European Cystic Fibrosis Society Standards of Care: Framework for the Cystic Fibrosis Centre

A significant increase in life expectancy in successive birth cohorts of people with cystic fibrosis (CF) is a result of more effective treatment for the disease. It is also now widely recognized that outcomes for patients cared for in specialist CF Centres are better than for those who are not. Key to the effectiveness of the specialist CF Centre is the multidisciplinary team (MDT), which should include consultants, clinical nurse specialist, microbiologist, physiotherapist, dietitian, pharmacist, clinical psychologist, social worker, clinical geneticist and allied healthcare professionals, all of whom should be experienced in CF care. Members of the MDT are also expected to keep up to date with developments in CF through continued professional development, attendance at conferences, auditing and involvement in research. Specialists CF Centres should also network with other Centres both nationally and internationally, and feed Centre data to registries in order to further the understanding of the disease. This paper provides a framework for the specialist CF Centre, including the organisation of the Centre and the individual roles of MDT members, as well as highlighting the value of CF organisations and disease registries

Sektory v České republice a daňové plánování

Tax planning and its international dimension is effective way for reducing company's tax liability. Methods used within the tax planning have specific assumptions and not every company can achieve significant tax reduction. Tax planning schemes are strongly connected with intangible assets or capital structure. This contribution is focused on the different sectors and their position in the international tax planning. As a method, the cluster analysis has been selected to gain similar sets with similar sector's attributes. Database Albertina is used as a data source and there are selected variables which are related to the international tax planning. Results show that companies from the service sectors use more tax planning than companies from the others. Cluster analyzes report four sectors with higher application of the tax planning: Accommodation, Real Estate, Financial Sector and Electricity and Gas Supply. ICT is another sector which use tax planning more but the conclusions about it cannot be strong because one of the used clustering method does not include it beside above mentioned four sectors.Daňové plánování a jeho mezinárodní rozměr jsou účinným způsobem pro snížení daňové povinnosti společnosti. Metody používané v rámci daňového plánování mají specifické požadavky, a ne každá společnost může dosáhnout významného snížení daní. Schémata daňového plánování jsou silně spojena s nehmotnými aktivy nebo s kapitálovou strukturou. Tento příspěvek je zaměřen na různé sektory a jejich pozici v mezinárodním daňovém plánování. Jako metoda byla vybrána shluková analýza za účelem získání podobných množin s podobnými atributy sektoru. Databáze Albertina se používá jako zdroj dat a jsou vybrané proměnné, které souvisejí s mezinárodním daňovým plánováním. Výsledky ukazují, že společnosti ze sektorů služeb používají více daňové plánování než společnosti v jiných sektorech. Shlukové analýzy ukazují čtyři sektory s vyšším využíváním daňového plánování: ubytování, nemovitosti, finanční sektor a dodávky elektřiny a zemního plynu. ICT je další sektor, který používá daňové plánování více, ale závěry nejsou natolik průkazné, protože jedna z použitých metod shlukování ji nezahrnuje vedle výše zmíněných čtyř sektorů

Nové trendy v sektorovém zdanění - digitální daně

Digital economy changes not only behavior of managers and companies but also how states are governed. Expansion of digital services brings new possibilities of taxation and governments respond, otherwise they would face a drop in tax revenues. Whereas the modern economy tends to be more global, this digital tax issue is also consider by international organizations, e.g. OECD or the European Union. Both initiatives are based on international agreement how should be taxed the revenues from digital services. The size of the company is a basic assumption of digital taxation. It is important to mention that these international solutions tend to apply conditions which are more suitable for bigger countries because they have larger impact in these organizations. On the other hand, digital taxation mostly affects American companies therefore it is appropriate to discuss digital taxation with US politicians. All that confirms the experience of France which itself has applied their version of digital tax. The Czech Republic is one of the other countries which discusses the possibility of new digital tax. Overall, the tax systems have to be changed to reflect new types of services. There is no best solution but international organizations offer a suitable platform for discussions.Digitální ekonomika mění nejen chování manažerů a firem ale také to, jakým způsobem je řízen stát. Rozšíření digitálních služeb přináší nové možnosti zdanění a vlády na to reagují, jinak by čelily snížením daňových příjmů. Moderní ekonomika se stává více globální, a tak rovněž mezinárodní instituce (jako OECD a EU) posuzují problematiku digitální zdanění. Obě iniciativy jsou založeny na mezinárodní dohodě, jak by měly být zdaněny příjmy z digitálních služeb. Velikost firmy je základní předpoklad digitálního zdanění. Je důležité zmínit, že mezinárodní řešení mají tendenci zvýhodňovat velké země, protože ty mají větší vliv v těchto organizacích. Na druhou stranu digitální zdanění má vliv hlavně na americké firmy a proto je vhodné diskutovat v této věci s americkými politiky. To potvrzují rovněž zkušenosti z Francie, která aplikovala svou verzi digitálního zdanění. Česká republika je jedna z dalších zemích, kde se diskutuje o možnosti nové digitální daně. Daňové systémy se musí změnit, aby reagovaly no nové typ služeb. Neexistuje nějaké vhodné řešení pro všechny, ale mezinárodní organizace nabízejí vhodnou platformu pro diskuze

Quadruplex-Forming Motif Inserted into 3′UTR of Ty1his3-AI Retrotransposon Inhibits Retrotransposition in Yeast

Guanine quadruplexes (G4s) serve as regulators of replication, recombination and gene expression. G4 motifs have been recently identified in LTR retrotransposons, but their role in the retrotransposon life-cycle is yet to be understood. Therefore, we inserted G4s into the 3′UTR of Ty1his3-AI retrotransposon and measured the frequency of retrotransposition in yeast strains BY4741, Y00509 (without Pif1 helicase) and with G4-stabilization by N-methyl mesoporphyrin IX (NMM) treatment. We evaluated the impact of G4s on mRNA levels by RT-qPCR and products of reverse transcription by Southern blot analysis. We found that the presence of G4 inhibited Ty1his3-AI retrotransposition. The effect was stronger when G4s were on a transcription template strand which leads to reverse transcription interruption. Both NMM and Pif1p deficiency reduced the retrotransposition irrespective of the presence of a G4 motif in the Ty1his3-AI element. Quantity of mRNA and products of reverse transcription did not fully explain the impact of G4s on Ty1his3-AI retrotransposition indicating that G4s probably affect some other steps of the retrotransposon life-cycle (e.g., translation, VLP formation, integration). Our results suggest that G4 DNA conformation can tune the activity of mobile genetic elements that in turn contribute to shaping the eukaryotic genomes

Pacing-induced ventricular remodeling in the chick embryonic heart.

Chronic ectopic pacing in the adult heart induces myocardial hypotrophy close to the pacing site. We have recently described a similar localized decrease of compact myocardium thickness in the chick embryonic heart after 48 h of intermittent apical ventricular pacing. Here we analyze the cellular mechanisms underlying the response of the embryonic heart to pacing. Because the developing heart had been found to adjust its morphology according to functional demands by undergoing cellular hyperplasia or hypoplasia, we hypothesized that the stimulation should result in hypoplasia of the apical ventricular compartment. Morphologic analysis of hearts submitted to 18 h of effective pacing during 48 h showed a mild to moderate ventricular dilatation, a 28% decrease in the apical compact layer thickness with no changes in other ventricular locations, and atrial wall thickening. These modifications were caused by changes in the number of cell layers, whereas cell size was similar between paced and control hearts. Analysis of proliferative activity after 24 h of pacing showed a decrease of 32% in the rate of cell proliferation limited to the apical compact layer exposed to stimulation. No ultrastructural injury or increased cell death was found. These changes were accompanied by down-regulation of the myocardial growth factor fibroblast growth factor-2 but no differences were found in the expression of platelet-derived growth factor. Thus, chronic intermittent ventricular pacing induces myocardial remodeling in the chick embryonic heart, on the basis of locally regulated rates of cell proliferation