Brodalumab treatment resulted in significant clinical improvements in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. (Funded by Amgen; AMAGINE-2 and AMAGINE-3 ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT01708603 and NCT01708629.).

Manuscript Type: EmpiricalResearch Question/Issue: We examine the relation between independence of audit committee and firm value with a sample of Fortune 200 companies. Research Findings/Insights: Using a sample of Fortune 200 companies and defining top executives of other publicly traded firms as expert-independent directors and controlling for firm specifics, board features, and individual director characteristics, we find the presence of expert-independent directors on board and in the audit committee enhances firm value. Theoretical/Academic Implications: We provide empirical evidence to show that by focusing on this restricted definition of independent directors (expert-independent directors), we are able to examine independence in both the board and audit committee in a different light. Practitioner/Policy Implications: We offer new insights to relate firm value of the composition of audit committee. When expert-independent directors are of majority control of audit committee, finance-trained directors improve firm value almost five times to that of firms with independent audit committee alone.

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Intraoperative imaging of tumor microenvironment reveals correlations between extracellular vesicle density and breast pathology.

Two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (2P-FLIM) of autofluorescent metabolic coenzymes has been widely used to investigate energetic perturbations in living cells and tissues in a label-free manner with subcellular resolution. While the currently used state-of-the-art instruments are highly sensitive to local molecular changes associated with these metabolic processes, they are inherently slow and limit the study of dynamic metabolic environments. Here, a sustained video-rate 2P-FLIM imaging system is demonstrated for time-lapse lifetime imaging of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, an autofluorescent metabolic coenzyme involved in both aerobic and anaerobic processes. This system is sufficiently sensitive to differences in metabolic activity between aggressive and nonaggressive cancer cell lines and is demonstrated for both wide field-of-view autofluorescence imaging as well as sustained video-rate image acquisition of metabolic dynamics following induction of apoptosis. The unique capabilities ofthis imaging platform provide a powerful technological advance to further explore rapid metabolic dynamics in living cells.