The Impact of Board, Audit Committee, and Internal Control Characteristics on Earnings Quality: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Listed Companies from 2015 to 2018

This study investigates the influence of board, audit committees, and internal control characteristics on the quality of financial reporting in the Chinese manufacturing industry. Abnormal accruals, as the proxy for earnings manipulation, is assessed by applying the modified-Jones Model (1995). This paper collects Chinese manufacturing firms listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2015 to 2018. The results suggest that effective internal control systems could lower discretionary accruals and enhance the quality of financial reporting. Additionally, more independent members on the AC could reduce the degree of income-decreasing management. Moreover, firms with fewer board meetings have better quality earnings. However, there is no evidence to support the relationship between board size, board independence, CEO duality, and AC size with earnings quality. This paper provides implications for the design of appropriate corporate governance systems for listed firms

Modulation of Type III Secretion System in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Involvement of the PA4857 Gene Product

Pseudomonas aeruginosais an opportunistic pathogen that causes serious acute or chronic infections in humans.Acute infections typically involve the type Ш secretion systems (T3SS) and bacterial motility,whereas chronic infectionsare often associated with biofilm formation and the type VI secretion system (T6SS). To identifynew genes required for pathogenesis, a transposon mutagenesis library was constructed and the gene PA4857, named tspR, was found to modulateT3SS gene expression. Deletion of P. aeruginosa tspRreduced the virulence in a mouse acute lung infection model and diminished cytotoxicity. Suppression of T3SS gene expression in the tspR mutant resulted from compromised translation of the T3SS master regulator ExsA. TspR negatively regulated two small RNAs, RsmYand RsmZ, which control RsmA. Our data demonstrated that defects inT3SS expression and biofilm formation in retS mutant could be partially restored by overexpression of tspR. Taken together, our results demonstrated thatthe newly identifiedretS-tspRpathway is coordinated with the retS-gacSsystem, which regulates the genes associated with acute and chronic infections andcontrols the lifestyle choice of P. aeruginosa

Recent Advances in Milk Plasmin and Factors Affecting Its Activity

Plasmin is an important factor affecting the shelf-life quality of milk products, and its hydrolytic activity is regulated by many factors, such as activators, inhibitors, and activator inhibitors. Compared with protease secreted by psychrophilic bacteria, plasmin presents different thermal inactivation parameters and hydrolysis properties; the milk gelation properties induced by the two enzymes, the gelation mechanisms and the methods used to detect the milk hydrolysates are different. Plasmin activity in raw milk is affected by dairy cow breeds, lactation stage, parity, and the number of somatic cells, as well as protease secreted by bacteria. As whey protein, casein and Maillard reaction can affect plasmin structure and substrate recognition by it, heating, membrane filtration, and high pressure processing can affect plasmin activity. In this paper, we summarize the composition and regulatory mechanism of the plasmin system in milk, the mechanism of plasmin-induced age gelation of milk, the factors affecting plasmin activity and the methods used to assay plasmin activity, with the aim to provide a reference for further research on milk plasmin

Inhibition of the m6A reader IGF2BP2 as a strategy against T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive malignant leukemia with extremely limited treatment for relapsed patients. N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) reader insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 2 (IGF2BP2) participates in the initiation and growth of cancers by communicating with various targets. Here, we found IGF2BP2 was highly expressed in T-ALL. Gain and loss of IGF2BP2 demonstrated IGF2BP2 was essential for T-ALL cell proliferation in vitro and loss of IGF2BP2 prolonged animal survival in a human T-ALL xenograft model. Mechanistically, IGF2BP2 directly bound to T-ALL oncogene NOTCH1 via an m6A dependent manner. Furthermore, we identified a small-molecule IGF2BP2 inhibitor JX5 and treatment of T-ALL with JX5 showed similar functions as knockdown of IGF2BP2. These findings not only shed light on the role of IGF2BP2 in T-ALL, but also provide an alternative γ‑Secretase inhibitors (GSI) therapy to treat T-ALL.Inhibition of the m6A reader IGF2BP2 as a strategy against T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemiapublishedVersio

Electro-mechanical coupling of KCNQ channels is a target of epilepsy-associated mutations and retigabine

KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 form the M-channels that are important in regulating neuronal excitability. Inherited mutations that alter voltage-dependent gating of M-channels are associated with neonatal epilepsy. In the homolog KCNQ1 channel, two steps of voltage sensor activation lead to two functionally distinct open states, the intermediate-open (IO) and activated-open (AO), which define the gating, physiological, and pharmacological properties of KCNQ1. However, whether the M-channel shares the same mechanism is unclear. Here, we show that KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 feature only a single conductive AO state but with a conserved mechanism for the electro-mechanical (E-M) coupling between voltage sensor activation and pore opening. We identified some epilepsy-linked mutations in KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 that disrupt E-M coupling. The antiepileptic drug retigabine rescued KCNQ3 currents that were abolished by a mutation disrupting E-M coupling, suggesting that modulating the E-M coupling in KCNQ channels presents a potential strategy for antiepileptic therapy

The Effect of Chinese Herbal Medicine on Albuminuria Levels in Patients with Diabetic Nephropathy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

To evaluate the effect of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) on albuminuria levels in patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN), we performed comprehensive searches on Medline database, Cochrane Library, CNKI database, CBM database, Wanfang database, and VIP database up to December 2012. A total of 29 trials including 2440 participants with DN met the selection criteria. CHM was tested to be more effective in reducing urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) (MD −82.95 μg/min, [−138.64, −27.26]) and proteinuria (MD −565.99 mg/24 h, [−892.41, −239.57]) compared with placebo. CHM had a greater beneficial effect on reduction of UAER (MD −13.41 μg/min, [−20.63, −6.19]) and proteinuria (MD −87.48 mg/24 h, [−142.90, −32.06]) compared with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB). Combination therapy with CHM and ACEI/ARB showed significant improvement in UAER (MD −28.18 μg/min, [−44.4, −11.97]), urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (MD −347.00, [−410.61, −283.39]), protein-creatinine ratio (MD −2.49, [−4.02, −0.96]), and proteinuria (MD −26.60 mg/24 h, [−26.73, −26.47]) compared with ACEI/ARB alone. No serious adverse events were reported. CHM seems to be an effective and safe therapy option to treat proteinuric patients with DN, suggesting that further study of CHM in the treatment of DN is warranted in rigorously designed, multicentre, large-scale trials with higher quality worldwide

Methodology and applications of city level CO2 emission accounts in China

China is the world's largest energy consumer and CO2 emitter. Cities contribute 85% of the total CO2 emissions in China and thus are considered as the key areas for implementing policies designed for climate change adaption and CO2 emission mitigation. However, the emission inventory construction of Chinese cities has not been well researched, mainly owing to the lack of systematic statistics and poor data quality. Focusing on this research gap, we developed a set of methods for constructing CO2 emissions inventories for Chinese cities based on energy balance table. The newly constructed emission inventory is compiled in terms of the definition provided by the IPCC territorial emission accounting approach and covers 47 socioeconomic sectors, 17 fossil fuels and 9 primary industry products, which is corresponding with the national and provincial inventory. In the study, we applied the methods to compile CO2 emissions inventories for 24 common Chinese cities and examined uncertainties of the inventories. Understanding the emissions sources in Chinese cities is the basis for many climate policy and goal research in the future

The Impact of Board, Audit Committee, and Internal Control Characteristics on Earnings Quality: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Listed Companies from 2015 to 2018

This study investigates the influence of board, audit committees, and internal control characteristics on the quality of financial reporting in the Chinese manufacturing industry. Abnormal accruals, as the proxy for earnings manipulation, is assessed by applying the modified-Jones Model (1995). This paper collects Chinese manufacturing firms listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2015 to 2018. The results suggest that effective internal control systems could lower discretionary accruals and enhance the quality of financial reporting. Additionally, more independent members on the AC could reduce the degree of income-decreasing management. Moreover, firms with fewer board meetings have better quality earnings. However, there is no evidence to support the relationship between board size, board independence, CEO duality, and AC size with earnings quality. This paper provides implications for the design of appropriate corporate governance systems for listed firms