Perception of Top Executives Towards the Relationship between Mission Statement Communication Variables and Firm Performance in Selected Public Listed Companies

This study was undertaken to examine the perceptions of top executives of the relationships between the mission statement communication variables and firm performance in Malaysian. Despite the immense popularity of the concept of mission statement in the communication and management literature, limited empirical studies had been carried out to investigate the relationships between the mission statement communication variables and firm performance. The research design of the study was a survey research based on a structured questionnaire and also content analysis of the mission statement content. The informants were the Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers of public listed firms in the Bursa Malaysia as of 23rd October 2003. One hundred and thirty six informants participated in the survey by returning the selfadministered questionnaire distributed to them in two batches of mail distribution. Beside the structural questionnaire, content analysis was conducted to measure the level of adequacy of mission statement content. The mission statements were compiled from the firm annual reports, websites and also personal requests. The dependent variable of the study, firm performance, was measured with four perceptual items; namely the satisfaction of the respondents with the performance of the firm based on sales, profit, growth and profit margin. To evaluate the convergent validity of the perceptual measurements, correlations were made between the perceptual values and two accounting ratios; Return on Sales and Return on Assets. The correlation coefficients showed positive and significant measurements between the perceptual values and the accounting ratios. The independent variables of the study consist of selected mission statement communication variables, identified from the literature on mission statement. Six mission statement communication variables (intensity of personal mode of mission statement communication, intensity of impersonal mode of mission statement communication, commitment of leaders in selling the mission statement, satisfaction with the communication efforts, credibility of the sellers and adequacy of mission statement content) were hypothesized to have significant effects on firm performance. The level of firm performance in the present study showed moderate level. Similarly, the analysis of the five mission statement communication variables also showed moderate level of satisfaction. The level of adequacy of mission statements content was analsyed using Ashridge Mission Model of mission statement. The content analysis showed that fifty seven percent of the mission statements analysed was inadequate in terms of their contents, as the mission statements do not contain the four contents needed in an effective mission statement. The results of the bivariate correlation analysis showed positive and significant relationships between four of the mission statement communication variables and firm performance except for the credibility of the mission sellers and adequacy of the mission statement contents. The multiple regression analysis revealed that only the intensity of personal mode of mission statement communication was observed to be good predictor of firm performance and this variable contributed 22 percent of the variation of firm performance in the study. The results suggest that the intensity of personal mode of mission statement communication play an important role and had direct relationship with the performance of firms. At the practical level, the present study has clarified the nature of the relationships between mission statement communication and firm performance. Only the intensity of personal mode of mission statement communication has a direct influence on firm performance. The results suggest that Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers who want to achieve the goals of mission statement must be personally involved in the mission statement communication to the employees as their involvement will have the biggest impact on firm performance. Managers must also ‘walk the talk’ and ‘talk the walk’ the ideas of the mission statement to encourage the acceptance and adoption of the mission statement by using the mission statement as a strategic yardstick of how they manage the firms

Conformational Heterogeneity of Karyopherinβ2 Is Segmental

SummaryKaryopherinβ2 (Kapβ2) or transportin imports numerous RNA binding proteins into the nucleus. Kapβ2 binds substrates in the cytoplasm and targets them through the nuclear pore complex, where RanGTP dissociates them in the nucleus. Here we report the 3.0 Å crystal structure of unliganded Kapβ2, which consists of a superhelix of 20 HEAT repeats. Together with previously reported structures of NLS and Ran complexes, this structure provides understanding of conformational heterogeneity that accompanies ligand binding. The Kapβ2 superhelix is divided into three major segments. Two of them (HEAT repeats 9–13 and 14–18), which constitute the substrate binding site, are rigid elements that rotate relative to each other about a flexible hinge. The third (HEAT repeats 1–8), which constitutes the Ran binding site, exhibits conformational changes throughout its length. An analogous segmental architecture is also observed in Importinβ, suggesting that it is functionally significant and may be conserved in other import karyopherins

Importin-9 wraps around the H2A-H2B core to act as nuclear importer and histone chaperone.

We report the crystal structure of nuclear import receptor Importin-9 bound to its cargo, the histones H2A-H2B. Importin-9 wraps around the core, globular region of H2A-H2B to form an extensive interface. The nature of this interface coupled with quantitative analysis of deletion mutants of H2A-H2B suggests that the NLS-like sequences in the H2A-H2B tails play a minor role in import. Importin-9•H2A-H2B is reminiscent of interactions between histones and histone chaperones in that it precludes H2A-H2B interactions with DNA and H3-H4 as seen in the nucleosome. Like many histone chaperones, which prevent inappropriate non-nucleosomal interactions, Importin-9 also sequesters H2A-H2B from DNA. Importin-9 appears to act as a storage chaperone for H2A-H2B while escorting it to the nucleus. Surprisingly, RanGTP does not dissociate Importin-9•H2A-H2B but assembles into a RanGTP•Importin-9•H2A-H2B complex. The presence of Ran in the complex, however, modulates Imp9-H2A-H2B interactions to facilitate its dissociation by DNA and assembly into a nucleosome

Novel genetic variants of Hepatitis B Virus in fulminant hepatitis

Fulminant hepatitis (FH) is a life-threatening liver disease characterised by intense immune attack and massive liver cell death. The common precore stop codon mutation of hepatitis B virus (HBV), A1896, is frequently associated with FH, but lacks specificity. This study attempts to uncover all possible viral nucleotides that are specifically associated with FH through a compiled sequence analysis of FH and non-FH cases from acute infection. We retrieved 67 FH and 280 acute non-FH cases of hepatitis B from GenBank and applied support vector machine (SVM) model to seek candidate nucleotides highly predictive of FH. Six best candidates with top predictive accuracy, 92.5%, were used to build a SVM model; they are C2129 (85.3%), T720 (83.0%), Y2131 (82.4%), T2013 (82.1%),K2048 (82.1%), and A2512 (82.1%). This model gave a high specificity (99.3%), positive predictive value (95.6%), and negative predictive value (92.1%), but only moderate sensitivity (64.2%).We successfully built a SVM model comprising six variants that are highly predictive and specific for FH: four in the core region and one each in the polymerase and the surface regions. These variants indicate that intracellular virion/core retention could play an important role in the progression to FH

RAM function is dependent on Kapβ2-mediated nuclear entry

Eukaryotic gene expression is dependent on the modification of the first transcribed nucleotide of pre-mRNA by the addition of the 7-methylguanosine cap. The cap protects transcripts from exonucleases and recruits complexes which mediate transcription elongation, processing and translation initiation. The cap is synthesized by a series of reactions which link 7-methylguanosine to the first transcribed nucleotide via a 5′ to 5′ triphosphate bridge. In mammals, cap synthesis is catalysed by the sequential action of RNGTT (RNA guanylyltransferase and 5′-phosphatase) and RNMT (RNA guanine-7 methyltransferase), enzymes recruited to RNA pol II (polymerase II) during the early stages of transcription. We recently discovered that the mammalian cap methyltransferase is a heterodimer consisting of RNMT and the RNMT-activating subunit RAM (RNMT-activating mini-protein). RAM activates and stabilizes RNMT and thus is critical for cellular cap methylation and cell viability. In the present study we report that RNMT interacts with the N-terminal 45 amino acids of RAM, a domain necessary and sufficient for maximal RNMT activation. In contrast, smaller components of this RAM domain are sufficient to stabilize RNMT. RAM functions in the nucleus and we report that nuclear import of RAM is dependent on PY nuclear localization signals and Kapβ2 (karyopherin β2) nuclear transport protein

Highly porous chitosan beads embedded with silver-graphene oxide nanocomposites for antibacterial application

Incorporation of silver nanomaterial into polymer matrix can further accomplished their potential usage in real life applications. In our previous study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and silver-graphene oxide nanocomposites (AgGO) were prepared via a rapid microwave-assisted method. Hereby, the as-synthesized AgNPs or AgGO was dispersed in a chitosan solution. Subsequently, the resultant mixture solution was further coagulated in a coagulation bath containing sodium hydroxide via a neutralization process. This resulted in the formation of spherical-shaped chitosan beads. The structure of the beads showed that the chitosan beads embedded with AgGO exhibited a more porous structure as compared to the plain chitosan beads. Furthermore, the chitosan beads containing AgNPs or AgGO were tested for their antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The antibacterial results indicated that the silver nanomaterial contained chitosan beads could effectively inhibit the growth of both E. coli and S. aureus as compared to the bare chitosan beads. The produced chitosan nanocomposite envisioned that can be potentially employed for water disinfection purpose

Modular Organization and Combinatorial Energetics of Proline–Tyrosine Nuclear Localization Signals

Proline–tyrosine nuclear localization signals (PY-NLSs) are recognized and transported into the nucleus by human Karyopherin (Kap) β2/Transportin and yeast Kap104p. Multipartite PY-NLSs are highly diverse in sequence and structure, share a common C-terminal R/H/KX2–5PY motif, and can be subdivided into hydrophobic and basic subclasses based on loose N-terminal sequence motifs. PY-NLS variability is consistent with weak consensus motifs, but such diversity potentially renders comprehensive genome-scale searches intractable. Here, we use yeast Kap104p as a model system to understand the energetic organization of this NLS. First, we show that Kap104p substrates contain PY-NLSs, demonstrating their generality across eukaryotes. Previously reported Kapβ2–NLS structures explain Kap104p specificity for the basic PY-NLS. More importantly, thermodynamic analyses revealed physical properties that govern PY-NLS binding affinity: (1) PY-NLSs contain three energetically significant linear epitopes, (2) each epitope accommodates substantial sequence diversity, within defined limits, (3) the epitopes are energetically quasi-independent, and (4) a given linear epitope can contribute differently to total binding energy in different PY-NLSs, amplifying signal diversity through combinatorial mixing of energetically weak and strong motifs. The modular organization of the PY-NLS coupled with its combinatorial energetics lays a path to decode this diverse and evolvable signal for future comprehensive genome-scale identification of nuclear import substrates

Antibacterial performance of Ag nanoparticles and AgGO nanocomposites prepared via rapid microwave-assisted synthesis method

Silver nanoparticles and silver-graphene oxide nanocomposites were fabricated using a rapid and green microwave irradiation synthesis method. Silver nanoparticles with narrow size distribution were formed under microwave irradiation for both samples. The silver nanoparticles were distributed randomly on the surface of graphene oxide. The Fourier transform infrared and thermogravimetry analysis results showed that the graphene oxide for the AgNP-graphene oxide (AgGO) sample was partially reduced during the in situ synthesis of silver nanoparticles. Both silver nanoparticles and AgGO nanocomposites exhibited stronger antibacterial properties against Gram-negative bacteria (Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli) than against Gram-positive bacteria (Staphyloccocus aureus and Staphyloccocus epidermidis). The AgGO nanocomposites consisting of approximately 40 wt.% silver can achieve antibacterial performance comparable to that of neat silver nanoparticles