New insights on the importance of agency costs for corporate debt maturity decisions

This study provides new insights on the relationship between corporate debt maturity and agency costs by investigating empirically the impact of managerial ownership and the divergence between control and cash-flow rights on debt maturity. A significant negative effect of managerial ownership on debt maturity is observed. Moreover, the results reveal that the wedge between control and cash-flow rights also exerts a negative influence. The analysis further suggests that the negative effect of managerial ownership decreases in widely-held firms and increases with the discrepancy between control and cash-flow rights

Foreign institutional ownership and demand for accounting conservatism: evidence from an emerging market

© 2019, The Author(s). This study investigates how foreign institutional ownership interacts with accounting conservatism in an emerging market setting. We posit that weak investor protection and a high degree of information asymmetry between insiders and outside investors increase demand for conservative reporting in firms operating in emerging markets. Foreign investors in this setting have informational disadvantages relative to their domestic peers and have difficulties in getting access to data. Using a sample of Turkish firms, we find that foreign institutions (particularly foreign corporate investors) demand more conservative reporting in the investee firms. Moreover, we show that this association is more pronounced among firms with greater asymmetric information problems and growth opportunities. Our additional tests reveal that the direction of causality flows from foreign institutional ownership to conservatism, and not vice versa

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) versus conventional postoperative care in patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomies

Objectives: In the present study, we aimed to compare the postoperative compliance and complications between ERAS and conventional postoperative care in patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomies. Material and methods: This is the prospective, randomized, controlled trial, which involved 62 patients, who underwent abdominal hysterectomy between December 2016 to February 2017. A total of 30 patients formed the ERAS group. A total of 32 patients who received conventional perioperative care and matched for age, body mass index (BMI) and American Society of Anesthesiologists score were assigned as a control group. Groups were compared in terms of patient characteristics [age, body mass index, ASA Score, parity, diagnosis, type of surgery, and perioperative intravenous fluids], postoperative compliance (postoperative intravenous fluids, time to first flatus, first defecation, ambulation, eating solid food, and postoperative hospital stay), and postoperative complications. Results: Peri- and post-operative administrated intravenous fluids were significantly lower in the ERAS group (p < 0.001 for both). Time to first flatus (p = 0.001), time to first defecation (p < 0.001), and time to eating solid food (p < 0.001) were all significantly shorter in the ERAS group. Post-operative early mobilization on the first postoperative day was achieved in eight (26.7%) patients in the ERAS group. There were no significant differences in complications. One (3.3%) patient in the ERAS Group and 11 (34.4%) patients in the Conventional Group required hospital readmission after discharge (p = 0.002). Conclusion: The ERAS protocol seems to be a simple tool for reducing the incidence of postoperative complications and shortening hospitalization.

International evidence on the non-linear impact of leverage on corporate cash holdings

This paper investigates cash holding behaviour of firms from France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US using data for 4069 companies over the period 1996–2000. Our focus is particularly on the relation between cash holdings and leverage. We argue that the impact of leverage on cash balances of firms is likely to be non-monotonic. To the extent that leverage of firms acts as a proxy for their ability to issue debt one would expect a negative (substitution effect) relation between leverage and cash holdings. However, as leverage increases firms are likely to accumulate larger cash reserves to minimise the risk of financial distress and costly bankruptcy. Thus, one would expect a positive (precautionary effect) relationship between cash holdings and leverage at high levels of leverage. Our findings provide strong and robust support for a significant non-linear relation between cash holdings and leverage. Additionally, our results show that the impact of leverage on cash holdings partly depends on country-specific characteristics such as the degree of creditor protection, shareholder protection, and ownership concentration

Back Pain Secondary to Brucella Spondylitis in the Lumbar Region

Brucellosis is a systemic, infectious disease caused by the bacterial genus Brucella and a common zoonosis that still remains a major health problem in certain parts of the world such as the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, and Latin America. It may involve multiple organs and tissues. Osteoarticular involvement is the most frequent complication of brucellosis, in which the diagnosis of brucellar spondylitis is often difficult since the clinical presentation may be obscured by many other conditions. There are only a few reports on brucellar spondylitis in Korea. Here, we report a case of spondylitis due to brucella in an elderly male

Physical and physiological characteristics of baseball trained adolescents

The aim of the study is to contrast the physical characteristics of 13-16 years old baseball trained adolescents with the same age sedentary adolescents. Baseball trained adolescents (n=10), who were trained approximately 45 ± 10.67 month, and inactive adolescents (n=14) participated in this research voluntarily. Sit and reach flexibility test, 10-20-30 meter sprint test, active and squat jump tests, hand grip strength test, Wingate anaerobic power test were used to evaluate the physical characteristics of baseball trained adolescents and sedentary adolescents. As a result of the research there is no significant difference between the sedentary adolescents’ and baseball trained adolescents’ age, height, body mass, BMI, body fat percentage and sit-reach flexibility test values. There is a significant difference between the sedentary adolescents’ and baseball trained adolescents’ active and squat jump test, 10-20-30 meter sprint test, left and right hand grip strength test values (p≤0.05). Baseball play trained adolescents’ active and squat jump test, 10-20-30 meter sprint test, left and right hand grip strength test values were found statistically higher than values of sedentary adolescents. Baseball trained adolescents’ absolute peak power and absolute average power were determined higher than sedentary adolescents but no difference was found between the relative peak power, relative average power