Measuring interest rate expectations from market yields: topical issues

Learning market participants’ policy rate expectations is a major issue for central banks. The underlying reason for this is that the interest rate expectations of market participants may themselves contain information on market participants’ perceptions of the economic prospects, which decision-makers might want to incorporate into their own assessment of the outlook. Market participants’ expectations, however, cannot be observed directly and are difficult to quantify. Of the two most common approaches, we will discuss in detail the one where we infer market expectations from the prices of the financial instruments which are closely related to expectations. In properly functioning, liquid markets we can infer market participants’ expectations of future interest rates from the prices of and returns on government securities and inter-bank transactions. Before the onset of the financial crisis, BUBOR (Budapest Inter-bank Offered Rate) reflected market participants’ expectations of the interest rate relatively reliably, but since the deepening of the crisis, this has changed for a number of reasons, which we will also seek to pinpoint. The fact that BUBOR no longer reflects real market expectations, i.e. it distorts them, is all the more important as this measure serves as a benchmark rate for other financial products, among other things, for corporate loans. The loss of the information content of BUBOR means that the yield curve derived from returns on inter-bank market instruments provides a more accurate measure of market expectations if we exclude data on BUBOR fixings. Nevertheless, forward rate agreements (FRAs) settled on BUBOR remain suitable for the quantification of market participants’ expectations. However, in interpreting these, it is important that, in addition to credit and liquidity risk premia, the bias caused by BUBOR should also be taken into consideration.interest rates, expectations, financial markets, monetary policy.

Distribution of aetiological types of stroke among the diabetic adults admitted with stroke in a referral hospital: an observational study

Background: Stroke is one of the most devastating disorders worldwide, in terms of morbidity and mortality. Association of comorbid conditions increase severity and chances of unfavourable outcome in stroke patients. Diabetes is one of the vital comorbidity risk factors reported to be associated with occurrence, poor outcome in stroke patients. An increased incidence of stroke has been reported in advanced age among diabetic patients. The aim of this study was to determine the relative distribution of aetiological types of stroke among the stroke patients having diabetes.Methods: All adults (18-65) admitted in medicine indoor of Midnapore medical college and hospital with a provisional diagnosis of stroke having random blood glucose level ≥200 mg/dl and/or h/o diabetes were enrolled and screened for different etiological factors e.g., hypertension, dyslipidemia. Age group and gender wise distribution pattern were also obtained.Results: A total 384 subjects were included in the study. Hypertension was found to be most common (75%) comorbid condition among participants, followed by dyslipidemia (56%). 77.9% of subjects presented with random glucose level of >200 mg/dl.Conclusions: stroke of either types is very much prevalent among diabetes. Uncontrolled diabetes along with hypertension and dyslipidemia increases the chance many times. Early detection and prompt therapeutic intervention may reduce the mortality rate overall

Jegybanki hitelösztönző programok rendszerezése – célzottság és intenzitás

A 2007-2008-ban kirobbant globális pénzügyi válság érdemben visszavetette a hitelpiaci aktivitást, amire számos jegybank hitelösztönző programok bevezetésével reagált. Tanulmányunk a programok paraméterei alapján, a célzottság és az intenzitás (ösztönző erő) szempontjából értékelt 14 nemzetközi és magyar jegybanki hitelösztönző programot. A válság kirobbanását követően a hitelösztönző programok trendszerűen egyre célzottabbak és egyre nagyobb ösztönző erejűek lettek, miközben a méretük tekintetében egyértelmű trend nem volt azonosítható. A kevésbé célzott és kevésbé ösztönző programok felől a célzottabb és magasabb intenzitású programok felé való elmozdulás volt jellemző mind nemzetközi szinten, mind Magyarországon. A 2013 után bevezetett magyar hitelösztönző programok nemzetközi összevetésben is kiemelkedő célzottságot és intenzitási szintet mutatnak

Real-world evidence on methotrexate-free subcutaneous tocilizumab therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis : 24-week data from the SIMPACT study

The aim of the SIMPACT study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of MTX-free s.c. tocilizumab (TCZ) therapy in RA patients.SIMPACT was an open-label, non-controlled, non-randomized, non-interventional study, in which RA patients for whom the treating physicians ordered s.c. TCZ were observed during a 24-week treatment period in Hungarian centres. Although the use of MTX was avoided during the study period, other conventional synthetic DMARDs, oral CSs and NSAIDs were allowed. Study endpoints included the change in DAS28 and clinical activity index (CDAI) scores, the proportion of patients achieving remission in the whole population and in subgroups defined based on prior RA treatment history, and age, weight or biological sex post hoc. The extent of supplementary medication use was monitored.Three hundred and thirty-seven RA patients were enrolled in 18 study centres. TCZ therapy significantly decreased the disease activity measured by both DAS28 (P = 0.0001) and CDAI (P = 0.0001). Clinical response was more pronounced in biologic-naïve patients and was lower in patients >75 years of age. In the whole population, DAS28 ESR or CRP and CDAI remission rates were 70.10%, 78.95% and 33.59%, respectively. In patients <45 years of age, the CDAI remission rate doubled (67.86%). A significant decrease in the frequency of co-administered medication was reported, including oral CSs and DMARDs.Real-world clinical evidence on s.c. TCZ reported here is in line with the efficacy outcomes of randomized clinical trials. Subgroup analysis revealed that TCZ was more effective in biologic-naïve patients and in those <75 years old.ClinicalTrials.gov, http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02402686

Basic science of osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent, disabling disorder of the joints that affects a large population worldwide and for which there is no definitive cure. This review provides critical insights into the basic knowledge on OA that may lead to innovative end efficient new therapeutic regimens. While degradation of the articular cartilage is the hallmark of OA, with altered interactions between chondrocytes and compounds of the extracellular matrix, the subchondral bone has been also described as a key component of the disease, involving specific pathomechanisms controlling its initiation and progression. The identification of such events (and thus of possible targets for therapy) has been made possible by the availability of a number of animal models that aim at reproducing the human pathology, in particular large models of high tibial osteotomy (HTO). From a therapeutic point of view, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent a promising option for the treatment of OA and may be used concomitantly with functional substitutes integrating scaffolds and drugs/growth factors in tissue engineering setups. Altogether, these advances in the fundamental and experimental knowledge on OA may allow for the generation of improved, adapted therapeutic regimens to treat human OA.(undefined

An intron polymorphism of the fibronectin gene is associated with end-stage knee osteoarthritis in a Han Chinese population: two independent case-control studies

BACKGROUND: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a complex disease involving both biomechanical and metabolic factors that alter the tissue homeostasis of articular cartilage and subchondral bone. The catabolic activities of extracellular matrix degradation products, especially fibronectin (FN), have been implicated in mediating cartilage degradation. Chondrocytes express several members of the integrin family which can serve as receptors for FN including integrins α5β1, αvβ3, and αvβ5. The purpose of this study was to determine whether polymorphisms in the FN (FN-1) and integrin genes are markers of susceptibility to, or severity of, knee OA in a Han Chinese population. METHODS: Two independent case–control studies were conducted on 928 patients with knee OA and 693 healthy controls. Ten single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of FN-1 and the integrin αV gene (ITGAV) were detected using the ABI 7500 real-time PCR system. RESULTS: The AT heterozygote in FN-1 (rs940739A/T) was found to be significantly associated with knee OA (adjusted OR = 1.44; 95% CI = 1.16–1.80) in both stages of the study. FN-1 rs6725958C/A and ITGAV rs10174098A/G SNPs were only associated with knee OA when both study groups were combined. Stratifying the participants by Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) score identified significant differences in the FN-1 rs6725958C/A and rs940739 A/T genotypes between patients with grade 4 OA and controls. Haplotype analyses revealed that TGA and TAA were associated with a higher risk of OA, and that TAG conferred a lower risk of knee OA in the combined population. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that the FN-1 rs940739A/T polymorphism may be an important risk factor of genetic susceptibility to knee OA in the Han Chinese population