ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
A Systematic Review Of The Efficacy Of Theories Used To Understand Farmers’ Technology Adoption Behavior In Lower-To-Middle-Income Countries

A systematic review was conducted to identify the relevant theoretical approaches used to explain farmer technology adoption in low- and middle-income countries (LMICS), and their strengths and weaknesses. The Scopus and Web of Science databases were searched. 77 articles were finally included. The analysis was based on the following categorization of the theoretical approaches applied: (1) Diffusion theories, (2) User acceptance theories, (3) Decision-making theories, and (4) Personality theories, and (5) organizational structure theories. The analysis indicated that diffusion theories predicted technology adoption but excluded social determinants. User acceptance theories predicted social determinants of adoption intention but not behaviors. Decision-making theories identified measurement variables related to different adoption behaviors but did not consider influential psychological factors, implying that only economic factors affected adoption behavior). Personality theories were sometimes complex, resulting in weak predictability of adoption and behaviors. Organizational structure theories emphasized social structure variables but included variables not relevant to the investigation of specific adoption practices. In conclusion, the predictive and explanatory capability of different theoretical approaches depended on the context of agricultural technology adoption.

Source: UG
A systematic study of the effect of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide on the thermal degradation behavior of acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber in air and nitrogen media

Thermal degradation of acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR)-graphene oxide (GO)/reduced graphene Oxide (G) composites (NBR-GO/G) was studied in air O2(g) and nitrogen N2(g) media at ∼800°C, using Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA/DTG). The char yield of the composites was high the in N2(g) medium. This was associated with lower weight loss (%) and higher maximum degradation temperatures, Tmax(°C). Doyle simple kinetic approach was used for the first time to estimate the degradation kinetics of the NBR-GO/G composites and large amounts of activation energy Ea (KJ/mol) was observed, particularly for the NBR-GO composites. In O2(g) medium, severe degradation of NBR occurred irrespective of the GO/G-filler content. This suggested that insignificant char yield was produced to protect the scission of the NBR backbone, as decomposition of the main chain seemed to have been accelerated by the high oxygenated moieties (C–O–C, –O–C=O and O–H) dec orating GO/G-sheets. For instance, NBR showed ∼89, ∼21 and ∼86 % weight residue, Wr (%) than G0.1, G0.5 and G1 respectively and ∼154, ∼350, ∼92 % higher than the respective GO0.1, GO0.5 and GO1 samples. Although, NBR-G recorded higher Wr(%) than NBR-GO, NBR-GO generally slowed the degradation of NBR than NBR-G composites, possibly due to the presence of high concentration of interactions (NBR—Sx—GO—S—NBR and NBR— O—Hσ +—N σ −—C—NBR) which raised the Ea (KJ/mol) barrier for decomposition. The high thermal stability and compression set (%) properties of NBR-GO/G composites obtained as compared to pure NBR indicated that solution processing techniques used in this current work was very effective than those compounded with melt mixing methods or with GO/G functionalized nanoparticles. Therefore, this present study provides insights on tailoring rubber-graphene based materials for thermally harsh and high pressure applications such as; oil/gas drilling hose, oil/gas seals, gasket and tire tread materials.

Source: UG
Systemic bacteraemia in children presenting with clinical pneumonia and the impact of non-typhoid salmonella (NTS).

BACKGROUND: The diagnosis and antimicrobial treatment of pneumonia in African children in the absence of diagnostic means such as x-ray facilities or microbiological laboratories relies primarily on clinical symptoms presented by the patients. In order to assess the spectrum of bacterial pathogens, blood cultures were performed in children fulfilling the clinical criteria of pneumonia. METHODS: In total, 1032 blood cultures were taken from children between 2 months and 5 years of age who were admitted to a rural hospital in Ghana between September 2007 and July 2009. Pneumonia was diagnosed clinically and according to WHO criteria classified as "non-severe pneumonia" and "severe pneumonia" ("severe pneumonia" includes the WHO categories "severe pneumonia" and "very severe pneumonia"). RESULTS: The proportion of bacteriaemia with non-typhoid salmonella (NTS) was similar in children with pneumonia (16/173, 9.2%) compared to children hospitalized for other reasons (112/859, 13%). NTS were the predominant organisms isolated from children with clinical pneumonia and significantly more frequent than Streptococcus pneumoniae (8/173, 4.6%). Nine percent (9/101) of children presenting with severe pneumonia and 10% (7/72) of children with non-severe pneumonia were infected with NTS. Nineteen out of 123 NTS isolates (15%) were susceptible to aminopenicillins (amoxycillin/ampicillin), 23/127 (18%) to chlorampenicol, and 23/98 (23%) to co-trimoxazole. All NTS isolates were sensitive to ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin. CONCLUSION: In Sub-saharan Africa, sepsis with NTS should be considered in children with symptoms of pneumonia and aminopenicillins might often not be the adequate drugs for treatment.

Source: UG
Systemic suppression of interferon- responses in Buruli ulcer patients resolves after surgical excision of the lesions caused by the extracellular pathogen Mycobacterium ulcerans

The Department of Immunology conducts research in the field of immunology of infectious and non-infectious diseases. The Department has the overall goal of contributing knowledge to better diagnosis, management, control and prevention of infectious and non-infectious diseases in Ghana and worldwide. This is consistent with the overall strategy of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and in line with the strategy of the College of Health Sciences of the University of Ghana.

Source: UG
Systemic suppression of interferon-γ responses in buruli ulcer patients resolves after surgical excision of the lesions caused by the extracellular pathogen mycobacterium ulcerans

The Bacteriology Department aims to improve the quality of life first for Ghanaians and the world at large by conducting research into bacterial diseases of public health importance to Ghana and globally. In addition to working on enteric pathogens and sexually transmitted diseases, the department’s current main focus is on the two most important mycobacterial diseases of public health importance to Ghana, namely Buruli ulcer (BU) and tuberculosis (TB).

Source: UG
T cell responses to the RTS,S/AS01e and RTS,S/AS02D malaria candidate vaccines administered according to different schedules to Ghanaian children

Background The Plasmodium falciparum pre-erythrocytic stage candidate vaccine RTS,S is being developed for protection of young children against malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. RTS,S formulated with the liposome based adjuvant AS01E or the oil-in-water based adjuvant AS02D induces P. falciparum circumsporozoite (CSP) antigen-specific antibody and T cell responses which have been associated with protection in the experimental malaria challenge model in adults. Methods This study was designed to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity induced over a 19 month period by three vaccination schedules (0,1-, 0,1,2- and 0,1,7-month) of RTS,S/AS01E and RTS,S/AS02D in children aged 5–17 months in two research centers in Ghana. Control Rabies vaccine using the 0,1,2-month schedule was used in one of two study sites. Results Whole blood antigen stimulation followed by intra-cellular cytokine staining showed RTS,S/AS01E induced CSP specific CD4 T cells producing IL-2, TNF-α, and IFN-γ. Higher T cell responses were induced by a 0,1,7-month immunization schedule as compared with a 0,1- or 0,1,2-month schedule. RTS,S/AS01E induced higher CD4 T cell responses as compared to RTS,S/AS02D when given on a 0,1,7-month schedule. Conclusions These findings support further Phase III evaluation of RTS,S/AS01E. The role of immune effectors and immunization schedules on vaccine protection are currently under evaluation.

Source: UG
T-Cell Responses after Rotavirus Infection or Vaccination in Children: A Systematic Review

Cellular immunity against rotavirus in children is incompletely understood. This review describes the current understanding of T-cell immunity to rotavirus in children. A systematic literature search was conducted in Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Global Health databases using a combination of “t-cell”, “rotavirus” and “child” keywords to extract data from relevant articles published from January 1973 to March 2020. Only seventeen articles were identified. Rotavirusspecific T-cell immunity in children develops and broadens reactivity with increasing age. Whilst occurring in close association with antibody responses, T-cell responses are more transient but can occur in absence of detectable antibody responses. Rotavirus-induced T-cell immunity is largely of the gut homing phenotype and predominantly involves Th1 and cytotoxic subsets that may be influenced by IL-10 Tregs. However, rotavirus-specific T-cell responses in children are generally of low frequencies in peripheral blood and are limited in comparison to other infecting pathogens and in adults. The available research reviewed here characterizes the T-cell immune response in children. There is a need for further research investigating the protective associations of rotavirus-specific T-cell responses against infection or vaccination and the standardization of rotavirus-specific T-cells assays in children.

Source: UG
T-cell responses against Malaria: Effect of parasite antigen diversity and relevance for vaccine development

The Department of Immunology conducts research in the field of immunology of infectious and non-infectious diseases. The Department has the overall goal of contributing knowledge to better diagnosis, management, control and prevention of infectious and non-infectious diseases in Ghana and worldwide. This is consistent with the overall strategy of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and in line with the strategy of the College of Health Sciences of the University of Ghana.

Source: UG
T-lymphocytopaenia, opportunistic infections and pathological findings in Ghanaian AIDS patients and their sexual partners.

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
T2DM patients’ demographic characteristics as moderators of the relationship between diabetes perception and psychological distress

This study examined the relationship the relationship between T2DM illness Perception and Psychological Distress and further investigated whether this relationship is influenced by demographic characteristics such as Sex, Age and level of Education. A total of 139 persons living with T2DM were sampled from Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. The respondents were administered with demographic questionnaire, the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire and the Brief Symptom Inventory. Pearson correlation and Hierarchical Multiple regression analyses were done and the results indicate that illness perception is significantly and positively associated with the level of psychological distress among persons with T2DM. However, this relationship was not significantly moderated by their sex, age and level of education. The findings from the study indicate that the association between illness perception and psychological distress among persons with type-2 diabetes is not significantly affected by their demographic characteristics age, sex and level of education. It is therefore concluded that the focus of psychological interventions should be targeted at modifying the negative thought patterns of the patients regarding their illness.

Source: UG
T7 expression plasmids for producing a recombinant human G1P[8] rotavirus comprising RIX4414 sequences of the RV1 (Rotarix , GSK) vaccine strain

The main research focus of the Electron Microscopy and Histopathology Department in the past 20 years has been in the areas of enteric diarrhoeas with special emphasis on rotavirus. Through its diarrhoea surveillance studies, the Department has helped to firmly establish rotaviruses as a major cause of diarrhoea in children, and document the circulation of unusual rotavirus genotypes in Ghana. The Department has also recently expanded its diagnostic repertoire to include the identification and characterization of noroviruses, astroviruses, and other enteric viruses.

Source: UG
Tackling Africa's chronic disease burden: from the local to the global

Abstract Africa faces a double burden of infectious and chronic diseases. While infectious diseases still account for at least 69% of deaths on the continent, age specific mortality rates from chronic diseases as a whole are actually higher in sub Saharan Africa than in virtually all other regions of the world, in both men and women. Over the next ten years the continent is projected to experience the largest increase in death rates from cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease and diabetes. African health systems are weak and national investments in healthcare training and service delivery continue to prioritise infectious and parasitic diseases. There is a strong consensus that Africa faces significant challenges in chronic disease research, practice and policy. This editorial reviews eight original papers submitted to a Globalization and Health special issue themed: "Africa's chronic disease burden: local and global perspectives". The papers offer new empirical evidence and comprehensive reviews on diabetes in Tanzania, sickle cell disease in Nigeria, chronic mental illness in rural Ghana, HIV/AIDS care-giving among children in Kenya and chronic disease interventions in Ghana and Cameroon. Regional and international reviews are offered on cardiovascular risk in Africa, comorbidity between infectious and chronic diseases and cardiovascular disease, diabetes and established risk factors among populations of sub-Saharan African descent in Europe. We discuss insights from these papers within the contexts of medical, psychological, community and policy dimensions of chronic disease. There is an urgent need for primary and secondary interventions and for African health policymakers and governments to prioritise the development and implementation of chronic disease policies. Two gaps need critical attention. The first gap concerns the need for multidisciplinary models of research to properly inform the design of interventions. The second gap concerns understanding the processes and political economies of policy making in sub Saharan Africa. The economic impact of chronic diseases for families, health systems and governments and the relationships between national policy making and international economic and political pressures have a huge impact on the risk of chronic diseases and the ability of countries to respond to them.

Source: UG
Tackling Africa's developmental dilemmas: Is globalization the answer?

The overall objective, is to examine the extent to which globalisation has impacted on state capacity, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. State capacity is narrowly construed as the ability to take autonomous decisions without undue covert or overt external promptings. It equally implies the capacity to choose from varying alternatives of development strategies or amend a given development paradigm to suit domestic conditions. I argue that it would take Africa several years to extricate itself from its deplorable development labyrinth on account of globalisation's conscious weakening of state-capacity. Globalisation has made national economic policy a weak regulatory mechanism of development in Africa. More often than not, national leaders present externally imposed or influenced policy decisions as policies originating from domestic deliberations. The reduced centrality of the state in public policy decision-making has, therefore, contributed to Africa's developmental dilemmas. It ought to be noted that from a historical perspective no state can develop if it is not capable; and if its power to take decisions is constricted by exogenous forces, the state's ability to develop becomes even more tortuous. This position is strengthened, by and large, by the growing developmental chasm between the North and the South, the inequity in the distribution of foreign direct investment in Africa, the mounting debts, the crushing weight of debt service, and the frightening erosion of state capacity. Therefore, if the processes of globalisation are to be of benefit to African development, then, the state must be seen to be in control but not subject to the whims and caprices of faceless external interests whose sole objective is the reaping of oligopoly profits. Since globalisation is assumed by its proponents to impact positively on development in general, the question arises as to the state of Africa's development since this phenomenon came to represent holus bolus all that is necessary to enhance African integration in the global economy and thereby ensure accelerated growth.

Source: UG
Tackling Informal Entrepreneurship in Ghana: A critical Analysis of the Dualist/Modernist policy approach, some evidence from Accra

The principal aim of this study is to provide a critical analytical overview of the nature and extent of informal entrepreneurship in Ghana, and to evaluate how it is being tackled through government policies under the spectacle of the dualist/modernist. Despite the widespread recognition of its magnitude and even growth, the informal economy in Ghana has not received the attention it deserves in the employment policies of the government until now. Little is known until now to evaluate how informal entrepreneurship could be tackled to make it more relevant to the economy. This study seeks to bridge this gap. Reporting data from a 2014 qualitative in-depth interview of government officials and other policy think-tanks, the key finding is that government policy towards tackling informal entrepreneurship has been at best ad hoc with no clear-cut policy to deal with informal entrepreneurship but somewhat adopting deterrent approach (mainly force eviction – aggressive, combative and impulsive). As a consequence, this paper calls for humane approach that will make informal entrepreneurship significant part of the overall economy such as deregulation, facilitating formalisation of informal entrepreneurship amongst others

Source: UG
Tackling the legislative underrepresentation of women in Ghana: Empowerment strategies for broader gender parity

The question of women’s legislative underrepresentation is an enduring problem which continues to garner considerable scholarly attention all over the world. Whereas the burgeoning literature on the subject has largely focused on impediments to gender parity in representation in parliament, the interest of this paper is somewhat different. In an effort to make an original contribution to the discourse, the starting point of this paper is the argument that women can be politically empowered to achieve greater representation in parliament. Conse quently, in this paper – which draws on empowerment theory as theoretical lens – we present a snapshot of the views of 22 women parliamentarians from Ghana, with the aim to exploring empowerment strategies for attaining greater gender parity in representation in the legislature. They emphasize the importance of affirmative action policies, funding, inclusive political party structures, education, and societal re-socialisation in addressing women’s legislative underrepresentation in Ghana. These findings may have some important implications for the nature and scope of interventions targeted at women for the purpose of promoting an inclusive political environment.

Source: UG
Tail risk dependence, co-movement and predictability between green bond and green stocks

This paper examines the coherence of extreme returns between green bonds and a unique set of green stocks. We use the novel quantile cross-spectral coherence methodology of quantile spectral coherency model, cross-quantilogram correlation approach, windowed time-lagged cross-correlation, and windowed scalogram difference models as estimation techniques. The study period spans from 28 November 2008 to 23 September 2020. Our measure of green stocks comprises the constituents of the MSCI Global Environment Price Index: Alternative Energy, Green Building, Pollution Prevention or Clean Technology while our green bond market is proxied by S&P Green Bond Index. We find the dependency between Green Bonds and green stocks to be weak, and this is high during market downturn periods in the short- to medium-term dynamics. This suggests that Green Bonds do act as a hedge, diversifier, or safe-haven instrument for environment portfolio in the short-term, medium-term and long-term dynamics during bearish market conditions. We conclude that green bonds and green stocks are two distinct asset classes with a distinct risk-return profile despite their common climate-friendly nature.

Source: UG
A tailored within-community specimen collection strategy increased uptake of cervical cancer screening in a cross-sectional study in Ghana

Background: The implementation of cervical cancer screening strategies has reported different rates of success in different countries due to population specific factors that limit women's participation. We report observations and the development of a community-based specimen collection strategy which resulted from interactions with women in the study communities, following an initial low response to a hospital based cervical cancer screening strategy. Method: Women were recruited by a house survey and invited to report at a hospital either within a week or after a week for self and health-personnel specimen collections. However, due to the very low response and subsequent interactions with the women of the communities, another strategy was developed that required recruited women report at a central location within their respective communities for specimen collections at times that did not interfere with their daily routines. Results: For specimen collection, of the 156 participants who opted to report after a week at the hospital, 60 (38.5%) reported. Of the 118 participants who opted to report within 1 week at the hospital, 55 (46.6%) reported. Of the 103 participants were invited to report at a specified location within the community, 98 (95.1%) reported. An overall response rate of 60.4% was attained. Almost 89.7% (226 of 253) of the women performed both self and health personnel sample collection. Conclusion: The community-based strategy with self-specimen collection and HPV testing holds great potential for increasing women's participation in cervical cancer screening in Ghana as compared to the hospital based strategy.

Source: UG