Three Essays on Applied Human Behavioral Economics and Individual Choices

Abstract is needed to be added later

Of Maize and Markets: China’s New Corn Policy

In early 2013, farmers in Iowa and across the Midwest braced for a difficult corn market, with prices declining from $7/bushel in late 2012 to$4/bushel in early 2015, and finally settling at $3/bushel. Shielded from the world market, corn producers in China enjoyed a steady elevated corn price of almost$10/bushel from 2011 until 2015—largely a result of China’s obscure price floor corn policy. While China’s corn production is mainly used for domestic consumption, policy changes in China’s corn markets have trade implications for the global corn, beef, and pork sectors

Using Expert Knowledge to Understand Biosecurity Adoption Aimed at Reducing Tier 1 Disease Risks in the U.S. Livestock Industry

Using primary data from a survey of swine, beef cattle, and dairy industry experts in the United States, this study provides insights into adoption of biosecurity measures aimed at reducing Tier 1 disease risks. Experts believe the swine industry would see the highest and the beef cattle industry would see the lowest biosecurity adoption in the first year of a large Tier 1 disease outbreak. Risk reduction has a positive marginal effect on biosecurity adoption, and a firm’s own risk reduction matters as well as their closest neighbor’s risk reduction. Costs have a negative marginal effect on biosecurity adoption. A key reason explaining partial adoption might be that experts believe industry-wide biosecurity investment would likely bring benefits primarily to downstream sectors in the supply chain and producers would bare most of the costs. More educational materials available to explain Tier 1 disease risks and the benefits of risk mitigating biosecurity measures is found to be the least important factor for adoption and implementation of new, additional biosecurity measures. A producer or neighbor having personally experienced a Tier 1 disease on their operation, a producer’s view on their own likelihood of experiencing a Tier 1 disease given their current situation, and a producer’s view on effectiveness in reducing Tier 1 disease risks are found to be the most important factors. Understanding how several factors might impact biosecurity adoption aimed at reducing Tier 1 disease risks is necessary for the development of practices and policies that could reduce the impact of such disease incursions

Expert Views on Effectiveness, Feasibility, and Implementation of Biosecurity Measures for Mitigating Tier 1 Disease Risks in the U.S. Swine, Beef Cattle, and Dairy Industries

Understanding disease transmission routes and implications for biosecurity is critical to mitigating livestock disease outbreaks and maintaining efficient and profitable production. The goal of biosecurity is to eliminate pathogen exposure and minimize endemic pathogen impact, particularly important for foreign animal diseases that threaten U.S. animal health and the economy. We elicit swine, beef cattle, and dairy expert views on the effectiveness, feasibility, and implementation of both biosecurity measures targeting disease transmission routes and specific biosecurity measures. Biosecurity targeting direct animal-to-animal contact, semen, people, and vehicles and other fomites was identified as the most effective and feasible for the swine, beef cattle, and dairy industries. Efforts targeting airborne and arthropod transmission were ranked low for effectiveness and feasibility across all three industries. The swine industry had higher estimated implementation of biosecurity against most disease transmission routes. All-in and all-out production had the highest estimated implementation in the swine industry. In the beef cattle industry, performing daily observations by producer/employees had the highest estimated implementation. Reduced environmental viral load through pathogen reduction had the lowest estimated implementation in the swine and beef cattle industries. In the dairy industry, monitoring production records for health status changes had the highest estimated implementation, and line of separation in place for all employees entering premises had the lowest. Swine experts considered separation line for all animals entering/leaving premises and reduced environmental viral load through pathogen reduction the most and least effective and feasible, respectively. Stabilization and monitoring for affected premises and daily observations by producer/employees were identified as most effective and feasible by beef cattle and dairy experts, respectively. All-in and all-out production was rated least effective and feasible by both beef cattle and dairy experts

Effect of GARP on osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells via the regulation of TGFβ1 in vitro

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which have multipotential differentiation and self-renewal potential, are possible cells for tissue engineering. Transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) can be produced by MSCs in an inactive form, and the activation of TGFβ1 functions as an important regulator of osteogenic differentiation in MSCs. Recently, studies showed that Glycoprotein A repetitions predominant (GARP) participated in the activation of latent TGFβ1, but the interaction between GARP and TGFβ1 is still undefined. In our study, we successfully isolated the MSCs from bone marrow of rats, and showed that GARP was detected in bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). During the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs, GARP expression was increased over time. To elucidate the interaction between GARP and TGFβ1, we downregulated GARP expression in BMSCs to examine the level of active TGFβ1. We then verified that the downregulation of GARP decreased the secretion of active TGFβ1. Furthermore, osteogenic differentiation experiments, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity analyses and Alizarin Red S staining experiments were performed to evaluate the osteogenic capacity. After the downregulation of GARP, ALP activity and Alizarin Red S staining significantly declined and the osteogenic indicators, ALP, Runx2, and OPN, also decreased, both at the mRNA and protein levels. These results demonstrated that downregulated GARP expression resulted in the reduction of TGFβ1 and the attenuation of osteoblast differentiation of BMSCs in vitro

Protective role of curcumin in disease progression from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis

Background: Pathological progression from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to liver fibrosis (LF) to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common dynamic state in many patients. Curcumin, a dietary supplement derived from the turmeric family, is expected to specifically inhibit the development of this progression. However, there is a lack of convincing evidence.Methods: The studies published until June 2023 were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases. The SYstematic Review Center for Laboratory animal Experimentation (SYRCLE) approach was used to evaluate the certainty of evidence. StataSE (version 15.1) and Origin 2021 software programs were used to analyze the critical indicators.Results: Fifty-two studies involving 792 animals were included, and three disease models were reported. Curcumin demonstrates a significant improvement in key indicators across the stages of NAFLD, liver fibrosis, and HCC. We conducted a detailed analysis of common inflammatory markers IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, which traverse the entire disease process. The research results reveal that curcumin effectively hinders disease progression at each stage by suppressing inflammation. Curcumin exerted hepatoprotective effects in the dose range from 100 to 400 mg/kg and treatment duration from 4 to 10 weeks. The mechanistic analysis reveals that curcumin primarily exerts its hepatoprotective effects by modulating multiple signaling pathways, including TLR4/NF-κB, Keap1/Nrf2, Bax/Bcl-2/Caspase 3, and TGF-β/Smad3.Conclusion: In summary, curcumin has shown promising therapeutic effects during the overall progression of NAFLD–LF–HCC. It inhibited the pathological progression by synergistic mechanisms related to multiple pathways, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and apoptosis regulation

Inhibition of Endothelial Cell Proliferation and Tumor Angiogenesis by Up-Regulating NDRG2 Expression in Breast Cancer Cells

The N-myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (NDRG2) is involved in tumor cell differentiation and apoptosis, but its function in tumor angiogenesis remains to be established. Here, we employed adenovirus overexpressing NDRG2 (Ad-NDRG2) to efficiently up-regulate target gene expression in the NDRG2-low-expressing, breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Moreover, VEGF secretion was decreased in MCF-7 cells infected by Ad-NDRG2, and medium conditioned by these infected cells could significantly inhibit the proliferation, tube formation and invasion of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Further study indicated that the angiogenesis promoting factors VEGF and HIF-1α were down-regulated, whereas the angiogenesis suppressing factors p53 and VHL were up-regulated in MCF-7 cells infected by Ad-NDRG2. Finally, in a nude mouse model, intratumoral injections of Ad-NDRG2 every 3 days for 20 days significantly inhibited the growth and angiogenesis of xenografted MCF-7 tumors. In summary, these data indicate that NDRG2 may be involved in angiogenesis by impacting the expression of angiogenesis related factors. Thus, specific overexpression of NDRG2 by adenovirus represents a promising approach for the treatment of tumor angiogenesis

Three Essays on Applied Human Behavioral Economics and Individual Choices

Abstract is needed to be added later.</p

The Impact of Development Zones on Economic Growth in Less Developed Regions: Evidence from Guangxi, China

The development zone is an important institutional form of industrial spatial organization in China&rsquo;s economic transformation and is an essential growth pole of urban economic development. Based on the county-level panel data of Guangxi from 2005 to 2017, this study contributes to the discussion by exploring the effects of development zones on economic development in developed regions. Additionally, this study further attempts to illustrate the character of the agglomeration effect built on development zones and try to reveal the significant influence factors of the effect of development zones on the economy. Through the progressive difference-in-difference (DID) model approach, empirical results reveal that the development zone has a negative effect on the local economy within three years after its establishment, and the &ldquo;development zone fever&rdquo; significantly reduces the potential for regional economic growth. With the decrease in the established frequency of development zones, the effect of the development zone on economic growth becomes positive. However, this promoting effect is unsustainable because the agglomeration effect of development zones is mainly caused by the &ldquo;clusters of enterprises&rdquo;. Certain industrial agglomeration and technological capabilities are essential prerequisites for development zones to promote economic growth, while the negative impact appears in a highly competitive environment caused by excessive government intervention. Therefore, the key to maintaining the sustainability of development zones&rsquo; competition is to strengthen the assessment standard of survival of the fittest for enterprises, and promote the agglomeration of high-end industries by improving the selection effect of development zones. These findings have great potential in policy making and can be used as a resource by policymakers to promote the sustainable development of less developed regions