ABSTRACT Predicting mortality trend and hedging of longevity risk in recent times has gained attention at a period when life expectancies are increasing unexpectedly. Life insurance companies may make more profit owing to the advancements in technology, hygiene, and medical procedures which leads to decreasing liabilities emanating from payment of reducing death benefit payments. However, longevity improvements may result in losses for annuity insurance schemes such as pensions. The study in...
ABSTRACT Pest and disease have been the major causes of low cocoa production worldwide and the use of chemicals in the form of pesticides is one of the main ways of mitigating their undesirable outcome. However, inappropriate application of pesticides does not only affect the quality of cocoa bean products and the wellbeing of consumers of such products but can also damage the natural flora and fauna in the environment. Hence the reason why evaluating the concentrations of pesticide residues...
ABSTRACT Ability of mosquitoes to ingest microfilariae (mf), promote their maturation to the infective stage, and their survival rate to parasite maturation for transmission to humans seems to differ according to geographic mosquito strains. The proportion of ingested m f that develops successfully into L3 may decrease (limitation) or increase (facilitation) with higher mf uptake. Transmission intensity depends on a number of factors such as the level of infection in the human population, vec...
ABSTRACT An anti-inflammatory cytokine, interleukin 10 (IL-10) suppresses T-helper 1 cells (Th1) route and enhances the Th2 route in mice by boosting the antibody response. The present work studied the effect of exogenous IL-10 in the system of BALB/C mice during the development severe anaemia. BALB/C mice developed severe anaemia within 2-3 weeks after inoculation with 106 parasitised RBCs (pRBCs) intraperitoneally. BALB/C mice treated with recombinant IL-10 developed patent parasitaemia o...
ABSTRACT Melon seeds namely Agushie variety 1 and variety 2 (Cucumeropsi.s edulis) and Neri (Citrullus lanatus) were studied. These were distinguished from each other by the colour of their seedcoat and1 their size. Neri was found to have the lowest protein content (19.62%) compared to approximately 28% for the agushie. All three melonseeds contained approximately 4-7'/. oil. There was very little carbohydrate in all the varieties and starch was absent. The oils extracted from the three va...
ABSTRACT Invasive Non-Typhoidal Salmonella infections have become widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. Predominant hyper-virulent clone S. Typhimurium ST313 is found to be associated with bloodstream invasion and multidrug resistance. Despite its importance, limited information is available on the circulating genotypes causing invasive non-typhoidal salmonellosis in Ghana. A total of fifty-one NTS isolates from pediatric blood samples was used for this study. The resistance profiles of isolates...
ABSTRACT The behavioural responses of the schistosome host snail Biomphalaria pfeifferi to 40 naturally occurring (crude and semi - processed) plant products were studied using diffusion olfactometers. Out of the 40 plant products, 21 were tested in the raw (unprocessed) states, 3 were boiled, 4 were dried and 12 were fermented. Seven (7) out of the 21 raw plant product (33.33%) acted as significant attractants/ arrestant for the adult snails while 6 emerged statistically significant attract...
ABSTRACT Fermentation and nixtamalization have been used to enhance the quality and nutritional value of cereals. “Kudeme” a product of microbial and biochemical disintegration of cassava was inoculated into nixtamalized maize dough and fermented, to study the influence of the addition of kudeme on the characteristics of nixtamalized maize dough. The functional and physico-chemical indices were monitored. A 4 x 5 factorial design of kudeme level by fermentation time was used in pre-testi...
ABSTRACT N-a-tosyl-L-lysyl-chloromethyl ketone (TLCK) has been coupled to ara-C or colchicine encapsulated liposomes via glutaraldehyde treated liposomal phosphatidylethanolamine (Lp-G-TLCK) or sodium metaperiodate oxidized oligosaccharide side chain of liposomal digoxin (Lp-D-TLCK). TLCK has been shown to react with specific histidine residue at the active site of such protein as trypsin and has high binding affinity for simian virus 40 and polyoma virus transformed fibroblasts. A 20-minute ...
ABSTRACT The main objective of this study was to compare the similarities and differences in MRbased and pseudo CT µ-map generation in PET/MR and radiotherapy respectively. The study sought to look at ways attenuation correction could be done on PET hybrid imaging systems and compare them in various ways so as to improve treatment and patient care. The methodology involved patient selection, image processing and generation of both µmaps for PET-attenuation correction and pseudo CT for radio...
ABSTRACT Coastal areas around the world are being shaped by natural and anthropogenic activities. These factors include ocean level rise, tides, geomorphology of the coastline, sand mining and coastal population increase. This study assessed the rate and extent of coastal erosion from 1986 to 2016 of the Teshie coastline; the socio-economic and cultural patterns (causes and effects) and the adaptive strategies undertaken by the locals of Teshie. Analyses of the shoreline change were computed ...
ABSTRACT The thrust o f this study w as to identify the factors w hich influence accessibility and utilization o f health care facilities in the D angm e W est D istrict, and to find solutions to problem s w hich w ere identified. The study covered nine fully operational health centres and health posts in the district, as well as random ly sam pled service providers such as nurses, personnel o f N G O s. heads o f som e governm ent departm ents, opinion leaders and the district director of he...
ABSTRACT Wave and wind dynamics are important in the estimation of beach erosion rates and sediment transport modelling. They are also important in modelling sea fatigue, oil spill transport and planning of coastal and marine activities. This work sought to quantify the magnitude of wave and wind parameters along the coast of Ghana as well as identify how these parameters varied across the year. A nine years wave and wind data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) gl...
Abstract Ceiba pentandra, Colagigantea,Lanneawelwitschii,Militia excelsa (all non-leguminous) and Milletia zechiana (leguminous) are among the various tree species retained on cropping fields in the Akuapem District of Ghana, but little is known of the actual contribution of these species to soil fertility improvement. Leaf litter samples from the above-mentioned non-leguminous species were analysed to determine their nutrient content. Leaf litter production was also quantified monthly over a...
ABSTRACT This study describes and identifies palynomorphs (spore/pollen and dinoflagellates) from different levels of the CTP-1 well succession in the offshore Tano Basin in order to establish palynostratigraphy of the studied sediments. The palynomorphs are used as an age tool for the sediments after comparison with other species or sediments reported from other parts of the world, especially the North Gondwana Province (ASA) region. Sedimentary Organic Matter is used to establish palynofaci...