Examining the Role of Social Trust in the Angel Investors’ Decision-Making Process: The Case of Egypt

This study focuses on examining the role of trust in the angel investors’ decision-making process. It was developed with the aim to advance understanding of the relationship between social trust and angel investments in a developing country such as Egypt and to examine the implications on transaction cost. Studying angel investment in the Egyptian context is important due to the existing boom in entrepreneurship in the country, lack of access to finance, and the nature of the economic ecosystem in Egypt shaped by cultural and social ties. The importance of these types of investors to the economic growth and sustainability of the entrepreneurial ecosystem is the main motive to examine angel investors’ decision-making processes. This study was conducted using in depth semi-structured interviews with ten angel investors located in Egypt. The findings of this study disassociated trust from social capital, which contradicts views of extant work and was more aligned with the notion that trust is a collective asset built from working on social capital. Further, the findings of this study highlighted the role of feelings and emotions as a key decision-making factor contributing to the evolution of the angel – entrepreneur relationship during the decision-making process. In this study, participants used ‘marriage’ and ‘friendship’ as a metaphor to their relationship with the entrepreneur, reflecting the emotional dimension they confer to their interactions with the entrepreneurs. These findings resonate with existing literature, though sparse, illustrating that the investor’s internal emotional or mood state, while taking an investment decision, could affect their judgment as well as their behavior to allocate equity towards a company. This work extends existing research by furthering understandings that angel investors associate emotions with their decisions, not only at the equity allocation phase and while making the final decision but also throughout the different pre-investment activities. Moreover, their perception of trust and how it relates to moving from one stage to another or even surpassing certain stages had an emotional dimension triggering the decision. Interestingly and of theoretical importance, angels in this study conceptualized trust as feelings and emotions; referring to trusting an entrepreneur or deciding to invest in certain venture, as a ‘gut’ feeling. Taking into consideration the aforementioned findings, this study suggests integrating non-economic factors such as trust and emotions into the angel investment process, specifically in the decision-making process to accommodate the impact of emotions and gut feelings

Marrubium alysson L. Ameliorated Methotrexate-Induced Testicular Damage in Mice through Regulation of Apoptosis and miRNA-29a Expression: LC-MS/MS Metabolic Profiling

Despite the efficient anti-cancer capabilities of methotrexate (MTX), it may induce myelosuppression, liver dysfunction and testicular toxicity. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether Marrubium alysson L. (M. alysson L.) methanolic extract and its polyphenol fraction could protect mouse testicles from MTX-induced damage. We also investigated the protective effects of three selected pure flavonoid components of M. alysson L. extract. Mice were divided into seven groups (n = 8): (1) normal control, (2) MTX, (3) Methanolic extract + MTX, (4) Polyphenolic fraction + MTX, (5) Kaempferol + MTX, (6) Quercetin + MTX, and (7) Rutin + MTX. Pre-treatment of mice with the methanolic extract, the polyphenolic fraction of M. alysson L. and the selected pure compounds ameliorated the testicular histopathological damage and induced a significant increase in the serum testosterone level and testicular antioxidant enzymes along with a remarkable decline in the malondialdehyde (MDA) level versus MTX alone. Significant down-regulation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), p53 and miRNA-29a testicular expression was also observed in all the protected groups. Notably, the polyphenolic fraction of M. alysson L. displayed a more pronounced decline in the testicular levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and MDA, with higher testosterone levels relative to the methanolic extract. Further improvements in the Johnsen score, histopathological results and all biochemical assays were achieved by pre-treatment with the three selected pure compounds kaempferol, quercetin and rutin. In conclusion, M. alysson L. could protect against MTX-induced testicular injury by its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic activities and through the regulation of the miRNA-29a testicular expression. The present study also included chemical profiling of M. alysson L. extract, which was accomplished by LC-ESI-TOF-MS/MS analysis. Forty compounds were provisionally assigned, comprising twenty compounds discovered in the positive mode and seventeen detected in the negative mode

Reporting quality in systematic reviews of in vitro studies: a systematic review

Background: Systematic reviews (SRs) and/or meta-analyses of in vitro research have an important role in establishing the foundation for clinical studies. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the reporting quality of SRs of in vitro studies using the PRISMA checklist. Method: Four databases were searched including PubMed, Virtual Health Library (VHL), Web of Science (ISI) and Scopus. The search was limited from 2006 to 2016 to include all SRs and/or meta-analyses (MAs) of pure in vitro studies. The evaluation of reporting quality was done using the PRISMA checklist. Results: Out of 7702 search results, 65 SRs were included and evaluated with the PRISMA checklist. Overall, the mean overall quality score of reported items of the PRISMA checklist was 68%. We have noticed an increasing pattern in the numbers of published SRs of in vitro studies over the last 10 years. In contrast, the reporting quality was not significantly improved over the same period (p = .363). There was a positive but not significant correlation between the overall quality score and the journal impact factor of the included studies. Conclusions: The adherence of SRs of in vitro studies to the PRISMA guidelines was poor. Therefore, we believe that using reporting guidelines and journals paying attention to this fact will improve the quality of SRs of in vitro studies.Current Medical Research and Opinion, 35(9), pp.1631-1641; 201