The Unknown Risk of Vertical Transmission in Sleeping Sickness—A Literature Review

Children with human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) present with a range of generally non-specific symptoms. Late diagnosis is frequent with often tragic outcomes. Trypanosomes can infect the foetus by crossing the placenta. Unequivocal cases of congenital infection that have been reported include newborn babies of infected mothers who were diagnosed with HAT in the first 5 days of life and children of infected mothers who had never entered an endemic country themselves

Applications of yeast flocculation in biotechnological processes

A review on the main aspects associated with yeast flocculation and its application in biotechnological processes is presented. This subject is addressed following three main aspects – the basics of yeast flocculation, the development of “new” flocculating yeast strains and bioreactor development. In what concerns the basics of yeast flocculation, the state of the art on the most relevant aspects of mechanism, physiology and genetics of yeast flocculation is reported. The construction of flocculating yeast strains includes not only the recombinant constitutive flocculent brewer’s yeast, but also recombinant flocculent yeast for lactose metabolisation and ethanol production. Furthermore, recent work on the heterologous β-galactosidase production using a recombinant flocculent Saccharomyces cerevisiae is considered. As bioreactors using flocculating yeast cells have particular properties, mainly associated with a high solid phase hold-up, a section dedicated to its operation is presented. Aspects such as bioreactor productivity and culture stability as well as bioreactor hydrodynamics and mass transfer properties of flocculating cell cultures are considered. Finally, the paper concludes describing some of the applications of high cell density flocculation bioreactors and discussing potential new uses of these systems.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) – PRAXIS XXI - BD11306/97

Crossing the Rubicon: Is the use of a realisation company still a viable tax planning tool?

In this article the principles established in the Natal Estates, Berea West and Founders Hill cases read together with the relevant legislation and other related cases are analysed. The aim is to determine whether the interposition of a realisation entity when selling immovable property with the view to protecting the capital nature of receipts in respect of the property, is a viable tax planning tool for the 21st century. The Supreme Court of Appeal in all three cases applied the so-called “crossing the Rubicon†metaphor to determine the point when the realisation of a capital asset transforms into a scheme of profit-making and thus becomes taxable. The decisions in these three cases, if closely analysed, confirm that the courts have provided complimentary rather than conflicting viewpoints on how the “crossing the Rubicon†metaphor is applied in practice. It is concluded from the analysis that a realisation entity should be used only to realise an asset when there are compelling reasons, other than for pure tax planning purposes, for its use. This conclusion is\ reached because current legislation ensures that the appreciation in the value of the asset up to the point of the change in use, from capital to revenue, remains capital in nature and will thus be taxed as a capital gain under the Eighth Schedule of the Income Tax Act. In practice therefore, the use of a realisation entity should be considered only in circumstances where the protection of the capital nature of an asset for purely tax reasons is not the main reason for the interposition of a realisation company or any other intermediary entity, but is set up, for example, to administer a deceased or insolvent estate, or to comply with legislation. Any tax advantage gained in these circumstances can be regarded as an inadvertent consequence and thus there is a possibility that the tax advantages gained will not be regarded as income of a revenue nature

A large outbreak of cryptosporidiosis associated with a public water supply from a deep chalk borehole. Outbreak Investigation Team

Three hundred and forty-five confirmed cases were reported in a large waterborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in North Thames in the spring of 1997. The descriptive epidemiology, attack rates, a case control study, and the detection of oocysts in the water suggested strongly that the outbreak was associated with drinking unboiled tap water that originated from one deep chalk borehole. The 746,000 people living in the water distribution area were advised to boil their drinking water. Investigations did not reveal how oocysts entered the borehole. This is the first published report of a cryptosporidium outbreak caused by filtered borehole water and we believe it to be the largest outbreak due to groundwater to have been reported. Borehole supplies are regarded as relatively pure sources of water and this outbreak has implications for the future monitoring and treatment of drinking water extracted from boreholes