Environmental, social and governance e o ciclo de vida das firmas: evidências no mercado brasileiro

O estudo analisou a associação entre o environmental, social and governance (ESG) e os estágios de ciclo de vida das empresas brasileiras de capital aberto listadas na B3 S.A. – Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (B3) no período de 2010 a 2020. Explora-se uma lacuna teórica sobre a relação dos estágios de ciclo de vida das empresas com iniciativas ESG no Brasil, um país emergente. As evidências são relevantes para a compreensão de como os estágios do ciclo de vida funcionam como sinalizadores do nível de ações ESG das companhias e para demonstrar como o mercado percebe essas ações e sua capacidade de geração de valor. A pesquisa traz insights de que os fundamentos da teoria dos estágios de ciclo de vida da firma funcionam como indicadores para diversas perspectivas organizacionais, até mesmo para as práticas ESG. A amostra foi composta por 109 empresas cujos dados foram coletados na Thomson Reuters® e analisados por meio de regressão múltipla. Para análise dos ciclos de vida, utilizou-se o modelo proposto por Dickinson (2011). Cabe destacar que os dados também foram analisados utilizando o efeito fixo como estimação do modelo econométrico, porém houve perda da significância estatística na relação encontrada, possivelmente devido à seleção da amostra realizada no painel desbalanceado. A partir da amostra analisada e dos modelos econométricos utilizados, os resultados indicam que as empresas em estágio de nascimento e turbulência apresentam menores níveis de práticas ESG, notadamente nos pilares ambiental e social, se comparadas às empresas em estágio de maturidade. Os achados também evidenciaram que as iniciativas ESG no mercado de capitais brasileiro estão associadas com medidas de rentabilidade, liquidez, endividamento, valor de mercado e número de analistas das organizações. A pesquisa contribui para a análise da associação entre a adoção de práticas ESG e os estágios de ciclo de vida das empresasem um mercado emergente, com reflexões aos stakeholders a respeito do direcionamento de recursos em ações sustentáveis.The study analyzed the association between environmental, social and governance (ESG) and the life cycle stages of Brazilian publicly-traded companies listed on the B3 S.A. – Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (B3) from 2010 to 2020. It explores a theoretical gap regarding the relationship between the life cycle stages of companies and ESG initiatives in Brazil, an emerging country. The findings are relevant for understanding how the life cycle stages act as signals of the level of ESG actions of companies and how the market perceives these actions and their ability to create value. The research provides evidence that the fundamentals of the firm life cycle theory function as indicators for several organizational perspectives, including ESG practices. The sample consisted of 109 companies whose data were collected from Thomson Reuters® and analyzed using multiple regression. The model proposed by Dickinson (2011) was used to analyze the life cycle stages. It should be highlighted that the data were also analyzed using the fixed effect as an estimation of the econometric model, but there was a loss of statistical significance in the relationship found, possibly due to the sample selection performed in the unbalanced panel. Based on the sample analyzed and the econometric models used, the results indicate that companies in the birth and turbulence stages have lower levels of ESG practices, particularly in the environmental and social pillars, compared to companies in the maturity stage. The findings also show that ESG initiatives in the Brazilian capital market are associated with measures of companies’ profitability, liquidity, indebtedness, market value, and number of analysts. The research contributes to the analysis of the relationship between the adoption of ESG practices and the life cycle stages of companies in an emerging market, with implications for stakeholders regarding the targeting of resources to sustainable actions

Genomics and epidemiology for gastric adenocarcinomas (GE4GAC): a Brazilian initiative to study gastric cancer

Abstract Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common type of cancer worldwide with high incidences in Asia, Central, and South American countries. This patchy distribution means that GC studies are neglected by large research centers from developed countries. The need for further understanding of this complex disease, including the local importance of epidemiological factors and the rich ancestral admixture found in Brazil, stimulated the implementation of the GE4GAC project. GE4GAC aims to embrace epidemiological, clinical, molecular and microbiological data from Brazilian controls and patients with malignant and pre-malignant gastric disease. In this letter, we summarize the main goals of the project, including subject and sample accrual and current findings

Implementation of a Brazilian Cardioprotective Nutritional (BALANCE) Program for improvement on quality of diet and secondary prevention of cardiovascular events: A randomized, multicenter trial

Background: Appropriate dietary recommendations represent a key part of secondary prevention in cardiovascular disease (CVD). We evaluated the effectiveness of the implementation of a nutritional program on quality of diet, cardiovascular events, and death in patients with established CVD. Methods: In this open-label, multicenter trial conducted in 35 sites in Brazil, we randomly assigned (1:1) patients aged 45 years or older to receive either the BALANCE Program (experimental group) or conventional nutrition advice (control group). The BALANCE Program included a unique nutritional education strategy to implement recommendations from guidelines, adapted to the use of affordable and regional foods. Adherence to diet was evaluated by the modified Alternative Healthy Eating Index. The primary end point was a composite of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular death, cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, stroke, myocardial revascularization, amputation, or hospitalization for unstable angina. Secondary end points included biochemical and anthropometric data, and blood pressure levels. Results: From March 5, 2013, to Abril 7, 2015, a total of 2534 eligible patients were randomly assigned to either the BALANCE Program group (n = 1,266) or the control group (n = 1,268) and were followed up for a median of 3.5 years. In total, 235 (9.3%) participants had been lost to follow-up. After 3 years of follow-up, mean modified Alternative Healthy Eating Index (scale 0-70) was only slightly higher in the BALANCE group versus the control group (26.2 ± 8.4 vs 24.7 ± 8.6, P <.01), mainly due to a 0.5-serving/d greater intake of fruits and of vegetables in the BALANCE group. Primary end point events occurred in 236 participants (18.8%) in the BALANCE group and in 207 participants (16.4%) in the control group (hazard ratio, 1.15; 95% CI 0.95-1.38; P =.15). Secondary end points did not differ between groups after follow-up. Conclusions: The BALANCE Program only slightly improved adherence to a healthy diet in patients with established CVD and had no significant effect on the incidence of cardiovascular events or death. © 2019 The Author