Resistant C. albicans implicated in recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC) among women in a tertiary healthcare facility in Kumasi, Ghana.

Background: Vulvovaginal candidiasis is a common fungal infection that affects the female lower genital tract. This study determined the major risk factors associated with vulvovaginal infection (VVI) in the Ashanti region of Ghana and also determined the antifungal resistance patterns of Candida albicans isolates to some antifungals.

Methods: Three hundred and fifty (350) high vaginal swab (HVS) samples were collected from women who presented with signs and symptoms of VVI.

Development of a local antibiogram for a teaching hospital in Ghana.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance threatens adequate healthcare provision against infectious diseases. Antibiograms, combined with patient clinical history, enable clinicians and pharmacists to select the best empirical treatments prior to culture results.

Objectives: To develop a local antibiogram for the Ho Teaching Hospital.

Diversity and antibiograms of bacteria isolated from cutaneous leishmaniasis wounds in the Nkwanta South District of Ghana.

Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease caused by an intracellular protozoan parasite. The presence of secondary bacterial infections in cutaneous leishmaniasis wounds exacerbate lesion development and could lead to delay in the healing process. This study sought to determine the resistance patterns of bacteria co-infecting cutaneous leishmaniasis wounds from selected communities in the Nkwanta district.

Sensitivity Patterns, Plasmid Profiles and Clonal Relatedness of Multi-Drug Resistant Isolated From the Ashanti Region, Ghana.

is a major cause of most opportunistic nosocomial infections in Ghana. The study sought to characterize isolates from market environments, poultry farms and clinical samples of patients from 2 district hospitals in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The genetic relatedness, plasmid profiles and antimicrobial sensitivity of the isolates were investigated.

Prevalence and Phenotypic and Genotypic Resistance Mechanisms of Multidrug-Resistant Strains Isolated from Clinical, Environmental, and Poultry Litter Samples from the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

Background: Antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a major global health challenge. Reports on the prevalence of multidrug-resistant a common pathogenic bacterium implicated in nosocomial infections and poultry diseases, are limited in Ghana. This study therefore sought to determine the prevalence of from hospitals, poultry farms, and environmental samples from the Ashanti region of Ghana.

Design Strategy for the Molecular Functionalization of Semiconductor Photoelectrodes: A Case Study of p-Si(111) Photocathodes for H Generation.

Functionalization of semiconductor photoelectrodes is actively pursued as an approach to improve the efficiency of photoelectrochemical reactions by modulating the semiconductor's barrier height, but the selection of molecules for functionalization remains largely empirical. We propose a simple but effective design strategy for the organic functionalization of photocathodes for high-efficiency hydrogen generation based on first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The surface dipole of the functionalized photocathode determines its barrier height, which can be optimized to enhance charge separation at the semiconductor-electrolyte interface.

Prevalence and antibiotic resistance of coagulase-negative isolated from poultry farms in three regions of Ghana.

The use of antibiotics in animal production has been associated with the development and spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms including commensals. Coagulase-negative (CoNS) species, which were until recently considered non-pathogenic, have been associated with opportunistic infections and high resistance to several antibiotics. This study sought to determine the prevalence, identity, and phenotypic resistance of coagulase-negative spp.

Evaluation and simplification of the occupational slip, trip and fall risk-assessment test.

Objective: The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the efficacy of the occupational slip, trip and fall (STF) risk assessment test developed by the Japan Industrial Safety and Health Association (JISHA). We further intended to simplify the test to improve efficiency.

Methods: A previous cohort study was performed using 540 employees aged ≥50 years who took the JISHA's STF risk assessment test.

The design of a multisource americium-beryllium (Am-Be) neutron irradiation facility using MCNP for the neutronic performance calculation.

The americium-beryllium neutron irradiation facility at the National Nuclear Research Institute (NNRI), Ghana, was re-designed with four 20 Ci sources using Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) code to investigate the maximum amount of flux that is produced by the combined sources. The results were compared with a single source Am-Be irradiation facility. The main objective was to enable us to harness the maximum amount of flux for the optimization of neutron activation analysis and to enable smaller sample sized samples to be irradiated.

An industry-based cohort study of the association between weight gain and hypertension risk among rotating shift workers.

Objectives: We investigated whether the association between shift work and hypertension is independent of weight gain.

Methods: Subjects were 10,173 male employees (9209 daytime workers, 964 three-shift workers; mean follow-up period: 12.7 years).

Design of boron carbide-shielded irradiation channel of the outer irradiation channel of the Ghana Research Reactor-1 using MCNP.

The MCNP model for the Ghana Research Reactor-1 was redesigned to incorporate a boron carbide-shielded irradiation channel in one of the outer irradiation channels. Extensive investigations were made before arriving at the final design of only one boron carbide covered outer irradiation channel; as all the other designs that were considered did not give desirable results of neutronic performance. The concept of redesigning a new MCNP model, which has a boron carbide-shielded channel is to equip the Ghana Research Reactor-1 with the means of performing efficient epithermal neutron activation analysis.

Secretory innervation of the parotid gland.

The reported failures of Jacobson-nerve resection to eliminate parotid secretion in clinical cases suggest that alternative secretory routes to the parotid gland exist. By stimulating the inferior salivatory nucleus and successively transecting suspected pathways, it was found that only the facial nerve trunk carries accessory efferent fibers to the gland in the cat. No efferent fibers were found in the chorda tympani, but afferent fibers of the salivary reflex arc are provided by this nerve.