Purpose-This paper reviews scientific publications in the field of logistics underlying Cross Border E-Commerce (CBEC) to China. A focus on the role played in this complex process by other Countries of the Greater China is carried out. The major aim of the paper is to outline directions for future research to encourage CBEC development. Methodology/Approach-The review is based on 32 papers published from 2002 to 2016 in international peer-reviewed journals and/or proceedings of international conferences, retrieved from bibliographic databases and science search engines. Findings-CBEC to China is gaining increasing interest, as shown by the rising amount of publications from 2013 onwards. Within these contributions however, studies specifically investigating the relation between logistics and e-commerce, commonly acknowledged as critical, seem to lack. Many contributions are descriptive and do not provide specific insights on how to manage the complexities of CBEC logistics in this region. Stemming from the review, a set of possible development areas are identified, including distribution network design, i.e. deciding how to shape the CBEC distribution structure, and logistics outsourcing, i.e. determining whether to manage logistics activities in-house or through third parties. Originality/Value-To the extent of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first one to classify the existing body of knowledge on logistics supporting CBEC. Its main contribution is the critical identification of current research gaps and the proposal of key themes for future research. From a managerial perspective, it helps export and logistics managers identify the key challenges of managing CBEC logistics to Greater China.
Characterization of tissue surrounding glioblastoma (GBM) is a focus for translational research because tumor recurrence invariably occurs in this area. We investigated the expression of the progenitor/stem cell markers GD3 ganglioside and NG2 proteoglycan in GBM, peritumor tissue (brain adjacent to tumor, BAT) and cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) isolated from GBM (GCSCs) and BAT (PCSCs). GD3 and NG2 immunohistochemistry was performed in paired GBM and BAT specimens from 40 patients. Double-immunofluorescence was carried out to characterize NG2-positive cells of vessel walls. GD3 and NG2 expression was investigated in GCSCs and PCSCs whose tumorigenicity was also evaluated in Scid/bg mice. GD3 and NG2 expression was higher in tumor tissue than in BAT. NG2 decreased as the distance from tumor margin increased, regardless of the tumor cell presence, whereas GD3 correlated with neoplastic infiltration. In BAT, NG2 was coexpressed with a-smooth muscle actin (a-SMA) in pericytes and with nestin in the endothelium. Higher levels of NG2 mRNA and protein were found in GCSCs while GD3 synthase was expressed at similar levels in the 2 CSC populations. PCSCs had lower tumorigenicity than GCSCs. These data suggest the possible involvement of GD3 and NG2 in pre/pro-tumorigenic events occurring in the complex microenvironment of the tissue surrounding GBM.
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