Effect of B Corp certification on short-term growth : European evidence

This paper investigates the effect of sustainability certification on the short-term growth rates of socially responsible companies. A changing business environment in which stakeholders became more sensitive to the sustainability practices of companies induced a growing popularity of hybrid firms, which use market-based approaches to pursue environmental and social goals. However, stakeholders do not take unsubstantiated claims about companies' sustainability efforts for granted, creating a potential economic role for independent certification organizations. In addition, the internal processes brought about by the external verification procedure could turn the social mission, which is often creating tension with financial goals, into a strategic advantage. B Lab is one such well-known and rapidly growing organization, granting so-called B Corp certificates across many countries around the world. This paper contributes to the hybrid firm literature by ascertaining the benefit of certification as measured by firm growth. Using a panel dataset of financial data of European firms that obtained B Corp certification between 2012 and 2018 and a quasi-experimental difference-in-difference research design, this paper empirically shows that B Corp certification positively impacts the turnover growth rates one year pre versus one year post certification. No significant effects on employee growth rates or total asset growth rates are found

Management of estrogen deficiency after breast cancer

peer reviewedThe prevention and the treatment of oestrogen deficiency induced by breast cancer treatments are crucial in the management of patients. The impacts of this deficiency must not be neglected: quality of life impairments inducing eventually premature withdrawal of hormonotherapies, and excess of bone and cardio-vascular morbidities and mortalities, especially in good prognosis young women. Management strategies of short and long term effects of this deficiency are reviewed and discussed here

Breast cancer in Belgium: why are we the first in Europe?

peer reviewedBreast cancer incidence in Belgium is on the top of European countries, with 9.697 new cases in 2008 and 106/100.000 women/year. The explanation of this high incidence in our country is probably the accumulation of risk factors (many of them are linked to lifestyle), and the impact of screening and registration of cases. The relative impact of each of theses factors is less clear because we don't have powerful statistical studies. Belgium is slightly above the European mean for breast cancer mortality, with 19,4/100.000 women/year and an all stages 15-year survival of 75%. Breast cancers are responsible for around 3% of all-cause mortality in Belgian women. This article discusses the causes of this high Belgian incidence and of current decrease of incidence in western countries, and reviews known and less known risk factors of breast cancers, with a special focus on menopause hormonal treatments

Reporting on invasive lobular breast cancer in clinical trials: a systematic review

Invasive lobular breast cancer (ILC) differs from invasive breast cancer of no special type in many ways. Evidence on treatment efficacy for ILC is, however, lacking. We studied the degree of documentation and representation of ILC in phase III/IV clinical trials for novel breast cancer treatments. Trials were identified on Pubmed and clinicaltrials.gov. Inclusion/exclusion criteria were reviewed for requirements on histological subtype and tumor measurability. Documentation of ILC was assessed and ILC inclusion rate, central pathology and subgroup analyses were evaluated. Inclusion restrictions concerning tumor measurability were found in 39/93 manuscripts. Inclusion rates for ILC were documented in 13/93 manuscripts and varied between 2.0 and 26.0%. No central pathology for ILC was reported and 3/13 manuscripts had ILC sub-analyses. ILC is largely disregarded in most trials with poor representation and documentation. The current inclusion criteria using RECIST v1.1, fall short in recognizing the unique non-measurable metastatic infiltration of ILC