Producción de petróleo en Ghana: consecuencias para el desarrollo de la economía

En este ARI se examina la corriente de ingresos que recibirá Ghana como consecuencia de la producción de petróleo que comenzará en 2010, así como sus consecuencias para la economía. En la primera parte del ARI se marcan las pautas del documento, examinando las tendencias de los indicadores económicos clave para Ghana desde la década de 1990 hasta ahora. Se señala que, aunque la economía ha experimentado considerables avances, sigue siendo frágil y persisten las desigualdades. En la segunda parte se examinan los ingresos previstos de la producción de petróleo y sus consecuencias para la economía. Se calcula que los ingresos que obtendrá Ghana del petróleo se situarán, como mínimo, entre 1.200 millones y 2.500 millones de dólares en el periodo comprendido entre 2010 y 2012, cuando la producción alcanzará el máximo previsto de 250.000 barriles al día. Posteriormente se afirma que esta corriente de ingresos contribuirá de forma significativa a la consolidación fiscal de Ghana, pero que, de no gestionarse correctamente, podría tener graves repercusiones para el sector real de la economía

Oil Production in Ghana: Implications for Economic Development

This ARI looks at the revenue stream likely to accrue to Ghana from oil production which is to start in 2010 and the implications for the economy. The first part of this ARI sets the tone by looking at the trends in key economic indicators for Ghana from the 1990s to date. It notes that even though the economy has made significant gains, it still remains fragile, with inequality persisting. The second part looks at the expected revenue from oil production and what the implications are for the economy. Here it estimates that oil revenues to Ghana will at a minimum be in the range of US$1.2 billion to US$2.5 billion over 2010-12 when production hits the expected maximum of 250,000 barrels per day. It goes on to argue that this income stream will significantly help fiscal consolidation in Ghana. However, it also notes that if not managed properly it could have serious repercussions for the real sector of the economy

Determinants of Types of Underemployment in the MiDA Intervention Zones of Ghana

Underemployment is a severe form of human resource underutilization, especially in the rural areas of Ghana. Unfortunately while its ‘twin brother’, unemployment, had for many years enjoyed some attention in the world of research, much cannot be said of underemployment. Using labour underutilization framework, the paper employs multinomial logistic regression to investigate empirically the various forms of underemployment and their determinants in the three MiDA intervention zones in Ghana. The empirical analysis was done with the data of the Ghana Living Standard Survey Five Plus (GLSS 5+) and factors such as: experience, employment in the manufacturing sector and settlement in an urban location tend out not to be in support of underemployment. Consistent with findings of previous studies, the study found all forms of underemployment to be highly pervasive in the rural areas. Unexpectedly, acquisition of tertiary academic qualification was found to exacerbate the incidence of underemployment. Suggestion was therefore made to the stakeholders of the Ghanaian economy to develop pragmatic measures to address the problem of labour underutilization, especially those involving graduates of tertiary institutions, in order not to discourage Ghanaians from seeking higher academic laurels. Keywords: Underemployment, Unemployment, Labour underutilization framework, MiDA Intervention Zon

Patient preferences and expectation for feedback on adverse drug reaction reports submitted in Ghana

Background: Personalized feedback received for spontaneous adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports serves as motivation for future reporting and the effectiveness of the feedback is dependent on the medium used in delivering the information. Objective: Explore expectation for feedback from patients on ADR reports submitted to the National Pharmacovigilance Centre (NPvC) in Ghana and the preferred medium for receiving the feedback information. Methods: Cross-sectional study using structured questionnaire administered through face-to-face interview from August to September 2016 to patients selected by convenience sampling. Pearson chi-square (§2) or Fisher's exact test was used to determine associations between background variables such as age, gender and level of education. Results: The response rate was 86.7% (n=442). Of the participants interviewed, 96.5% expected to receive feedback for ADR reports submitted. Age and level of education were the two variables significantly associated with patients' expectation for feedback.The preferred medium for receiving feedback in decreasing order of preference were, telephone call (60.4%), mobile phone short messaging services (23.0%), email (8.3%), face-to-face meeting (3.4%), personalized letter (3.4%) and publication in a newsletter (1.4%). Conclusion: Patients' expectation for receiving feedback for ADR reports submitted to the NPvC is in line with modern trends in communication. NPvC should explore these alternatives for providing feedback to patients. This study is limited to what patients' expectations and preferences were for receiving feedback on ADR reports submitted, additional study to further explore the type of information patients expect to be contained in the feedback will be useful to National Pharmacovigilance Centres. Funding: None declared

Reporting of adverse events following immunizations in Ghana–Using disproportionality analysis reporting ratios

Background: Timely reporting of safety information post vaccination is pivotal for the success of any vaccination program. Reports of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) of 6 different vaccinations from Ghana were analysed for signals. Methods: De-identified data from active surveillance for AEFIs after 2009 AH1N1 influenza, yellow fever, meningitis, measles-rubella, pneumococcal-rotavirus and human papilloma virus vaccinations were used. All vaccinations occurred between January 2010 and December 2013. The ten most occurring events for each vaccination were captured and arranged using Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Authorities (MedDRA) Preferred Term (PT) and System Organ Classification (SOC) codes. Adverse event incidence rates were calculated for each vaccine type, and signals were generated using proportional reporting ratios (PRR). Results: A total number of 5,141 reports were analysed ranging from 33 (human papilloma virus) to 1958 (measles-rubella). Between 22% and 55% of all AEFIs per vaccine type were collected on the day of vaccination. For each vaccine type, at least 87% of all reported AEFIs occurred in the first 7 days post-vaccination. Multiple reports were received per vaccine type. For the MR vaccine, urticarial recorded the highest attack rate of 6.6 (95% CI 6.2, 7.1) per 100,000 vaccines. The AEFI with the highest PRR for both human papilloma and measles-rubella vaccines was abdominal pain, recording a PRR of 8.15 (95% CI 3.46, 19.23) and 43.75 (95% CI 17.81, 107.45) respectively. Conclusion: These results underscore the competency of public health systems in sub-Saharan African countries (like Ghana) to identify most frequently occurring and important vaccine related safety issues

Preliminary findings from stimulated spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions during COVID-19 pandemic: an experience from Ghana

Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). There is limited information on the safety of drugs used for the treatment of COVID-19.Objective: Objective of this study is to describe the pattern of stimulated spontaneous adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports received from healthcare professionals for SARS-CoV-2 positive patients in Ghana and lessons learnt particularly for low- and middle-income countries.Methods: This is a study of individual case safety reports (ICSRs) received from healthcare professionals between 1st April 2020 to 31st July 2020 in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients in Ghana. The ICSRs were retrieved from the SafetyWatch System and descriptive statistics used to describe the ADRs by System Organ Classification and Preferred Term.Results: Information was received from 40 COVID-19 Treatment Centres across the country with 9 centres submitting a total of 53 ICSRs containing 101 ADRs; approximately two ADRs per ICSR. Females accounted for 29(54.7%) of the ICSRs and males 24(45.3%). Newly reported ADRs of interest were one report each of tremor for doxycycline; scrotal pain, dyspnoea, gait disturbances and dysgeusia for chloroquine; and dry throat, hyperhidrosis, restlessness and micturition frequency increased for hydroxychloroquine. A strong spontaneous system with the availability of focal persons at the Treatment Centres played a key role in reporting ADRs during the pandemic.Conclusion: This is the first experience with spontaneous reporting during COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana. The profile of most of the ADRs reported appears consistent with what is expected from the summary of product characteristics. A study with a larger sample size with well-defined denominator in future studies is paramount in determining the relative risk of these medications in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients

Ceramic packaging of PiezoMEMS devices

In the contributionthe design and the fabrication of two different types of ceramic packaging for PiezoMEMS devices ispresented. The first ceramic packaging is designed for housing the piezoelectric energy harvester. This packaging is made using LTCC technology and in the final application willintegrate piezoelectric device, electroniccircuit, storage capacitor and other components into the complex microsystem. The second packaging is developed for piezoelectric vibrating device as a part of water-purification system. In this case,the thick-film technology is used for electrical interconnection of piezoelectric actuators and for the hermetic watertight insulation of the system

SPECIALIZATION PROCESS FOR THE BIOENGINEERING SECTOR IN THE MEDITERRANEAN ENVIRONMENT. ECOMED PART II. PROTOCOLS AND CASE STUDIES

O livro apresenta metodologia e protocolos de obras de engenharia natural, assim como casos de estudo de seis países mediterrânico

Impact of safety-related dose reductions or discontinuations on sustained virologic response in HCV-infected patients: Results from the GUARD-C Cohort

BACKGROUND: Despite the introduction of direct-acting antiviral agents for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, peginterferon alfa/ribavirin remains relevant in many resource-constrained settings. The non-randomized GUARD-C cohort investigated baseline predictors of safety-related dose reductions or discontinuations (sr-RD) and their impact on sustained virologic response (SVR) in patients receiving peginterferon alfa/ribavirin in routine practice. METHODS: A total of 3181 HCV-mono-infected treatment-naive patients were assigned to 24 or 48 weeks of peginterferon alfa/ribavirin by their physician. Patients were categorized by time-to-first sr-RD (Week 4/12). Detailed analyses of the impact of sr-RD on SVR24 (HCV RNA <50 IU/mL) were conducted in 951 Caucasian, noncirrhotic genotype (G)1 patients assigned to peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin for 48 weeks. The probability of SVR24 was identified by a baseline scoring system (range: 0-9 points) on which scores of 5 to 9 and <5 represent high and low probability of SVR24, respectively. RESULTS: SVR24 rates were 46.1% (754/1634), 77.1% (279/362), 68.0% (514/756), and 51.3% (203/396), respectively, in G1, 2, 3, and 4 patients. Overall, 16.9% and 21.8% patients experienced 651 sr-RD for peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, respectively. Among Caucasian noncirrhotic G1 patients: female sex, lower body mass index, pre-existing cardiovascular/pulmonary disease, and low hematological indices were prognostic factors of sr-RD; SVR24 was lower in patients with 651 vs. no sr-RD by Week 4 (37.9% vs. 54.4%; P = 0.0046) and Week 12 (41.7% vs. 55.3%; P = 0.0016); sr-RD by Week 4/12 significantly reduced SVR24 in patients with scores <5 but not 655. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, sr-RD to peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin significantly impacts on SVR24 rates in treatment-naive G1 noncirrhotic Caucasian patients. Baseline characteristics can help select patients with a high probability of SVR24 and a low probability of sr-RD with peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie