The Origins of the Swiss Banking Secrecy Law and Its Repercussions for Swiss Federal Policy

For all its notoriety and controversial character, the history of Swiss banking secrecy remains largely unexplored. This article traces the crucial phases of its development. It reveals that the maintenance and reinforcement of banking secrecy represented a major objective of Swiss authorities throughout the twentieth century, and exerted a substantial influence on Swiss domestic and foreign policy. It demonstrates that, contrary to popular opinion, the institution of Swiss banking secrecy did not arise from a desire to protect the funds deposited in Switzerland by Jewish victims of Nazi persecution but rather had substantially different origins. Moreover, this article shows that Swiss banking secrecy gave rise to tensions between Switzerland and the Great Powers, especially during and after World War II, when it poisoned relations between Switzerland and the United State

Total IgE and eotaxin (CCL11) contents in tears of patients suffering from seasonal allergic conjunctivitis.

BACKGROUND: To prospectively investigate patients with seasonal allergic conjunctivitis (SAC) during the pollen season and test associations between tears total IgE, eotaxin concentrations, and SAC severity. METHODS: Enrolled patients presented ocular symptoms and clinical signs of SAC at the time of presentation. Ocular itching, hyperaemia, chemosis, eyelid swelling, and tearing were scored, and the sum of these scores was defined as the clinical score. Conjunctival papillae were separately graded. We measured eotaxin concentration in tears by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and total tear IgE by Lacrytest strip. RESULTS: Among thirty patients (30 eyes), 11 showed neither tear IgE nor tear eotaxin, while 15 out of 19 patients with positive IgE values presented a positive amount of eotaxin in their tears (Fisher's test: p < 0.001). The mean eotaxin concentration was 641 ± 154 (SEM) pg/ml. In patients with no amount of tear IgE, we observed a lower conjunctival papilla grade than in patients whose tears contained some amount of IgE (trend test: p = 0.032). In the 15 patients whose tear eotaxin concentration was null, tear IgE concentration was 5.3 ± 3.5 arbitrary units; in the other 15 patients whose eotaxin was positive, IgE reached 21 ± 4.3 arbitrary U (Mann-Whitney: p < 0.001). We measured 127 ± 47 pg/ml eotaxin in patients with no history of SAC but newly diagnosed as suffering from SAC, and 852 ± 218 pg/ml eotaxin in patients with a known SAC (p = 0.008). In contrast, tear IgE concentrations of both groups did not differ statistically significantly (p = 0.947). CONCLUSIONS: If IgE and eotaxin secreted in tears are major contributors in SAC pathogenesis, they however act at different steps of the process

Palliative and supportive care: At the frontier of medical omnipotence

Summary Cancer patients have physical, social, spiritual and emotional needs. They may suffer from severe physical symptoms, from social isolation and a sense of spiritual abandonment, and emotions such as sadness and anxiety, or feelings of deception, helplessness, anger and guilt. In some of them, the disease is rapidly progressive and they ultimately die. Their demanding care evokes intense feelings in health care providers, the more so since these incurable patients represent a challenge, which can be characterized as one of ‘medical onmipotence'. It may be assumed that the way health care providers cope with these circumstances profoundly influences the way these patients are cared for. Attitudes regarding the emerging heterogeneous movement of palliative and supportive care and its different models of implementation can be viewed from this vantage point. Here we look at these interrelations and discuss the potential pitfalls if they are ignored and remain unexamine

L’’éole de la Dranse

Ce projet consiste à analyser les fonctionnalités d’un coffret gérant l’injection de l’énergie électrique produite par une éolienne sur le réseau, afin de réaliser une documentation détaillée de chaque élément, ainsi qu’une aide à la mise en service