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Students are an important stakeholder group in higher education institutions (HEIs). This paper aims to examine students’ perceptions of the most important skills for a successful career in the accounting profession, and to identify how these perceptions vary among students with different academic profiles. Focusing on undergraduate and masters students, the analysis of the data indicate that perceptions differ according to students’ educational accounting profiles (level of education, professional experience, and business school excellence). The results show that students are clearly aware of the skill sets required by recruiters, but assign them varying levels of importance. The results have practical implications for academia (enhancing the perceived skills to meet objectives), recruiters (contributing to shaping the skills of aspirants), and students (matching their views with that of industry requirements). info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health problem. Because Tumour Necrosis Factor (TNF) seems to have an important role in immune response to HCV infection, suppression by TNFi (TNF inhibitors) may pose a potential worsening of chronic HCV infection. We report our experience with 3 cases of patients with chronic HCV infection and advanced liver disease, with different Rheumatic diseases, treated with a TNFi, etanercept (ETN), for a period ranging from 4 months to 4 years without hepatitis C treatment and, in two of them, concomitant therapy with direct-acting antiviral agents (DAA) and afterwards. Although increasing number of clinical reports support the short-term safety and efficacy of TNFi in patients with HCV, some uncertainties remain regarding long-term. These cases suggests that the risk of HCV reactivation related to TNFi remains low even without concomitant antiviral therapy. Nevertheless, a strict collaboration between rheumatologists and gastroenterologists/hepatologists. Our results also showed a good tolerance and efficacy when used concomitantly the new direct-acting antivirals drugs with ETN.

Introduction: We aimed to replicate a recent study which showed higher genetic risk load at 15 loci in men than in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This difference was very significant, and it was interpreted as indicating that men require more genetic susceptibility than women to develop SLE. Methods: Nineteen SLE-associated loci (thirteen of which are shared with the previous study) were analyzed in 1,457 SLE patients and 1,728 healthy controls of European ancestry. Genetic risk load was calculated as sex-specific sum genetic risk scores (GRS(s)). Results: Our results did not replicate those of the previous study at either the level of individual loci or the global level of GRS(s). GRS(s) were larger in women than in men (4.20 ± 1.07 in women vs. 3.27 ± 0.98 in men). This very significant difference (P < 10(-16)) was more dependent on the six new loci not included in the previous study (59% of the difference) than on the thirteen loci that are shared (the remaining 41%). However, the 13 shared loci also showed a higher genetic risk load in women than in men in our study (P = 6.6 × 10(-7)), suggesting that heterogeneity of participants, in addition to different loci, contributed to the opposite results. Conclusion: Our results show the lack of a clear trend toward higher genetic risk in one of the sexes for the analyzed SLE loci. They also highlight several limitations of assessments of genetic risk load, including the possibility of ascertainment bias with loci discovered in studies that have included mainly women.

The authors review the practical aspects of biological therapy use for rheumatoid arthritis patients, commenting safety issues before and after treatment initiation and the best treatment strategies to optimize efficacy.

The authors describe two clinical cases of cryoglobulinemia. A 70 years old woman, having skin ulcers on lower limbs, arthralgias, paresthesias and constitutional symptoms, for about 10 months. Exams revealed mild anemia, elevation of the biological parameters of inflammation and aminotransferases, positive cryoglobulin and rheumatoid factor in serum, and a severe reduction in C4 complement fraction. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) serology was negative. Idiopathic mixed cryoglobulinemia was diagnosed and corticosteroid therapy started. Given the lack of response, cyclophosphamide and plasmapheresis were added. Two weeks later the patient died in septic shock. The second case refers to a 41 years old female, with untreated hepatitis C who developed over a 6 month period petechiae and livedoid lesions on the lower limbs, peripheral neuropathy, and constitutional symptoms and was admitted with intestinal necrosis. Exams were consistent with the diagnosis of mixed cryoglobulinemia associated, with HCV. She started therapy with ribavirin and pegylated interferon-alpha, with improvement.

The main task of the ATLAS Tile calorimeter Detector Control System (DCS) is to enable the coherent and safe operation of the calorimeter. All actions initiated by the operator, as well as all errors, warnings and alarms concerning the hardware of the detector are handled by DCS. The Tile calorimeter DCS controls and monitors mainly the low voltage and high voltage power supply systems, but it is also interfaced with the infrastructure (cooling system and racks), the calibration systems, the data acquisition system, configuration and conditions databases and the detector safety system. The system has been operational since the beginning of LHC operation and has been extensively used in the operation of the detector. In the last months effort was directed to the implementation of automatic recovery of power supplies after trips. Current status, results and latest developments will be presented.

The subject of this presentation is to describe the Detector Control System (DCS) implementation for Tile Calorimeter sub-detector. It describes hardware layout and software components for main, infrastructure related and sub-detector calibration systems. It discusses implementation of the top level software Finite State Machine (FSM)and discusses state models of FSM objects. Presentation shows usage of Configuration and Conditions Data Bases, for Tile Calorimeter DCS.

The aim of this study was to access the maintenance of therapeutic response in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) receiving infliximab, after prolongation of the interval between infusions.In AS patients with sustained therapeutic response to infliximab administered every six weeks, a prolongation of the interval between infusions was proposed. The therapeutic response was evaluated using Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), pain, stiffness, patient's global evaluation and acute phase reactants (ESR and CPR).Twenty patients participated in the study. Sixteen were male, with a mean age of 40.3 +- 10.9 years and mean disease duration of 12 +- 9.4 years. The initial BASDAI was 59.5 +- 22.8 and initial BASFI 50.7 +- 27. The interval between infusions was lengthened to 8 +- 1 weeks (minimum 7; maximum 10) and this change occurred between 12 and 142 weeks (median 21) of treatment. The mean followup after changing the therapeutic regimen was 86 +- 45 weeks. Sixty-five percent (13/20) of the patients maintained an adequate response.Two thirds of AS patients with sustained therapeutic response to infliximab administrated every six weeks maintained an adequate response with prolongation of interval between infusions. Therefore the increase of the interval between infusions seems to be an adequate option in selected patients.

OBJECTIVE: Premature atherosclerosis is well-documented both in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients, but cardiovascular (CV) risk is particularly high in lupus women. Although conventional CV risk factors do not fully explain the excessive risk in inflammatory diseases, they remain major contributors to atherosclerosis. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether CV risk factors are differentially associated with SLE and RA. METHODS: One hundred women with SLE, 98 with RA and 102 controls matched on age and without overt CV or renal disease were assessed for the presence of Framingham (hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, low HDL, diabetes, smoking) and other CV risks (atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), insulin resistance, obesity, central obesity, metabolic syndrome, uric acid, sedentarism, hypothyroidism and family history of premature CV disease). RESULTS: Modifiable CV risk factors are highly prevalent and occur more frequently in SLE and RA than in age-matched controls. Some differences in Framingham risk factors were found between SLE and RA, with hypertension being more common in young lupus women, hypercholesterolemia more frequent in RA and low HDL-C more frequent in SLE. However, the estimated 10-year Framingham CHD risk or the Reynolds Risk Score was comparable in both diseases. Although hypercholesterolemia was more frequent in RA, lupus women display a more atherogenic lipid profile, with significantly lower HDL-C levels (56.5±16 mg/dl versus 63.7±18; p=0.005), and more cases above the high risk cutpoints for cholesterol/HDL-C (14% versus 4.1%; p=0.01) and for AIP (15% versus 6.1%; p=0.03). Also, uric acid levels are higher in SLE women (4.8±1.5 mg/dl) than in RA (4.1±1.1 mg/dl), p=0.001. On the other hand, insulin resistance is significantly higher in women with RA as compared with SLE (median HOMA-IR 3.5 [6.4]) versus 0.72 [2.5]; p