ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of water, sanitation and hygiene status of COVID-19 healthcare facilities in Ghana using the WASH FIT approach

Access to improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is essential for the delivery of high-quality care in healthcare facilities and the prevention of hospital-acquired infections such as the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2. In addition, unimpeded access to WASH facilities in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) treatment centres (TCs) is central in facilitating compliance with infection prevention and control protocols. However, data for the WASH status of COVID-19 TCs in Ghana are limited. We evaluated the WASH status of seven COVID-19 TCs in Ghana using the WHO/UNICEF water and sanitation for health facility improvement tool (WASH FIT). The water domain had the highest number of indicators meeting standards with an average percentage score of 90.5% (range: 66.7–100%) across the seven TCs, followed by management (66.9%) and hygiene (58.7%). The TCs performed poorly in the sanitation and healthcare waste domain, with an average percentage score of 44.6% (range: 22.2–75%). These findings highlight the challenges being faced by COVID-19 TCs in implementing WASH services. Specific WASH interventions are urgently required to strengthen WASH services in the COVID-19 TCs. This should precede the prioritisation of resources to WASH infrastructure in the treatment facilities coupled with actions that involve all stakeholders.

Source: UG
An Evaluation of Wb123 Antibody Elisa in Individuals Treated With Ivermectin and Albendazole, and Implementation Challenges in Africa

The Department of Parasitology conducts research into parasitic diseases of public health importance with the overall goal of reducing their transmission and the heavy disease burden that they impose on affected populations. The Department maintains focus on parasitic diseases in general. These include major diseases such as malaria, and others listed under the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) control initiative such as, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.

Source: UG
Evaluation of Yield, Reaction to Diseases, and Grain Physical Attributes of Some Introduced Rice Hybrids in Ghana

Hybrid rice technology is one of the promising, sustainable, and proven technologies for increasing rice production and productivity with a yield advantage of 15–30% over modern inbred varieties. The potential of hybrid rice has so far not been exploited in Ghana. This study was undertaken to evaluate the yield potential, reaction to diseases, and physical grain attributes of some introduced hybrids. The trials were laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates across three locations. Data were taken on grain yield, yield components, reaction to diseases, and grain physical characteristics. Four promising hybrids (SWARNA 2, ARGH 1501, ARGH 1502, and ARGH 1503) with a mean yield advantage of 15–20.8% over the best inbred check “AgraRice” were identified. With few exceptions, the hybrids were broadly adapted and had adequate resistance to blast and bacterial leaf blight. Most of the test hybrids had long slender grains which make them acceptable to the Ghanaian market but lacked aroma.

Source: UG
Evasion of Classical Complement Pathway Activation on Plasmodium falciparum-Infected Erythrocytes Opsonized by PfEMP1-Specific IgG

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
Evasion of immunity to Plasmodium falciparum malaria by IgM masking of protective IgG epitopes in infected erythrocyte surface-exposed PfEMP1

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
Everyday contours and politics of infrastructure: Informal governance of electricity access in urban Ghana

This article contributes to shaping the discourse on unequal geographies of infrastructure and governance in the global South, opening up new ways of thinking through politics, practices and modalities of power. Conceptually, informality, governance and everyday urbanism are drawn on to unpack how the formal encounters the informal in ways that (re)configure infrastructure geographies and governance practices. This conceptual framing is empirically employed through an analysis of electricity access in Accra, Ghana, highlighting how residents navigate unequal electricity topographies, engage in self-help initiatives, and negotiate informal networks and formal governance practices. The spatiality of the electricity infrastructure has created inequity and opportunities for exploitation by ‘power-owners’ and ‘power-agents’ who control and manage the electricity distribution network and, in turn, privately supply power. Electricity connections are negotiated, access is monetised and illegality excused on grounds of good-neighbourliness, thereby producing and perpetuating everyday politics of ‘making do’. Community movements, everyday acts of improvisation, and incremental modifications are shown to influence the workings of formal institutions of government and shape uneven power relations and experiences of inequality. Such an understanding of how marginalised residents navigate the electricity topographies of Accra reveals a more nuanced politics of infrastructure access, which reflects the complex realities of hybridised modalities of governance and the multiple everyday dimensions of power that shape urban space. The article concludes that informality should not be recognised as failure but as a sphere of opportunity, innovation and transition.

Source: UG
Everyday life information seeking behaviour of urban homeless youth

Youth homelessness, or the issue of street children, is a growing phenomenon in cities across the world, including Sub - Saharan Africa. Homeles s youth, like all adolescents, deserve relevant information for successful transition to adulthood and for mastery of the challenges of homelessness. The pre - requisite for efficient provision of quality information services to any group is knowledge and un derstanding of their everyday life information seeking (ELIS) behaviour. The main objectives of this study of homeless youth in the market area of Accra, Ghana are to investigate their information needs, sources of information, patterns and problems encoun tered in information seeking and to determine how libraries and other stakeholders can meet their information needs. The study adopted the interpretive tradition and the ethnographic methodology. The field activities involved recruitment of 41 homeless you th, comprising 22 males and 19 females, ages 15 to 18 years using a snowball sampling procedure, collection of data using the critical incident technique and in - depth interviews, transcription of recorded interviews, and identification of categories and th emes from participant interviews through content analysis using the NVivo qualitative data analysis software. The findings revealed eleven categories of needs comprising physiological, safety, esteem and sel f - actualization needs. P referred sources of infor mation are primarily interpersonal. Other sources are television, radio, print media and libraries. Information seeking patterns include active and passive searching, passive attention, and a heavy reliance on a social network of fr iends. Barriers to meeti ng information needs include cost, lack of education, lack of time, lack of access to relevant information and educational infrastructure, information poverty, powerlessness, and lack of confidence. iii The study is significant in many ways. It is the first st udy of ELIS behaviour of homeless youth in Africa. It makes a new proposition that, in an environment of limited information resources , people rely on their social networks to meet their information needs. The findings of the study add to knowledge and und erstanding of youth information seeking behaviour and ELIS of y outh, especially homeless youth . They have implications for information dissemination and public library after - school programs and policies to facilitate provision of services and information r esources for homeless youth in Ghana.

Source: UG
Everyday Life Information-Seeking Behavior of Marginalized Youth: A Qualitative Study of Urban Homeless Youth in Ghana

This article examines the everyday life needs, information needs, sources of information, and information-seeking behaviors of homeless youth in Accra, Ghana. Forty-one homeless youth, ages 15 to 18 years participated in this qualitative study. Participants were identified by snowball sampling and data was collected by field observations, an adaptation of the critical incident technique and in-depth interviews. The results show that (1) information needs of the homeless youth in the study relate to basic needs following Maslow's hierarchy of needs; (2) their information sources are primarily interpersonal and comparatively limited in range; and (3) the most important information-seeking behavior is a community approach, characterized by free sharing of information among their social network of friends. The results further revealed that participants relied on their social network of friends to meet 8 of the 11 information needs identified in the study. The study suggests that this behavior results from their environment of limited resources, a proposition that should be examined with further research on the everyday life information-seeking behavior of marginalized communities. © 2015, Published with license by Taylor & Francis.

Source: UG
Evidence based medicine in HIV/AIDS and reproductive health research: Piloting two distance learning courses in low-resource settings

AFRICA BUILD is a Coordination Action to support the development of centers of excellence in health care, education and health research in African countries, thanks to Information Technology. This project, developed under the 7th European Framework Programme, consists of seven Work Packages (WPs). The Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp is in charge of WP6 with the task of developing a specific distance training program in HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health research in collaboration with the World Health Organization Department of Reproductive Health and Research (RHR). The aim of this program will be to enhance research and education in the above mentioned fields, via novel approaches and remote resources. Study materials will be available for students through the AFRICA BUILD Portal, and modules' content will be delivered via live webcasts. One of the aims of the course will be to identify research gaps, focusing thereafter on strengthening research methodologies and policies. © 2013 The Authors.

Source: UG
Evidence for a new species of Leishmania associated with a focal disease outbreak in Ghana

The Department of Parasitology conducts research into parasitic diseases of public health importance with the overall goal of reducing their transmission and the heavy disease burden that they impose on affected populations. The Department maintains focus on parasitic diseases in general. These include major diseases such as malaria, and others listed under the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) control initiative such as, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.

Source: UG
Evidence for an Adult-Like Type 1-Immunity Phenotype of Vδ1, Vδ2 and Vδ3 T Cells in Ghanaian Children With Repeated Exposure to Malaria

The Department of Parasitology conducts research into parasitic diseases of public health importance with the overall goal of reducing their transmission and the heavy disease burden that they impose on affected populations. The Department maintains focus on parasitic diseases in general. These include major diseases such as malaria, and others listed under the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) control initiative such as, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.

Source: UG
Evidence for introgressive hybridization of wild common quail (Coturnix coturnix) by domesticated Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) in France

Many cases of introgressive hybridization have been reported among birds, in particular after the introduction in the natural environment of animals belonging to a taxon close to the native one. This appears to be the case for common quail (Coturnix coturnix) in France where wild populations are artificially put in contact with domesticated Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) raised for production but sometimes released for hunting purposes. In order to highlight the possible existence of gene flow between both taxa, a comparison of nuclear (25 microsatellite loci) and mitochondrial (sequencing and RFLP) DNA polymorphisms was performed on 375 common quails (from France, Spain and Morocco) and 140 Japanese quails (from France and Japan). Genetic diversity was assessed, and analyses (Factorial Correspondence Analysis, Bayesian admixture) of molecular polymorphisms revealed that the two taxa were clearly differentiated by the panel, making it possible to seek for the existence of hybrids among quails sampled in the wild. Nine birds expected to be common quail were not: they were two pure Japanese quail, one backcross to C. japonica, three F1, and one backcross and two advanced generations of backcross to C. coturnix. These results show that Japanese quails were released and suggest that the two taxa hybridize in the wild. They confirm the urgent need for preventing the release of pure Japanese or hybrid quails to preserve the genetic integrity of C. coturnix. The tools developed for this study should be useful for accurate monitoring of wild quail populations within the framework of avifauna management programs.

Source: UG
Evidence for the involvement of VAR2CSA in pregnancy-associated malaria

The Department of Parasitology conducts research into parasitic diseases of public health importance with the overall goal of reducing their transmission and the heavy disease burden that they impose on affected populations. The Department maintains focus on parasitic diseases in general. These include major diseases such as malaria, and others listed under the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) control initiative such as, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.

Source: UG
Evidence From Ghana Indicates That Childhood Cancer Treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa Is Very Cost Effective: A Report From the Childhood Cancer 2030 Network

Purpose: No published study to date has examined total cost and cost-effectiveness of maintaining a pediatric oncology treatment center in an African setting, thus limiting childhood cancer advocacy and policy efforts. Methods: Within the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana, costing data were gathered for all inputs related to operating a pediatric cancer unit. Cost and volume data for relevant clinical services (eg, laboratory, pathology, medications) were obtained retrospectively or prospectively. Salaries were determined and multiplied by proportion of time dedicated toward pediatric patients with cancer. Costs associated with inpatient bed use, outpatient clinic use, administrative fees, and overhead were estimated. Costs were summed for a total annual operating cost. Cost-effectiveness was calculated based on annual patients with newly diagnosed disease, survival rates, and life expectancy. Results: The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital pediatric cancer unit treats on average 170 new diagnoses annually. Total operating cost was $1.7 million/y. Personnel salaries and operating room costs were the most expensive inputs, contributing 45% and 21% of total costs. Together, medications, imaging, radiation, and pathology services accounted for 7%. The cost per disability-adjusted life-year averted was $1,034, less than the Ghanaian per capita income, and thus considered very cost effective as per WHO-CHOICE methodology. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this study is the first to examine institution-level costs and cost-effectiveness of a childhood cancer program in an African setting, demonstrating that operating such a program in this setting is very cost effective. These results will inform national childhood cancer strategies in Africa and other low- and middle-income country settings.

Source: UG
Evidence implicating MHC genes in the immunological nonresponsiveness to the plasmodium falciparum CS protein

The circumsporozoite (CS) protein is a major candiate vaccine antigen for the sporozoite stage of malaria. Both cytotoxic T cells (CTL) and antibody specific for the CS protein are thought to be important in protection. By examining the immune response in mice and humans we have shown that genes mapping to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are important for immune responsiveness. F1 mice between high antibody responders and low antibody responders are high antibody responders, suggesting that in this model immune suppressor genes do not control the immune response. Using synthetic peptides to map epitopes for CTL and helper T cells (which are important for the antibody response) we have shown that the T-cell epitopes are located in the polymorphic region of the protein, and we hypothesize that T cells have indeed selected the variation observed in the CS protein. The success of subunit vaccines will depend on the pattern of variation in different geographical locations, the ability to construct multivalent vaccines containing different variant epitopes from this protein, and on the existence of other sporozoite and liver-stage proteins involved in protection.

Source: UG
Evidence of competitive displacement of the mango fruit fly, Ceratitis cosyra by the invasive fruit fly, Bactrocera invadens (Diptera: Tephritidae) on mango and mechanisms contributing to the displacement

Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White (Diptera: Tephritidae) invaded Kenya in 2003. Before the arrival of B. invadens, the indigenous fruit fly species Ceratitis cosyra (Walker) was the predominant fruit fly pest of mango (Mangifera indica L.). Within 4 yr of invasion, B. invadens has displaced C. cosyra and has become the predominant fruit fly pest of mango, constituting 98 and 88% of the total population in traps and mango fruit at Nguruman, respectively. We tested two possible mechanisms responsible for the displacement namely; resource competition by larvae within mango fruit and aggression between adult flies. Under inter-specific competition, larval duration in B. invadens was significantly shorter (6.2 ± 0.6-7.3 ± 0.3 d) compared with C. cosyra (8.0 ± 1.2-9.4 ± 0.4 d). Pupal mass in C. cosyra was affected by competition and was significantly reduced (7.4 ± 0.3-9.6 ± 0.6 mg) under competitive interaction compared with the controls (12.1 ± 1.5-12.8 ± 1.1 mg). Inter-specific competition also had a significant adverse effect on C. cosyra eclosion, with fewer adults emerging under co-infestation compared with the controls. Interference competition through aggressive behavior showed that fewer C. cosyra (3.1 ± 0.8) landed on mango dome compared with the controls (14.2 ± 1.5) when adults were mixed with B. invadens adults in Plexiglas cages. Similarly the number of times C. cosyra was observed ovipositing, was significantly lower (0.2 ± 0.2) under competitive interaction compared with the controls (6.1 ± 1.8). Aggressive encounters in the form of lunging/ head-butting and chasing off other species from the mango dome was higher for B. invadens compared with C. cosyra. Our results suggest that exploitative competition through larval scrambling for resources and interference competition through aggressive behaviors of the invader are important mechanisms contributing to the displacement of C. cosyra by B. invadens in mango agro-ecosystems

Source: UG
Evidence of extrinsic factors dominating intrinsic blood host preferences of major African malaria vectors

One of the key determinants of a haematophagous vector’s capacity to transmit pathogens is its selection of which host to secure a blood meal from. This choice is influenced by both intrinsic (genetic) and extrinsic (environmental) factors, but little is known of their relative contributions. Blood fed Anopheles mosquitoes were collected from a malaria endemic village in Ghana. Collections were conducted across a range of different host availabilities and from both indoor and outdoor locations. These environmental factors were shown to impact dramatically the host choice of caught malaria vectors: mosquitoes caught indoors were ten-fold more likely to have sourced their blood meal from humans; and a halving in odds of being human-fed was found for mosquitoes caught only 25 m from the centre of the village. For the first time, we demonstrate that anthropophagy was better explained by extrinsic factors (namely, local host availability and indoor/outdoor trapping location) than intrinsic factors (namely, the (sibling) species of the mosquito caught) (respective Akaike information criterion estimates: 243.0 versus 359.8). Instead of characterizing biting behaviour on a taxonomic level, we illustrate the importance of assessing local entomology. Accounting for this behavioural plasticity is important, both in terms of measuring effectiveness of control programmes and in informing optimal disease control strategiesMosquitoes

Source: UG
Evidence of natural selection for disease resistance in Composite Cross Five (CCV) of barley

Cambridge Composite Cross Five (CCV) of barley was studied utilising hordeins, restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) and reaction to powdery mildew with a view to understanding the genetic changes occurring in the population. Changes in the frequency of individual hordein patterns as well as pattern combinations showed directional trends in successive generations in three parallel populations maintained as discrete populations since 1977 in Cambridge. Certain hordein pattern combinations were more common in the resistance classes and there was a strong association between hordein patterns and mildew reaction. RFLP analysis revealed that 80% of a random sample taken from generation F24 of Population I had the same restriction pattern as that of the cultivar Algerian, which was one of the original 30 parental lines of CCV. This cultivar is the source of the Mlal allele in barley improvement programmes in Europe. We argue, based on supporting evidence from hordein analysis and tests of reaction to selected mildew isolates of known virulence isolates together with UK virulence surveys, that selection for Mlal in Cambridge has been the predominant evolutionary force in CCV in Cambridge.

Source: UG