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After doggedly opposing any increase in exchange of information on tax matters for several decades, both Liechtenstein and Switzerland have made significant concessions over recent years. However, the two countries have reacted rather differently to international pressure: while Liechtenstein has adopted a more proactive approach, offering far‐reaching bilateral deals to several major economies, Switzerland has been slow to react to international pressure, despite calls for a more proactive strategy by its financial services industry. We suggest that these differences have a range of causes; in Liechtenstein, in particular, the pressure was more evenly distributed, thus allowing the financial services industry to close ranks and use its privileged access to the government to shape the government's response decisively. By contrast, there was internal division in the Swiss financial services industry and it was soon on the back foot in public debate, eventually losing control over the issue.

Nasopharyngeal secretions (NPS) collected by a mucus extractor from more than 1000 children with respiratory tract infections (including otitis) and aged from newborn to 10 years were investigated for the presence of viral antigens. The antigens were detected by an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) as originally described by Sarkkinen and coworkers (J. din. Microbiol. 13 (1981) 2158) Antigens of the following viruses could be found: RSV, Adeno, Parainfluenza 1, 2, 3, Influenza A and B. The study period was one year; an etiological diagnosis could be achieved within 24 h in each instance. Viral antigens could be demonstrated in 25 % from all NPS samples studied. RSV infection was diagnosed most frequently; RSV antigens being present in about 46% from all positive specimens, followed by Parainfluenza 3 (28 %) and Adenovirus (13 %). Clinically a pronounced association was found between RSV infection and lower respiratory tract disease in particular in infants less than 1 year old. A croup syndrome was often observed during Parainfluenza 3 infection, whereas tonsillitis and pharyngitis most frequently were due to Adenovirus infection. Studies on the differential tissue specificity of two variants of the minute virus of mice R. Sahli and B. Hirt ISREC, CH-1066 EpalingesThe prototype strain of the minute virus of mice, MVM(p), grows in fibroblasts. A variant, MVM(i), grows in lymphocytes and is immunosuppressive in vitro. To determine the part of the MVM genome which is responsible for the differential tissuespecificity, we have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of the genome of MVM(i) and compared it to that of MVM(p). We have also constructed hybrid viruses containing complementary parts of the MVM(p) and MVM(i) genomes, and tested their respective tissue-speciflcities. Major nucleotide differences are found in the 5' end of the viral genomes. In agreement with this fact, preliminary experiments indicate that the tissue-specific determinants of MVM(p) and MVM(i) are also found in this region. Comparison of Sendal virus and influenza virus surface glycoproteins D. Kolakofsky, B. Blumberg, C. Giorgi, L. Roux and K. Rose Dept. of Microbiology and Medical Biochemistry, University of Geneva, C.M.U., CH-1211 GenevaThe nucleotide sequences of the Sendal virus (SV) F and HN surface glycoprotein genes were determined. The deduced primary structure of the proteins, when analyzed on a hydropathy plot, showed that the F protein was anchored in the membrane at its C-terminus but that the HN protein was unusually anchored in the opposite orientation. A similar situation exists for the two influenza virus (FLU) surface glycoproteins. Since the two SV and the two FLU glycoproteins share the same three activities (hemagglutinin, neuraminidase, fusion), their aa sequences were compared for homology. Limited but statistically significant homology was detected suggesting that SV and FLU shared common ancestry. The data further suggests that intragenic rearrangement as well as gene concatenation has taken place during this evolution. ...

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