A just distribution of burdens?

Whether people believe that tax burdens are fairly distributed is an important condition for welfare state legitimacy. This article examines how people evaluate this distribution of tax burdens in their country by using latent cluster analysis. We use 2006 International Social Survey Program data for 26 countries and define different “tax opinion profiles” for individuals based on their evaluation of tax burdens of different income groups. We find six groups of individuals with typically different “tax opinion profiles,” among which are profiles favoring more progressive taxes, expressing contentedness with present taxes, or showing opposition to all taxes. People’s membership of profile groups is related to their class position, political affiliation, education, and trust, as well as to characteristics of their country’s tax system

Supramolecular materials from benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide-based nanorods

Telechelic polymers end-capped or copolymd. with trioctylbenzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA) lead to supramol. materials. The intrinsic phase segregation of BTA nanorods with an amorphous polymer such as poly(ethylene butylene) results in thermoplastic elastomeric behavior

Visuele technieken in opsporing en rechtspraak

ARTIKELEN: 1. G.N.G. Vanderveen - Beeldmateriaal in de Nederlandse strafrechtsketen 2. J. Bijhold - Beeldinformatie in forensisch onderzoek; nieuwe ontwikkelingen die aandacht vragen 3. P.A.M. Verrest - Het gebruik van videoconferentie in strafzaken 4. M. van der Ende - De praktijk van telehoren 5. N.R. Feigenson en Ch.O. Spiesel - Digitaal beeldmateriaal: revolutie in de rechtszaal 6. J. Roosma en M.J. Dubelaar - Visueel bewijs in het Amerikaanse strafproces 7. G. Kor - Rechtspraak op televisie? Een bespreking van het rapport van de commissie-Van Rooy 8. Boekrecensie: P van Calster over 'Visualizing law in the age of the digital baroque; Arabesques and entanglements' - R.K. Sherwin 9. Internetsites. SAMENVATTING: De technologische ontwikkelingen hebben hun weerslag op de diverse fasen van de strafrechtspleging. Of alle actoren binnen de strafrechtspleging deze ontwikkeling toejuichen, is nog maar de vraag. Ook zijn vraagtekens te plaatsen bij gestelde verbanden en verwachtingen. Dit themanummer staat uitgebreid stil bij de gevolgen van visualisering voor waarheidsvinding in strafzaken. Ook komt aan de orde of de processuele gelijkheid in het gevaar komt als een van de procespartijen het betoog kracht kan bijzetten met behulp van geavanceerde beeldtechnologie, terwijl de andere partij - bijvoorbeeld door financiële beperkingen - die mogelijkheid niet heeft

Biodegradable poly(ether-ester) multiblock copolymers for controlled release applications: an in vivo evaluation

Multiblock poly(ether-ester)s based on poly(ethylene glycol), butylene terephthalate, and butylene succinate segments were evaluated for their in vivo degradation and biocompatibility in order to establish a correlation with previously reported in vitro results. Porous polymer sheets were implanted subcutaneously for 32 weeks in rats. The degradation was monitored visually (histology), by molecular weight (GPC), and by copolymer composition (NMR). Substitution of the aromatic terephthalate units by aliphatic succinate units was shown to accelerate the degradation rate of the copolymers. Direct correlation of the in vivo and in vitro degradation of the porous implants showed a slightly faster initial molecular weight decrease in vivo. Besides hydrolysis, oxidation occurs in vivo due to the presence of radicals produced by inflammatory cells. In addition, the higher molecular weight plateau of the residue found in vivo indicated a higher solubility of the oligomers in the extracellular fluid compared to a phosphate buffer. Minor changes in the poly(ether-ester) compositions were noted due to degradation. Microscopically, fragmentation of the porous implants was observed in time. At later stages of degradation, macrophages were observed phagocytozing small polymer particles. Both in vitro cytotoxicity studies and histology on in vivo samples proved the biocompatibility of the poly(ether-ester)

Omitting cytogenetic assessment from routine treatment response monitoring in chronic myeloid leukemia is safe

OBJECTIVES: The monitoring of response in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is of great importance to identify patients failing their treatment in order to adjust TKI choice and thereby prevent progression to advanced stage disease. Cytogenetic monitoring has a lower sensitivity, is expensive, and requires invasive bone marrow sampling. Nevertheless, chronic myeloid leukemia guidelines continue to recommend performing routine cytogenetic response assessments, even when adequate molecular diagnostics are available. METHODS: In a population-based registry of newly diagnosed CML patients in the Netherlands, all simultaneous cytogenetic and molecular assessments performed at 3, 6, and 12 months were identified and response of these matched assessments was classified according to European Leukemia Net (ELN) recommendations. The impact of discrepant cytogenetic and molecular response classifications and course of patients with additional chromosomal abnormalities were evaluated. RESULTS: The overall agreement of 200 matched assessments was 78%. In case of discordant responses, response at 24 months was consistently better predicted by the molecular outcome. Cytogenetic response assessments provided relevant additional clinical information only in some cases of molecular "warning." The development of additional cytogenetic abnormalities was always accompanied with molecular failure. CONCLUSION: We conclude that it is safe to omit routine cytogenetics for response assessment during treatment and to only use molecular monitoring, in order to prevent ambiguous classifications, reduce costs, and reduce the need for invasive bone marrow sampling. Cytogenetic re-assessment should still be performed when molecular response is suboptimal

Treatment outcome in a population-based, ‘real-world’ cohort of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia

textabstractEvaluations of the ‘real-world’ efficacy and safety of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia are scarce. A nationwide, population-based, chronic myeloid leukemia registry was analyzed to evaluate (deep) response rates to first and subsequent treatment lines and eligibility for a treatment cessation attempt in adults diagnosed between January 2008 and April 2013 in the Netherlands. The registry covered 457 patients; 434 in chronic phase (95%) and 15 (3%) in advanced disease phase. Seventy-five percent of the patients in chronic phase were treated with imatinib and 25% with a second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor. At 3 years 44% of patients had discontinued their first-line treatment, mainly due to intolerance (21%) or treatment failure (19%). At 18 months 73% of patients had achieved a complete cytogenetic response and 63% a major molecular response. Deep molecular responses (MR4.0 and MR4.5) were achieved in 69% and 56% of patients, respectively, at 48 months. All response milestones were achieved faster in patients treated upfront with a second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor, but ultimately patients initially treated with imatinib also reached similar levels of responses. The 6-year cumulative incidence of eligibility for a tyrosine kinase cessation attempt, according to EURO-SKI criteria, was 31%. Our findings show that in a ‘real-world’ setting the long-term outcome of patients treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors is excellent and the conditions for an attempt to stop tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy are met by a third of the patients