Too Big to Manage: US Megabanks’ Competition by Innovation and the Microfoundations of Financialization

Disagreements over the systemic implications—the future—of financialization can be traced in part to the absence of sustained attention to the role of banking firms in driving this secular shift forward. That is, the financialization literature lacks an adequate microfoundation. Accounting for the drivers of financialization processes solely at the macro level overlooks the problems of how these processes came about and whether they are sustainable. This paper addresses this explanatory gap, arguing that a key independent microeconomic driver of increasing financialization did exist: the incessant efforts by money-centre banks in the USA to break out of Depression-era restrictions on their size, activities, and markets. These banks’ growth strategies in turbulent times led to an institutional (meso) shift—the rise of a megabank-centred shadow banking system—that now shapes global financial architecture even while operating in ways that are unsustainable. In short, too-big-to-manage megabanks are at the heart of the fragility and instability of the economy today

Quantification of three beta-lactam antibiotics in breast milk and human plasma by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography/positive-ion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

The use of cephalosporins during breast feeding raises several issues, including the risk of drug exposure through breast milk for the infant. In this paper, a hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography/positive ion electrospray mass spectrometric assay (HILIC/ESI-MS) was developed for the quantitation of cefuroxime, cefoxitin, and cefazolin in breast milk and human plasma. The assay was based on the use of small sample size, 25 μL of biological samples, following acetonitrile precipitation of proteins and filtration that enabled injection into the HILIC/ESI-MS system. All analytes and the internal standard, alfuzosin, were separated by using a ZIC®-HILIC analytical column (150.0 × 2.1 mm i.d., particle size 3.5 µm, 200 Å) with isocratic elution. The mobile phase was composed of a 6% 12.5 mM ammonium acetate water solution in acetonitrile and pumped at a flow rate of 0.25 mL min-1. The assay was linear over a concentration range of 0.2 to 5 µg mL-1 and 0.4 to 20 µg mL-1 for all the analytes in breast milk and in human plasma, respectively. Intermediate precision was found to be less than 4.2% over the tested concentration ranges. A run time of less than 12 min for each sample made it possible to analyze a large number of biological samples per day. The method is the first reported application of HILIC in the analysis of antibiotics in breast milk and human plasma and it can be used to support a wide range of clinical studies. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

A porous graphitized carbon LC-ESI/MS method for the quantitation of metronidazole and fluconazole in breast milk and human plasma

Information on drug transfer into the breast milk is essential to protect the infant from undesirable adverse effects of maternal consumption of drugs and to allow effective pharmacological treatment of breastfeeding mothers. Metronidazole and fluconazole are two drugs frequently used in nursing women to treat various infections, thus questioning infant's safety due to drug exposure through breast milk. In this article a porous graphitized carbon LC/ESI-MS assay was developed for the quantitation of metronidazole and fluconazole in breast milk and human plasma. The assay was based on the use of 150 μL of biological samples, following acetonitrile precipitation of proteins and filtration that enabled injection into the LC/ESI-MS system. All analytes and the internal standard, ropinirole, were separated by using a porous graphitized carbon analytical column (150 × 2.1 mm i.d., particle size 5 μm) with isocratic elution. The mobile phase consists of 55% acetonitrile in water acidified with 0.1% concentrated formic acid and pumped at a flow rate of 0.25 mL min−1. The assay was linear over a concentration range of 0.1 to 15 μg mL−1 for all analytes in both biological samples. Intermediate precision was found to be <8.4% over the tested concentration ranges. A run time of <5 min for each sample made it possible to analyze a large number of biological samples per day. The method is the first reported application for the analysis of metronidazole and fluconazole in both breast milk and human plasma and it can be used to support a wide range of clinical studies. © 2018 Elsevier B.V