Record of medicinal Jew’s (Auricularia auricula-judae (Bull.) Quél) ear mushroom growing in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana and its possible health values

Medicinal mushrooms are part of total health delivery system of a nation. A mushroom of recognised health benefits was seen for the first time on a pencil cactus (Euphorbia turicalli L.) in the Greater Accra Region (Adentan Municipal Assembly) in September- October 2021. The fruiting body was gelatinous with the shape of a human ear. The basidiomata were either solitary, densely rosette with caestipose habit either astipitate or with vestigial stipe. The general morphological features were akin to that of Auricularia auricula-judae. Anatomical and morphometric studies showed that the fruiting body had smooth hymenium with a layer of basidia which were cylindrical or club-shaped. The dimensions of the basidia (70.86±4.27 μm long; 9.54± 0.60 μm wide) closely agreed with the range reported for A. auricula-judae. The white/greyish basidiospores were generally sausage-shaped (allantoid) ranging in length (18.47±0.73μm) and width (7.49±0.3μm) closely to reported range. The economical and medicinal values of the mushroom are described and future commercial exploitation through biotechnological technique highlighted

Observations on some Fairy Ring Forming Lepiota Mushrooms (Basidiomycota; Agaricales) in Ghana

Mushrooms are mostly saprophytic and grow in soil, on dead wood or are found on grass, lawns, pitches and golf courses. There are about 400 species of Lepiota typically gilled; some are edible and other forming fairy rings in the field. Two Lepiota species were studied in the Greater Accra Region during the rainy season (May-July) of 2016-2018. Their morphological development, anatomy and ring-forming capacity during the 3yr cycle. Lepiota procera (Pers) Grays is edible and is typically without volva. The fairy ring was made up of 6 - 9 mushrooms in circle along the periphery of the circle with slight shift in the positions of the fruiting body. period. L. procera emerged directly from the soil without any change in the topography or color of soil in about 28 days. The second Lepiota sp. is not edible and completed morphological development in 2 - 3 weeks and formed full to semi-circle fairy rings. There was a distinct greening of grass (Chrysopogon aciculatus) along the periphery of the ring. These findings underscore the fact that fairy ring formation is not mystical but a natural phenomenon among the Basidiomycota. This is the first reported account of fairy ring formation in Ghana

Differentiation of Two Pleurotus Species Based on the Restrictive Digestion Profile of the Internal Transcribed Spacer Region

Two oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus eous P-31 and P. ostreatus EM-1) are under either cottage industry or semi-commercial cultivation in Ghana. The latter (P. ostreatus) is already well known to the public and on the shelf of some leading supermarkets. There is morphological resemblance between the two species making it difficult for the untrained eye to distinguish between them except for the colour difference. In this study, molecular methods were em­ployed to differentiate among the two species. The Internal Transcribed Spacer ITS 1 and ITS 4 regions of the rDNA of the two oyster species were amplified by the conventional PCR using the universal primer pair, ITS 1 and ITS 4 followed by restrictive digestion with enzymes, (Hh I, Hinf I, Rsa I and Hae III). The two species could not be separated based on the ampli­fied bands only, as both produced a characteristic band size of 650 bp. Gel profiling showing restrictive patterns generated by the four enzymes indicated that only the Hae III restrictive enzyme was effective in separating P. eous P-31 and P. ostreatus EM-1. This is the first record of the separation of the Ghanaian Pleurotus species by molecular methods indicating their genetic differences

An Assessment of the Potential for Mapping Fishing Zones off the Coast of Ghana using Ocean Forecast Data and Vessel Movement

This research assessed the feasibility of mapping potential fishing grounds off the coast of Ghana using vessel trajectories and speeds as proxies for identifying migration patterns and fishing behaviour of inshore trawling vessels. The methods involved the extraction of data from Satellite Automatic Identification System comprising position and speed of the vessel from exactEarth Shipview. Daily oceanographic parameters i.e. sea surface temperature, sea surface height, sea surface salinity, and the current velocity between August 2015- January2016 were obtained from Copernicus (www.marine.copernius.eu). Speed ranges and trajectories indicate that, the vessels steamed between 6.9 to 7.5 knots and fish aggregation mostly occurred closer to the shore predicated on favourable environmental ocean conditions. It was observed that the vessel depicted steaming behaviour in this study, characteristic of a recreational vessel with high speed, moving in straight paths rather than a trawling vessel whose movement occurs in slower and erratic trajectory patterns. The findings strongly suggest that the fishermen operating this trawl vessel have good knowledge of productive fishing grounds. The months with highest probability of catch aggregation were from October 2015 to December 2015, within the geographical locations oflongitude -4o 2 ʹ E and latitude 3.5o 6 ʹ N. The highest probability of catch aggregation was observed in October 2015, probably due to upwelling that occurred during that month. It is concluded that, fishing efficiency of inshore trawling vessels in Ghana could be enhanced with maps indicative of probability of fish aggregation in the ocean

Self-Control in Cyberspace: Applying Dual Systems Theory to a Review of Digital Self-Control Tools

Many people struggle to control their use of digital devices. However, our understanding of the design mechanisms that support user self-control remains limited. In this paper, we make two contributions to HCI research in this space: first, we analyse 367 apps and browser extensions from the Google Play, Chrome Web, and Apple App stores to identify common core design features and intervention strategies afforded by current tools for digital self-control. Second, we adapt and apply an integrative dual systems model of self-regulation as a framework for organising and evaluating the design features found. Our analysis aims to help the design of better tools in two ways: (i) by identifying how, through a well-established model of self-regulation, current tools overlap and differ in how they support self-control; and (ii) by using the model to reveal underexplored cognitive mechanisms that could aid the design of new tools.Comment: 11.5 pages (excl. references), 6 figures, 1 tabl

Associations of fecal microbial profiles with breast cancer and non-malignant breast disease in the Ghana Breast Health Study

The gut microbiota may play a role in breast cancer etiology by regulating hormonal, metabolic and immunologic pathways. We investigated associations of fecal bacteria with breast cancer and nonmalignant breast disease in a case-control study conducted in Ghana, a country with rising breast cancer incidence and mortality. To do this, we sequenced the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene to characterize bacteria in fecal samples collected at the time of breast biopsy (N = 379 breast cancer cases, N = 102 nonmalignant breast disease cases, N = 414 population-based controls). We estimated associations of alpha diversity (observed amplicon sequence variants [ASVs], Shannon index, and Faith's phylogenetic diversity), beta diversity (Bray-Curtis and unweighted/weighted UniFrac distance), and the presence and relative abundance of select taxa with breast cancer and nonmalignant breast disease using multivariable unconditional polytomous logistic regression. All alpha diversity metrics were strongly, inversely associated with odds of breast cancer and for those in the highest relative to lowest tertile of observed ASVs, the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) was 0.21 (0.13-0.36; Ptrend < .001). Alpha diversity associations were similar for nonmalignant breast disease and breast cancer grade/molecular subtype. All beta diversity distance matrices and multiple taxa with possible estrogen-conjugating and immune-related functions were strongly associated with breast cancer (all Ps < .001). There were no statistically significant differences between breast cancer and nonmalignant breast disease cases in any microbiota metric. In conclusion, fecal bacterial characteristics were strongly and similarly associated with breast cancer and nonmalignant breast disease. Our findings provide novel insight into potential microbially-mediated mechanisms of breast disease

Operational Monitoring of Illegal Fishing in Ghana through Exploitation of Satellite Earth Observation and AIS Data.

Over the last decade, West African coastal countries, including Ghana, have experienced extensive economic damage due to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activity, estimated at about USD 100 million in losses each year. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing poses an enormous threat to the conservation and management of the dwindling fish stocks, causing multiple adverse consequences for fisheries, coastal and marine ecosystems and for the people who depend on these resources. The Integrated System for Surveillance of Illegal, Unlicensed and Unreported Fishing (INSURE) is an efficient and inexpensive system that has been developed for the monitoring of IUU fishing in Ghanaian waters. It makes use of fast-delivery Earth observation data from the synthetic aperture radar instrument on Sentinel-1 and the Multi Spectral Imager on Sentinel-2, detecting objects that differ markedly from their immediate background using a constant false alarm rate test. Detections are matched to, and verified by, Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, which provide the location and dimensions of ships that are legally operating in the region. Matched and unmatched data are then displayed on a web portal for use by coastal management authorities in Ghana. The system has a detection success rate of 91% for AIS-registered vessels, and a fast throughput, processing and delivering information within 2 h of acquiring the satellite overpass. However, over the 17-month analysis period, 75% of SAR detections have no equivalent in the AIS record, suggesting significant unregulated marine activity, including vessels potentially involved in IUU. The INSURE system demonstrated its efficiency in Ghana’s exclusive economic zone and it can be extended to the neighbouring states in the Gulf of Guinea, or other geographical regions that need to improve fisheries surveillance

Circulating tumor DNA is readily detectable among Ghanaian breast cancer patients supporting non-invasive cancer genomic studies in Africa.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) sequencing studies could provide novel insights into the molecular pathology of cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. In 15 patient plasma samples collected at the time of diagnosis as part of the Ghana Breast Health Study and unselected for tumor grade and subtype, ctDNA was detected in a majority of patients based on whole- genome sequencing at high (30×) and low (0.1×) depths. Breast cancer driver copy number alterations were observed in the majority of patients

Cross-ancestry GWAS meta-analysis identifies six breast cancer loci in African and European ancestry women.

Our study describes breast cancer risk loci using a cross-ancestry GWAS approach. We first identify variants that are associated with breast cancer at P < 0.05 from African ancestry GWAS meta-analysis (9241 cases and 10193 controls), then meta-analyze with European ancestry GWAS data (122977 cases and 105974 controls) from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. The approach identifies four loci for overall breast cancer risk [1p13.3, 5q31.1, 15q24 (two independent signals), and 15q26.3] and two loci for estrogen receptor-negative disease (1q41 and 7q11.23) at genome-wide significance. Four of the index single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) lie within introns of genes (KCNK2, C5orf56, SCAMP2, and SIN3A) and the other index SNPs are located close to GSTM4, AMPD2, CASTOR2, and RP11-168G16.2. Here we present risk loci with consistent direction of associations in African and European descendants. The study suggests that replication across multiple ancestry populations can help improve the understanding of breast cancer genetics and identify causal variants

The Human Phenotype Ontology in 2024: phenotypes around the world

\ua9 The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research. The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) is a widely used resource that comprehensively organizes and defines the phenotypic features of human disease, enabling computational inference and supporting genomic and phenotypic analyses through semantic similarity and machine learning algorithms. The HPO has widespread applications in clinical diagnostics and translational research, including genomic diagnostics, gene-disease discovery, and cohort analytics. In recent years, groups around the world have developed translations of the HPO from English to other languages, and the HPO browser has been internationalized, allowing users to view HPO term labels and in many cases synonyms and definitions in ten languages in addition to English. Since our last report, a total of 2239 new HPO terms and 49235 new HPO annotations were developed, many in collaboration with external groups in the fields of psychiatry, arthrogryposis, immunology and cardiology. The Medical Action Ontology (MAxO) is a new effort to model treatments and other measures taken for clinical management. Finally, the HPO consortium is contributing to efforts to integrate the HPO and the GA4GH Phenopacket Schema into electronic health records (EHRs) with the goal of more standardized and computable integration of rare disease data in EHRs