The effect of market size structure on competition: the case of small business lending

Banking industry consolidation has raised concern about the supply of small business credit since large banks generally invest lower proportions of their assets in small business loans. However, we find that the likelihood that a small business borrows from a bank of a given size is roughly proportional to the local market presence of banks of that size, although there are exceptions. Moreover, small business loan interest rates depend more on the size structure of the market than on the size of the bank providing the credit, with markets dominated by large banks generally charging lower prices.Small business ; Bank size ; Bank loans ; Banking market

Rapid keratitis and perforation after corneal collagen cross-linking

© 2020 Purpose: To describe a case of rapid keratitis and corneal perforation after epithelium off collagen cross-linking. Observations: We report a case of a 17-year-old male who underwent collagen cross-linking with the protocol and device approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that developed a corneal infiltrate 3 days after the procedure. He later developed corneal thinning and perforation on day 5 requiring the use of cyanoacrylate glue and a Kontur lens. Despite initial improvement in the infiltrate with fortified antibiotics he later had leakage of aqueous around the glue and a flat chamber requiring an emergent penetrating keratoplasty on postoperative day 16. Conclusion and importance: While collagen cross-linking has been very effective for treating keratoconus and is being recommended more frequently since FDA approval in the United States, severe complications such as corneal perforation requiring early transplant can still occur

The demand for tax return preparation services

We analyze taxpayer choices of return preparation services. We distinguish between two types of nonpaid preparers, six types of paid third parties, and self-preparation. Among other things, we find significant differences in the factors which explain the demand for paid third parties who are and are not able to represent clients before the IRS. Among these factors are increases in IRS audit rates and the frequency of IRS penalties

High resolution HLA analysis reveals independent class I haplotypes and amino-acid motifs protective for multiple sclerosis.

We investigated association between HLA class I and class II alleles and haplotypes, and KIR loci and their HLA class I ligands, with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 412 European American MS patients and 419 ethnically matched controls, using next-generation sequencing. The DRB1*15:01~DQB1*06:02 haplotype was highly predisposing (odds ratio (OR) = 3.98; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 3-5.31; p-value (p) = 2.22E-16), as was DRB1*03:01~DQB1*02:01 (OR = 1.63; CI = 1.19-2.24; p = 1.41E-03). Hardy-Weinberg (HW) analysis in MS patients revealed a significant DRB1*03:01~DQB1*02:01 homozyote excess (15 observed; 8.6 expected; p = 0.016). The OR for this genotype (5.27; CI = 1.47-28.52; p = 0.0036) suggests a recessive MS risk model. Controls displayed no HW deviations. The C*03:04~B*40:01 haplotype (OR = 0.27; CI = 0.14-0.51; p = 6.76E-06) was highly protective for MS, especially in haplotypes with A*02:01 (OR = 0.15; CI = 0.04-0.45; p = 6.51E-05). By itself, A*02:01 is moderately protective, (OR = 0.69; CI = 0.54-0.87; p = 1.46E-03), and haplotypes of A*02:01 with the HLA-B Thr80 Bw4 variant (Bw4T) more so (OR = 0.53; CI = 0.35-0.78; p = 7.55E-04). Protective associations with the Bw4 KIR ligand resulted from linkage disequilibrium (LD) with DRB1*15:01, but the Bw4T variant was protective (OR = 0.64; CI = 0.49-0.82; p = 3.37-04) independent of LD with DRB1*15:01. The Bw4I variant was not associated with MS. Overall, we find specific class I HLA polymorphisms to be protective for MS, independent of the strong predisposition conferred by DRB1*15:01

P2P lending and outside entrepreneurial finance

Later stage, unlisted SMEs are typically too old to attract equity crowdfunding, one of the two novel sources of outside entrepreneurial finance. The other source is peer-to-peer (P2P) business lending – sometimes called marketplace lending or debt crowdfunding – where unlisted SMEs raise medium term loans from a combination of the crowd of small investors and financial institutions via internet portals. The institutions benefit from the collective wisdom of the crowd while institutional investments reduce information asymmetries for other investors and may lead to herding by the crowd. This paper studies the incremental decision to choose P2P over bank debt by means of probit and logit regressions. It establishes that firms with relatively high credit ratings, smaller assets, lower levels of prior capital expenditures, and low leverage ratios are more likely to raise P2P rather than bank debt. The conclusion is that P2P debt plays a unique role in accommodating the outside entrepreneurial capital needs of these SMEs wanting medium term funding. The empirical work employs a sample 1,249 small, private SMEs that received P2P loans with maturities of up to five years 2013–2015 from Funding Circle, the leading UK P2P business lender

Pilot cluster randomised controlled trial of flooring to reduce injuries from falls in wards for older people

Background: falls disproportionately affect older people, who are at increased risk of falls and injury. This pilot study investigates shock-absorbing flooring for fall-related injuries in wards for frail older people.Methods: we conducted a non-blinded cluster randomised trial in eight hospitals in England between April 2010 and August 2011. Each site allocated one bay as the ‘study area’, which was randomised via computer to intervention (8.3-mm thick Tarkett Omnisports EXCEL) or control (2-mm standard in situ flooring). Sites had an intervention period of 1 year. Anybody admitted to the study area was eligible. The primary outcome was the fall-related injury rate. Secondary outcomes were injury severity, fall rate and adverse events.Results: during the intervention period, 226 participants were recruited to each group (219 and 223 were analysed in the intervention and control group, respectively). Of 35 falls (31 fallers) in the intervention group, 22.9% were injurious, compared with 42.4% of 33 falls (22 fallers) in the control group [injury incident rate ratio (IRR) = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.18–1.91]. There were no moderate or major injuries in the intervention group and six in the control group. The fall IRR was 1.07 (95% CI = 0.64–1.81). Staff at intervention sites raised concerns about pushing equipment, documenting one pulled back.Conclusions: future research should assess shock-absorbing flooring with better ‘push/pull’ properties and explore increased faller risk. We estimate a future trial will need 33,480–52,840 person bed-days per arm.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT00817869); UKCRN (ID: 5735)

Are chimpanzees really so poor at understanding imperative pointing? Some new data and an alternative view of canine and ape social cognition

There is considerable interest in comparative research on different species’ abilities to respond to human communicative cues such as gaze and pointing. It has been reported that some canines perform significantly better than monkeys and apes on tasks requiring the comprehension of either declarative or imperative pointing and these differences have been attributed to domestication in dogs. Here we tested a sample of chimpanzees on a task requiring comprehension of an imperative request and show that, though there are considerable individual differences, the performance by the apes rival those reported in pet dogs. We suggest that small differences in methodology can have a pronounced influence on performance on these types of tasks. We further suggest that basic differences in subject sampling, subject recruitment and rearing experiences have resulted in a skewed representation of canine abilities compared to those of monkeys and apes

The gut microbiome correlates with conspecific aggression in a small population of rescued dogs (Canis familiaris)

Aggression is a serious behavioral disorder in domestic dogs that endangers both dogs and humans. The underlying causes of canine aggression are poorly resolved and require illumination to ensure effective therapy. Recent research links the compositional diversity of the gut microbiome to behavioral and psychological regulation in other mammals, such as mice and humans. Given these observations, we hypothesized that the composition of the canine gut microbiome could associate with aggression. We analyzed fecal microbiome samples collected from a small population of pit bull type dogs seized from a dogfighting organization. This population included 21 dogs that displayed conspecific aggressive behaviors and 10 that did not. Beta-diversity analyses support an association between gut microbiome structure and dog aggression. Additionally, we used a phylogenetic approach to resolve specific clades of gut bacteria that stratify aggressive and non-aggressive dogs, including clades within Lactobacillus, Dorea, Blautia, Turicibacter, and Bacteroides. Several of these taxa have been implicated in modulating mammalian behavior as well as gastrointestinal disease states. Although sample size limits this study, our findings indicate that gut microorganisms are linked to dog aggression and point to an aggression-associated physiological state that interacts with the gut microbiome. These results also indicate that the gut microbiome may be useful for diagnosing aggressive behaviors prior to their manifestation and potentially discerning cryptic etiologies of aggression

Measurement component technology. Volume 3: Cryogenic temperature measurement and high temperature strain gage technology

For abstract, see N74-27185

The demand for tax return preparation services

We analyze taxpayer choices of return preparation services. We distinguish between two types of nonpaid preparers, six types of paid third parties, and self-preparation. Among other things, we find significant differences in the factors which explain the demand for paid third parties who are and are not able to represent clients before the IRS. Among these factors are increases in IRS audit rates and the frequency of IRS penalties