Fare Ye Well: Right to Be Let Alone

A recent case in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has raised a very important question concerning one of our well established rights-that is, the right to be let alone. Judge Skelly Wright, acting singly, has decided that a young adult member of the Jehovah\u27s Witnesses should be given a blood transfusion over her objection-her refusal being based upon her religious beliefs

Admiral Furman Academy: A Case Study In Selected Not-For-Profit Auditing Issues

The purpose of this case is to help students explore accounting and auditing issues often confronted by auditors of not-for-profit organizations.  Given final financial statements, the goal of the case is to require students to prepare the footnotes that would be considered an integral part of the financial statements.  The case is intended for students who are taking an advanced accounting or not-for-profit accounting course

Hollybush Academy: A Case Study In Selected Not-For-Profit Accounting Issues

The purpose of this case is to help students explore accounting issues often confronted by auditors of not-for-profit organizations. Given certain facts, the goal of the case is to require students to analyze the footnotes prepared by the auditors and discuss the presentation, classification and valuation of items not reflected on the financial statements prepared by the client. The case is intended for students who are taking an advanced accounting or not-for-profit accounting course

Forensic Accounting: Should It Be A Required Course For Accounting Majors?

Most of the general public and hopefully students of accounting are aware of the attention grabbing frauds of the 21st Century, including Enron and Worldcom. Fraud and deceit are prevalent in our everyday lives, including activities of small business people when there are shareholder disputes and among individuals in matrimonial disputes. Forensic accountants are important to assist exposing the existence of fraud, but its role goes beyond dealing with fraud and includes applying investigative techniques to assist businesses and individuals to reveal the underlying financial facts or true value in various situations. Since Forensic Accounting is the fastest growing arena in the accounting profession, the authors believe that consideration should be given to its inclusion as a required course in the accounting curriculum

Activin and TGFβ use diverging mitogenic signaling in advanced colon cancer.

BackgroundUnderstanding cell signaling pathways that contribute to metastatic colon cancer is critical to risk stratification in the era of personalized therapeutics. Here, we dissect the unique involvement of mitogenic pathways in a TGFβ or activin-induced metastatic phenotype of colon cancer.MethodMitogenic signaling/growth factor receptor status and p21 localization were correlated in primary colon cancers and intestinal tumors from either AOM/DSS treated ACVR2A (activin receptor 2) -/- or wild type mice. Colon cancer cell lines (+/- SMAD4) were interrogated for ligand-induced PI3K and MEK/ERK pathway activation and downstream protein/phospho-isoform expression/association after knockdown and pharmacologic inhibition of pathway members. EMT was assessed using epithelial/mesenchymal markers and migration assays.ResultsIn primary colon cancers, loss of nuclear p21 correlated with upstream activation of activin/PI3K while nuclear p21 expression was associated with TGFβ/MEK/ERK pathway activation. Activin, but not TGFβ, led to PI3K activation via interaction of ACVR1B and p85 independent of SMAD4, resulting in p21 downregulation. In contrast, TGFβ increased p21 via MEK/ERK pathway through a SMAD4-dependent mechanism. While activin induced EMT via PI3K, TGFβ induced EMT via MEK/ERK activation. In vivo, loss of ACVR2A resulted in loss of pAkt, consistent with activin-dependent PI3K signaling.ConclusionAlthough activin and TGFβ share growth suppressive SMAD signaling in colon cancer, they diverge in their SMAD4-independent pro-migratory signaling utilizing distinct mitogenic signaling pathways that affect EMT. p21 localization in colon cancer may determine a dominant activin versus TGFβ ligand signaling phenotype warranting further validation as a therapeutic biomarker prior to targeting TGFβ family receptors

Cooper Machinery, Inc.

This case emphasizes one of the most important analytical tools that an accounting graduate should possess. It is the opinion of the authors that an accounting graduate should be able to convert from the accrual basis of accounting to the cash basis. A solid understanding of this area and others, such as time value of money concepts, is necessary in order for one to consider himself/herself accounting literate. The purpose of this case is to evaluate and help students understand the relationship between the balance sheet, statement of income, and statement of cash flows in addition to the theory and mechanics of converting from the accrual basis of accounting to the cash basis. Furthermore, it helps students develop analytical skills and form an opinion about the usefulness of the direct method presentation of the statement of cash flows compared to the indirect method. Thus students are forced to complete missing information on the balance sheet, statement of income, and statement of cash flow by deducing which transactions occurred. The assumption used in the case is that the company employs the accrual basis of accounting. There were no cash sales or expenses paid in cash

Castle Hall Academy: A Case Study In Non-Profit Accounting Mismanagement

This case requires you to resolve financial reporting deficiencies that arise in the audit of a not-for-profit entity, a prestigious private high school.  This case is based on the actual experience that an audit firm had with a not-for-profit client.  The primary reporting issues in the case relate to investments, contributions, severance packages, and leases that arise due to school management’s failure to consider recent accounting pronouncements.  By completing this case, you will learn about standards that affect not-for-profit entities and how auditors resolve differences with clients.  The decisions that you make require an understanding of technical knowledge of topics covered in typical intermediate accounting courses.  In addition, the case requires you to integrate accounting theory with the practice of auditing.  The premise for the case is that in order to be a successful auditor, you will need a good understanding of your client’s business as well as technical accounting issues

ERC-ESICM guidelines for prognostication after cardiac arrest: time for an update

About two-thirds of patients who are comatose after resuscitation from cardiac arrest die before hospital discharge, of whom two-thirds die from neurological injury. In these patients, prognostication is crucial in informing clinicians and patient’s relatives. Recently, three studies from different groups of investigators have retrospectively assessed the accuracy of the 2015 ERC-ESICM prognostication algorithm. All these studies consistently confirmed the accuracy of the ERC-ESICM multimodal prognostication strategy in avoiding a falsely pessimistic prediction. Interestingly, this high specificity was confirmed when the 2014 criteria for malignant EEG were replaced with a more recent classification of EEG pattern. Besides improving sensitivity of prediction, this classification also enables a good interrater reliability, favouring guidelines’ implementation

Exploring urban gardening experiences in Europe and Asia: Rome vs. Tokyo

Nowadays the trend of urban gardening can be observed in many parts of the world. This phenomenon responds to the demand of rurality and the requalification of abandoned urban green areas expressed by city residents. Recently, many researchers have investigated about different types of urban gardening but mostly referring to English speaking developed countries (Guitart et al. 2012). To grasp the worldwide trend of urban gardening, this paper aims to compare urban gardening experiences in Rome and Tokyo. In Italy, the analysis is conducted through a direct investigation while the Japanese experience has been analysed through secondary data. The study of these two quite different metropolitan contexts helps to understand: (i) motivations on why urban residents need to grow food by themselves; (ii) types of ecosystem services (i.e. safeguard of agricultural land, food culture, production system, leisure model, environmental education, social cohesion) provided to stakeholders (Langemeyer et al. 2018; Speak et al. 2015). By comparing the two areas in Europe and Asia, we found urban residents’ interests in self-harvesting in common. Yet, there were differences in the form of urban gardening. Urban gardening in Rome is characterized by voluntary community activities, while Tokyo has commercial services to provide opportunities to not only those who have eagerness to grow vegetables, but also those who have less time and skills of growing plants