Evaluating the impact of the capitation grant and the school feeding programme on enrollment, attendance and retention in schools: The case of Weweso circuit

This study seeks to investigate the impact of the capitation grant and school feeding programme on school enrollment, attendance and retention in Ghana. The paper used difference-indifference method by comparing changes in enrollment, attendance and retention between beforeand after, and between beneficiary schools (treatment) and non-beneficiary schools (control). It also ran Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression to find the impact of the programmes on enrollment, attendance and retention for the 2001/2002 and 2008/2009 academic years. The study found from the regression results that the capitation grant had positive but not significant impact on enrollment. However, it can be said that the capitation grant caused an instantaneous increase in enrollment because it brought a one-time sharp increase and then settled. However, it did not have a significant impact on attendance and retention. It was also found out that the school feeding programme had positive and significant impact on school enrollment, attendance and retention. The study found out that the positive impact of the programmes was affected by the fees levied on school pupils by the Parent-Teacher-Association and the weather

The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative Fund Micro-Credit and Poverty Reduction in Ghana: A Panacea or a Mirage?

Since Ghana opted for the HIPC debt relief initiative and reached the completion point in June 2004 the country has received several billions of money into the HIPC account at the Bank of Ghana. Part of the funds has been given out in the form of micro-credit to poor households to help reduce their poverty situation. However, there are so many controversies surrounding the HIPC initiative and its benefit, especially, the impact on the incomes of the poor. It was therefore necessary to assess the impact of the micro-credit, especially how it has positively increased, if any, the income levels and therefore reduced the poverty rate. The basic hypothesis was that HIPC initiative fund micro-credit has reduced level and intensity of poverty among beneficiaries. The study was confined to Nkoranza and Wenchi districts, which have successfully maintained the HIPC Micro Credit Scheme. The Foster-Greer-Thorbecko (FGT) Index was used to measure the Head Count Ratio (HCR), Poverty Gap Index (PGI) and the Squared Poverty Gap (SPG), which assess, respectively, proportion of the population under the poverty line, depth of poverty and the severity of poverty. The study came out that incomes have been increased by an average of 26.72% and 25.50% for Nkoranza and Wenchi districts, respectively. Again, the study found that over the HIPC implementation period the number of people below the poverty line dropped from 78 to 62 and from 79 to 64 for Nkoranza and Wenchi districts, respectively, making 20.51 and 18.99 percentage point decrease for Nkoranza and Wenchi districts. Comparing PGI of the two years it was found that the cash transfer needed to lift the individuals above the poverty line decreased from 26.47 to 17.20 leading to 35.02% fall for Nkoranza and from 26.41 to 17.26 leading to 30.30% for Wenchi. This shows that people in the two districts were nearer the poverty line in 2004 than in the year 2000. This means that people are moving from hard core poverty zones. The results of the SPG of 7.49 and 7.44 for Nkoranza and Wenchi in 2004 against 13.66 and 17.26% in 2000, respectively, show that poverty intensity has also dropped by 45.45% and 55.56 for Nkoranza and Wenchi, respectively. Hence, the HIPC micro-credit is a panacea to poverty reduction. Keywords: Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), Poverty, Head Count, Poverty Gap, Squared Poverty Gap, Micro-credit Journal of Science & Technology (Ghana) Vol. 28 (3) 2008: pp. 94-10

Racial difference in Acylation Stimulating Protein (ASP) correlates to triglyceride in non-obese and obese African American and Caucasian women

© 2009 Scantlebury-Manning et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Metabolomics-Based Discovery of Diagnostic Biomarkers for Onchocerciasis

Onchocerciasis, caused by the filarial parasite Onchocerca volvulus, afflicts millions of people, causing such debilitating symptoms as blindness and acute dermatitis. There are no accurate, sensitive means of diagnosing O. volvulus infection. Clinical diagnostics are desperately needed in order to achieve the goals of controlling and eliminating onchocerciasis and neglected tropical diseases in general. In this study, a metabolomics approach is introduced for the discovery of small molecule biomarkers that can be used to diagnose O. volvulus infection. Blood samples from O. volvulus infected and uninfected individuals from different geographic regions were compared using liquid chromatography separation and mass spectrometry identification. Thousands of chromatographic mass features were statistically compared to discover 14 mass features that were significantly different between infected and uninfected individuals. Multivariate statistical analysis and machine learning algorithms demonstrated how these biomarkers could be used to differentiate between infected and uninfected individuals and indicate that the diagnostic may even be sensitive enough to assess the viability of worms. This study suggests a future potential of these biomarkers for use in a field-based onchocerciasis diagnostic and how such an approach could be expanded for the development of diagnostics for other neglected tropical diseases

'You give us rangoli, we give you talk': using an art-based activity to elicit data from a seldom heard group

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The exclusion from health research of groups most affected by poor health is an issue not only of poor science, but also of ethics and social justice. Even if exclusion is inadvertent and unplanned, policy makers will be uninformed by the data and experiences of these groups. The effect on the allocation of resources is likely to be an exacerbation of health inequalities.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>We subject to critical analysis the notion that certain groups, by virtue of sharing a particular identity, are inaccessible to researchers - a phenomenon often problematically referred to as 'hard to reach'. We use the term 'seldom heard' to move the emphasis from a perceived innate characteristic of these groups to a consideration of the methods we choose as researchers. Drawing on a study exploring the intersections of faith, culture, health and food, we describe a process of recruitment, data collection and analysis in which we sought to overcome barriers to participation. As we were interested in the voices of South Asian women, many of whom are largely invisible in public life, we adopted an approach to data collection which was culturally in tune with the women's lives and values. A collaborative activity mirroring food preparation provided a focus for talk and created an environment conducive to data collection. We discuss the importance of what we term 'shoe leather research' which involves visiting the local area, meeting potential gatekeepers, and attending public events in order to develop our profile as researchers in the community. We examine issues of ethics, data quality, management and analysis which were raised by our choice of method.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>In order to work towards a more theoretical understanding of how material, social and cultural factors are connected and influence each other in ways that have effects on health, researchers must attend to the quality of the data they collect to generate finely grained and contextually relevant findings. This in turn will inform the design of culturally sensitive health care services. To achieve this, researchers need to consider methods of recruitment; the makeup of the research team; issues of gender, faith and culture; and data quality, management and analysis.</p

A Novel High Throughput Assay for Anthelmintic Drug Screening and Resistance Diagnosis by Real-Time Monitoring of Parasite Motility

Parasitic worms cause untold morbidity and mortality on billions of people and livestock. Drugs are available but resistance is problematic in livestock parasites and is a looming threat for human helminths. Currently, new drug discovery and resistance monitoring is hindered as drug efficacy is assessed by observing motility or development of parasites using laborious, subjective, low-throughput methods evaluated by eye using microscopy. Here we describe a novel application for a cell monitoring device (xCELLigence) that can simply and objectively assess real time anti-parasite efficacy of drugs on eggs, larvae and adults in a fully automated, label-free, high-throughput fashion. This technique overcomes the current low-throughput bottleneck in anthelmintic drug development and resistance detection pipelines. The widespread use of this device to screen for new therapeutics or emerging drug resistance will be an invaluable asset in the fight against human, animal and plant parasitic helminths and other pathogens that plague our planet

Peripheral Effects of FAAH Deficiency on Fuel and Energy Homeostasis: Role of Dysregulated Lysine Acetylation

FAAH (fatty acid amide hydrolase), primarily expressed in the liver, hydrolyzes the endocannabinoids fatty acid ethanolamides (FAA). Human FAAH gene mutations are associated with increased body weight and obesity. In our present study, using targeted metabolite and lipid profiling, and new global acetylome profiling methodologies, we examined the role of the liver on fuel and energy homeostasis in whole body FAAH(-/-) mice.FAAH(-/-) mice exhibit altered energy homeostasis demonstrated by decreased oxygen consumption (Indirect calorimetry). FAAH(-/-) mice are hyperinsulinemic and have adipose, skeletal and hepatic insulin resistance as indicated by stable isotope phenotyping (SIPHEN). Fed state skeletal muscle and liver triglyceride levels was increased 2-3 fold, while glycogen was decreased 42% and 57% respectively. Hepatic cholesterol synthesis was decreased 22% in FAAH(-/-) mice. Dysregulated hepatic FAAH(-/-) lysine acetylation was consistent with their metabolite profiling. Fasted to fed increases in hepatic FAAH(-/-) acetyl-CoA (85%, p<0.01) corresponded to similar increases in citrate levels (45%). Altered FAAH(-/-) mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase (MDH2) acetylation, which can affect the malate aspartate shuttle, was consistent with our observation of a 25% decrease in fed malate and aspartate levels. Decreased fasted but not fed dihydroxyacetone-P and glycerol-3-P levels in FAAH(-/-) mice was consistent with a compensating contribution from decreased acetylation of fed FAAH(-/-) aldolase B. Fed FAAH(-/-) alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) acetylation was also decreased.Whole body FAAH deletion contributes to a pre-diabetic phenotype by mechanisms resulting in impairment of hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism. FAAH(-/-) mice had altered hepatic lysine acetylation, the pattern sharing similarities with acetylation changes reported with chronic alcohol treatment. Dysregulated hepatic lysine acetylation seen with impaired FAA hydrolysis could support the liver's role in fostering the pre-diabetic state, and may reflect part of the mechanism underlying the hepatic effects of endocannabinoids in alcoholic liver disease mouse models