Makola Market; Cape Coast Castle; Lucy

Crassicauda spp. (Nematoda) infest the cranial sinuses of several odontocetes, causing diagnostic trabecular osteolytic lesions. We examined skulls of 77 Indian Ocean humpback dolphins Sousa plumbea and 69 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins Tursiops aduncus, caught in bather-protecting nets off KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) from 1970-2017, and skulls of 6 S. plumbea stranded along the southern Cape coast in South Africa from 1963-2002. Prevalence of cranial crassicaudiasis was evaluated according to sex and cranial maturity. Overall, prevalence in S. plumbea and T. aduncus taken off KZN was 13 and 31.9%, respectively. Parasitosis variably affected 1 or more cranial bones (frontal, pterygoid, maxillary and sphenoid). No significant difference was found by gender for either species, allowing sexes to be pooled. However, there was a significant difference in lesion prevalence by age, with immature T. aduncus 4.6 times more likely affected than adults, while for S. plumbea, the difference was 6.5-fold. As severe osteolytic lesions are unlikely to heal without trace, we propose that infection is more likely to have a fatal outcome for immature dolphins, possibly because of incomplete bone development, lower immune competence in clearing parasites or an over-exuberant inflammatory response in concert with parasitic enzymatic erosion. Cranial osteolysis was not observed in mature males (18 S. plumbea, 21 T. aduncus), suggesting potential cohort-linked immune-mediated resistance to infestation. Crassicauda spp. may play a role in the natural mortality of S. plumbea and T. aduncus, but the pathogenesis and population level impact remain unknown.

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Pleistocene golden mole and sand-swimming trace fossils from the Cape coast of South Africa

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1017/qua.2020.97 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

Martin G. Lockley ◽

Charles W. Helm ◽

Hayley C. Cawthra ◽

Jan C. De Vynck ◽

Michael R. Perrin

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Trace Fossils ◽

Trace Fossil ◽

South Coast ◽

Environmental Reconstruction ◽

Cape Coast ◽

Southeast Coast ◽

Show Evidence ◽

Golden Mole ◽

Body Fossil

Abstract More than 250 Pleistocene vertebrate trace fossil sites have been identified on the Cape south coast of South Africa in aeolianites and cemented foreshore deposits. These discoveries, representing the epifaunal tracks of animals that moved over these sand substrates, complement traditional body fossil studies, and contribute to palaeo-environmental reconstruction. Not described in detail until now, but also important faunal components, are the infaunal traces of animals that moved within these sandy substrates. Six golden mole burrow trace sites (Family Chrysochloridae) have been identified on the Cape south coast. In addition, three sites, including one on the Cape southeast coast, have been identified that show evidence of sand-swimming, probably by a golden mole with a means of locomotion similar to that of the extant Eremitalpa genus. Such traces have not been described in detail in the global ichnology record, and merit the erection of a new ichnogenus Natatorichnus, with two ichnospecies, N. subarenosa ichnosp. nov and N. sulcatus ichnosp. nov. Care is required in the identification of such traces, and the orientation of the trace fossil surface needs to be determined, to avoid confusion with hatchling turtle tracks. Substantial regional Pleistocene dune environments are inferred from these sand-swimming traces.

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A cross-case analyses of laboratory professionals-patients interaction for patients accessing laboratory services at University of Cape Coast hospital and Ewim Polyclinic in the Cape Coast Metropolis, Ghana

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/s12913-021-06560-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Patrick Adu

Keyword(s):

Laboratory Testing ◽

Sampling Period ◽

Turnaround Time ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Cape Coast ◽

Microsoft Excel ◽

Laboratory Staff ◽

Laboratory Services ◽

Staff Interactions ◽

Sub Saharan

Abstract Background There is scarcity of data on experiences of patients who access laboratory services during hospital visits in sub-Saharan Africa. This study sought to evaluate the depth of laboratory professionals-patient interactions during pre- and post-sampling period at two hospitals in Ghana. Methods This study used real time observations of patient-laboratory staff interactions to collect first-hand data. Additionally, two separate sets of semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data on the experiences of patients and laboratory professionals. Data were entered into Microsoft Excel and analysed using SPSS version 25. Results Inadequate laboratory space is a major factor limiting adequacy of patients-laboratory professionals’ interactions. Overall, even though the laboratory professionals (93.3%) overwhelmingly agreed to the need to inform patients about the turnaround time of the respective laboratory testing, this was not routinely done. Irrespective of patients’ educational attainment, patients were poorly informed about their respective laboratory tests. Although both patients and laboratory professionals (60.0% vs 63.6% respectively) indicated that the test requester has responsibility to inform patients about their laboratory testing, only 29.1% of patients indicated having received such explanations. Furthermore, although 28.1% of patients indicated knowing the specifics of their respective test requisition, only 15% could correctly identify their requested laboratory testing. Conclusion There is the need for standard operating protocols to standardize practitioner-patient interaction at the two facilities. Moreover, there is the need for laboratory staff-test requester engagement to clearly delineate who has what responsibilities regarding informing patients about laboratory testing.

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Obstetric outcomes: A comparison of teenagers and adults in the Cape Coast metropolis, Ghana

Heliyon ◽

10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05466 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (11) ◽

pp. e05466

Author(s):

Mate Siakwa ◽

M. Nyarko-Sampson ◽

Sylvia D. Bruce

Keyword(s):

Obstetric Outcomes ◽

Cape Coast

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Assessment of metal contamination in an urban drainage system (using water and tilapia, Oreochromis spp.) in view of human health effect. A case study of some selected communities in Cape Coast township in Ghana

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry ◽

10.1007/s10967-012-1750-x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 293 (3) ◽

pp. 807-814

Author(s):

I. K. Baidoo ◽

D. K. Sarfo ◽

L. A. Sarsah ◽

M. K. Appenteng ◽

E. A. Kaka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Metal Contamination ◽

Health Effect ◽

Drainage System ◽

Urban Drainage ◽

Cape Coast ◽

Urban Drainage System

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The Royal African Company of England's West African Correspondence, 1681-1699

History in Africa ◽

10.2307/3171971 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 20 ◽

pp. 173-184 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Robin Law

Keyword(s):

West Africa ◽

Sierra Leone ◽

West African ◽

Gold Coast ◽

Original Form ◽

Cape Coast ◽

General Terms ◽

West African Coast ◽

African Coast ◽

History Of

This paper draws attention to an ambitious project in the publication of source material for the precolonial history of West Africa, which has recently been approved for inclusion in the Fontes Historiae Africanae series of the British Academy. In addition to self-promotion, however, I wish also to take the opportunity to air some of the problems of editorial strategy and choice which arise with regard to the editing and presentation of this material, in the hope of provoking some helpful feedback on these issues.The material to be published consists of correspondence of the Royal African Company of England relating to the West African coast in the late seventeenth century. The history of the Royal African Company (hereafter RAC) is in general terms well known, especially through the pioneering (and still not superseded) study by K.G. Davies (1957). The Company was chartered in 1672 with a legal monopoly of English trade with Africa. Its headquarters in West Africa was at Cape Coast (or, in the original form of the name, Cabo Corso) Castle on the Gold Coast, and it maintained forts or factories not only on the Gold Coast itself, but also at the Gambia, in Sierra Leone, and at Offra and Whydah on the Slave Coast. It lost its monopoly of the African trade in 1698, and thereafter went into decline, effectively ceasing to operate as a trading concern in the 1720s, although it continued to manage the English possessions on the coast of West Africa until it was replaced by a regulated company (i.e., one open to all traders), the Company of Merchants Trading to Africa, in 1750.

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