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Research background: In March 2020, when the US financial markets were in the grip of the COVID-19 crisis, the Fed instituted various policies and programs to alleviate stress in financial markets. One such program involved the Fed purchase of securities and ETFs in certain market segments, including high yield bonds. This buying action inspired investors to join the Fed (or front-run the Fed) in the high yield bond market, resulting in the tightening of spreads in that market to historically tight levels.

In this paper I focus on analyzing whether Polish absolute return funds, which I call quasi-hedge funds, add value to a portfolio of an individual investor by reaching higher returns than Polish stock funds. I use a sample of 25 Polish absolute return investment funds to contrast their short and long term performance, measured by Sharpe, Sortino and Jensen ratios, to the short and long term performance of 20 biggest Polish stock funds and build rankings based on that performance. Later I build funds of funds (with a different number of stock funds and/or quasi-hedge funds) and check which of them is the most efficient. I find out that in both short and long term Polish quasi-hedge funds have better returns than stock funds and they add much value to the investors’ portfolios. It can be explained by the fact that they are much smaller and younger than traditional funds, so they have much higher potential to grow and reach abnormal returns.

Abstract Background Literature shows that not only are traffic injuries due to accidents, but that there is also a correlation between different chronic conditions, the consumption of certain types of drugs, the intake of psychoactive substances and the self perception of risk (Health Belief Model) and the impact/incidence of traffic accidents. There are few studies on these aspects in primary health care. The objectives of our study are: Main aim: To outline the distribution of risk factors associated with Road Traffic Injuries (RTI) in a driving population assigned to a group of primary health care centres in Barcelona province. Secondly, we aim to study the distribution of diverse risk factors related to the possibility of suffering an RTI according to age, sex and population groups, to assess the relationship between these same risk factors and self risk perception for suffering an RTI, and to outline the association between the number of risk factors and the history of reported collisions. Methods/Design Design: Cross-sectional, multicentre study. Setting: 25 urban health care centres. Study population: Randomly selected sample of Spanish/Catalan speakers age 16 or above with a medical register in any of the 25 participating primary health care centres. N = 1540. Unit of study: Basic unit of care, consisting of a general practitioner and a nurse, both of whom caring for the same population (1,500 to 2,000 people per unit). Instruments of measurement: Data collection will be performed using a survey carried out by health professionals, who will use the clinical registers and the information reported by the patient during the visit to collect the baseline data: illnesses, medication intake, alcohol and psychoactive consumption, and self perception of risk. Discussion We expect to obtain a risk profile of the subjects in relation to RTI in the primary health care field, and to create a group for a prospective follow-up. Trial Registration Clinical Trials.gov Identifier: NCT00778440.

Objective: This article aims to estimate the differences in environmental impact (greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions, land use, energy used, acidification and potential eutrophication) after one year of promoting a Mediterranean diet (MD)., Methods: Baseline and 1-year follow-up data from 5800 participants in the PREDIMED-Plus study were used. Each participant's food intake was estimated using validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires, and the adherence to MD using the Dietary Score. The influence of diet on environmental impact was assessed through the EAT-Lancet Commission tables. The influence of diet on environmental impact was assessed through the EAT-Lancet Commission tables. The association between MD adherence and its environmental impact was calculated using adjusted multivariate linear regression models., Results: After one year of intervention, the kcal/day consumed was significantly reduced (-125,1 kcal/day), adherence to a MD pattern was improved (+0,9) and the environmental impact due to the diet was significantly reduced (GHG: -361 g/CO2-eq; Acidification:-11,5 g SO2-eq; Eutrophication:-4,7 g PO4-eq; Energy use:-842,7 kJ; and Land use:-2,2 m2). Higher adherence to MD (high vs. low) was significantly associated with lower environmental impact both at baseline and one year follow-up. Meat products had the greatest environmental impact in all the factors analysed, both at baseline and at one-year follow-up, in spite of the reduction observed in their consumption., Conclusions: A program promoting a MD, after one year of intervention, significantly reduced the environmental impact in all the factors analysed. Meat products had the greatest environmental impact in all the dimensions analysed., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

A meta-analytic review of studies that experimentally elicited awe and compared the emotion to other conditions (84; 487 effects; 17,801 participants) examined the degree to which experimentally elicited awe (1) affects outcomes relative to other positive emotions (2) affects experience, judgment, behaviour, and physiology, and (3) differs in its effects if the awe state was elicited through positive or threatening contexts. The efficacy of methods that have been used to experimentally elicit awe and the possibility of assessing changes in the state of the self with experimental awe elicitations were also examined. Meta-analyses with robust variance estimation revealed that awe affected outcomes compared to other positive emotions and control conditions; affected experience, judgment, and behaviour; and had similar effects if elicited through positive or threatening contexts. The ability to compare awe to negative emotion states and its effects on physiology was limited by a small number of available effects. Images, videos, autobiographical recall, and naturalistic exposure were effective in eliciting awe. Exploratory analyses suggested that some processes involved in changes in the self can be related to experimental awe elicitations. These findings suggest awe is a discrete emotion and identifies areas for future investigation.

Objective: To design and validate an instrument for a performance evaluation of the instrumental activities of daily living according to the current needs and features of adults, considering the terminological update in Occupational Therapy., Materials and Methods: This is a multivariate, quantitative, evaluation research study. A three-dimensional instrument was designed, one to assess the level of performance, another to assess the reasons for dependency and a third one to assess the importance of the activity. A field test was carried out in 38 users of community rehabilitation centers. Subsequently, the designed instrument was submitted to construct and content validation through expert judgment and factorial analysis of data from a sample of 89 people from the aforementioned rehabilitation centers according to the inclusion criteria., Results: An analysis was performed by means of construct validation through a factorial statistical analysis. A Cronbach's alpha value above 0.7 was obtained for the three dimensions of the instrument, which results in a reliable instrument., Conclusion: Due to the content and construct validation, together with a statistical analysis of its dimensions, the instrument can be considered as a suitable tool for the proposed population and can therefore be disseminated and used within this discipline.