International Risk Analysis Based on The Portfolio Diversification: The Case of Prague Stock Exchange

Stock exchanges are constantly prone to instability caused by asset bubbles. Risk level within the stock exchanges stands as the main concern for the financial in-vestors. Stock prices are influenced by the choices completed on the domestic and international environment. The study intends to measure the risk level of the Pra-gue Stock Exchange (PSE) from the internal risk perspectives. Portfolio diversi-fication formula has been implemented to obtain the risk level of the PSE from 2000 till 2017. Stock prices and the trade volume of the listed companies in the PSE were collected from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database. PSE has been considered as a portfolio based on the number of listed companies on the respec-tive years. The results confirm that financial investors in the PSE would be com-pensated for the risk exposure. Diversification risk and weighted average returns from 2000 till 2017 were almost moving identically. The results indicate that PSE was influenced from the last financial crises of 2008, confirmed from a decline in the weighted average returns and an increase in the diversification risk. The re-sults of the study stand in line with the theoretical paradigms that increase in the number of stocks that reduces the `diversification

The impact of fiscal policy on the unemployment rate in Egypt

Unemployment is one of the main challenges that the Egyptian economy faces. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the unemployment rate responds to fiscal policy shocks. The study used annual time series data for the period from 1976 to 2018 collected from the world bank and the international monetary fund. Based on Blanchard and Perotti approach, the study used a five-variables structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model with the impulse response function (IRF) tool. The main findings of this paper are that 1) At the earlier stages, a one standard deviation shock to the government spending decreases the unemployment rate until the period two, then it started to increase until reached to zero in period ten which means a positive shock to government spending has a negative impact unemployment rate. 2) At the earlier stages, a one standard deviation shock to the tax revenue temporarily decreases the unemployment rate, then it increases after the period two until it hits the zero level in the period six after that it became positive which means that in the long run, a positive shock to tax revenue has a positive impact on the unemployment rate. The study recommends the Egyptian government to run an expansionary budget to decrease the unemployment rate. © 2020, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research. All rights reserved.Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine [0120U102002, 0120U102001]; Ministry of education, science, research and sport of the Slovak Republic [VEGA 1/0689/20

The recent development of protection coordination schemes based on inverse of AC microgrid: A review

Integration of distributed generation systems and diversity of microgrid operations led to a change in the structure of the power system. Due to this conversion, new challenges have arisen when employing traditional overcurrent protection schemes. As a consequence, non‐classical protection schemes have attracted significant attention in the last few years. Engineers and scholars have proposed different non‐standard methods to increase the power protection system and ensure the highly selectivity performance. Although the non‐standard characteristics and their requirements, in general, have been outlined and analyzed in the available literature, protection coordination based on voltage current–time inverse, as a branch of non‐standard optimization methods, has not yet been thoroughly discussed, compared, or debated in detail. To close this gap, this review introduces a broad overview of recent research and developments of the voltage current–time inverse based protection coordination. Focuses on assessing the potential advantages and disadvantages of related studies and provide a classification and analysis of these studies. The future trends and some recommendations have been included in this review for improving fault detection sensitivity and coordination reliability

Longitudinal changes in peri-papillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in patients with unilateral branch retinal vein occlusion

Background: Associations between retinal venous occlusion (RVO), elevated intraocular pressure, and glaucoma have been reported. Further investigations into structural alterations in the fellow eyes of individuals with unilateral RVO have revealed that the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer is thinner than in healthy eyes, suggesting that there may be systemic risk factors common to both RVO and glaucoma. We aimed to evaluate changes in peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (pRNFLT) among individuals with unilateral branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO). Methods: This prospective observational study recruited 30 individuals (60 eyes) with newly diagnosed unilateral BRVO and macular edema, and a control group of 30 healthy individuals (30 eyes) with no abnormalities on fundus examination or concurrent systemic comorbidities. After baseline measurements, the participants were reassessed at 6, 12, and 24 months by measuring global and sectoral pRNFLT using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Results: The mean age and sex distributions were comparable between the patient and control groups (both P > 0.05). When compared to fellow eyes, global and sectoral pRNFLT in eyes with BRVO were significantly higher at baseline (all P < 0.05). Over time, pRNFLT decreased dramatically, and by the conclusion of the two-year follow-up, there was a significant reduction from baseline in the affected eyes (all P < 0.05). Likewise, affected eyes experienced a significant improvement in best-corrected distance visual acuity and central macular thickness over the two-year follow-up (both P Less than or equal to 0.001). Comparing the global and all-sector pRNFLT of fellow eyes in the patient group with those of normal eyes in the control group, there were no significant differences at any visit, except in the temporal sector, which revealed a significant reduction in pRNFLT at 24 months in the fellow eyes of patients with unilateral BRVO (P = 0.02).   Conclusions: Patients with unilateral BRVO experienced a significant reduction in pRNFLT in the affected eyes and, to a lesser extent, in the fellow eyes, compared with that of the control arm, suggesting that they are prone to retinal nerve fiber layer damage. The reduction in pRNFLT in the normal fellow eyes of patients with BRVO may be attributed to age or concurrent systemic comorbidities. Further studies with long follow-up periods are required to shed light on the etiology of functional and structural changes in both the retinal nerve fiber layer and ganglion cell complex in the normal and affected eyes of patients with unilateral BRVO

Angiogenesis in urinary bladder carcinoma as defined by microvessel density (MVD) after immunohistochemical staining for Factor VIII and CD31

Background: Among the patients with bladder cancer, a group is still at risk of disease recurrence, progression, and death from their cancer after curative treatment. Angiogenesis is a crucial pathogenic mechanism for this type of urothelial carcinoma and is a potential therapeutic target. Objectives: To quantify tumor angiogenesis in bladder cancer and determine whether it correlates with tumor stage and grade. Patients and methods: A series of 42 archival samples from carcinomas of the urinary bladder were graded, staged, and analyzed for microvessel density (MVD) by a double immunohistochemical technique using Factor VIII (FVIII) and CD31 antibodies. The correlation between MVD and histopathological grade and tumor stage was evaluated. Results: FVIII and CD31 immunoreactivity was observed in 100% of cases and more intensely with CD31. Significantly higher MVD was determined in invasive tumors than in superficial tumors (p<0.05). MVD increased with tumor grade and stage (p<0.05); MVD was not affected by age or sex of the patients. Conclusion: These data demonstrate that MVD in bladder carcinoma correlates with the tumor grade and stage. Quantification of tumor angiogenesis may allow selection of the type of treatment for bladder cancer patients

Female labour force participation and the economic development in Egypt

Economic literature highlights the vital role that women can play in enhancing the economic development of nations. However, there is still gender inequality in developing countries, especially in education and labour market participation. Although women represent nearly half of the population in Egypt, their labour force participation rate is still very low compared to men. This paper's primary goal is to investigate the short and long-run associations between female labour force participation and Egypt's GDP growth rate. The study used annual time series data from 1990-2019, where the vector error correction model (VECM) was employed. The study found that female labour force participation and the gross fixed capital formation growth rate can enhance the GDP growth rate in the long run. Nevertheless, there is no statistically significant relationship in the short run. This paper's main recommendations are that the Egyptian government needs to implement policies that encourage women's labour force participation and decrease gender inequality. These policies could be changes in legislation, modernization of social norms, Job flexibility, and increasing access to childcare. Moreover, they need to focus on both the demand and supply sides of the quality of female labour force participation by matching the women’s education with the creation of suitable jobs. © 2022, Bucharest University of Economic Studies. All rights reserved.IGA/FaME/2021/00

The impact of inflation on the unemployment rate in Egypt: a VAR approach

Unemployment and inflation are among the most critical phenomena facing both developed and developing countries due to their harmful social, economic, and political effects. The Egyptian monetary policy’s main objective is to maintain a low inflation rate in the medium run to keep the confidence and a high rate of investment and economic growth. At the same time, economists argue that targeting a low-rate of inflation may increase unemployment. Although the classical Philips curve indicates a trade-off between inflation and unemployment, several empirical studies have argued that the relationship between inflation and unemployment depends on the shocks’ source and lagged responses. The main objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between inflation and Egypt’s unemployment rate. We used time-series data from 1980 to 2019, where a vector autoregressive (VAR) model and the Impulse response function tool (IRF) were employed. The results show that inflation has a positive relationship with GDP while negatively affecting the unemployment rate

NSP4 as adjuvant for immunogenicity and design of effective therapeutic HPV16 E6/E7/L1 DNA vaccine in tumor-bearing and healthy C57BL/6 mice

Abstract Introduction In humans, approximately 5% of all cancers are attributable to HPV infection. Prophylactic vaccines can inhibit viral migration and persistence. However, further studies are still required to develop such treatments. To achieve this goal, we designed a therapeutic HPV DNA vaccine encoding a construct of E6/E7/L1 and used NSP4 antigen as an adjuvant to assess the efficiency of this construct in generating antigen-specific antitumor immune responses. Materials and methods Sixty female C57BL/6 mice (6–8 weeks old) were purchased from the Institute Pasteur of Iran. Through a subcutaneous (s.c) injection of a suspension of 100 µl PBS containing 106 TC-1 cells/mouse in the back side, 30 of them became cancerous, while 30 of them were healthy control mice. To amplify E6/E7/L1-pcDNA3 and NSP4-pcDNA3, the competent cells of DH5α and to generate a tumor, TC-1 cell line was used. Mice were then immunized with the HPV DNA vaccine. Cell proliferation was assessed by MTT assay. Finally, cytokine responses (IL-4, IL-12, IFN- γ) were measured in the supernatant of mice spleen cells. Result Mice receiving the NSP4/E6-E7-L1 vaccine had the highest stimulatory index compared to other groups, although it was not statistically significant. Interleukin 4/12 and IFN-γ production were significantly higher in E6-E7-L1 / NSP4 group and E6-E7-L1 group compared to other groups (P  0.05). Among the aforementioned cytokines, IFN-γ and IL-12 are among the cytokines that stimulate the Th1 pathway and IL-4 cytokine stimulates the Th2 pathway and B lymphocytes. Conclusion Our data revealed that the present vaccine can reduce tumor size, and cytokine measurement showed that it stimulates innate and acquired immune responses, thus it can be a therapeutic vaccine in the tumor-bearing mice model

Silodosin in the treatment of distal ureteric stones in children: A prospective, randomised, placebo-controlled study

Objectives: To evaluate the possible role of silodosin (a highly selective α1A-adrenoceptor antagonist) in facilitating the passage of distal ureteric stones (DUS) in children, as the role of α-blockers as medical expulsive therapy is well known in adults. Patients and methods: In all, 40 paediatric patients (27 boys and 13 girls) diagnosed with unilateral, single, radiopaque DUS of <10 mm were included in the study. Their mean (SD, range) age was 8.1 (2.7, 5–17) years. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: Group A, received silodosin 4 mg as a single bedtime dose; and Group B, received placebo as a single bedtime dose. Ibuprofen was prescribed to both groups on-demand for pain episode relief. Patients were followed up biweekly for 4 weeks. The stone expulsion time and rate, pain episodes, analgesic use, and any adverse effects were recorded. Results: The mean (SD) stone size in Group A was 6.6 (1.7) mm and in Group B was 6.7 (1.4) mm (P = 0.4). Two patients were lost to follow-up (one from each group), and one patient in Group A refused to complete the study. The stone-free rate at end of the 4-week treatment period was 88.8% in Group A vs 73.6% in Group B (P = 0.4). The mean (SD) stone expulsion time was 7.0 (4.3) vs 10.4 (4.7) days in groups A and B, respectively (P = 0.02). The mean (SD) number of pain episodes requiring ibuprofen was 2.3 (1.4) vs 4.7 (2.6) episodes in groups A and B, respectively (P < 0.001). Adverse effects (headache and dizziness) were recorded in three patients (16.7%) in Group A, which were mild and none of them discontinued treatment, whilst no adverse effects were recorded in Group B. Conclusions: The data in the present study show that silodosin can be safely used in the treatment of DUS in children for decreasing time to stone expulsion, pain episodes, and analgesic requirement