Tulane University

About: Tulane University is a education organization based out in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Blood pressure. The organization has 24478 authors who have published 47205 publications receiving 1944993 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Louisiana.

Protection of Minority Shareholder Interests, Cross-listings in the United States, and Subsequent Equity Offerings

Abstract: This paper examines the view that non-U.S. firms cross-list in the United States to increase protection of their minority shareholders. We find that firms from French Civil Law countries, which have relatively weak protections for minority shareholders, are more likely to cross-list on an organized exchange than firms from English Common Law countries. Since listing on an organized exchange subjects the firm to U.S. securities law and requires the firm to conform to U.S. GAAP while listing a firm OTC or 144a does not, this finding is consistent with the view that firms from French Civil Law countries attempt to protect their minority shareholders by cross-listing. Subsequent to cross-listing in the U.S., equity offerings increase from firms from all countries, with larger post-cross-listing offerings from countries with lower shareholder protections. Equity offerings increase both in the U.S. and outside the U.S. Finally there is an association between shareholder protection in the home country and the location (U.S. or non-U.S.) of the equity offering, with non-U.S. offering more likely from countries with few shareholder protections. Overall, the pattern of cross-listing and equity offerings we observe in this paper suggests that bonding occurs when we expect it to be important, and that a significant reason for cross-listing in the U.S. is the legal protections of U.S. securities laws that are associated with the cross-listing.

Toll-Like Receptors on Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Drive Their Migration and Immunomodulating Responses

Abstract: Adult human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are under study as therapeutic delivery agents that assist in the repair of damaged tissues. To achieve the desired clinical outcomes for this strategy requires a better understanding of the mechanisms that drive the recruitment, migration, and engraftment of hMSCs to the targeted tissues. It is known that hMSCs are recruited to sites of stress or inflammation to fulfill their repair function. It is recognized that toll-like receptors (TLRs) mediate stress responses of other bone marrow-derived cells. This study explored the role of TLRs in mediating stress responses of hMSCs. Accordingly, the presence of TLRs in hMSCs was initially established by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assays. Flow cytometry and fluorescence immunocytochemical analyses confirmed these findings. The stimulation of hMSCs with TLR agonists led to the activation of downstream signaling pathways, including nuclear factor kappaB, AKT, and MAPK. Consequently, activation of these pathways triggered the induction and secretion of cytokines, chemokines, and related TLR gene products as established from cDNA array, immunoassay, and cytokine antibody array analyses. Interestingly, the unique patterns of affected genes, cytokines, and chemokines measured identify these receptors as critical players in the clinically established immunomodulation observed for hMSCs. Lastly, hMSC migration was promoted by TLR ligand exposure as demonstrated by transwell migration assays. Conversely, disruption of TLRs by neutralizing TLR antibodies compromised hMSC migration. This study defines a novel TLR-driven stress and immune modulating response for hMSCs that is critical to consider in the design of stem cell-based therapies.