ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Can social capital play a role in contracting services of family doctors in China? Refections based on an integrative review

Background: The family doctors’ contract service problem is not about government management alone, but an interaction of a complex social environment. Consequently, the efect of contracted services of family doctors not only depends on policy incentives but also needs to win the participation, acknowledgement, and confdence of community residents. The purpose of this integrative review is to examine whether there is any signifcant evidence that social capital in the form of social networking groups and other forms of social groups have any positive impact on the acceptance and the efectiveness of family doctors’ contractual services. Method: Research on qualitative, quantitative and hybrid methods published in peer-reviewed journals on the social capital role in the process of contract service of family doctors were eligible for inclusion. In view of the increasing attention paid to the contract service efect of family doctors during this period, a 10-year time scale was selected to ensure full coverage of relevant literature in the same period. In total, 809 articles were determined in the database retrieval results which were downloaded and transferred to the Mendeley reference application software. Results: Twelve articles met the inclusion criteria for this integrative review and the quality of the included studies were assessed using the published criteria for the critical appraisal of quantitative and qualitative research methods. Majority of the articles assessed reported that there was evidence of a positive link between social support, especially a sense of belonging and the presence of regular family doctors. The infuencing factors of patients’ contract behavior of studies conducted in China were social interaction of social capital, acceptance of the frst contact in the commu‑ nity, year of investigation, and exposure to the public. Conclusion: The study afrms previous studies that suggest that social resources have the propensity to improve relationship between patients and clients and between doctors and peers for the beneft of the patients and the stability of the overall healthcare system. Through the integration of various social resources family doctor systems accelerate the development of community construction. These social capital (social network groups) can guide resi‑ dents to use family doctor services to maintain health. Social capital can also help residents have a regular and reliable family doctor.

Source: UG
Can technological innovation, foreign direct investment and natural resources ease some burden for the BRICS economies within current industrial era?

Economic advancement has tended to affect the processes of industrialization, which has increased the value of exploited natural resources via the application of technology. Intensive use of natural resources via total reserves, technological innovation, foreign direct investment (FDI), and renewable energy can have an impact on the environment. Considering this, the present study investigates the nexus between industrialization, total reserves, inflows of FDI, technical innovation, renewable and natural resources, and CO2 emissions in the case of BRICS. To this end, annual frequency data for BRICS from 1990 to 2019 is employed in panel framework. The study employs a battery of econometric techniques, namely the Augmented Mean Group (AMG), Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) and Driscoll-Kraay estimators to explore the underlined relationship. The correlation results based on Westerlund, J. (2007) show that there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship between the study-outlined variables over the investigated period. From the empirical analysis, technological innovation and renewable energy both reduce CO2 emissions while industrial value-added, natural resources, and FDI and total reserves contribute to the degradation of the environment. Additionally, the interaction between industrial value-added and technological innovation also has negative impact on the BRICS countries’ environment. Based on these outcomes, the BRICS economies are encouraged to pursue green technology growth without compromise for environmental quality in the bloc. Finally, numerous significant policy ramifications for protecting environmental quality in BRICS economies have been proposed in the concluding section.

Source: UG
Can we measure cognitive constructs consistently within and across cultures? Evidence from a test battery in Bangladesh, Ghana, and Tanzania

We developed a test battery for use among children in Bangladesh, Ghana, and Tanzania, assessing general intelligence, executive functioning, and school achievement. The instruments were drawn from previously published materials and tests. The instruments were adapted and translated in a systematic way to meet the needs of the three assessment contexts. The instruments were administered by a total of 43 trained assessors to 786 children in Bangladesh, Ghana, and Tanzania with a mean age of about 13 years (range: 7-18 years). The battery provides a psychometrically solid basis for evaluating intervention studies in multiple settings. Within-group variation was adequate in each group. The expected positive correlations between test performance and age were found and reliability indices yielded adequate values. A confirmatory factor analysis (not including the literacy and numeracy tests) showed a good fit for a model, merging the intelligence and executive tests in a single factor labeled general intelligence. Measurement weights invariance was found, supporting conceptual equivalence across the three country groups, but not supporting full score comparability across the three countries.

Source: UG
Can yield variability be explained? Integrated assessment of maize yield gaps across smallholders in Ghana

Agricultural production in Ghana should more than double to fulfil the estimated food demand in 2050, but this is a challenge as the productivity of food crops has been low, extremely variable and prone to stagnation. Yield gap estimations and explanations can help to identify the potential for intensification on existing agricultural land. However, to date most yield gap analyses had a disciplinary focus. The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of crop management, soil and household factors on maize (Zea mays) yields in two major maize growing regions in Ghana through an integrated approach. We applied a variety of complementary methods to study sites in the Brong Ahafo and Northern region. Farm household surveys, yield measurements and soil sampling were undertaken in 2015 and 2016. Water-limited potential yield (Y w ) was estimated with a crop growth simulation model, and two different on-farm demonstration experiments were carried out in 2016 and 2017. There is great potential to increase maize yields across the study sites. Estimated yield gaps ranged between 3.8 Mg ha ⁻¹ (67% of Y w ) and 13.6 Mg ha ⁻¹ (84% of Y w ). However, there was no consistency in factors affecting maize yield and yield gaps when using complementary methods. Demonstration experiments showed the potential of improved varieties, fertilizers and improved planting densities, with yields up to 9 Mg ha ⁻¹ . This was not confirmed in the analysis of the household surveys, as the large yield variation across years on the same farms impeded the disclosure of effects of management, soil and household factors. The low-input nature of the farming system and the incidence of fall armyworm led to relatively uniform and low yields across the entire population. So, farmers’ yields were determined by interacting, and strongly varying, household, soil and management factors. We found that for highly variable and complex smallholder farming systems there is a danger in drawing oversimplified conclusions based on results from a single methodological approach. Integrating household surveys, crop growth simulation modelling and demonstration experiments can add value to yield gap analysis. However, the challenge remains to improve upon this type of integrated assessment to be able to satisfactorily disentangle the interacting factors that can be managed by farmers in order to increase crop yields.

Source: UG
Can yield variability be explained? Integrated assessment of maize yield gaps across smallholders in Ghana

Agricultural production in Ghana should more than double to fulfil the estimated food demand in 2050, but this is a challenge as the productivity of food crops has been low, extremely variable and prone to stagnation. Yield gap estimations and explanations can help to identify the potential for intensification on existing agricultural land. However, to date most yield gap analyses had a disciplinary focus. The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of crop management, soil and household factors on maize (Zea mays) yields in two major maize growing regions in Ghana through an integrated approach. We applied a variety of complementary methods to study sites in the Brong Ahafo and Northern region. Farm household surveys, yield measurements and soil sampling were undertaken in 2015 and 2016. Water-limited potential yield (Yw) was estimated with a crop growth simulation model, and two different on-farm demonstration experiments were carried out in 2016 and 2017. There is great potential to increase maize yields across the study sites. Estimated yield gaps ranged between 3.8 Mg ha−1 (67% of Yw) and 13.6 Mg ha−1 (84% of Yw). However, there was no consistency in factors affecting maize yield and yield gaps when using complementary methods. Demonstration experiments showed the potential of improved varieties, fertilizers and improved planting densities, with yields up to 9 Mg ha−1. This was not confirmed in the analysis of the household surveys, as the large yield variation across years on the same farms impeded the disclosure of effects of management, soil and household factors. The low-input nature of the farming system and the incidence of fall armyworm led to relatively uniform and low yields across the entire population. So, farmers’ yields were determined by interacting, and strongly varying, household, soil and management factors. We found that for highly variable and complex smallholder farming systems there is a danger in drawing oversimplified conclusions based on results from a single methodological approach. Integrating household surveys, crop growth simulation modelling and demonstration experiments can add value to yield gap analysis. However, the challenge remains to improve upon this type of integrated assessment to be able to satisfactorily disentangle the interacting factors that can be managed by farmers in order to increase crop yields.

Source: UG
Canada and African Refugees: It Is Complicated, but Opportunities Exist for a Partnership

Canada is a global leader in addressing refugee issues, particularly in the area of resettlement, but has a complicated relationship with African refugees. The complication is most profound in the case of those living in refugee camps in Africa. In addition, Canada’s commitment toward peacekeeping—which it deems a solution for conflicts that are the leading cause of population dis-placement in the context of Africa—is fraught with complexities. This article reviews the complications underlying Ottawa’s response to refugee issues from Africa, arguing that in the next 25 years, Ottawa can change its complicated relationship with Africa into a partnership aimed at providing a solution to the myriad refugee crises. Such a partnership will necessarily include contributing financial and technical support to refugee-hosting countries in Africa and returning to active participation in peacekeeping in Africa

Source: UG
Cancer chemotherapy: Effect of poloxamer modified nanoparticles on cellular function

The use of excipients with the ability to synergize the action of active pharmaceutical ingredients is highly recommended. Although a large spectrum of surfactants can be used in the preparation of polymeric nanoparticles, the poloxamer surfactants are currently being explored because they have been shown to preferentially target cancer cells as well as inhibit Multi-Drug Resistant proteins and other drug efflux transporters on the surface of cancer cells. The proper type and concentration of surfactant used plays a major role in the stability of the nanosuspensions. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of three different poloxamer surfactant (Pluronic F-108, pluronic F-127 and kolliphor P-188) and chitosan on the stability, immunogenicity, cytotoxicity of dasatinib nanoparticles, as well as cellular uptake of nanoparticles by various cell types. A combination of chitosan and the poloxamers enhanced stability of nanoparticles: average size was 190 ± 20 nm just after preparation, changing to 200 ± 40 nm after 28 days of storage. Uptake of dye-loaded nanoparticles into the cells was 1.5 times more than a solution with an equivalent amount of dye. The uptake of nanoparticles into all the cell lines used was highest for P-188 nanoparticles, whilst F-127 nanoparticles were the least taken up. Poloxamers were observed to be non-toxic to the cells, however, stimulation of cell growth was observed in some cases. The properties exhibited by the various poloxamers in this study could guide in the selection of an appropriate poloxamer for the formulation of nanoparticles.

Source: UG
Cancer Detection and Classification Using CNN Model

Abstract - The research utilizes the CNN model to develop the machine learning mode due to its image extraction performance. The system was developed to identify and categorize eight (8) different kinds of cancers, namely lymphoma, oral cancer, brain cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, kidney cancer, lung and colon cancer, and leukemia. The multi cancer image dataset from Kaggle was utilized to train and test the models. The dataset contained eight (8) types of cancers grouped into different classes. For each class, 2000 images were used for training and 500 for testing. Pre-processing techniques were applied to normalize and standardize the images to ensure the correct format and resolution. Nine (9) CNN models were trained, with eight responsible for classifying each cancer type while the remaining model detects the cancer type. The system was designed to perform two levels of classification for each image. The first level is the detection of the type of cancer, and the second level is the classification of the cancer type. Generally, the manual examination of cancer diagnoses is error-prone, and this work sought to automate the process as best as possible by investigating the performance of the CNN model on selected types of cancer. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the developed system in accurately detecting and classifying the eight types of cancers and the potential to alleviate the errors faced with the manual examination. All the models obtained accuracies above 90%

Source: UG
Cancer ecosystem assessment in West Africa: health systems gaps to prevent and control cancers in three countries: Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal

Introduction: sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing a rapid epidemiological transition with the increasing incidence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD). Among these, cancer is one of the main causes of death in adults. This is a public health problem whose burden is unknown due to lack of statistical data. In addition, the already overburdened health systems are experiencing enormous constraints to address the problem with the double challenge of communicable and NCDs. Methods: the purpose of this evaluation was to assess the capacity and needs of health systems to prevent and control cancer. A cross-sectional study, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, was conducted between April 2017 and February 2018 in target countries, through in-depth interviews with key actors, direct observations and documents review. The WHO framework for health system strengthening with the 6 pillars was used for the gaps analysis. Results: little priority is given to the fight against cancer because of low political commitment. Programs´ resources are very limited and there is a poor coordination of the actions. Human resources are insufficient, and most of them are concentrated in the capital city. This limits access to care with a late consultation of patients. Diagnosis and treatment services are expensive and generally paid by households. Finally, the unavailability of reliable data at national level hinders the decision-based evidence. Conclusion: there is an urgent need to create strong partnerships at national and regional levels to (i) Advocate for a strong political commitment; (ii) Strengthen the coordination of actions and create more synergy among stakeholders; (iii) Improve the quality and quantity of human resources; (iv) Extend universal health coverage to cancer and improve program funding; and (v) Set up cancer registries at national level.

Source: UG
Cannabis and amphetamine use among school-going adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa: a multi-country analysis of prevalence and associated factors

Background Global evidence indicates that early onset of illicit substance use among adolescents and emerging adults is associated with negative mental-health related-outcomes that can persist into adulthood. However, the lack of quality regional data on adolescent illicit substance use and its determinants remains a common barrier to evidence-based policy-making and the development of school-based interventions in Africa. The purpose of our study was to estimate the prevalence and describe the correlates of cannabis and amphetamine use among school going adolescents in eight sub-Saharan African countries (SSA) – Benin, Ghana, Liberia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, and Tanzania. Methods We analysed 15,553 school-going adolescents that participated in the Global School-based Student Health Survey. A two-stage sampling approach was used to generate a nationally representative sample of school children (grades 7–12) in each of these countries. Students responded to a self-administered structured questionnaire that contained information on sociodemographic factors, family involvement factors, mental health factors, school environment factors and past-month cannabis and life-time amphetamine use. Results The overall prevalence estimates of past-month cannabis use and lifetime amphetamine use among school-going adolescents in the eight SSA countries was 4.39% (95% CI=4.08, 4.72) and 3.05% (95% CI=2.79, 3.34) respectively. In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, demographic characteristics (age and male gender), mental health factors (suicide ideation and attempt), lifestyle factors (cigarette smoking, past-month alcohol use, lifetime drunkenness and leisure-time sedentary behaviour) and school level factors (truancy and bullying victimisation) showed strong associations with increased odds of both past-month cannabis use and lifetime amphetamine use. Social support at school was associated with increased odds for lifetime amphetamine, while parental monitoring decreases the odds for lifetime amphetamine use. It was also observed that parental tobacco use was associated with increased odds of both past-month cannabis use and lifetime amphetamine use. Conclusion The relatively low overall prevalence estimates of past-month cannabis use and lifetime amphetamine use among school-going adolescents in not surprising. However, the identified risk and protective factors associated with cannabis and amphetamine use underscores the need for these eight countries in SSA to develop contextual and multi-sectoral intervention and school-based prevention programmes that could target school-going adolescents who may be at risk of misusing these illicit drugs.

Source: UG
Cannabis and amphetamine use and its psychosocial correlates among school-going adolescents in Ghana

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of cannabis and amphetamine use and to determine its associated factors among school-going adolescents in Ghana. Method: The 2012 Ghanaian Global School-based Student Health Survey on 3632 adolescents aged 11–19 years (mean = 15.1 years; SD = 1.4) was used. Participants for this study were sampled from selected junior (JHS) and senior high schools (SHS) in all the 10 administrative regions of Ghana. A two-stage cluster sampling design was used to select 25 senior high schools to represent all the 10 regions of Ghana. Information was collected with a self-administered structured questionnaire that contained information on demographics, alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, violence, and a range of other health-related behaviours. Results: The result showed that past-month cannabis use was 5.3% and lifetime amphetamine use was 7.1% among students. In multivariate model, after controlling for other variables, school truancy and current cigarette smoking were associated with both past-month cannabis and lifetime amphetamine use. The number of close friends was associated with only past-month cannabis use. School environment factors (bullying victimisation and having been attacked) and parental substance use were associated with lifetime amphetamine use. Conclusion: This study identified a number of risk factors, including parental substance use and various risk behaviours, for both past-month cannabis and lifetime amphetamine use. School-based health intervention programmes should be developed taking into consideration the risk factors associated with cannabis and amphetamine use among school-going adolescents.

Source: UG
Canonical Correlation Analysis Of Neonatal Anthropometric Indicators And Maternal Socio-Demographic Factors

Abstract : The main objective of this study was to examine the relationship between neonatal anthropometric indicators (Baby head circumference, Baby full length and Baby weight) and maternal socio demographic factors (Gravidity, Parity, Educational level, Age, occupation of mother and number of ANC visit) using canonical correlation analysis. The neonatal anthropometric indicators were considered as depended (Y) variables whiles maternal socio demographic factors were considered as independent variables (X). The outcome of the canonical correlation analysis showed th at, there exists a significant relationship between neonatal anthropometric indicators (Baby head circumference, Baby full length and Baby weigh t) and maternal socio demographic factors (Gravidity, Parity, Educational level, Age, occupation of mother and number of ANC visi t). The total shared variance between the two set of variables was 69. 8 %. The study also showed that Baby head circumference has a positive relationship with maternal Age and also negative relationship with the remaining of the maternal socio demographic f actors whiles Baby full length and Baby weight also has a positive relationship with all the maternal socio demographic factors used in the study except maternal Age.

Source: UG