Effects of Government Research and Development Support Policies on Local Firms' Innovative Performance

This study basically focuses on the analysis of the net effect of the government R&D support program on the local firms' technology development and its performance. And then it examines whether and how much R&D raises the effects of local firms' technology development and its performance. It basically tries to investigate the net effect of government's R&D support policies. Especially, it focuses on analyzing the net effects of R&D support policies on the innovative performance of local firms in the Gyeongbuk area where these policies were implemented for the first time in Korea. And more specifically it evaluates the performance of the government R&D support policies, using the propensity score matching in order to control the unobserved heterogeneity. This study finally suggests the R&D support policy alternatives and gives some lessons to the other policies and areas

A Content Analysis Of Advertising Transitions: Impact Of Brand Name, Persona, And Appeals

Advertising has long been considered an element of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) tools and has played a crucial role in delivering messages that are reflected by various environmental situations. The authors of this paper posit that components of advertising including contents of messages, language, choice of persona and appeals are strongly affected by such environmental factors as social, cultural, and economic movements. Based on this consideration, this study investigates the trend in advertising markets by reflecting transitional market issues. In particular, this study investigates the effects of brand name, celebrities’ roles, age groups, gender, and advertising appeals. The purpose of the study is to investigate the following elements of advertising that are often affected by such recent transitions as social, cultural, and economic movements: i) effects of a brand name containing meanings; ii) effects of a brand name stemming from the native language; iii) effects of celebrities appearances in ads, iv) effects of age groups and the role of gender in the persona; and v) effects of advertising messages that include rational or emotional appeals. This study conducted content analysis by examining selected TV commercials and gives implications of how the effectiveness of advertising is related to the aforementioned environmental movements, emphasizing which issues should be considered for future advertising content

Human microglial cells synthesize albumin in brain

Albumin has been implicated in Alzheimer's disease since it can bind to and transport amyloid beta, the causative agent; albumin is also a potent inhibitor of amyloid beta polymerization. In a pilot phase study of Human Brain Proteome Project, we found evidence that albumin may be synthesized in immortalized human microglial cells, human primary microglial cells, and human fetal and adult brain tissues. We also found the synthesis and secretion is enhanced upon microglial activation by Amyloid [beta]~1-42~, lipopolysaccharide treatment or human Alzheimer's brain

Neo-Marxian social class inequalities in self-rated health among the employed in South Korea: the role of material, behavioral, psychosocial, and workplace environmental factors

Background The aim of this study was to examine the pattern of social inequality in self-rated health among the employed using the Wrights social class location indicator, and to assess the roles of material, behavioral, psychosocial, and workplace environmental factors as mediating factors in explaining the social class inequality in self-rated health in South Korea. Methods This study used data from the 4th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2009. Study subjects included the employed population of 4392 men and 3309 women aged 19–64 years. Subjects were classified into twelve social class positions based on the Wrights social class map. The health outcome was self-rated health. Material, psychosocial, behavioral, and workplace environmental factors were considered as potential mediators in explaining social class health inequality. We calculated prevalence ratios of poor self-rated health according to social class, adjusted for age and mediating factors using Poisson regression models. Results Nonskilled workers and petty bourgeoisie reported worse self-rated health than other social classes among men. The age-adjusted prevalence of petty bourgeoisie and nonskilled workers were about four-fold greater than that of managers. Expert supervisors in the contradictory class location had a greater prevalence of poor self-rated health than experts in men. In women, the prevalence of poor self-rated health was greater in most social classes than their male counterparts, while the differences among social classes within women were not statistically significant. Workplace environmental factors explained the social class inequality by from 24 to 31% in nonskilled and skilled workers and nonskilled supervisors, respectively, and material factors showed an explanatory ability of about 8% for both nonskilled workers and petty bourgeoisie in men. Conclusions We showed the inequality in self-rated health according to the Wrights social class in an industrialized Asian country. Policy efforts to improve workplace environments in nonskilled and skilled workers and nonskilled supervisors would have a moderate effect on reducing the magnitude of social class inequality in self-rated health. Furthermore, the means to improve power relations in the workplace should be devised to further reduce the social class inequalities in health

Intrapancreatic Accessory Spleen: Findings on MR Imaging, CT, US and Scintigraphy, and the Pathologic Analysis

Although the tail of the pancreas is the second most common site of an accessory spleen, intrapancreatic accessory spleen (IPAS) has rarely been noted radiologically. However, as the imaging techniques have recently advanced, IPAS will be more frequently detected as an incidental pancreatic nodule on CT or MRI. Because accessory spleens usually pose no clinical problems, it is important to characterize accessory spleens as noninvasively as possible. An IPAS has similar characteristics to those of the spleen on the precontrast and contrast-enhanced images of all the imaging modalities. In particular, inhomogeneous enhancement of an IPAS in its early phases may be a diagnostic clue. Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO)-enhanced MRI and Levovist-enhanced US, and the mechanisms of which are theoretically similar to that of Tc-99m scintigraphy, can be used as alternative tools to confirm the diagnosis of IPAS. An IPAS shows a significant signal drop similar to the spleen on the SPIO-enhanced T2 or T2*-weighted imaging and prolonged enhancement on the delayed hepatosplenic phase of contrast-enhanced US. We review and illustrate the differential points between IPAS and hypervascular pancreatic tumors in this manuscript

Erythropoietin Stimulates Tumor Growth via EphB4

While recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEpo) has been widely used to treat anemia in cancer patients, concerns about its adverse effects on patient survival have emerged. A lack of correlation between expression of the canonical EpoR and rhEpo’s effects on cancer cells prompted us to consider the existence of an alternative Epo receptor. Here, we identified EphB4 as an Epo receptor that triggers downstream signaling via STAT3 and promotes rhEpo induced tumor growth and progression. In human ovarian and breast cancer samples, expression of EphB4 rather than the canonical EpoR correlated with decreased disease-specific survival in rhEpo-treated patients. These results identify EphB4 as a critical mediator of erythropoietin-induced tumor progression and further provide clinically significant dimension to the biology of erythropoietin