Short sales and price discovery in real estate markets

Indirect real estate (IRE) returns are often shown to lead direct real estate (DRE) returns. Apart from differences in liquidity, transaction costs, and management skills, the DRE market is also less complete than the IRE market – when negative shocks arrive, one can only short IRE (e.g. real estate stocks or REITs), but not DRE. This study investigates if short sales in the IRE market convey any information to the DRE market. Based on high-frequency (weekly) property price data in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2011, we found that short sales in the IRE market led DRE returns, even after controlling for the lagged IRE returns in a VAR model. This suggests that short sales contain private information on the real estate market that is not fully reflected in IRE returns. The spillover effect of short sales, however, weakened after the 2007 global financial crisis because increased uncertainty over the credibility of individual firms made short sales carry more firm-specific information than market-wide news.postprin

The utility of Aspirin in Dukes C and High Risk Dukes B Colorectal cancer--the ASCOLT study: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

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Initial experience with the Oncotype DX assay in decision-making for adjuvant therapy of early oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer in Hong Kong

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Herpetic shoulder paresis in a Chinese elderly patient

A patient with left shoulder girdle weakness secondary to herpetic myotomal paresis is reported. Needle electromyography revealed denervational discharge from the left supraspinatus, deltoid, and brachioradialis muscles, compatible with a radiculopathy that was relevant to his myotomes affected by zoster infection. The patient was managed with range-of-movement and strengthening exercises as well as pain relief for post-herpetic neuralgia. Further studies are required to determine whether antiviral treatment can limit the extent of motor deficit and hasten recovery. Zoster paresis should be one of the differential diagnoses of girdle muscle weakness.published_or_final_versio

The Federal Institute for Access to Information in Mexico and a Culture of Transparency

In the family of freedom of information laws globally, Mexico is a leader, partly because of its Federal Institute for Access to Public Information in Mexico (IFAI) set up under the country’s new Transparency Law. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation asked an international team to study how IFAI has made a difference as the legislation furthers public understanding of government and provides for an informed citizenry. Evaluating performance was the first priority. But for an institution like IFAI to survive and flower and for it to make its greatestcontribution, it must also be perceived to be performing in accordance with legislative hopes. Two stakeholders—the “obligated agencies” or agencies covered by the underlying law and the public that uses the transparency law were canvassed as part of the study. We conducted a survey of the staff of IFAI itself as to its understanding of its role and performance. IFAI, as part of the architecture of government openness, has already contributed enormously to a culture of transparency in Mexico. That culture of transparency has contributed to undergirding democratic processes. Much of this progress is attributable to the Commissioners and staff at IFAI. They recognize, however, that there remain substantial opportunities to deepen and broaden this process. Our study seeks to make specific recommendations that will reinforce and advance what IFAI has alreadyaccomplished. Among IFAI’s important mandates are: resolving appeals of a denied request under the law, training public servants as well in access to information and protection of personal data, monitoring compliance with the law, promoting and disseminating the use of the right of access to information, establishing guidelines for the management of personal data, and disseminating information about how the Transparency Law works. The study focused on these particular mandates as a basis for framing recommendations. In particular, there is an emphasis on extending the work of IFAI to as many groups and citizens as possible to make the Transparency Law effective. This outreach must extend to public servants subject to the law and the community at large. Indeed, for a deeply ingrained, robust “culture of transparency” to be established in Mexico, IFAI must involve state and municipal governments to promote transparency on the local level. The Transparency Law is largely an accomplishment of the Mexican civil society that lobbied and won its passage. It is a law that stands for unprecedented public openness in Mexico’s history. The underlying hopes are that reach citizen throughout Mexico’s thirty-one states benefit, directly or indirectly, from the functioning of the transparency laws and the discipline and educative support of IFAI

Survivin depletion inhibits tumor growth and enhances chemosensitivity in hepatocellular carcinoma

Survivin is a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis family, which has been suggested to be crucial in the control of cell division and inhibition of apoptosis. Expression of this protein has been observed in transformed cell lines and human tumor tissues, including those from colorectal cancer, but not in terminally differentiated adult tissues. Survivin mRNA expression has frequently been detected in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its protein expression has been demonstrated to be highly correlated with proliferation index rather than apoptotic index. The present study aimed to analyze the effect of survivin on the tumorigenicity and chemosensitivity of HCC via the establishment of an HCC cell line (PLC/PRF/5) with the stable knockdown of the survivin gene (PLC-k3). This cell line displayed significantly lower rates of survival and proliferation in assays of cell viability and proliferation, respectively, compared with those of the control cell line (PLC-v). In addition, PLC-k3 cells were more sensitive to cisplatin treatment, resulting in S phase arrest. These findings were further confirmed by an in vivo experiment. The data of the present study suggest that survivin is critical in promoting cell proliferation but not in inhibition of apoptosis, and enhances the chemosensitivity of HCC. Thus, the suppression of survivin expression in combination with cisplatin may contribute to the development of more effective treatments for HCC.published_or_final_versio

Lobular breast cancers lack the inverse relationship between ER/PR status and cell growth rate characteristic of ductal cancers in two independent patient cohorts: implications for tumor biology and adjuvant therapy

BACKGROUND: Although invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) of the breast differs from invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) in numerous respects - including its genetics, clinical phenotype, metastatic pattern, and chemosensitivity - most experts continue to manage ILC and IDC identically in the adjuvant setting. Here we address this discrepancy by comparing early-stage ILC and IDC in two breast cancer patient cohorts of differing nationality and ethnicity. METHODS: The clinicopathologic features of 2029 consecutive breast cancer patients diagnosed in Hong Kong (HK) and Australia (AUS) were compared. Interrelationships between tumor histology and other clinicopathologic variables, including ER/PR and Ki67, were analysed. RESULTS: Two hundred thirty-nine patients were identified with ILC (11.8%) and 1790 patients with IDC. AUS patients were older (p 0.7). Moreover, whereas IDC tumors exhibited a strongly negative relationship between ER/PR and Ki67 status (p 0.6). CONCLUSION: These data imply that the primary adhesion defect in ILC underlies a secondary stromal-epithelial disconnect between hormonal signaling and tumor growth, suggesting in turn that this peritumoral feedback defect could reduce both the antimetastatic (adjuvant) and tumorilytic (palliative) efficacy of cytotoxic therapies for such tumors. Hence, we caution against assuming similar adjuvant chemotherapeutic survival benefits for ILC and IDC tumors with similar ER and Ki67, whether based on immunohistochemical or gene expression assays.published_or_final_versio

A preclinical study on the combination therapy of everolimus and transarterial chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma

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