Behind the mask: revealing the true face of corporate citizenship

This paper traces the development of corporate citizenship as a way of framing business and society relations, and critically examines the content of contemporary understandings of the term. These conventional views of corporate citizenship are argued to contribute little or nothing to existing notions of corporate social responsibility and corporate philanthropy. The paper then proposes a new direction, which particularly exposes the element of "citizenship". Being a political concept, citizenship can only be reasonably understood from that theoretical angle. This suggests that citizenship consists of a bundle of rights conventionally granted and protected by governments of states. However, the more that governmental power and sovereignty have come under threat, the more that relevant political functions have gradually shifted towards the corporate sphere — and it is at this point where "corporate" involvement into "citizenship" becomes an issue. Consequently, "corporate citizens" are substantially more than fellow members of the same community who cosily rub shoulders with other fellow citizens while bravely respecting those other citizens' rights and living up to their own responsibility as corporations — as the conventional rhetoric wants us to believe. Behind this relatively innocuous mask then, the true face of corporate citizenship suggests that the corporate role in contemporary citizenship is far more profound, and ultimately in need of urgent reappraisal

Perioperative supplementation with a fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrate and postsurgical morbidity: a double-blind, randomised, placebo controlled clinical trial

Aims Surgical trauma leads to an inflammatory response that causes surgical morbidity. Reduced antioxidant micronutrient (AM)a levels and/or excessive levels of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)b have previously been linked to delayed wound healing and presence of chronic wounds. We aimed to evaluate the effect of pre-operative supplementation with encapsulated fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrate (JuicePlus+®) on postoperative morbidity and Quality of Life (QoL)c. Methods We conducted a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled two-arm parallel clinical trial evaluating postoperative morbidity following lower third molar surgery. Patients aged between 18 and 65 years were randomised to take verum or placebo for 10 weeks prior to surgery and during the first postoperative week. The primary endpoint was the between-group difference in QoL over the first postoperative week, with secondary endpoints being related to other measures of postoperative morbidity (pain and trismus). Results One-hundred and eighty-three out of 238 randomised patients received surgery (Intention-To-Treat population). Postoperative QoL tended to be higher in the active compared to the placebo group (p=0.059). Furthermore, reduction in mouth opening 2 days after surgery was 3.1 mm smaller (p=0.042), the mean pain score over the postoperative week was 9.4 mm lower (p=0.007) and patients were less likely to experience moderate to severe pain on postoperative day 2 (RR 0.58, p=0.030), comparing verum to placebo groups. Conclusion Pre-operative supplementation with a fruit and vegetable supplement rich in AM may improve postoperative QoL and reduce surgical morbidity and post-operative complications after surgery

The effect of mirabegron on patient-related outcomes in patients with overactive bladder: the results of post hoc correlation and responder analyses using pooled data from three randomized Phase III trials

Purpose To understand how improvements in the symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB) seen with the b3-adrenoceptor agonist mirabegron 50 mg, correlate with patient experience as measured by validated and standard patient-reported outcomes (PROs), and to identify whether there is overall directional consistency in the responsiveness of PROs to treatment effect. Methods In a post hoc analysis of pooled data from three randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 12-week Phase III trials of mirabegron 50 mg once daily, responder rates for incontinence frequency (C50 % reduction in incontinence episodes/24 h from baseline to final visit), micturition frequency (B8 micturitions/24 h at final visit), and PROs [minimally important differences in patient perception of bladder condition (PPBC) and subsets of the overactive bladder questionnaire (OAB-q) measuring total health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and symptom bother] were evaluated individually and in combination. Results Mirabegron 50 mg demonstrated greater improvement from baseline to final visit than placebo for each of the responder analyses, whether for individual objective and subjective outcomes or combinations thereof. These improvements versus placebo were statistically significant for all double and triple responder analyses and for all single responder analyses except PPBC. PRO measurements showed directional consistency and significant correlations, and there were also significant correlations between objective and subjective measures of efficacy. Conclusions The improvements in objective measures seen with mirabegron 50 mg translate into a meaningful clinical benefit as evident by the directional consistency seen in HRQoL measures of benefit

The Ministry of Works and the Development of Souvenir Guides from 1955

The first formal guidebooks for historic sites placed in state guardianship in the United Kingdom appeared in 1917. There was an expansion of the series in the 1930s and 1950s. However, from the late 1950s the Ministry of Works, and later the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, started to produce an additional series of illustrated souvenir guides. One distinct group covered Royal Palaces: the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Queen Victoria's residence of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, and Holyroodhouse in Edin-burgh. This was followed by guides for archaeological sites such as Stone-henge and Avebury, the Neolithic flint mines at Grime's Graves, the Roman villa at Lullingstone, and Hadrian's Wall. In 1961, a series of guides, with covers designed by Kyffin Williams, was produced for the English castles constructed in North Wales. These illustrated guides, some with colour, prepared the way for the fully designed guides now produced by English Heritage, Cadw, and Historic Environment Scotland

Oncometabolite induced primary cilia loss in pheochromocytoma

Primary cilia are sensory organelles involved in regulation of cellular signaling. Cilia loss is frequently observed in tumors; yet, the responsible mechanisms and consequences for tumorigenesis remain unclear. We demonstrate that cilia structure and function is disrupted in human pheochromocytomas – endocrine tumors of the adrenal medulla. This is concomitant with transcriptional changes within cilia-mediated signaling pathways that are associated with tumorigenesis generally and pheochromocytomas specifically. Importantly, cilia loss was most dramatic in patients with germline mutations in the pseudohypoxia-linked genes SDHx and VHL. Using a pheochromocytoma cell line derived from rat, we show that hypoxia and oncometabolite-induced pseudohypoxia are key drivers of cilia loss and identify that this is dependent on activation of an Aurora-A/HDAC6 cilia resorption pathway. We also show cilia loss drives dramatic transcriptional changes associated with proliferation and tumorigenesis. Our data provide evidence for primary cilia dysfunction contributing to pathogenesis of pheochromocytoma by a hypoxic/pseudohypoxic mechanism and implicates oncometabolites as ciliary regulators. This is important as pheochromocytomas can cause mortality by mechanisms including catecholamine production and malignant transformation, while hypoxia is a general feature of solid tumors. Moreover, pseudohypoxia-induced cilia resorption can be pharmacologically inhibited, suggesting potential for therapeutic intervention

Sulforaphane restores cellular glutathione levels and reduces chronic periodontitis neutrophil hyperactivity in vitro

The production of high levels of reactive oxygen species by neutrophils is associated with the local and systemic destructive phenotype found in the chronic inflammatory disease periodontitis. In the present study, we investigated the ability of sulforaphane (SFN) to restore cellular glutathione levels and reduce the hyperactivity of circulating neutrophils associated with chronic periodontitis. Using differentiated HL60 cells as a neutrophil model, here we show that generation of extracellular O2 . - by the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADPH) oxidase complex is increased by intracellular glutathione depletion. This may be attributed to the upregulation of thiol regulated acid sphingomyelinase driven lipid raft formation. Intracellular glutathione was also lower in primary neutrophils from periodontitis patients and, consistent with our previous findings, patients neutrophils were hyper-reactive to stimuli. The activity of nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a master regulator of the antioxidant response, is impaired in circulating neutrophils from chronic periodontitis patients. Although patients' neutrophils exhibit a low reduced glutathione (GSH)/oxidised glutathione (GSSG) ratio and a higher total Nrf2 level, the DNA-binding activity of nuclear Nrf2 remained unchanged relative to healthy controls and had reduced expression of glutamate cysteine ligase catalytic (GCLC), and modifier (GCLM) subunit mRNAs, compared to periodontally healthy subjects neutrophils. Pre-treatment with SFN increased expression of GCLC and GCM, improved intracellular GSH/GSSG ratios and reduced agonist-activated extracellular O2 . - production in both dHL60 and primary neutrophils from patients with periodontitis and controls. These findings suggest that a deficiency in Nrf2-dependent pathways may underpin susceptibility to hyper-reactivity in circulating primary neutrophils during chronic periodontitis. © 2013 Dias et al

Sensitive detection of sodium in a flame using parametric four-wave mixing and seeded parametric four-wave mixing

Two-photon resonant parametric four-wave mixing and a newly developed variant called seeded parametric four-wave mixing are used to detect trace quantities of sodium in a flame. Both techniques are simple, requiring only a single laser to generate a signal beam at a different wavelength which propagates collinearly with the pump beam, allowing efficient signal recovery. A comparison of the two techniques reveals that seeded parametric four-wave mixing is more than two orders of magnitude more sensitive than parametric four-wave mixing, with an estimated detection sensitivity of 5 x 10(9) atoms/cm(3). Seeded parametric four-wave mixing is achieved by cascading two parametric four-wave mixing media such that one of the parametric fields generated in the first high-density medium is then used to seed the same four-wave mixing process in a second medium in order to increase the four-wave mixing gain. The behavior of this seeded parametric four-wave mixing is described using semiclassical perturbation theory. A simplified small-signal theory is found to model most of the data satisfactorily. However, an anomalous saturationlike behavior is observed in the large signal regime. The full perturbation treatment, which includes the competition between two different four-wave mixing processes coupled via the signal field, accounts for this apparently anomalous behavior

Seeking legitimacy through CSR: Institutional Pressures and Corporate Responses of Multinationals in Sri Lanka

Arguably, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of multinational enterprises (MNEs) are influenced by a wide range of both internal and external factors. Perhaps most critical among the exogenous forces operating on MNEs are those exerted by state and other key institutional actors in host countries. Crucially, academic research conducted to date offers little data about how MNEs use their CSR activities to strategically manage their relationship with those actors in order to gain legitimisation advantages in host countries. This paper addresses that gap by exploring interactions between external institutional pressures and firm-level CSR activities, which take the form of community initiatives, to examine how MNEs develop their legitimacy-seeking policies and practices. In focusing on a developing country, Sri Lanka, this paper provides valuable insights into how MNEs instrumentally utilise community initiatives in a country where relationship-building with governmental and other powerful non-governmental actors can be vitally important for the long-term viability of the business. Drawing on neo-institutional theory and CSR literature, this paper examines and contributes to the embryonic but emerging debate about the instrumental and political implications of CSR. The evidence presented and discussed here reveals the extent to which, and the reasons why, MNEs engage in complex legitimacy-seeking relationships with Sri Lankan institutions