB cells in effected eyes without combination with consolidation therapy by a multidisciplinary team to salvage the affected eye as well as its vision. Nonetheless, chemotherapy can be initiated (to keep the tumor at a less invasive stage) for patients from centers or countries where combination therapy is not available until they gain access to adequate management of RB