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

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

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

Viral load and sequence analysis reveal the symptom severity, diversity, and transmission clusters of Rhinovirus infections

Background:Rhinovirus (RV) is one of the main viral etiologic agents of acute respiratory illnesses. Despite the heightened disease burden caused by RV, the viral factors that increase the severity of RV infection, the transmission pattern, and seasonality of RV infections remain unclear. Methods: An observational study was conducted among 3935 patients presenting with acute upper respiratory illnesses in the ambulatory settings between 2012 and 2014. Results: The VP4/VP2 gene was genotyped from all 976 RV-positive specimens, where the predominance of RV-A (49%) was observed, followed by RV-C (38%) and RV-B (13%). A significant regression in median nasopharyngeal viral load (VL) (P < .001) was observed, from 883 viral copies/µL at 1-2 days after symptom onset to 312 viral copies/µL at 3-4 days and 158 viral copies/µL at 5-7 days, before declining to 35 viral copies/µL at ≥8 days. In comparison with RV-A (median VL, 217 copies/µL) and RV-B (median VL, 275 copies/µL), RV-C-infected subjects produced higher VL (505 copies/µL; P < .001). Importantly, higher RV VL (median, 348 copies/µL) was associated with more severe respiratory symptoms (Total Symptom Severity Score ≥17, P = .017). A total of 83 phylogenetic-based transmission clusters were identified in the population. It was observed that the relative humidity was the strongest environmental predictor of RV seasonality in the tropical climate. Conclusions: Our findings underline the role of VL in increasing disease severity attributed to RV-C infection, and unravel the factors that fuel the population transmission dynamics of R

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

Herbs and Rehabilitation after Stroke Study: A Multi-center, Double-blinded, Randomized Trial in Hong Kong

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Associations of apolipoprotein E exon 4 and lipoprotein lipase S447X polymorphisms with acute ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction

Background: Because apolipoprotein E (apoE) and lipopoprotein lipase (LPL) polymorphisms interact with each other and with other factors to affect lipid metabolism, we sought to determine their separate and combined effects in association with ischemic vascular disease. Methods: We performed a case-control study of 816 subjects: 246 acute ischemic stroke patients, 234 acute myocardial infarction patients, and 336 controls. APOE exon 4 and LPL S447X genotypes were determined. Results: APOE ε2 and ε4 homozygotes were increased in stroke (4.5% vs. 1.0%, p = 0.008), while in myocardial infarction the ε4 allele was increased (12.6% vs. 9.5%, p = 0.006) but ε2 was decreased (3.7% vs. 12.1%, p = 0.000006). For subjects with either APOE ε2 or ε4 alleles, LPL X alleles were increased in vascular disease (OR = 2.2, p = 0.01). LPL X alleles displayed opposite tendencies toward association with disease when subjects were divided by sex, smoking, or APOE genotype. Meta-analysis and regression analysis of previous studies supported the sex and smoking dichotomies. Conclusion: This is the first report of an association of vascular disease with an interaction of APOE exon 4 and LPL S447X genotypes. Therefore, APOE genotypes and LPL S447X interactions with apoE, sex, and smoking may affect the risk of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke. © 2006 by Walter de Gruyter.published_or_final_versio

Antileukemic Activity of Nuclear Export Inhibitors that Spare Normal Hematopoietic Cells

Drugs that target the chief mediator of nuclear export, chromosome region maintenance 1 protein (CRM1) have potential as therapeutics for leukemia, but existing CRM1 inhibitors show variable potencies and a broad range of cytotoxic effects. Here, we report the structural analysis and antileukemic activity of a new generation of small-molecule inhibitors of CRM1. Designated selective inhibitors of nuclear export (SINE), these compounds were developed using molecular modeling to screen a small virtual library of compounds against the nuclear export signal (NES) groove of CRM1. The 2.2-Å crystal structure of the CRM1-Ran-RanBP1 complex bound to KPT-251, a representative molecule of this class of inhibitors, shows that the drug occupies part of the groove in CRM1 that is usually occupied by the NES, but penetrates much deeper into the groove and blocks CRM1-directed protein export. SINE inhibitors exhibit potent antileukemic activity, inducing apoptosis at nanomolar concentrations in a panel of 14 human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines representing different molecular subtypes of the disease. When administered orally to immunodeficient mice engrafted with human AML cells, KPT-251 had potent antileukemic activity with negligible toxicity to normal hematopoietic cells. Thus, KPT-SINE CRM1 antagonists represent a novel class of drugs that warrant further testing in AML patients