This study extends prior studies by analyzing how business strategies affect corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement. Studies in the business strategy and compensation literature further ...investigate whether firms have superior CSR if they tend to align their compensation with their company's overall strategy. This tendency would tend to encourage firms to make their investment decisions on the basis of a long‐term sustainability development perspective. The data consist of a broad cross‐section of companies and industries in the United States for the 2003–2012 period. To avoid a potential endogenous effect, a two‐stage instrumental variables regression is also adopted in this study. It is found that the prospector business strategy has a strong positive association with CSR. In addition, CEOs with short‐term compensation have less incentive to invest in CSR if their firms adopt a defender strategy. The opposite is true for the prospector group, suggesting that sometimes, misfits may also produce good CSR outcomes.
Go for gold: As‐prepared insulin–Au nanoclusters (NCs) show intense red fluorescence, excellent biocompatibility, and preservation of natural insulin bioactivity in lowering the blood‐glucose level. ...Their versatility in applications is demonstrated by fluorescence imaging, X‐ray computed tomography, and insulin–inhibitor interactions (see picture; IDE=insulin‐degrading enzyme).
We report on the exceptional application of polyaniline/graphene composites (PAGCs) for corrosion protection of steel. The composites display outstanding barrier properties against O2 and H2O ...compared with neat polyaniline and polyaniline/clay composites (PACCs). The conductive filler, 4-aminobenzoyl group-functionalized graphene-like sheets (ABF-G) with a relatively higher aspect ratio than organophilic clay nonconductive fillers, is a versatile platform for polymer grafting that promotes better dispersion of the graphite within the polymer matrix and lengthens the diffusion pathway that gases should effectively encounter. This concept can be used for other polymer/graphene composites.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the common long-term degenerative disorders that primarily affect motor systems. Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are common in individuals with PD and often present ...before motor symptoms. It has been found that gut dysbiosis to PD pathology is related to the severity of motor and non-motor symptoms in PD. Probiotics have been reported to have the ability to improve the symptoms related to constipation in PD patients. However, the evidence from preclinical or clinical research to verify the beneficial effects of probiotics for the motor functions in PD is still limited. An experimental PD animal model could be helpful in exploring the potential therapeutic strategy using probiotics. In the current study, we examined whether daily and long-term administration of probiotics has neuroprotective effects on nigrostriatal dopamine neurons and whether it can further alleviate the motor dysfunctions in PD mice. Transgenic MitoPark PD mice were chosen for this study and the effects of daily probiotic treatment on gait, beam balance, motor coordination, and the degeneration levels of dopaminergic neurons were identified. From the results, compared with the sham treatment group, we found that the daily administration of probiotics significantly reduced the motor impairments in gait pattern, balance function, and motor coordination. Immunohistochemically, a tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive cell in the substantia nigra was significantly preserved in the probiotic-treated PD mice. These results showed that long-term administration of probiotics has neuroprotective effects on dopamine neurons and further attenuates the deterioration of motor dysfunctions in MitoPark PD mice. Our data further highlighted the promising possibility of the potential use of probiotics, which could be the relevant approach for further application on human PD subjects.
The insurance business is characterized by complicated transactional interrelationships among various stakeholders involved in insurance-related activities. Given this unique nature, the century-old ...challenge in the insurance industry is to effectively reduce transaction costs among the stakeholders while maintaining business privacy and trust. Although blockchain is a promising technology to mitigate this challenge, two technical issues, namely (1) inefficiency in data auditing and (2) difficulty in verifying encrypted data, are of strategic importance when applying blockchain to the insurance industry. To address these technical challenges, we propose an innovative blockchain-based technical model, InsurModel, in the context of newly initiated long-term care insurance in China. Specifically, we utilize cryptographical methods including "zero-knowledge-proof" to 1) represent business interdependence and 2) verify confidential business information without disclosure of specifics. We demonstrate the scalability and applicability of InsurModel and explore its strategic implications in constraining adverse behaviors of the stakeholders.
Abstract
Biohybrid neural interfaces (BHNIs) are a new class of neuromodulating devices that integrate neural microelectrode arrays (MEAs) and cell transplantation to improve treatment of nerve ...injuries and disorders. However, current BHNI devices are made from abiotic materials that are usually bio‐passive, non‐biodisintegratable, or rigid, which restricts encapsulated cell activity and host nerve reconstruction and frequently leads to local tissue inflammation. Herein, the first MEA composed of all disintegratable hydrogel tissue scaffold materials with synergistic performances of tissue conformal adhesiveness, MEA technologies, tissue scaffolding and stem cell therapy on a time scale appropriate for nerve tissue repair is proposed. In particular, the MEA conductive tracks are made from extracellular matrix (ECM)‐based double‐cross‐linked dual‐electrically conductive hydrogel (ECH) systems with robust tissue‐mimicking chemical/physical properties, electrical conductivity, and an affinity for neural progenitor stem cells. Meanwhile, the MEA hydrogel substrate prepared from transglutaminase‐incorporated gelatin/silk precursors simultaneously promotes gelation and interfacial adhesion between all MEA stacks, leading to rapid and scalable device integration. When the full hydrogel MEA is subjected to various mechanical stimuli and moisture, it is structurally stable with a low impedance (4 ± 3 kΩ) comparable to a recently reported benchmark. With seamless lamination around peripheral nerve fibers, the device permits successive neural signal monitoring for wound condition evaluation, while demonstrating synergistic effects of spatiotemporally controlled electrical stimulation and cell transplantation to accelerate restoration of motor function. This BHNI is completely degraded by 1 month thus eliminating the need for surgical retrieval to stably remain, interact, and further fuse with host tissues, successfully exhibiting compatible integration of biology and an implanted electrical system.
Abstract
The identification and interpretation of genomic variants play a key role in the diagnosis of genetic diseases and related research. These tasks increasingly rely on accessing relevant ...manually curated information from domain databases (e.g. SwissProt or ClinVar). However, due to the sheer volume of medical literature and high cost of expert curation, curated variant information in existing databases are often incomplete and out-of-date. In addition, the same genetic variant can be mentioned in publications with various names (e.g. 'A146T' versus 'c.436G>A' versus 'rs121913527'). A search in PubMed using only one name usually cannot retrieve all relevant articles for the variant of interest. Hence, to help scientists, healthcare professionals, and database curators find the most up-to-date published variant research, we have developed LitVar for the search and retrieval of standardized variant information. In addition, LitVar uses advanced text mining techniques to compute and extract relationships between variants and other associated entities such as diseases and chemicals/drugs. LitVar is publicly available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CBBresearch/Lu/Demo/LitVar.
Various injectants are available for the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. This systematic review and network meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of different injection ...therapies in alleviating the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. Various databases were searched for relevant studies from inception until May 10, 2023. Eligible studies were identified using the patient (P), intervention (I), comparison (C), and outcomes (O) model, which involved (P) participants with carpal tunnel syndrome, (I) an intervention based on injection therapy, (C) the use of placebo or another injectant as a control treatment, and (O) the measurement of clinical and electrodiagnostic outcomes of interest. A total of 18 studies were included in the analysis. The network meta-analysis revealed that platelet-rich plasma is effective in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome in terms of symptom and pain relief and functional improvement in both the short and long term, whereas steroids are effective only in the short term. Additionally, injections of dextrose solution may offer long-term pain relief as well as short- and long-term symptom alleviation and functional improvement. The study findings suggest that platelet-rich plasma should be used as the first-line treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome, with dextrose and steroids serving as alternative treatment options.
One of the main applications of wireless sensor networks is to provide proper coverage of their deployment regions. A wireless sensor network k-covers its deployment region if every point in its ...deployment region is within the coverage ranges of at least k sensors. In this paper, we assume that the sensors are deployed as either a Poisson point process or a uniform point process in a square or disk region, and study how the probability of the k-coverage changes with the sensing radius or the number of sensors. Our results take the complicated boundary effect into account, rather than avoiding it by assuming the toroidal metric as done in the literature.
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and is associated with adverse outcomes. The study aimed to identify a miRNA signature for the early diagnosis ...of post-AMI AKI.
A total of 108 patients admitted to a coronary care unit (CCU) were divided into four subgroups: AMI
AKI
, AMI
AKI
, AMI
AKI
, and AMI
AKI
. Thirty-six miRNA candidates were selected based on an extensive literature review. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR analysis was used to determine the expression levels of these miRNAs in the serum collected on the day of CCU admittance. TargetScan 7.1 and miRDB databases were used for target prediction and Metacore 6.13 was used for pathway analysis.
Through a stepwise selection based on abundance, hemolytic effect and differential expression between four groups, 9 miRNAs were found to have significantly differential expression levels as potential biomarkers for post-AMI AKI specifically. Noticeably, the expression levels of miR-24, miR-23a and miR-145 were significantly down-regulated in AMI
AKI
patients compared to those in AMI
AKI
patients. Combination of the three miRNAs as a panel showed the best performance in the early detection of AKI following AMI (AUC = 0.853, sensitivity 95.65%), compared to the analysis of serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (AUC = 0.735, sensitivity 63.16%). Furthermore, bioinformatic analysis indicated that these three miRNAs regulate the transforming growth factor beta signaling pathway and involve in apoptosis and fibrosis in AKI.
For the first time, this study identify a unique circulating miRNA signature (miR-24-3p, miR-23a-3p, miR-145-5p) that can potentially early detect AKI following AMI and may be involved in renal injury and fibrosis in post-AMI AKI pathogenesis.
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