Financial modernization : a new world or status quo?

The passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB) in 1999 was a milestone in financial services regulation. GLB repealed restrictions dating back to the Depression against the commingling of securities, insurance and other financial service activities within a banking organization. While still a relatively recent event, observers ponder the early, practical impact of this legislation on the scope of activities conducted by Tenth District organizations. Our banker survey provides some revealing results on the extent of early adoption and the views of Tenth District bankers as to the perceived benefits derived from GLB and how they see these changes affecting their world. In brief, the Tenth District mirrors the nation in the somewhat modest changes to banking activities and strategic plans in this initial phase.Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ; Federal Reserve District, 10th ; Banks and banking

An overview and analysis of community bank mergers

With some of the largest mergers in history now taking place in the financial services industry, the fact that consolidation is also occurring among small banking institutions is often overlooked. The factors that are promoting consolidation in the banking industry are also relevant for the smallest banks, namely the need to spread the cost of technological and administrative overhead and the desire to maintain earnings growth. With limited growth opportunities in many rural communities, smaller banks often choose to merge with other nearby rural banks as the means to gain asset size and improve efficiency. ; Using a case study approach that focuses on nineteen rural banks that participated in in-market mergers, this article examines whether smaller community banks that followed this merger strategy realized efficiency gains. The results show that such mergers have usually been successful from both a profitability and a cost efficiency perspective. Further, these gains were typically achieved without closing branch offices. These successes are important to rural bankers as they seek opportunities for consolidation. They are also important from a public policy perspective and should be carefully considered by regulators in their evaluation of small bank mergers.Bank mergers

Oesophagusatresie

De behandeling van patienten, geboren met een gedeeltelijke afwezigheid van de slokdarm, is een moeilijke opgave. Het is een afwijking, die, tenzij zij onmiddellijk na de geboorte chirurgisch gecorrigeerd wordt, niet met het Ieven verenigbaar is. Het duurde tot 1939 voordat men er in de Verenigde Staten in slaagde een patientje met deze anoma~ lie in Ieven te houden. Tegenwoordig is een oesophagusatresie op zichzelf geen aandoening meer die onafwendbaar tot de dood voert. In de laatste jaren werden de inspanningen van verplegend personeel en artsen overal met een bemoedigend resultaat bekroond. Oak in onze groep pa· tienten leken de successen toe te nemen. Het lag met deze studie in onze bedoe· ling na te gaan of onze gunstige indruk wel gerechtvaardigd was en of de bew handelingsmethode goed was. Verder benieuwde het ons hoe het de patienten was vergaan nadat zij het ziekenhuis verlaten hadden en niet meer poliklinisch naonderzocht werden. Wij weten maar al te goed, dat met het ontslag uit het ziekenhuis alle problemen nag niet zijn opgelost en de moeilijkheden alleen in andere handen worden overgedragen

ESA/ELGRA Gravity-Related Research Summer School: an introduction to microgravity and hypergravity research for university students

The European Low Gravity Research Association (ELGRA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) co-organise since 2016 a Summer School on gravity-related research in the frame of ESA Academy’s Training and Learning Programme. This Summer School is organised every year, in June, at the ESA Education Training Centre located in ESA’s European Space Security and Education Centre (ESEC), Belgium. The Summer School explains the fundamentals of performing research at different gravity levels and offers an overview of current research activity under microgravity and hypergravity conditions in life and physical sciences. Over four and a half intensive days, up to 30 Bachelor and Master students from ESA Member States, Canada and Slovenia, attend stimulating lectures, and work within small groups to devise project ideas for prospective experiments. Gravity-related research is introduced to these future scientists and engineers by experienced professionals from across the European space and research sector. These trainers are ELGRA members and ESA experts, freely sharing their experience and know-how with the students, including their day-to-day work and research experience in biology, human physiology, physics and engineering. Each year the programme incorporates new elements to enhance the experience for the students based on their feedback. 104 university students and 43 different experts have already participated in this Summer School.The Summer School is a jointly funded initiative from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Low Gravity Research Association (ELGRA).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Evaluation of a Systems Navigator Model for Transition From Pediatric to Adult Care for Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes

OBJECTIVES— To determine whether a systems navigator service, The Maestro Project, could increase medical surveillance for young adults with type 1 diabetes who transfer from pediatric to adult care

ESA Academy activities during COVID-19

The ESA Academy is the ESA Education Office’s overarching programme for university students. The Academy’s portfolio consists of both ‘hands-on’ activities, and a Training and Learning Programme. Conventionally both of these elements involve a significant number of in person events, for example training sessions, workshops and test and launch campaigns. The educational nature and practical aspects of such events has traditionally necessitated in person participation. Additionally, most of the Academy’s ‘hands-on’ programmes revolve around student teams designing, building, testing and operating an experiment or spacecraft, activities which rely on the availability and delivery of commercial components, and access to manufacturing, testing and launch facilities, and laboratories. In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic, and associated restrictions, began to take hold in Europe, nearly all the ESA Academy programmes were affected. Despite the challenges, the Academy continued to deliver activities, and the student teams participating in the Academy’s programmes continued to achieve major milestones, including launching experiments to the ISS, CubeSat testing and launch and execution of micro- and hyper-gravity experiments. This paper explores the challenges faced during COVID-19 and how both the programmes and the students participating in the programmes adapted to meet their educational, scientific, and technical goals. Furthermore, the longer-term adaptation of some of these changes into the future execution of the programmes is discusse

The Combination of Particle Irradiation With the Hedgehog Inhibitor GANT61 Differently Modulates the Radiosensitivity and Migration of Cancer Cells Compared to X-Ray Irradiation

Due to the advantages of charged particles compared to conventional radiotherapy, a vast increase is noted in the use of particle therapy in the clinic. These advantages include an improved dose deposition and increased biological effectiveness. Metastasis is still an important cause of mortality in cancer patients and evidence has shown that conventional radiotherapy can increase the formation of metastasizing cells. An important pathway involved in the process of metastasis is the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway. Recent studies have demonstrated that activation of the Hh pathway, in response to X-rays, can lead to radioresistance and increased migratory, and invasive capabilities of cancer cells. Here, we investigated the effect of X-rays, protons, and carbon ions on cell survival, migration, and Hh pathway gene expression in prostate cancer (PC3) and medulloblastoma (DAOY) cell lines. In addition, the potential modulation of cell survival and migration by the Hh pathway inhibitor GANT61 was investigated. We found that in both cell lines, carbon ions were more effective in decreasing cell survival and migration as well as inducing more significant alterations in the Hh pathway genes compared to X-rays or protons. In addition, we show here for the first time that the Hh inhibitor GANT61 is able to sensitize DAOY medulloblastoma cells to particle radiation (proton and carbon ion) but not to conventional X-rays. This important finding demonstrates that the results of combination treatment strategies with X-ray radiotherapy cannot be automatically extrapolated to particle therapy and should be investigated separately. In conclusion, combining GANT61 with particle radiation could offer a benefit for specific cancer types with regard to cancer cell survival

Farmers review of Best Management Practices: drivers and barriers as seen by adopters and non-adopters

Assessing farmers’ intention to adopt best management practices across eight European countrie

UK guideline on transition of adolescent and young persons with chronic digestive diseases from paediatric to adult care

The risks of poor transition include delayed and inappropriate transfer that can result in disengagement with healthcare. Structured transition care can improve control of chronic digestive diseases and long-term health-related outcomes. These are the first nationally developed guidelines on the transition of adolescent and young persons (AYP) with chronic digestive diseases from paediatric to adult care. They were commissioned by the Clinical Services and Standards Committee of the British Society of Gastroenterology under the auspices of the Adolescent and Young Persons (A&YP) Section. Electronic searches for English-language articles were performed with keywords relating to digestive system diseases and transition to adult care in the Medline (via Ovid), PsycInfo (via Ovid), Web of Science and CINAHL databases for studies published from 1980 to September 2014. The quality of evidence and grading of recommendations was appraised using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. The limited number of studies in gastroenterology and hepatology required the addition of relevant studies from other chronic diseases to be included. These guidelines deal specifically with the transition of AYP living with a diagnosis of chronic digestive disease and/or liver disease from paediatric to adult healthcare under the following headings; 1. Patient populations involved in AYP transition 2. Risks of failing transition or poor transition 3. Models of AYP transition 4. Patient and carer/parent perspective in AYP transition 5. Surgical perspectiv