Firm-Level Political Risk and the Cash Flow Sensitivity of Cash

We examine the impact of firm-level political risk on the cash flow sensitivity of cash. Using a large sample of U.S. firms from 2003 to 2018, we find that the cash flow sensitivity of cash decreases in political uncertainty and the impact of political risk is asymmetric to cash flow types (positive versus negative). Intensified political uncertainty induces positive/negative cash flow firms to reduce savings out of cash flows to finance investment opportunities/terminate unprofitable projects to retrieve cash. The results are robust to various model specifications, alternative variable definitions, and the control for non-political risks. In addition, we show that a firm’s financial status moderates the relation between the two, with financially constrained positive/negative cash flow firms saving more out of cash flows/decreasing existing savings as firm-level political risk increases. This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. The article was first published in The Quarterly Journal of Finance: https://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S201013922450004

The Impact of More Able Managers on Corporate Trade Credit

We investigate how high-ability managers affect trade credit policies of U.S. publicly traded companies from 2003 to 2016. Consistent with the prediction of an “Imbalance of power” in the supply chain, we find that firms with more able managers implement more favorable trade credit policies with both upstream and downstream business partners (i.e., fewer trade credit days in receivables, more trade credit days in payables, and lower net trade credit days), indicating that managerial ability is an important determinant of corporate trade credit. Our cross-sectional analyses provide further support for the bargaining power view of trade credit. The results are robust to various tests mitigating the endogeneity concerns. This study sheds light on the importance of more able managers in working capital and supply chain management. This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. The article was first published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2023.10085

A novel activator-type ERF of Thinopyrum intermedium, TiERF1, positively regulates defence responses

Thinopyrum intermedium is resistant to many different pathogens. To understand the roles of ethylene response factors (ERFs) in defence responses, the first member of the ERF family in T. intermedium, TiERF1, was characterized and functionally analysed in this study. The TiERF1 gene encodes a putative protein of 292 amino acids, belonging to the B3 subgroup of the ERF transcription factor family. Biochemical assays demonstrated that the TiERF1 protein is capable of binding to the GCC box, a cis-element present in the promoters of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes, and possessing transactivation activity, as well as localizing to the nucleus. The transcript of TiERF1 in T. intermedium is rapidly induced by infection with Rhizoctonia cerealis, Fusarium graminearum, or Blumeria graminis, and ethylene, jasmonic acid, and salicylic acid treatments. More importantly, the ectopic expression of TiERF1 in tobacco activated the transcript of the PR genes of tobacco with a GCC box cis-element, and ACO and ACS genes key to ethylene synthesis, and in turn improved the resistance level to Alternaria alternata and tobacco mosaic virus, as well as causing some phenotypic changes associated with ethylene response in the transgenic tobacco plants. Taken together, TiERF1 protein as an ERF transcription activator positively regulates defence responses via the activation of some defence-related genes

Role of LOX-1 and ROS in oxidized low-density lipoprotein induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition of NRK52E

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To investigate the effect of oxidized low density lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1) on tubular epithelial-mesenchymal transition (TEMT) induced by oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) and its mechanism.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>NRK-52E cells were incubated with ox-LDL (0, 25, 50, and 100 μg/ml) for 24 hours or pre-treated with the chemical inhibitor of the LOX-1 receptor polyinosinic acid (poly I) and carrageenan or the antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), the cells were then exposed to 50 μg/ml of ox-LDL.The expression of LOX-I, E-cadherin, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were analyzed by real-time PCR, western blotting analysis, immunofluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ox-LDL increased the expression of LOX-1 mRNA and protein in a dose-dependent manner from 0 to 100 μg/ml (P < 0.05). Following the increase in the LOX-1 protein level, the lipid intake, ROS generation and α-SMA expression increased; however, the E-cadherin level decreased. The pre-treatment with poly I or carrageenan or NAC significantly inhibited the LOX-1 expression, α-SMA expression, the lipid intake and ROS generation and reversed decrease of E-cadherin expression induced by ox-LDL. Meanwhile, the ROS generation were associated with a increase in the LOX-1 expression. The α-SMA expression was positively correlated with the ROS generation and LOX-1 expression, and the E-cadherin expression was negatively correlated with the ROS generation and LOX-1 expression.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>LOX-1 and ROS may play a important role in epithelial-mesenchymal transition of NRK52E induced by OX-LDL.</p

The Odorant-Binding Protein Gene obp11 Shows Different Spatiotemporal Roles in the Olfactory System of Apis mellifera ligustica and Apis cerana cerana

Odorant-binding proteins participate in the olfactory system of the honeybee. Apis mellifera ligustica and Apis cerana cerana are species of honeybee that have different biologic functions. The two species have diversified olfactory systems, with A. cerana displaying sensitive olfactory involvement in collecting nectar and pollen from small plants; and A. mellifera collecting from large nectariferous plants. We hypothesized that, given this difference in biologic activity, the gene obp11 of A. mellifera and A. cerana may show different olfactory expression patterns. We cloned and sequenced the obp11 genes from A. mellifera (Amobp11) and A. cerana (Acobp11). Using quantitative real-time PCR, we demonstrated that nurse workers, which have the highest olfactory sensitivity in the A. mellifera hive, have the highest expression of Amobp11; whereas 1-day-emerged  workers, which have lowest olfactory sensitivity, have correspondingly low expression. However, the highest expression of Acobp11 is observed for foragers, which display the highest olfactory sensitivity in the A. cerana population. The OBP11 protein from the two species is highly conserved, with an apparent molecular weight and predicted extracellular localization that is similar to other OBP proteins. The expression of the obp11 gene in A. mellifera and A. cerana correlates with the different roles of the olfactory system for the two different species. These findings support the critical role of odorant-binding proteins in the Apis olfactory syste

Cross-View Hierarchy Network for Stereo Image Super-Resolution

Stereo image super-resolution aims to improve the quality of high-resolution stereo image pairs by exploiting complementary information across views. To attain superior performance, many methods have prioritized designing complex modules to fuse similar information across views, yet overlooking the importance of intra-view information for high-resolution reconstruction. It also leads to problems of wrong texture in recovered images. To address this issue, we explore the interdependencies between various hierarchies from intra-view and propose a novel method, named Cross-View-Hierarchy Network for Stereo Image Super-Resolution (CVHSSR). Specifically, we design a cross-hierarchy information mining block (CHIMB) that leverages channel attention and large kernel convolution attention to extract both global and local features from the intra-view, enabling the efficient restoration of accurate texture details. Additionally, a cross-view interaction module (CVIM) is proposed to fuse similar features from different views by utilizing cross-view attention mechanisms, effectively adapting to the binocular scene. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. CVHSSR achieves the best stereo image super-resolution performance than other state-of-the-art methods while using fewer parameters. The source code and pre-trained models are available at https://github.com/AlexZou14/CVHSSR.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, CVPRW, NTIRE202

Behavioral Responses of Apis mellifera Adult Workers to Odors from Healthy Brood and Diseased Brood

Studies of adult workers’ responses to infected brood were undertaken to isolate discrete volatile compounds that elicited honeybee hygienic behavior. Using a freeze-killed brood assay, we determined that in healthy colonies adult workers recognized and emptied infected cells with a 95% clearance rate. SPME-GC-MS results emptied &gt;95% infected cells indicated differences in the composition and relative content of volatile compounds released by healthy and diseased brood. Additionally, we determined that the main volatile compound released from the pathogen Ascosphaera apis was phenethyl alcohol. The Y-tube olfactometer indicated that 10- to 20-day-old workers of healthy colonies, but only 15-day-old workers of diseased colonies, were significantly sensitive to differences in characteristic volatile compounds. This information could facilitate honey bee selection based on mechanisms that contribute to chalkbrood disease tolerance

Mitochondrial Membrane Remodeling

Mitochondria are key regulators of many important cellular processes and their dysfunction has been implicated in a large number of human disorders. Importantly, mitochondrial function is tightly linked to their ultrastructure, which possesses an intricate membrane architecture defining specific submitochondrial compartments. In particular, the mitochondrial inner membrane is highly folded into membrane invaginations that are essential for oxidative phosphorylation. Furthermore, mitochondrial membranes are highly dynamic and undergo constant membrane remodeling during mitochondrial fusion and fission. It has remained enigmatic how these membrane curvatures are generated and maintained, and specific factors involved in these processes are largely unknown. This review focuses on the current understanding of the molecular mechanism of mitochondrial membrane architectural organization and factors critical for mitochondrial morphogenesis, as well as their functional link to human diseases.Peer reviewe

Mitochondrial protein dysfunction in pathogenesis of neurological diseases

Mitochondria are essential organelles for neuronal function and cell survival. Besides the well-known bioenergetics, additional mitochondrial roles in calcium signaling, lipid biogenesis, regulation of reactive oxygen species, and apoptosis are pivotal in diverse cellular processes. The mitochondrial proteome encompasses about 1,500 proteins encoded by both the nuclear DNA and the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA. Mutations in the nuclear or mitochondrial genome, or combinations of both, can result in mitochondrial protein deficiencies and mitochondrial malfunction. Therefore, mitochondrial quality control by proteins involved in various surveillance mechanisms is critical for neuronal integrity and viability. Abnormal proteins involved in mitochondrial bioenergetics, dynamics, mitophagy, import machinery, ion channels, and mitochondrial DNA maintenance have been linked to the pathogenesis of a number of neurological diseases. The goal of this review is to give an overview of these pathways and to summarize the interconnections between mitochondrial protein dysfunction and neurological diseases.Peer reviewe

Study on Spectrum Estimation in Biophoton Emission Signal Analysis of Wheat Varieties

The photon emission signal in visible range (380 nm–630 nm) was measured from various wheat kernels by means of a low noise photomultiplier system. To study the features of the photon emission signal, the spectrum estimation method of the photon emission signal is described for the first time. The biophoton emission signal, belonging to four varieties of wheat, is analyzed in time domain and frequency domain. It shows that the intensity of the biophoton emission signal for four varieties of wheat kernels is relatively weak and has dramatic changes over time. Mean and mean square value are obviously different in four varieties; the range was, respectively, 3.7837 and 74.8819. The difference of variance is not significant. The range is 1.1764. The results of power spectrum estimation deduced that the biophoton emission signal is a low frequency signal, and its power spectrum is mostly distributed in the frequency less than 0.1 Hz. Then three parameters, which are spectral edge frequency, spectral gravity frequency, and power spectral entropy, are adopted to explain the features of the kernels’ spontaneous biophoton emission signal. It shows that the parameters of the spontaneous biophoton emission signal for different varieties of wheat are similar