Search

Charitable donations are an important manifestation of corporate social responsibility. Current research focuses on the economic effects of corporate donations while ignoring their legal effects in the litigation field. This paper utilizes litigation and arbitration data from A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2008 to 2021 to investigate the impact and mechanism of charitable donations on the litigation duration of listed companies. The study finds that: (1) Charitable donation behavior can significantly shorten the litigation duration of listed companies. (2) This effect is particularly significant when listed companies are plaintiffs, but not significant when they are defendants. (3) The negative relationship between charitable donations of listed companies and litigation duration is achieved through reputation mechanisms. (4) This effect is more significant for listed companies located in the Northeast region and regions with a lower degree of marketization when facing civil and arbitration cases. (5) Additionally, by constructing panel data on whether companies are involved in litigation and as defendants, it is shown that corporate charitable donations not only have the function of "compensating" reputation but also serve as a kind of "insurance" for reputation. After robustness tests and overcoming endogeneity issues, the above conclusions still hold. This paper clarifies the implicit interaction mechanism between listed companies and judicial departments, enriches research in the field of organizational reputation theory, and is of significant importance for deeply understanding the motivation of corporate charitable donations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficiently obtaining full-length cDNA for a target gene is the key step for functional studies and probing genetic variations. However, almost all sequenced domestic animal genomes are not ‘finished’. Many functionally important genes are located in these gapped regions. It can be difficult to obtain full-length cDNA for which only partial amino acid/EST sequences exist. In this study we report a general pipeline to obtain full-length cDNA, and illustrate this approach for one important gene (Ovocleidin-17, OC-17) that is associated with chicken eggshell biomineralization. Chicken OC-17 is one of the best candidates to control and regulate the deposition of calcium carbonate in the calcified eggshell layer. OC-17 protein has been purified, sequenced, and has had its three-dimensional structure solved. However, researchers still cannot conduct OC-17 mRNA related studies because the mRNA sequence is unknown and the gene is absent from the current chicken genome. We used RNA-Seq to obtain the entire transcriptome of the adult hen uterus, and then conducted de novo transcriptome assembling with bioinformatics analysis to obtain candidate OC-17 transcripts. Based on this sequence, we used RACE and PCR cloning methods to successfully obtain the full-length OC-17 cDNA. Temporal and spatial OC-17 mRNA expression analyses were also performed to demonstrate that OC-17 is predominantly expressed in the adult hen uterus during the laying cycle and barely at immature developmental stages. Differential uterine expression of OC-17 was observed in hens laying eggs with weak versus strong eggshell, confirming its important role in the regulation of eggshell mineralization and providing a new tool for genetic selection for eggshell quality parameters. This study is the first one to report the full-length OC-17 cDNA sequence, and builds a foundation for OC-17 mRNA related studies. We provide a general method for biologists experiencing difficulty in obtaining candidate gene full-length cDNA sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective control strategy for migratory pests is difficult to implement because the cause of infestation (i.e., immigration or local reproduction) is often not established. In particular, the outbreak mechanisms of the brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), an insect causing massive losses in rice fields in the Yangtze River Delta in China, are frequently unclear. Field surveys of N. lugens were performed in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces in 2008 to 2010 and related historical data from 2003 onwards were collected and analyzed to clarify the cause of these infestations. Results showed that outbreaks of N. lugens in the Yangtze River Delta were mostly associated with an extremely high increase in population. Thus, reproduction rather than immigration from distant sources were the cause of the infestations. Although mass migration occurred late in the season (late August and early September), the source areas of N. lugens catches in the Yangtze River Delta were mainly located in nearby areas, including the Yangtze River Delta itself, Anhui and northern Jiangxi Provinces. These regions collectively form the lower-middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the late migration can thus be considered as an internal bioflow within one population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N,N′-Dinitrosopiperazine (DNP) is invovled in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) development and metastasis, and it shows organ specificity to the nasopharyngeal epithelium. Herein, we demonstrate that DNP induces heat-shock protein (HSP) 70-2 expression in NPC cells (6-10B) at a non-cytotoxic concentration. DNP induced HSP70-2 expression in a dose- and time- dependent manner, but showed no effect on other HSP70 family members. Furthermore, DNP also increased HSP70-2 RNA transcription through directly binding to the hypoxia-responsive elements (HRE) and heat shock elements (HSE) located in the HSP70-2 promoter. DNP-mediated HSP70-2 expression might act through enhancing the transcription of HSP70-2 RNA. Importantly, DNP induced motility and invasion of 6-10B cells dose- and time-dependently, and DNP-mediated NPC metastasis was confirmed in nude mice, which showed high HSP70-2 expression in the metastatic tumor tissue. However, the motility and invasion of NPC cells that were stably transfected using short interfering RNA against HSP70-2 could not effectively induce DNP. These results indicate that DNP induces HSP70-2 expression through increasing HSP70-2 transcription, increases the motility and invasion of cells, and promotes NPC tumor metastasis. Therefore, DNP mediated HSP70-2 expression may be an important factor of NPC-high metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sensitive and innovative assay system based on a micro-MEMS-fluxgate sensor and immunomagnetic beads-labels was developed for the rapid analysis of C-reactive proteins (CRP). The fluxgate sensor presented in this study was fabricated through standard micro-electro-mechanical system technology. A multi-loop magnetic core made of Fe-based amorphous ribbon was employed as the sensing element, and 3-D solenoid copper coils were used to control the sensing core. Antibody-conjugated immunomagnetic microbeads were strategically utilized as signal tags to label the CRP via the specific conjugation of CRP to polyclonal CRP antibodies. Separate Au film substrates were applied as immunoplatforms to immobilize CRP-beads labels through classical sandwich assays. Detection and quantification of the CRP at different concentrations were implemented by detecting the stray field of CRP labeled magnetic beads using the newly-developed micro-fluxgate sensor. The resulting system exhibited the required sensitivity, stability, reproducibility, and selectivity. A detection limit as low as 0.002 μg/mL CRP with a linearity range from 0.002 μg/mL to 10 μg/mL was achieved, and this suggested that the proposed biosystem possesses high sensitivity. In addition to the extremely low detection limit, the proposed method can be easily manipulated and possesses a quick response time. The response time of our sensor was less than 5 s, and the entire detection period for CRP analysis can be completed in less than 30 min using the current method. Given the detection performance and other advantages such as miniaturization, excellent stability and specificity, the proposed biosensor can be considered as a potential candidate for the rapid analysis of CRP, especially for point-of-care platforms.

Background: Artemisinin and its derivatives were reported to possess strong regulatory effects on inflammation and autoimmune diseases. This study was designed to examine the therapeutic effects and underlying mechanisms of SM934, a water-soluble artemisinin analogue, on lupus-prone female NZB × NZW F(1) mice., Methodology/principal Findings: NZB/W F(1) mice were treated orally with SM934 for 3 or 6 months respectively to investigate the effect on clinical manifestations and immunological correlates. To further explore the mechanisms of SM934, ovalbumin (OVA)-immunized or interferon (IFN)-γ-elicited C57BL/6 mice were used. In vivo, treatment with SM934 for 3 or 6 months significantly delayed the progression of glomerulonephritis and increased the survival rate of NZB/W F(1) mice. Clinical improvement was accompanied with decreased Th1-related anti-double-strand DNA (dsDNA) IgG2a and IgG3 Abs, serum interleukin (IL)-17, and increased Th2-related anti-dsDNA IgG1 Ab, serum IL-10 and IL-4. SM934 treatment also suppressed the accumulation of effector/memory T cells, induced the apoptosis of CD4(+) T cells, while enhancing the development of regulatory T cells in NZB/W F(1) mice. In addition, SM934 treatment promoted the IL-10 production of macrophages from NZB/W F(1) mice, OVA-immunized C57BL/6 mice and IFN-γ-elicited C57BL/6 mice. In vitro, SM934 enhanced IL-10 production from primary macrophages stimulated with IFN-γ., Conclusions/significance: The results of this study demonstrated that artemisinin analogue SM934 had therapeutic effects on lupus-prone female NZB/W F(1) mice by inhibiting the pathogenic helper T cell development and enhancing anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 production.