EU Cross-Border Securities Offerings: An Overview

This Essay gives a general overview of the EC securities regulations and their influence on the offerings of securities involving several EU markets, with a particular focus on the disclosure requirements and the registration of prospectuses. This Essay will also discuss some regulatory concerns regarding the use of licensed intermediaries and their role in organizing a multi-jurisdictional securities offering. Lastly, this Essay will examine the debate on the reconciliation of various accounting principles and disclosure standards, an issue that is presently regarded as a priority on regulators\u27 agenda, and one which will certainly affect the accounting practices adopted by global issuers of securities

MiRNA-34 and stress response

Psychiatric disorders are known to result from a strong interaction between genetic predisposition and environmental factors, mainly exposure to stressful events. Environmental events can modulate genes expression, possibly via epigenetic mechanisms, and affect onset/expression of a disease [1]. Epigenetic mechanisms include, among others, post-transcriptional regulation by non-coding RNAs such as microRNAs (miRNAs). MiRNAs are small non-coding RNAs predicted to regulate hundreds of targets and to be engaged in every biological process [2]. Thanks to their ability to fine-tune gene expression, miRNAs can control gene expression patterns favoring organism’s adaptation to internal and environmental (external) factors [3], such as stressful events

Sexología, géneros y heteronormatividad

Como sabemos la heteronormatividad se funda en el reconocimiento único de dos sexos claramente definidos que se vinculan en función de la procreación. A los dos sexos, a la pareja heterosexual y a la familia por ella construida se los define como “naturales”. Para sostener este orden de cosas concurrieron a lo largo del tiempo las religiones tradicionales, el derecho y la sexología. Los tres poderes utilizaron toda su fuerza (estigmatización, castigo, eventual muerte) y su capacidad de encierro (conventos, cárceles, manicomios) para sostener esa “naturalidad” lo que resulta claramente contradictorio dado que lo natural debería haberse sostenido por sus propios medios. (Párrafo extraído del texto a modo de resumen)Panel: PsicologíaFacultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Determinants and Extent of Technical Efficiency of Micro and Small-Scale Enterprises in Ghimbi Town, West Wollega Zone, Ethiopia: Data Envelopment Approach

Over the years, the role of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in Ethiopian economic development has become apparent. In order to formulate appropriate policy for improvement of development of MSEs, it is important to examine sources and their level of technical efficiency. The objective of this study is to examine determinants and the extent of technical efficiency of MSEs in West Wollega Zone, Ghimbi town. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select sample MSEs at the study area. Among the total sample of 206, 152 MSEs (73.79 %) are Micro Enterprise and 54 MSEs (26.21 %) are Small Enterprise.  The Finding of Data Envelopment Approach (DEA) revealed the mean level of technical efficiency is 65% for micro-enterprises, 70% for small enterprises and 48.2% for pooled MSEs. These findings revealed that MSEs have huge potential output gains through improving their resource use inefficiency at their exiting inputs and technology. The finding of the Tobit model reveled age of manager, family size, business plan, size of enterprise, managerial training, vocational training and investment in ICT were found to significantly and positively affect efficiency of MSEs while age of enterprise, location of enterprise and access to credit were found to significantly and negatively affect  their efficiency. Enhancing investment in ICT, vocational training, training in preparation of business plan, share capital contribution, education and training of MSEs promoters in business development services are recommended to the concerned bodies to make MSEs operate at their full potential levels. Keywords: DEA, MSEs, Technical Efficiency, Tobit Model, Wollega, Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/JESD/14-1-02 Publication date: January 31st 202

Pelvic Organ Prolapse in Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Southwest Ethiopia

Background: Pelvic organ prolapse is the down ward descent of female organs including the bladder, small and large bowel resulting in protrusion of the vagina, uterus or both. It is a disorder exclusive to women and one of the most common indications for gynecologic surgery.Methods: This hospital based retrospective descriptive study was conducted to assess the magnitude of pelvic organ prolapse and risk factors for it. All cases of pelvic organ prolapse admitted and treated in Jimma University Specialized Hospital from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2011 were included. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS computer software version 16.0. Chi-square test was used and was considered to be significant when p<0.05.Results: Pelvic organ prolapse accounted for 40.7% of major gynecologic operations. Mean age of patients was 42.43 ± 10.4 years and there was a significant association between prolapse and age of patients (p <0.05). Mean parity of patients was 6.5± 2.64 with a significant association between prolapse and parity (p < 0.05). Majority of them (80.6%) lived in rural area and there was a significant association between prolapse and residence area. Farmers accounted for 68.2% of the patients and there was a significant association between prolapse and occupation (p < 0.05). Risk factors identified were chronic cough (20.9%), constipation (30.2%) with some having more than one risk factor while none was identified in 59.7%.Conclusion: Prolapse is common among rural, farmer, parous and older women where most of them delivered at home with prolonged labor. Age, parity and occupation were associated with the stage of prolapse. Awareness creation on risk factors of pelvic organ prolapse and use of contraception to reduce parity is recommended. Health institution delivery should be advocated to minimize the rate of home deliveries and hence of prolonged labor.Keywords: Pelvic organ prolapse, uterovaginal prolapse, vaginal hysterectomy.Ethiop J Health Sci. Vol. 22, No. 2 July 201

Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy in Jimma University Specialized Hospital

Background: Hypertensive disorders represent the most common medical complications of pregnancy with a reported incidence between 5 and 10%. The disorders are major causes of maternal and perinatal morbidities and mortalities. This study was conducted to determine the pattern and outcomes of pregnancies complicated by hypertensive disorders.Methods: Hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted on all mothers who gave birth in the labor ward of Jimma University Specialized Hospital from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010. Data was collected by interviewing the mothers and review of their medical records using structured questionnaire and checklist, respectively. Data analysis was performed using SPSS for windows version 16.0. Result: Majority (52.5%) of the mothers were in the age group of 25 - 34 years. The overall prevalence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy was 8.5%. Severe preeclampsia accounted for 51.9% of the cases followed by eclampsia (23.4%). Residential area of the mothers (urban/rural) was found to have statistically significant association with severity of the disorder. Most (66.5% and 74.7%) of the mothers were nulliparous and had antenatal care follow-up during the index pregnancy, respectively. Antenatal care follow-up and parity had no statistically significant association with severity of the disease. The case fatality rate of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy was 1.3% with perinatal mortality of 317.1/1000 births.Conclusion: Pregnancies complicated by hypertensive disorders have poor maternal and perinatal outcomes and rural women were more affected. Quality antenatal care services with good obstetric and neonatal care at delivery are essential for early recognition and management of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.Keywords: Hypertensive disorders, Hypertension, Pregnancy, EclampsiaEthiop J Health Sci. Vol. 21, No. 3 November 201

Incidence, Causes and Outcome of Obstructed Labor in Jimma University Specialized Hospital

BACKGROUND: Obstructed labor is one of the common preventable causes of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Africa has the highest maternal mortality in the world, estimated at an average of about 1,000 deaths per 100,000 live births. This study was conducted to assess the incidence, causes and outcome of obstructed labor in Jimma University Specialized Hospital. METHODS: Hospital-based, cross-sectional study was conducted on all mothers who were admitted and delivered in the labor ward of Jimma University Specialized Hospital from November 1, 2008 to April 30, 2009. Data was collected using structured questionnaire and checklist, and then analyzed using SPSS for windows version 16.0. RESULTS: The incidence of obstructed labor was 12.2%. Out of these 61.5% did not have antenatal care follow-up. Most of the cases, accounting for 145(81.0%), 160 (89.4%) and 170 (93.9%) were referred from health centers, visited the hospital after at least 12 hours of labor and came from a distance of more than 10 kilometers, respectively. The causes of obstructed labor were cephalo-pelvic disproportion in 121(67.6%) and malpresentation in 50 (27.9%) of the cases. The commonest maternal complications observed were uterine rupture in 55 (45.1%) and sepsis in 48 (39.3%) of the cases with complications. Forty-five point eight percent of fetuses were born alive and all had low first minute APGAR score. CONCLUSION: The incidence of obstructed labor was high with high rate of complications. The antenatal care follow-up practice was also found to be low. Improved antenatal care coverage, good referral system, and availing comprehensive obstetric care in nearby health institution are recommended to prevent obstructed labor and its complications

Analysis of track geometry index measurement methods

Degradation of railway track can be described by main geometry parameters such as profile, alignment, gauge, cant, and twist but track geometry quality index can be used for aggregating two or more geometric defects and represent health condition of track structure. This paper discusses different methods of quality indexes and analyzes numerically three methods based on real track geometry measurement data from Addis Ababa – Djibouti railway line and their advantages discussed for the purpose of recommending TQI method for predicting future state of track which will be used in Predictive maintenance. Data collected is from 25-27 of May 2020 for 215.8Km length. Results from analysis shows, track geometry index (TGI) represents track quality more reasonably. Chinese TQI method can also represent track quality but gives equal weightage for all types of degradation parameters on the other hand TGI allocated more weightage for parameters with higher effect on ride quality. J synthetic method can only represent two types of quality below and above threshold but the two other methods represent more quality levels. Theoretically, advantages and disadvantages of methods discussed can be referred but practically recommended method can be used in prediction models for implementing predictive maintenance

Effects of lack of microRNA-34 on the neural circuitry underlying the stress response and anxiety

Stress-related psychiatric disorders, including anxiety, are complex diseases that have genetic, and environmental causes. Stressful experiences increase the release of prefrontal amygdala neurotransmitters, a response that is relevant to cognitive, emotional, and behavioral coping. Moreover, exposure to stress elicits anxiety-like behavior and dendritic remodeling in the amygdala. Members of the miR-34 family have been suggested to regulate synaptic plasticity and neurotransmission processes, which mediate stress-related disorders. Using mice that harbored targeted deletions of all 3 members of the miR-34-family (miR-34-TKO), we evaluated acute stress-induced basolateral amygdala (BLA)-GABAergic and medial prefrontal cortex (mpFC) aminergic outflow by intracerebral in vivo microdialysis. Moreover, we also examined fear conditioning/extinction, stress-induced anxiety, and dendritic remodeling in the BLA of stress-exposed TKO mice. We found that TKO mice showed resilience to stress-induced anxiety and facilitation in fear extinction. Accordingly, no significant increase was evident in aminergic prefrontal or amygdala GABA release, and no significant acute stress-induced amygdalar dendritic remodeling was observed in TKO mice. Differential GRM7, 5-HT2C, and CRFR1 mRNA expressionwas noted in the mpFC and BLA between TKO andWT mice. Our data demonstrate that the miR-34 has a critical function in regulating the behavioral and neurochemical response to acute stress and in inducing stress-related amygdala neuroplasticity

Serum thyroid hormone antibodies are frequent in patients with polyglandular autoimmune syndrome type 3, particularly in those who require thyroxine treatment

Polyglandular autoimmune syndrome (PAS) type 3 consists of autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) coexisting with ≥1 non-thyroidal autoimmune disease (NTAID) other than Addison’s disease and hypoparathyroidism. We evaluated the prevalence and repertoire of thyroid hormones antibodies (THAb) in PAS-3 patients. Using a radioimmunoprecipation technique, we measured THAb (T3IgM, T3IgG, T4IgM, and T4IgG) in 107 PAS-3 patients and 88 controls (patients with AITD without any NTAID). Based on the selective coexistence of AITD with one NTAID (chronic autoimmune gastritis, non-segmental vitiligo or celiac disease), patients were divided into group 1 (chronic autoimmune gastritis positive, n = 64), group 2 (non-segmental vitiligo positive, n = 24), and group 3 (celiac disease positive, n = 15). At least one of the four THAb was detected in 45 PAS-3 patients (42.1%) and 28 controls (31.8%, P = 0.14), with similar rates in the three PAS-3 groups. The rates of T3Ab, T4Ab, and T3 + T4Ab were similar in groups 1 and 2, while in group 3, T3Ab was undetected (P = 0.02). In PAS-3 patients, the rate of levothyroxine treatment was greater in THAb-positive patients compared to THAb-negative patients (76.7 vs. 56.1%, P = 0.03, RR = 1.4, 95% CI 1.03–1.81). Not unexpectedly, levothyroxine daily dose was significantly higher in group 1 and group 3, namely in patients with gastrointestinal disorders, compared to group 2 (1.9 ± 0.4 and 1.8 ± 0.3 vs. 1.5 ± 0.2 μg/kg body weight, P = 0.0005 and P = 0.004). Almost half of PAS-3 patients have THAb, whose repertoire is similar if chronic autoimmune gastritis or celiac disease is present. A prospective study would confirm whether THAb positivity predicts greater likelihood of requiring levothyroxine treatment