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Based on data from prospectuses of GEM listed companies in China, the signaling effect of pre-listing dividend distribution policy is investigated. If the dividend signaling effect exists in Chinese IPO markets, there is likely a negative relationship between pre-listing dividends and IPO underpricing, also a positive relationship between pre-listing dividends and IPO stock price performance. The results of the empirical analysis show that there is a reasonable correlation between pre-listing cash dividend distribution and IPO pricing and stock price performance, and different information connotations are exhibited in the primary and secondary markets. Specifically, companies that have distributed cash dividends in the three years prior to the IPO, especially those that have distributed steadily for three consecutive years, have a significantly lower IPO price suppression rate than non-distributing companies, while the cumulative IPO excess return rate is significantly higher than that of non-distributing companies. Moreover, pre-listing dividend distribution is significantly and positively correlated with the cumulative excess return at 60, 120, and 240 days after IPO, that is, companies that distribute dividends steadily before IPO have better IPO stock price performance. The study also finds that companies that distribute dividends unexpectedly before going public have more severe price depression, but their cumulative excess returns at 60, 120, and 240 days after going public are still not significantly different from that of other companies, even when higher issue depression is included. This suggests that pre-listing dividends help mitigate information asymmetry between issuers and public investors, increase the value of companies in the primary market and reduce IPO price suppression. Similarly, companies that pay stable dividends before going public are more recognized by the market, increasing the value of the company in the secondary market and increasing the cumulative IPO excess return. However, pre-listing surprise dividends do not have a signaling effect and fail to be favored by secondary market investors. By reviewing both classic and recent literature, we consider that our many-sided discussions on the signaling hypothesis and IPO stock price performance contribute to related future research in this field.

본 연구는 국내 기업이 어떤 요인에 의해 인적분할과 물적분할을 선택하는지와 분할에 따른 공시효과를 분석한다. 1999년부터 2022년까지 기업분할 공시자료를 사용하여 로짓분석을 통해 분할방법의 선택요인을 분석한 결과, 분할 전 기업이 소속 산업에 비해 고평가될수록 또는 분할신설회사가 속한 산업이 고평가될수록 물적분할을 선택할 가능성이 높은 것으로 나타난다. 또한 성장성이 높고 수익성이 낮아 자금조달의 필요성 이 큰 기업일수록 물적분할을 선택하는 결과를 제시한다. 이는 저평가된 주식은 인적분 할을 통해 기존주주에게 지급하는 반면, 고평가된 주식은 물적분할을 통해 향후 매각이 나 상장을 통해 자금조달에 활용하려는 유인이 작용한 것으로 해석된다. 이를 지지하는 결과로써, 인적분할의 공시 전후 누적비정상수익률(CAR)이 물적분할보다 유의하게 크며, 분할 전 저평가된 상황에서 인적분할을 수행한 부분표본의 CAR가 가장 높다. 또한 저평가 시 인적분할한 경우 분할존속회사 대비 분할신설기업의 규모비율이 낮을수 록 CAR가 높고, 고평가 시 물적분할한 경우 이 규모비율이 낮을수록 CAR가 낮게 나타난다. 물적분할에 대한 부정적 관점으로 자주 거론되어 온 분할신설회사에 대한 주주권 상실이라는 기존의 주장에 더해, 본 연구의 결과는 정보비대칭에 기인한 시장의 오평가(misvaluation)가 기업분할을 유도하고 분할방법의 선택이 신호역할을 한다는 새로운 관점을 제시한다.

We examine a firm’s decision to choose between an equity spin-off and a captive spin-off and the decision’s announcement effect. A captive spin-off, which is a unique form of corporate divestiture in Korea and a few other countries, differs from an equity spin-off in that the spun-off entity remains a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company and shareholders cannot directly hold ownership stakes in the subsidiary even after the spin-off. On the other hand, in the case of an equity spin-off, which is prevalent in many developed countries such as the U.S., incumbent shareholders receive proportional ownership in the spun-off entity, which typically becomes a publicly listed company after the spin-off. It is well-documented that corporate spin-offs can be beneficial to shareholders because they are likely to reduce negative synergies via refocusing, mitigate information asymmetry, and address relevant agency issues. However, many practitioners in Korea have criticized captive spin-offs, arguing that they can be detrimental to minority shareholders because the controlling owner can decide the spun-off entity’s eventual disposal without shareholder intervention. Despite the notable differences between these two spin-off methods, little has been examined regarding the determinants of firms’ spin-off method choices. We examine a large sample of Korean spin-offs, including both equity and captive spin-offs, from 1998 to 2022. Note that, in our sample, captive spin-offs account for 75.6% (704 spin-offs) of all spin-off activities in Korea, whereas equity spin-offs account for only 24.4% (227 spin-offs). This prevalence of captive spin-offs highlights the importance of our study examining what motivates a firm to choose such a controversial spin-off method. Examining simple mean differences between the two types of spin-offs, we find that captive spin-offs are preferred to equity spin-offs by firms that are smaller, less profitable, younger, investing more, and paying out less. These differences suggest that a firm’s choice of spin-off method can be driven by factors other than agency issues. In our multivariate analysis, we find evidence that a firm’s decision to choose between the two spin-off methods can be affected by market valuations. Specifically, an average parent firm is more likely to choose captive spin-off when it is overvalued relative to its industry peers, whereas it is more likely to choose equity spin-off when it is undervalued relative to its peers. Similarly, firms in overvalued industries are more likely to choose captive spin-offs, while those in undervalued industries are more likely to choose equity spin-offs. Moreover, firms with high growth rates and low cash flows, i.e., those likely in need of capital infusion, are more likely to choose captive spin-offs. Examining market reactions to spin-off announcements, we find that equity spin-off announcements, on average, attract more favorable market reactions in terms of announcement period cumulative abnormal returns than those of captive spin-offs. Further analysis reveals that the average announcement return is highest among undervalued parent firms that chose equity spin-offs, and the return is lowest among overvalued firms that chose captive spin-offs. Also, in the case of the former, announcement returns are on average higher when the spun-off entity is smaller relative to the parent, whereas in the case of the latter, announcement returns are negatively correlated with the spun-off’s relative size. We also examine the effects of a firm’s ownership structure on its choice of spin-off method, focusing on controlling family ownership, affiliated firm ownership, and blockholder ownership. Although we find that blockholder ownership concentration is negatively associated with the likelihood of captive spin-offs, we do not obtain consistent results regarding the other ownership variables. Note, however, that these results should be interpreted with caution because these ownership variables may not fully capture the complex ownership structure of Korean firms. Overall, our results are consistent with the notion that firms may strategically choose the method of their spin-offs to exploit market misvaluation, and such a choice can signal the market regarding their valuations. That is, equity spin-offs can be chosen to allocate undervalued shares to incumbent shareholders, which will attract positive market reactions, whereas captive spin-offs can be used as a means of raising capital using overvalued equities, which will result in less favorable market reactions. Adding to the prevailing view that captive spin-offs are used as a means of minority shareholder expropriation, this study offers another perspective that a firm’s choice between equity and captive spin-offs can be driven by a rational reaction to market misvaluation that is not necessarily disadvantageous to minority shareholders. That is, market reactions to corporate spin-offs in Korea can partly be driven by the signaling effect of firms’ spin-off method choices. Therefore, an assessment of whether a spin-off is detrimental to minority shareholders should consider not only the parent firm’s agency issues but also the market valuations leading up to the firm’s spin-off decision.

본 연구는 유가증권시장에서 현금배당의 증가, 감소 그리고 유지공시라는 경제적 사건을, 고배당선호이론(신호전달가설, 대리인비용 감소가설 및 손안의 새 가설) 관점에서 실증 분석함으로써, 배당공시에 대한 시장의 효율성을 검정함과 동시에 현금배당공시가 주가에 미치는 영향을 확인하였다. 고배당선호이론 하에서 본 연구의 실증결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 일반적으로 배당정책은 기업에 실질적인 자본을 증가시키며 투자정책 측면과도 밀접한 관계가 있기 때문에 기업 가치에 상당한 영향을 미친다는 연구결과들이 주를 이루고 있다. 이와 마찬지로, 본 연구의 분석결과에서도 배당의 공시효과가 존재하는 것으로 밝혀졌으며, 배당감소 및 유지 공시에서 또한 양(+)의 초과수익률이 확인되었다. 둘째, 배당의 공시효과를 설명하는 각 가설의 적합성을 판단하기 위해서는 매출액성장률이 높은 기업, 대주주 지분율이 낮은 기업, 배당수익률이 높은 기업으로 구성된 그룹의 시장반응이 더욱 강해야 하는데, 분석결과, 전년도 배당수익률을 기준으로 네 집단으로 분류하여 누적평균 비정상수익률을 분석한 손 안의 새 가설 검정에서만 집단 간 시장반응에 뚜렷한 차이를 발견할 수 있었으며, 산업더미와 연도더미를 고려한 회귀분석결과에서도 전년도 배당수익률만이 각각의 기간별 누적초과수익률에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것을 확인하였다. 이러한 사실은 배당정책을 임하는 기업 경영진에게는 정책적 시사점을, 자본시장의 투자자들에게는 투자 수익적 측면에서 시사점을 제공하며, 배당을 통한 성장과 분대의 균형이 중요시되는 최근의 시점을 반영했다는 점에서 학문적 시사점을 제공한다고 할 수 있다.

This study revisits the information of content of dividend announcement including recent events from 2011 to 2016 in Korean stock market. Miller and Modigliani (1961) presented an irrelevance of dividend under the assumption of a perfect market, but the actual capital market has many market imperfections. Afterwards, a number of studies had claimed that the announcement effects of dividends are existed, and various research results were presented, such as the high dividend preference theory and the low dividend preference theory. In previous studies, the effects of dividend announcement was explained by signaling theory, principal-agent theory, and firm-size theory. In this study, we not only examine the three previous hypotheses but also try to test the bird-in-the-hand hypothesis which is newly proposed from the behavior finance. Also, we further examine a firm-specific cross-section regression of cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) of different windows on different firm specific independent variables for all the announcement of dividend change. The results of this study are summarized as follows. In case of dividend announcement in Korean stock market, significant CARs was observed only in the specific year (2013) compared to the market return. For a more detailed, we divided all our sample into four groups depending on growth in sales, block-holders' ownership, firm-size and dividend yield as a proxy for signaling, principal-agent, firm-size and bird-in-the-hand hypotheses and we examined whether the cumulative excess returns differed for each group or not. As hypothesis of this study, the hypothesis that the firms with the highest sales growth rate will have stronger market reaction will not be confirmed because the positive information about the company's profits is transmitted to the investors. On the other hand, in the case of a company with a high sales growth rate, the decrease in dividends is considered to be an active investment, which is a good news. However, we can conclude that this study rejects the signaling hypothesis based on the analysis that the market response of the group with low sales growth rate is stronger. Also, the results of the Agency cost reduction hypotheses test show that there is a negative relationship between the shareholder's share-holding ratio and the share price response to dividend announcement, which is a result of partially supporting the agency cost reduction hypothesis as well as the results of some previous studies. As a result of the ‘bird in the hand’ hypothesis test, it was confirmed that the firms with higher dividend yields in the previous year showed a strong market response to the dividend disclosure and positive (+) relationship existed. This means that investors prefer immediate cash generated from dividends rather than future capital gains. Assuming that the dividend yield of the previous year is the same, it is strongly anticipated that firms with high expected dividend yields. In particular, the stronger share price response in the maintenance announcement compared to the increase and decrease in dividends indicates that investors prefer to maintain dividends over the previous year. The reason for this is considered to include the burden of tax burden and concern about negative signs of the company. Our results contradict the signaling and principal-agent hypotheses, which argue that management has an incentive to distribute information about the company's future profit to the market through dividend policy and the increase (decrease) in dividends leads to an increase in additional external borrowing, which makes the firm a strict monitoring target of the capital market and therefore plays a role in reducing agency costs. Contrastively, our results support the firm-size and bird-in-the-hand hypotheses.

최근 국내 자본시장은 양적 질적 성장을 거듭하면서 파생상품이 결합된 새로운 형 태의 금융상품을 잇달아 선보이고 있다. 이러한 파생결합증권 중 지난 2005년 11월 부터 판매되기 시작한 주식워런트증권(ELW)은 불과 발행 1년 만에 일일 거래대금 기준으로 세계 4위의 시장을 형성하는 등 비약적인 발전을 거듭하고 있다. 이에 따라 본 논문에서는 시판 후 1년 동안 발행된 ELW를 대상으로 콜 ELW의 상장 및 상장 폐지가 기초자산의 가격, 거래량 및 가격변동성에 미치는 영향을 분석한다. 연구결과 ELW의 발행조건을 결정하는 시점에 기초자산의 가격과 거래량이 증가 하는 ‘헷지효과’가 관찰되었으며 상장일 익일과 상장 후 4～6일에 가격과 거래량이 증가하는 ‘신호효과’도 미약하게 존재하는 것으로 조사됐다. 또한 만기와 관련해서는 외가격 ELW의 경우 상장폐지일 이전에는 두 차례에 걸쳐 기초주식의 가격이 하락 하다가 이후에는 상승하는 추세를 보였으며 내가격 ELW도 상장폐지일 직전에 기초 주식 가격이 소폭 하락하는 현상을 보였다. 이와 함께 기초자산 가격변동성은 상장 후가 상장 전보다, 상장폐지 전이 폐지 후보다 높게 나타나 ELW 상장기간 중에 기 초자산의 변동성이 큰 것으로 밝혀졌다. 이 같은 연구결과는 기존의 외국문헌 결과 와 상당한 차이를 보이는 것으로 국내 ELW 시장이 아직 시행 초기라 여러가지 제 도적인 미비점을 갖고 있기 때문인 것으로 분석된다. 본 연구는 국내에서 ELW 관련 최초의 연구라는 점에서 그 의미가 깊다고 할 수 있다. 본 연구결과와 외국 문헌연구 결과와의 차이 분석을 통해 현행 ELW 거래제도 의 문제점을 지적하여 도입단계에 있는 ELW 시장의 안정적인 정착에 도움을 줄 수 있을 것으로 기대한다. 또한 본 연구는 향후 ELW 관련 연구의 신호탄 역할을 하여 주가지수 선물이나 옵션에만 한정되어 있는 국내 파생상품에 대한 연구 다변화에도 기여할 것으로 기대한다.

Similar to the derivative warrant or covered warrant, the equity linked warrant (ELW) market has been rapidly growing since its first appearance on December 2005 in Korea. The Korean ELW market is now ranked fourth in the world with 1,300 listed ELWs and 300 billion dollars of daily dollar trading volume within one year upon debut. A rich variety of hybrid derivative linked securities (DLS) has been witnessed and the importance of DLS more stressed for the developed and increased capital market. One of the most interesting topics is to examine the effect of several types of DLS issuance or repurchase on its underling assets. Out of the various DLS, this paper investigates on the price, volume, and volatility effects of underlying stocks around the introduction and expiration date of ELW, very popular DLS in Korea. The study finds the delta hedge effect that the price and volume of underlying stocks increase on or prior to the date when the term and conditions of ELW issuance is determined, and the short-term signaling effect that the price and volume of underlying stocks increase a day after ELW introduction. With respect to the expiration of ELW, it is shown that the price of underlying stocks goes down before the expiration date and goes up after the date of out-of-the money ELW, and that the price of underlying stocks decreases a little bit around the expiration date for in-the-money ELW. In addition, the price of underlying stocks shows higher volatility during ELW list periods rather than before the introduction or after the expiration date. The results of this paper demonstrate somewhat different pictures, compared to those of the previous literatures. The reasons may be explained that the Korean ELW market has not been settled down yet. Therefore, the paper is short of perfection on the ELW trading system, which should be improved. The current system does not allow physical settlement on the expiration of ELW and bid-ask quota for a liquidity provider within 30 days before expiration date. Also, most issuers play a role of the liquidity provider and the time gap is only 2 or 3 days between the announcement and introduction dates. The paper makes some contribution in the sense that it is the first study of ELW in Korea. The paper reveals some imperfection through comparison of the results of this paper to those of the previous literatures. This will help the ELW market to completely settle down in Korea. The paper also could trigger the various studies with respect to ELW, for instance on the development of ELW price determination model or the factor analysis of price.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of different stocker management programs on skeletal muscle development and growth characteristics, satellite cell (SC) activity in growing-finishing beef cattle as well as the effects of SC-conditioned media on preadipocyte gene expression and differentiation. Fall-weaned Angus steers (n = 76; 258 ± 28 kg) were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 stocker production systems: 1) grazing dormant native range (NR) supplemented with a 40% CP cottonseed meal-based supplement (1.02 kg ? steer?1 ? d?1) followed by long-season summer grazing (CON, 0.46 kg/d); 2) grazing dormant NR supplemented with a ground corn and soybean meal-based supplement fed at 1% of BW followed by short-season summer grazing (CORN, 0.61 kg/d); 3) grazing winter wheat pasture (WP) at high stocking density (3.21 steers/ha) to achieve a moderate rate of gain (LGWP, 0.83 kg/d); and 4) grazing winter WP at low stocking density (0.99 steers/ha) to achieve a high rate of gain (HGWP, 1.29 kg/d). At the end of the stocker (intermediate harvest, IH) and finishing (final harvest, FH) phases, 4 steers / treatment were harvested and longissimus muscles (LM) sampled for cryohistological immunofluorescence analysis and SC culture assays. At IH, WP steers had greater LM fiber cross-sectional area than NR steers; however, at FH, the opposite was observed (p < 0.0001). At IH, CORN steers had the lowest Myf-5+:Pax7+ SC density (p = 0.020), while LGWP steers had the most Pax7+ SC (p = 0.043). At FH, CON steers had the highest LM capillary density (p = 0.003) and their cultured SC differentiated more readily than all other treatments (p = 0.017). At FH, Pax7 mRNA was more abundant in 14 d-old SC cultures from HGWP cattle (p = 0.03). Preadipocytes exposed to culture media from proliferating SC cultures from WP cattle isolated at FH had more PPARγ (p = 0.037) and less FABP4 (p = 0.030) mRNA expression compared with NR cattle. These data suggest that different stocker management strategies can impact skeletal muscle growth, SC function, and potentially impact marbling development in growing-finishing beef cattle.

Sharing economy platforms, represented by Uber or Airbnb have recently grown rapidly. Unlike the traditional online p2p market, providers in sharing economy platform become part of the service and have a significant impact on the overall service experience. Consequently, consumers should explore not only the product but also providers’ information before making a purchase to reduce the uncertainty of the overall quality of service. Furthermore, frequent crimes in Airbnb and Uber are increasing the importance of knowing provider information. However, the information of providers exposed on most platforms is limited to self-introduction and profile pictures. Accordingly, users should rely on this limited information to reduce service uncertainty. In this paper, we found that having a group-type host profile picture has a positive effect on the reservation rate in Airbnb. In addition, the impact of profile pictures is stronger in the cities with the high crime rate. The findings demonstrate that hosts’ group-type profile picture could serve as a signal on safety in sharing economy platforms.

Recent progress has been made to establish intestinal organoids for an in vitro model as a potential alternative to an in vivo system in animals. We previously reported a reliable method for the isolation of intestinal crypts from the small intestine and robust three-dimensional (3D) expansion of intestinal organoids (basal-out) in adult bovines. The present study aimed to establish next-generation intestinal organoids for practical applications in disease modeling-based host-pathogen interactions and feed efficiency measurements. In this study, we developed a rapid and convenient method for the efficient generation of intestinal organoids through the modulation of the Wnt signaling pathway and continuous apical-out intestinal organoids. Remarkably, the intestinal epithelium only takes 3-4 days to undergo CHIR (1 µM) treatment as a Wnt activator, which is much shorter than that required for spontaneous differentiation (7 days). Subsequently, we successfully established an apical-out bovine intestinal organoid culture system through suspension culture without Matrigel matrix, indicating an apical-out membrane on the surface. Collectively, these results demonstrate the efficient generation and next-generation of bovine intestinal organoids and will facilitate their potential use for various purposes, such as disease modeling, in the field of animal biotechnology.

S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase-like protein 1 (AHCYL1), also known as IP3 receptor- binding protein released with IP3 (IRBIT), regulates IP3-induced Ca2+ release in the cytoplasm of cells and, therefore, is likely to be an important gene regulating various biological processes in the oviduct of chickens. However, the identification of the AHCYL1 gene in chickens has not been investigated. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to examine the tissue- and cell-specific expression of AHCYL1 gene in chicken organs, especially in reproductive organ, and determine functional actions of AHCYL1 in chicken oviduct development via estrogen. The results indicated that AHCYL1 mRNA is expressed in chicken reproductive organs and DES(diethylstilbesterol, a synthetic estrogen agonist) stimulates the cell specific expression of AHCYL1 in immature chicken oviduct. These results suggest that AHCYL1 is a novel estrogen-stimulated gene associated with development of the chicken oviduct. Next, in the present study, we show that inhibition of Erk1/2 can block DES-induced AHCYL1 expression. Also, we found that knockdown of AHCYL1 expression down-regulates expression of oviduct specific genes and AHCYL1 expression is regulated at the post-transcriptional level by specific miRNAs. These results strongly suggest that estrogen-mediated AHCYL1 gene expression plays a crucial role in growth, differentiation and function of the hen oviduct. Also, our results will be useful for understanding the fundamental mechanism(s) of estrogen action responsible for development of hen oviduct. This research was funded by the World Class University (WCU) program (R31-10056), Basic Science Research Program (2010-0013078) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology and by the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (No.PJ008142), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Maternal separation in the developmental stage has a negative influ-ence on brain development and causes depression. The extracellular ligand, Wnt, and its receptors play an important role in axis formation and neural development. Exercise inhibits apoptosis, increases cell proliferation, and exerts antidepressive effect. In this study, the effect of treadmill exercise on the maternal separation-induced depression was investigated in the aspect of Wnt signaling pathway. The maternal sep-aration started on the postnatal day 14. The rat pups in the exercise groups were forced to run on a treadmill for 30 min once a day from postnatal day 21 to postnatal day 34. The rat pups in the maternal sepa-ration and fluoxetine-treated group were intraperitoneally injected with 5-mg/kg fluoxetine once a day from postnatal day 21 to postnatal day 34. Forced swimming test was performed to evaluate the depression level. Western blotting was performed for the expressions of Wnt sig-naling ligands, Wnt2 and Wnt3a, and Wnt signaling inhibitors, Dkk1, and sFRP3. Maternal separation showed depressive behaviors in the forced swimming test. Treadmill exercise alleviated depressive behaviors in the maternal separation rat pups. Expressions of Wnt2 and Wnt3a were decreased by maternal separation. Treadmill exercise alleviated mater-nal separation-induced reduction of Wnt2 and Wnt3a expressions. Ex-pressions of Dkk1 and sFRP3 in the hippocampus were increased by maternal separation. Treadmill exercise alleviated maternal separa-tion-induced reduction of Dkk1 and sFRP3 expressions. Our study demonstrated that treadmill exercise activates Wnt signaling pathway, and then exerted antidepressive effect.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether treadmill walking exercise can improve mechanical allodynia through regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons at the early stage of regeneration after sciatic nerve injury (SNI). The experimental rats were divided into seven groups: the normal control, sedentary groups for 3-, 7-, and 14-day post crush (dpc), and exercise group for 3, 7, and 14 dpc. The rats in exercise groups performed treadmill walking exercise at a speed of 8 m/min for 20 min once a day according to ex-periment duration. For evaluating neuropathic pain-like behavior after SNI, the mechanical allodynia was examined by von Frey apparatus. And the expression levels of pain-related protein were identified in the cytoplasm or nucleus of DRG neurons using Western blot techniques. Mechanical allodynia was significantly ameliorated in the exercise group at 7 and 14 dpc. Treadmill exercise further decreased Wnt3a ex-pression at 3, 7, and 14 dpc compared to in the sedentary group. Also, phosphorylated-low-density lipoprotein receptor 6 was decreased in exercise groups at 3 and 14 dpc. Beta-catenin was significantly de-creased in exercise groups at 3 and 14 dpc compared to sedentary groups as well as treadmill exercise decreased translocation of β-cat-enin towards the nucleus of DRG neurons at 14 dpc. Our findings indi-cate that treadmill walking exercise may be an important regulator of neuropathic pain after peripheral nerve injury through delayed Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in DRG neurons.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether combination of low-intensity exercise with bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) trans-plantation could regulate protein kinas B (Akt)- mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and Wnt3a-β-catenin signaling pathways for pre-vention of soleus muscle atrophy after sciatic nerve injury (SNI). The experimental rats divided into 5 groups (n=10): normal control group, SNI+sedentary group (SED), SNI+low-intensity treadmill exercise group (TEX), SNI+BMSC transplantation group (BMSC), SNI+TEX+BMSC transplantation group (TEX+BMSC). Sciatic nerve crush injury was ap-plied into the middle of thigh twice for 1 min and 30 sec at interval. Low-intensity treadmill exercise was comprised of walking at a speed of 4 to 8 m/min for 30 min once a day. cultured BMSC at a density of 5×106 in 50-μL phosphate-buffered saline was injected into the distal portion of the injured sciatic nerves. TEX+BMSC group dramatically up-regulated expression levels of growth-associated protein-43 in the in-jured sciatic nerve at 2 weeks postinjury. Also, although Akt and mTOR signaling pathway significantly increased in TEX and BMSC groups than SED group, TEX+BMSC group showed more potent increment on this signaling in soleus muscle after SNI. Lastly, Wnt3a and the nuclear translocation of β-catenin and nuclear factor-kappa B in soleus were increased by SNI, but TEX+BMSC group significantly downregulated activity of this signaling pathway in the nuclear cell lysate of soleus muscle. Present findings provide new information that combination of low-intensity treadmill exercise might be effective therapeutic ap-proach on restriction of soleus muscle atrophy after peripheral nerve injury.

The effect of combined approach of exercise training and bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) engraftment on activation of brain-derived neuro-trophic factor (BDNF)-extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 (ERK1/2)-cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element-binding protein (CREB) signaling pathway after sciatic nerve injury (SNI) was investigated. Sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats divided into the normal control, nonexercise (NEX), exercise training (EX), BMSC transplanta-tion (TP), and exercise training+BMSC transplantation (EX+TP) groups 4 weeks after SCI. Exercise training was carried out on the treadmill de-vice at 5–10 m/min for 20 min for 4 weeks. Single dose of 5×106 harvest-ed BMSC was injected into the injury area of the injured sciatic nerve. In order to evaluate induction levels of BDNF-ERK1/2-CREB signaling molecules in the whole cell and nuclear cell lysates of the injured sciat-ic nerve, we applied Western blot analysis. BDNF was significantly in-creased only in EX+TP compared to NEX, EX, and TP groups. Phospho-inositide-dependent kinase-1 was more increased in EX, TP, and EX+TP groups than NEX group, but EX+TP group showed the most upregula-tion of phosphorylated protein kinase B compared to other groups. In addition, in the whole cell lysate, phosphorylated ERK1/2, but not acti-vating transcription factor-3 (ATF-3) and phosphorylated CREB, was sig-nificantly increased in TP and EX+TP groups. In the nuclear cell lysate, ATF-3 and phosphorylated CREB were strongly activated in EX+TP group compared to EX group. Regular exercise training combined with BMSC engraftment would seem to be more effective in controlling activation of regeneration-related signaling pathway after SNI.

Particulate matters (PM), the main contributor to air pollution, have become a serious issue that threatens human’s health. Skin is the largest organ in humans, as well as the primary organ exposed to PM. Overexposure of PM induces skin damage. Diphlorethohydroxycarmalol (DPHC), an algal polyphenol with the potential of skin protection, has been isolated from the edible brown seaweed Ishige okamurae. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the protective eect of DPHC against PM (ERM-CZ100)-induced skin damage in human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) cells. The results indicated that DPHC significantly and dose-dependently reduced intracellular reactive oxygen species generation in HDF cells. In addition, DPHC significantly induced collagen synthesis and inhibited collagenase activity in ERM-CZ100-stimulated HDF cells. Further study demonstrated that DPHC remarkably reduced the expression of human matrix metalloproteinases through regulation of nuclear factor kappa B, activator protein 1, and mitogen-activated protein kinases signaling pathways in ERM-CZ100-stimulated HDF cells. This study suggested that DPHC is a potential candidate to protect skins against PM-induced damage, and it could be used as an ingredient in pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical industries.

High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) plays a crucial mediator in the pathogenesis of many inflammatory diseases. We recently proposed that heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) negatively regulates HMGB1 in inflammatory conditions. We investigated whether ethanol extract of Inula helenium L. (EIH) activates p38 MAPK/Nrf2/HO-1 pathways in RAW264.7 cells and reduces inflammation in CLP-induced septic mice. EIH induced expression of HO-1 protein in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. EIH significantly diminished HO-1 expression in siNrf2 RNA-transfected cells. As expected, the inhibited expression of iNOS/NO, COX-2/PGE2, HMGB1 release by EIH in LPS-activated RAW264.7 cells was significantly reversed by siHO-1RNA transfection. Furthermore, EIH not only inhibited NF-jB luciferase activity, phosphorylation of IjBa in LPS-activated cells but also significantly suppressed expression of adhesion molecules (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) in TNF-a activated human umbilical vein endothelial cells. The induction of HO-1 by EIH was inhibited by SB203580 but not by SP600125, PD98059, nor LY294002. Most importantly, administration of EIH significantly reduced not only increase in blood HMGB1, ALT, AST, BUN, creatinine levels but also decrease macrophage infiltrate in the liver of septic mice, which were reversed by ZnPPIX, a HO-1 inhibitor. We concluded that EIH has anti-inflammatory effect via the induction of p38 MAPK-dependent HO-1 signaling pathway.

Emphysema, a pathological component of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, causes irreversible damage to the lung. Previous studies have shown that Slit plays essential roles in cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and organ development. In this study, we evaluated the effect of Slit2 on the proliferation and migration of mouse lung epithelial cells and its role in regeneration in an emphysema lung mouse model. Here, we have shown that Slit2/Robo signaling contributes to the regeneration of lungs damaged by emphysema. Mouse epithelial lung cells treated with Slit2 exhibited increased proliferation and migration in vitro. Our results also showed that Slit2 administration improved alveolar regeneration in the emphysema mouse model in vivo. Furthermore, Slit2/Robo signaling increased the phosphorylation of ERK and Akt, which was mediated by Ras activity. These Slit2-mediated cellular signaling processes may be involved in the proliferation and migration of mouse lung epithelial cells and are also associated with the potential mechanism of lung regeneration. Our findings suggest that Slit2 administration may be beneficial for alveolar regeneration in lungs damaged by emphysema.

Alopecia has emerged as one of the biggest interests in modern society. Many studies have focused on the treatment of alopecia, such as transplantation of hair follicles or inhibition of the androgen pathway. Hair growth is achieved through proper proliferation of the components such as keratinocytes and dermal papilla cells (DPCs), movement, and interaction between the two cells. The present study examined the effect of the hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway, which is an important and fundamental signal in the cell, on the morphology and the viability of human keratinocytes and DPCs. Upregulation of Hh signaling caused a morphological change and an increase in epithelium-mesenchymal transition-related gene expression but reduced the viability of keratinocytes, while the alteration of Hh signaling did not cause any change in DPCs. The results show the possibility that the regulation of Hh signaling can be applied for the treatment of alopecia.

In many radio communication environments, there is a special component, called inter-symbol interference (ISI), mused by multipath time delay of signal and ISI components impose limitation of the data transmission rate. In this paper, we consider signaling pulse shapes, called partial response signaling (PRS), for minimizing the effect of ISI and show the improvement of performance by applying one of the partial-response signaling (PRS) pulses to two types of receiver system under dependent noise environments through the Monte-Carlo computer simulations.

Purpose - This study attempts to provide a new theoretical perspective on the quality signaling and its impact on a market under information asymmetry, focusing on how the accuracy and the cost of quality signaling affect sellers’ and buyers’ profit, suggesting appropriate designs of quality signaling methods which mitigates information asymmetry. Design/methodology/approach - In order to examine the effect of quality signaling on strategic interactions within the market, we establish an analytic model where market outcomes are determined by seller’s quality claim and price, and buyers are risk-neutral. By investigating this analytic model through relevant game trees, we find the subgame perfect Nash equilibria of the market and predict related market outcomes based on sellers’ quality signaling strategy. Findings - Our analytic model shows counterintuitive results that seller profit will be the lowest with inaccurate quality signaling and the highest with no quality signaling, mostly due to the certification cost. Consequently, sellers should proceed with caution if the quality signaling is less than accurate, as it may backfire. We believe that this is due to the fact that the inaccuracy of quality signaling causes some confusion and uncertainty in both sellers and buyers’ decision to maximize profit, making it hard for sellers to predict buyers’ behavior. Research implications or Originality - Although the sources and types of quality signaling errors have been investigated in the literature, there has not been satisfactory understanding regarding how inaccuracy of quality certification affects specific market outcomes. We expect that our theoretical model would provide important implications on how to utilize quality signaling to solve adverse selection issues in markets under information asymmetry.