Italian tax incentives for film industry: the impact on the domestic sector and on the State

The national approach to public funding of the film industry has been subject to a shift in recent years, at an international level, moving from a grant and subsidy scheme towards more automatic form of supports, including tax incentives. The paper aims at analysing the impact of the new tax credit measures for the Italian film industry, introduced in 2008, within the framework of the 2007 financial law, and in force since the third quarter of 2009. The impact is evaluated on both the domestic film production companies and on the State accounts level. The measure of tax credit for film with cultural requirements provides the film production company with the possibility of offsetting its tax debt (national and regional income tax, VAT, social contribution and costs) during the production, within a cap of 15% of total eligible costs. Starting from the data collected and processed by the Ministry of Culture since the beginning of the implementation phase, the paper aims at demonstrating the positive balance for the State determined by the increase of private investments on film with cultural requirements and, consequently, of the induced direct and indirect tax return. A brief description of the measure will be followed by a comparison of the incremental value produced by the film sector throughout the year following the enforcement of the tax credit measures.The national approach to public funding of the film industry has been subject to a shift in recent years, at an international level, moving from a grant and subsidy scheme towards more automatic form of supports, including tax incentives. The paper aims at analysing the impact of the new tax credit measures for the Italian film industry, introduced in 2008, within the framework of the 2007 financial law, and in force since the third quarter of 2009. The impact is evaluated on both the domestic film production companies and on the State accounts level. The measure of tax credit for film with cultural requirements provides the film production company with the possibility of offsetting its tax debt (national and regional income tax, VAT, social contribution and costs) during the production, within a cap of 15% of total eligible costs. Starting from the data collected and processed by the Ministry of Culture since the beginning of the implementation phase, the paper aims at demonstrating the positive balance for the State determined by the increase of private investments on film with cultural requirements and, consequently, of the induced direct and indirect tax return. A brief description of the measure will be followed by a comparison of the incremental value produced by the film sector throughout the year following the enforcement of the tax credit measures.Invited Submission

Team-based discussion on preoperative evaluation and decision-making about surgery

In vain have you acquired knowledge if you have not imparted it to others. Deuteronomy Rabbah Introduction Elderly patients will encounter different professionals, each with a different focus, prior to surgery. This will usually be a surgeon, an anesthesiologist and a nurse Depending on comorbidities and availability, a geriatrician and other medical specialists will also be involved in preoperative screening. A multidisciplinary approach may prove important in defining the optimal treatment strategy for the individual patient, especially in complex elderly patients and/or patients undergoing major surgery. However, in a multidisciplinary team, a clear division of tasks and responsibilities can prove challenging, as required (diagnostic) information may overlap between different specialisms. More importantly, involving several medical specialists may lead to situations where conflicts of professional opinions and interests hamper a unified approach. Multidisciplinary team meetings aiming to share and understand these views provide the opportunity to learn what information is valuable and can prove useful to come to novel insights regarding the patient’s best treatment. Moreover, from this discussion, a clear identification of team goals and common responsibilities may arise, increasing cohesion among team members, contributing to build a shared interprofessional culture and ultimately improving patients’ outcomes. This chapter provides a conceptual model for understanding the importance of a stepwise multidisciplinary approach towards preoperative assessment and multidisciplinary decision-making, as has been detailed in Chapters 2-8. With the aim of demonstrating the value of this approach, two cases are presented where the effort of compiling potentially different or mildly conflicting views has led to a better understanding of the patient and a more tailored treatment strategy. Areas in which sharing information among team members is critical to ensure optimal perioperative management and risk reduction are examined. Cases Patient A Mrs A, a 69-year old woman with a history of hypertension, epilepsy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was referred for a radical re-resection after an incidental finding of gallbladder cancer at cholecystectomy. When escorting her from the waiting room for her surgical consult, the surgeon noticed dyspnea and a slight wheezing. Mrs A complained of fatigue, shortness of breath and had recently had a generalized seizure. On examination, her blood pressure was 230/140 mmHg. The surgeon doubted whether Mrs A was fit enough to undergo extensive surgery

“TI DONO SATYRION”. Percorsi di archeologia tra Taranto, Saturo e la Magna Grecia in ricordo di Enzo Lippolis

Il volume raccogliere i contributi di amici, colleghi e allievi uniti dal comune ricordo per Enzo Lippolis e dall’interesse scientifico nei confronti dell’archeologia di Taranto e del suo territorio, a partire dal sito di Saturo, che per un decennio è stato luogo di scavo e ricerca per Lippolis e anche occasione d’incontro per i curatori del volume

The tick saliva immunosuppressor, Salp15, contributes to Th17-induced pathology during Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

Salp15 is a tick saliva protein that inhibits CD4(+) T cell differentiation through its interaction with CD4. The protein inhibits early signaling events during T cell activation and IL-2 production. Because murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis development is mediated by central nervous system-infiltrating CD4(+) T cells that are specific for myelin-associated proteins, we sought to determine whether the treatment of mice with Salp15 during EAE induction would prevent the generation of proinflammatory T cell responses and the development of the disease. Surprisingly, Salp15-treated mice developed more severe EAE than control animals. The treatment of EAE-induced mice with the tick saliva protein did not result in increased infiltration of T cells to the central nervous system, indicating that Salp15 had not affected the permeability of the blood-brain barrier. Salp15 treatment did not affect the development of antibody responses against the eliciting peptide or the presence of IFNγ in the sera. The treatment with Salp15 resulted, however, in the increased differentiation of Th17 cells in vivo, as evidenced by higher IL-17 production from PLP(139-151)-specific CD4+ T cells isolated from the central nervous system and the periphery. In vitro, Salp15 was able to induce the differentiation of Th17 cells in the presence of IL-6 and the absence of TGFβ These results suggest that a conductive milieu for the differentiation of Th17 cells can be achieved by restriction of the production of IL-2 during T cell differentiation, a role that may be performed by TGFβ and other immunosuppressive agents