The end of tax avoidance practices in the EU? The impact of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive and Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive on corporations

This LLM dissertation provides an analysis of tax avoidance in the European Union after recent reforms of secondary EU law. The 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive was adopted on 20th May 2015 and came into effect on 26th June 2017. The Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive was adopted on 20th June 2016 and will come into effect on 1st January 2019. The author discusses new reforms focusing on both directives as a measures to tackle tax avoidance practices. The first part describes the basic terms such as the definition and differences between tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax planning in relation to harmful tax competition. The causes of harmful tax competition in the EU are clarified and there is a brief description of the current practices of the corporations. The evolution of the corporate taxation provides a background to the recent developments of combating tax avoidance. The main part of the study focuses on the contribution of policy to prevent tax avoidance in the EU, and especially the impact of the recently adopted Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive and the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive. Overall, the critical review assesses the impact and problems of the directives on the achievement of harmonised tax competition and steps which are necessary to accomplish the end of tax avoidance practices in the EU

Noninvasive Follicular Thyroid Neoplasm with Papillary-like Nuclear Features (NIFTP) : Tumour Entity with a Short History. A Review on Challenges in Our Microscopes, Molecular and Ultrasonographic Profile

Since Noninvasive Follicular Thyroid Neoplasm with Papillary-like Nuclear Features (NIFTP) was introduced as a new thyroid tumour entity, many studies, and meta-analyses on diag-nosing NIFTP have been published. NIFTP-revised histopathological criteria emerged in 2018. NIFTP is defined as a histological entity and its diagnosis requires a careful histological examination. Its molecular profile is similar to follicular-like tumours. Ultrasound features are unable to differentiate NIFTP. NIFTP is not a cytological diagnosis, but it influences the risk of malignancy in several categories of The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology terminology.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Hyalinizing Spindle Cell Tumor with Giant Rosettes with Pulmonary Metastasis After a Long Hiatus: A Case Report

"Hyalinizing spindle cell tumor with giant rosettes" (HSCTGR) is a recently described tumor, which is regarded as an unusual variant of low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma. Proof of a metastatic potential was lacking. The patient in the report was a 35-yr-old woman who showed multiple bilateral pulmonary nodules with massive pleural effusion in the right side. She had a history of a mass excision in the right thigh 11 yrs ago at another hospital, which was reported as a "leiomyoma". Two years before this presentation, the patient received a routine chest radiograph which demonstrated bilateral multiple pulmonary nodules. A lobectomy of the left upper lung was performed. The histological findings revealed a well-circumscribed nodule that was characterized by a spindle-shaped fibrous to hyalinized stroma with criss-crossing short fascicles and giant collagen rosettes surrounded by a rim of spindle-shaped cells. Electron microscopy confirmed the fibroblastic nature of the tumor. This case, in addition to at least two other cases reported in the literature, demonstrates that the HSCTGR is a malignant neoplasm with the capacity to metastasize after a long hiatus

Clinical and polysomnographic course of childhood narcolepsy with cataplexy.

Our aim was to investigate the natural evolution of cataplexy and polysomnographic features in untreated children with narcolepsy with cataplexy. To this end, clinical, polysomnographic, and cataplexy-video assessments were performed at diagnosis (mean age of 10 ± 3 and disease duration of 1 ± 1 years) and after a median follow-up of 3 years from symptom onset (mean age of 12 ± 4 years) in 21 children with narcolepsy with cataplexy and hypocretin 1 deficiency (tested in 19 subjects). Video assessment was also performed in two control groups matched for age and sex at first evaluation and follow-up and was blindly scored for presence of hypotonic (negative) and active movements. Patients' data at diagnosis and at follow-up were contrasted, compared with controls, and related with age and disease duration. At diagnosis children with narcolepsy with cataplexy showed an increase of sleep time during the 24 h; at follow-up sleep time and nocturnal sleep latency shortened, in the absence of other polysomnographic or clinical (including body mass index) changes. Hypotonic phenomena and selected facial movements decreased over time and, tested against disease duration and age, appeared as age-dependent. At onset, childhood narcolepsy with cataplexy is characterized by an abrupt increase of total sleep over the 24 h, generalized hypotonia and motor overactivity. With time, the picture of cataplexy evolves into classic presentation (i.e., brief muscle weakness episodes triggered by emotions), whereas total sleep time across the 24 h decreases, returning to more age-appropriate levels

Excited-State (Anti)Aromaticity Explains Why Azulene Disobeys Kasha's Rule

Fluorescence exclusively occurs from the lowest excited state of a given multiplicity according to Kasha's rule. However, this rule is not obeyed by a handful of anti-Kasha fluorophores whose underlying mechanism is still understood merely on a phenomenological basis. This lack of understanding prevents the rational design and property-tuning of anti-Kasha fluorophores. Here, we propose a model explaining the photophysical properties of an archetypal anti-Kasha fluorophore, azulene, based on its ground- and excited-state (anti)aromaticity. We derived our model from a detailed analysis of the electronic structure of the ground singlet, first excited triplet, and quintet states and of the first and second excited singlet states using the perturbational molecular orbital theory and quantum-chemical aromaticity indices. Our model reveals that the anti-Kasha properties of azulene and its derivatives result from (i) the contrasting (anti)aromaticity of its first and second singlet excited states (S-1 and S-2, respectively) and (ii) an easily accessible antiaromaticity relief pathway of the S-1 state. This explanation of the fundamental cause of anti-Kasha behavior may pave the way for new classes of anti-Kasha fluorophores and materials with long-lived, high-energy excited states

Quenching of an Aniline Radical Cation by Dissolved Organic Matter and Phenols: A Laser Flash Photolysis Study

Aromatic amines are relevant aquatic organic contaminants whose photochemical transformation is affected by dissolved organic matter (DOM). The goal of this study is to elucidate the underlying mechanism of the inhibitory effect of DOM on such reactions. The selected model aromatic amine, 4-(dimethylamino)benzonitrile (DMABN), was subjected to laser flash photolysis in the presence and absence of various model photosensitizers. The produced radical cation (DMABN(.+)) was observed to react with several phenols and different types of DOM on a time scale of similar to 100 mu s. The determined second-order rate constants for the quenching of DMABN(.+) by phenols were in the range of (1.4-26) X 10(8) M-1 s(-1) and increased with increasing electron donor character of the aromatic ring substituent. For DOM, quenching rate constants increased with the phenolic content of the DOM. These results indicate the reduction of DMABN(.+) to re-form its parent compound as the basic reaction governing the inhibitory effect. In addition, the photosensitized oxidation of the sulfonamide antibiotic sulfadiazine (SDZ) was studied. The observed radical intermediate of SDZ was quenched by 4-methoxyphenol less effectively than DMABN(.+), which was attributed to the lower reduction potential of the SDZ-derived radical compared to DMABN(.+)