Fusobacterium nucleatum: A Rare Presentation of Hepatic Abscesses

Fusobacterium nucleatum is a facultative anaerobic gram-negative bacillus found in the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract, and genitourinary tract. Fusobacterium nucleatum is a rare cause of hepatic abscesses and empyema. We describe a case of Fusobacterium liver abscess and empyema, resulting in extensive thrombophlebitis in intraabdominal and extremity veins. A 78-year-old female with past medical history significant for bicytopenia and tooth repair 8 months prior presented with mild diarrhea and fatigue. She was febrile, tachycardic, and tachypneic. On physical exam, she had mild epigastric tenderness and bilateral lower extremity pitting edema. Labs were notable for an AKI and elevated LFTs. Imaging revealed multiple \u3e10cm hepatic abscesses, a small right pleural effusion, a segmental pulmonary embolism, along with extensive intraabdominal and extremity DVTs. Vascular surgery did not recommend intervention. She underwent IR drainage of three abscesses as well as chest tube drainage of pleural effusion. Blood, abscesses, and pleural effusion culture grew Fusobacterium nucleatum. Plural effusion also grew Lactobacillus rhamnosus. She received metronidazole and was eventually switched to ampicillin/sulbactam. Source and malignancy work up were negative. The source of Fusobacterium nucleatum hepatic abscesses in descending order of frequency is periodontal flora, cryptogenic, and gastrointestinal tract. Given her diarrhea, the source may have been translocation from her gastrointestinal tract, however, it could also be periodontal due to her recent tooth repair. Treatment includes source control and antibiotics, ranging from 2 weeks to 6 months. This case illustrates the rare disease process of Fusobacterium hepatic abscess formation and the bacteria’s thrombogenic characteristics.https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/merf2020caserpt/1044/thumbnail.jp

Tackling Empty Voting in the EU: The Shareholders’ Rights Directive and the Revised Transparency Directive

The rise of the capital market creates new, less noticeable forms of holdings of shares. These holdings could be acquired with the aim of influencing a company’s decision-making process without the intention to hold shares for the long term. One of the forms is new vote buying which can appear either as empty voting or as hidden ownership. Empty voting refers to voting by a shareholder without the corresponding financial interest in the company involved. The reverse situation is hidden ownership whereby a party is not the shareholder but is entitled to exercise influence and eventually vote as if he/she were a shareholder. If a shareholder has an ownership interest in the company in which he/she votes, his/her voting would be aligned with the interests of the company. If a shareholder votes for a decision contrary to the company’s interest, it would affect his/her own economic interests because the shares could have been sold even before the shareholder’s meeting occurred. There are many techniques that lead to empty voting. Those most commonly used are: borrowing shares, using equity swaps or buying shares on a date close to the record date and then selling them again right after the record date has elapsed. As a result, a person casting their vote at the general meeting might not be the ‘actual’ shareholder. The admissibility of these votes and their effects have been discussed in well-known judicial cases. Having noticed a rise of abusive situations created by using empty voting techniques at the EU level, the revised Transparency Directive set out to deal with these issues. It entered into force on 26 November 2013 with the deadline for implementation set at 26 November 2015. However, since the Transparency Directive is a minimum harmonisation Directive, Member States have substantial liberty in its implementation which might lead to a divergent level of investor protection. Further, since the development of capital markets leads to the appearance of new forms of derivatives and other financial instruments which could create an ‘empty voting’ effect, EU Member States would be tempted to set rules that would, as far as possible, embrace all forms of empty voting in a so-called ‘catch all’ provision. This paper aims to examine how national legislators of the EU Member States have dealt with the issue of empty voting in light of the solutions provided in the Shareholders Rights Directive of 2007 and in the revised EU Transparency Directive of 2013

Tackling Empty Voting in the EU: The Shareholders’ Rights Directive and the Revised Transparency Directive

The rise of the capital market creates new, less noticeable forms of holdings of shares. These holdings could be acquired with the aim of influencing a company’s decision-making process without the intention to hold shares for the long term. One of the forms is new vote buying which can appear either as empty voting or as hidden ownership. Empty voting refers to voting by a shareholder without the corresponding financial interest in the company involved. The reverse situation is hidden ownership whereby a party is not the shareholder but is entitled to exercise influence and eventually vote as if he/she were a shareholder. If a shareholder has an ownership interest in the company in which he/she votes, his/her voting would be aligned with the interests of the company. If a shareholder votes for a decision contrary to the company’s interest, it would affect his/her own economic interests because the shares could have been sold even before the shareholder’s meeting occurred. There are many techniques that lead to empty voting. Those most commonly used are: borrowing shares, using equity swaps or buying shares on a date close to the record date and then selling them again right after the record date has elapsed. As a result, a person casting their vote at the general meeting might not be the ‘actual’ shareholder. The admissibility of these votes and their effects have been discussed in well-known judicial cases. Having noticed a rise of abusive situations created by using empty voting techniques at the EU level, the revised Transparency Directive set out to deal with these issues. It entered into force on 26 November 2013 with the deadline for implementation set at 26 November 2015. However, since the Transparency Directive is a minimum harmonisation Directive, Member States have substantial liberty in its implementation which might lead to a divergent level of investor protection. Further, since the development of capital markets leads to the appearance of new forms of derivatives and other financial instruments which could create an ‘empty voting’ effect, EU Member States would be tempted to set rules that would, as far as possible, embrace all forms of empty voting in a so-called ‘catch all’ provision. This paper aims to examine how national legislators of the EU Member States have dealt with the issue of empty voting in light of the solutions provided in the Shareholders Rights Directive of 2007 and in the revised EU Transparency Directive of 2013

Tehno-ekonomska analiza centraliziranog toplinskog sustava baziranog na geotermalnoj energiji

Geotermalna energija je idealna tehnologija za povećanje udjela obnovljivih izvora u proizvodnji električne i toplinske energije. Povijesno je bila ograničena na geološki aktivnija područja, ali se napretkom prvenstveno ORC tehnologije ostvaruje mogućnost primjene na izvorima s relativno niskom temperaturom termalne vode. Korištenje geotermalne energije u svrhu grijanja sve više postaje mogućnost čak i kod izvora s niskim temperaturama. Nove energetski visokoučinkovite zgrade ne zahtijevaju visoke temperature u sustavu grijanja pa se toplinske potrebe mogu zadovoljiti i iz niskotemperaturnih izvora. Ukoliko zgrade nisu niskoenergetske ili je kombinacija zgrada raznih energetskih karakteristika što je i najčešći slučaj, postoji mogućnost korištenja geotermalnih dizalica topline samostalno ili u kombinaciji s nekom drugom tehnologijom. U sklopu ovog rada su razmatrana moguća tehnička rješenja primjene geotermalne energije u svrhu proizvodnje električne i toplinske energije. Razmatrane su dvije lokacije (Rečica i Lanište) i za svaku je izrađeno nekoliko tehničkih rješenja. Prikazuje se proračun CTS-a i njegovih komponenata te geotermalnog binarnog ORC-a. Određivanje toplinskog opterećenja je provedeno stupanj – sat metodom, a radna karakteristika svake komponente sustava je modelirana pripadajućom funkcijom. Kako bi se odredila najbolja kombinacija instaliranih snaga pojedinih komponenata, provedena je tehno – ekonomska analiza. Za slučaj lokacije „Rečica“ su napravljene 4 varijante korištenja izvora: izgradnja binarnog ORC postrojenja i CTS-a u obližnjim naseljima, izgradnja binarnog ORC postrojenja i spoja na CTS grada Karlovca, samo opskrba CTS-a u Karlovcu te izgradnja samo ORC postrojenja. Na lokaciji „Lanište“ je napravljeno također 4 varijanta: izgradnja novog CTS-a i opskrba putem geotermalne dizalice topline, kombinacija geotermalne dizalice topline i kotla s električnim grijačem, kombinacija geotermalne dizalice topline i kotla na prirodni plin, kombinacija geotermalne dizalice topline i kotla na biomasu. Na lokaciji „Rečica“ su svi scenariji s izuzetkom scenarija izgradnje ORC-a i novog CTS-a u naseljima Rečica i Luka Pokupska profitabilni s unutarnjim stopama povrata iznad 20 %. Najprofitabilniji je scenarij izgradnje geotermalnog ORC postrojenja. Scenariji razmatrani na lokaciji Lanište nisu isplativi unutar 15 godina te je potrebno uložiti nepovratna sredstva ili povećati cijenu toplinske energije. Najbolji od projekata na toj lokaciji je kombinacija geotermalne dizalice topline koja radi u baznom opterećenju te kotla na prirodni plin koji pokriva vršna opterećenja

LARGE COMPANIES SAVING PEOPLE AND THE PLANET – REFLECTIONS ON THE PERSONAL SCOPE OF THE APPLICATION OF THE CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY DUE DILIGENCE DIRECTIVE

On 23 February 2022, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Directive on corporate sustainability due diligence (hereinafter: CSDD). It aims to foster sustainable and responsible corporate behavior throughout global value chains. Companies will be required to identify and, where necessary, prevent, end, or mitigate adverse impacts of their activities on human rights (e.g., child labor, exploitation of workers) and on the environment (e.g. pollution and biodiversity loss). The CSDD would apply both to the EU and non-EU companies reaching certain thresholds in terms of the number of employees and amount of net turnover, with minor exemptions when the non-EU companies are concerned. Lower thresholds apply if the EU companies are doing business in the high-risk sectors, while the higher apply if the companies are operating in the non-high-risk sector. To comply with new due diligence rules, companies would be required to check whether their operations are aligned with human rights and environmental law conventions listed in the Annex of the CSDD, as well as the operation of its subsidiaries and all suppliers upstream and downstream in the value chain – with whom they have “established business relationship”. Given the fact that the new set of duties is comprehensive and their non-compliance triggers the company’s liability, the paper aims to compare these boundaries of the personal scope of the CSDD with criteria prescribed in similar national laws of the member states as well as to question defensive tactics of the target companies

An Unusual Case of Urban Actinomyces Pyogenes Infective Endocarditis

Actinomyces pyogenes is a gram positive bacillus known to cause pyogenic infections in animals with rare reports in humans with farm animal exposure. A 52-year-old male who was an active injection drug user presented to the emergency department with right-sided weakness, expressive aphasia, and altered mental status. He was found to be tachycardic and febrile. The patient was admitted two weeks prior for bilateral pneumonia and blood cultures grew Actinomyces pyogenes. Infectious Diseases was not consulted during that admission. On this admission, CT head showed a large left MCA ischemic stroke. Further imaging was concerning for septic emboli to the lungs and kidney. Blood cultures again grew Actinomyces pyogenes. TEE showed severe mitral valve regurgitation with numerous vegetations. Panorex showed multiple dental caries, but otherwise unremarkable. HIV was non-reactive. The patient denied licking his needles before injecting drugs or any animal contacts. Antibiotic management was guided by treatment of other Actinomyces infections. That included gentamicin and ampicillin, and was switched to IV penicillin G for a total duration of 12 weeks, followed by PO amoxicillin twice daily for 3 months. On outpatient follow-up, his focal deficits had improved, his aphasia resolved and he was ambulating. There are only two case reports of A. pyogenes infective endocarditis (IE) in the literature. One includes a patient with no reported animal exposure with multiple embolic complications who eventually succumbed to the infection. It is important for A. pyogenes to be considered in patients with IE, even with no history of typical exposures.https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/merf2020caserpt/1090/thumbnail.jp

Zalaganje pokretnih stvari određenih po rodu prema Zakonu o upisniku sudskih i javnobilježničkih osiguranja tražbina vjerovnika na pokretnim stvarima i pravima

S uvođenjem instituta lebdećeg založnopravnog osiguranja, Zakonom o upisniku omogućilo se zalaganje pokretnih stvari određenih po rodu. Na taj je način, s jedne strane, sankcionirana već postojeća poslovna praksa koja je pokazivala potrebu za takvim oblicima zalaganja, ali je, s druge strane, probijeno načelo stroge određenosti objekta stvarnog (založnog) prava. U odnosu na ranije uređenje, koje je dopuštalo da založni dužnik ostane u posjedu stvari te da te stvari koristi, novo rješenje dozvoljava založnom dužniku otuđenja stvari prema prirodi svoje djelatnosti, uz obvezu nadomještanja novim stvarima, a objekt založnog prava biva posredno individualiziran putem prostora na kojem se te stvari nalaze. Iako ovo rješenje nije apsolutni unicum, jer podsjeća na objekt zakonskog založnog prava najmodavca na stvarima što ih je najmoprimac unio u iznajmljeni prostor, ipak je u novom regulatornom okruženju potrebno ispitati kako ovo rješenje utječe na položaj osiguranog vjerovnika, posebno s obzirom na okolnost da založni dužnik založene stvari nesmetano otuđuje, a da s izlaskom stvari iz određenog prostora založno pravo na tako založenim stvarima prestaje. Položaj založnog vjerovnika ispitan je u radu i u odnosu na treće osobe koje na istom predmetu osiguranja imaju neko drugo osiguranje tražbine, te se razlučuje njihov položaj u prednosnom redu. Skreće se pozornost na to da vjerovnik koji ima lebdeće založnopravno osiguranje ostvaruje prednosni red prema vremenu upisa lebdećeg založnopravnog osiguranja iako se njegov objekt zaloga konkretizira tek trenutkom pljenidbe. Također se u svjetlu promjena, koje su s posljednjom izmjenom Ovršnog zakona nastupile u ovrsi na pokretnim stvarima, ukazuje na probleme i modalitete provedbe ovrhe na pokretnim stvarima kada su one određene po rodu

The Relationship between National Social Party and its Platform of Young Members in years 1901 - 1910

Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá vztahem České strany národně sociální a její mládežnické organizace v letech 1900 - 1910. Národně sociální mládež tvořila do značné míry autonomní radikální křídlo strany, které se nezdráhalo formulovat vlastní politická stanoviska a vykonávat samostatnou politickou činnost, což s sebou přinášelo riziko konfliktu mezi ní a vedením strany. V práci je analyzován vztah obou dvou subjektů k ideji socialismu a k antimilitaristické činnosti. Zároveň je zkoumáno, jak se odlišný přístup strany a mládeže k těmto dvěma tématům promítl v jejich vzájemném vztahu a v politickém profilu celé strany. Součástí práce je i stručný popis vzniku národně sociální strany a její mládežnické organizace.This bachelor thesis deals with the relation of the Czech National Social Party and its youth organization during 1900 and 1910. National Social Youth was an autonomous radical wing of the party to a large extent. It didn't hesitate to form its own political opinions and exercise an independent political activity which caused a risk of conflict between the youth and the party leadership. The work analyses the relation of both subjects to the idea of socialism and to the antimilitarist activity. It is also investigated how the different attitude of the party and youth to these two topics was reflected in their mutual relation and political profile of the entire party. A part of the work is also a brief description of the origin of National Social Party and its youth organization.Institute of Political ScienceÚstav politologieFaculty of ArtsFilozofická fakult

Techno-economic analysis of a geothermal district heating system

Geotermalna energija je idealna tehnologija za povećanje udjela obnovljivih izvora u proizvodnji električne i toplinske energije. Povijesno je bila ograničena na geološki aktivnija područja, ali se napretkom prvenstveno ORC tehnologije ostvaruje mogućnost primjene na izvorima s relativno niskom temperaturom termalne vode. Korištenje geotermalne energije u svrhu grijanja sve više postaje mogućnost čak i kod izvora s niskim temperaturama. Nove energetski visokoučinkovite zgrade ne zahtijevaju visoke temperature u sustavu grijanja pa se toplinske potrebe mogu zadovoljiti i iz niskotemperaturnih izvora. Ukoliko zgrade nisu niskoenergetske ili je kombinacija zgrada raznih energetskih karakteristika što je i najčešći slučaj, postoji mogućnost korištenja geotermalnih dizalica topline samostalno ili u kombinaciji s nekom drugom tehnologijom. U sklopu ovog rada su razmatrana moguća tehnička rješenja primjene geotermalne energije u svrhu proizvodnje električne i toplinske energije. Razmatrane su dvije lokacije (Rečica i Lanište) i za svaku je izrađeno nekoliko tehničkih rješenja. Prikazuje se proračun CTS-a i njegovih komponenata te geotermalnog binarnog ORC-a. Određivanje toplinskog opterećenja je provedeno stupanj – sat metodom, a radna karakteristika svake komponente sustava je modelirana pripadajućom funkcijom. Kako bi se odredila najbolja kombinacija instaliranih snaga pojedinih komponenata, provedena je tehno – ekonomska analiza. Za slučaj lokacije „Rečica“ su napravljene 4 varijante korištenja izvora: izgradnja binarnog ORC postrojenja i CTS-a u obližnjim naseljima, izgradnja binarnog ORC postrojenja i spoja na CTS grada Karlovca, samo opskrba CTS-a u Karlovcu te izgradnja samo ORC postrojenja. Na lokaciji „Lanište“ je napravljeno također 4 varijanta: izgradnja novog CTS-a i opskrba putem geotermalne dizalice topline, kombinacija geotermalne dizalice topline i kotla s električnim grijačem, kombinacija geotermalne dizalice topline i kotla na prirodni plin, kombinacija geotermalne dizalice topline i kotla na biomasu. Na lokaciji „Rečica“ su svi scenariji s izuzetkom scenarija izgradnje ORC-a i novog CTS-a u naseljima Rečica i Luka Pokupska profitabilni s unutarnjim stopama povrata iznad 20 %. Najprofitabilniji je scenarij izgradnje geotermalnog ORC postrojenja. Scenariji razmatrani na lokaciji Lanište nisu isplativi unutar 15 godina te je potrebno uložiti nepovratna sredstva ili povećati cijenu toplinske energije. Najbolji od projekata na toj lokaciji je kombinacija geotermalne dizalice topline koja radi u baznom opterećenju te kotla na prirodni plin koji pokriva vršna opterećenja.Geothermal energy is reliable renewable energy source. It has historically been limited to usage only on geologically active locations, but with the advancements in ORC technology, it has become viable to use relatively low temperature heat sources. New highly energy efficient buildings do not require high water temperature in their heating systems. Therefore, it is possible to use lower temperature heat sources. The most common case when designing district heating network is combination of buildings with differing thermal properties. In that case, additional heat source may be required to provide desired temperature of heating water. This can be geothermal heat pump standalone or in combination with electric heater, natural gas boiler or biomass boiler. In this thesis, two possible locations (Rečica and Lanište) were analyzed for usage of geothermal energy in electricity and heat generation. Few technical solutions were made for each of them. This thesis describes the procedure of designing DH network with all of its components and geothermal binary ORC. Yearly heat load distributions were made by using the degree – hour method. Each component of the facility is described with mathematical function. For each scenario techno – economic analysis has been made. It shows which scenario is better and worth investing and also enables comparison between various scenarios. At the site “Rečica”, four scenarios were made: use of geothermal energy solely for electricity generation with ORC, combination of ORC and new district heating system in nearby towns Rečica and Luka Pokupska, combination of electricity generation in ORC and supply of existing district heating system in Karlovac City and only supply of DH in Karlovac. Four scenarios were also made for the second location, “Lanište”: New district heating system based on geothermal heat pump, on combination of geothermal heat pump and electric heater, combination with the natural gas boiler and combination with biomass boiler. All of the scenarios at the site “Rečica” with exception of new ORC and DH in Rečica and Luka Pokupska are profitable with internal return rate above 20 %. The most profitable scenario is the one which includes electricity generation in geothermal ORC facility. At the site “Lanište”, none of the scenarios are profitable within 15 years. However, they can be made profitable with the application for EU funding or by increasing heat prices. The best scenario at this site is combination of geothermal heat pump for covering the base load with natural gas boiler for peak demand