Value Relevance of the Multi-step Income Statement in Japan

This paper investigates the relationship between value relevance of the multi-step income statement and managerial opportunistic behavior. In Japan, net income is disclosed by three steps, i.e., 1) operating profits from core operating activity, 2) ordinary income, measured by adding gains and losses from non-core operating and financing activities to operating profits, and 3) net income that is bottom line performance in the income statement. While Japanese firms achieve income smoothing, loss avoidance and big bath, the managerial opportunistic behavior is simply identified by the observation of multi performance measures. We find that the firms doing income smoothing, loss avoidance and big bath, which are identified by the multi-step income statement, have the different value relevance of earnings from other firms. In many cases, earnings management decreases the value relevance of earnings. The results suggest that the multi-step income statement enables investors to detect earnings management without apparent difficulty and that earnings become more useful when investors use the information contained in it.

"Value Relevance of the Multi-step Income Statement in Japan"

This paper investigates the relationship between value relevance of the multi-step income statement and managerial opportunistic behavior. In Japan, net income is disclosed by three steps, i.e., 1) operating profits from core operating activity, 2) ordinary income, measured by adding gains and losses from non-core operating and financing activities to operating profits, and 3) net income that is bottom line performance in the income statement. While Japanese firms achieve income smoothing, loss avoidance and big bath, the managerial opportunistic behavior is simply identified by the observation of multi performance measures. We find that the firms doing income smoothing, loss avoidance and big bath, which are identified by the multi-step income statement, have the different value relevance of earnings from other firms. In many cases, earnings management decreases the value relevance of earnings. The results suggest that the multi-step income statement enables investors to detect earnings management without apparent difficulty and that earnings become more useful when investors use the information contained in it.

Prevention of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Development Associated with Chronic Hepatitis by Anti-Fas Ligand Antibody Therapy

A persistent immune response to hepatitis viruses is a well-recognized risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the molecular and cellular basis for the procarcinogenic potential of the immune response is not well defined. Here, using a unique animal model of chronic hepatitis that induces hepatocellular carcinogenesis, we demonstrate that neutralization of the activity of Fas ligand prevented hepatocyte apoptosis, proliferation, liver inflammation, and the eventual development of hepatocellular carcinoma. The results indicate that Fas ligand is involved not only in direct hepatocyte killing but also in the process of inflammation and hepatocellular carcinogenesis in chronic hepatitis. This is the first demonstration that amelioration of chronic inflammation by some treatment actually caused reduction of cancer development

Caspase-8-and JNK-dependent AP-1 activation is required Fas Ligand-induced IL-8 production

Division of Immunology and Molecular Biolog

Caspase-8- and JNK-dependent AP-1 activation is required for Fas ligand-induced IL-8 production

Despite a dogma that apoptosis does not induce inflammation, Fas ligand (FasL), a well-known death factor, possesses pro-inflammatory activity. For example, FasL induces nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activity and interleukin 8 (IL-8) production by engagement of Fas in human cells. Here, we found that a dominant negative mutant of c-Jun, a component of the activator protein-1 (AP-1) transcription factor, inhibits FasL-induced AP-1 activity and IL-8 production in HEK293 cells. Selective inhibition of AP-1 did not affect NF-κB activation and vice versa, indicating that their activations were not sequential events. The FasL-induced AP-1 activation could be inhibited by deleting or introducing the lymphoproliferation (lpr)-type point mutation into the Fas death domain (DD), knocking down the Fas-associated DD protein (FADD), abrogating caspase-8 expression with small interfering RNAs, or using inhibitors for pan-caspase and caspase-8 but not caspase-1 or caspase-3. Furthermore, wildtype, but not a catalytically inactive mutant, of caspase-8 reconstituted the FasL-induced AP-1 activation in caspase-8-deficient cells. Fas ligand induced the phosphorylation of two of the three major mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs): extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) but not p38 MAPK. Unexpectedly, an inhibitor for JNK but not for MAPK/ERK kinase inhibited the FasL-induced AP-1 activation and IL-8 production. These results demonstrate that FasL-induced AP-1 activation is required for optimal IL-8 production, and this process is mediated by FADD, caspase-8, and JNK. © 2007 The Authors

Fasリガンドの炎症誘導作用の分子機構の解析

金沢大学がん進展制御研究所我々は昨年度の公募研究でFasリガンド導入したがん細胞を同系マウスの腹腔に移植すると、著名な好中球の浸潤を誘導すること、Fasリガンドは炎症細胞(主に好中球)にアポトーシス誘導すると同時に、IL-1βの活性化と放出を引き起こし、in vivoではこのIL-1βが炎症を増強しているらしいことを示した。さらに、Fasリガンド刺激により不活性化型のIL-1βが活性型に転換される際に、よく知られるIL-1β converting enzym (ICE)は必要でないことが示された。そこで本研究では、まず、FasリガンドによりIL-1βが活性化される際に働く蛋白分解酵素を同定するため、種々の阻害剤を用いてその特性を検討した。その結果、FasリガンドによるIL-1βの活性化にはカスペース以外にキモトリプシン様のセリンプロテアーゼが関与していると考えられ、異なるグループに属する蛋白分解酵素のカスケード反応の結果、IL-1βの転換が起こることが示唆された。一方、Fasリガンドには膜型と、それがメタロプロテアーゼによって分解されて生じる可溶型が存在するが、Fasリガンドの延症誘導活性、腫瘍拒絶促進活性にはどちらの型のFasリガンドが働いているかを検討した。その結果、これらの活性には主に膜型が働いていることが明らかになった。in vitroの実験から示唆されているような可溶型Fasリガンドの好中球に対する直接的な走化因子活性は、in vivoでは検出されなかった。研究課題/領域番号:11140224, 研究期間(年度):1999出典：「Fasリガンドの炎症誘導作用の分子機構の解析」研究成果報告書　課題番号11140224（KAKEN：科学研究費助成事業データベース（国立情報学研究所））（https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/ja/grant/KAKENHI-PROJECT-11140224/)を加工して作