An Analysis of the Nature and Impact of Legal Complexities Facing United States Corporations Considering Investment into the New South Africa

Due to sanctions imposed against South Africa’s Apartheid government, the South African economy suffered as little international investment was made in the country. With these sanctions lifted following the democratic elections of 1994, South Africa is now an alluring country for international investment. Despite this attractiveness, U.S. corporations face many legal concerns before entering the South African economy. An analysis of these issues is made in the context of American and South African law with solutions proposed in an effort to avoid deterring foreign investment. These concerns include political and non-economic risks that often hinder investment in the African continent, equal competition and market access for American corporations in South Africa, the adequacy of foreign intellectual property protection in South Africa, and taxes on such investment imposed by both the U.S. and South African governments

Persistence of anticancer activity in berry extracts after simulated gastrointestinal digestion and colonic fermentation

Fruit and vegetable consumption is associated at the population level with a protective effect against colorectal cancer. Phenolic compounds, especially abundant in berries, are of interest due to their putative anticancer activity. After consumption, however, phenolic compounds are subject to digestive conditions within the gastrointestinal tract that alter their structures and potentially their function. However, the majority of phenolic compounds are not efficiently absorbed in the small intestine and a substantial portion pass into the colon. We characterized berry extracts (raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants) produced by in vitro-simulated upper intestinal tract digestion and subsequent fecal fermentation. These extracts and selected individual colonic metabolites were then evaluated for their putative anticancer activities using in vitro models of colorectal cancer, representing the key stages of initiation, promotion and invasion. Over a physiologically-relevant dose range (0–50 µg/ml gallic acid equivalents), the digested and fermented extracts demonstrated significant anti-genotoxic, anti-mutagenic and anti-invasive activity on colonocytes. This work indicates that phenolic compounds from berries undergo considerable structural modifications during their passage through the gastrointestinal tract but their breakdown products and metabolites retain biological activity and can modulate cellular processes associated with colon cancer

Multiscale modelling of vascular tumour growth in 3D: the roles of domain size & boundary condition

We investigate a three-dimensional multiscale model of vascular tumour growth, which couples blood flow, angiogenesis, vascular remodelling, nutrient/growth factor transport, movement of, and interactions between, normal and tumour cells, and nutrient-dependent cell cycle dynamics within each cell. In particular, we determine how the domain size, aspect ratio and initial vascular network influence the tumour's growth dynamics and its long-time composition. We establish whether it is possible to extrapolate simulation results obtained for small domains to larger ones, by constructing a large simulation domain from a number of identical subdomains, each subsystem initially comprising two parallel parent vessels, with associated cells and diffusible substances. We find that the subsystem is not representative of the full domain and conclude that, for this initial vessel geometry, interactions between adjacent subsystems contribute to the overall growth dynamics. We then show that extrapolation of results from a small subdomain to a larger domain can only be made if the subdomain is sufficiently large and is initialised with a sufficiently complex vascular network. Motivated by these results, we perform simulations to investigate the tumour's response to therapy and show that the probability of tumour elimination in a larger domain can be extrapolated from simulation results on a smaller domain. Finally, we demonstrate how our model may be combined with experimental data, to predict the spatio-temporal evolution of a vascular tumour

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability

The cytotoxic effects of various types of berry extracts on HT29 cells.

<p>(A) Effects of IVD berry extract, (B) fermented berry extract at different dilutions in growth medium, (C) individual polyphenols- tyrosol (T), 3-(3′-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid (HPA), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA), 4′-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (HAA) at 1, 5 or 10 µg/mL concentrations. Data presented is mean of 3 independent experiments + SD. One-way ANOVA and Dunnett T test, * <i>p</i><0.05, significance is compared to media control (0 ug/mL) for A & C and against control fermentate in B. Phenol levels for 1∶10 dilution of fermented extract were raspberry 15.5, strawberry 13.9 and blackcurrant 12.4 µg/mL GAE.</p

Quantities of phenolic acids in fermented berry extracts.

a<p>Data expressed as mean values in μg/mL ± standard deviation. (*) indicates values significantly higher than Control figures at <i>p</i><0.05; n.d, not detected.</p

The anti-mutagenic effects of various types of berry extracts against fecal water-induced frameshift mutations in HT29 (G17 neo) cells.

<p>(A) Effects of IVD berry extracts, (B) berry fermentates. Data presented as mean relative mutation frequency of 3 independent experiments + SD. One-way ANOVA and Dunnett T test, * p<0.05, significance is compared to fecal water control for A and against control fermentate FW in B. Phenol levels for berry fermentates were raspberry 15.5, strawberry 13.9 and blackcurrant 12.4 µg/mL GAE.</p