ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Mass Spectrometric and Bio-Computational Binding Strength Analysis of Multiply Charged RNAse S Gas-Phase Complexes Obtained by Electrospray Ionization from Varying In-Solution Equilibrium Conditions

We investigated the influence of a solvent’s composition on the stability of desorbed and multiply charged RNAse S ions by analyzing the non-covalent complex’s gas-phase dissociation processes. RNAse S was dissolved in electrospray ionization-compatible buffers with either increasing organic co-solvent content or different pHs. The direct transition of all the ions and the evaporation of the solvent from all the in-solution components of RNAse S under the respective in-solution conditions by electrospray ionization was followed by a collision-induced dissociation of the surviving non-covalent RNAse S complex ions. Both types of changes of solvent conditions yielded in mass spectrometrically observable differences of the in-solution complexation equilibria. Through quantitative analysis of the dissociation products, i.e., from normalized ion abundances of RNAse S, S-protein, and S-peptide, the apparent kinetic and apparent thermodynamic gas-phase complex properties were deduced. From the experimental data, it is concluded that the stability of RNAse S in the gas phase is independent of its in-solution equilibrium but is sensitive to the complexes’ gas-phase charge states. Bio-computational in-silico studies showed that after desolvation and ionization by electrospray, the remaining binding forces kept the S-peptide and S-protein together in the gas phase predominantly by polar interactions, which indirectly stabilized the in-bulk solution predominating non-polar intermolecular interactions. As polar interactions are sensitive to in-solution protonation, bio-computational results provide an explanation of quantitative experimental data with single amino acid residue resolution.

Source: UG
Massive Inguino-scrotal Hernia

Introduction Inguinal hernia is very common worldwide. In low- and middle-income countries, the estimated repair rate is 30 per 100,000 population per year. Inguino-scrotal Hernia Definition. Kingsnorth H3 and H4 hernias that are 20–30 cm below the pubic crest are massive. Massive hernias are associated with loss of domain as abdominal contents lie in the hernia sac over time. These massive hernias often cause difficulty in walking, sitting or lying down, with mobility dramatically restricted. These hernias are repaired with the patient in the standard prone position with general anaesthesia and endotracheal intubation. The standard oblique groin incision that is extended 1 or 2 cm beyond the pubic tubercle onto the crest adequately exposes the mass of tissue entering the scrotum. Operative steps: The inguinal canal is opened in the standard manner. The internal ring is extended lateral, and the hernia is reduced. If this fails, an omentectomy and/or a colectomy is performed. The posterior wall is repaired with the Lichtenstein procedure. Preoperative progressive pneumoperitoneum and plastic techniques or procedures may be used to increase the capacity of the abdominal cavity and prevent postreduction intra-abdominal hypertension. Closure: The groin and the lower abdominal incisions are closed in the standard manner. Post-operative management: In the immediate post-operative hours, the blood pressure, the urine output and the nasogastric aspirate have to be closely monitored.

Source: UG
Matched Sampling Methodology Reconsidered: The Role Of Trust In Studying Remittance Tranfers Between Ghanaian Immigrants In The UK And Their Relatives In Ghana

Matched sampling methodology (MSM) has been used in remittance studies to understand remittance transfers. However, a detailed examination of the role of trust as a central element in producing reliable and valid research conclusions when a matched sample methodology is used has been missing in the literature. This paper fills this lacuna by arguing that cultivating trust in matched sampling research on remittance transfers, a sensitive subject matter, between African immigrants and their relatives presents a more nuanced narrative of remittance transfers. This approach shows that not only do African immigrants in the ‘Global North’ send remittances back home, but immigrants also receive remittances (reverse remittances) from their relatives on the continent. Using remittance research conducted among Ghanaian immigrants in the UK and their relatives in Ghana, this article identifies three ‘avenues of trust’—‘public avenues of trust’, ‘intermediate avenues of trust’, and ‘private avenues of trust’—to highlight the processes and challenges that researchers encounter while establishing contact with research participants and the role that trust plays in gathering accurate information. Focusing on the role of trust in MSM is in line with recent theoretical paradigms of remittance research that call for soliciting information from both origin and destination countries.

Source: UG
Material aspects of Limba, Yalunka and Kuranko ethnicity: Archaeological research in northeastern Sierra Leone

Northeastern Sierra Leone is located within the forest-savanna ecotone; the southern part of the region is characterized by tropical forest and farm bush, whereas the north is more open and savanna grass and baobab trees are common. Physiographically the area lies on the Koinadugu Plateau, an extension of the Guinea Highlands, and is dominated by intr icately dissected plains, hills and mountains. Culturally the area consists largely ofLimba, Yalunka and Kuranko (Fig. 7.1), but smaller numbers of Fulani, Mandinka and other ethnic groups are also present. The three larger groups are swidden agr iculturalists. Chicken, goats and sheep are commonly kept, but cattle, when owned, are often tended by Fulani herdsmen. There is a high degree of cultural similarity throughout the region, but a variety of linguistic, cultural, political and historical factors characterize the individual groups.

Source: UG
Material Culture and Ethnic Identity: The Case of the Krobo, Ghana

The paper examines the role of material culture, including archaeological remains and historic landscapes in the construction, maintenance, and propagation of ethnic and or cultural identity in Krobo, Ghana. It focuses on how the Krobo have been exploiting their ancestral town, Krobo Mountain ancient settlement site, and its associated historical narratives for social, cultural, economic, and political gains.

Source: UG
Material flow analysis and risk evaluation of informal E-waste recycling processes in Ghana: Towards sustainable management strategies

Informal electronic waste (e-waste) recycling plays a significant role in e-waste management in developing countries, such as Ghana, where over 90% is handled by the informal sector. However, the informal treatment of e-waste poses a risk to human health and the environment due to the release of toxic pollutants. There is a lack of data on e-waste management and informal processing, and the material flows of output fractions and the fate of hazardous fractions are largely unknown. This hinders the development of appropriate management strategies. Herein, Material Flow Analysis (MFA) was used to investigate five important informal e-waste recycling pro cesses, and risk analysis was used to evaluate environmental, economic, and health safety. On average of all assessed processes, 40.3% of the emerging fractions are landfilled or burned whereof the processing of ICT appliances (desktop PC, laptops and phones) (P1) contributes with 19.4%, CRT appliances (P2) with 11.7%, compressors from cooling appliances (P3) with 0.1%, microwaves (P4) with 1.3% and printers (P5) with 7.7 % to the landfilled or burned fractions. The risk assessment showed that there are considerable risks in environmental, economic and health safety for all processes. When considering the overall risk assessment across all categories, the priority for action to have the most substantial impact is as follows: P2>P5>P3>P1>P4. The key findings of this research focus on the assessment of the so far not known informal e-waste process workflows, the identi fication of emerging fractions, the remain of potentially hazardous fractions and the identification of the primary economic drivers in informal e-waste dismantling. Recommended action areas involve the incorporation of the informal sector, guided by the insights derived from the MFA and risk assessment. The results of this study are of importance for addressing the challenges faced by the informal sector and for making well-informed decisions when strategizing e-waste management infrastructure.

Source: UG
Maternal and child factors associated with child body fatness in a Ghanaian cohort

Objective: We aimed to identify factors (child diet, physical activity; maternal BMI) associated with body composition of Ghanaian pre-school children. Design: Longitudinal analysis of the International Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (iLiNS)-DYAD-Ghana randomized trial, which enrolled 1320 pregnant women at ≤20 weeks’ gestation and followed them and their infants until 6 and 18 months postpartum, respectively. At follow-up, child age 4–6 years, we collected data on body composition (by 2H dilution), physical activity and diet, extracted dietary patterns using factor analysis, and examined the association of children’s percentage body fat with maternal and child factors by regression analysis. Setting: Eastern Region, Ghana. Participants: Children 4–6 years of age. Results: The analysis included 889 children with percentage body fat and dietary data at follow-up. We identified two major dietary patterns, a snacking and a cooked foods pattern. Percentage body fat was positively associated (standardized β (SE)) with maternal BMI at follow-up (0·10 (0·03); P = 0·003) and negatively associated with physical activity (−0·15 (0·05); P = 0·003, unadjusted for child gender), but not associated with the snacking (0·06 (0·03); P = 0·103) or cooked foods (−0·05 (0·07); P = 0·474) pattern. Boys were more active than girls (1470 v. 1314 mean vector magnitude counts/min; P < 0·0001) and had lower percentage body fat (13·8 v. 16·9 %; P < 0·0001). Conclusions: In this population, maternal overweight and child physical activity, especially among girls, may be key factors for addressing child overweight/ obesity. We did not demonstrate a relationship between the dietary patterns and body fatness, which may be related to limitations of the dietary data available.

Source: UG
Maternal and child nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and interventions

Women of child-bearing age (especially pregnant and lactating women), infants and young children are in the most nutritionally-vulnerable stages of the life cycle. Maternal malnutrition is a major predisposing factor for morbidity and mortality among African women. The causes include inadequate food intake, poor nutritional quality of diets, frequent infections and short inter-pregnancy intervals. Evidence for maternal malnutrition is provided by the fact that between 5 and 20% of African women have a low BMI as a result of chronic hunger. Across the continent the prevalence of anaemia ranges from 21 to 80%, with similarly high values for both vitamin A and Zn deficiency levels. Another challenge is the high rates of HIV infection, which compromise maternal nutritional status. The consequences of poor maternal nutritional status are reflected in low pregnancy weight gain and high infant and maternal morbidity and mortality. Suboptimal infant feeding practices, poor quality of complementary foods, frequent infections and micronutrient deficiencies have largely contributed to the high mortality among infants and young children in the region. Feeding children whose mothers are infected with HIV continues to remain an issue requiring urgent attention. There are successful interventions to improve the nutrition of mothers, infants and young children, which will be addressed. Interventions to improve the nutrition of infants and young children, particularly in relation to the improvement of micronutrient intakes of young children, will be discussed. The recent release by WHO of new international growth standards for assessing the growth and nutritional status of children provides the tool for early detection of growth faltering and for appropriate intervention. © 2008 The Author.

Source: UG
Maternal and child nutrition: Building momentum for impact

support for the interventions that can be quickly scaled up or linked to nutrition programmes—such as early child development initiatives. It is equally important to take note of the message of Marie Ruel and colleagues 4 — that in certain sectors, such as agriculture, the evidence of the eff ect of targeted programmes on maternal and child nutrition is largely inconclusive and requires new approaches to fi eld evaluation. Since 2008, there have been only limited increases in donor aid for nutrition. It is true that nutrition is not so readily attractive to politicians as an international development priority. Undernutrition has a complex set of political, social, and economic causes, none of which are amenable to easy solutions that fi t within the timeframe of a single political cycle. For this reason, the outlook today for nutrition is not wholly good. The target endorsed only a year ago at the World Health Assembly—to reduce by 40% the number of children stunted by 2025—is already on course to be missed. As the endpoint of the Millennium Development Goals approaches, countries and the international community may agree that nutrition was one of the great missed opportunities of the past 15 years. But this neglect can be turned around quickly. As sustainable development becomes the dominant idea post-2015, nutrition emerges as the quintessential example of a sustainable development objective. If maternal and child nutrition is optimised, the benefi ts will accrue and extend over several generations. This remarkable opportunity is why Stuart Gillespie and colleagues 5 take a very diff erent approach to implementation than in any previous Lancet Series. Instead of exhorting politicians and policy makers to do something—or worse, simply hoping that political commitment will appear like a rabbit out of a hat—they set out a practical guide about how to seize the agenda for nutrition, how to create political momentum, and how to turn that momentum into results. This is the prize we have to grasp in the next 18 months.

Source: UG
Maternal and Family Correlates of Intrinsic Religiosity Profiles Among Low-Income Urban African American Adolescents

National trends show that African American adolescents, relative to most other demographic groups, are more religious, and show fewer declines in religiosity, despite drastic decreases in religiosity among youth over the past 25 years. These broad findings are limiting because they fail to acknowledge religious heterogeneity among African American teens. Further, there are few empirical investigations of the transmission of religiosity within African American families. Building on a recent study that identified three distinctive profiles of intrinsic religiosity in a sample of low-income African American adolescents who were followed over four years (N = 326; Youth Mage = 12.1, SD = 1.6 years; 54% female), the present study examined contributions of maternal religiosity and family emotional climate in distinguishing these profiles. Univariate analyses revealed that maternal religious attendance and commitment, adolescents’ felt acceptance from mothers and the emotional climate in the home differentiated youth who retained high levels of intrinsic religiosity (41%) from youth who declined in religiosity (37%) or who had low levels of religiosity (22%). Multivariate analyses showed that after accounting for demographic covariates, felt acceptance from mothers differentiated adolescents with high versus low levels of religiosity; both maternal religious attendance and felt acceptance from mothers distinguished adolescents who retained high levels of religiosity from youth who declined in religiosity. Implications for family dynamics in African American adolescent religious development and well-being are discussed.

Source: UG
Maternal and Infant Histo-Blood Group Antigen (HBGA) Profiles and Their Influence on Oral Rotavirus Vaccine (RotarixTM) Immunogenicity among Infants

Live-attenuated, oral rotavirus vaccines have significantly reduced rotavirus-associated diarrhoea morbidity and infant mortality. However, vaccine immunogenicity is diminished in lowincome countries. We investigated whether maternal and infant intrinsic susceptibility to rotavirus infection via histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) profiles influenced rotavirus (ROTARIX®) vaccineinduced responses in Zambia. We studied 135 mother–infant pairs under a rotavirus vaccine clinical trial, with infants aged 6 to 12 weeks at pre-vaccination up to 12 months old. We determined maternal and infant ABO/H, Lewis, and secretor HBGA phenotypes, and infant FUT2 HBGA genotypes. Vaccine immunogenicity was measured as anti-rotavirus IgA antibody titres. Overall, 34 (31.3%) children were seroconverted at 14 weeks, and no statistically significant difference in seroconversion was observed across the various HBGA profiles in early infant life. We also observed a statistically significant difference in rotavirus-IgA titres across infant HBGA profiles at 12 months, though no statistically significant difference was observed between the study arms. There was no association between maternal HBGA profiles and infant vaccine immunogenicity. Overall, infant HBGAs were associated with RV vaccine immunogenicity at 12 months as opposed to in early infant life. Further investigation into the low efficacy of ROTARIX® and appropriate intervention is key to unlocking the full vaccine benefits for U5 children.

Source: UG
Maternal and Infant Histo-Blood Group Antigen (HBGA) Profiles and Their Influence on Oral Rotavirus Vaccine (RotarixTM) Immunogenicity among Infants in Zambia

Live-attenuated, oral rotavirus vaccines have significantly reduced rotavirus-associated diarrhoea morbidity and infant mortality. However, vaccine immunogenicity is diminished in lowincome countries. We investigated whether maternal and infant intrinsic susceptibility to rotavirus infection via histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) profiles influenced rotavirus (ROTARIX®) vaccineinduced responses in Zambia. We studied 135 mother–infant pairs under a rotavirus vaccine clinical trial, with infants aged 6 to 12 weeks at pre-vaccination up to 12 months old. We determined maternal and infant ABO/H, Lewis, and secretor HBGA phenotypes, and infant FUT2 HBGA genotypes. Vaccine immunogenicity was measured as anti-rotavirus IgA antibody titres. Overall, 34 (31.3%) children were seroconverted at 14 weeks, and no statistically significant difference in seroconversion was observed across the various HBGA profiles in early infant life. We also observed a statistically significant difference in rotavirus-IgA titres across infant HBGA profiles at 12 months, though no statistically significant difference was observed between the study arms. There was no association between maternal HBGA profiles and infant vaccine immunogenicity. Overall, infant HBGAs were associated with RV vaccine immunogenicity at 12 months as opposed to in early infant life. Further investigation into the low efficacy of ROTARIX® and appropriate intervention is key to unlocking the full vaccine benefits for U5 children.

Source: UG
Maternal and neonatal characteristics that influence very early neonatal mortality in the Eastern Regional Hospital of Ghana, Koforidua: a retrospective review

Objective This study was conducted to determine the maternal and neonatal characteristics that influence very early neonatal mortality using 811 delivery records at the Eastern Regional Hospital of Ghana. Results The very early neonatal mortality rate was 9 per 1000 live births. Multi-parity reduced the odds of very early neonatal death by 30%. Mothers with a previous neonatal death had about 8 times the odds of having a very early neonatal death as compared to those without a history of neonatal death.

Source: UG
Maternal health care in five sub-Saharan African countries

This paper examines inequalities in access to maternal health care services and identifies demographic and socio-economic factors associated with poor maternal health outcomes using data from five Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in Ghana (2003), Kenya (2003), Nigeria (2003), Uganda (2000-2001) and Zambia (2001-2002). The six maternal health care indicators show that rural women are more disadvantaged than urban women. Home deliveries comprise more than half of total births. Getting money for treatment stands out as the most important problem women have in accessing health care. In general, Nigerian women experience poorer maternal health outcomes than women in the other four countries. Maternal educational attainment, urban/rural residence and partner's occupation emerge as the most important predictors of inadequate antenatal care, institutional delivery and current use of any contraceptive method. Female education beyond secondary school level coupled with strenuous efforts to reduce poverty holds the key to keep women off the road to death.

Source: UG
Maternal HIV is associated with reduced growth in the first year of life among infants in the Eastern region of Ghana: The research to improve infant nutrition and growth (RIING) project

Children of HIV-infected mothers experience poor growth, but not much is understood about the extent to which such children are affected. The Research to Improve Infant Nutrition and Growth (RIING) Project used a longitudinal study design to investigate the association between maternal HIV status and growth among Ghanaian infants in the first year of life. Pregnant women in their third trimester were enrolled into three groups: HIV-negative (HIV-N, n=185), HIV-positive (HIV-P, n=190) and HIV-unknown (HIV-U, n=177). Socioeconomic data were collected. Infant weight and length were measured at birth and every month until 12 months of age. Weight-for-age (WAZ), weight-for-length (WLZ) and length-for-age (LAZ) z-scores were compared using analysis of covariance. Infant HIV status was not known as most mothers declined to test their children's status at 12 months. Adjusted mean WAZ and LAZ at birth were significantly higher for infants of HIV-N compared with infants of HIV-P mothers. The prevalence of underweight at 12 months in the HIV-N, HIV-P and HIV-U were 6.6%, 27.5% and 9.9% (P<0.05), respectively. By 12 months, the prevalence of stunting was significantly different (HIV-N=6.0%, HIV-P=26.5% and HIV-U=5.0%, P<0.05). The adjusted mean±SE LAZ (0.57±0.11 vs. -0.95±0.12; P<0.005) was significantly greater for infants of HIV-N mothers than infants of HIV-P mothers. Maternal HIV is associated with reduce infant growth in weight and length throughout the first year of life. Children of HIV-P mothers living in socioeconomically deprived communities need special support to mitigate any negative effect on growth performance. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Source: UG