•The deposits channel works, but is impaired, in high-interest rates environments•Spread betas can be analyzed even when information sources are restricted•Cost of deposits is pro-cyclical and market ...power over deposits mitigates it•Deposit channel effects tend to be increasingly significant as interest rates decline.
This paper aims to test the hypothesis that monetary policy changes affect bank deposits in an environment with high-interest rates. We perform a comprehensive analysis of bank statistics on deposits, credit operations, and bank accounting data between September 1999 and June 2018. We use Brazilian Central Bank statistics to run our tests. Our results show that Brazilian banks increase their spread on deposits in response to monetary policy actions, which reduces their funding due to an outflow of deposits. As a consequence, they grant fewer loans and increase credit restrictions. We also observe evidence that these effects vary with the degree of concentration on deposits observed locally and specifically in banks, and this phenomenon is more intense in regions with high concentration levels. Therefore, our results suggest a positive answer to the question posed in the title, that is, the deposit channel of monetary policy works in a high-interest rate environment, such as Brazil.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The purpose of this systematic review was to compare intrarater and inter-rater reliability of active cervical range of motion (ACROM) measures obtained with technological devices to those assessed ...with low-cost devices in patients with nonspecific neck pain. As a secondary outcome, we investigated if ACROM reliability is influenced by the plane of the assessed movement.
Medline, Scopus, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CINHAL, PEDro, and gray literature were searched until August 2016. Inclusion criteria were reliability design, population of adults with nonspecific neck pain, examiners of any level of experience, measures repeated at least twice, and statistical indexes on reliability. A device was considered inexpensive if it cost less than €500. The risk of bias of included studies was assessed by Quality Appraisal of Reliability Studies.
The search yielded 35 151 records. Nine studies met all eligibility criteria. Their Quality Appraisal of Reliability Studies mean score was 3.7 of 11. No significant effect of the type of device (inexpensive vs expensive) on intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was identified for intrarater (ICC = 0.93 vs 0.91; P > .99) and inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.80 vs 0.87; P > .99). The plane of movement did not affect inter-rater reliability (P = .11). Significant influences were identified with intrarater reliability (P = .0001) of inexpensive devices, where intrarater reliability decreased (P = .01) in side bending, compared with flexion-extension.
The use of expensive devices to measure ACROM in adults with nonspecific neck pain does not seem to improve the reliability of the assessment. Side bending had a lower level of intrarater reliability.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Periodontal disease is a chronic progressive inflammatory process leading to damage of tooth-supporting tissues. This comparative study assessed the effect of PhotoBioModulation (PBM) versus ...conventional therapy, and investigated biomarkers involved in the healing process. The test group comprised twenty systemically-healthy non-smoking subjects with chronic periodontitis with the presence of two matched contro-lateral premolar sites (probing depth > 5 mm); twenty subjects without chronic periodontitis (CP) served as control group. Patients were treated at baseline, either with scaling and root planing (SRP group) or with a procedure entailing SRP supported by PBM (PBM group). The laser used was a diode laser operating at 645 nm wavelength, 10 J/cm2, and 0.5 W/cm2 with a 600 μm fiber optic. Crevicular fluid levels of bradykinin (BK), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and epidermal growth factor z (EGF) were determined at both sites. Crevicular fluid specimens from both groups were analyzed with the ELISA TEST. Clinical differences in analyzed outcomes were observed in favor of PBM treatment. Taking average values as 100%, the reduction in BK concentration was 47.68% with SRP and 68.43% with PBM on day 3; the VEGF concentration decreased by 35.73% with SRP and 48.59% with PBM on day 7; the EGF concentration increased by 55.58% with SRP and by 58.11% with PBM on day 21.
Clinical parameters improved significantly in both groups (pooled mean values of probing depth decreased from 5.6 to 4.5 mm; gingival index from 1.92 to 1.1; and bleeding on probing from 49.67 to 23.23) but did not vary significantly between the PBM and the SRP group. The results confirmed that PBM have beneficial effects in the early phases of the healing process playing a role in modulation of BK, EGF, and VEGF in gingival crevicular fluid levels; both groups had significant clinical improvement over control but there was no significant difference between them, only a trend for PBM group. The overall results of the study suggest a potential benefit of PBM in conjunction with SRP in treating chronic periodontitis.
Full text
Available for:
EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Purpose
This paper investigates the efficiency of the futures market for Brazilian live cattle to predict prices in the spot market of Argentinian steers. The lack of derivatives related to the beef ...market in the futures exchange in Argentina was the main factor behind the decision to analyse the efficiency of the Brazilian live cattle futures as a predictor of spot prices of Argentinian steers.
Design/methodology/approach
We opted to employ the efficient markets hypothesis to approach the question. The hypothesis that futures prices are non‐biased predictors of spot prices is considered to be a true proposition only if the efficient markets hypothesis is not rejected. In methodological terms, the efficiency of the futures market for Brazilian live cattle relative to the spot market of Argentinian steers was verified using the Johansen co‐integration test. A vector error correction model – which enables verification of the question of bias in the prediction of prices, was used to estimate the long‐term equilibrium between spot and futures prices.
Findings/originality/value
The results provided no evidence of bias in the prediction of prices and found the predictive efficiency of the Brazilian live cattle futures market relative to the spot market of Argentinians steers to be approximately 80 per cent. Thus, the future prices of Brazilian live cattle can expressly assist participants in the Argentinian beef production chain to predict the spot prices of steers.
Purpose
Esse trabalho verifica a eficiência do mercado futuro do boi gordo brasileiro em relação ao mercado a vista dos novilhos argentinos. A ausência de derivativos relacionados ao mercado da carne bovina em bolsa de futuros na Argentina foi o principal aspecto motivador da análise da eficiência do mercado futuro do boi gordo brasileiro como preditordos preços a vista dos novilhos argentinos.
Design/methodology/approach
Assim sendo, optou‐se por uma abordagem à luz da teoria da hipótese dos mercados eficientes. A hipótese de que os preços futuros são preditores não viesados dos preços a vista é tida como uma proposição verdadeira somente se a hipótese de eficiência de mercado não for rejeitada. No contexto metodológico, a eficiência do mercado futuro do boi gordo brasileiro em relação ao mercado a vista dos novilhos argentinos foi verificada a partir do teste de cointegração de Johansen, enquanto que o equilíbrio no longo prazo entre os preços a vista e futuros, que possibilita a verificação da questão do viés na predição dos preços, foi estimado por um modelo vetorial de correção de erro.
Findings/Originality/value
Os resultados evidenciaram o não viés na predição dos preços e a eficiência do mercado futuro do boi gordo brasileiro em relação ao mercado a vista dos novilhos argentinos de aproximadamente 80%. Logo, os preços futuros do boi gordo brasileiro podem auxiliar de maneira expressiva os agentes da cadeia produtiva da carne bovina argentina na predição dos preços a vista dos novilhos.
Tonsil hypertrophy (TH) and adenoid hypertrophy (AH) are very common in children. Adenoid is visible only by endoscopy. This study investigated the possible relationship between the tonsil and ...adenoid volume and the possible prediction of adenoid size. Globally, 991 children (461 females, 530 males, mean age 6.2 ± 2.3 years), complaining persistent upper airway obstruction, were consecutively visited at an otorhinolaryngological unit. TH was significantly (p<0.0001) associated with AH and tonsil volume predicted adenoid size. This outcome could have relevance in clinical practice as adenoid are evaluable only by endoscopy, so tonsil assessment could mirror adenoid volume.
BACKGROUND
In patients with acute brain injury (ABI) and refractory intracranial hypertension, the so-called ‘tier three therapies’ (TTT) (hypothermia, metabolic suppression with barbiturates, and ...decompressive craniectomy) may be used.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to describe the incidence of use of TTT, and to assess their effect on outcome.
DESIGN
A secondary analysis of the ENIO observational study.
SETTING
Seventy-three intensive care units (ICUs) in 18 countries worldwide between June 2018 and November 2020.
PATIENTS
One thousand five hundred and twelve adult patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) with ABI were included and categorised according to use or not of one or more TTT.
RESULTS
Three hundred and ninety-six patients (26.2%) received at least one TTT during the ICU stay. Five patients (0.3%) received all three TTT. TTT patients were younger (
P
< 0.0001), less likely to have a preinjury history of hypertension (
P
= 0.0008), and less frequently anisocoric within 24 h from ICU admission (
P
< 0.0001) than those with no tier three therapy. TTT were used less frequently in high-income countries than in upper income and lower middle-income countries (no TTT in 78% of patients in high-income countries, in 60.6% of patients in upper middle-income countries, and in 56.6% of patients in lower middle-income countries;
P
< 0.0001). TTT were more frequent in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared with other types of ABI and in patients with invasive intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring (
P
< 0.0001). TTT use was associated with a higher incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (
P
< 0.0001), need for tracheostomy (
P
= 0.0194), and prolonged ICU length of stay (LOS;
P
< 0.0001) but not with increased ICU or hospital mortality (
P
= 0.999).
CONCLUSION
Patients with ABI are frequently managed using at least one TTT. Their use varies according to a country's economic resources, the type of ABI, and ICP monitoring and is associated with a higher risk of complications but not with ICU or hospital mortality.
Recurrent respiratory infections (RRI) are very frequent in childhood. RRI are commonly associated with some co-morbidities and typical clinical features. This study aimed to test the hypothesis ...whether an ENT visit could identify predicting factors for IRR.Globally, 1,002 children (550 males, mean age 5.77 years) were consecutively visited at an ENT clinic. Clinical visit, nasal endoscopy, and skin prick test were performed in all patients. RRI were present in 633 (63.5%) children. Some parameters were predicting factor for RRI: male gender (OR=1.68), tonsil and adenoid volume, even if partially for some volume grading. On the other hand, familiar atopy (OR=0.68), acute otitis media (OR=0.29), and certain tonsil and adenoid size (OR range 0.61-0-47) seemed to be protecting factor for RRI. This real-life study showed that during an ENT visit it is possible to identify some predictive factors involved in RRI: some seem to be protective, whereas other seem to be predisposing.
The aim of this randomized clinical trial was to compare torque recordings at insertion time and 1 week post-placement between immediately loaded orthodontic miniscrews and an unloaded control group.
...This RCT was designed as parallel with an allocation ratio of 1:1.
Eligibility criteria to enroll patients were: needs of fixed orthodontic treatment, no systemic disease, absence of using drugs altering bone metabolism. All patients were consecutively treated in a private practice and the miniscrews were placed by the same author. Patients received ORTHOImplant (3M Unitek) miniscrews and they were blindly divided in two groups: group 1 screws were unloaded between T0 and T1, group 2 received immediately loaded screws with NiTi coil. For each patient, maximum insertion torque (MIT) was evaluated at T0. After 1 week, without loading, the screw torque was measured again (T1) and at the end of the treatment maximal removal torque was evaluated (T2). Torque variation in the first week was considered as the primary outcome.
A randomization list was created for the group assignment, with an allocation ratio of 1:1.
The study was single blinded in regard of the statistical analysis.
Patients enrolled in the clinical trial were 51 for a total of 81 miniscrews. The recruitment started in November 2012 and the observation period ended in August 2014. Twenty-six and twenty-five patients were analysed in group 1 and 2, respectively. The MIT mean in each placement time was 18.25 Ncm (SD = 3.00), 11.41 Ncm (SD = 3.51) and 10.52 Ncm (SD = 5.14) at T0, T1, and T2 time, respectively. In group 1, the torque decrease between T1 and T0 was statistically higher compared to group 2 (P value = 0.003). Statistically significant effects of the placement times on MIT were found (P value <0.0001). No serious harm was observed.
This study was performed using only direct force on the miniscrew and not using the miniscrew as an indirect anchorage. It was not possible to obtain quantitative data on bone quality or root proximity to miniscrews.
A significant stability loss was observed in the first week in both groups; Group 1 showed a statistically higher torque loss in the first week when compared to the immediately loaded group. There were statistically significant effects of the measurement times on MIT and of the miniscrew location on MIT. The overall failure rate was 7.4%.
This trial was not registered.
The protocol was not published before trial commencement.
•RTX is effective in preventing attacks in patients with NMOSD.•No concerning safety issues occurred in our real-life cohort.•Use of specific induction and maintenance regimen might boost RTX ...efficacy.•RTX could be less effective in MOG-ab positive patients.
To evaluate disease activity according to rituximab (RTX) induction and maintenance regimens in a multicenter real-life dataset of NMOSD patients.
This is an observational-retrospective multicentre study including patients with NMOSD treated with RTX in 21 Italian and 1 Swiss centers. Demographics, relapse rate and adverse events over the follow-up were summarized taking into account induction strategy (two-1 g infusions at a 15-day interval (IND-A) vs. 375 mg/m2/week infusions for one month (IND-B)) and maintenance therapy (regimen A (M-A) with fixed time-points infusions vs. regimen B (M-B) based on cytofluorimetric driven reinfusion regimens, the least further subdivided according to CD19+ B cells (M-B1) or CD27+ memory B cells (M-B2) monitoring).
131 subjects were enrolled, 127 patients completed the induction regimen and 119 patients had at least one follow-up visit and were included in the outcome analysis. Median follow-up was 1.7 years (range 0.1–11.6). Annualized relapse rate (ARR) was 1.7 in the year before RTX start and decreased to 0.19 during the follow-up. Both ARR and Time to first relapse (TTFR) analysis showed a trend toward an increased disease activity for IND-B and M-A. No patients with MT-B2 experienced relapses during the follow-up. Number of relapses in the year before RTX initiation and having received a previous treatment were significantly associated with higher ARR and reduced TTFR in the multivariate analysis.
We confirm RTX efficacy in NMOSD patients. Use of specific induction and maintenance protocols is warranted in order to foster RTX efficacy and to reduce costs and side effects.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
OBJECTIVE:To assess whether the presence of concomitant diseases at multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis is associated with the choice and the treatment persistence in an Italian MS cohort.
METHODS:We ...included newly diagnosed patients (2010–2016) followed in 20 MS centers and collected demographic and clinical data. We evaluated baseline factors related to the presence of comorbidities and the association between comorbidities and the clinical course of MS and the time to the first treatment switch.
RESULTS:The study cohort included 2,076 patients. Data on comorbidities were available for 1,877/2,076 patients (90.4%). A total of 449/1,877 (23.9%) patients had at least 1 comorbidity at MS diagnosis. Age at diagnosis (odds ratio 1.05, 95% confidence interval CI 1.04–1.06; p < 0.001) was the only baseline factor independently related to the presence of comorbidities. Comorbidities were not significantly associated with the choice of the first disease-modifying treatment, but were significantly associated with higher risk to switch from the first treatment due to intolerance (hazard ratio 1.42, CI 1.07–1.87; p = 0.014). Association of comorbidities with risk of switching for intolerance was significantly heterogeneous among treatments (interferon β, glatiramer acetate, natalizumab, or fingolimod; interaction test, p = 0.04).
CONCLUSIONS:Comorbidities at diagnosis should be taken into account at the first treatment choice because they are associated with lower persistence on treatment.
PDF
