*High prevalence of Diabetes in Ghana: Effect of High Fat Diet*

 

Diabetes mellitus represents one of the non-infectious diseases with high prevalence in Ghana, it affects people who are mostly between 35-60 years. It is a metabolic disease that affects glucose homeostasis; which simply means the control of the level of glucose in the blood during the hours when we are well fed and starving is defective. Normally, the body acts through the hormone insulin to store excess glucose when we are well fed and then cause a slow releasing when starving. This balance is tightly control to ensure that glucose levels in the blood is maintained.

*Untimely production and insufficient levels of insulin*

Diabetes mellitus occurs in two forms, type-one (mostly congenital) is when the production of insulin is disrupted and type-two (insulin resistance) when the insulin is produced all right but it fails to achieve the desire effect. Type-two diabetes also occurs because of untimed production and insufficient levels of insulin, which is now partly known to be due to the negative effect of high fat diet. The recent discovery of the impact of high fat diet on the reduced production of insulin goes a long way to identify some of the specific processes that cause the type-two diabetes mellitus. The link between high fat diet, obesity and diabetes has long been known but not the exact factors responsible.

*Reactive Glucose*

The reason that makes high level of glucose dangerous to the body is that glucose is very reactive compared to sugar compounds like fructose. When glucose stays in the blood at a high level for too long it can becomes cross-linked to many other molecules especially proteins. This process is responsible for many of the symptoms in the sufferer’s body. The cure for the complex disease of diabetes is the most sought after due to the high prevalence the world over and especially in Ghana.

*Effect of high fat diet on the insulin producing cells in the Pancreas*

The new discovery by Ohtsubo and colleagues at the University of California – Santa Barbara and published in the journal Nature Medicine, describes for the first that high fat diet leads to disruption of certain processes in the beta cells of the pancreas. This disruption results in the reduction of the capacity of the pancreatic beta cells to sense glucose levels accurately and to produce the correct levels of insulin in a timely manner. This effect is also seen when the levels of free fatty acids are elevated by other processes apart from diet, this strongly suggest that type-two diabetes occurring later in life is due in part to elevated fat levels in the blood.

*High fat diet blocks the breakdown of fat in the body*

In a related development, a large team of researcher lead by Prof. Eric Verdin of the Gladstone Institute in San Francisco – California, report another groundbreaking discovery which show that high fat diet blocks the process by which fat if broken down to yield energy for the body. This discovery (reported in the Molecular Cell Journal) demonstrates a rather paradoxical relationship between high fat diet and the processes needed to break down fat especially in the liver. The gene affected by high fat diet can be defective individuals who show childhood obesity however; people with the correct version of this gene can develop dysfunctional fat breakdown process due to high fat diet.

*Diabetes and Lifestyle*

The two groundbreaking discoveries demonstrates clearly that high fat diet has a negative feedback on processes the is required for the regulation of blood glucose level. The persistent elevated fat level in the blood disrupts the process by which the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas sense blood level glucose. This sensing process is vital to the control of the released of the correct amounts of insulin timely to regulate blood glucose levels. It appears high fat diet is a two-edged sword that blocks breakdown of fat and also leads to elevated fat levels in the blood which disrupts the glucose sensing function of beta cells of the pancreas. The take home message is the high fat diet is not good especially for people above 30 years, since it is strongly linked to diabetes and coronary diseases.

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Patrick Kobina Arthur (PhD),
parthur14@gmail.com
http://pakar1-corner.blogspot.com/

LIVELIHOOD GHANA: HOME-BASED FOOD, ENERGY AND WATER PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

While many citizens and policy makers continue to believe that the best way to ensure that water, food and energy is supplied to homes and businesses  is by expanding the existing systems and installing new ones. I prefer to look for solutions in small and independent systems that use unsophisticated but smart technologies to create and maintain the supplies basic to our existence. It is not realistic to think that every household can meet all of its needs within its walls, but with clever designs, many systems can be installed that can deliver water and energy and to some extent food in a year round manner.

 This is easily achievable in our tropical Ghanaian situation by making these systems a part of the design of our homes that are yet to be built or re-engineering existing homes to equip them with water storage and purification systems as well as energy. The big energy generation and water supply systems are prone to frequent breakdowns and cost a lot of money to maintain.  The situation in Accra is clearly a demonstration that big systems do not work or work only for a few people, and yet our tax money is used to fund the systems that will not benefit all of us.

*The Current and Future Challenge*:

Majority of houses in Ghana have designs that are not suitable for a tropical climate as we have here. There are times of the year when there is excessive heat and low wind currents and many of us suffer greatly, being unable to sleep until early hours of the morning. In the face of insufficient energy supply, many houses are built complete with slide doors and windows, ostensibly to meet the style and status requirement. All of these bad features coupled to the increasing population argues for an immediate policy to avert future crisis as though the current crisis is not debilitating enough.

In addition to these shortfalls, the earth’s climate is changing; it will continue to do so far into the future at rates projected to be unprecedented in human history. Ghana’s vulnerability to the risks associated with climate change may exacerbate the current social and economic challenges. The effects of climate change are inevitable and the earlier Ghana adapts the better. The effect of this phenomenon on the social life of the population is overwhelming especially in the areas of agriculture, energy and water supply.  

Ghana Water Company currently cannot provide the water needs of the population in Ghana. The company only produces two million out of the total needs of about five million gallons for inhabitants of Accra, not to talk of other parts of Ghana. These problems are worsened by the changes in climate; the proposal therefore will look at interventions at the household level with the aim of adapting to climate change. The recent earthquake in Japan has forced the shutdown of the large nuclear plants and the private sector is suddenly producing small energy production systems for homes.

*The Solution to Production Shortfalls*:

The current social and economic paradigm of making huge investments into building even bigger systems for energy, food and water production must give way to small, low-tech, smart systems. These independent systems of a necessity must be home-based and the new policies must empower the individual with technical assistance to generate their own basic needs. Currently, most Ghanaians are doing this anyway, many rural communities are not connected to the water and electricity supply grid of the country and even in the big cities like Accra, there are suburbs like Dome that meet all of its water supply needs by boreholes.

        > *Water Supply*

Apart from borehole water, storage tanks that can hold rainwater for 6 months at full capacity will effectively put Ghana Water Company out of operation. The difficulty with independent supply systems is that many people hate assuming responsibility for many things, but when there is a crisis and the lights are off and the taps are not flowing, people wake up and do whatever is necessary to meet these basics. The idea is to activate this survival instinct and use them in a proactive manner to ensure that all households will install systems that can provide water and energy. When this is successful, we would have developed the capacity to deal with worse case situations that will cripple large systems.

        

      > *Food Supply*

The interventions in food supply will take the form of balcony gardens, backyard farming and ‘flower pot’ agriculture. While this measure may not be able to meet all the food supply needs of households, it can cut a considerable percentage off. Placing the challenge of food supply in the hands of individual household means that they can tend their garden at their spare time; eliminating the long supply chain that is associated with the current food supply system. Households will also reduce their food wastage and improve their ability to recycle biological waste in the form of conversion into manure through a simple processing plant to fertilize their garden.

      > *Waste Treatment*

Waste management is also becoming a major problem for city authorities, connecting manure production to recycling of bio-waste will separate it from the waste generated. Paper and plastic waste will be easier to recycle if it is not fouled by decomposing bio-waste. Manure preparation is odorless and environmentally friendly; employing the activity of earthworms in a fortified plastic container as a bioreactor. The benefit is inproved yield of backyard garden and reduces the burden of bio-waste handling which generate many infectious disease cases.

        >*Energy Production*

When I saw a young man on the TGIF show reporting the development of a system that allows the use of few solar panels to power a home, I was excited and more so when President Mills for a meeting invited him. A technology like this can make it possible for households to operate their own energy supply systems. In addition to this, small wind turbines as well as biogas production systems all can be integrated into an efficient home-based energy system for cooking and lighting. The provision of the right kind of technical assistance in the form of modules and light-equipment to enable such home-based systems to run efficiently will make a big difference in our livelihoods.

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Patrick Kobina Arthur (PhD),
parthur14@gmail.com
http://pakar1-corner.blogspot.com/

Kindly edited by Gloria Baaba Arkaifie

"'Eco-Tropic' Building Design" - My Ideal Home in Tropical Ghana

Although I am not an Architect by training, I have spent a lot of time looking at the poor designs of buildings in Ghana, which leaves them hot and uncomfortable. The new trend of using glass slide doors and windows is making the situation worse. Using such materials on home buildings make them hot and difficult to live in. Many houses are so hot, with occupants sweating all night whenever there is a power outage.

I have a concept for a building design that will provide an indoor temperature 5oC lower than the temperature outdoors anytime of the day.

> A building in the tropics must not have its windows and doors opened directly to the elements of the weather. All houses must have an intervening space; a corridor that separates the rooms from the direct incidence of the sun and rain.

> There must not be dead spaces anywhere in the house that block ventilation. All rooms must have windows on at least three sides of the room, making use of a lot of inside corridors, which must open into the outside corridor to complete the air circulation circuit.

> The use of slide windows is a bad idea in the tropics. Together with the dead spaces, the rooms will end up being extremely hot. The simple louver blades are very flexible to use in regulating the airflow through the rooms. Windows should be taller than the usual we have in Ghana, the best should be 2 meters high and slender to take one louver blade in width. They must be paired but separated on the same wall and on at least three sides of the room.

> The rooms must not be short and small this increases stuffiness and heat in the rooms. At least 50% of the height of the door must always be added above it before the roofing. Ideally, the room height should be 4 meters, with long under-roof windows that allow hot air collecting under the roof to escape. This way the cool air comes in through the regular windows and the hot air leaves through the windows under the roof.

> Aluminum roofing sheets and plastic ceiling are another heat generating idea as well as a bare concrete roof. Clay tiles roof will be the best option to reduce heat but I personally prefer a concrete roof that has an aluminum roof above it with a pack storage materials in between.

> The building must be surrounded by a garden and trees (like weeping willows) which do not attract too many insects. In addition, royal palms, plants in the family of plantain and banana (The Voyager's Tree - Ravenala); which have very broad foliage to provide the ideal shade a tropic house needs to stay cool.

> The use of wood is not good for a tropical home; the high scale of insect infestation makes me dislike wood in my home. The kitchen cabinets especially, these have long-term health implications. The use of aluminum and glass for most of the room cabinets is my first choice; this will cut out all the humidity induce wood decay, fungi and insect infestations. Kitchen and bathroom sinks must be made of concrete and secured with water-resistant plastering materials. Floors are preferable if made of high quality tiles and the ceiling made of plaster moldings on the concrete roof, which should be fire and insect resistant.

This is my concept of an ideal tropical villa. Do not be surprised to see me residing in one of them. I want to reduce the energy consumed by fans and air conditioners, which have to be on all night to prevent us from sweating our lives away.

If you have more features to make the design the plan even more powerful, please feel free to contact me.

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Patrick Kobina Arthur (PhD)
parthur14@gmail.com
http://pakar1-corner.blogspot.com/




Kindly edited by Gloria Baaba Arkaifie

Can Africa Ever Be The Best Continent on Earth?

Can The African Ever Be in The Pole Position As The Earth Changes?

Within the same set of limitations and developmental constraints as it exist now 2011?

The fact is that the African is the least endowed in the world today and has the least willingness and ability to generate economic value for his own progress and prosperity. I am attempting to examine this current African situation from the opposite end, and see if it is actually doom-and-gloom. Assuming that, the African attitude to development and progress remains as bad as it is forever, can the African benefit from it? Can the African find any reward for being the least willing and able to generate economic value for his own progress and prosperity? Most of the people in the west and some Africa (myself included) are worried for the future of Africa, wonder why in the mist of plenty the African is hungry. Why the African cannot go the way of the west and create his own industrial resolution and so on and so forth?

Industrial Revolution

Talking about industrial revolution, it has moved Europe into an era of remarkable improvement in the conditions of life and material prosperity. This incredible development exported to the Americas, where abundant resources and strong will of migrant Europeans brought about greater prosperity that surpassed that of the originator Europe. Japan and then lately China downloaded the key strategies used by Europe and America for their rapid industrialization and the results has been impressive. 

Africa is a Scar on the Conscience of the World?

Africa is been referred to as the "scar on the conscience of the world" by Tony Blair the former prime minister of the United Kingdom.  Being an African and studying in Europe at the time this statement was made, I felt depressed by it and ashamed. I recognized that the African is least likely to explore and exploit their environment for economic gain, and that the Africa is least likely to be innovative and aspire for progress and prosperity.

Putting aside hard feeling, the African situation is indeed worrying, we easily reminded of this by pictures of starving Somalians every year and that of the many wars on the continent. If the situation is that bad and worrying, why are the Africans not taking charge? Necessity is the mother of invention, which is true until you cross the borders into African and you quickly discover that to every rule there is an exception.

Africa: The Origin of the Modern Human Being

The current theory of human origins states that the modern human being originated from Africa. Why is it then that the offspring will evolve so many positive attributes, which make them more successful and their original form (the African). Most of Africa has had more than 100 years of Western Education and aid, yet progress is morbidly slow. Estimates show that, corrupt African politicians steal and take outside the continent, far more than all the aid money given to Africa each year. Using a common sense approach, one can infer then that African is incapable not only of creating his own economic value, but will do the contrary by dissipating economic values donated to him instead of multiplying it.

Africa’s Change of Fortune: Is It Possible in the Future?

Actually, an article I read on Human evolution, which tracks the many changes that has occurred to bring about the different races, inspired this piece. Prompted also by the old adage, "No condition is permanent"; I started to examine the possibility that the African could be the most prosperous and progressive in the distant future, even if the African would maintain his current attributes. What at all can happen to the earth we live on, that will reverse the fortune of the African without reversing his attributes? This scenario appears fictional and more so even to the most optimistic person on earth. Perhaps I can illustrate this scenario: imagine two rafts, the first one made impervious material so the user will remain afloat and survive a drift on the lake (The Western type) and the second one is made of material that is leaky so over time, it absorbs water and the user drowns and dies (The African Type).

Less is more and more is less

Then imagine again that the two rafts drift into another body of water with different constituents and now make the Western-type raft begin to adsorb water and sinking but the opposite happens to the African-type raft. In real life, what at can happen to the earth for this unusual scenario to play out? This is the 1000 trillion dollar question, I am not sure I can answer this but I will suggest something, what if the world population continues to grow but resources remain the same. Whether rich or poor, industrialized or rudimentary, we all have to live our lives with far less that you are makes us comfortable. 

Ability to be Happy with little: Does it Offer a Conditional Selective Advantage?

Granted that every opportunity exist for the African to industrialize and develop but the development is not happening. Is it because the African is just too happy with little? A single chamber thatch-roofed house for a family of seven in an African village and they are just as happy as living is a fully computerized 90 bedroom castle in London. There are people in this world, who live is 3 million pound mansion and still struggle to be happy, who find solace in drugs even fatal drug-addition. An inborn metabolic disease called G6PD deficiency known to offer protection to sufferers against malaria, clearly demonstrates this scenario. There is the possibility that the attribute of being happy with little, with all its attendant low life expectancy and high disease burden, can place the African in a pole position. In pole position as the world most powerful continent on the earth of diminishing-resources and exploding-population.

What do you think?

I just do not know what to expect in the distant future but for now, I will prefer a knowledge-based economic development. I will continue to be committed to the pursuit of a life of happiness, good health and endless possibilities, but once a while I will spare a thought on this scenario. So that in the unlikely situation that it plays out, I will not hit myself for lacking imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge – Albert Einstein.

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Patrick Kobina Arthur (PhD),

parthur14@gmail.com

http://pakar1-corner.blogspot.com/