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In pregnancy, there is a significant risk for developing embryos to be adversely affected by everyday chemicals such as food additives and environmental toxins. In recent times, several studies have documented the detrimental effect of exposure to such chemicals on the behavior and neurodevelopment of the offspring. This study evaluated the influence of the food additive, monosodium glutamate (MSG), on behavior and development in mice. Pregnant dams were exposed to MSG 2 g/kg or 4 g/kg or distilled water from gestation day 10-20. On delivery, postnatal day 1 (PN 1), 3 pups were sacrificed and whole brain samples assayed for KCC2 expression by western blot. The remaining pups were housed until PN 43 before commencing behavioural assessment. Their weights were measured at birth and at 3 days intervals until PN 42. The impact of prenatal exposure to MSG on baseline exploratory, anxiety and depression behaviours as well as spatial and working memory was assessed. In utero exposure to 4 g/kg MSG significantly reduced exploratory drive and increased depression-like behaviours but did not exert any significant impact on anxiety-like behaviours (p

ObjectiveThe use of agarose in nucleic acid electrophoresis is the gold standard. However, agarose is very expensive and not readily available in resource limited developing countries like Ghana. Hence, finding a more affordable and readily available alternative to agarose will be a major boost to molecular research in developing countries. This study was aimed at investigating the use of corn starch as a potential substitute for agarose in DNA gel electrophoresis.ResultsGenomic DNA extracted from Plasmodium falciparum and primers were obtained from the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens and amplified using polymerase chain reaction. The amplicon was run on agarose gel to ascertain the molecular weight (as a positive control). When visualized under both blue light and ultraviolet light, the DNA and ladder showed clear and clean bands with the expected molecular weight. Corn starch was then modified with sodium borate buffer, casted into a gel and used to run the same DNA sample. Our findings indicated that similar to agarose, the DNA sample and ladder migrated successfully through the modified starch gel but no bands were visible when visualized under blue and ultra-violet light.

Aim. The study intended to observe the frequency and pattern of distribution of phalangeal hairs on the hands of Ghanaians. Material and Methods. A total of 1040 healthy consenting individuals (529 females and 511 males) aged between 18 and 45 years were randomly selected from the University of Cape Coast Community. Presence or absence of phalangeal hairs was observed with the aid of a pocket lens. Results. Hairs were observed on the proximal phalanges of 98.24% of the males and 96.22% of the females. The most common hair pattern observed on the proximal digits was 2-3-4-5 (65.95% males and 70.32% females). The highest frequency of midphalangeal hairs occurred in the group with hair on the 4th digit alone (3.33% males and 2.27% females) followed by the 3-4-5 group (2.54% males and 1.89% females). Conclusion. Females have lower frequency of phalangeal hairs than males. The outcome of this study may be significant medicolegally and in anthropological racial and gender studies.