International aspects of merger policy: a survey

This paper surveys the literature on merger policy in open economies. We first adopt a reduced-form approach to derive general insights on the scope for conflict between national antitrust authorities and on the gains from international merger policy coordination. Taking trade costs as given, we use standard oligopoly models to derive conditions on market structure, under which underenforcement or overenforcement of national merger policies can arise. We then study the interactions between merger policy and trade policy, and find that trade liberalization often leads to stricter national merger policies. We conclude by discussing empirical evidence on conflict between antitrust authorities

Cross-Border Price Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions -- A Quantitative Framework for Competition Policy

Decisions of national competition authorities have important effects on other jurisdictions. We provide a framework to quantify the domestic and cross-border effects of mergers, and to draw conclusions for the coordination of national merger policies. We develop a two-country model with many sectors. In each sector, producers vary in terms of their marginal costs, and are engaged in Cournot competition. We allow for profitable mergers to take place subject to the non-violation of a given national competition policy. Because of trade costs and perceived differences in qualities between domestic and foreign products, mergers may have different consumer surplus effects in the home and the foreign country. We calibrate the model using data for the year 2002 for 167 manufacturing sectors in the U.S. and Canada. We choose parameters to match relevant moments in the data, including industry sales, concentration ratios and trade flows. We find that in the majority of industries a merger approval policy based on domestic consumer surplus is too restrictive from the viewpoint of the neighboring country. We also show that adopting a supra-national policy that approves a merger if and only if it increases the sum of consumer surplus in the two countries would lead to significant gains for U.S. consumers but hurt consumers in Canada. These results highlight the difficulties in coordinating national competition policies in a way acceptable to all participating countries

Effective second-line treatment with cetuximab and bevacizumab in a patient with hepatic metastases of colorectal cancer and hyperbilirubinemia

Background: Irinotecan-based second-line chemotherapy of metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) is effective, it might, however, be contraindicated in cases of severe liver dysfunction due to advanced liver metastases. Case Report: A 57-year-old woman with diffuse CRC liver metastases showed progressive disease on first-line treatment with capecitabine and oxaliplatin (XELOX). Chronic cholestasis and hyperbilirubinemia caused by advanced liver involvement prohibited second-line treatment with irinotecan-based chemotherapy. We initiated combined antibody treatment with cetuximab and bevacizumab. Results: Clinical performance status as well as laboratory parameters improved rapidly. Staging investigations after 8 weeks revealed a partial remission. Since bilirubin levels had returned to the upper limit of normal, therapy could be changed to standard irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil, folinic acid, and bevacizumab. Conclusion: Combined treatment with cetuximab and bevacizumab may be considered as an effective treatment option in patients who cannot be treated with standard chemotherapy regimens due to impaired liver metabolism of cytotoxic substances

Merger policy in a quantitative model of internationaltrade

In a two-country international trade model with oligopolistic competition, we study the conditions on market structure and trade costs under which a merger policy designed to benefit domestic consumers is too tough or too lenient from the viewpoint of the foreign country. Calibrating the model to match industry-level data in the U.S. and Canada, we show that at present levels of trade costs merger policy is too tough in the vast majority of sectors. We also quantify the resulting externalities and study the impact of different regimes of coordinating merger policies at varying levels of trade costs

Increase in Capacitance by Subnanometer Pores in Carbon

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Three dimensional large scale aerodynamic shape optimization based on shape calculus

Large scale three dimensional aerodynamic shape optimization based on the compressible Euler equations is considered. Shape calculus is used to derive an exact surface formulation of the gradients, enabling the computation of shape gradient information for each surface mesh node without having to calculate further mesh sensitivities. Special attention is paid to the applicability to large scale three dimensional problems like the optimization of an Onera M6 wing or a complete blended wing-body aircraft. The actual optimization is conducted in a one-shot fashion where the tangential Laplace-operator is used as a Hessian approximation, thereby also preserving the regularity of the shape

Oral capecitabine in gemcitabine-pretreated patients with advanced pancreatic cancer

Objective: To date, no standard regimen for salvage chemotherapy after gemcitabine (Gem) failure has been defined for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer (PC). Oral capecitabine (Cap) has shown promising activity in first-line chemotherapy trials in PC patients. Methods: Within a prospective single-center study, Cap was offered to patients who had already received at least 1 previous treatment regimen containing full-dose Gem (as a single agent, as part of a combination chemotherapy regimen or sequentially within a chemoradiotherapy protocol). Cap was administered orally at a dose of 1,250 mg/m(2) twice daily for 14 days followed by 7 days of rest. Study endpoints were objective tumor response rate by imaging criteria (according to RECIST), carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) tumor marker response, time to progression, overall survival and toxicity. Results: A median of 3 treatment cycles (range 1-36) was given to 39 patients. After a median follow-up of 6.6 months, 27 patients were evaluable for response: no complete or partial responses were observed, but 15 patients (39%) had stable disease. A CA19-9 reduction of >20% after 2 cycles of Cap was documented in 6 patients (15%). Median time to progression was 2.3 months (range 0.5-45.1) and median overall survival (since start of Cap treatment) was 7.6 months (range 0.7-45.1). Predominant grade 2 and 3 toxicities (per patient analysis) were hand-foot syndrome 28% (13% grade 3); anemia 23%; leg edema 15%; diarrhea 13%; nausea/vomiting 10%, and leukocytopenia 10%. Conclusion: Single-agent Cap is a safe treatment option for Gem-pretreated patients with advanced PC. Further evaluation of Cap in controlled clinical trials of Gem-pretreated patients with advanced PC is recommended. Copyright (C) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

Design and validation of a German version of the GSRS-IBS - an analysis of its psychometric quality and factorial structure

Background: Currently, a suitable questionnaire in German language is not available to monitor the progression and evaluate the severity of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Therefore, this study aimed to translate the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (GSRS-IBS) into German and to evaluate its psychometric qualities and factorial structure. Methods: This study is based on a total sample of 372 participants [62.6% female, mean age = 41 years (SD = 17 years)]. 17.5% of the participants had a diagnosis of IBS, 19.9% were receiving treatment for chronic inflammatory bowel disease, 12.1% of the participants were recruited from a psychosomatic clinic, and 50.5% belonged to a control group. All participants completed the German version of GSRS-IBS (called Reizdarm-Fragebogen, RDF), as well as the Gießen Subjective Complaints List (GBB-24) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - German version (HADS-D). Results: The internal consistency of the RDF total scale was at least satisfactory in all subsamples (Cronbach’s Alpha between .77 and .92), and for all subscales (Cronbach’s Alpha between .79 and .91). The item difficulties (between .25 and .73) and the item-total correlations (between .48 and .83) were equally satisfactory. Principal axis analysis revealed a four-factorial structure of the RDF items, which mainly resembled the structure of the English original. Convergent validity was established based on substantial and significant correlations with the stomach-complaint scale of the GBB-24 (r = .71; p < .01) and the anxiety (r = .42; p < .01) and depression scales (r = .43; p < .01) of the HADS-D. Conclusion: The German version of the GSRS-IBS RDF proves to be an effective, reliable, and valid questionnaire for the assessment of symptom severity in IBS, which can be used in clinical practice as well as in clinical studies