An analysis of seasonality fluctuations in the oil and gas stock returns

This paper investigates the existence of seasonality anomalies in the stock returns of the oil and gas companies on the London Stock Exchange. It employs F-test, Kruskal–Wallis and Tukey tests to examine days-of-the-week effect. Generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity specification was also employed to investigate both the days-of-the-week and months-of-the-year effects. The analysis had been extended to some key FTSE indices. Our results showed no evidence of any regularity or seasonal fluctuation in the oil and gas stock returns despite the seasonal changes of demand in the companies’ products. However, January effect has been observed in FTSE All Share and FTSE 100 indices

Dichloroacetate modulates cytokines toward T helper 1 function via induction of the interleukin-12–interferon-γ pathway

Mujtaba M Badr,1,2 Nidal A Qinna,1,2 Fadi Qadan,2 Khalid Z Matalka1,2 1Department of Pharmacology and Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, 2Petra University Pharmaceutical Center, University of Petra, Amman, Jordan Background: Dichloroacetate (DCA) is one of the new, promising anticancer drugs. DCA restores normal mitochondrial function and enables cancer cells to undergo apoptosis. In addition, DCA was found to modulate certain signaling pathways involving some transcription factors. The latter encouraged us to study DCA immunomodulatory activity on cytokines and their association with increasing DCA cancer cell cytotoxicity. Methods and results: Cell viability assay was used to determine the effect of different concentrations of DCA on the survival of 3-methylcholanthrene (MCA) fibrosarcoma cell line. DCA decreased the percent survival of MCA fibrosarcoma in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.01). Furthermore, this percent survival was further reduced when MCA fibrosarcoma cells were cocultured with mouse splenocytes. The latter was observed at 10 mM DCA (P<0.01), and the inhibitory concentration at 50% dropped from 23 mM to 15.6 mM DCA (P<0.05). In addition, DCA significantly enhanced interferon (IFN)-γ but not interleukin (IL)-17 production levels in unstimulated and stimulated mouse spleen cells. To investigate the mechanism of DCA on IFN-γ production, DCA cytokine modulatory effect was tested on unstimulated macrophages, T-cells, and natural killer cells. DCA significantly increased IL-12 production from macrophages but did not modulate the production of IFN-γ from either T-cells or natural killer cells. Moreover, the DCA-enhancing effect on IFN-γ production was reversed by anti-IL-12 antibody. Also, the DCA cytokine modulatory effect was tested in vivo after inducing mouse skin inflammation using phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). DCA restored PMA-lowered IFN-γ and IL-12 levels and normalized PMA-increased transforming growth factor-ß level, but it inhibited IL-10 levels even further (P<0.05). Conclusion: DCA has immunomodulatory activity, mainly via activation of the IL-12–IFN-γ pathway and is able to modulate cytokines toward T helper 1 lymphocyte function. These DCA immunomodulatory effects are promising and further investigations are required to develop protocols for its use in cancer treatment. Keywords: dichloroacetate, fibrosarcoma, cytokines, IL-12, IFN-γ, inflammatio

Pandemic-Related Life Events and Physical Inactivity During COVID-19 Among Israeli Adults: The Smoking and Lifestyles in Israel Study

BACKGROUND: Public health measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have led to disruptions in daily life, such as job loss and changes in activity. The present study examines the relationship between pandemic-related life events and disuse (prolonged sitting coupled with inactivity) among adults. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 4084 adults in Israel (September 2020). The primary independent variables were pandemic-related life events, such as job loss. The primary dependent variable was disuse as measured by the Rapid Assessment Disuse Index (RADI). The RADI was examined continuously and dichotomously as a low RADI score (\u3c26: yes/no). RESULTS: Linear regression indicated that experiencing a major life event during the pandemic was associated with lower RADI scores (-1.04; 95% confidence interval, -1.48 to -0.61). Similarly, logistic regression revealed that those experiencing a major life event had 1.18 (95% confidence interval, 1.03 to 1.34) times greater odds for low RADI scores in comparison to those not experiencing an event. CONCLUSIONS: Experiencing pandemic-related major life events was linked to less sitting time and increased activity levels among Israeli adults. Future research should examine underlying mechanisms explaining this relationship to facilitate the design and implementation of targeted interventions

WHO Needs High FIO2?

World Health Organization and the United States Center for Disease Control have recently recommended the use of 0.8 FIO2 in all adult surgical patients undergoing general anaesthesia, to prevent surgical site infections. This recommendation has arisen several discussions: As a matter of fact, there are numerous studies with different results about the effect of FIO2 on surgical site infection. Moreover, the clinical effects of FIO2 are not limited to infection control. We asked some prominent authors about their comments regarding the recent recommendations