Drop In Output Research Articles

The Effects of Mandatory CSR Disclosure on Tax Avoidance and Tax Incidence.

The implementation of China’s mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in 2008 provides us with a natural experiment setting. In this paper, we examine the effects of mandatory CSR disclosure on the levels of firms’ tax avoidance and tax incidence. By using a difference-in-differences model, we predict and find that mandatory CSR reporting firms tend to be less tax aggressive. Then we test who bears the burden of the effective tax rate increase. It shows that the increase of effective tax rate causes a drop in firm output and imposes a tax burden on the firms’ consumers. The reduction in output also reduces demand for the firms’ inputs and after-tax returns, passing tax burden to suppliers, other stakeholders, employees, and shareholders. In contrast, there is no evidence that the decrease of firms’ tax avoidance activities influences the tax incidence of governments, banks, and other creditors. These findings provide evidence that mandatory CSR disclosure changes firm tax planning activities and indeed influences the costs of various stakeholders.

A laser interferometer accelerometer for vibration sensitive cryogenic experiments

Monitoring motion originating from ultra low-temperature cooling systems like cryocoolers is important for vibration sensitive cryogenic experiments like KAGRA. Since no high sensitivity commercial cryogenic accelerometers are available, we developed a compact self-calibrating accelerometer with a Michelson interferometer readout for cryogenic use. Change in calibration factor and drop in interferometer output originating from temperature drop were the main concerns which were tackled. Sensitivity of m/ at 1 Hz was achieved at 300 K. The accelerometer was tested inside the KAGRA cryostat; showed stable operation down to 12 K in 0.1–100 Hz band with only 1% visibility drop. Our accelerometer can be employed in low vibration cryogenic environment for a multitude of applications.

Rural-urban migration of farmers in Delta and Edo States, Nigeria: policy implications

ABSTRACT This study examined the agricultural causes and effects of rural-urban migration in Nigeria and its policy implications. A simple random sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size 111. A semi-structured questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse data. Data analyzed revealed that major migration cause was unemployment ( = 83%) and effect was drop in agricultural output ( = 90.1%). The study inferred that there were no functional implementation of policy-based agricultural and rural development programs in actuality to reduce the exodus of rural-urban migration. The implication is that rural dwellers particularly farming youths will continue out-migration to urban areas leaving the rural environmental resources untapped. The major effect of migration was a decrease in farmers’ income. The inclusion of policy formulation and implementation in this study will boost rural agricultural productivity.

Confidence is Key: A Study on Consumer Confidence and its Potential in the Recovering Philippine Economy

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic has caused major damage to the Philippine economy, resulting in a drastic -17.0% drop in aggregate output since 2019 and a downturned economy that could be felt by 2021. The impact of the pandemic could be felt at a household level, as 1.8 million Filipino families report to have become newly poor within the last 1 to 4 years, in addition to 17.6 million pre-existing families below the poverty threshold in 2018. The Philippine citizens and their government are hoping for economic recovery soon. This study provides an in-depth multivariate analysis of the role of selected monetary indicators and labor and commerce indicators in the consumer confidence of the general Philippine population using multi-variate regression and vector autoregression analyses. It also establishes a causal relationship of the latter to HFCE and GDP using the Granger causality test to determine which indicators affect general consumption the most in the context of recovery from the COVID Pandemic. The paper has successfully confirmed the significance of consumer confidence in the fluctuations of the Philippine economy in the short- and long-run, as well as systematically illustrates the relationship of consumer confidence with other macroeconomic variables. As the model shows, consumer confidence is heavily influenced by the country’s economic stability and the individual’s level of income, purchasing power, access to financial instruments, and ability to borrow.

Tunable band-pass plasmonic filter and wavelength triple-channel demultiplexer based on square nanodisk resonator in MIM waveguide

This paper proposes a wavelength demultiplexer (WDM) in a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide based on square cascade resonators, which is numerically simulated using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) approach. WDM's basic construction is a plasmonic filter with two waveguides at the input and output (bass and drop) and a central cavity coupled horizontally to two square nanodisks. The proposed demultiplexer is formed by stacking three examples of these filters and square resonators with different dimensions and with a vertical cavity and a waveguide at the structure's input. The simulation results show that in the designed structure, the Full Width at Half-Maximum (FWHM) in some channels is around 10 nm. The proposed WDM has a cross talk effect of less than − 25 dB. In fact, when compared to structures at its level, this structure has a high sensitivity, a low cross talk effect, and a proper Figure of Merit (FoM). If the geometric parameters and insulation's refractive index (RI) are set appropriately, the transmission qualities are able to tune to desired level. The proposed structure has the potential to be utilised in optically integrated circuits, nanosensors, to develop into a 1 ×N demultiplexer, and ultracompact plasmonic devices.

Climate Change and Agricultural Losses in India

AbstractIndia’s per capita contribution of carbon emissions is well below the world average, yet it suffers disproportionately from rising temperatures. Thus, many Indians share the sense of urgency that Greta Thunberg exhibits when she demands that nations make stronger commitments to limit carbon emissions. India’s monsoon‐dependent agriculture is highly vulnerable to any change in weather patterns, but the land irrigated by groundwater is also threatened. The projected rise in annual peak temperatures, similar to those now experienced only in the earth’s hottest micro‐climates, could make it nearly impossible for humans to engage in agriculture in India and several other parts of the world. Climate change affects yields of crops, livestock, dairy, and fisheries. Rising temperatures, increased frequency of flooding, and other hazards associated with climate change will reduce food production. Even a slight drop in food output can have a dramatic effect on food prices, both locally and globally. Rice farming, particularly in the rain‐fed regions, faces multiple risks from uncertain climate, degraded soil, water deficits, and underdeveloped markets. Loss of biodiversity is also a threat to agriculture in India, and it is also affected by climate change.

Changes in joint kinematics and kinetics through the implementation of inter-repetition rest protocols in snatch training

Background and Study Aim. Inter-repetition rest pertains to a short period of rest between repetitions during strength training. Manipulating inter-repetition rest may influence fatigue accumulation, manifesting alteration in lifting mechanics. This study aimed to examine the effects of different inter-repetition rest protocols on joint velocity and ground reaction force during snatch exercise.
 Material and Methods. Fifteen male (n=15) athletes participated in this study (age = 23.0 ±2.31 years; body weight = 65.32 ± 1.37 kg; height = 168.80 ± 5.64 cm; snatch one repetition maximum (1RM)/bodyweight = 0.78 ± 0.12), performing three sets of 5 repetitions at 85% 1 Repetition Maximum snatch with 10, 30, or 50 seconds of inter-repetition rest implemented randomly across three sessions. Ankle, knee, and hip kinematics and ground reaction force in the three protocols were used for comparison. The participants visited the exercise science laboratory for four sessions between 0800-1700 hrs. These sessions were separated by 72 hours.
 Results. One-way repeated measure analysis of variances (ANOVA) showed a significant effect of inter-repetition rest on the maintenance of kinematic and kinetic variables. The ground reaction force for 10 seconds inter-repetition rest protocol showed a significant drop in force output across repetition (p = .037, p < 0.05).
 Conclusions. The utilization of inter-repetition rest in snatch exercise may reduce neuromuscular fatigue across repetitions, maintaining consistent performance output. Specifically, the 50 second inter-repetition rest protocol reduced the negative effect of neuromuscular fatigue in the kinematic and kinetic variables during snatch exercise.

The Impact of Noninvasive Ventilator Assisted Ventilation Nursing Combined with Mechanical Vibration on the Level of Heart Failure Indexes in ICU Patients with Acute Heart Failure.

The acute attack of acute heart failure or the continuous deterioration of cardiac function leads to a series of changes such as reduced cardiac contractility, increased cardiac load, and a sudden drop of acute cardiac output, which eventually cause pulmonary circulation congestion and acute dyspnea due to acute pulmonary congestion. To observe the impact of noninvasive ventilator-assisted ventilation nursing combined with mechanical vibration on the level of heart failure indexes in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with acute heart failure, 120 patients with acute heart failure who were treated in the ICU ward of our hospital from September 2018 to March 2021 were selected, and the qualified subjects were divided into two groups according to the 1 : 1 principle by a simple random method. 120 patients were given conventional symptomatic treatment and noninvasive ventilator-assisted ventilation. The control group received conventional nursing intervention, and the observation group was given noninvasive ventilator-assisted ventilation nursing and mechanical vibration intervention. The respiratory system indexes, heart rate, blood pressure, central venous pressure, N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide precursor (NT-proBNP), cardiac troponin T (cTnT), and cardiac function indexes of the two groups of patients are recorded, and the prognosis of the two groups is compared. After intervention, the partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) and blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) in the two groups were higher than those before intervention, while the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2), respiration (RR), heart rate, blood pressure, and central venous pressure were lower than those before intervention (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, PaO2, SpO2, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and central venous pressure of the observation group after intervention were significantly higher, while PaCO2, RR, and heart rate were significantly lower (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the LVEF of the observation group after intervention was significantly higher, while NT-proBNP, cTnT, LVESD, and LVEDD were markedly lower (P < 0.05). The ventilation time and ICU hospitalization time in the observation group were shorter than those in the control group, and the pulmonary infection rate was lower than in the control group. The remission time of infection in patients with pulmonary infection was shorter than that in the control group. When comparing the 28d mortality rate with the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Noninvasive ventilator-assisted ventilation nursing combined with mechanical vibration can improve hypoxemia symptoms and heart function, stabilize hemodynamics, shorten the course of disease and reduce the occurrence of lung infections for those patients with acute heart failure in the ICU.

Respiratory effects of lung recruitment maneuvers depend on the recruitment-to-inflation ratio in patients with COVID-19-related acute respiratory distress syndrome

BackgroundIn the context of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the response to lung recruitment maneuvers (LRMs) varies considerably from one patient to another and so is difficult to predict. The aim of the study was to determine whether or not the recruitment-to-inflation (R/I) ratio could differentiate between patients according to the change in lung mechanics during the LRM.MethodsWe evaluated the changes in gas exchange and respiratory mechanics induced by a stepwise LRM at a constant driving pressure of 15 cmH2O during pressure-controlled ventilation. We assessed lung recruitability by measuring the R/I ratio. Patients were dichotomized with regard to the median R/I ratio.ResultsWe included 30 patients with moderate-to-severe ARDS and a median [interquartile range] R/I ratio of 0.62 [0.42–0.83]. After the LRM, patients with high recruitability (R/I ratio ≥ 0.62) presented an improvement in the PaO2/FiO2 ratio, due to significant increase in respiratory system compliance (33 [27–42] vs. 42 [35–60] mL/cmH2O; p < 0.001). In low recruitability patients (R/I < 0.62), the increase in PaO2/FiO2 ratio was associated with a significant decrease in pulse pressure as a surrogate of cardiac output (70 [55–85] vs. 50 [51–67] mmHg; p = 0.01) but not with a significant change in respiratory system compliance (33 [24–47] vs. 35 [25–47] mL/cmH2O; p = 0.74).ConclusionAfter the LRM, patients with high recruitability presented a significant increase in respiratory system compliance (indicating a gain in ventilated area), while those with low recruitability presented a decrease in pulse pressure suggesting a drop in cardiac output and therefore in intrapulmonary shunt.

Parâmetros eletrocardiográficos, ecocardiográficos e de biomarcadores cardíacos em ovinos intoxicados experimentalmente por Palicourea marcgravii (Rubiaceae)

ABSTRACT: The present study aimed to identify and describe cardiac alterations in sheep experimentally poisoned with Palicourea marcgravii through analysis of serum cardiac biomarkers (serum troponin I and creatine kinase - CK-MB) and electro and echocardiographic assessments to contribute to a better understanding of the poisoning pathophysiology. P. marcgravii is the main plant within a group of 22 species that cause sudden death in Brazil; its toxic principle is sodium monofluoroacetate. Eight healthy crossbreed male sheep, aged between five and twelve months, weighing 14 to 27kg, were evaluated. The animals received 1g kg-1 of P. marcgravii plants orally. The sheep were evaluated before administering the plant (T0) through electro and echocardiography and blood collection to assess cardiac biomarkers (CK-MB and cTnI). Collections and analyses were repeated every four hours until the animal’s death. During the study, there was the presence of extravasation of serum troponin I carried out in a qualitative test, with positive values at time T4, and the serum CK-MB biomarker had a peak at T4 and slightly decreased at T8. The electro and echocardiographic examinations showed that the cause of death in these animals was due to acute heart failure characterized by arrhythmias, tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation, drop in cardiac output, left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction by the progressive decrease in the LV ejection fraction (EF), decrease in LV fractional shortening (FS), and decrease in aortic flow velocity and aortic flow gradient. This study seems to be the first to evaluate cardiac alterations in sheep poisoned by P. marcgravii through cardiac biomarkers and electro and echocardiographic exams.

Operation characteristics of mid-infrared optical parametric oscillation pumped by layered WS&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; modulated laser

Optical parametric oscillator (OPO) is an important mid-infrared coherent light source. Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) with nonlinear absorption of near-infrared-wavelength light is expected to be a prospective modulating switch for OPO’s fundamental laser. In this work, firstly, the characteristics of a home-made 3.5nm-thick tungsten disulfide (WS&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;) sample are measured and analyzed. The nonlinear transmission is figured and fitted, revealing the performance of WS&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;’s saturable absorption. Then, the output characteristics of WS&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; saturable absorber (SA) modulated solid-state laser are measured experimentally. Although the photon energy of 1.06 μm-wavelength laser is less than the bandgap energy of 3.5nm WS&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, the sample still exhibits the saturable absorption. This may be attributed to the mechanisms of defect-induced absorption, coexistence of states, edge-state of material, two-photon absorption, etc. Secondly, combined with active acousto-optic (AO) modulator, the active and passive &lt;i&gt;Q&lt;/i&gt;-switched OPO with idler-light oscillation are implemented, and the nanometer pulse-width mid-infrared pulse is obtained. The implementation of AO modulator is to manage the regular switching time to reduce the pulse peak-to-peak vibration of fundamental light and improve the peak power. The optimal characteristics of WS&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; for OPO are studied. Based on the saturable absorption characteristics, the output pulse is compressed by 60%, the peak power is improved by 191%, and the stability of pulse train is improved by 79.62%. Especially, the insertion of WS&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; nanosheet could alleviate the “output saturation and drop” phenomenon in singly active-&lt;i&gt;Q&lt;/i&gt;-switched OPO. This phenomenon may origin from the uneven refrigeration of KTA. Because the saturable absorption effect of WS&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; can significantly reduce the transverse area of Gaussian beam, it can alleviate the temperature gradient distribution of KTA and optimize the output characteristics. Finally, based on the nonlinear transmittance curve measured for WS&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, the absorption cross section of ground state and excited state are calculated to be1.732 × 10&lt;sup&gt;–17&lt;/sup&gt; cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; and 4.758 × 10&lt;sup&gt;–19&lt;/sup&gt; cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;, respectively, and the lifetime of excited-state energy level and the initial population density of ground state are evaluated to be 400.6 μs and 1.741 × 10&lt;sup&gt;22&lt;/sup&gt; cm&lt;sup&gt;–3&lt;/sup&gt;, respectively, by considering the inhomogeneous-broadening mechanism and unsaturated absorption under large signal. The rate equations of layered-WS&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; modulated optical parametric oscillator are solved. This study shows the optimization effect of 2D TMDC on nonlinear conversion of laser, especially the mitigation of thermal effect. At the same time, it provides a parameter basis for the dynamic simulation of two-dimensional material modulated laser.

Special Difficulties in Forecasting GDP in the Pandemic Situation (2020–2021) : Is there a Keynesian resurgence?

Why was it extremely difficult to forecast GDP worldwide, especially in the years of 2020-2021? Mainly because a double shock hit both the aggregate demand and supply sides, and it had substantially changed the known behaviour of key participants. Reactions of households and firms became largely unpredictable. The IMF projections of April 2020 had to be revised sharply. It appears the world economy could recover from the biggest output drop since World War II only with the help of extensive public spending schemes. We ask if one can speak of a new wave of Keynesian policies. How long this present overwhelmingly loose fiscal and monetary stance can last? One cannot tell. There are visible threats, for instance in the inflationary environment.

An ejector based Transcritical Regenerative Series Two-Stage Organic Rankine Cycle for dual/multi-source heat recovery applications

The Transcritical Regenerative Series Two-stage Organic Rankine Cycle (TR-STORC) was shown to deliver improved performance than Series Two-stage ORC (STORC) and single-stage ORC for dual-source heat recovery applications. However, TR-STORC utilizes partial evaporation for regeneration which requires precise control of two-phase flows. In real-time operations involving dual/multiple heat sources, this is difficult to achieve due to fluctuating heat inputs, leading to liquid carryover and subsequent corrosion of turbine blades. This study explores a novel Transcritical Ejector Regenerative STORC (TER-STORC), which replaces the need for two phase flows with a avapor-vapor regeneration via an ejector operating entirely with fully evaporated vapor (FE mode). Partial evaporation (PE) mode of TER-STORC requiring two-phase flows is also analyzed for comparison. Results indicate that the FE mode of TER-STORC can achieve performance comparable to PE mode and TR-STORC. FE mode of ejector operation is less sensitive to variations in ejector pressure drop than PE mode while delivering 0.2–4% lower power outputs with lower heat exchanger requirements than TR-STORC by up to 18%.At the engine design point, only a 2% drop in power output is seen for FE mode compared to TR-STORC. TER-STORC presents a robust system with reduced complexity for multisource heat recovery.

Impact of COVID-19 type events on the economy and climate under the stochastic DICE model

The classical DICE model is a widely accepted integrated assessment model for the joint modeling of economic and climate systems, where all model state variables evolve over time deterministically. We reformulate and solve the DICE model as an optimal control dynamic programming problem with six state variables (related to the carbon concentration, temperature, and economic capital) evolving over time deterministically and affected by two controls (carbon emission mitigation rate and consumption). We then extend the model by adding a discrete stochastic shock variable to model the economy in the stressed and normal regimes as a jump process caused by events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. These shocks reduce the world gross output leading to a reduction in both the world net output and carbon emission. The extended model is solved under several scenarios as an optimal stochastic control problem, assuming that the shock events occur randomly on average once every 100 years and last for 5 years. The results show that, if the world gross output recovers in full after each event, the impact of the COVID-19 events on the temperature and carbon concentration will be immaterial even in the case of a conservative 10% drop in the annual gross output over a 5-year period. The impact becomes noticeable, although still extremely small (long-term temperature drops by 0.1^circ mathrm {C}), in a presence of persistent shocks of a 5% output drop propagating to the subsequent time periods through the recursively reduced productivity. If the deterministic DICE model policy is applied in a presence of stochastic shocks (i.e., when this policy is suboptimal), then the drop in temperature is larger (approximately 0.25^circ mathrm {C}), that is, the lower economic activities owing to shocks imply that more ambitious mitigation targets are now feasible at lower costs.

Hypotension and Bradycardia with Sugammadex Administration

Abstract Introduction: In 2015 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved sugammadex (Bridion) for use as a reversal agent for nondepolarizing muscle relaxants.1 The drug works by binding free molecules of the muscle relaxant, specifically rocuronium and vecuronium, resulting in a rapid offset of neuromuscular blockade.2 When compared to the use of Neostigmine and Glycopyrrolate for reversal, sugammadex has shown to be faster and able to provide reversal for deeper blockades.2 However, this new drug is not without risks. Several case reports have been published describing profound hypotension and bradycardia after administration of sugammadex, with some cases progressing to asystole and death.1,3,4,5,6,7 This case report describes a patient who experienced a significant drop in cardiac output after being reversed with sugammadex. Case Description: The patient being reviewed is a 63-year-old caucasian female who underwent general anesthesia for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Her medical history was significant current cigarette use, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), anxiety, depression and chronic pain. Her labs the day of surgery were within normal limits. The patient took her 100 mg of Atenolol at 0430 the morning of the surgery to remain current on her beta-blocker therapy. The patient’s initial blood pressure in the preoperative holding area was 103/75 mmHg with a heart rate of 69 beats per minute (bpm). Throughout her operative course, her blood pressure was treated to remain within 20% of this baseline. Her heart rate remained between 63-76 bpm throughout the procedure. The patient received 30 mg of rocuronium at the beginning of the procedure for relaxation. At the end of the case, 200mg of sugammadex (2.6 mg/kg) was given to reverse a train of four of 2/4 with significant fade. After the administration of sugammadex her heart rate dropped as low as 44 bpm and her blood pressure decreased as low as 48/33 mmHg. The patient was treated with 0.2 mg of glycopyrrolate and 20 mg of ephedrine. The patient responded are heart rate returned to 77 bpm and blood pressure increased to 109/77 mmHg. Discussion and conclusions: There are several factors that could have contributed to this patient’s decline in cardiac output. The rapid decrease in heart rate and blood pressure is similar to other case reports of sugammadex reactions, however other factors in this case cannot be ruled out as potential causes for the event. It is important to investigate potential drug reactions as sugammadex is gaining popularity for the reversal of nondepolarizing muscular blockade. Understanding the risks of this drug is important when deciding whether or not to administer it to certain patient populations. References Mirza, K., et al. (2020). "Sugammadex-Associated Hypotension, Bradycardia, Asystole, and Death." Case Reports in Anesthesiology 2020: 8767195. 2. Cada DJ, Levien TL, Baker DE. Sugammadex. Hosp Pharm. 2016;51(7):585-596. doi:10.1310/hpj5107-585 3. Fierro C, Medoro A, Mignogna D, Porcile C, Ciampi S, Foderà E, Flocco R, Russo C, Martucci G. Severe Hypotension, Bradycardia and Asystole after Sugammadex Administration in an Elderly Patient. Medicina. 2021; 57(1):79. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina57010079 4. M. Hunter, M. Naguib,Sugammadex-induced bradycardia and asystole: how great is the risk?,British Journal of Anaesthesia,Volume 121, Issue 1,2018,Pages 8-12,ISSN 0007-0912,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bja.2018.03.003. 5. Bilgi, A. Demirhan, A. Akkaya, U.Y. Tekelioglu, H. Kocoglu. Sugammadex associated persistent bradycardia. Int J Med Sci Public Health, 3 (2015), pp. 372-374 6. Saito, I., Osaka, Y. &amp; Shimada, M. Transient third-degree AV block following sugammadex. J Anesth29, 641 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00540-015-1980-5 7. Choi Y, Park J, Kim S, Jung K. Sugammadex associated profound bradycardia and sustained hypotension in patient with the slow recovery of neuromuscular blockade - A case report -. Anesth Pain Med. 2019;14(3):299-304. doi:10.17085/apm.2019.14.3.299 8. https://fis.fda.gov/sense/app/d10be6bb-494e-4cd2-82e4-0135608ddc13/sheet/45beeb74-30ab-46be-8267-5756582633b4/state/analysis

Financial crises and innovation

Financial crises are accompanied by permanent drops in economic growth and output. Technological progress and innovation are important drivers of economic growth. Using cross-country panel data on patenting at the industry-level, we connect these facts and show that financial crises have large and long-lasting impacts on innovation (measured by patenting) for sectors dependent on external finance. This effect is driven by banking crises, which have both immediate and long lasting impacts — upwards of 8 years. This is consistent with firms both losing funding for new projects (reducing patents in the long-term) and needing to liquidate existing projects to meet immediate financing pressures (reducing patents in the near-term). This compares to stock market crashes, which see an immediate decline followed by a compensating increase, consistent with projects being “shelved” and redeployed later. Banking crises are thus unique in their impact on innovation, providing a link between them and the observed patterns of persistently lower long-term growth. The effects are larger if the banking crisis was preceded by weak or leveraged banks. We do not observe a decline in patent quality during banking crises. This financial channel of innovation is not operative for currency crises, but we do find evidence for a trade channel, whereby higher exporting industries increase their patenting following the accompanying terms of trade improvement.

Nifedipine disturbs fetal cardiac function during hypoxemia in a chronic sheep model at near term gestation

Nifedipine is a widely used drug in pregnancies complicated by maternal hypertensive disorders that can be associated with placental insufficiency and fetal hypoxemia. The evidence regarding fetal myocardial responses to nifedipine in hypoxemia is limited. We hypothesized that nifedipine would not impair fetal sheep cardiac function under hypoxemic environment. In particular, we investigated the effects of nifedipine on fetal ventricular functional parameters and cardiac output. A total of 21 chronically instrumented fetal sheep at 122 to 134 gestational days (term, 145 days) were included in this study. Fetal cardiac function was evaluated by measuring global longitudinal strain, indices describing ventricular systolic and diastolic function, and cardiac outputs using two-dimensional speckle tracking and tissue and spectral pulsed-wave Doppler echocardiography. Fetal carotid artery blood pressure and blood gas values were invasively monitored. After baseline data collection, fetal hypoxemia was induced by maternal hyperoxygenation. After hypoxemia phase data collection, 9 fetuses received nifedipine infusion, and 12 fetuses received saline infusion. Data were collected 30 and 120 minutes after the infusion was started. After 120 minutes of data collection, maternal and fetal oxygenation were normalized, and normoxemia phase data were collected, while infusion was continued. Hypoxemia decreased fetal carotid artery mean arterial pressure from 40 (8) mm Hg to 35 (8) mm Hg (P<.007), and left ventricular global longitudinal strain showed less deformation than at baseline (P=.001). Under hypoxemia, nifedipine caused a reduction in right ventricular global longitudinal strain (P<.05), a decrease in right ventricular isovolumic relaxation velocity and its deceleration (P<.01) indicating diastolic dysfunction, and a drop in right ventricular cardiac output (P<.05). Nifedipine did not alter fetal left ventricular functional parameters or cardiac output. When normoxemia was restored, fetal right ventricular functional parameters and cardiac output returned to baseline level. In hypoxemic fetus, nifedipine impaired right ventricular function and reduced its cardiac output. The detrimental effects of nifedipine on fetal right ventricular function were abolished, when normoxemia was restored. Our findings suggest that in a hypoxemic environment nifedipine triggers detrimental effects on fetal right ventricular function.

Gender Disparity in the Authorship of Biomedical Research Publications During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Observational Study.

BackgroundGender imbalances in academia have been evident historically and persist today. For the past 60 years, we have witnessed the increase of participation of women in biomedical disciplines, showing that the gender gap is shrinking. However, preliminary evidence suggests that women, including female researchers, are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of unequal distribution of childcare, elderly care, and other kinds of domestic and emotional labor. Sudden lockdowns and abrupt shifts in daily routines have had disproportionate consequences on their productivity, which is reflected by a sudden drop in research output in biomedical research, consequently affecting the number of female authors of scientific publications.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate adverse effect on the productivity of female researchers in the biomedical field in terms of authorship of scientific publications.MethodsThis is a retrospective observational bibliometric study. We investigated the proportion of male and female researchers who published scientific papers during the COVID-19 pandemic, using bibliometric data from biomedical preprint servers and selected Springer-Nature journals. We used the ordinary least squares regression model to estimate the expected proportions over time by correcting for temporal trends. We also used a set of statistical methods, such as the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and regression discontinuity design, to test the validity of the results.ResultsA total of 78,950 papers from the bioRxiv and medRxiv repositories and from 62 selected Springer-Nature journals by 346,354 unique authors were analyzed. The acquired data set consisted of papers that were published between January 1, 2019, and August 2, 2020. The proportion of female first authors publishing in the biomedical field during the pandemic dropped by 9.1%, on average, across disciplines (expected arithmetic mean yest=0.39; observed arithmetic mean y=0.35; standard error of the estimate, Sest=0.007; standard error of the observation, σx=0.004). The impact was particularly pronounced for papers related to COVID-19 research, where the proportion of female scientists in the first author position dropped by 28% (yest=0.39; y=0.28; Sest=0.007; σx=0.007). When looking at the last authors, the proportion of women dropped by 7.9%, on average (yest=0.25; y=0.23; Sest=0.005; σx=0.003), while the proportion of women writing about COVID-19 as the last author decreased by 18.8% (yest=0.25; y=0.21; Sest=0.005; σx=0.007). Further, by geocoding authors’ affiliations, we showed that the gender disparities became even more apparent when disaggregated by country, up to 35% in some cases.ConclusionsOur findings document a decrease in the number of publications by female authors in the biomedical field during the global pandemic. This effect was particularly pronounced for papers related to COVID-19, indicating that women are producing fewer publications related to COVID-19 research. This sudden increase in the gender gap was persistent across the 10 countries with the highest number of researchers. These results should be used to inform the scientific community of this worrying trend in COVID-19 research and the disproportionate effect that the pandemic has had on female academics.

The dominance of big teams in China’s scientific output

Abstract Modern science is dominated by scientific productions from teams. A recent finding shows that teams of both large and small sizes are essential in research, prompting us to analyze the extent to which a country’s scientific work is carried out by big or small teams. Here, using over 26 million publications from Web of Science, we find that China’s research output is more dominated by big teams than the rest of the world, which is particularly the case in fields of natural science. Despite the global trend that more papers are written by big teams, China’s drop in small team output is much steeper. As teams in China shift from small to large size, the team diversity that is essential for innovative work does not increase as much as that in other countries. Using the national average as the baseline, we find that the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) supports fewer small teams than the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States does, implying that big teams are preferred by grant agencies in China. Our finding provides new insights into the concern of originality and innovation in China, which indicates a need to balance small and big teams.

Diuretic response and effects of diuretic omission in ambulatory heart failure patients on chronic low-dose loop diuretic therapy.

To study loop diuretic response and effect of loop diuretic omission in ambulatory heart failure (HF) patients on chronic low-dose loop diuretics. Urine collections were performed on two consecutive days in 40 ambulatory HF patients with 40-80 mg furosemide (day 1 with loop diuretic; day 2 without loop diuretic). Three phases were collected each day: (i) first 6h; (ii) rest of the day; and (iii) night. On the day of loop diuretic intake, the total natriuresis was 125.9 (86.9-155.0) mmol/24 h and urine output was 1650 (1380-2025) mL/24 h. There was a clear loop diuretic response with a natriuresis of 9.4 (6.7-15.9) mmol/h and a urine output of 117 (83-167) mL/h during the first 6h, followed by a significant drop in natriuresis and urine output during the rest of the day [2.6 (1.8-4.8) mmol/h and 55 (33-71) mL/h] and night [2.2 (1.6-3.5) mmol/h and 44 (34-73) mL/h]. On day 2, after loop diuretic omission, the natriuresis and urine output remained similarly low the entire day, resulting in a 50% reduction in natriuresis [55.1 (33.5-77.7) mmol/24 h; P < 0.001] and a 31% reduction in urine output [1035 (875-1425) mL/24 h; P < 0.001] compared with the day of loop diuretic intake. Patients with HF on chronic loop diuretic treatment still have a clear diuretic response phase, while loop diuretic omission leads to a significant drop in natriuresis and urine output, arguing against routine cessation of low-dose loop diuretics.