Percutaneous lung needle biopsies : utility and complications in various chest lesions : a single-institution experience

Purpose: It is crucial to obtain a specific diagnosis before treatment of chest pathology is initiated. The purpose of the study is to present the utility of percutaneous biopsies, core and fine-needle aspiration, in various thoracic lesions, and related complications. Material and methods: A total of 593 transthoracic biopsies were performed in the Department of Radiology between 2013 and 2016. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and core biopsy (CB) were implemented. The procedures were divided into four groups according to the location of the pathology: lung lesions (LL - 540), mediastinal masses (MM - 25), chest wall tumours (CWT - 13), and pleural lesions (PL - 15). The lung lesion group was divided into two subgroups: lung nodules and lung infiltrations. All groups were analysed in respect of diagnostic accuracy, pathological findings, and complication rate. Results: Pathological diagnosis was confirmed in 447 cases after all 593 procedures. The sensitivity of malignancy diagnosis in the group of lung tumours was 75% for FNAB and 89% for CB. The sensitivity in other groups, where CB was a preferable technique, was counted for lung infiltration, mediastinal masses, chest wall tumours, and pleural lesions and amounted to 83.3%, 90.9%, 100%, and 85.7%, respectively. In the group of lung tumours malignancy was confirmed most commonly (79%), while in the lung infiltration group benign processes dominated (83%). There was no statistical difference between the pneumothorax rate after CB and FNAB. Haemoptysis appeared more often after CB. Conclusions: FNAB and CB are useful, safe, and sensitive tools in the diagnostic work-up. They can both be used to diagnose almost all chest pathologies

The Utility of Exercise Testing in Patients with Lung Cancer

The harm associated with lung cancer treatment include perioperative morbidity and mortality and therapy-induced toxicities in various organs, including the heart and lungs. Optimal treatment therefore entails a need for risk assessment to weigh the probabilities of benefits versus harm. Exercise testing offers an opportunity to evaluate a patient's physical fitness/exercise capacity objectively. In lung cancer, it is most often used to risk-stratify patients undergoing evaluation for lung cancer resection. In recent years, its use outside this context has been described, including in nonsurgical candidates and lung cancer survivors. In this article we review the physiology of exercise testing and lung cancer. Then, we assess the utility of exercise testing in patients with lung cancer in four contexts (preoperative evaluation for lung cancer resection, after lung cancer resection, lung cancer prognosis, and assessment of efficiency of exercise training programs) after systematically identifying original studies involving the most common forms of exercise tests in this patient population: laboratory cardiopulmonary exercise testing and simple field testing with the 6-minute walk test, shuttle walk test, and/or stair-climbing test. Lastly, we propose a conceptual framework for risk assessment of patients with lung cancer who are being considered for therapy and identify areas for further studies in this patient population

Formal requirements for exclusion of the preferential right to shares

A preferential subscription right to shares is a subjective property right of a shareholder based on which he or she has a preferential right of subscription to shares from a new issue in proportion to the number of fully paid-in shares of that class he or she holds on the date of adoption of the decision on issuing of shares compared with the total number of shares of that class. However, this right of a shareholder can be completely or partially excluded, if formal and substantial requirements for such exclusion are met. This paper focuses primarily on analysis of formal requirements for exclusion envisaged by the Serbian Law on Companies with a brief review of EU law and comparative law. According to the Serbian Law on Companies, there are three formal requirements for exclusion of a preferential subscription right: 1. shares are issued through the offer for which there is no obligation to publish a prospectus; 2. there is a written proposal for exclusion from the Board of Directors, or of the Supervisory Board if a company has a two-tier management system; 3. the exclusion is based on a decision of the General Meeting of the Joint-stock company. With regards formal requirements, the paper concentrates on several weaknesses of the Serbian Law on Companies which considerably undermine the position of the so-called small shareholders

Regular periodical public disclosure obligations of public companies

Public companies in the capacity of capital market participants have the obligation to inform the public on their legal and financial status, their general business operations, as well as on the issuance of securities and other financial instruments. Such obligations may be divided into two groups: The first group consists of regular periodical public disclosures, such as the publication of financial reports (annual, semi-annual and quarterly), and the management's reports on the public company's business operations. The second group comprises the obligation of occasional (ad hoc) public disclosure. The thesis analyses the obligation of public companies to inform the public in course of their regular reporting. The new Capital Market Law based on two EU Directives (the Transparency Directive and the Directive on Public Disclosure of Inside Information and the Definition of Market Manipulation) regulates such obligation of public companies in substantially more detail than the prior Law on the Market of Securities and Other Financial Instruments (hereinafter: ZTHV). Due to the above the ZTHV's provisions are compared to the new solutions within the domain of regular periodical disclosure of the Capital Market Law

The resolution on increase of the share capital through new contributions in limited liability company

The resolution on increase of the share capital is expressed by the will of the company for the execution of the increase in the share capital. By a general meeting decision, the formation and expression of the will of the bodies (the general meeting) is carried out, which the Company considers to be its own. The General meeting is a body of a company and its decision legally represents the will of the company to conduct an increase in the share capital. In that sense, the decision on increasing the share capital is only an initial (preparatory act). It is therefore only a unilateral statement of the will of a company that is directed at existing members or third parties to participate in the procedure for increasing the share capital to take over the share. In the part of the Serbian Law on companies that relates to limited liability companies, the law contains only a few provisions that directly relate to the increase in the share capital of a limited liability company. Regarding other rules related to the increase in the share capital of a limited liability company, a corresponding application of the provisions on the increase in the share capital of a joint stock company has been established. Consequently, the content of the decision was adapted primarily to this procedure in joint stock companies. This is not the best legal technique for arranging this important procedure, because in practice it requires a proper selection of provisions that can be applied to increase the core capital of a limited liability company

The concept, types and basic properties of insurance against ecological damages

Insurance against ecological damages is a domain of insurance, within which damages caused by environmental contamination are covered by means of different insurance contract types and modalities. The paper analyses the fundamental characteristics of different types and modalities of insurance against ecological damages: liability insurance of damages caused by environmental contamination, first party insurance and direct insurance against ecological damages. By comparing the above insurance types the author points out their advantages and drawbacks within the field of providing insurance coverage against ecological damages