Taxation of nuclear rents: benefits, drawbacks and alternatives.

The taxation of nuclear energy is studied using a stylized model of the electricity sector, with one dominant nuclear producer and a competitive fringe of fossil-fuel plants. We show that an unanticipated tax on nuclear production can generate significant government revenue in the short run without disturbing the market, but will harm investment incentives in the long run, especially if the government cannot credibly commit to a future tax rate. Even if the government is capable of credibly committing to an optimal long-run tax, government revenues from the long-run tax will be very low due to the market power of the incumbent. Lifetime extension agreements negotiated with multiple potential players, and competitive auctioning of new nuclear licenses are shown to be the most attractive policies. The analytical results are illustrated with a numerical simulation for the case of Belgium.

Taxation of nuclear rents: benfits, drawbacks and alternatives

The taxation of nuclear energy is studied using a stylized model of the electricity sector, with one dominant nuclear producer and a competitive fringe of fossil-fuel plants. We show that an unanticipated tax on nuclear production can generate significant government revenue in the short run without disturbing the market, but will harm investment incentives in the long run, especially if the government cannot credibly commit to a future tax rate. Even if the government is capable of credibly committing to an optimal long-run tax, government revenues from the long-run tax will be very low due to the market power of the incumbent. Lifetime extension agreements negotiated with multiple potential players, and competitive auctioning of new nuclear licenses are shown to be the most attractive policies. The analytical results are illustrated with a numerical simulation for the case of Belgium.

Postgraduate Continuing Medical Education via Videoconferencing at the K.U.Leuven in Belgium: An Evaluation of Pentalfa

In: A.J. Kallenberg and M.J.J.M. van de Ven (Eds), 2002, The New Educational Benefits of ICT in Higher Education: Proceedings. Rotterdam: Erasmus Plus BV, OECR ISBN 90-9016127-9Traditionally medical specialists attended seminars organized by clinical university departments of the K.U.Leuven Medical Faculty. However due to increasing travel and traffic problems the Pentalfa project was initiated in an effort to replace face-to-face seminars. We applied ISDN-videoconferencing technology to interconnect the video and sound signals of the different sites in real time. In all sites the session could be followed on two screens. On one screen, either the speaker/moderator or person involved in dialogue at a remote site could be seen or whatever else was being sent via videoconference. On the second one, which was linked to a multimedia computer, digitized images are projected. A voting system was used to interconnect all sites and allowed the participation in the various voting opportunities, which occurred during each session. For each session, a topic within a specific discipline was chosen and treated in a multidisciplinary way. The Pentalfa project was initially planned for a period of 3 years. During each academic year, 2 to 3 periods of 8-9 sessions each were organized (total of 74 session). A questionnaire, completed with open questions, was given to all participants (over three years 13 489 participants). 28.2 % of the questionnaires were returned. We reached 64.6 % male and 35.4% female participants with the program. The percentage female participants was higher at the central than at the guest sites. The mean age of the participants was 37.7 years. Male participants were older than female. At the central location the mean age was lower than at the guest locations. The percentage female participants decreased in the older age groups. Timesaving was an important goal for starting up the project. Nearly 90% of the public at the guest sites said they saved time by attending the session. The averaged time saving per participant in these guest locations increased from 99 min in the first year to 145 min in the third year. This emphasizes the growing mobility problems of our society. Globally, participants were satisfied with the pedagogical approach used in Pentalfa. More than 55 % of the participants found the Pentalfa session easier than classical seminars. Participants at the guest sites and older participants had a more positive appreciation than the average. In the evaluation we found that satisfaction about the technology was very high. The very excellent appreciation of the quality of the image, even in the absence of a lecturer, indicates that the concept of using 3 ISDN (6 lines) connections is sufficient for long-distance education The global cost per participant at the guest locations was 44.5 euro/h broadcasting and their virtual saving was 64 euro/h. More than 85 % of the participants at the guest sites stated that they would no longer go to Leuven (the central location) for these sessions if they were to be organized in a traditional face-to-face manner, mostly due to time and/or traffic. In order to come to a sufficient result for long-distance education via videoconferences from the participants, a lot of efforts are required. Once all those problems are resolved, this medium seems to be very suitable as an alternative for the increasing mobility- and accompanying time problems The experience obtained with Pentalfa, will be used for other aspects of the medical service such as “second opinion” or “Telemedicine”

Cx43-hemichannel function and regulation in physiology and pathophysiology: insights from the bovine corneal endothelial cell system and beyond

Intercellular communication in primary bovine corneal endothelial cells (BCECs) is mainly driven by the release of extracellular ATP through Cx43 hemichannels. Studying the characteristics of Ca2+-wave propagation in BCECs, an important form of intercellular communication, in response to physiological signaling events has led to the discovery of important insights in the functional properties and regulation of native Cx43 hemichannels. Together with ectopic expression models for Cx43 hemichannels and truncated/mutated Cx43 versions, it became very clear that loop/tail interactions play a key role in controlling the activity of Cx43 hemichannels. Interestingly, the negative regulation of Cx43 hemichannels by enhanced actin/myosin contractility seems to impinge upon loss of these loop/tail interactions essential for opening Cx43 hemichannels. Finally, these molecular insights have spurred the development of novel peptide tools that can selectively inhibit Cx43 hemichannels, but neither Cx43 gap junctions nor hemichannels formed by other Cx isoforms. These tools now set the stage to hunt for novel physiological functions for Cx43 hemichannels in primary cells and tissues and to tackle disease conditions associated with excessive, pathological Cx43-hemichannel openings

Predictability of cerebral palsy and its characteristics through neonatal cranial ultrasound in a high-risk neonatal intensive care unit population

The aim of the study is to evaluate the predictive value of various types of brain injury detected by ultrasound in the neonatal period for the occurrence of cerebral palsy and its characteristics in a large cohort of high-risk infants. Thousand twenty-one consecutively NICU-admitted high-risk infants were assessed up to the corrected age of at least 2 years. Cerebral palsy (CP) was categorised into spastic or non-spastic, bilateral or unilateral and mild, moderate or severe CP. Different types of brain injury were identified by serial cranial ultrasound (US) during the NICU stay: white matter disease (WMD), haemorrhage, cerebral infarction, deep grey matter and parasagittal cerebral injury. There is a significant overall association between different types of brain injury and gestational age. Only 4% of the children with normal US develop CP. In the presence of any abnormal US image, the likeliness to develop CP is at least seven times higher. Within the group of infants with WMD and haemorrhage, the degree of brain involvement has a clear impact on the occurrence of CP. Concerning the characteristics of CP, deep grey matter lesion predict non-spastic CP versus spastic CP (OR = 31, P < 0.001). Cerebral infarction and haemorrhage grade IV are strong predictors of unilateral spastic CP versus bilateral spastic CP (OR = 49 and 24, respectively, P < 0.001). Deep grey matter lesion is a significant predictor for severe versus mild and moderate CP (OR = 6). In conclusion, neonatal cranial US is a useful tool in predicting CP and its characteristics

RhoA GTPase switch controls Cx43-hemichannel activity through the contractile system

ATP-dependent paracrine signaling, mediated via the release of ATP through plasma membrane-embedded hemichannels of the connexin family, coordinates a synchronized response between neighboring cells. Connexin 43 (Cx43) hemichannels that are present in the plasma membrane need to be tightly regulated to ensure cell viability. In monolayers of bovine corneal endothelial cells (BCEC),Cx43-mediated ATP release is strongly inhibited when the cells are treated with inflammatory mediators, in particular thrombin and histamine. In this study we investigated the involvement of RhoA activation in the inhibition of hemichannel-mediated ATP release in BCEC. We found that RhoA activation occurs rapidly and transiently upon thrombin treatment of BCEC. The RhoA activity correlated with the onset of actomyosin contractility that is involved in the inhibition of Cx43 hemichannels. RhoA activation and inhibition of Cx43-hemichannel activity were both prevented by pre-treatment of the cells with C3-toxin as well as knock down of RhoA by siRNA. These findings provide evidence that RhoA activation is a key player in thrombin-induced inhibition of Cx43-hemichannel activity. This study demonstrates that RhoA GTPase activity is involved in the acute inhibition of ATP-dependent paracrine signaling, mediated by Cx43 hemichannels, in response to the inflammatory mediator thrombin. Therefore, RhoA appears to be an important molecular switch that controls Cx43 hemichannel openings and hemichannel-mediated ATP-dependent paracrine intercellular communication under (patho) physiological conditions of stress

The effect of different physiotherapy interventions after botulinum toxin A treatment of children with cerebral palsy

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