RESUMOste trabalho tem como objetivo refletir sobre o paradoxo da estabilidade dos sistemas de contabilidade gerencial, ou seja, sobre as razões pelas quais as organizações, na prática, utilizam muito pouco a base conceitual disponível na teoria. A base conceitual da teoria da contabilidade gerencial é fundamentada na teoria neoclássica da firma, cujos pressupostos básicos são: (i) a maximização racional dos agentes econô-micos e (ii) o equilíbrio geral proporcionado pelas forças de mercado. O estudo de caráter teórico apresenta críticas à teoria neoclássica e demonstra que, segundo a abordagem da denominada velha economia institucional (OIE -old institutional economics), a contabilidade gerencial praticada pelas empresas é uma instituição formada a partir de hábitos e rotinas que dão sentido aos relacionamentos dos grupos da organização. O estudo indica que as organizações não utilizam em larga escala as novas abordagens de contabilidade gerencial porque os processos de institucionalização dos novos conceitos efetivamente não ocorreram. ABSTRACThis study aims to carry out reflections towards explaining the paradox of management accounting stability, or, why the implementation level of new accounting techniques and concepts in companies is below the expected. Management accounting theory is strongly oriented by the neoclassical theory of the firm, but neoclassical economics was developed by economists to predict behavior at the industry and market levels. It was not intended as an explanation of the behavior of managers within firms. This paper criticizes neoclassical theory and argues that according the OIE -old institutional economics, management accounting can be seen as institution formed through habits and routines of a social group. The institutional approach enables organizations to reproduce and legitimate behaviors and to achieve organizational cohesion. This work indicates that firms do not implement new concepts from management accounting because these were not institutionalized.

BackgroundHead and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most common malignancies in humans. The average 5-year survival rate is one of the lowest among aggressive cancers, showing no significant improvement in recent years. When detected early, HNSCC has a good prognosis, but most patients present metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis, which significantly reduces survival rate. Despite extensive research, no molecular markers are currently available for diagnostic or prognostic purposes.MethodsAiming to identify differentially-expressed genes involved in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) development and progression, we generated individual Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE) libraries from a metastatic and non-metastatic larynx carcinoma, as well as from a normal larynx mucosa sample. Approximately 54,000 unique tags were sequenced in three libraries.ResultsStatistical data analysis identified a subset of 1,216 differentially expressed tags between tumor and normal libraries, and 894 differentially expressed tags between metastatic and non-metastatic carcinomas. Three genes displaying differential regulation, one down-regulated (KRT31) and two up-regulated (BST2, MFAP2), as well as one with a non-significant differential expression pattern (GNA15) in our SAGE data were selected for real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in a set of HNSCC samples. Consistent with our statistical analysis, quantitative PCR confirmed the upregulation of BST2 and MFAP2 and the downregulation of KRT31 when samples of HNSCC were compared to tumor-free surgical margins. As expected, GNA15 presented a non-significant differential expression pattern when tumor samples were compared to normal tissues.ConclusionTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting SAGE data in head and neck squamous cell tumors. Statistical analysis was effective in identifying differentially expressed genes reportedly involved in cancer development. The differential expression of a subset of genes was confirmed in additional larynx carcinoma samples and in carcinomas from a distinct head and neck subsite. This result suggests the existence of potential common biomarkers for prognosis and targeted-therapy development in this heterogeneous type of tumor.

Purpose -The objective of this case study is to evaluate the change process, under the old institutional economics (OIE) approach, that had occurred within the management-accounting system of Brazilian bank. The present study examines the efficacy of the change process in management accounting, from the perspective of system users, seven years after its beginning. Design/methodology/approach -The research is based on a case study. The study presents a literature review of institutional theory and a case study of Banco do Brasil -a large Brazilian bank that has implemented profound changes in its management-accounting system. Findings -The results indicate that new concepts have been effectively institutionalised and converted into new values, habits, and routines inside the organisation. The study provides new insights into management-accounting change.Research limitations/implications -A single case study does not allow the results to be generalised to other organisations. Originality/value -The study offers a conceptual structure and operational guidelines to evaluate institutionalisation of management-accounting change processes. The main contribution of this study is to offer new operational insights on management-accounting institutionalisation using the conceptual framework proposed by Burns and Scapens.

OBJECTIVE:This paper aims to describe and discuss a minimization procedure specifically designed for a clinical trial that evaluates treatment efficacy for OCD patients.METHOD:Aitchison’s compositional distance was used to calculate vectors for each possibility of allocation in a covariate adaptive method. Two different procedures were designed to allocate patients in small blocks or sequentially one-by-one.RESULTS:We present partial results of this allocation procedure as well as simulated data. In the clinical trial for which this procedure was developed, successful balancing between treatment arms was achieved. Separately, in an exploratory analysis, we found that if the arrival order of patients was altered, most patients were allocated to a different treatment arm than their original assignment.CONCLUSION:Our results show that the random arrival order of patients determine different assignments and therefore maintains the unpredictability of the allocation method. We conclude that our proposed procedure allows for the use of a large number of prognostic factors in a given allocation decision. Our method seems adequate for the design of the psychiatric trials used as models. Trial registrations are available at clinicaltrials.gov NCT00466609 and NCT00680602.

Background: The search for enriched (aka over-represented or enhanced) ontology terms in a list of genes obtained from microarray experiments is becoming a standard procedure for a systemlevel analysis. This procedure tries to summarize the information focussing on classification designs such as Gene Ontology, KEGG pathways, and so on, instead of focussing on individual genes. Although it is well known in statistics that association and significance are distinct concepts, only the former approach has been used to deal with the ontology term enrichment problem.

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Novos sistemas de contabilidade gerencial introduzidos nas organizações, normalmente orientados pelo objetivo de maximização do lucro, na maioria das vezes, incorporam valores e conceitos que são muito diferentes daqueles utilizados anterior mente. O objetivo do presente estudo é testar a aplicabilidade do modelo de Burns e Scapens (2000) para avaliar o processo de institucionalização da contabilidade gerencial. A metodologia de pesquisa se desenvolveu por meio da aplicação de um estudo de caso, analisando a implantação de contabilidade gerencial em uma organização bancária brasileira. Os resultados da aplicação do modelo de Burns e Scapens (2000) indicam que o mesmo pode ser utilizado como uma referência conceitual para avaliação de processos de mudanças de sistemas de contabilidade gerencial.

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is often a life-long disorder with high psychosocial impairment. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) are the only FDA approved drugs, and approximately 50% of patients are non-responders when using a criterion of 25% to 35% improvement with the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). About 30% are non-responders to combined first-line therapies (SRIs and exposure and response prevention). Previous research (one open, one randomized clinical trial) has demonstrated that Kundalini Yoga (KY) meditation can lead to an improvement in symptoms of obsessive-compulsive severity. We expand here with a larger trial.Design: This trial compared two parallel run groups [KY vs. Relaxation Response meditation (RR)]. Patients were randomly allocated based on gender and Y-BOCS scores. They were told two different (unnamed) types of meditation would be compared, and informed if one showed greater benefits, the groups would merge for 12 months using the more effective intervention. Raters were blind in Phase One (0–4.5 months) to patient assignments, but not in Phase Two.Main Outcome Measures: Primary outcome variable, clinician-administered Y-BOCS. Secondary scales: Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (clinician-administered), Profile of Mood Scales, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Clinical Global Impression, Short Form 36 Health Survey.Results: Phase One: Baseline Y-BOCS scores: KY mean = 26.46 (SD 5.124; N = 24), RR mean = 26.79 (SD = 4.578; N = 24). An intent-to-treat analysis with the last observation carried forward for dropouts showed statistically greater improvement with KY compared to RR on the Y-BOCS, and statistically greater improvement on five of six secondary measures. For completers, the Y-BOCS showed 40.4% improvement for KY (N = 16), 17.9% for RR (N = 11); 31.3% in KY were judged to be in remission compared to 9.1% in RR. KY completers showed greater improvement on five of six secondary measures. At the end of Phase Two (12 months), patients, drawn from the initial groups, who elected to receive KY continued to show improvement in their Y-BOCS scores.Conclusion: KY shows promise as an add-on option for OCD patients unresponsive to first line therapies. Future studies will establish KY’s relative efficacy compared to Exposure and Response Prevention and/or medications, and the most effective treatment schedule.Clinical Trial Registration: , identifier NCT01833442.