Tutor perception on personal and institutional preparedness for online teaching-learning during the COVID-19 crisis: The case of Ghanaian Colleges of Education

This paper looks at Ghanaian Colleges of Education tutors’ perception on the personal and institutional preparedness for online teaching-learning during the COVID-19 crisis. The study selected 24 tutors from 9 Colleges of Education (CoEs) in the Eastern and Greater Accra Regions. 7 CoEs are in Eastern while 2 are in Greater Accra. Using the convenience sampling technique, 24 tutors were selected as the accessible population. The research design used was the qualitative with a semi-structured interview conducted over the telephone because of social distancing. The data collected was analysed manually. The results indicate that only 33.3% of the respondents could teach confidently online, while 66.7% needed more training to confidently deliver lessons online. Furthermore, none of the 9 colleges had policies on online teaching even though each college had at least 16 policies regarding the good governance of the colleges. It is therefore recommended that tutors of CoEs should be given support in ICT and online skills and competencies through continuous training

Bactericidal and Anti-biofilm Effects of Polyhexamethylene Biguanide in Models of Intracellular and Biofilm of Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Bovine Mastitis

Staphylococcus aureus infection is a common cause of mastitis, reducing milk yield, affecting animal welfare and causing huge economic losses within the dairy industry. In addition to the problem of acquired drug resistance, bacterial invasion into udder cells and the formation of surface biofilms are believed to reduce antibiotic efficacy, leading to treatment failure. Here, we investigated the antimicrobial activities of enrofloxacin, an antibiotic that is commonly used in mastitis therapy and polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB), an antimicrobial polymer. The antimicrobial activities were tested against intracellular S. aureus in infected Mac-T cells (host cells). Also, fluorescein-tagged PHMB was used to study PHMB uptake and localization with S. aureus within the infected Mac-T cells. Anti-biofilm activities were tested by treating S. aureus biofilms and measuring effects on biofilm mass in vitro. Enrofloxacin and PHMB at 15 mg/L killed between 42 to 92 and 99.9% of intracellular S. aureus, respectively. PHMB-FITC entered and colocalized with the intracellular S. aureus, suggesting direct interaction of the drug with the bacteria inside the host cells. Enrofloxacin and PHMB at 15 mg/L reduced between 10 to 27% and 28 to 37% of biofilms’ mass, respectively. The half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) obtained from a cytotoxicity assay were 345 ± 91 and 21 ± 2 mg/L for enrofloxacin and PHMB, respectively; therefore, both compounds were tolerated by the host cells at high concentrations. These findings suggest that both antimicrobials are effective against intracellular S. aureus and can disrupt biofilm structures, with PHMB being more potent against intracellular S. aureus, highlighting the potential application of PHMB in mastitis therapy

Ujuzi (Practical Pearl/Perle Pratique)

Ujuzi means skills in Swahili and is intended to be a regular feature for colleagues to share practical interventions, innovations and novelties that have proved useful in the management of patients in the prehospital environment or Emergency Centre. You can let Ujuzi know about your practical ideas by emailing [email protected]

Occupational exposure to pesticides: Blood cholinesterase activity in a farming community in Ghana

A survey was undertaken to establish the extent of pesticide exposure in a farming community. Cholinesterase (ChE) activity in whole blood was used as a marker for assessing exposure to pesticides. Complete data were gathered for 63 farmers at Akumadan (exposed) and 58 control subjects at Tono, both prominent vegetable-farming communities in Ghana, by means of a questionnaire and blood cholinesterase analyses (acetylcholine assay). Although whole-blood ChE was significantly lower in the exposed than the control participants, it was not significantly correlated with either confounders of age, sex, body weight, and height or high-risks practices. The high-risks practices revealed during the survey included lack of use of personal protective clothing, short reentry intervals, and wrong direction of spraying of pesticides by hand or knapsack sprayer. About 97% of exposed participants had experienced symptoms attributable to pesticide exposure. The frequent symptoms were reported as weakness and headache. There is the need to review safety precautions in the use and application of pesticides in Ghana

Effect of drill pipe orbital motion on non-Newtonian fluid flow in an eccentric wellbore: a study with computational fluid dynamics

10.1007/s13202-021-01403-yJournal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technolog