Bread consumption pattern and the potential of orange-fleshed sweetpotato-composite bread in Ghana

Bread is consumed by most Ghanaians. Wheat flour and refined sugar are the main raw materials in bread making. These key raw  materials are imported, thereby causing the local currency to consistently lose value. Therefore, developing bread recipes with locally available raw materials such as root and tuber crops is of the essence. The study assessed bread consumption patterns in Ghana; potential consumer preference for orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) puree-wheat flour composite bread; consumers’ willingness to buy and bakers’ willingness to bake this composite bread. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted in four regions of Ghana: Accra, Ashanti, Northern, and Upper East regions; data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Consumers (n = 651) and bakers (n = 77) were randomly selected to participate in the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive scores procedure in IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20. Almost all the consumer-respondents (96.50%; n = 628) indicated that they eat bread. Based on the frequency of bread consumption, 54% of respondents consumed bread daily, 18% once a week and 28% twice or more per week. The preferred bread types across the regions were: tea, butter, and “sugar” bread. Respondents across the regions consumed at least one type of bread with tea bread being the most consumed in the Upper East (n = 153; 39.30%) and Northern (n = 58; 38%) regions.  However, butter bread was the most consumed in the Greater Accra (n =17; 36%) while consumerrespondents in the Ashanti region (n  = 24; 38.70%) indicated they consume more than one type. The least consumed bread type across all the regions was composite and  bran (brown) bread types. The consumers’ willingness to buy the OFSP-based bread further increased by 8.3% when they were  informed about the nutritional benefits of OFSPbased bread. Thus, the OFSP-based wheat flour composite bread could have a higherpotential of being adopted into the Ghanaian community irrespective of regional demarcation to increase dietary intake of vitamin A. This would contribute to efforts to find a sustainable way of increasing dietary intake of vitamin A, particularly children in Ghana. Key words: Baker, composite-bread, consumer, Ghana, orange-fleshed sweetpotato, puree, survey, vitamin

Intense exercise for survival among men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (INTERVAL-GAP4): A multicentre, randomized, controlled phase III study protocol

Introduction: Preliminary evidence supports the beneficial role of physical activity on prostate cancer outcomes. This phase III randomised controlled trial (RCT) is designed to determine if supervised high-intensity aerobic and resistance exercise increases overall survival (OS) in patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Methods and analysis: Participants (n=866) must have histologically documented metastatic prostate cancer with evidence of progressive disease on androgen deprivation therapy (defined as mCRPC). Patients can be treatmentnaive for mCRPC or on first-line androgen receptor-targeted therapy for mCRPC (ie, abiraterone or enzalutamide) without evidence of progression at enrolment, and with no prior chemotherapy for mCRPC. Patients will receive psychosocial support and will be randomly assigned (1:1) to either supervised exercise (high-intensity aerobic and resistance training) or self-directed exercise (provision of guidelines), stratified by treatment status and site. Exercise prescriptions will be tailored to each participant’s fitness and morbidities. The primary endpoint is OS. Secondary endpoints include time to disease progression, occurrence of a skeletal-related event or progression of pain, and degree of pain, opiate use, physical and emotional quality of life, and changes in metabolic biomarkers. An assessment of whether immune function, inflammation, dysregulation of insulin and energy metabolism, and androgen biomarkers are associated with OS will be performed, and whether they mediate the primary association between exercise and OS will also be investigated. This study will also establish a biobank for future biomarker discovery or validation. Ethics and dissemination: Validation of exercise as medicine and its mechanisms of action will create evidence to change clinical practice. Accordingly, outcomes of this RCT will be published in international, peer-reviewed journals, and presented at national and international conferences. Ethics approval was first obtained at Edith Cowan University (ID: 13236 NEWTON), with a further 10 investigator sites since receiving ethics approval, prior to activation. Trial registration number: NCT02730338

Last Glacial Maximum led to community-wide population expansion in a montane songbird radiation in highland Papua New Guinea

10.1186/s12862-020-01646-zBMC Evolutionary Biology2018

Gene Flow in the Müllerian Mimicry Ring of a Poisonous Papuan Songbird Clade (Pitohui; Aves)

10.1093/gbe/evz168Genome Biology and Evolution1182332-234

The decision to opt for abortion

Key message points - Most women reach a decision to have an abortion rapidly. - Most women have reached their decision before the consultation with the abortion provider. - Certain women who have risk factors for post-abortion psychological reactions should be targeted and offered counselling. - Pregnancy options counselling should not be mandatory. - 'Cooling-off' periods lead to abortions at later gestation