Cadmium-Induced Oxidative Stress and Apoptotic Changes in the Testis of Freshwater Crab, Sinopotamon henanense

Cadmium (Cd), one of the most toxic environmental and industrial pollutants, is known to exert gonadotoxic and spermiotoxic effects. In the present study, we examined the toxic effect of Cd on the testis of freshwater crab, Sinopotamon henanense. Crabs were exposed to different Cd concentrations (from 0 to 116.00 mg·L−1) for 7 d. Oxidative stress and apoptotic changes in the testes were detected. The activities of SOD, GPx and CAT initially increased and subsequently decreased with increasing Cd concentrations, which was accompanied with the increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) and H2O2 content in a concentration-dependent manner. Typical morphological characteristic and physiological changes of apoptosis were observed using a variety of methods (HE staining, AO/EB double fluorescent staining, Transmission Electron Microscope observation and DNA fragmentation analysis), and the activities of caspase-3 and caspase-9 were increased in a concentration-dependent manner after Cd exposure. These results led to the conclusion that Cd could induced oxidative damage as well as apoptosis in the testis, and the apoptotic processes may be mediated via mitochondria-dependent apoptosis pathway by regulating the activities of caspase-3 and caspase-9

Financial decisions and growth opportunities: a Spanish firm's panel data analysis

This paper analyses the influence of financial leverage decisions, dividend payout policies and the ownership structure on the firm market value when companies either face, or do not face, profitable growth opportunities. A sample of 101 large non-financial publicly-traded Spanish companies is used. The results confirm the relevance of debt and dividends in terms of firm value creation by showing a negative relationship between firm value and both leverage and dividend payments in the presence of growth opportunities. On the contrary, this relationship turns out to be positive when firms have no profitable investment projects. The results also demonstrate the relevance of ownership structure in the allocation of firm resources.

Non-Linearity in the Determinants of Capital Structure: Evidence from UK Firms

Capital structure, Quantile regression method, UK, G32, C29,

Contrarian strategies and investor overreaction under price limits

Equity Markets, Price Limits, Investor Overreaction, Contrarian Strategy, G11, G14, G18,

Protein Kinase Cδ Negatively Regulates Hedgehog Signaling by Inhibition of Gli1 Activity*

Constitutive activation of the hedgehog pathway is implicated in the development of many human malignancies; hedgehog targets, PTCH1 and Gli1, are markers of hedgehog signaling activation and are expressed in most hedgehog-associated tumors. Protein kinase Cδ (PKCδ) generally slows proliferation and induces cell cycle arrest of various cell lines. In this study, we show that activated PKCδ (wild-type PKCδ stimulated by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate or constitutively active PKCδ) decreased Gli-luciferase reporter activity in NIH/3T3 cells, as well as the endogenous hedgehog-responsive gene PTCH1. In human hepatoma (i.e. Hep3B) cells, wild-type PKCδ and constitutively active PKCδ decreased the expression levels of endogenous Gli1 and PTCH1. In contrast, PKCδ siRNA increased the expression levels of these target genes. Silencing of PKCδ by siRNA rescued the inhibition of cell growth by KAAD-cyclopamine, an antagonist of hedgehog signaling element Smoothened, suggesting that PKCδ acts downstream of Smoothened. The biological relevance of our study is shown in hepatocellular carcinoma where we found that hepatocellular carcinoma with detectable hedgehog signaling had weak or no detectable expression of PKCδ, whereas PKCδ highly expressing tumors had no detectable hedgehog signaling. Our results demonstrate that PKCδ alters hedgehog signaling by inhibition of Gli protein transcriptional activity. Furthermore, our findings suggest that, in certain cancers, PKCδ plays a role as a negative regulator of tumorigenesis by regulating hedgehog signaling

The Ethical Dimension of Management Ownership in China

Management ownership has ethical consequences because it has an interest alignment effect or an entrenchment effect. In this paper, we investigate the ethical consequences of management ownership in China using accounting conservatism as the direct measure of entrenchment and alignment between shareholders and managers. We argue and find that the ethical effect of management ownership differs significantly in firms with different ultimate controlling shareholders. Specifically, management ownership in non-state-owned enterprises (NSOEs) has an alignment effect, while management ownership has less of an alignment effect in state-owned enterprises than in NSOEs. These results show that the ethical consequences of management ownership are moderated by the nature of ultimate controlling ownership