Back to the future:re-establishing guinea pig in vivo asthma models

Research using animal models of asthma is currently dominated by mouse models. This has been driven by the comprehensive knowledge on inflammatory and immune reactions in mice, as well as tools to produce genetically modified mice. Many of the identified therapeutic targets influencing airway hyper-responsiveness and inflammation in mouse models, have however been disappointing when tested clinically in asthma. It is therefore a great need for new animal models that more closely resemble human asthma. The guinea pig has for decades been used in asthma research and a comprehensive table of different protocols for asthma models is presented. The studies have primarily been focused on the pharmacological aspects of the disease, where the guinea pig undoubtedly is superior to mice. Further reasons are the anatomical and physiological similarities between human and guinea pig airways compared with that of the mouse, especially with respect to airway branching, neurophysiology, pulmonary circulation and smooth muscle distribution, as well as mast cell localization and mediator secretion. Lack of reagents and specific molecular tools to study inflammatory and immunological reactions in the guinea pig has however greatly diminished its use in asthma research. The aim in this position paper is to review and summarize what we know about different aspects of the use of guinea pig in vivo models for asthma research. The associated aim is to highlight the unmet needs that have to be addressed in the future

Institutional work and regulatory change in the accounting profession

Independent oversight bodies such as the PCAOB in the U.S. and the POB in the U.K. pervade the international accounting regulatory environment. Their existence has been hailed as marking an end to self-regulation of the accounting profession. This paper examines how, and with what effect, individuals within one such oversight body attempted to reconfigure the regulatory field of accounting in Ireland. We mobilise the concept of institutional work to theorise the interrelated nature of the forms of institutional work these individuals engaged in as they sought to realise regulatory change. The paper advances prior theorisations of the recursive relationship between different forms of institutional work and patterns of institutional change and stability. We unveil a more refined, nuanced categorisation of institutional work within efforts to instigate regulatory change. We show how specific forms of institutional work interact and mutually reinforce or displace one another as regulators seek to establish power and legitimacy in a regulatory field. The role and nature of work rejection e whereby regulators initially reject certain forms of work but later embrace them e is unveiled within a change process where shifting regulatory logics both shape and are shaped by the forms of institutional work undertaken. The paper provides a counterpoint to prior research by illustrating how socio-political factors enabled more than constrained the impact of the institutional work undertaken by individuals within an independent oversight body. It concludes with a call for research focusing on how targets of regulation in accounting engage in institutional work as they respond to efforts to restrict their autonomy

On professional accounting body complaints procedures:Confronting professional authority and professional insulation within the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI)

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the operation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland's (ICAI) complaint process from the complainant's perspective. The findings are interpreted drawing on key elements of Parker's private interest model of professional accounting ethics, particularly the private interest roles of professional authority and professional insulation. Design/methodology/approach - The primary evidence used is drawn from numerous sources. These include: extensive "private" documentation comprising original correspondence between the complainant in the case examined (or his advisors) and various representatives of the ICAI spanning a five-year period; detailed supporting documentation included with this correspondence; Independent Experts' Reports on the complaints submitted; and in-depth interviews with the complainant prior to, during, and post the examination of the documentary evidence. Findings - The paper reveals how high levels of professional authority and professional insulation worked in tandem to prevent complaints entering the complaint process and deny the complainant reasons for decisions taken. It demonstrates how a key structural barrier in the complaint process, the screening role of the professional accounting body's secretary, created a complainant impression of a process concerned primarily with protecting members' interests. Subsequent to complaint process changes, an erosion of professional insulation is unveiled. However, this proves fleeting and, in response to persistent complainant challenges to heightened demonstrations of professional authority, the degree of professional insulation intensifies further. Research limitations/implications - The paper focuses on a specific case where the complainant was dissatisfied with the ICAI's procedures. It reveals the extent to which complainants using professional body complaints procedures may, often by virtue of the structures in place, feel that profession protection motives are overriding purported concerns for society protection. Originality/value - The paper extends and advances the literature examining professional accounting body disciplinary and complaint procedures. Prior research investigating the operation of these procedures has neglected to examine complaint processes in depth to inform their evaluations, particularly from the perspective of potential users of these processes

The influence of the "organisation" on the logics of action-pervading disciplinary decision making:The case of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI)

Purpose - This paper aims to advance understanding of the disciplinary decision-making process underpinning the professional ethics machinery employed by professional accounting organisations, using elements of francophone organisational analysis to examine the influence of the key formal organisational components established by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) to administer its disciplinary decision-making process up to December 1999. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses evidence gathered from a series of in-depth interviews with members of the ICAI disciplinary and investigation committees. Findings - Illuminates the internal tensions and conflicts permeating the disciplinary decision-making process of the ICAI and the influence key organisational components have on resolving these conflicts through their encouragement of decision making driven by a preferred reasoning or logic of action. Research limitations/implications - The evidence presented questions the public interest proclamations of the ICAI with respect to its disciplinary procedures pre-December 1999. It further exposes the tensions between profession protection and society protection motives in the disciplinary decision making of accounting bodies. Originality/value - This paper represents a first attempt at getting inside the disciplinary decision-making process of a professional accounting body to examine the process using the voices of process participants

The dynamics of a regulatory space realignment: strategic responses in a local context

This paper seeks to extend and deepen our understanding of the production and interpretation of accounting regulation. It analyses how, in response to a regulatory crisis, a revised set of regulatory arrangements, principally in the realm of disciplinary procedure oversight, was re-negotiated and re-shaped in the Irish professional accounting context. We mobilize the concept of regulatory space () and typology of strategic responses to institutional pressures to theorise the actor dynamics, strategies and resources enrolled throughout the process of developing and interpreting the proposed regulations. By highlighting the interaction between different sets of actors within the regulatory realignment, we extend (implicit) focus on the strategic responses of one class of actor during an institutional change. While prior research finds that regulators adopt compromise or acquiescence strategies when confronted with aggressive regulatee resistance, thereby significantly diluting proposed regulations (see, ), we unveil a context where regulators successfully enrolled strategies of defiance to repel this resistance. We also find limited evidence of agreement on meaning between the regulators and regulatees, despite conceptions of regulatory space viewing this agreement as central to the initial interpretation of regulatory rules (). Our analysis provides a counterpoint to prior research suggesting that the accounting establishment has been highly successful in influencing the design and interpretation of new regulations aimed at overseeing the accounting profession (see, ). Drawing on our findings, we suggest that the passivity of national regulators in the process of developing and interpreting (local or global) regulations should not be automatically presumed. We conclude with a call for an enhanced focus on the influence of national political and social contexts on the development and interpretation of accounting regulations

Regulation and governance of the professions: institutional work and the demise of 'delegated' self-regulation of the accounting profession

While professions are now widely viewed as primary societal institutional agents (Scott, 2008) assuming central roles in creating, disrupting and maintaining prevailing institutions (Currie, Lockett, Finn, Martin, & Waring, 2012; Lawrence & Suddaby, 2006; Lawrence, Suddaby & Leca, 2009, 2011; Suddaby & Viale, 2011), they are also often the objects of institutional change efforts, especially regarding how they are regulated. Nowhere has this change been more profound than in the accounting profession. In the last 15 years as the profession has evolved to embrace and serve globalised enterprise, it has come under increased scrutiny. This is especially evident in the steady imposition of independent oversight bodies established to supervise key aspects of its governance. This represents a major disruption to a regulatory regime that prevailed for almost a century in several western European jurisdictions (Canning & O'Dwyer, 2013; Caramanis, Dedoulis, & Leventis, 2015; Hazgui & Gendron, 2015; Malsch & Gendron, 2011; Quack & Schubler, 2017)