This article uses empirical evidence from the UK to consider how demand for external finance changed as the economy entered recession and whether external finance became more difficult for entrepreneurs to access as the recession progressed. It finds that larger firms and those experiencing declines in sales were more likely to maintain or increase their demand for external finance. The opposite was true for women-led businesses. Generally, finance was more readily available to larger and older firms throughout the recession. At its peak 119,000 (10% of the total stock) smaller firms were denied credit in a three-month period.

We use UK data to consider how smaller firms coped during the financial crisis. This is important as smaller firms are major contributors to job creation, but are vulnerable to falling demand. We find that 4 in 10 smaller firms experienced a fall in employment during the recession, and 5 in 10 a fall in sales. Within 12 months of the recession, three-quarters of entrepreneurs had a desire to grow. This suggests that whilst the immediate effects of recession are severe, entrepreneurs recover quite quickly. Importantly, recessionary growth is hugely concentrated amongst entrepreneurs with the highest human capital

Pomegranate shows neuroprotective effects against Alzheimer's disease (AD) in several reported animal studies. However, whether its constituent ellagitannins and/or their physiologically relevant gut microbiota-derived metabolites, namely, urolithins (6H-dibenzo[b,d]pyran-6-one derivatives), are the responsible bioactive constituents is unknown. Therefore, from a pomegranate extract (PE), previously reported by our group to have anti-AD effects in vivo, 21 constituents, which were primarily ellagitannins, were isolated and identified (by HPLC, NMR, and HRESIMS). In silico computational studies, used to predict blood-brain barrier permeability, revealed that none of the PE constituents, but the urolithins, fulfilled criteria required for penetration. Urolithins prevented β-amyloid fibrillation in vitro and methyl-urolithin B (3-methoxy-6H-dibenzo[b,d]pyran-6-one), but not PE or its predominant ellagitannins, had a protective effect in Caenorhabditis elegans post induction of amyloid β(1-42) induced neurotoxicity and paralysis. Therefore, urolithins are the possible brain absorbable compounds which contribute to pomegranate's anti-AD effects warranting further in vivo studies on these compounds.

The availability of credit to entrepreneurs with good investment opportunities is an important facilitator of economic growth. Under normal eco- nomic conditions, most entrepreneurs who requested loans receive them. In a global financial crisis, popular opinion is that banks are severely restricting lending to smaller businesses. This assumes that low levels of investment are caused by supply-side restrictions in the credit market. Little is said about potential changes in the demand for credit and how it is influenced by entrepreneurs’ perceptions about supply-side restric- tions. One particularly interesting, and under-re- searched, group of small businesses is that who have potentially good investment opportunities, but are discouraged from applying for external funding as they fear rejection. In this study, we question whether these entrepreneurs were correct in their assumptions. We find that levels of discouragement are quite low in general at 2.7 % of the total smaller business popu- lation. Further analysis implies that 55.6 % of dis- couraged borrowers would have got loans had they applied

This paper examines the relationships between firm age and entrepre- neurs experience on SME performance after the 2008/09 global financial crisis. We find that in general the crisis had a long-lasting scarring effect on the SME sector, but there is evidence of some recovery in performance. Interestingly, the well-established, and negative, firm age-growth relationship still holds, but entrepreneurial experience did not have any substantive effects on small busi- ness performance. Our findings suggest that the severity of the crisis meant that previous entrepreneur experiences had little value in this unique and uncertain environment. However, young firms still accounted for a disproportionately high share of growth, especially among the fastest growing firms

Glycation is associated with several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), where it potentiates the aggregation and toxicity of proteins such as β-amyloid (Aβ). Published studies support the anti-glycation and neuroprotective effects of several polyphenol-rich fruits, including berries, which are rich in anthocyanins. Herein, blackberry, black raspberry, blueberry, cranberry, red raspberry, and strawberry extracts were evaluated for: (1) total phenolic and anthocyanins contents, (2) free radical (DPPH) scavenging and reactive carbonyl species (methylglyoxal; MGO) trapping, (3) anti-glycation (using BSA-fructose and BSA-MGO models), (4) anti-Aβ aggregation (using thermal- and MGO-induced fibrillation models), and, (5) murine microglia (BV-2) neuroprotective properties. Berry crude extracts (CE) were fractionated to yield anthocyanins-free (ACF) and anthocyanins-enriched (ACE) extracts. The berry ACEs (at 100 μg/mL) showed superior free radical scavenging, reactive carbonyl species trapping, and anti-glycation effects compared to their respective ACFs. The berry ACEs (at 100 μg/mL) inhibited both thermal- and MGO-induced Aβ fibrillation. In addition, the berry ACEs (at 20 μg/mL) reduced H2O2-induced reactive oxygen species production, and lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide species in BV-2 microglia as well as decreased H2O2-induced cytotoxicity and caspase-3/7 activity in BV-2 microglia. The free radical scavenging, reactive carbonyl trapping, anti-glycation, anti-Aβ fibrillation, and microglial neuroprotective effects of these berry extracts warrant further in vivo studies to evaluate their potential neuroprotective effects against AD.

Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs) are a heterogeneous group of molecules produced from non-enzymatic glycation. Accumulation of AGEs in vivo plays an important role in the pathology of chronic human diseases including type-2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Natural AGEs inhibitors such as the pomegranate (Punica granatum) fruit show great potential for the management of these diseases. Herein, we investigated the in vitro anti-glycation effects of a pomegranate fruit extract (PE), its phenolic constituents [punicalagin (PA), ellagic acid (EA) and gallic acid (GA)], and their in vivo derived colonic metabolites [urolithin A (UA) and urolithin B (UB)]. All of the samples showed anti-glycation activities and PE, PA, and EA were more potent inhibitors than the positive control, aminoguanidine. PE and the purified phenolics also exhibited carbonyl scavenger reactivity. Our study suggests that pomegranate may offer an attractive dietary strategy for the prevention and treatment of AGE-related diseases such as type-2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

Using gender as a theoretical framework, we analyse the dynamics of bank lending to small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in the aftermath of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Using six waves of the SME Finance Monitor survey, we apply a formal Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to test whether gender impacts upon the supply and demand for debt finance by women. Reflecting established evidence, we found women had a lower demand for bank loans; contradicting accepted wisdom however, we found that women who did apply were more likely to be successful. We argue that feminised risk aversion might inform more conservative applications during a period of financial uncertainty which may be beneficial for women in terms of gaining loans. However, we also uncover more subtle evidence suggesting that bank decisions may differ for women who may be unfairly treated in terms of collateral but regarded more positively when holding large cash balances.