The Euro and European Financial Market Integration

We use a time-varying copula model to investigate the impact of the introduction of the Euro on the dependence between seventeen European stock markets during the period 1994-2003. The model is implemented with a GJR-GARCH-t model for the marginal distributions and the Gaussian copula for the joint distribution, which allows capturing time-varying, non-linear relationships. The results show that within the euro area, market dependence increased after the introduction of the common currency only for large equity markets, such as in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, while transaction costs remain important barriers to investment in and thus integration of smaller markets. Structural break tests indicate that the increase in financial market integration started around the beginning of 1998 when euro membership was determined and the relevant information was announced. We also estimate time-varying dependence measures for non-euro European countries with the euro-zone equity market. The UK and Sweden, but not other countries outside the euro area, are found to exhibit an increase in equity market co-movement, which is consistent with the interpretation that these countries may be expected to join the euro in the future.Euro, financial markets, integration, copula, GARCH, international finance

Aqueous Extract of Paeonia suffruticosa Inhibits Migration and Metastasis of Renal Cell Carcinoma Cells via Suppressing VEGFR-3 Pathway

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cells are characterized by strong drug resistance and high metastatic incidence. In this study, the effects of ten kinds of Chinese herbs on RCC cell migration and proliferation were examined. Aqueous extract of Paeonia suffruticosa (PS-A) exerted strong inhibitory effects on cancer cell migration, mobility, and invasion. The results of mouse xenograft experiments showed that the treatment of PS-A significantly suppressed tumor growth and pulmonary metastasis. We further found that PS-A markedly decreased expression of VEGF receptor-3 (VEGFR-3) and phosphorylation of FAK in RCC cells. Moreover, the activation of Rac-1, a modulator of cytoskeletal dynamics, was remarkably reduced by PS-A. Additionally, PS-A suppressed polymerization of actin filament as demonstrated by confocal microscopy analysis and decreased the ratio of F-actin to G-actin in RCC cells, suggesting that PS-A inhibits RCC cell migration through modulating VEGFR-3/FAK/Rac-1 pathway to disrupt actin filament polymerization. In conclusion, this research elucidates the effects and molecular mechanism for antimigration of PS-A on RCC cells and suggests PS-A to be a therapeutic or adjuvant strategy for the patients with aggressive RCC

The Taiwan Birth Panel Study: a prospective cohort study for environmentally- related child health

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Taiwan Birth Panel Study (TBPS) is a prospective follow-up study to investigate the development of child health and disease in relation to in-utero and/or early childhood environmental exposures. The rationale behind the establishment of such a cohort includes the magnitude of potential environmental exposures, the timing of exposure window, fatal and children's susceptibility to toxicants, early exposure delayed effects, and low-level or unknown neurodevelopmental toxicants.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 486 mother-infant paired was enrolled from April 2004 to January 2005 in this study. Maternal blood before delivery, placenta and umbilical cord blood at birth, and mothers' urine after delivery were collected. The follow-up was scheduled at birth, 4, 6 months, and 1, 2, 3 and 5 years. The children's blood, urine, hair, and saliva were collected at 2 years of age and children's urine was collected at 5 years of age as well. The study has been approved by the ethical committee of National Taiwan University Hospital. All the subjects signed the inform consent on entering the study and each of the follow up.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Through this prospective birth cohort, the main health outcomes were focused on child growth, neurodevelopment, behaviour problem and atopic diseases. We investigated the main prenatal and postnatal factors including smoking, heavy metals, perfluorinated chemicals, and non-persistent pesticides under the consideration of interaction of the environment and genes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This cohort study bridges knowledge gaps and answers unsolved issues in the low-level, prenatal or postnatal, and multiple exposures, genetic effect modification, and the initiation and progression of "environmentally-related childhood diseases."</p

European financial market dependence : an industry analysis

This paper uses a copula model to investigate the degree and determinants of European market dependence across 10 industries in 12 Euro zone and 8 non-Euro zone stock markets during the period 1992–2011. Most of the industries in Euro countries show a dependence increase with the Euro-area after the introduction of the Euro. The effects are strongest in countries with larger market capitalization and in the Financials, Industrials, Consumer Goods, Utilities, Technology and Telecommunications industries. Overall, the export intensity, interest rate sensitivity and competitiveness of an industry and the financial development and economic openness of a country are the most important determinants of changes in equity market dependence. The period around the Lehman collapse also shows higher equity market dependence between European countries, while the lower dependence increase during the period of the recent European sovereign debt crisis suggests that country-specific factors may matter more than before

Another look at the relationship between cross-market correlation and volatility

While increases in cross-market correlations during periods of market crises are well-documented, Forbes and Rigobon [2002. No contagion, only interdependence: Measuring stock market comovements. Journal of Finance 57, 2223–2261] show that correlation coefficients are biased measures of dependence when markets become more volatile, and that there is no evidence of contagion in recent financial crises once corrected for these effects. This paper explores the impact of volatility on market dependence more broadly, both analytically and empirically using simulated time-series of financial asset returns that follow alternative stochastic processes commonly used in financial research. The results show that market dependence is not generally conditional on volatility regimes and that a bias in dependence measures occurs only for particular assumptions about the time-series dynamics. Since real world data may often not be characterized by homoskedasticity, a correction of estimated unconditional correlations during market crises may not always be needed. Consequently, the results provide evidence that contagion indeed exists as a real phenomenon during financial crises, reducing the benefits of portfolio diversification when needed most. In contrast, if the return data generating process is invariant but displays conditional heteroskedasticity, a conditioning bias exists that cannot be distinguished from a fundamental change in market dependence