Basel Capital Requirements and Bank Credit Risk Taking In Developing Countries;

Existing literature has focused attention on the impact of Basle I and similar capital requirement regulations on developed countries where such regulations were found to be effective in increasing capital ratios and reducing portfolio credit risk of commercial banks. In the present study, we study the impact of such capital requirement regulations on commercial banks in 11 developing countries around the world within a cross-section framework with the widely popular simultaneous equations model of Shrieves and Dahl (1992). Surprisingly, we find that such regulations did not increase the capital ratios of banks in the developing countries. This implies that particular attention should be given to the business, environmental, legal, cultural realities of such countries while designing and implementing such policies for developing countries. However, we find evidence that such regulations did reduce portfolio risk of banks. We also find that capital ratios and portfolio risk are inverse

Basel Capital Requirements and Bank Credit Risk Taking In Developing Countries;

Existing literature has focused attention on the impact of Basle I and similar capital requirement regulations on developed countries where such regulations were found to be effective in increasing capital ratios and reducing portfolio credit risk of commercial banks. In the present study, we study the impact of such capital requirement regulations on commercial banks in 11 developing countries around the world within a cross-section framework with the widely popular simultaneous equations model of Shrieves and Dahl (1992). Surprisingly, we find that such regulations did not increase the capital ratios of banks in the developing countries. This implies that particular attention should be given to the business, environmental, legal, cultural realities of such countries while designing and implementing such policies for developing countries. However, we find evidence that such regulations did reduce portfolio risk of banks. We also find that capital ratios and portfolio risk are inverse

Heroin Adulterated with the Novel Synthetic Cannabinoid, 5F-MDMB-PINACA: A Case Series

Introduction: Heroin can be adulterated with various substances that may or may not have pharmacological effects. Here we report a case series of 8 patients who presented to the emergency department after overdose with intravenous heroin preparation adulterated with the synthetic cannabinoid methyl 2-(1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxamido)-3,3-dimethylbutanoate (5F-MDMB-PINACA).Case Series: Except for one patient, all of them presented with a typical initial opioid toxidrome consisting of central nervous system and respiratory depression along with pinpoint pupils. Naloxone was given to them, triggering severe agitation and combative behavior along with overlapping features of anticholinergic and sympathomimetic toxidrome. All patients required multiple doses of benzodiazepines. Three were successfully treated with physostigmine.Discussion: 5F-MDMB-PINACA is a synthetic cannabinoid that was added to heroin in samples obtained from patients reported in this case series. Patients demonstrated significant agitation after receiving naloxone for opioid toxidrome, presumably because of the removal of the depressant effect of opioids, which unmasked the excitatory effects of the synthetic cannabinoids. Three patients required physostigmine along with the benzodiazepines for control of their agitation, urine retention and abnormal vitals, suggesting the possibility of an anticholinergic toxidrome to have developed in these patients.Conclusion: Heroin contaminated with 5F-MDMB-PINACA exhibits variable severities of anticholinergic effects, some on presentation and others only after opiate antagonism

The independent effects of ferrous and phosphorus on growth and development of Tetraselmis suecica; an in vitro study

Five treatments including Conway medium, media containing 0.1, 0.17, 0.3 and 0.5 mg l-1 ferrous (Fe; in the first experiment), media with 1, 1.26, 1.59, 2 mg l-1 concentrations of phosphorous (P; in the second experiment) and a pure sample of Tetraselmis suecica were cultured under laboratory conditions. Growth rate of the algae was determined using the optical density method at 750 nm and number of algal cells was counted with a hemocytometer. The results of the first experiment showed that the amount of Fe for maximum growth of this species was 0.3 mg l-1, while Fe concentration in Conway medium was 0.27 mg l-1 (P>0.05). The results of second experiment showed that 1.59 mg l-1 P caused the maximum growth of algae which was not significantly different from that of the control medium (with 1.6 mg l-1; Conway; P>0.05).These results showed that due to the lack of significant differences in maximum growth of this alga recorded in 0.3 mg l-1 Fe and that recorded in 1.59 mg l-1 P in Conway medium, increase or decrease of these doses will have a significant negative effect on algal growth

Comparison of Bibliographic Databases in Retrieving Information on Telemedicine

Abstract: Background & Aims: Some of the main questions which can be of importance for those researchers who intend to perform a systematic review in a field of science are: ‘What databases should I use for my review?’; ‘Do all these databases have the same value?’; and ‘Which sources retrieved the highest of relevant references?’. The main aim of this work was the identification of the best database for retrieving information on telemedicine by comparing the percentage of relevant references among the total literature available that can be retrieved from each database. Methods: Databases (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) were searched on the topic of telemedicine and education, telemedicine and cost benefit, and also telemedicine and patient satisfaction. Results of analysis and accuracy coefficient, sensitivity, uniqueness, and the overlap of databases were calculated. Results: The number of studies retrieved from each database varied for each topic. PubMed with 50.7% in accuracy and 61.4% in sensitivity was the most effective database for retrieving information on the abovementioned topics. Databases with the highest proportion of unique records in retrieved relevant references varied between the 38% for PubMed to 3% for CINAHL. The largest overlap in the four databases was between PubMed and the Web of Science (18.6%). Few papers (0.7%) were indexed by all four databases. Conclusion: Our analysis suggests that information scientists, librarians, and researchers who want to access the best references on telemedicine should start by searching PubMed. Searching PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, respectively, will provide about 90% of the relevant available literature. Keywords: Bibliographic databases, Telemedicine, Sensitivity, Precision, Information retrieva

Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: A Comparative Study Between Islamic Banks and Conventional Banks in Bangladesh

The purpose of this paper is to compare the Corporate Social Responsibility practices in Islamic and Conventional banking of Bangladesh. Sample selection has been made as per random sampling process. Data are collected from the secondary sources mostly from concerned banks Annual Report, web sites, newsletters and other secondary sources. It has been found that the selected banks are directly engaged in CSR activities mostly in the area of Education, Health, Disaster Relief, Environment, Social welfare and Sport & Culture. The analysis shows that Conventional Banks have emphasized on Educational sector and Islamic Banks have emphasized on Social welfare. On dimensions of Health sector, Disaster relief sector both banks have taken parallel CSR initiatives but Sport & Cultural sector Conventional Banks have taken more CSR activities than Islamic Banks. The study found that both banks have established foundation for operated their CSR activities. The study also found that the dimension of Health care, Conventional banks and Islamic Banks both are taking initiative equally in both rural and urban area. On dimension of Environment, Conventional banks and Islamic Banks both of these banks are trying to preserve environment on their best possible way. Key words: Bangladesh; Corporate social responsibility; Conventional bank; Islamic ban

The effect of prebiotic “Immunoster” on growth indices, survival rate, density of blood cells and body composition of Caspian Sea mahi sefid (Rutilus frisii kutum) fingerlings

In order to effect of prebiotic Immunoster was performed the experiment in period of 8 weeks in 0, 2, 4 percent levels on growth, survival, blood cells count and body compositions of mahi sefid fingerlings with initial weight of 0.35±0.02gr. The experiment was performed with use of completely accidental design in one control group and two treatments groups each with 3 replicates and with 150 kutum fingerlings in each tank. Feeding was varied 15-20% of biomass. At the end of experiment, however there was no significant difference in 2 and 4 percent level of Immunoster in camparing with control group (P>0.05), but mahi sefid fingerlings fed by Immunoster containing diet showed slightly better growth function. Survival rate didn’t have significant difference between treatments. The amount of red blood cells (R.B.Cs) and the amount of white blood cells (W.B.Cs) in one cubic millimeter of blood showed significant difference between control and fingerlings fed with 2 and 4 percents levels of Immunoster (P≤0.01). As 2 percent level of Immunoster had highest of R.B.Cs and W.B.Cs in compare with control group. Also there were significant difference between control and experimental groups the view of protein, fiber and carbohydrate of carcass (P≤0.05)

Molecular docking supported investigation of antioxidant, analgesic and diuretic effects of Costus speciosus rhizome

ABSTRACT. The aim of the current study was to analyze the polyphenols and determines the antioxidant, analgesic and diuretic properties of the methanolic extract of C.speciosus rhizome. DPPH and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays were used to determine the antioxidant activity. Acetic acid-induced writhing and formalin-induced licking experiments were used to assess the analgesic effect. The total phenolic, flavonoid and flavonol contents were found 51.73± 0.25 mg GAE/g dry weight, 3.41± 0.07mg QE/g dry weights and 44.19± 2.24 mg QE/g dry weight, respectively. The plant extract exhibited weak antioxidant activity in the DPPH and FRAP assays, with an IC50 value of 1699±62 μg/mL and an EC50 value of 125±2 μg/mL, respectively. The extract significantly reduced the number of writhes at both doses (200 and 400 mg/kg body weight) as compared to the control. The extract (400 mg/kg) also significantly reduced the percent inhibition of licking by 31.96 and 62.69% compared to the control in the early and late phase, respectively. Compared to the standard drug furosemide, the plant extract also showed a weak diuretic effect. The docking study supported the analgesic activity of rhizome extract. The potent analgesic activity of the plant extract justifies the traditional and medicinal aspects.   KEY WORDS: Costus speciosus, Analgesic activity, Diuretic effect, Molecular docking Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2022, 36(3), 627-640.                                                                 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v36i3.12 &nbsp

Surgical Skill Assessment on In-Vivo Clinical Data via the Clearness of Operating Field

Surgical skill assessment is important for surgery training and quality control. Prior works on this task largely focus on basic surgical tasks such as suturing and knot tying performed in simulation settings. In contrast, surgical skill assessment is studied in this paper on a real clinical dataset, which consists of fifty-seven in-vivo laparoscopic surgeries and corresponding skill scores annotated by six surgeons. From analyses on this dataset, the clearness of operating field (COF) is identified as a good proxy for overall surgical skills, given its strong correlation with overall skills and high inter-annotator consistency. Then an objective and automated framework based on neural network is proposed to predict surgical skills through the proxy of COF. The neural network is jointly trained with a supervised regression loss and an unsupervised rank loss. In experiments, the proposed method achieves 0.55 Spearman's correlation with the ground truth of overall technical skill, which is even comparable with the human performance of junior surgeons.Comment: MICCAI 201