This study examines the impact of organizational structure and board composition on risk taking in the U.S. property casualty insurance industry, addressing different risk‐taking behaviors from different perspectives. The risk‐taking measures include total risk, underwriting risk, investment risk, and leverage risk. The evidence shows that mutual insurers have lower total risk, underwriting risk, and investment risk than stock insurers. In terms of board composition variables, we find that some board composition variables not only have impact on risk‐taking behaviors but also affect different risk measures differently. Thus, using different risk measures is better than using one risk measure to assess risk‐taking behavior. Finally, we conclude that an insurer can control its total risk through management of underwriting, investment, and leverage risks that determine an insurer's risk profile.

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, this paper measures how much liquidity is transformed by the US life insurance industry for the sample period; and Second, this study tests the “risk absorption” hypothesis and “financial fragility-crowding out” hypothesis to identify the impact of capital on liquidity creation in the US life insurance industry. In addition, a regression model is conducted to explore the relationship between liquidity creation and other firm characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – In order to construct the liquidity creation measures, all assets and liabilities are classified as liquid, semi-liquid, or illiquid with appropriate weights to these classifications, which will then be combined to measure the amount of liquidity creation. In addition, a regression model is analyzed. The level of insurers’ liquidity creation is regressed on the capital ratio (surplus over total assets) and other financial and organizational variables to test two prevailing hypotheses. Findings – This paper finds that the US life insurers de-create liquidity. The authors provide that the amount of liquidity de-creation is related to the size of insurers such that liquidity de-creation has increased as assets grow and that large insurers de-create most of liquidity. The US life insurance industry de-created $2.1 trillion in liquidity, i.e., 43 percent of total industry assets, in 2008. The empirical results support the “financial fragility-crowding out” hypothesis. Life insurers’ liquidity de-creation is mainly caused by the large portion of liquid assets, which is required by regulation and capital is not a main factor of liquidity de-creation. Originality/value – There is no known study on the issue of liquidity creation by life insurers. Thus, the extent of liquidity creation by the life insurance industry, if any, is an empirical matter to investigate, but also an important matter to regulators and the academia since the products and business operations (e.g. asset portfolio and asset and liability management) of life insurers are different from those of property and liability insurers.

The common carp can tolerate extremely low oxygen levels. These fish store zinc in a specific zinc-binding protein presented in digestive tract tissues, and under low oxygen, the stored zinc is released and used as a signal to stimulate erythropoiesis (red blood cell formation). To determine whether the environmental supply of zinc to other fish species can serve as a signal to induce erythropoiesis as in the common carp, head kidney cells of four different fish species were cultured with supplemental ZnCl2. Zinc stimulated approximately a three-fold increase in immature red blood cells (RBCs) in one day. The stimulation of erythropoiesis by zinc was dose-dependent. ZnSO4 solution was injected into an experimental blood loss tilapia model. Blood analysis and microscopic observation of the blood cells indicated that, in vivo, the presence of additional zinc induced erythropoiesis in the bled tilapia. In the fish species studied, zinc could be used as a signal to stimulate erythropoiesis both in vitro and in vivo. The present report suggests a possible approach for the induction of red blood cell formation in animals through the supply of a certain level of zinc through either diet or injection.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder that causes dementia and affects millions of people worldwide. The mechanism underlying AD is unclear; however, oxidative stress and mitochondrial biogenesis have been reported to be involved in AD progression. Previous research has also reported the reduction in mitochondrial biogenesis in the brains of patients with AD. Quercetin (QE), a type of polyphenol, has been found to be capable of increasing mitochondrial biogenesis in the body. Accordingly, we explored whether QE could reduce amyloid beta (Aβ) accumulation caused by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative stress in SH-SY5Y cells. Our results revealed that QE stimulated the expression of mitochondrial-related proteins such as SIRT1, PGC-1α, and TFAM and subsequently activated mitochondrial biogenesis. Additionally, QE increased ADAM10 expression but reduced H2O2-induced reactive oxygen species production, apoptosis, β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 expression, and Aβ accumulation in the SH-SY5Y cells. These findings indicate that QE can effectively elevate mitochondrial biogenesis-related proteins and reduce the damage caused by oxidative stress, making it a promising option for protecting neuronal cells.

This paper examines the impact of corporate governance and audit quality on risk-taking in the U.S. property casualty insurance industry. The evidence shows that some corporate governance variables, as well as some audit quality variables are related to risk-taking. We find that longer board tenure is associated with low underwriting risk. But the higher percentage of financial experts on the board is associated with high underwriting risk. The possible reason is that financial experts possess a deep understanding of a firm’s financial situation and may encourage the management to take higher risk in anticipation of a higher return for a positive net present value project. The results are consistent with agency theory and wealth transfer hypothesis in that high risk taking is consistent with shareholder interest maximization. In addition, we find a non-monotonic relation between insider ownership and leverage risk. Finally, we do not find evidence that the Sarbanes-Oxley act have impact on the risk taking behavior.

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