Cash Balance Pension Plan Conversions: An Analysis Of Motivations And Pension Costs

In recent years, many corporations have replaced their traditional defined benefit (DB) pension plans with cash balance (CB) plans, which share many of the characteristics of defined contribution plans. This study provides empirical evidence on the characteristics of CB converters and the behavior of pension costs and obligations pre- and post-conversion. We find that CB converters are larger than firms that retain traditional DB plans as well as those that terminate DB plans. They are less profitable than the former, but more profitable than the latter. CB conversions are not associated with proxies for greater labor mobility (e.g., firm-specific employee turnover rate). They are associated with a workforce that is closer to retirement, on average, lending credence to the breach of implicit contract rather than the labor market hypothesis as a motivator of CB conversions. Consistent with this intuition, we document that CB converters recognize a reduction of unrecognized prior service costs in the year of conversion, consistent with a negative plan amendment. Unlike pre-conversion, pension costs and obligations are significantly lower for CB firms post-conversion than for a matched sample of firms retaining traditional DB plans. CB conversions are more popular than DB plan terminations among firms with overfunded pension plans in periods when expected return on plan assets is likely to be high, with a consequent positive effect on reported income

Correlation analysis of the rates of solvolysis of 4-bromopiperidine: A reaction following a Grob fragmentation pathway

A Grunwald-Winstein treatment of the specific rates of solvolysis of 4-bromopiperidine gives for aqueous ethanol, methanol, acetone, and dioxane a very good logarithmic correlation against the YBr solvent ionizing power values with a slope (m value) of 0.46±0.02, consistent with the operation of a synchronous Grob fragmentation mechanism. When the organic component of the solvent is 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE), the data points show a negative deviation, consistent with an appreciable deactivating interaction of the acidic TFE component of the solvent with the lone-pair of electrons present on the nitrogen

Sympathetic and hemodynamic responses to exercise in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

Excessive sympathetic activity during exercise causes heightened peripheral vasoconstriction, which can reduce oxygen delivery to active muscles, resulting in exercise intolerance. Although both patients suffering from heart failure with preserved and reduced ejection fraction (HFpEF and HFrEF, respectively) exhibit reduced exercise capacity, accumulating evidence suggests that the underlying pathophysiology may be different between these two conditions. Unlike HFrEF, which is characterized by cardiac dysfunction with lower peak oxygen uptake, exercise intolerance in HFpEF appears to be predominantly attributed to peripheral limitations involving inadequate vasoconstriction rather than cardiac limitations. However, the relationship between systemic hemodynamics and the sympathetic neural response during exercise in HFpEF is less clear. This mini review summarizes the current knowledge on the sympathetic (i.e., muscle sympathetic nerve activity, plasma norepinephrine concentration) and hemodynamic (i.e., blood pressure, limb blood flow) responses to dynamic and static exercise in HFpEF compared to HFrEF, as well as non-HF controls. We also discuss the potential of a relationship between sympathetic over-activation and vasoconstriction leading to exercise intolerance in HFpEF. The limited body of literature indicates that higher peripheral vascular resistance, perhaps secondary to excessive sympathetically mediated vasoconstrictor discharge compared to non-HF and HFrEF, drives exercise in HFpEF. Excessive vasoconstriction also may primarily account for over elevations in blood pressure and concomitant limitations in skeletal muscle blood flow during dynamic exercise, resulting in exercise intolerance. Conversely, during static exercise, HFpEF exhibit relatively normal sympathetic neural reactivity compared to non-HF, suggesting that other mechanisms beyond sympathetic vasoconstriction dictate exercise intolerance in HFpEF

Reproductive tract infection, inflammation and male infertility

Infection or inflammation in the reproductive tract either via pathogenic intrusion or systemic diseases, reportedly are closely associated with deterioration in male fertility parameters. There are various proposed mechanisms to explain how reproductive tract infection or inflammation may curb male fecundity. One of the prominent mechanisms is via the over‐production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) inducing testicular oxidative stress (OS). In normal conditions, testicular cells produce ROS at modest levels to maintain physiological functions. However, in inflammatory state, the surge of pro‐inflammatory mediators, cytokines lead to infiltration of immune cells (as observed by increased seminal leukocytes number) and these leukocytes serve as major contributors in the increased seminal plasma ROS levels that overwhelm the testicular antioxidant capacities. This initiates oxidative damage to the testicular cells to impair sperm production, as well as sperm membrane damage, disruption of essential signaling cascades, sperm mitochondrial and nuclear DNA damage and thereby impairing overall sperm functions. There are number of studies reporting diversified hypothesis of infection/inflammation‐induced male reproductive problems. This article aims to review the available information and present a precise overview of possible mechanisms relating male reproductive tract inflammation and male infertility

Public Health Response to Imported Case of Poliomyelitis, Australia, 2007

Inactivated polio vaccine was offered, and the index case-patient and household contacts were quarantined