Structural adjustment and subsistence industry: artisanal gold mining in Ghana

Since the implementation of Ghana's national Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), policies associated with the programme have been criticized for perpetuating poverty within the country's subsistence economy. This article brings new evidence to bear on the contention that the SAP has both fuelled the uncontrolled growth of informal, poverty-driven artisanal gold mining and further marginalized its impoverished participants. Throughout the adjustment period, it has been a central goal of the government to promote the expansion of large-scale gold mining through foreign investment. Confronted with the challenge of resuscitating a deteriorating gold mining industry, the government introduced a number of tax breaks and policies in an effort to create an attractive investment climate for foreign multinational mining companies. The rapid rise in exploration and excavation activities that has since taken place has displaced thousands of previously-undisturbed subsistence artisanal gold miners. This, along with a laissez faire land concession allocation procedure, has exacerbated conflicts between mining parties. Despite legalizing small-scale mining in 1989, the Ghanaian government continues to implement procedurally complex and bureaucratically unwieldy regulations and policies for artisanal operators which have the effect of favouring the interests of established large-scale miners.

Space heating and hot water demand analysis of dwellings connected to district heating scheme in UK

To achieve CO2 emissions reductions the UK Building Regulations require developers of new residential buildings to calculate expected CO2 emissions arising from their energy consumption using a methodology such as Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP 2005) or, more recently SAP 2009. SAP encompasses all domestic heat consumption and a limited proportion of the electricity consumption. However, these calculations are rarely verified with real energy consumption and related CO2 emissions. This paper presents the results of an analysis based on weekly head demand data for more than 200 individual flats. The data is collected from recently built residential development connected to a district heating network. A methodology for separating out the domestic hot water use (DHW) and space heating demand (SH) has been developed and compares measured values to the demand calculated using SAP 2005 and 2009 methodologies. The analysis shows also the variance in DHW and SH consumption between both size of the flats and tenure (privately owned or housing association). Evaluation of the space heating consumption includes also an estimation of the heating degree day (HDD) base temperature for each block of flats and its comparison to the average base temperature calculated using the SAP 2005 methodology.

Europe’s biocidal products directive: benefits and costs in urban pest management

The European Commission’s Biocidal Products Directive (Council Directive 98/8 EC), known as the BPD, is the largest regulatory exercise ever to affect the urban pest control industry. Although focussed in the European Union its impact is global because any company selling pest control products in the EU must follow its principles. All active substances, belonging to 23 different biocidal product types, come within the Directive’s scope of regulatory control. This will eventually involve re-registration of all existing products, as well as affecting any new product that comes to the market. Some active substances, such as the rodenticides and insecticides, are already highly regulated in Europe but others, such as embalming fluids, masonry preservatives, disinfectants and repellents/attractants will come under intensive regulatory scrutiny for the first time. One of the purposes of the Directive is to offer enhanced protection for human health and the environment. The potential benefit for suppliers of pest control products is mutual recognition of regulatory product dossiers across 25 Member States of the European Union. This process, requiring harmonisation of all regulatory decision-making processes, should reduce duplicated effort and, potentially, allow manufacturers speedier access to European markets. However, the cost to industry is enormous, both in terms of the regulatory resources required to assemble BPD dossiers and the development budgets required to conduct studies to meet its new standards. The cost to regulatory authorities is also tremendous, in terms of the need to upgrade staff capabilities to meet new challenges and the volume of the work expected by the Commission when they are appointed the Rapporteur Member State (RMS) for an active substance. Users of pest control products will pay a price too. The increased regulatory costs of maintaining products in the European market are likely to be passed on, at least in part, to users. Furthermore, where the costs of meeting new regulatory requirements cannot be recouped from product sales, many well-known products may leave the market. For example, it seems that in future few rodenticides that are not anticoagulants will be available within the EU. An understanding of the BPD is essential to those who intend to place urban pest control products on the European market and may be useful to those considering the harmonisation of regulatory processes elsewhere. This paper reviews the operation of the first stages of the BPD for rodenticides, examines the potential benefits and costs of the legislation to the urban pest control industry and looks forward to the next stages of implementation involving all insecticides used in urban pest management.

Distribution, gene sequence and expression in vivo of the plasmid encoded fimbrial antigen of Salmonella serotype Enteritidis

The pefA gene which encoded the serotype associated plasmid (SAP) mediated fimbrial major subunit antigen of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium shared genetic identity with 128 of 706 salmonella isolates as demonstrated by dot (colony) hybridization. Seventy-seven of 113 isolates of Typhimurium and individual isolates of serotypes Bovis-morbificans, Cholerae-suis and Enteritidis phage type 9b hybridized pefA strongly, whereas 48 isolates of Enteritidis hybridized pefA weakly and one Enteritidis isolate of phage type 14b failed to hybridize. Individual isolates of 294 serotypes and 247 individual isolates of serotype Dublin did not hybridize pefA. Southern hybridization of plasmids extracted from Enteritidis demonstrated that the pefA gene probe hybridized strongly an atypical SAP of 80 kb in size harboured by one Enteritidis isolate of phage-type 9b, whereas the typical SAP of 58 kb in size harboured by 48 Enteritidis isolates hybridized weakly. One Enteritidis isolate of phage type 14b which failed to hybridize pefA in dot (colony) hybridization experiments was demonstrated to be plasmid free. A cosmid library of Enteritidis phage type 4 expressed in Escherichia coli K12 was screened by hybridization for the presence of pef sequences. Recombinant clones which were deduced to harbour the entire pef operon elaborated a PEF-like fimbrial structure at the cell surface. The PEF-like fimbrial antigen was purified from one cosmid clone and used in western blot experiments with sera from chickens infected with Enteritidis phage-type 4. Seroconversion to the fimbrial antigen was observed which indicated that the Enteritidis PEF-like fimbrial structure was expressed at some stage during infection. Nucleotide sequence analysis demonstrated that the pefA alleles of Typhimurium and Enteritidis phage-type 4 shared 76% DNA nucleotide and 82% deduced amino acid sequence identity.

The SEF14 fimbrial antigen of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis is encoded within a pathogenicity islet

The DNA sequence of the chromosomal gene cluster encoding the SEF14 fimbriae of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis was determined. Five contiguous open reading frames, sefABCDE, were identified. The sefE gene shared significant homology with araC-like positive regulators. Serovar-associated virulence plasmid (SAP) genes orf7,8,9 and pefI were identified immediately adjacent to the sef operon. The pefI gene encoded a putative regulator of the Plasmid-encoded fimbrial antigen (PEF) expression. The entire sef-pef region, Ranked by two IS-like elements, was inserted adjacent to leuX that encoded a transfer RNA molecule. The organisation of this region was suggestive of a classic pathogenicity islet. Southern hybridisation confirmed two copies of the SAP derived orf7,8,9 and pefI region in S. Enteritidis, one in the chromosome and one on the SAP. Of other group D Salmonella, only S. Blegdam and S. Moscow harboured both chromosomal and plasmid copies of pefI-orf9 region although polymorphism was evident. Crown Copyright (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Integration of retrotransposons-based markers in a linkage map of barley

A deeper understanding of random markers is important if they are to be employed for a range of objectives. The sequence specific amplified polymorphism (S-SAP) technique is a powerful genetic analysis tool which exploits the high copy number of retrotransposon long terminal repeats (LTRs) in the plant genome. The distribution and inheritance of S-SAP bands in the barley genome was studied using the Steptoe × Morex (S × M) double haploid (DH) population. Six S-SAP primer combinations generated 98 polymorphic bands, and map positions were assigned to all but one band. Eight putative co-dominant loci were detected, representing 16 of the mapped markers. Thus at least 81 of the mapped S-SAP loci were dominant. The markers were distributed along all of the seven chromosomes and a tendency to cluster was observed. The distribution of S-SAP markers over the barley genome concurred with the knowledge of the high copy number of retrotransposons in plants. This experiment has demonstrated the potential for the S-SAP technique to be applied in a range of analyses such as genetic fingerprinting, marker assisted breeding, biodiversity assessment and phylogenetic analyses.

Domestic energy models: complexities in defining specific tools

The domestic (residential) sector accounts for 30% of the world’s energy consumption hence plays a substantial role in energy management and CO2 emissions reduction efforts. Energy models have been generally developed to mitigate the impact of climate change and for the sustainable management and planning of energy resources. Although there are different models and model categories, they are generally categorised into top down and bottom up. Significantly, top down models are based on aggregated data while bottom up models are based on disaggregated data. These approaches create fundamental differences which have been the centre of debate since the 1970’s. These differences have led to noticeable discrepancies in results which have led to authors arguing that the models are of a more complementary than a substituting nature. As a result developing methods suggest that there is the need to integrate either the two models (bottom up − top down) or aspects that combine two bottom up models or an upgrade of top down models to compensate for the documented limitations. Diverse schools of thought argue in favour of these integrations – currently known as hybrid models. In this paper complexities of identifying country specific and/or generic domestic energy models and their applications in different countries have been critically reviewed. Predominantly from the review it is evident that most of these methods have been adapted and used in the ‘western world’ with practically no such applications in Africa.

Seafood safety and quality: an analysis of the supply chain in the Sultanate of Oman

The globalization of trade in fish has created many challenges for the developing world specifically with regard to food safety and quality. International organisations have established a good basis for standards in international trade. Whilst these requirements are frequently embraced by the major importers (such as Japan, the EU and the USA), they often impose additional safety requirements and regularly identify batches which fail to meet their strict standards. Creating an effective national seafood control system which meets both the internal national needs as well the requirements for the export market can be challenging. Many countries adopt a dual system where seafood products for the major export markets are subject to tight control whilst the majority of the products (whether for the local market or for more regional trade) are less tightly controlled. With regional liberalization also occurring, deciding on appropriate controls is complex. In the Sultanate of Oman, fisheries production is one of the countries' chief sources of economic revenue after oil production and is a major source of the national food supply. In this paper the structure of the fish supply chain has been analysed and highlighted the different routes operating for the different markets. Although much of the fish are consumed within Oman, there is a major export trade to the local regional markets. Much smaller quantities meet the more stringent standards imposed by the major importing countries and exports to these are limited. The paper has considered the development of the Omani fish control system including the key legislative documents and the administrative structures that have been developed. Establishing modern controls which satisfy the demands of the major importers is possible but places additional costs on businesses. Enhanced controls such as HACCP and other management standards are required but can be difficult to justify when alternative markets do not specify these. These enhanced controls do however provide additional consumer protection and can bring benefits to local consumers. The Omani government is attempting to upgrade the system of controls and has made tremendous progress toward the implementation of HACCP and introducing enhanced management systems into its industrial sector. The existence of strengthened legislative and government support, including subsidies, has encouraged some businesses to implement HACCP. The current control systems have been reviewed and a SWOT analysis approach used to identify key factors for their future development. The study shows that seafood products in the supply chain are often exposed to lengthy handling and distribution process before reaching the consumers, a typical issue faced by many developing countries. As seafood products are often perishable, they safety is compromised if not adequately controlled. The enforcement of current food safety laws in the Sultanate of Oman is shared across various government agencies. Consequently, there is a need to harmonize all regulatory requirements, enhancing the domestic food protection and to continue to work towards a fully risk-based approach in order to compete successfully in the global market.

The impact of location and type on the performance of Low-Voltage network connected Battery Energy Storage Systems

This paper assesses the impact of the location and configuration of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) on Low-Voltage (LV) feeders. BESS are now being deployed on LV networks by Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) as an alternative to conventional reinforcement (e.g. upgrading cables and transformers) in response to increased electricity demand from new technologies such as electric vehicles. By storing energy during periods of low demand and then releasing that energy at times of high demand, the peak demand of a given LV substation on the grid can be reduced therefore mitigating or at least delaying the need for replacement and upgrade. However, existing research into this application of BESS tends to evaluate the aggregated impact of such systems at the substation level and does not systematically consider the impact of the location and configuration of BESS on the voltage profiles, losses and utilisation within a given feeder. In this paper, four configurations of BESS are considered: single-phase, unlinked three-phase, linked three-phase without storage for phase-balancing only, and linked three-phase with storage. These four configurations are then assessed based on models of two real LV networks. In each case, the impact of the BESS is systematically evaluated at every node in the LV network using Matlab linked with OpenDSS. The location and configuration of a BESS is shown to be critical when seeking the best overall network impact or when considering specific impacts on voltage, losses, or utilisation separately. Furthermore, the paper also demonstrates that phase-balancing without energy storage can provide much of the gains on unbalanced networks compared to systems with energy storage.

Detection of tobacco mosaic tobamovirus in cigarettes through RT-PCR

TMV was tried to recover from a variety of branded cigarettes and cigars. Tobacco from six different brands of cigarettes and cigar were processed and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was employed for the detection of TMV. RTPCR confirmed the presence of TMV in tobacco from one brand of cigarette and one brand of cigar. Bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris) were inoculated manually with tobacco sap of cigarettes resulting in the production of localized disease lesions. Together, these results showed that tobacco used to make cigarettes and cigars can function as an effective disease vector, potentially aiding the movement of infectious TMV between countries. This is an important finding prompting a need to test smoking tobacco for other virus particles that infect tobacco plants and survive processing as well as considering biosecurity measures to limit virus transmission

Outcome Analysis of Immediate and Delayed Conservative Breast Surgery Reconstruction With Mastopexy and Reduction Mammaplasty Techniques

Background: Bilateral mammaplasty or mastopexy is frequently used for oncoplastic objectives. However, little information has been available regarding outcome following immediate and delayed reconstruction. Method: Patients were divided into Group I (immediate reconstruction) and Group II (delayed reconstruction). Retrospective review was performed to compare complications, length of hospital stay, revision surgeries, and satisfaction. The associations between the complications with potential risk factors (timing, age, body mass index, smoking, and comorbid medical conditions) were analyzed. Results: There were a total of 144 patients with a mean follow-up of 47 months. Of the 106 patients in Group I, complications occurred in 24 (22.6%), skin necrosis was observed in 7.5%, fat necrosis in 5.6%, and 6.6% patients developed local recurrence. Mean period of hospitalization was 1.89 days. Of the 38 patients of the Group II, complications occurred in 12 (31.5%), skin necrosis was observed in 7 (18.4%), fat necrosis in 4 (10.5%), and 5.2% patients developed local recurrence. Mean period of hospitalization was 1.35 days. Increased length of hospital stay greater than 1 day (P < 0.001) and the number of revision surgeries (P = 0.043) were associated with the timing of the reconstruction. In univariate analysis, no difference between groups was found with respect to complication incidence (P = 0.275); however, after adjusting for other risk factors, the probability of complications tend to be higher for Group II (OR = 2.65; 95% confidence interval - 1.01-7.00; P = 0.049). Conclusions: On the basis of the results of our study, the probability of complications tends to be higher for delayed reconstructions, and it is demonstrated that obesity and smoking are risk factors for complications. Ultimately, these data may facilitate the provision of individualized risk information for shared medical decision-making.

Effects of physiotherapy on hemodynamic variables in newborns with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a frequent respiratory disturbance in preterm newborns. Preceding investigations evaluated chronic physiotherapy effects on newborns with different lung diseases; however, no study analyzed acute physiotherapy treatment on premature newborns with ARDS. In this study we aimed to evaluate the acute effects of chest and motor physiotherapy treatment on hemodynamic variables in preterm newborns with ARDS. Methods: We evaluated heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), systolic (SAP), mean (MAP) and diastolic arterial pressure (DAP), temperature and oxygen saturation (SO(2)%) in 44 newborns with ARDS. We compared all variables between six periods in one day: before first physiotherapy treatment vs. after first physiotherapy treatment vs. before second physiotherapy treatment vs. after second physiotherapy treatment vs. before third physiotherapy treatment vs. after third physiotherapy treatment. Variables were measured 2 minutes before and 5 minutes after each physiotherapy session. We applied Anova one way followed by post hoc Bonferroni test. Results: HR (147.5 +/- 9.5 bpm vs. 137.7 +/- 9.3 bpm; p<0.001), RR (45.5 +/- 8.7cpm vs. 41.5 +/- 6.7 cpm; p=0.001), SAP (70.3 +/- 10.4 mmHg vs. 60.1 +/- 7.1 mmHg; p=0.001) and MAP (55.7 +/- 10 mmHg vs. 46 +/- 6.6 mmHg; p=0.001) were significantly reduced after the third physiotherapy treatment compared to before the first session. There were no significant changes regarding temperature, DAP and SO(2) %. Conclusion: Chest and motor physiotherapy acutely improves HR, RR, SAP, MAP and SO(2) % in newborns with ARDS.

Prospective Clinical Trial Comparing Outcome Measures Between Furlow and von Langenbeck Palatoplasties for UCLP

The goal of this prospective randomized clinical trial was to compare 2 cohorts of standardized cleft patients with regard to functional speech outcome and the presence or absence of palatal fistulae. The 2 cohorts are randomized to undergo either a conventional von Langenbeck repair with intravelar velarplasty or the double-opposing Z-plasty Furlow procedure. A prospective 2 x 2 x 2 factorial clinical trial was used in which each subject was randomly assigned to 1 of 8 different groups: 1 of 2 different lip repairs (Spina vs. Millard), 1 of 2 different palatal repair (von Langenbeck vs. Furlow), and 1 of 2 different ages at time of palatal surgery (9-12 months vs. 15-18 months). All surgeries were performed by the same 4 surgeons. A cul-de-sac test of hypernasality and a mirror test of nasal air emission were selected as primary outcome measures for velopharyngeal function. Both a surgeon and speech pathologist examined patients for the presence of palatal fistulae. In this study, the Furlow double-opposing Z-palatoplasty resulted in significantly better velopharyngeal function for speech than the von Langenbeck procedure as determined by the perceptual cul-de-sac test of hypernasality. Fistula occurrence was significantly higher for the Furlow procedure than for the von Langenbeck. Fistulas were more likely to occur in patients with wider clefts and when relaxing incisions were not used.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may modulate the protease activity of Candida albicans

The phenotypic pressure exerted by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on autochthonous and pathogenic microbiota remains sparsely known. In this study, we investigated if some NSAIDs increment or diminish the secretion of aspartyl-proteases (Sap) by Candida albicans grown under different phenotypes and oxygen availability using a set of SAP knock-out mutants and other set for genes (EFG1 and CPH1) that codify transcription factors involved in filamentation and protease secretion. Preconditioned cells were grown under planktonic and biofilm phenotypes, in normoxia and anoxia, in the presence of plasma concentrations of acetylsalicylic acid, diclofenac, indomethacin, nimesulide, piroxicam, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen. For diclofenac, indomethacin, nimesulide, and piroxicam the secretion rates of Sap by SAP1-6, EFG1. and CPH1 mutants were similar or, even, inferior to parental wildtype strain. This suggests that neither Sap 1-6 isoenzymes nor Efg1/Cph1 pathways may be entirely responsible for protease release when exposed to these NSAIDs. Ibuprofen and acetaminophen enhanced Sap secretion rates in three environmental conditions (normoxic biofilm, normoxic planktonic and anoxic planktonic). In other hand, aspirin seems to reduce the Sap-related pathogenic behavior of candidal biofilms. Modulation of Sap activity may occur according to candidal phenotypic state, oxygen availability, and type of NSAID to which the cells are exposed. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Components Separation Technique With Limited Subcutaneous Undermining A Cadaver Study

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of the undermining of the subcutaneous tissue on the tension of the abdominal wall, after the components separation of the abdominal muscles. Twenty adult cadavers were studied. The resistance of the medial advancement of both anterior and posterior recti sheaths was represented by the traction index and measured in 2 levels-3 cm above and 2 cm below the umbilicus. Traction indices were compared in the following 3 consecutive dissection situations: (1) after the subcutaneous tissue undermining laterally to the semilunaris line; (2) after the dissection of the rectus muscle from its posterior sheath associated with the release of the external oblique muscle; (3) after the subcutaneous tissue undermining laterally to the anterior axillary line. Friedman and Spearman tests were used to compare the results. There was no statistical significant difference between the subcutaneous tissue undermining laterally to the semilunaris line and that laterally to the anterior axillary line, when associated with the musculoaponeurotic dissections. In conclusion, limited subcutaneous undermining does not influence the tension of closure of the musculoaponeurotic layer after the components separation technique in cadavers.