Does Function Follow Organizational Form? Evidence From the Lending Practices of Large and Small Banks

Theories based on incomplete contracting suggest that small organizations may do better than large organizations in activities that require the processing of soft information. We explore this idea in the context of bank lending to small firms, an activity that is typically thought of as relying heavily on soft information. We find that large banks are less willing than small banks to lend to informationally 'difficult' credits, such as firms that do not keep formal financial records. Moreover, controlling for the endogeneity of bank-firm matching, large banks lend at a greater distance, interact more impersonally with their borrowers, have shorter and less exclusive relationships, and do not alleviate credit constraints as effectively. All of this is consistent with small banks being better able to collect and act on soft information than large banks.

Does Function Follow Organzizational Form? Evidence From the Lending Practices of Large and Small Banks

Theories based on incomplete contracting suggest that small organizations may do better than large organizations in activities that require the processing of soft information. We explore this idea in the context of bank lending to small firms, an activity that is typically thought of as relying heavily on soft information. We find that large banks are less willing than small banks to lend to informationally “difficult†credits, such as firms that do not keep formal financial records. Moreover, controlling for the endogeneity of bank-firm matching, large banks lend at a greater distance, interact more impersonally with their borrowers, have shorter and less exclusive relationships, and do not alleviate credit constraints as effectively. All of this is consistent with small banks being better able to collect and act on soft information than large banks. The opinions in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Reserve Board or its staff. This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation (Rajan, Stein), and the George J. Stigler Center for Study of the State and Economy (Rajan). Thanks also to seminar participants at Yale, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Tulane, Babson, the University of Illinois, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Bank Structure Conference, the NBER and the Western Finance Association meetings, as well as to Abhijit Banerjee, Michael Kremer, David Scharfstein, Andrei Shleifer, Greg Udell, Christopher Udry and James Weston for helpful comments and suggestions.

AN OUTLOOK ON THE MECHANISMS OF DRUG INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER DRUGS, FRUITS, HERBS AND THEIR PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Drugs taken by a person are affected by a number of ways. A number of interactions are known to affect the drugs, change its efficacy or result intoxicity. Habits of a common person could also cause such interactions. Most of the people have habits of smoking, consumption of alcohol and takingdietary supplements without the advice of their physicians. Some drug interactions such as those between drug-herbs and drug-citrus fruit wouldbring us shock; even small fruit could sometimes bring adverse drug reactions to occur in our body. Due to drug interactions, there would sometimesbe an increase or decrease in the efficacy of a drug. Being a pharmacist, it would be their ultimate role to check at a person's hygienic record, lookingand gathering information of the past recorded drugs, dietary supplements, hereditary diseases, etc. They would have to gather information aboutthe recently releasing drugs and know complete information on the reactions which occur on their administration. Knowledge to people about herbaland food-drug interactions is very less. They take them to be natural and do not care about its consequences. However, this interaction depends on theamount and the potency of pharmacologically active ingredient present in the compounds. These herbal drugs are known to contain a varying numberof phytochemicals which may cause a change to the transporters, enzymatic systems, causing failure of the therapeutic effect of the drug interactions.The elimination of some particular drugs is also affected due to these interactions. As a result of this interaction, a number of drugs which had takenbirth had quickly been removed from the US markets. Thus, the ways for a person to avoid these interactions can only be the above mentionedadvices given by the health practitioners, not to administer drugs by self-medication methods, taking a note of all the additional supplements takenby a patient to his physician, so that there is a clear picture about the interactions at their initial stage. (1) There are various drug interactions with anumber of factors. (2) Unless there is clear knowledge about the pathway of drug elimination, drug interaction stands to be very difficult to be avoided.Keywords: Drug-food interactions, Pharmacokinetic, Pharmacodynamic, Drug-drug interactions.Â

The art of the possible? Supporting a patient safety culture in mental healthcare to maximise safety

Purpose The current national patient safety strategy for the National Health Service (NHS) in England states that actions need to be taken to support the development of a patient safety culture. This includes that local systems should seek to understand staff perceptions of the fairness and effectiveness of serious incident management. This study aims to explore the perspectives of patient safety professionals about what works well and what could be done better to support a patient safety culture at the level of Trust strategy and serious incident governance. Approach A total of 15 professionals with a role in serious incident management, from five mental health Trusts in England, were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide.  Thematic analysis and qualitative description was used to analyse the data. Findings Participants felt that actions to support a patient safety culture were challenging and required long-term and clinical commitment. Broadening the scope of serious incident investigations was felt to be one way to better understand patient safety culture issues. Organisational influences during the serious incident management process were highlighted, informing approaches to maximise the fairness and objectivity of investigation findings. Originality The findings of this study offer original insights that the NHS safety system can use to facilitate progression of the patient safety culture agenda. In particular, local mental health Trusts could consider the findings in the context of their current strategic objectives related to patient safety culture and operational delivery of serious incident management frameworks

One size doesn’t always fit all:professional perspectives of serious incident management systems in mental healthcare

PurposeThe need to develop effective approaches for responding to healthcare incidents for the purpose of learning and improving patient safety has been recognised in current national policy. However, research into this topic is limited. This study aims to explore the perspectives of professionals in mental health trusts in England about what works well and what could be done better when implementing serious incident management systems.Design/methodology/approachThis was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. In total, 15 participants were recruited, comprising patient safety managers, serious incident investigators and executive directors, from five mental health trusts in England. The interview data were analysed using a qualitative-descriptive approach to develop meaningful themes. Quotes were selected and presented based on their representation of the data.FindingsParticipants were dissatisfied with current systems to manage serious incidents, including the root cause analysis approach, which they felt were not adequate for assisting learning and improvement. They described concerns about the capability of serious incident investigators, which was felt to impact on the quality of investigations. Processes to support people adversely affected by serious incidents were felt to be an important part of incident management systems to maximise the learning impact of investigations.Originality/valueFindings of this study provide translatable implications for mental health trusts and policymakers, informed by insights into how current approaches for learning from healthcare incidents can be transformed. Further research will build a more comprehensive understanding of mechanisms for responding to healthcare incidents

Distress call-induced gene expression in the brain of the Indian short-nosed fruit bat, Cynopterus sphinx

Individuals in distress emit audible vocalizations to either warn or inform conspecifics. The Indian short-nosed fruit bat, Cynopterus sphinx, emits distress calls soon after becoming entangled in mist nets, which appear to attract conspecifics. Phase I of these distress calls is longer and louder, and includes a secondary peak, compared to phase II. Activity-dependent expression of egr-1 was examined in free-ranging C. sphinx following the emissions and responses to a distress call. We found that the level of expression of egr-1 was higher in bats that emitted a distress call, in adults that responded, and in pups than in silent bats. Up-regulated cDNA was amplified to identify the target gene (TOE1) of the protein Egr-1. The observed expression pattern Toe1 was similar to that of egr-1. These findings suggest that the neuronal activity related to recognition of a distress call and an auditory feedback mechanism induces the expression of Egr-1. Co-expression of egr-1 with Toe1 may play a role in initial triggering of the genetic mechanism that could be involved in the consolidation or stabilization of distress call memories

Innovations in the psychopathology of schizophrenia : A primer for busy clinicians

Significant developments in schizophrenia psychopathology are ready to be incorporated into clinical practice. These advances allow a way forward through the well-described challenges experienced with current diagnostic and psychopathological frameworks. This article discusses approaches that will enable clinicians to access a wider and richer spectrum of patient experience; describes process-based models of schizophrenia in the domains of both the brain and the mind; and considers how different levels of analysis might be linked via the predictive processing framework. Multiple levels of analysis provide different targets for varying modalities of treatment - dopamine blockade at the molecular level, psychological therapy at the level of the mind, and social interventions at the personal level. Psychiatry needs to align itself closer to neuroscientific research. It should move from a symptom-based understanding to a model based on process. That is - after having asked about a patient's symptoms and experience clinicians need to introduce steps involving a consideration of what might be the brain and mind processes underlying the experience

Steady-State Modeling of Condensing Units with an Economizer Loop

This paper presents an engineering model that simulates the steady-state operation of air-cooled condensing units. Packaged, air-cooled, condensing units includes a compressor, condensing coil, tubing, and fans, fastened to a base or installed within an enclosure. To increase capacity, modern condensing units are being equipped with a brazed-plate heat exchanger for an economizer loop, configured in either upstream or downstream extraction schemes

Two interdependent mechanisms of antimicrobial activity allow for efficient killing in nylon-3-based polymeric mimics of innate immunity peptides

AbstractNovel synthetic mimics of antimicrobial peptides have been developed to exhibit structural properties and antimicrobial activity similar to those of natural antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) of the innate immune system. These molecules have a number of potential advantages over conventional antibiotics, including reduced bacterial resistance, cost-effective preparation, and customizable designs. In this study, we investigate a family of nylon-3 polymer-based antimicrobials. By combining vesicle dye leakage, bacterial permeation, and bactericidal assays with small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), we find that these polymers are capable of two interdependent mechanisms of action: permeation of bacterial membranes and binding to intracellular targets such as DNA, with the latter necessarily dependent on the former. We systemically examine polymer-induced membrane deformation modes across a range of lipid compositions that mimic both bacteria and mammalian cell membranes. The results show that the polymers' ability to generate negative Gaussian curvature (NGC), a topological requirement for membrane permeation and cellular entry, in model Escherichia coli membranes correlates with their ability to permeate membranes without complete membrane disruption and kill E. coli cells. Our findings suggest that these polymers operate with a concentration-dependent mechanism of action: at low concentrations permeation and DNA binding occur without membrane disruption, while at high concentrations complete disruption of the membrane occurs. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Interfacially Active Peptides and Proteins. Guest Editors: William C. Wimley and Kalina Hristova