
John Arko-MensahUniversity of Ghana | Legon · School of Public Health (SPH)
John Arko-Mensah
PhD
About
79
Publications
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Introduction
I am an Immunologist by training, and currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon. My research interests include pathogenesis of infectious diseases (tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS), autophagy as an innate immune mechanism for restriction of intracellular pathogens. In the past 6 years, i have been involved in the GEOHealth II project in West Africa to investigate the health effects of electronic waste (e-waste) recycling at Agbogbloshie, Ghana.
Additional affiliations
May 2004 - October 2008
August 2009 - December 2013
Education
June 2004 - October 2008
Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute (MBW)
Field of study
- Immunology
Publications
Publications (79)
Access to safe drinking water is considered a fundamental human right, yet, in most developing countries, this is not the case, as microbial contamination of drinking water is commonly responsible for the transmission of many waterborne diseases, including cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhoea, and dysentery. The study aimed to assess the microbiologic...
Wastewater discharge into the environment in resource-poor countries poses a threat to public health. Studies in this area within these countries are limited, and the use of high-throughput whole-genome sequencing technologies is lacking. Therefore, understanding of environmental impacts is inadequate. The present study investigated the antibiotic...
Background and Aims
The environment within prisons, such as overcrowding, lack of access to portable water, poor sanitation, and hygiene predisposes inmates to infections, including intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs). This study therefore determined the prevalence and associated factors of IPIs among prison inmates in Southern Ghana.
Methods
A...
Survey about the lead exposure of the workers and bystanders at Agbogbloshie, one of the toxiest locations worldwide
The quality and potentially toxic metals associated human health risks of groundwaters near the Alaba and Olusosun electronic waste dumpsites in Lagos, Nigeria was assessed. Groundwater samples were collected and analysed for their physicochemical properties and potentially toxic metals. Using a Microwave Induced Plasma Optical Emission Spectromete...
While human exposure to metals may play a role in the pathogenesis of anemia, consumption of balanced diets may boost blood hemoglobin (Hb) levels in humans. Although informal electronic waste (e-waste) recycling processes have recently drawn attention as an important source of pollution, there is almost no empirical evidence on the relationship be...
Informal electronic waste (e-waste) recycling in Africa has become a major public health concern. This review examined studies that report on the association between e-waste exposure and adverse human health outcomes in Africa. The review was conducted following the updated version of the Preferred Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRI...
Existing ergonomic assessment tools have been designed for routine and structured work making their use in informal work setting challenging due to the high variability in tasks performed by informal workers. The Ergonomic Assessment tool for Unstructured Work (EAUW) was developed by Acquah and colleagues to address this challenge. The tool is effi...
Background
Vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) persist globally with a disproportionately high burden in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Although this might be partly due to the failure to sustain vaccination coverage above 90% in some WHO regions, a more nuanced understanding of VPD transmission beyond vaccination coverage may unveil othe...
Objectvies:
This study is aimed at establishing reference intervals (RIs) of 40 chemistry and immunochemistry analytes for Ghanaian adults based on internationally harmonized protocol by IFCC Committee on Reference Intervals and Decision Limits (C-RIDL).
Methods:
A total of 501 healthy volunteers aged ≥18 years were recruited from the northern a...
Aberrant global DNA methylation status is a known biomarker for increased disease risk, especially cancer. There is little published data on the association between toxic and essential metal mixtures and global DNA methylation in electronic waste (e-waste) workers. We aimed to establish the association between toxic and essential metals in blood an...
Background
Malaria remains one of the most devastating diseases globally, and the control of mosquitoes as the vector is mainly dependent on chemical insecticides. Elevated temperatures associated with future warmer climates could affect mosquitoes' metabolic enzyme expression and increase insecticide resistance, making vector control difficult. Un...
Higher temperatures expected in a future warmer climate could adversely affect the growth and development of mosquitoes. This study investigated the effects of elevated temperatures on longevity, gonotrophic cycle length, biting rate, fecundity, and body size of Anopheles gambiae (s.l.) (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquitoes. Anopheles gambiae (s.l.) eggs...
Objective
This study investigated the effects of temperature on the development of the immature stages of Anopheles gambiae (s.l.) mosquitoes.
Methods
Mosquito eggs were obtained from laboratory established colonies and reared under eight temperature regimes (25, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40°C), and 80 ± 10% relative humidity. Larvae were checked...
Electronic waste (e-waste) disposal and recycling activities such as burning and smelting can emit particulate matter (PM), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and other pollutants that expose workers and nearby communities. At informal e-waste recycling facilities, both emission controls and protective measures for workers are absent. This st...
Background
Informal electronic waste recycling activities are major contributors to ambient air pollution, yet studies assessing the effects or relationship between direct/continuous exposure of informal e-waste workers to particulate matter and cardiovascular function are rare.
Methods
Repeated measurements of fractions of PM 2.5 , PM 10–2.5 , an...
Objective
This study assessed the associations between blood and urine levels of toxic metals; cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), and methylation levels of the LINE-1 gene among e-waste and control populations in Ghana.Methods
The study enrolled 100 male e-waste workers and 51 all-male non-e-waste workers or controls. The concentrations of Cd and Pb were...
Objectives
Inappropriate processing and disposal of electronic waste (e-waste) expose workers and surrounding populations to hazardous chemicals, including clastogens and aneugens. Recently, considerable literature has grown around e-waste recycling, associated chemical exposures and intermediate health outcomes, including DNA damage. Micronuclei (...
Rudimentary methods for electronic waste (e-waste) recycling employed in developing countries are a source of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs). A summarized comparison of WRMSDs and preliminary exposure assessment among e-waste dismantlers (D) and burners (B) in Agbogbloshie, Ghana is presented. A cross-sectional study was conducted...
This study examined the associations between PM (2.5 and 10) and global DNA methylation among 100 e-waste workers and 51 non-e-waste workers serving as controls. Long interspersed nucleotide repetitive elements-1 (LINE-1) was measured by pyrosequencing. Personal PM2.5 and PM10 were measured over a 4-hour work-shift using real-time particulate monit...
The rearing temperature of the immature stages can have a significant impact on the life-history traits and the ability of adult mosquitoes to transmit diseases. This review assessed published evidence of the effects of temperature on the immature stages, life-history traits, insecticide susceptibility, and expression of enzymes in the adult Anophe...
Informal e-waste recycling processes emit various air pollutants. While there are a number of pollutants of concern, little information exists on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) releases at e-waste sites. To assess occupational exposures and estimate health risks, we measured VOC levels at the Agbogbloshie e-waste site in Ghana, the largest e-was...
Background: Informal electronic waste recycling activities are major contributors to ambient air pollution, yet studies assessing the effects or relationship between direct/continuous exposure of informal e-waste workers to particulate matter and cardiovascular function are rare.
Methods: Repeated measurements of fractions of PM2.5, PM10-2.5, and P...
Recycling of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) in developing countries is mostly conducted in the informal sector consisting of low skilled workers. Informal e-waste recycling predominantly involves the physically demanding work of manually collecting, dismantling and burning of e-waste items to extract reusable components and valuable meta...
The unregulated and unorganized structure of informal electronic waste recycling worksites exposes workers to numerous occupational hazards. This context also presents research challenges in collecting exposure data to establish linkages with adverse health effects and development of risk-mitigating strategies. This paper presents some findings fro...
The rearing temperature of the immature stages can have a significant impact on the life-history traits and the ability of adult mosquitoes to transmit diseases. This review assessed published evidence of the effects of temperature on the immature stages, life-history traits, insecticide susceptibility, and expression of enzymes in the adult Anophe...
There is growing evidence that e-waste recyclers may be exposed to potentially high levels of metals though associations between such exposures and specific work activities is not well established. In addition, studies have focused on metals traditionally biomonitored and there is no data on the exposure of recyclers to elements increasingly being...
Background:
Heavy metals are usually present in trace amounts in various environmental media such as water, soil, and air, and many are poisonous to human health even at very low concentrations.
Objectives:
To assess the risk of heavy metal contamination of water, soil, and plants around a used lead acid battery (ULAB) recycling center in Ibadan...
Occupational exposure associated with unstructured, informal e-waste recycling has received very limited attention. This study aimed to quantify the occupational physical exposures among informal e-waste workers at the largest e-waste site in Africa.
A cross-sectional field survey of 163 male e-waste workers was conducted using a self-report occupa...
Informal recycling of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) has myriad environmental and occupational health consequences, though information about the chronic musculoskeletal health effects on workers is limited. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and inten- sity of self-reported musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) symptoms among e...
Background
Informal sector electronic waste (e‐waste) recovery produces toxic emissions resulting from burning e‐waste to recover valuable metals.
Objectives
To identify high‐risk worker groups by measuring relative levels of personal inhalation exposure to particulate matter (PM) of fine (≤2.5 µm) and coarse (2.5–10 µm) fractions (PM2.5 and PM2.5...
Awuah GK, Mensah JA, Fobil JN. 2020. Concentration of heavy metal in sediment, water, and fish from Ankobra and Tano River Estuaries, Ghana. Ocean Life 3: 94-101. The heavy metals arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb) are all poisonous and found in nature. The increase in their concentrations, however, is a result of human activities that pose...
Growing evidence suggests that micronutrient status is adversely impacted by toxic metals (e.g., cadmium, lead, and arsenic) exposures; however, the micronutrient status of e-waste recyclers who are amongst the highest metal-exposed groups is not known. This study, therefore, assessed the micronutrient status of e-waste recyclers using dietary info...
Background:
Intestinal parasitic infections affect pregnant women worldwide. The infection has been implicated in causing life-threatening conditions in both gravid women and their developing foetus. Sub-Saharan Africa is known to harbor the greatest proportion of intestinal parasitic infections largely due to socioeconomic and environmental facto...
Background: Electronic waste recycling processes such as dismantling with rudimentary tools and open-air burning result in the release of several toxic chemicals into the environment. Exposure to these toxic chemical mixtures has been associated with many adverse health outcomes affecting respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, and reproductive...
Background: Growing evidence suggests that heavy metals (e.g., cadmium, lead and arsenic) negatively influence micronutrient status. Electronic waste (e-waste) recyclers are amongst the highest metals-exposed groups worldwide, though their micronutrient status is yet to be explored. This study therefore assessed the micronutrient status of e-waste...
Background
In Ghana, diagnostic laboratories rely on reference intervals (RIs) provided by manufacturers of laboratory analyzers which may not be appropriate. This study aimed to establish RIs for hematological parameters in adult Ghanaian population.
Methods
This cross‐sectional study recruited 501 apparently healthy adults from two major urban a...
Abstract Air quality information is scarce in low‐ and middle‐income countries. This study describes the application of moderate cost approaches that can provide spatial and temporal information on concentrations of particulate matter (PM) needed to assess community and occupational exposures. We evaluated PM levels at the Agbogbloshie e‐waste and...
Background:
Informal recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) releases particulate matter (PM) into the ambient air. Human exposure to PM has been reported to induce adverse effects on cardiovascular health. However, the impact of PM on the cardiovascular health of e-waste recyclers in Ghana has not been studied. Although intake of micronutrient-ri...
Background: Direct and continuous exposure to particulate matter (PM), especially in occupational settings is known to impact negatively on respiratory health and lung function. Objective: To determine the association between concentrations of PM (2.5, 2.5-10 and 10 µm) in breathing zone and lung function of informal e-waste workers at Agbogbloshie...
Background: Informal recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) releases particulate matter (PM) into the ambient air. Human exposure to PM has been reported to induce adverse effects on cardiovascular health. However, the impact of PM on the cardiovascular health of e-waste recyclers in Ghana has not been studied. Although intake of micronutrient-ric...
Background:
A walk through the Agbogbloshie e-waste recycling site shows a marked heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of the different e-waste processing activities, which are likely to drive clustering of health conditions associated with the different activity type in each space.
Objective of study:
To conduct a spatial assessment and an...
Electronic waste (e-waste) is a worldwide problem in terms of increasing production rate in the global waste stream. Its recycling is known to be associated with adverse health outcomes. The recycling site at Agbogbloshie is a major e-waste recycling hub which presents enormous health threats to the residents in this community as a result of exposu...
Background/Aim:
E-waste recycling at Agbogbloshie consists mainly of collection, dismantling and burning of electronic waste. Processes involved are highly informal and physically demanding, consisting of varying levels of lifting, torso bending and twisting, prolonged sitting and standing. These activities are likely to cause musculoskeletal disor...
The influence of area-based socioeconomic (SE) conditions on environmental quality conditions has recently been reported showing the precise spatial relationship between area-based SE conditions and neighborhood environmental quality in an urban area in a low-income setting. Nonetheless, there is still a lack of understanding of the nature of the r...
Malaria pathogenesis may be influenced by IgE responses and cytokine cross-regulation. Several mutations in the IL-4/STAT6 signaling pathway can alter cytokine cross-regulation and IgE responses during a Plasmodium falciparum malarial infection. This study investigated the relationship between a STAT6 intronic single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs3024...
Supplementary figure 1. A gel electrograph showing the results of RFLP analysis of rs3024974. Lanes 2, 3, and 4 show the CT, TT, and CC genotypes, respectively. Lane 1 shows a 100-bps marker use in this analysis.
Autophagy is a conserved homeostatic process active in all human cells and affecting a spectrum of diseases. Here we use a pharmaceutical screen to discover new mechanisms for activation of autophagy. We identify a subset of pharmaceuticals inducing autophagic flux with effects in diverse cellular systems modelling specific stages of several human...
Supplementary Figures 1-13, Supplementary Tables 1-3 and Supplementary References
Autophagy, a homeostatic process whereby eukaryotic cells target cytoplasmic cargo for degradation, plays a broad role in health and disease states. Here we screened the TRIM family for roles in autophagy and found that half of TRIMs modulated autophagy. In mechanistic studies, we show that TRIMs associate with autophagy factors and act as platform...
Autophagy is a fundamental cell biological process whereby eukaryotic cells form membranes in the cytoplasm to sequester diverse intracellular targets. Although significant progress has been made in understanding the origins of autophagosomal organelles, the source of lipids that support autophagic membrane formation remain an important open questi...
Autophagy is a cell biological pathway affecting immune responses. In vitro, autophagy acts as a cell-autonomous defense against
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but its role in vivo is unknown. Here we show that autophagy plays a dual role against tuberculosis: antibacterial and anti-inflammatory.
M. tuberculosis infection of Atg5fl/fl LysM-Cre+ mice r...
Autophagy is a fundamental biological process of the eukaryotic cell contributing to diverse cellular and physiological functions including cell-autonomous defense against intracellular pathogens. Here, we screened the Rab family of membrane trafficking regulators for effects on autophagic elimination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis var. bovis BCG an...
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), the causative agent of tuberculosis, infects approximately one-third of the world’s population. Recently, autophagy, an intracellular process that sequesters portions of the cytoplasm, including damaged or surplus organelles into autophagosomes and degrades them upon fusion with lysosomes, was found to be crucial i...
Autophagy is a key cytoplasmic biomass and organellar quality and quantity control pathway of the eukaryotic cell. It is particularly suited to capture and degrade large, multi-macromolecular cytosplasmic targets earmarked for degradation or turnover. Typical autophagic cargos represent large swaths of cytosol as a source of energy and anabolic pre...