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By integrating an experiential learning view into an attitude model, we propose that an entrepreneur's attitude towards failure resulting from a prior setback experience can positively affect a new venture's commitment to learning. Moreover, the entrepreneur may be exposed to indirect experiential information by gaining access to managerial ties in the venture industry, moderating the influence of prior setback experience on attitudes towards failure. We developed a conceptual model to account for the conditional and indirect effects of an entrepreneur's setback experience on organisational commitment to learning through the entrepreneur's attitude towards failure. Using structural equation modelling, we analysed a sample of 143 entrepreneurs located in Western China's high-technology industrial development zones and found full support for our model. This study provides theoretical and empirical insights into the intertwined relationships between context-specific experiences, individual attitude development and venture outcomes in entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Social network theory emphasizes that, to acquire needed resources, new ventures should cultivate industrial connections (intra-industry ties and extra-industry ties). In the meanwhile human capital theory focuses on entrepreneurs' employment experience, especially with respect to its breadth and depth. This study examines ties and experience to determine whether, in combination, they have positive or negative effects on resource acquisition in new ventures. Design/methodology/approach: This study tests research hypotheses using questionnaire survey data with a sample of entrepreneurs in new ventures. Multivariate regression analysis is used to analyze the data. Findings: Combining intra-industry ties and experience breadth or extra-industry ties and experience depth affects resource acquisition positively, whereas combining intra-industry ties and experience depth or extra-industry ties and experience breadth affects resource acquisition negatively. Research limitations/implications: Conclusions may be constrained by the limited sample size and source. Rather, the impact of the study lies in its identification of the effects of interaction between network ties and entrepreneurs' experience on resource acquisition. Future research can explore the effects of interaction between other dimensions of network ties and a range of entrepreneurs' experience characteristics on resource acquisition. Practical implications: Entrepreneurs are provided with effective strategies to make use of their ventures' network ties and their personal accumulated experience in the process of obtaining resources. Originality/value: The findings enrich the entrepreneurship literature by providing a more nuanced understanding of how and when new ventures' industry ties and entrepreneurs' employment experience together influence resource acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on social cognitive theory and social network theory, this study investigates the relationships between managerial ties, entrepreneurs' cognitive bias, and the effectuation and causation of behavioural modes of entrepreneurship. It uses structural equation modelling to analyse a sample of 214 entrepreneurs in China. The empirical results indicate that business ties lead entrepreneurs to use effectual approaches by prompting the entrepreneurs' overconfidence, whereas institutional ties enable entrepreneurs to use both causation and effectuation by prompting the entrepreneurs' illusion of control. This study delineates how different types of managerial ties affect causation and effectuation through different cognitive mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Verticillium wilt caused by the soil-borne fungus Verticillium dahliae is a devastating disease of cotton, leading to serious loss of lint yield in China. It is important to characterize the prevailing populations of V. dahliae for understanding disease development. In this study, the representative 74 V. dahliae isolates from 28 different cotton regions in three major cotton-production areas in China were identified for their pathotypes, races, vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) and genetic diversity by specific PCR, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis. Of 74 isolates, 60 isolates (81%) were defoliating (D) pathotype strains, especially in Yellow River/Yantze River Valley region. Seventy isolates belonged to race 2, whereas no race 1 specific fragment was amplified. These isolates were grouped into five VCGs: VCG1A (48), VCG2A/VCG4B (3), VCG2B824 (6), VCG6 (5). The D pathotype and VCG1A isolates have become the dominant strains, moderately and highly virulent isolates were widely distributed in three major cotton-growing areas in China. High level of polymorphic markers was obtained by AFLP and ISSR analyses. Through comparison of the obtained dendrograms by unweighted paired group method with arithmetic averages cluster analysis (UPGMA), the V. dahliae isolates were divided into two major groups and five subgroups. The obvious correlations with the geographic origin of the isolates between AFLP and ISSR were revealed, with significant diversity among V. dahliae isolates. In addition, AFLP dendrogram showed relationships with pathotypes. The results offered a better understanding of the epidemiology of Verticillium wilt in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim of the study: Salvianolic-acid B (SA-B) is an effective component of Radix Salviae miltiorrhizae for anti-hepatic fibrotic herbs. MAPK signaling pathway has been implicated in hepatic stellate cells (HSC) stimulated by TGF-(1. We have investigated the effect of SA-B on MAPK pathway in rat HSC. Materials and methods: To observe the pharmacological effect of SA-B on HSC, SA-B was added into the medium of primary HSC. TGF-(1 was added during last 2h, and PD98059 (ERK inhibitor) and SB203580 (p38 inhibitor) were added just 30min before adding TGF-(1. MEF2 and Col. I were measured by luciferase reporter gene assay and Western blot. (-SMA, MEF2, Raf, ERK, p-ERK, MEK, p-MEK, p38, p-p38, MKK3 and p-MKK3/6 were assayed by Western blot. Activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was analyzed by zymography. Each experiment was repeated for three times. Results: The expression of (-SMA and Col. I in HSC was inhibited by SA-B. There was no effect of SA-B on the activity of MMP-2 or MMP-9 in the media of cultured HSC. Phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in HSC stimulated with or without TGF-(1 was inhibited by SA-B. Specifically, phosphorylation of MEK (upstream kinase of ERK pathway) was inhibited by SA-B. SA-B also inhibited phosphorylation of MKK3/6 (upstream kinases of p38 pathway) and inhibited the synthesis of MEF2. Conclusions: SA-B performs anti-hepatic fibrosis through inhibiting ERK and p38 MAPK pathway in HSC. SA-B inhibits ERK pathway via inhibiting phosphorylation of MEK and inhibits p38 MAPK pathway via blocking phosphorylation of MKK3/6 and inhibiting expression of MEF2 in HSC with or without TGF-(1 stimulation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Northeast regions of China (38–55°N latitude) play an important role in Japonica rice planting. Heading dates of 10 Japonica rice cultivars native to the Northeast of China were investigated and their sensitivities to photoperiod and temperature were analyzed. The results showed that these Japonica rice cultivars were insensitive to photoperiod but strongly sensitive to temperature, i.e. a high temperature can markedly shorten the heading date. Genetic analyses were conducted on these 10 cultivars using a set of heading date tester lines. All these Japonica cultivars carried a dominant early heading gene Ef-1, and most of these cultivars carried the photoperiod insensitivity allele e 1 , and two types of alleles were presented at the Se-1 locus, including recessive photoperiod insensitivity gene Se-1 e and dominant strong photoperiod-sensitivity (PS) gene Se-1 n . The PS of these cultivars carrying E 1 or Se-1 n can be repressed or weakened by Ef-1 and the recessive allele hd2 they carried. These results provided a reasonable explanation to the adaptability of Japonica rice to the high latitude environment of the Northeast China, and could be useful for breeding new cultivars well adapted to the high latitude regions and expanding the rice cultivation range. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

With climate change and anthropic influence on the coastal ecosystems, mangrove ecosystems are disappearing at an alarming rate. Accordingly, it becomes important to track, study, record and store the mangrove microbial community considering their ecological importance and potential for biotechnological applications. Here, we provide information on mangrove fungal community composition and diversity in mangrove ecosystems with different plant species and from various locations differing in relation to anthropic influences. We describe twelve newly assembled genomes, including four chromosomal-level genomes of fungal isolates from the mangrove ecosystems coupled with functional annotations. We envisage that these data will be of value for future studies including comparative genome analysis and large-scale temporal and/or spatial research to elucidate the potential mechanisms by which mangrove fungal communities assemble and evolve. We further anticipate that the genomes represent valuable resources for bioprospecting related to industrial or clinical uses., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Assessment and characterization of gut microbiota has become a major research area in human disease, including type 2 diabetes, the most prevalent endocrine disease worldwide. To carry out analysis on gut microbial content in patients with type 2 diabetes, we developed a protocol for a metagenome-wide association study (MGWAS) and undertook a two-stage MGWAS based on deep shotgun sequencing of the gut microbial DNA from 345 Chinese individuals. We identified and validated approximately 60,000 type-2-diabetes-associated markers and established the concept of a metagenomic linkage group, enabling taxonomic species-level analyses. MGWAS analysis showed that patients with type 2 diabetes were characterized by a moderate degree of gut microbial dysbiosis, a decrease in the abundance of some universal butyrate-producing bacteria and an increase in various opportunistic pathogens, as well as an enrichment of other microbial functions conferring sulphate reduction and oxidative stress resistance. An analysis of 23 additional individuals demonstrated that these gut microbial markers might be useful for classifying type 2 diabetes.