DEFINED BENEFIT PENSION ACCOUNTING AND MARKET VALUE PER SHARE OF QUOTED PHARMACEUTICAL FIRMS IN NIGERIA

The study examineddefined benefit pension accounting and market value per share of quoted pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria. The research design adopted for this study was the ex-post facto design to investigate the relationship between Defined Benefit Pension Accounting and Market Value Per Share of Quoted Pharmaceutical Companies in Nigeria. The data used in this research were secondary data sourced from yearly account reports of these pharmaceutical companies named in Nigeria stock exchange fact books for time period of eleven years ranging from year 2011 to 2021. The sample size was three quoted pharmaceutical firms that have been trading consistently with the said period, while population was all the nine quoted pharmaceutical companies listed on the Nigeria stock exchange group. The Statistical tools used to analyze the data were descriptive Statistics, PPM correlation index, OLS and MRT as contained in SPSS package version were used to analyze the data and test research hypotheses.Secondary data was used to analysis the variables under study andthe study concluded that; there is a significant relationship between benefit service cost and market value per share which suggest that benefit service cost, as a proxy for independent variable (i.e.  defined pension accounting) has impact on the market price per share of quoted pharmaceutical firms in Nigeria.Based on the foregoing, his study recommends that organization, especially the quoted pharmaceutical firms in Nigeria, should ensure that they improve their benefit service cost in order to boost their market value per share

A Nuclear DNA Perspective on Delineating Evolutionarily Significant Lineages in Polyploids: The Case of the Endangered Shortnose Sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum)

The shortnose sturgeon, Acipenser brevirostrum, oft considered a phylogenetic relic, is listed as an “endangered species threatened with extinction” in the US and “Vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List. Effective conservation of A. brevirostrum depends on understanding its diversity and evolutionary processes, yet challenges associated with the polyploid nature of its nuclear genome have heretofore limited population genetic analysis to maternally inherited haploid characters. We developed a suite of polysomic microsatellite DNA markers and characterized a sample of 561 shortnose sturgeon collected from major extant populations along the North American Atlantic coast. The 181 alleles observed at 11 loci were scored as binary loci and the data were subjected to multivariate ordination, Bayesian clustering, hierarchical partitioning of variance, and among-population distance metric tests. The methods uncovered moderately high levels of gene diversity suggesting population structuring across and within three metapopulations (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast) that encompass seven demographically discrete and evolutionarily distinct lineages. The predicted groups are consistent with previously described behavioral patterns, especially dispersal and migration, supporting the interpretation that A. brevirostrum exhibit adaptive differences based on watershed. Combined with results of prior genetic (mitochondrial DNA) and behavioral studies, the current work suggests that dispersal is an important factor in maintaining genetic diversity in A. brevirostrum and that the basic unit for conservation management is arguably the local population

Rotorcraft Transmission Noise Path Model, Including Distributed Fluid Film Bearing Impedance Modeling

A computational approach for simulating the effects of rolling element and journal bearings on the vibration and sound transmission through gearboxes has been demonstrated. The approach, using ARL/Penn State s CHAMP methodology, uses Component Mode Synthesis of housing and shafting modes computed using Finite Element (FE) models to allow for rapid adjustment of bearing impedances in gearbox models. The approach has been demonstrated on NASA GRC s test gearbox with three different bearing configurations: in the first condition, traditional rolling element (ball and roller) bearings were installed, and in the second and third conditions, the traditional bearings were replaced with journal and wave bearings (wave bearings are journal bearings with a multi-lobed wave pattern on the bearing surface). A methodology for computing the stiffnesses and damping in journal and wave bearings has been presented, and demonstrated for the journal and wave bearings used in the NASA GRC test gearbox. The FE model of the gearbox, along with the rolling element bearing coupling impedances, was analyzed to compute dynamic transfer functions between forces applied to the meshing gears and accelerations on the gearbox housing, including several locations near the bearings. A Boundary Element (BE) acoustic model was used to compute the sound radiated by the gearbox. Measurements of the Gear Mesh Frequency (GMF) tones were made by NASA GRC at several operational speeds for the rolling element and journal bearing gearbox configurations. Both the measurements and the CHAMP numerical model indicate that the journal bearings reduce vibration and noise for the second harmonic of the gear meshing tones, but show no clear benefit to using journal bearings to reduce the amplitudes of the fundamental gear meshing tones. Also, the numerical model shows that the gearbox vibrations and radiated sound are similar for journal and wave bearing configurations

4,5-Diazafluorene and 9,9’-Dimethyl-4,5-Diazafluorene as Ligands Supporting Redox-Active Mn and Ru Complexes

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.4,5-diazafluorene (daf) and 9,9’-dimethyl-4,5-diazafluorene (Me2daf) are structurally similar to the important ligand 2,2’-bipyridine (bpy), but significantly less is known about the redox and spectroscopic properties of metal complexes containing Me2daf as a ligand than those containing bpy. New complexes Mn(CO)3Br(daf) (2), Mn(CO)3Br(Me2daf) (3), and [Ru(Me2daf)3](PF6)2 (5) have been prepared and fully characterized to understand the influence of the Me2daf framework on their chemical and electrochemical properties. Structural data for 2, 3, and 5 from single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveal a distinctive widening of the daf and Me2daf chelate angles in comparison to the analogous Mn(CO)3(bpy)Br (1) and [Ru(bpy)3]2+ (4) complexes. Electronic absorption data for these complexes confirm the electronic similarity of daf, Me2daf, and bpy, as spectra are dominated in each case by metal-to-ligand charge transfer bands in the visible region. However, the electrochemical properties of 2, 3, and 5 reveal that the redox-active Me2daf framework in 3 and 5 undergoes reduction at a slightly more negative potential than that of bpy in 1 and 4. Taken together, the results indicate that Me2daf could be useful for preparation of a variety of new redox-active compounds, as it retains the useful redox-active nature of bpy but lacks the acidic, benzylic C–H bonds that can induce secondary reactivity in complexes bearing daf.US National Science Foundation (OIA-1833087)NSF REU Program in Chemistry at the University of Kansas (CHE-1560279)NIH T32 GM008545-25NIH S10OD016360NIH S10RR024664CHE-162592

Defining Tobacco Regulatory Science Competencies

In 2013, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration funded a network of 14 Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS) with a mission that included research and training. A cross-TCORS Panel was established to define tobacco regulatory science (TRS) competencies to help harmonize and guide their emerging educational programs. The purpose of this paper is to describe the Panel’s work to develop core TRS domains and competencies

Undertaking a scoping review: a practical guide for nursing and midwifery students, clinicians, researchers, and academics.

Aim: The aim of this study is to discuss the available methodological resources and best-practice guidelines for the development and completion of scoping reviews relevant to nursing and midwifery policy, practice, and research. Design: Discussion Paper. Data Sources: Scoping reviews that exemplify best practice are explored with reference to the recently updated JBI scoping review guide (2020) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Scoping Review extension (PRISMA-ScR). Implications for nursing and midwifery: Scoping reviews are an increasingly common form of evidence synthesis. They are used to address broad research questions and to map evidence from a variety of sources. Scoping reviews are a useful form of evidence synthesis for those in nursing and midwifery and present opportunities for researchers to review a broad array of evidence and resources. However, scoping reviews still need to be conducted with rigour and transparency. Conclusion: This study provides guidance and advice for researchers and clinicians who are preparing to undertake an evidence synthesis and are considering a scoping review methodology in the field of nursing and midwifery. Impact: With the increasing popularity of scoping reviews, criticism of the rigour, transparency, and appropriateness of the methodology have been raised across multiple academic and clinical disciplines, including nursing and midwifery. This discussion paper provides a unique contribution by discussing each component of a scoping review, including: developing research questions and objectives; protocol development; developing eligibility criteria and the planned search approach; searching and selecting the evidence; extracting and analysing evidence; presenting results; and summarizing the evidence specifically for the fields of nursing and midwifery. Considerations for when to select this methodology and how to prepare a review for publication are also discussed. This approach is applied to the disciplines of nursing and midwifery to assist nursing and/or midwifery students, clinicians, researchers, and academics

60 kD Ro and nRNP A Frequently Initiate Human Lupus Autoimmunity

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a clinically heterogeneous, humoral autoimmune disorder. The unifying feature among SLE patients is the production of large quantities of autoantibodies. Serum samples from 129 patients collected before the onset of SLE and while in the United States military were evaluated for early pre-clinical serologic events. The first available positive serum sample frequently already contained multiple autoantibody specificities (65%). However, in 34 SLE patients the earliest pre-clinical serum sample positive for any detectable common autoantibody bound only a single autoantigen, most commonly 60 kD Ro (29%), nRNP A (24%), anti-phospholipids (18%) or rheumatoid factor (15%). We identified several recurrent patterns of autoantibody onset using these pre-diagnostic samples. In the serum samples available, anti-nRNP A appeared before or simultaneously with anti-nRNP 70 K in 96% of the patients who had both autoantibodies at diagnosis. Anti-60 kD Ro antibodies appeared before or simultaneously with anti-La (98%) or anti-52 kD Ro (95%). The autoantibody response in SLE patients begins simply, often binding a single specific autoantigen years before disease onset, followed by epitope spreading to additional autoantigenic specificities that are accrued in recurring patterns

Identification of pathogen genomic variants through an integrated pipeline

Background: Whole-genome sequencing represents a powerful experimental tool for pathogen research. We present methods for the analysis of small eukaryotic genomes, including a streamlined system (called Platypus) for finding single nucleotide and copy number variants as well as recombination events. Results: We have validated our pipeline using four sets of Plasmodium falciparum drug resistant data containing 26 clones from 3D7 and Dd2 background strains, identifying an average of 11 single nucleotide variants per clone. We also identify 8 copy number variants with contributions to resistance, and report for the first time that all analyzed amplification events are in tandem. Conclusions: The Platypus pipeline provides malaria researchers with a powerful tool to analyze short read sequencing data. It provides an accurate way to detect SNVs using known software packages, and a novel methodology for detection of CNVs, though it does not currently support detection of small indels. We have validated that the pipeline detects known SNVs in a variety of samples while filtering out spurious data. We bundle the methods into a freely available package

Wintering Eiders Acquire Exceptional Se and Cd Burdens in the Bering Sea: Physiological and Oceanographic Factors

During late winter (March) in the Bering Sea, levels of Se in livers and Cd in kidneys of spectacled eiders Somateria fischeri were exceptionally high (up to 489 and 312 µg g−1 dry mass, respectively). Comparison of organ and blood samples during late winter, early spring migration, and breeding suggests that the eiders’ high Se and Cd burdens were accumulated at sea, with highest exposure during winter. High exposure may have resulted from high metabolic demands and food intake, as well as concentrations in food. In the eiders’ remote wintering area, their bivalve prey contained comparable Se levels and much higher Cd levels than in industrialized areas. Patterns of chlorophyll a in water and sediments indicated that phytoplankton detritus settling over a large area was advected into a persistent regional eddy, where benthic prey densities were higher than elsewhere and most eider foraging occurred. Se and Cd assimilated or adsorbed by bloom materials apparently also accumulated in the eddy, and were incorporated into the bivalve prey of eiders. Atmospheric deposition of dust-borne trace elements from Asia, which peaks during the ice-edge phytoplankton bloom from March to May, may augment processes that concentrate Se and Cd in eider prey. Compared with freshwater birds, some sea ducks (Mergini) accumulate much higher concentrations of trace elements, even with the same levels in food, with no apparent ill effects. Nevertheless, the absolute and relative burdens of different elements in sea ducks vary greatly among areas. Our results suggest these patterns can result from (1) exceptional accumulation and tolerance of trace elements when exposure is elevated by high food intake or levels in food, and (2) atmospheric and oceanographic processes that concentrate trace elements in local benthic food webs