Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Select Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) Brans

Amy Burdette,Pamela L. Garner,Eugene P. Mayer,James L. Hargrove,Diane K. Hartle,Phillip Greenspan 한국식품영양과학회 2010 Journal of medicinal food Vol.13 No.4

The bran fractions of certain varieties of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) grain are rich sources of phytochemicals and antioxidants. In this article, the anti-inflammatory actions of extracts of select sorghum brans were evaluated in two experimental inflammatory systems: (1) the release of cytokines by lipopolysaccharide-activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells and (2) 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol acetate (TPA)-induced ear edema in mice. A 1:200 dilution of a 10% (wt/vol) ethanol extract of black sorghum bran significantly inhibited the secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α. Ethanolic extracts of both black and sumac varieties of sorghum bran significantly reduced edema in inflamed ears as measured by ear thickness and ear punch weight 6 hours following TPA application. The degree of inhibition was similar to that observed with indomethacin. Black sorghum bran significantly diminished the increase in myeloperoxidase activity 24 hours following the application of TPA. No anti-inflammatory activity was observed with white and Mycogen sorghum bran varieties or with oat, wheat, or rice brans in the mouse ear model. The anti-inflammatory activity observed with these brans correlated with their phenolic content and antioxidant activity. These results demonstrate that select sorghum bran varieties possess significant anti-inflammatory activity.

학회지 리뷰소개-BMB reports : 난소암의 progenitor cells 평가: 통용되는 동물 모델 분석

( Joanna E. Burdette ) 생화학분자생물학회(구 한국생화학분자생물학회) 2011 생화학분자생물학회 소식 Vol.31 No.3

Evaluating the progenitor cells of ovarian cancer: analysis of current animal models

( Shelby M. King ),( Joanna E. Burdette ) 생화학분자생물학회(구 한국생화학분자생물학회) 2011 BMB Reports Vol.44 No.7

Serous ovarian cancer is one of the most lethal gynecological malignancies. Progress on effective diagnostics and therapeutics for this disease are hampered by ambiguity as to the cellular origins of this histotype of ovarian cancer, as well as limited suitable animal models to analyze early stages of disease. In this report, we will review current animal models with respect to the two proposed progenitor cells for serous ovarian cancer, the ovarian surface epithelium and the fallopian tube epithelium.

Genome-wide association study of gastric adenocarcinoma in Asia: a comparison of associations between cardia and non-cardia tumours

Hu, Nan,Wang, Zhaoming,Song, Xin,Wei, Lixuan,Kim, Byung Sik,Freedman, Neal D,Baek, Jiwon,Burdette, Laurie,Chang, Jiang,Chung, Charles,Dawsey, Sanford M,Ding, Ti,Gao, Yu-Tang,Giffen, Carol,Han, Yaling British Medical Association 2016 Gut Vol.65 No.10

<P>Objective Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of gastric cancer have reported differences in single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associations for tumour subtypes, particularly when divided by location into the gastric cardia versus the non-cardia. Design Here we present results for a GWAS using 2350 East Asian gastric cancer cases divided as 1189 gastric cardia and 1027 gastric non-cardia cases and 2708 controls. We also included up to 3042 cardia cases, 4359 non-cardia cases and 7548 controls for replication from two Chinese studies and one Korean study. From the GWAS, we selected 12 top SNPs for each gastric cancer subtype, 4 top SNPs for total gastric cancer and 1 SNP in MUC1 for replication testing. Results We observed genome-wide significant associations for rs10074991 in PRKAA1 at 5p13.1 for cardia (p=7.36x10(-12)) and non-cardia cancers (p=2.42x10(-23)) with per allele OR (95% CI) for the combined endpoint of 0.80 (0.77 to 0.83). At 6p21.1, rs2294693 near UNC5CL was significantly associated with gastric non-cardia cancer risk (p=2.50x10(-8)), with OR (95% CI) of 1.18 (1.12 to 1.26), but there was only a nominal association for cardia cancer (p=1.47x10(-2)). We also confirmed a previously reported association for rs4072037 in MUC1 with p=6.59x10(-8) for total gastric cancer and similar estimates for cardia and non-cardia cancers. Three SNPs in PSCA previously reported to be associated with gastric non-cardia cancer showed no apparent association for cardia cancer. Conclusions Our results suggest that associations for SNPs with gastric cancer show some different results by tumour location in the stomach.</P>

Interactions between household air pollution and GWAS-identified lung cancer susceptibility markers in the Female Lung Cancer Consortium in Asia (FLCCA)

Hosgood III, H. Dean,Song, Minsun,Hsiung, Chao Agnes,Yin, Zhihua,Shu, Xiao-Ou,Wang, Zhaoming,Chatterjee, Nilanjan,Zheng, Wei,Caporaso, Neil,Burdette, Laurie,Yeager, Meredith,Berndt, Sonja I.,Landi, Ma Springer-Verlag 2015 HUMAN GENETICS Vol.134 No.3

Fuzzy Ownership Rights and Corporate Governance

( Bliss Burdett Pak ),( Eugene Yun ) 아시아.유럽미래학회 2005 유라시아연구 Vol.2 No.2

기업지배구조는 국가경제가 갖고 있는 사회적, 문화적, 역사적, 법률적, 경제적 가치관을 반영한다. 본 논문은 현실 세계에서 관찰할 수 있는 기업구조지배 형태를 보다 더 명백하게 설명하기 위해 퍼지소유권(fuzzy ownership rights)모형을 개발하여 소개한다. 기업의 소유권이 애매하며 불확실할 경우 이는 기업지배구조에 중대한 영향을 미친다. 특히, 기업은 단순히 주주의 이익 극대화 문제를 풀기 보다는, 더 높은 차원의 복합문제 즉, 기업의 모든 이해관계자(stakeholder)의 이익 극대화 문제를 풀어야 한다. 1997년 이후, 금융위기를 경험한 아세아의 여러 국가들은 英美식 기업지배구조 개혁을 시도하고 있다. 이러한 개혁의 초점은 주로 소액주주의 권한을 증대하는 데에있으며 또 한편으로는 퍼지소유권 문제를 외면하고 있다. 본 연구에 의하면 퍼지소유권의 존재가 변질하지 않는 한,기업지배구조 개혁은 큰 효과가 없을 것이다. 이는 英美식 개혁이 표면적인 변화만 가져오며, 기업의 목적함수와 행동에는 근본적인 영향을 주지 못하기 때문이다. 세계 각국에서 현재 관찰할 수 있는 기업지배구조 모형은 아주 다양하다. 긴 안목을 가지고 보면 이러한 모형들이 英美식 주주최고주의(Anglo-Saxon shareholderprimacy) 모형으로 접근한다는 이론도 있지만 본 연구는 그 결과를 부인한다. 퍼지소유권의 소지자들은 경제체제 안에서 차지하는 그들의 위치 또는 기업과 특수한 관계를 유지함으로써 발생하는 그들의 권리를 끝까지 지키고 보호할 것으로 예상되며 이러한 기득세력은 한국의 기업지배구조 모형이 주주최고주의 모형으로 접근하는 데에 있어 큰 장애물이 될 것이다. This paper presents a model with fuzzy ownership rights for explaining corporate governance. The purpose of this model is to capture the theoretical underpinnings of corporate governance in real-world situations, which emphasize social, economic and cultural networks. The existence of strong fuzzy ownership rights affects corporate governance in many important ways, beginning with the firm being forced to go beyond solving the shareholder interest maximization problem: instead, the firm attempts to solve a more complex problem, which is to maximize the interests of other fuzzy ownership right-holders as well. In the wake of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, many countries in Asia were encouraged to adopt western-style corporate governance reforms. Although systemic changes are being adopted, with particular emphasis placed on strengthening minority shareholders’ legal rights, these reforms fail to remove fuzzy ownership rights. This paper predicts that the reform effort will be ineffectual since it leaves the behavior of the firm and itscorporate governance structure fundamentally unchanged. This paper challenges the proposition that globally disparate corporate governance systems in the long run will converge to the Anglo-Saxon shareholder primacy model. Fuzzy ownership rights holders can be expected to protect and refuse to surrender their rights when targeted by corporate reform efforts. The vested interests, which are personal to the holders because they arise from the holder’s position in the economy or in relation to the firm, present a high barrier to convergence toward a global standard based on the shareholder primacy model.

Domestic Law and International Relations: USA PATRIOT Act, Section 311, and the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004

( Bliss Burdett Pak ),( Jasper Kim ) 한국국방연구원 2007 The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis Vol.19 No.3

This article proposes that the future of international relations increasingly will be affected by domestic law. We examine this thesis in the context of United States-North Korean relations from 2004 to 2007. The statutory content, application and observable results of two U.S. domestic statutes are offered as a study in contrasting approaches for domestic law and policy with international relations impact: (i) Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 as applied to a third-state bank (Macau`s Banco Delta Asia), based on evidence of money laundering connected to North Korean criminal financial activity, and (ii) the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004. We find that the differing statutory content, methods of application and institutional context likely account for the drastically different results on the target nation`s behavior. While the impact of the North Korean Human Rights Act has been either negligible or negative in terms of inspiring behavioral change in the target, the anti-money laundering provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act appear to have affected not only the activities specifically targeted by the domestic statute, but also resolution of an enforcement action under its authority recently became a top priority agenda item in international diplomatic negotiations among the United States, North Korea and other nations within the framework of the Six-Party Talks. We conclude that the apparent success of the domestically launched U.S. anti-money laundering enforcement action to affect international relations offers a role model for domestic legal action with foreign relations outcomes. This domestic legal model is likely to be repeated in other contexts, and likely to be effective for jurisdictions with important international financial centers.

Global Capital, National Markets and New Defenses: Proposal for an East Asian Opt-In Takeover Law

( Bliss Burdett Pak ) 아시아.유럽미래학회 2006 유라시아연구 Vol.3 No.1

This paper analyzes the case for enhanced takeover defenses for East Asian companies in the modern context of global investors, open capital markets and disproportionate control structures. It surveys the current evolution in two families of takeover policy: (1) the American experience with poison pills and staggered boards, and the pill’s recent adoption in Japan; and (2) the UK`s board passivity approach and its inclusion as an option in the European Union`s Directive on Takeover Bids. Given the incentives of controlling shareholders to seek greater takeover protection and the problems inherent to controlling minority corporate structures, a potentially attractive solution is proposed: an opt-in takeover law regime offering enhanced anti-takeover protections to companies that meet qualifying criteria. The opt-in regime would craft appropriate capital markets preconditions to company access to stronger takeover protections: eligibility would be based on an effective one-share, one-vote control structure and adequate disclosure. The enhanced takeover law would allow boards to reject an unsolicited bid, but remove their ability to use a staggered board to block a bid where the bidder wins a proxy contest. This opt-in proposal strives to achieve that elusive balance between the protection of deserving managers and the preservation of the shareholder franchise. Its aim is twofold: (1) to bypass the difficulties that the Delaware courts in the U.S. and the European Commission in its 13th Directive on Takeover Bids have experienced in wrestling with takeover defense policy, entrenched incumbents and cross-border reciprocity issues and (2) to offer a strong incentive to controlling shareholders to restructure the extreme controlling-minority-shareholder capital structures that are a drag on the value of East Asian companies. Precise, transparent rules governing the market for corporate control would providecapital markets players a better roadmap to the costs and conditions of hostile acquisitions, potentially eliminating some inefficient acquisition efforts and the accompanying drain on management resources. If companies opt-in in significant numbers, the new regime may result in a net social benefit in the form of reducing the opportunity and benefits of bad-private-benefits extraction by minority controllers.

Regulating the Sovereign Wealth Funds

BLISS BURDETT PAK Institute for International Trade and Cooperation 2008 Asian International Studies Review Vol.9 No.2

This paper examines the new policy issues surrounding the rise of the “sovereign wealth funds” in global capital markets. A profound and newly significant incidence of globalization, the role of foreign governments as capital providers in nominally capitalistic, free-market economies is disrupting basic principals and assumptions regarding the role of private and public markets and their regulators. This paper examines the potential for appropriate regulatory schemes to channel these wealth pools in economically productive and apolitically-motivated directions, with the goal of permitting them to perform the functions for which they were established: the preservation and prudential investment of the vast wealth of nations. This regulatory analysis proceeds along three lines: (i) first, a model for corporate governance of a “typical” sovereign fund is proposed, based on the established models of private sector investment fund schemes; (ii) second, a review of host state models and current proposals for foreign investment regulation is undertaken, focusing on the special scrutiny given or proposed to be made available for investments by stateowned funds; and (iii) finally, an assessment is offered regarding international organizations' potential role as venues for cooperation and coordination of the newest and largest players in global capital markets. Though the sovereign wealth funds have made significant gains in establishing their credibility as welcome and responsible providers of global capital through their voluntary and independent actions, this paper concludes that both state-level regulatory accommodation and international cooperation through established economic organizations such as the OECD and IMF offer significant potential benefits to both the funds and the national markets (and target companies therein) if appropriately designed. At a minimum, national and international treatment of the special nature of the sovereign wealth funds may enable capital markets to remain relatively open by specifically addressing the sources of market participants' (and politicians') fears of abuse, thereby strengthening the structures that support the global free movement of capital and channel it to its highest and best use.

Empire for Capital Markets : What Motivates Global Stock Exchange Consolidation?

Pak, Bliss Burdett Institute for International Trade and Cooperation 2007 Asian International Studies Review Vol.8 No.1

Global capital markets are experiencing high-speed transformation in their structural forms, notably characterized by cross-border strategic alliances and consolidation among stock exchanges. Is this the age of empire for the exchange? Do the changes regional and transcontinental cooperation efforts represent the early stage of institutionalized global capital markets - a capitalist manifest destiny? This paper examines the major stock exchanges' global expansion, "merger" and strategic alliance methods to date. Major consolidation and alliance announcements since 2000 are analyzed for the legal and structural forms employed, the motivations driving the creation of the alliance and the significant limitations on global stock exchange ambitions in the modern regulatory and political environment. I conclude that the dream of a truly global stock exchange may be farther off than the recent "merger" announcements would seem to indicate, and that functionally integrated capital markets may develop in less regulated environments in substitution for global capital stock exchanges, where demand for global services bumps up against regulatory constraints.