ABSTRACT Soft drinks are consumed daily in Ghana on social occasions and for recreation. Generally, it is affordable and consumed widely across all age groups particularly due to their thirst quenching potential. These drinks are also important sources of nutrition as well as trace metal contamination. Thus, the study monitored for 4 months the nutritional content and trace metal contamination of forty-two different brands of new day soft drinks (totaling 672 samples), sampled from some mar...
ABSTRACT Salinity stress affects crop production in various stages of plant growth with germination and seed development being the most sensitive to this stress. The need to raise uniform seedlings with better crop establishment is of utmost importance. Various seed priming methods have been employed in many crops to alleviate the effect of saline, drought and temperature stress. The objective of this study was to evaluate NaCl and PEG priming for enhanced germination and improved seedling ...
ABSTRACT The HIV/AIDS pandemic is still a global health issue despite the many concerted efforts put in by various stakeholders to curtail it. It has become clear however that understanding the epidemiology of the highly variant virus is key in eliminating it. It has been shown that the subtype of infecting HIV-1 plays a crucial role in disease progression among other thing. It is therefore important to continually monitor the circulating HIV-1 subtypes in the population. Equally important, ...
ABSTRACT The strategy of using insecticides against Simulium damnosum s.I. vectors, adopted by Control Programmes for human onchocerciasis in West Africa has led to increased vector biology studies and has at the same time also revealed the paucity of our knowledge in this area. To effectively control the vectors means that laboratory colonies need to be established to enable experiments to be carried out. It also means there is a need to intensify research on aspects of the biology that dete...
ABSTRACT The involvement of Listeria monocytogenes in bacterial meningitis and spontaneous abortion in some towns in northern Nigeria was investigated. Three hundred cerebrospinalfluid (CSF) samples, 300 blood and 300 placenta swab samples were collected from meningitis and spontaneous abortion patients in the study area of Bauchi, Jos and Kano. Three hundred nono (a fermented milk product) samples were also collected from milk hawkers at various locations in the study areas. The samples were...
ABSTRACT The focus of the research is to model some risk factors called covariates that influence the blood sugar level of diabetes patients using Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) and Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE). Both primary and secondary data was obtained from the Diabetes Centre of Maamobi Polyclinic in Accra. Data was obtained on 155 patients for four consecutive times they visit the hospital for review. Analysis of the data was done using SPSS version 20 and R. The find...
ABSTRACT The diversity and distribution of aquatic macrophytes particularly the invasives were studied in southern Ghana. The study area covered six regions in Ghana and these were: Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti, Eastern, Volta and Western. Forty-four sampling sites were visited and voucher specimens were collected and deposited in the Ghana Herbarium. Sixty-two aquatic macrophytes were encountered during the study which belonged to 48 genera and 30 families. Also, the invasive and non-in...
ABSTRACT Housing has increasingly become a threatened product in many urban areas in highly populated regions. As a result, several urban dwellers live under housing conditions that affect an individual’s pride and experiences, causing distressing social, economic, spatial and, health implications. Particularly, the deficit in housing supply and the high prices of the available housing stock poses challenges to the residents of urban centers. This research therefore, sought to discover the ...
ABSTRACT The process and product characteristics of the traditional palm kernel technology were studied. The study was in two phases. Firstly, a survey on the technology in some selected areas in the Eastern and Greater Accra regions was done, to collate information on processors, processing methods, equipment used, raw materials, marketing of products and some other aspects of the technology. Then the processing methods encountered were replicated in the laboratory and investigated to assess...
ABSTRACT Advances in several key communication and information technologies are worth tracking for their impact on interactive health communication and ability to meet .customers' demands. One of these technologies is the inte1net. It is based on this that this research work is cal1'ied out to dete1mine the level at which the internet has been able to improve the delivery of healthcare services in the healthcare delivery system in Nigeria. An explanatory research methodology was adopted in th...
ABSTRACT Functional foods are foods that possess other health benefits apart from their regular nutritional benefits. A functional food may contain nutraceutical properties, which have components, responsible for curing or preventing a disease or disorder. There are several indigenous foods in Ghana that have been purported to possess functional properties. The claim to functionality of some of these indigenous foods are based on folklore but the scientific backing to these claims may not be ...
ABSTRACT A study was made of the effect on pepper quality of the traditional method of processing the "Balancotta" variety of Piper nigrum (black pepper). The study comparatively considered the microbiological quality, drying method, drying rate, colour and appearance, washing or cleaning method, prior to fermentation or heaping as well as an alternative method - heat treatment processing of the commodity. Using a solar dryer as a drying apparatus resulted in 9.8% moisture content of the samp...
ABSTRACT Background: Tinnitus is the perception of sound or noise without any external stimulation. It is a common problem worldwide affecting about 15% of the general population and approximately 19.3% of Ghanaians experience tinnitus. Tinnitus is found to be more prevalent in people with hearing loss of various degrees and types. However, there are tinnitus patients with normal hearing. Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the auditory status, tinnitus severity and the existence of any s...
ABSTRACT Globally, there have been increasing demands for water by increasing populations. Demands however outstrip supply in most regions creating water shortage situation. Water shortage is noted to have effects on the socio-economic livelihood development of households. This study assessed the effects of water shortage and coping strategies of households as well as the role of stakeholders in addressing the situation in Kumawu. Using the mixed method, 200 household questionnaires were admi...
ABSTRACT Introduction: The major organisms that cause septicaemia in children have been established in different geographic locations. However, these causative organisms of paediatric septicaemia and their antibiogram change over time, within and across settings. In addition, increased antimicrobial drug resistance among the organisms has been observed over the last decades. Study of the aetiological agents and their antibiogram is therefore imperative for designing community- based managemen...