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The hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects more than 200 million people globally, with increasing incidence, especially in developing countries. HCV infection frequently progresses to chronic liver disease, creating a heavy economic burden on resource-poor countries and lowering patient quality of life. Effective HCV diagnosis, treatment selection, and treatment monitoring are important in stopping disease progression. Serological assays, which detect anti-HCV antibodies in the patient after seroconversion, are used for initial HCV diagnosis. Qualitative and quantitative molecular assays are used to confirm initial diagnosis, determine viral load, and genotype the dominant strain. Viral load and genotype information are used to guide appropriate treatment. Various other biomarker assays are performed to assess liver function and enable disease staging. Most of these diagnostic methods are mature and routinely used in high-resource countries with well-developed laboratory infrastructure. Few technologies, however, are available that address the needs of low-resource areas with high HCV prevalence, such as Africa and Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent policy initiatives in Hungary have gone a long way to establishing the necessary conditions for rapid growth and future economic prosperity.(1) A massive programme of privatisation has transferred an [...]

The article discusses tax provisions to be considered by businesses in Australia when preparing a succession plan that involves granting interests to either family members or to employees. Changes in the ownership percentage of shareholders can give rise to the potential forfeiture of losses. A business that is carried on through a trust should determine first whether the trust is a fixed or non-fixed trust, which will affect its ability to use a loss to claim a deduction.

The article focuses on issues to be considered when trying to unravel the complexities of international tax. It mentions tax issues to consider such as tax payable on business profits, tax payable on the repatriation of profits to Australia, and tax treatment of transactions between the Australian and foreign operations. It also mentions need for taxpayers should check any deferred tax assets (DTAs).

Identifying the moment when an insured's cause of action accrues against an insurer is fundamental to fixing the expiry of the limitation period. In Australia, there are conflicting authorities as to when such a cause of action accrues. Does time run from when the insurer denies liability to the insured? Or does time start running from the occurrence of an insured event, whether by the occurrence of an indemnified event or the crystallisation of the insured's liability to a third party? Carillion Construction Ltd v AIG Australia Ltd* 1 lends support to the former scenario: that an insured's cause of action accrues when the insurer denies liabiiity, in breach of the insurance policy. The weight of Australian authorities now appears in favour of this position, a clear divergence from English authority. Carillion also suggests that an insured's denial need not be formal, or made after a reasonable period in which to review the claim. Any clear indication of a denial may start the clock running. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vascular progenitor cells are desirable in a variety of therapeutic strategies; however, the lineage commitment of endothelial and smooth muscle cell from a common progenitor is not well-understood. Here, we report the generation of the first dual reporter mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) lines designed to facilitate the study of vascular endothelial and smooth muscle development in vitro. These mESC lines express green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the endothelial promoter, Tie-2, and Discomsoma sp. red fluorescent protein (RFP) under the promoter for alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA). The lines were then characterized for morphology, marker expression, and pluripotency. The mESC colonies were found to exhibit dome-shaped morphology, alkaline phosphotase activity, as well as expression of Oct 3/4 and stage-specific embryonic antigen-1. The mESC colonies were also found to display normal karyotypes and are able to generate cells from all three germ layers, verifying pluripotency. Tissue staining confirmed the coexpression of VE (vascular endothelial)-cadherin with the Tie-2 GFP+ expression on endothelial structures and smooth muscle myosin heavy chain with the α-SMA RFP+ smooth muscle cells. Lastly, it was verified that the developing mESC do express Tie-2 GFP+ and α-SMA RFP+ cells during differentiation and that the GFP+ cells colocalize with the vascular-like structures surrounded by α-SMA-RFP cells. These dual reporter vascular-specific mESC permit visualization and cell tracking of individual endothelial and smooth muscle cells over time and in multiple dimensions, a powerful new tool for studying vascular development in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For those non-resident taxpayers which already have a permanent establishment in Australia, changes to work practices in response to COVID-19 may prompt an evaluation of whether they still need to maintain a permanent establishment in Australia. COVId-19 has changed the workplace and may also affect permanent establishments. To assist taxpayers caught in this situation, the ATO has issued guidance stating that it will not deem a foreign business to have a permanent establishment in Australia if employees are temporarily located in Australia due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

We have explored the utility of pyrophthalones as violet-blue light filtering dyes in polymer matrices for wavelengths below 450 nm. Further, we have investigated the photodegradation of these molecules in thermoplastic media and the mechanisms behind their degradation. Finally, a range of additives have been explored to improve the photostability of these molecules to achieve the desired performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the case between the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Centro Properties Group for contavening some sections of the Corporations Act 2001. The author states that case is a victory for the campaign of ASIC for grater accountability in financial reporting. He notes that the case taught company directors how to exercise their duty of care and diligence.

The article focuses on the reduction of company tax rate for small businesses in the 2016-17 Budget of Australia. Topics discussed include reduction in the tax rate will clearly benefit companies, the tax paid on their profits is only part of the overall tax position, dividend imputation or franking system and tax position of shareholders may not be a major consideration for public companies with thousands of shareholders.

Simple Summary: Trastuzumab and radiation are used clinically to treat HER2-overexpressing breast cancers; however, the mechanistic synergy of anti-HER2 and radiation therapy has not been investigated. In this study, we identify that a subtherapeutic dose of trastuzumab sensitizes the tumor microenvironment to fractionated radiation. This results in longitudinal sustained response by triggering a state of innate immune activation through reduced DNA damage repair and increased tumor oxygenation. As positron emission tomography imaging can be used to longitudinally evaluate changes in tumor hypoxia, synergy of combination therapies is the result of both cellular and molecular changes in the tumor microenvironment. DNA damage repair and tumor hypoxia contribute to intratumoral cellular and molecular heterogeneity and affect radiation response. The goal of this study is to investigate anti-HER2-induced radiosensitization of the tumor microenvironment to enhance fractionated radiotherapy in models of HER2+ breast cancer. This is monitored through in vitro and in vivo studies of phosphorylated γ-H2AX, [18F]-fluoromisonidazole (FMISO)-PET, and transcriptomic analysis. In vitro, HER2+ breast cancer cell lines were treated with trastuzumab prior to radiation and DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) were quantified. In vivo, HER2+ human cell line or patient-derived xenograft models were treated with trastuzumab, fractionated radiation, or a combination and monitored longitudinally with [18F]-FMISO-PET. In vitro DSB analysis revealed that trastuzumab administered prior to fractionated radiation increased DSB. In vivo, trastuzumab prior to fractionated radiation significantly reduced hypoxia, as detected through decreased [18F]-FMISO SUV, synergistically improving long-term tumor response. Significant changes in IL-2, IFN-gamma, and THBS-4 were observed in combination-treated tumors. Trastuzumab prior to fractionated radiation synergistically increases radiotherapy in vitro and in vivo in HER2+ breast cancer which is independent of anti-HER2 response alone. Modulation of the tumor microenvironment, through increased tumor oxygenation and decreased DNA damage response, can be translated to other cancers with first-line radiation therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the charities that have been forced into rethinking their fundraising activities in the face of Covid-19 restrictions in the Australia. It mentions that goods and services tax and fundraising during the pandemic, along with mentions the charity's alternative fundraising activities.