Regards and Views toward International Accounting Standards Setting: A Critical Examination and Discussion

Accounting information is the basis for the stakeholders who take different economic decision time to time by assessing those accounting information reported by the business organization. That’s why; international accounting standard setting committee aims to protect the interest of the stakeholders by formulating a high-quality reporting standard. But this standard setting process is hindered by many external lobbying groups like government, political, economic and corporate group because there are the agency and other problems. This study aims to examine and discuss the theoretical and conceptual frameworks like different approaches and theories like a free market and regulatory approach. Moreover, it is still a debate whether free market or regulatory approach ensures the interest of the stakeholders more. However, this study identifies that standard setting process should be a holistic approach that should protect the interest of not only the stakeholders but also the organization

Enteral nutrition feeding strategies and their impact on relapse rate and quality of life in paediatric Crohn’s disease

MDAims: To study induction of remission and reduction in relapse rate of childhood Crohn’s disease with quality of life (QOL) assessment in subjects on long term continuous oral supplementation with ACD004. Methods: This study was performed in two phases. In Phase A, ACD004 was used to assess effectiveness based on proportion of full remission at 8 weeks. Children then reintroduced food over a 4 week phase reducing their ACD004 intake to 30% RDA, subsequently enrolling into randomised controlled part of the trial (Phase B), to assess reduction in relapse rate whilst receiving continuous oral ACD004 supplementation compared to no supplementation. Secondary objectives of this study were to examine QOL, safety, tolerance and growth. Results: 42 children were enrolled in Phase A with 78.6% (n=33) achieving remission with a significant improvement in endoscopic, histologic and QOL scores. One child developed refeeding syndrome. A further 8 children relapsed during the food reintroduction phase and 25 children were enrolled in the Phase B RCT. 12 were randomised to remain supplemented and 13 had no supplementation. Only 1/3rd of the calculated study power (n=72) was met due to collapse of trial following withdrawal of funding. 8/12 in the supplemented and 10/13 in the non-supplemented group relapsed by first year. At 2 years, 4/12 in the supplemented and 2/13 in the non-supplemented group were in remission. Deterioration in IBD and systemic QOL 7 symptoms related to disease were seen; however there was no change in emotional and social functioning. Conculsions: ACD004 is an effective remission inducing agent, which also improves QOL despite significantly limiting children’s diet. Due to early collapse of trial, its role as a supplement remains uncertain; no benefit seen with limited trial recruitment. In the long-term, emotional and social domains in QOL remain unaltered, despite relapse which may be due to disease acceptance

Trees, Shrubs and Grasses for Saltlands: an Annotated Bibliography

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Isolation of squarrosal and squarrosol compounds from methanol root extract of Ruellia squarrosa (Acanthaceae)

Purpose: To identify, characterize and structurally elucidate bioactive compounds from root of Ruellia squarrosa.Methods: One kilogram of crude Ruellia squarrosa root was shade dried for 14 days, ground to a fine powder and subjected to a methanol extraction. The resultant extract underwent column chromatography for further purification. The isolated compounds were subjected to ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV), infra-red (IR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), 13C–NMR and high resolution electron ionization mass spectrometry (HR-EI-MS) for the identification, characterization and structural elucidation of bioactive compounds. The most active compounds were tested for anticancer activities against human prostate cancer cell.Results: Two active compounds, squarrosol and squarrosal, were obtained with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 15.6 and 26.6 μg/mL, respectively, against human prostate cancer cell lines. Squarrasol showed a significantly (p < 0.05) greater inhibition of cell proliferation than the same dose of squarrasal.Conclusion: These findings suggest that extracts of Ruellia squarrosa containing the bioactive compounds, squarrosol and squarrosal, can potentially be developed for the treatment of human prostate cancer.Keywords: Ruellia squarrosa, Prostate cancer, Squarrosol, Squarrosal, Anit-proliferativ

Antigenotoxic and anticlastogenic potential of Agaricus bisporus against MMS induced toxicity in human lymphocyte cultures and in bone marrow cells of mice

The aim of the present study is to evaluate, for the first time, antigenotoxic potential of Agaricus bisporus against methyl methanesulphonate induced toxicity in human lymphocyte culture in vitro and in bone marrow cells of albino mice in vivo. The parameters studied included total aberrant cells and the frequencies of aberrations in the bone marrow cells at three exposure durations viz., 16, 24 and 32 h, and for the in vitro method using chromosomal aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges and replication indices as markers. The alcoholic extract of A. bisporus was taken in five increasing concentrations of 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400 mg/kg body weight for three in vivo exposure durations viz., 16, 24 and 32 h. Similarly, four doses of extracts viz., 150, 200, 250 and 300 lg/ ml of culture were taken for in vitro durations of 24, 48 and 72 h in the presence as well as the absence of S9-mix. The treatment reduced the total number of aberrant cells ranging from 10.0% to 46.15% and it reduced the total frequencies of aberrations ranging from 198 to 96 against very high aberrations i.e., 227 caused due to methyl methanesulphonate in vivo. The same trends were observed in the in vitro experiments i.e., it reduced chromosomal aberrations from (42.00%, 71.25%, and 83.00% to 20.00%, 39.50%, and 43.00%) at 24, 48, and 72 h of exposure respectively. However when experiments were carried out in the presence of liver S9 fraction, these values were respectively 52.38, 44.56, and 48.34% significant at <0.05 level, likewise it also reduced sister chromatid exchanges from 14.86 ± 1.44 down to 8.84 ±0.75 per cell, whereas the replication index got enhanced from 1.45 to 1.64

Does Caesalpinia bonducella ameliorate genotoxicity? An in vitro study in human lymphocyte culture and in vivo study in Albino mice

AbstractMost of the world’s populations residing in developing countries depend on alternative medicine and use of plant ingredients. The plant Caesalpinia bonducella belongs to the family of Caesalpiniaceae and it is commonly known as Natakaranja in Hindi. It contains bonducin and two phytosterols namely sitosterol and hepatsane. The twigs and young leaves of C. bonducella are rationally used for curing tumors, inflammation and liver disorders. In our present work alcoholic extracts of this ayurvedic plant were tested for their antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic properties. The aim of the study is to investigate the antimutagenic and antigenotoxic potential of alcoholic extracts of C. bonducella against methyl methane sulfonate (MMS) induced genotoxicity. In this experiment we have used in vitro method i.e., human lymphocyte culture and in vivo method in bone marrow cells of albino mice, while the parameters studied included chromosomal aberrations (CA), sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) and cell growth kinetics (RI) both in the presence as well as in the absence of exogenous metabolic activation system for in vitro studies whereas total aberrant cells and the frequencies of aberrations were used for in vivo methods. Alcoholic extracts of C. bonducella significantly reduce chromosomal aberration from 42.75%, 44.25%, and 51.75% levels [at 24, 48, and 72h due to methyl methane sulfonate (MMS)] to 28.50%, 30.25%, and 35.10%, respectively similarly sister chromatid exchanges were reduced from 7.70±1.50 to 5.20±1.50 at 48h of treatment and replication index was enhanced in vitro for each concentration and duration of treatment and their ameliorating potential was dose and duration dependent. Similarly these extracts significantly reduced the number of aberrant cells and frequency of aberrations per cell in in vivo

Analysis of Domestic versus Foreign Banks Efficiency in Pakistan

Banking sector reforms were introduced in 1972 in the light of many contemporary issues observed in the banking industry. The nationalization of banks in 1974 improved the financialӏ sector in many ways. The efficiency of the sector was compromised due to politicalӏ influence; over-branching and overstaffing that affected the banking industry. In 1990s many reforms were made in the banking sector to address the problems that existed in the nationalized banking system. The public sector’s ownership of commercial banks had created lot of problems (political intervention in credit allocation, loan recovery and deterioration in services quality). This study evaluated the efficiency of domestic and foreign banks for the period 2010-2016. DEA was used to explore the scale, technical, pure technical and scale efficiency of the domestic and foreign banks. The ӏeast efficient banks are Bank Alfalah, Nationaӏ Bank, Askari Bank and Standard chartered in terms of scale efficiency. Technicalӏ efficiency scores demonstrate that Aӏӏied Bank, Askari bank, Nationalӏ Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank Alfalah did not perform efficiently whereas other banks of the sample did well. Pure technicalӏ efficiency scores under both orientations reveal that in 2010 and 2015, aӏӏ banks showed a perfect pure technicalӏ efficiency score of 1.00. Both domestic and foreign banks performance is mixed. Domestic banks are not less efficient in terms of all efficiencies than foreign banks. Both banks need attention to managerialӏ aspects and efficient utilization of technology in their operations. Sound macroeconomic policies may also help in improving the efficiency of banks

The National Library of Pakistan: A Survey of Users’ Satisfaction

This study aims to assess users’ satisfaction with the National Library of Pakistan (NLP). The study variables include facilities, collection, services, and attitude/behavior of staff along with demographics and open-ended comments. To carry out the objectives of the study, a semi-structured paper questionnaire using a modified Likert-type scale is administered personally by the principal researcher. Responses from one hundred (100) users are obtained employing a non-probability (accidental, voluntary) sampling technique. The majority of users show their satisfaction against all the variables. The users in open-ended comments suggest further improvement in facilities and services. This study may be helpful for the NLP administration to plan and proceed accordingly. Other national libraries especially in developing countries like Pakistan may also conduct user satisfaction surveys to assess their resources following the example of this study