Stock predictability and preceding stock price changes - Evidence from central and Eastern European markets

This paper extends the empirical evidence on stock returns after preceding price innovations using data from Central and Eastern European (CEE) markets. In contrast to many previous papers, we find no evidence of either overreaction effects or rational adjustments to increased risk after large preceding price movements. We do, however, see strong evidence of trends in the data with price falls(rises) of all sizes being followed by subsequent price falls(rises)

Dynamic measurements and simulations of airborne picolitre-droplet coalescence in holographic optical tweezers

We report studies of the coalescence of pairs of picolitre aerosol droplets manipulated with holographic optical tweezers, probing the shape relaxation dynamics following coalescence by simultaneously monitoring the intensity of elastic backscattered light (EBL) from the trapping laser beam (time resolution on the order of 100 ns) while recording high frame rate camera images (time resolution <10 µs). The goals of this work are to: resolve the dynamics of droplet coalescence in holographic optical traps; assign the origin of key features in the time-dependent EBL intensity; and validate the use of the EBL alone to precisely determine droplet surface tension and viscosity. For low viscosity droplets, two sequential processes are evident: binary coalescence first results from overlap of the optical traps on the timescale of microseconds followed by recapture of the composite droplet in an optical trap on the timescale of milliseconds. As droplet viscosity increases, the relaxation in droplet shape eventually occurs on the same timescale as recapture, resulting in a convoluted evolution of the EBL intensity that inhibits quantitative determination of the relaxation timescale. Droplet coalescence was simulated using a computational framework to validate both experimental approaches. The results indicate that time-dependent monitoring of droplet shape from the EBL potential of high frame rate imaging to examine the coalescence of dissimilar viscosity droplets is discussed

Staying put in an era of climate change : the geographies, legalities, and public health implications of immobility

This study was supported by the ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (Grant number: ES/W005646/1), the NERC Discipline Hopping for Environmental Solutions (Grant number: G115565 EWAG/009), and the University of Exeter Law School Director of Research Discretionary Fund. All research at the Department of Psychiatry in the University of Cambridge is supported by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR203312) and the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England.In response to the proliferation of “climate migration” discourses, researchers are exploring how climate related hazards affect immobile populations. This paper contributes to the conceptualization of “environmental immobility.” Researchers from geography, public health, psychology, and law explore the climate change immobility nexus via three themes: (1) risk; (2) (mal)adaptation; and (3) resilience, protection, and vulnerability. The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss the key concepts and rationale for scholars and policymakers who consider both “voluntary” and “involuntary” immobility when researching and responding to the effects of climate change on human movement. The need is critical, as immobility is often underacknowledged as a desirable, pro-active, and practical response to environmental change, preventing large populations from being considered and included in policy, consultation, and support processes.Peer reviewe

Session 5: Nutrition communication: The challenge of effective food risk communication

A chronology of food scares combined with a rapid, unchecked, rise in lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity highlights the need for a focus on effective food risk communication. However, food risk communication is highly complex. Many factors will affect its success, including the demeanour and conduct of the source, its transparency, interaction with the public, acknowledgement of risks and timely disclosure. How the message is developed is also important in terms of language, style and pretesting with target audiences, as is the choice of appropriate channels for reaching target audiences. Finally, there are many personal factors that may affect risk perception such as previous experience, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, personality, psychological factors and socio-demographic factors, many of which remain unexplored. While there is evidence that campaigns that communicate health risk have been associated with behaviour change in relation to major public health and safety issues in the past, it is unknown at this stage whether targeting risk information based on risk-perception segmentation can increase the effectiveness of the messages

Molecular strategies to reduce unnecessary repeat prostate biopsies of men with elevated serum PSA

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer in men. It is a heterogeneous disease and currently there are no reliable biomarkers available to stratify men for prostate biopsy (PBx) and treatment. Hence, there is a risk of over-diagnosing insignificant disease, or under-diagnosing significant disease. We aimed to evaluate FDA approved Prostate Cancer gene 3 (PCA3, FDA approved) and N6-methyladenosine (m6A) for diagnostic properties. PCA3 is a long non-coding RNA (ncRNA) that is unstable, has an unclear biological role and is expensive to chemically treat to prevent degradation prior to analysis. Furthermore, the biological role of this RNA is unclear. Long ncRNAs are degraded into shorter forms, we explored whether this was the fatecase for PCA3. We identified a short segment of RNA within intron 1 of PCA3 bioinformatically which we termed PCA3 short RNA2 (PCA3-shRNA2). The and showed that PCA3-shRNA2 expression of this short RNA correlated to that of PCA3 in PCa cell lines, urinary samples and PBx tissue. PCA3-shRNA2 was overexpressed in urinary samples obtained from men with PCa compared to BPH, was regulated by testosterone and had a diagnostic accuracy similar to that of PCA3. We identified oncogenic mRNA targets of PCA3-shRNA2 and that are involved in oncogenesis and found that COPS2 was underexpressed in cancerous urinary samples. There are over a hundred RNA modifications described and methylation of N6-adenosine base is the most common methylated site. m6A is reversible and may be, involved in oncogenesis. and has recently been mapped throughout the transcriptome. We profiled m6A in PCa cell lines by immunoprecipitation and RNA sequencing, and found interesting oncogenic RNAs (e.g. PARG,) that were differentially expressed in LNCaP-LN3 cells. We identified a novel RNA within PCA3 that is stable, easy to measure, overexpressed in PCa samples and appeared to target oncogenic mRNAs. We profiled m6A in PCa cell lines and have identified important N6-adenosine methylated RNAs associated with PCa development. In conclusion PCA3-shRNA2 and m6A have evolving roles in cancer and may function well as biomarkers