Local Religiosity, Workplace Safety, and Firm Value

This paper examines the effect of local religiosity on employee treatment, proxied by workplace safety incidents. Using the establishment-level data compiling on the incidents of work-related injuries, we find that employees of the establishments in more religious counties get less injured than those in less religious counties. We further find that a reduction in occupational accidents is more evident for establishments in counties dominated by one religious denomination, strengthening our argument on community solidarity and homophily stemming from religious networks. Firms whose establishments are located in high religiosity counties are less likely to violate workplace conduct and more likely to take workplace safety measures. Moreover, firms with more work-related injuries exhibit poorer firm performance. Overall, our findings suggest that local religiosity has a value implication through human capital protection

A study of the anti-inflammatory effects of the ethyl acetate fraction of the methanol extract of Forsythiae fructus

Background: The dried fruit of Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl. (Oleaceae) are better known by their herbal name Forsythiae Fructus, and have a bitter taste, slightly pungent smell, and cold habit. FF has been widely used to treat symptoms associated with the lung, heart, and small intestine. Recently, bioactive compounds isolated from hydrophobic solvent fractions of FF have been reported to have anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, and anti-cancer effects. Traditionally, almost all herbal medicines are water extracts, and thus, extraction methods should be developed to optimize the practical efficacies of herbal medicines.Materials and Methods: In this study, the anti-inflammatory effects of the ethyl acetate fraction of the methanol extract of FF (FFE) were assessed by measuring NO and PGE2 production by and intracellular ROS and protein levels of iNOS and COX-2 in RAW 264.7 cells.Results: FFE inhibited COX-2 expression in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells.Conclusion: In summary, FFE effectively reduced intracellular ROS and NO levels and inhibited PGE2 production by downregulating COX-2 levels.Keywords: Forsythiae Fructus, herb, inflammation, efficacy

A soft sensor-based three-dimensional (3-D) finger motion measurement system

In this study, a soft sensor-based three-dimensional (3-D) finger motion measurement system is proposed. The sensors, made of the soft material Ecoflex, comprise embedded microchannels filled with a conductive liquid metal (EGaln). The superior elasticity, light weight, and sensitivity of soft sensors allows them to be embedded in environments in which conventional sensors cannot. Complicated finger joints, such as the carpometacarpal (CMC) joint of the thumb are modeled to specify the location of the sensors. Algorithms to decouple the signals from soft sensors are proposed to extract the pure flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction joint angles. The performance of the proposed system and algorithms are verified by comparison with a camera-based motion capture system.ope

A STUDY OF THE ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECTS OF THE ETHYL ACETATE FRACTION OF THE METHANOL EXTRACT OF FORSYTHIAE FRUCTUS

Background: The dried fruit of Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl. (Oleaceae) are better known by their herbal name Forsythiae Fructus, and have a bitter taste, slightly pungent smell, and cold habit. FF has been widely used to treat symptoms associated with the lung, heart, and small intestine. Recently, bioactive compounds isolated from hydrophobic solvent fractions of FF have been reported to have anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, and anti-cancer effects. Traditionally, almost all herbal medicines are water extracts, and thus, extraction methods should be developed to optimize the practical efficacies of herbal medicines. Materials and Methods: In this study, the anti-inflammatory effects of the ethyl acetate fraction of the methanol extract of FF (FFE) were assessed by measuring NO and PGE2 production byand intracellular ROS and protein levels of iNOS and COX-2in RAW 264.7 cells. Results: FFE inhibited COX-2 expression in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Conclusion: In summary, FFE effectively reduced intracellular ROS and NO levels and inhibited PGE2 production by down- regulating COX-2 levels

EFFECTS OF GLYCYRRHIZIN PRE-TREATMENT ON TRANSIENT ISCHEMIC BRAIN INJURY IN MICE

Background: Ischemia-induced brain damage is the leading cause of adult disability and the fifth leading cause of death, and thus, the development of anti-apoptotic neuro-protective therapeutic agents is viewed as an attractive developmental strategy. Glycyrrhizin is the main sweet component in licorice and has a number of pharmacological activities, which include neuro-protective, anti-fungal, and anti-cariogenic activities. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of glycyrrhizin on ischemia-induced brain damage. Materials and Methods: In infarct volumes and the levels of several apoptosis-related proteins, caspase-3, - 8, 9, Bcl-xL, Bcl-2,and their activities in the brains of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) treated mice were measured using western blotting methods. Results: Single pre-treatment with glycyrrhizin (10-100 mg/kg)at 2 hours before MCAO significantly reduced infarct volumes at 24h after MCAO. In addition, glycyrrhizin effectively inhibited the activations of caspase-3 and -9 and the down-regulation of Bcl-xLprotein caused by MCAO. Conclusion: The neuro-protective effect of glycyrrhizin was found to be due to its regulation of apoptosisrelated proteins signals.The authors suggest glycyrrhizin be considered a potential candidate for the treatment of ischemia induced brain damage

Autophagy pathway upregulation in a human iPSC-derived neuronal model of Cohen syndrome with VPS13B missense mutations

Significant clinical symptoms of Cohen syndrome (CS), a rare autosomal recessive disorder, include intellectual disability, facial dysmorphism, postnatal microcephaly, retinal dystrophy, and intermittent neutropenia. CS has been associated with mutations in the VPS13B (vacuolar protein sorting 13 homolog B) gene, which regulates vesicle-mediated protein sorting and transport; however, the cellular mechanism underlying CS pathogenesis in patient-derived neurons remains uncertain. This report states that autophagic vacuoles accumulate in CS fibroblasts and the axonal terminals of CS patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (CS iPSC)-derived neurons; additionally, autophagic flux was significantly increased in CS-derived neurons compared to control neurons. VPS13B knockout HeLa cell lines generated using the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system showed significant upregulation of autophagic flux, indicating that VSP13B may be associated with autophagy in CS. Transcriptomic analysis focusing on the autophagy pathway revealed that genes associated with autophagosome organization were dysregulated in CS-derived neurons. ATG4C is a mammalian ATG4 paralog and a crucial regulatory component of the autophagosome biogenesis/recycling pathway. ATG4C was significantly upregulated in CS-derived neurons, indicating that autophagy is upregulated in CS neurons. The autophagy pathway in CS neurons may be associated with the pathophysiology exhibited in the neural network of CS patients.This work was supported by National Research Foundation (NRF2017R1D1A3B03030972), the National Honor Scientist Program, the Korea Health Technology R&D Project (HI18C0158), and the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science & ICT (2017M3A9G7073521) to J.-A L

25th annual computational neuroscience meeting: CNS-2016

The same neuron may play different functional roles in the neural circuits to which it belongs. For example, neurons in the Tritonia pedal ganglia may participate in variable phases of the swim motor rhythms [1]. While such neuronal functional variability is likely to play a major role the delivery of the functionality of neural systems, it is difficult to study it in most nervous systems. We work on the pyloric rhythm network of the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion (STG) [2]. Typically network models of the STG treat neurons of the same functional type as a single model neuron (e.g. PD neurons), assuming the same conductance parameters for these neurons and implying their synchronous firing [3, 4]. However, simultaneous recording of PD neurons shows differences between the timings of spikes of these neurons. This may indicate functional variability of these neurons. Here we modelled separately the two PD neurons of the STG in a multi-neuron model of the pyloric network. Our neuron models comply with known correlations between conductance parameters of ionic currents. Our results reproduce the experimental finding of increasing spike time distance between spikes originating from the two model PD neurons during their synchronised burst phase. The PD neuron with the larger calcium conductance generates its spikes before the other PD neuron. Larger potassium conductance values in the follower neuron imply longer delays between spikes, see Fig. 17.Neuromodulators change the conductance parameters of neurons and maintain the ratios of these parameters [5]. Our results show that such changes may shift the individual contribution of two PD neurons to the PD-phase of the pyloric rhythm altering their functionality within this rhythm. Our work paves the way towards an accessible experimental and computational framework for the analysis of the mechanisms and impact of functional variability of neurons within the neural circuits to which they belong

Essays on Migration Flows and Finance

In the first essay, I examine stock market implications of state-to-state migration flows that are known to provide the basis for social and business networks. I observe sizeable and robust excess return comovement between migration-flow receiving and sending states at both the individual stock and the state portfolio levels. Although I find that migration flows are associated with firms’ business activities, this comovement is not fully explained by economic fundamentals and decreases substantially when firms relocate to other states. In line with the view that migration networks form the basis for a common investor base for receiving and sending states stocks, I find that a) receiving states account for a significant portion of sending states stocks’ trading volume, and b) migration comovement is strongly correlated with the percent of local population born in migration states and more prevalent in states where retail investors display “old home” bias in addition to local bias. Moreover, consistent with the view that migration comovement may be rooted in sentiment shared by a common investor base, I find that it coexists with mispricing, measured by stock return reversals. In the second essay, I test whether takeover targets are more likely to be connected to bidders via domestic migration network by relating acquisitions with the availability of social and business networks formed via interstate migration flows. I find that targets are more likely to be from the migration sending states when migration networks are sturdier. Additionally, I find that targets are more likely to be from migration sending states with stronger migration network a) when acquirer and targets are in different industries, b) when migration network involves non-neighboring states, and c) when targets are small. The results are consistent with the notion that information advantage is at least a partial explanation of firms’ propensity to choose targets from migration sending states, especially when information asymmetry about target is more pronounced. Moreover, I find that takeover premium is smaller and acquirer announcement returns are higher when migration sending states targets are small with low institutional ownership, which substantiate the view that migration networks present enhanced accessibility of soft information to acquirers and that the effect of such information advantage is valuable when there is substantial degree of information asymmetry regarding targets

Interstate migration-based social networks and M&A decisions

Acquisition decisions and outcomes are found to be associated with the availability of interstate migration-based social networks. The likelihood of bidders pursuing targets headquartered in migration sending states increases with these social networks’ size, in particular when (a) targets are in the same industry, (b) migration networks span distant states, and (c) targets are small. We also find smaller takeover premia and higher acquirer announcement returns in interstate transactions involving large migration networks. Our collective evidence is consistent with the notion that both enhanced expected synergies and information advantages may drive acquirers’ propensity to choose targets from migration sending states