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This study examines the influence of gateway seaports on inland ports within a river port system, focusing on the Yangtze River port system as a case study. The research initially employs a fixed-effects panel model to confirm the overall positive impact of Shanghai Port on Yangtze River inland ports. Subsequently, using Panel data model with individual-specific slopes, this study reveal that Shanghai Port positively affects each inland port, but the magnitude of this impact varies significantly. The research further employs a panel threshold regression model to dissect the mechanisms through which Shanghai Port influences inland ports in terms of geographical, operational, and economic distances. In terms of geographical distance, the influence of Shanghai Port on the throughput of Yangtze inland ports diminishes as the navigational distance increases. Notably, inland ports located downstream on the Yangtze River are the first and most impacted, marking the downstream area as an early influencer in the port regionalization process. As to operational distance, Shanghai Port exerts a stronger influence on inland ports with higher throughput levels, as opposed to those with lower throughput. With respect to economic distance, inland ports in cities with higher economic development are found to be less influenced by Shanghai Port compared to those in less economically developed regions. This nuanced understanding provides invaluable insights into the interconnectedness of major gateway ports and their inland counterparts. • Investigates the mechanism of how gateway seaports influence inland ports within a river port system. • Employs a panel model with fixed effects to confirm the overall positive impact of Shanghai Port on Yangtze River inland ports. • Constructs a Panel data model with individual-specific slopes to specifically examine the influence of Shanghai Port on each inland port. • Uses a panel threshold regression model to examine the influence mechanisms of Shanghai Port on inland ports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on providing basic characteristics of income inequality in a group of selected European countries in the period from 2000 to 2019. After presenting stylized facts and brief literature review, the paper proceeds to empirical analysis of income inequality in the observed countries by panel data techniques. Fixed and random effects models are estimated. After Hausman test approved the usage of fixed effects model, it was tested for serial correlation and robust standard errors were calculated. The empirical analysis of the determinants of income inequality shows that GDP growth, share of population in upper 10% of income percentile, Human Development Index and unemployment rate increase income inequality measured by Gini index, while share of workforce and share of population with tertiary education decrease income inequality. The results of the empirical analysis provide insight into determinants of income inequality, which may be useful for economic policy decision makers in their efforts to decrease the income inequality.

This paper empirically examines the relationship between outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) of Korean manufacturing firms and the servicification of domestic employment using a firm-level panel data. In this study, considering the issue of low productivity in the Korean service sector, we categorize service employment into core and non-core services and investigate their relationship with OFDI using the firm-fixed effects model. The empirical results show that the share of core service employment exhibits a positive correlation with the extensive OFDI. On the other hand, the share of non-core service employment, which is expected to generate relatively low valueadded, does not show a significant relationship with the extensive OFDI. When we divide the samples based on host countries and the type of subsidiaries, the impact on servicification varies depending on the technological capabilities of host countries and their participation in global value chains. Our study suggests that Korean manufacturing firm's internationalization strategies may facilitate a transition from labor-intensive employment, like the cases in advanced countries, to technology-intensive employment through OFDI and other means.

In the present paper, an experimental study is developed on how asset-liability-equity-employees influence the financial performance of companies in the Romanian garment industry with the aim of identifying the managerial decision-making factors in order to develop businesses in this economic sector. The financial performance was influenced by the independent variables of the patrimonial structure and the human resource: fixed assets, current assets, advance expenses, equity, liabilities and the average number of employees. The results reveal that current assets, advance expenses and total liabilities positively affect financial performance, while fixed assets negatively affect financial performance. The findings show us that companies in the Romanian clothing industry tend to focus on short-term financial performance. A statistically significant impact and positive effect was identified in the case of equity and the average number of employees influencing financial performance (Sales). Two of the six hypotheses based on the analysis model of the financial performance of Romanian clothing companies are confirmed.

Agricultural socialized service is gradually emerging as a new stimulus for enhancing the agricultural production environment. However, their precise impact on improving the agricultural ecological environment and promoting the green development of agriculture remains incompletely understood. Therefore, leveraging panel data spanning from 2003 to 2020 across 31 provinces in China, this study utilizes the bidirectional fixed effect model, moderating effect model, and spatial Durbin model to systematically assess the influence of agricultural socialized services on agricultural green development and its spatial ramifications. The findings show that (I) agricultural socialized services significantly contribute to promoting agricultural green development, particularly in regions with lower aging demographics. (II) The application of the spatial Durbin model reveals that this promotional effect does not exhibit significant spatial spillover effect. (III) The role of agricultural socialized services in fostering agricultural green development can be significantly enhanced by advancements in land transfer, agricultural technological innovations, and the improvement of rural human capital. In conclusion, the study provides a set of policy recommendations that include government financial support, facilitating land transfer, improving rural education and technical training, and promoting green production technologies to effectively promote agricultural green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The risk of asthma in patients with psoriasis has been identified in previous studies, but the bidirectional association between the two has not been fully explored. Methods: We thoroughly searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library to find relevant observational studies published from the inception of these databases to October 2023. All the risk and bias assessments were analyzed by STATA 16.0. Where the heterogeneity was less than 50%, the fixed effect model was utilized. While where the level of heterogeneity was more than 50%, the random effect model was applied. Moreover, to identify publication bias, a visual funnel chart, and Egger's test were applied. Results: A total of 12,396,911 participants from 16 studies, published between 2011 and 2023 were included in this meta-analysis. We found that psoriasis patients had a higher risk of developing asthma (OR = 1.48, 95%CI 1.28–1.68). Meanwhile, asthma patients also had a higher overall risk of developing psoriasis (OR = 1.33, 95%CI 1.23–1.44). In the subgroup analysis, we found that the type of study, age, and severity of the psoriasis were significant factors in the survey of asthma risk in psoriasis patients. Conclusions: In the present systematic review and meta-analysis, we found a bidirectional association between psoriasis and asthma with significantly increased risk. As a result, clinicians should make patients aware of the connection between the two, particularly adolescents or patients with moderate to severe psoriasis who need to be informed about the rising likelihood of developing asthma. Trial registration: Registration number CRD42023390111. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), there is a significant public health issue regarding the increasing number of individuals affected by obesity and overweight on an annual basis. Therefore, it is imperative to urgently identify interventions that can effectively control and improve this condition. Baduanjin, as a medium-intensity exercise, appears a suitable approach for weight reduction among individuals with obesity. This paper aimed to provide a systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy of Baduanjin in addressing obesity and overweight, with the ultimate goal of assisting individuals with obesity in finding an effective, safe, and engaging method for weight reduction. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search of multiple databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, The China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), The Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP), The Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), and WanFang Database to identify relevant articles published from the inception of each database until September 2023. Specifically, we focused on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effects of Baduanjin on weight reduction. Data from these studies were extracted and analyzed using appropriate statistical methods. In cases where there was no significant heterogeneity (I2 < 50%, p > 0.1), we employed a fixed effects model for data synthesis; otherwise, a random effects model was selected. Funnel plots were used to assess publication bias, and the mean difference (MD) was reported as an indicator of treatment group differences. Results: A total of 420 participants were included in 10 studies. The MD results of the experimental group when compared with the control group were -3.69 (95% CI = -4.97 to -2.40, p < 0.001) for body weight (BW), -5.42 (95%CI = -6.56 to -4.28, p < 0.001) for body mass index (BMI), -1.36 (95%CI = -1.76 to -0.96, p < 0.001) for waist circumference (WC), -3.40 (95%CI = -4.43 to -2.37, p < 0.001) for hip circumference (HC), and -0.03 (95%CI = -0.04 to -0.02, p > 0.1) for the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). All of the values in the experimental group showed significant difference. The results of the Egger's test (t = 1.43, p = 0.190) suggest that there was no substantial bias present within the data analysis process. The safety profile revealed no adverse events reported across all 10 studies. Conclusion: Baduanjin could be effective in reducing weight, and the practice of Baduanjin has the potential to regulate BW, BMI, WC, HC, and WHR. However, further well-designed RCTs are still necessary to provide more robust evidence in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The meta-analysis aimed to explore the cardiac adaptation in hypothyroidism patients by cardiac magnetic resonance. Research methods and procedures: Databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, and Sinomed for clinical studies of hypothyroidism on cardiac function changes. Databases were searched from the earliest data to 15 June 2023. Two authors retrieved studies and evaluated their quality. Review Manager 5.4.1 and Stata18 were used to analyze the data. This study is registered with the International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Metaanalysis Protocols (INPLASY), 202440114. Results: Six studies were selected for further analysis. Five of them reported differences in cardiac function measures between patients with hypothyroidism and healthy controls, and three studies reported cardiac function parameters after treatment in patients with hypothyroidism. The fixed-effect model combined WMD values for left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) had a pooled effect size of -1.98 (95% CI -3.50 to -0.44], P=0.01), implying that LVEF was lower in patients with hypothyroidism than in healthy people. Analysis of heterogeneity found moderate heterogeneity (P=0.08, I² = 50%). WMD values for stroke volume (SV), cardiac index (CI), left ventricular end-diastolic volume index(LVEDVI), left ventricular end-systolic volume (LESVI), and left ventricular mass index(LVMI) were also analyzed, and pooled effect sizes showed the CI and LVEDVI of patients with hypothyroidism ware significantly decrease (WMD=-0.47, 95% CI [-0.93 to -0.00], P=0.05, WMD=-7.99, 95%CI [-14.01 to -1.96], P=0.009, respectively). Patients with hypothyroidism tended to recover cardiac function after treatment [LVEF (WMD = 6.37, 95%CI [2.05, 10.69], P=0.004), SV (WMD = 7.67, 95%CI [1.61, 13.74], P=0.01), CI (WMD = 0.40, 95%CI [0.01, 0.79], P=0.05)], and there was no difference from the healthy controls. Conclusion: Hypothyroidism could affect cardiac function, although this does not cause significant heart failure. Itmay be an adaptation of the heart to the hypothyroid state. There was a risk that this adaptationmay turn intomyocardial damage. Cardiac function could be restored after treatment in patients with hypothyroidism. Aggressive levothyroxine replacement therapy should be used to reverse cardiac function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is a very common psychiatric disorder in worldwide. Globally, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is highly prevalent among women, and are disproportionately affected by depression. Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) adherence which could highly be affected by depression is yet to be explored effectively. Depression affects overall poor HIV clinical outcomes, socioeconomic and social interactions. However, it is not well understood specifically how depression affects ART adherence in women living with HIV (WLWHIV). Investigating the effects of depression on ART adherence is critical in order to develop nuanced new evidence to address non-adherence in WLWHIV. Objective: To conduct a meta-analysis on the correlation between depression and adherence to antiretroviral therapy among women living with HIV in the globe. Method: Using population, exposed and outcome approach, we searched Scopus, PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Psych info, Web of science and google scholar for cohort and cross-sectional studies globally. The search strategy was structured comprising terms associated with antiretroviral therapy and adherence, women living with HIV and depression. We evaluated the paper quality, using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scales (NOS). The fixed effect model was used to analysis the effect of depression on ART adherence. Result: A total of 8 articles comprise 6474 participants were included in this study. There were controversial findings related to the effect of depression to ART adherence. Among three cross-sectional study, one article demonstrating, depression was associated with ART adherence. Of the five cohort studies, four cohort studies reported association. The overall pooled estimated effect of depression on ART adherence was 1.02 [RR = 1.015 with 95% CI (1.004, 1.026)] with a p-value of 0.005. Conclusion and recommendation: Depression was the risk factor for ART adherence among women living with HIV. It is therefore, necessary for clinician to note this and perform screening for ART adherence. Trial registration: The review protocol was developed with prospero registration:CRD42023415935. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigators often conduct randomized controlled trials (RCTs) at multiple centers/sites when determining the effect of a treatment or an intervention. Diversifying recruitment across multiple institutions allows investigators to make recruitment go faster within a shorter timeframe and allows generalizing the study results across diverse populations. Despite having a common study protocol across multiple centers, the eligible participants may be heterogeneous, site policies and practices may vary, and the investigators' experience, training, and expertise may also vary across sites. These factors may contribute to the heterogeneity in effect estimates across centers. As a result, we usually observe some degree of heterogeneity in effect estimates across centers, despite all centers following the same study protocol. During the analysis of such a trial, investigators typically ignore center effects, but some have suggested considering centers as fixed or random effects in the model. It is not clear how considering the effects of centers, either as fixed or random effects, impacts the test of the primary hypothesis. In this article, we first review the practice of accounting for center effects in the analyses of published RCTs and illustrate the extent of heterogeneity observed in a few preexisting multicenter RCTs. To determine the impact of heterogeneity on the test of a primary hypothesis of an RCT, we considered continuous and binary outcomes and the corresponding appropriate model, namely, a simple linear regression model for a continuous outcome and a logistic regression model for the binary outcome. For each model type, we considered three methods: (a) ignore the center effect, (b) account for centers as fixed effects, or (c) account for centers as random effects. Based on simulation studies of these models, we then examine whether considering the center as a fixed or random effect in the model helps to preserve or reduce the type I and type II error rates during the analysis phase of an RCT. Finally, we outline the threshold at which center-level effects are negligible and thus negligible and provide recommendations on when it may be necessary to account for center effects during the analyses of multicenter randomized controlled trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Optimizing the pharmaceutical industrial structure is the key mission of China’s healthcare reform. From the industrial structure perspective, this study empirically evaluated the impact of China’s national volume-based procurement (NVBP) policy on market concentration in the hospital-end drug market. Methods: This study used drug procurement data of China’s public medical institutions which obtained from the national database. A quasi-natural experiment was designed involving eleven pairs of matched treatment-control region combinations, with NVBP policy as the intervention measure. The market was defined by drug name (molecular boundary) and city/province (geographical boundary). Market changes were measured from three dimensions: the number of enterprises and products, market share, and Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI). Dual comparison approach and difference-in-difference (DID) method with fixed effect model were applied to quantify policy impacts. Results: The number of enterprises and products decreased by 18 and 83 in pilot regions after NVBP policy, far more than the decreases in control regions (6 and 21). The accumulative market share of 15 bid-winning enterprises increased by 53.67% in volume and 18.79% in value, among which the increment of enterprises with low baseline market share was more prominent (66.64% and 36.40%). Among three enterprise types, the market share of generic consistency evaluation (GCE) certificated generics significantly increased, GCE uncertificated generics significantly decreased, and originators slightly decreased. DID models indicated significantly positive impact of NVBP policy on market concentration, with HHI-volume and HHI-value increasing by 49.33% (β = 0.401, p < 0.01) and 21.05% (β = 0.191, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The implementation of NVBP promoted the intensive drug circulation and supply of Chinese public hospitals, intensifying the exit of GCE uncertificated generics from the hospital-end market. NVBP combined with GCE standards significantly improved market concentration, which brought a positive signal of pharmaceutical industrial structure optimization in China. In the future context of normalized and institutionalized NVBP, the balance should be further sought between low drug prices and reliable hospital drug supply, sustainable industry development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To elucidate the correlation of HIF1A with clinicopathologic characteristics in patients with gastric cancer (GC), we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched PubMed, Embase and Web of Science for studies on GC and HIF1A, covering studies published until January 31st, 2022. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for clinical characteristics based on high and low HIF1A protein levels. We used random-effects and fixed-effects meta-analysis methods to determine mean effect sizes of ORs and evaluated publication heterogeneity with τ2, I2, and Q values. Additionally, we generated funnel plots to inspect publication bias. Our meta-analysis included 20 publications with 3416 GC patients to estimate the association between high or low HIF1A expression and clinical characteristics. Positive HIF1A expression was significantly associated with T stage progression (OR: 2.46; 95% CI 1.81–3.36; P < 0.01), TNM stage progression (OR: 2.50; 95% CI 1.61–3.87; P < 0.01), lymph node metastasis (OR: 2.06; 95% CI 1.44–2.94; P < 0.01), undifferentiated status (OR: 1.83; 95% CI 1.45–2.32; P < 0.01), M stage progression (OR: 2.34; 95% CI 1.46–3.77; P < 0.01), Borrmann stage progression (OR: 1.48; 95% CI 1.02–2.15; P = 0.04), larger tumor size (OR: 1.27; 95% CI 1.06–1.52; P < 0.01), vascular invasion (OR: 1.94; 95% CI 1.38–2.72; P < 0.01), and higher vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein expression (OR: 2.61; 95% CI 1.79–3.80; P < 0.01) in our meta-analysis. GC Patients highly expressing HIF1A protein might be prone to tumor progression, poorly differentiated GC cell types, and a high VEGF expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their sparse distribution and placement in open areas, fixed air-quality-monitoring stations fail to characterize the effect of contextual factors such as buildings on the dispersion of PM2.5. This study evaluated the effects of building morphology on PM2.5 dispersion in a pedestrian-friendly area on the University of Texas at Dallas campus, spanning approximately 0.5 km2. The study collected PM2.5 data along five distinct paths exhibiting varying building morphological characteristics in terms of size, height, density, and spacing at a high spatial resolution. The interquartile range of PM2.5 levels across nine data-collection runs varied from 0.3 µg/m3 to 1.7 µg/m3, indicating relatively uniform PM2.5 levels within the study area. Furthermore, weather-related variables played a dominant role in PM2.5 distribution as temporal variation over-powered spatial variation in the PM2.5 data. The study employed a fixed-effects model to assess the effect of time-invariant morphological characteristics of buildings on PM2.5 and found that the buildings' morphological characteristics explained 33.22% variation in the fixed effects in the model. Furthermore, openness in the direction of wind elevated the PM2.5 concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We performed a meta-analysis to identify risk factors affecting spinal fusion. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from inception to January 6, 2023, for articles that report risk factors affecting spinal fusion. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using fixed-effects models for each factor for which the interstudy heterogeneity I2 was < 50%, while random-effects models were used when the interstudy heterogeneity I2 was ≥ 50%. Using sample size, Egger's P value, and heterogeneity across studies as criteria, we categorized the quality of evidence from observational studies as high-quality (Class I), moderate-quality (Class II or III), or low-quality (Class IV). Furthermore, the trim-and-fill procedure and leave-one-out protocol were conducted to investigate potential sources of heterogeneity and verify result stability. Results: Of the 1,257 citations screened, 39 unique cohort studies comprising 7,145 patients were included in the data synthesis. High-quality (Class I) evidence showed that patients with a smoking habit (OR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.11 to 2.21) and without the use of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) (OR, 4.42; 95% CI, 3.33 to 5.86) were at higher risk for fusion failure. Moderate-quality (Class II or III) evidence showed that fusion failure was significantly associated with vitamin D deficiency (OR, 2.46; 95% CI, 1.24 to 4.90), diabetes (OR, 3.42; 95% CI, 1.59 to 7.36), allograft (OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.11 to 2.96), conventional pedicle screw (CPS) fixation (OR, 4.77; 95% CI, 2.23 to 10.20) and posterolateral fusion (OR, 3.63; 95% CI, 1.25 to 10.49). Conclusions: Conspicuous risk factors affecting spinal fusion include three patient-related risk factors (smoking, vitamin D deficiency, and diabetes) and four surgery-related risk factors (without the use of BMP-2, allograft, CPS fixation, and posterolateral fusion). These findings may help clinicians strengthen awareness for early intervention in patients at high risk of developing fusion failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Exploring the relationship between the hOGG1 rs1052133 polymorphism and the occurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, CNKI, Wanfangdata, and VIP were used to search for studies and the NOS evaluation scale was used to evaluate the quality. All studies were grouped according to different genotypes. The Cochrane's Q test and I2 test were used for heterogeneity evaluations. If heterogeneity was small, the fixed effects model was used, and conversely, the random effects model was used. Publication bias was also detected. P <.05 in all results indicated statistically significant. Results: We ultimately included 6 studies with 2021 NPC patients in the study group and 2375 healthy populations in the control group. After meta-analysis, it was found that the total OR value of the "Ser/Cys (CG) vs Ser/Ser (CC)" group was 1.00 (95% CI: 0.85-1.18) and the "Cys/Cys (GG) vs Ser/Ser (CC)" group was 1.06 (95% CI: 0.87-1.28). These results were not statistically significant (P >.05). Furthermore, the integrated total OR values of each group were not statistically significant with or without the smoking history, even in other genotype models (Allele, Dominant, Recessive, and Additive) (P >.05). Conclusion: There is no clear correlation between the hOGG1 rs1052133 polymorphism and the occurrence of NPC, even with or without the smoking history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital economy, with its 'green attributes,' is considered instrumental in accelerating the low-carbon transformation of cities. However, it is still controversial whether the digital economy can effectively promote the low-carbon transformation of resourcebased cities with a single industrial structure and significant energy consumption. In view of this, this study took panel data from 111 Chinese resource-based cities from 2011 to 2020 as a sample and analyzed the impact and paths of the digital economy on the low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities using a two-way fixed-effects model, while also considering heterogeneity from the perspectives of city type and the degree of economic development. The results showed that: ① The digital economy played a significant positive role in promoting the low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities. This conclusion held when constructing Bartik instrumental variables to deal with possible endogeneity issues. Subsequent robustness tests conducted in three different ways all confirmed the robustness of this finding. ② The path analysis results revealed that reducing resource mismatch and improving labor productivity were important mechanisms through which the digital economy promoted the reduction of carbon emission intensity in resource-based cities. ③ Heterogeneity analysis showed that the low-carbon transformation effect of the digital economy was only manifested in declining and regenerating resource-based cities, while in growing and mature resource-based cities, the effect was not significant. Additionally, the low-carbon transformation effect of the digital economy was more pronounced in resource-based cities with a high degree of economic development. Therefore, based on the findings of this study, the following policy recommendations are put forward: firstly, for the lowcarbon transformation of resource-based cities, the government must fully recognize and emphasize the catalytic role of the digital economy; secondly, leverage the resource allocation effect and labor production effect of the digital economy in promoting the low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities; and lastly, formulate differentiated digital economy development strategies and low-carbon transformation measures tailored to the differentiated characteristics and development conditions of resource-based cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the outcomes of type II pediatric phalangeal neck fractures (PPNFs) treated with closed reduction and cast immobilization (CRCI) versus closed reduction percutaneous pinning (CRPP), and evaluated the clinical efficacy of conservative versus surgical treatment of type II PPNFs via meta-analysis. Methods: Patients aged ≤ 14 years with type II PPNFs were divided into conservative (CRCI) and operative (CRPP) groups. Radiographs measured angulation and translation; hand function was assessed with total active range of motion (TAM) and Quick-DASH. Complication rates were also compared between the groups. A meta-analysis of conservative versus operative treatment confirmed the clinical results. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 26.0 and R studio 3.0 with two-tailed, chi-squared, and Mann–Whitney U or t-tests, P < 0.05. Meta-analysis used fixed or random effects models, calculating mean differences and odds ratios for outcomes, and assessing heterogeneity with I2 and Q tests. Results: Final angulation (3.4° ± 3.7° and 4.9° ± 5.4° vs. 3.6° ± 3.7° and 4.2° ± 4.3°) and displacement (6.3% ± 5.8% and 5.7% ± 4.7% vs. 5.8% ± 5.5% and 3.2% ± 4.2%) in the coronal and sagittal planes were not different statistically between the conservative and surgical groups (P > 0.05), but improved significantly compared to preoperative values (P < 0.05). Although Quick-DASH scores were comparable in both groups (P = 0.105), conservatively treated patients had a significantly better TAM at the last follow-up visit (P = 0.005). The complication rates were 24.2% and 41.7% in the surgical and conservatively treated groups respectively (P = 0.162). However, the latter primarily experienced imaging-related complications, whereas the former experienced functional complications (P = 0.046). Our meta-analysis (n = 181 patients) also showed comparable functional (P = 0.49) and radiographic (P = 0.59) outcomes and complication rates (P = 0.21) between the surgical (94 patients) and conservative (87 patients) groups. Conclusions: Conservative and surgical treatments are both reliable and safe approaches for managing type II PPNF in children. However, conservatively treated patients generally experience similar radiographic outcomes, lower complication rates, and better functional outcomes than surgically treated ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a highly detailed database of anonymized tax returns (N = 400,000) from Czechia (2008–2020), we aim to describe and explain regional patterns in individual giving. The key research question is to what extent regional differences are shaped by individual factors and to what extent by factors at the regional level, including regional economic performance and structure (industrial, ownership), position in the urban hierarchy, human and social capital, rurality, and political preferences. Czechia is a relatively small, developed, and ethnically homogeneous country, with a centralised tax system. Potential regional differences in individual giving are likely to be driven by particularities of economic structure and/or social capital. Hierarchical linear regression models with fixed effects were employed to distinguish the effects of these two groups of factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Treatment-seeking people with opioid use disorder (OUD) who are capable of pregnancy need accurate information about the potential impact of medication to treat OUD (MOUD) on fertility to make informed choices about treatment that are consistent with their reproductive wishes. There is a dearth of research on fertility associated with MOUD receipt in birthing people with OUD. Objective: To estimate the association between treatment with MOUD and odds of conception among birthing people using national administrative claims. Design: Retrospective case-crossover study using multi-state US administrative data (2006–2016). Dates of conception were estimated from delivery dates and served as "case" days for which MOUD exposures were compared to those on all other ("control") days of insurance enrollment. Participants: Treatment-seeking people with OUD with a delivery during the observation period. Main measures: Odds ratios for conception from within-person fixed effects models were modeled as a function of exposure to MOUD (buprenorphine, methadone, extended-release depot naltrexone, or oral naltrexone) using conditional logistic regression. Key Results: A total of 21,928 births among 19,133 people with OUD were identified. In the sample, 5873 people received buprenorphine, 1825 methadone, 486 extended-release naltrexone, and 714 oral naltrexone. Participants could receive more than one type of MOUD. Mean age was 28.2 years (SD = 2.2; range = 16–45), with 76.2% having Medicaid. vs. commercial insurance. Compared to no MOUD, periods of methadone (aOR = 0.55 [95% CI = 0.48–0.63]) or buprenorphine receipt (aOR = 0.84 [0.77–0.91]) were associated with fewer conceptions. Treatment periods with extended-release depot naltrexone compared to no medication were associated with higher odds of conception (aOR = 1.75 [1.22–2.50]) and there was no significant difference in conception with oral naltrexone (aOR = 1.02 [0.67–1.54]). Conclusions: The association between MOUD and odds of conception among birthing people varied by type of MOUD, with extended-release naltrexone associated with higher odds of conceiving compared to no treatment. Clinical studies are urgently needed to investigate these findings further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of a genetically modified corn hybrid with α-amylase expressed in the kernel (AMY) on fermentation profile, aerobic stability, nutrient composition, and starch disappearance of whole-plant corn silage (WPCS) and earlage. Both hybrids, AMY and an isogenic corn hybrid (ISO), were grown in 10 replicated plots (5 for WPCS and 5 for earlage). Samples of each plot were collected at harvest, homogenized, and divided into 5 subsamples which were randomly assigned to 5 storage lengths (0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 d). Both datasets (WPCS and earlage), were analyzed separately as a completely randomized block design in a factorial arrangement of treatments, with a model including the fixed effects of hybrid, storage length, and their interaction, and the random effect of block. Minor differences on fermentation profile were observed between AMY and ISO for WPCS and earlage. An interaction between hybrid and storage length was observed for DM losses in WPCS, where losses were similar at 30, 60 and 90 d, but lower for AMY compared with ISO at 120 d. No effect of hybrid was observed on yeast and mold counts for WPCS or earlage. The aerobic stability of WPCS was greater for AMY than ISO. For earlage, AMY had greater DM losses and aerobic stability than ISO. An interaction between hybrid and storage length was observed for ammonia-N in both WPCS and earlage, where ammonia-N was similar at 0 d but greater for AMY than ISO throughout later storage lengths. A similar interaction was observed for water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) concentrations in WPCS, where ISO had greater WSC than AMY at 0 d but was similar throughout later storage lengths. However, AMY earlage had a greater WSC concentration throughout storage length, but a lesser magnitude after ensiling. Starch concentration was greater for AMY than ISO in WPCS and earlage. Greater starch disappearances at 0 h and 6 h were observed for ISO in WPCS and earlage. Minor effects on fermentation profile, microbial counts, aerobic stability and nutrient composition suggests that AMY can be ensiled for prolonged periods with no concerns for undesirable fermentation or nutrient losses. However, in situ starch disappearance was lower for AMY compared with ISO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this study were to assess (1) the variation of protein metabolism biomarkers and factors affecting them during the transition period, (2) the association of each biomarker with skeletal muscle reserves and their changes, and (3) the association of these biomarkers with postpartum health, colostrum quality, reproduction, and milk production. For this purpose, 238 multiparous Holstein cows from 6 herds were used in a prospective cohort study. Plasma concentrations of 3-methylhistidine (3-MH) and 1-methylhistidine (1-MH) and serum concentrations of total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), urea nitrogen (BUN), and creatinine (SCR) were determined for each cow at −21, −7, 7, 21, and 28 d relative to calving. Clinical diseases were recorded during the first 28 d postcalving, and presence of subclinical ketosis (scKET) was investigated at 7 and 21 d. Colostrum quality was estimated by Brix refractometry. Reproduction data by 150 d in milk (DIM) and milk production records were also available. Linear mixed models including the fixed effects of time point, herd, parity, body condition score (−21 d), duration of dry period and postparturient diseases were fitted to assess the variation in each biomarker's concentration. The association between the biomarkers' concentration during the prepartum period with the odds for each postparturient disease and for a combined trait (CD_1–28), defined as the presence of at least one clinical condition during the first 28 d after calving, were assessed with separate binary logistic models for time points −21 d and −7 d. The relationship of each biomarker's concentration with longissimus dorsi thickness (LDT) and the changes in LDT (ΔLDT) was assessed with pairwise correlations. Separate general linear models were used to assess the association of each biomarker with colostrum Brix values and milk production traits. Finally, the associated hazard for first artificial insemination (AI) and for pregnancy by 150 DIM (PREG_150DIM) was assessed with Cox proportional hazard models, whereas odds for pregnancy to the first AI (PREG_1stAI) were assessed with binary logistic models. The level of 3-MH was affected mainly by herd, time points, and their interaction. Higher 3-MH was associated with increased odds for metritis and CD_1–28, increased hazard for PREG_150 DIM and with increased milk production. 1-Methylhistidine was affected mainly by herd, scKET and occurrence of displaced abomasum. Higher 1-MH was associated with better colostrum quality, increased odds for scKET, increased hazard for first AI by 150 DIM and with decreased milk production. Both 3-MH and 1-MH were weakly to moderately negatively correlated with LDT and moderately to strongly negatively correlated with ΔLDT at the corresponding time periods. Additionally, higher TP was associated with increased odds for metritis and CD_1–28 and increased milk production, while higher ALB was associated with increased odds for scKET and increased milk production. Moreover, higher BUN was associated with decreased odds for scKET, increased odds for PREG_1stAI and increased milk production. Higher SCR was associated with decreased odds for retained fetal membranes, metritis, and CD_1–28. Periparturient protein metabolism is significantly associated with postpartum health, colostrum quality, reproduction, and milk production; mechanisms involved require further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the study was to quantify the association between the birth weight of a calf and the subsequent performance of its dairy dam in the absence of any recorded calving assistance. A total of 11,592 lactation records from 4,549 spring-calving dairy cows were used. The association between a series of quantitative cow performance metrics (dependent variable) and calf birth weight (independent variable) was determined using linear mixed models; logistic regression was used where the dependent variable was binary. Nuisance factors in the models were calf sex, heterosis coefficient of both the cow and calf, dry period length immediately before the birth of the calf, cow age at calving relative to the median cow age per parity, breed proportion of the cow, cow live weight between 100 and 200 d of lactation relative to the mean cow weight per parity, and contemporary group. Calf birth weight was included in the model as either a continuous or a categorical variable. Primiparous and multiparous cows were analyzed separately. Mean (SD) calf birth weight was 36.2 (6.8) kg. In primiparous cows, calf birth weight was associated with milk yield in the first 60 d of lactation, calving to first service interval, calving body weight (BW), and both nadir BW and body condition score (BCS). In multiparous cows, calf birth weight was associated with total milk, fat, and protein yield in the first 60 and 305 d of lactation, peak milk yield, total milk solids, both calving and nadir BW, and BCS loss from calving to nadir. Relative to primiparous cows that gave birth to calves weighing 34 to 37 kg (i.e., population mean), their contemporaries who gave birth to calves that weighed 15 to 29 kg produced 9.82 kg more milk in the first 60 d of lactation, had a 2-d shorter interval to first service, and were 8.08 kg and 5.51 kg lighter at calving and nadir BW, respectively; the former was also 0.05 units lower in BCS (5-point scale, 1 = emaciated and 5 = obese) at nadir. Relative to multiparous cows that gave birth to calves that were 34 to 37 kg birth weight, multiparous cows that gave birth to calves that were 15 to 29 kg yielded 59.63 kg, 2.44 kg, and 1.76 kg less milk, fat, and protein, respectively, in the first 60 d of lactation; produced 17.69 kg less milk solids throughout the 305-d lactation; and were also 10.49 kg lighter at nadir and lost 0.01 units more BCS to nadir. In a separate series of analyses, sire breed was added to the model as a fixed effect with and without calf birth weight. When calf birth weight was not adjusted for, 60-d milk yield for multiparous cows who gave birth to calves sired by a traditional beef breed (i.e., Angus, Hereford) produced 59.63 kg more milk than multiparous cows who gave birth to calves sired by a Holstein-Friesian. Hence, calf birth weight is associated with some subsequent dam performance measures; however, where associations do exist, the effect is biologically small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To investigate the differences in utility between conventional dressings and hydrogel dressings for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU). Methods: The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP and Wanfang databases were systematically searched up to 21 January 2023. Fixed/random‐effect models were used to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) and mean differences (MDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the effect size analysis, with heterogeneity determined by I2 statistics. Subgroup analyses of different classes of hydrogel were also conducted. Results: A total of 15 randomized controlled trials with 872 patients were eligible for the present analysis. Compared with conventional dressings, hydrogel dressings significantly improved the healing rate (OR 4.09, 95% CI 2.83 to 5.91), shortened the healing time (MD −11.38, 95% CI −13.11 to −9.66), enhanced granulation formation (MD −3.60, 95% CI −4.21 to −3.00) and epithelial formation (MD −2.82, 95% CI −3.19 to −2.46), and reduced the incidence of bacterial infection (OR 0.10, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.18). Conclusion: The meta‐analysis showed that hydrogel dressings are more effective in treating DFU compared with conventional dressings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between financial inclusion, renewable energy, and CO2 emissions using data from 11 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries from 2004 to 2019. Evidence from fixed effects-ordinary least squares (FE-OLS), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), and canonical correlation regression (CRR) showed that financial inclusion contributes significantly to decarbonization. Country-specific analysis indicated that financial inclusion is associated with mitigating CO2 emissions in Egypt, Israel, Qatar, and Tunisia while significantly spurring CO2 emissions in Algeria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. In addition, renewable energy contributes significantly to decarbonization in MENA, especially in Algeria, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Turkey. We recommend that policies promoting financial inclusion and renewable energy usage would contribute to the attainment of the carbon-neutrality goal by MENA countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the information factors needed by investors is the disclosure of company risk. with the disclosure of risk, information users can find out the condition of the company and whether the company's risk can affect the funds they invest, this study aims to examine the effect of corporate governance, profitability, and capital structure on company risk, this study also uses banking company data obtained from the Indonesian stock exchange for the period 2018 to 2022, and the research method ii is quantitative research. The sample selection technique used was purposive sampling and obtained 45 bank companies so that the total amount of observation data was 225 data. The data analysis method in this study is multiple linear regression using panel data regression with a fixed effect model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene pathways and gene-regulatory networks are used to describe the causal relationship between genes, based on biological experiments. However, many genes are still to be studied to define novel pathways. To address this, a gene-clustering algorithm has been used to group correlated genes together, based on the similarity of their gene expression level. The existing methods cluster genes based on only one type of omics data, which ignores the information from other types. A large sample size is required to achieve an accurate clustering structure for thousands of genes, which can be challenging due to the cost of multi-omics data. Meta-analysis has been used to aggregate the data from multiple studies and improve the analysis results. We propose a computationally efficient meta-analytic gene-clustering algorithm that combines multi-omics datasets from multiple studies, using the fixed effects linear models and a modified weighted correlation network analysis framework. The simulation study shows that the proposed method outperforms existing single omic-based clustering approaches when multi-omics data and/or multiple studies are available. A real data example demonstrates that our meta-analytic method outperforms single-study based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The impact of digital economy on green total factor productivity in China is investigated. • The evidence on digital economy from a policy perspective is further supplied. • The ordinary least squares model and fixed effects model are used to research simultaneously. • Technological innovation, industrial structure optimization and resource misallocation as the transmission channels are considered in mechanism test. Digital economy has become a major driver of the green transformation of the economy. The "National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone" policy is taken as a quasi-natural experiment. The Difference-in-Differences model is employed to explore the impact of digital economy on green total factor productivity, and the heterogeneity of this impact is further explored. The mechanism test model is applied to investigate its indirect transmission mechanism. It is found that digital economy significantly enhances green total factor productivity. Further, the impact is larger and more significant in the mid-western, non-resource-based, and large cities, whereas it is smaller or insignificant in the eastern, resource-based, and small and medium-sized cities. Results of mechanism analysis show that digital economy enhances green total factor productivity through the transmission channels of technological innovation, industrial structure optimization, and resource misallocation. Policy recommendations are provided on the basis of these results to establish the environment and digital economy that are mutually beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing correlated high‐dimensional data is a challenging problem in genomics, proteomics, and other related areas. For example, it is important to identify significant genetic pathway effects associated with biomarkers in which a gene pathway is a set of genes that functionally works together to regulate a certain biological process. A pathway‐based analysis can detect a subtle change in expression level that cannot be found using a gene‐based analysis. Here, we refer to pathway as a set and gene as an element in a set. However, it is challenging to select automatically which pathways are highly associated to the outcome when there are multiple pathways. In this paper, we propose a semiparametric multikernel regression model to study the effects of fixed covariates (e.g., clinical variables) and sets of elements (e.g., pathways of genes) to address a problem of detecting signal sets associated to biomarkers. We model the unknown high‐dimension functions of multi‐sets via multiple Gaussian kernel machines to consider the possibility that elements within the same set interact with each other. Hence, our variable set selection can be considered a Gaussian process set selection. We develop our Gaussian process set selection under the Bayesian variance component‐selection framework. We incorporate prior knowledge for structural sets by imposing an Ising prior on the model. Our approach can be easily applied in high‐dimensional spaces where the sample size is smaller than the number of variables. An efficient variational Bayes algorithm is developed. We demonstrate the advantages of our approach through simulation studies and through a type II diabetes genetic‐pathway analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decline of bus ridership is increasingly prevalent in cities in both developed and emerging economies around the world. While researchers have made many efforts to explain why choice riders switch to other transportation modes in single-city cases, why cities vary in the performance of maintaining bus ridership is still largely unknown. This study examines the changes in bus ridership among 175 medium and small-sized cities without urban rail transit from 2010 to 2019 in China and links a few determining factors to such changes by deploying fixed effects panel models and piecewise regression models. Both heterogeneity and nonlinear relationships in the dynamics of bus ridership changes are confirmed. The results demonstrate that cities at different development stages perform diversely in maintaining bus ridership, due to the variations in travel demand and travel choice preferences in those contexts. Increased private car ownership and widening income inequity both contribute to bus ridership decline while an expansion of bus fleet sizes is associated with more bus patronage. These relationships are all displayed as nonlinear formats; the effects can diminish when influencing factors reach a certain level during the growth of cities. The research outcomes may inform policymakers that cities at different development stages need to adopt context-based strategies instead of simply copying from elsewhere. Policies such as controlling private car ownership might not work equally well in cities with diversified characteristics. • Shed light on the bus ridership decline challenges faced by 175 medium and small-sized cities in China. • Explore the interaction and nonlinear effect from influencing factors on bus ridership. • Focus on medium and small-sized cities' bus ridership decline phenomenon. • Emphasize the importance of understanding city-specific dynamics to formulate effective transit strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) improves response rates, but not overall survival, in advanced cervical cancer. • Novel use of meta -analysis reveals the efficacy of preoperative NACT in young patients with cervical cancer. • NACT has limited impact on adverse effects; there is potential for individualized postoperative strategies. Neither improvements in surgical techniques and methods nor advances in radiotherapy equipment and techniques have significantly improved cervical cancer survival rates for quite some time. By comparing the effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer, this study aimed to explore effective treatment methods for locally advanced cervical cancer, and provide a theoretical basis to guide clinical practice. A search of PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and Cochrane databases was undertaken to identify randomized controlled trials on the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer, where the intervention in the experimental group was neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the studies were evaluated for quality according to the Cochrane Quality Rating Scale. Baseline information, intervention information and outcome indicators of the included studies were extracted. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4. Significant differences in overall survival [relative risk (RR) 1.63, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.69–2.57; p = 0.0007] and complete remission rate (RR 0.37, 95 % CI −0.49 to 1.23; p = 0.041) were found between the two groups. Heterogeneity of the objective response rate showed p < 0.0001 and I 2 = 99 % (I 2 = 99 > 50 % and p > 0.1 for the Q-test suggested strong heterogeneity). The fixed effects model was chosen for the integration statistic [standardized mean difference (SMD) 0.81, 95 % CI −0.21 to 1.83; p = 0.12]; the difference was not significant (p > 0.05). Heterogeneity of the adverse effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy showed p < 0.0001 and I 2 = 98 % (I 2 = 98 %>50 % and p > 0.1 for the Q-test suggested strong heterogeneity). The fixed effects model was chosen for the integration statistic (SMD −0.023, 95 % CI −0.95 to 0.49; p = 0.53); the difference was not significant (p > 0.05). The use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer improved the objective response rate and the complete remission rate of patients, but failed to improve overall survival and adverse effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a network traffic prediction model based on linear and nonlinear model combination. Network traffic is modeled by an autoregressive moving average model, and the error between the measured and predicted network traffic values is obtained. Then, an echo state network is used to fit the prediction error with nonlinear components. In addition, an improved slime mold algorithm is proposed for reservoir parameter optimization of the echo state network, further improving the regression performance. The predictions of the linear (autoregressive moving average) and nonlinear (echo state network) models are added to obtain the final prediction. Compared with other prediction models, test results on two network traffic datasets from mobile and fixed networks show that the proposed prediction model has a smaller error and difference measures. In addition, the coefficient of determination and index of agreement is close to 1, indicating a better data fitting performance. Although the proposed prediction model has a slight increase in time complexity for training and prediction compared with some models, it shows practical applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing urban-rural income disparities is crucial for economic growth and sustainable development. Does combating environmental pollution contribute to reducing income inequality? Drawing on data gathered from 199 prefecture-level cities spanning 2011 to 2019, this study examines the impact of public environmental concern on urban-rural income gaps using a two-way fixed effects model and dynamic panel model. The study reveals that heightened public environmental awareness can impede the growth of farmers' income, exacerbating urban-rural income disparities with a delayed effect. This influence is more pronounced in densely populated areas, economically advanced regions, mid-regions, and low-pollution zones. Further investigations demonstrate that public environmental awareness can widen the economic divide between urban and rural areas by influencing environmental governance capabilities and deteriorating the employment landscape. These findings offer valuable insights for regions aiming to concurrently achieve shared prosperity and reduce carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial inclusion, for which the keystone is access to a bank account, is crucial to overcome the socioeconomic backwardness of African countries and to improve the African societies' wellbeing. The study concentrates on this continent to better understand the nature of its development in terms of financial inclusion. The research aims to identify the institutions' impact on financial inclusion in 35 African countries in the years 2010-2019. The analysis is based on a panel model with fixed individual effects. Novelty of the study rests in incorporation of four institutional variables: constraints on the executive, resolving insolvency, property rights, and WGI. The results showed a positive and statistically significant impact of resolving insolvency on financial inclusion (a measure covering people with financial institution accounts) across the entire sample. However, this relationship is especially visible in more developed countries, while constraints on the executive turned out to be crucial for low-income countries. Another novelty of the study is creation of an index of financial inclusion covering Mobile Money which was used to verify the obtained results. In this case, no positive impact of any institutional variable was iden- tified which may mean that a favourable institutional environment is not required for the development of Mobile Money. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synopsis The research problem This study examined the effect of having debt contracts that contain balance sheet covenants on the decision to make seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). Motivation Prior studies examined the determinants of equity issuance without considering private debt contracts that contain balance sheet covenants. Generally, firms are not restricted from stock issuance when they have financial debt covenants. This might motivate firms to make SEOs when they are more susceptible to balance sheet debt covenant violations. Making SEOs increases firms' equity capitals in the short term and, therefore, has the direct effect of improving balance sheet covenants in the current period. This effect motivated this study to examine whether firms are more likely to conduct SEOs when their debt contracts include more-restrictive balance sheet covenants. The test hypothesis The hypothesis of the study is in the null form, which states that balance sheet covenant restrictiveness is unrelated to the probability of conducting SEOs. Target population The target population includes shareholders, debtholders, and firm managers. Adopted methodology Panel data estimation was used, specifically, the fixed effects model. Analyses The empirical analysis was conducted on a unique sample of UK listed firms with private debt covenants that is hand-collected from annual reports. Equity issuance in the sample is based on private placements, which are a common type of SEO in the UK. The restrictiveness of balance sheet-based covenants is defined as the number of balance sheet covenants in a loan contract or the tightness of net worth covenant slack. Findings The results show that balance sheet covenant restrictiveness is positively associated with the probability of conducting SEOs through private placements. The baseline result is robust to the application of a number of the controls often used in the literature, including cash shortage, the use of balance sheet covenants in the previous loan contract, earnings management, and the quality of external governance. It is also robust to excluding the financial crisis period and addressing potential endogeneity concerns using a propensity score-matching procedure. Additionally, further analysis provides some evidence that equity issuance by firms with more-restrictive balance sheet covenants is negatively associated with future operating performance, suggesting that these firms may not efficiently use the raised capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research paper is to investigate the association between internal Corporate Governance (CG) mechanisms and stock price volatility in Egypt as an emerging market. The paper investigates the impact of ownership structure and board structure as internal CG mechanisms on stock price volatility. Data are analyzed using a two-way fixed effects model, a one-step dynamic panel data model, and a panel weighted least squares model. The study concluded that ownership concentration has a negative influence on volatility. Interestingly, an inverted U-shaped relationship between the percentage of ownership by the greatest shareholder and volatility is evidenced. Managerial ownership also showed a negative influence on volatility. As for board structure mechanisms, the findings show that both board size and frequency of board meetings negatively influence volatility, whereas board independence has a positive impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the impacts of ownership structure (OS) on intellectual capital (IC) and its components. Data were gathered from 31 Dhaka Stock Exchange-listed banks for five years, from 2017 to 2021, consisting of 155 observations as balanced panel data. The study used the modified value-added intellectual coefficient (MVAIC) model to track the IC efficiency. The robust fixed effects model was employed for regression analysis to test the hypotheses. The research found that sponsor director ownership is negatively associated with the MVAIC, human capital efficiency (HCE), and structural capital efficiency (SCE) but positively with relational capital efficiency (RCE). High institutional and public ownership are positively linked with SCE but negatively with RCE. Foreign ownership is only positively associated with banks' MVAIC and HCE. The regression results showed that high institutional ownership (IO) significantly enhanced the MVAIC and HCE. Foreign and public ownership positively influenced banks' MVAIC, HCE, and capital employed efficiency (CEE) but negatively impacted RCE. The findings of this study will help banks' policymakers with ownership mixes for the optimum utilization of banks' resources. Management may assess IC's efficiency level for proper supervision and use of knowledge resources to boost bank profitability. Also, the findings will help investors make prudent investment decisions. This is the first study to focus on OS and IC with diverse elements in Southeast Asia, especially Bangladesh, an emerging market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how ambidextrous balanced innovation and ambidextrous combined innovation affect international entrepreneurial-oriented enterprise growth within the holistic paradigm of systems thinking and discusses the systemic impact of industry international competitiveness and industry financing dependence. We select the unbalanced panel data of China's ICT industry international enterprises from 2010 to 2021 for empirical research, and we employ the fixed effect model for testing. The empirical results indicate that both ambidextrous balanced innovation and ambidextrous combined innovation promote international entrepreneurial-oriented enterprise growth, that the industry's international competitiveness positively moderates the relationship between ambidextrous balanced innovation and international entrepreneurial-oriented enterprise growth, and that the industry's financing dependence negatively moderates the relationship between ambidextrous balanced innovation and international entrepreneurial-oriented enterprise growth. The aforementioned conclusion is robust against a series of robustness tests. This study expands the theoretical research on international entrepreneurship and ambidextrous innovation strategy selection and may help in the selection of ambidextrous innovation strategies for international entrepreneurial-oriented enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce firm‐specific returns to experience and tenure into a standard two‐way fixed effects model, show that they are separately identified under the standard exogenous mobility assumption and with sufficient between firm mobility, and provide a new evidence on heterogeneity of returns to experience and tenure across firms using the administrative data from Brazil over the years 1999–2014. We document that (1) returns to tenure are not strongly related to firm wage premia, (2) returns to experience are strongly negatively correlated with firm wage premia, (3) the relationship between firm wage premium and return to experience is stronger for 'blue collar' firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of food prices on poverty in 37 sub‐Saharan African economies between 2001 and 2020. The study employed Prais‐Winsten regression, variations of the Fixed Effects model to account for conventional biases in econometric modeling, and the Method of Moment Quantile Regression with Fixed Effects to account for existing poverty levels. The findings revealed that a higher proportion of Africans will fall into poverty due to the increase in food prices. This result is consistent with the presence of endogeneity, cross‐sectional dependence, and unobservable heterogeneity. The study also reveals that the increase in food prices has a greater effect in sub‐Saharan African countries with lower levels of poverty as compared to those with high poverty levels, showing that rising food prices disproportionately hurt countries with low poverty levels, pushing more Africans below the poverty line in those countries. The study recommends the need for the implementation of supply‐side agricultural policies that enhance productivity in the sector, thereby boosting aggregate agricultural supply and precipitating a decline in food prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show theoretically and empirically that measurement error can bias in favor of falsely rejecting a true null hypothesis (i.e., a "false positive") and that regression models with high-dimensional fixed effects can exacerbate measurement error bias and increase the likelihood of false positives. We replicate inferences from prior work in a setting where we can directly observe the amount of measurement error and show that the combination of measurement error and fixed effects materially inflates coefficients and distorts inferences. We provide researchers with a simple diagnostic tool to assess the possibility that the combination of measurement error and fixed effects might give rise to a false positive, and encourage researchers to triangulate inferences across multiple empirical proxies and multiple fixed effect structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of digital finance has effectively reduced financial challenges in rural regions and created new prospects for agricultural production. This article examines the impact of digital financial development on rice production in Sichuan Province using the 2011–2021 Peking University Digital Financial Inclusion Index and data from 20 prefecture-level cities, as well as a fixed effects model. The mechanism of action is also discussed. The findings reveal that the advancement of digital finance plays an important role in boosting the expansion of rice production, and that digital finance influences rice output by increasing farmers' willingness to participate in insurance and increasing the availability of credit. A heterogeneity analysis reveals that digital finance has a substantial effect on mountainous and economically poor areas. As a result, this article suggests that the breadth and depth of usage of rural digital finance, as well as the development of rural digital financial services in underdeveloped areas, should be expanded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In meta-analyses, unlike model-based methods, such as fixed- or random-effect models, the p-value combining methods are distribution-free and robust. How to appropriately and powerfully combine p-values obtained from various sources remains an important but challenging topic in statistical inference. For cases where all or a majority of the individual alternative hypotheses have the same but unknown direction, concordant tests based on one-sided p-values can substantially improve the detecting power. However, there exists no test that is uniformly most powerful; therefore, figuring out how to choose a robust and powerful test to combine one-sided p-values for a given data set is desirable. In this paper, we propose and study a class of gamma distribution-based concordant tests. Those concordant tests are optimal under specific conditions. An asymptotically optimal concordant test is also studied. The excellent performances of the proposed tests were demonstrated through a numeric simulation study and real data example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We propose a flexible stochastic production frontier model with fixed effects for the panel data in which the semiparametric frontier is additive with bivariate interactions. To avoid potential misspecification and/or "wrong skew problem" due to distributional assumptions, we model the conditional mean of the inefficiency to depend on environmental variables and to be known up to a vector of parameters. We propose a difference‐based estimator for parameters characterizing the conditional mean of the inefficiency term, a profile series estimator, and a kernel‐based one‐step backfitting estimator for the frontier to facilitate inference. We establish their asymptotic properties and show that each component in the frontier estimated by the kernel‐based backfitting has the same asymptotic distribution as the one estimated with the true knowledge on the other components in the frontier (i.e., the oracle property). Through a Monte Carlo study, we demonstrate that the proposed estimators perform well in finite samples. Utilizing a panel of Chinese firm‐level data in 2000–2006, we apply our method to estimate the frontier and efficiency scores and conclude that export plays a significant role in reducing the efficiency of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is designed to assess the empirical impact of increased profitability, leverage, and carbon emission disclosure on the scale of sustainability reporting. A quantitative method was chosen as the primary approach, relying on secondary data as a source of information. Observations were conducted on manufacturing entities listed in the Sharia Securities List in Indonesia and Malaysia during the period from 2021 to 2023, using purposive sampling techniques resulting in a sample of 105 companies. Descriptive and verificative statistical methods were employed for data analysis, including panel data regression using fixed effects models. Eviews 12 software was adopted as the analytical tool. The empirical findings of this research indicate that increased profitability and carbon emission disclosure significantly contribute to the expansion of sustainability reporting disclosure. On the other hand, increased leverage does not have a significant negative impact on the scale of sustainability reporting disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to analyse the Working Capital Management affects financial performance in Indian manufacturing sector. This research employs secondary data for data collecting from BSE, which comprises 20-year financial data from 2003 to 2022 using the sample of 419 companies. The study used descriptive statistics, random effects, and fixed effect models to define the sample and evaluate the influence of working capital management on manufacturing industry. Findings suggested that working capital management proxies have a major impact on the financial performance of the company. Proxy of CCC indicates that negative and significant impact of GOP, NPM, and NPR. The coefficient of ICP indicates that negative and significant relation between firm performances. In addition, we discovered a statistically significant inverse relationship between APP and GOP and NPM and NPR, suggesting that the more quickly a company in our sample pays its bills, the less profit it generates. The above table demonstrates that RCP has a positive and significant alliance with GOP. To the best of the author's knowledge, this paper provides the study to examine the WCM's effect for firm's performance and contributes valuable insights on this company's investors and managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the rationale for macroeconomic policy coordination with the aim of achieving greater policy credibility and effectiveness in West Africa still remains the subject of debate. This study evaluates the effect of macroeconomic policy coordination on economic growth uncertainty in West Africa, utilizing a panel data set of the 15 member states from 1980 to 2020. The study employed Pedroni's cointegration test procedure and the Generalized Linear Model, fixed effect procedure for evaluation. The stationarity test results show that the variables are stationary at first difference at the 5% significant level, for the common and individual effect tests respectively. The cross section dependence test result indicates that there exists a cross-sectional independence for the variables under consideration. Pedroni's cointegration test results indicate that there exists a long run relationship between economic growth uncertainty and macroeconomic policy variables. The fixed effect model result shows that monetary policy variable, inflation (INF) affect growth uncertainty negatively. The fiscal policy variable, government debts (DEBTS) indicates a positive sign to growth uncertainty and is significant statistically. The coefficient of the regional trade variable, (TRADE) and exchange rate indicate positive signs and are insignificant statistically. It is important to ascertain how uncertainty affect policy coordination gains. Thus this study has utilized the econometric models approach to evaluate the effect of policy decisions as economies encounter exogenous policy shocks in the face of uncertainty, in order to ascertain if coordination is preferred to individual policy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Nowadays, there are a variety of viewpoints on problem-based learning (PBL) and mind mapping teaching outcomes in nursing education, but there are not many thorough assessments that are pertinent. Objectives. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of the PBL method combined with mind mapping on nursing instruction. Materials and methods: A systematic literature search up to July 2022 was performed, and 1765 related studies were evaluated. The chosen studies comprised 1473 nursing teaching participants as the trial's baseline, with 770 of them using the PBL model with mind mapping and 703 enrolled as controls. Odds ratio (OR) and mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated to assess the effect of the PBL method combined with mind mapping on nursing instructions using dichotomous and continuous methods with a random or fixed effect model. The study protocol was registered in PROSPERO (registration No. CRD 42022432130). Results: The PBL model with mind mapping reached a significantly higher results of nursing knowledge test (MD: 7.29, 95% CI: 6.88-7.71, p < 0.001) and pediatric practice test (MD: 9.89, 95% CI: 9.04-10.74, p < 0.001), as well as higher students' ability of independent learning (OR: 3.49, 95% CI: 2.11-5.76, p < 0.001) compared to the controls in nursing teaching. Conclusions. The PBL model with mind mapping resulted in a significantly higher results of nursing knowledge test, pediatric practice test and students' ability of independent learning compared to controls in nursing teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population aging has become a social issue of concern to the whole world, and as the world's most populous country, how to cope with population aging will be a hot issue that all sectors of Chinese society must think about. This paper uses provincial panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2021 to study the relationship between population aging and economic development based on the perspective of health expenditure. The DIFF-GMM model, the fixed effect model (FE), and fixed effect instrumental variable model (FE-IV) are used to test this study. The following two conclusions are drawn from the empirical study: (1) population aging has a significant inhibitory effect on economic development, while health expenditures have a significant promotional effect on economic development; and (2) increased health expenditures help to alleviate the negative impact of population aging on economic development. However, the deepening of population aging will likewise inhibit the positive effect of health expenditure on economic growth. Based on the conclusions of the study, it is recommended that the government and society should continue to increase spending in the field of health protection, encourage and guide residents to carry out self-care, and moderately increase personal health expenditure, to promote economic development with healthy bodies and realize the goal of "Healthy China". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reveal the impact of pilot free trade zones policy on green development, we use multi-period difference-in-difference estimation and fixed effect model to explore the impact and impact mechanism of the establishment of free trade zones on the green transformation of enterprises from the micro perspective, based on the panel data of China's A-share listed companies from 2009–2021, The results show that pilot free trade zones policy significantly improves the green transformation of enterprises in the zones. Pilot free trade zones policy affects the corporate green transformation through industrial agglomeration and financial constraints. The green transformation of state-owned enterprises, non-heavy polluting enterprises and high-tech enterprises are significantly impacted by pilot free trade zones policy. Urban innovation and green subsidies play a positive moderating role in the impact of free trade zones on enterprises' green transformation. The research conclusions provide a valuable policy basis for how to promote the green transformation of enterprises under the free trade zones policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]