ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Overweight and obesity epidemic in Ghana - A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: In many low and middle income countries (LMICs), the distribution of adulthood nutritional imbalance is shifting from a predominance of undernutrition to overnutrition. This complex problem poses a huge challenge to governments, non-state actors, and individuals desirous of addressing the problem of malnutrition in LMICs. The objective of this study was to systematically review the literature towards providing an estimate of the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adult Ghanaians. Methods: This study followed the recommendations outlined in the PRISMA statement. Searches were performed in PubMed, Science Direct, google scholar, Africa Journals Online (AJOL) and the WHO African Index Medicus database. This retrieved studies (published up to 31st March 2016) that reported overweight and obesity prevalence among Ghanaians. All online searches were supplemented by reference screening of retrieved papers to identify additional studies. Results: Forty-three (43) studies involving a total population of 48,966 sampled across all the ten (10) regions of Ghana were selected for the review. Our analysis indicates that nearly 43% of Ghanaian adults are either overweight or obese. The national prevalence of overweight and obesity were estimated as 25.4% (95% CI 22.2-28.7%) and 17.1% (95% CI = 14.7-19.5%), respectively. Higher prevalence of overweight (27.2% vs 16.7%) and obesity (20.6% vs 8.0%) were estimated for urban than rural dwellers. Prevalence of overweight (27.8% vs 21.8%) and obesity (21.9% vs 6.0%) were also significantly higher in women than men. About 45.6% of adult diabetes patients in Ghana are either overweight or obese. At the regional level, about 43.4%, 36.9%, 32.4% and 55.2% of residents in Ashanti, Central, Northern and Greater Accra region, respectively are overweight or obese. These patterns generally mimic the levels of urbanization. Per studies' publication years, consistent increases in overweight and obesity prevalence were observed in Ghana in the period 1998-2016. Conclusions: There is a high and rising prevalence of overweight and obesity among Ghanaian adults. The possible implications on current and future population health, burden of chronic diseases, health care spending and broader economy could be enormous for a country still battling many infectious and parasitic diseases. Public health preventive measures that are appropriate for the Ghanaian context, culturally sensitive, cost-effective and sustainable are urgently needed to tackle this epidemic.

Source: UG
Oviposition Preferences of the African Wild Silkmoth, Gonometa postica Walker (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) on Different Substrates

Gonometa postica Walker (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) is currently being utilised for commercial wild silk production in Eastern Kenya. The oviposition preferences of female G. postica on four substrates in a net-sleeved cage was studied in the laboratory in the long and short rainy seasons in 2007 for two generations, i.e. early (late March to April) and late flights (late September to October) of the moth. The first generation moths laid the highest number of eggs on net sleeves followed by plastic pot, twigs and wooden plank, whereas the second generation moths preferred wooden plank and net sleeves over the plastic pot and twigs. The mean number of eggs, egg clusters laid and percentage egg viability were significantly higher, and the oviposition period was longer for the first than the second generation moths. The mean weight of cocoons was significantly heavier for the first than the second generation. A highly significant positive linear relationship existed between the total number of eggs laid and the cocoon weight. The slopes of the two regression lines for the number of eggs laid against the weight of cocoons were significantly different between the two generations. This information serves to optimise the production of eggs in net sleeved cages in an indoor environment for the semi-captive rearing of the larvae.

Source: UG
own this language that everybody speaks Ghanaians’ attitude toward the English language

Based on interviews conducted in ten Catholic churches of the Ghanaian capital, Accra, the paper offers a profile of English use in Ghana and reports on the attitudes of Ghanaians toward English as the official language of their country. The results reveal the influential role English plays in the different settings of Ghanaian communication as well as the high esteem afforded to the English lan guage by the majority of Ghanaian respondents. Most of them cited the numer ous benefits that English, as a language of wider communication, brings to the individual speaker and the country.

Source: UG
Ownership and dynamic efficiency of petroleum firms: a new perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine efficiency differences among petroleum firms based on their ownership status, with the aim of helping these firms understand how specific levels of state-ownership affects efficiency and to bring new perspective to the ownership-performance literature. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses ten-year data (2001-2010) of 32 global petroleum firms categorized into four groups based on ownership types. The metafrontier analysis is used with the dynamic slack-based measure to estimate dynamic efficiency differences among the groups while respectively, accounting for carryover variables such as oil and gas reserves. Findings – Fully state-owned firms outperformed private, majority and minority state-owned firms, indicating that not all types of state-owned petroleum firms are outperformed by private firms. Additionally, firms with shared ownership between state and private are seen to have a lesser comparative advantage in the industry than those with full private or state ownership. Practical implications – Jointly owned petroleum firms should consider converting ownership to either full private or full state control. Conflict management measures should be used to handle possible conflicts between different shareholding groups. Originality/value – This is among the first studies to sub-group state ownership into various levels to comprehensively examine specific levels of state ownership that is detrimental to the performance of petroleum firms. It is also the premier oil efficiency study to use the metafrontier framework to cater for group heterogeneity. The study treats oil and gas reserves as interconnecting variables that are not consumed only in the period for which they are discovered to ensure fair assessment.

Source: UG
Ownership concentration and corporate performance on the Ghana stock exchange: A panel data analysis

Corporate governance is linked to corporate performance. The study examines the effect of ownership concentration on corporate performance on the Ghana Stock Exchange. Panel data covering a period from 2001 to 2006 for 28 firms were analyzed within the framework of both the fixed and random effects techniques. The results indicate that the effect of ownership concentration on corporate performance varies with the performance measurement variable. The results indicate a significant positive relationship between ownership concentration and return on assets and Tobin's Q, whilst there is negative insignificant relationship with return on equity. We also document that insider system of corporate governance is practiced on the Ghana stock exchange as shareholding is highly concentrated in the hands of a few individuals or institutional investors. Other governance features such as board size, board composition and CEO duality are all essential in predicting corporate performance. The results of the study generally support existing literature on the impact of ownership concentration on corporate performance.

Source: UG
Ownership of the place of residence in Ghana: A Gender Analysis

Using data from a survey that collected individual-level asset ownership data in 2010 logistic regressions are employed to identify the correlates of home ownership and whether these are the same for women and men. In Ghana, women who reported as owners of an asset do not always have the rights associated with being an owner, e.g. the right to sell, bequeath or use the asset as collateral. The second part of this paper investigates the correlates of the right to sell and the right to use the place of residence as collateral among owners of the place of residence. The dependent variable in most previous studies on the determinants of home ownership is the household. The novelty of this study is that the focus is on individuals and the likelihood that an individual is a homeowner.

Source: UG
Ownership structure and profitability of listed firms in an emerging market

Motivated by the agency theory and the need to examine the effect of separation of ownership and management, this study examines the determinants of profitability in different firm ownership structures and how different ownership structures impact the profitability of listed firms between 2003 and 2013, using pooled annual data of 23 Ghanaian listed firms. Employing a number of static models (OLS, Random Effects and 3 Stage Least Squares), we find evidence that while profit determinants vary for listed firms given their ownership structures, ownership structures also affected profitability differently. Specifically, for listed firms, profitability was determined by capital intensity, liquidity, financial risk, age and GDP; for non-family owned listed firms, profitability was determined by capital intensity, liquidity, market share and age; for foreign-owned firms, profitability was determined by capital intensity, liquidity, age and GDP; and for non-foreign ownership, profitability was determined by capital intensity, liquidity, financial risk, growth, age and GDP. When we examine the impact of ownership structure on profitability and find that family-owned listed firms make 30% less profits compared to nonfamily owned ones, whilst foreign-owned firms make 13% more profits than non-foreign owned ones. These findings confirm the agency theory which posits that separation of ownership and management, though may lead to agency problems, can positively affect profits. The study recommends that family-owned listed firms should consider diluting ownership in order to grow more profits

Source: UG
Ownership structure of oil revenues: Political institutions and financial markets in oil-producing countries

This study examines the impact of the ownership structure of oil revenues on financial markets and institutions, and the intermediating role of political institutions. Using the fixed-effects model and GMM for robustness, we analyse data from 82 oil-producing countries. We found several key results. Firstly, government ownership of oil revenues undermines the efficiency of financial institutions when the quality of political institutions is weak but enhances their efficiency when political institutions are strong. Secondly, the impact of private ownership of oil revenues is negative on the depth of and access to financial institutions when the quality of political institutions is weak, but positive when political institutions are strong. We observe similar threshold effects for the depth of and access to financial markets in the subsample of developing countries. We conclude that oil-producing countries need solid political institutions to benefit from oil wealth and to boost financial development.

Source: UG
Ownership Structure, Corporate Governance and Bank Efficiency: An Empirical Analysis of Panel Data from the Banking Industry in Ghana”, Corporate Governance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to document the effect of ownership structure and corporate governance on bank efficiency in the Ghanaian banking industry. Design/methodology/approach – The author applies both accounting data and efficiency measures from the period 1999‐2007 via panel data analysis. Efficiency is measured by computing distances from the stochastic frontiers of estimated translog cost and profit functions. These efficiency measures are regressed on ownership and governance variables with dummy variables for bank types. Findings – The results show that foreign banks are more cost‐efficient than domestic banks, but not necessarily more profit‐efficient. Nevertheless, foreign banks are more profitable than domestic banks and enjoy better quality loans. Managerial ownership leads to the cost inefficiency of banks. Banks with inside ownership are unprofitable overall but maintain a high loan quality. Governance (a larger board size) strongly improves profit efficiency but slightly worsens banks' cost efficiency. Finally, the capital adequacy ratio and bank size are both significant predictors of bank efficiency in Ghana. Originality/value – Few, if any, studies have been carried out in the Ghanaian banking industry.

Source: UG
Ownership structure, corporate governance and bank efficiency: An empirical analysis of panel data from the banking industry in ghana.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to document the effect of ownership structure and corporate governance on bank efficiency in the Ghanaian banking industry. Design/methodology/approach – The author applies both accounting data and efficiency measures from the period 1999-2007 via panel data analysis. Efficiency is measured by computing distances from the stochastic frontiers of estimated translog cost and profit functions. These efficiency measures are regressed on ownership and governance variables with dummy variables for bank types. Findings – The results show that foreign banks are more cost-efficient than domestic banks, but not necessarily more profit-efficient. Nevertheless, foreign banks are more profitable than domestic banks and enjoy better quality loans. Managerial ownership leads to the cost inefficiency of banks. Banks with inside ownership are unprofitable overall but maintain a high loan quality. Governance (a larger board size) strongly improves profit efficiency but slightly worsens banks' cost efficiency. Finally, the capital adequacy ratio and bank size are both significant predictors of bank efficiency in Ghana. Originality/value – Few, if any, studies have been carried out in the Ghanaian banking industry.

Source: UG
Ownership Structure, Corporate Governance and Capital Structure Decisions of Firms: Empirical Evidence from Ghana

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of ownership structure and corporate governance on capital structure decisions of firms on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). Design/methodology/approach – To analyze the impact of ownership structure and corporate governance on firms' financing decisions, unbalanced panel data covering a period from 2002 to 2007 is employed using the seemingly unrelated regression approach to mitigate the effects of multicollinearity among the regressors. Findings – The regression results reveal that managerial shareholding significantly positively influences the choice of long‐term debt over equity. Among the corporate governance variables, board size is found to be positively and statistically significantly related to capital structure choices. Firm level factors such as volatility in earnings, asset tangibility, dividend payout ratio and profitability are significant determinants of corporate capital structure decisions on the GSE. The findings are largely consistent with theories of capital structure decisions observed in the literature. Originality/value – The main value of this paper is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of forms of ownership and other governance practices on capital structure decisions of firms from an emerging market perspective.

Source: UG
Ownership Structure, Corporate Governance and Dividend Performance on the Ghana Stock Exchange

Purpose – This paper aims to document the interaction between ownership structure, corporate governance and dividend performance on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). Design/methodology/approach – Panel data covering a period from 2002 to 2007 for 23 firms were analyzed within the framework of fixed effects techniques. Findings – The paper reports that foreign share ownership significantly, positively, influences dividend payment among firms on the GSE. It found board size to have a statistically positive effect on dividend payment among the corporate governance variables. It did not, however, find a significant relationship between inside ownership, board independence, board intensity, CEO duality and dividend performance. The results also indicate that highly leveraged firms will significantly reduce dividend payments. Finally, age and income volatility were found to be significant determinants of dividend performance on the GSE. Originality/value – The paper considers a much broader approach to investigating the impact of ownership structure and corporate governance on dividend performance on the GSE, a marked departure from other studies conducted on the GSE.

Source: UG
Oxidative capacities of cardiac and skeletal muscles of heart transplant recipients: Mitochondrial effects of cyclosporin-A and its vehicle cremophor-EL

Chronic immunosuppressive treatment was suspected to alter maximal muscle oxidative capacity (V(max) ) of heart transplant recipients, leading to a limitation of their exercise tolerance. It remains undefined whether the mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) of right ventricle (RV) and vastus lateralis (VL) muscles were altered by immunosuppressants and/or their vehicles. V(max) was measured polarographically in saponin-skinned fibres of RV and VL biopsies of patients and compared with V(max) of healthy VL and myocardium. Effects of increasing concentrations (1-10-100 μM) of Sandimmune(®) , its vehicle, Cyclosporine (CsA) in ethanol (EtOH), or EtOH alone were tested. The vehicle's effects on MRC complexes were investigated using specific substrates and inhibitors. Ten months after grafting, V(max) of RV and VL of immunosuppressed patients were similar to their V(max) at time of transplantation and to that of control tissues. In Vitro, Sandimmune(®) significantly decreased V(max) while CsA in EtOH or EtOH exerted small and similar effects. Effects of the vehicle were higher than (RV) or identical to (VL) those of Sandimmune(®) . The sites of action of the vehicle on MRC were located on complexes I and IV. While unchanged under chronic immunosuppressive therapy, V(max) of RV and VL muscles was depressed by acute exposure to intravenous Sandimmune(®) in vitro, an effect attributed to its vehicle by inhibition of complexes I and IV of the MRC. This work provides an in vitro proof of a toxic effect on the mitochondria respiratory chain of the vehicle used in the intravenous formulation of Sandimmune(®) but with no clinical consequences in chronically immunosuppressed patients.

Source: UG
P‐selectin plays a role in haem‐induced acute lung injury in sickle mice

Acute chest syndrome (ACS) is a major pulmonary complication and a leading cause of death in sickle cell disease (SCD) (Gladwin & Vichinsky, 2008). Extracellular haem has been shown to be independently associated with ACS and vaso‐occlusive crisis (VOC). Severe ACS is frequently preceded by painful VOC and acute intravascular haemolysis (Vichinsky et al, 2000). A rapid drop in baseline haemoglobin (mean decrease of 7·8 g/l) and elevated lactate dehydrogenase reported during ACS development indicates a cardinal role of acute intravascular haemolysis in severe ACS (Vichinsky et al, 1997). Accordingly, infusion of purified haem causes respiratory failure and lethal acute lung injury (ALI) reminiscent of severe ACS in transgenic SCD (SS) mice (Ghosh et al, 2013). P‐selectin, a cell adhesion molecule expressed on activated endothelium and platelets, is implicated in obstructing microvascular flow, causing VOC (Embury et al, 2004) by promoting adhesion of sickle erythrocytes and leucocytes to the endothelial wall (Matsui et al, 2001). Extracellular haem activates endothelial P‐selectin expression, inducing vascular stasis in murine models of SCD (Belcher et al, 2014). A recent trial showed that an anti‐human P‐selectin antibody reduced the frequency of painful events in SCD patients (Ataga et al, 2017), although it could not determine the role of P‐selectin in ACS. This study addresses this knowledge gap and provides mechanistic evidence demonstrating a pathogenic role for P‐selectin in the development of haem‐induced ALI in sickle mice.

Source: UG
P. Falciparum Rh5-Basigin Interaction Induces Changes in the Cytoskeleton of the Host Rbc

The successful invasion of Plasmodium is an essential step in their life cycle. The parasite reticulocyte-binding protein homologues (RHs) and erythrocyte-binding like proteins are two families involved in the invasion leading to merozoite-red blood cell (RBC) junction formation. Ca2+ signaling has been shown to play a critical role in the invasion. RHs have been linked to Ca2+ signaling, which triggers the erythrocyte-binding like proteins release ahead of junction formation, consistent with RHs performing an initial sensing function in identifying suitable RBCs. RH5, the only essential RHs, is a highly promising vaccine candidate. RH5-basigin interaction is essential for merozoite invasion and also important in determining host tropism. Here, we show that RH5 has a distinct function from the other RHs. We show that RH5-Basigin interaction on its own triggers a Ca2+ signal in the RBC resulting in changes in RBC cytoskeletal proteins phosphorylation and overall alterations in RBC cytoskeleton architecture. Antibodies targeting RH5 that block the signal prevent invasion before junction formation consistent with the Ca2+ signal in the RBC leading to rearrangement of the cytoskeleton required for invasion. This work provides the first time a functional context for the essential role of RH5 and will now open up new avenues to target merozoite invasion.

Source: UG
Pachydermoperiostosis in a patient with chronic hepatitis B virus infection referred as acromegaly: a case report

Background Primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy also known as pachydermoperiostosis is a rare genetic disorder that has often been confused with acromegaly because of similar clinical features. Vascular endothelial growth factors which have been implicated in the clinical features of pachydermoperiostosis, have also been shown to be present in chronic hepatitis and implicated in the malignant transformation of hepatitis B infection to hepatocellular carcinoma. To the best of our knowledge there is one reported case of pachydermoperiostosis with chronic hepatitis B infection. We do not imply a causal relationship between pachydermoperiostosis and hepatitis B infection because pachydermoperiostosis is a genetic disorder; however, the question is raised whether hypertrophic osteoarthropathy is one of the many extrahepatic manifestations of chronic hepatitis B infection. Case presentation A 21-year-old African (Ghanaian) man with chronic hepatitis B infection was referred to our Endocrine unit as having acromegaly with changing facial features, enlarging hands and feet, and large knee joint effusions which affected activities of daily living. He was finally diagnosed as having pachydermoperiostosis when acromegaly, rheumatological disorders, as well as cardiopulmonary disorders were ruled out. He improved with arthrocentesis, a tapering regime of steroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and proton pump inhibitors. Conclusions The possible role of hepatitis B in hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, that is, secondary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, needs to be explored; however, with digital clubbing in his father our patient is likely to have pachydermoperiostosis.

Source: UG