Dynamic Effects of Currency Depreciation on Stock Market Returns during the Asian Financial Crisis

The current international integration of financial markets provides a channel for currency depreciation to affect stock prices. Moreover, the recent financial crisis in Asia with its accompanying exchange rate volatility affords a case study to examine that channel. This paper applies a bivariate GARCH-M model of the reduced form of stock market returns to investigate empirically the effects of daily currency depreciation on stock market returns for five newly emerging East Asian stock markets during the Asian financial crisis. The evidence shows that the conditional variances of stock market returns and depreciation rates exhibit time-varying characteristics for all countries. Domestic currency depreciation and its uncertainty adversely affects stock market returns across countries. The significant effects of foreign exchange market events on stock market returns suggest that international fund managers who invest in the newly emerging East Asian stock markets must evaluate the value and stability of the domestic currency as a part of their stock market investment decisions.

A case study approach to estimating the burden of research misconduct in publicly funded medical research

The economic impact of research misconduct in medical research has been unexplored. While research misconduct in publicly funded medical research has increasingly been the object of discussion, public policy debate, government and institutional action, and scientific research, the costs of research misconduct have been unexamined. The author develops a model to estimate the per case cost of research misconduct, specifically the costs of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism, in publicly funded medical research. Using the database of Research Misconduct Findings maintained by the Office of Research Integrity, Department of Health and Human Services, the model is used to estimate costs of research misconduct in public funded medical research among faculty during the period 2000-2005.^

Burden of diabetes in cancer inpatients

Inpatient hyperglycemia has been shown to be associated with higher morbidity and mortality. Treatment of inpatient hyperglycemia reduces morbidity and mortality at least in the intensive care unit. Burden and severity of hyperglycemia in an inpatient population of a cancer center is not known. The study is a secondary analysis of the primary study 'Prevalence of Diabetes in cancer inpatient'. Finger-stick glucose concentration and pharmacy data were collected prospectively for all hospitalizations to a large cancer center. Demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected in a retrospective fashion. Between May 1 and July 31, 2006; 3,940 patients were admitted 5,489 times. Prior to their first admissions, 920(23.4%) of the 3940 patients had unrecognized or recognized hyperglycemia. Glucose was never tested during 1714 (31.8%) hospitalizations, including 170 (12%) of the 1414 admissions of the 920 patients with previous hyperglycemia, and, 109 (58%) of 188 patients who were not tested for glucose prior to their index admissions. Overall, sustained significant hyperglycemia (>= 200 mg/dL on two separate days) was present in 765 (13.9%). Antidiabetic treatment was dispensed in 1168 (21.3%), though 627 (53.7%) of these received only short/rapid acting insulin, and, 951 (17.3%)diabetes code before and in another 80 (1.5%) during stay in hospital, out of total 5489 admissions. Therefore diabetes mellitus or hyperglycemia affected 1525 (27.8%) out of all admissions and coding alone as a criterion for diagnosis of hyperglycemia would have underreported it by 32%. Hyperglycemia occurred more commonly during hospitalization of patients with older age, males, ethnic minorities, advanced malignancies, and those receiving glucocorticoids, parenteral nutrition, and those who had a past history of coding for diabetes or past hyperglycemia, but not in those with the cancers reported to be associated with diabetes mellitus. Of the recognized diabetics half had sustained significant hyperglycemia and 10% had three quarters glucoses tested above 180 mg/dL. To conclude, diabetes affects at least 27.8% of inpatients at our cancer center. Coding for diabetes significantly underreports the burden of the disease. Significant sustained hyperglycemia of >=200 mg/dL among inpatients at a cancer center is common, under-recognized, and either untreated or inadequately treated with suboptimal glycemic control. The implications of hyperglycemia in cancer inpatient populations need further investigations. Fasting serum or plasma glucose should be checked routinely for every patient admitted to a cancer hospital, to recognize and treat hyperglycemia as clinically appropriate.^

The burden of parainfluenza virus infection in patients with hematological malignancy and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients in the absence of active immunization and approved therapy: The role of infection control

Background. Community respiratory viruses, mainly RSV and influenza, are significant causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with leukemia and HSCT recipients. The data on impact of PIV infections in these patients is lacking. Methods. We reviewed the records of patients with leukemia and HSCT recipients who developed PIV infection from Oct'02–Nov'07 to determine the outcome of such infections. Results. We identified 200 patients with PIV infections including 80(40%) patients with leukemia and 120 (60%) recipients of HSCT. Median age was 55 y (17-84 y). As compared to HSCT recipients, patients with leukemia had higher APACHE II score (14 vs. 10, p<0.0001); were more likely to have ANC<500 (48% vs. 10%, p<0.0001) and ALC<200 (45% vs. 23.5%, p=0.02). PIV type III was the commonest isolate (172/200, 86%). Most patients 141/200 (70%) had upper respiratory infection (URI), and 59/200 (30%) had pneumonia at presentation. Patients in leukemia group were more likely to require hospitalization due to PIV infection (77% vs. 36% p=0.0001) and were more likely to progress to pneumonia (61% vs. 39%, p=0.002). Fifty five patients received aerosolized ribavirin and/or IVIG. There were no significant differences in the duration of symptoms, length of hospitalization, progression to pneumonia or mortality between the treated verses untreated group. The clinical outcome was unknown in 13 (6%) patients. Complete resolution of symptoms was noted in 91% (171/187) patients and 9% (16/187) patients died. Mortality rate was 17% (16/95) among patients who had PIV pneumonia, with no significant difference between leukemia and HSCT group (16% vs. 17%). The cause of death was acute respiratory failure and/or multi-organ failure in (13, 81%) patients. Conclusions. Patients with leukemia and HSCT could be at high risk for serious PIV infections including PIV pneumonia. Treatment with aerosolized ribavirin and/or IVIG may not have significant effect on the outcome of PIV infection.^

Does diabetes mellitus contribute to the disease burden of vascular dementia?

Background. Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common of dementia. Multiple risk factors are associated with VaD, but the individual contribution of each to disease onset and progression is unclear. We examined the relationship between diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM) and the clinical variables of VaD.^ Methods. Data from 593 patients evaluated between June, 2003 and June, 2008 for cognitive impairment were prospectively entered into a database. We retrospectively reviewed the charts of 63 patients who fit the NINDS-AIREN criteria of VaD. The patients were divided into those with DM (VaD-DM, n=29) and those without DM (VaD, n=34). The groups were compared with regard to multiple variables.^ Results. Patients with DM had a significantly earlier onset of VaD (71.9±6.54 vs. 77.2±6.03, p<0.001), a faster rate of decline per year on the mini mental state examination (MMSE; 3.60±1.82 vs. 2.54±1.60 points, p=0.02), and a greater prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms (62% vs. 21%, p=0.02) at the time of diagnosis.^ Conclusions. This study shows that a history of pre-morbid DM is associated with an early onset and faster cognitive deterioration in VaD. Moreover, the presence of DM predicts the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with VaD. A larger study is needed to verify these associations. It will be important to investigate whether better glycemic control will mitigate the potential effects of DM on VaD.^

Burden of invasive pneumococcal disease in Harris County, Texas (2003--2010) and the implication for enhanced public health surveillance of isolates

Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) causes significant health burden in the US, is responsible for the majority of bacterial meningitis, and causes more deaths than any other vaccine preventable bacterial disease in the US. The estimated National IPD rate is 14.3 cases per 100,000 population with a case-fatality rate of 1.5 cases per 100,000 population. Although cases of IPD are routinely reported to the local health department in Harris County Texas, the incidence (IR) and case-fatality (CFR) rates have not been reported. Additionally, it is important to know which serotypes of S. pneumoniae are circulating in Harris County Texas and to determine if ‘replacement disease’ is occurring. ^ This study reported incidence and case-fatality rates from 2003 to 2009, and described the trends in IPD, including the IPD serotypes circulating in Harris County Texas during the study period, particularly in 2008 and 2010. Annual incidence rates were calculated and reported for 2003 to 2009, using complete surveillance-year data. ^ Geographic information system (GIS) software was used to create a series of maps of the data reported during the study period. Cluster and outlier analysis and hot spot analysis were conducted using both case counts by census tract and disease rate by census tract. ^ IPD age- and race-adjusted IR for Harris County Texas and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were 1.40 (95% CI 1.0, 1.8), 1.71 (95% CI 1.24, 2.17), 3.13 (95% CI 2.48, 3.78), 3.08 (95% CI 2.43, 3.74), 5.61 (95% CI 4.79, 6.43), 8.11 (95% CI 7.11, 9.1), and 7.65 (95% CI 6.69, 8.61) for the years 2003 to 2009, respectively (rates were age- and race-adjusted to each year's midyear US population estimates). A Poisson regression model demonstrated a statistically significant increasing trend of about 32 percent per year in the IPD rates over the course of the study period. IPD age- and race-adjusted case-fatality rates (CFR) for Harris County Texas were also calculated and reported. A Poisson regression model demonstrated a statistically significant increasing trend of about 26 percent per year in the IPD case-fatality rates from 2003 through 2009. A logistic regression model associated the risk of dying from IPD to alcohol abuse (OR 4.69, 95% CI 2.57, 8.56) and to meningitis (OR 2.42, 95% CI 1.46, 4.03). ^ The prevalence of non-vaccine serotypes (NVT) among IPD cases with serotyped isolates was 98.2 percent. In 2008, the year with the sample more geographically representative of all areas of Harris County Texas, the prevalence was 96 percent. Given these findings, it is reasonable to conclude that ‘replacement disease’ is occurring in Harris County Texas, meaning that, the majority of IPD is caused by serotypes not included in the PCV7 vaccine. Also in conclusion, IPD rates increased during the study period in Harris County Texas.^

The dynamic evaluation of the learning potential: a procedure

Fil: Malbrán, María del Carmen. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.

The dynamic evaluation of the learning potential: a procedure

Fil: Malbrán, María del Carmen. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.

Changes in dynamic viscosity of sea water with depth in the Pacific Ocean at Stations DM9-613W and DM9-618W

To check on the assumption that metabolic products of planktonic organisms can affect the coefficient of dynamic viscosity of seawater, viscosity was measured in water samples taken from depths of 0 to 1843 m, west of the Hawaiian Islands. Obtained results showed that plankton has no effect on viscosity of water in regions of low productivity and that viscosity can be determined with high degree of accuracy from the appropriate tables.

Twinning and grain subdivision during dynamic deformation of a Mg AZ31 sheet alloy at room temperature

The microstructural evolution of an AZ31 rolled sheet during dynamic deformation at strain rates of ∼103 s−1 has been investigated by electron backscatter diffraction, X-ray and neutron diffraction. The influence of orientation on the predominant deformation mechanisms and on the recovery processes taking place during deformation has been systematically examined. The results have been compared with those corresponding to the same alloy tested quasi-statically under equivalent conditions. It has been found that strain rate enhances the activation of extension twinning dramatically, while contraction and secondary twinning are not significantly influenced. The polarity of extension twinning is even reversed in some grains under selected testing conditions. Significant grain subdivision by the formation of geometrically necessary boundaries (GNBs) takes place during both quasi-static and dynamic deformation of this AZ31 alloy. It is remarkable that GNBs of high misorientations form even at the highest strain rates. The phenomenon of recovery has been found to be orientation dependent

Thermodinamically consistent dynamic formulation of discrete thermoviscoelastic elements

Metodología para integrar numéricamente de forma termodinámicamente consistente las ecuaciones del problema termomecánico acoplado de un elemento discreto viscoso.

Dynamic response of hydro power plants for providing secondary regulation reserves considering elastic water column effects

In this paper, the dynamic response of a hydro power plant for providing secondary regulation reserve is studied in detail. Special emphasis is given to the elastic water column effects both in the penstock and the tailrace tunnel. For this purpose, a nonlinear model based on the analogy between mass and momentum conservation equations of a water conduit and those of wave propagation in transmission lines is used. The influence of the plant configuration and design parameters on the fulfilment of the Spanish Electrical System Operator requirements is analysed