Are Formal Corporate News Announcements Still Newsworthy? Evidence from Three Decades of U.S. Data on Earnings, Splits, and Dividends

This paper considers the share price reaction to dividend, earnings, and stock split announcements over a 30 year period. It first considers whether there is differential information content in similar corporate news announcements for different types of firms. Second, it investigates whether the value of news information about these firms has declined over time (has become “less newsworthy”). We categorize firms into groups by whether corporate news announcements regarding the firms will be more valuable to the public. For example, since the public may know more about larger firms, we expect the market to react less strongly (in absolute value) to new information from large firms. We find strong support for this idea. We find little evidence that is consistent with the idea that “news is less newsworthy” over the past few decades. Although, we do find that the share price reaction to “good” dividend news has become less positive and to “bad” dividend news has become less negative over time, no such related evidence exists for stock splits and earnings announcements. Additional investigation of entire distributions of returns using kernel density estimators also rejects the “news is no longer newsworthy” idea

A survey and comparison of the prevalence pain and hematuria and irritative symptoms in patients with Double-J catheter and without Double-J catheter after trans-urethral leitothrips

TUL is a selected treatment for Urethral stones. Leaving the benefits of utilizing TUL, a series of small and large scale side effects might be caused in the patients. Some Urologists recommend putting Double-J catheter in the urethra after TUL in order to prevent Urethral stenosis and pains. This research studies and compares the prevalence of post TUL side effects in patients with Double-J catheter and those without catheter. this is a descriptive and cross-sectional research whose population includes all the patients with TUL resorting to Imam Khomeini Hospital of Jiroft in the first 6 months of 2015. The researchers have classified patients into two groups including those with Double-J catheter and those without the catheter. Those patients were then studied in terms of causing stimulatory side effects, pain hematuria. 151 patients with TUL were studied in terms of post-surgery side effects. Double-J catheter was used for 70 of the patients after TUL. In both groups of patients with and without catheter, more than 75 of the patients reported side effects such as pain, hematuria and stimulatory symptoms, but no significant relationship was observed between the patients in terms of causing symptoms (p>0.005). although no significant relationship was observed in patients with double-j catheter and those without the catheter in terms of side effects, high number of complaints about post TUL side effects may lead us to the conclusion that using double-j catheter can cause only excessive costs for the patients. of course, it is recommended to conduct this study in a larger society

A Comprehensive Analysis of Plasmonics-Based GaAs MSM-Photodetector for High Bandwidth-Product Responsivity

A detailed numerical study of subwavelength nanogratings behavior to enhance the light absorption characteristics in plasmonic-based metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors (MSM-PDs) is performed by implementation of 2D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm. Due to the structure design and changes in the device physical parameters, various devices with different geometries are simulated and compared. Parameters like nano-grating height and duty cycle (DC) are optimized for rectangular and taper subwavelength metal nanogratings on GaAs substrate and their impact on light absorption below the diffraction limits are confirmed. The calculated light enhancement is ~32.7-times for an optimized device in comparison with a conventional MSM-PD. This enhancement is attributed to the plasmonic effects in the near-field region

Solid-phase extraction followed by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for the sensitive determination of ecstasy compounds and amphetamines in biological samples

A novel approach for the determination of ecstasy and amphetamines (3,4-methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy), 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA) and 3,4-methylenedioxypropylamphetamine (MDPA)) in biological samples is presented. The analytes were extracted from the matrix and transferred to a small volume of a high density, water insoluble solvent using solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME). This combination not only resulted in a high enrichment factor, but also it could be used in complex matrices (biological samples). Some important extraction parameters, such as sample solution flow rate, sample pH, type and volume of extraction and disperser solvents as well as the salt addition, were studied and optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the calibration graphs were linear in the range of 0.5-500 µg L-1 and 1.0-500 µg L-1 with detection limits in the range of 0.1-0.3 µg L-1 and 0.2-0.7 µg L-1 in urine and plasma samples, respectively. The results showed that SPE-DLLME is a suitable method for the determination of ecstasy components and amphetamines in biological and water samples. KEY WORDS: Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction, Solid-phase extraction, Ecstasy compounds, Amphetamines, Gas chromatography, Biological samples Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2014, 28(3), 339-348.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v28i3.

Evaluation of electronarcosis and clove oil for short-term anesthesia in common carp, Cyprinus carpio L. 1758

Anesthesia is considered to be the best way to ensure animal welfare during handling etc. Clove oil and electronarcosis are among the most popular chemical and physical anesthetics used in fisheries and biology;however there is a little information available on the effect of anesthesia using direct electric current in fish. In the present study, the impacts of clove oil (30 mg.l-1) and electro-anesthesia (constant direct current, 0.5 v.cm-1) (DC) were assessed in common carp, Cyprinus carpio during narcotic stage in two experimental sets. Experiment 1 was conducted to quantitatively compare induction of anesthesia and recovery time. The biochemical and hematological effects of anesthetics were analyzed as experiment 2. The results revealed that induction and recovery times in fish anesthetized with electric current were significantly lower than clove oil treatment.Significant differences were observed in cortisol concentrations, red blood cells and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration between anesthetic methods. Our results suggest that constant direct current electronarcosis was more quickly than clove oil and associated with lower side effects in common carp

OX40L gene polymorphism and breast cancer in Iranian population

Background and Aim: The immune system plays an important role in the breast cancer development. OX40L (also known as TNFSF4), a membrane protein, which is a member of the tumor necrosis factor super family binds to its receptor OX40 and this co-stimulation has a crucial role in T cell proliferation, survival and cytokine release. Previous studies have shown that OX40L is associated with cancer. Due to the importance of the T cells in antitumor activities of OX40L we studied the association of rs3850641 (A→G) polymorphism of OX40L gene with the breast cancer. Materials and Methods: The study included 123 women with breast cancer and 126 healthy volunteers with no signs of cancer. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood leucocytes. Genotype and allele frequencies were determined in patients and control cases with the method of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and the statistical analysis was performed by Med Calc. Results: The prevalence of genotype frequencies of AA/AG/GG were 60.9%, 30.08% and 8.9% in patients with breast cancer cases and 74.6%, 18.25% and 7.14% in healthy volunteers while the A and G allelic frequency was 76.01 and 23.98% in patients and 83.73 and 16.26% in healthy controls, respectively. Statistical analysis has shown significant difference from the comparison of genotype (p = 0.03). Conclusion: It is concluded that the rs3850641 SNP is significantly associated with the breast cancer susceptibility in Iranian population. However, further studies in larger populations including other genetic and environmental factors are required to achieve conclusion. Key Words: OX40L, gene polymorphism, breast cancer, PCR-RFLP

Effects of different packaging methods on microbial, [chemical] and sensory properties of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus Linnaeus, 1758) fillets during refrigerator storage

The effect of three different packaging methods including Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP), Vacuum Packaging and normal Packaging was investigated on the quality of Nile tilapia fresh fillets stored in the refrigerator's temperature. The packaged samples were examined for 10 days with regard to the changes in chemical (TVN, PV, pH), microbial (total viable count) and sensory evaluations. The results indicated that the samples packed in MAP condition had higher quality than that of other methods at the end of the storage period. In addition, the slower destructive impacts and microbial growth was observed in MAP. The results of present study suggest that packaging tilapia under MAP conditions results in the increase in the durability, storing, and distribution period for fillets

A systematic review on treatment-related mucocutaneous reactions in COVID-19 patients

Most of drugs could have certain mucocutaneous reactions and COVID-19 drugs are not an exception that we focused. We systematically reviewed databases until August 15, 2020 and among initial 851 articles, 30 articles entered this study (20 case reports, 4 cohorts, and 6 controlled clinical trials). The types of reactions included AGEP, morbiliform drug eruptions, vasculitis, DRESS syndrome, urticarial vasculitis, and so on. The treatments have been used before side effects occur, included: antimalarial, anti-viral, antibiotics, tocilizumab, enoxaparin and and so on. In pandemic, we found 0.004 to 4.15 of definite drug-induced mucocutaneous reactions. The interval between drug usage and the eruption varied about few hours to 1 month; tightly dependent to the type of drug and hydroxychloroqine seems to be the drug with highest mean interval. Antivirals, antimalarials, azithromycin, and tocilizumab are most responsive drugs for adverse drug reactions, but antivirals especially in combination with antimalarial drugs are in the first step. Types of skin reactions are usually morbilliform/exanthematous maculopapular rashes or urticarial eruptions, which mostly may manage by steroids during few days. In the setting of HCQ, specific reactions like AGEP should be considered. Lopinavir/ritonavir is the most prevalent used drug among antivirals with the highest skin adverse reaction; ribarivin and remdisivir also could induce cutaneous drug reactions but favipiravir has no or less adverse effects. Logically the rate of dermatologic adverse effects among anivirals may relate to their frequency of usage. Rarely, potentially life-threatening reactions may occur. Better management strategies could achieve by knowing more about drug-induced mucocutaneous presentations of COVID-19. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC

Leaf Area, Fresh Weight and Dry Weight Prediction Models for Ornamental Plants Ficus benjamina (cv. Starlight)

Measurements of leaf growth indices namely leaf area, fresh weight and dry weight are of value in physiological studies and plant growth estimation. The use of prediction models to estimate leaf area, fresh weight and dry weight is simple, rapid and non-destructive. Several mathematical functions have been formulated for estimating leaf area, fresh weight and dry weight of various crops but almost there is no information for Ficus benjamina. This work was aimed to propose leaf area (LA), fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) prediction models for Ficus benjamina (cv. Starlight) leafy ornamental pot plant using leaf length (L) and width (W). 1000 leaves were collected randomly from greenhouse grown plants and 700 of cuts were used for prediction models. LA was measured with a digital area meter (DELTA-T, Co. Durham, UK), related FW and DW also were weighted and leaf dimensions were determined by the ruler. For each studying growth index LA, FW and DW the predictive abilities of three regression equations (linear, polynomial and power) were compared with different independent variables for each equation. Leaf length × width provided a good estimation of leaf area and fresh weight of the leaves of Ficus benjamina. It was also concluded that leaves the dry weight of Ficus benjamina can be estimated or simulated as a power function of L×W or L+W with reasonable accuracy. Moreover, a reasonable relationship between leaf fresh weight and leaf area was found too