The Empirical Analysis of Corporate Governance Mechanism and Political Influence on FRQ: An Insight from the Banking Sector in Iraq

The global corporate scandals in the banking industry have gained the government’s attention and other regulatory agencies on the importance of corporate governance, inducing legislation to prevent similar occurrences. Iraq has an emerging economy and corporate governance practices to establish and maintain a quality corporate culture. The study examined corporate governance and political influence on the financial reporting quality (FRQ) of 34 Iraqi banks listed under the 2015 – 2019 stock exchange. Specifically, the study provided a critical literature review on past studies to identify the strength and weaknesses and the literature gap. The study also used secondary data from financial reports. A total sample of 170 observation data was obtained as the analysis unit, selected through market capitalisation. Additionally, multiple linear regression was used to analyse the data using the Stata software. The results showed a positive and significant relationship between board size and FRQ. Conversely, board independence and audit committee independence had insignificant relationships with FRQ. Based on the ownership structure, managerial ownership significantly affected FRQ, whereas the political influence negatively impacted FRQ. Ultimately, the study contributes to the limited literature on the relationship between corporate governance and FRQ in Iraq’s developing economy. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Political Influence, Ownership Structure, FRQ, Iraq. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/12-20-08 Publication date:October 31st 202

Kurmanci Kürtçesinin fonetik ve fonolojik analizi

Bu tezde betimleyici, yapısal, işlevsel, metinsel, karşıtsal, dağıtımsal ve karşılaştırmalı dahil pek çok dilsel yöntemlerin kullanıldığı pragmatik ve sentagmatik bir anlayışa bağlı olarak fonetik ve fonolojik analizler çerçevesinde Kürtçenin en yaygın konuşulan lehçelerden biri olan Kuzey Kurmanci lehçesinin ses ve fonemlerinin kapsamlı bir betimlemesi ele alınmaktadır. Kurmanci lehçesinde yazılan bu tez sunuş ve üç bölümden oluşmaktadır. Sunuşta tezi kalem alan yazarın bir yandan referansların yokluğu diğer yandan Kürtçe dil bilimsel alanındaki teknik terimlerin yetersizliği yüzünden karşılaştığı güçlükler anlatılmaktadır. Dolayısıyla yazar bu açığı kapatmaya yönelik Kürtçe dilsel terminolojisini zenginleştirmeyi hedefleyerek bu teknik terimlerin İngilizceleri temelinde yeni Kürtçe terimleri üretmek zorunda kalmıştır. Birinci bölümde Kürtçenin bazı ünsüz seslerinin söyleyiş ve fiziksel özellikleri ele alınmaktadır. Bu ünsüz harflerin bazıları nefesli, nefessiz (k), çarpmalı (r) ve titrek (r) gibi üçüncü bir boyutu vardır. Bu bölümün sonunda Kürtçenin Kurmanci lehçesinin bütün alt lehçeleriyle birlikte 46 altı sese sahip olduğu belirtiliyor. Ünlü ve ünsüz seslerin Kürtçe sisteminin fonolojik özelliklerini belirten ikin bölüm ise bu 46 sesi ele alıyor. Yazar bu seslerden 34 sesi Kurmancinin fonem sistemine dahil olduğunu düşünüyor ve bunları iki yeni fonem daha ekliyor: ötümsüz nefessiz /k/ ve yine ötümsüz ama nefesli /k/. Yazar Kurmancinin ses kapanmaları arasında üç yönlü bir ayırım – ötümlü, ötümsüz nefesli ile ötümsüz nefessiz arasında – sergilediğini belirtiyor. İkinci fonem ise çarpmalı /r/'ye karşı titrek /r/. Yazar ayrıca Farsçadan alınmış olan mesela 7 /haft/ sayısındaki gırtlaktan gelen /h/ fonemi gibi üç ünsüz fonemi de inceledikten sonra bu fonemlerin Kürtçede kullanılmasının gerek olmadığını öneriyor. Son bölümde ise Kürtçenin kurmanci lehçesinin fonem ve alofonlarının ayırt edici özellikleri ele alındıktan sonra yazar fonetik bağlamında Kürtçe hece yapısını tarif ederek, Kurmancinin vurgu ve tonlama kalıplarına yönelik ölçü teknikleri ile parçalı materyalin bu birliğini ve uyumunu saptamak suretiyle anlam varyasyonunda bazı fonetik parametrelerinin etkilerini incelemeyi hedefliyor.This thesis is an attempt to provide a comprehensive description of the sounds and phonemes of one of the most widely spoken dialect of Kurdish, namely, Northern Kurmanji within the framework of phonetic and phonological analysis, depending on the paradigmatic and syntagmatic way of analysis within several linguistic methods: descriptive, structural, functional, textual, contrastive, distributionary, and comparative. This thesis, written in Kurmanji Kurdish, consists of an introduction and three chapters. The introduction shows the difficulties which the author faces in studying the Kurdish language issues because of the lack of references on one hand, and the poverty of technical terms in fields of Kurdish linguistics, on the other hand. So he was obliged to derive and design new Kurdish terms in contrast with the English ones aiming at enriching the Kurdish linguistic terminology. Chapter one deals with the articulatory and fisical characteristics of the Kurdish sounds which are manipulated by several so-called articulators, especially in consonants, some of which have a third dimension voice of aspirated and non-aspirated of the sound [k], flap [r] and trill [r], This chapter concludes to a fact that Kurdish Kurmanji, with all its subdialects, has 46 sounds . Chapter two, describing the phonological characteristics of the Kurdish system of consonants and vowels, deals with 46 Kurdish Kurmanji sounds of which he chooses 34 sounds to be the Kurmanji phoneme system, suggesting two new phonemes, the voiceless non-aspirated /k/ in contrast with the same voiceless sound /k/ which is aspirated, emphasizing the fact that Kurmanji exhibits a three-way distinction among the stops – between voiced, voiceless aspirated, and voiceless non-aspirated – giving rise to a style three-way stop distinction. The second phoneme is the trill /r/ in contrast with the flap /r/. Besides, the author studies the three borrowed consonant phonemes which have diffused into the inherited (Iranian) component of the lexicon, e.g. the numeral 7 /haft/ with pharyngeal /h/, suggesting that there is no need to use these borrowed consonant sounds in the Kurdish phoneme system. The last chapter studies the distinctive features of the Kurdish Kurmanji phonemes and allophones, then he describes the structure of the Kurdish syllable within the framework of combinatory phonetics, identifying the prosodic structure of stress and intonational patterns of Kurmanji, and the association and alignment of these patterns with the segmental material, aiming at examining the effects of some phonetic parameters on the variation of meaning

Infections in Neurosurgery and Their Management

Surgical site and postoperative infections are common problems in surgical wards and treating them can be challenging and very complicated. It is important to understand different types of postoperative infections and their best management. In this chapter we try to emphasis on infections which are occurring in neurosurgical units and how to approach them. Foreign body infection is another challenge that happens in neurosurgical units, and it is vital to recognize these infections in time and start the treatment as soon as possible. Atypical infections occurrence is low therefore this problem is not addressed often in textbooks or in the literature, therefore atypical infections will be discussed in this chapter too. By discussing the most common postoperative complications and their best management profile, the authors here will try to widen the perspective of readers on infections in neurosurgical units in order to understand this problem better. Untreated infections or poorly treated infections can lead to sepsis and catastrophic results

A solitary bronchial papilloma with unusual endoscopic presentation: case study and literature review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Solitary endobronchial papillomas (SEP) are rare tumors and most of them are described by case report. A misdiagnosis is common with viral related papillomas. A histopathological classification has recently permitted a major advancement in the understanding of the disease.</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p>We report a case of a mixed bronchial papilloma with an unusual endoscopic presentation. The literature was extensively reviewed to ascertain the unusual characteristics of the current case. A 39-year of age male was referred to our institution for the investigation of a slight hemoptysis. Routine examination was normal. A fibroscopy revealed an unusual feature of the right main bronchus. The lesion was a plane, non-bleeding, non-glistering sub-mucosal proliferation. No enhanced coloration was noticed. Biopsies revealed a mixed solitary bronchial papilloma. In situ HPV hybridization was negative. Endoscopic treatment (electrocautery) was effective with no relapse.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This lesion contrasts with the data of the literature where papilloma were described as wart-like lesions or cauliflower tumors, with symptoms generally related to bronchial obstruction. We advise chest physicians to be cautious with unusually small swollen lesions of the bronchi that may reveal a solitary bronchial papilloma. Endoscopic imaging can significantly contribute to the difficult diagnosis of SEP by pulmonary physicians and endoscopists.</p

Effect of axillary brachial plexus blockade on baroreflex-induced skin vasomotor responses: Assessing the effectiveness of sympathetic blockade

Background: The combination of laser Doppler flowmetry and non-invasive blood pressure monitoring allows the continuous observation of cutaneous vascular resistance (CVR). Continuous recording of unmodulated skin blood flow (SBF) is very sensitive to artefacts, rendering the method unreliable. In contrast, intermittent short lasting challenges of the CVR by cardiovascular autonomic reflexes may provide information about the responsiveness of the sympathetic nervous system in the skin. Methods: Eleven patients with below-wrist hand surgery (six males and five females; aged 35.2 ± 7.1 years) performed Valsalva maneuver following axillary blockade. Skin blood flow was continuously monitored on the forearm of the side axillary blockade, as well as on the contra-lateral forearm, which was used as the control. The responses were expressed as changes compared with the baseline level derived from a resting period of 30s. The maxima

Case Report: Brainstem angiocentric glioma presenting in a toddler child–diagnostic and therapeutic challenges

Introduction: Angiocentric gliomas (AG) in brainstem location are exceedingly rare and might cause differential diagnostic problems and uncertainty regarding the best therapeutic approach. Hereby, we describe the clinicopathological findings in a brainstem AG presenting in a toddler child and review the literature.Case report: A 2-year-old boy presented with 5 weeks history of gait disturbances, frequent falls, left-sided torticollis and swallowing problems. MRI head showed a T2-hyperintense, partly exophytic mass lesion centred in the pontomedullary region, raising the possibility of diffuse midline glioma. The exophytic component was partially resected by suboccipital craniotomy, leaving intact the infiltrative component. Ventriculoperitoneal shunt was implanted due to postoperative hydrocephalus. Histological examination revealed a moderately cellular tumour consisted of bland glial cells infiltrating the brain parenchyma and radially arranged around the blood vessels. By immunohistochemistry, the tumour strongly expressed S100 and GFAP in addition to intense nestin positivity, while OLIG2 was negative in the perivascular tumour cells. DNA methylation array profiled the tumour as “methylation class diffuse astrocytoma, MYB or MYBL1-altered subtype B (infratentorial)” and an in-frame MYB::QKI fusion was identified by RNA sequencing, confirming the diagnosis of angiocentric glioma. The patient has been initially treated with angiogenesis inhibitor and mTOR inhibitor, and now he is receiving palliative vinblastine. He is clinically stable on 9 months follow-up.Conclusion: Brainstem AG may cause a diagnostic problem, and the surgical and oncological management is challenging due to unresectability and lack of response to conventional chemo-radiation. In the future, genetically-tailored therapies might improve the prognosis

Legionellosis from Legionella pneumophila Serogroup 13

Legionella pneumophila serogroup 13 may be underrecognized

Efficacy and safety of minimally invasive surgery with thrombolysis in intracerebral haemorrhage evacuation (MISTIE III): a randomised, controlled, open-label, blinded endpoint phase 3 trial

Acute stroke due to supratentorial intracerebral haemorrhage is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Open craniotomy haematoma evacuation has not been found to have any benefit in large randomised trials. We assessed whether minimally invasive catheter evacuation followed by thrombolysis (MISTIE), with the aim of decreasing clot size to 15 mL or less, would improve functional outcome in patients with intracerebral haemorrhage. MISTIE III was an open-label, blinded endpoint, phase 3 trial done at 78 hospitals in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia. We enrolled patients aged 18 years or older with spontaneous, non-traumatic, supratentorial intracerebral haemorrhage of 30 mL or more. We used a computer-generated number sequence with a block size of four or six to centrally randomise patients to image-guided MISTIE treatment (1·0 mg alteplase every 8 h for up to nine doses) or standard medical care. Primary outcome was good functional outcome, defined as the proportion of patients who achieved a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0-3 at 365 days, adjusted for group differences in prespecified baseline covariates (stability intracerebral haemorrhage size, age, Glasgow Coma Scale, stability intraventricular haemorrhage size, and clot location). Analysis of the primary efficacy outcome was done in the modified intention-to-treat (mITT) population, which included all eligible, randomly assigned patients who were exposed to treatment. All randomly assigned patients were included in the safety analysis. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01827046. Between Dec 30, 2013, and Aug 15, 2017, 506 patients were randomly allocated: 255 (50%) to the MISTIE group and 251 (50%) to standard medical care. 499 patients (n=250 in the MISTIE group; n=249 in the standard medical care group) received treatment and were included in the mITT analysis set. The mITT primary adjusted efficacy analysis estimated that 45% of patients in the MISTIE group and 41% patients in the standard medical care group had achieved an mRS score of 0-3 at 365 days (adjusted risk difference 4% [95% CI -4 to 12]; p=0·33). Sensitivity analyses of 365-day mRS using generalised ordered logistic regression models adjusted for baseline variables showed that the estimated odds ratios comparing MISTIE with standard medical care for mRS scores higher than 5 versus 5 or less, higher than 4 versus 4 or less, higher than 3 versus 3 or less, and higher than 2 versus 2 or less were 0·60 (p=0·03), 0·84 (p=0·42), 0·87 (p=0·49), and 0·82 (p=0·44), respectively. At 7 days, two (1%) of 255 patients in the MISTIE group and ten (4%) of 251 patients in the standard medical care group had died (p=0·02) and at 30 days, 24 (9%) patients in the MISTIE group and 37 (15%) patients in the standard medical care group had died (p=0·07). The number of patients with symptomatic bleeding and brain bacterial infections was similar between the MISTIE and standard medical care groups (six [2%] of 255 patients vs three [1%] of 251 patients; p=0·33 for symptomatic bleeding; two [1%] of 255 patients vs 0 [0%] of 251 patients; p=0·16 for brain bacterial infections). At 30 days, 76 (30%) of 255 patients in the MISTIE group and 84 (33%) of 251 patients in the standard medical care group had one or more serious adverse event, and the difference in number of serious adverse events between the groups was statistically significant (p=0·012). For moderate to large intracerebral haemorrhage, MISTIE did not improve the proportion of patients who achieved a good response 365 days after intracerebral haemorrhage. The procedure was safely adopted by our sample of surgeons. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and Genentech. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advances in MRI-Based Detection of Cerebrovascular Changes after Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury is a heterogeneous and multifaceted neurological disorder that involves diverse pathophysiological pathways and mechanisms. Thorough characterization and monitoring of the brain’s status after neurotrauma is therefore highly complicated. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides a versatile tool for in vivo spatiotemporal assessment of various aspects of central nervous system injury, such as edema formation, perfusion disturbances and structural tissue damage. Moreover, recent advances in MRI methods that make use of contrast agents have opened up additional opportunities for measurement of events at the level of the cerebrovasculature, such as blood–brain barrier permeability, leukocyte infiltration, cell adhesion molecule upregulation and vascular remodeling. It is becoming increasingly clear that these cerebrovascular alterations play a significant role in the progression of post-traumatic brain injury as well as in the process of post-traumatic brain repair. Application of advanced multiparametric MRI strategies in experimental, preclinical studies may significantly aid in the elucidation of pathomechanisms, monitoring of treatment effects, and identification of predictive markers after traumatic brain injury