ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Hypertension: the Patient’s Perception: an assessment of the knowledge of disease, medication and lifestyle modification of hypertensive patients attending the out patients Department of the Ghana Hospital, Accra.

Background: Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practices is a crucial element of hypertension management because these are important factors in achieving blood pressure control. However little information is available in developing countries where hypertension has lately emerged as a major public health problem. Objectives: To assess the knowledge of hypertensive patients on their condition and management. Methods: Knowledge about disease, medication and life style modification of 100 hypertensive patients attending the out patients clinic of the police hospital was assessed using a 6 paged questionnaire. Results: 59% of respondents are not aware of the need for long term therapy, 27% do not know the benefits of therapy and 56% do not know the side effects of their drugs. 47% do run out of medication, 62% do not know the effects of smoking on hypertension and 28% seldom keep their appointments.69% had never received information about their condition and it’s management and 49% could not recall their most recent blood pressure values. Conclusion: Hypertensive’s are poorly informed about their condition and management. Key words: hypertension • patient knowledge • blood pressure control.

Source: KNUST
Hypoglycaemic activity and other pharmacological properties of tragia tennifolia (fam. euphorbiaceae)

The hypoglycaemic effect of Tragia tennfolia was studied in alloxan-induced diabetic rats, rats subjected to oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and rats subjected to a fasting plasma glucose test (FPG). An infusion of T. tennifolia insignificantly reduced (P > 0.05) glycaemic levels alongside glibenclamide (an oral hypoglycaemic agent) and metformin (an euglycaemic agent ) and insignificantly (P > 0.05) affected some diabetes related parameters (polyuria, polyphagia polydipsia, glucosuria and body weight) measured in alloxan-induced diabetes mellitus as compared to insulin. The area under the OGTT curve reduced significantly with the peak plasma glucose concentration reducing by 60 % on administration of Ttennfolia to normal rats. The FPG in normal rats was also reduced by 33.1 % after 5 hours. This indicates that an infusion of Tragia tennfolia has prominent hypoglycaemic effect in normal rats. The drug is effective in decreasing hyperglycaemia in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) at a dose level of 53 mg/kg but not in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Experiments on the isolated guinea-pig ileum, the rat annococcygeus muscle and the rat uterus preparations indicates that Tragia tennfolia has muscarinic, histaminic, α-adrenergic and some β-adrenergic receptor activity with its muscarinic activity possibly accounting for the hypoglycaemic effect. No acute toxic symptoms were observed after an oral administration of up to 8 g/kg of Tragia tennfolia extract and sub-acute studies revealed no damage to vital organs like the liver and kidney.

Source: KNUST
ICT adoption in the textile and jewelry industries for sustainable fashion: A systematic review

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adoption in manufacturing industries is gaining attention in academic discourse as a result of the undeniable improvement it has brought to industries in the past decades and the promising future it has for manufacturers that embrace it. The present study adds to the discourse from jewelry, textile, and fashion product manufacturing perspectives. With the PRISMA flowchart, data is gathered from the Scopus online database and analysed systematically to address research questions such as; what is the publication trend on ICT adoption in the jewelry and textile industries? How useful is ICT in the textiles and jewelry industries for sustainable fashion? How is the fashion industry sustained through textiles and jewelry making? The study reveals that technology adoption has helped the textiles and jewelry industries to meet market demand and sustain the fashion industry. Through digitalization, online marketing strategies have been adopted by firms to sustain the fashion industry. It is recommended that small-scale producers in the textile, jewelry and fashion industries should adopt technology to the fullest in their practices for a sustainable industry.

Source: KNUST
“I prefer a male nurse to a female nurse”: patients’ preference for, and satisfaction with nursing care provided by male nurses at the Komfo Anokye teaching hospital

Background: Although most male nurses join the profession for self-actualisation, the cultural and societal stereotyping of male nurses as “He-Man”, “gay” and “troublemakers”, and their marginalisation at the hospital during certain personal and intimate care procedures, tend to deepen the existing gender discrimination prevalent within the nursing profession. This study therefore assessed patients’ preference for, and satisfaction with nursing care provided by male nurses at the medical and surgical wards of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital [KATH]. Methods: An inferential cross-sectional study design, in which the prevalence of a condition among an identified population is determined, was used. Using convenience sampling, 150 respondents who meet certain practical criteria and are available and willing to participate were sampled. Data from a context-based research instrument on the opinion, preference and satisfaction of patients with male nursing were analysed using χ2 test, Mann Whitney U test, ordinal logistic regression and logistic regression. Results: The study indicates that more females than males had ever been attended to by a male nurse for the period considered by the study, and females described male nurses as polite and courteous and were comfortable with their treatment. Being single [OR = 0.111, 95% CI (0.013–0.928)] and professing Islamic faiths [OR = 36.533, 95% CI (2.116–630.597)] were functions of respondents’ preference for a male nurse. Significantly too, affiliating to a religious sect (OR = 2.347, 95% CI [0.076–1.630]) and being educated (OR = 1.387, 95% CI [0.040–0.615]), were associated with higher odds of falling in one of the higher categories of satisfaction with nursing care provided by male nurses as against the lower categories. Conclusion: Although marital status, religious affiliation and educational level were the significant predictors of patients’ preference for, and satisfaction with care provided by male nurses, the effect of the other variables should not be overlooked. The finding disproves assertions on the negative effect of religion on male nurses. It is recommended that public awareness be created on the role of male nurses in the healthcare delivery system to promote acceptance of gender diversity in the nursing profession.

Source: KNUST
Ideal cardiovascular health among Ghanaian populations in three European countries and rural and urban Ghana: the RODAM study

Cardiovascular health (CVH) is a construct defned by the American Heart Association (AHA) as part of its 2020 Impact Goal defnition. CVH has, until now, not been evaluated in Sub-Saharan African populations. The aim of this study was to investigate diferences in the prevalence of ideal CVH and its constituent metrics among Ghanaians living in rural and urban Ghana and Ghanaian migrants living in three European countries. The AHA defnition of CVH is based on 7 metrics: smoking, body mass index, diet, physical activity, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and fasting plasma glucose. These were evaluated among 3510 Ghanaian adults (aged 25–70 years) residing in rural and urban Ghana and three European cities (Amsterdam, London and Berlin) in the multi-centre RODAM study. Diferences between groups were assessed using logistic regression with adjustments for gender, age, and education. Only 0.3% of all participants met all 7 metrics of the AHA’s defnition of ideal CVH. Compared to rural Ghana (25.7%), the proportions and adjusted odds ratio (OR) of individuals who had 6–7 CVH metrics in the ideal category were substantially lower in urban Ghana, (7.5%; OR 0.204, 95% CI 0.15–0.29), Amsterdam (4.4%; 0.13, 0.08–0.19), Berlin (2.7%; 0.06, 0.03–0.11), and London (1.7%; 0.04, 0.02–0.09), respectively. The proportion of ideal CVH for the various metrics ranged from 96% for all sites in the smoking metric to below 6% in the diet metric. The proportion of ideal CVH is extremely low in Ghanaians, especially among those living in urban Ghana and Ghanaian migrants in Europe.

Source: KNUST
Ideation of selected natural objects for textile design using the computer

The development of textile designs has witnessed an enormous growth rate from periods when designs were solely made with hand drawing tools to the present day where computer-aided design software programmes have simplified and improved the processes. It is for this reason that this project explores the possibilities of generating motifs and forming textile designs from selected natural objects with computer aided software. It discusses other disciplines of design and the relevant features of the computer design software used in the project. The step-by-step procedure used in generating the motifs and designs with Adobe Photoshop 7.0, with the results and appreciation has been revealed and discussed. This project contains relevant basic design principles and provides step-by-step information for using the software in designing textile fabrics. The study shows that the computer with suitable design software can be used to manipulate any picture or sketch of an object to suit the designers own needs.

Source: KNUST
Identification and characterization of browse plants in Kumasi district, Ashanti region of Ghana

Inadequate nutrition is one of the most serious constraints to livestock production in the Sub-Saharan African Region. The importance of browse plants in overcoming feed shortage has long been recognised but not much has been done in evaluating their nutritional values. This study which was carried out in two phases, first aimed at identifying the various browse species used as fodder by livestock farmers in the Kumasi District of Ghana. This was followed by the nutritional analyses of the identified species. A 2-stage stratified sampling technique was adopted to delineate the district into nine zones. This was followed by random selection of two towns in each of the nine zones. Five (5) farmers were each interviewed with the help of questionnaires in each of the selected towns on browse utilization. Data was also collected on animal types, farming systems and feeding management over a 5-month period. The second phase entailed chemical analyses of the identified species in terms of crude protein, ether extract, detergent fibres and in vitro digestibility. Results of the survey showed that browse is utilized as a supplementary feed to a basal feed of dried peels of cassava and plantain. Fourteen (14) browse plants were identified as being commonly used. The most highly preferred species is Ficus exasperata with a preference index of Ficus umbellata (33.8%), Griffonia simplicifolia (30.0%), Baphia nitida (27.8%), Ficus leprieuri (27.8%) and Spondias mombin (25.6%) were also preferred but to lesser degrees. A1bizia zygia had the highest crude protein (CP) content of 32.0% but with a very low in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of 19.4%. Aichornea cordifolia with the lowest CP content of 13.4% had an appreciable IVDMD value of 41.4%. There was a weak positive correlation between crude protein content of the species and their digestibilities probably due to some anti-nutritive substances. Similarly, there were negative correlation between the detergent fibres and their digestibilities. Generally, the high levels of the detergent fibres (Neutral Detergent Fibre (NDF), Acid Detergent Fibre (ADF) and Lignin) negatively affected the rate of digestion. In ranking the browse plants as fodder, two factors were considered. These include farmer’s preference indices and chemical composition. Ficus exasperata was rated first as the most promising browse plant in the study area. The least ranked species were Albizia zygia and Thalia geniculata.

Source: KNUST
The ideation process: A study of a creative community

This research aims to explore ideation processes kente weavers involve themselves in while solving design problems and developing innovative ideas. The research is based on case study interactions with kente weavers in Ashanti Region (specifically Bonwire) and hypothesizes that among the population of weavers, there are different strategies for ideation that can provide important lessons for design students. These ideation processes may have already been identified and published by foreign authors and as such, this research seeks to draw parallels between already researched models and to pinpoint one or two out of the several which can best be adapted for an African context, particularly for design students

Source: KNUST
Identification and quantification of obsolete chemicals in Second-cycle institutions in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

Chemicals may be defined as a pure substance with definite compositions, characteristics and properties which occurs in nature or through chemical reactions. Chemicals used in Ghana can be categorized into bulk, fine chemicals and research chemicals. The imported ones are usually meant for practical work, demonstrations and for research in educational institutions. It is appropriate to state that not all chemicals used in our educational institutions for practical work and demonstrations are imported. Greater numbers of the chemicals purchased or donated to the educational institutions have short shelf life and may be characterized largely as poisons, hazardous or toxic. A major problem of concern that arises is that if the quantities of the chemicals found in the schools exceeds that required, little or no considerations are made on how to store the excess chemicals. This may lead to piling up of the excess chemicals over a period of time. These excess chemicals for which no immediate use is required are noted as Obsolete Chemicals. This research work focused on how to classify and quantify the obsolete chemicals in the selected second cycle schools in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The research enumerated the possible dangers that obsolete chemicals may pose to the laboratory personnel, the general public and to the environment. A total of 439 obsolete chemicals were recorded in this study of which 398 were classified and 41 were unidentified. Out of the 398 whose identity were detected and classified, 179, representing 44.97 percent of the identified were unlabeled while 219 representing 55.03 percent were labeled. The total weight of obsolete chemicals from all the schools was 168.2kg. Nkawie Senior High Technical School recorded the least value of 32.32kg whiles Afua Kobi Ampem Girls’ Senior High School recorded the highest value of 102.5kg which is twice as much as the sum of the weights recorded from the other two schools.

Source: KNUST
Identification of Factors that Cause Severity of Road Accidents in Ghana: A Case Study of the Northern Region.

The problem of deaths and injury as a result of road accidents is now acknowledged to be a global phenomenon. As a result authorities in virtually all countries of the world are now concerned about the growth in the number of people killed and seriously injured on their roads including Ghana. The study objective was to identify the variables that mainly contribute to accident severity in the Northern Region and to describe the impact of these variables. This study applied logistic regression to accident-related data collected from MTTU Northern Region traffic-police records in order to examine the contributing factors to accident severity. A total of 398 accident data from 2007-2009 was used. The accident severity (dependent variable) in this study is a dichotomous variable with two categories, Fatal or Non-fatal. Among the variables obtained from police-accident reports, two independent variables were found most significantly associated with accident severity; namely, Over loading and Obstruction.

Source: KNUST
Identification and quantification of obsolete chemicals in second cycle institutions in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

Chemicals may be defined as a pure substance with definite compositions, characteristics and properties which occurs in nature or through chemical reactions. Chemicals used in Ghana can be categorized into bulk, fine chemicals and research chemicals. The imported ones are usually meant for practical work, demonstrations and for research in educational institutions. It is appropriate to state that not all chemicals used in our educational institutions for practical work and demonstrations are imported. Greater numbers of the chemicals purchased or donated to the educational institutions have short shelf life and may be characterized largely as poisons, hazardous or toxic. A major problem of concern that arises is that if the quantities of the chemicals found in the schools exceeds that required, little or no considerations are made on how to store the excess chemicals. This may lead to piling up of the excess chemicals over a period of time. These excess chemicals for which no immediate use is required are noted as Obsolete Chemicals. This research work focused on how to classify and quantify the obsolete chemicals in the selected second cycle schools in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The research enumerated the possible dangers that obsolete chemicals may pose to the laboratory personnel, the general public and to the environment. A total of 439 obsolete chemicals were recorded in this study of which 398 were classified and 41 were unidentified. Out of the 398 whose identity were detected and classified, 179, representing 44.97 percent of the identified were unlabeled while 219 representing 55.03 percent were labeled. The total weight of obsolete chemicals from all the schools was 168.2kg. Nkawie Senior High Technical School recorded the least value of 32.32kg whiles Afua Kobi Ampem Girls’ Senior High School recorded the highest value of 102.5kg which is twice as much as the sum of the weights recorded from the other two schools.

Source: KNUST
Identification of the Critical Points For Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Contamination along the Cocoa Processing and Storage Chain in Ghana

Cocoa, a natural resource has shouldered the socio-economic life of Ghana through generation of employment and foreign exchange since its introduction into the country in 1815 by the Dutch Missionaries. Nonetheless, the industry faces some challenges; Exported cocoa has come under strict scrutiny due to elevation of the levels of a carcinogenic, mutagenic and an endocrine-disrupting compound termed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). Although the general post-harvest handling of cocoa has received some level of attention, how critical the contributions of the specific primary processing and storage stages along the chain are and the level of knowledge of farmers on the causes and effect of PAH contamination are not known. These situations shield areas that need intense focus and are assessed by this study to help in designing policies and strategies for quality improvement. The concentrations of PAH in cocoa sampled from Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Western-North, Western-South and Volta regions (cocoa-regions) of Ghana were analyzed using the Gas-Chromatography Mass Spectrometer. Also interview via questionnaires were used to ascertain knowledge of farmers and other handlers including purchasing officials with regards to PAH level. Results indicate that cocoa beans processing involves pods gathering and opening, bean fermentation and drying. It was followed by bagging and storage before shipment. PAH concentration was higher in the shell than the nib (although < EU‟s threshold limit of 2ppb) and occurred during drying (0.925 ppb), depot storage (1.486 ppb) and shipment (1.842 ppb). Inappropriate practices e. g drying near fire and vehicle roadside which promote contact of beans with smoke, petroleum products e. g. oil, diesel and petrol could account for this situation. Lack of knowledge by cocoa farmers due mainly to low level of education was also established as a critical factor that requires greater attention.

Source: KNUST
Identification of suitability indices of poultry litter for cowpea and maize production

Increase in poultry production in recent years has led to a corresponding increase in associated litter. In view of the declining fertility of the soil, especially in the pen-urban areas, farmers in these areas have identified and used poultry litter as soil amendment. The potential negative impact of poultry litter on the environment has increased the concerns of many scientists. The study therefore sought to obtain background information on the preparation, methods of application of poultry litter, identify indicators that reflect their potential as non point pollutant and to identify microbiological, chemical and physical characteristics of the litter that could serve as suitable indicators of maturity and suitability of poultry litter for crop production. A questionnaire survey was carried out among randomly selected poultry and crop farmers who use poultry litter as a soil amendment to obtain background information on the preparation and use of poultry litter. The following analyses were performed on 30 poultry litter samples of different ages: Total organic carbon using wet oxidation method, total nitrogen by the macro-kjedahl method, available phosphorus by spectrophotometnic methods and pH by the use of a Pye Unicorn pH meter. The temperature, colour and the moisture content of the litter samples were determined using conventional methods. The total and faecal coliform numbers in each sample were also determined and faecal coliforms in each sample isolated and identified using routine microbiological procedures. The suitability of litter for cultivation of cowpea and maize was determined in pot trials by incorporating known quantities of litter in soil for the growth of these crops. Cowpea and maize yields were determined on dry weight basis eight weeks after cultivation. Changes in physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics (time series) of heaped litter were determined over a period of eight weeks using nine and three months old litter heaps. The results indicate that there is no prior treatment of poultry by both poultry and crop farmers before application and therefore the potential to cause epidemiological problems and environmental pollution exist since potential pathogens like Salmonella, Shigella and E. coil were isolated from all untreated poultry litter samples. However, heaped litter samples showed no or little tendency to cause pollution problems. The potential of poultry litter as a soil amendment was confirmed. Cowpea seems to be more susceptible to the harmful effects of ‘immature’ poultry litter. The temperature in the pots three days after planting (T3 DAP), together with the age of the litter and the organic carbon content, could explain about 73% of the cowpea yield variations. An old and if possible heaped litter sample which is no longer generating heat can be considered as sufficiently matured for crop production.

Source: KNUST