Tool kits for the Sustainable Management of Ghana’s Riverine Biodiversity: an Overveiw

The Darwin Initiative funded project Tool kits for the Sustainable Management of Ghana’s Riverine Biodiversity was a collaboration between the Centre for African Wetlands at the University of Ghana, various units of the University of Ghana and the Ghana Wildlife Society. The project also involved collaborators from Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin. The project aimed to address the impediments that remain for Ghana (and its neighbouring countries) in applying the Ecosystem Approach (EA) to riverine wetland management and the delivery of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD). Priority needs were identified as taxonomic capacity building, a contemporary assessment of the status of aquatic biodiversity in Ghana, the development of practical management tools for rivers and increased engagement of stakeholders in decision-making together with an enhanced environmental awareness throughout Ghanaian society. These were addressed in this project by regional and local staff training, reporting on the current status of aquatic communities, the production of educational and taxonomic resources for a range of users, the development of a set of nested indicators of ecosystem health adapted for use at various levels, and the production of a policy document outlining the means of applying the EA in the management of Ghana’s rivers

Determination of the Concentration of Essential Elements in Pleurotus Ostreatus Cultivated on Valisneria Arthiopica as a Supplementary Substrate to Sawdust using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analyses

Abstract: Mushrooms are excellent nutritional and medicinal sources in the environment. This study has sought to conduct an analysis of the concentration of the essential elements in the mushroom sample that was cultivated on three supplementary substrate compositions (25% Vallisneria aethiopica and 75% Tripochton scleroxylon, 50% Vallisneria aethiopica and 50% Tripochton scleroxylon and 75% Vallisneria aethiopica and 25% Tripochton scleroxylon) using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) at the Ghana Research Reactor-1 facility(GHARR-1). The concentrations of the elements were detected in Pleurotus ostreatus cultivated on three different percentage substrate compositions of a mixture of Vallisneria aethiopica and Triplochiton scleroxylon. The mixture of 50% Vallisneria aethiopica and 50% Tripochton scleroxylon was best for most of the cultivation of oyster mushrooms since most of the elements detected in the samples attained the highest concentration in this substrate. The validity of the INAA technique for determination essential elements was checked by analyses of SRM 1566b (Oyster tisue) and Peach leaves 1547, respectively. The mean concentrations of the nutritional elements (Al, Cs, Ca, Cu, Cr, Cl, Zn, Br, Hg, Th, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na and V) were determined in mushrooms cultivated on three different substrate mixtures

Determination of the Concentration of Essential Elements in Pleurotus Ostreatus Cultivated on Valisneria Arthiopica as a Supplementary Substrate to Sawdust using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analyses

Abstract: Mushrooms are excellent nutritional and medicinal sources in the environment. This study has sought to conduct an analysis of the concentration of the essential elements in the mushroom sample that was cultivated on three supplementary substrate compositions (25% Vallisneria aethiopica and 75% Tripochton scleroxylon, 50% Vallisneria aethiopica and 50% Tripochton scleroxylon and 75% Vallisneria aethiopica and 25% Tripochton scleroxylon) using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) at the Ghana Research Reactor-1 facility(GHARR-1). The concentrations of the elements were detected in Pleurotus ostreatus cultivated on three different percentage substrate compositions of a mixture of Vallisneria aethiopica and Triplochiton scleroxylon. The mixture of 50% Vallisneria aethiopica and 50% Tripochton scleroxylon was best for most of the cultivation of oyster mushrooms since most of the elements detected in the samples attained the highest concentration in this substrate. The validity of the INAA technique for determination essential elements was checked by analyses of SRM 1566b (Oyster tisue) and Peach leaves 1547, respectively. The mean concentrations of the nutritional elements (Al, Cs, Ca, Cu, Cr, Cl, Zn, Br, Hg, Th, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na and V) were determined in mushrooms cultivated on three different substrate mixtures

Development of a local antibiogram for a teaching hospital in Ghana

Background: Antimicrobial resistance threatens adequate healthcare provision against infectious diseases. Antibiograms, combined with patient clinical history, enable clinicians and pharmacists to select the best empirical treatments prior to culture results. Objectives: To develop a local antibiogram for the Ho Teaching Hospital. Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study, using data collected on bacterial isolates from January-December 2021. Samples from urine, stool, sputum, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were considered as well as, aspirates and swabs from wound, ears and vagina of patients. Bacteria were cultured on both enrichment and selective media including blood agar supplemented with 5% sheep blood and MacConkey agar, and identified by both the VITEK 2 system and routine biochemical tests. Data on routine culture and sensitivity tests performed on bacterial isolates from patient samples were retrieved from the hospital's health information system. Data were then entered into and analysed using WHONET. Results: In all, 891 pathogenic microorganisms were isolated from 835 patients who had positive culture tests. Gram-negative isolates accounted for about 77% of the total bacterial species. Escherichia coli (246), Pseudomonas spp. (180), Klebsiella spp. (168), Citrobacter spp. (101) and Staphylococcus spp. (78) were the five most isolated pathogens. Most of the bacterial isolates showed high resistance (>70%) to ampicillin, piperacillin, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, penicillin G, amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, ticarcillin/clavulanic acid and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Conclusions: The isolates from the various samples were not susceptible to most of the antibiotics used in the study. The study reveals the resistance patterns of E. coli and Klebsiella spp.To some antibiotics on the WHO 'Watch' and 'Reserve' lists. Using antibiograms as part of antimicrobial stewardship programmes would optimize antibiotic use and preserve their efficacy

Annexins in Influenza Virus Replication and Pathogenesis

Influenza A viruses (IAVs) are important human respiratory pathogens which cause seasonal or periodic endemic infections. IAV can result in severe or fatal clinical complications including pneumonia and respiratory distress syndrome. Treatment of IAV infections is complicated because the virus can evade host immunity through antigenic drifts and antigenic shifts, to establish infections making new treatment options desirable. Annexins (ANXs) are a family of calcium and phospholipid binding proteins with immunomodulatory roles in viral infections, lung injury, and inflammation. A current understanding of the role of ANXs in modulating IAV infection and host responses will enable the future development of more effective antiviral therapies. This review presents a comprehensive understanding of the advances made in the field of ANXs, in particular, ANXA1 and IAV research and highlights the importance of ANXs as a suitable target for IAV therapy

Term structure information and bond strategies

We examine term structure theories by using a novel approach. We form bond investment strategies based on different theories of the term structure in order to determine which strategy performs best. When using a manipulation-proof performance measure, we find that consistent with prior literature, an active strategy that is based on time varying term premiums can indeed form the basis of a successful bond strategy that outperforms an unbiased expectation inspired passive bond buy and hold strategy. This is true, however, for an earlier time period when the literature first made this claim. In a later time period, we find that the passive buy and hold strategy is significantly superior to all active strategies. This result is confirmed by statistical tests and it suggests that once it became known that an active strategy based on time varying term premiums could outperform a passive buy and hold strategy, the markets adjusted and arbitraged away this opportunity. Overall, it appears that the unbiased expectation hypothesis is the most likely explanation of the behaviour of the term structure during more recent times. This is because economically and statistically significant superior performance cannot be achieved if one uses information from the forward curve or the term structure as a guide to adjusting bond portfolios in response to changes in the term premium.This work was supported by Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha [grant number PEII11-0031-6939]; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación [grant number ECO2011-28134] and partially supported by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) funds.