Shareholders wealth effects of Mergers & Acquisitions in different deal activity periods in India

It has been observed that Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) occur with different intensity at different points of time; there are periods of high M&A activity as against other periods when deal activity remains low. The comparison of shareholders wealth effect of M&A announcements in these different periods of deal activity has attracted less attention. This paper attempts to analyze and compare the wealth impact of M&A announcements during different periods of deal activity in Indian Information Technology and Information Technology enabled Services (IT&ITeS) sector between 1999 to 2009. The standard event study methodology was used for estimating abnormal returns for both acquiring and target firms in domestic M&A announced in this period . The results were tested and compared using parametric tests.  All the tests were conducted assuming that the Indian capital markets are efficient in semi-strong form. The results indicate that both the acquiring firms and target firm shareholders gained on acquisition announcement irrespective of the period of announcement of the deal; mergers on the other hand generate wealth losses for the acquiring firms across all periods.  It was also found that the overall movement in the stock market affects the magnitude of the gains/ losses of acquiring and target firms. Key Words: Mergers, Acquisitions, Shareholders Wealth, Event Study Methodology, India

Community-Based Mental Health Intervention for Underprivileged Women in Rural India: An Experiential Report

Objective. To share experiences from a project that integrates a mental health intervention within a developmental framework of microcredit activity for economically underprivileged women in rural India. Method. The mental health intervention had two components: group counseling and stress management. The former comprised of ventilation and reassurance and the latter strengthening of coping skills and a relaxation technique. Focus group discussions were used to understand women's perception of how microcredit economic activity and the mental health intervention had affected their lives. Results. Women in the mental health intervention group reported reduction in psychological distress and bodily aches and pains. Majority (86%) reported that the quality of their sleep had improved with regular practice of relaxation and that sharing their problems in the group had helped them to unburden. The social support extended by the members to each other, made them feel that they were not alone and could face any life situation. Conclusion. The study provided qualitative evidence that adding the mental health intervention to the ongoing economic activity had made a positive difference in the lives of the women. Addressing mental health concerns along with livelihood initiatives can help to enhance both economic and social capital in rural poor women

Work and Social Reproduction in Rural India: Lessons from Time-Use Data

Even as the literature on work in the Global South acknowledges the importance of forms of non-waged work, it has not sufficiently incorporated consideration of the labor of social reproduction. We propose understanding work through four conceptual dyads: waged productive labor, non-waged productive labor, waged reproductive labor, and non-waged reproductive labor. Through an in-depth description of three specific cases from a Time Use Survey we conducted in rural Punjab, India, we argue not only that all four dyads are required to encompass the world of work, but that this more expansive conceptualization can help us produce richer analyses of the intersections of class, caste and gender

Clinical Trial Recommendations Using Semantics-Based Inductive Inference and Knowledge Graph Embeddings

Designing a new clinical trial entails many decisions, such as defining a cohort and setting the study objectives to name a few, and therefore can benefit from recommendations based on exhaustive mining of past clinical trial records. Here, we propose a novel recommendation methodology, based on neural embeddings trained on a first-of-a-kind knowledge graph of clinical trials. We addressed several important research questions in this context, including designing a knowledge graph (KG) for clinical trial data, effectiveness of various KG embedding (KGE) methods for it, a novel inductive inference using KGE, and its use in generating recommendations for clinical trial design. We used publicly available data from clinicaltrials.gov for the study. Results show that our recommendations approach achieves relevance scores of 70%-83%, measured as the text similarity to actual clinical trial elements, and the most relevant recommendation can be found near the top of list. Our study also suggests potential improvement in training KGE using node semantics.Comment: 13 pages (w/o bibliography), 4 Figures, 6 Table

Probing The Dust-To-Gas Ratio of z > 0 Galaxies Through Gravitational Lenses

We report the detection of differential gas column densities in three gravitational lenses, MG0414+0534, HE1104-1805, and PKS1830-211. Combined with the previous differential column density measurements in B1600+434 and Q2237+0305 and the differential extinction measurements of these lenses, we probe the dust-to-gas ratio of a small sample of cosmologically distant normal galaxies. We obtain an average dust-to-gas ratio of E(B-V)/NH =(1.4\pm0.5) e-22 mag cm^2/atoms with an estimated intrinsic dispersion in the ratio of ~40%. This average dust-to-gas ratio is consistent with the average Galactic value of 1.7e-22 mag cm^2/atoms and the estimated intrinsic dispersion is also consistent with the 30% observed in the Galaxy.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, Accepted by Ap

The wound healing property of ethanolic extract of Michelia champaca flowers in diabetic rats

Background: The plant Michelia champaca (MC) is widely used in the treatment of inflammation, constipation, dysmenorrhea, ulcers, wounds, fever, and cough. The aim was to evaluate the wound healing property of ethanolic extract of MCflowers in streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats.Methods: Wound healing activity was assessed by incision and excision wound models. Five groups of n=6 rats and n=14 rats were used for incision and excision wound models, respectively. Group I rats, non-diabetic control and Group II rats diabetic control, received 1 ml of 0.5% caboxymethylcellolose, which was used to prepare a suspension of ethanolic extracts of MC. Group III, IV and V rats were given MC extract the suspension of 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg respectively. Parameters observed were breaking strength of incision wound and wound contraction, epithelialization, hydroxyproline content of excision wound respectively. Results were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance, followed by Tukey’s post-hoc test.Results: Breaking strength, rate of wound contraction and hydroxyproline content were significantly increased, and the period of epithelialization was significantly reduced in Group IV and V rats respectively.Conclusion: Oral administration of ethanolic extract of MC promotes wound healing in diabetic rats. Hence, further study in humans is suggested

Variable X-ray Absorption toward Gravitationally-Lensed Blazar PKS1830-211

We present X-ray spectral analysis of five Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of the gravitationally-lensed blazar PKS1830-211 from 2000 to 2004. We show that the X-ray absorption toward PKS1830-211 is variable, and the variable absorption is most likely to be intrinsic with amplitudes of about 2-30e22 cm^-2 depending on whether or not the absorber is partially covering the X-ray source. Our results confirm the variable absorption observed previously, although interpreted differently, in a sequence of ASCA observations. This large variation in the absorption column density can be interpreted as outflows from the central engine in the polar direction, consistent with recent numerical models of inflow/outflows in AGNs. In addition, it could possibly be caused by the interaction between the blazar jet and its environment, or the variation from the geometric configuration of the jet. While the spectra can also be fitted with a variable absorption at the lens redshift, we show that this model is unlikely. We also rule out the simple microlensing interpretation of variability which was previously suggested.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, Accepted to A

Secular Trends in Growth of Preschool Children from Rural Maharashtra, India

The study examined the secular trends in growth of preschool children from rural Maharashtra, India, during 1985-2001. Anthropometric data collected on preschool (<6 years old) children during 2001 (n=1,171) and 1985 (n=979) from the same villages were compared. Decadal change increased with age and was marginally higher in boys than girls. It was the lowest among infants (-0.1 to 0.1 kg and 0.4 to 0.7 cm in both sexes) and the highest among boys of 4+ years (1.3 kg and 2.9 cm) and girls of 5+ years (1.2 kg and 2.1 cm). Increase in weight was higher (10-15%) compared to that in height (3-5%) and, consequently, reduction in the prevalence of wasting was marked (around 68% in boys and 48% in girls) than that in stunting (42% in boys and 27% in girls) among these children. The improvement was higher in boys than in girls. Negligible secular changes in younger children indicate the need for creating health and nutritional awareness among rural mothers while relatively higher improvement in weight than height among older children warns the future possibility of childhood adiposity even among rural populations

Impact of Th1 CD4 Follicular Helper T Cell Skewing on Antibody Responses to an HIV-1 Vaccine in Rhesus Macaques.

Generating durable humoral immunity through vaccination depends upon effective interactions of follicular helper T (Tfh) cells with germinal center (GC) B cells. Th1 polarization of Tfh cells is an important process shaping the success of Tfh-GC B cell interactions by influencing costimulatory and cytokine-dependent Tfh help to B cells. However, the question remains as to whether adjuvant-dependent modulation of Tfh cells enhances HIV-1 vaccine-induced antienvelope (anti-Env) antibody responses. We investigated whether an HIV-1 vaccine platform designed to increase the number of Th1-polarized Tfh cells enhances the magnitude and quality of anti-Env antibodies. Utilizing a novel interferon-induced protein 10 (IP-10)-adjuvanted HIV-1 DNA prime followed by a monophosphoryl lipid A and QS-21 (MPLA+QS-21)-adjuvanted Env protein boost (DIP-10 PALFQ) in macaques, we observed higher anti-Env serum IgG titers with greater cross-clade reactivity, specificity for V1V2, and effector functions than in macaques primed with DNA lacking IP-10 and boosted with MPLA-plus-alum-adjuvanted Env protein (DPALFA) The DIP-10 PALFQ vaccine regimen elicited higher anti-Env IgG1 and lower IgG4 antibody levels in serum, showing for the first time that adjuvants can dramatically impact the IgG subclass profile in macaques. The DIP-10 PALFQ regimen also increased vaginal and rectal IgA antibodies to a greater extent. Within lymph nodes, we observed augmented GC B cell responses and the promotion of Th1 gene expression profiles in GC Tfh cells. The frequency of GC Tfh cells correlated with both the magnitude and avidity of anti-Env serum IgG. Together, these data suggest that adjuvant-induced stimulation of Th1-Tfh cells is an effective strategy for enhancing the magnitude and quality of anti-Env antibody responses.IMPORTANCE The results of the RV144 trial demonstrated that vaccination could prevent HIV transmission in humans and that longevity of anti-Env antibodies may be key to this protection. Efforts to improve upon the prime-boost vaccine regimen used in RV144 have indicated that booster immunizations can increase serum anti-Env antibody titers but only transiently. Poor antibody durability hampers efforts to develop an effective HIV-1 vaccine. This study was designed to identify the specific elements involved in the immunological mechanism necessary to produce robust HIV-1-specific antibodies in rhesus macaques. By clearly defining immune-mediated pathways that improve the magnitude and functionality of the anti-HIV-1 antibody response, we will have the foundation necessary for the rational development of an HIV-1 vaccine