Taxation Policies and Its Effect on the Growth of Small &Medium Size Enterprises in Cameroon in the Midst of the Ongoing Sociopolitical Crisis

Tax policies have a great role to play on the growth of small and medium size enterprises in developing countries and Cameroon in particular. The objective of this paper is aimed at assessing the effect of tax policies on the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in Bamenda Municipality, Northwest Region of Cameroon. Data for this study was collected with the help of questionnaires. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed to owners of small and medium-sized enterprises in Bamenda municipality, Northwest Region of Cameroon. The data collected was analyzed with the use of SPSS for descriptive statistics, OLS regression and ANOVA. The results reveals that tax policies, including value added tax (VAT), income tax, and excise tax, have a significant impact on the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Bamenda. The findings indicate that a unit increase in VAT corresponds to a 0.513 increase in the growth of SMEs, while the impact of income tax is relatively weaker with a 0.082 increase. Similarly, excise tax shows a moderate impact on the growth of SME with a 0.378 increase. Based on the findings, it was recommended that policymakers should carefully evaluate the VAT rates and consider implementing measures that promote a favorable business environment. This may involve reducing VAT rates for SMEs or introducing incentives and exemptions to alleviate the tax burden on these enterprises. Such measures can help stimulate economic activity and encourage SMEs to expand their operations. Keywords: Value added tax, income tax, excise tax, performance , Small and Medium size enterprise DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/14-14-03 Publication date:July 31st 202

Analysis of host cell binding specificity mediated by the tp0136 adhesin of the syphilis agent treponema pallidum subsp. Pallidum

Background Syphilis affects approximately 11 million people each year globally, and is the third most prevalent sexually transmitted bacterial infection in the United States. Inability to independently culture and genetically manipulate Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, the causative agent of this disease, has hindered our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of syphilis pathogenesis. Here, we used the non-infectious and poorly adherent B314 strain of the Lyme disease-causing spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, to express two variants of a known fibronectin-binding adhesin, Tp0136, from T. pallidum SS14 and Nichols strains. Using this surrogate system, we investigated the ability of Tp0136 in facilitating differential binding to mammalian cell lines offering insight into the possible role of this virulence factor in colonization of specific tissues by T. pallidum during infection. Principal findings Expression of Tp0136 could be detected on the surface of B. burgdorferi by indirect immu-nofluorescence assay using sera from a secondary syphilis patient that does not react with intact B314 spirochetes transformed with the empty vector. Increase in Tp0136-mediated adherence of B314 strain to human epithelial HEK293 cells was observed with comparable levels of binding exhibited by both Tp0136 alleles. Adherence of Tp0136-expressing B314 was highest to epithelial HEK293 and C6 glioma cells. Gain in binding of B314 strain expressing Tp0136 to purified fibronectin and poor binding of these spirochetes to the fibro-nectin-deficient cell line (HEp-2) indicated that Tp0136 interaction with this host receptor plays an important role in spirochetal attachment to mammalian cells. Furthermore, preincu-bation of these cell lines with fibronectin-binding peptide from Staphylococcus aureus FnbA-2 protein significantly inhibited binding of B314 expressing Tp0136. Conclusions Our results show that Tp0136 facilitates differential level of binding to cell lines representing various host tissues, which highlights the importance of this protein in colonization of human organs by T. pallidum and resulting syphilis pathogenesis

Mechanisms underlying firing in healthy and sick human motoneurons

International audienceIn an address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Cambridge, Professor Sherrington introduced the terms " motor neurone " and " the final common path, " the latter term implying that all motor commands converge onto the motoneuron which integrates the incoming information and passes the net information to the muscle for contraction (Sherrington, 1904). The relative ease of access of the spinal motoneuron made it feasible to set up techniques for investigating the physiological, biophysical and molecular properties of these neurons. It became the most investigated neuron of the CNS in the twentieth century and the information gained from studies on motoneurons formed the basis for examining the other neurons of the CNS. Since the compound action potential of a muscle unit is strictly related one-to-one to the action potential arriving from the innervating motoneuron, the statistical analysis of muscle unit action potentials provides an investigator with an elegant way to probe the properties of motoneurons in behaving humans. In the following review the terms motoneuron and motor unit might be used interchangeably. Different aspects of human motoneuron investigations in health and disease are presented in 16 articles of this topic which are summarized below. An increase in the net excitatory synaptic input to the motoneuron pool results in an increase in the level of muscle contraction by recruitment of additional motor units (MUs) and an increase in firing rates of the already recruited units (Milner-Brown et al., 1973; Henneman et al., 1974). The principle of orderly recruitment of motoneurons by size was originally proposed by Henneman (1957) but was later questioned by other researchers presenting examples of selective, rather than orderly recruitment (e.g., Smith et al., 1980). These controversies are assessed by Bawa et al. (2014), and the opinion unifying the concept of orderly recruitment is presented. In humans, increases in firing rates of motor units have been shown to follow the " onion skin " pattern at lower levels of contraction, meaning that the lower-threshold motor units discharge with higher rates than higher-threshold ones. However, studies performed on the whole range of muscle forces indicated that for higher force levels the motor unit firing rate follows a " reverse onion skin " pattern. Hu et al. (2014) decided to approach this problem using small surface electrodes and step increases in force instead of the " ramp and hold " protocols used by previous authors. They showed that the " onion skin " pattern was preserved until 15% of maximal voluntary contraction, and from their results predict this pattern to be valid for the whole range of muscle forces, which is not supported by the previous published works. However, the reported rate saturation of the MUs discharging with higher rates implies that at the higher forces the " reverse onion skin " pattern may be expected. In another paper, Duchateau and Baudry (2014) show that during ballistic contractions the maximal discharge rates are higher than those observed in ramp contractions. It should be noted, however, that during ballistic contractions one deals with instantaneous rates, while during ramp and hold contractions one refers to tonic firing rates defined as the averag

Adolescents’ experiences and perceptions of dementia

Objectives: There is a lack of understanding about how adolescents perceive dementia, and what their dementia related experiences are. Without such information, it is hard to make a case for the need to raise awareness of dementia in adolescents, and the best strategies to achieve this. Methods: In a cohort of 901 adolescents (aged 13-18) from the South East of England, we explored what the experiences and perceptions of dementia were using a series of questionnaires. Descriptive data of individual items were reported, comparing differences between genders. Results: The adolescents within this study tended to have positive or neutral attitudes towards dementia, though there was evidence that a proportion of adolescents had misconceptions or held negative attitudes (e.g. 28.5% of adolescents disagreed with the statement “In general, I have positive attitudes about people with dementia”). We also identified that the adolescents had a range of experiences of dementia including providing some form of care for someone with dementia (23.2%), though most had indirect contact with dementia through TV and movies (77.3%), or adverts (80.2%). Females nearly always had better attitudes towards dementia and had significantly more contact with dementia. Conclusions: Considering that adolescents are already forming negative attitudes and misconceptions of dementia, it is important that we raise awareness about dementia in this age group

Novel method for gelatin extraction of various local fish using High Pressure Processing (HPP)

Gelatin from fish skin is known to be an alternative source for mammalian gelatin. However, it has weaker properties compared to bovine and porcine gelatin, which limits its use in the industry. The conventional method for fish gelatin extraction requires long production time and could cause serious water pollution and chemical treatments are often being used to enhance the yield of fish gelatin and its properties but it may affect the amino acid content of the gelatin. In this regard, High-Pressure Processing (HPP) is a novel method suggested for fish gelatin extraction. The HPP method is classified as green technology as it requires low electricity throughout the process. This study will discuss the impact of HPP the technique gelatin extracted from fish skin. Skins from four types of fish, namely red tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), black tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), grouper (Epinephelus areolatus) and threadfin bream (Nemipterus tambuloides), were used. High pressure was applied at either pre-treatment in citric acid solution or during thermal extraction; and the pressure was maintained at 250 MPa with pressure holding time of 10 minutes and 18 hours of water extraction. Gelatin extract from traditional acid-base method was prepared as a standard for comparison. The study found that there was an increment in the yield of gelatin and the concentration of gelatin extract, and the pre-treatment time was also reduced

Effectiveness of Nanohydroxyapatite dentrifice and fluoridated dentrifice on enamel surface roughness after orthodontic debonding: An in vitro study

BACKGROUND: Bonding and debonding procedures in fixed orthodontic treatment cause irreversible changes on the enamel surface which are important when they occur on the most resistant outer layer. Studies have shown that synthetic apatites like conventional hydroxyapatite (CHAP) and amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) have been suggested to repair the damaged enamel, which showed different dimensions morphological characters by which their repairing properties on the enamel surface are compromised. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this in-vitro study was to assess the effectiveness of Nanohydroxyapatite dentrifice and fluoridated dentrifice on enamel roughness after orthodontic debonding. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Human premolars extracted and enamel were cleaned to assess initial surface roughness by Non contact 3D profiler. 3M stainless steel premolar bracket were placed and excessive resin was removed and stored in artificial. Surface roughness were registered again after debonding the brackets. Samples of group I brushed manually with Nanohydroxyapatite (NHAP) toothpaste and Group II brushed with standard fluoride toothpaste for 20s for 10 days. Third roughness parameters registered for these two groups. RESULTS: Data showed that there was significant interaction between the treatment and time variables for all roughness parameters between these two grops. Flouride group showed slight decrease in roughness following treatment whereas NHAP group showed a significant reduction of enamel roughness after treatment. CONCLUSION: NHAP dentifrice with the protocol used in the study showed decrease in all surface roughness parameters than the fluoride dentifrice treated group and this difference was statistically significant

Age-Related Differential Stimulation of Immune Response by Babesia microti and Borrelia burgdorferi During Acute Phase of Infection Affects Disease Severity

Lyme disease is the most prominent tick-borne disease with 300,000 cases estimated by CDC every year while ~2,000 cases of babesiosis occur per year in the United States. Simultaneous infection with Babesia microti and Borrelia burgdorferi are now the most common tick-transmitted coinfections in the U.S.A., and they are a serious health problem because coinfected patients show more intense and persisting disease symptoms. B. burgdorferi is an extracellular spirochete responsible for systemic Lyme disease while B. microti is a protozoan that infects erythrocytes and causes babesiosis. Immune status and spleen health are important for resolution of babesiosis, which is more severe and even fatal in the elderly and splenectomized patients. Therefore, we investigated the effect of each pathogen on host immune response and consequently on severity of disease manifestations in both young, and 30 weeks old C3H mice. At the acute stage of infection, Th1 polarization in young mice spleen was associated with increased IFN-γ and TNF-α producing T cells and a high Tregs/Th17 ratio. Together, these changes could help in the resolution of both infections in young mice and also prevent fatality by B. microti infection as observed with WA-1 strain of Babesia. In older mature mice, Th2 polarization at acute phase of B. burgdorferi infection could play a more effective role in preventing Lyme disease symptoms. As a result, enhanced B. burgdorferi survival and increased tissue colonization results in severe Lyme arthritis only in young coinfected mice. At 3 weeks post-infection, diminished pathogen-specific antibody production in coinfected young, but not older mice, as compared to mice infected with each pathogen individually may also contribute to increased inflammation observed due to B. burgdorferi infection, thus causing persistent Lyme disease observed in coinfected mice and reported in patients. Thus, higher combined proinflammatory response to B. burgdorferi due to Th1 and Th17 cells likely reduced B. microti parasitemia significantly only in young mice later in infection, while the presence of B. microti reduced humoral immunity later in infection and enhanced tissue colonization by Lyme spirochetes in these mice even at the acute stage, thereby increasing inflammatory arthritis

Growth responses of NaCl stressed rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants germinated from seed in aseptic nutrient cultures supplemented with proline

Negative impact of salinity on plant germination is significant because of abundance of Na+ in culture medium, which causes growth inhibition. Effect of salinity (NaCl) in the presence of proline was assessed in rice (Oryza sativa L.) variety Khushbo-95 at seedling stage. Seeds were cultured on MS0 (MS basal medium), MS1 (MS0 + 100 mM NaCl) and MS2 (MS1 + 5 mM proline) for 20 days. Seedlings and its biomass decreased in saline culture. Similarly, total protein and sugar contents also decreased, while reducing sugars and proline contents increased. These parameters were observed to be slightly adverse in cultures supplemented with proline (MS2) and NaCl (MS2). Among cultures, leaf demography (cell size) was affected significantly; this may be the reflection of accumulation of proline, Na+ and Cl- and exclusion of K+ in developed rice seedlings.Key words: Oryza sativa L., seedling biomass, epidermal cells, proline content