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This paper tests the pollution haven hypothesis by examining the relationship between environmental regulation and foreign investment with consideration of the role of corporate social responsibility, which has so far been neglected. Using multinationals' investment data from China, our results in general support the pollution haven hypothesis that less stringent environmental regulation is more attractive for multinationals to invest in China, but high social responsibility can counteract attractiveness of weak environmental regulation.

Folic acid (FA), which is necessary for normal cell division of mammals, has been implicated to be involved in many tumors. Dietary FA intake has been reported to be associated with a lower risk of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). However, the molecular mechanisms of FA in NPC cells remain unclear. In the present study, we found that FA treatment dose dependently inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of NPC cells, via folate receptor α (FRα). We further found that FA, bound to FRα, induced the activation of MEK/ERK1/2, and increased the expressions of TSLC1 and E-cadherin. Moreover, blocking of ERK1/2 activation attenuated FA-mediated increase in TSLC1 expression. In addition, knockdown of TSLC1 abolished the FA-mediated inhibition of cell proliferation, invasion and migration, and suppressed the FA-mediated increase oinE-cadherin expression in NPC cells. Taken together, our data suggest that FA treatment inhibits NPC cell proliferation and invasion via activation of FRα/ERK1/2/ TSLC1 signaling pathway. Therefore, FA could be explored as a therapeutic drug for the treatment of NPC, and TSLC1 may act as a tumor suppressor in NPC.

Using a panel of China's enterprises from 1999 to 2007, this paper examined how marketoriented economic transition affects the productivity of China's enterprises given the various stages of enterprises in the commercialization process and given the market segmentation among Chinese different regions. The main findings are that: (i) enterprises with higher degrees of commercialization have relatively higher productivity, whereas enterprises with higher degrees of market segmentation have relatively lower productivity; (ii) the commercialization process and market segmentation act indirectly affect productivity through enterprises' capacity to export, innovate and obtain business loans; and (iii) the indirect effects are found to be significantly different between the commercialization process and market segmentation, highlighting the effects of the market-oriented economic transition on enterprises' productivity. This paper provides reliable enterprise-level evidence regarding the sources and evolution of enterprise productivity during different stages of market-oriented economic transition in China.

Based on empirical evidence from enterprises in Jiangsu Province, this paper studies key influencing factors of their innovation activities at the micro level. Results show that a "threshold effect" and a reversed U-shaped relationship exist between an enterprise's size and intensity of its innovation input when factors such as brand, entrepreneur background, HR, industrial and regional differences are controlled. Agglomeration effect is found influencing an enterprise's innovation activities negatively rather than positively. A non-linear relationship is also found between an enterprise's innovation activities and export ratio, showing a "capture effect". A behavior mode of the effects of these influencing factors on innovation activities of China's manufacturing enterprises is established and implications are provided.

using firm-level data from a 2009 survey conducted in Suzhou city, jiangsu province, this article examines the impact of technological capacity and value-chain position on a firm's product competitiveness. Technological capacity and product competitiveness are self-assessed relative to other firms and products in the same industry. Position on the value chain is measured relative to a firm's position as an original-brand manufacturer or not. Our empirical results show that competitiveness rises with a firm's technological capacity and its position on the global value chain. This finding is consistent with the theoretical prediction. The article also investigates the determinants of technological capacity and value-chain position, including the firm's size, research and development (r&D) spending, location dummies, educational level of technical and managerial personnel, wages Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 18:00 15 July 2015 56 The ChineSe eCOnOmy of technical and managerial personnel, and enterprise ownership. bootstrapping, probit, and linear probability regression models are employed.

We previously reported that dysregulation of histone deacetylase 2 (Hdac2) was associated with the prognosis of sudden sensorineural hearing loss. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. In the present study, we developed an acute hearing loss animal model in guinea pigs by infusing lipopolysaccharides (LPS) into the cochlea and measured the expression of Hdac2 in the sensory epithelium. We observed that the level of Hdac2 was significantly decreased in the LPSinfused cochleae. The levels of apoptosis-inhibition genes Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl were also decreased in the cochlea and correlated positively with the levels of Hdac2. Caspase3 or TUNEL-positive spiral ganglion neurons, hair cells, and supporting cells were observed in the LPS-infused cochleae. These in vivo observations were recapitulated in cell culture experiments. Based on bioinformatics analysis, we found miR-204-5p was engaged in the regulation of Hdac2 on Bcl-2. Molecular mechanism experiments displayed that miR-204-5p could be regulated by Hdac2 through interacting with transcription factor Sp1. Taken together, these results indicated that the Hdac2/Sp1/miR-204-5p/Bcl-2 regulatory axis mediated apoptosis in the cochlea, providing potential insights into the progression of acute hearing loss. To our knowledge, the study describes a miRNA-related mechanism for Hdac2-mediated regulation in the cochlea for the first time.

cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity, such as nephrotoxicity, neurotoxicity and ototoxicity, restricts the clinical application of this compound. Panax notoginseng Saponins (PnS) exhibit potent free radical scavenging and antioxidant activity. PnS have been demonstrated to reduce cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity. The present study investigated the ability of PnS to protect the auditory Hei-oc1 cell line against ototoxicity induced by cisplatin. PnS induced activation of the aKT/nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (nrf2) signaling pathway. Following pretreatment with PnS, Hei-oc1 cells were treated with cisplatin and cultured for 24 h. The viability of Hei-oc1 cells was examined using a cell counting Kit-8 assay. double staining analysis was used to measure cell apoptosis. The ability of PnS to reduce reactive oxygen species (roS) levels was assessed by flow cytometry. The levels of phosphorylated (p)-aKT, heme oxygenase 1 (Ho-1), nad(P)H quinone dehydrogenase 1 (nQo1), glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic (Gclc) and nrf2 were measured by western blotting. Hei-oc1 cells that were pretreated with PNS exhibited significantly increased cell viability compared with that noted in cells treated only with cisplatin. in addition, PnS suppressed the induction of apoptosis and roS production following cisplatin treatment. The upregulation of nQo1, Ho-1 and Gclc expression in PnS-pretreated cells was associated with p-aKT levels and the activation of Nrf2. These findings suggested that PnS protected auditory cells against ototoxicity induced by cisplatin by activating aKT/nrf2 signaling. PnS may serve as a potential candidate in regulating cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity.