Approaches to improve African migrants’ health in Europe

Immigrants from Sub-Sahara Africa in the European Region are more affected by various health conditions in comparison to Europeans. One of such conditions is obesity, which constitutes an important risk factor for chronic diseases. We investigated approaches to improve the health of African immigrants in Europe, focusing on the following objectives: i) identify the burden of obesity and diabetes among Ghanaian immigrants ii) describe dietary practices among Ghanaian immigrants, and iii) establish the feasibility of a weight reduction clinical study among Ghanaian immigrants. “Research on Obesity and Diabetes among African Migrants (RODAM)” was a multi-center, cross-sectional study undertaken among Ghanaians (sample size = 5,659) who were between the ages of 25 to 70 years staying in the countryside and cites in Ghana, Amsterdam, Berlin, and London. The age-standardized prevalence of obesity ranged from 1.3% in the countryside of Ghana to 21.4% in London among males, and 8.3% in the countryside to 54.2% in London among females. The age-standardized prevalence of diabetes type II ranged from 3.6% in the countryside of Ghana to 15.3% in Berlin among males and from 5.5% in the countryside of Ghana to 10.2% in Berlin among females. For the eating habits of the RODAM study subjects, principal component analysis was applied to identify eating patterns. Three patterns were extracted: a “mixed” pattern prevailed among immigrants in Europe; a “rice, pasta, meat, and fish” pattern predominated in cites in Ghana; and a “roots, tubers and plantain” pattern was prominent in the countryside of Ghana. Dietary diversity was largest among Ghanaian in cites, followed by immigrants in European sites and in the countryside of Ghana. Based on these and other findings, a feasibility study on a culturally adapted dietary weight reduction clinical study was conducted among overweight or obese Ghanaian immigrants (“body mass index ≥25.0 kg/m2”) without diabetes type II living in Berlin. Out of 93 eligible individuals, 5 adults and 4 family volunteers participated in this 3-month clinical study. The most common reasons for abstaining from the study were relocation (13%), time constraint to attend clinic-based examinations (10%), apathy (9%) and 64% of non-participants had no explanation. The average weight loss was than 1kg (range: +0.5, -3.6 kg). These findings indicate that obesity remains an important health problem among African immigrants in Europe and a culturally adapted intervention may assist in curbing this burden among Ghanaian immigrants. In-depth understanding of the contextual drivers of obesity among sub-Saharan African immigrants in addition to rigorous intervention studies is essential to overcome the health inequalities between sub-Saharan African immigrants and the host communities in Europe.Im Vergleich zur Bevölkerung des Gastlandes sind in Europa Migranten aus Subsahara-Afrika überproportional von verschiedenen Gesundheitsproblemen betroffen. Zu nennen ist hier auch Adipositas, die einen wichtigen Risikofaktor für chronische Krankheiten darstellt. Daher wurden Ansätze zur Verbesserung der Gesundheit afrikanischer Migranten in Europa mit einem Fokus auf folgende Ziele untersucht: i) Ermittlung der Belastung durch Adipositas und Diabetes unter ghanaischen Migranten; ii) Beschreibung ihrer Ernährungsgewohnheiten iii) Ermittlung von Interventionsmöglichkeiten zur Gewichtsreduktion. Durchgeführt wurde eine multizentrische Querschnittsstudie unter ghanaischen Erwachsenen im Alter zwischen 25 und 70 Jahren, die im ländlichen und städtischen Ghana, in Amsterdam, Berlin und London leben. Die altersstandardisierte Prävalenz der Adipositas reichte bei Männern von 1,3% im ländlichen Ghana bis 21,4% in London und bei Frauen von 8,3% im ländlichen Ghana bis 54,2% in London. Die altersstandardisierte Prävalenz von Typ-2-Diabetes reichte bei den Männern von 3,6% im ländlichen Ghana bis 15,3% in Berlin und bei den Frauen von 5,5% im ländlichen Ghana bis 10,2% in Berlin. Um Ernährungsmuster der Teilnehmenden zu ermitteln, erfolgte eine Hauptkomponentenanalyse. Es wurden drei Muster extrahiert: Während bei den Migranten in Europa ein "gemischtes" Muster und im städtischen Ghana ein "Reis, Nudeln, Fleisch und Fisch"-Muster vorherrschend waren, zeigte sich im ländlichen Ghana ein "Wurzeln, Knollen und Wegerich"-Muster. Die Ernährungsvielfalt war bei ghanaischen Erwachsenen im städtischen Ghana am größten, gefolgt von Ghanaern in Europa und Erwachsenen im ländlichen Ghana. Auf der Grundlage dieser und anderer Erkenntnisse wurde eine Machbarkeitsstudie über eine kulturangepasste Ernährungsintervention zur Gewichtsreduktion unter in Berlin lebenden ghanaischen Migranten mit Übergewicht oder Adipositas („Body-Mass-Index ≥25,0 kg/m2“) ohne Typ-2-Diabetes typ-II durchgeführt. Von 93 in Frage kommenden Personen nahmen 5 Erwachsene und 4 freiwillige Familienangehörige an dieser 12-wöchigen Interventionsstudie teil. Hauptgründe für eine Nichtteilnahme waren Wohnortwechsel (13%), Zeitmangel (10%) oder fehlendes Interesse (9%); 64% machten keine Angaben zur Nichtteilnahme. Die mittlere Gewichtsabnahme betrug -0,6 kg (Spanne: +0,5 bis -3,6 kg). Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Adipositas nach wie vor ein gesundheitliches Problem unter afrikanischen Migranten in Europa darstellt. Eine kulturangepasste Intervention könnte dazu beitragen, derartige Belastungen einzudämmen. Um gesundheitliche Ungleichheiten afrikanischer Migranten südlich der Sahara im Vergleich zu europäischen Aufnahmegesellschaften zu überwinden, sind ein tiefergehendes Verständnis kontextabhängiger Faktoren für Adipositas unter afrikanischen Migranten südlich der Sahara sowie weitere Interventionsstudien unerlässlich

The Relational Orientation of the African and Performance Management Practices in Selected Institutions in Ghana

It is unsatisfactory to find that in the literature on employee performance appraisal management, enough attention has not been paid to the important factors in the socio-cultural context of the society in which organizations concerned are sited. Employing both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, the study explored the influence of certain socio-cultural values on performance appraisal practices in selected institutions in Ghana. Thus, the paper assesses some of the often neglected sociocultural factors and how they serve to moderate employee performance appraisal management in work organisations. It specifically discusses the relational orientation of the African and how it influences performance appraisal practices in organisations. Our hope is to enhance the understanding of researchers and human resource management practitioners of the realities of performance appraisal management within specific sociocultural contexts. The results reveal that in spite of the existence of established formal systems of performance appraisal in the universities studied, most of the officials in charge of appraisal face the challenge of objectivity and fairness due to their relational orientation. Virtually all the factors that pose this challenge to the officials are socio-cultural in nature. The express desire to maintain a good relation with subordinates and colleagues makes officials compromise on fairness and objectivity in appraising their subordinates. According to the study results, some managers believe that it is prudent to overrate one’s cordial relation with colleagues and subordinates over a strict adherence to institutional provisions provided one does not break any serious rule. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1s1p8

Anti-tussive, muco-suppressant and expectorant properties, and the safety profile of a hydro-ethanolic extract of Scoparia dulcis

Background: Scoparia dulcis is used in Ghanaian folkloric medicine for the management of asthma and its related complications. This study was therefore aimed at evaluating the anti-tussive, muco-suppressant and expectorant properties of hydroethanolic extract of S. dulcis (SDE), and to ascertain its safety for use in asthma and obstructive pulmonary disease management.Methods: The number of coughs induced in guinea pigs using citric acid and the concentration of phenol red secreted in tracheae of mice were measured. Preliminary phytochemical analysis was conducted on the extract using standard procedures. Safety for use of the extract was assessed by conducting an acute and delayed toxicity test.Results: The extract showed a dose-independent inhibition (p ≤ 0.001) of cough elicited by 7.5% citric acid, and a dose-dependent increase (p ≤ 0.05) in the amount of phenol red output in mice tracheae similar to that of ammonium chloride. For the muco-suppressant activity, SDE dose-dependently reduced (p ≤ 0.001) the concentration of ammonium chloride-induced phenol red secretions from mice tracheae. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of tannins, alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, steroids, and phenolic compounds. No acute and/or delayed toxic symptoms were observed after an oral administration of up to 5 g/kg of S. dulcis extract.Conclusion: The results showed that S. dulcis extract has anti-tussive, muco-suppressant and, expectorant and/or mucolytic properties; making it a possible remedy for asthma, and obstructive pulmonary disease

Media freedom and political stability in Sub-Saharan Africa: a panel data study

Political stability is often cited as a key determinant of growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) although little research that identifies the factors that ensure political stability in SSA is available. A pertinent determinant of political stability in SSA may be press freedom since on one hand, the press can contribute to political stability by keeping the electorate informed thereby keeping a check on graft, fraud, embezzlement and other corrupt practices of government officials. On the other hand, however, the press can be manipulated to generate political instability by misinforming the public so the exact relationship between press freedom and political stability in SSA is ex ante unclear. By investigating the determinants of political stability and accounting for possible of endogeneity bias, this paper (i) isolates the most pertinent variables that affect political stability in Sub-Saharan Africa and (ii) investigates to what extent press freedom mitigates or worsens the incidence of political instability in the SSA region. A panel of 31 SSA countries from 1984–2007 is used in static and dynamic panel data frameworks to investigate the determinants of political stability and to verify the relationship between media freedom and political stability in SSA. Important determinants of political stability are found to be mainly related to economic performance, macroeconomic policies, unemployment the level of education and regime type. Preliminary results also suggest that media freedom may be a vital determinant of political stability in SSA although less so than economic, political and social factors. Ongoing estimations suggest elasticities of political stability with respect to media freedom calculated at different values of media freedom are nonzero. The research result should help guide policy makers in the different nation states of SSA in drafting pragmatic media and economic policies that will promote political stability in their respective countries.Ashesi University Colleg

A rich TILLING resource for studying gene function in Brassica rapa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The <it>Brassicaceae </it>family includes the model plant <it>Arabidopsis thaliana </it>as well as a number of agronomically important species such as oilseed crops (in particular <it>Brassica napus, B. juncea </it>and <it>B. rapa</it>) and vegetables (<it>eg. B. rapa </it>and <it>B. oleracea</it>).</p> <p>Separated by only 10-20 million years, <it>Brassica </it>species and <it>Arabidopsis thaliana </it>are closely related, and it is expected that knowledge obtained relating to <it>Arabidopsis </it>growth and development can be translated into Brassicas for crop improvement. Moreover, certain aspects of plant development are sufficiently different between <it>Brassica </it>and <it>Arabidopsis </it>to warrant studies to be carried out directly in the crop species. However, mutating individual genes in the amphidiploid Brassicas such as <it>B. napus </it>and <it>B. juncea </it>may, on the other hand, not give rise to expected phenotypes as the genomes of these species can contain up to six orthologues per single-copy <it>Arabidopsis </it>gene. In order to elucidate and possibly exploit the function of redundant genes for oilseed rape crop improvement, it may therefore be more efficient to study the effects in one of the diploid <it>Brassica </it>species such as <it>B. rapa</it>. Moreover, the ongoing sequencing of the <it>B. rapa </it>genome makes this species a highly attractive model for <it>Brassica </it>research and genetic resource development.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seeds from the diploid <it>Brassica </it>A genome species, <it>B. rapa </it>were treated with ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) to produce a TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions In Genomes) population for reverse genetics studies. We used the <it>B. rapa </it>genotype, R-o-18, which has a similar developmental ontogeny to an oilseed rape crop. Hence this resource is expected to be well suited for studying traits with relevance to yield and quality of oilseed rape. DNA was isolated from a total of 9,216 M₂plants and pooled to form the basis of the TILLING platform. Analysis of six genes revealed a high level of mutations with a density of about one per 60 kb. This analysis also demonstrated that screening a 1 kb amplicon in just one third of the population (3072 M₂plants) will provide an average of 68 mutations and a 97% probability of obtaining a stop-codon mutation resulting in a truncated protein. We furthermore calculated that each plant contains on average ~10,000 mutations and due to the large number of plants, it is predicted that mutations in approximately half of the GC base pairs in the genome exist within this population.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We have developed the first EMS TILLING resource in the diploid <it>Brassica </it>species, <it>B. rapa</it>. The mutation density in this population is ~1 per 60 kb, which makes it the most densely mutated diploid organism for which a TILLING population has been published. This resource is publicly available through the <it>RevGen</it>UK reverse genetics platform <url>http://revgenuk.jic.ac.uk</url>.</p

The RODAM study

Background Although the prevalence of smoking is low in Ghana, little is known about the effect of migration on smoking. Comparing Ghanaians living in their country of origin to those living in Europe offers an opportunity to investigate smoking by location of residence and the associations between smoking behaviours and migration-related factors. Methods Data on a relatively homogenous group of Ghanaians living in London (n = 949), Amsterdam (n = 1400), Berlin (n = 543), rural Ghana (n = 973) and urban Ghana (n = 1400) from the cross-sectional RODAM (Research on Obesity & Diabetes in African Migrants) study were used. Age-standardized prevalence rates of smoking by location of residence and factors associated with smoking among Ghanaian men were estimated using prevalence ratios (PR: 95% CIs). Results Current smoking was non-existent among women in rural and urban Ghana and London but was 3.2% and 3.3% in women in Amsterdam and Berlin, respectively. Smoking prevalence was higher in men in Europe (7.8%) than in both rural and urban Ghana (4.8%): PR 1.91: 95% CI 1.27, 2.88, adjusted for age, marital status, education and employment. Factors associated with a higher prevalence of smoking among Ghanaian men included European residence, being divorced or widowed, living alone, Islam religion, infrequent attendance at religious services, assimilation (cultural orientation), and low education. Conclusion Ghanaians living in Europe are more likely to smoke than their counterparts in Ghana, suggesting convergence to European populations, although prevalence rates are still far below those in the host populations

High Resolution Melt (HRM) analysis is an efficient tool to genotype EMS mutants in complex crop genomes

Background: Targeted Induced Loci Lesions IN Genomes (TILLING) is increasingly being used to generate and identify mutations in target genes of crop genomes. TILLING populations of several thousand lines have been generated in a number of crop species including Brassica rapa. Genetic analysis of mutants identified by TILLING requires an efficient, high-throughput and cost effective genotyping method to track the mutations through numerous generations. High resolution melt (HRM) analysis has been used in a number of systems to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertion/deletions (IN/DELs) enabling the genotyping of different types of samples. HRM is ideally suited to high-throughput genotyping of multiple TILLING mutants in complex crop genomes. To date it has been used to identify mutants and genotype single mutations. The aim of this study was to determine if HRM can facilitate downstream analysis of multiple mutant lines identified by TILLING in order to characterise allelic series of EMS induced mutations in target genes across a number of generations in complex crop genomes. Results: We demonstrate that HRM can be used to genotype allelic series of mutations in two genes, BraA.CAX1a and BraA.MET1.a in Brassica rapa. We analysed 12 mutations in BraA.CAX1.a and five in BraA.MET1.a over two generations including a back-cross to the wild-type. Using a commercially available HRM kit and the Lightscanner™ system we were able to detect mutations in heterozygous and homozygous states for both genes. Conclusions: Using HRM genotyping on TILLING derived mutants, it is possible to generate an allelic series of mutations within multiple target genes rapidly. Lines suitable for phenotypic analysis can be isolated approximately 8-9 months (3 generations) from receiving M3 seed of Brassica rapa from the RevGenUK TILLING service

Smoking prevalence differs by location of residence among Ghanaians in Africa and Europe: The RODAM study.

BACKGROUND: Although the prevalence of smoking is low in Ghana, little is known about the effect of migration on smoking. Comparing Ghanaians living in their country of origin to those living in Europe offers an opportunity to investigate smoking by location of residence and the associations between smoking behaviours and migration-related factors. METHODS: Data on a relatively homogenous group of Ghanaians living in London (n = 949), Amsterdam (n = 1400), Berlin (n = 543), rural Ghana (n = 973) and urban Ghana (n = 1400) from the cross-sectional RODAM (Research on Obesity & Diabetes in African Migrants) study were used. Age-standardized prevalence rates of smoking by location of residence and factors associated with smoking among Ghanaian men were estimated using prevalence ratios (PR: 95% CIs). RESULTS: Current smoking was non-existent among women in rural and urban Ghana and London but was 3.2% and 3.3% in women in Amsterdam and Berlin, respectively. Smoking prevalence was higher in men in Europe (7.8%) than in both rural and urban Ghana (4.8%): PR 1.91: 95% CI 1.27, 2.88, adjusted for age, marital status, education and employment. Factors associated with a higher prevalence of smoking among Ghanaian men included European residence, being divorced or widowed, living alone, Islam religion, infrequent attendance at religious services, assimilation (cultural orientation), and low education. CONCLUSION: Ghanaians living in Europe are more likely to smoke than their counterparts in Ghana, suggesting convergence to European populations, although prevalence rates are still far below those in the host populations

Dietary patterns and type 2 diabetes among Ghanaian migrants in Europe and their compatriots in Ghana: the RODAM study.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: We aimed to study the associations of dietary patterns (DPs) with type 2 diabetes (T2D) among Ghanaian adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: In the multi-centre, cross-sectional RODAM (Research on Obesity and Diabetes among African Migrants) study (n = 4543), three overall DPs ("mixed", "rice, pasta, meat and fish," and "roots, tubers and plantain") and two site-specific DPs per study site (rural Ghana, urban Ghana and Europe) were identified by principal component analysis. The DPs-T2D associations were calculated by logistic regression models. RESULTS: Higher adherence to the "rice, pasta, meat and fish" DP (characterized by legumes, rice/pasta, meat, fish, cakes/sweets, condiments) was associated with decreased odds of T2D, adjusted for socio-demographic factors, total energy intake and adiposity measures (odds ratio (OR)per 1 SD = 0.80; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.70-0.92). Similar DPs and T2D associations were discernible in urban Ghana and Europe. In the total study population, neither the "mixed" DP (whole grain cereals, sweet spreads, dairy products, potatoes, vegetables, poultry, coffee/tea, sodas/juices, olive oil) nor the "roots, tubers and plantain" DP (refined cereals, fruits, nuts/seeds, roots/tubers/plantain, fermented maize products, legumes, palm oil, condiments) was associated with T2D. Yet, after the exclusion of individuals with self-reported T2D, the "roots, tubers and plantain" DP was inversely associated with T2D (ORper 1 SD = 0.88; 95% CI = 0.69-1.12). CONCLUSION: In this Ghanaian population, DPs characterized by the intake of legumes, fish, meat and confectionery were inversely associated with T2D. The effect of a traditional-oriented diet (typical staples, vegetables and legumes) remains unclear