CEO Profile and Earnings Quality

This paper introduces the PSCORE, which aggregates nine personal characteristics of chief executive officers (CEOs), to signal the quality of earnings. The PSCORE is a composite score based on publicly available data on CEOs. The study reports strong positive relationships between the PSCORE and two different proxies for earnings quality, (i) discretionary accruals and (ii) financial statement errors, measured by deviations of the first digits of figures reported in financial statements from those expected by Benford’s Law. Further analyses indicate that the relationships between the PSCORE and the proxies for earnings quality become more pronounced when CEOs have high equity-based compensation incentives. The findings have some implications for practitioners

Visceral and subcutaneous fat have different origins and evidence supports a mesothelial source

International audience: Fuelled by the obesity epidemic, there is considerable interest in the developmental origins of white adipose tissue (WAT) and the stem and progenitor cells from which it arises. Whereas increased visceral fat mass is associated with metabolic dysfunction, increased subcutaneous WAT is protective. There are six visceral fat depots: perirenal, gonadal, epicardial, retroperitoneal, omental and mesenteric, and it is a subject of much debate whether these have a common developmental origin and whether this differs from that for subcutaneous WAT. Here we show that all six visceral WAT depots receive a significant contribution from cells expressing Wt1 late in gestation. Conversely, no subcutaneous WAT or brown adipose tissue arises from Wt1-expressing cells. Postnatally, a subset of visceral WAT continues to arise from Wt1-expressing cells, consistent with the finding that Wt1 marks a proportion of cell populations enriched in WAT progenitors. We show that all visceral fat depots have a mesothelial layer like the visceral organs with which they are associated, and provide several lines of evidence that Wt1-expressing mesothelium can produce adipocytes. These results reveal a major ontogenetic difference between visceral and subcutaneous WAT, and pinpoint the lateral plate mesoderm as a major source of visceral WAT. They also support the notion that visceral WAT progenitors are heterogeneous, and suggest that mesothelium is a source of adipocytes

Long non-coding RNAs and cancer: a new frontier of translational research?

Author manuscriptTiling array and novel sequencing technologies have made available the transcription profile of the entire human genome. However, the extent of transcription and the function of genetic elements that occur outside of protein-coding genes, particularly those involved in disease, are still a matter of debate. In this review, we focus on long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that are involved in cancer. We define lncRNAs and present a cancer-oriented list of lncRNAs, list some tools (for example, public databases) that classify lncRNAs or that scan genome spans of interest to find whether known lncRNAs reside there, and describe some of the functions of lncRNAs and the possible genetic mechanisms that underlie lncRNA expression changes in cancer, as well as current and potential future applications of lncRNA research in the treatment of cancer.RS is supported as a fellow of the TALENTS Programme (7th R&D Framework Programme, Specific Programme: PEOPLE—Marie Curie Actions—COFUND). MIA is supported as a PhD fellow of the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia), Portugal. GAC is supported as a fellow by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Research Trust, as a research scholar by The University of Texas System Regents, and by the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Global Research Foundation. Work in GAC’s laboratory is supported in part by the NIH/ NCI (CA135444); a Department of Defense Breast Cancer Idea Award; Developmental Research Awards from the Breast Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Brain Cancer, Multiple Myeloma and Leukemia Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grants from the National Institutes of Health; a 2009 Seena Magowitz–Pancreatic Cancer Action Network AACR Pilot Grant; the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and the RGK Foundation

Assessing and valuing restorative space on campus: A comparison between the UK and Hong Kong

This paper examines: students' assessment and rating of restorative space on campus including the individual components of such environments; students' willingness to pay for restorative environments and a comparison between responses in the UK and Hong Kong. In this exploratory phase pilot surveys were undertaken on two campuses: Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Loughborough University. Students were asked to rate the importance of and their satisfaction with a number of components of restorative space. A stated choice experiment was conducted within the survey using paired comparisons of visual stimuli which varied in terms of the presence of green plants; the presence of water; view of nature or a built environment and willingness to pay. The findings of this phase are of interest in indicating that respondents do value the presence of natural greenery and views in interior space. The sound environment, seating and lighting were seen as the most important features of restorative space in both Universities; whilst area of disagreement included greenery, more important in the Hong Kong sample and the temperature, more important in Loughborough. There was a high level of consensus on the sounds that contribute most to a restorative environment namely, trees or leaves, wind, water and music. The results will also feed into the second phase of the work will be lab based to enable the presentation of audio and visual stimuli together

Depressive symptoms and smoking among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents

Aims: To examine associations among depressive symptoms, smoking, smoking trajectories and quitting smoking in Hong Kong. Design Prospective longitudinal design, with wave 1 at baseline (T1) and wave 2 (T2) 12 months later. Setting and participants: Form 1 (equivalent to 7th grade in the United States) students, mean age = 12.7 years, n = 1894. Measurements: Self-reported smoking status, attempts to quit and depressive symptoms. Findings At both waves, current as well as ex-smokers had higher depressive symptoms than never smokers. T1 smoking predicted T2 depressive symptoms among those with low baseline depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms at T1 predicted smoking at T2 among non-smokers at T1. Trajectories were defined by separating participants who were never smokers at both waves ('non-smokers'), those who smoked at both waves ('persistent smokers'), those who smoked at one time but were not smoking at either wave ('past smokers), and those who had never smoked at T1 but reported smoking a year later ('new smokers'). Persistent, past and new smokers had higher depressive symptoms at both waves than non-smokers. Smokers who reported not wanting or trying to quit and those who had been unsuccessful at quitting had higher depressive symptoms at T2 than those who successfully quit. Conclusion: Our results suggest that depressive symptoms promote tobacco use in Asian adolescents by making it more likely that an adolescent will begin smoking and less likely that she or he will quit. These findings elucidate risk factors in Hong Kong for two important public health concerns for adolescents: smoking and depression. © 2005 Society for the Study of Addiction.link_to_subscribed_fulltex