Audit Committee Disclosure of Auditor Reappointment Factors: Vigilant Monitoring or Window Dressing

Audit committees are responsible for initial and subsequent appointment of the external auditor but are not required to disclose reasons for their choice of the auditor. Investors have raised concerns about the lack of audit committee transparency, particularly considering longer auditor tenure in U.S public companies. In recent years, some firms are voluntarily disclosing factors the audit committee considers when reappointing the external auditor. We investigate whether these disclosures are mere representations of favorable impressions or depict audit committees’ vigilant monitoring of the auditor. First, we find that the likelihood of disclosure increases with higher perceived impaired auditor independence, investor activism pressure on the board of directors, and audit committee quality. Next, we find that these disclosures negatively moderate the positive association between egregious financial restatements and audit committee member turnover. Finally, we find that the disclosures decrease the likelihood that the financial statements the auditor is reappointed to audit will be restated in future periods. Our results are robust to several additional analyses, including controlling for endogeneity using propensity-score matching and instrumentation. The evidence is relevant to various stakeholders including the SEC, investors and others interested in audit committee transparency. We provide evidence that although some firms voluntarily disclose auditor reappointment factors to create favorable impressions, overall, these disclosures are more indicative of audit committee substantive monitoring of the external auditor. These findings should be relevant to the SEC that has proposed mandating these disclosures

Evaluation of Progress in Cocoa Crop Protection and Management

Cocoa cultivation began with the Olmecs, who were the first humans to consume chocolate as a drink in equatorial Mexico between 1500 and 400 BC. Over the centuries, commercial cocoa cultivation and trade have developed from the Mayans, Aztecs, and through Meso-America under the influence of the Spanish explorers. In 1822, cocoa was first introduced to São Tomé and Príncipe in Africa from where it spread as a plantation crop, with West Africa becoming the major centre of global production. The cultivation of selected hybrid varieties particularly have led to pest and diseases becoming major production limiting factors. This chapter evaluates crop protection techniques developed over the years, and highlights their contribution to yields, production costs, impact on farmers, and the cocoa value chain and ecosystems. We discussed the need to re-evaluate the imbalance of power in the global value chain, the colonial trading systems, and the required investments for integrated disease and pest management systems. The prospects of using modern biotechnological tools to improve cocoa, and how these approaches can reduce the negative impacts of current protection measures on the ecology and production systems are highlighted. Key recommendations have been made for all stakeholders in the cocoa industry to ensure future sustainability

Assessing the Impact of the ATM in Delivering Service in the Banking Industry. A case of GCB Bank Ltd

In Ghana, developments in information and communication technology are radically changing the way businesses are done. These developments in technology have resulted in new delivery channels for banking products and services such as Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Telephone Banking, PC-Banking, and Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPoS). This study assesses the impact of the ATM technology in delivering service quality in the banking industry. The study focused on customers and staff of GCB Bank Ltd in ten (10) branches in Greater Accra Region. The purposive sampling technique was used in selecting 272 customers and staff from these 10 branches in the Greater Accra Region. The results of the study generally indicated that, 30% of respondents use the ATM services once a week while 26.4 % often use the ATM on alternate days and 22.8% use it once a month. A high percentage of 84.8% of respondents asserting that they watch out for the location of the ATM before going to transact means customers who go to the ATM are becoming more security conscious and banks must consider this factor in locating an ATM. Respondents also use the ATM as and when needed and since banks also must satisfy them should make the ATM available to them at all times. The three top-most challenges customers are faced with at the ATM were also identified in the study and these included,” accounts being debited without dispensing” (92.4%), followed by “ATM being sited at an obscured area” (86%) and “the ATM not dispensing the denomination required” by customers ranked third with an average of 62.4%. These show that the ATM service has contributed positively to the provision of banking services in GCB Bank Ltd. and the Ghanaian Banking industry as a whole. Keywords: E-banking, Internet banking, ATM, SMS, PO

CYTOTOXIC EFFECTS OF ALBIZIA ZYGIA (DC) J. F. MACBR, A GHANAIAN MEDICINAL PLANT, AGAINST HUMAN T-LYMPHOBLAST-LIKE LEUKEMIA, PROSTATE AND BREAST CANCER CELL LINES

Objective: The objectives of this study were to investigate the cytotoxic effects of extracts and fractions of Albizia zygia roots (AZR) on human T-lymphoblast-like leukemia (Jurkat), prostate cancer (LNCap) and breast cancer (MCF-7) cells and the apoptotic effect in Jurkat cells.Methods: Aqueous and hydroethanolic extracts were prepared and tested for cytotoxic effects on the cell lines using the tetrazolium-based colorimetric assay. Apoptosis induction was determined by DNA fragmentation, cell morphological changes, flow cytometric and mitochondrial membrane potential assays.Results: Both aqueous and hydroethanolic extracts were more cytotoxic to Jurkat cells than the other cell lines, with selective index (SI) values of 104.4 and 86.6, respectively. The SI values of the extracts on LNCap cells were 9.0 and 35.4, respectively. Some of the fractions were non-cytotoxic. Nevertheless petroleum ether fraction was cytotoxic towards MCF-7 cells with SI value of 2.4. The hydroethanolic extract exhibited apoptosis via induction of DNA fragmentation in Jurkat cells. Cell morphological changes were consistent with the extract-mediated cytotoxicity and DNA fragmentation. Flow cytometric and mitochondrial membrane potential assays also showed significant apoptotic induction confirming apoptosis by the AZR extract.Conclusion: This study has shown that AZR possesses anticancer activity by demonstrating a high selective toxicity against Jurkat cells. Furthermore, the hydroethanolic extract induced apoptosis in the Jurkat cells. Albizia zygia roots may be a source of novel compounds for the development of new anti-cancer agents.Keywords: Albizia zygia, Cancer cells, Cytotoxicity, Apoptosi

Evolutionary pathways to NS5A inhibitor resistance in genotype 1 hepatitis C virus

Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) targeting NS5A are broadly effective against hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, but sustained virological response rates are generally lower in patients infected with genotype (gt)-1a than gt-1b viruses. The explanation for this remains uncertain. Here, we adopted a highly accurate, ultra-deep primer ID sequencing approach to intensively study serial changes in the NS5A-coding region of HCV in gt-1a- and gt-1b-infected subjects receiving a short course of monotherapy with the NS5A inhibitor, elbasvir. Low or undetectable levels of viremia precluded on-treatment analysis in gt-1b-infected subjects, but variants with the resistance-associated substitution (RAS) Y93H in NS5A dominated rebounding virus populations following cessation of treatment. These variants persisted until the end of the study, two months later. In contrast, while Y93H emerged in multiple lineages and became dominant in subjects with gt-1a virus, these haplotypes rapidly decreased in frequency off therapy. Substitutions at Q30 and L31 emerged in distinctly independent lineages at later time points, ultimately coming to dominate the virus population off therapy. Consistent with this, cell culture studies with gt-1a and gt-1b reporter viruses and replicons demonstrated that Y93H confers a much greater loss of replicative fitness in gt-1a than gt-1b virus, and that L31M/V both compensates for the loss of fitness associated with Q30R (but not Y93H) and also boosts drug resistance. These observations show how differences in the impact of RASs on drug resistance and replicative fitness influence the evolution of gt-1a and gt-1b viruses during monotherapy with an antiviral targeting NS5A. © 2018 Elsevier B.V

Kinetic analyses reveal potent and early blockade of hepatitis C virus assembly by NS5A inhibitors

Background & Aims All-oral regimens combining different classes of direct-acting antivirals (DAA) are highly effective for treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C. NS5A inhibitors will likely form a component of future interferon-sparing treatment regimens. However, despite their potential, the detailed mechanism of action of NS5A inhibitors is unclear. To study their mechanisms, we compared their kinetics of antiviral suppression with those of other classes of DAA, using the hepatitis C virus genotype 1a cell culture-infectious virus H77S.3. Methods We performed detailed kinetic analyses of specific steps in the hepatitis C virus life cycle using cell cultures incubated with protease inhibitors, polymerase inhibitors, or NS5A inhibitors. Assays were designed to measure active viral RNA synthesis and steady-state RNA abundance, polyprotein synthesis, virion assembly, and infectious virus production. Results Despite their high potency, NS5A inhibitors were slow to inhibit viral RNA synthesis compared with protease or polymerase inhibitors. By 24 hours after addition of an NS5A inhibitor, polyprotein synthesis was reduced <50%, even at micromolar concentrations. In contrast, inhibition of virus release by NS5A inhibitors was potent and rapid, with onset of inhibition as early as 2 hours. Cells incubated with NS5A inhibitors were rapidly depleted of intracellular infectious virus and RNA-containing hepatitis C virus particles, indicating a block in virus assembly. Conclusions DAAs that target NS5A rapidly inhibit intracellular assembly of genotype 1a virions. They also inhibit formation of functional replicase complexes, but have no activity against preformed replicase, thereby resulting in slow shut-off of viral RNA synthesis

Identification of poor households for premium exemptions in Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme: empirical analysis of three strategies

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of three alternative strategies to identify poor households: means testing (MT), proxy means testing (PMT) and participatory wealth ranking (PWR) in urban, rural and semi-urban settings in Ghana. The primary motivation was to inform implementation of the National Health Insurance policy of premium exemptions for the poorest households. METHODS: Survey of 145-147 households per setting to collect data on consumption expenditure to estimate MT measures and of household assets to estimate PMT measures. We organized focus group discussions to derive PWR measures. We compared errors of inclusion and exclusion of PMT and PWR relative to MT, the latter being considered the gold standard measure to identify poor households. RESULTS: Compared to MT, the errors of exclusion and inclusion of PMT ranged between 0.46-0.63 and 0.21-0.36, respectively, and of PWR between 0.03-0.73 and 0.17-0.60, respectively, depending on the setting. CONCLUSION: Proxy means testing and PWR have considerable errors of exclusion and inclusion in comparison with MT. PWR is a subjective measure of poverty and has appeal because it reflects community's perceptions on poverty. However, as its definition of the poor varies across settings, its acceptability as a uniform strategy to identify the poor in Ghana may be questionable. PMT and MT are potential strategies to identify the poor, and their relative societal attractiveness should be judged in a broader economic analysis. This study also holds relevance to other programmes that require identification of the poor in low-income countries

Inhibition of Mg2+ binding and DNA religation by bacterial topoisomerase I via introduction of an additional positive charge into the active site region

Among bacterial topoisomerase I enzymes, a conserved methionine residue is found at the active site next to the nucleophilic tyrosine. Substitution of this methionine residue with arginine in recombinant Yersinia pestis topoisomerase I (YTOP) was the only substitution at this position found to induce the SOS response in Escherichia coli. Overexpression of the M326R mutant YTOP resulted in ∼4 log loss of viability. Biochemical analysis of purified Y. pestis and E. coli mutant topoisomerase I showed that the Met to Arg substitution affected the DNA religation step of the catalytic cycle. The introduction of an additional positive charge into the active site region of the mutant E. coli topoisomerase I activity shifted the pH for optimal activity and decreased the Mg2+ binding affinity. This study demonstrated that a substitution outside the TOPRIM motif, which binds Mg2+directly, can nonetheless inhibit Mg2+ binding and DNA religation by the enzyme, increasing the accumulation of covalent cleavage complex, with bactericidal consequence. Small molecules that can inhibit Mg2+ dependent religation by bacterial topoisomerase I specifically could be developed into useful new antibacterial compounds. This approach would be similar to the inhibition of divalent ion dependent strand transfer by HIV integrase in antiviral therapy