Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO NPs) have been widely used as a white pigment in food and drugs. The most important route of human exposure to TiO is through food and drug products containing TiO additives. This study investigates the efficacy of an oral traditional use of rosemary extract in ameliorating some toxic effects induced on blood of TiO NP-intoxicated rats. Rats were given rosemary extract via intragastric administration 1 h before the intragastric administration of 100 mg/kg/day TiO NPs (10 nm) for 60 days. TiO NPs significantly increased serum cholesterol, glucose, and triglyceride levels of rats. They also induced significant oxidative stress and inflammatory and caused DNA damage in peripheral blood leukocytes. The rosemary extract appears to have a significant protective effect by lowering glucose level properties, restoring the lipid profile and showing an antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antigenotoxic properties against TiO NPs toxicity. In conclusion, this study gives an encouraging scientific basis for consumers of rosemary leaves to keep on with this culinary habit.

The authors examine the impact of the relationship between two types of financial innovation and bank performance. The research attempts to test hypotheses that are not yet validated by previous studies focusing on the financial services industry, thus, giving the study an exploratory look. The authors try, specifically, to determine the interaction effect of both types of financial innovation on bank performance and, then, try to enrich innovation theory with new hypotheses on product and process innovation. The results show that Tunisian banks have begun, probably, to see the importance or the need for the simultaneous adoption of two types of financial innovation since 1995 to improve their poor performance. The authors also find that the interaction effect of product and process innovation reduces profitability. However, efficiency is achieved in terms of market share and value. The authors conclude that financial innovation is a value creation instrument for Tunisian banks

An important unresolved issue in finance is the extent to which bank transparency promotes or undermines banking risk-taking. Financial accounting information is an essential component of transparency and a necessary condition for market discipline. This latter can be conceptualized as a market-based incentive scheme with which investors in banking securities penalize banks for greater risk-taking by asking for higher returns on their investments. However, in developing countries, where financial markets are insufficiently developed, the role of market discipline in limiting banks' risk-taking may be restricted. This paper examines the impact of transparency, as measured by voluntary disclosure of financial information, on the fragility of Tunisian banks. This study is motivated by the decision of the Central Bank of Tunisia to implement the directives of the second Basel Accord to improve the soundness and the safety of the Tunisian banking system. We examine a sample of ten Tunisian banks listed on the Stock Exchange of Tunis over the period 2000-2011. The results show that transparency has no effect on Tunisian banks' risk-taking. Similarly, the results indicate that the capital adequacy ratio has no effect on the non-performing loans rate. These results may undermine the effectiveness of the guidelines of the Basel Committee agreements to reduce risk-taking by Tunisian banks.