The influence of selected managerial quality and board composition variables on the performance of German cooperative banks – an analysis of age, gender, education and experience as well as board size and composition

Can the age, education, experience and gender of executive board members, as well as the board size and composition, have an influence on the long-term sustainability of German cooperative banks? Due to declining profit margins, German cooperative banks are facing increasing threats to their future existence. However, the disappearance of cooperative banks from the German banking landscape would have serious consequences, as they fulfil important functions in the German financial and economic system. In particular, their dense branch network enables a large part of the population to participate in payment transactions and they are a key employer in many regions. At the same time, German cooperative banks played an important role in supporting the European banking system during the financial crisis in 2007/2008. The success of these cooperative banks is influenced by those leading them. Due to their strategic and operational tasks, these leaders play a decisive role, as these banks tend to be small in terms of their balance sheet and in international comparison. This thesis aims to find out how the age, education, experience and gender of the executive board members as well as board size and composition influence the performance and thus the sustainability of German cooperative banks. The findings should make an important contribution to the long-term survival of cooperative banks in Germany. To establish the influence of these factors, empirical data was collected on manager qualities (age, education, gender and experience), board composition, board size, and the Gross Profit Margin over a 5 and a 10-year period. The data was statistically evaluated with the help of regression analyses. The results reveal correlations between the age of the executive board members, board size and Gross Profit Margin over periods of 5 and 10 years. As the age of a bank’s executive board increases, the bank’s medium- and long-term performance decreases. Furthermore, a bank’s medium- and long-term performance is worsened by employing more than the two executive board members that are required by law. The descriptive interpretations indicate that banks whose executive board members have no education other than a higher education degree perform worse than other banks over the medium and long term, although no correlations could be established on the basis of the statistical evaluations. Similarly, executive board members who have held more than one previous board position also have a negative impact on the bank’s performance. No correlations were found between the bank’s performance and the gender of the executive board members or the executive board being led by two or more CEOs with equal rights (dual leadership). The correlations found in this research will serve as a basis for further in-depth investigations. The thesis fills gaps in the literature and contributes to Signalling Theory, Screening Theory, Principal Agent Theory, Upper Echelon Theory and several managerial competencies theories. At the same time, the results provide a basis for formulating practical decision-making criteria for supervisory boards to consider when selecting new executive board members

HIF prolyl hydroxylase PHD3 regulates translational machinery and glucose metabolism in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Background: A key feature of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the inactivation of the von Hippel-Lindau tumour suppressor protein (pVHL) that leads to the activation of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway also in well-oxygenated conditions. Important regulator of HIF-a, prolyl hydroxylase PHD3, is expressed in high amounts in ccRCC. Although several functions and downstream targets for PHD3 in cancer have been suggested, the role of elevated PHD3 expression in ccRCC is not clear.Methods: To gain insight into the functions of high PHD3 expression in ccRCC, we used PHD3 knockdown by siRNA in 786-O cells under normoxic and hypoxic conditions and performed discovery mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) of the purified peptide samples. The LC-MS/MS results were analysed by label- free quantification of proteome data using a peptide-level expression-change averaging procedure and subsequent gene ontology enrichment analysis.Results: Our data reveals an intriguingly widespread effect of PHD3 knockdown with 91 significantly regulated proteins. Under hypoxia, the response to PHD3 silencing was wider than under normoxia illustrated by both the number of regulated proteins and by the range of protein expression levels. The main cellular functions regulated by PHD3 expression were glucose metabolism, protein translation and messenger RNA (mRNA) processing. PHD3 silencing led to downregulation of most glycolytic enzymes from glucose transport to lactate production supported by the reduction in extracellular acidification and lactate production and increase in cellular oxygen consumption rate. Moreover, upregulation of mRNA processing-related proteins and alteration in a number of ribosomal proteins was seen as a response to PHD3 silencing. Further studies on upstream effectors of the translational machinery revealed a possible role for PHD3 in regulation of mTOR pathway signalling.Conclusions: Our findings suggest crucial involvement of PHD3 in the maintenance of key cellular functions including glycolysis and protein synthesis in ccRCC

T‐cell prolymphocytic leukemia is associated with deregulation of oncogenic microRNAs on transcriptional and epigenetic level

Deregulation of micro(mi)-RNAs is a common mechanism in tumorigenesis. We investigated the expression of 2083 miRNAs in T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL). Compared to physiologic CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell subsets, 111 miRNAs were differentially expressed in T-PLL. Of these, 33 belonged to miRNA gene clusters linked to cancer. Genomic variants affecting miRNAs were infrequent with the notable exception of copy number aberrations. Remarkably, we found strong upregulation of the miR-200c/-141 cluster in T-PLL to be associated with DNA hypomethylation and active promoter marks. Our findings suggest that copy number aberrations and epigenetic changes could contribute to miRNA deregulation in T-PLL

SVA retrotransposon insertion-associated deletion represents a novel mutational mechanism underlying large genomic copy number changes with non-recurrent breakpoints

Background: Genomic disorders are caused by copy number changes that may exhibit recurrent breakpoints processed by nonallelic homologous recombination. However, region-specific disease-associated copy number changes have also been observed which exhibit non-recurrent breakpoints. The mechanisms underlying these non-recurrent copy number changes have not yet been fully elucidated. Results: We analyze large NF1 deletions with non-recurrent breakpoints as a model to investigate the full spectrum of causative mechanisms, and observe that the

Forms of Metals in a Sediment Core of a Severely Acidified Northern Black Forest Lake.

In a dated (137Cs, forest fire in the year 1800, industrial development) sediment core of the Huzenbachersee (northern Black Forest, Fed. Rep. of Germany) the chemical speciation of several metals (base cations: Mg, Ca; Al; heavy metals: Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, Cr, Zn, and Cd) was evaluated applying sequential chemical extraction. In the sediment core, two distinct periods (2nd half of both 19th and 20th century) of increased amounts of Pb, Zn, Cd, and Fe can be found, indicating phases of industrialization. Elevated contents particuliarly of Cr in lower sediment layers are thought to be caused by local glass factories. In the uppermost sediment layers the bonding strength of several metals shows decreasing tendency (increasing for exchangeable and easily reducible fractions). As a result, secondary contamination of the water column can occur through sediment release especially with Zn and Cd