Ocena zmian w polskich regulacjach dotyczących cen transferowych

The article presents the assessment of changes in transfer pricing regulations among associated companies. The new regulations will be introduced in Poland from 2019. The assessment is based on comparison and verification analyses with respect to alignment of changes with OECD recommendations for transfer prices. Alignment with international standards is a condition for avoidance of economic double taxation in case of transfer pricing adjustment. The assessment concerns the crucial changes involving adjusted approach to arm’s length principle. Adjusted arm’s length approach introduces a couple of changes among which the most important is to impose new obligations to improve setting transfer prices on daily basis as well as authorisation for tax authorities to non-recognition or recharacterization of transactions between associated companies. The proposed wording of statutory law do not include any particular safeguards against tax authorities empowerment to use this tool. It was indicated in the article that some changes might rise uncertainty due to inconsistency with international standards. This might bring the growing number of international tax disputes where avoidance of double taxation will be impossible.W artykule przedstawiono ocenę zmian regulacji dotyczących cen transferowych pomiędzy podmiotami powiązanymi. Zmiany te obowiązywać będą w Polsce od 1 stycznia 2019 r. Oceny dokonano poprzez porównanie i weryfikację zgodności zmian ze standardami międzynarodowymi wynikającymi z rekomendacji OECD dotyczących cen transferowych. Zapewnienie zgodności ze standardami międzynarodowymi jest bowiem warunkiem pozwalającym na zastosowanie mechanizmów unikania ekonomicznego podwójnego opodatkowania dochodu pomiędzy podmiotami powiązanymi w sytuacji szacowania dochodów jednego z nich. Ocenę zgodności przeprowadzono względem najważniejszych zmian dotyczących skorygowanego podejścia do stosowania międzynarodowego standardu dotyczącego cen transferowych, zasady arm’s length. Skorygowane podejście do zasady arm’s length wprowadza kilka zmian, z których najważniejsza dotyczy nałożenia dodatkowych obowiązków dotyczących ustalania na bieżąco cen transferowych oraz uprawnienia organów podatkowych do stosowania instytucji uznania w przypadku zmiany charakteru transakcji pomiędzy podmiotami powiązanymi lub jej pominięcia. Istotność tego zagadnienia wynika z zaproponowanego brzmienia przepisu, które nie nakłada istotnych ograniczeń przeciwdziałających nadmiernej uznaniowości organów podatkowych. W artykule wskazano, które zmiany przepisów budzą wątpliwości co do ich zgodności ze standardami międzynarodowymi. Są to zarazem zagadnienia prowadzące do powstawania sporów międzynarodowych, które będą skutkować brakiem możliwości uniknięcia podwójnego opodatkowani

Wpływ stopnia obciążenia opiekunów osób z chorobą Parkinsona na jakość ich życia

Introduction. Parkinson’s disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases. This condition is progressive in nature. In Europe, Parkinson’s disease is estimated to affect mainly people over the age of 60. It is assumed that around 80–100,000 people in Poland currently suffer from Parkinson’s disease. The disease mainly affects men.Aim. Assessment of the level of burden on caregivers of people with Parkinson’s disease and evaluation of their quality of life.Material and Methods. The study was conducted in the Koło Przyjaciół Ludzi z Chorobą Parkinsona TWK (Friends of People with Parkinson’s Disease TWK Group) in Wrocław and the Leszczyńskie Stowarzyszenie Osób z Chorobami Alzheimera i Parkinsona (Leszno Association of People with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases) in Leszno on a group of 92 Parkinson’s disease patients and their 92 caregivers. The study was conducted using a diagnostic survey method with a self-designed questionnaire and the following standardised instruments for caregivers: the WHOQoL-BREF questionnaire, the CBS caregiver burden scale and the HADS anxiety and depression scale. The present study also used questionnaires addressed to Parkinson’s disease patients: a sociodemographic questionnaire, the PDQ-39 quality of life questionnaire, the Hoehn–Yahr disease stage scale and the Beck depression scale BDI.Results. Analysis of the research material showed that: the quality of life of caregivers in the physical, environmental and psychological domains was significantly better in those providing care for 1–5 years than in those looking after patients for more than 10 years. The author’s own research showed that the overall burden among caregivers was significantly higher when the patient had been ill for more than 5 years than when the patient had been ill for 2–5 years, and it was found that the lower the overall level of quality of life and severity of depressive symptoms among PD patients, the lower the quality of life of their caregivers. On the overall burden scale, 47 of the 92 survey participants (51.09%) experienced a medium level of burden and 24 respondents (26.09%) experienced a high level of burden. In addition, the long duration of the disease leads to a higher burden on caregivers.Conclusions. The difficulties associated with the burden of care for caregivers of people with PD represent a significant clinical, social and also economic problem. Moreover, they significantly reduce the quality of life of caregivers, often taking away the joy of caring for loved ones with Parkinson’s disease. (JNNN 2021;10(4):144–152)Wstęp. Choroba Parkinsona jest jednym z najczęściej występujących chorób neurodegeneracyjnych. Schorzenie to występuje w charakterze postępującym. Określa się, że na chorobę Parkinsona chorują w Europie głównie osoby powyżej 60 roku życia. Zakłada się, że w Polsce na chorobę Parkinsona obecnie choruje około 80–100 tys. osób. Choroba dotyka głównie mężczyzn.Cel. Ocena poziomu obciążenia opiekunów w opiece nad osobami z chorobą Parkinsona oraz ocena ich jakości życia.Materiał i metody. Badania zostały przeprowadzone w Kole Przyjaciół Ludzi z Chorobą Parkinsona TWK we Wrocławiu oraz w Leszczyńskim Stowarzyszeniu Osób z Chorobami Alzheimera i Parkinsona w Lesznie na grupie 92 chorych na chorobę Parkinsona oraz ich 92 opiekunów. Badanie przeprowadzono za pomocą metody sondażu diagnostycznego z wykorzystaniem kwestionariusza ankiety własnego autorstwa oraz następujących wystandaryzowanych narzędzi dla opiekunów: kwestionariusza WHOQoL-BREF, skali obciążenia opiekunów CBS oraz skali lęku i depresji HADS. W niniejszej pracy wykorzystano również kwestionariusze skierowane do chorych na chorobę Parkinsona: ankietę socjodemograficzną, kwestionariusz jakości życia PDQ-39, skalę określającą stadium zaawansowania choroby według Hoehn–Yahra oraz skalę depresji Becka BDI.Wyniki. Analiza materiału badawczego wykazała, że: jakość życia opiekunów w dziedzinie fizycznej, środowiskowej i psychologicznej była istotnie lepsza u osób sprawujących tę opiekę od 1–5 lat, niż u opiekunów zajmujących się chorymi ponad 10 lat. Badania własne wykazały, że obciążenie ogólne wśród opiekunów było istotnie większe gdy pacjent chorował ponad 5 lat, niż gdy chorował od 2–5 lat oraz stwierdzono, że im niższy ogólny poziom jakości życia i nasilenie objawów depresji wśród chorych na PD, tym gorsza jakość życia ich opiekunów. Na skali obciążenia ogólnego 47 spośród 92 uczestników ankiety (51,09%) miało średni poziom obciążenia, 24 ankietowanych (26,09%) miało wysoki poziom obciążenia. Ponadto długotrwały czas trwania choroby skutkuje wyższym poziomem obciążenia opiekunów.Wnioski. Trudności związane z obciążeniem opieką opiekunów osób chorujących na PD stanowią istotny problem kliniczny, społeczny a także ekonomiczny. Co więcej w istotny sposób wpływają na obniżenie jakości życia opiekunów niejednokrotnie odbierając im radość czerpaną z opieki nad najbliższymi chorującymi na chorobę Parkinsona. (PNN 2021;10(4):144–152

A learning by confusion approach to characterize phase transitions

Recently, the learning by confusion (LBC) approach has been proposed as a machine learning tool to determine the critical temperature Tc of phase transitions without any prior knowledge of its even approximate value. However, the effectiveness of the method has been demonstrated only for continuous phase transitions, where confusion can result only from a deliberate incorrect labeling of the data and not from the coexistence of different phases. To verify whether the confusion scheme can also be used for discontinuous phase transitions, in this work, we apply the LBC method to three microscopic models, the Blume-Capel, the q-state Potts, and the Falicov-Kimball models, which undergo continuous or discontinuous phase transitions depending on model parameters. With the help of a simple model, we predict that the phase coexistence present in discontinuous phase transitions can make the neural network more confused and thus decrease its performance. However, numerical calculations performed for the models mentioned above indicate that other aspects of this kind of phase transition are more important and can render the LBC method less effective. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that in some cases the same aspects allow us to use the LBC method to identify the order of a phase transitio

Application of machine-learning methods to recognize mitoBK channels from different cell types based on the experimental patch-clamp results

(1) Background: In this work, we focus on the activity of large-conductance voltage- and Ca2+-activated potassium channels (BK) from the inner mitochondrial membrane (mitoBK). The characteristic electrophysiological features of the mitoBK channels are relatively high single-channel conductance (ca. 300 pS) and types of activating and deactivating stimuli. Nevertheless, depending on the isoformal composition of mitoBK channels in a given membrane patch and the type of auxiliary regulatory subunits (which can be co-assembled to the mitoBK channel protein) the characteristics of conformational dynamics of the channel protein can be altered. Consequently, the individual features of experimental series describing single-channel activity obtained by patch-clamp method can also vary. (2) Methods: Artificial intelligence approaches (deep learning) were used to classify the patch-clamp outputs of mitoBK activity from different cell types. (3) Results: Application of the K-nearest neighbors algorithm (KNN) and the autoencoder neural network allowed to perform the classification of the electrophysiological signals with a very good accuracy, which indicates that the conformational dynamics of the analyzed mitoBK channels from different cell types significantly differs. (4) Conclusion: We displayed the utility of machine-learning methodology in the research of ion channel gating, even in cases when the behavior of very similar microbiosystems is analyzed. A short excerpt from the patch-clamp recording can serve as a “fingerprint” used to recognize the mitoBK gating dynamics in the patches of membrane from different cell types

Fruits of Hippophaë rhamnoides in human leukocytes and Caco-2 cell monolayer models—A question about their preventive role in lipopolysaccharide leakage and cytokine secretion in endotoxemia

Preparations from Hippophaë rhamnoides L. (sea buckthorn) have been traditionally used in the treatment of skin and digestive disorders, such as gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers, uterine erosions, as well as oral, rectal, and vaginal mucositis, in particular in the Himalayan and Eurasian regions. An influence of an aqueous extract from the fruits of H. rhamnoides (HR) on leakage of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Escherichia coli through gut epithelium developed from the human colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2) monolayer in vitro and glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2) translocation were the principal objectives of the study. Additionally, the effect of HR on the production of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines (interleukins: IL-8, IL-1β, IL-10, IL-6; tumor necrosis factor: TNF-α) by the Caco-2 cell line, human neutrophils (PMN), and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was evaluated. The concentration of LPS on the apical and basolateral sides of the Caco-2 monolayer was evaluated with a Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay. GLUT2 translocation was evaluated using an immunostaining assay, whereas secretion of cytokines by cell cultures was established with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) assay. HR (500 μg/ml) significantly inhibited LPS leakage through epithelial monolayer in vitro in comparison with non-treated control. The treatment of Caco-2 cells with HR (50–100 μg/ml) showed GLUT2 expression similar to the non-treated control. HR decreased the secretion of most pro-inflammatory cytokines in all tested models. HR might prevent low-grade chronic inflammation caused by metabolic endotoxemia through the prevention of the absorption of LPS and decrease of chemotactic factors released by immune and epithelial cells, which support its use in metabolic disorders in traditional medicine

Is subtitling equally effective everywhere? A first cross-national study on the reception of interlingually subtitled messages

Recent research on the reception of interlingual subtitling revealed that it is cognitively effective: watching a subtitled film results in a good understanding of the film content, it does not require a significant tradeoff between image processing and text processing, and it leads to a good performance in the recognition of the words and expressions contained in the subtitles. To date, the studies that revealed the effectiveness of subtitle processing have been conducted mono-nationally - e.g. d'Ydewalle and De Bruycker (2007) in Belgium; Wissmath et al. (2009) in Switzerland; Perego et al. (2010, 2015) in Italy; Hinkin et al. (2014) in the US. However, it has not yet been demonstrated empirically whether subtitle effectiveness varies depending on the familiarity of viewers with subtitles. The crossnational study described in this paper aims to fill this gap and appraise the cognitive performance and overall appreciation of a moderately complex subtitled film by viewers with different degrees of familiarity with subtitles, i.e., viewers living in countries (Italy, Spain, Poland and Dutch-speaking Belgium) with different audiovisual translation traditions. The main findings reveal that subtitling is effective irrespective of users' familiarity with it, although it is not enjoyed equally among the tested populations

Limitation in scope of applying the authorized OECD approach in respect to profit allocation to the permanent establishment in Poland

The scope of the article covers the application of the authorized OECD approach to permanent establishment with respect to double tax treaties to which Poland is a party as well as domestic provisions. The focus is on assumption introduced to domestic law since 2019 that relations between permanent establishment and its headquarter are equal to the relations between associated companies. In consequence, application of domestic provisions on permanent establishment creates situation of double taxation or double non-taxation of income.W artykule omówiono zagadnienia dotyczące stosowania przepisów w zakresie przypisywania zysku do zagranicznego zakładu – wynikających zarówno z umów podatkowych, jak i przepisów krajowych po ich zmianie od 2019 r. Wskazano na błędnie przyjęte w polskich ustawach podatkowych dotyczących opodatkowania dochodu założenie o tożsamości relacji pomiędzy zagranicznym zakładem i jednostką macierzystą z relacjami pomiędzy podmiotami powiązanymi. W konsekwencji tego założenia od 2019 r. stosowanie przepisów krajowych dotyczących zagranicznego zakładu prowadzi do zjawiska podwójnego opodatkowania lub podwójnego nieopodatkowania dochodu

To what extent naringenin binding and membrane depolarization shape mitoBK channel gating—A machine learning approach

The large conductance voltage- and Ca2+-activated K+ channels from the inner mitochondrial membrane (mitoBK) are modulated by a number of factors. Among them flavanones, including naringenin (Nar), arise as a promising group of mitoBK channel regulators from a pharmacological point of view. It is well known that in the presence of Nar the open state probability (pop) of mitoBK channels significantly increases. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanism of the mitoBK-Nar interactions remains still unrevealed. It is also not known whether the effects of naringenin administration on conformational dynamics can resemble those which are exerted by the other channel-activating stimuli. In aim to answer this question, we examine whether the dwell-time series of mitoBK channels which were obtained at different voltages and Nar concentrations (yet allowing to reach comparable pops) are discernible by means of artificial intelligence methods, including k-NN and shapelet learning. The obtained results suggest that the structural complexity of the gating dynamics is shaped both by the interaction of channel gate with the voltage sensor (VSD) and the Nar-binding site. For a majority of data one can observe stimulus-specific patterns of channel gating. Shapelet algorithm allows to obtain better prediction accuracy in most cases. Probably, because it takes into account the complexity of local features of a given signal. About 30% of the analyzed time series do not sufficiently differ to unambiguously distinguish them from each other, which can be interpreted in terms of the existence of the common features of mitoBK channel gating regardless of the type of activating stimulus. There exist long-range mutual interactions between VSD and the Nar-coordination site that are responsible for higher levels of Nar-activation (Δpop) at deeply depolarized membranes. These intra-sensor interactions are anticipated to have an allosteric nature