The outbreak of the deadly novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has disrupted life worldwide in an unprecedented manner. Over the period, scientific breakthroughs have resulted in the rollout of many vaccination programmes to protect against the disease, reduce the fear and ease public health restrictions for lives to return to some normalcy. The aim of this study was to identify the factors responsible for COVID-19 vaccine acceptance or vaccine hesitancy and to develop a framework to improve vaccine uptake in the Ghanaian-Dutch, Afro and Hindustani Surinamese-Dutch communities in Amsterdam. Using a mixed method approach, this community-based cross-sectional survey recruited 160 respondents consisting of 57 Ghanaian-Dutch, 54 Afro Surinamese-Dutch and 49 Hindustani-Dutch residents in Amsterdam. Our findings showed that the choice of a vaccine as well as the likelihood of self-reported willingness to receive a vaccine is highly dependent on vaccine efficacy and safety. Available evidence of high vaccine effectiveness and safety could encourage about 41.3% of the respondents to accept the vaccine. Additionally, 69.6% of the respondents indicated their willingness to accept the vaccine when vaccine passports are made mandatory by the government. Other major factors that could drive the likelihood of accepting the COVID-19 vaccine include travel requirement for vaccination (28.3%), the safety/probability of only minor side effects (26.1%) and recommendation by family and friends (15.2%). The study therefore provides systematic evidence of factors associated with individual preferences toward COVID-19 vaccination. It demonstrates that the needs of each community are unique and specific interventional efforts are urgently needed to address concerns likely to be associated with vaccine hesitancy.

BackgroundBuruli ulcer disease (BUD), caused by Mycobacterium (M.) ulcerans, is the third most common mycobacterial disease after tuberculosis and leprosy. BUD causes necrotic skin lesions and is a significant problem for health care in the affected countries. As for other mycobacterial infections, T cell mediated immune responses are important for protection and recovery during treatment, but detailed studies investigating these immune responses in BUD patients are scarce. In this study, we aimed to characterise M. ulcerans-specific CD4+ T cell responses in BUD patients and to analyse specific cytokine-producing T cells in the context of disease severity and progression.Methodology/Principal findingsFor this case-control study, whole blood samples of BUD patients (N = 36, 1.5–17 years of age) and healthy contacts (N = 22, 3–15 years of age) were stimulated with antigen prepared from M. ulcerans and CD4+ T cells were analysed for the expression of TNFα, IFNγ and CD40L by flow cytometry. The proportions and profile of cytokine producing CD4+ T cells was compared between the two study groups and correlated with disease progression and severity. Proportions of cytokine double-positive IFNγ+TNFα+, TNFα+CD40L+, IFNγ+CD40L+ (p = 0.014, p = 0.010, p = 0.002, respectively) and triple positive IFNγ+TNFα+CD40L+ (p = 0.010) producing CD4+ T cell subsets were increased in BUD patients. In addition, TNFα+CD40L-IFNγ- CD4+ T cells differed between patients and controls (p = 0.034). TNFα+CD40L-IFNγ- CD4+ T cells were correlated with lesion size (p = 0.010) and proportion were higher in ‘slow’ healers compared to ‘fast healers’ (p = 0.030).ConclusionsWe were able to identify M. ulcerans-specific CD4+ T cell subsets with specific cytokine profiles. In particular a CD4+ T cell subset, producing TNFα but not IFNγ and CD40L, showed association with lesion size and healing progress. Further studies are required to investigate, if the identified CD4+ T cell subset has the potential to be used as biomarker for diagnosis, severity and/or progression of disease.

Background. T cell cytokines play important roles in the development and progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Loss of Th1/Th2 and Th17/Treg balance has been reported in several inflammatory autoimmune diseases. However, their role in RA within hitherto rare Ghanaian context has not been explored. Here, we evaluated the intracytoplasmic CD4+ T cell cytokine patterns in rheumatoid arthritis patients in Ghana and determined their relationship with disease activity. Methods. This case-control study included 48 newly diagnosed RA patients and 30 apparent healthy controls from two major hospitals in Ghana. Validated structured questionnaires were administered to obtain demographic data; blood samples were collected and processed for flow cytometric analysis. Results. IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17A, IL-6/IL-4, and IL-17/IL-10 expressions were significantly higher in RA cases compared to the healthy controls. The expression of IL-6 (0.00 (0.00-0.98) vs. 0.82 (0.34-1.10) vs. 1.56 (1.39-1.68), p<0.0001), IL-17A (0.00 (0.00-0.02) vs. 0.19 (0.09-0.30) vs. 0.99 (0.64-1.25), p<0.0001), and IL-17A/IL-10 (0.00 (0.00-0.39) vs. 0.15 (0.09-0.26) vs. 0.88 (0.41-1.47), p<0.0001) increased significantly from the healthy controls through RA patients with low DAS scores to RA patients with moderate DAS scores. IL-6 (β=0.681, r2=0.527, p<0.0001), IL-17A (β=0.770, r2=0.593, p<0.0001), and IL-17A/IL-10 (β=0.677, r2=0.452, p<0.0001) expressions were significantly directly associated with DAS28 scores. IL-6 (cutoff=1.32, sensitivity=100.0%, specificity=100.0%, accuracy=100.0%, and AUC=1.000) and IL-17A (cutoff=0.58, sensitivity=100.0%, specificity=100.0%, accuracy=100.0%, and AUC=1.000) presented with the best discriminatory power in predicting moderate DAS scores from low DAS scores. Conclusion. Th1- and Th17-related cytokines predominate in the pathophysiology of RA, with IL-6 and IL-17 being principally and differentially expressed based on the severity of the disease. IL-6 and IL-17A could serve as useful prognostic and disease-monitoring markers in RA in the African context.

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is considered as an important staple crop in the tropical regions. However, the productivity of this useful crop is hindered by drought which contributes to significant yield reduction. The present study aimed to decipher the effects of drought stress on physiological, biochemical and gene expression changes in sorghum genotypes and to ascertain the differences in their response to drought stress. To achieve these objectives, six sorghum genotypes were grown in pot culture in a greenhouse, in a randomized complete block design and exposed to water stress treatment for 10 days. From the study, drought stress caused a significant (P < .05) reduction in plant height, leaf water and chlorophyll contents while the proline, malondialdehyde (MDA), soluble sugar, electrolyte leakage (EL), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and antioxidant enzymes activity increased significantly (P < .05) and differentially in all sorghum genotypes. Among the genotypes investigated, PI 585456 showed enhanced performance and was considered as the most tolerant to drought in relation to plant growth and water relation, membrane status, photosynthetic activity, ROS and osmolytes accumulation and antioxidant enzymes activity. Furthermore, the transcript expression analyses of different categories of drought-responsive genes, viz; antioxidant-related, osmolytes biosynthesis-related, dehydrin-related, photosystem-related and transcription-related were differentially upregulated in sorghum genotypes investigated. The results revealed the differences in metabolic response to drought among the genotypes, which accentuated the physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanism related to a specific response that may play a vital role in drought tolerance in sorghum.