Simony as strategy? The role of political contributions in managing ESG engagement.

This study examines the relationship between political contributions and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) measures in US firms. Using data from LSEG Workspace (2010-2023), we implement GMM-SYS estimation to analyze the impact of corporate political donations on ESG metrics. Our results show that political contributions increase the ESG Score (through the E and G pillars) but also cause more ESG controversies for the firm.

Trends in waking salivary alpha-amylase levels following healing lucid dreams.

Introduction: Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) is considered a marker of autonomic nervous system activity in stress research, and atypical waking sAA responses have been reported for traumatized individuals. Lucid dreams, characterized by a dreamer's awareness of their dream state while remaining asleep, have shown promising preliminary evidence of their potential to enhance mental health. This study's objective was to evaluate sAA in relation to healing lucid dreams.

Rethinking the effect of ESG practices on profitability through cross-dimensional substitutability.

Over the last thirty years, sustainable business practices and ESG ratings have become increasingly popular in the business context and academic debate. Nonetheless, due to differences in methodological and theoretical approaches, more consensus has yet to be reached in the economic literature on the relationship between ESG practices and financial performance at the firm level. This work addresses the question empirically, focusing on a sample of firms listed in the Euro Stoxx 300 index.

Surgical treatment of post-menopausal ovarian hyperandrogenism improves glucometabolic profile alongside clinical hirsutism.

Hyperandrogenism during menopause is often underestimated by clinicians and attributed to the natural aging process. Hyperandrogenism can be associated with some metabolic abnormalities linked together in a vicious circle by insulin resistance. We present the case of an elderly woman affected with type 2 diabetes and obesity who reported the occurrence of clinical hirsutism after physiological menopause at the age of 47 years.

Neuromagnetic representation of melodic contour processing in human auditory cortex.

The pattern of ups and downs in a sequence with varying pitch can be heard as a melodic contour. Contrary to single pitch, the neural representation of melodic contour information in the auditory cortex is rarely investigated, and it is not clear whether the processing entails a hemispheric asymmetry. The present magnetoencephalography study assessed the neuromagnetic responses of = 18 normal-hearing adults to four-note sequences with fixed vs.