The Relation between Firm-Level Corporate Governance and Market Value: a Study of India

Relatively little is known about the corporate governance practice of firms in emerging markets. We provide a detailed overview of the practices of publicly traded firms in India, and identify areas where governance practices are relatively strong or weak, relative to developed countries. We also examine whether there is a cross-sectional relationship between measures of governance and measures of firm performance and find evidence of a positive relationship for an overall governance index and for an index covering shareholder rights. The association is stronger for more profitable firms and firms with stronger growth opportunities

Teleparallel formalism of galilean gravity

A pseudo-Riemannian manifold is introduced, with light-cone coordinates in (4+1) dimensional space-time, to describe a Galilei covariant gravity. The notion of 5-bein and torsion are developed and a galilean version of teleparallelism is constructed in this manifold. The formalism is applied to two spherically symmetric configurations. The first one is an ansatz which is inferred by following the Schwarzschild solution in general relativity. The second one is a solution of galilean covariant equations. In addition, this Galilei teleparallel approach provides a prescription to couple the 5-bein field to the galilean covariant Dirac field.Comment: 10 page

Angiotensin II for the Treatment of Vasodilatory Shock

BACKGROUND Vasodilatory shock that does not respond to high-dose vasopressors is associated with high mortality. We investigated the effectiveness of angiotensin II for the treatment of patients with this condition. METHODS We randomly assigned patients with vasodilatory shock who were receiving more than 0.2 mu g of norepinephrine per kilogram of body weight per minute or the equivalent dose of another vasopressor to receive infusions of either angiotensin II or placebo. The primary end point was a response with respect to mean arterial pressure at hour 3 after the start of infusion, with response defined as an increase from baseline of at least 10 mm Hg or an increase to at least 75 mm Hg, without an increase in the dose of background vasopressors. RESULTS A total of 344 patients were assigned to one of the two regimens; 321 received a study intervention (163 received angiotensin II, and 158 received placebo) and were included in the analysis. The primary end point was reached by more patients in the angiotensin II group (114 of 163 patients, 69.9%) than in the placebo group (37 of 158 patients, 23.4%) (odds ratio, 7.95; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.76 to 13.3; P<0.001). At 48 hours, the mean improvement in the cardiovascular Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (scores range from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating more severe dysfunction) was greater in the angiotensin II group than in the placebo group (-1.75 vs. -1.28, P = 0.01). Serious adverse events were reported in 60.7% of the patients in the angiotensin II group and in 67.1% in the placebo group. Death by day 28 occurred in 75 of 163 patients (46%) in the angiotensin II group and in 85 of 158 patients (54%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.57 to 1.07; P = 0.12). CONCLUSIONS Angiotensin II effectively increased blood pressure in patients with vasodilatory shock that did not respond to high doses of conventional vasopressors. (Funded by La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company; ATHOS-3 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02338843.)Peer reviewe

Institutional barriers and industry dynamics

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108084/1/smj2152.pd

Gibberellins negatively modulate ovule number in plants

[EN] Ovule formation is a complex developmental process in plants, with a strong impact on the production of seeds. Ovule primordia initiation is controlled by a gene network, including components of the signaling pathways of auxin, brassinosteroids and cytokinins. By contrast, gibberellins (GAs) and DELLA proteins, the negative regulators of GA signaling, have never been shown to be involved in ovule initiation. Here, we provide molecular and genetic evidence that points to DELLA proteins as novel players in the determination of ovule number in Arabidopsis and in species of agronomic interest, such as tomato and rapeseed, adding a new layer of complexity to this important developmental process. DELLA activity correlates positively with ovule number, acting as a positive factor for ovule initiation. In addition, ectopic expression of a dominant DELLA in the placenta is sufficient to increase ovule number. The role of DELLA proteins in ovule number does not appear to be related to auxin transport or signaling in the ovule primordia. Possible crosstalk between DELLA proteins and the molecular and hormonal network controlling ovule initiation is also discussed.This work was supported by grants from the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad and the European Regional Development Fund (BIO2014-55946) and Generalitat Valenciana (ACOMP/2014/106) to M.A.P.-A, from the National Science Foundation (MCB-0923727) to J.M.A., and from the National Institutes of Health (R01GM112976-01A1) and the Saltman Endowed Chair in Science and Education to M.F.Y. Deposited in PMC for release after 12 months.Gómez Jiménez, MD.; Barro-Trastoy, D.; Escoms, E.; Saura-Sanchez, M.; Sanchez, I.; Briones-Moreno, A.; Vera Sirera, FJ.... (2018). Gibberellins negatively modulate ovule number in plants. Development. 145(13). https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.163865S14513Anders, S., & Huber, W. (2010). Differential expression analysis for sequence count data. Genome Biology, 11(10). doi:10.1186/gb-2010-11-10-r106Bai, M.-Y., Shang, J.-X., Oh, E., Fan, M., Bai, Y., Zentella, R., … Wang, Z.-Y. (2012). Brassinosteroid, gibberellin and phytochrome impinge on a common transcription module in Arabidopsis. Nature Cell Biology, 14(8), 810-817. doi:10.1038/ncb2546Balanzà, V., Martínez-Fernández, I., Sato, S., Yanofsky, M. F., Kaufmann, K., Angenent, G. C., … Ferrándiz, C. (2018). Genetic control of meristem arrest and life span in Arabidopsis by a FRUITFULL-APETALA2 pathway. Nature Communications, 9(1). doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03067-5Bartrina, I., Otto, E., Strnad, M., Werner, T., & Schmülling, T. (2011). Cytokinin Regulates the Activity of Reproductive Meristems, Flower Organ Size, Ovule Formation, and Thus Seed Yield in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Cell, 23(1), 69-80. doi:10.1105/tpc.110.079079Bencivenga, S., Simonini, S., Benková, E., & Colombo, L. (2012). 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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(24), 14162-14167. doi:10.1073/pnas.251534098Dorcey, E., Urbez, C., Blázquez, M. A., Carbonell, J., & Perez-Amador, M. A. (2009). Fertilization-dependent auxin response in ovules triggers fruit development through the modulation of gibberellin metabolism in Arabidopsis. The Plant Journal, 58(2), 318-332. doi:10.1111/j.1365-313x.2008.03781.xElliott, R. C., Betzner, A. S., Huttner, E., Oakes, M. P., Tucker, W. Q., Gerentes, D., … Smyth, D. R. (1996). AINTEGUMENTA, an APETALA2-like gene of Arabidopsis with pleiotropic roles in ovule development and floral organ growth. The Plant Cell, 8(2), 155-168. doi:10.1105/tpc.8.2.155Endress, P. K. (2011). Angiosperm ovules: diversity, development, evolution. Annals of Botany, 107(9), 1465-1489. doi:10.1093/aob/mcr120Ezura, K., Ji-Seong, K., Mori, K., Suzuki, Y., Kuhara, S., Ariizumi, T., & Ezura, H. (2017). 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G., Grau-Enguix, F., Abbas, M., Locascio, A., Thomas, S. G., … Blazquez, M. A. (2012). Molecular mechanism for the interaction between gibberellin and brassinosteroid signaling pathways in Arabidopsis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(33), 13446-13451. doi:10.1073/pnas.1119992109Gallego-Giraldo, C., Hu, J., Urbez, C., Gomez, M. D., Sun, T., & Perez-Amador, M. A. (2014). Role of the gibberellin receptors GID1 during fruit-set in Arabidopsis. The Plant Journal, 79(6), 1020-1032. doi:10.1111/tpj.12603García-Hurtado, N., Carrera, E., Ruiz-Rivero, O., López-Gresa, M. P., Hedden, P., Gong, F., & García-Martínez, J. L. (2012). The characterization of transgenic tomato overexpressing gibberellin 20-oxidase reveals induction of parthenocarpic fruit growth, higher yield, and alteration of the gibberellin biosynthetic pathway. Journal of Experimental Botany, 63(16), 5803-5813. doi:10.1093/jxb/ers229Gasser, C. S., Broadhvest, J., & Hauser, B. A. (1998). 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(2005). Patterns of Auxin Transport and Gene Expression during Primordium Development Revealed by Live Imaging of the Arabidopsis Inflorescence Meristem. Current Biology, 15(21), 1899-1911. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2005.09.052Huang, H.-Y., Jiang, W.-B., Hu, Y.-W., Wu, P., Zhu, J.-Y., Liang, W.-Q., … Lin, W.-H. (2013). BR Signal Influences Arabidopsis Ovule and Seed Number through Regulating Related Genes Expression by BZR1. Molecular Plant, 6(2), 456-469. doi:10.1093/mp/sss070Khanna, R., Kronmiller, B., Maszle, D. R., Coupland, G., Holm, M., Mizuno, T., & Wu, S.-H. (2009). The Arabidopsis B-Box Zinc Finger Family. The Plant Cell, 21(11), 3416-3420. doi:10.1105/tpc.109.069088Li, Q.-F., Wang, C., Jiang, L., Li, S., Sun, S. S. M., & He, J.-X. (2012). An Interaction Between BZR1 and DELLAs Mediates Direct Signaling Crosstalk Between Brassinosteroids and Gibberellins in Arabidopsis. Science Signaling, 5(244), ra72-ra72. doi:10.1126/scisignal.2002908Mantegazza, O., Gregis, V., Mendes, M. A., Morandini, P., Alves-Ferreira, M., Patreze, C. M., … Colombo, L. (2014). Analysis of the arabidopsis REM gene family predicts functions during flower development. Annals of Botany, 114(7), 1507-1515. doi:10.1093/aob/mcu124La Rosa, N. M. -d., Sotillo, B., Miskolczi, P., Gibbs, D. J., Vicente, J., Carbonero, P., … Blazquez, M. A. (2014). Large-Scale Identification of Gibberellin-Related Transcription Factors Defines Group VII ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTORS as Functional DELLA Partners. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY, 166(2), 1022-1032. doi:10.1104/pp.114.244723Marín-de la Rosa, N., Pfeiffer, A., Hill, K., Locascio, A., Bhalerao, R. P., Miskolczi, P., … Alabadí, D. (2015). Genome Wide Binding Site Analysis Reveals Transcriptional Coactivation of Cytokinin-Responsive Genes by DELLA Proteins. PLOS Genetics, 11(7), e1005337. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1005337Matias-Hernandez, L., Battaglia, R., Galbiati, F., Rubes, M., Eichenberger, C., Grossniklaus, U., … Colombo, L. (2010). 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A Revised Medium for Rapid Growth and Bio Assays with Tobacco Tissue Cultures. Physiologia Plantarum, 15(3), 473-497. doi:10.1111/j.1399-3054.1962.tb08052.xNole-Wilson, S., Azhakanandam, S., & Franks, R. G. (2010). Polar auxin transport together with AINTEGUMENTA and REVOLUTA coordinate early Arabidopsis gynoecium development. Developmental Biology, 346(2), 181-195. doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2010.07.016Pagnussat, G. C. (2005). Genetic and molecular identification of genes required for female gametophyte development and function in Arabidopsis. Development, 132(3), 603-614. doi:10.1242/dev.01595Peng, J., Carol, P., Richards, D. E., King, K. E., Cowling, R. J., Murphy, G. P., & Harberd, N. P. (1997). The Arabidopsis GAI gene defines a signaling pathway that negatively regulates gibberellin responses . Genes & Development, 11(23), 3194-3205. doi:10.1101/gad.11.23.3194Plackett, A. R. G., Ferguson, A. C., Powers, S. J., Wanchoo‐Kohli, A., Phillips, A. L., Wilson, Z. A., … Thomas, S. G. (2013). 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Association between convalescent plasma treatment and mortality in COVID-19: a collaborative systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.

Funder: laura and john arnold foundationBACKGROUND: Convalescent plasma has been widely used to treat COVID-19 and is under investigation in numerous randomized clinical trials, but results are publicly available only for a small number of trials. The objective of this study was to assess the benefits of convalescent plasma treatment compared to placebo or no treatment and all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19, using data from all available randomized clinical trials, including unpublished and ongoing trials (Open Science Framework, https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/GEHFX ). METHODS: In this collaborative systematic review and meta-analysis, clinical trial registries (ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform), the Cochrane COVID-19 register, the LOVE database, and PubMed were searched until April 8, 2021. Investigators of trials registered by March 1, 2021, without published results were contacted via email. Eligible were ongoing, discontinued and completed randomized clinical trials that compared convalescent plasma with placebo or no treatment in COVID-19 patients, regardless of setting or treatment schedule. Aggregated mortality data were extracted from publications or provided by investigators of unpublished trials and combined using the Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman random effects model. We investigated the contribution of unpublished trials to the overall evidence. RESULTS: A total of 16,477 patients were included in 33 trials (20 unpublished with 3190 patients, 13 published with 13,287 patients). 32 trials enrolled only hospitalized patients (including 3 with only intensive care unit patients). Risk of bias was low for 29/33 trials. Of 8495 patients who received convalescent plasma, 1997 died (23%), and of 7982 control patients, 1952 died (24%). The combined risk ratio for all-cause mortality was 0.97 (95% confidence interval: 0.92; 1.02) with between-study heterogeneity not beyond chance (I2 = 0%). The RECOVERY trial had 69.8% and the unpublished evidence 25.3% of the weight in the meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Convalescent plasma treatment of patients with COVID-19 did not reduce all-cause mortality. These results provide strong evidence that convalescent plasma treatment for patients with COVID-19 should not be used outside of randomized trials. Evidence synthesis from collaborations among trial investigators can inform both evidence generation and evidence application in patient care

Biophysical interactions in tropical agroforestry systems

sequential systems, simultaneous systems Abstract. The rate and extent to which biophysical resources are captured and utilized by the components of an agroforestry system are determined by the nature and intensity of interac-tions between the components. The net effect of these interactions is often determined by the influence of the tree component on the other component(s) and/or on the overall system, and is expressed in terms of such quantifiable responses as soil fertility changes, microclimate modification, resource (water, nutrients, and light) availability and utilization, pest and disease incidence, and allelopathy. The paper reviews such manifestations of biophysical interactions in major simultaneous (e.g., hedgerow intercropping and trees on croplands) and sequential (e.g., planted tree fallows) agroforestry systems. In hedgerow intercropping (HI), the hedge/crop interactions are dominated by soil fertility improvement and competition for growth resources. Higher crop yields in HI than in sole cropping are noted mostly in inherently fertile soils in humid and subhumid tropics, and are caused by large fertility improvement relative to the effects of competition. But, yield increases are rare in semiarid tropics and infertile acid soils because fertility improvement does not offse

NUCLEAR FACTOR Y, Subunit C (NF-YC) Transcription Factors Are Positive Regulators of Photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana

We thank Dr. Ben Smith (University of Oklahoma) for assistance with FLIM-FRET measurements and Dr. Min Ni (University of Minnesota) for critical reading of the manuscript. The cop1-4 mutant allele and cop1-4 co-9 cross were kindly provided by George Coupland (Max Planck Institute).Author Summary Light perception is critically important for the fitness of plants in both natural and agricultural settings. Plants not only use light for photosynthesis, but also as a cue for proper development. As a seedling emerges from soil it must determine the light environment and adopt an appropriate growth habit. When blue and red wavelengths are the dominant sources of light, plants will undergo photomorphogenesis. Photomorphogenesis describes a number of developmental responses initiated by light in a seedling, and includes shortened stems and establishing the ability to photosynthesize. The genes regulating photomorphogenesis have been studied extensively, but a complete picture remains elusive. Here we describe the finding that NUCLEAR FACTOR-Y (NF-Y) genes are positive regulators of photomorphogenesis—i.e., in plants where NF-Y genes are mutated, they display some characteristics of dark grown plants, even though they are in the light. Our data suggests that the roles of NF-Y genes in light perception do not fit in easily with those of other described pathways. Thus, studying these genes promises to help develop a more complete picture of how light drives plant development.Yeshttp://www.plosgenetics.org/static/editorial#pee