Risk factors and long-term health consequences of macrosomia:a prospective study in Jiangsu Province,China

We sought to determine risk factors associated with fetal macrosomia and to explore the long-term consequence of infant macrosomia at the age of 7 years.A prospective population based cohort study was designed to examine the associations between maternal and perinatal characteristics and the risk of macrosomia.A nested case-control study was conducted to explore the long-term health consequence of infant macrosomia.The mean maternal age of the macrosomia group was 24.74±3.32 years,which is slightly older than that in the control group（24.35±3.14 years,P = 0.000）.The mean maternal body mass index（BMI） at early pregnancy was 22.75±2.81 kg/m 2,which was also higher than that in the control group（21.76±2.59 kg/m 2,P = 0.000）.About 64.6% of macrosomic neonates were males,compared with 51.0% in the control group（P = 0.000）.Compared with women with normal weight（BMI：18.5-23.9 kg/m 2）,women who were overweight（BMI：24-27.9 kg/m 2） or obese（BMI ≥ 28 kg/m 2）,respectively,had a 1.69-fold（P = 0.000） and a 1.49-fold（P = 0.000） increased risks of having a neonate with macrosomia,while light weight（BMI〈18.5 kg/m 2） women had an approximately 50% reduction of the risk.Furthermore,macrosomia infant had a 1.52-fold and 1.50-fold risk,respectively,of developing overweight or obesity at the age of 7 years（P = 0.001 and P = 0.000）.Older maternal age,higher maternal BMI at early pregnancy and male gender were independent risk factors of macrosomia.Macrosomic infant was associated with an increased predisposition to develop overweight or obesity at the beginning of their childhood.

Oncological results, functional outcomes and health-related quality-of-life in men who received a radical prostatectomy or external beam radiation therapy for localized prostate cancer： a study on long-term patient outcome with risk stratification

Health-related quality-of-life （HRQOL） after a radical prostatectomy （RP） or extemal beam radiation therapy （EBRT） has not been studied in conjunction with oncological outcomes in relation to disease risk stratification. Moreover, the long-term outcomes of these treatment approaches have not been studied. We retrospectively analyzed oncological outcomes between consecutive patients receiving RP （n = 86） and EBRT （n = 76） for localized prostate cancer. HRQOL and functional outcomes could be assessed in 62 RP （79%） and 54 EBRT （79%） patients over a 3-year follow-up period （median： 41 months） using the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 （SF-36） and the University of Califomia Los Angeles Prostate Cancer Index （UCLA PCI）. The 5-year biochemical progression-free survival did not differ between the RP and EBRT groups for low-risk （74.6% vs. 75.0%, P = 0.931） and intermediate-risk （61.3% vs. 71.1%, P = 0.691） patients. For high-risk patients, progression-free survival was lower in the RP group （45.1%） than in the EBRT group （79.7%） （P = 0.002）. The general HRQOL was comparable between the two groups. Regarding functional outcomes, the RP group reported lower scores on urinary function and less urinary bother and sexual bother than the EBRT group （P 〈 0.001, P 〈 0.05 and P 〈 0.001, respectively）. With risk stratification, the low- and intermediate-risk patients in the RP group reported poorer urinary function than patients in the EBRT group （P 〈 0.001 for each）. The sexual function of the high-risk patients in the EBRT group was better than that of the same risk RP patients （P 〈 0.001）. Biochemical recurrence was not associated with the UCLA PCI score in either group. In conclusion, low- to intermediate-risk patients treated with an RP may report relatively decreased urinary function during long-term follow-up. The patient＇s HRQOL after treatment did not depend on biochemical recurrence.

Time-varying impact of political risk on copper prices

Using the International Country Risk Guide(ICRG)index to represent countries’political risk,the time-varying effect of political risk on copper prices was examined based on the time-varying parameter structural vector autoregression with stochastic volatility(TVP-SVAR-SV)model.The empirical results show that the impact of political risk on copper prices is time-varying and has tended to increase gradually in recent years.There are significant country-level differences in the impact of political risk on copper prices.Political risk has a stronger and longer-lasting impact on copper prices in exporting countries.In terms of risk sources,external and internal conflicts contribute most to international copper price fluctuations in the sample period.The impact of political risk on copper prices reaches an extreme level during the international financial crisis,the European debt crisis,and the election of Donald Trump.

An Approach to Quantify the Heat Wave Strength and Price a Heat Derivative for Risk Hedging

Mitigating the heat stress via a derivative policy is a vital financial option for agricultural producers and other business sectors to strategically adapt to the climate change scenario. This study has provided an approach to identifying heat stress events and pricing the heat stress weather derivative due to persistent days of high surface air temperature （SAT）. Cooling degree days （CDD） are used as the weather index for trade. In this study, a call-option model was used as an example for calculating the price of the index. Two heat stress indices were developed to describe the severity and physical impact of heat waves. The daily Global Historical Climatology Network （GHCN-D） SAT data from 1901 to 2007 from the southern California, USA, were used. A major California heat wave that occurred 20-25 October 1965 was studied. The derivative price was calculated based on the call-option model for both long-term station data and the interpolated grid point data at a regular 0.1~ x0.1~ latitude-longitude grid. The resulting comparison indicates that （a） the interpolated data can be used as reliable proxy to price the CDD and （b） a normal distribution model cannot always be used to reliably calculate the CDD price. In conclusion, the data, models, and procedures described in this study have potential application in hedging agricultural and other risks.

Short-term and long-term risk factors in gastric cance

While in chronic diseases, such as diabetes, mortalityrates slowly increases with age, in oncological seriesmortality usually changes dramatically during thefollow-up, often in an unpredictable pattern. Forinstance, in gastric cancer mortality peaks in thefirst two years of follow-up and declines thereafter.Also several risk factors, such as TNM stage, largelyaffect mortality in the first years after surgery, whileafterward their effect tends to fade. Temporal trendsin mortality were compared between a gastric cancerseries and a cohort of type 2 diabetic patients. Forthis purpose, 937 patients, undergoing curativegastrectomy with D1/D2/D3 lymphadenectomy forgastric cancer in three GIRCG （Gruppo Italiano RicercaCancro Gastrico = Italian Research Group for GastricCancer） centers, were compared with 7148 type 2diabetic patients from the Verona Diabetes Study. Inthe early/advanced gastric cancer series, mortality fromrecurrence peaked to 200 deaths per 1000 personyears1 year after gastrectomy and then declined,becoming lower than 40 deaths per 1000 person-yearsafter 5 years and lower than 20 deaths after 8 years.Mortality peak occurred earlier in more advanced Tand N tiers. At variance, in the Verona diabetic cohort overall mortality slowly increased during a 10-yearfollow-up, with ageing of the type 2 diabetic patients.Seasonal oscillations were also recorded, mortalitybeing higher during winter than during summer. Alsothe most important prognostic factors presented adifferent temporal pattern in the two diseases： whilethe prognostic significance of T and N stage markedlydecrease over time, differences in survival amongpatients treated with diet, oral hypoglycemic drugsor insulin were consistent throughout the follow-up.Time variations in prognostic significance of main riskfactors, their impact on survival analysis and possiblesolutions were evaluated in another GIRCG series of568 patients with advanced gastric cancer, undergoingcurative gastrectomy with D2/D3 lymphadenectomy.Survival curves in the two different histotypes （intestinaland mixed/diffuse） were superimposed in the first threeyears of follow-up and diverged thereafter. Likewise,survival curves as a function of site （fundus vs body/antrum） started to diverge after the first year. On thecontrary, survival curves differed among age classesfrom the very beginning, due to different post-operativemortality, which increased from 0.5% in patients aged65-74 years to 9.9% in patients aged 75-91 years;this discrepancy later disappeared. Accordingly, theproportional hazards assumption of the Cox modelwas violated, as regards age, site and histology. Tocope with this problem, multivariable survival analysiswas performed by separately considering either thefirst two years of follow-up or subsequent years.Histology and site were significant predictors only aftertwo years, while T and N, although significant bothin the short-term and in the long-term, became lessimportant in the second part of follow-up. Increasingage was associated with higher mortality in the firsttwo years, but not thereafter. Splitting survival timewhen performing survival analysis allows to distinguishbetween short-term and long-term risk factors.Alternative statistical solutions could be to excludepost-operative mortality, to introduce in the modeltime-dependent covariates or to stratify on variablesviolating proportionality assumption.

Investor Attention,Analyst Optimism,and Stock Price Crash Risk

This paper used the A-shares listed companies in China as samples,constructed a comprehensive indicator of investor attention,and conducted an empirical analysis on the correlations among investor attention,analyst optimism,and stock price crash risk.The results indicated that investor attention aggravates the stock price crash risk and has a positive effect on analyst optimism.Meanwhile,the analyst optimism plays a mediating role in the positive correlation between investor attention and stock price crash risk.In addition to that,institutional investor attention also has direct and indirect effects on the crash risk.

Research on Agricultural Product Price Risk and Risk Management

There are a variety of reasons for agricultural product price risk,and drastic volatility in agricultural product price can give a tremendous negative impact on agriculture and even whole society. The paper argues that the agricultural product price risks include( i) price risk caused by decrease in yield and quality of agricultural products due to natural disasters;( ii) price risk caused by actual change of the market supply and demand;( iii) price fluctuation risk caused by the change of the price of the related products;( iv) sharp price volatility risk caused by market speculation;( v) risk caused by periodic property of agricultural products and lack of elasticity of agricultural demand;( vi)risk caused by lack of government management. Agricultural product price risk poses great harm to farmers,small and medium-sized agricultural operators and general consumers. This paper brings forward the specific recommendations for solving agricultural product price risk.

Reason Analysis and Risk Prevention of Soaring Price of Traditional Chinese Medicinal Materials

In recent years,the price of traditional Chinese medicinal materials soars continuously,and the resulting price risk increasingly looms large,which has critically affected midstream and downstream industries and peoples' demand for drug,and imperiled healthy and orderly development of traditional Chinese medicinal industries.Based on the status quo of continuous skyrocketing price of traditional Chinese medicinal materials at present,we winkle out the root cause of soaring price as follows:the supply and demand lose balance;the production costs hike up;there are other factors responsible for soaring price.This paper further analyses the impact of sharp increase in price of traditional Chinese medicinal materials on all links of industry chain as follows:the medicinal herb growers never benefit from soaring price;the counterfeiters and forgers in midstream industry increase;the gross profit rate of Chinese medicine enterprises declines.In accordance with the risk arising from abnormal fluctuation in price of traditional Chinese medicinal materials,corresponding precautionary measures are put forward as follows:promote the quality of traditional Chinese medicinal materials through management of value chain;curtail the production and management cost of traditional Chinese medicinal materials through management of organization chain;stabilize price of traditional Chinese medicinal materials through management of information chain;reduce transaction cost of traditional Chinese medicinal materials through management of logistics chain.

Carbon emission trading system and stock price crash risk of heavily polluting listed companies in China:based on analyst coverage mechanism

This study reveals the inconsistencies between the negative externalities of carbon emissions and the recognition condition of accounting statements.Hence,the study identifies that heavily polluting enterprises in China have severe off-balance sheet carbon reduction risks before implementing the carbon emission trading system(CETS).Through the staggered difference-in-difference(DID)model and the propen-sity score matching-DID model,the impact of CETS on reducing the risk of stock price crashes is examined using data from China’s A-share heavily polluting listed companies from 2007 to 2019.The results of this study are as follows:(1)CETS can significantly reduce the risk of stock price crashes for heavily polluting companies in the pilot areas.Specifically,CETS reduces the skewness(negative conditional skewness)and down-to-up volatility of the firm-specific weekly returns by 8.7%and 7.6%,respectively.(2)Heterogeneity analysis further shows that the impacts of CETS on the risk of stock price crashes are more significant for heavily polluting enterprises with the bear market condition,short-sighted management,and intensive air pollution.(3)Mechanism tests show that CETS can reduce analysts’coverage of heavy polluters,reducing the risk of stock price crashes.This study reveals the role of CETS from the stock price crash risk perspective and helps to clarify the relationship between climatic risk and corporate financial risk.

Corporate pledgeable asset ownership and stock price crash risk

We investigate how a firm’s corporate pledgeable asset ownership(CPAO)affects the risk of future stock price crashes.Using pledgeable asset ownership and crash risk data for a large sample of U.S.firms,we provide novel empirical evidence that a firm’s risk of a future stock price crash decreases with an increase in its pledgeable assets.Our main findings are valid after conducting various robustness tests.Further channel tests reveal that firms with pledgeable assets increase their collateral value,thereby enhancing corporate transparency and limiting bad news hoarding,resulting in lower stock price crash risk.Overall,the results show that having more pledgeable assets enables easier access to external financing,making it less likely that managers will hoard bad news.

Production response to price risk and market liberalization of Nigerian major agricultural crops

This study models supply response for major agricultural crops in Nigeria which include the standard arguments and price risk. The data comes from Central Bank of Nigeria annual reports and statement of account, National Bureau of Statistics＇ abstract of statistics and annual Agricultural survey manual. The data are analyzed using autoregressive distributed lag and cointegration and error correction models. The results indicate that producers are responsive not only to price but also to price risk and exchange rate.

Risk Management via Measuring Impacts of Micro and Macro Economic Factors on Financial Firm Stock Price—A Case of Mitsubishi UFJ in Japan

Mitsubishi UFJ(MUFJ)has made very positive contributions to the overall achievements of the banking industry,deserving its position as one of the leading financial groups in Japan,contributing to helping government stabilizes the market and successfully implement monetary policy.MUFJ is aiming for growth of approximately¥250 billion in net operating profits,with MUFG Group companies,business groups,and the corporate center.Movement of stock price in financial groups such as MUFJ will reflect the business health of bank and financial system and the whole economy.Good business management requires us to consider the impacts of multi micro and macro factors on stock price,and it contributes to promoting business plan and economic policies for economic growth and stabilizing macroeconomic factors.By data collection method through statistics,analysis,synthesis,comparison,quantitative analysis to generate qualitative comments and discussion;using econometric method to perform regression equation and evaluate quantitative results,the article analyzed and evaluated the impacts of six(6)micro and macro economic factors such as:cost,net sale,lending rate,inflation,GPD growth,S&P 500,etc.on stock price of a big financial group,MUFJ in Japan in the period of 2010-2019,both positive and negative sides.The results of quantitative research,in a seven-factor model,show that the decrease in inflation,GDP,and high lending rate has a significant effect on reducing MUFJ stock price with the highest impact coefficient,the second is increase in cost.This research finding and recommended policy also can be used as reference in policy for commercial bank and financial system in many developing countries.

Coal price fluctuations and the impact on financial risk Evidence from China＇s coal listed companies

With the rise of coal price, the proportion of loss-making enterprises shows an upward trend in China＇s coal industry. This paper uses Altman Z-Score model to measure financial risk of 19 listed companies in the coal industry in A-share market from 1995 to 2007. Empirical results show that Year-Based price index of coal price has a negative correlation with the financial risk but has no significance, and coal chain price has a significant negative correlation with the financial risk. Further research indicates that enterprises increase bad investment, and a lot of debts caused by short-term rise in coal prices. The results also show that the financial risk in the coal industry declines with the rise of GDP growth rate and increases with the rise of inflation rate.

Long-Term Outcomes after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting with Risk Stratification

Background: Risk stratification of long-term outcomes for patients undergoing Coronary artery bypass grafting has enormous potential clinical importance. Aim: To develop risk stratification models for predicting long-term outcomes following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Methods: We retrospectively revised the electronic medical records of 2330 patients who underwent adult Cardiac surgery between August 2016 and December 2022 at Madinah Cardiac Center, Saudi Arabia. Three hundred patients fulfilled the eligibility criteria of CABG operations with a complete follow-up period of at least 24 months, and data reporting. The collected data included patient demographics, comorbidities, laboratory data, pharmacotherapy, echocardiographic parameters, procedural details, postoperative data, in-hospital outcomes, and follow-up data. Our follow-up was depending on the clinical status (NYHA class), chest pain recurrence, medication dependence and echo follow-up. A univariate analysis was performed between each patient risk factor and the long-term outcome to determine the preoperative, operative, and postoperative factors significantly associated with each long-term outcome. Then a multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed with a stepwise, forward selection procedure. Significant (p < 0.05) risk factors were identified and were used as candidate variables in the development of a multivariable risk prediction model. Results: The incidence of all-cause mortality during hospital admission or follow-up period was 2.3%. Other long-term outcomes included all-cause recurrent hospitalization (9.8%), recurrent chest pain (2.4%), and the need for revascularization by using a stent in 5 (3.0%) patients. Thirteen (4.4%) patients suffered heart failure and they were on the maximum anti-failure medications. The model for predicting all-cause mortality included the preoperative EF ≤ 35% (AOR: 30.757, p = 0.061), the bypass time (AOR: 1.029, p = 0.003), and the duration of ventilation following the operation (AOR: 1.237, p = 0.021). The model for risk stratification of recurrent hospitalization comprised the preoperative EF ≤ 35% (AOR: 6.198, p p = 0.023), low postoperative cardiac output (AOR: 3.622, p = 0.007), and the development of postoperative atrial fibrillation (AOR: 2.787, p = 0.038). Low postoperative cardiac output was the only predictor that significantly contributed to recurrent chest pain (AOR: 11.66, p = 0.004). Finally, the model consisted of low postoperative cardiac output (AOR: 5.976, p < 0.001) and postoperative ventricular fibrillation (AOR: 4.216, p = 0.019) was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of the future need for revascularization using a stent. Conclusions: A risk prediction model was developed in a Saudi cohort for predicting all-cause mortality risk during both hospital admission and the follow-up period of at least 24 months after isolated CABG surgery. A set of models were also developed for predicting long-term risks of all-cause recurrent hospitalization, recurrent chest pain, heart failure, and the need for revascularization by using stents.

Opportunities and Risks of Natural Gas Investment in China under the Circumstance of Low Oil Prices

After more than 30 years of rapid growth, the Chinese economy has entered the "new normal" of moderately high growth. Due to the effects of multiple factors, the international oil price has remained consistently low. The low oil price has exerted critical effects on international natural gas investment. At the same time, the market-oriented price mechanism of natural gas in China is gradually taking shape; the concept of low carbon development is widely advocated; and the use of natural gas gains popularity in the city. Such factors provide great opportunities for investment in the natural gas market of China, including boiler coal-to-gas transformation, natural gas distributed energy and natural gas vehicles. However, risks also exist, such as the lower competitiveness of natural gas, its excess production capacity and dwindling consumption in some gas consumption industries, an insufficient driving force for facilitating the coal-to-gas transformation of industrial fuel users, reverse substitution of "coal in place of gas" in some enterprises, nontransparent costs of the downstream link of the natural gas price chain, and mismatches and nonsynchronous adjustments in natural gas prices and electricity prices.

Short-Term and Long-Term Price Forecasting Models for the Future Exchange of Mongolian Natural Sea Buckthorn Market

Sea buckthorn market floated uncertainly within a narrow range. The market situation provided upward pressure on prices, and producer and consumer interest were poor, coupled with weak prices in the regional markets. The objectives of the study are: 1) to estimate the relationship between wild Sea buckthorn (SB) price and Supply, Demand, while some other factors of crude oil price and exchange rate by using simultaneous Supply-Demand and Price system equation and Vector Error Correction Method (VECM);2) to forecast the short-term and long-term SB price;3) to compare and evaluate the price forecasting models. Firstly, the data was analyzed by Ferris and Engle-Granger’s procedure;secondly, both price forecasting methodologies were tested by Pindyck-Rubinfeld and Makridakis’s procedure. The result shows that the VECM model is more efficient using yearly data;a short-term price forecast decreases, and a long-term price forecast is predicted to increase the Mongolian Sea buckthorn market.

Pricing Catastrophe Options with Credit Risk in a Regime-Switching Model

In this paper,we consider the price of catastrophe options with credit risk in a regime-switching model.We assume that the macroeconomic states are described by a continuous-time Markov chain with a finite state space.By using the measure change technique,we derive the price expressions of catastrophe put options.Moreover,we conduct some numerical analysis to demonstrate how the parameters of the model affect the price of the catastrophe put option.

Long-Term Mortality of Children with Congenital Heart Disease Admitted to the Departmental University Hospital of Borgou/Alibori from 2011 to 2022

Background: Congenital heart disease is a public health issue due to its incidence and mortality rate. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term mortality of children with congenital heart disease admitted to the Departmental University Hospital of Borgou/Alibori (CHUD-B/A) from 2011 to 2022. Methods: This descriptive longitudinal study with analytical aims covered 11 years (April 1, 2011 to December 31, 2022). It consisted of a review of the records of children under 15 years of age with echocardiographically confirmed congenital heart disease. This was followed by an interview with the parents to assess the children’s current condition. Data were entered using Kobocollect software and analyzed using R Studio 4.2.2. software. Results: A total of 143 complete files were retained. The median age at diagnosis was 14 months (IIQ: Q1 = 4;Q3 = 60) with a range of 2 days and 175 months, and the sex-ratio (M/F) was 0.96. Left-to-right shunts were the most frequent cardiopathy group (62.9%). Only 35 children (24.5%) benefited from restorative treatment. The mortality rate was 31.5%. Median survival under the maximum bias assumption was 114 months and 216 months under the assumption of minimum bias. Survival was significantly better in children with right-to-left shunts (p = 0.0049) under the assumption of minimum bias. The death risk factors were: age at diagnosis less than 12 months (aHR = 7.58;95% CI = 3.36 - 17.24;p Conclusion: The long-term mortality of congenital heart disease is high and favoured by the absence of restorative treatment. Local correction of congenital heart disease and medical follow-up will help to reduce this mortality.

Rapid Price Hike and Tumble of Cocoon Risks in Chinese Silk Industry

Back to 1994, a transient price hike of cocoon silk eventually led to a predicament for Chinese silk industry in the following years. A decade later, is that slump going to happen again?

Price-taker在两个电力市场中的交易决策 (二)发电商的策略

在对购电商两市场交易量优化分配问题研究的基础上,讨论了Price-taker发电商如何在考虑两市场电价风险的情况下进行交易电量的优化分配,以便在规避价格风险的同时追求尽可能大的收益。文中对Price-taker发电商的两市场交易量分配策略进行了建模和研究,给出了总交易量和各市场交易的优化解并为发电商如何选择风险因子提出了建议。文中给出了仿真算例。