The Disabled and Art: Selected Artifacts of Ghanaian Physically Disabled Artists as a Resource For Teaching And Learning

Some disabled artists in Ghana exhibit a lot of rich knowledge and practical skills which are potential materials for teaching and learning. These should be documented otherwise the rich concepts and philosophies inherent in them which, among others, are perceived to depict societal problems may be lost after their death. It is the aim of this paper to identify and document the unique artistic qualities in some of the art works of selected physically disabled artists. It was the pursuit of the writers to contribute to the documentation of these works to serve as resource material for Art Education and Special Education. Through qualitative research, an enquiry was made into the artifacts of six (6) selected disabled artists in Ashanti Region. Description of ten (10) works comprising textiles, sculpture, painting, three dimensional (3-D) design, and basketry was done. These physically disabled artists were interviewed using the face-to-face method as data collection instrument. The results of the research largely confirm  that the selected artifacts depict problems of the society. Also, a few of the works portray their emotions, personal nature, ideas and philosophy. It is recommended that more physically disabled persons should find life in art since art provides varying types of employment for disabled persons.Keywords: Artifacts, art education, philosophy, disability art

Family Structure and Children’s Schooling in sub-Saharan Africa

To examine the effect of family structure on children’s schooling in sub-Saharan Africa, we employed Multi-level Modeling to analyse data from recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in 26 African Countries. In general, both polygyny and presence of a husband in the home detract from children’s education. After controlling for maternal education, childrenof single, never married mothers and those who are divorced or separated have educational disadvantage, suggesting the importance of maternal education for children’s educational outcomes. Males are more likely than females to have higher educational attainment, especially those in polygynous families. It is recommended that female education in general and the education of the girl-child in particular, be encouraged as a way of discouraging such negative cultural attitudes and practices as polygyny and bias in favour of boys’ education.Keywords: Monogamy, Polygyny, Marital Status, Multi-level Regression, Patriarchy

Experiences of shared sanitation – towards a better understanding of access, exclusion and ‘toilet mobility’ in low-income urban areas

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 6.2 calls for ‘adequate and equitable sanitation for all’. In dense, rapidly urbanising cities, the challenge of providing household sanitation means that many countries include shared, community and public toilets in their national strategies to meet global goals. However, shared sanitation is associated with several problems including poor management and exclusion. This study examines shared sanitation access and use by using innovative mapping methods in compound house units in Fante New Town, Kumasi, Ghana. This study reveals that 56% of house units have at least one toilet. Of the 47% of people living in these house units, almost a third were excluded from using the toilet. Tenure status was the main driver for exclusion, with nearly half of people reporting non-usage ‘not allowed’ to use the toilet by the landlord. This study outlines key policy interventions to address broader institutional and regulatory barriers to shared sanitation. At the settlement level, this includes the provision of safe, well-managed public toilets and engagement with landlords to improve house unit toilet access. At the national and global level, this study calls for nuanced indicators to assess the quality of access and to ensure shared sanitation works for everyone

Effect of Saw Palmetto Supplements on Androgen-Sensitive LNCaP Human Prostate Cancer Cell Number and Syrian Hamster Flank Organ Growth

Citation: Opoku-Acheampong, A. B., Penugonda, K., & Lindshield, B. L. (2016). Effect of Saw Palmetto Supplements on Androgen-Sensitive LNCaP Human Prostate Cancer Cell Number and Syrian Hamster Flank Organ Growth. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 10. doi:10.1155/2016/8135135Saw palmetto supplements (SPS) are commonly consumed by men with prostate cancer. We investigated whether SPS fatty acids and phytosterols concentrations determine their growth-inhibitory action in androgen-sensitive LNCaP cells and hamster flank organs. High long-chain fatty acids-low phytosterols (HLLP) SPS >= 750 nM with testosterone significantly increased and >= 500 nM with dihydrotestosterone significantly decreased LNCaP cell number. High long-chain fatty acids-high phytosterols (HLHP) SPS >= 500 nM with dihydrotestosterone and high medium-chain fatty acids-low phytosterols (HMLP) SPS >= 750 nM or with androgens significantly decreased LNCaP cell number (n = 3; p < 0.05). Five-to six-week-old, castrated male Syrian hamsters were randomized to control (n = 4), HLLP, HLHP, and HMLP SPS (n = 6) groups. Testosterone or dihydrotestosterone was applied topically daily for 21 days to the right flank organ; the left flank organ was treated with ethanol and served as the control. Thirty minutes later, SPS or ethanol was applied to each flank organ in treatment and control groups, respectively. SPS treatments caused a notable but nonsignificant reduction in the difference between left and right flank organ growth in testosterone-treated SPS groups compared to the control. The same level of inhibition was not seen in dihydrotestosterone-treated SPS groups (p < 0.05). Results may suggest that SPS inhibit 5 alpha-reductase thereby preventing hamster flank organ growth

Total Mercury Content of Skin Toning Creams and the Potential Risk to the Health of Women In Ghana

The use of mercury containing skin toning creams is becoming increasingly popular among darkskinned women. The prolonged use of them over the years may cause serious health effects. In the study sixty nine (69) samples of skin toning creams were analysed for total mercury by cold vapour atomic absorption spectrophotometry using an automatic mercury analyzer. The concentration of mercury in the creams ranged from below 0.001 to 0.311 &#956;g g-1. All the creams sampled had concentrations less than the US Food and Drug Administration's acceptable limit of 1 &#956;g g-1. The low concentrations of mercury detected in the cream samples analysed therefore do not pose any potential mercury related health risk to the population particularly women Keywords: mercury, skin toning cream, women, health Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 28 (1) 2008 pp. 88-9

Transport Modelling During Preparation of General Plans in Big Cities: Reasons and Challenges

Rapidly growing mobility of people in European cities attaches greater importance to the sustainable developmentconcept. The dynamics of European cities are however different. Cites such as Lithuanian, Slovakian and Polishones will rapidly increase traffic flows and car ownership at fast pace. Also in most of Western Europe, even if at lowerrates, private mobility is increasing. In some cities, however, car use and car ownership are finally decreasing, alsothanks to policies implemented. Of course, an increase of traffic flows poses problems in terms of street space, pollutionand liveability of cities. Sustainable integration of all kinds of transport into the urban development process is one ofthe most effective actions in the hands of city planners. The coordination between the planning of residential and businessdevelopment areas and the expansion of public transport and its hierarchical integration is however a difficult butnecessary exercise. Transport modelling tools, in particular, need important advancements to integrate transport andland use in simulations. This article analyses the main challenges in the use of transport models to support the constructionof city plans by means of two case studies of Milan and Vilnius. The analysis deals both with traditional aspects,such as the proper simulation of multimodal choices, the level of detail of zoning, the issues associated to the simulationof traffic management policies. Then, we will focus on two aspects still open: the integration of transport modelling andeconomic assessment or ranking of actions, and the inclusion of land use changes in the modelling

WASH infrastructure and menstrual hygiene management in basic schools: a study in Kumasi, Ghana

Understanding the role of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services on menstrual hygiene behaviors and practices and ultimately on school absenteeism is important to inform policy and practice. This study focused on how the schools’ WASH infrastructure affects Menstrual Hygiene Management. The study was based on data from seven schools in the Weweso circuit, Kumasi-Ghana collected through Focus Group Discussions, key informant interviews and observation of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in the selected schools. Public schools (government managed) did not have adequate provision for menstrual hygiene management and the private schools (individually owned) had better WASH infrastructure/services that provide a better environment for menstrual hygiene management compared to the public schools. The poor WASH infrastructure in basic schools constrain school girls from maintaining good menstrual hygiene practices. The study recommends education on menstrual hygiene management and the incorporation of adequate consideration for menstrual hygiene management infrastructure in basic schools (primary school)

Agro-climatic and hydrological characterization of selected watersheds in northern Ghana

United States Agency for International Developmen

Fasting salivary glucose levels is not a better measure for identifying diabetes mellitus than serum or capillary blood glucose levels: comparison in a Ghanaian population

Aims/introduction: We compared the diagnostic performance and correlation between salivary, serum and capillary blood glucose of diabetes and non-diabetes patients. Early detection of diabetes mellitus (DM) contributes to the prevention of complications and management. Materials and methods: This case-control study was conducted among a total of 138 participants comprising 79 newly diagnosed diabetes patients (cases) and 59 non-diabetes patients (controls). Fasting salivary glucose (FSLG), fasting serum glucose (FSEG) levels and fasting capillary whole blood glucose (FCWBG) level were assayed for each participant. Results: The mean FSLG, FSEG and FCWBG levels were significantly higher among the cases compared to controls (p \u3c 0.0001). There was a significant mean difference between the levels of FSLG vs. FSEG (p \u3c 0.0001) and FSLG vs. FCWBG (p \u3c 0.0001) but not levels of FSEG vs. FCWBG (p \u3e 0.05) in both cases and controls. A positive correlation was observed between FSLG and FSEG (r = 0.89; p \u3c 0.0001) and FCWBG (r = 0.87; p \u3c 0.0001). At the cut-off value \u3e6.8 mmol/l for FSEG, a sensitivity of 99%, specificity of 100.0% and area under the curve (AUC) of 98.8% was observed for predicting DM while a sensitivity of 80%, specificity of 95% and AUC of 91.0% was observed for FSLG at a cut-off value \u3e0.5 mmol/l. At the cut-off value \u3e6.9 mmol/l for FCWBG, a sensitivity of 100.0%, specificity of 100.0% and AUC of 100.0% was observed for predicting DM. Conclusion: Fasting salivary glucose (FSLG) levels increased with increasing blood glucose levels. However, it does not generate enough diagnostic and predictive accuracy compared to capillary whole blood glucose which less invasive. © 201

Newly formulated, protein quality-enhanced, extruded sorghum-, cowpea-, corn-, soya-, sugar- and oil-containing fortified-blended foods lead to adequate vitamin A and iron outcomes and improved growth compared with non-extruded CSB+ in rats

Citation: Delimont, N. M., Fiorentino, N. M., Opoku-Acheampong, A. B., Joseph, M. V., Guo, Q., Alavi, S., & Lindshield, B. L. (2017). Newly formulated, protein quality-enhanced, extruded sorghum-, cowpea-, corn-, soya-, sugar- and oil-containing fortified-blended foods lead to adequate vitamin A and iron outcomes and improved growth compared with non-extruded CSB+ in rats. Journal of Nutritional Science. doi:10.1017/jns.2017.15Corn and soyabean micronutrient-fortified-blended foods (FBF) are commonly used for food aid. Sorghum and cowpeas have been suggested as alternative commodities because they are drought tolerant, can be grown in many localities, and are not genetically modified. Change in formulation of blends may improve protein quality, vitamin A and Fe availability of FBF. The primary objective of this study was to compare protein efficiency, Fe and vitamin A availability of newly formulated extruded sorghum-, cowpea-, soya- and corn-based FBF, along with a current, non-extruded United States Agency for International Development (USAID) corn and soya blend FBF (CSB+). A second objective was to compare protein efficiency of whey protein concentrate (WPC) and soya protein isolate (SPI) containing FBF to determine whether WPC inclusion improved outcomes. Eight groups of growing rats (n 10) consumed two white and one red sorghum–cowpea (WSC1 + WPC, WSC2 + WPC, RSC + WPC), white sorghum–soya (WSS + WPC) and corn–soya (CSB14 + WPC) extruded WPC-containing FBF, an extruded white sorghum–cowpea with SPI (WSC1 + SPI), non-extruded CSB+, and American Institute of Nutrition (AIN)-93G, a weanling rat diet, for 4 weeks. There were no significant differences in protein efficiency, Fe or vitamin A outcomes between WPC FBF groups. The CSB+ group consumed significantly less food, gained significantly less weight, and had significantly lower energy efficiency, protein efficiency and length, compared with all other groups. Compared with WSC1 + WPC, the WSC1 + SPI FBF group had significantly lower energy efficiency, protein efficiency and weight gain. These results suggest that a variety of commodities can be used in the formulation of FBF, and that newly formulated extruded FBF are of better nutritional quality than non-extruded CSB+. Copyright © The Author(s) 2017 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited