Corruption and Technological Innovation in Private Small-Medium Scale Companies: Does Female Top Management Play a Role?

Common acts of corruption such as bribery and informal payments are virtually illegal everywhere and prevalent in every corner of the world. This paper aims to contribute to the literature by considering the influences of corruption and female top management on the likelihood of technological innovation by using a nationwide survey and a sample of private small-medium sized companies (SMCs) in China. Interestingly, we find that female top managers have less enthusiasm for innovation than their male counterparts. Corruption, when measured by informal payments, poses a positive effect on the possibility of innovation after controlling for firm-level characteristics. However, female executives may weaken the positive innovation effects caused by corruption. Furthermore, one of our implied findings is that a firm with a female top manager is less likely to engage in corruption because this may raise the costs of doing business without any benefits for innovation. The results collectively illustrate the role that female top management and corrupt actions have in shaping innovative activities of private SMCs, and suggest that bribe-combating actions in firms are necessary, such as a framework for rationalizing the proportion of female executives involved in management

Variable Topology Structure Design and Topology Analysis of a Variable-degree-of-freedom Single-loop Mechanism

The degree of freedom of a special single-loop mechanism will change after passing through some special positions, which will lead to the change of its topology, kinematics/dynamics performance, and it is suitable for different application backgrounds. Firstly, a single-loop parallel mechanism composed of eight rotating pairs (R) is studied and designed, which has three motion modes: two degrees of freedom, four degrees of freedom and three degrees of freedom respectively, corresponding to three mechanisms. Then, the three main topological characteristics of the mechanism, such as position and orientation characteristic, degree of freedom and coupling degree, are analyzed and calculated in three motion modes, and the stability and transferability of the topological structures of the three mechanisms are analyzed. At the same time, the forward and inverse position solutions of the mechanism in motion modes 1 and 3 are analyzed. The work in this research provides a foundation for the research of reconfigurable parallel mechanisms based on this single-loop mechanism unit with variable degrees of freedom

Anti-Allergic Compounds from the Deep-Sea-Derived Actinomycete Nesterenkonia flava MCCC 1K00610

A novel cyclic ether, nesterenkoniane (1), was isolated from the deep-sea-derived actinomycete Nesterenkonia flava MCCC 1K00610, together with 12 known compounds, including two macrolides (2, 3), two diketopiperazines (4, 5), two nucleosides (6, 7), two indoles (8, 9), three phenolics (10–12), and one butanol derivate (13). Their structures were established mainly on detailed analysis of the NMR and MS spectroscopic data. All 13 compounds were tested for anti-allergic activities using immunoglobulin E (IgE) mediated rat mast RBL-2H3 cell model. Under the concentration of 20 μg/mL, 1 exhibited moderate anti-allergic activity with inhibition rate of 9.86%, compared to that of 37.41% of the positive control, loratadine. While cyclo(d)-Pro-(d)-Leu (4) and indol-3-carbaldehyde (8) showed the most potent effects with the IC50 values of 69.95 and 57.12 μg/mL, respectively, which was comparable to that of loratadine (IC50 = 35.01 μg/mL). To the best of our knowledge, it is the first report on secondary metabolites from the genus of Nesterenkonia

Pre- and intra-operative predictors of postoperative hospital length of stay in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer in China: a retrospective observational study

Abstract Background Hospital length of stay (LOS) has recently been receiving increasing attention as a marker of medical resource consumption. Identifying predictors of longer LOS can better equip doctors to counsel patients and facilitate more efficient patient flow and utilization of medical resources. The objective of this study was to identify pre- and intra-operative risk factors for postoperative hospital LOS in patients who had undergone radical prostatectomy in China. Methods We retrospectively analyzed data of 793 eligible patients with prostate cancer who had undergone radical prostatectomy in our institution between January 2011 and March 2016. Relevant preoperative variables, including patient characteristics, medical comorbidities, prostate cancer disease-specific variables, urinary tract symptoms, preoperative laboratory values, and intraoperative variables including operation type, operation duration, and blood loss, were analyzed. The outcome was postoperative length of stay which was calculated as the time from the date of operation to the date of discharge. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify predictors of this outcome. Results The mean postoperative LOS was 11.7 days (±4.6 days) and the median 10 days (range, 5–46 days). According to univariate and multivariate analysis, operation type (open or laparoscopic), blood loss, Gleason score (≥8) and preoperative laboratory values of white blood count (WBC) were found to be the main explanatory predictors of postoperative LOS of patients with prostate cancer in our institution. Additionally, open surgery was the strongest significant predictor of longer LOS according to the standardized coefficients in this model. Conclusions Our findings indicate that significant predictors of longer postoperative LOS in patients who have undergone radical prostatectomy in China include both preoperative variables of Gleason score, WBC and intraoperative variables of operation type (open or laparoscopic), blood loss. To shorten hospital LOS in patients with prostate cancer and optimize utilization of Chinese medical resources, efforts should be made to improve the intraoperative process and reduce the prevalence of preoperative risk factors

中国10个地区成年人慢性肾脏病流行情况及其生活方式影响因素 [Prevalence of chronic kidney disease and its association with lifestyle factors in adults from 10 regions of China]

Objective To investigate the distribution of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in participants from the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) study and evaluate the association between lifestyle risk factors and CKD. Methods Based on the baseline survey data and follow-up data (as of December 31, 2018) of the CKB study, the differences in CKD cases' area and population distributions were described. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to estimate the association between lifestyle risk factors and the risk of CKD. Results A total of 505 147 participants, 4 920 cases of CKD were recorded in 11.26 year follow up with a incidence rate of 83.43/100 000 person-years. Glomerulonephropathy was the most common type. The incidence of CKD was higher in the urban area, men, and the elderly aged 60 years and above (87.83/100 000 person-years, 86.37/100 000 person-years, and 132.06/100 000 person-years). Current male smokers had an increased risk for CKD compared with non-smokers or occasional smokers ( HR=1.18, 95% CI: 1.05-1.31). The non-obese population was used as a control group, both general obesity determined by BMI ( HR=1.19, 95% CI: 1.10-1.29) and central obesity determined by waist circumference ( HR=1.27, 95% CI: 1.19-1.35) were associated with higher risk for CKD. Conclusion The risks for CKD varied with area and population in the CKB cohort study, and the risk was influenced by multiple lifestyle factors

Prenatal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and hyperactivity behavior in Chinese young children

This study aimed to examine the association between prenatal environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure and hyperactivity behaviors in young children. A cross-sectional study was undertaken among 21,243 participants from all of the kindergartens in Longhua District of Shenzhen, China. Multivariate logistic regression models and hierarchical linear models were employed to assess the associations. After adjusting for potential confounders of gender, preterm birth, birth asphyxiation, etc., prenatal ETS exposure was significantly associated with an increased risk of hyperactivity behaviors in young children (OR (95% CI) = 1.51 (1.28–1.77); β (95% CI) = 0.017 (0.013–0.020)). Along with increases in children’s prenatal ETS exposure dose (measured by daily ETS exposure duration, daily cigarette consumption by household members, and overall score of prenatal ETS exposure), the children were also increasingly more likely to exhibit hyperactivity behaviors. Furthermore, children whose mothers had prenatal ETS exposure in any one or more of the pregnancy trimesters were more likely to exhibit hyperactivity behaviors as compared with those born to non-exposure mothers (all p < 0.05). Overall, prenatal ETS exposure could be associated with a detrimental impact on offspring’s hyperactivity behaviors, and public health efforts are needed to reduce prenatal ETS exposure

Polyketides from the Deep-Sea-Derived Fungus <i>Graphostroma</i> sp. MCCC 3A00421 Showed Potent Antifood Allergic Activities

To discover antifood allergic components from deep-sea-derived microorganisms, we performed a systematic chemical investigation of the Atlantic hydrothermal fungus <i>Graphostroma</i> sp. MCCC 3A00421. Consequently, nine new (<b>1–9</b>) and 19 known (<b>10–28</b>) polyketides were isolated. The planar structures of the new compounds were elucidated mainly by detailed analysis of their nuclear magnetic resonance and high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry data, while the absolute configurations were established using the modified Mosher’s method in association with electronic circular dichroism spectra. Graphostrin A (<b>1</b>) is a novel chlorinated polyketide derivate bearing an oxazole moiety. All isolates were tested for antifood allergic bioactivities in immunoglobulin E-mediated rat basophilic leukemia-2H3 cells. Reticulol (<b>10</b>) significantly decreased the rates of degranulation and histamine release with IC₅₀ values of 13.5 and 13.7 μM, respectively, suggesting reticulol could be a potential antifood allergic medicine

IbeR Facilitates Stress-Resistance, Invasion and Pathogenicity of Avian Pathogenic <i>Escherichia coli</i>

<div><p>Systemic infections by avian pathogenic <i>Escherichia coli</i> (APEC) are economically devastating to poultry industries worldwide. IbeR, located on genomic island GimA, was shown to serve as an RpoS-like regulator in <i>rpoS</i> gene mutation neonatal meningitis <i>E</i>. <i>coli </i>(NMEC) RS218. However, the role of IbeR in pathogenicity of APEC carrying active RpoS has not yet been investigated. We showed that the APEC IbeR could elicit antibodies in infected ducks, suggesting that IbeR might be involved in APEC pathogenicity. To investigate the function of IbeR in APEC pathogenesis, mutant and complementation strains were constructed and characterized. Inactivation of <i>ibeR</i> led to attenuated virulence and reduced invasion capacity towards DF-1 cells, brains and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>. Bactericidal assays demonstrated that the mutant strain had impaired resistance to environmental stress and specific pathogen-free (SPF) chicken serum. These virulence-related phenotypes were restored by genetic complementation. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR revealed that IbeR controlled expression of stress-resistance genes and virulence genes, which might led to the associated virulence phenotype.</p></div