Global Flow of Foreign Aid and Change in Recipients’ Local Labor Institutions

How does foreign aid affect recipient countries’ labor institutions? Extant empirical evidence is sparse due to ambiguous theoretical predictions and potential endogeneity issues. This study uses data detailing aid flow and institutional functions to mitigate such inconclusiveness and displays originality by constructing a concise theoretical framework in which foreign aid contributes to the improvement of the labor institutions in recipient countries through two mechanisms—economic growth purpose and expected aid attraction. The findings indicate that only aid to enhance local economic growth provides incentives to change domestic labor markets. Such effects have a more crucial influence on labor institutions of minimum wage, collective bargaining rights, and working hours than those related to hiring and firing regulations, mandated costs for worker dismissal, and conscription. For comparison with the actual aid level, we construct forecasted proxies to capture exogenous fluctuations in aid, determining that domestic labor markets can also change via a novel mechanism, as the recipient voluntarily mimics the funder’s labor policies in anticipation of receiving future aid, with exact amounts derived from the noninstitutional characteristics of pairs of bilateral recipient and giver economies. Therefore, we provide policy implications for the aid giver on how to secure a continued and increased aid flow and for the aid receivers on which aspects of reforming measures are most effective in enhancing the labor market regulations

Association between genetic polymorphisms of cytochrome P450 2C19 and the risk of cerebral ischemic stroke in Chinese

BACKGROUND: Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C19 is a very important drug metabolizing enzyme. Although the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CYP2C19 G681A and G636A have been suggested that they may increase the incidence of cardiovascular events, the relationship between SNPs in CYP2C19 and cerebral ischemic stroke (CIS) are unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between the distribution of G681A and G636A polymorphisms in CYP2C19 gene and the risk of CIS in Chinese. METHODS: The peripheral blood DNA was extracted from 299 patients with CIS and 295 healthy controls. The genotyping was conducted using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The sampled sequencing was applied to verify the correctness of genotyping results. Both the genotype and allele distributions were compared in patients with CIS and healthy controls. RESULTS: The frequencies of CYP2C19 681AA (11.7% vs. 2.7%; P = 0.000), 636AA (4.0% vs. 0.7%; P = 0.007), 636AG (7.0% vs. 2.2%; P = 0.038) genotype, CYP2C19 681A (30.9% vs. 20.8%; P = 0.000) and 636A (13.0% vs. 5.8%; P = 0.000) allele in the CIS group are significantly higher than those in the controls. The frequencies of CYP2C19 681AA (16.7% vs. 8.6%; P = 0.036), CYP2C19 636AA (7.0% vs. 2.2%; P = 0.038) genotype, CYP2C19 681A (36.4% vs. 27.6%; P = 0.023) and CYP2C19 636A (17.5% vs.10.3%; P = 0.010) allele in the recurrent stroke group are significantly higher than those in the first onset group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis of risk factors for cerebral ischemic stroke and recurrent stroke respectively suggests that the CYP2C19 681AA genotype may be an independent risk factor for CIS (OR = 6.179, 95% CI: 2.285 ~ 16.708; P = 0.000) and recurrent stroke (OR = 2.305, 95% CI: 1.121 ~ 4.743; P = 0.023). CONCLUSIONS: The AA genotype and A allele of CYP2C19 G681A may be related to the occurrence and recurrence of cerebral ischemic stroke

A PLS Approach to Measuring Investor Sentiment in Chinese Stock Market

We select five objective sentiment indicators and one subjective sentiment indicator to build investor sentiment composite index in Chinese stock market by using the partial least squares. The reason why we do that is to improve the shortcomings of the principal component analysis, which was adopted to build investor sentiment composite index in the pioneering research. Moreover, due to the large proportion of individual investors in Chinese stock market and the rapid change of investor sentiment, we innovatively use the weekly data with smaller information granularity and higher frequency. Through empirical tests for its reasonability and market’s predictive capability, we find that this index appears to fit the data better and improves prediction

On the construction of Chinese stock market investor sentiment index

Measuring investor sentiment has become one of the most widely examined areas in behavioral finance. For the purpose of measuring investor sentiment more accurately, we classify the investor sentiment proxy into six market dimensions for the first time, and construct the investor sentiment monitoring index system. By using PCA method and excluding macroeconomic factors, we construct comprehensive investor sentiment index in Chinese stock market. Our results show this index as a good prediction ability to stock market

The Nonlinear Relationship between Investor Sentiment, Stock Return, and Volatility

Based on the DSSW model, we analyze the nonlinear impact mechanism of investor sentiment on stock return and volatility by adjusting its hypothesis in Chinese stock market. We examine the relationship between investor sentiment, stock return, and volatility by applying OLS regression and quantile regression. Our empirical results show that the effects of investor sentiment on stock market return are asymmetric. There is “Freedman effect” in Chinese stock market, but only optimistic sentiment has a significant nonlinear impact on stock market returns when the stock market is a balanced market or a bear market. Meanwhile, “create the space effect” does exist in Chinese stock market too. It only exists when the market is in equilibrium, and only pessimistic sentiment has the nonlinear effect on stock market volatility

A Cooperation Scheme based on Reputation for Opportunistic Networks

International audienc

Bupivacaine–fentanyl isobaric spinal anesthesia reduces the risk of ICU admission in elderly patients undergoing lower limb orthopedic surgery

Abstract Background To evaluate if bupivacaine–fentanyl isobaric spinal anesthesia could reduce the risk of ICU admission compared with general anesthesia in elderly patients undergoing lower limb orthopedic surgery. Methods This study comprised a retrospective review of all lower limb orthopedic surgeries performed at our hospital between January 2013 and December 2019. According to anesthesia methods, patients were divided into the spinal anesthesia group (n = 1,728) and the general anesthesia group (n = 188). The primary outcome evaluated was the occurrence of ICU admission. Secondary outcomes included hemodynamic changes, postoperative complications, and mortality. Results Repeated measure analysis of variance indicated that the difference between the two groups in the systolic blood pressure (SBP) was not significant before anesthesia (T0), immediately after anesthesia (T1), and before leaving the operation room (T8) (P > 0.05), but significant (P < 0.01) from 5 min after anesthesia (T2) to after operation (T7). The proportions of ICU admission (6.4% vs. 23.8%, P < 0.01) and unplanned intubation (0.1% vs. 3.8%, P < 0.01) were significantly lower in the spinal anesthesia group compared with those in the general anesthesia group. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that after controlling for potential confounding factors, the odds of ICU admission for patients in the spinal anesthesia group was 0.240 times (95% CI 0.115–0.498; P < 0.01) than those in the general anesthesia group. Conclusions Bupivacaine–fentanyl isobaric spinal anesthesia significantly reduced the risk of ICU admission and unplanned intubation, and provided better intraoperative hemodynamics in elderly patients undergoing lower limb orthopedic surgery. Trial registration: This study has been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2000033411)

Influence of thermally diffused aluminum atoms from sapphire substrate on the properties of ZnO epilayers grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

In this study, the authors investigate the evolution of the structural and electrical properties of ZnO epilayers grown by the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition method on c -sapphire substrates. The inserting of a low-temperature ZnO buffer layer not only significantly improves the structural quality of the high-temperature (HT)-grown ZnO epilayer on a sapphire substrate but also results in high background electron concentration in it from the Hall-effect measurement. After subtracting the conductive contribution from a thin degenerated layer mostly formed between the buffer layer and the substrate based on the two-layer model, the deduced electron-carrier concentration is still in the order of 1018 cm-3, which is much larger than the 1016 cm-3 obtained from capacitance-voltage measurement near the top surface. This indicates that a much thicker layer with high carrier concentration should be formed in the HT-grown ZnO epilayer, which is significantly different from that observed in GaN epitaxy, where only a thin degenerated interfacial layer is suggested to form in the GaN buffer layer. Al atoms' distribution acquired from secondary-ion mass spectrometry shows a strong dependence on the temperature of the ZnO growth process, indicating that a thermally enhanced diffusion mechanism should be responsible for the observation of the enhanced Al atom concentration in the HT-grown ZnO epilayer. As substituted Al atoms on the Zn site act as donors in ZnO, the one-to-one correspondence between Al content and the carrier concentration, as well as the analysis of temperature-dependent Hall-effect measurement, indicates that diffusion-induced gradient-distributed AlZn shallow donors should be the main origin of the high background-carrier concentration in the HT-grown ZnO epilayers

BIRC5 facilitates cisplatin‐chemoresistance in a m6A‐dependent manner in ovarian cancer

Abstract Cisplatin‐based chemotherapy is the standard treatment for metastatic ovarian cancer (OC). However, chemoresistance continues to pose significant clinical challenges. Recent research has highlighted the baculoviral inhibitor of the apoptosis protein repeat‐containing 5 (BIRC5) as a member of the inhibitor of the apoptosis protein (IAP) family. Notably, BIRC5, which has robust anti‐apoptotic capabilities, is overexpressed in numerous cancers. Its dysfunction has been linked to challenges in cancer treatment. Yet, the role of BIRC5 in the chemoresistance of OC remains elusive. In our present study, we observed an upregulation of BIRC5 in cisplatin‐resistant cell lines. This upregulation was associated with enhanced chemoresistance, which was diminished when the expression of BIRC5 was silenced. Intriguingly, BIRC5 exhibited a high number of N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) binding sites. The modification of m6A was found to enhance the expression of BIRC5 by recognizing and binding to the 3′‐UTR of mRNA. Additionally, the insulin‐like growth factor 2 mRNA‐binding protein 1 (IGF2BP1) was shown to stabilize BIRC5 mRNA, synergizing with METTL3 and intensifying chemoresistance. Supporting these in vitro findings, our in vivo experiments revealed that tumors were significantly smaller in size and volume when BIRC5 was silenced. This reduction was notably counteracted by co‐silencing BIRC5 and overexpressing IGF2BP1. Our results underscored the pivotal role of BIRC5 in chemoresistance. The regulation of its expression and the stability of its mRNA were influenced by m6A modifications involving both METTL3 and IGF2BP1. These insights presented BIRC5 as a promising potential therapeutic target for addressing cisplatin resistance in OC