over the last three years , abbott 's operating margin was impacted by several factors . in 2017 , abbott 's operating margin decreased by approximately 900 basis points primarily due to costs associated with the acquisitions , including higher intangible amortization expense , inventory step-up amortization and integration costs , partially offset by operating margin improvement across various businesses . in 2016 and 2015 , abbott expanded its operating margin by approximately 120 basis points per year primarily due to margin improvement in the nutritional and diagnostics businesses . in abbott 's worldwide nutritional products business , sales over the last three years were positively impacted by demographics such as an aging population and an increasing rate of chronic disease in developed markets and the rise of a middle class in many emerging markets , as well as by numerous new product introductions that leveraged abbott 's strong brands . these positive factors were offset by challenging conditions in various markets over the last three years . in 2017 , the nutritionals business experienced growth in the u.s. due to above-market performance in abbott 's infant and toddler brands , including pediasure® , pedialyte® and similac® . increased 2017 sales in china and india were partially offset by challenging market conditions in the infant formula market in various emerging markets . with respect to the profitability of the nutritional products business , manufacturing and distribution process changes , as well as other cost reductions drove margin improvements across the business over the last three years although such improvements were offset by increased commodity costs in 2017. the decrease in operating margins for this business from 25.0 percent of sales in 2015 to 22.9 percent in 2017 was almost entirely due to the negative impact of foreign exchange . in abbott 's worldwide diagnostics business , sales growth over the last three years reflected the acquisition of alere in october of 2017 , as well as continued market penetration by the core laboratory business in the u.s. and china , and growth in other emerging markets . in addition , the point of care diagnostics business experienced sales growth led by the continued adoption of abbott 's i-stat® handheld system . worldwide diagnostic sales increased 16.7 percent in 2017 and 5.5 percent in 2016 , excluding the impact of foreign exchange . excluding the impact of the alere acquisition , as well as the impact of foreign exchange , sales in the diagnostics products segment increased 5.5 percent in 2017. in 2017 , abbott continued the international roll-out of its recently launched alinity systems for the core laboratory , including `` alinity c `` for clinical chemistry , `` alinity i `` for immunoassay diagnostics and `` alinity s `` for blood and plasma screening . in the fourth quarter of 2017 , abbott received fda approval in the u.s. for the `` alinity c `` and `` alinity i `` instruments for clinical chemistry and immunoassay diagnostics . alinity is an integrated family of next-generation diagnostic systems and solutions which are designed to increase efficiency by running more tests in less space , generating test results faster and minimizing human errors while continuing to provide quality results . margin improvement continued to be a key focus for the diagnostics business in 2017 although such improvements were partially offset by the negative impact of foreign exchange . operating margins increased from 25.2 percent of sales in 2015 to 26.1 percent in 2017 as the business continued to execute on efficiency initiatives in the manufacturing and supply chain functions . the established pharmaceutical products segment focuses on the sale of its products in emerging markets after the sale of its developed markets business to mylan on february 27 , 2015. excluding the impact of foreign exchange , established pharmaceutical sales from continuing operations increased 9.5 percent in 2017 and 10.5 percent in 2016. the sales increase in 2017 was driven by double-digit growth in china and various countries in latin america . operating margins increased from 17.7 percent of sales in 2015 to 19.8 percent in 2017. since the beginning of the first quarter of 2017 , the results of abbott 's cardiovascular and neuromodulation products segment includes abbott 's historical vascular products segment and 23 st. jude medical from the date of acquisition . excluding the impact of foreign exchange , sales in the cardiovascular and neuromodulation products segment increased 207.4 percent in 2017 and 4.5 percent in 2016. the sales increase in 2017 was driven by the acquisition of st. jude medical . excluding the impact of the acquisition , as well as the impact of foreign exchange , sales in the cardiovascular and neuromodulation products segment were essentially unchanged in 2017 versus the prior year . in 2017 , higher structural heart and endovascular sales were offset by lower coronary stent sales and the comparison impact from the favorable 2016 resolution of a third-party royalty agreement . in 2016 , sales growth was driven by double-digit growth in abbott 's sales of its mitraclip structural heart device for the treatment of mitral regurgitation , as well as endovascular franchise sales growth . these increases were partially offset by pricing pressures primarily related to drug-eluting stents ( des ) and lower market share for abbott 's xience des franchise in certain geographies . in 2017 , operating earnings for this segment increased over 160 percent ; the operating margin profile declined from 38.0 percent of sales in 2015 to 30.5 percent in 2017 primarily due to the mix of business resulting from the acquisition of st. jude medical and ongoing pricing pressures in the coronary business . in 2017 , abbott obtained regulatory approval for various products in addition to the approvals described above in the diagnostics business . story_separator_special_tag accordingly , abbott is often initially unable to develop a best estimate of loss , and therefore the minimum amount , which could be zero , is recorded . as information becomes known , either the minimum loss amount is increased , resulting in additional loss provisions , or a best estimate can be made , also resulting in additional loss provisions . occasionally , a best estimate amount is changed to a lower amount when events result in an expectation of a more favorable outcome than previously expected . abbott estimates the range of possible loss to be from approximately $ 115 million to $ 160 million for its legal proceedings and environmental exposures . accruals of approximately $ 135 million have been recorded at december 31 , 2017 for these proceedings and exposures . these accruals represent management 's best estimate of probable loss , as defined by fasb asc no . 450 , `` contingencies . `` 27 results of operations sales the following table details the components of sales growth by reportable segment for the last two years : replace_table_token_3_th the increase in total net sales in 2017 reflects the acquisitions of st. jude medical and alere , as well as organic growth in the established pharmaceuticals and diagnostics businesses . the increase in 2016 reflects unit growth , partially offset by the impact of unfavorable foreign exchange . the price declines related to the cardiovascular and neuromodulation products segment in 2017 and 2016 primarily reflect pricing pressure on drug eluting stents ( des ) as a result of market competition in the u.s. and other major markets . 28 a comparison of significant product and product group sales is as follows . percent changes are versus the prior year and are based on unrounded numbers . replace_table_token_4_th n/m = percent change is not meaningful . replace_table_token_5_th note : in order to compute results excluding the impact of exchange rates , current year u.s. dollar sales are multiplied or divided , as appropriate , by the current year average foreign exchange rates and then those amounts are multiplied or divided , as appropriate , by the prior year average foreign exchange rates . 29 total established pharmaceutical products sales increased 9.5 percent in 2017 and 10.5 percent in 2016 , excluding the impact of foreign exchange . the established pharmaceutical products segment is focused on several key emerging markets including india , russia , china and brazil . excluding the impact of foreign exchange , total sales in these key emerging markets increased 11.9 percent in 2017 and 13.3 percent in 2016. excluding the impact of foreign exchange , 2017 sales in several geographies including china and various countries in latin america experienced double-digit growth . excluding the impact of foreign exchange , sales in established pharmaceuticals ' other emerging markets increased 2.2 percent in 2017 and increased 2.0 percent in 2016. the 2017 sales growth for established pharmaceuticals ' other emerging markets includes the unfavorable impact of venezuelan operations . excluding venezuela and the effect of foreign exchange , sales in other emerging markets increased 7.5 percent . total nutritional products sales increased 0.6 percent in 2017 and 1.2 percent in 2016 , excluding the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange . in abbott 's international pediatric nutritional business , the 2017 decrease in sales was driven by challenging market conditions in the infant formula market in various emerging markets , partially offset by growth in china and india . the 2017 growth in china reflects a partial recovery from the 2016 sales decline in china . the 2016 decrease in sales was driven by challenging market conditions in china , including the impact of new food safety regulations , which contributed to an oversupply of product in the market . the 2016 sales decrease in china was partially offset by strong performance in several markets across latin america and southeast asia . the increases in u.s. pediatric nutritional 2017 and 2016 sales primarily reflect continued above-market performance in abbott 's infant and toddler brands , including pediasure® , pedialyte® and similac® . excluding the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange , the 2017 and 2016 increases in international adult nutritional sales are due primarily to growth in ensure® , abbott 's market-leading complete and balanced nutrition brand , as well as volume growth in emerging markets and continued expansion of the adult nutrition category internationally . u.s. adult nutritional revenues decreased in 2017 due to competitive and market dynamics , while sales increased in 2016 driven by the growth of ensure® sales . total diagnostic products sales increased 16.7 percent in 2017 and 5.5 percent in 2016 , excluding the impact of foreign exchange . the sales increase in 2017 included the acquisition of alere , which was completed on october 3 , 2017. excluding the impact of the acquisition , as well as the impact of foreign exchange , sales in the diagnostics products segment increased 5.5 percent primarily driven by share gains in the core laboratory markets globally , as well as strong performance in point of care led by the continued adoption of abbott 's i-stat® handheld system . the 2016 sales increase was primarily driven by share gains in the core laboratory and point of care markets in the u.s. and internationally . excluding the effect of foreign exchange , total cardiovascular and neuromodulation products sales grew 207.4 percent in 2017 and 4.5 percent in 2016. the sales increase in 2017 was primarily driven by the acquisition of st. jude medical which was completed on january 4 , 2017. excluding the impact of the acquisition , as well as the impact of foreign exchange , sales in the vascular business were essentially flat in 2017 versus the prior year as lower coronary stent sales and the comparison impact from the favorable 2016 resolution of a third-party royalty agreement were offset by higher structural heart and endovascular sales . in 2016 , double-digit

debt and capital at december 31 , 2017 , abbott 's long-term debt rating was bbb by standard & poor 's corporation and baa3 by moody 's investors service ( moody 's ) . in february 2018 , moody 's raised abbott 's rating to baa2 with a positive outlook . abbott expects to maintain an investment grade rating . abbott is committed to reducing its debt levels following the recent acquisitions of st. jude medical and alere . on february 16 , 2018 , the board of directors authorized the redemption of up to $ 5 billion of currently outstanding long-term notes in addition to the $ 3.95 billion repaid in january 2018 discussed below . abbott has readily available financial resources , including lines of credit of $ 5.0 billion which expire in 2019. these lines of credit are part of a 2014 revolving credit agreement that provides abbott with the ability to borrow up to $ 5 billion on an unsecured basis . prior to october 3 , 2017 , no amounts were previously drawn under the revolving credit agreement . on october 3 , 2017 , in connection with the alere acquisition , abbott borrowed $ 1.7 billion under these lines of credit . these borrowings were due to be repaid in july 2019 and bore interest based on a eurodollar rate , plus an applicable margin based on abbott 's credit ratings . in the fourth quarter of 2017 , abbott paid off $ 550 million of these borrowings . on january 5 , 2018 , abbott paid off the remaining balance under these lines of credit ahead of the 2019 due date . on july 31 , 2017 , abbott entered into a 5-year term loan agreement that allowed abbott to borrow up to $ 2.8 billion on an unsecured basis for the acquisition of alere . on october 3 , 2017 , abbott borrowed $ 2.8 billion under this term loan agreement to finance the acquisition of alere , to repay certain indebtedness of abbott and alere , and to pay fees and expenses in connection with the acquisition .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```debt and capital at december 31 , 2017 , abbott 's long-term debt rating was bbb by standard & poor 's corporation and baa3 by moody 's investors service ( moody 's ) . in february 2018 , moody 's raised abbott 's rating to baa2 with a positive outlook . abbott expects to maintain an investment grade rating . abbott is committed to reducing its debt levels following the recent acquisitions of st. jude medical and alere . on february 16 , 2018 , the board of directors authorized the redemption of up to $ 5 billion of currently outstanding long-term notes in addition to the $ 3.95 billion repaid in january 2018 discussed below . abbott has readily available financial resources , including lines of credit of $ 5.0 billion which expire in 2019. these lines of credit are part of a 2014 revolving credit agreement that provides abbott with the ability to borrow up to $ 5 billion on an unsecured basis . prior to october 3 , 2017 , no amounts were previously drawn under the revolving credit agreement . on october 3 , 2017 , in connection with the alere acquisition , abbott borrowed $ 1.7 billion under these lines of credit . these borrowings were due to be repaid in july 2019 and bore interest based on a eurodollar rate , plus an applicable margin based on abbott 's credit ratings . in the fourth quarter of 2017 , abbott paid off $ 550 million of these borrowings . on january 5 , 2018 , abbott paid off the remaining balance under these lines of credit ahead of the 2019 due date . on july 31 , 2017 , abbott entered into a 5-year term loan agreement that allowed abbott to borrow up to $ 2.8 billion on an unsecured basis for the acquisition of alere . on october 3 , 2017 , abbott borrowed $ 2.8 billion under this term loan agreement to finance the acquisition of alere , to repay certain indebtedness of abbott and alere , and to pay fees and expenses in connection with the acquisition .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : over the last three years , abbott 's operating margin was impacted by several factors . in 2017 , abbott 's operating margin decreased by approximately 900 basis points primarily due to costs associated with the acquisitions , including higher intangible amortization expense , inventory step-up amortization and integration costs , partially offset by operating margin improvement across various businesses . in 2016 and 2015 , abbott expanded its operating margin by approximately 120 basis points per year primarily due to margin improvement in the nutritional and diagnostics businesses . in abbott 's worldwide nutritional products business , sales over the last three years were positively impacted by demographics such as an aging population and an increasing rate of chronic disease in developed markets and the rise of a middle class in many emerging markets , as well as by numerous new product introductions that leveraged abbott 's strong brands . these positive factors were offset by challenging conditions in various markets over the last three years . in 2017 , the nutritionals business experienced growth in the u.s. due to above-market performance in abbott 's infant and toddler brands , including pediasure® , pedialyte® and similac® . increased 2017 sales in china and india were partially offset by challenging market conditions in the infant formula market in various emerging markets . with respect to the profitability of the nutritional products business , manufacturing and distribution process changes , as well as other cost reductions drove margin improvements across the business over the last three years although such improvements were offset by increased commodity costs in 2017. the decrease in operating margins for this business from 25.0 percent of sales in 2015 to 22.9 percent in 2017 was almost entirely due to the negative impact of foreign exchange . in abbott 's worldwide diagnostics business , sales growth over the last three years reflected the acquisition of alere in october of 2017 , as well as continued market penetration by the core laboratory business in the u.s. and china , and growth in other emerging markets . in addition , the point of care diagnostics business experienced sales growth led by the continued adoption of abbott 's i-stat® handheld system . worldwide diagnostic sales increased 16.7 percent in 2017 and 5.5 percent in 2016 , excluding the impact of foreign exchange . excluding the impact of the alere acquisition , as well as the impact of foreign exchange , sales in the diagnostics products segment increased 5.5 percent in 2017. in 2017 , abbott continued the international roll-out of its recently launched alinity systems for the core laboratory , including `` alinity c `` for clinical chemistry , `` alinity i `` for immunoassay diagnostics and `` alinity s `` for blood and plasma screening . in the fourth quarter of 2017 , abbott received fda approval in the u.s. for the `` alinity c `` and `` alinity i `` instruments for clinical chemistry and immunoassay diagnostics . alinity is an integrated family of next-generation diagnostic systems and solutions which are designed to increase efficiency by running more tests in less space , generating test results faster and minimizing human errors while continuing to provide quality results . margin improvement continued to be a key focus for the diagnostics business in 2017 although such improvements were partially offset by the negative impact of foreign exchange . operating margins increased from 25.2 percent of sales in 2015 to 26.1 percent in 2017 as the business continued to execute on efficiency initiatives in the manufacturing and supply chain functions . the established pharmaceutical products segment focuses on the sale of its products in emerging markets after the sale of its developed markets business to mylan on february 27 , 2015. excluding the impact of foreign exchange , established pharmaceutical sales from continuing operations increased 9.5 percent in 2017 and 10.5 percent in 2016. the sales increase in 2017 was driven by double-digit growth in china and various countries in latin america . operating margins increased from 17.7 percent of sales in 2015 to 19.8 percent in 2017. since the beginning of the first quarter of 2017 , the results of abbott 's cardiovascular and neuromodulation products segment includes abbott 's historical vascular products segment and 23 st. jude medical from the date of acquisition . excluding the impact of foreign exchange , sales in the cardiovascular and neuromodulation products segment increased 207.4 percent in 2017 and 4.5 percent in 2016. the sales increase in 2017 was driven by the acquisition of st. jude medical . excluding the impact of the acquisition , as well as the impact of foreign exchange , sales in the cardiovascular and neuromodulation products segment were essentially unchanged in 2017 versus the prior year . in 2017 , higher structural heart and endovascular sales were offset by lower coronary stent sales and the comparison impact from the favorable 2016 resolution of a third-party royalty agreement . in 2016 , sales growth was driven by double-digit growth in abbott 's sales of its mitraclip structural heart device for the treatment of mitral regurgitation , as well as endovascular franchise sales growth . these increases were partially offset by pricing pressures primarily related to drug-eluting stents ( des ) and lower market share for abbott 's xience des franchise in certain geographies . in 2017 , operating earnings for this segment increased over 160 percent ; the operating margin profile declined from 38.0 percent of sales in 2015 to 30.5 percent in 2017 primarily due to the mix of business resulting from the acquisition of st. jude medical and ongoing pricing pressures in the coronary business . in 2017 , abbott obtained regulatory approval for various products in addition to the approvals described above in the diagnostics business . story_separator_special_tag accordingly , abbott is often initially unable to develop a best estimate of loss , and therefore the minimum amount , which could be zero , is recorded . as information becomes known , either the minimum loss amount is increased , resulting in additional loss provisions , or a best estimate can be made , also resulting in additional loss provisions . occasionally , a best estimate amount is changed to a lower amount when events result in an expectation of a more favorable outcome than previously expected . abbott estimates the range of possible loss to be from approximately $ 115 million to $ 160 million for its legal proceedings and environmental exposures . accruals of approximately $ 135 million have been recorded at december 31 , 2017 for these proceedings and exposures . these accruals represent management 's best estimate of probable loss , as defined by fasb asc no . 450 , `` contingencies . `` 27 results of operations sales the following table details the components of sales growth by reportable segment for the last two years : replace_table_token_3_th the increase in total net sales in 2017 reflects the acquisitions of st. jude medical and alere , as well as organic growth in the established pharmaceuticals and diagnostics businesses . the increase in 2016 reflects unit growth , partially offset by the impact of unfavorable foreign exchange . the price declines related to the cardiovascular and neuromodulation products segment in 2017 and 2016 primarily reflect pricing pressure on drug eluting stents ( des ) as a result of market competition in the u.s. and other major markets . 28 a comparison of significant product and product group sales is as follows . percent changes are versus the prior year and are based on unrounded numbers . replace_table_token_4_th n/m = percent change is not meaningful . replace_table_token_5_th note : in order to compute results excluding the impact of exchange rates , current year u.s. dollar sales are multiplied or divided , as appropriate , by the current year average foreign exchange rates and then those amounts are multiplied or divided , as appropriate , by the prior year average foreign exchange rates . 29 total established pharmaceutical products sales increased 9.5 percent in 2017 and 10.5 percent in 2016 , excluding the impact of foreign exchange . the established pharmaceutical products segment is focused on several key emerging markets including india , russia , china and brazil . excluding the impact of foreign exchange , total sales in these key emerging markets increased 11.9 percent in 2017 and 13.3 percent in 2016. excluding the impact of foreign exchange , 2017 sales in several geographies including china and various countries in latin america experienced double-digit growth . excluding the impact of foreign exchange , sales in established pharmaceuticals ' other emerging markets increased 2.2 percent in 2017 and increased 2.0 percent in 2016. the 2017 sales growth for established pharmaceuticals ' other emerging markets includes the unfavorable impact of venezuelan operations . excluding venezuela and the effect of foreign exchange , sales in other emerging markets increased 7.5 percent . total nutritional products sales increased 0.6 percent in 2017 and 1.2 percent in 2016 , excluding the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange . in abbott 's international pediatric nutritional business , the 2017 decrease in sales was driven by challenging market conditions in the infant formula market in various emerging markets , partially offset by growth in china and india . the 2017 growth in china reflects a partial recovery from the 2016 sales decline in china . the 2016 decrease in sales was driven by challenging market conditions in china , including the impact of new food safety regulations , which contributed to an oversupply of product in the market . the 2016 sales decrease in china was partially offset by strong performance in several markets across latin america and southeast asia . the increases in u.s. pediatric nutritional 2017 and 2016 sales primarily reflect continued above-market performance in abbott 's infant and toddler brands , including pediasure® , pedialyte® and similac® . excluding the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange , the 2017 and 2016 increases in international adult nutritional sales are due primarily to growth in ensure® , abbott 's market-leading complete and balanced nutrition brand , as well as volume growth in emerging markets and continued expansion of the adult nutrition category internationally . u.s. adult nutritional revenues decreased in 2017 due to competitive and market dynamics , while sales increased in 2016 driven by the growth of ensure® sales . total diagnostic products sales increased 16.7 percent in 2017 and 5.5 percent in 2016 , excluding the impact of foreign exchange . the sales increase in 2017 included the acquisition of alere , which was completed on october 3 , 2017. excluding the impact of the acquisition , as well as the impact of foreign exchange , sales in the diagnostics products segment increased 5.5 percent primarily driven by share gains in the core laboratory markets globally , as well as strong performance in point of care led by the continued adoption of abbott 's i-stat® handheld system . the 2016 sales increase was primarily driven by share gains in the core laboratory and point of care markets in the u.s. and internationally . excluding the effect of foreign exchange , total cardiovascular and neuromodulation products sales grew 207.4 percent in 2017 and 4.5 percent in 2016. the sales increase in 2017 was primarily driven by the acquisition of st. jude medical which was completed on january 4 , 2017. excluding the impact of the acquisition , as well as the impact of foreign exchange , sales in the vascular business were essentially flat in 2017 versus the prior year as lower coronary stent sales and the comparison impact from the favorable 2016 resolution of a third-party royalty agreement were offset by higher structural heart and endovascular sales . in 2016 , double-digit

