Level and pattern of human rabies and dog bites in Techiman Municipality in the Middle Belt of Ghana: a six year retrospective records review

Introduction: Rabies is a viral zoonotic disease that is transmitted primarily by bites from rabid dogs and has the highest case fatality rate of most infectious diseases in humans. We described a 6-year trend of rabies and dog bites in a peri-urban district in Ghana. Methods: A record review was conducted in the health facilities in Techiman to identify all human rabies and dog bite cases reported from January 2011 to December 2016. Rabies and dog bite data were extracted from health facilities records. Vaccination status of implicated dogs was extracted from the veterinary records at the Techiman Disease Investigation Farm. Data were summarized using proportions and presented using tables, charts and figures. Results: Thirteen (13) cases of human rabies were recorded from 2011 to 2016. Complete data was available for 10 cases. Median age of rabies victims was 30 (range 3-80 years). A majority were males (8 representing 61.5%). Eight cases came from rural farming communities, 8 had a previous history of dog bite ranging from two weeks to five months before the onset of rabies symptoms and one reported with non-bite rabies. Case fatality was 100%. A total of 680 dog bites were reported by health facilities. About 50.3% (342) of the victims were males, a majority of bites (47.9%) occurred among children aged 1-15 years. Positive rabies cases among offending dogs ranged from 3.3% in 2016 to 17.6% in 2014. Conclusion: Mass vaccination of dogs and provision of post-exposure vaccination are needed to reduce rabies transmission

Effects of upper mantle heterogeneities on the lithospheric stress field and dynamic topography

The orientation and tectonic regime of the observed crustal/lithospheric stress field contribute to our knowledge of different deformation processes occurring within the Earth's crust and lithosphere. In this study, we analyze the influence of the thermal and density structure of the upper mantle on the lithospheric stress field and topography. We use a 3-D lithosphere–asthenosphere numerical model with power-law rheology, coupled to a spectral mantle flow code at 300 km depth. Our results are validated against the World Stress Map 2016 (WSM2016) and the observation-based residual topography. We derive the upper mantle thermal structure from either a heat flow model combined with a seafloor age model (TM1) or a global S-wave velocity model (TM2). We show that lateral density heterogeneities in the upper 300 km have a limited influence on the modeled horizontal stress field as opposed to the resulting dynamic topography that appears more sensitive to such heterogeneities. The modeled stress field directions, using only the mantle heterogeneities below 300 km, are not perturbed much when the effects of lithosphere and crust above 300 km are added. In contrast, modeled stress magnitudes and dynamic topography are to a greater extent controlled by the upper mantle density structure. After correction for the chemical depletion of continents, the TM2 model leads to a much better fit with the observed residual topography giving a good correlation of 0.51 in continents, but this correction leads to no significant improvement of the fit between the WSM2016 and the resulting lithosphere stresses. In continental regions with abundant heat flow data, TM1 results in relatively small angular misfits. For example, in western Europe the misfit between the modeled and observation-based stress is 18.3°. Our findings emphasize that the relative contributions coming from shallow and deep mantle dynamic forces are quite different for the lithospheric stress field and dynamic topography

Emotional experiences and psychological well-being in 51 countries during the covid-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic presents challenges to psychological well-being, but how can we predict when people suffer or cope during sustained stress? Here, we test the prediction that specific types of momentary emotional experiences are differently linked to psychological well-being during the pandemic. Study 1 used survey data collected from 24,221 participants in 51 countries during the COVID-19 outbreak. We show that, across countries, well-being is linked to individuals’ recent emotional experiences, including calm, hope, anxiety, loneliness, and sadness. Consistent results are found in two age, sex, and ethnicity-representative samples in the United Kingdom (n = 971) and the United States (n = 961) with preregistered analyses (Study 2). A prospective 30-day daily diary study conducted in the United Kingdom (n = 110) confirms the key role of these five emotions and demonstrates that emotional experiences precede changes in well-being (Study 3). Our findings highlight differential relationships between specific types of momentary emotional experiences and well-being and point to the cultivation of calm and hope as candidate routes for well-being interventions during periods of sustained stress

Determinants of credit access of cocoa farmers

Access to credit is one of the critical areas that are of prime interest to development practitioners, agribusiness entrepreneurs and agricultural economists, mainly access to credit by farmers in order to increase their production and also reduce poverty. This study sought to analyze the determinants of credit access among cocoa farmers in the Asunafo North of the Ahafo Region of Ghana. The multistage sampling procedure was used to collect data from 100 cocoa farmers with the aid of a questionnaire. Sources of credit, factors influencing access to credit, and constraints to credit were analyzed with the aid of descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression, and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance respectively. The results of multiple linear regression revealed that, age, marital status, education, experience, and family size were significant factors that influenced access to credit. The constraints analysis with the aid of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance showed that, high interest rate was highly ranked with a mean score of 1.93 whilst the need for a guarantor was least ranked with a mean score of 7.40. Based on the results, the study recommended that a policy aimed at expanding formal and semi-formal financial institutions credit portfolio to embrace cocoa farmers by finding alternative to collaterals and also reducing the interest rate will improve credit access with a positive externality effect of poverty reduction among cocoa farmers in the study area. JEL Classification: Q1

DETERMINANTS OF CREDIT ACCESS OF COCOA FARMERS

Access to credit is one of the critical areas that are of prime interest to development practitioners, agribusiness entrepreneurs and agricultural economists, mainly access to credit by farmers in order to increase their production and also reduce poverty. This study sought to analyze the determinants of credit access among cocoa farmers in the Asunafo North of the Ahafo Region of Ghana. The multistage sampling procedure was used to collect data from 100 cocoa farmers with the aid of a questionnaire. Sources of credit, factors influencing access to credit, and constraints to credit were analyzed with the aid of descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression, and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance respectively. The results of multiple linear regression revealed that, age, marital status, education, experience, and family size were significant factors that influenced access to credit. The constraints analysis with the aid of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance showed that, high interest rate was highly ranked with a mean score of 1.93 whilst the need for a guarantor was least ranked with a mean score of 7.40. Based on the results, the study recommended that a policy aimed at expanding formal and semi-formal financial institutions credit portfolio to embrace cocoa farmers by finding alternative to collaterals and also reducing the interest rate will improve credit access with a positive externality effect of poverty reduction among cocoa farmers in the study area

DETERMINANTS OF CREDIT ACCESS OF COCOA FARMERS

Access to credit is one of the critical areas that are of prime interest to development practitioners, agribusiness entrepreneurs and agricultural economists, mainly access to credit by farmers in order to increase their production and also reduce poverty. This study sought to analyze the determinants of credit access among cocoa farmers in the Asunafo North of the Ahafo Region of Ghana. The multistage sampling procedure was used to collect data from 100 cocoa farmers with the aid of a questionnaire. Sources of credit, factors influencing access to credit, and constraints to credit were analyzed with the aid of descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression, and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance respectively. The results of multiple linear regression revealed that, age, marital status, education, experience, and family size were significant factors that influenced access to credit. The constraints analysis with the aid of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance showed that, high interest rate was highly ranked with a mean score of 1.93 whilst the need for a guarantor was least ranked with a mean score of 7.40. Based on the results, the study recommended that a policy aimed at expanding formal and semi-formal financial institutions credit portfolio to embrace cocoa farmers by finding alternative to collaterals and also reducing the interest rate will improve credit access with a positive externality effect of poverty reduction among cocoa farmers in the study area

Emotional experiences and psychological wellbeing in 51 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Momentary emotional experiences constitute a key ingredient of psychological wellbeing. Here, we examine the role of emotional experiences for wellbeing during the prolonged stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. Study 1 compared the relative importance of emotional experiences for wellbeing before versus during the pandemic using pre-registered analyses with representative samples. Negative emotional experiences were more detrimental and positive emotional experiences less protective for wellbeing during the pandemic. Study 2 examined the role of specific emotional experiences for wellbeing during the pandemic using survey data from 24,221 participants in 51 countries. Momentary feelings of calm, hope, anxiety, loneliness, and sadness were, across countries, central to wellbeing. These results were replicated in pre-registered studies with representative samples and in a diary study. These findings highlight the particular role of momentary emotional experiences for wellbeing during prolonged stress, and point to specific types of momentary emotional experiences as prime candidates for wellbeing interventions