China's remarkable economic transition and capacity for dynamic growth has stunned the world. Throughout the period of economic reform, China has been moving towards the creation of a labour market. ...The scale of this transformation is unprecedented. New economic incentives, vast labour migration, draconian retrenchment of state workers, and sharply rising wage inequality are all characteristic of this unique transition. Drawing on more than a decade of survey-based research, the authors systematically document and analyse this important transformation. They use economic and sociological theory, institutional analysis and political economy to fully explain the causes, pressures, obstacles and consequences of the move towards a labour market in China. It is argued that much progress has been made towards the creation of a labour market but that the process is far from complete. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance//toc.html
Inactivation of APC is a strongly predisposing event in the development of colorectal cancer, prompting the search for vulnerabilities specific to cells that have lost APC function. Signalling ...through the mTOR pathway is known to be required for epithelial cell proliferation and tumour growth, and the current paradigm suggests that a critical function of mTOR activity is to upregulate translational initiation through phosphorylation of 4EBP1 (refs 6, 7). This model predicts that the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin, which does not efficiently inhibit 4EBP1 (ref. 8), would be ineffective in limiting cancer progression in APC-deficient lesions. Here we show in mice that mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) activity is absolutely required for the proliferation of Apc-deficient (but not wild-type) enterocytes, revealing an unexpected opportunity for therapeutic intervention. Although APC-deficient cells show the expected increases in protein synthesis, our study reveals that it is translation elongation, and not initiation, which is the rate-limiting component. Mechanistically, mTORC1-mediated inhibition of eEF2 kinase is required for the proliferation of APC-deficient cells. Importantly, treatment of established APC-deficient adenomas with rapamycin (which can target eEF2 through the mTORC1-S6K-eEF2K axis) causes tumour cells to undergo growth arrest and differentiation. Taken together, our data suggest that inhibition of translation elongation using existing, clinically approved drugs, such as the rapalogs, would provide clear therapeutic benefit for patients at high risk of developing colorectal cancer.
Intratumoral hypoxia causes the formation of dysfunctional blood vessels, which contribute to tumor metastasis and reduce the efficacy of therapeutic treatments. Blood vessels are embedded in the ...tumor stroma of which cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) constitute a prominent cellular component. We found that hypoxic human mammary CAFs promoted angiogenesis in CAF-endothelial cell cocultures in vitro. Mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis of the CAF secretome unraveled that hypoxic CAFs contributed to blood vessel abnormalities by altering their secretion of various pro- and anti-angiogenic factors. Hypoxia induced pronounced remodeling of the CAF proteome, including proteins that have not been previously related to this process. Among those, the uncharacterized protein NCBP2-AS2 that we renamed HIAR (hypoxia-induced angiogenesis regulator) was the protein most increased in abundance in hypoxic CAFs. Silencing of HIAR abrogated the pro-angiogenic and pro-migratory function of hypoxic CAFs by decreasing secretion of the pro-angiogenic factor VEGFA and consequently reducing VEGF/VEGFR downstream signaling in the endothelial cells. Our study has identified a regulator of angiogenesis and provides a map of hypoxia-induced molecular alterations in mammary CAFs.
This paper is among the first to link the literatures on migration and on subjective well-being in developing countries. It poses the question: why do rural–urban migrant households settled in urban ...China have an average happiness score lower than rural households? Three basic hypotheses are examined: migrants had false expectations about their future urban conditions, or about their future urban aspirations, or about their future selves. Estimated happiness functions and decomposition analyses, based on a 2002 national household survey, indicate that certain features of migrant conditions make for unhappiness, and that their high aspirations in relation to achievement, influenced by their new reference groups, also make for unhappiness. Although the possibility of selection bias among migrants cannot be ruled out, it is apparently difficult for migrants to form unbiased expectations about life in a new and different world.
A national household survey for 2002, containing a specially designed module on subjective well-being, is used to estimate pioneering happiness functions in rural China. The variables that are ...predicted by economic theory to be important for happiness prove to be relatively unimportant. Our analysis suggests that we need to draw on psychology and sociology if we are to understand. Rural China is not a hotbed of dissatisfaction with life, possibly because most people are found to confine their reference groups to the village. Relative income within the village and relative income over time, both in the past and expected in the future, are shown to be important for current happiness, whereas current income is less so. Even amidst the poverty of rural China, attitudes, social comparisons and aspirations influence subjective well-being. The implications of the findings for the future and for policy are considered.
The paper examines the notion of a ‘developmental state’ and shows that China possesses the relevant characteristics. It explains the political economy which generated such a state in China. It ...analyses the institutions and methods that were introduced to create a developmental state, in particular the incentive structures that the leadership used to solve the principal‐agent problem implicit in having centralised political control but decentralised economic management. These include personnel policies, fiscal decentralisation and patronage relationships. That leads to a review of its successes, limitations and adverse consequences and to the question: can China's developmental state be sustained? Among these issues are the great socioeconomic changes that rapid economic growth has entailed – which have strengthened the case for broadening government policy objectives beyond the previous narrow focus on growth. Conclusions are drawn for both China and other developing countries.
Purpose
– This research aims to examine the use of emotional and rational advertising appeal regarding service options that differ in terms of their experience and credence properties and exploring ...the moderating role of individual difference in affect intensity on the consumers’ varying reliance on rational vs emotional appeals.
Design/methodology/approach
– Study 1 is a 2 (service type: restaurant vs dentist) × 2 (advertising appeal: emotional vs rational) between-subjects design. In total, 137 undergraduate students took part in this study. Study 2 is a 2 (service type: airline vs hospital) × 2 (advertising appeal: emotional vs rational) between-subjects design. In total, 84 MBA students were randomly assigned to each of the experimental conditions. Study 3 is a 2 (service type: airline vs hospital) × 2 (advertising appeal: rational vs emotional appeal) × 2 (affect intensity: high vs low) between-subjects design. The sample size was 170 undergraduates.
Findings
– The results of the first two studies provided support that an emotional advertising appeal led to a higher purchase intention in the experience service condition, while a rational message generated higher purchase intention in the credence service condition. Study 3 showed the moderating role of individual difference in affect intensity. High affect intensity individuals reported higher levels of brand favorability than did their low affect intensity counterparts when exposed to ads using emotional appeal. Conversely, subjects showed no significant differences in the intensity of their emotional responses when exposed to rational appeals.
Practical implications
– Our results suggest a strong need to tailor ads to fit different service categories. An emotional appeal would be more effective for experience services, and a rational appeal would be more effective for credence services. Besides, individual traits may also need to be considered when matching the appeal to the service type.
Originality/value
– This study makes an important contribution to the limited existing research by providing a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between advertising appeal and the type of service across different sub-categories, themes, individual trait and effectiveness measures. Specifically, the present research seeks to illuminate the relative effectiveness of emotional vs rational appeals in services advertising. In addition, the current research reveals new knowledge about the role that affect intensity plays in determining consumer responses to advertising.
We use a panel of over 116,000 Chinese firms of different ownership types over the period 2000–2007 to analyze the linkages between investment in fixed and working capital and financing constraints. ...We find that those firms characterized by high working capital display high sensitivities of investment in working capital to cash flow (WKS) and low sensitivities of investment in fixed capital to cash flow (FKS). We then construct and analyze firm-level FKS and WKS measures and find that, despite severe external financing constraints, those firms with low FKS and high WKS exhibit the highest fixed investment rates. This suggests that an active management of working capital may help firms to alleviate the effects of financing constraints on fixed investment.
Summary Background End-stage kidney disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Prevalence of the disease and worldwide use of renal replacement therapy (RRT) are expected to ...rise sharply in the next decade. We aimed to quantify estimates of this burden. Methods We systematically searched Medline for observational studies and renal registries, and contacted national experts to obtain RRT prevalence data. We used Poisson regression to estimate the prevalence of RRT for countries without reported data. We estimated the gap between needed and actual RRT, and projected needs to 2030. Findings In 2010, 2·618 million people received RRT worldwide. We estimated the number of patients needing RRT to be between 4·902 million (95% CI 4·438–5·431 million) in our conservative model and 9·701 million (8·544–11·021 million) in our high-estimate model, suggesting that at least 2·284 million people might have died prematurely because RRT could not be accessed. We noted the largest treatment gaps in low-income countries, particularly Asia (1·907 million people needing but not receiving RRT; conservative model) and Africa (432 000 people; conservative model). Worldwide use of RRT is projected to more than double to 5·439 million (3·899–7·640 million) people by 2030, with the most growth in Asia (0·968 million to a projected 2·162 million 1·571–3·014 million). Interpretation The large number of people receiving RRT and the substantial number without access to it show the need to both develop low-cost treatments and implement effective population-based prevention strategies. Funding Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.
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