ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Screening and nursing management of gestational diabetes in Ghana: Evidence-based recommendations

Objective: To describe the development of evidence-based recommendations for screening and nursing management of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in Ghana and present the recommendations. Design: A qualitative study. Setting: Military Health Institutions in Ghana. Measurements: Data from qualitative interviews with 7 women with GDM and 8 midwives, and an integrative literature review including available clinical practice guidelines on screening and nursing management of GDM, was used to develop the recommendations. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’ steps guided the recommendations’ development. Methodolog ical quality of the recommendations was assessed based on an adapted version of the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) tool. Six experts reviewed the recommen dations and an infographic in support of the recommendations. Findings: Two main recommendations and an infographic were developed, including: 1. Early screening and diagnosis of GDM, and 2. Involvement of women with GDM and their significant others during pregnancy, intrapartum and postpartum management, in a culturally and socio economically appropriate manner. Key conclusions: The recommendations and infographic, once reviewed and pilot tested, may assist midwives managing GDM in Ghana, with support of health institution management. Implications for practice: The study highlights the need for recommendations which can be used by midwives to manage GDM in Ghana. The recommendations are the first to be contextualized for the Ghanaian setting.

Source: UG
Screening for Cushing Syndrome at the Primary Care Level: What Every General Practitioner Must Know

Cushing's syndrome is a rare entity, and a high index of suspicion is needed for screening in a primary care setting. The clinical awareness of the primary care physician (PCP) to the highly indicative signs and symptoms such as facial plethora, proximal myopathy, reddish purple striae, and easy bruisability should alert him to look for biochemical evidence of Cushing's syndrome through any of the first-line screening tests, namely, 24-hour urinary free cortisol, overnight dexamethasone suppression test, or late-night salivary cortisol. Commonly used random cortisol measurements are unreliable; hence, general practitioners are encouraged to understand the use of these more reliable tests with increased sensitivity and specificity for screening Cushing's syndrome. In this write-up, we set out to increase awareness about the presentation of Cushing's syndrome and current recommended screening methods as well as their strengths and weaknesses. We relied mainly on the recommendations by the Endocrine Society Guidelines. © 2017 Ernest Yorke et al.

Source: UG
Screening for developmental delay among children attending a rural community welfare clinic in Ghana

Background: Periodic screening for developmental delays (DD) could avert the incidence of disability among children. However, such routine programme is yet to take off in rural welfare clinics in Ghana.Method: Mothers of under-5 children who were attending rural child welfare clinic participated in this study. The socio-demographic data of the mothers and their children were recorded. The children were screened to assess their gross motor skills, fine motor skills, communication skills, problem solving/cognition and social/personal interaction using Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Score below the threshold points on a developmental domain defines DD for a child. Data analysis involved percentages and frequency while Chi-square was performed to determine the associations between the selected socio-demographic risk factors and DD. Alpha value was set at p < 0.05.Results: Three hundren and thirty (330) children were screened and majority 60(18%), were found within the age range 3 months 1 day to 5 months 0 day. 251(76%) had normal weight (2.5 kg-3.5) while 26(7.6%) were underweight (<2.5 kg). Generally, 147(44.6%) of the children had DD in the different domains of the questionnaires. 41(12.4%) had DD in social/personal interaction while 19(5.8%) were delayed in the communication domain. Birth weight and duration of gestation were significantly associated with communication domain while the level of education of the mothers and duration of gestation were significantly associated with gross motor domain.Conclusion: An appreciable proportion of the children were found to experience developmental delays and the most prevalent occurence was in personal/social interaction. Birth weight, gestational age and maternal educational level provide insight into a link with communication and gross motor skills. © 2013 Bello et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Source: UG
Screening for developmental delay among children attending a rural community welfare clinic in Ghana

Abstract Background Periodic screening for developmental delays (DD) could avert the incidence of disability among children. However, such routine programme is yet to take off in rural welfare clinics in Ghana. Method Mothers of under-5 children who were attending rural child welfare clinic participated in this study. The socio-demographic data of the mothers and their children were recorded. The children were screened to assess their gross motor skills, fine motor skills, communication skills, problem solving/cognition and social/personal interaction using Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Score below the threshold points on a developmental domain defines DD for a child. Data analysis involved percentages and frequency while Chi-square was performed to determine the associations between the selected socio-demographic risk factors and DD. Alpha value was set at p&#8201;&lt;&#8201;0.05. Results Three hundren and thirty (330) children were screened and majority 60(18%), were found within the age range 3&#160;months 1&#160;day to 5&#160;months 0&#160;day. 251(76%) had normal weight (2.5&#160;kg-3.5) while 26(7.6%) were underweight (&lt;2.5&#160;kg). Generally, 147(44.6%) of the children had DD in the different domains of the questionnaires. 41(12.4%) had DD in social/personal interaction while 19(5.8%) were delayed in the communication domain. Birth weight and duration of gestation were significantly associated with communication domain while the level of education of the mothers and duration of gestation were significantly associated with gross motor domain. Conclusion An appreciable proportion of the children were found to experience developmental delays and the most prevalent occurence was in personal/social interaction. Birth weight, gestational age and maternal educational level provide insight into a link with communication and gross motor skills.

Source: UG
Screening for GJB2-R143W-Associated Hearing Impairment: Implications for Health Policy and Practice in Ghana

Genetic factors significantly contribute to the burden of hearing impairment (HI) in Ghana as there is a high carrier frequency (1.5%) of the connexin 26 gene founder variant GJB2-R143W in the healthy Ghanaian population. GJB2- R143W mutation accounts for nearly 26% of causes in families segregating congenital non-syndromic HI. With HI associated with high genetic fitness, this indicates that Ghana will likely sustain an increase in the number of individuals living with inheritable HI. There is a universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) program in Ghana. However, this pro gram does not include genetic testing. Adding genetic testing of GJB2-R143W mutation for the population, prenatal and neonatal stages may lead to guiding genetic counseling for individual and couples, early detection of HI for at-risk infants, and improvement of medical management, including speech therapy and audiologic intervention, as well as provision of the needed social service to enhance parenting and education for children with HI. Based on published re search on the genetics of HI in Ghana, we recommend that the UNHS program should include genetic screening for the GJB2-R143W gene variant for newborns who did not pass the initial UNHS tests. This will require an upgrade and resourcing of public health infrastructures to implement the rapid and cost-effective GJB2-R143W testing, followed by appropriate genetic and anticipatory guidance for medical ca

Source: UG
Screening for HIV and hepatitis C virus using saliva tests in a prison in Ghana. A study of the prevalence and the status of knowledge

Most research activities involve the use of molecular methods such as regular PCR (PCR), quantitative PCR (Q-PCR), genomic sequence and analysis using different software, genetic engineering, probe hybridization techniques, biological and molecular cloning, evaluation of immune markers for laboratory diagnosis of infections, serological assays involving the use of rapid tests, ELISA-based evaluations and immunofluorescent assay techniques.

Source: UG
Screening for tick‑borne and tick‑associated viruses in ticks collected in Ghana

Most research activities involve the use of molecular methods such as regular PCR (PCR), quantitative PCR (Q-PCR), genomic sequence and analysis using different software, genetic engineering, probe hybridization techniques, biological and molecular cloning, evaluation of immune markers for laboratory diagnosis of infections, serological assays involving the use of rapid tests, ELISA-based evaluations and immunofluorescent assay techniques.

Source: UG
Screening of 42 Bacillus isolates for ability to ferment soybeans into dawadawa

Forty-two cultures of Bacillus species isolated from soybean dawadawa were screened for their proteolytic activity on Skim Milk Agar, amylolytic activity on Starch Agar, and ability to grow on Soybean Agar. Distinct differences were observed between the cultures for all the criteria. Eleven isolates were selected for laboratory fermentation trials and each produced soybean dawadawa which was found acceptable by a taste panel. The pH of the samples, which increased from 6.37-6.58 to 8.22-8.85 during fermentation, were significantly different at P ≤ 0.05 for the different cultures. In the fermented samples, Bacillus counts exceeded 109 cfu/g, with the population of only one sample being significantly different at P ≤ 0.05. A market focus group familiar with soybean dawadawa selected Bacillus subtilis 24BP2 and B. subtilis FpdP2 as the best potential starter cultures. A taste panel found no significant differences in overall acceptance between soybean dawadawa either fermented spontaneously or with B. subtilis 24BP2 and also between soybean dawadawa fermented with either B. subtilis 24BP 2 or B. subtilis FpdP2.

Source: UG
Screening of some Ghanaian medicinal plants for phenolic compounds and radical scavenging activities

Extracts from a total of 37 medicinal plants from 15 families were screened for their phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities. Phenolic compounds identified were gallic, vanillic, syringic, caffeic, 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic, rosmarinic and p-coumaric acids. Gallic acid varied from 0.00 - 3.14 g/L, vanillic acid varied from 0.00 - 1.32 g/L, syringic acid varied from 0.00 - 3.40 g/L, caffeic acid varied from 0.00 - 2.04 g/L, 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid varied 0.00 - 2.64 g/L, rosmarinic acid varied from 0.00 - 1.90 g/L and p-coumaric acid varied from 0.00 - 2.23 g/L. DPPH radical scavenging action varied from 6.70 - 94.00 %. Extract from Alchornea cordifolia contained the highest amount of each of the seven different phenolic compounds. Extract of Turraca heterophylla did not contain any of the seven phenolic compounds. Extract of Ocimum canum exhibited the lowest level of DPPH radical scavenging activity of 6.70%. Lantana camara exhibited the highest radical scavenging activity of 94.40%. Multiple analyses suggest that 43.80 % of scavenging capacity of the herbal plants results from the contributions of the seven phenolic compounds. The study showed that scavenging effect of the plant extracts is not limited to phenolics but to other secondary metabolites. The study also showed that the Ghanaian medicinal plants used for the study can be good natural sources of phenolic compounds and antioxidants. © 2009 Phcog.net.

Source: UG
Screening of the efficacy of some commonly used antibiotics in Ghana

The objective of this study was to screen some commonly used antibiotics in Ghana for their efficacy in treating diseases so as to select sensitive organisms that can be used to design an assay in assessing their biological activity. The disc susceptibility test was used to screen stock antibiotics such as ampicilline, chloramphenicol, kanamycin and penicillin based antibiotics from different manufacturers (both local and foreign) which were obtained from different pharmacy shops against some bacteria species such as Salmonella typhi, Staphyloccus auresus and six strains of Escherichia coli. It was observed that both stock and field antibiotics (Antibiotics obtained from pharmacy shops for study) zone of inhibition were similar and compared with literature values. J916 (an E. coli isolate) and Salmonella typhi were found to be less sensitive to the penicillin-based antibiotics similar to literature values for both stock and pharmacy shop samples. This study revealed that the antibiotics produced by local and foreign pharmaceutical companies appear to be effective. In as much as this study demonstrate that, local and foreign pharmaceutical industries appear to be producing quality drugs, further studies are needed to substantiate this claim observed by this study, which was on a small scale. © 2009 Academic Journals Inc.

Source: UG
Screening Selected Solanum Plants as Potential Rootstocks for the Management of Root-Knot Nematodes ( Meloidogyne incognita )

Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) ( Meloidogyne spp.) represent agricultural pest of many economic crops, including tomatoes and potatoes. They advance a complex parasitic relationship with roots of tomato plants leading to modification of host structural and physiological functions in addition to significant yield loss. Resistance in solanaceous plants to RKNs has been identified and associated with the possession of Mi gene. The reaction of four Solanum rootstocks ( S. aethiopicum L., S. macrocarpon L., S. lycopersicum L.“Mongal F1,” and S. lycopersicum L. “Samrudhi F1”) was evaluated in pots and in a natural Meloidogyne spp.-infested field in a two-year trial (2015–2016), to identify RKN-resistant rootstock(s), which can be utilized in tomato grafting as a management measure against these nematodes. A rootstock’s reaction to RKNs was assessed using root gall scores (GSs), egg count/g of root, and reproductive factors (Rfs) at the end of 6 and 12 weeks after transplanting (wat) in infested fields, respectively. Solanum macrocarpon , S. aethiopicum , and Mongal F1 showed tolerant responses with reduced root galling and low to high reproductive factors in pot and field experimentation. Although Samrudhi F1 was resistant in both pot and field trials and consistently decreased nematode root galling (<1.00) and reproduction (Rf < 1.00), it failed to significantly increase yield, as compared with the highest yield obtained by the tolerant rootstock, Mongal F1 (870.3 and 1236.6 g/plant, respectively). Evaluation of the four rootstocks against four (0, 500, 1,000, and 5000) RKN inocula levels (Juveniles) showed no significant differences among the growth parameters (fresh and dry shoot and root weights). Root-knot nematode-susceptible tomato varieties, for example, Pectomech F1, a popular tomato variety in Ghana, can be grafted onto the RKN-resistant and RKN-tolerant rootstocks for increased yields.

Source: UG
Screening tomato genotypes for adaptation to high temperature in West Africa

Tomato is an important vegetable widely grown in the tropics due to its nutritional value and financial benefits for farmers. In Ghana, there is an undersupply caused by production ceasing entirely from October to May due to high temperatures. Heat stress has been reported to cause excessive flower drop leading to drastic reduction in yield; however, genotypic differences in heat tolerance exist in tomato. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to screen 19 different tomato genotypes for their tolerance to heat stress. The genotypes were selected because they were the commercial varieties widely available to farmers. The average day and night temperatures recorded were 33.8°C and 25.9°C, respectively. Cultivars were evaluated for heat adaptation traits such as flower drop and number of fruits. There were highly significant differences between the genotypes for numbers of fruits per plant, ranging from 1 to 27. Fruit yield per plant ranged from 26.7 to 571.8 g. The locally developed open pollinated cultivar 'Nkansah' had the highest fruit number and fruit yield per plant, but produced the smallest sized fruits of only 25.2 g. Cultivars with large size fruits were 'Queen', 'DV 2962' and 'Wosowoso' with a combined average of 85.7 g. The first two principal components (PCs) accounted for 79.7% of total variation. The first PC had positive weights for number of flowers per truss, number of fruits per plant, total number of flowers, yield per plant and number of trusses. PC2 explained 11% of the total variability among genotypes and had positive weights for all traits except number of days to flowering and weight per fruit. The highly contrasting material on traits such as flower and fruit production under high temperatures can be used for further research to elucidate the physiological responses conferring adaptation to heat stress. © 2013 © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Source: UG
Sea erosion at Ada Foah: Assessment of impacts and proposed mitigation measures

Sea erosion is a serious threat to life and property in coastal towns. The coastline of Ada Foah has been facing sea erosion and occasional flooding for several decades. This research investigated the socio-economic and environmental impacts of these geomorphic processes using social survey methods of data collection and shoreline change analysis. The main research tools used include questionnaire survey, interviews and Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) 4. 2 software using extracted shorelines of 1926 ground survey sheet and 2008 Landsat ETM+ image to determine shoreline change between the periods. The research identified some environmental and socio-economic impacts of the sea erosion on the coastal community, and these include the destruction of coastal ecosystems and infrastructure such as offices of institutions, school blocks and roads. The ramifications of these problems include homelessness, unemployment and poverty, which compel victims to migrate. Results of shoreline change analysis indicate that, the Ada Foah shoreline has been receding since 1926 to date with a mean change in shoreline of 280. 49 m and an average annual rate of 3. 46 m/year. To protect the coastline from the battering sea, a sea defence project, comprising sand nourishment and the construction of groynes, is being undertaken. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Source: UG
Sea-level rise and coastal biodiversity in West Africa: A case study from Ghana

Available evidence points to an eventual rise of sea level for coastal areas as a result of global warming. Sea-level rise would introduce or aggravate existing threats to the continued survival of the biodiversity of low-lying coastal areas. In Ghana and the coastal states of West Africa, vulnerable habitats include the strand zone, lagoons, wetlands, and intertidal sandy and rocky areas. Physical and biological parameters of several of these habitats would change substantially as a result of submersion and increased salinity regimes. This would adversely affect, for example, the habitats of water birds, nesting beaches of sea turtles, and the brackish-water dependent fauna and flora of the estuaries and lagoons. Species extirpation leading to local loss of genetic diversity is envisaged to affect fauna like ghost crabs (Ocypoda spp.) and the fiddler crab (Uca tangeri). Plants in this category include five species of true mangroves (Rhizophora racemosa, R. harrisonii, R. mangle, Avicennia germinans and Laguncularia racemosa) and their associates (Conocarpus erectus, Acrostichum aureum and the uncommon creeper, Phylloxerus vermicularis). Strategies that would mitigate or protect biodiversity of the coastal zone from the anticipated effects of rising sea level are advanced. The potential role of coastal infrastructures in biodiversity conservation is addressed. © Cambridge University Press 2005.

Source: UG
The search for plausible economic mineral deposits in the central parts of Tanzania; insight from stream sediment geochemistry, multivariate statistics and geostatistics

Exploration success relies heavily on the data obtained, but, significantly on the type of analytical methods deployed and the interpretation reached. A poorly analyzed data may obscure the true reflectivity of the data, and thus, compromised the decision made. A combined data processing approach of descriptive statistics, enrichment-depletion data normalization, geospatial elemental distribution, and stacked overlayed comparison of elements have been used in this study. The prime purpose was to demonstrate potential elemental anomalies, and predict areas of higher degree of confidence for subsequent exploration and mineral resource evaluation. One-hundred and sixty-six stream sediment samples from the Dodoma Region of the Tanzania Craton have been examined; to reveal potential elements or mineral commodity that warrant further explo ration. Forty-three elements of target were examined, as this craton is globally known for its rich earth mineral commodity. Our result indicates an enrichment of transition metals (TMs) (Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, Mn and Zn), High Field Strength Elements (Y, Th, U, Zr, Nb, Hf, Ta and Pb), Large Ion Lithophile Elements (Ba and Rb) and Rare-Earth Elements (La and Ce), Platinum Group Element (Pd and Pt) and other metals (Au, As, Bi, W, Mo and Li). Obtained results point to a likely poly-metallic sources and processes; as the underlain geology is marked largely by pegmatite and migmatites, and moderate proportion of fine clastic sedi mentary rocks, and minor volcanic rocks mostly to the northern domain. Theoretically, the Large Ion Lithophile Elements (LILEs), Rare-Earth Elements (REEs) and Platinum Group Elements (PGEs) are associated with felsic rocks or variable stages of plutonic granitization. Although, the TMs are often associated with mafic-ultramafic rocks, the linkage of such metals with organic-rich shales been reported elsewhere. These rocks may equally contribute to the occurrence of other metals as stated in this paper. Its intriguing to note a strong positive correlation of Li with TMs, possibility of Li control by mafic minerals in pegmatite bodies. This work proposes a polymetallic enrichment controlled by the area geology. To suggest an alluvial mining potential of the above elements in the area, resource evaluation is a requirement. The geospatial maps reveal areas worth focusing for subsequent exploration. The adopted geostatistical methods and other approach utilized in this research are effective, indicative of handling bulk exploration data for decision and subsequent exploration.

Source: UG