The pollination of Ficus vogelii in Ghana

Ficus vogelii is a primitive monoecious species, in which staminate and pistillate flowers are distributed throughout the syconium without localization. There is no bimodal structural distinction between seed flowers and gall flowers, and any pistillate flower is capable of seed production. Each syconium follows a development cycle lasting approximately 45 days. The chief pollen vector is the agaonid wasp Allotriozoon heterandromorphum , which is an obligate symbiont. Adult females of this species have mesothoracic pockets in which pollen is carried. Adult males do not display the anther-cutting activity reported in other species. The life cycle of the pollinator is described in relation to the developmental cycle of the syconium.     

A forest beyond the trees: Tree cutting in rural Ghana

In this paper I examine the complexity of human forces involved in tree cutting in a Ghanaian forest region. I provide evidence to link the indiscriminate tree-cutting activities of some local communities to the gradual loss of communal control over land and the replacement of kin group control with state property regimes. I point to the interrelated factors of the state's promotion of an exportled development strategy, the intensification of agricultural commercialization, and household and group variations in access to land as all having deleterious impacts on local traditions of sustainable forestry.     

Distinct molecular features of colorectal cancer in Ghana

Objectives: While colorectal cancer (CRC) is common, its incidence significantly varies around the globe. The incidence of CRC in West Africa is relatively low, but it has a distinctive clinical pattern and its molecular characteristics have not been studied. This study is one of the first attempts to analyze molecular, genetic, and pathological characteristics of colorectal cancer in Ghana. Methods: DNA was extracted from microdissected tumor and adjacent normal tissue of 90 paraffin blocks of CRC cases (1997–2007) collected at the University of Ghana. Microsatellite instability (MSI) was determined using fragment analysis of ten microsatellite markers. We analyzed expression of mismatch repair (MMR) proteins by immunohistochemistry and sequenced exons 2 and 3 of KRAS and exon 15 of BRAF. Results: MSI analysis showed 41% (29/70) MSI-High, 20% (14/70) MSI-Low, and 39% (27/70) microsatellite-stable (MSS) tumors. Sequencing of KRAS exons 2 and 3 identified activating mutations in 32% (24/75) of tumors, and sequencing of BRAF exon 15, the location of the common activating mutation (V600), did not show mutations at codons 599 and 600 in 88 tumors. Conclusions: Our study found a high frequency of MSI-High colorectal tumors (41%) in Ghana. While the frequency of KRAS mutations is comparable with other populations, absence of BRAF mutations is intriguing and would require further analysis of the molecular epidemiology of CRC in West Africa.     

Colonial Constructions and African Initiatives: The History of Ethnicity in Northwestern Ghana

The article discusses the colonial construction of ethnic categories, their linkage with precolonial models of identity and the multiple meanings which ethnicity has assumed for different groups over the past decades, using the example of northwestern Ghana – a region which, in the precolonial period, was neither politically centralized nor knew distinct ‘tribes’. The article analyses how ethnic categories, boundaries and institutions were created and continually redefined by colonial officials, anthropologists, chiefs, labour migrants and educated elites, and how the different ethnic discourses fed into each other. It also draws on some of the older literature on ethnicity in Africa because it can still contribute to our understanding of the making of ethnic identities when framed in a deeply historical approach.     

A new cycad subspecies from Nigeria

A new subspecies of the West African Encephalartos barteri is described from plains on the Jos Plateau of northern Nigeria.     

From Health to Human Rights: Female Genital Cutting and the Politics of Intervention

ABSTRACT  The international campaign to eliminate female genital cutting (FGC) has, since the early 1990s, actively attempted to divorce itself from a health framework, adopting instead a human rights framework to justify intervention. Several key questions emerge regarding the prominent placement of FGC in the international human rights movement: What are the ramifications of framing FGC as a human rights violation? What actions are mandated by a human rights approach? What perils and pitfalls potentially arise from the adoption of a rights-based framework, and how might they be avoided? In exploring these questions it becomes clear that, although a human rights approach is promising, careful deliberation is required to develop action strategies that offer both protection and respect for the culture and autonomy of those women and families concerned.     

Isolation of Lymphocytes from Mouse Genital Tract Mucosa

Mucosal surfaces, including in the gastrointestinal, urogenital, and respiratory tracts, provide portals of entry for pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria ¹. Mucosae are also inductive sites in the host to generate immunity against pathogens, such as the Peyers patches in the intestinal tract and the nasal-associated lymphoreticular tissue in the respiratory tract. This unique feature brings mucosal immunity as a crucial player of the host defense system. Many studies have been focused on gastrointestinal and respiratory mucosal sites. However, there has been little investigation of reproductive mucosal sites. The genital tract mucosa is the primary infection site for sexually transmitted diseases (STD), including bacterial and viral infections. STDs are one of the most critical health challenges facing the world today. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are 19 million new infectious every year in the United States. STDs cost the U.S. health care system $17 billion every year ², and cost individuals even more in immediate and life-long health consequences. In order to confront this challenge, a greater understanding of reproductive mucosal immunity is needed and isolating lymphocytes is an essential component of these studies. Here, we present a method to reproducibly isolate lymphocytes from murine female genital tracts for immunological studies that can be modified for adaption to other species. The method described below is based on one mouse.      

Heavy Metals in Sediments of the Gold Mining Impacted Pra River Basin,Ghana, West Africa

Total concentrations of Hg, Al, Fe, As, Pb, Cu, Cr, Ni, Mn, Co, V, and Zn were determined in surface sediments collected from 21 locations within the gold mining impacted Pra River basin in southwestern Ghana. Samples were collected during both the rainy and dry seasons. We hypothesized that in the rural southwestern portion of Ghana, the lack of industrial activities makes artisanal gold mining (AGM) by Hg amalgamation the main source of water resource contamination with heavy metals. Therefore, metals showing concentration trends similar to that of Hg in the studied system are likely impacted by AGM. We found that total-Hg (THg) concentrations in riverine sediments are rather low as compared to other aquatic systems that are impacted by similar mining activities. Measured THg concentrations ranged from 0.018 to 2.917 mg/kg in samples collected in the rainy season and from about 0.01 to 0.043 mg/kg in those collected during the dry season. However, the determination of the enrichment factor (EF) calculated using shale data as reference background values showed signs of severe contamination in most of the sampled sites. In the dry season, THg concentrations correlated positively and significantly to the concentrations of As (r = 0.864, p < 0.01), Cu (r = 0.691, p < 0.05), and Ni (r = 0.579, p < 0.05). Based on our previously stated hypothesis, this could then be an indication of the impact of AGM on ambient levels of these 3 elements. However, the determined concentrations of Cu, and Ni co-varied significantly with Al, suggesting that natural sources do account for the observed levels. Accordingly, both AGM and metal inputs from weathered natural deposits are likely co-responsible for the observed levels of Cu and Ni. In contrast, the lack of correlation between As and Al tends to suggest an impact of AGM on As levels. Overall, our data suggest that besides Hg and to some extent As, the impact of AGM on ambient levels of investigated metals in the gold mining impacted Pra River remains negligible. Finally, the increase in metal concentrations from the dry to the rainy season underlines the impact of changes in hydrologic conditions on levels and fate of metals in this tropical aquatic system.     

A new contribution to the Holocene vegetation history of the West African Sahel: pollen from Oursi,Burkina Faso and charcoal from three sites in northeast Nigeria

A pollen diagram from Oursi in Burkina Faso is compared with anthracological (charcoal analysis) results from three sites in northeast Nigeria (Konduga, Gajiganna, Lantewa). The present-day vegetation at all four sites is Sahelian or Sahelo-Sudanian and under heavy human impact. At Oursi, a closed grassland with only few trees and almost no Sudanian elements can be reconstructed for the middle Holocene. At the Nigerian sites, on the other hand, Sudanian woody plants were present during this period. We assume that the Sahel was not a uniform zone during the middle Holocene but rather a mosaic of different vegetation types according to local site conditions. In the light of these results, a simple model of latitudinally shifting vegetation zones is not applicable. Around 3000 B.P. the closed grassland at Oursi was opened by agro-pastoral activities, and at Gajiganna, plants characteristic of pasture lands can be directly related with the presence of cattle. Human impact seems to have been the dominant factor in the vegetation history of the Sahel from 3000 B.P. until today, masking possible effects of climatic change.     

Life history studies of anisocentropus kirramus neboiss (trichoptera: Calamoceratidae) in a tropical Australian rainforest stream

Eggs and larvae of Anisocentropus kirramus were collected from leaf packs in riffles and pools in a small upland rainforest stream in tropical Queensland. Adults were collected in floating emergence traps. Egg masses contained 80–100 eggs. None developed in water at 12–15°C but at 22–25°C larvae hatched in 3–10 days. There were five larval instars and complete development appeared to take several months. Instars II‐V were present in all nine months sampled; instar I was present in all but one month. Adults emerged in all ten months sampled, but there was clear seasonality with peak emergence in the summer. The sex ratio of adults was 1:1.     

Wage rentals for reproducible human capital: evidence from Ghana and the Ivory Coast

Education, child nutrition, adult health/nutrition, and labor mobility are critical factors in achieving recent sustained growth in factor productivity. To compare the contribution of these four human capital inputs, an expanded specification of the wage function is estimated from household (LSMS) surveys of the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Specification tests assess whether the human capital inputs are exogenous, and instrumental variable techniques are used to estimate the wage function. Smaller panels from the Ivory Coast imply the magnitude of measurement error in the human capital inputs and provide more efficient instruments to estimate the wage equation. The conclusion emerges that weight-for-height and height are endogenous, particularly prone to measurement error, and heterogeneous in their effects on wages. Overall returns to these four forms of human capital are similar within each country for men and women, but education and migration returns are higher in the more rapidly growing Ivory Coast, and the wage effects of child nutrition proxied by height are greater in poorer, more malnourished Ghana.     

Diversity of lobate phytoliths in grass leaves from the Sahel region, West Tropical Africa: Tribe Paniceae

Phytoliths are microscopic amorphous silicon dioxide (SiO2.H2O) particles occurring in leaves, internodes, glumes and inflorescence within all members of the grass family Poaceae. Phytoliths of grasses are of particular interest, as they possess morphological features which have encouraged many investigators to identify these plants from which fossil phytoliths might have originated. The present study is a step towards preparing a systematic inventory of grass phytoliths in western tropical Africa. Morphology and dimensions of phytoliths from 66 species belonging to the tribe Paniceae have been studied. Four shape categories of lobate phytoliths have been determined in leaf blade spodograms: bilobate, nodular bilobate, polylobate, quadra-lobate. Bilobate shaped phytoliths are frequently represented in all genera of Paniceae. 13 groups of lobate phytoliths have been distinguished based on significant morphological criteria like shape of outer margins, shape of the shank and number of lobes. A size category system of lobate phytolith dimensions (length, width; length and width of shanks) has been developed by the analysis of average, minimum and maximum values of these dimensions. Application of the size category system results on classifying the major groups into 25 subgroups. The study proves that size and shape can be used to assign some of the lobate phytoliths to their respective genera. Some rarely produced lobate shapes like nodular bilobate and polylobate types could be used together on assemblage basis as markers for definite genera in the tribe Paniceae, e.g. Brachiaria, Panicum, Pennisetum and Setaria. Also, bilobate phytoliths with concave margins have been recorded in five species. Bilobate phytoliths with flattened and convex margins and quadra-lobate shapes are produced by almost all species which therefore resulted in an inconsistent and indefinite relationship with the taxa that produce them. The study shows a correlation between width dimensions of bilobate shapes and their shanks. Greater width dimensions usually connected to thick shanks while short ones are attached to thin shanks. A spectrum on percentages of species producing each type of lobate phytolith has been designed. It is recommended that such spectrum should be carried out for all tribes of Poaceae on phyto-geographical basis which might eliminate the effect of redundancy and multiplicity on the classification of grass phytoliths.     

Structure of Genital Papillae in the Far Eastern Holothurians of the Genus Cucumaria (Dendrochirotida: Cucumariidae)

The genital papilla structure of female and male specimens is studied in four species of large holothurians of the genus Cucumaria from the Far Eastern seas of Russia: Cucumaria japonica (Semper), C. okhotensis Levin et Stepanov, C. anivaensis Levin, C. djakonovi Baranova. The papillary forms in these species are extremely various and cannot be considered as characteristic for the species.     

A late Holocene climate record from a stalagmite, Cold Air Cave, Northern Province, South Africa

Stable isotope analyses of a uranium-series-dated stalagmite from South Africa provide a record of climate changes for the periods 4400–4000 years and 800 years ago to recent, interrupted by a prolonged growth hiatus. Generally enriched stable oxygen isotope values, interpreted here to indicate more humid conditions, occurred around 800 years ago. Subsequently a marked depletion in oxygen and carbon isotope values occurred about 600 years ago, reflecting, we believe, shifts toward drier, cooler conditions as the regional indication of the Little Ice Age. This period with depleted, yet oscillating isotope values, is replaced by a period with enriched isotopes until recent times. The record is notable for sharp shifts in isotopic values, on the scale of decades, which reflect rapid oscillations in local climate conditions.     

Adherence and Uptake of Artemisinin-Based Combination Treatments for Uncomplicated Malaria: A Qualitative Study in Northern Ghana

BackgroundBased on the recommendations of the World Health Organization in 2004, Ghana changed her antimalarial drug policy from mono-therapy to Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACTs). The country is currently using three first line drugs artesunate-amodiaquine, artemether-lumefantrine and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. Despite this policy, little or no qualitative studies have been conducted to establish the factors influencing adherence to the new treatment for malaria. This study explored factors influencing adherence to the use of ACTs in northern Ghana.MethodsThis was a qualitative study comprising forty (40) in-depth interviews with patients with malaria who visited selected public and private health facilities and received ACTs. Systematic sampling technique was used to select participants who were given ACTs for the interviews. Nvivo 9 software was used to code the data into themes for further analysis.ResultsThe study revealed very important differences in knowledge about ACTs. As expected, the less or illiterates could not mention the type of ACT they would prefer to use for treating their malaria. The educated ones had a good knowledge on ACTs and preferred artemether-lumefantrinee in treating their malaria. The reason was that the drug was good and it had minimal or no side effects. Individual attitudes toward the use of medications and the side effects associated with the use of these ACTs were found to be the main factors affecting adherence to the use of ACTs. Perceived cure of illness after the initial dose greatly affected adherence. Other factors such as forgetfulness and lack of information also influenced patient adherence to ACTs use.ConclusionIndividual knowledge, attitudes and behaviors greatly influence patients’ adherence to ACTs use. Since ACTs take a number of days to complete, continuous education by health professionals could improve on adherence to ACTs use by patients with malaria.