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Abstract Purpose To explore the epidemiology and demographic risk factors for myopia among a clinical sample. Methods In a hospital-based retrospective study, eligible subjects were grouped into either myopia or non-myopia. Demographic data, including age, sex, occupation, area of residence, region of residence, and ethnicity, were analysed. Other clinical information analysed included the degree of myopia and intervention provided for the myopia. Results Overall, the medical records of 15807 patients were retrieved between January 2015 and December 2019, with 50.9% being males. The mean ± SD age of the patients was 42.81 ± 18.99 years. A total of 44.4% of the patients were myopic. Age, type of ethnic group, occupation, and area of residence were associated with myopia. Demographic risk factors for myopia included occupations such as professionals (OR: 2.93; 95% CI 2.44–3.52), technicians and associated workers (OR: 6.71; 95% CI 5.15–8.74), service workers (OR: 11.74; 95% CI 9.62–14.33), skilled agriculture and fishery (OR: 1.88; 95% CI 1.41–2.50), craft workers (OR: 3.41; 95% CI 2.75–4.25), armed forces (OR: 10.26; 95% CI 7.54–13.97), students (OR: 3.49; 95% CI 2.76–4.42), the unemployed (OR: 6.64; 95% CI 5.44–8.11), as well as Ewe (OR: 1.46; 95% CI 1.17–1.82) and Ga-Adangbe (OR: 1.28; 95% CI 1.05–1.54) ethnicities. Conclusion Ewe and Ga-Adangbe ethnicities, and specific occupations are risk factors for myopia.

Abstract The study presents the economic feasibility assessment of converting the produced biogas from water hyacinth biomass into electricity. Approximately, 0.3793 m3CH4/kgVS was generated from the water hyacinth biomass. The research indicated that the available water hyacinth population on the Lower Volta River in the year 2020 could potentially generate a methane yield of 53.676 × 106m3. The volume of methane gas generated had the potential to produce an annual electricity output of 110.792 × 106 kWh, which could be integrated into the national grid. The economic analysis indicated positive results with an initial total investment cost of $67,273,700. The project showed a positive net present value (NPV) of $8,923,769 and a levelized cost of 0.172 $/kWh. The simple payback and equity payback periods were determined to be 5.5 and 11.3 years, respectively. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis conducted showed that the project’s NPV remained positive when variations in input parameters such as initial cost, operations, and maintenance cost were less than 15% sensitive range. However, a 30% reduction in the feed-in tariff cost resulted in a negative NPV. In conclusion, biogas production from water hyacinth biomass in Ghana can make a significant contribution to the country’s energy mix and help alleviate the energy shortfall in rural areas.

In order to gain understanding on the utilization of biogas fuel derived from water hyacinth (WH) biomass and render it appealing as a sustainable gaseous fuel, the study reports on its various thermophysical, combustion and thermodynamic parameters. The parameters include, specific enthalpy, internal energy, low heating value, Wobbe number index, changes in Enthalpy, Entropy and Gibbs free energy. The experimental procedure was performed at temperature range of 29±3 °C for 61 days in a BlueSens laboratory-scale anaerobic digestion equipment. It comprised of three fermenter bottles designated as F1, F2 and F3. F1 served as the control and the rest served as the test fermenter bottles. The digestion of water hyacinth and fruit waste sludge (WH+FWS) recorded the highest biogas volumes of 19,798.79 ml in fermenter F2 and 19,168.55 ml in fermenter F3 with methane contents of 53.46 % and 51.85 %, respectively. In comparison, the biogas produced exclusively from the water hyacinth (WH) biomass yielded 12,014.49 ml in F2 and 11,384.25 ml in F3, with methane contents of 46.41 % and 43.31 %, respectively. The best biogas fuel was produced from the digestion of (WH+FWS) in fermenter F2 with an internal energy and enthalpy values of 258.6 KJ/kg. K and 344.9 KJ/kg. K, respectively. A low heating value and Wobbe number of 17.51 MJ/m³ and 17.78 MJ/m³ were determined respectively. The biogas production was simulated using the Gompertz modified kinetic equation in MATLAB and an average specific rate (Kexp) of 371.49 ml/gVS.day was obtained. The rate constant (Kexp) was applied in the linearized form of the Erying-Polanyi equation to determine the changes in Enthalpy Entropy, and Gibbs free energy as -2510.66 J, -304.78 J and 94,219 J, respectively which indicated that, the anaerobic digestion process in this study was only thermodynamically feasible at low temperatures.

Background: Asian Americans (AA) are the only racial group in the United States to experience cancer as the number one cause of mortality. Yet, Asian Americans have one of the lowest rates of cancer screenings of all minority groups in the United States., Methods: A cross-sectional and population-based study design was used. Cross-sectional data was collected from 1,650 AA participants via a survey given during two annual community health festivals in 2017 and 2018. Survey variables included sociodemographic measures, self-reported English-language proficiency level, access to primary care, attitudes on preventative cancer screening, current screening status and barriers to undergoing cancer screening., Results: Nearly 66% (n=1,081) reported not having a primary care physician (PCP). While the majority of the participants (n=1,510, 92%) stated that preventative cancer screenings were important, only a small portion (n=1,091, 16%) were up-to-date on cancer screening procedures. The biggest barriers to preventative cancer screening were: 1) Lack of insurance (n=840, 40%); 2) Cost of seeing a physician (n=517, 24%); and 3) Do not feel the need (n=299, 14%)., Conclusions: To overcome the barriers we identified and effectively increase cancer screenings in Asian Americans, community outreach should be considered to provide linkage to primary care physicians and navigation to low-cost screening programs.