A Retrospective Look at the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002- Has it accomplished its original purpose?

As a result of notable frauds including Enron, WorldCom and Waste Management, the United States Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX).  The Act would forever change the accounting profession.  After a little more than a decade, publicly traded companies have been able to create and implement policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the Act, specifically the provisions set forth in Section 404.  Since all public companies have implemented SOX compliance together with other regulations imposed by the Internal Revenue Service and other regulatory agencies into their normal reporting routines, management of these companies have realized further benefits associated with SOX compliance.  Because of these reported benefits many private companies have begun to voluntarily implement SOX-like policies and procedures into their own internal framework.  This paper will discuss the perceptions of the enactment and implementation of the Act, the associated benefits derived from SOX compliance and reasons why private companies have begun voluntarily adopting SOX-like policiesprocedures and strategies

CSI Accounting: A New Trend In Educational Training

Recently, members of the Christos M. Cotsakos College of Business, Department of Accounting and Law, have been approached by IRS and accounting practitioners concerning the addition of fraud and forensic accounting courses to the curriculum.  This seems to be a new trend in expanding the education and training of accounting majors as evidenced by a U.S. Department of Justice, NIJ Special Report titled, “Education and Training in Fraud and Forensic Accounting: A Guide for Educational Institutions, Stakeholder Organizations, faculty and Students.” The December 20, 2005 Draft Report provides that as a result of recent corporate scandals, there has been a substantial increase in both legal and regulatory requirements. “These requirements address internal controls for detecting and deterring fraud and encourage financial statement auditors to be more aggressive in searching for fraud.” Students desirous of becoming “CSI Accountants” are in need of a better understanding surrounding the field and the knowledge and skills required to succeed.  This paper will begin with a brief mention of various financial scandals and certain regulatory requirements which followed.  The motivation for a need for this new educational training will then be reviewed along with the problems faced by institutions of higher education when adding new courses and changing current curriculum. Finally, a brief overview of the contents of the NIJ Report will be made

Induction of serine racemase expression and D-serine release from microglia by amyloid β-peptide

BACKGROUND: Roles for excitotoxicity and inflammation in Alzheimer's disease have been hypothesized. Proinflammatory stimuli, including amyloid β-peptide (Aβ), elicit a release of glutamate from microglia. We tested the possibility that a coagonist at the NMDA class of glutamate receptors, D-serine, could respond similarly. METHODS: Cultured microglial cells were exposed to Aβ. The culture medium was assayed for levels of D-serine by HPLC and for effects on calcium and survival on primary cultures of rat hippocampal neurons. Microglial cell lysates were examined for the levels of mRNA and protein for serine racemase, the enzyme that forms D-serine from L-serine. The racemase mRNA was also assayed in Alzheimer hippocampus and age-matched controls. A microglial cell line was transfected with a luciferase reporter construct driven by the putative regulatory region of human serine racemase. RESULTS: Conditioned medium from Aβ-treated microglia contained elevated levels of D-serine. Bioassays of hippocampal neurons with the microglia-conditioned medium indicated that Aβ elevated a NMDA receptor agonist that was sensitive to an antagonist of the D-serine/glycine site (5,7-dicholorokynurenic acid; DCKA) and to enzymatic degradation of D-amino acids by D-amino acid oxidase (DAAOx). In the microglia, Aβ elevated steady-state levels of dimeric serine racemase, the apparent active form of the enzyme. Promoter-reporter and mRNA analyses suggest that serine racemase is transcriptionally induced by Aβ. Finally, the levels of serine racemase mRNA were elevated in Alzheimer's disease hippocampus, relative to age-matched controls. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that Aβ could contribute to neurodegeneration through stimulating microglia to release cooperative excitatory amino acids, including D-serine

Pharmacological Properties of DOV 315,090, an ocinaplon metabolite

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Effects of Combined CCR5/Integrase Inhibitors-Based Regimen on Mucosal Immunity in HIV-Infected Patients Naïve to Antiretroviral Therapy: A Pilot Randomized Trial

Whether initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens aimed at achieving greater concentrations within gut associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) impacts the level of mucosal immune reconstitution, inflammatory markers and the viral reservoir remains unknown. We included 12 HIV- controls and 32 ART-naïve HIV patients who were randomized to efavirenz, maraviroc or maraviroc+raltegravir, each with fixed-dose tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine. Rectal and duodenal biopsies were obtained at baseline and at 9 months of ART. We performed a comprehensive assay of T-cell subsets by flow cytometry, T-cell density in intestinal biopsies, plasma and tissue concentrations of antiretroviral drugs by high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy, and plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6), lipoteichoic acid (LTA), soluble CD14 (sCD14) and zonulin-1 each measured by ELISA. Total cell-associated HIV DNA was measured in PBMC and rectal and duodenal mononuclear cells. Twenty-six HIV-infected patients completed the follow-up. In the duodenum, the quadruple regimen resulted in greater CD8+ T-cell density decline, greater normalization of mucosal CCR5+CD4+ T-cells and increase of the naïve/memory CD8+ T-cell ratio, and a greater decline of sCD14 levels and duodenal HIV DNA levels (P = 0.004 and P = 0.067, respectively), with no changes in HIV RNA in plasma or tissue. Maraviroc showed the highest drug distribution to the gut tissue, and duodenal concentrations correlated well with other T-cell markers in duodenum, i.e., the CD4/CD8 ratio, %CD4+ and %CD8+ HLA-DR+CD38+ T-cells. Maraviroc use elicited greater activation of the mucosal naïve CD8+ T-cell subset, ameliorated the distribution of the CD8+ T-cell maturational subsets and induced higher improvement of zonulin-1 levels. These data suggest that combined CCR5 and integrase inhibitor based combination therapy in ART treatment naïve patients might more effectively reconstitute duodenal immunity, decrease inflammatory markers and impact on HIV persistence by cell-dependent mechanisms, and show unique effects of MVC in duodenal immunity driven by higher drug tissue penetration and possibly by class-dependent effects

Phytochemical Screening and Polyphenolic Antioxidant Activity of Aqueous Crude Leaf Extract of Helichrysum pedunculatum

We evaluated the in vitro antioxidant property and phytochemical constituents of the aqueous crude leaf extract of Helichrysum pedunculatum. The scavenging activity on superoxide anions, DPPH, H2O2, NO and ABTS; and the reducing power were determined, as well as the flavonoid, proanthocyanidin and phenolic contents of the extract. The extract exhibited scavenging activity towards all radicals tested due to the presence of relatively high total phenol and flavonoids contents. Our findings suggest that H. pedunculatum is endowed with antioxidant phytochemicals and could serve as a base for future drugs

Role of Mitofusin 2 in the Renal Stress Response

The role of mitofusin 2 (MFN2), a key regulator of mitochondrial morphology and function in the renal stress response is unknown. To assess its role, the MFN2 floxed gene was conditionally deleted in the kidney of mice (MFN2 cKO) by Pax2 promoter driven Cre expression (Pax2Cre). MFN2 cKO caused severe mitochondrial fragmentation in renal epithelial cells that are critical for normal kidney tubular function. However, despite a small (20%) decrease in nephron number, newborn cKO pups had organ or tubular function that did not differ from littermate Cre-negative pups. MFN2 deficiency in proximal tubule epithelial cells in primary culture induced mitochondrial fragmentation but did not significantly alter ATP turnover, maximal mitochondrial oxidative reserve capacity, or the low level of oxygen consumption during cyanide exposure. MFN2 deficiency also did not increase apoptosis of tubule epithelial cells under non-stress conditions. In contrast, metabolic stress caused by ATP depletion exacerbated mitochondrial outer membrane injury and increased apoptosis by 80% in MFN2 deficient vs. control cells. Despite similar stress-induced Bax 6A7 epitope exposure in MFN2 deficient and control cells, MFN2 deficiency significantly increased mitochondrial Bax accumulation and was associated with greater release of both apoptosis inducing factor and cytochrome c. In conclusion, MFN2 deficiency in the kidney causes mitochondrial fragmentation but does not affect kidney or tubular function during development or under non-stress conditions. However, MFN2 deficiency exacerbates renal epithelial cell injury by promoting Bax-mediated mitochondrial outer membrane injury and apoptosis