The source of information in prices and investment-price sensitivity

This paper shows that real decisions depend not only on the total amount of information in prices, but the source of this information -- a manager learns from prices when they contain information not possessed by him. We use the staggered enforcement of insider trading laws across 27 countries as a shock to the source of information that leaves total information unchanged: enforcement reduces (increases) managers' (outsiders') contribution to the stock price. Consistent with the predictions of our theoretical model, enforcement increases investment-q sensitivity, even when controlling for total price informativeness. The effect is larger in industries where learning is likely to be stronger, and in emerging countries where outsider information acquisition rises most post-enforcement. Enforcement does not increase the sensitivity of investment to cash flow, a non-price measure of investment opportunities. These findings suggest that extant measures of price efficiency should be rethought when evaluating real efficiency

CEO Compensation

This paper surveys the recent literature on CEO compensation. The rapid rise in CEO pay over the past 30 years has sparked an intense debate about the nature of the pay-setting process. Many view the high level of CEO compensation as the result of powerful managers setting their own pay. Others interpret high pay as the result of optimal contracting in a competitive market for managerial talent. We describe and discuss the empirical evidence on the evolution of CEO pay and on the relationship between pay and firm performance since the 1930s. Our review suggests that both managerial power and competitive market forces are important determinants of CEO pay, but that neither approach is fully consistent with the available evidence. We briefly discuss promising directions for future research

State pension funds and corporate social responsibility: do beneficiaries’ political values influence funds’ investment decisions?

This study explores the underlying drivers of US public pension funds’ tendency to tilt their portfolios towards companies with stronger corporate social responsibility (CSR). Studying the equity holdings of large, internally-managed US state pension funds, we find evidence that the political leaning of their beneficiaries and political pressures by state politicians affect funds’ investment decisions. State pension funds from states with Democratic-leaning beneficiaries tilt their portfolios more strongly towards companies that perform well on CSR issues, and this tendency is intensified when the state government is dominated by Democratic state politicians. Moreover, we find that funds which tilt their portfolios towards companies with superior CSR scores generate a slightly higher return compared with their counterparts. Overall, our findings indicate that funds align their investment choices with the financial and non-financial interests of their beneficiaries when deciding whether to incorporate CSR into their equity allocations

Contralateral Cerebro-Cerebellar White Matter Pathways for Verbal Working Memory: A Combined Diffusion Spectrum Imaging and fMRI Study

Diffusion spectrum imaging was employed to establish structural connectivity between cerebro-cerebellar regions co-activated during verbal working memory. IFG, IPL, pons, thalamus, superior cerebellum and inferior cerebellum were used as seed points to reconstruct the white matter cerebro-cerebellar circuitry. The reconstructed pathways were examined further to establish the relationship between structural and effective connectivity as well as the relationship between structural connectivity and verbal working memory performance. It was found that structural connectivity is indirectly related to effective connectivity but does not predict it. Additionally, it was demonstrated that the integrity of the ponto-cerebellar tract is an important factor in explaining individual differences in verbal working memory. The findings of the study furthered our understanding of the relationship between structural and functional connectivity and provided insight to the variability in verbal working memory performance

Electrospinning polymersomes into bead-on-string polyethylene oxide fibres for the delivery of biopharmaceuticals to mucosal epithelia

Fibrous mucoadhesive polymer membranes prepared using electrospinning demonstrate many advantages for mucosal drug delivery compared to other formulations. Previous electrospun membrane formulations have been developed mainly for the delivery of small molecule drugs. There remains great potential to further develop the technology for the delivery of vesicular vectors that allow administration of advanced therapeutic agents. However, there are no previous reports demonstrating the release of intact drug delivery vesicles from electrospun materials. Here, we describe incorporation and release of protein-loaded polymersomes from polyethylene oxide (PEO)-based electrospun membranes. Polymersomes comprising a copolymer of glycerol monomethacrylate (GMA) and hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) were prepared using polymerization-induced self-assembly and incorporated within PEO membranes using bead-on-string electrospinning at approximately 40 % w/w by polymer mass. Super-resolution fluorescence imaging showed that the vesicles remained intact and retained their encapsulated protein load within the fibre beads. Transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering demonstrated that polymersomes retained their morphology following release from the polymer fibres. F(ab) antibody fragments were encapsulated within polymersomes and then electrospun into membranes. 78 ± 13 % of the F(ab) remained encapsulated within polymersomes during electrospinning and retained functionality when released from electrospun membranes, demonstrating that the formulation is suitable for the delivery of biologics. Membranes were non-irritant to the oral epithelium and fluorescence microscopy detected accumulation of polymersomes within the epithelia following application. This innovative drug delivery approach represents a novel and potentially highly useful method for the administration of large molecular mass therapeutic molecules to diseased mucosal sites

Controlled dual drug release from adhesive electrospun patches for prevention and treatment of alveolar osteitis

Approximately one in five individuals experience alveolar osteitis (AO) following wisdom tooth extraction. AO is characterised by loss of the blood clot from the tooth extraction socket leading to infection and pain, resulting in repeated hospital visits that impose a substantial burden on healthcare systems. Current treatments are sub-optimal; to address this we developed a novel drug-loaded mucoadhesive patch composed of dual electrospun polyvinyl pyrrolidone/Eudragit RS100 (PVP/RS100) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) fibres protected by a poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) backing layer. These patches demonstrated controlled release of the long-acting analgesic bupivacaine HCl and the anti-inflammatory drug prednisolone. Topical application of patches to tissue-engineered gingival mucosa showed that patch-released bupivacaine and prednisolone achieved sustained tissue permeation with 54.8 ± 3.3 % bupivacaine HCl and 65.8 ± 5.1 % prednisolone permeating the epithelium after 24 h. The drugs retained their functionality after release; bupivacaine HCl significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited veratridine-induced intracellular calcium flux in SH-SY5Y neuronal cells, while prednisolone significantly reduced gene expression of IL-6 (2-fold; p < 0.001), CXCL8 (5.1-fold; p < 0.01) and TNF-α (1.5-fold; p < 0.001) in stimulated THP-1 monocytes. Taken together, these data show that dual electrospun patches have the potential to provide a mucoadhesive covering to prevent blood clot loss while delivering pain relief and anti-inflammatory therapeutics at tooth extraction sites to prevent and treat AO. This study not only offers a future therapeutic pathway for AO but also contributes valuable insights into future advancements in drug delivery devices for periodontal or oral mucosal tissue

The Effect of Gender Equality on International Soccer Performance

In this paper, we propose a new estimation strategy that uses the variation in success between the male and the female national soccer team within a country to identify the causal impact of gender equality on women's soccer performance. In particular, we analyze whether within-country variations in labor force participation rates and life expectancies between the genders, which serve as measures for the country's gender equality, are able to explain differences in the international success of male and female national soccer teams. Our results reveal that differences in male and female labor force participation rates and life expectancies are able to explain the international soccer performance of female teams, but not that of male teams, suggesting that gender equality is an important driver of female sport success

Cerebro-Cerebellar Pathways for Verbal Working Memory

open access articleThe current study examined the structural and functional connectivity of the cerebrocerebellar network of verbal working memory as proposed by Chen and Desmond (2005a). Diffusion spectrum imaging was employed to establish structural connectivity between cerebro-cerebellar regions co-activated during a verbal working memory task. The inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, pons, thalamus, superior cerebellum and inferior cerebellum were used as regions of interest to reconstruct and segment the contralateral white matter cerebro-cerebellar circuitry. The segmented pathways were examined further to establish the relationship between structural and effective connectivity as well as the relationship between structural connectivity and verbal working memory performance. No direct relationship between structural and effective connectivity was found but the results demonstrated that structural connectivity is indirectly related to effective connectivity as DCM models that resembled more closely with underlying white matter pathways had a higher degree of model inference confidence. Additionally, it was demonstrated that the structural connectivity of the ponto-cerebellar tract was associated with individual differences in response time for verbal working memory. The findings of the study contribute to further our understanding of the relationship between structural and functional connectivity and the impact of variability in verbal working memory performance

MAIT cell-MR1 reactivity is highly conserved across multiple divergent species

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are a subset of unconventional T cells that recognize small molecule metabolites presented by major histocompatibility complex class I related protein 1 (MR1), via an αβ T cell receptor (TCR). MAIT TCRs feature an essentially invariant TCR α-chain, which is highly conserved between mammals. Similarly, MR1 is the most highly conserved major histocompatibility complex-I–like molecule. This extreme conservation, including the mode of interaction between the MAIT TCR and MR1, has been shown to allow for species-mismatched reactivities unique in T cell biology, thereby allowing the use of selected species-mismatched MR1–antigen (MR1–Ag) tetramers in comparative immunology studies. However, the pattern of cross-reactivity of species-mismatched MR1–Ag tetramers in identifying MAIT cells in diverse species has not been formally assessed. We developed novel cattle and pig MR1–Ag tetramers and utilized these alongside previously developed human, mouse, and pig-tailed macaque MR1–Ag tetramers to characterize cross-species tetramer reactivities. MR1–Ag tetramers from each species identified T cell populations in distantly related species with specificity that was comparable to species-matched MR1–Ag tetramers. However, there were subtle differences in staining characteristics with practical implications for the accurate identification of MAIT cells. Pig MR1 is sufficiently conserved across species that pig MR1–Ag tetramers identified MAIT cells from the other species. However, MAIT cells in pigs were at the limits of phenotypic detection. In the absence of sheep MR1–Ag tetramers, a MAIT cell population in sheep blood was identified phenotypically, utilizing species-mismatched MR1–Ag tetramers. Collectively, our results validate the use and define the limitations of species-mismatched MR1–Ag tetramers in comparative immunology studies.</p

Using the Barthel Index and modified Rankin Scale as outcome measures for stroke rehabilitation trials; A comparison of minimum sample size requirements

Objectives Underpowered trials risk inaccurate results. Recruitment to stroke rehabilitation randomised controlled trials (RCTs) is often a challenge. Statistical simulations offer an important opportunity to explore the adequacy of sample sizes in the context of specific outcome measures. We aimed to examine and compare the adequacy of stroke rehabilitation RCT sample sizes using the Barthel Index (BI) or modified Rankin Scale (mRS) as primary outcomes. Methods We conducted computer simulations using typical experimental event rates (EER) and control event rates (CER) based on individual participant data (IPD) from stroke rehabilitation RCTs. Event rates are the proportion of participants who experienced clinically relevant improvements in the RCT experimental and control groups. We examined minimum sample size requirements and estimated the number of participants required to achieve a number needed to treat within clinically acceptable boundaries for the BI and mRS. Results We secured 2350 IPD (18 RCTs). For a 90% chance of statistical accuracy on the BI a rehabilitation RCT would require 273 participants per randomised group. Accurate interpretation of effect sizes would require 1000s of participants per group. Simulations for the mRS were not possible as a clinically relevant improvement was not detected when using this outcome measure. Conclusions Stroke rehabilitation RCTs with large sample sizes are required for accurate interpretation of effect sizes based on the BI. The mRS lacked sensitivity to detect change and thus may be unsuitable as a primary outcome in stroke rehabilitation trials