Pesticide exposures in a malarious and predominantly farming area in Central Ghana

In areas where malaria is endemic, pesticides are widely deployed for vector control, which has contributed to reductions in malaria deaths. Pesticide use for agrarian purposes reduces pest populations, thus improving crop production and post-harvest losses. However, adverse health effects have been associated with pesticide exposure, ranging from skin irritation to neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity. Though misuse of these pesticides can lead to widespread potential dangers, the debilitating effects are usually underappreciated in many developing countries. To evaluate the pattern of pesticide usage among rural communities in the Kintampo area of Ghana, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1455 heads of households randomly sampled from among 29,073 households in the Kintampo Health and Demographic Surveillance System area of Ghana to estimate the prevalence of pesticide use and indications for use among this rural populace. Seventy-one percent (1040/1455) of household heads reported having used pesticides on either their farms or homes, most commonly for control of weeds (96.4%, 1003/1040) or insects (85.4%, 888/1040). Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) was used by 22.9% (238/1040) of respondents. The majority of households who reported use of pesticides said women in their households assisted in the spraying efforts (69.3%, 721/1040); of these women, 50.8% (366/721) did so while carrying their babies on their backs. Only 28.9% (301/1040) of the study participants wore protective devices during pesticide applications. Frequent symptoms that were reported after spraying, included cough (32.3%; 336/1040), difficulty in breathing (26.7%; 278/1040) and skin irritation (39.0%; 406/1040). Pesticide use among community members in the Kintampo area of Ghana is common and its potential health impacts warrant further investigation.Key words: Pesticide, malaria, prevalence, Kintampo, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane

Burnout among nursing home care aides and the effects on resident outcomes

While burnout among health care workers has been well studied, little is known about the extent to which burnout among health care workers impacts the outcomes of their care recipients. To test this, we used a multi-year (2014-2020) survey of care aides working in approximately 90 nursing homes (NHs); the survey focused on work-life measures, including the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and work-unit identifier. Resident Assessment Instrument Minimum Data Set (RAI-MDS 2.0) data were obtained on all residents in the sampled NHs during this time and included a unit identifier for each resident. We used multi-level models to test associations between the MBI emotional exhaustion and cynicism sub-scales reported by care aides and the resident outcomes of antipsychotics without indication, depressive symptoms, and responsive behaviors among residents on units. In 2019/2020, our sample included 3,547 care aides and 10,117 residents in 282 units. The mean frequency of emotional exhaustion and cynicism across units was 43% and 50%, respectively. While residents frequently experienced antipsychotics without indication 1,852 (18.3%), depressive symptoms 2,089 (20.7%), and responsive behaviors 3,891 (38.5%), none were found to be associated with either emotional exhaustion or cynicism among care aides.</p

Remittance micro-worlds and migrant infrastructure: circulations, disruptions, and the movement of money

Remittances are increasingly central to development discourses in Africa. The development sector seeks to leverage transnational migration and rapid innovations in financial technologies (fintech), to make remittance systems cheaper for end-users and less risky for states and companies. Critical scholarship, however, questions the techno-fix tendency, calling for grounded research on the intersections between remittances, technologies, and everyday life in African cities and beyond. Building on this work, we deploy the concepts of “micro-worlds” and “migrant infrastructure” to make sense of the complex networks of actors, practices, regulations, and materialities that shape remittance worlds. To ground the work, we narrate two vignettes of remittance service providers who operate in Cape Town, South Africa, serving the Congolese diaspora community. We showcase the important role of logistics companies in the “informal” provision of remittance services and the rise of fintech companies operating in the remittance space. These vignettes give substance to the messy and relational dynamics of remittance micro-worlds. This relationality allows us to see how remittances are circulations, not unidirectional flows; how they are not split between formal and informal, but in fact intersect in blurry ways; how digital technologies are central to the story of migrant infrastructures; and how migrants themselves are compositional of these networks. In doing so, we tell a more relational story about how remittance systems are constituted and configured

Seroprevalence of HHV-8, CMV, and EBV among the general population in Ghana, West Africa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are prevalent in Africa, but less common elsewhere and the modes of transmission are still subject to debate. Generally, they rarely cause disease in the immunocompetent host but are highly oncogenic when associated with immunosuppression. Although the high prevalence of HHV-8, CMV and EBV has been well documented in Africa, such data are sparse from Ghana.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Serum samples from 3275 HIV-seronegative healthy blood donors and 250 HIV-AIDS patients were tested for antibodies specific for HHV-8, CMV and EBV by IgG ELISA assays. Differences in seropositivity rates by gender and age were evaluated using the Chi-square test with Yates correction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 3275 HIV-seronegative healthy blood donors tested, 2573 (78.6%) were males and 702 (21.4%) were females, with ages ranging from 18 to 65 years (median 32.6; mean 31.2; mode 30). Of the 250 HIV-AIDS patients tested, 140 (56%) were males and 110 (44%) were females, with ages ranging from 17 to 64 years (median 30.8; mean 30.3; mode 28). Among the HIV-seronegative healthy blood donors, overall seroprevalence of HHV-8, CMV and EBV was 23.7%, 77.6% and 20.0%, respectively. Among the HIV-AIDS patients, overall seroprevalence of HHV-8, CMV and EBV was 65.6%, 59.2% and 87.2%, respectively. The seroprevalence of HHV-8 (p < 0.005) and EBV (p < 0.001) was statistically significantly higher in HIV-AIDS patients compared to HIV-seronegative healthy blood donors. There was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.24) between CMV seroprevalence in HIV-AIDS patients and HIV-seronegative healthy blood donors. Age and gender were not independent determinants (p > 0.05) for all three infections among HIV-seronegative healthy blood donors and HIV-AIDS patients in Ghana.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results presented herein indicate that HHV-8, CMV and EBV infections are hyperendemic in both HIV-seronegative and HIV-seropositive Ghanaians, and suggest primarily a horizontal route of transmission of these three viral infections in Ghana.</p

DNA Adducts of Decarbamoyl Mitomycin C Efficiently Kill Cells without Wild-Type p53 Resulting from Proteasome-Mediated Degradation of Checkpoint Protein 1

The mitomycin derivative 10-decarbamoyl mitomycin C (DMC) more rapidly activates a p53independent cell death pathway than mitomycin C (MC). We recently documented that an increased proportion of mitosene1-β-adduct formation occurs in human cells treated with DMC in comparison to those treated with MC. Here, we compare the cellular and molecular response of human cancer cells treated with MC and DMC. We find the increase in mitosene 1-β-adduct formation correlates with a condensed nuclear morphology and increased cytotoxicity in human cancer cells with or without p53. DMC caused more DNA damage than MC in the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. Checkpoint 1 protein (Chk1) was depleted following DMC, and the depletion of Chk1 by DMC was achieved through the ubiquitin proteasome pathway since chemical inhibition of the proteasome protected against Chk1 depletion. Gene silencing of Chk1 by siRNA increased the cytotoxicity of MC. DMC treatment caused a decrease in the level of total ubiquitinated proteins without increasing proteasome activity, suggesting that DMC mediated DNA adducts facilitate signal transduction to a pathway targeting cellular proteins for proteolysis. Thus, the mitosene-1-β stereoisomeric DNA adducts produced by the DMC signal for a p53-independent mode of cell death correlated with reduced nuclear size, persistent DNA damage, increased ubiquitin proteolysis and reduced Chk1 protein

Poly(ADP-Ribose) Polymerase 1 (PARP-1) Regulates Ribosomal Biogenesis in Drosophila Nucleoli

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1), a nuclear protein, utilizes NAD to synthesize poly(AD-Pribose) (pADPr), resulting in both automodification and the modification of acceptor proteins. Substantial amounts of PARP1 and pADPr (up to 50%) are localized to the nucleolus, a subnuclear organelle known as a region for ribosome biogenesis and maturation. At present, the functional significance of PARP1 protein inside the nucleolus remains unclear. Using PARP1 mutants, we investigated the function of PARP1, pADPr, and PARP1-interacting proteins in the maintenance of nucleolus structure and functions. Our analysis shows that disruption of PARP1 enzymatic activity caused nucleolar disintegration and aberrant localization of nucleolar-specific proteins. Additionally, PARP1 mutants have increased accumulation of rRNA intermediates and a decrease in ribosome levels. Together, our data suggests that PARP1 enzymatic activity is required for targeting nucleolar proteins to the proximity of precursor rRNA; hence, PARP1 controls precursor rRNA processing, post-transcriptional modification, and pre-ribosome assembly. Based on these findings, we propose a model that explains how PARP1 activity impacts nucleolar functions and, consequently, ribosomal biogenesis

NF-kappaB mediates the survival of human bronchial epithelial cells exposed to cigarette smoke extract

Background: We have previously reported that low concentrations of cigarette smoke extract induce DNA damage without leading to apoptosis or necrosis in human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs), and that IL-6/STAT3 signaling contributes to the cell survival. Since NF-kappa B is also involved in regulating apoptosis and cell survival, the current study was designed to investigate the role of NF-kappa B in mediating cell survival in response to cigarette smoke exposure in HBECs. Methods: Both the pharmacologic inhibitor of NF-kappa B, curcumin, and RNA interference targeting p65 were used to block NF-kappa B signaling in HBECs. Apoptosis and cell survival were then assessed by various methods including COMET assay, LIVE/DEAD Cytotoxicity/Viability assay and colony formation assay. Results: Cigarette smoke extract (CSE) caused DNA damage and cell cycle arrest in S phase without leading to apoptosis in HBECs as evidenced by TUNEL assay, COMET assay and DNA content assay. CSE stimulated NF-kappa B -DNA binding activity and up-regulated Bcl-XL protein in HBECs. Inhibition of NF-kappa B by the pharmacologic inhibitor curcumin (20 mu M) or suppression of p65 by siRNA resulted in a significant increase in cell death in response to cigarette smoke exposure. Furthermore, cells lacking p65 were incapable of forming cellular colonies when these cells were exposed to CSE, while they behaved normally in the regular culture medium. Conclusion: The current study demonstrates that CSE activates NF-kappa B and up-regulates Bcl-XL through NF-kappa B activation in HBECs, and that CSE induces cell death in cells lacking p65. These results suggest that activation of NF-kappa B regulates cell survival following DNA damage by cigarette smoke in human bronchial epithelial cells.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000260432600001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701Respiratory SystemSCI(E)28ARTICLEnull

Exploring molecular variation in Schistosoma japonicum in China

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