Corporate governance and intellectual capital

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between corporate governance and Intellectual capital in the pharmaceutical companies accepted in Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2004-2009 using a regression based model. The study investigates the impacts of three some independent variables of the corporate governance (i.e. the number of board members, the relative extent of nonexecutive to executive directors, the auditing committee). The results suggest that corporate governance had no special effect on intellectual capital in the pharmaceutical companies. Furthermore among corporate governance's variables, the first one (i.e. board size) had negative impact on firms' intellectual capital and the second and the third variables had no effects on intellectual capital

Differential Recruitment of Host Proteins to the Coxiella Burnetii Vacuole in the Absence of the Sterol Reductase CBU1206

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Q fever is a heavily underdiagnosed and underreported infection caused by the obligate intracellular pathogen Coxiella burnetii. Following entry into the host cell, Coxiella replicates in the acidic phagolysosome-like parasitophorous vacuole termed the Coxiella Containing Vacuole (CCV). The CCV is a large and highly fusogenic compartment that actively fuses with the host endocytic pathway during maturation of the phagolysosome. Evidence suggests that the development of the CCV is sensitive to increasing cholesterol levels and leads to CCV acidification and bacterial death. Therefore, we hypothesize that CCV cholesterol concentration is carefully modulated through the Coxiella encoded sterol reductases (CBU1206 and CBU1158). A ∆CBU1206 mutant of Coxiella is hypersensitive to cholesterol and displays growth defects in intracellular replication and CCV development. Following fusion with the host endocytic pathway, the Coxiella NMII Phase II (WT) CCVs readily acquire host proteins such as LAMP1, CD63, Rab7, ORP1L, RILP, and LC3. These heterotypic events with the host endosomal cascade are presumed to provide selected subsets of endocytosed cargo and membrane. Therefore, I investigated whether ΔCBU1206 CCV heterotypic fusion events are defective due to altered lipid content on the CCV membrane. I observed increased accumulation of sterols on the ΔCBU1206 CCV membrane. Similar to WT, the mutant readily fuses host lysosomes and readily acquires the host glycoprotein LAMP1 but displays reduced localization of CD63 (LAMP3). Additionally, reduced localization of the late endosomal markers Rab7, ORP1L, and RILP was observed suggesting that late endosome fusion maybe defective in ΔCBU1206. Further, reduced localization of LC3 was also observed suggesting that the mutant may also be defective in fusing with autophagosomes. Finally, the mutant possesses a functional Type 4 Secretion System that secretes a moderate amount of effector proteins relative to WT. Considering the vast array of functions accomplished by the effectors secreted, the moderate effector secretion by the mutant could influence the endocytic pathway fusion processes as well as CCV development. Collectively, this body of work suggests that the lack of sterol reductase CBU1206 in Coxiella results in defective heterotypic fusion events of the CCV membrane that could alter pathogenesis and CCV expansion

A Survey of the Opinions of Selected Secondary School Teachers Concerning In-Service Training in Educational Media (Louisiana).

The study sought the opinions of secondary school teachers toward in-service education in educational media in regard to (1) sex of the teacher; (2) educational degree; (3) years of teaching experience; (4) grade levels taught; (5) major teaching area; (6) undergraduate media preparation; (7) graduate media preparation; and (8) participation of teacher in previous media workshops and programs. Fifty secondary schools from sixteen parishes in Louisiana were randomly selected to participate in the study. A closed questionnaire of sixty-seven items was used, and three hundred fifty-one teachers from thirty-six schools completed the answer sheets. Teachers responded to each statement of the survey instrument according to a Likert-type scale. Data was processed at the Louisiana State University Computer Center, using chi-square statistical analysis to test each null hypothesis at the 0.05 level of significance. The study fails to reject any of the eight null hypotheses, because not enough significant differences were shown in the responses of the teachers in each category. The following conclusions can summarize the opinions of the secondary school teachers toward in-service training in educational media: (1) In-service education programs should be planned and administered by teachers to meet the actual needs and professional desires of participating teachers. (2) There are enough well-trained teachers in the parish to help with media in-service education. (3) Most teachers agree that they can be more effective in their instruction if they know more about proper utilization of educational media. (4) Most in-service programs in media have been beneficial to teachers and schools. (5) Most teachers will attend media in-service programs. (6) A majority of teachers feel they need training in production of materials such as transparencies and slide-tape programs. (7) There is little need for training in operation of most classroom projectors. (8) At least one state-required day should be devoted to in-service activities in media utilization. (9) A qualified person is needed to coordinate media programs in individual schools. (10) Teachers are aware of most media equipment and materials in their schools and parishes

Effect of Addiction to Computer Games on Physical and Mental Health of Female and Male Students of Guidance School in City of Isfahan

Abstract Background: This study aimed to investigate the effects of addiction to computer games on physical and mental health of students. Methods: The study population includes all students in the second year of public guidance schools in the city of Isfahan in the educational year of 2009-2010. The sample size includes 564 students selected by multiple steps stratified sampling.  Dependent variables include general health in dimensions of physical health, anxiety and sleeplessness and impaired social functioning. Data were collected using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) scale and a questionnaire on addiction to computer games. Pearson's correlation coefficient and structural model were used for data analysis. Findings: There was a significant positive correlation between students' computer games addiction and their physical and mental health in dimensions of physical health, anxiety and sleeplessness There was a significant negative relationship between addictions to computer games and impaired social functioning. Conclusion: The results of this study are in agreement with the findings of other studies around the world. As the results show, addiction to computer games affects various dimensions of health and increases physical problems, anxiety and depression, while decreases social functioning disorder. Keywords: Addiction to computer games, Physical and mental health, Students of guidance school

Controlled Drug Delivery Systems by functionalized silica-based nanoparticles.

Abstract Introduction: : Mesoporous silica are solid materials that show the potential for a variety of controlled drug delivery applications because of some unique properties including porous, high surface area(900M2/g), pore volumes(0.9CM3/g), regular pore size with uniform distribution (2-10nm), chemical and thermal stability and biocompatibility and biodegradation. In this case, MCM-41 has the ability of loading more drug because pf larger pores. This amount of drug has increased by functionalizing the surface despite of decreasing the surface area. Methods and Results: The Methods section should provide enough information to in this study after providing MCM-41 and functionalizing it with amino propyl,the procedure of soaking and eliminating (evaporating) the solvent were used for loading drug. For insuring of the loading drug and determination of loading ratio we used infrared spectroscopy (indirect) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) and BET way.Finally, the studies about drug release from system have been done in an environment simulated gastric and intestine fluid PH. In this article, Diclofenac sodium and Piroxicam as the sample and MCM-41 and functionalized MCM-41 as the carrier were used. Conclusions: the drugs were released faster than the formulation that were produced from the eliminating procedure because drugs were more on surface. In this study, the effect of functionalizing the surface on drug release was not significant

Design and analysis of porous functionally graded femoral prostheses with improved stress shielding

One of the most important problems of total hip replacement is aseptic loosening of the femoral component, which is related to the changes of the stress distribution pattern after implantation of the prosthesis. Stress shielding of the femur is recognized as a primary factor in aseptic loosening of hip replacements. Utilizing different materials is one of the ordinary solutions for that problem, but using functionally graded materials (FGMs) could be better than the conventional solutions. This research work aims at investigating different porous FGM implants and a real femoral bone by a 3D finite element method. The results show that a neutral functionally graded prosthesis cannot extraordinarily make changes in the stress pattern of bone and prosthesis, but an increasing functionally graded prosthesis leads a lower level of stress in the prosthesis, and a decreasing functionally graded prosthesis can properly reduce the stress shielding among these three architectures. Due to the absence of similar results in the specialized literature, this paper is likely to fill a gap in the state-of-the-art bio-implants, and provide pertinent results that are instrumental in the design of porous femoral prostheses under normal walking loading conditions