Corpus study of the choice of personal pronouns in social media chats among tertiary students

Purpose: Sociolinguistics variables such as age, gender and social class, among others, are said to bring the difference in the ways humans communicate. In this essence, this study investigated how age brings out the difference in the use of pronouns between three generational groupsDesign/Methodology/Approach: Group WhatsApp chats were collected from three generational groups of students based on their willingness to give it out for analysis. These three generational groups are postgraduate students and undergraduates (Level 100, Level 400). These groups were randomly collected from over four hundred (400 students of the University of Ghana and the University of Cape Coast in Ghana based on convenience. A quantitative research design was adopted for this study with the help of a corpus tool (AntConc) to analyse the huge data gathered based on percentages.Findings: This study found out that postgraduates and undergraduates (Level 100) use the first-person singular pronoun but postgraduates, especially those who represent the older generation tend to use the first-person pronoun more often while the second undergraduate group members (Level 400) use the third person pronouns. The study, per the findings, concludes that people tend to affiliate with others when they are young and lose group affiliation as they grow.Research Limitation: The study was limited to WhatsApp group chats of university students within the undergraduate and postgraduate academic levels who permitted their chats to be used. This resulted in a narrow scope for the groups used.Practical implication: The study reveals the preference or choice of pronoun usage among people based on their ages and the groups they affiliate more with. People may thus become more conscious of the choice they make of pronouns for usage as they become older or affiliate with older people.Social Implications: the study re-examines existing literature on the use of adverbs, especially personal pronouns. Since many studies have been done on the use of adverbs, this adds a new strand of knowledge to existing ones on the subject.Originality/Value: It provided empirical data on the demographic, precisely age characteristics of the subjects used for the research that affects their choice of personal pronouns among themselves and others

Bioinformatics analysis to assess potential risks of allergenicity and toxicity of HRAP and PFLP proteins in genetically modified bananas resistant to Xanthomonas wilt disease

Article purchased; Published online:19 August 2017Banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease threatens banana production and food security throughout East Africa. Natural resistance is lacking among common cultivars. Genetically modified (GM) bananas resistant to BXW disease were developed by inserting the hypersensitive response-assisting protein (Hrap) or/and the plant ferredoxin-like protein (Pflp) gene(s) from sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum). Several of these GM banana events showed 100% resistance to BXW disease under field conditions in Uganda. The current study evaluated the potential allergenicity and toxicity of the expressed proteins HRAP and PFLP based on evaluation of published information on the history of safe use of the natural source of the proteins as well as established bioinformatics sequence comparison methods to known allergens (www.AllergenOnline.org and NCBI Protein) and toxins (NCBI Protein). The results did not identify potential risks of allergy and toxicity to either HRAP or PFLP proteins expressed in the GM bananas that might suggest potential health risks to humans. We recognize that additional tests including stability of these proteins in pepsin assay, nutrient analysis and possibly an acute rodent toxicity assay may be required by national regulatory authorities

Production of Activated Carbon in a Multi-Functional Platform Pilot Plant

Activated carbons were produced from coconut shells as  raw materials in a Multi-Functional Platform (MFP) pilot plant using the chemical activation method.. Derived activated carbon named, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, and C6, based on the activation agent used and the heating rate employed, were compared to a commercial activated carbon based on acceptable parameters. C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 and C6 had relative hardness of 95.67%, 92.67%, 89.67, 91.6%, 90.67% and 93.33% respectively, averaging 92.26%, as compared to 95.6% relative hardness for the commercial activated carbon used. C6 the best performing activated carbon produced (using KOH and heating rate of 7.67 ºC/min) , had an adsorption rate of 188.68 mg Au/ h g, which was higher than the adsorption rate of the commercial activated carbon, which is 185.19 mg Au/ h g. This validates the possibility of activated carbon production commercially in Ghana

Allele Frequency–Based and Polymorphism-Versus-Divergence Indices of Balancing Selection in a New Filtered Set of Polymorphic Genes in Plasmodium falciparum

Signatures of balancing selection operating on specific gene loci in endemic pathogens can identify candidate targets of naturally acquired immunity. In malaria parasites, several leading vaccine candidates convincingly show such signatures when subjected to several tests of neutrality, but the discovery of new targets affected by selection to a similar extent has been slow. A small minority of all genes are under such selection, as indicated by a recent study of 26 Plasmodium falciparum merozoite-stage genes that were not previously prioritized as vaccine candidates, of which only one (locus PF10_0348) showed a strong signature. Therefore, to focus discovery efforts on genes that are polymorphic, we scanned all available shotgun genome sequence data from laboratory lines of P. falciparum and chose six loci with more than five single nucleotide polymorphisms per kilobase (including PF10_0348) for in-depth frequency–based analyses in a Kenyan population (allele sample sizes >50 for each locus) and comparison of Hudson–Kreitman–Aguade (HKA) ratios of population diversity (π) to interspecific divergence (K) from the chimpanzee parasite Plasmodium reichenowi. Three of these (the msp3/6-like genes PF10_0348 and PF10_0355 and the surf4.1 gene PFD1160w) showed exceptionally high positive values of Tajima's D and Fu and Li's F indices and have the highest HKA ratios, indicating that they are under balancing selection and should be prioritized for studies of their protein products as candidate targets of immunity. Combined with earlier results, there is now strong evidence that high HKA ratio (as well as the frequency-independent ratio of Watterson's θ/K) is predictive of high values of Tajima's D. Thus, the former offers value for use in genome-wide screening when numbers of genome sequences within a species are low or in combination with Tajima's D as a 2D test on large population genomic samples

Nurses' perceptions on pain behaviours among burn patients : a qualitative inquiry in a Ghanaian tertiary hospital

Background Pain sustained from burns is usually quite severe and has been linked to extreme distress, preventing patients from contributing to their care. Nurses have legal and professional obligations to promptly assess burns pain by using pain assessment tools and by relying on the patient’s behaviour and expressions. Objectives To explore nurses' perceptions on pain behaviours among burn patients in a Ghanaian tertiary hospital. Methods A qualitative descriptive design was used. A total of 11 nurses were recruited through a purposive sampling technique from a burns unit of a tertiary facility in Ghana. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted. Analysis was done using thematic content analysis, from which two major themes and nine subthemes were identified. Findings Patients express their pain by adopting both verbal and non-verbal communication means. However, due to the subjective nature of pain, nurses’ perceptions of pain were not sufficient to effectively assess the degree of pain. Verbal indicators that nurses perceived to be pain behaviours of burn patients were screaming, crying, praying and groaning, while frowning, reduced sense of humour, and body language were some non-verbal indicators nurses used to confirm the existence of burns pain. Nurses in Ghana must adopt the use of objective pain assessment tools, in conjunction with perceived pain behaviours, for optimal pain management outcomes. Conclusions Patients with burns experience intense pain from both the burns and the procedures that are done for them to aid in their healing. A systematic pain assessment by nurses, as part of the health care team, is a vital guide to pain management. To ensure consistency in the assessment of pain, there is a need to design protocols and policies to guide all nurses in the assessment of burns pain in the burns unit

Barriers to accessing healthcare among women in Ghana: a multilevel modelling.

BackgroundWomen's health remains a global public health concern, as enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals. This study, therefore, sought to assess the individual and contextual factors associated with barriers to accessing healthcare among women in Ghana.MethodsThe study was conducted among 9370 women aged 15-49, using data from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. Barrier to healthcare, derived from four questions- whether a woman faced problems in getting money, distance, companionship, and permission to see a doctor-was the outcome variable. Descriptive and multilevel logistic regression analyses were carried out. The fixed effect results of the multilevel logistic regression analyses were reported using adjusted odds ratios at a 95% confidence interval.ResultsMore than half (51%) of the women reported to have at least one form of barrier to accessing healthcare. Women aged 45-49 (AOR = 0.65, CI: 0.49-0.86), married women (AOR = 0.71, CI:0.58-0.87), those with a higher level of education (AOR = 0.51, CI: 0.37-0.69), those engaged in clerical or sales occupation (AOR = 0.855, CI: 0.74-0.99), and those who were covered by health insurance (AOR = 0.59, CI: 0.53-0.66) had lower odds of facing barriers in accessing healthcare. Similarly, those who listened to radio at least once in a week (AOR =0.77, CI: 0.66-0.90), those who watched television at least once a week (AOR = 0.75, CI: 0.64-0.87), and women in the richest wealth quintile (AOR = 0.47, CI: 0.35-0.63) had lower odds of facing barriers in accessing healthcare. However, women who were widowed (AOR = 1.47, CI: 1.03-2.10), those in the Volta Region (AOR 2.20, CI: I.38-3.53), and those in the Upper West Region (AOR =2.22, CI: 1.32-3.74) had the highest odds of facing barriers to healthcare accessibility.ConclusionThis study shows that individual and contextual factors are significant in predicting barriers in healthcare access in Ghana. The factors identified include age, marital status, employment, health insurance coverage, frequency of listening to radio, frequency of watching television, wealth status, and region of residence. These findings highlight the need to pay critical attention to these factors in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 3.1, 3.7, and 3.8. It is equally important to strengthen existing strategies to mitigate barriers to accessing healthcare among women in Ghana

Biosignatures of Exposure/Transmission and Immunity.

A blood test that captures cumulative exposure over time and assesses levels of naturally acquired immunity (NAI) would provide a critical tool to monitor the impact of interventions to reduce malaria transmission and broaden our understanding of how NAI develops around the world as a function of age and exposure. This article describes a collaborative effort in multiple International Centers of Excellence in Malaria Research (ICEMRs) to develop such tests using malaria-specific antibody responses as biosignatures of transmission and immunity. The focus is on the use of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax protein microarrays to identify a panel of the most informative antibody responses in diverse malaria-endemic settings representing an unparalleled spectrum of malaria transmission and malaria species mixes before and after interventions to reduce malaria transmission

Burns pain management in Ghana : the role of nurse–patient communication

Background: Nursing is an embodiment of knowledge, clinical work, and interpersonal communication. Effective nursing care has a distinct influence on the overall satisfaction and experience of the patient. Communication is said to be indispensable in the delivery of quality healthcare. Effective communication between nurses and patients has proven to yield better results with pain control and improved psychological status of patients. Objectives: The aim of the study is to explore nurses’ perceptions on the role of communication in the management of burns pain. Methods: A qualitative design with purposive sampling was carried out to recruit 11 registered nurses from a Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Center in Ghana. To identify the participants’ perception on the role of nurse–patient communication in the management of burns pain, a face to face semi-structured interviews were conducted using an interview guide to collect data. Results: Thematic analysis was done with various themes emerging. Helping patients manage pain, early detection of patient’s distress, improved patient participation in their care were some of the positive effects of nurse–patient communication whiles reduced level of cooperation during caregiving, and endurance of pain by the patient were the results of poor nurse–patient communication. Language and time facto were the barriers that were identified to hinder effective communication between nurses and patients. Conclusions: Due to the subjective nature of pain, the current study highlights the need for increased communication for an effective assessment and management of pain among patients with burns. It is, therefore, imperative that nurses be well trained in communication with an emphasis on patient-centered communication

Aflatoxin Levels in Locally Grown Maize from Makueni District, Kenya

Objectives: Investigations were carried out to determine aflatoxin levels in household maize in Makueni District and to correlate aflatoxin levels to maize drying and storage practices. Also, aflatoxin exposure in villages that reported aflatoxicosis cases in 2005 was compared with that in villages that did not report cases to assess whether aflatoxin exposure levels could be used to identify high-risk villages for targeted prevention interventions. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: Three divisions of Makueni district, Kibwezi, Makindu and Mtito Andei in Eastern Province, Kenya. Subjects: Ninety six households were surveyed, and 104 maize samples were analysed for total aflatoxin levels from June to July 2005. The households were selected from high and low aflatoxicosis risk areas. Results: Out of the 104 maize samples collected from 96 households, 37 (35.5%) had aflatoxin levels above the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended maximum limit of 20 ppb. All of these samples were homegrown or purchased. Twenty one samples (20.1%) had levels above 100 ppb. Eleven (10.6%) had extremely high levels above 1,000 ppb. No relief supply maize had aflatoxin levels above the WHO maximum limit. Conclusion: High levels of aflatoxin in homegrown and purchased maize suggested that aflatoxin exposure was widespread. East African Medical Journal Vol. 85 (7) 2008: pp. 311-31