Separation – integration – and now …? - An historical perspective on the relationship between German management accounting and financial accounting

German accounting has traditionally followed a dual ledger approach with strictly separated internal cost accounting, as the basis for management information, and external financial accounting focusing on creditor protection and based on the commercial law. However, the increased adoption of integrated accounting system implies a significant change in the relationship between financial and management accounting systems. We use Hegelian dialectic to trace the historical development of German accounting from separated systems towards antithetical propositions of full integration, and the emergence of partial integration as the synthesis of this transformation process. For this reason, our paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the literature on the relationship between financial and management accounting in Germany. On this basis, we elaborate how financial accounting in Germany has been shaped by its economic context and legislation, and how financial accounting – accompanied by institutional pressures – in turn influenced management accounting. We argue that the changing relationship between management and financial accounting in the German context illustrates how current accounting practice is shaped not only by its environment, but also by its historical path. Based on this reasoning, we discuss several avenues for future research

An in vivo screen identifies ependymoma oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes

Cancers are characterized by non-random chromosome copy number alterations that presumably contain oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes (TSGs). The affected loci are often large, making it difficult to pinpoint which genes are driving the cancer. Here we report a cross-species in vivo screen of 84 candidate oncogenes and 39 candidate TSGs, located within 28 recurrent chromosomal alterations in ependymoma. Through a series of mouse models, we validate eight new ependymoma oncogenes and ten new ependymoma TSGs that converge on a small number of cell functions, including vesicle trafficking, DNA modification and cholesterol biosynthesis, identifying these as potential new therapeutic targets.We are grateful to F.B. Gertler (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and S. Gupton (University of North Carolina) for the generous gift of the VAMP7-phlorin construct and the staffs of the Hartwell Center for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, the Small Animal Imaging Center, the Animal Resources Center, the Cell and Tissue Imaging Center, and the Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Shared Resource at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for technical assistance. This work was supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health (R01CA129541, P01CA96832 and P30CA021765, R.J.G.), by the Collaborative Ependymoma Research Network (CERN) and by the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC)

Lmx1a regulates fates and location of cells originating from the cerebellar rhombic lip and telencephalic cortical hem

The cerebellar rhombic lip and telencephalic cortical hem are dorsally located germinal zones which contribute substantially to neuronal diversity in the CNS, but the mechanisms that drive neurogenesis within these zones are ill defined. Using genetic fate mapping in wild-type and Lmx1a−/− mice, we demonstrate that Lmx1a is a critical regulator of cell-fate decisions within both these germinal zones. In the developing cerebellum, Lmx1a is expressed in the roof plate, where it is required to segregate the roof plate lineage from neuronal rhombic lip derivatives. In addition, Lmx1a is expressed in a subset of rhombic lip progenitors which produce granule cells that are predominantly restricted to the cerebellar posterior vermis. In the absence of Lmx1a, these cells precociously exit the rhombic lip and overmigrate into the anterior vermis. This overmigration is associated with premature regression of the rhombic lip and posterior vermis hypoplasia in Lmx1a−/− mice. These data reveal molecular organization of the cerebellar rhombic lip and introduce Lmx1a as an important regulator of rhombic lip cell-fate decisions, which are critical for maintenance of the entire rhombic lip and normal cerebellar morphogenesis. In the developing telencephalon Lmx1a is expressed in the cortical hem, and in its absence cortical hem progenitors contribute excessively to the adjacent hippocampus instead of producing Cajal-Retzius neurons. Thus, Lmx1a activity is critical for proper production of cells originating from both the cerebellar rhombic lip and the telencephalic cortical hem

Lavagem traqueobrônquica por sondagem nasotraqueal em bezerros Tracheobronchial lavage in calves using a nasotracheal technique

Avaliou-se a técnica de lavagem traqueobrônquica por sondagem nasotraqueal e caracterizou-se a população celular em 10 bezerros clinicamente sadios. Após a contenção dos animais em decúbito lateral e auxílio de sonda guia, foi introduzida uma sonda de menor diâmetro até a bifurcação da traquéia, para produzir tosse e obter o lavado traqueobrônquico. A média de células totais nas amostras de lavado foi de 133.750 células/ml. À citologia, foram observados na contagem diferencial: 77,2% macrófagos, 14,9% células epiteliais cilíndricas, 6,0% neutrófilos e 1,8% linfócitos. Das células epiteliais cilíndricas, 79,0% eram do tipo ciliadas e 21,0% não-ciliadas. A média de contagem de macrófagos binucleados foi de 78,5 células/lâmina, a de macrófagos trinucleados de 20,5/lâmina e a de células gigantes 28,5/lâmina. Concluiu-se que o método de colheita por sondagem nasotraqueal é eficiente para caracterizar a citologia do lavado traqueobrônquico de bezerros clinicamente sadios.<br>Tracheobronchial lavage through nasotracheal via was performed in 10 clinically health calves. They were maintained in lateral recumbence to perform the procedure. A small tube inserted into a guide tube was introduced until the tracheal bifurcation, producing cough, facilitating the collection of the lavage fluid. The mean number of total cells present in the samples was 133,750 cells/ml. The differential counting was represented by 77.2% of macrophages, 14.9% of cylindrical epithelial cells, 6.0% of neutrophils, 1.8% of lymphocytes. The cylindrical ciliated cells represented 79.0% of the sample and the nonciliated cells represented 21.0%. The mean number of macrophages was 78.5 of binucleated cells, 20.5 of trinucleated cells, and 28.5 of giant cells per smear. The tracheobronchial lavage obtained by this technique was an efficient method to characterize the cytological population of the lungs of clinically health calves

Border formation in a Bmp gradient reduced to single dissociated cells

Conversions of signaling gradients into sharp “all-or-none” borders are fundamental to tissue and organismal development. However, whether such conversions can be meaningfully reduced to dissociated cells in culture has been uncertain. Here we describe ultrasensitivity, the phenomenon equivalent to an all-or-none response, in dissociated neural precursor cells (NPCs) exposed to bone morphogenetic protein 4 (Bmp4). NPC ultrasensitivity is evident at the population and single-cell levels based on Msx1 induction, a well known Bmp target response, and occurs in the context of gene expression changes consistent with Bmp4 activity as a morphogen. Dissociated NPCs also display immediate early kinetics and irreversibility for Msx1 induction after brief Bmp4 exposure, which are attractive features for initial border formation. Relevance to border formation in vivo is provided by Bmp4 gain-of-function studies in explants and evidence for single-cell ultrasensitivity in normal and mutant Bmp gradient contexts in the developing forebrain. Together, these studies demonstrate relatively simple, robust, and reducible cell-intrinsic properties that contribute to developmental border formation within a signaling gradient

A BMP-FGF Morphogen Toggle Switch Drives the Ultrasensitive Expression of Multiple Genes in the Developing Forebrain

Borders are important as they demarcate developing tissue into distinct functional units. A key challenge is the discovery of mechanisms that can convert morphogen gradients into tissue borders. While mechanisms that produce ultrasensitive cellular responses provide a solution, how extracellular morphogens drive such mechanisms remains poorly understood. Here, we show how Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) and Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) pathways interact to generate ultrasensitivity and borders in the dorsal telencephalon. BMP and FGF signaling manipulations in explants produced border defects suggestive of cross inhibition within single cells, which was confirmed in dissociated cultures. Using mathematical modeling, we designed experiments that ruled out alternative cross inhibition mechanisms and identified a cross-inhibitory positive feedback (CIPF) mechanism, or “toggle switch”, which acts upstream of transcriptional targets in dorsal telencephalic cells. CIPF explained several cellular phenomena important for border formation such as threshold tuning, ultrasensitivity, and hysteresis. CIPF explicitly links graded morphogen signaling in the telencephalon to switch-like cellular responses and has the ability to form multiple borders and scale pattern to size. These benefits may apply to other developmental systems