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I used to know nothing about cars. When I first started driving, I couldn't tell you how to check for air in the tires, how to change the oil or [...]

Restoration is a key component of global and national efforts to combat ecosystem degradation, reduce biodiversity loss, and adapt to climate change, and there is currently an impetus to scale up restoration efforts. However, our ability to track progress toward restoration targets is limited by the lack of consistent and standardized data on objectives, interventions, and outcomes. To address this, a collaboration of conservation practitioners and scientists from around the world have developed the Mangrove Restoration Tracker Tool (MRTT), an application to record and track outcomes from mangrove restoration projects. The MRTT records information across the lifetime of a project, capturing data describing the site background and pre-restoration baseline and the restoration interventions and costs, as well as post-restoration monitoring that incorporates both socioeconomic and ecological factors. The MRTT allows decision makers, practitioners, and site managers to access information that is essential in making informed, evidence-based decisions on restoration interventions to maximize impact and success.

Biodiversity is rising rapidly on the global agenda, prompting businesses to adopt the “nature-positive” framing, expressing a commitment to combat biodiversity loss and contribute to global nature recovery goals. However, realizing these ambitions requires transformative changes in business operations, which will be challenging given the uncertainties surrounding possible strategies and pathways. A research-driven approach for business action on biodiversity is vital to prevent unintended environmental and social consequences, but there is currently no coordinated research effort on this topic. Here, we present our vision of a conceptual framework for nature positive extending beyond individual business actions, encompassing processes that influence business involvement, a spectrum of sectoral strategies, and the need for impact measurement at various scales. We utilize this framework to propose high-priority research questions where we believe collaboration between researchers, consultants, and sustainability practitioners is needed to guide effective, feasible, and equitable action to protect and restore nature.

INTRODUCTION Much has changed since the American Bar Association Statement of Policy Regarding Lawyers' Responses to Auditors' Requests for Information (the "ABA Statement") (1) and the related American Institute of [...], This article summarizes key developments in the preparation of audit response letters concerning loss contingencies since the American Bar Association Statement of Policy Regarding Lawyers' Responses to Auditors' Requests for Information was published in 1976. These developments illustrate both the utility of the framework set forth in the ABA Statement and the responsiveness of the American Bar Association through the Business Law Section Audit Responses Committee (and predecessor committees) to issues arising under the ABA Statement and changes in accounting and auditing standards and practice. The ABA Statement, throughout its use, has served two important objectives: (i) to facilitate effective auditing as the underpinning for public confidence in financial reporting, and (ii) to preserve client confidences as mandated by attorney ethics rules and to protect attorney-client privilege, each of which is a critical component of our legal system. With these objectives in mind, the article highlights some challenges that the legal and accounting professions have navigated over the past forty-plus years, offering perspectives on the current framework that should serve as a resource to the legal and accounting professions going forward.

And we are here as on a darkling plain.. swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight...where ignorant armies clash by night. Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach Reverence: the spiritual attitude [...]

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved new rules and standards proposed by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to modernize auditing practices and strengthen enforcement. These include amendments to Rule 3502 on contributory liability, a new Auditing Standard (AS) 1000 on general auditor responsibilities, amendments on technology-assisted data analysis, and a new Quality Control (QC) standard. The approval of these measures aims to enhance the quality and integrity of auditing practices in the public accounting sector. [Extracted from the article]

The initiation of a significant government investigation can present difficult disclosure questions for a company and its disclosure counsel. Among other considerations, the company must evaluate whether the investigation is [...]

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) regularly engages in conversations with audit committee chairs to improve audit quality. In June, the PCAOB released a report summarizing its discussions with over 200 audit committee chairs in 2023. The report highlights topics such as the current economic and audit workforce environments, significant discussions with auditors, and monitoring quality control systems and independence. Overall, audit committee chairs expressed satisfaction with their auditors' ability to address risk factors and communicate effectively. The report does not reveal any major new revelations but provides valuable insights for audit committees to consider. [Extracted from the article]

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has adopted new standards for auditor responsibilities and quality control. The new auditing standard, AS 1000, aims to modernize and clarify the general principles and responsibilities of auditors. It also clarifies the auditor's responsibility to evaluate whether financial statements are "presented fairly" and accelerates the completion date for audit documentation. The PCAOB has also adopted a new quality control standard, QC 1000, which mandates quality objectives and key processes for all firms' quality control systems. These standards are subject to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approval and will become effective for audits of fiscal years ending after December 15, 2024, and December 15, 2025, respectively. [Extracted from the article]

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has proposed two new regulations that would increase transparency and reporting requirements for registered public accounting firms. The first proposal would require firms to disclose standardized information about their audits and practices, providing investors and audit committees with consistent and actionable data. The second proposal would expand the information required to be reported by firms, including audit fees, governance information, and reporting on cybersecurity risk. These proposals aim to strengthen PCAOB oversight and provide stakeholders with more comprehensive information. [Extracted from the article]

The article focuses on the opportunities for advancing the U.S. Catholic Church's teachings on the sanctity of life in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe versus Wade in June 2022. Topics discussed include the cultural acceptance of abortion, the growing awareness of the biological reality of life beginning at conception, and the need to draw on Catholic teachings to provide a deeper vision of human dignity and the right to life.

In a statement issued by SEC Chief Accountant Paul Munter, the importance of high-quality external audits of financial statements for investor protection is emphasized. Munter discusses the roles of independent auditors and audit committees, highlighting the need for auditors to exercise professional skepticism and impartial judgment. He also addresses the importance of auditors considering the interests of investors over management and emphasizes the role of audit committees as critical gatekeepers for investor protection. Munter provides recommendations for audit committees to support auditor independence and facilitate the exercise of professional skepticism. [Extracted from the article]

Eichmann failed this test because he was essentially self-alienated from his own legislative moral agency. He himself described his distorted understanding of Kant as Kant for the 'household use of [...]

If the auditor determines that any likely noncompliance has a material effect on the financial statements, the auditor must determine whether the senior management has taken timely and appropriate remedial action. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has proposed a new auditing standard prescribing procedures for auditors to identify potential noncompliance with laws and regulations (sometimes referred to by the awkward acronym "NOCLAR"), including fraud, and to evaluate the impact of any such noncompliance on an issuer's financial statements. [Extracted from the article]

@CWISociety trainees reviewed rib fracture fixation guidelines from 30 centers in 3 countries. The authors found large variability and suboptimal inclusion of contemporary evidence within institutional guidelines.

The article from Business Law Today discusses a recent statement by SEC Chief Accountant Paul Munter regarding the scope of corporate risk assessment processes. Munter expresses concern that management and auditors often focus too narrowly on risks that directly impact financial reporting, while disregarding broader entity-level issues that may also impact financial reporting and internal controls. He emphasizes the need for comprehensive risk assessment processes that consider issuers' objectives, strategies, and related business risks. The article also discusses auditors' responsibilities in identifying risks and evaluating control deficiencies. It concludes by reviewing management's reporting obligations and suggesting potential additions to the auditor's report. [Extracted from the article]

Cellular senescence is a plausible mediator of age-associated declines in physical performance. To test this premise, we examined cross-sectional associations between circulating components of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) and measures of physical function and muscle strength in 1377 older adults. We showed significant associations between multiple SASP proteins and the short physical performance battery (SPPB), its subcomponents (gait speed, balance, chair rise time), and 400-m walk time. Activin A, ICAM1, MMP7, VEGFA, and eotaxin showed strong associations based on gradient boost machine learning (GBM), and, when combined with other proteins, effectively identified participants at the greatest risk for mobility disability (SPPB score ≤7). Senescence biomarkers were also associated with lower grip strength, and GBM identified PARC, ADAMTS13, and RANTES as top candidates in females, and MMP2, SOST, and MCP1 in males. These findings highlight an association between senescence biomarkers and physical performance in older adults. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01072500.

Notes toward a theology of disbelief This essay is written in the spirit of re-imagining the relationship of secularism and atheism to religion and God, but does not dismiss the [...]

Metabolic syndrome is a growing health problem worldwide. It is therefore imperative to develop new strategies to treat this pathology. In the past years, the manipulation of [NAD.sup.+] metabolism has emerged as a plausible strategy to ameliorate metabolic syndrome. In particular, an increase in cellular [NAD.sup.+] levels has beneficial effects, likely because of the activation of sirtuins. Previously, we reported that CD38 is the primary [NAD.sup.+]ase in mammals. Moreover, CD38 knockout mice have higher [NAD.sup.+] levels and are protected against obesity and metabolic syndrome. Here, we show that CD38 regulates global protein acetylation through changes in [NAD.sup.+] levels and sirtuin activity. In addition, we characterize two CD38 inhibitors: quercetin and apigenin. We show that pharmacological inhibition of CD38 results in higher intracellular [NAD.sup.+] levels and that treatment of cell cultures with apigenin decreases global acetylation as well as the acetylation of p53 and RelA-p65. Finally, apigenin administration to obese mice increases [NAD.sup.+] levels, decreases global protein acetylation, and improves several aspects of glucose and lipid homeostasis. Our results show that CD38 is a novel pharmacological target to treat metabolic diseases via [NAD.sup.+]-dependent pathways., Obesity is a disease that has reached epidemic proportions in developed and developing countries (1-3). In the U.S., >60% of the population is overweight (1,3,4). Obesity is a feature of [...]

After they start school, low-income children lose ground to middle-income kids in reading. Some hypothesize that this growing gap in reading achievement is due, in large part, to different rates [...]

Society has been searching for a Fountain of Youth for millennia with the hope that both longevity and vitality could be extended beyond current experience. Around the world we have [...]

ABSTRACT Advanced practice clinicians (APCs) are increasingly being utilized to care for patients on trauma services, but the quality of care provided by these alternate delivery models has been questioned. [...]

Germline DDX41 variants are the most common mutations predisposing to acute myeloid leukemia (AML)/myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in adults, but the causal variant (CV) landscape and clinical spectrum of hematologic malignancies (HMs) remain unexplored. Here, we analyzed the genomic profiles of 176 patients with HM carrying 82 distinct presumably germline DDX41 variants among a group of 9821 unrelated patients. Using our proposed DDX41-specific variant classification, we identified features distinguishing 116 patients with HM with CV from 60 patients with HM with variant of uncertain significance (VUS): an older age (median 69 years), male predominance (74% in CV vs 60% in VUS, P = .03), frequent concurrent somatic DDX41 variants (79% in CV vs 5% in VUS, P < .0001), a lower somatic mutation burden (1.4 ± 0.1 in CV vs 2.9 ± 0.04 in VUS, P = .012), near exclusion of canonical recurrent genetic abnormalities including mutations in NPM1, CEBPA, and FLT3 in AML, and favorable overall survival (OS) in patients with AML/MDS. This superior OS was determined independent of blast count, abnormal karyotypes, and concurrent variants, including TP53 in patients with AML/MDS, regardless of patient’s sex, age, or specific germline CV, suggesting that germline DDX41 variants define a distinct clinical entity. Furthermore, unrelated patients with myeloproliferative neoplasm and B-cell lymphoma were linked by DDX41 CV, thus expanding the known disease spectrum. This study outlines the CV landscape, expands the phenotypic spectrum in unrelated DDX41-mutated patients, and underscores the urgent need for gene-specific diagnostic and clinical management guidelines.

This article considers innovations in the assessment and treatment of incarcerated individuals. The emphasis is on immediate patient needs and inmate management concerns, rather than on rehabilitation. Assessment of this diagnostically complex population is framed in dimensional and biopsychosocial terms. Scarce resources, new scientific knowledge and technology, organizational bartiers, and role transformations for psychologists will guide improvements and future research in correctional mental health care, as reflected in specific areas: dimensional assessment, suicide risk assessment, neuropsychological correlates of chronic maladaptive behavior, prescriptive authority for psychologists, and telehealth. In particular, outcome research based on a broader range of interventions will be increasingly crucial to the effectiveness of correctional psychologists' work. In the near future, the degree of impact that psychologists have will depend largely on their individual and collective initiative in promoting the benefits of their services. Keywords: offender assessment; suicide risk assessment; neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; telehealth

Corporate whistleblowers continue to attract significant attention in the media. An important part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Act) is dedicated to protecting corporate whistleblowers from retaliation. Yet, based [...]

To optimize operations, diesel fuel equipment operators need to become familiar with biodiesel fuel quality, and the effect that various quality parameters have on diesel performance. The American Society of [...]

Successful treatments for intractable chronic low back pain (CLBP) in patients who are not eligible for surgical interventions are scarce. The superior efficacy of differential target multiplexed spinal cord stimulation (DTM SCS) to conventional SCS (Conv-SCS) on the treatment of CLBP in patients with persistent spinal pain syndrome (PSPS) who have failed surgical interventions (PSPS-T2) motivated the evaluation of DTM SCS versus Conv-SCS on PSPS patients who are non-surgical candidates (PSPS-T1).

US private-sector retirement plans are voluntary in nature. There is no legal requirement that employers adopt or contribute to retirement plans in addition to the social security system. However, once [...]

The US Army in 2000 developed a reorganization plan called People, Readiness, and Transformation. The goal is to pursue advanced technologies that will provide a strategically responsive and dominant land combat force.

The Army will meet the challenges that lie ahead. It must help win the war on terrorism, continue its transformation in order to meet future challenges, and obtain the needed resources.

The problem of tax shifting in a divorce scenario can be solved by treating cash payments, as taxable alimony for the receiver, and deductible payments for the payer. The tax planning objectives aim at a more cost effective future, thus reaching taxable and non-taxable objectives.

The Secretary of the Army describes the need to accelerate the 1999 Army Transformation program in the wake of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, emphasizing readiness, technological transformation, bureaucracy reduction, and systems procurement reform.

Owing to rapid development in their efficiency1and stability2, perovskite solar cells are at the forefront of emerging photovoltaic technologies. State-of-the-art cells exhibit voltage losses3–8approaching the theoretical minimum and near-unity internal quantum efficiency9–13, but conversion efficiencies are limited by the fill factor (<83%, below the Shockley–Queisser limit of approximately 90%). This limitation results from non-ideal charge transport between the perovskite absorber and the cell’s electrodes5,8,13–16. Reducing the electrical series resistance of charge transport layers is therefore crucial for improving efficiency. Here we introduce a reverse-doping process to fabricate nitrogen-doped titanium oxide electron transport layers with outstanding charge transport performance. By incorporating this charge transport material into perovskite solar cells, we demonstrate 1-cm2cells with fill factors of >86%, and an average fill factor of 85.3%. We also report a certified steady-state efficiency of 22.6% for a 1-cm2cell (23.33% ± 0.58% from a reverse current–voltage scan).

Like the Board's draft strategic plan released in August (see our note on the draft plan), the final Strategic Plan articulates four overarching goals: 1 Modernize Standards, 2 Enhance Inspections, 3 Strengthen Enforcement, and 4 Improve Organizational Effectiveness. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board finalized its Strategic Plan for the five years 2022-26 on November 18. [Extracted from the article]

"Auditors should continually reassess fraud risks throughout the audit, including when evaluating the audit results and determining whether they themselves have obtained sufficient appropriate audit evidence." These include areas of concern regarding fraud identified in Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspections as well as recent SEC enforcement cases involving improper professional conduct by auditors with respect to fraud risks. [Extracted from the article]

There is emerging evidence for abnormal beta oscillations in psychosis. Beta oscillations are likely to play a key role in the coordination of sensorimotor information that is crucial to healthy mental function. Growing evidence suggests that beta oscillations typically manifest as transient beta bursts that increase in probability following a motor response, observable as post-movement beta rebound. Evidence indicates that post-movement beta rebound is attenuated in psychosis, with greater attenuation associated with greater symptom severity and impairment. Delineating the functional role of beta bursts therefore may be key to understanding the mechanisms underlying persistent psychotic illness.