Risk-Adjusted Inside Debt

Compensation theory holds that executive aggression is related to both the level and riskiness of “inside debt” - promises from firms to pay their executives fixed sums of cash in the future, including pensions and deferred compensation. However, previous researchers have only examined the level of inside debt. We provide an inside debt metric that is conceptually superior to previously used metrics, as it incorporates the riskiness of inside debt. For the entire sample, our metric offers modest improvement in fit over past metrics, where the dependent variable is future equity return volatility. Furthermore, the relation between future volatility and our risk-adjusted inside debt metric is more prominent for non-investment grade firms, firms experiencing credit rating downgrades, and firms with high credit risk

Oral Administration of Alkylglycerols Differentially Modulates High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity and Insulin Resistance in Mice

Alkylglycerols (AKGs) from shark liver oil (SLO) were demonstrated to have strong potency to stimulate immune response. However, no study has been conducted on the effects of AKGs on diet-induced obesity and metabolic inflammatory disorder. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of two AKGs isoforms on obesity and insulin resistance in mice fed high-fat (HF) diet. Forty-eight C57BL/6 mice were divided into normal, HF, HF+20 mg/kg selachyl alcohol (SA), HF+200 mg/kg SA, HF+20 mg/kg batyl alcohol (BA), and HF+200 mg/kg BA groups. Body weight, fasting glucose, lipids, insulin and leptin levels, serum IL-1β, and TNF-α levels were compared among different groups. Our results showed that high-dose SA decreased body weight, serum triglyceride, cholesterol, fasting glucose level, insulin level, and serum leptin level of the HF fed mice, while high-dose BA increased fasting insulin level of the HF fed mice. Pretreatment of primary adipocytes with 10 μM SA or BA differentially modulates LPS-mediated MAPK and NF-κB signaling. Our study demonstrated that oral administration of AKGs has differential effects on HF-induced obesity and metabolic inflammatory disorder in mice

Yesassociated protein (yap) is required for early embryonic development in zebrafish (Danio rerio

Abstract The hippo (Hpo) signaling pathway plays a critical role in regulation of organ size. The kinase cascade ultimately antagonizes the transcriptional co-activator Yki/YAP, which is a key regulator of cell proliferation and apoptosis. In this study, we performed a knocking down study using antisense morpholino (MO) reagents and found that zebrafish YAP, a key transcriptional co-activator of Hpo pathway, plays a critical role in early embryonic development. At the cellular level, yap inhibition increases apoptosis and decreases cell proliferation. Reduction of yap function severely delays several developmental events, including gastrulation, cardiogenesis and hematopoiesis. Knockdown of yap showed some evidence of ventralization, including reduction of dorsally expressed marker goosecoid (gsc), expansion of ventral marker gata2, disruption of the somites, and reduction in head size. Finally, we performed a preliminary analysis with real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for the candidate targets of zebrafish Hpo pathway. In conclusion, our results revealed that zebrafish yap coordinately regulates cell proliferation and apoptosis and is required for dorsoventral axis formation, gastrulation, cardiogenesis, hematopoiesis, and somitogenesis

The association between serum albumin and depressive symptoms: a cross-sectional study of NHANES data during 2005–2018

Abstract Aims The association between serum albumin and depressive symptoms has been unclear in previous epidemiological studies. We explored whether serum albumin is associated with depressive symptoms based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data. Methods This cross-sectional study included 13,681 participants aged ≥ 20 years from the NHANES performed during 2005–2018, which produced nationally representative database. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Serum albumin concentration was measured using the bromocresol purple dye method, and participants were divided into quartiles of serum albumin concentrations. Weighted data were calculated according to analytical guidelines. Logistics regression and linear regression models were used to assess and quantify the association between serum albumin and depressive symptoms. Univariate and stratified analyses were also performed. Results There were 1551 (10.23%) adults (aged ≥ 20 years) with depressive symptoms among the 13,681. A negative association was found between serum albumin concentration and depressive symptoms. Compared with the lowest albumin quartile, the multivariate-adjusted effect size (95% confidence interval) for depressive symptoms of the fully adjusted model in the highest albumin quartile was 0.77 (0.60 to 0.99) and − 0.38 (− 0.66 to − 0.09) using logistics regression and linear regression models respectively. Current smoking status modified the association between serum albumin concentration and PHQ-9 scores (p for interaction = 0.033). Conclusion This cross-sectional study revealed that albumin concentration is significantly more likely to be a protective factor for depressive symptoms, with the association being more pronounced in non-smokers

Reading comprehension and metalinguistic knowledge in Chinese readers: a meta-analysis

Metalinguistic knowledge has a facilitative effect on reading comprehension. This meta-analysis examined the relationship between metalinguistic knowledge and reading comprehension among Chinese students. By focusing on both Chinese and English scripts’ reading comprehension performance, this study synthesized 46 studies with 73 independent samples that represented 10,793 Chinese students from primary school to university levels. We found that, in both Chinese and English scripts’ reading, morphological awareness had the strongest correlation with reading comprehension, whereas both phonological awareness and orthographical skill had a similar medium correlation with reading comprehension. All three metalinguistic knowledge, which was not significantly influenced by the selected moderators of grade group, area, language type, and assessment, had an independent correlation with reading comprehension. The results suggested that reading stages did not significantly impact the function of metalinguistic knowledge on both Chinese and English scripts’ reading comprehension for Chinese students’. In addition, for Chinese students, morphological awareness plays a more important role than phonological awareness and orthographical skill in both Chinese and English scripts’ reading comprehension

Identification of Cyclic Dipeptides from Escherichia coli as New Antimicrobial Agents against Ralstonia Solanacearum

Ralstonia solanacearum is a causative agent of bacterial wilt in many important crops throughout the world. How to control bacterial wilt caused by R. solanacearum is a major problem in agriculture. In this study, we aim to isolate the biocontrol agents that have high efficacy in the control of bacterial wilt. Three new bacterial strains with high antimicrobial activity against R. solanacearum GMI1000 were isolated and identified. Our results demonstrated that these bacteria could remarkably inhibit the disease index of host plant infected by R. solanacearum. It was indicated that strain GZ-34 (CCTCC No. M 2016353) showed an excellent protective effect to tomato under greenhouse conditions. Strain GZ-34 was characterized as Escherichia coli based on morphology, biochemistry, and 16S rRNA analysis. We identified that the main antimicrobial compounds produced by E. coli GZ-34 were cyclo(l-Pro-d-Ile) and cyclo(l-Pro-l-Phe) using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. The two active compounds also interfered with the expression levels of some pathogenicity-contributors of R. solanacearum. Furthermore, cyclo(l-Pro-l-Phe) effectively inhibited spore formation of Magnaporthe grisea, which is a vital pathogenesis process of the fungal pathogen, suggesting cyclic dipeptides from E. coli are promising potential antimicrobial agents with broad-spectrum activity to kill pathogens or interfere with their pathogenesis