Modeling the Psychiatric Aspects of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Induced Stress

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder in women that is characterized by excess testosterone and is associated with increased risk of infertility. Women with PCOS also show higher rates of depression and anxiety. Modeling PCOS in mice via administration of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) results in physiological alterations that are consistent with the physiological symptoms of PCOS in women. While some studies have investigated behavioral changes in PCOS mouse models, findings have varied. Thus, the current research examined whether a PCOS model with an additional stress factor resulted in behavioral changes. To create a stress condition, subjects were implanted with corticosterone (CORT) pellets to model the complex interaction of stress and PCOS on depression- and anxiety-like behavior. Data analysis for depression-like behavior on the forced swim test showed a significant main effect of time, with subjects spending more time immobile across the 5-minute test, F(4, 108) = 104.43, ps \u3c .001. Anxiety-like behavior on the elevated zero maze showed a significant time x prenatal treatment interaction, F(4, 108) = 2.71, p = .034. The hypothesis that the prenatal PCOS model in conjunction with the stress condition would better model the human condition and result in behavioral alterations was only partially supported. These findings are an important step toward understanding the intersection of stress, mental health, and PCOS for the approximately five million women in the United States with this disorder

Dealloying Behavior of NiCo and NiCoCu Thin Films

Porous metals and alloys, such as those fabricated via electrochemical dealloying, are of interest for a variety of energy applications, ranging from their potential for enhanced catalytic behavior to their use as high surface area supports for pseudocapacitor materials. Here, the electrochemical dealloying process was explored for electrodeposited binary NiCo and ternary NiCoCu thin films. For each of the four different metal ratios, films were dealloyed using linear sweep voltammetry to various potentials in order to gain insight into the evolution of the film over the course of the linear sweep. Electrochemical capacitance, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to examine the structure and composition of each sample before and after linear sweep voltammetry was performed. For NiCo films, dealloying resulted in almost no change in composition but did result in an increased capacitance, with greater increases occurring at higher linear sweep potentials, indicating the removal of material from the films. Dealloying also resulted in the appearance of large pores on the surface of the high nickel percentage NiCo films, while low nickel percentage NiCo films had little observable change in morphology. For NiCoCu films, Cu was almost completely removed at linear sweep potentials greater than 0.5 V versus Ag/AgCl. The linear sweep removed large Cu-rich dendrites from the films, while also causing increases in measured capacitance

Accounting for sustainability and climate change: Special section overview

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Differential Strain-Dependent Ovarian and Metabolic Responses in a Mouse Model of PCOS

Several mouse models have been developed to study polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a leading cause of infertility in women. Treatment of mice with dihydrotestosterone (DHT) for 90-days causes ovarian and metabolic phenotypes similar to women with PCOS. We used this 90-day DHT treatment paradigm to investigate the variable incidence and heterogeneity in two inbred mouse strains, NOD/ShiLtJ and 129S1/SvlmJ. NOD mice naturally develop type 1 diabetes, and recent meta-analysis found increased androgen excess and PCOS in women with type 1 diabetes. 129S1 mice are commonly used in genetic manipulations. Both NOD and 129S1 DHT treated mice had early vaginal opening, increased anogenital distance and altered estrus cycles compared to control animals. Additionally, both NOD and 129S1 mice had reduced numbers of corpora lutea after DHT exposure, while NOD mice had decreased numbers of preantral follicles and 129S1 mice had reduced numbers of small antral follicles. NOD mice had increased body weight, decreased white adipocyte size, and improved glucose sensitivity in response to DHT, while 129S1 mice had increased body weight and white adipocyte size. NOD mice had increased expression of Adiponectin, Cidea, Srebp1a and Srebp1b and 129S1 mice had decreased Pparg in the white adipose tissues, while both NOD and 129S1 mice had increased expression of Glut4 and Prdm16 suggesting DHT may differentially affect glucose transport, thermogenesis, and lipid storage in white adipose tissue. DHT causes different ovarian and metabolic responses in NOD and 129S1 mice suggesting that strain differences may allow further elucidation of genetic contributions to PCOS

The Impact of Error-Management Climate, Error Type and Error Originator on Auditors’ Reporting Errors Discovered on Audit Work Papers

We examine factors affecting the auditor’s willingness to report their own or their peers’ self-discovered errors in working papers subsequent to detailed working paper review. Prior research has shown that errors in working papers are detected in the review process; however, such detection rates only rarely exceed 50% of the seeded errors. Hence, measures that encourage auditors to be alert to their own (or their peers’) potential errors any time they revisit the audit working papers may be valuable in detecting such residual errors and potentially correcting them before damage occurs to the audit firm or its client. We hypothesize that three factors affect the auditor’s willingness to report post detailed review discovered errors: the local office error-management climate (open versus blame), the type of error (mechanical versus conceptual) and who committed the error (the individual who committed the error (self) or a peer). Local office error-management climate is said to be open and supportive where errors and mistakes are accepted as part of everyday life as long as they are learned from and not repeated. In alternative, a blame error-management climate focuses on a “get it right the first time” culture where mistakes are not tolerated and blame gets attached to those admitting to or found committing such errors. We find that error-management climate has a significant overall effect on auditor willingness to report errors, as does who committed the error originally. We find both predicted and unpredicted significant interactions among the three factors that qualify these observed significant main effects. We discuss implications for audit practice and further research

Can auditors be independent? – Experimental evidence on the effects of client type

Recent regulatory initiatives stress that an independent oversight board, rather than the management board, should be the client of the auditor. In an experiment, we test whether the type of client affects auditors’ independence. Unique features of the German institutional setting enable us to realistically vary the type of auditors’ client as our treatment variable: we portray the client either as the management preferring aggressive accounting or the oversight board preferring conservative accounting. We measure auditors’ perceived client retention incentives and accountability pressure in a post-experiment questionnaire to capture potential threats to independence. We find that the type of auditors’ client affects auditors’ behaviour contingent on the degree of the perceived threats to independence. Our findings imply that both client retention incentives and accountability pressure represent distinctive threats to auditors’ independence and that the effectiveness of an oversight board in enhancing auditors’ independence depends on the underlying threat

Audit within the corporate governance paradigm: a cornerstone built on shifting sand?:a cornerstone built on shifting sand?

This paper is a case study-based investigation of aspects of the current paradigmatic approach to ‘good’ corporate governance with its focus on the interlinked roles of internal control and risk management procedures, internal audit and external audit, overseen and co-ordinated by a formal structure of board committees, in particular the audit committee. The evidence that we adduce from the study of four high-profile cases of perceived accounting and governance failure provides limited assurance that this approach will in fact be cost-effective or efficient in preventing further such cases of accounting and governance failure. Specifically, issues as to remuneration and fee dependence; lack of relevant knowledge and expertise; and social and psychological dependence upon executive management appear to have significantly and negatively affected the quality of decision-making of governance gatekeepers. This suggests that further consideration of relevant economic, institutional and cognitive/behavioural factors beyond the rational choice model of traditional economics should underpin future developments in required modes and structures of governance

Dealloying NiCo and NiCoCu Alloy Thin Films Using Linear Sweep Voltammetry

When electrodeposited into thin films, metals have unique and well-known electrochemical potentials at which they will be removed from the film. Theoretically, these potential differences can be utilized to re-oxidize only certain metals in an alloy, thus altering the film’s structure and composition. This dealloying process is understood relatively poorly in the case of nickel-cobalt and nickel-cobalt-copper thin films. Here we discuss these films’ response to linear sweep voltammetry as a means of electrochemical dealloying. A three-electrode electrochemical cell was used for both deposition and dealloying. To perform linear sweep voltammetry on a sample, it was immersed in a sodium sulfate solution in the electrochemical cell and a steadily increasing potential was placed between the working and reference electrodes. For each of four different metal ratios, films were dealloyed to various potentials in order to gain insight into the evolution of the film over the course of the linear sweep. Capacitance, topography, and composition were examined for each sample before and after linear sweep voltammetry was performed. For nickel-cobalt films with high percentages of nickel, dealloying resulted in almost no change in composition, but did result in an increased capacitance, with greater increases occurring at higher linear sweep potentials. Dealloying also resulted in the appearance of large (100-1000 nm) pores on the surface of the film. For nickel-cobalt-copper films with high percentages of nickel, copper was almost completely removed from the film at linear sweep potentials greater than 500 mV. Preliminary data suggested that the linear sweep first removes larger copper-rich dendrites from the film’s surface before creating numerous nano-pores, resulting in a net increase in area

Electrodeposition and Dealloying of Nickel-Cobalt Thin Films

A nanoporous thin film’s high surface area allows it to act as a particularly efficient capacitor and gives it enhanced catalytic properties. This project focuses on the electrodeposition and dealloying of nickel-cobalt thin films with the purpose of creating such a nanoporous structure on the surface of the film. Using an electrochemical cell and a three-electrode system nickel-cobalt films of various ratios were deposited onto gold substrates. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) attachment was used to observe and characterize each sample’s appearances, structures, and compositions. The depositions were remarkably uniform and smooth. The only defining characteristic was a large number of tiny holes measuring fractions of a micron scattered across the surface in varying concentrations. Analysis of the data gathered from the EDS showed that the percentage of cobalt in the film averaged nearly double that in the solution, suggesting that, when the two are deposited together, cobalt deposits at a much higher rate than nickel. Select samples were then dealloyed in the same electrochemical cell. This was achieved by reversing the potential across the electrodes, and, since cobalt re-oxidizes at a lower potential, it should strip off first, leaving behind an especially nanoporous surface. Preliminary results from the EDS suggest that dealloying cobalt from a nickel-cobalt sample is more likely with a higher cobalt to nickel ratio on the film