Unleashing the pandemic volatility::A glimpse into the stock market performance of developed economies during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant financial losses globally, increasing the volatility of financial assets. Thus, this study models the stock market volatility of developed economies during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, we used the GJR-GARCH (Albulescu, 2020; Albulescu, 2020) [1,1] econometric model on the daily time series returns data ranging from 01st-July-2019 to 18th-November-2020. The entire dataset was equally divided into two subsets; before COVID-19, and after the COVID-19. The empirical results of this study showed the presence of volatility clustering, leverage effect, and excess kurtosis indicating leptokurtic phenomena in all stock indices returns. In addition to this, it can be noted that compared to before COVID-19, the stock markets showed negative returns, and increased volatility during the COVID-19. Hence, based on these findings, this study provides significant insights for global stock market investors and economic policymakers regarding financial portfolio construction particularly during crises times

Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Tranexamic acid reduces surgical bleeding and reduces death due to bleeding in patients with trauma. Meta-analyses of small trials show that tranexamic acid might decrease deaths from gastrointestinal bleeding. We aimed to assess the effects of tranexamic acid in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding. Methods: We did an international, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 164 hospitals in 15 countries. Patients were enrolled if the responsible clinician was uncertain whether to use tranexamic acid, were aged above the minimum age considered an adult in their country (either aged 16 years and older or aged 18 years and older), and had significant (defined as at risk of bleeding to death) upper or lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients were randomly assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Patients received either a loading dose of 1 g tranexamic acid, which was added to 100 mL infusion bag of 0·9% sodium chloride and infused by slow intravenous injection over 10 min, followed by a maintenance dose of 3 g tranexamic acid added to 1 L of any isotonic intravenous solution and infused at 125 mg/h for 24 h, or placebo (sodium chloride 0·9%). Patients, caregivers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. The primary outcome was death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation; analysis excluded patients who received neither dose of the allocated treatment and those for whom outcome data on death were unavailable. This trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN11225767, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01658124. Findings: Between July 4, 2013, and June 21, 2019, we randomly allocated 12 009 patients to receive tranexamic acid (5994, 49·9%) or matching placebo (6015, 50·1%), of whom 11 952 (99·5%) received the first dose of the allocated treatment. Death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation occurred in 222 (4%) of 5956 patients in the tranexamic acid group and in 226 (4%) of 5981 patients in the placebo group (risk ratio [RR] 0·99, 95% CI 0·82–1·18). Arterial thromboembolic events (myocardial infarction or stroke) were similar in the tranexamic acid group and placebo group (42 [0·7%] of 5952 vs 46 [0·8%] of 5977; 0·92; 0·60 to 1·39). Venous thromboembolic events (deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism) were higher in tranexamic acid group than in the placebo group (48 [0·8%] of 5952 vs 26 [0·4%] of 5977; RR 1·85; 95% CI 1·15 to 2·98). Interpretation: We found that tranexamic acid did not reduce death from gastrointestinal bleeding. On the basis of our results, tranexamic acid should not be used for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding outside the context of a randomised trial

MYCOFLORA ASSOCIATED WITH LENTIL (LENS ESCULENTA MOENCH) SEEDS FROM FIVE LOCALITIES OF PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Abstract Twenty five samples of lentil (Lens esculenta Moench) seed collected from the markets of Faisalabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Jampur and Rojhan were analyzed for externally and internally seed-borne fungi. The infestation of untreated seed samples varied from 43.3 to 51.4% with an average of 46.96%, while the seeds treated with 2% Mercuric chloride solution showed the infestation from 18.0 to 22.4% with an average of 20.4% on blotter paper. On PDA the infestation of untreated seed samples were from 48.2 to 58.8% with an average of 52.52%, while the seeds treated with 2% Mercuric chloride solution, showed an infestation of 18.8 to 23.6% with an average of 20.87%.The fungi isolated from treated seeds were Fusarium moniliforme, Alternaria alternata, Mucor hiemalis, Chaetomium spp., Penicillium citrinum, Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A .terreus and Nigrospora spp., F. moniliforme, A. alternata, M. hiemalis, Chaetomium spp., and A. niger were common in all samples while P. citrinum, A. flavus, A. terreus and Nigrospora spp., were only isolated from untreated seed

The Role of Ga-68-DOTATATE PET in Patients with Neuroendocrine Tumors and Negative or Equivocal Findings on In-111-DTPA-Octreotide Scintigraphy

tigraphy is currently the nuclear medicine imaging modality of choice for identifying neuroendocrine tumors. However, there are cohorts of patients in whom scintigraphy findings are negative or equivocal. We evaluated the role of 68Ga-DOTATATE PET in a selected group of patients with negative or weakly positive find-ings on 111In-DTPA-octreotide scintigraphy to determine whether 68Ga-DOTATATE PET is able to detect additional disease and, if so, whether patient management is altered. Methods: Fifty-one patients with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of neuroendo-crine tumors were included. Of the 51 patients, 35 who were neg-ative and 16 equivocal for uptake on 111In-DTPA-octreotide scintigraphy underwent 68Ga-DOTATATE PET. Findings were compared using a region-by-region analysis. All findings were ver-ified with CT or MRI. After 68Ga-DOTATATE PET, all cases were reviewed to determine whether the 68Ga-DOTATATEPET finding

Unleashing the pandemic volatility: A glimpse into the stock market performance of developed economies during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant financial losses globally, increasing the volatility of financial assets. Thus, this study models the stock market volatility of developed economies during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, we used the GJR-GARCH (Albulescu, 2020; Albulescu, 2020) [1,1] econometric model on the daily time series returns data ranging from 01st-July-2019 to 18th-November-2020. The entire dataset was equally divided into two subsets; before COVID-19, and after the COVID-19. The empirical results of this study showed the presence of volatility clustering, leverage effect, and excess kurtosis indicating leptokurtic phenomena in all stock indices returns. In addition to this, it can be noted that compared to before COVID-19, the stock markets showed negative returns, and increased volatility during the COVID-19. Hence, based on these findings, this study provides significant insights for global stock market investors and economic policymakers regarding financial portfolio construction particularly during crises times

What is the natural history of ¹⁸F-FDG uptake in arterial atheroma on PET/CT? Implications for imaging the vulnerable plaque

Purpose - Increased uptake of ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) in atherosclerotic plaque on Positron Emission Tomography (PET), predicts vulnerability. Recent studies have shown that the PET signal is reproducible over a 2-week period and as a result drug trials are underway. However, the natural history of these lesions is unknown. The aim of this study is determine the natural history of increased vascular wall uptake of ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG). Methods - Following institutional ethics committee approval, we retrospectively examined PET/CT images of patients from our Institution that had at least 4 examinations in the last 5 years. This represented 205 studies in total, from 50 patients (29 men, 21 women, mean age 49.4 ± 12.1 years, mean 5.1 ± 1.7 studies/patient). The mean follow-up was 27.2 ± 11.8 months. The carotids and the aorta were evaluated for increased 18F-FDG uptake with a maximum Standardized Uptake Value (SUVmax) >2.5, and >3.0, and calcification. Plots of SUVmax and Hounsfield units (HU) were made versus time. Results - The initial prevalence of increased focal arterial ¹⁸F-FDG uptake was 17/50 patients and of arterial calcification 19/50. 132 sites of ¹⁸F-FDG uptake in total were observed longitudinally. ¹⁸F-FDG vascular uptake did not persist with time. There was no correlation between ¹⁸F-FDG uptake and HU. No calcifications developed at sites of focal increased ¹⁸F-FDG uptake. Conclusions - Arterial lesions with increased ¹⁸F-FDG uptake represent transient phenomena. This data is important for the interpretation of findings of clinical trials using arterial ¹⁸F-FDG uptake as an imaging biomarker to monitor pharmacological intervention.5 page(s