Abstract This article surveys corporate governance in China, as described in a growing literature published in top journals. Unlike the classical vertical agency problems in Western countries, the ...dominant agency problem in China is the horizontal agency conflict between controlling and minority shareholders arising from concentrated ownership structure; thus one cannot automatically apply what is known about the USA to China. As these features are also prevalent in many other countries, insights from this survey can also be applied to countries far beyond China. We start by describing controlling shareholder and agency problems in China, and then discuss how law and institutions are particularly important for China, where controlling shareholders have great power. As state-owned enterprises have their own features, we separately discuss their corporate governance. We also briefly discuss corporate social responsibility in China. Finally, we provide an agenda for future research.
This paper provides a modern overview of corporate governance in China and in doing so highlights many corporate governance features and issues that are, for the most part, unique to China. We also ...describe how papers in this special issue advance our understanding of corporate governance in China and in general.
This paper provides a modern overview of capital markets, financial institutions, and corporate finance in China. In our discussions, we highlight and describe what is unique to China. We also ...describe how papers in the Special Issue advance our understanding of financial markets, institutions, and corporate finance in China and in general.
Family-firm risk-taking: Does religion matter? Jiang, Fuxiu; Jiang, Zhan; Kim, Kenneth A. ...
Journal of corporate finance (Amsterdam, Netherlands),
08/2015, Letnik:
33
Journal Article
Recenzirano
We propose that family firms with religious founders have less risk than other family firms. Using a sample of 4159 family firms in China, we find that firms founded by religious entrepreneurs have ...lower leverage and less investment in fixed and intangible assets compared to firms founded by nonreligious entrepreneurs. These findings are consistent with our proposition. However, these findings primarily hold for entrepreneurs who adhere to Western religions but not to Eastern religions. As such, our paper makes important contributions to the literature on family-firms and their risk-taking and the literature on the relation between religion and risk aversion.
Display omitted
•Hypersensitivity mechanisms underlie autoimmune disease development.•Treatments for autoimmunity focus on managing downstream effects & symptoms.•Targeting upstream mechanisms (e.g., ...self-tolerance) can prevent/eliminate disease.•Hydrogel-based drug delivery can improve outcomes and may minimize off-target effects.•Advances may be made through combinatorial therapies and smart material selection.
A robust adaptive immune response is essential for combatting pathogens. In the wrong context such as due to genetic and environmental factors, however, the same mechanisms crucial for self-preservation can lead to a loss of self-tolerance. Resulting autoimmunity manifests in the development of a host of organ-specific or systemic autoimmune diseases, hallmarked by aberrant immune responses and tissue damage. The prevalence of autoimmune diseases is on the rise, medical management of which focuses primarily on pharmacological immunosuppression that places patients at a risk of side effects, including opportunistic infections and tumorigenesis. Biomaterial-based drug delivery systems confer many opportunities to address challenges associated with conventional disease management. Hydrogels, in particular, can protect encapsulated cargo (drug or cell therapeutics) from the host environment, afford their presentation in a controlled manner, and can be tailored to respond to disease conditions or support treatment via multiplexed functionality. Moreover, localized delivery to affected sites by these approaches has the potential to concentrate drug action at the site, reduce off-target exposure, and enhance patient compliance by reducing the need for frequent administration. Despite their many benefits for the management of autoimmune disease, such biomaterial-based approaches focus largely on the downstream effects of hypersensitivity mechanisms and have a limited capacity to eradicate the disease. In contrast, direct targeting of mechanisms of hypersensitivity reactions uniquely enables prophylaxis or the arrest of disease progression by mitigating the basis of autoimmunity. One promising approach is to induce self-antigen-specific tolerance, which specifically subdues damaging autoreactivity while otherwise retaining the normal immune responses. In this review, we will discuss hydrogel-based systems for the treatment of autoimmune disease, with a focus on those that target hypersensitivity mechanisms head-on. As the field continues to advance, it will expand the range of therapeutic choices for people coping with autoimmune diseases, providing fresh prospects for better clinical outcomes and improved quality of life.
Background
In order to correct upper lid laxity, upper blepharoplasty, subbrow excision, and forehead lift have been utilized. Our newly developed subbrow excision attaches the orbicularis oculi ...muscle to the frontalis muscle. This improves the longevity of the result without inhibiting the gliding plane of the periorbita.
Method
From January 2016 to July 2018, 564 patients were operated on using this technique. Among them, 41 were male and 523 were female with the average age of 59.5 years. The average size of the subbrow excision was 55 mm × 8 mm. From the upper skin incision site, the upper dissection proceeded cephalad in the subcutaneous plane just above the orbicularis oculi muscle to the point where the frontalis muscle was seen. The lower flap was created by incising the orbicularis oculi muscle 5 mm cephalad to the distal skin incision. From this 5-mm orbicularis muscle stump, the dissection proceeded caudally in a plane between the orbicularis muscle and the orbital septum. Once this flap was created, the 5-mm muscle stump was attached to the exposed frontalis muscle in a horizontal mattress fashion in three areas. The skin incision was then closed. Three months after the operation, a satisfaction survey was conducted using the Likert scale.
Results
The patients were followed postoperatively for at least 6 months. In all but two cases, the orbital laxity improved. However, in the brow’s lateral third where the frontalis muscle does not exist, a slight lowering of the brow had occurred. The incision healed well without any keloid or hypertrophic scars. There were no significant complications such as superior orbital nerve entrapment-related sensory problems.
Conclusions
Subbrow lift utilizing the frontalis muscle attachment to the lower flap orbicularis muscle is a novel method of correcting upper eyelid skin hooding. The technique does not rely on periosteal fixation. Therefore, the eyebrow gliding plane is not violated. Thus, the natural eyebrow movement is maintained. There were no cases of injury to the deep branch of the supraorbital nerve, poor wound healing, or other significant complications.
Level of Evidence IV
This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors
www.springer.com/00266
.
We study whether a firm's social connections to banks can augment its political connections to help it obtain loans. In China, Regulation No. 18 (announced in 2013) prohibits all high-level ...government officials from being independent directors of firms. As a result, many firms lost their political connections. We find that after firms lose their politically connected independent directors, firms having no social connections to banks experience, on average, a 12% decrease in the bank loan ratio relative to the median ratio; but those whose board chairs or CEOs are socially connected to local bank branch heads experience a 22% increase in the loan ratio relative to the median. However, this positive effect is short lived and thus not a new equilibrium. Overall, our findings support the hypothesis that a firm's social connections to banks can augment its political connections to help it get bank financing.
Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are the fastest growing racial group in the United States. Data on AAPI communities, however, are significantly limited. The oversimplification and ...underreporting of this ethnically and socioeconomically heterogenous population through the use of aggregated data has deleterious effects and worsens disparities in patient treatment, outcomes, and experiences. Gynecologic oncology disparities do not exist in a vacuum, and are rooted in larger cultural gaps in our understanding and delivery of healthcare. In this paper, we aim to demonstrate how AAPI data inequities have negative downstream effects on research and public health policies and initiatives, and also provide a call to action with specific recommendations on how to improve AAPI data equity within these realms.
•Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) data inequities stem from over-aggregation and limited granular data collection.•Lack of disaggregated data masks health disparities leading to ineffective policies and resource allocation.•Improved data collection and community-oriented initiatives are crucial for health equity.
To estimate the annual percentage of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) who could be eligible for and benefit from PARP inhibitor therapy amidst changing US Food and Drug Administration ...(FDA)-approved indications.
This is a simulated retrospective observational study using publicly available data on patients with advanced-stage EOC. PARPi eligibility is based on FDA approvals and withdrawals from 2014 through 2023, along with published demographic and genomic data. Clinical trial data is used to estimate treatment benefit. PARPi including olaparib, niraparib, and rucaparib are analyzed in aggregate with sub-analyses by molecular classification and treatment timing. Results are reported as the percentage of EOC patients appropriate for any cancer-directed therapy.
PARPi were approved for 9 different indications in EOC between 2014 and 2021; reduced to 6 indications by 2023. Eligibility increased from 2.0% (95% CI,1.3%–1.6%) in 2014 to a maximum of 93.4% (95% CI,90.1%–94.6%) in 2021. The maximum percentage of patients with 2-year PFS benefit was 22.0% (95% CI, 17.2%–26.8%) in 2021, projected to decrease to 13.0% (95% CI, 9.9%–15.9%) in 2024. Most of this decrease was seen in the homologous recombination deficient, BRCA wild-type population (8.4% to 4.0%).
PARPi eligibility increased at a greater rate than benefit resulting in a low population-level benefit-to-eligibility ratio until 2021. Recent FDA withdrawals improved this ratio with an accompanied decrease in the absolute number of patients benefiting. To further optimize population-level benefit-to-eligibility ratio of targeted therapies in ovarian cancer, we need to identify better biomarkers, treatment combinations, and novel therapeutic targets.
Display omitted
•PARP inhibitor eligibility in ovarian cancer increased at a greater rate than benefit until 2021.•The greatest difference between eligibility and benefit is seen in the homologous recombination proficient population.•By our estimates, ovarian cancer PARP inhibitor benefit increased to 22% by 2021− projected to decrease to 13% in 2024.•To further increase benefit from targeted therapies we need to identify better biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets.
PDF
