ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
A multiplicative effect of Education and Wealth associated with HIV-related knowledge and attitudes among Ghanaian women

Background Knowledge and attitudes regarding HIV play a crucial role in prevention and control efforts. Understanding the factors influencing HIV-related knowledge and attitudes is essential for formulating effective interventions and policies. This study aims to investigate the possibility of an interaction between education and wealth in influencing HIV-related knowledge and attitudes among women in Ghana. Methods Cross-sectional data from the Ghana Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), a nationally representative sample, were analyzed. Statistical summaries were computed using place of residence, marital status, education level, wealth index quintile, use of insurance, functional difficulties, and exposure to modern media. Furthermore, a three-model Logistic regression analysis was conducted; Model 1 with main effects only, Model 2 with the interaction between education and wealth, and Model 3 with additional covariates. To account for the complexity of the survey data, the svyset command was executed in STATA. Results Although most interaction terms between wealth index quintiles and education levels did not show statistical significance, a few exceptions were observed. Notably, women with primary education in the second, middle, and fourth wealth quintiles, along with those with secondary education in the second wealth quintile, exhibited a negative significant association with HIV-related attitude level. However, no significant associations were found between other factors, including age, place of residence, marital status, and health insurance, and HIV-related attitude. The study also found significant associations between socioeconomic variables and HIV-related knowledge. There was a significant positive association between higher levels of education and HIV-related knowledge level. Women in wealthier quintiles had a significant positive association with HIV-related knowledge level. Factors such as place of residence and media exposure, including radio and television were also observed to be associated with HIV related knowledge level. Conclusions This study highlights the importance of socioeconomic status and media exposure in shaping HIV-related knowledge and attitudes among women in Ghana. Policy interventions should focus on reducing socioeconomic disparities, ensuring equitable access to education and healthcare services, and utilizing media platforms for effective HIV information dissemination.

Source: UG
Multiplicity and molecular epidemiology of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum infections in East Africa

Background: Parasite genetic diversity and multiplicity of infection (MOI) affect clinical outcomes, response to drug treatment and naturally-acquired or vaccine-induced immunity. Traditional methods often underestimate the frequency and diversity of multiclonal infections due to technical sensitivity and specificity. Next-generation sequencing techniques provide a novel opportunity to study complexity of parasite populations and molecular epidemiology. Methods: Symptomatic and asymptomatic Plasmodium vivax samples were collected from health centres/hospitals and schools, respectively, from 2011 to 2015 in Ethiopia. Similarly, both symptomatic and asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum samples were collected, respectively, from hospitals and schools in 2005 and 2015 in Kenya. Finger-pricked blood samples were collected and dried on filter paper. Long amplicon (> 400 bp) deep sequencing of merozoite surface protein 1 (msp1) gene was conducted to determine multiplicity and molecular epidemiology of P. vivax and P. falciparum infections. The results were compared with those based on short amplicon (117 bp) deep sequencing. Results: A total of 139 P. vivax and 222 P. falciparum samples were pyro-sequenced for pvmsp1 and pfmsp1, yielding a total of 21 P. vivax and 99 P. falciparum predominant haplotypes. The average MOI for P. vivax and P. falciparum were 2.16 and 2.68, respectively, which were significantly higher than that of microsatellite markers and short amplicon (117 bp) deep sequencing. Multiclonal infections were detected in 62.2% of the samples for P. vivax and 74.8% of the samples for P. falciparum. Four out of the five subjects with recurrent P. vivax malaria were found to be a relapse 44-65 days after clearance of parasites. No difference was observed in MOI among P. vivax patients of different symptoms, ages and genders. Similar patterns were also observed in P. falciparum except for one study site in Kenyan lowland areas with significantly higher MOI. Conclusions: The study used a novel method to evaluate Plasmodium MOI and molecular epidemiological patterns by long amplicon ultra-deep sequencing. The complexity of infections were similar among age groups, symptoms, genders, transmission settings (spatial heterogeneity), as well as over years (pre- vs. post-scale-up interventions). This study demonstrated that long amplicon deep sequencing is a useful tool to investigate multiplicity and molecular epidemiology of Plasmodium parasite infections. © 2018 The Author(s).

Source: UG
Multisite, mixed methods study to validate 10 maternal health system and policy indicators in Argentina, Ghana and India: a research protocol

Introduction: Most efforts to assess maternal health indicator validity focus on measures of service coverage. Fewer measures focus on the upstream enabling environment, and such measures are typically not research validated. Thus, methods for validating system and policy-level indicators are not well described. This protocol describes original multicountry research to be conducted in Argentina, Ghana and India, to validate 10 indicators from the monitoring framework for the ‘Strategies toward Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality’ (EPMM). The overall aim is to improve capacity to drive and track progress towards achieving the priority recommendations in the EPMM strategies. This work is expected to contribute new knowledge on validation methodology and reveal important information about the indicators under study and the phenomena they target for monitoring. Validating the indicators in three diverse settings will explore the external validity of results. Methods and analysis: This observational study explores the validity of 10 indicators from the EPMM monitoring framework via seven discrete validation exercises that will use mixed methods: (1) cross-sectional review of policy data, (2) retrospective review of facility-level patient and administrative data and (3) collection of primary quantitative and qualitativecross-sectional data from health service providers and clients. There is a specific methodological approach and analytic plan for each indicator, directed by unique, relevant validation research questions. Ethics and dissemination: The protocol was approved by the Office of Human Research Administration at Harvard University in November 2019. Individual study sites received approval via local institutional review boards by January 2020 except La Pampa, Argentina, approved June 2020. Our dissemination plan enables unrestricted access and reuse of all published research, including data sets. We expect to publish at least one peer-reviewed publication per validation exercise. We will disseminate results at conferences and engage local stakeholders in dissemination activities in each study country.

Source: UG
Multitargeted Effects of Vitexin and Isovitexin on Diabetes Mellitus and Its Complications

pharmacotherapeutic agents many years ago. Technological advancement in natural product chemistry has led to the isolation of analogs of vitexin and isovitexin found in diverse bioresources. These compounds have been extensively studied to explore their pharmacological relevance in diabetes mellitus. Aim of the Study. 'e present review was to compile results from in vitro and in vivo studies performed with vitexin and isovitexin derivatives relating to diabetes mellitus and its complications. A systematic online literature query was executed to collect all relevant articles published up to March 2020. Results. In this piece, we have collected data and presented it in a one-stop document to support the multitargeted mechanistic actions of vitexin and isovitexin in controlling diabetes mellitus and its complications. Conclusion. Data collected hint that vitexin and isovitexin work by targeting diverse pathophysiological and metabolic pathways and molecular drug points involved in the clinical manifestations of diabetes mellitus. This is expected to provide a deeper understanding of its actions and also serve as a catapult for clinical trials and application research.

Source: UG
MultiVal - Towards a multilingual valence lexicon

MultiVal is a valence lexicon derived from lexicons of computational HPSG grammars for Norwegian, Spanish and Ga (ISO 639-3, gaa), with altogether about 22, 000 verb entries and on average more than 200 valence types defined for each language. These lexical resources are mapped onto a common set of discriminants with a common array of values, and stored in a relational database linked to a web demo and a wiki presentation. Search discriminants are 'syntactic argument structure' (SAS), functional specification, situation type and aspect, for any subset of languages, as well as the verb type systems of the grammars. Search results are lexical entries satisfying the discriminants entered, exposing the specifications from the respective provenance grammars. The Ga grammar lexicon has in turn been converted from a Ga Toolbox lexicon. Aside from the creation of such a multilingual valence resource through converging or converting existing resources, the paper also addresses a tool for the creation of such a resource as part of corpus annotation for less resourced languages.

Source: UG
A multivariate statistical analysis of surface water chemistry data-The Ankobra Basin, Ghana

R-mode hierarchical cluster and principal component analysis (PCA) were simultaneously applied to surface water hydrochemical data from three different locations, Ankwaso, Dominase and Prestea, along the Ankobra Basin, Ghana, to extract principal factors corresponding to the different sources of variation in the hydrochemistry, with the objective of defining the main controls on the hydrochemistry at the basin scale. Using the Kaiser criterion, principal components (PC) were extracted from the data and rotated using varimax normalization, for each location. The varimax rotation ensured that variation in the data was maximized for easy interpretation of the results. The analysis reduced 30, 33 and 33 data points, respectively, for Ankwaso, Dominase and Prestea to four, three and four PC representing the sources of variation in the hydrochemistry at the three different locations. Though the PC analysis proved to be more robust at unveiling the sources of variation in the hydrochemistry than the R-mode hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), the combined use of both techniques resulted in more reliable interpretations of the hydrochemistry. On the basis of these analyses, the hydrochemistry of the basin is controlled largely by the weathering of minerals (silicates, carbonates, gypsum and apatite) from the underlying meta-sediments of the Birimian and Tarkwaian Systems, and the decay of organic matter from the heavily forested regions. Concentrations of the major chemical parameters are within naturally acceptable limits and do not pose threats to the local ecology and humans. There is no strong evidence of high anthropogenic impacts on the major anions and cations used for this research, though there are variations at the different locations studied. The hydrochemistry at Ankwaso is principally controlled by the weathering of silicate minerals, whereas those of Dominase and Prestea are, respectively, influenced by precipitation and domestic wastewaters, and the decay of organic matter. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Source: UG
The Muni-Pomadze Ramsar site

The Coastal Wetlands Management Project (CWMP), funded by the Global Environment Facility and implemented by the Ghana Wildlife Department, seeks to preserve the ecological integrity of coastal lagoons that serve as important sites for migratory waterbirds. This report describes the geomorphology, hydrology, soils, water chemistry, and vegetation of the Muni-Pomadze Ramsar site. Muni lagoon is a saline, shallow water lagoon separated from the sea by a sand bar which may be breached occasionally. The bulk of the rainfall in the catchment evaporates or flows as surface runoff into three streams that empty into Muni lagoon. Open water in the lagoon varies seasonally from 100 ha in the dry season to over 1000 ha in the wet season. The natural flora of the site can be divided into four main types; flood plain (including mangrove and wetland vegetation), dune vegetation, riverine vegetation, and terrestrial vegetation on elevated ground. The latter consists of a combination of grasslands, thickets, and Eucalyptus plantations. Fifty-three percent of the site is classified as natural vegetation. An additional 32.5% is agricultural land and 12.6% is residential area for the 11 communities within the site. The main source of employment are farming or fishing. The area surrounding Muni lagoon is used extensively for bushmeat hunting and as the tribal hunting grounds of the Efutu people. Apart from the global importance of the Muni-Pomadze site for biodiversity, management of the site is further justified by its considerable potential for development as an income-generating and educational nature reserve with an eco-cultural theme, managed by the local communities in partnership with the governmental and non-governmental conservation agencies.

Source: UG
Muscular mitochondrial function in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is progressively altered as the disease develops: A temporal study in man

We performed repeated analysis of mitochondrial respiratory function in skeletal muscle (SM) of patients with early-stage sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SALS) to determine whether mitochondrial function was altered as the disease advanced. SM biopsies were obtained from 7 patients with newly diagnosed SALS, the same 7 patients 3 months later, and 7 sedentary controls. Muscle fibers were permeabilized with saponin, then skinned and placed in an oxygraphic chamber to measure basal and maximal adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-stimulated respiration rates and to assess mitochondrial regulation by ADP. We found that the maximal oxidative phosphorylation capacity of muscular mitochondria significantly increased, and muscular mitochondrial respiratory complex IV activity significantly decreased as the disease advanced. This temporal study demonstrates for the first time that mitochondrial function in SM in human SALS is progressively altered as the disease develops

Source: UG
Musculoskeletal Disorder Symptoms among Workers at an Informal Electronic-Waste Recycling Site in Agbogbloshie, Ghana

Informal recycling of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) has myriad environmental and occupational health consequences, though information about the chronic musculoskeletal health effects on workers is limited. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and intensity of self-reported musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) symptoms among e-waste workers at Agbogbloshie in Ghana—the largest informal e-waste dumpsite in West Africa—relative to workers not engaged in e-waste recycling. A standardized musculoskeletal discomfort questionnaire was administered to 176 e-waste workers (73 collectors, 82 dismantlers, and 21 burners) and 41 workers in a reference group. The number of body parts with musculoskeletal discomfort were 1.62 and 1.39 times higher for collectors and dismantlers than burners, respectively. A 1-week discomfort prevalence was highest for collectors (91.8%) followed by dismantlers (89%), burners (81%), and the reference group (70.7%). The discomfort prevalence for e-waste workers was highest in the lower back (65.9%), shoulders (37.5%), and knees (37.5%). Whole-body pain scores (mean ± SE) were higher for collectors (83.7 ± 10.6) than dismantlers (45.5 ± 7.6), burners (34.0 ± 9.1), and the reference group (26.4 ± 5.9). Differences in prevalence, location, and intensity of MSD symptoms by the e-waste job category suggest specific work-related morbidity. Symptom prevalence and intensity call attention to the high risk for MSDs and work disability among informal e-waste workers, particularly collectors and dismantlers.

Source: UG
Musculoskeletal disorders among first-year ghanaian students in a nursing college

Clinical Anatomy, Clinical Pathology, Medicine, Surgery, Theriogenology, Epidemiology and Disease Prevention, Food (Meat and Milk Hygiene and Inspection, Zoonoses and Environmental Health, Obstetrics, Mastitis and Udder Management, Veterinary Economics and Business Management, Veterinary Ethics, Jurisprudence and Extension, Clinics and Student Project. Long Vacations

Source: UG
Musculoskeletal Disorders in Unstructured, Unregulated Work: Assessment Methods and Injuries

Unstructured and unregulated work is expanding fast among low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Furthermore, accumulation of urban waste resulting from overconsumption is a global concern. Hence, waste management and recycling have received increased attention. One specific waste category pertaining to electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) is growing at a higher rate than other waste streams. Recycling of e-waste is largely informal and disproportionately relies on LMICs, exposing workers to various occupational and environmental health risks. In order to promote safer work practices and limit a broad range of occupational health and safety concerns associated with informal manual work, the broader psychosocial and sociocultural environment also deserves attention. This symposium will discuss contemporary issues in informal, unregulated, unstructured work in LMICs, primarily in Africa and South America. The goal of the symposium is to call attention to both, the unique occupational context of informal work, and the need for new ergonomics methods to address occupational exposure assessment and musculoskeletal injury prevention adapted to informal work in limited resource settings.

Source: UG
Museums, Monuments and International Tourism in Ghana

This dissertation is a study of the relevance of tours by international visitors of Ghana's Museum and monuments over the past decade to the country's relations with other nations and to world peace in general. The types of museums and monuments found in the country and the programmes and services they offer tourists are discussed. The study attempts to show that museums and monuments assist in deepening understanding among foreign visitors of the cultural heritage of Ghana and encourage peaceful coexistence between Ghanaians and foreigners. However, they are sources of conflict of different kinds, as observed, for example by Bruner (1996), that do not serve the cause of world peace. Variables that account for understanding and peace, and for conflict are identified and discussed. Results of the work are expected to assist organizations and agencies associated with Ghana's museums and monuments, tourism, as well as Ghana's foreign affairs experts, in the planning and execution of policies that would minimise conflict at these tourism centres and foster harmony and peace among the wide range of visitors. The relevant data derive from observations made at selected museums and monuments across the country and from oral information obtained through interviews of tourists, tour guides, tour promotors, curators and other staff of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board. Analyses of the data is done with reference to literature on museums and monuments and their role in tourism and global peace.

Source: UG
Musings on malaria morbidity and mortality after the new Mosquirix® vaccine.

There are some facts relating to the new malaria vaccine (Mosquirix® or RTS,S/AS01) recently introduced in Ghana, which need to be more widely known. Contrary to expectations based on mathematical modelling and on the vaccine’s effect on clinical malaria and severe malaria, mortality was not reduced in children receiving the Mosquirix® vaccine in the phase 3 trial.1 This (surprising) result has been attributed to the fact that mortality was reduced in both the vaccinated and unvaccinated children due to better implementation of malaria control measures such as use of bed nets and prompt treatment of malaria.2 The startling implication of this finding is that when the existing malaria control measures are implemented more effectively, the vaccine in its current form does not offer any measurable mortality advantages. This means that if there were a willingness to implement malaria control measures intensively, there would be no need to expose our children to the unknown effects of a new vaccine.

Source: UG
Muslim Scholars of Yoruba Origin in Ghana: A Critical Study of Musah Abdul- Kadir’s Dirge

The Yoruba migrant community has been an integral part of the Ghanaian society since the late nineteenth-century. Their vast contribution to the thriving of trade and commerce in Ghana, chiefly in the informal sectors has been extensively examined by H. Polly (1970) and J.S. Eades (1994) among others. Nonetheless, there are dearth of studies on the socio-cultural impact of Yoruba people on the Ghanaian community. This study sheds some insight into the contribution of Ghanaian Muslim scholars of Yoruba origin to the Arabic literary tradition in Ghana. It focuses on the late Sheikh Musah Abdul-Kadir who traces his root to Ilorin. The study upon analyzing a dirge Musah composed to eulogize the late Sheikh Ahmed Yasin of HAMAS, came to the conclusion that it was a critical and an original contribution that provided extra insight into the assassination of Ahmed Yasin, and that Musah’s contribution to the cause of Arabic and Islamic, and those of his ilk’s’ in Accra and Kumasi, signal that Ghanaian Muslims of Yoruba origin contributed substantially towards the blossom of Arabic and Islamic education in Ghana in the twentieth- century.

Source: UG
Mutagenic effects of gamma Irradiation on oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) Seedling germination and growth.

Mutation induction has been used to generate genetic variability in most crop plants. This research was conducted to assess genetic variation induced by gamma radiation on the various treatment designated as M1, M2, M2M1 at 10 Gy. A randomised complete block design with four replicates was used for the experiment. Parameters such as percentage germination, root length, leaf area, plant height and stem/trunk circumference were taken from 4- to 12-month seedlings after planting. Data was analysed using GenStat (12th edition), which revealed significant differences in germination and growth of these oil palm seedlings. The study shows that percentage germination as well as growth parameters were stimulated in the M1 seedlings but inhibited in the M2 and M2M1 populations.

Source: UG