Who cares when Value (Mis)reporting May Be Found Out? An Acquiring-a-Company Experiment with Value Messages and Information Leaks

We modify the Acquiring-a-Company game to study how information leaks affect lying and market outcomes in an ultimatum bargaining setting with asymmetric information. Privately informed sellers send messages about the alleged value of their company to potential buyers. Via random leaks buyers, however, can learn the true value before proposing a price which the seller finally accepts or not. Only 14.5% of the messages are truthful, whereas two-thirds of all sellers exaggerate the company’s value to persuade buyers to offer more, especially when the true value is small. Although a higher leak probability does not reduce the frequency of misreporting, it weakens overreporting and strengthens underreporting. Buyers who found out value misreporting anchor their price proposals on the true value but do not explicitly discriminate against liars. Sellers are mainly opportunistic and make their acceptances dependent on the resulting positive payoff. Even if ethical concerns do not seem to matter much, probabilistic leaks are welfare enhancing

Telling the other what one knows? Strategic lying in a modified acquiring-a-company experiment with two-sided private information

Lying for a strategic advantage is to be expected in commercial interactions. But would this be more or less obvious when lying could come from either party and question mutually profitable exchange? To explore this, we modify the acquiring-a-company game (Samuelson and Bazerman in Res Exp Econ 3:105–138, 1985) by letting both, buyer and seller, be privately informed. Specifically, the value of the company for the buyer is known only by the seller; whereas, only the buyer is aware by which proportion the sellers evaluation is lower than that of the buyer. Before bargaining, both parties can reveal what they know via cheap-talk numerical messages. Game theoretically, the pooling equilibrium may or may not allow for trade depending on the commonly known expected evaluation discrepancy. By mutually revealing what one knows, one could boost trade and efficiency. Although strategic misreporting prevails quite generally, it is higher for sellers throughout the experiment. Regarding gender, women misreport less, especially as sellers, and offer higher prices

Psychotropic drug purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy and their relationship with mobility restrictions

Recent literature on the mental health consequences of social distancing measures has found a substantial increase in self-reported sleep disorders, anxiety and depressive symptoms during lockdown periods. We investigate this issue with data on monthly purchases of psychotropic drugs from the universe of Italian pharmacies during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and find that purchases of mental health-related drugs have increased with respect to 2019. However, the excess volumes do not match the massive increase in anxiety and depressive disorders found in survey-based studies. We also study the interplay between mobility, measured with anonymized mobile phone data, and mental health and report no significant effect of mobility restrictions on antidepressants and anxiolytics purchases during 2020. We provide three potential mechanisms that could drive the discrepancy between self-reported mental health surveys and psychotropic drugs prescription registries: (1) stockpiling practices in the early phases of the pandemic; (2) the adoption of compensatory behavior and (3) unexpressed and unmet needs due to both demand- and supply-side shortages in healthcare services

Behavioral spillovers in local public good provision: an experimental study

In a circular neighborhood, each member has a left and a right neighbor with whom(s) he interacts repeatedly. From their two separate endowment amounts individuals can contribute to each of their two structurally independent public goods, either shared only with their left, respectively right, neighbor. If most group members are discrimination averse and conditionally cooperating with their neighbors, this implies intra- as well as inter personal spillovers which link all neighbors. Investigating individual adaptations in one’s two games with differing freeriding incentives confirms, through behavioral spillovers, that both individual contributions anchor on the local public good with the smaller free-riding incentive. Therefore asymmetry in gaining from local public goods allows to establish a higher level of voluntary cooperation

The effects of gender on electrical therapies for the heart: procedural considerations, results and complications: A report from the XII Congress of the Italian Association on Arrhythmology and Cardiostimulation (AIAC)

Use of cardiac implantable devices and catheter ablation is steadily increasing in Western countries following the positive results of clinical trials. Despite the advances in scientific knowledge, tools development, and techniques improvement we still have some grey area in the field of electrical therapies for the heart. In particular, several reports highlighted differences both in medical behaviour and procedural outcomes between female and male candidates. Women are referred later for catheter ablation of supraventricular arrhythmias, especially atrial fibrillation, leading to suboptimal results. On the opposite females present greater response to cardiac resynchronization, while the benefit of implantable defibrillator in primary prevention seems to be less pronounced. Differences on aetiology, clinical profile, and development of myocardial scarring are the more plausible causes. This review will discuss all these aspects together with gender-related differences in terms of acute/late complications. We will also provide useful hints on plausible mechanisms and practical procedural aspects

AIRO Breast Cancer Group Best Clinical Practice 2022 Update

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common tumor in women and represents the leading cause of cancer death. Radiation therapy plays a key-role in the treatment of all breast cancer stages. Therefore, the adoption of evidence-based treatments is warranted, to ensure equity of access and standardization of care in clinical practice.Method: This national document on the highest evidence-based available data was developed and endorsed by the Italian Association of Radiation and Clinical Oncology (AIRO) Breast Cancer Group.We analyzed literature data regarding breast radiation therapy, using the SIGN (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network) methodology (www.sign.ac.uk). Updated findings from the literature were examined, including the highest levels of evidence (meta-analyses, randomized trials, and international guidelines) with a significant impact on clinical practice. The document deals with the role of radiation therapy in the treatment of primary breast cancer, local relapse, and metastatic disease, with focus on diagnosis, staging, local and systemic therapies, and follow up. Information is given on indications, techniques, total doses, and fractionations.Results: An extensive literature review from 2013 to 2021 was performed. The work was organized according to a general index of different topics and most chapters included individual questions and, when possible, synoptic and summary tables. Indications for radiation therapy in breast cancer were examined and integrated with other oncological treatments. A total of 50 questions were analyzed and answered.Four large areas of interest were investigated: (1) general strategy (multidisciplinary approach, contraindications, preliminary assessments, staging and management of patients with electronic devices); (2) systemic therapy (primary, adjuvant, in metastatic setting); (3) clinical aspects (invasive, non-invasive and micro-invasive carcinoma; particular situations such as young and elderly patients, breast cancer in males and cancer during pregnancy; follow up with possible acute and late toxicities; loco-regional relapse and metastatic disease); (4) technical aspects (radiation after conservative surgery or mastectomy, indications for boost, lymph node radiotherapy and partial breast irradiation).Appendixes about tumor bed boost and breast and lymph nodes contouring were implemented, including a dedicated web application. The scientific work was reviewed and validated by an expert group of breast cancer key-opinion leaders.Conclusions: Optimal breast cancer management requires a multidisciplinary approach sharing therapeutic strategies with the other involved specialists and the patient, within a coordinated and dedicated clinical path. In recent years, the high-level quality radiation therapy has shown a significant impact on local control and survival of breast cancer patients. Therefore, it is necessary to offer and guarantee accurate treatments according to the best standards of evidence-based medicine

LongITools:Dynamic longitudinal exposome trajectories in cardiovascular and metabolic noncommunicable diseases

The current epidemics of cardiovascular and metabolic noncommunicable diseases have emerged alongside dramatic modifications in lifestyle and living environments. These correspond to changes in our "modern" postwar societies globally characterized by rural-to-urban migration, modernization of agricultural practices, and transportation, climate change, and aging. Evidence suggests that these changes are related to each other, although the social and biological mechanisms as well as their interactions have yet to be uncovered. LongITools, as one of the 9 projects included in the European Human Exposome Network, will tackle this environmental health equation linking multidimensional environmental exposures to the occurrence of cardiovascular and metabolic noncommunicable diseases

LongITools: Dynamic longitudinal exposome trajectories in cardiovascular and metabolic noncommunicable diseases

The current epidemics of cardiovascular and metabolic noncommunicable diseases have emerged alongside dramatic modifications in lifestyle and living environments. These correspond to changes in our “modern” postwar societies globally characterized by rural-to-urban migration, modernization of agricultural practices, and transportation, climate change, and aging. Evidence suggests that these changes are related to each other, although the social and biological mechanisms as well as their interactions have yet to be uncovered. LongITools, as one of the 9 projects included in the European Human Exposome Network, will tackle this environmental health equation linking multidimensional environmental exposures to the occurrence of cardiovascular and metabolic noncommunicable diseases.</p