Stationary Cylindrical Anisotropic Fluid

We present the whole set of equations with regularity and matching conditions required for the description of physically meaningful stationary cylindrically symmmetric distributions of matter, smoothly matched to Lewis vacuum spacetime. A specific example is given. The electric and magnetic parts of the Weyl tensor are calculated, and it is shown that purely electric solutions are necessarily static. Then, it is shown that no conformally flat stationary cylindrical fluid exits, satisfying regularity and matching conditions.Comment: 17 pages Latex. To appear in Gen.Rel.Gra

New iron chelators in anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity.

The use of anthracycline anticancer drugs is limited by a cumulative, dose-dependent cardiac toxicity. Iron chelation has long been considered as a promising strategy to limit this unfavorable side effect, either by restoring the disturbed cellular iron homeostasis or by removing redox-active iron, which may promote anthracycline-induced oxidative stress. Aroylhydrazone lipophilic iron chelators have shown promising results in the rabbit model of daunorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy as well as in cellular models. The lack of interference with the antiproliferative effects of the anthracyclines also favors their use in clinical settings. The dose, however, should be carefully titrated to prevent iron depletion, which apparently also applies for other strong iron chelators. We have shown that a mere ability of a compound to chelate iron is not the sole determinant of a good cardioprotector and the protective potential does not directly correlate with the ability of the chelators to prevent hydroxyl radical formation. These findings, however, do not weaken the role of iron in doxorubicin cardiotoxicity as such, they rather appeal for further investigations into the molecular mechanisms how anthracyclines interact with iron and how iron chelation may interfere with these processes

The evolution and heterogeneity of credit procyclicality in Central and Eastern Europe

International audienc

CAN INVESTMENT IN MICROFINANCE FUNDS IMPROVE RISK-RETURN CHARACTERISTICS OF A PORTFOLIO?

This article is concerned with contribution of microfinance investment funds to a sustainable financial portfolio. With regard to the dependence of microfinance funds’ returns on the performance of stock and fixed income markets in developed and emerging economies we find slightly negative correlation when measured by the portfolio beta measure. Our regression analysis confirms that returns on investment in microfinance investment funds exceed the returns on the market portfolio. This result together with reported near-to-zero beta estimates as a proxy for the systematic risk may be taken to be a clear financial advantage of an inclusion of microfinance assets in a portfolio compared to pure stock or bond portfolios. The results based on CAPM beta and Jensen's alpha are confirmed by mean-variance spanning test. We show that the socially responsible investors may invest into microfinance without sacrifice with respect to pure financial indicators. First published online: 28 Jan 201

Macroprudential stress-testing practices of central banks in Central and Southeastern Europe: comparison and challenges ahead

This paper reviews and compares stress-testing practices of central banks in Central and Southeastern Europe (CSEECBs) and outlines challenges in the area of stress testing going forward. The authors, focusing their comparison on CSEECBs, construct the baseline and stress scenarios, map macroeconomic scenarios and microeconomic factors to risk factors, calculate risk exposures to different risk indicators, and estimate outcome indicators to inform macroprudential policy. The main challenges going forward concern data reliability, consideration of quantitative microprudential indicators, incorporation of feedback effects in stress tests, institutionalization of macroprudential policy responses to alarming stress-test results, and information exchange for better cross-border supervision.Web of Science48414311