ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Molecular strain typing of the yaws pathogen, Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue

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
Molecular Structure-Based Screening of the Constituents of Calotropis procera Identifies Potential Inhibitors of Diabetes Mellitus Target Alpha Glucosidase

Diabetes mellitus is a disorder characterized by higher levels of blood glucose due to impaired insulin mechanisms. Alpha glucosidase is a critical drug target implicated in the mechanisms of diabetes mellitus and its inhibition controls hyperglycemia. Since the existing standard synthetic drugs have therapeutic limitations, it is imperative to identify new potent inhibitors of natural product origin which may slow carbohydrate digestion and absorption via alpha glucosidase. Since plant extracts from Calotropis procera have been extensively used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, the present study used molecular docking and dynamics simulation techniques to screen its constituents against the receptor alpha glucosidase. Taraxasterol, syriogenin, isorhamnetin-3-O-robinobioside and calotoxin were identified as potential novel lead compounds with plausible binding energies of -40.2, -35.1, -34.3 and -34.3 kJ/mol against alpha glucosidase, respectively. The residues Trp481, Asp518, Leu677, Leu678 and Leu680 were identified as critical for binding and the compounds were predicted as alpha glucosidase inhibitors. Structurally similar compounds with Tanimoto coefficients greater than 0.7 were reported experimentally to be inhibitors of alpha glucosidase or antidiabetic. The structures of the molecules may serve as templates for the design of novel inhibitors and warrant in vitro assaying to corroborate their antidiabetic potential.

Source: UG
Molecular variability analysis of five new complete cacao swollen shoot virus genomic sequences

Cacao swollen shoot virus (CSSV), a member of the family Caulimoviridae, genus Badnavirus occurs in all the main cacao-growing areas of West Africa. We amplified, cloned and sequenced complete genomes of five new isolates, two originating from Togo and three originating from Ghana. The genome of these five newly sequenced isolates all contain the five putative open reading frames I, II, III, X and Y described for the first sequenced CSSV isolate, Agou1 originating from Togo. Their genomes have been aligned with the genome of Agou1. The nucleotide and amino acid sequence identities between isolates have been calculated and a phylogenetic analysis has been made including other pararetroviruses. Maximum nucleotide sequence variability between complete genomes of CSSV isolates was 29.4%. Geographical differentiation between isolates appears more important than differentiation between mild and severe isolates. ORF X differs greatly in size and sequence between the Togolese isolates Nyongbo2 and Agou1, and the four other isolates, its functional role is therefore clearly questionable. © Springer-Verlag 2004.

Source: UG
Molecular variation of Potato yellow vein virus isolates

To evaluate the variation of Potato yellow vein virus from potato fields, 12 isolates were collected from Colombia and one was collected from Peru. Double-stranded RNA was extracted from the plants and used as a template for RT-PCR amplification of the coat protein (CP) gene and, in separate reactions the C-terminal region of the heat shock protein 70 homologue (Hsp70h) gene and the N-terminal region of the p60 open reading frame. The CP amplicons were subjected to single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis and, together with the other amplicon, nucleotide sequence analysis. These analyses suggested that there is low genetic diversity in the PYVV isolates examined and that the Peruvian isolate of PYVV may have originated in Colombia. © Springer-Verlag 2003.

Source: UG
Molecular xenomonitoring for post-validation surveillance of lymphatic filariasis in Togo: no evidence for active transmission

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
Moments Of Dislocation: Reflections on the Colonial Vestiges Embedded in African Higher Education

Africans have exhibited tremendous resilience, coping abilities, and strategies to survive in multiple spaces globally despite the tensions and challenges associated with the Euro-colonial enterprise. However, the charge to liberate the African mind remains unabated and requires the unpacking of the complexities of the colonial schema, to advance African agency. The colonial is alive and a lack of scrutiny frustrates an understanding of its nuances and the guises in which it manifests, causing the colonised to perpetuate its plans in ignorance. The article presents selected areas where Africans have been de-centred in consciousness. Termed “moments of dislocation,” these areas are historical, linguistic, inferiorisation of the African being, and journey to the West. Although these themes may not be exhaustive, they offer a path to instigate or sustain conversations about the insidious effects of the colonial, and potentially inculcated into discourses and praxis towards mental liberation. Identifying these disorders contributes to the comprehension of coloniality of knowledge, schooling, power, and being. Through critical African education, these concepts would receive unremitting scrutiny for African agency.

Source: UG
Monetary Integration in Africa Problems and Prospects.

Monetary union has become a contentious issue in recent times especially since the successful launch of the European monetary zone. The African Union has plans to create an economic and monetary union for its members. This will involve the creation of a new unified currency for the whole of Africa. This work seeks to give an appraisal of the significance of a monetary union to Africa, look at the challenges and prospects of such an agenda and determine whether or not a monetary union is viable for the Continent. To do this, I reviewed literature on existing monetary union and looked at the challenges they had faced. I also looked at the benefits of a monetary union to the countries that belonged to the monetary unions. My findings show that most of the RECs in Africa have plans to implement monetary unions in their respective regions. Also the policies of the RECs are not being harmonized which might pose problems in future when the continent wide monetary union is to be launched.

Source: UG
Monetary Policy and Financial Inclusion in Sub-Sahara Africa: A Panel VAR Approach

This article investigates the dynamic and bi-causal link between monetary policy and financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa using a panel VAR framework. The researcher obtained data from World Development Indicators (WDI) spanning from 1990 to 2014 for 48 sub-Saharan African economies. The findings suggest that a bi-causal relationship exists between monetary policy and financial inclusion. Specifically, it is evident that monetary policy affects financial inclusion, and financial inclusion is also influenced by monetary policy. The policy implication of this study is that the effectiveness of monetary policy depends on financial inclusion. Hence, the efforts of governments in sub-Saharan African countries should aim at policies that enhance financial inclusion for effective implementation of monetary policy. Also, promoting financial inclusion will require governments in sub-Saharan Africa to reduce their monetary policy rates.

Source: UG
Monetary policy effectiveness in Africa: the role of financial development and institutional quality

Purpose: This study aims to provide empirical evidence of the pass-through effect of monetary policy on bank lending rates vis-à-vis the potential moderating effects of financial sector development and institutional quality in Africa. Design, methodology, and approach: The study uses robust fixed effects panel data estimation techniques and data from 1990 to 2017 across 37 countries in Africa. Findings: The results show that financial development aids in the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission. A decomposition of financial development into financial institution development and financial market development shows that financial institutional development is more influential with regard to effectiveness of the interest rate pass-through compared to financial market development. This study again shows that improvements in the quality of institutions reduced lending rates in African economies. Practical implications: The findings present relevant policy implications regarding effective transmission of monetary policy by linking the pursuit of institutional quality, characterized by the control of corruption, political stability, regulatory quality, rule of law and the voice of accountability and development of financial institutions with lending rates and ultimately the demand for growth capital. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature on the factors influencing the effectiveness of monetary policy. This study considers financial sector development and institutional quality as conduits to monetary policy effectiveness in developing African countries.

Source: UG
Monetary policy, prudential regulations and bank lending behaviour in Africa

The study examines the effect of monetary policy and prudential regulations on bank lending behaviour in Africa. This study employs the Two-Stage Least squares (2SLS) estimation technique for a panel dataset of 54 African countries over the period 2004–2021. The study finds that monetary policy and prudential regulations reduce bank lending and the impact is better in countries with a strong institutional environment. It provides evidence to affirm that monetary policy and prudential regulations provide complementarity effect in yielding a desirable outcome for bank lending

Source: UG
Monitoring and moderating extreme indoor temperatures in low-income urban communities

Climate change presents significant threats to human health, especially for low-income urban communities in the Global South. Despite numerous studies of heat stress, surprisingly little is known about the temperatures actually encountered by people in their homes, or the benefits of affordable adaptations. This paper examines indoor air temperature measurements gathered from 47 living rooms within eight low-income communities of Accra and Tamale, Ghana. Using multiple temperature indices and a tiered analysis, we evaluate indoor temperature variations linked to roof type, ceiling insulation, presence of fans, and tree shade, for different housing types and locations. Our data reveal indoor temperatures in the range 22.4 ◦C to 45.9 ◦C for Accra, and 22.2 ◦C to 43.0 ◦C in Tamale. Using dummy regression analysis, we find that tree shade reduces the number of very hot days (>40 ◦C) and nights (>30 ◦C) by about 12 and 15 d per year, respectively. Building materials also strongly moderate indoor temperatures but in opposing ways: rooms with traditional mud walls and thatch roofs are on average 4.5 ◦C cooler than rooms in concrete block houses with uninsulated metal roofs during the day but are 1.5 ◦C warmer at night; rooms with ceiling insulation are on average 6.9 ◦C cooler in the day but 1.4 ◦C warmer at night. We conclude that sub-daily data are necessary for reporting extreme indoor temperatures, and that trade-offs between minimum and maximum temperatures require interventions to be assessed carefully before attempting to counter extreme heat inside homes.

Source: UG
Monitoring and risk assessment of pesticide residues in selected herbal medicinal products in Ghana

The high patronage of herbal medicinal products in Ghana for the treatment of diverse dis ease conditions raises concerns about patient safety, given that much of the raw materials for production are obtained from the wild or farmlands potentially exposed to varied agrochemical residues. Therefore, the work sought to investigate the contamination of herbal medicinal products with pesticide residues and assess the potential risk posed to patients. As a result,validated gas chromatography with mass spectrom etry as a detector was used to determine forty-two pesticides in thirty herbal medicinal products. The performance parameters of the method such as linear ity, accuracy, and precision were found as acceptable. Pesticide residues such as chlorpyrifos and/or bifen thrin were found in 4/30 herbal medicinal products. Specifcally, 3/30 herbal medicinal products contained only one pesticide, while 1/30 was contaminated with both pesticide residues. The levels of pesticide residue contamination ranged between 2.5 and 5.0 µg/kg. The acute hazard quotient and chronic hazard quotient for the two pesticide residues were evaluated and ranged between 0.21 and 0.92% and between 8.21×10−4 and 5.88× 10−3%. The detected pesticide residue levels are below the maximum residue limit values, which may not cause acute and chronic health risks due to intake of the selected herbal medicinal product. Neverthe less, patient safety and potential public health risk can be reduced by regular monitoring, and regulation of pesticide residue levels in herbal medicinal products.

Source: UG
Monitoring enterohaemorrhagic escherichia coli 0157:H7 in the vegetable food chain in Ghana

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
Monitoring enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli 0157:H7 in the vegetable food chain in Ghana

The study was carried out to assess the occurrence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in the vegetable food chain in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. A total of 272 samples of various types of vegetables were screened for Escherichia coli and Escherichia coli O157:H7 using standard microbiological methods. In addition, 80 samples of water used for irrigation, 40 manure soil samples and 250 stool samples of various livestock were also screened. Overall, a total of 243 (37.9%) Escherichia coli isolates were obtained from all the specimens screened. The overall prevalence rates of Escherichia coli for vegetables were 35.3 and 29.4% for external and internal vegetable parts, respectively. The prevalence rates of Escherichia coli for irrigation water, manured soils and livestock faeces were 26.3, 52.5 and 24%, respectively. Overall,onIy one Escherichia coli isolate from irrigation water was detected to be Escherichia coli O157:H7 which translates to an overall prevalence rate of 0.4% among the Escherichia coli population. The study shows that Escherichia coli O157:H7 is present in the vegetable food chain in Accra but is relatively uncommon. Despite the low prevalence of the organism and its isolation from only irrigation water, the findings of the study call for public health attention owing to the very low infectious dose of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and the common practice of vegetable irrigation.

Source: UG
Monitoring lymphatic filariasis interventions: Adult mosquito sampling, and improved PCR - based pool screening method for Wuchereria bancrofti infection in Anopheles mosquitoes

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
Monitoring lymphatic filariasis interventions: Adult mosquito sampling, and improved PCR - based pool screening method for wuchereria bancrofti infection in anopheles mosquitoes.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring and evaluation are essential to the successful implementation of mass drug administration programmes for LF elimination. Monitoring transmission when it is low requires both large numbers of mosquito vectors and sensitive methods for detecting Wuchereria bancrofti infections in them. PCR-based methods are preferred over classical dissections but the best protocol so far achieved detection of one L3 Wuchereria bancrofti larva in a pool of 35-50 Anopheles mosquitoes. It also lacks consistency and remains still a costly tool. Hence we decided to improve upon this to achieve detection in a pool of 100 or more by enhancing the quality of the template DNA. Prior to this we also evaluated three vector sampling methods in the context of numbers for monitoring. METHODS: Human landing, pyrethrium spray and light traps catches were conducted concurrently at sites in an LF endemic district in Ghana and the numbers obtained compared. Two DNA extraction methods; Bender buffer and phenol/chloroform purification, and DNAeasy Tissue kit (Quaigen Inc) were used on pools of 25, 50, 75 100 and 150 mosquitoes each seeded with one L3 or its quivalent amount of DNA. Then another set of extracted DNA by the two methods was subjected to Dynal bead purification method (using capture oligonucleotide primers). These were used as template DNA in PCR to amplify W. bancrofti sequences. The best PCR result was then evaluated in the field at five sites by comparing its results (infections per 1000 mosquitoes) with that of dissection of roughly equal samples sizes. RESULTS: The largest numbers of mosquitoes were obtained with the human landing catches at all the sites sampled. Although PCR detection of one L3 in pools of 25, 50 and 75 mosquitoes was consistent irrespective of the extraction method, that of one L3 in 100 was only achieved with the kit-extracted DNA/Dynal bead purification method. Infections were found at only two sites by both dissection and pool-screening being 14.3 and 19 versus 13.4 and 20.1 per 1000 Anopheles mosquitoes respectively, which were not statistically significant DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: HLC still remains the best option for sampling for the large numbers of mosquitoes required for monitoring transmission during MDA programmes, when vector population densities are high and classical indices of transmission are required. One - in - 100 detection is an improvement on previous PCR pool-screening methods, which in our opinion was a result of the introduction of the extra step of parasite DNA capture using Dynal/beads. As pool sizes increase the insects DNA will swamp parasite DNA making the latter less available for an efficient PCR, therefore we propose either additional steps of parasite DNA capture or real-time PCR to improve further the pool screening method. The study also attests also to the applicability of Katholi et al's algorithm developed for determining onchocerciasis prevalence in LF studies.

Source: UG
Monitoring malaria using health facility based surveys: Challenges and limitations

Background: Health facility data are more readily accessible for operational planning and evaluation of disease control programmes. The importance, potential challenges and limitations of using facility based survey as an alternative tool for monitoring changes in local malaria epidemiology were examined. Methods: The study involved six areas within the administrative divisions of The Gambia. The areas were selected to reflect socioeconomic and malaria transmission intensities across the country. The study design involved an age stratified cross sectional surveys that were conducted during the wet season in 2008 and in the 2009 during the dry season. Participants were patients attending clinics in six health centres and the representative populations from the catchment communities of the health centres. Results: Overall participants' characteristics were mostly not comparable in the two methodological approaches in the different seasons and settings. More females than males were enrolled (55.8 vs. 44.2 %) in all the surveys. Malaria infection was higher in the surveys in health centres than in the communities (p < 0.0001) and also in males than in females (OR = 1.3; p < 0.001). Males were less likely than females to sleep under an insecticide treated net in the communities (OR = 1.6; 95 % CI 1.3, 1.9) and in the health centres (OR = 1.3; 95 % CI 1.1, 1.5). Representativeness of the ethnic groups was better in the health centre surveys than in the community surveys when compared to the 2003 national population census in The Gambia. Conclusion: Health facility based survey though a potential tool for monitoring changes in the local epidemiology of malaria will require continuous validation of the facility and participants sociodemograhic characteristics as these may change over time. The effects of health seeking practices on service utilization and health facility surveys as an approach will also need continuous review.

Source: UG
Monitoring of organic micropollutants in Ghana by combination of pellet watch with sediment analysis: E-waste as a source of PCBs

Plastic resin pellets collected at 11 beaches covering the whole Ghanaian coastline were analyzed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCB concentrations (∑13 congeners) were higher in Accra, capital city, and Tema (39-69. ng/g-pellets) than those in rural coastal towns (1-15. ng/g-pellets) which are close to global background, indicating local inputs of PCBs. River sediments were also analyzed for PCBs together with molecular markers. Sedimentary PCBs concentrations were highest at a site (AR02) downstream of an electronic waste (e-waste) scrapyard. At the site (AR02), concentration of linear alkylbenzenes (LABs), a marker of municipal wastewater, was lower than another site (AR03) which is located at the downstream of downtown Accra. This result suggests that PCBs are introduced more to the river from the e-waste site than from activities in downtown Accra. PAHs concentrations were relatively higher in urban areas with strong petrogenic signature. Abundance of triphenylbenzenes suggested plastic combustion near e-waste scrapyard. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Source: UG
Monitoring of pesticide residues of five notable vegetables at Agbogbloshie market in Accra, Ghana

The study monitored the concentrations of pesticide residues in vegetables arriving at Agbogbloshie, a central market in the Accra Metropolis from different parts of Ghana and beyond. A total of 810 samples of 5 different vegetables from Central, Volta, Greater Accra, Ashanti, Eastern Regions, and neighboring country (Togo) were collected from January 2009 through to December 2011. In all, 18 % of the samples had no detectable residues, 62 % were below the maximum residue limits (MRLs), and 20 % also exceeded the EU (MRLs) adopted values. Overall, lettuce contained the highest number of residues above their MRLs besides cucumber and cabbage. The pesticide residues were mainly organophosphates and synthetic pyrethroids. The results demonstrate the need for continuous monitoring of pesticide residues in vegetables arriving at the various major markets in Ghana. © 2014, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.

Source: UG