Quality Analysis of selected Liquid Soaps in Ghana

ABSTRACT Four samples of liquid soaps were purchased from Accra Makola market and analyzed to determine the amount of excess fatty acid, excess alkali, of insoluble matter and moisture and volatile matter present in them. The soaps analyzed on were sunlight from Unilever, Morning fresh from PZ cussons, Care from Sanmex international and Dove from Unilever U.S.A. At the end of the analysis, it was realized that sunlight soap contained 6% fatty matter, no excess alkali, 0.2% insoluble matter, 46% volatile matter, and moisture content. Morning fresh soap contained 10% fatty matter, no excess alkali, no insoluble matter, 26% volatile matter, and moisture content. Care soap from Sanmex international contained 4% fatty matter, no excess alkali, 0.2% insoluble matter and 32% volatile matter and moisture content. Dove soap contained 12% fatty matter, 0.48% alkali, 0.2% insoluble matter, 16% volatile matter, and moisture content. The soaps analyzed proved to be of high quality and meet the standard values as set by the Ghana Standards Board

Pharmacological Chaperoning of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Reduces the Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Response

We report the first observation that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the unfolded protein response (UPR) can decrease when a central nervous system drug acts as an intracellular pharmacological chaperone for its classic receptor. Transient expression of α4β2 nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) in Neuro-2a cells induced the nuclear translocation of activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6), which is part of the UPR. Cells were exposed for 48 h to the full agonist nicotine, the partial agonist cytisine, or the competitive antagonist dihydro-β-erythroidine; we also tested mutant nAChRs that readily exit the ER. Each of these four manipulations increased Sec24D-enhanced green fluorescent protein fluorescence of condensed ER exit sites and attenuated translocation of ATF6-enhanced green fluorescent protein to the nucleus. However, we found no correlation among the manipulations regarding other tested parameters [i.e., changes in nAChR stoichiometry (α4_2β2_3 versus α4_3β2_2), changes in ER and trans-Golgi structures, or the degree of nAChR up-regulation at the plasma membrane]. The four manipulations activated 0 to 0.4% of nAChRs, which shows that activation of the nAChR channel did not underlie the reduced ER stress. Nicotine also attenuated endogenously expressed ATF6 translocation and phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 2α in mouse cortical neurons transfected with α4β2 nAChRs. We conclude that, when nicotine accelerates ER export of α4β2 nAChRs, this suppresses ER stress and the UPR. Suppression of a sustained UPR may explain the apparent neuroprotective effect that causes the inverse correlation between a person's history of tobacco use and susceptibility to developing Parkinson's disease. This suggests a novel mechanism for neuroprotection by nicotine

Evaluation framework of community-based livestock breeding programs

The objective of this paper is to present an evaluation framework to provide guidance for an assessment of the performance, outputs and associated impacts of community-based livestock breeding programs (CBBPs), responding to the need of formalizing the evaluation procedures as it was stressed by FAO. The purpose of such evaluation is to monitor and evaluate on-going activities in CBBPs, to identify challenges and mistakes in the execution of the program, so that appropriate actions can be taken. This evaluation also serves as a guide for funding bodies to measure socio-economic impact on the livelihoods of livestock farmers in order to decide if the program’s goals have been met. The evaluation framework is divided into three domains: evaluation of CBBP implementation based on organizational and technical criteria; monitoring of implementation outputs to evaluate genetic improvement at herd/flock level and the consequential changes at the household level and the community at large; and evaluation of impacts to assess improvement in livelihoods of livestock farmers and eventual effects on the environment. For each evaluation criteria, several indicators are provided.EEA BarilocheFil: Lamuno, Doreen. National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Databank; UgandaFil: Sölkner, Johann. National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Databank; UgandaFil: Mészáros, Gabor. National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Databank; UgandaFil: Nakimbugwe, Helen. National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Databank; UgandaFil: Mulindwa, Henry. National Agricultural Research Organization, UgandaFil: Nandolo, Wilson. Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, MalawiFil: Gondwe, Timothy. United States Department of Agriculture; Estados UnidosFil: van Tassel, Curt. United States Department of Agriculture; Estados UnidosFil: Mueller, Joaquín Pablo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Wursinger, Maria. University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences; AustriaFil: Gutierrez, Gustavo. Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina; Per

Estimating the costs of responding to a measles outbreak: Buvuma Islands, Lake Victoria, Uganda, February-May 2017

Introduction: Despite the strong prevention efforts by the Uganda Ministry of Health (MOH), measles outbreaks continue to occur. The MOH responded to a measles outbreak in the hard to reach areas of Buvuma Islands, identifying 54 case-patients, 4 of whom developed complications and were hospitalized. We defined a measles case as; Any suspected case with a positive measles IgM antibodies or detection of measles viral RNA by PCR in a suspected case. We estimated the provider cost of responding to this outbreak, cost of prevention, and the cost the government would have saved with effective prevention. Methods: We interviewed health facility in charges, record clerks, and measles cases to collect information on patient management and days of illness. Using an itemized form, we systematically collected data on quantities and unit costs of all the resource inputs for both direct and indirect costs at national, district, and facility levels. Medical costs referred to hospital and clinic costs for medications, supplies, utilities, transport, and personnel; non-medical costs included those associated with person-hours spent on the outbreak investigation and control effort. Results: The overall cost of investigating and controlling this outbreak was $16,459.50 (including$5,526.30) of medical costs, $10,733.20 of non-medical costs) and the cost per capita of number of children 6months-5years was$117.80 (16,259.5/138 (number of children 6months-5years. This is the target for measles intensified immunization following an outbreak). Conclusion: The total cost incurred in this outbreak is four fold the amount needed to vaccinate all children in Buvuma which would have averted the outbreak. We recommended strengthening vaccination services in the entire country, especially hard-to-reach areas, to enable the government forego the extra cost and morbidity associated with outbreak control

High-throughput Comparison, Functional Annotation, and Metabolic Modeling of Plant Genomes using the PlantSEED Resource

There is a growing demand for genome-scale metabolic reconstructions for plants, fueled by the need to understand the metabolic basis of crop yield and by progress in genome and transcriptome sequencing. Methods are also required to enable the interpretation of plant transcriptome data to study how cellular metabolic activity varies under different growth conditions or even within different organs, tissues, and developmental stages. Such methods depend extensively on the accuracy with which genes have been mapped to the biochemical reactions in the plant metabolic pathways. Errors in these mappings lead to metabolic reconstructions with an inflated number of reactions and possible generation of unreliable metabolic phenotype predictions. Here we introduce a new evidence-based genome-scale metabolic reconstruction of maize, with significant improvements in the quality of the gene-reaction associations included within our model. We also present a new approach for applying our model to predict active metabolic genes based on transcriptome data. This method includes a minimal set of reactions associated with low expression genes to enable activity of a maximum number of reactions associated with high expression genes. We apply this method to construct an organ-specific model for the maize leaf, and tissue specific models for maize embryo and endosperm cells. We validate our models using fluxomics data for the endosperm and embryo, demonstrating an improved capacity of our models to fit the available fluxomics data. All models are publicly available via the DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase and PlantSEED, and our new method is generally applicable for analysis transcript profiles from any plant, paving the way for further in silico studies with a wide variety of plant genomes

Spatial dynamics of malaria transmission

The Ross-Macdonald model has exerted enormous influence over the study of malaria transmission dynamics and control, but it lacked features to describe parasite dispersal, travel, and other important aspects of heterogeneous transmission. Here, we present a patch-based differential equation modeling framework that extends the Ross-Macdonald model with sufficient skill and complexity to support planning, monitoring and evaluation for Plasmodium falciparum malaria control. We designed a generic interface for building structured, spatial models of malaria transmission based on a new algorithm for mosquito blood feeding. We developed new algorithms to simulate adult mosquito demography, dispersal, and egg laying in response to resource availability. The core dynamical components describing mosquito ecology and malaria transmission were decomposed, redesigned and reassembled into a modular framework. Structural elements in the framework—human population strata, patches, and aquatic habitats—interact through a flexible design that facilitates construction of ensembles of models with scalable complexity to support robust analytics for malaria policy and adaptive malaria control. We propose updated definitions for the human biting rate and entomological inoculation rates. We present new formulas to describe parasite dispersal and spatial dynamics under steady state conditions, including the human biting rates, parasite dispersal, the “vectorial capacity matrix,” a human transmitting capacity distribution matrix, and threshold conditions. An package that implements the framework, solves the differential equations, and computes spatial metrics for models developed in this framework has been developed. Development of the model and metrics have focused on malaria, but since the framework is modular, the same ideas and software can be applied to other mosquito-borne pathogen systems

Reduced exposure to vasopressors through permissive hypotension to reduce mortality in critically ill people aged 65 and over: the 65 RCT.

BACKGROUND: Vasopressors are administered to critical care patients to avoid hypotension, which is associated with myocardial injury, kidney injury and death. However, they work by causing vasoconstriction, which may reduce blood flow and cause other adverse effects. A mean arterial pressure target typically guides administration. An individual patient data meta-analysis (Lamontagne F, Day AG, Meade MO, Cook DJ, Guyatt GH, Hylands M, et al. Pooled analysis of higher versus lower blood pressure targets for vasopressor therapy septic and vasodilatory shock. Intensive Care Med 2018;44:12-21) suggested that greater exposure, through higher mean arterial pressure targets, may increase risk of death in older patients. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of reduced vasopressor exposure through permissive hypotension (i.e. a lower mean arterial pressure target of 60-65 mmHg) in older critically ill patients. DESIGN: A pragmatic, randomised clinical trial with integrated economic evaluation. SETTING: Sixty-five NHS adult general critical care units. PARTICIPANTS: Critically ill patients aged ≥ 65 years receiving vasopressors for vasodilatory hypotension. INTERVENTIONS: Intervention - permissive hypotension (i.e. a mean arterial pressure target of 60-65 mmHg). Control (usual care) - a mean arterial pressure target at the treating clinician's discretion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary clinical outcome was 90-day all-cause mortality. The primary cost-effectiveness outcome was 90-day incremental net monetary benefit. Secondary outcomes included receipt and duration of advanced respiratory and renal support, mortality at critical care and acute hospital discharge, and questionnaire assessment of cognitive decline and health-related quality of life at 90 days and 1 year. RESULTS: Of 2600 patients randomised, 2463 (permissive hypotension, n = 1221; usual care, n = 1242) were analysed for the primary clinical outcome. Permissive hypotension resulted in lower exposure to vasopressors than usual care [mean duration 46.0 vs. 55.9 hours, difference -9.9 hours (95% confidence interval -14.3 to -5.5 hours); total noradrenaline-equivalent dose 31.5 mg vs. 44.3 mg, difference -12.8 mg (95% CI -18.0 mg to -17.6 mg)]. By 90 days, 500 (41.0%) patients in the permissive hypotension group and 544 (43.8%) patients in the usual-care group had died (absolute risk difference -2.85%, 95% confidence interval -6.75% to 1.05%; p = 0.154). Adjustment for prespecified baseline variables resulted in an odds ratio for 90-day mortality of 0.82 (95% confidence interval 0.68 to 0.98) favouring permissive hypotension. There were no significant differences in prespecified secondary outcomes or subgroups; however, patients with chronic hypertension showed a mortality difference favourable to permissive hypotension. At 90 days, permissive hypotension showed similar costs to usual care. However, with higher incremental life-years and quality-adjusted life-years in the permissive hypotension group, the incremental net monetary benefit was positive, but with high statistical uncertainty (£378, 95% confidence interval -£1347 to £2103). LIMITATIONS: The intervention was unblinded, with risk of bias minimised through central allocation concealment and a primary outcome not subject to observer bias. The control group event rate was higher than anticipated. CONCLUSIONS: In critically ill patients aged ≥ 65 years receiving vasopressors for vasodilatory hypotension, permissive hypotension did not significantly reduce 90-day mortality compared with usual care. The absolute treatment effect on 90-day mortality, based on 95% confidence intervals, was between a 6.8-percentage reduction and a 1.1-percentage increase in mortality. FUTURE WORK: Future work should (1) update the individual patient data meta-analysis, (2) explore approaches for evaluating heterogeneity of treatment effect and (3) explore 65 trial conduct, including use of deferred consent, to inform future trials. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN10580502. FUNDING: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 25, No. 14. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information

Grundwasser - Altlasten - Boden aktuell

Neun Fachbeiträge dokumentieren die Ergebnisse der aktuellen Projekt- und Forschungsarbeit des Landesamtes in den Themenbereichen Grundwasser, Altlasten und Boden

Uganda's experience in Ebola virus disease outbreak preparedness, 2018-2019.

BACKGROUND: Since the declaration of the 10th Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in DRC on 1st Aug 2018, several neighboring countries have been developing and implementing preparedness efforts to prevent EVD cross-border transmission to enable timely detection, investigation, and response in the event of a confirmed EVD outbreak in the country. We describe Uganda's experience in EVD preparedness. RESULTS: On 4 August 2018, the Uganda Ministry of Health (MoH) activated the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) and the National Task Force (NTF) for public health emergencies to plan, guide, and coordinate EVD preparedness in the country. The NTF selected an Incident Management Team (IMT), constituting a National Rapid Response Team (NRRT) that supported activation of the District Task Forces (DTFs) and District Rapid Response Teams (DRRTs) that jointly assessed levels of preparedness in 30 designated high-risk districts representing category 1 (20 districts) and category 2 (10 districts). The MoH, with technical guidance from the World Health Organisation (WHO), led EVD preparedness activities and worked together with other ministries and partner organisations to enhance community-based surveillance systems, develop and disseminate risk communication messages, engage communities, reinforce EVD screening and infection prevention measures at Points of Entry (PoEs) and in high-risk health facilities, construct and equip EVD isolation and treatment units, and establish coordination and procurement mechanisms. CONCLUSION: As of 31 May 2019, there was no confirmed case of EVD as Uganda has continued to make significant and verifiable progress in EVD preparedness. There is a need to sustain these efforts, not only in EVD preparedness but also across the entire spectrum of a multi-hazard framework. These efforts strengthen country capacity and compel the country to avail resources for preparedness and management of incidents at the source while effectively cutting costs of using a "fire-fighting" approach during public health emergencies