The impact of CEO compensation on financial reporting quality

This study investigates the impact of CEO compensation on financial reporting quality. Using a sample of 1,500 listed U.S. firms, fiscal years from 2008 to 2016, I find that the percentage of CEO salary has a significantly negative association with the measure of financial reporting quality, the absolute value of the abnormal accruals (divided by total asset). In contrast, the percentage of CEO bonus and values of stock options are positively related to the abnormal accruals. This paper suggests that salary as a component of CEO compensation promotes high financial reporting quality but the CEO bonus and stock options lower the financial reporting quality

Marek’s Disease Virus Activates the PI3K/Akt Pathway Through Interaction of Its Protein Meq With the P85 Subunit of PI3K to Promote Viral Replication

It is known that viruses can active the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway in host cells to support cell survival and viral replication; however, the role of PI3K/Akt signaling in the pathogenic mechanisms induced by Marek’s disease virus (MDV) which causes a neoplastic Marek’s disease in poultry, remains unknown. In this study, we showed that MDV activated the PI3K/Akt pathway in chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs) at the early phase of infection, whereas treatment with a PI3K inhibitor LY294002 prior to MDV infection decreased viral replication and DNA synthesis. Flow cytometry analysis showed that inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathway could significantly increase apoptosis in MDV-infected host cells, indicating that activation of PI3K/Akt signaling could facilitate viral replication through support of cell survival during infection. Evaluation of the underlying molecular mechanism by co-immunoprecipitation and laser confocal microscopy revealed that a viral protein Meq interacted with both p85α and p85β regulatory subunits of PI3K and could induce PI3K/Akt signaling in Meq-overexpressing chicken fibroblasts. Our results showed, for the first time, that MDV activated PI3K/Akt signaling in host cells through interaction of its Meq protein with the regulatory p85 subunit of PI3K to delay cell apoptosis and promote viral replication. This study provides clues for further studies of the molecular mechanisms underlying MDV infection and pathogenicity for the host

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals cellular dynamics and therapeutic effects of astragaloside IV in slow transit constipation

The cellular characteristics of intestinal cells involved in the therapeutic effects of astragaloside IV (AS-IV) for treating slow transit constipation (STC) remain unclear. This study aimed to determine the dynamics of colon tissue cells in the STC model and investigate the effects of AS-IV treatment by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). STC mouse models were developed using loperamide, with subsequent treatment using AS-IV. Colon tissues and feces were collected for scRNA-seq and targeted short-chain fatty acid quantification. We integrated scRNA-seq data with network pharmacology to analyze the effect of AS-IV on constipation. AS-IV showed improvement in defecation for STC mice induced by loperamide. Notably, in STC mice, epithelial cells, T cells, B cells, and fibroblasts demonstrated alterations in cell proportions and aberrant functions, which AS-IV partially rectified. AS-IV has the potential to modulate the metabolic pathway of epithelial cells through its interaction with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ). AS-IV reinstated fecal butyrate levels and improved energy metabolism in epithelial cells. The proportion of naïve CD4+T cells is elevated in STC, and the differentiation of these cells into regulatory T cells (Treg) is regulated by B cells and fibroblasts through the interaction of ligand-receptor pairs. AS-IV treatment can partially alleviate this trend. The status of fibroblasts in STC undergoes alterations, and the FB_C4_Adamdec1 subset, associated with angiogenesis and the Wingless-related integration (Wnt) pathway, emerges. Our comprehensive analysis identifies perturbations of epithelial cells and tissue microenvironment cells in STC and elucidates mechanisms underlying the therapeutic efficacy of AS-IV

Multi-tissue integrative analysis of personal epigenomes

Evaluating the impact of genetic variants on transcriptional regulation is a central goal in biological science that has been constrained by reliance on a single reference genome. To address this, we constructed phased, diploid genomes for four cadaveric donors (using long-read sequencing) and systematically charted noncoding regulatory elements and transcriptional activity across more than 25 tissues from these donors. Integrative analysis revealed over a million variants with allele-specific activity, coordinated, locus-scale allelic imbalances, and structural variants impacting proximal chromatin structure. We relate the personal genome analysis to the ENCODE encyclopedia, annotating allele- and tissue-specific elements that are strongly enriched for variants impacting expression and disease phenotypes. These experimental and statistical approaches, and the corresponding EN-TEx resource, provide a framework for personalized functional genomics

The impact of CEO compensation on financial reporting quality

This study investigates the impact of CEO compensation on financial reporting quality. Using a sample of 1,500 listed U.S. firms, fiscal years from 2008 to 2016, I find that the percentage of CEO salary has a significantly negative association with the measure of financial reporting quality, the absolute value of the abnormal accruals (divided by total asset). In contrast, the percentage of CEO bonus and values of stock options are positively related to the abnormal accruals. This paper suggests that salary as a component of CEO compensation promotes high financial reporting quality but the CEO bonus and stock options lower the financial reporting quality

Enhanced Thermal Insulation and Flame-Retardant Properties of Polyvinyl Alcohol-Based Aerogels Composited with Ammonium Polyphosphate and Chitosan

Polyvinyl alcohol- (PVA-) based aerogels have attracted widespread attention owing to their low cost, eco-friendliness, and low density. However, the applications of PVA-based aerogels are limited by their flammability. In this study, a flame retardant, ammonium polyphosphate (APP), and a biopolymer, chitosan (CS), were added to polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and the polymer was further crosslinked using boric acid (H3BO3). In the PVA aerogels, the negatively charged APP and positively charged CS formed a polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) through ionic interaction. Cone calorimetry and vertical burning tests (UL-94) indicated that the PVA composite aerogels have excellent flame retardancy; they could decrease the heat release rate, total heat release rate, and carbon dioxide (CO2) generation. Both PVA/H3BO3 and APP-CS in the composite aerogel could be burned to carbon, and the foamed char layer could act together to impart the PVA composite aerogels with good flame retardancy. Further, the decrease in the temperature at the backside of the aerogels with increasing APP-CS content, as determined by the flame-spraying experiment, indicated that the PVA-based aerogels with APP-CS can also serve as thermal insulation materials. This work provides an effective and promising method for the preparation of PVA-based aerogels with good flame retardancy and thermal insulation property for construction materials

Context-Aware HCI Service Selection

Context-awareness has become a key issue in Human-Computer Interaction(HCI) to provide better user experience under multi-device and multi-modal environment. With this intuition, we have proposed a web service based framework, which associates interactions with services, and provided service selection mechanism using context knowledge to achieve smart interaction migration [1]. A fundamental problem of such a service-oriented framework for interaction migration is to design an effective while scalable algorithm for service selection. In this paper, we propose a service selection algorithm considering not only context information and user preferences but also inter-service relations such as relative location. Our algorithm detects interaction hot spots within user active scope and presents the best service combination based on evaluation of interaction effectiveness. We also conduct simulation and the results illustrate that our algorithm is effective and scalable for interaction service selection

The safety and efficacy of transluminal injection of foam sclerotherapy after endovenous thermal ablation in varicose veins with large trunk: A retrospective cohort study

CONTEXT: Closure rate of endovenous thermal ablation is limited by the trunk diameter of great saphenous vein. AIMS: This study aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of transluminal injection of foam sclerotherapy (TLFS) after thermal ablation in improving the closure rate of primary varicose veins with large trunk. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study with 170 patients (189 legs), the outcomes of varicose veins patients treated with thermal ablation plus injection of sclerotherapy were compared with those treated with thermal ablation only. The primary outcome of this study was the rate of ablated segment closure after surgery and during patient follow-up. Propensity score matching model was used to eliminate the bias. RESULTS: After matching, 75 legs (65 patients) from the thermal ablation plus sclerotherapy group and 71 legs (66 patients) from the thermal ablation only group were further analyzed. The closure rate of the thermal ablation plus sclerotherapy group was 97.3%, which was significantly higher than that of the thermal ablation only group (87.3%, P = 0.048), and the closure rate of the thermal ablation plus sclerotherapy group remained higher during 1-year follow-up. No serious complications were observed in groups. CONCLUSIONS: TLFS can improve the efficacy of thermal ablation, increasing the closure rate of the ablation segment, and thus improving the symptoms