This, according to Minister of Environment Science and Technology, Professor Frimpong Boateng, will come alongside the development of a Science, Technology and Innovation Fund.

[contextly_sidebar id=”csLOcxK8RSNK5J6Vkdg0Mknor9Mmea6h”]Speaking at a technology exhibition of the Kristo Asafo Church in Accra, Professor Frimpong Boateng assured that the government was putting in a lot of effort to develop research in the country.

He, however, noted the need for administrative structures to ensure prudent use of prospective funds.

“We have been complaining that we don’t have enough money for research and development, In Ghana, we talk a lot without thinking about the administrative financial framework and so on. So if someone is given 1 billion dollars now, we would not know how to administer it, he stated.

Thus, Professor Frimpong Boateng added that this was the reason a Science, Technology and Innovation fund was needed “so that when we get the money, we would be able to know how to administer it.”

“This policy document is before Cabinet and when this is approved, our President has promised that in the short term, we would devote one percent of GDP to that fund so that we would have money for research.”

Ghana’s GDP is currently around $45.5 billion.

Professor Frimpong Boateng had previously lamented the allocation of 0.025% of GDP to his ministry for research purposes.

According to him, more is needed in the government’s quest to address the country’s challenges through research and innovation.

In line with its support for research, the Ministry recently took receipt of a $100,000 donation from the Ghana Chamber of Mines towards empowering the next generation of researchers, problem solvers and leaders.

The support was also towards an initiative on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) training programme.

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By: Sammi Wafe/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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People who cheat are more likely to cheat again according to new research.

A study carried out by the Archives of Sexual Behaviour found that people who had been unfaithful in the past were three times more likely to do so again.

The researchers asked the 484 participants in mixed-gender relationships if any of them had sexual relations outside of their relationships, and if they suspected their other half to have done the same.

The report also found that people can forget their own cheating, but are able to remember others very clearly.

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Source: Capitalfm

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According to him, evidence based research contributes immensely to the growth of business.

Addressing the press on the sidelines of a business insight workshop organized by Noble International Business School, Dr. Anyigba indicated that business owner should employ new approaches to doing things and that can be achieved through research.

“People must begin to realize that we need evidence, proper research and thinking which will add up to growth and success of businesses. The evidence must focus on research.”

International financial consultant, Felix Nana Sackey urged business owners to adapt new behavioral patterns within the current business world to gain competitive advantage

“Managers should think of how to create the right environment for businesses to thrive, how to handle customers because customers are assets. We are in a globalised world and if the same way of thinking persists we will not progress. The literal thinking concept is meant to change the way we do things at no cost to one’s organization and the country and it is needed to remain competitive because we are competing with the world.”

For her part, Group HR, GLICO, Irene Stella Agyenim Boateng demanded that managers should focus on investing into the capacity of employees.

“Employees retention and talent acquisition gives businesses the competitive advantage.  When you have happy employees certainly your customers will also be happy.”

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By: Philip Nii Lartey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Adopt research to boost growth – Businesses urged appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The research, under the Preventing Maternal and Neonatal Deaths in Rural Northern Ghana (PREMAND) Study, also showed that there was an increased risk of infant mortality associated with mothers who were in polygamous marriages, and those whose husbands had less education and willed the strongest voice in deciding to seek care for sick infants.

[contextly_sidebar id=”kOSBqFE6SE90DzJMXbygPhbrtSTNP1VX”]Covering the period between August 2014 and February 2017, the study found 211 neonatal deaths and 87 near-misses across the four districts with half of deaths occurring in the East Mamprusi district in the Northern Region.

The study, conducted to establish the factors that distinguish between neonatal deaths and near-misses across four districts of Northern Ghana -Sissala East, Kassena-Nankana East and West and East Mamprusi- showed that mothers who did not seek antenatal care, did not have a skilled birth attendant and who did not seek care outside the home for baby’s illness run the risk of losing their new-borns.

Annually, close to 3 million babies die before age of one month while several others suffer life-threatening complications but survive, known as ‘near-misses’.

The research by Cheryl A. Moyer and Katherine H. James from the University of Michigan Medical School and John Williams of the Navrongo Health Research Centre found that the “strongest factors associated with seeking care outside the home were younger maternal ages and mothers having the strongest voice in care-seeking decision-making”.

According to the study, the findings reiterated the importance of education in driving appropriate healthcare seeking, as well as the need for community-driven interventions to address prompt care-seeking.

The research thus provided evidence of a causal pathway where women having the strongest voice regarding care-seeking for their sick infants increased the likelihood of their survival and reduced the probability of new-born death.

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Source: GNA

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For the research, the team collected samples from 27 mobile phone screens.

They found 515 different bacterial types and 28 different fungi, including the three new species.

Praveen Rahi, one of the scientists on the team, said that these bacteria and fungi thrive on human bodies. But he points out they are friendly to humans.

Studies carried out earlier have found that smartphone and tablet screens carry more germs than a toilet seat.

A 2013 report by British watchdog “Which?” collected samples from 90 devices and found “hazardous” levels of bacteria that can make people sick, including E. coli, NYDailyNews reported.

The report said that this could be because of the busy lifestyle that people lead today with many carrying their cellphones to the loo.

Phones also get hot and are mostly held in our hands or kept in bags and pockets. This too provides for suitable conditions for germ growth.

In another study in 2015, carried out by Dr. William DePaolo, assistant professor in the Molecular Microbiology and Immunology department of the University of Southern California, collected swabs from the phone screens of Buzzfeed employees to check for bacteria in comparison to a toilet seat.

They found that while the toilet had around 3 species of bacteria, the cellphones has on an average 10-12 species of bacteria.

The phone screens also had “worse types of bacteria” including E. coli and faecal bacteria.

There are about 25,000 germs on each square inch of your cellphone.

But is it as bad as it sounds? Can these bacteria on your cellphone be really harmful and make you sick?

A report in Bustle states that the alarming studies claiming that cellphones are 10 times dirtier than the average toilet seat can be sometimes misleading.

That is because the toilet seat may be an unfair comparison as it may after all may not be the dirtiest place in your house.

According to Dr Chuck Gerba, professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona, the toilet seat is one of the cleanest places in the house. Even cleaner than your chopping board.

“It’s one of the cleanest things you’ll run across in terms of micro-organisms. It’s our gold standard – there are not many things cleaner than a toilet seat when it comes to germs,” he told the BBC.

“Usually there are about 200 times more faecal bacteria on the average cutting board than on a toilet seat,” he says.

Also, like Praveen Rahi of NCSS pointed out, not all the germs may be harmful.

This is not to say that all germs are harmless because some of them could be.

So it is a good idea to keep your phone clean. Since you cannot dip it in water and soap, antibacterial wipes made specifically to clean electronics could come handy.

Another way to keep your phones clean, experts suggest, is by keeping your hands clean.

Not just phones, ATMs are quite dirty too

A research from last year found that the keypad of automated teller machines (ATM) may be loaded with bacteria from spoiled food to parasites that may also cause sexually transmitted disease (STDs).

Automated teller machine (ATM) keypads represent a specific and unexplored microhabitat for microbial communities.

“Our results suggest that ATM keypads integrate microbes from different sources, including the human microbiome, foods, and potentially novel environmental organisms adapted to air or surfaces,” said Jane Carlton, Professor at New York University, US.

“DNA obtained from ATM keypads may therefore provide a record of both human behaviour and environmental sources of microbes,” Carlton added.

The researchers in June and July 2014 took swabs of keypads from 66 ATM machines from Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, in the US.

Specifically, the most common identified sources of microbes on the keypads were from household surfaces such as televisions, restrooms, kitchens and pillows, as well as from bony fish, mollusks and chicken.

Residual DNA from a meal may remain on a person’s hands and be transferred to the ATM keypad upon use, the researchers suggested.

ATM keypads located in laundromats and stores had the highest number of biomarkers with the most prominent being Lactobacillales (lactic acid bacteria), which is usually found in decomposing plants or milk products.

In other samples, the researchers observed the biomarker Xeromyces bisporus, which is associated with spoiled baked goods.

In addition, the team found a parasite typically seen in the gut of humans and other mammals, along with a species closely related to the human parasite Trichomonas vaginalis, which can potentially cause STD.

However, there is no significant difference was found in the keypads from ATMs located outdoors versus indoors, the researcher noted, in the paper published in the journal ‘mSphere.’

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Source: Thenewsminute

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