ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Untraditional synthesis of ni-based alloys for medical application

Due to the combination of excellent mechanical properties, high chemical stability and appropriate biocompatibility, the Ni-based alloys find large application in implantology and dentistry. The traditional metallurgical synthesis methods of these alloys have some difficulties leading to inconstancy of the composition, degradation of properties and escalation of the product price. Here we show how to overcome the disadvantages of the traditional methods of synthesis and production of Ni-based alloys for medical application using combination of mechanochemical and powder-metallurgical routes. The structural properties of the products were studied using SEM/TEM and XRD methods. It was shown that the mechanically assisted synthesis allows obtaining nanosized Ni-Ti alloy with mean particle size of 20- 30 nm at significantly lower temperature in comparison with the traditional metallurgical high-temperature alloying. It was also shown that after 40 hours of intense mechanical treatment of the starting Ni and Ti powders, a direct synthesis of Ni- Ti alloy proceeds. The product has excellent sinterability which allows producing bodies with controlled structural properties appropriate for application in implantology. Using standard mechanical tests and structural examinations it was demonstrated that the Ni-Cr dental alloys obtained by mechanically assisted sintering and casting possess excellent mechanical, technological and aesthetic properties. These alloys are suitable as dental restoration materials and production of porcelain veneered constructions like crowns and bridges using the so called metal-to-ceramic technique. © 2006-2013 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN).

Source: UG
An Unusual Cause of Priapism

A 30-year old man was admitted into Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital(KBTH) with a 6-day history of priapism The initial treatment of his priapism was surgical decongestion Of his penis. Haematological investigation tum showed that he had Chronic Granulocytic Leukaemia (CGL) With a very high while cell count. This was felt to be the most likely cause of his priapism In addition to surgical decongestion of his penis he received chemotherapy to lower his white cell count. He developed two of the recognised complication of leukaemia. wound infection and bleeding and therefore had a difficult and prolonged post-operative period of 2 months in hospital.

Source: UG
Unusual complications of Salmonella enteriditis group D infection.

A 25-year-old Syrian presented complaining mainly of fever, night sweats and nausea. He had 3 days earlier mild abdominal cramps and short-lived diarrhoea. On admission, he developed signs of deep vein thrombosis and blood and stool cultures showed Salmonella enteriditis infection. The patient was started on chloramphenicol and later showed acute abdominal signs. Laparotomy revealed intestinal perforation on the lower ileum. The case together with the experience in this hospital and elsewhere of Salmonella enteriditis infections are discussed, showing that two complications shown in this case are common for Salmonella typhi and paratyphi infections but are unusual for other Salmonella infections.

Source: UG
An unusual metal-bound 4-fluorothreonine transaldolase from Streptomyces sp. MA37 catalyses promiscuous transaldol reactions

β-Hydroxy-α-amino acids (βH-AAs) are key components of many bioactive molecules as well as exist as specialised metabolites. Among these βH-AAs, 4-fluorothreonine (4-FT) is the only naturally occurring fluorinated AA discovered thus far. Here we report overexpression and biochemical characterisation of 4-fluorothreonine transaldolase from Streptomyces sp. MA37 (FTaseMA), a homologue of FTase previously identified in the biosynthesis of 4-FT in S. cattleya. FTaseMA displays considerable substrate plasticity to generate 4-FT as well as other β-hydroxy-α-amino acids with various functionalities at C4 position, giving the prospect of new chemo-enzymatic applications. The enzyme has a hybrid of two catalytic domains, serine hydroxymethyltransferase (S) and aldolase (A). Site-directed mutagenesis allowed the identification of the key residues of FTases, suggesting that the active site of A domain has a historical reminiscent feature in metal-dependent aldolases. Elemental analysis demonstrated that FTaseMA is indeed a Zn2+-dependent enzyme, the first example of pyridoxal phosphate (PLP) enzyme family fused with a metal-binding domain carrying out a distinct catalytic role. Finally, FTaseMA showed divergent evolutionary origin with other PLP dependent enzymes

Source: UG
An unusual recurrence of pruritic creeping eruption after treatment of cutaneous larva migrans in an adult Ghanaian male: a case report with a brief review of literature

The hookworm related Cutaneous Larva Migrans is a common disease present in the tropic and subtropical areas of the world. The disease is self limiting and would naturally resolve within weeks. However, an unusual recurrence of the disease in a Ghanaian male after standard treatment was observed and is herein reported. A 52 year old Ghanaian male of Akan dissent was diagnosed with Cutaneous Larva Migrans in a clinic in Accra, Ghana. Symptoms of the disease persisted for three days after treatment with a 400mg single dose Albendazole and was only resolved after re-dosing with 400 mg daily of the same drug for three days. Two months post-treatment, the usual pruritic creeping eruption typical with the disease re-appeared even though the victim has not been re-exposed to any possible larva contaminated source. This could possibly be a case of hookworm-related larva resistance to a standard anti-helminthic therapy and host immunity.

Source: UG
Unusual selection on the KIR3DL1/S1 natural killer cell receptor in africans.

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
An unusually large spindle cell sarcoma of the tongue in a male child

Reports of spindle cell sarcoma in the tongue are very rare, and seldom in the child. We report a five-year-old male patient who presented with a massive lesion on the right side of the tongue. This was surgically excised and histologically diagnosed as a Spindle cell Sarcoma. Results of bone marrow aspiration further revealed that about 16% of his bone marrow was infiltrated with abnormal pleomorphic vacuolated cells with bluish cytoplasm, consistent with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) cells. The child was treated with surgery and chemotherapy with good initial response, but then died after one year following a relapse.

Source: UG
Unveiling contextual influences of maternal satisfaction with labour care services in Nigeria: A qualitative inquiry

Background: In light of the rising global effort to lower maternal mortality rates, it is crucial for low- and middle-income countries with poor maternal indices to investigate the problem of maternal satisfaction and the key elements that affect it. To this effect, this study explored the experiences of postnatal women in relation to labour services and investigated the factors that contribute to their overall satisfaction. Aim: The study set out to explore factors influencing maternal satisfaction with labour care services in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria. This study ultimately seeks to advance our understanding of this phenomenon to impact labour care and policy. Setting: The study was conducted among multiparous women who had their antenatal care and delivery in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria. Methods: A qualitative study was performed using in-depth interviews among postnatal women. Results: The results revealed a number of variables that could affect the women’s satisfaction with labour care, including the choice of health facility, healthcare providers, environment of the facility, assurance of privacy, treating patients with dignity, provision of needed amenities and having a well-planned postnatal care assessment. Conclusion: The study revealed that the costs of care, the skill of the caregiver, the provision of confidential and dignified care, and the availability of supplies all have an impact on maternal satisfaction. Hospital administration should address these issues to enhance the experience of women and labour care services. Contribution: The study’s findings provide insights that will inform strategies to improve the quality of care being provided to parturients in Nigeria.

Source: UG
Update on Medicinal Plants with Potency on Mycobacterium ulcerans

The Clinical Pathology Department conducts research that contributes to intervention strategies and safeguards of public health in Ghana. In view of this the Department carries out research into plant medicine development, drug interactions and regulation, bio-monitoring and prevention of poisoning from environmental toxicants (e.g. mycotoxins specifically aflatoxins and toxic heavy metals). The Department also provides specialized laboratory services in support of public health programmes.

Source: UG
An updated list of the ticks of Ghana and an assessment of the distribution of the ticks of Ghanaian wild mammals in different vegetation zones

Twenty one species of ticks belonging to five genera of the family Ixodidae (Order Acari, sub-order Ixodida) - Amblyomma, Haemaphysalis, Hyalomma, Ixodes and Rhipicephalus (including the sub-genus Rhipicephalus (Boophilus)) - were collected from 1260 mammals, representing 29 species, 14 families and 6 orders, in four vegetation zones in Ghana during the period 1971-1978. Four other species were collected from humans in 1977. In all, eight species appeared to be new records for Ghana: Amblyomma tholloni Neumann; Dermacentor circumguttatus Neumann; Haemaphysalis houyi Nuttall & Warburton; Ixodes loveridgei Arthur; Ixodes oldi Nuttall; Ixodes vanidicus Schultze; Rhipicephalus complanatus Neumann; Rhipicephalus cuspidatus Neumann. The updated list of tick species in Ghana given here includes 41 species of ixodid ticks and four species of argasid ticks. Most species have been found in neighbouring regions of West Africa but 56 of the 121 different combinations of ixodid tick species and host species found in the collection described here have not apparently been reported before. The new combinations recorded here bring the total number of different combinations of ixodid tick species and mammalian host species now reported in Ghana to 151. The tick species found on wild mammals in Ghana mostly differed from those reported from domestic stock by other authors. The data showed that different tick species occurred in different vegetation zones and that most species displayed a pronounced preference for certain groups of related host species. Some tick species were found in the savanna feeding mainly on large bovids and/or suids; others were found in forests feeding mainly on small bovids, large rodents or small carnivores.

Source: UG
Upgrading local cattle in tropical west Africa: Metabolic hormone concentrations during the post-partum period in Sanga and Friesian-Sanga crossbred cows

Cattle farmers in Ghana want larger animals with better milk yield and have therefore focused on improving the indigenous tropical Sanga breed by crossing with the temperate Friesian breed. However, in the Friesian-Sanga crossbred, a major limitation to reproductive performance is extended postpartum anoestrus, perhaps exacerbated by under-nutrition under field conditions. We therefore tested whether the breeds vary in the circulating concentrations of metabolic hormones that mediate the effects of nutrition on the reproductive axis during the postpartum period. Two herds comprising 16 Sanga, and 16 Friesian-Sanga cows, were grazed separately on natural pastures of similar nutritive value with no feed supplements. Every week during weeks 1 to 10 postpartum, the cows were weighed, body condition score (BCS) was assessed, and blood was sampled. Resumption of ovarian activity, detected from progesterone profiles, was used to classify cows as 'early-cycling' (≤45 days), 'late-cycling' (46-70 days) or 'non-cycling' (after 70 days). Resumption of ovarian cyclicity, body weight and body condition score did not differ between breeds, but daily milk yield was lower for Sanga (1.01±0.02. kg/day) than for Friesian-Sanga crossbreds (1.57±0.02. kg/day; P<0.001). Compared with Friesian-Sanga crossbreds, Sanga cows had greater plasma concentrations of IGF-I (18.7±0.7 versus 14.8±0.7. ng/mL; P<0.001) and leptin (1.12±0.01 versus 0.96±0.01. ng/mL; P<0.001), but the two breeds had similar concentrations of GH and insulin. After calving, the IGF-I/GH ratio recovered more rapidly in the Sanga than in the crossbred (. P=0.01). In both breeds, early-cycling cows had greater concentrations of IGF-I and leptin than late- or non-cycling cows. It was concluded that, during the postpartum period, the Sanga breed is better able to avoid the effects of negative energy balance, maintain metabolic homeostasis and prevent uncoupling of the GH-IGF axis, compared with the Friesian-Sanga crossbreed. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

Source: UG
Upper Airway Epithelial Tissue Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Immune Signatures Associated with COVID-19 Severity in Ghanaians

The immunological signatures driving the severity of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) in Ghanaians remain poorly understood. We performed bulk transcriptome sequencing of nasopharyngeal samples from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected Ghanaians with mild and severe COVID-19, as well as healthy controls to characterize immune signatures at the primary SARS-CoV-2 infection site and identify drivers of disease severity. Generally, a heightened antiviral response was observed in SARS-CoV-2-infected Ghanaians compared with uninfected controls. COVID-19 severity was associated with immune suppression, overexpression of proinflammatory cytokines, including CRNN, IL1A, S100A7, and IL23A, and activation of pathways involved in keratinocyte proliferation. SAMD9L was among the differentially regulated interferon-stimulated genes in our mild and severe disease cohorts, suggesting that it may play a critical role in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. By comparing our data with a publicly available dataset from a non-African (Indian) population (GSE166530), an elevated expression of antiviral response-related genes was noted in COVID-19-infected Ghanaians. Overall, the study describes immune signatures driving COVID-19 severity in Ghanaians and identifies immune drivers that could serve as potential prognostic markers for future outbreaks or pandemics. It further provides important preliminary evidence suggesting differences in antiviral response at the upper respiratory interface in sub-Saharan Africans (Ghanaians) and non-Africans, which could be contributing to the differences in disease outcomes. Further studies using Larger datasets from different populations will expand on these findings.

Source: UG
Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana

Objectives To study the indications for endoscopy, the endoscopic diagnosis and other lessons learnt. Methods A retrospective and prospective audit of all upper gastrointestinal endoscopies performed in the Endoscopy Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital from January 1995 to December 2002 was performed. Results A total of 6977 patients, 3777 males and 3200 females with age range 1 year 8 months to 93 years were endoscoped. The mean age of males was 43.5 ± 0.5 and females 43.7 ± 0.6 years. Epigastric pain (42.5%), dyspepsia (32.8%) and haematemesis and melaena (14.2%) were the commonest reasons for endoscopy. Chronic duodenal ulcer (19.6%), acute gastritis (12.7%), duodenitis (10.2%), oesophagitis (7.5%) were the commonest diagnoses. Normal endoscopy was reported in 41.1% patients, and was higher in the younger age group compared to the older (R = 0.973, P<0.001). Nine hundred and ninety (14.2%) patients were endoscoped for haematemesis and melaena of which chronic duodenal ulcer (32.1%), gastritis/gastric erosions (12.8%), oesophageal varices (9.8%), carcinoma of the stomach (6.4%), and duodenitis (4.2%), were the commonest causes. No lesion was found in 20.6% of these patients. Urease test was positive in 75% of all biopsy specimen and 85% in chronic duodenal ulcer, gastritis and duodenitis. Conclusion The normal endoscopy rate is high and needs to be reduced in order to help prolong the lives of the endoscopes. Chronic duodenal ulcer is usually associated with H. pylori infection and is the commonest cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Source: UG
Upper urinary tract stones in Accra, Ghana

Fifty-one patients with newly diagnosed upper urinary tract stones were seen at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra over an 8 years period from September 1985 to August 1993. Their mean age was 40.1 years (range 20-61 years). The sex ratio was 36 males to 15 males. During the same period 3, 217, 135 patients (both adults and children) attended the hospital's clinics. Thus putting the incidence of upper urinary tract stone at 2 per 100,000. On presentation 37 patients had solitary stones, 11 had multiple stone and 3 had partial or complete staghorn calculi. A total of 71 stones were seen; 30 were renal and 35 ureteric. The etiology of the stone disease was established in only 10 cases (20%). Urinary stasis was a predisposing factors in 5 patients, urinary infection in 3 others and hyperuricaemia and uricosuria in another 2. Stones from 29 patients that were removed at surgery or passed spontaneously were analysed chemically. Of these 25 (86%) consisted of calcium oxalate and/or calcium phosphate, 3 (10%) consisted of magnesium ammonium phosphate and 1(4%) contained only uric acid.

Source: UG
Upscaling community-arranged preparedness for preventing maternal mortality in Ghana: A case study of Keta and Akatsi districts of volta region

The main objective of the study is to assess maternal health in Ghana using empirical evidence from Akatsi and Keta districts of the Volta Region. Interviews were conducted from a sample size of 6,250 respondents within the reproductive age group of 15-49 years drawn from both districts in 2007. The results show that most of the women had only basic education and were generally petty traders, farmers and fishmongers. Overwhelming majority of the women stated that there was no community-arranged preparedness to aid them in times of emergency obstetric care. A significant proportion of the women (about 30%) relied on relatives/friends/home or traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to deliver their babies, while the road network in both districts was poor. The Government of Ghana should therefore rehabilitate roads or construct new ones that could help the people transport emergency complications to the health facility on time to prevent deaths. These TBAs should be trained to recognize complications and not to manage complications professionally and they should be motivated to make referrals to mainstream health facilities. The Government of Ghana should aim at increasing girls' participation at all levels of the education system in the country since education is the key to ending poverty.

Source: UG
The uptake of continuing professional development (CPD) by Ghanaian radiographers.

Continuing professional development (CPD) currently gains a priority within healthcare professions all over the globe. It is playing important roles in achieving improved quality care delivery. Healthcare practitioners are expected to continuously undertake CPD to maintain, enhance and improve quality of service delivery to meet the consumers' expectations. CPD offers practitioners the opportunity to retain and enhance the basic knowledge and skills through their working life; thus enhancing competency within one's professional range of practice.In Ghana, awareness of CPD participation has not been created among healthcare practitioners to enable them engage in effective CPD activities in order to improve their knowledge and skills. Purpose: To examine the level of radiographers' participation in CPD activities in Ghana. Method: A 21-item questionnaire was constructed to collect data from 80 participants drawn from among radiographers currently practising in the radiology/X-ray departments of the ten regional hospitals in Ghana. The questionnaire comprised of 3 sections: demographics, CPD and education specific sections. Out of 80 questionnaires administered, 42 were completed and returned representing 52.5%. Out of the percentage, 74% were males and 26% females.The findings highlight that majority (44%) of the participants are currently within the age group of 31-40 years, while 2% is/are 60 or more years. The article also reveals that the radiographers have access to few peer review journals which serve as sources of information on contemporary issues in radiography and CPD learning activities. Again, a generally poor level of CPD awareness among the Ghanaian radiographers has been established. Lack of effective recording of learning and CPD activities have also been revealed. Conclusion: The article concludes by recommending CPD policy guidelines; a regulatory body to register all healthcare professionals under one body to ensure effective CPD participation by the registrants; and CPD promotional education activities for Ghanaian healthcare practitioners. Evidence-based practice has also been recommended for Ghanaian healthcare professionals.

Source: UG
Uptake of purines in Plasmodium falciparum-infected human erythrocytes is mostly mediated by the human Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter and the human Facilitative Nucleobase Transporter

The Epidemiology Department contributes to the mission of the institute through basic and applied epidemiological research on, but not limited to, malaria and other diseases of public health importance. It is also home to the Social Science Unit of the Institute, including the Health Support Centre for HIV/AIDS and other communicable and noncommunicable health problems.

Source: UG