The price of rapid exit in venture capital-backed IPOs

This paper proposes an explanation for two empirical puzzles surrounding initial public offerings (IPOs). Firstly, it is well documented that IPO underpricing increases during “hot issue” periods. Secondly, venture capital (VC) backed IPOs are less underpriced than non-venture capital backed IPOs during normal periods of activity, but the reverse is true during hot issue periods: VC backed IPOs are more underpriced than non-VC backed ones. This paper shows that when IPOs are driven by the initial investor’s desire to exit from an existing investment in order to finance a new venture, both the value of the new venture and the value of the existing firm to be sold in the IPO drive the investor’s choice of price and fraction of shares sold in the IPO. When this is the case, the availability of attractive new ventures increases equilibrium underpricing, which is what we observe during hot issue periods. Moreover, I show that underpricing is affected by the severity of the moral hazard problem between an investor and the firm’s manager. In the presence of a moral hazard problem the degree of equilibrium underpricing is more sensitive to changes in the value of the new venture. This can explain why venture capitalists, who often finance firms with more severe moral hazard problems, underprice IPOs less in normal periods, but underprice more strongly during hot issue periods. Further empirical implications relating the fraction of shares sold and the degree of underpricing are presented

Steady state vascular imaging with extracellular gadobutrol: evaluation of the additional diagnostic benefit in patients who have undergone a peripheral magnetic resonance angiography protocol

Background: To evaluate the feasibility and additional diagnostic benefit of a high-resolution steady state 3D-volume interpolated breath-hold exam (VIBE) sequence between a continuous table movement (CTM) MR angiography of the entire runoff vasculature and a time-resolved (TWIST) MRA of the calves. Methods: In this retrospective IRB approved study 224 patients (72 women, 152 men, mean age 67.29 ± 13.9) were included who had undergone a low-dose MR angiographic protocol at 3T (Siemens TimTrio) after injection of 0.1 mmol/kg gadobutrol including a CTM MRA, a time-resolved MRA of the calf station and a steady state 3D VIBE sequence prior to the time-resolved MRA. One board-certified radiologist rated the image quality of the steady state VIBE sequences on an ordinal three point scale (excellent, good, poor) and analyzed the images for additional diagnostic findings of and beyond the vascular system in comparison to the CTM MRA and the time-resolved MRA. Descriptive statistics and demographic patient data were used for further evaluation. Results: The image quality of the steady state imaging of the pelvis, upper and lower leg was excellent in up to 88%, 84% and 47%, respectively, while poor image quality was only detected in the upper (2%) and lower leg (6%). An additional diagnostic benefit was found in 44% of the patients overall. The most common relevant pathologies included inflammatory processes of the soft tissues (26%), thrombi (14%), abscesses (13%) and tumors (11%). In subgroups of patients above the age of 60, 65, 70, 75 and 80 years an additional pathology was found in 50% 33%, 44%, 65% and 58%, respectively. There was no significant difference in terms of additional findings between men and women (46% and 39%, p > 0.05) and inpatients and outpatients (42% and 45%, p > 0.05). Conclusion: Steady state imaging is also feasible with extracellular contrast agents with good image quality yielding additional diagnostic findings in up to 44% and above in patients older than 60 years of age irrespective of gender or patient status. Given the short acquisition time of 4 minutes this sequence could be added to all peripheral MRA exams

Credibility and adjustment: gold standards versus currency boards

It is often maintained that currency boards (CBs) and gold standards (GSs) are alike in that they are stringent monetary rules, the two basic features of which are high credibility of monetary authorities and the existence of automatic adjustment (non discretionary) mechanism. This article includes a comparative analysis of these two types of regimes both from the perspective of the sources and mechanisms of generating confidence and credibility, and the elements of operation of the automatic adjustment mechanism. Confidence under the GS is endogenously driven, whereas it is exogenously determined under the CB. CB is a much more asymmetric regime than GS (the adjustment is much to the detriment of peripheral countries) although asymmetry is a typical feature of any monetary regime. The lack of credibility is typical for peripheral countries and cannot be overcome completely even by “hard” monetary regimes.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40078/3/wp692.pd

Orbital period changes and the higher-order multiplicity fraction amongst SuperWASP eclipsing binaries

Orbital period changes of binary stars may be caused by the presence of a third massive body in the system. Here we have searched the archive of the Wide Angle Search for Planets (SuperWASP) project for evidence of period variations in 13 927 eclipsing binary candidates. Sinusoidal period changes, strongly suggestive of third bodies, were detected in 2% of cases; however, linear period changes were observed in a further 22% of systems. We argue on distributional grounds that the majority of these apparently linear changes are likely to reflect longer-term sinusoidal period variations caused by third bodies, and thus estimate a higher-order multiplicity fraction of 24% for SuperWASP binaries, in good agreement with other recent figures for the fraction of triple systems amongst binary stars in general

Epicardial adipose tissue in patients with heart failure

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Purpose</p> <p>The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) and its relationship with left ventricular (LV) parameters assessed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and healthy controls.</p> <p>Background</p> <p>EAT is the true visceral fat deposited around the heart which generates various bioactive molecules. Previous studies found that EAT is related to left ventricular mass (LVM) in healthy subjects. Further studies showed a constant EAT to myocardial mass ratio in normal, ischemic and hypertrophied hearts.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>CMR was performed in 66 patients with CHF due to ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM), or dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and 32 healthy controls. Ventricular volumes, dimensions and LV function were assessed. The amount of EAT was determined volumetrically and expressed as mass indexed to body surface area. Additionally, the EAT/LVM and the EAT/left ventricular remodelling index (LVRI) ratios were calculated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patients with CHF had less indexed EAT mass than controls (22 ± 5 g/m²versus 34 ± 4 g/m², p < 0.0001). In the subgroup analysis there were no significant differences in indexed EAT mass between patients with ICM and DCM (21 ± 4 g/m²versus 23 ± 6 g/m², p = 0.14). Linear regression analysis showed that with increasing LV end-diastolic diameter (LV-EDD) (r = 0.42, p = 0.0004) and LV end-diastolic mass (LV-EDM) (r = 0.59, p < 0.0001), there was a significantly increased amount of EAT in patients with CHF. However, the ratio of EAT mass/LV-EDM was significantly reduced in patients with CHF compared to healthy controls (0.54 ± 0.1 versus 0.21 ± 0.1, p < 0.0001). In CHF patients higher indexed EAT/LVRI-ratios in CHF patients correlated best with a reduced LV-EF (r = 0.49, p < 0.0001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Patients with CHF revealed significantly reduced amounts of EAT. An increase in LVM is significantly related to an increase in EAT in both patients with CHF and controls. However, different from previous reports the EAT/LVEDM-ratio in patients with CHF was significantly reduced compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, the LV function correlated best with the indexed EAT/LVRI ratio in CHF patients. Metabolic abnormalities and/or anatomic alterations due to disturbed cardiac function and geometry seem to play a key role and are a possible explanation for these findings.</p