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EBOLA ALERT!!!!--- New From Dr. Adesola Lajide. Buy Now.
Dr. Adesola Lajide Again!
1. Five Comprehensive videos on the Ebola outbreak
2. Twenty-six multiple choice questions covering topical questions on the Ebola disease
3. An indepth e-book on The Three Major Challenges Facing Humanity
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This sounds interesting, Dr. Lajide
ReplyDeleteYou r doing a really great job.
Yeah. Its really nice pictures. And the price is quite affordable
DeleteI am looking forward to a very successful e- marketing campaign
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. This topic is very necessary in times like this. Wish you success. I'll buy my copy next week.
Delete
ReplyDeleteHave scientists fully elucidated the epidemiology of ebola? http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/health/ebola-immunity.html?_r=0
Finding the people in West Africa, thought to be immune, is a noble idea. Unfortunately this is
a very time consuming process. The people of west Africa do not have the time to spare. They can not spare any time. Action is needed now! How? Activation of the innate immunity in REAL TIME. Interested?
i think you have hit the nail on the head! However, if indeed sub-clinical forms of ebola can exist, it changes the dynamics of the immunology and epidemiology of the infection! The serum of immune individuals can be harvested to produce vaccines, and epidemiologists would have more insight into why some individuals survive the infection.
Ebola Alert! Thats a kinky title. It draws attention to the subject matter quite nicely.
ReplyDeleteEbola virus cases in West Africa are rising faster than the ability to contain them, the World Health Organization says, as experts warn that the exponential rise could become a worldwide disaster.
ReplyDeleteThe death toll has risen to more than 2,400 people out of 4,784 cases, WHO director general Margaret Chan told reporters at the UN health agency’s headquarters in in Geneva on Friday, noting the figures could be an underestimate.
"In the three hardest hit countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the number of new patients is moving far faster than the capacity to manage them. We need to surge at least three to four times to catch up with the outbreaks," Chan said.
She called for urgent international support in the form of doctors, nurses, medical supplies and aid to the worst-affected countries.
Health-care workers have been infected with Ebola while treating patients in West Africa. Almost half of the 301 health-care workers who have developed the disease have died.
Chan welcomed Cuba’s announcement that it will send 165 health-care workers to fight the outbreak, but added that at least 500 doctors from abroad are needed.
An infectious disease expert warned in Friday’s New York Times that "the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has the potential to alter history as much as any plague has ever done."
ReplyDeleteMichael Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids, but Osterholm raised a possibility that he said virologists are loath to discuss openly but consider behind closed doors: the prospect that the Ebola virus could mutate to become transmissible through the air.
Osterholm cites a 2012 study by researchers at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg that showed the Ebola Zaire strain behind West Africa’s outbreak could spread by the respiratory route between pigs and monkeys.
The key to containing the outbreak, Osterholm stressed, is to beef up efforts to stop the spread of the virus.
Unprecedented' outbreak needs response to match
ReplyDeleteTo that end, he suggested that the United Nations take over the position of "command and control" to direct the efforts of medical, public health and humanitarian aid from countries and non-governmental groups.
"If we wait for vaccines and new drugs to arrive to end the Ebola epidemic, instead of taking major action now, we risk the disease's reaching from West Africa to our own backyards," he concluded in a commentary titled, "What We’re Afraid to Say About Ebola."
Meanwhile, an editorial in Eurosurveillance, published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, said it was hard to track an outbreak with exponential growth in case numbers.
"Ebola cannot be ignored in the hope it will burn itself out," Peter Piot, one of the scientists who first identified the Ebola virus in 1976, and his colleague Adam Kucharski, said in their editorial. Piot is now director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Stronger control measures are needed to stop transmission, Piot and Kucharski said.
A modelling study published in Eurosurveillance projects that, if the growth in cases continues at its current pace, under a worst-case scenario there could be another 77,000 to 277,000 cases by the end of the year.
The deadly Ebola outbreak sweeping across three countries in West Africa is likely to last 12 to 18 months more, much longer than anticipated, and could infect hundreds of thousands of people before it is brought under control, say scientists mapping its spread for the federal government.
ReplyDelete“We hope we’re wrong,” said Bryan Lewis, an epidemiologist at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech.
Both the time the model says it will take to control the epidemic and the number of cases it forecasts far exceed estimates by the World Health Organization, which said last month that it hoped to control the outbreak within nine months and predicted 20,000 total cases by that time. The organization is sticking by its estimates, a W.H.O. spokesman said Friday.
But researchers at various universities say that at the virus’s present rate of growth, there could easily be close to 20,000 cases in one month, not in nine. Some of the United States’ leading epidemiologists, with long experience in tracking diseases such as influenza, have been creating computer models of the Ebola epidemic at the request of the National Institutes of Health and the Defense Department.
ReplyDeleteThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declined to comment on the projections. A spokesman, Tom Skinner, said the agency was doing its own modeling and hoped to publish the results soon. But the C.D.C. director, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, has warned repeatedly that the epidemic is worsening, and on Sept. 2 described it as “spiraling out of control.”
While previous outbreaks have been largely confined to rural areas, the current epidemic, the largest ever, has reached densely populated, impoverished cities — including Monrovia, the capital of Liberia — gravely complicating efforts to control the spread of the disease. Alessandro Vespignani, a professor of computational sciences at Northeastern University who has been involved in the computer modeling of Ebola’s spread, said that if the case count reaches hundreds of thousands, “there will be little we can do.”
What worries public health officials most is that the epidemic has begun to grow exponentially in Liberia. In the most recent week reported, Liberia had nearly 400 new cases, almost double the number reported the week before. Another grave concern, the W.H.O. said, is “evidence of substantial underreporting of cases and deaths.” The organization reported on Friday that the number of Ebola cases as of Sept. 7 was 4,366, including 2,218 deaths.
The Ebola outbreak could hit 15 countries across Africa - putting the lives of 22 million people at risk, a groundbreaking study has found.
ReplyDeleteIn a world first, Oxford scientists have created a new map of places most at risk of an Ebola outbreak. They warn regions likely to be home to animals harbouring the virus are more widespread than previously feared, particularly in West Africa.
The virus, which can have a human mortality rate of up to 90 per cent, is thought to be carried by bats or other wild animals and to cross into humans through contact with blood, meat or other infected fluids.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2752911/Ebola-hit-15-countries-Africa-Study-disease-spread-past-finds-70million-people-risk-infection.html#ixzz3DCkqXS
These jumps by viruses from animals to humans are known as 'zoonotic events' and were the cause of major human disease outbreaks such as HIV and the H1N1 swine flu pandemic.
The map, published as the West Africa Ebola outbreak, the world's largest, stands at almost 2,100, found that large swathes of central Africa as well as the western part of the continent have traits of what the scientists called 'the zoonotic niche' for Ebola.
Understanding better where people come into contact with Ebola-infected animals - for example through hunting or eating bush meat - and how to stop them contracting the deadly disease, is crucial to preventing future outbreaks, the researchers said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2752911/Ebola-hit-15-countries-Africa-Study-disease-spread-past-finds-70million-people-risk-infection.html#ixzz3DClHZ6D6
Nick Golding, an Oxford University researcher who worked on the international mapping team, said it found significantly more regions at risk from Ebola than previously feared.
'Up until now there hadn't been a huge amount of research, but there was one paper in which the at-risk area was much smaller,' he said in a telephone interview. 'It didn't predict, for example, the area in Guinea where this current outbreak first started.'
Previous Ebola epidemics have been in central Africa, and a current outbreak in Congo - separate from the one in West Africa - has infected around 30 people in recent weeks.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2752911/Ebola-hit-15-countries-Africa-Study-disease-spread-past-finds-70million-people-risk-infection.html#ixzz3DClRMNql
Editor's note: Joe Torre, Major League Baseball's executive vice president for baseball operations, was a nine-time All-Star as a player and managed the New York Yankees to four world championships. He and his wife Ali launched the Safe at Home Foundation to combat domestic violence. Esta Soler, who founded a nonprofit, Futures Without Violence, over 30 years ago, advocated for passage of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and has been prominent in the movement to end domestic violence.
ReplyDelete(CNN) -- As a baseball executive whose mother survived relentless domestic violence, and an advocate who worked for years to pass the Violence Against Women Act, we want to celebrate the 20th anniversary of that life-saving bill, signed into law on September 13, 1994.
This groundbreaking law was the first to put the full force of the federal government into efforts to stop violence against women and help victims. It reshaped our criminal justice system, ushered in training for law enforcement and judges, and enhanced a life-saving national network of services and supports that has saved countless lives. Over time, the law became a catalyst for broader, badly needed change.
In fact, according to the Justice Department, intimate partner violence has dropped 64% since the Violence Against Women Act was passed 20 years ago. Now that's something we can all be proud of.
(CNN) -- More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's today, with another person developing the disease every 68 seconds. By 2050, the number of people living with Alzheimer's disease is expected to triple.
ReplyDeleteAs if those numbers weren't staggering enough, consider this: Alzheimer's disease is the only cause of death among the top 10 (it's currently ranked No. 6) in the United States that can't be prevented, cured or slowed down.
Ask any expert, and he or she will tell you that early diagnosis is key to helping patients live better day to day, so even though the disease is still progressing, the symptoms are less harsh.
"Our hope is that if we could identify patients who are developing the disease early, it would give us a much better opportunity to intervene with treatments, and it's much more likely for those treatments to be effective," says Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
But while early diagnosis leads to early intervention, some news out of the 2013 Alzheimer's Association International Conference is troubling: An expert panel found 16 online tests for Alzheimer's disease scored poorly on scales of overall scientific validity, reliability and ethical factors.
An Arizona State University researcher has revealed just how fast Ebola is spreading through West Africa.
ReplyDeleteEach person infected with Ebola spread the virus to at least one to two other people on average, according to "Early transmission dynamics of Ebola virus disease, West Africa, March to August 2014," a paper published in a European scientific journal Thursday, Sept. 11, written by Gerardo Chowell-Puente, a researcher at Arizona State University's School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and Hiroshi Nishiura, a professor at the University of Tokyo.
The results have signaled a major epidemic with exponential consequences.
If the virus were to continue at the current transmission rate of 1.4 to 1.7 people for each newly person infected, West Africa could gain an additional 77,181 to 277,124 cases by the end of 2014, Chowell-Puente said in an email.
That, however, is the worst-case scenario.
"The above scenario is highly unlikely as the intervention response is definitely improving," he said.
The World Health organization has identified 3,707 cases thus far, including 2,106 confirmed, 1,003, probable and 598 suspected cases among Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Guinea and Senegal as of Aug. 31, 2014.
Chowell-Puente and Nishiura conducted a country-specific analysis of transmission rates based on the World Health Organization's total case reports from June to July in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
ReplyDeleteNishiura said that in order to quell the epidemic, it's necessary to isolate the infected individuals and trace each case back to its source.
"Our findings suggest that control of the Ebola epidemic that has taken so many lives could be attained by preventing more than half of the secondary transmissions for each primary case," Nishiura said.
In essence, if government officials and aid workers can reduce the transmission rate to less than one, the spread of the ebola virus will cease to be an epidemic.
Chowell-Puente said hospitals need to take all possible precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, which is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids. This includes isolating infected individuals, carefully and safely handling the bodies of the deceased—certain rituals involved bathing corpses— and maintaining hand hygiene, he said.
Chowell-Puente and Nishiura note that prior outbreaks have had similar transmission rates before intervention such as the 1995 outbreak in Congo and the 2000 outbreak in Uganda. However, most of the past outbreaks have occurred in isolated rural areas in Central Africa, which were easier to isolate.
"By contrast, this outbreak has been allowed to cross borders from Guinea to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia. The virus has reached high density populations. Hence, control requires a much more extensive effort than just placing one single isolation area," Chowell-Puente said, "Every single day that passes with no control could mean additional hundreds of cases when the outbreak is already well advanced."
The researchers note that their analysis is limited by the complex geographical patterns of the region, the ability of the World Health Organization to accurately represent the number of cases and downward bias.
Chowell-Puente is an associate professor at ASU that conducts mathematical and computational modeling with an emphasis on epidemiology and population studies.
(CNN) -- Hurricane Odile has rapidly strengthened into a Category 4 storm, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday.
ReplyDeleteOdile was located about 310 miles south-southeast of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California, with maximum sustained winds of 135 mph.
Hurricane warnings are in effect for the southern part of Baja California, from Puerto San Andresito to La Paz.
The Hurricane Center's public advisory said preparations to protect life and property in the area should be "rushed to completion."
CNN) -- You feel worse by the hour. Your joints ache; your head feels heavy; you can't stop coughing. You're freezing, even as your temperature keeps climbing, and your stomach is upset. Even your eyes hurt.
ReplyDeleteFace it: You have the flu. Now what do you do?
Most flu patients should not go to an emergency room, said Dr. David Zich, internal medicine and emergency medicine physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. They will likely be sent home, as there is very little that can be done for them. A fever as high as 103 degrees Fahrenheit is common for the flu, he said.
Patients with normal flu symptoms should get a lot of rest and take painkillers to help with muscle aches, Zich said.
Hello sir, is the Ebola videos out yet.
ReplyDeleteHi Chris, the Ebola videos by Dr Lajide Is out. Make your payments to the accounts on the blog and you will get the link asap. Thank you.
DeleteAn injury and illness prevention program, is a proactive process to help employers find and fix workplace hazards before workers are hurt. We know these programs can be effective at reducing injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. Many workplaces have already adopted such approaches, for example as part of OSHA's cooperative programs.; https://www.osha.gov/dsg/InjuryIllnessPreventionProgramsWhitePaper.html
ReplyDeletePlease wat is contained in the edu portal?
ReplyDelete5mp-4 videos 26 multiple choice questions on ebola and infectious diseases and and an e-book on 3 challenges to humanity
DeleteOK. Thanks. How soon do I get the link?
DeleteI will send you the links as soon as i receive the credit alert of your payment. Make use of any of the bank accoubt links at the top of the newsletter.
DeleteThe current news in Nigeria is that Ebola has been contained. How true is that?
ReplyDeleteThe ebola outbreak in Nigeria has been contained for now. However there are worries;
DeletePart of the nation’s Ebola burden is the on-going debate over the appropriate time for our children to return to school for the 2014/2015 academic session. It will be recalled that the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, recently announced the postponement of resumption date for primary and secondary schools to October 22 as part of measures to contain the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in the country. Most stakeholders expressed widespread support for the decision of the Federal Government FG, which they believe is in the overall interest of all.
However, having reviewed the Ebola situation and satisfied with progress so far made in containing the disease, the FG recently announced the shifting of the resumption date of schools backward to September 22nd. The way things are, opinions are sharply divided among stakeholders on the appropriateness or otherwise of this new date. For instance, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has rejected the Monday September 22nd resumption directive. According to the National Publicity Secretary of the body, Dr Olawunmi Layaki, NMA expect all school to remain closed until December or early next year when all Ebola suspects under surveillance have been cleared and certified free of the virus. It is the conviction of NMA that schools should be shut till the last suspected case or patient is certified free of the virus. The NMA is of the view that schools owners, parents and guardians should not be in a hurry for schools to resume because of the danger the spread of the disease into a school could pose to the country. The basis of this point of view is that children cannot survive isolation and other related issues like the adults.
The Ebola issue in Nigeria is just being politicized. We still need to be very cautious. Ebola might still be lurking around the corner...
ReplyDeleteWorst-ever Ebola outbreak getting even worse: By the numbers;
DeleteU.S. President Barack Obama will announce today a "ramping up" of medical assistance to the West African countries now in the throes of a worsening Ebola epidemic.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama will announce details about the additional medical aid during a visit today to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
COMING UP LIVE: CBC News will carry Obama's press conference at 4 p.m. ET
The number of cases and the numbers of deaths in the current outbreak already exceed the totals for all previous outbreaks combined.
"We're going to have to do something quite exceptional, and we will, " UN envoy Dr. David Nabarro told a news conference Tuesday in Geneva.
He said the important thing to watch now is the exponential nature of the increase in cases.
The current outbreak in West Africa is thought to have started in December. A separate outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of Congo in August.
The first known Ebola outbreaks took place in 1976.
Worries about ebola in Nigeria!
ReplyDeleteThe Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, as well as the Trade Union Congress, TUC, tend to support NMA’s stand on the issue. The NUT has threatened to go on strike if the FG fails to put in place measures to protect its members and pupils from contracting the deadly Ebola Virus Disease before the resumption of schools. On its part, the TUC wants the FG to disregard supposed pressure from private school owners on the issue. Concerned parents and guardians have also called for cautions over the issue.
The World Health Organisation, WHO, and the Lagos State Government have equally cautioned the FG against the September 22 resumption date. Both WHO and the Lagos State government want the FG to review the resumption date for the public and private schools in the country until the scourge of the virus is properly dealt with. While admitting that the number of Ebola Virus cases has reduced in the country, the country’s WHO Representative, Mr. Rui Van Gaz, still cautioned that it is safer to avoid any form of complacency until the last case is over and surveillance completed to ensure that no other potential case comes up.
It is pertinent, at this juncture, to state that the FG, Lagos and Rivers governments as well as other stakeholders have so far done well in containing the deadly Ebola virus. Indeed, the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, deserves special commendation for the way he has provided the required leadership in the nation’s battle to contain Ebola. Through his actions, we could actually express optimism that all hope is not lost concerning the future of this country.
However, the Honourable Minister needs to tread cautiously on the issue of schools’ resumption. For one, it is common knowledge that it takes a longer time for children to exactly understand what Ebola actually represents. Also, it might equally take more time for them to get used to all safety measures put in place to combat the disease. Equally, children tend to be more vulnerable because they would play with each other whether they are sick or not. How many children, especially those in crèche and nursery classes, would understand the need to use hand sanitizers or avoid contact with anybody that has fever? Consequently, it is safer to wait till October when the situations across the country would have been decisively handled.
(CNN) -- What we know -- and psychiatrists have diagnosed for decades -- as schizophrenia may really be eight separate diseases, research published in The American Journal of Psychiatry suggests.
ReplyDeleteScientists at Washington University in St. Louis analyzed the DNA of more than 4,000 people with schizophrenia. They matched any gene variations they found in the DNA with study participants' individual symptoms. In doing so, they found several "gene clusters" that appear to cause eight distinct classes of schizophrenia, according to a statement from the university.
"Complex diseases, such as schizophrenia, may be influenced by hundreds or thousands of genetic variants that interact with one another in complex ways," the study authors wrote in their introduction.
"Genes don't operate by themselves," Dr. C. Robert Cloninger, one of the study's senior authors, explained in the statement. "They function in concert much like an orchestra, and to understand how they're working, you have to know not just who the members of the orchestra are but how they interact."
Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects about 1% of the population, according to the American Psychiatric Association. Symptoms can vary from hallucinations to disordered speech to attention and decision-making problems.
ReplyDeletePast studies done on twins and families have shown that about 80% of the risk for schizophrenia is inherited, the study authors say. A study published in July showed as many as 108 genes may be tied to the mental health disorder. But scientists have had trouble identifying specific genetic variations that put people at risk.
The Washington University researchers looked at instances where a single unit of DNA was altered, which is known as a single nucleotide polymorphism, or SNP. Then they identified 42 interactive SNP sets that significantly increased people's risk of schizophrenia, according to the study.
In other words, if study participant Bob had Gene Cluster X, he was 70% more likely to have schizophrenia than study participant Fred who didn't have that cluster of genes. In some cases, certain gene clusters were matched with close to a 100% increase in risk.
"In the past, scientists had been looking for associations between individual genes and schizophrenia," co-author Dr. Dragan Svrakic said in the statement. "What was missing was the idea that these genes don't act independently. They work in concert to disrupt the brain's structure and function, and that results in the illness."
The idea that schizophrenia is not one single disorder is not really new, says Dr. Charles Raison, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona. It's similar to the way doctors use the term "breast cancer" to describe several different diseases that cause tumors in the breasts.
"Schizophrenia is probably 80 different diseases," Raison says. "All psychiatric conditions likely share this heterogeneity."
There are only so many ways that certain malfunctions in your genetic code can manifest, Raison says. There may be 10 separate gene mutations, but they might only express themselves as one or two symptoms. So what's causing hallucinations in one person might be different than what's causing them in another.
So why are scientists trying to separate out the different schizophrenia disorders? Two reasons, Raison says: to help predict who might get schizophrenia, and to help treat it more efficiently.
Take, for example, pleurisy, which is a condition where the liquid around your lungs becomes inflamed. Several things can cause pleurisy, including a viral infection, pneumonia or cancer. If you have a drug that treats pneumonia, it's going to help only a certain percentage of patients with pleurisy. But if you know that your patient's pleurisy is caused by cancer, you'll find a different course of treatment.
The same could hold true for schizophrenia and other mental health conditions, Raison says.
"In psychiatry land we're still stuck with pleurisy," he says. "They're descriptions of symptoms, and we only have a vague idea of the underlying causes."
Massachusetts, USA -- Nearly one year after SolarCity acquired Zep Solar and its rackless mounting design for $158 million — a move that cut both cost and time for residential solar installations — the installer announced today that it is whetting its appetite in untapped areas of the commercial market with a new Zep product line.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteInformation has it that Federal College of Education (FCE), Kano has been bombed by suspected members of the deadly Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
Residents of Kabuga area, the host community of the institution said that sporadic gunshots were heard in the vicinity resulting in pandemonium as students and residents scampered to safety while shop owners hurriedly locked up their shops.
Many students have also been killed in the course of the sudden event. We alaso gathered that gunmen were shooting even after the bomb blast.
As we report this, armed security personnel were seen heading to the college.
(CNN) -- As hospitals in nations hardest hit by Ebola struggle to keep up, desperate patients are turning to the black market to buy blood from survivors of the virus, the World Health Organization warned.
ReplyDeleteThe deadliest Ebola outbreak in history has killed at least 2,400 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- the countries most affected by the virus.
Thousands more are infected, and new cases have emerged in Nigeria and Senegal.
Blood from survivors, referred to as convalescent serum, is said to have antibodies that can fight the deadly virus. Though unproven, it has provided some promise in fighting a disease with no approved drug to treat it.
"Studies suggest blood transfusions from survivors might prevent or treat Ebola virus infection in others, but the results of the studies are still difficult to interpret," the WHO said.
ReplyDelete"It is not known whether antibodies in the plasma of survivors are sufficient to treat or prevent the disease. More research is needed."
Convalescent serum has been used to treat patients, including American aid worker Rick Sacra, who is hospitalized in Omaha, Nebraska. He got blood from Kent Brantly, a fellow American who survived Ebola. Both got infected when they were helping patients in Liberia.
Illicit trade
But unlike their situation, patients in affected nations are getting blood through improper channels. The illicit trade can lead to the spread of other infections, including HIV and other blood-related ailments.
"We need to work very closely with the affected countries to stem out black market trading of convalescent serum for two reasons," Margaret Chan, the WHO's director-general, said this week.
"Because it is in the interest of individuals not to just get convalescent serum without ... going through the proper standard and the proper testing because it is important that there may be other infectious vectors that we need to look at."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/18/health/ebola-blood-black-market/index.html?hpt=he_c1
Watch "In Pursuit of Happiness: Sanjay Gupta, M.D. reports" on CNN at 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday and 7:30 a.m. ET Sunday. In this special, Gupta explores scientifically proven ways to up your life satisfaction and heads to Denmark to uncover secrets from the happiest nation in the world.
ReplyDelete(CNN) -- Americans will spend about $550 million on self-help books this year and more than $1 billion on motivational speakers. Obviously, many of us are on a quest for happiness.
I get it. We all want, and deserve, that sense of well-being. But save your money. Achieving happiness is easier than you may think.
We all experience emotional highs throughout our lives -- with a job promotion, on our wedding day, with the birth of a child. But these moments only yield temporary feelings of elation, and experts say that they alone are not enough to achieve true happiness.
Happiness isn't just an emotional state. Decades of research proves it goes much deeper. In fact, science shows people who are happy live longer and healthier lives. The good news is that generating better bliss is something we can all do regardless of our environment or genetics.
Here are seven ways to boost your life satisfaction:
Start by changing your attitude.
ReplyDeleteThat's right -- I'm talking to you, pessimists.
A Harvard University study found that optimists are not only happier but are 50% less likely to have heart disease, a heart attack or a stroke. It turns out that keeping a positive outlook actually offers protection against cardiovascular disease.
The science doesn't fare as well for pessimists. They have lower levels of happiness compared with optimists and are three times as likely to develop health problems as they age, researchers say.
Learn from people who are already happy.
Denmark has earned the top spot on the European Commission's "Eurobarameter" for well-being and happiness every year since 1973. And when the United Nations went on the hunt for the happiest nation in the world, it ranked Denmark No. 1.
So what makes Danes more satisfied with their lives? Sure, things like life expectancy, gross domestic product and a low-corruption rate help. But the overall level of happiness in Denmark has more to do with the generosity that's common among citizens, their freedom to make life choices and a strong social support system, according to the U.N. World Happiness Report.
Copenhagen: The world's happiest city
Work less.
The Danes seem to strike a great work-life balance, which ups their happiness level. Simply put: They don't overwork. In fact, the average workweek in Denmark is 33 hours -- only 2% of Danes work more than 40 hours a week.
Almost 80% of mothers in Denmark return to work after having a child, but they balance their free time between families, weekly happy hour with their girlfriends and participating in community club programs.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/19/health/finding-happiness/index.html?hpt=he_c1
Hello sir, I tried to make a purchase today but the bank was a mess. Will try next week.
ReplyDeleteMe too. Quite hectic.
DeleteI appreciate the discomfort and stress we go through making off-line payments in Nigeria. Our on-line payment systems are not seamless or headache free either. I wish Wale and Francis better luck this coming week. I will soon come up with an article on how 24hour internet connectivity and power supply can invigorate the Nigerian economy. If Kenyans and South Africans can do it, then Nigeria can surely can.
Delete(CNN) -- They were traveling to raise awareness about the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. Instead, it seems, they encountered violence.
ReplyDeleteEight people on an Ebola team were killed in southeastern Guinea, near the country's border with Liberia, a government spokesman said in a statement Thursday. Among them were health care workers and local journalists.
Residents in the small town of Womey threw stones at the Guinea Ebola team when they arrived earlier this week, forcing them to flee, spokesman Albert Damantang Camara said. Some members of the group were able to safely reach the nearby town of Nzerekore, he said, while nine others went to find refuge around Womey.
Only one of the nine was found alive, hiding near the town.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/19/health/ebola-guinea-killing/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Editor's note: CNN's Elizabeth Cohen and John Bonifield arrived in Monrovia, Liberia on Friday and are reporting on the Ebola outbreak.
ReplyDeleteMonrovia, Liberia (CNN) -- As I stood in the sweltering heat outside the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta earlier this week, President Barack Obama whispered in my ear.
Okay, he didn't exactly whisper, and his words were intended not just for me. In one of the most significant addresses of his presidency, Obama declared to the world that he would send 3,000 troops to Ebola-stricken West Africa.
Obama's speech was being piped into my earpiece, and I was about to go on CNN when I picked up my phone and emailed my friend Jake Tapper, the host of the show.
"World knows how to fight this disease," I wrote in the subject line, quoting the words I had just heard Obama speak.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/19/health/cohen-ebola-reporter-notebook/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
(CNN) -- During a trip to the mostly Muslim nation of Albania, Pope Francis rebuked militants who act in the name of religion, saying no one can act as the "armor of God."
ReplyDeleteThe Pope lauded Albanians during a visit to the capital of Tirana, calling the Balkan nation one that proves "a peaceful and fruitful coexistence between persons and communities of believers of different religions is not only desirable, but possible and realistic."
The pontiff didn't refer to any militant group by name. He denounced those who have perverted religious spirit and who are engaged in violence that prevents harmony between people of different faiths.
Last month, he denounced ISIS, the Islamist militant group seeking to establish a caliphate in the Middle East. He called ISIS an "unjust aggressor"
On Sunday, he again spoke harshly against religious warriors.
"Let no one consider themselves to be the 'armor' of God while planning and carrying out acts of violence and oppression," Pope Francis told diplomats at the presidential palace. "May no one use religion as a pretext for actions against human dignity and against the fundamental rights of every man and woman, above all, the right to life and the right of everyone to religious freedom."
(CNN) -- Sierra Leone started a three-day nationwide lockdown Friday in an effort to halt an Ebola outbreak that has left thousands dead in the region.
ReplyDeleteUnder the plan, no one is allowed to leave their homes for three days, allowing volunteers to go door-to-door educating people on the deadly virus.
Muslims should pray at home Friday while Christians do the same on Sunday, officials said.
"We believe this is the best way for now to identify those who are sick and remove them from those who are well," said Alhaji Alpha Kanu, the nation's minister of information.
But aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said the lockdown is unlikely to stop the spread of the disease.
Utah, USA -- August 11 was an auspicious day for Mexico. Some seventy-six years after the government nationalized the country’s oil industry, President Enrique Peña Nieto signed into law an energy reform package that many are saying will have a transformative impact on the economy of Mexico. The landmark legislation, which will open Mexico’s oil and natural gas markets to foreign investment, also directs certain changes to the electricity sector that will require grid operator CENACE to procure generation from renewable resources.
ReplyDeleteThose companies involved in solar development throughout Mexico are poised to make enormous gains — companies like ILIOSS, a Mexico City-based solar developer, who on August 21 announced a $500 million partnership with Greenwood Energy to develop more than 250 MW of new PV projects throughout Mexico between now and 2017.
One of the premier developers of renewable energy in Mexico, ILIOSS will handle the development and operations angle by providing engineering, procurement, construction, operation and maintenance of rooftop PV systems. Greenwood Energy, which is the North and Latin American clean energy arm of the international corporation Libra Group, will oversee all financing. Once the installation has been completed, Greenwood Energy will also own the projects.
Mexican Energy Reform Paves Way for Expanded Solar Endeavors
ReplyDeleteILIOSS, which is known for being the first commercial rooftop solar developer in Mexico, already has a development pipeline of more than 500 MW of solar PV in progress — 32 MW of which are currently being built on the rooftops of Mexico’s largest retail store chain, Soriana. David Arelle, CEO for ILIOSS, said recent Mexican energy reform played a significant role in enabling his company to move forward with plans to install solar PV on a more widespread commercial scale throughout his home country.
“Prior to the new energy law it was not legal to sell energy,” Arelle explained. “The only way to do it before was to install solar modules on your own rooftop and produce the energy for yourself.” Arelle said energy reform legislation has now made it possible for companies like his to leverage their expertise to install solar systems on rooftops and sell the energy back to users via long term Power Purchase Agreements, at a far less expensive rate than most are paying for traditional electricity in Mexico.
Although Greenwood Energy has established a wide footprint throughout the United States and Latin America through the development of numerous PV projects, its partnership with ILIOSS will be its first foray into the Mexican solar market. “We were looking for a partnership in Mexico because we believe Mexico is going to be the largest market for solar in all of Latin America,” said Greenwood Energy CEO Camilo Patrignani. “It was definitely a place we wanted to be.”
While the size and scope of the ILIOSS/Greenwood Energy partnership has been called “ambitious” in scale, Patrignani is optimistic that the two companies may just exceed their intended target. “I’m hoping the development is three times the planned amount,” Patrignani said. “It’s certainly not a small number, but we strongly believe we’re going to get there.” With the next several months set aside for the finalization of documentation necessary to proceed, Patrignani said he expects the first construction projects to begin in the first quarter of 2015.
The proposed 250 MW of installations will be spread out among a large number of individual projects, each with an average size of 500 kW per location. Patrignani said that higher end installations could include some 200 MW projects, adding, “We’re already working on developing one in that range.”
ReplyDeleteBRASILIA, Brazil Brazil's mines and energy ministry has published guidelines for the concession auction to develop the 8,040-MW Sao Luiz do Tapajos hydroelectric project on Brazil's Tapajos River.
The Ministerio de Minas e Energia scheduled the auction for December 15 at which time companies will compete for rights to build Sao Luiz do Tapajos and sell at least 70 to 80 percent of its power to electricity distributors in the regulated power market.
Provisions for the auction, published in Brazil's official Diario Oficial da Uniao, call for the project to begin operation in December 2019. It is to provide power under contracts running from July 2020 through December 2049.
Technical, economic and environmental feasibility studies of Sao Luiz do Tapajos were developed from a plant-platform concept consisting of a method to plan, design, build and operate a hydroelectric plant or set of hydroelectric plants in legally protected territory or territory apt to receive formal protection and areas of little or no human activity so that its location becomes a site of permanent environmental conservation.
Technical and economic parameters were analyzed by the government's energy research agency, Empresa de Pesquisa Energetica, and forwarded by the ministry to the Tribunal de Contas da Uniao, the accountability office of the national Congress, so that social and environmental constraints were considered as part of the project.
Brazil utility Furnas Centrais Eletricas S.A. invited proposals in August from companies to form a partnership to bid in the upcoming concession auction. Furnas' parent utility, Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A. (Eletrobras), submitted in May a technical and financial appraisal of Sao Luiz do Tapajos to Brazil's Agencia Nacional de Energia Eletrica (ANEEL), which is to administer the concession auction.
Sao Luiz do Tapajos is the largest component of the proposed 12,000-MW Tapajos hydroelectric complex on the Tapajos and Jamanxim rivers in northern Brazil. The complex also is to include the 2,300-MW Jatoba, 528-MW Cachoeira dos Patos, 881-MW Jamanxin and 802-MW Cachoeira do Cai projects, all of which will be built in the Amazon region's Para State.
Ebola latest; Watch this video at this link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBd09WgT708&feature=youtu.be
ReplyDeleteCNN) -- Nigerian government officials and the International Committee of the Red Cross have had talks with Boko Haram about swapping imprisoned members of the Islamist terrorist group for the more than 200 Chibok school girls kidnapped in April, a source involved in the negotiations told CNN.
ReplyDeleteThe officials met four times in mid-August with two senior members of Boko Haram in Nigeria's capital, Abuja.
The swap would involve the release of 30 Boko Haram commanders in the custody of the Nigerian government, according to the source, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue
(CNN) -- The first item on the long list of issues to be addressed at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week: Climate change.
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday President Barack Obama will address a group of world leaders at the U.N. Climate Summit, a one-day meeting hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and open to leaders of all 193 U.N. member states, though not all will attend, plus members of the private sector.
The event -- Obama's first stop in a busy week at the General Assembly -- offers Obama a chance to shift the conversation away from the threat posed by ISIS, Ebola, and other national security matters and focus on an issue where he can tout accomplishments.
In 2013, Obama unveiled several executive actions aimed at reducing carbon emissions and combating climate change, and at Tuesday's summit, White House officials say, the president will highlight the need for the international community to come up with a plan with the same aim.
Obama "will call on other leaders to work towards a strong global framework to cut emissions" at the summit, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.
Data Scientist
ReplyDeleteA business’s ability to gain genuine insight and generate growth from big data entirely relies on its ability to analyze and interpret that data. This fact has driven a huge boom in the number of people employed as data scientists over the last few years - a trend which is forecast to continue.
In many ways, if you were an evil genius looking to take over the world using big data, then your data scientists are your elite henchmen – the “muscle”, highly trained but grounded in reality, needed to put your high-flying plans into action in a practical way.
The designation “scientist” signifies that they will usually come from an academic background – a PHd is often a requirement, for higher-level positions. To support this, new degree courses specializing in data science are being launched by universities around the world. If you don’t have the time or money to go back to school, you can complete data science courses from Stanford and the John Hopkins University for free, online at Coursera.org. At the very least this would be a good way to gauge if you have the academic potential required.
Working as a data scientist at a large company could involve being part of a team, reporting to a chief data scientist. Or as more smaller and medium-sized businesses embark on data projects in the near future, they could find themselves working alone and taking sole responsibility for turning stats and data into action.
It’s a wide and varied field, in what is essentially still an emerging science, but if you’re interested and have the aptitude it could prove lucrative – average salaries for qualified and experienced data scientists with larger companies generally top $100,000.
CNN) -- The United States is doing what it must to "take the fight to terrorists," leading a coalition of Arab nations in a series of airstrikes against the so-called Islamic State terror group in Syria, U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, the United States took action -- on its own -- against another terrorist organization, the Khorasan Group. Obama described its members as "seasoned al Qaeda operatives in Syria."
U.S. officials said the group was plotting attacks against the United States and other Western targets.
The plots against the United States were discovered by the intelligence community in the past week, an intelligence source with knowledge of the matter told CNN. The source did not say what the target may have been, but said the plot potentially involved a bomb made of a nonmetallic device like a toothpaste container or clothes dipped in explosive material.
(CNN) -- The number of Ebola cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone could rise to between 550,000 and 1.4 million by January if there are no "additional interventions or changes in community behavior," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report Tuesday. The estimate was derived from a new forecasting tool developed by the CDC.
ReplyDeleteThe range of estimated cases -- from 550,000 to 1.4 million -- is wide because experts suspect the current count is highly under-reported. The official death toll from Ebola in West Africa has climbed to more than 2,800 in six months, with 5,800 cases confirmed as of Monday, the World Health Organization said.
But the CDC estimates that if 70% of people with Ebola are properly cared for in medical facilities, the epidemic could decrease and eventually end.
In a press conference Tuesday, CDC Director Tom Frieden cautioned that this model is based on older data from August. The numbers are not projections, but "scenarios." The model does not take into account President Obama's announcement that the U.S. is sending troops and extra medical equipment to the area. Nor does it take into account the additional help from other countries promised.
Canada's experimental Ebola vaccine has yet to be shipped to West Africa, says Dr. Gregory Taylor, the country's new chief public health officer.
ReplyDeleteCanada announced an offer of 800 to 1,000 doses of an Ebola vaccine developed at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg six weeks ago. But there are still questions about how and where to send it, Taylor said in an interview with CBC News.
"The 800 to 1,000 doses that we offered to WHO is still in Winnipeg," Taylor said. "We're getting very close to shipping some of that."
Canada has a small number of doses compared with the number of people infected, Taylor said. The current Ebola outbreak has infected at least 5,800 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and Senegal.
Experimental drugs are to be fast-tracked into west Africa so that they can be tested and, if they work, save lives in the Ebola epidemic, which, experts say, is spiralling out of control. Trials of vaccines are already in their early stages, with healthy British volunteers taking part in safety tests in the UK. The Wellcome Trust is committing £3.2m to set up sites, systems and facilities for drug testing across the affected countries as well.
ReplyDeleteThere is major international concern over the spread of infection and the disintegration of healthcare systems under pressure from the disease. The Centres for Disease Control (CDC) in the US released new projections on Tuesday saying that in the worst scenario, if the spread of Ebola goes unchecked, there could be 1.4m cases by late January. The WHO has not projected that far ahead, but has warned that there could be nearly 20,000 cases by early November.
Healthcare systems in the three worst-hit countries, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, fragile to begin with, have largely collapsed under the strain of coping with what may prove to be one of the most serious viral disease outbreaks in modern times.
More than 40 British military and humanitarian staff have arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to oversee the construction of a UK medical facility, which will be part of the £100m UK commitment to help contain the outbreak. That includes 700 Ebola treatment beds.
Morning folks, this is a good day for all of us. Wishing you all a wonderful day.
ReplyDeleteNow is the time for our governments to collectively fight this scourge to protect our future generations as well as provide solutions. I wouldnt know if the Eduportal books and videos by the Dr. Lajide addresses these concerns?
ReplyDeleteYes I do! Battling Ebola: Two doctors for a county of 85,000 people
DeleteMonrovia, Liberia (CNN) -- Meet Dr. Gobee Logan, the county health director for Bomi County in Liberia.
You have now met half the medical team in Bomi County.
There are two doctors in the entire county. I don't mean two doctors to treat Ebola patients but two doctors, period.
Two doctors to take care of Ebola patients, plus the 100 patients in their general hospital, plus the rest of the county. That's two doctors for about 85,000 people.
Logan doesn't complain, even though he's been working around the clock since June, when the first Ebola case appeared in this agricultural county.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/25/health/reporter-notebook-cohen-ebola-doctor/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
India just launced her firts satellite into orbit. Congrata to our new Prime Minster, Mr. Mordi. I'm proud to be an Indian!
ReplyDeleteThe face of India’s space program has always been a man.
DeleteThe seven chairmen, including the incumbent, of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)—India’s equivalent of NASA—have all been men, and it is typically male scientists who front the serious press conferences ISRO conducts after satellite launches.
But there’s a crucial band of women, working across the entire range of India’s space programme, that comprise about 20% of ISRO’s total workforce of 14,246 employees. About 10% of the total staff, or 1,654, are women engineers.
http://qz.com/270346/20-of-isros-staff-you-rarely-hear-about-the-women-driving-indias-space-programme/
The WHO has declared that over 20,000 would be infected in West Africa if the world does not take drastic proactive measures. This is a very sad outlook.
ReplyDeleteYes, its sad, Phillips. I wonder wat we can do to finally conquer this deadly epidemic.
DeleteCanadian government considering opening Ebola treatment facility in west Africa: top health official;
DeleteThe federal government has not ruled out setting up a treatment facility for Ebola patients in west Africa, the newly appointed head of the national Public Health Agency suggested Wednesday, as he called protecting Canadians from the lethal virus his number-one priority.
The government, which runs a diagnostic lab in the region and has developed an experimental drug and vaccine against Ebola, has already been “punching above its weight” but is actively considering what more it can do, said Dr. Greg Taylor.
“This situation has evolved, from one of an outbreak, public health, disease control, to one of aid, where the infrastructure is breaking down,” he said when asked about this country setting up a clinic in Africa. “Stay tuned. We’re exploring all the possible options Canada can do to assist that outbreak.”
Health officials working to wrest the runaway outbreak under control have repeatedly said that their greatest priority for outside help is more treatment resources. The existing clinics and hospitals are unable to treat all patients, turning many away and leaving them to spread the disease in the community, they say.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/09/24/canadian-government-considering-opening-ebola-treatment-facility-in-west-africa-top-health-official/
(CNN) -- The West Africa Ebola outbreak is "a growing threat to regional and global security," U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday, telling a high-level meeting on the deadly epidemic at the U.N. General Assembly that only an international response can prevent "a humanitarian catastrophe across the region."
ReplyDelete"If ever there were a public health emergency deserving of an urgent, strong and coordinated international response, this is it," the President said.
Obama has declared the epidemic -- which is centered in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- a national security priority amid fears it could spread farther afield and claim many more lives.
"This is more than a health crisis," he said. "This is a growing threat to regional and global security. In Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, public health systems are near collapse. Economic growth is slowing dramatically. If this epidemic is not stopped, this disease could cause a humanitarian catastrophe across the region."
Mount Ontake, Japan (CNN) -- At least 30 people are presumed dead after rescuers found them showing no signs of life Sunday near the summit of a Japanese volcano that started erupting a day earlier.
ReplyDeletePolice said the people were in a state of "cardiac arrest," meaning that they were discovered without a pulse and weren't breathing but hadn't been declared dead by a doctor.
Rescue teams had begun searching Sunday for dozens of climbers who were caught by the sudden eruption of Mount Ontake.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa not only threatens lives... it also threatens livelihoods and economies of entire countries. We look at the economic outlooks of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
ReplyDelete"We've been put out of business. If we can't sell our meat our families are going to go hungry." - An Ivory coast bushmeat seller explaining her desperation with the government's ban
Even though the immediate health crisis of this Ebola crisis is all-consuming, there are those already thinking of the lasting economic impact of this unprecedented outbreak.
Standard Chartered Bank has lowered the economic outlooks of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, the three African nations hardest hit. The International Monetary Fund suggests increasing emergency lending to those countries. Last week, the president of the World Bank said West African countries face economic catastrophe and urged the international community to do more to stop the outbreak.
A recent study published in Malaria Journal has identified medicinal plants such as Momordica charantia (bitter melon), Momordica balsamina (balsam apple), Ageratum conyzoides (goat weed), and Diospyros monbuttensis (Yoruba ebony or walking stick ebony) to be very efficacious in the treatment of drug resistant malaria.
ReplyDeleteThe results of the study showed sensitivity of 100 Plasmodium falciparum (malaria parasite) isolates to chloroquine, quinine, amodiaquine, mefloquine, sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine, artemisinin, Momordica charantia, Diospyros monbuttensis and Morinda lucida.
The study is titled “In vitro studies on the sensitivity pattern of Plasmodium falciparum to anti-malarial drugs and local herbal extracts.”
The 2014 study was conducted by Indian and Nigeria researchers from the Department of Biological Sciences, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State; Department of Medical Parasitology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State; Department of Botany, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State; and National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi, India.
The researchers concluded: “Natural products isolated from plants used in traditional medicine, which have potent anti-plasmodial action in vitro, represent potential sources of new anti-malarial drugs.”
A total of 4,066 subjects comprising 1,839 males and 2,227 females having malaria in four different zones of Ogun State were recruited into the study. The total number of subjects recruited in Sango-Otta, Abeokuta, Ijebu-Ode and Sagamu were 1,120, 1,116, 995 and 835, respectively. Children between one and 15 years, pregnant women and other adults were included in this study. This is because the majority of malaria cases occur in children under the age of 12 years; pregnant women are also especially vulnerable. The mean age was 19 years, with 93 per cent less than 25 years old.
CNN) -- Liberia's chief medical officer is on a 21-day Ebola quarantine after her assistant died from the illness, according to health officials.
ReplyDeleteThe assistant died Thursday, prompting the closure of the the Ministry of Health headquarters building for decontamination, officials said.
The ministry reopened on Friday, but Dr. Bernice T. Dahn entered a quarantine period, her deputy, Tolbert Nyenswah, said.
The assistant showed symptoms of Ebola 10 days ago, officials said, but Dahn last had contact with him 13 days ago.
An American doctor who volunteered in Sierra Leone and was exposed to Ebola will be admitted to the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health in coming days, the NIH said in a statement.
Happy new week everyone.
ReplyDeleteGood day Iker. Warm Regards! Expect you to buy one of my books in the coming weeks.
DeleteDealing with issue of invasion of Ekiti judiciary, attacks on judges, by NBA, AJ, HRAN
ReplyDeleteSTAKEHOLDERS in the Nigerian judiciary, particularly the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Access to Justice (AJ) and Human Rights Agenda Network (HRAN) have joined in the fray of condenming the attacks on the judiciary in Ekiti State by hoodlums.
In separate stataments by the organisations, they said the dastardly act must be halted in order not to create the impression the judiciary regarded as the last hope of the common man is dashed with such brazing impunity.
A statement by NBA and signd by its president and spokesman, Austine Alegeh (SAN), it said: “The Nigerian Bar Association strongly condemns the brazen and dastardly acts of violence by thugs and hoodlums who attacked The High Court of Justice Complex in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, which is also the venue of sitting of the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, on Monday September 22, 2014 and followed same up with more acts of violence and brigandage on Thursday 25th September, 2014. The hoodlums broke into the High Court Complex, ransacked the Court rooms, destroyed judicial record books and attacked judiciary staff and Judges.
Reports from our members at Ado Ekiti indicate that Policemen and other security agents present at the High Court Complex looked the other way while the hoodlums had a field day in perpetuating wanton criminal acts of violence and damage to property. We call on the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies in Ekiti State to perform their constitutional duty of providing security for the citizens of Nigeria.
This unfortunate development portends grave danger to the lives of our Judges in Ekiti State. There is therefore, an urgent need to protect our Judges and judiciary staff from these hoodlums whom we believe must be acting on instructions from some highly placed persons in Ekiti State to unleash mayhem on Judicial Officers and infrastructure.
We condemn in very strong terms these detestable acts of brigandage intended to intimidate and infuse fear into the minds of judicial officers. Those behind these criminal acts of violence have desecrated the Courts which are our temples of justice.
The administration of justice can never thrive in an atmosphere where judicial officers are brazenly attacked and or intimidated in the course of carrying out their lawful duties. The administration of justice can never bow to the whims and caprices of persons who believe that judges must yield to their wishes.
The NBA is sending a high powered fact finding team to Ekiti to investigate the facts surrounding this matter. Any person(s), no matter how highly placed, found involved in this show of shame and desecration of our Courts shall surely face the full force of the law as NBA will ensure prosecution of any such person(s).
Washington (CNN) -- One of the world's most successful innovators and philanthropists defended the U.S. response to the deadly Ebola epidemic Monday, saying he doesn't think the government waited too long to act.
ReplyDeleteBill Gates, speaking at a discussion hosted by the website Politico, said he was thrilled when President Barack Obama decided to invest resources in containing the virus as it threatened to spread from West Africa into other regions and continents.
"Was there some other government who took decisive action before we did? Was the data really clear?" Gates asked during the discussion. "Is there someone else who's research is going to give us the vaccine that will be the key to making sure this outbreak doesn't happen again? The U.S. is the leader on being able to move into areas like this and help out."
The Microsoft billionaire, listed as the richest American by Forbes magazine, is co-chair along with his wife of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The two have tasked the foundation with battling the spread of polio and malaria as well as Ebola.
To desecrate the temple of justice is an open invitation to anarchy and its satanic agents! Any party that rules Ekiti state would have to rely on the Judiciary, an independent arm of government, to maintain peace and order. In the light of this the recent happenings in Ekiti Judiciary cannot be Justified. If you have the mandate of the people, lawfully or illegally, you still need the Judiciary to maintain peace and order, and hence defend your mandate. Justice would be done in Ekiti state because, peace, without Justice is peace of the graveyard.
ReplyDeleteUtah, USA -- Everybody loves a new world record, even more so when that record hints at the possibility of enormous strides in solar power energy generation. According to information coming out of the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, scientists there have once again snatched up the title as creators of the highest performing thin-film PV cell in the world.
ReplyDeleteSmashing the previous record of 21 percent efficiency set by Swedish solar manufacturer Midsummer, ZSW says it has achieved 21.7 percent cell efficiency in laboratory conditions by way of a solar cell made of copper indium gallium selenide (or CIGS, for short). The new breakthrough kicks up the outperformance of CIGS against multicrystalline solar cells by 1.3 percent and sets the stage for further improvements that could drive the cost of CIGS technology down to competitive levels.
Solar cell efficiency ratings indicate the percentage of incident sunlight that can be converted into electrical power. According to ZSW, CIGS modules currently available on the market are rated at an efficiency of roughly 15 percent. This is due to their larger size, which results in a lower overall efficiency.
The physical size of the CIGS solar cells developed by ZSW are small, but their potential is big. Each cell has an area of 0.5 square centimeters, which is the standard size for laboratory testing. Over 40 cells of identical size and makeup were manufactured, all of them achieving efficiency rates greater than 21 percent.
Professor Michael Powalla, head of the photovoltaics division of ZSW, said he is optimistic about even further technological improvements that will unlock additional CIGS solar cell potential.
Atlanta (CNN) -- A patient being treated at a Dallas hospital is the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, health officials announced Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteThe unidentified man left Liberia on September 19 and arrived in the United States on September 20, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At that time, the individual did not have symptoms. "But four or five days later," he began to exhibit them, Frieden said. The individual was hospitalized and isolated Sunday at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
Citing privacy concerns, health officials declined to release any details about how the patient contracted the virus or how he was being treated.
California Proposition 46, the Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Cap and Drug Testing of Doctors Initiative, is on the November 4, 2014, ballot in California as an initiated state statute.
ReplyDeleteIf approved by voters, the initiative will:[1]
Increase the state's cap on non-economic damages that can be assessed in medical negligence lawsuits to over $1 million from the current cap of $250,000.
Require drug and alcohol testing of doctors and reporting of positive tests to the California Medical Board.
Require the California Medical Board to suspend doctors pending investigation of positive tests and take disciplinary action if the doctor was found impaired while on duty.
Require health care practitioners to report any doctor suspected of drug or alcohol impairment or medical negligence.
Require health care practitioners to consult the state prescription drug history database before prescribing certain controlled substances.
Supporters of the initiative refer to it as the Troy and Alana Pack Patient Safety Act of 2014, after two children who were killed by a driver under the influence of alcohol and abused prescription drugs.[2]
ReplyDeleteThe measure, if approved, would create the first law in the United States to require the random drug testing of physicians.[3]
Supporters of Proposition 46 argue that medical negligence is too common and pain and suffering damage awards are too low. Opponents say the initiative isn’t about protecting patients, but increasing medical lawsuit payouts to trial lawyers.
Dallas (CNN) -- [Breaking news update, posted at 8:49 a.m. ET]
ReplyDeleteHealth officials are monitoring not only the people the Dallas Ebola patient had contact with while he was contagious and not isolated, but also dozens of people that they subsequently contacted, Dallas County Health and Human Services spokeswoman Erikka Neroes said Thursday.
Eighty people -- the patient's contacts, plus people with whom they had contact -- are now being monitored for Ebola in the Dallas area, Neroes said. Earlier, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said the patient's direct contacts numbered up to 20.
None has shown symptoms, and all are being given educational materials, Neroes said.
None of the 80 has been quarantined, Neroes said. However, Dallas County health officials have ordered four close relatives of the patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, to stay home and not have any visitors until at least October 19.
CNN) -- Ebola has orphaned thousands of children in West Africa, and relatives are terrified of taking them in for fear of infection, the United Nations said.
ReplyDeleteAbout 3,700 children in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have lost one or both parents to the disease, according to U.N. child agency, UNICEF.
In addition to mourning the loss of caregivers in the three hardest-hit nations, the children feel abandoned and stigmatized.
"Orphans are usually taken in by a member of the extended family, but in some communities, the fear surrounding Ebola is becoming stronger than family ties," said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF's regional director.
CNN) -- Four days after a Liberian man was diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas, the apartment where he stayed has not been sanitized, a cleaning crew contracted to do the job said. Four other people are still living there.
ReplyDeleteThomas Eric Duncan became the first person diagnosed with Ebola on American soil when he was hospitalized days after arrival from Liberia.
His partner and her family are in isolation at the apartment, which still has the sheets, clothes and towels Duncan used.
(CNN) -- An American cameraman working for NBC News in Liberia has tested positive for Ebola, the network reported Thursday.
ReplyDeleteHe will return to the United States for treatment.
The freelance cameraman, Ashoka Mukpo, 33, was hired Tuesday and came down with symptoms on Wednesday, NBC News reported.
Liberian President: Patient's leaving for U.S. was 'unpardonable'
"We are doing everything we can to get him the best care possible. He will be flown back to the United States for treatment at a medical center that is equipped to handle Ebola patients," NBC News President Deborah Turness reportedly said in a note to staff.
Dallas (CNN) -- About 10 people are at "higher risk" of catching Ebola after coming into contact with a Liberian man hospitalized in Dallas, health officials said.
ReplyDeleteThe group is among 50 people being monitored daily, but the other 40 are considered "low risk," said Dr. David Lakey, the commissioner of Texas department of state health services.
Health officials did not provide details on the location of those being monitored or where they interacted with Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan.
Monitoring includes a visit from a public health expert and temperature checks twice a day. None of them has had symptoms of Ebola so far, according to Lakey.
(CNN) -- UK Prime Minister David Cameron said Saturday that the death of British aid worker Alan Henning at the hands of ISIS was "absolutely abhorrent" and "unforgivable."
ReplyDeleteA short video released by ISIS on Friday appeared to show Henning's beheading, with the killer blaming the death on the United Kingdom for joining the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the group.
In response, Cameron said Britain must work with its allies to do "everything it can" to defeat ISIS in the region and at home.
"What we see with this organization is there's no level of depravity to which they will not sink. No appeals made any difference," he said, speaking at the Prime Minister's country house retreat, Chequers.
"The fact this was a kind, gentle, compassionate and caring man who had simply gone to help others, the fact they murdered him in the way they did, shows what we are dealing with, and this is going to be our struggle there. With others, we must do everything we can to defeat this organization," Cameron said.
CNN) -- Yes, Ebola is a scary infectious disease. But the first thing you should know is that it's not very contagious -- the virus isn't spread through the air via coughs or sneezes like the common cold. It's spread through frequent contact with bodily fluids and can be spread only by someone who is showing symptoms.
ReplyDeleteSo if they're not feeling sick ...
Many viruses can hide in the body and spread from person to person without causing any symptoms in the people it infects. Ebola isn't like that.
"Ebola doesn't spread before someone gets sick," Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday. "Ebola does not spread ... from someone who doesn't have fever and other symptoms."
CNN) -- A second Ebola patient to be treated at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha will arrive there early Monday morning, the center said in a statement. The patient is believed to be an American freelance cameraman who worked for NBC.
ReplyDeleteAshoka Mukpo was diagnosed with Ebola on Thursday. He left Liberia on a specially-equipped plane Sunday and was headed to Nebraska, the network reported.
Upon arrival, the patient will be immediately taken to a remote part of the airport away from passenger areas, where an ambulance will wait for transport to the hospital.
Rates of melanoma have been increasing for at least the past 30 years. Now, a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health claims a number of cultural and historical factors over the past 100 years, such as changes in fashion trends and social perceptions, have contributed to this increase.
ReplyDeleteMelanoma accounts for less than 2% of all skin cancer cases but is the main cause of skin cancer deaths. This year, around 76,100 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the US, and around 9,710 people will die from the disease.
A major cause of melanoma is high exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun or tanning lamps and beds. Earlier this year, Medical News Today reported on a study revealing multiple sunburns as an adolescent can increase the risk of melanoma by 80%.
In this latest study, led by Dr. David Polsky of NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, NY, the researchers have identified a number of factors in the past century that have led to increased exposure to UV light, which may explain rising melanoma incidence rates.
Think that improving your memory is all brain training and omega-3 supplements? Think again. A new study from researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta suggests that working out at the gym for as little as 20 minutes can improve long-term memory.
ReplyDeletePrevious studies have shown that memory may be improved by several months of aerobic exercises, such as running, cycling or swimming. However, the findings of the new study - published in the journal Acta Psychologica - demonstrate that a similar memory boost can be achieved in a much shorter period.
"Our study indicates that people don't have to dedicate large amounts of time to give their brain a boost," says Lisa Weinberg, the Georgia Tech graduate student who led the project.
As well as looking at aerobic exercise, Weinberg's team also examined how resistance exercise - weightlifting, push-ups and sit-ups - might affect memory.
The team recruited 46 participants (29 women and 17 men), who were randomly assigned into two groups. For the first part of the experiment, all participants viewed a series of 90 images on a computer screen.
Audrey Duarte, an associate professor in the School of Psychology at Georgia Tech, describes the results:
"Even without doing expensive fMRI scans, our results give us an idea of what areas of the brain might be supporting these exercise-induced memory benefits. The findings are encouraging because they are consistent with rodent literature that pinpoints exactly the parts of the brain that play a role in stress-induced memory benefits caused by exercise."
CNN) -- You may know where you are and where you're going to, but do you know why you know that?
ReplyDeleteThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has honored three neuroscientists, whose work is helping answer that question.
John O'Keefe, along with May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser, discovered cells that form a positioning system in the brain -- our hard-wired GPS.
Those cells mark our position, navigate where we're going and help us remember it all, so that we can repeat our trips, the Nobel Assembly said in a statement.
Nobel Prizes: Medical award kicks off week of announcements
The virus that has caused a deadly Ebola epidemic in West Africa is a new strain that emerged locally, possibly transmitted by fruit bats, virologists have said.
ReplyDeleteThe spread of Ebola from a remote corner of Guinea to the capital and into neighbouring Liberia, the first deadly outbreak reported in West Africa, has caused panic across a region struggling with weak healthcare systems and porous borders. The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned this week that Ebola could continue to spread in West Africa for months.
Scientists have unravelled the genome of the virus and found it to be distinct from strains in countries where Ebola was already known to circulate. Ebola is endemic to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, South Sudan and Gabon, and scientists initially believed that Central Africa's Democratic Republic of Congo strain of the virus was responsible for the outbreak.
Using analysis of blood from infected patients, researchers determined that while the Guinean form of the Ebola virus showed a 97 percent similarity to the Democratic Republic of Congo strain, the disease was not introduced from Central Africa.
http://www.france24.com/en/20140418-west-african-ebola-outbreak-caused-new-strain-virus-liberia-guinea/
But perhaps most challenging to the mainstream assumption that Ebola can only be spread through physical contact with a person who is showing symptoms of infection is the following explanation by two national experts on infectious disease transmission, both professors in the School of Public Health, Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, at the University of Illinois at Chicago (footnotes omitted):
ReplyDeleteWe believe there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles both near and at a distance from infected patients, which means that healthcare workers should be wearing respirators, not facemasks. [Aerosols are liquids or small particles suspended in air. An example is sea spray: seawater suspended in air bubbles, created by the force of the surf mixing water with air.]
The important points are that virus-laden bodily fluids may be aerosolized and inhaled while a person is in proximity to an infectious person and that a wide range of particle sizes can be inhaled and deposited throughout the respiratory tract.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/top-doctors-ebola-may-become-airborne-and-may-already-be-transmissible-via-aerosols/5405907
On the occasion of Germany’s re-unification day, I thought it would be fitting to review some of the lessons I learned from Germany about renewable energy on a recent trip to the country.
ReplyDeleteIt would be hard to argue that Germany is NOT the renewable energy capital of the world in terms of developing a thriving industry that contributed more than 27 percent of renewable energy generation to the grid in the first nine months of 2014. The industry also supports more than 378,000 jobs in the country and billions in economic activity. Germany dedicated itself to clean energy in 2000 with the passage of the EEG – the renewable energies act, which kicked off the Energiewende energy transition. The law has been continuously tweaked over the past 14 years with a key component coming in 2009 after fukushima when it decided that it would shut down all nuclear power by 2022.
During the last week in September, I was invited to travel around eastern Germany to see renewable energy projects, interview entrepreneurs in the industry, visit companies, and enjoy a small taste of Berlin, the capital. From what I gathered there are very specific reasons that Germany has been successful at developing this thriving industry. Our November/December issue will feature a more in-depth look at renewable energy in Germany but I wanted to share some of my initial impressions with you today.
Madrid (CNN) -- Four more potential cases of Ebola were under observation Tuesday in Spain, health authorities said Tuesday, a day after a nurse's assistant became the first person known to have contracted the deadly virus outside Africa in the current outbreak.
ReplyDeleteThe woman helped treat two Spanish missionaries, both of whom had contracted Ebola in West Africa, one in Liberia and the other in Sierra Leone. Both died after returning to Spain.
Spain has outbreak's 1st known case of contracting Ebola outside of Africa
The developments come just as the organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) reports that a Norwegian staff member has contracted the deadly virus. The staffer had been working in the Sierra Leone city of Bo and was placed in isolation Sunday after developing a fever, the organization said.
The worker is being sent to a treatment center in Europe.
(CNN) -- Thomas Eric Duncan left Liberia for the United States, by official accounts, a healthy man. Just over two weeks later, he passed away at a Dallas, Texas, hospital with Ebola.
ReplyDeleteDuncan was admitted into isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on September 28 with common symptoms of Ebola: fever, vomiting and diarrhea. He later tested positive for the virus that has killed more than 3,400 people in West Africa.
He was started on the experimental drug brincidofovir on October 4 -- far too long after he arrived at the hospital, his family has said. On Tuesday, the hospital reported that Duncan was on a ventilator and his kidneys were failing.
Duncan died on Wednesday at 7:51 a.m.
Madrid (CNN) -- Teresa Romero Ramos sought out help three times.
ReplyDeleteFinally, one week after first seeing a doctor, Romero found out why she felt so sick: She had Ebola.
Even after her Ebola test came back positive at Madrid's Alcorcon hospital, Romero had to wait.
According to a worker at that hospital, Romero lay in the emergency room -- exposed to other patients as well as medical staff, going back and forth -- for eight hours before being transferred to a hospital in the Spanish capital that specializes in iWhile Romero was "doing better" Wednesday, according to a regional health spokesman said Wednesday, parts of Spain's medical establishment is looking worse and worse the more that comes out about what she's gone through from how she contracted Ebola to how her case has been handled.
Her plight can also be compared to that of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian citizen who was sent home from a Dallas, Texas, hospital days before eventually being admitted for Ebola. Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, died on Wednesday.
Speaking about what's unfolding in Madrid, Health Minister Ana Mato told Parliament that Spain is going to revise its protocols for handling Ebola.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also said that his country is "facing a matter that is of international concern." But that doesn't mean Spaniards should hunker down or become overly alarmed, urging them to "keep calm."
"I would like to ask you to allow the health workers to work," he said. "The Spanish health system is one of the best in the world."nfectious diseases.
Good morning folks. Hope you all enjoyed your holidays. I did.
ReplyDeleteOf course. It was a lengthy holidays.
DeleteI am looking forward to a successful following 3 months to the end of the year. Merry Xmas and a happy new year in advance!
DeleteMadrid (CNN) -- The condition of a Spanish nurse's assistant ill with Ebola has worsened, a doctor told reporters Thursday.
ReplyDeleteThe update on Teresa Romero Ramos came two days after she was admitted to the same Madrid hospital where she had previously helped treat an Ebola patient, and 10 days after she started feeling ill.
Dr. Yolanda Fuentes, who works at the Carlos III hospital, said Romero's condition had worsened but declined to give further details.
Romero became ill after she helped treat an Ebola-stricken Spanish missionary. Her case has prompted concerns from her fellow medical professionals about whether they are properly equipped to safely treat Ebola patients, and questions about why a week passed before Romero was treated.
Ebola: More fears, more measures after first patient diagnosed in the U.S. dies ;http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/09/health/ebola-up-to-speed/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
ReplyDelete(CNN) -- Ebola is no laughing matter, especially not at airports or on planes, where screenings have gotten tighter.
ReplyDeleteSo, when a man on a flight on Wednesday may have joked that he had been to Africa and had the deadly disease, he received a special escort off the plane.
Four officials in blue plastic hazmat suits boarded U.S. Airways Flight 845 to retrieve him after it landed in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
"I was just kidding," he could be heard saying in a video posted to social media. "I ain't from Africa!" he continued, as he walked with the officials down the aisle of the plane.
The Dominican officials had met the plane coming from Philadelphia on the tarmac "due to a possible health issue on board," U.S. Airways said in statement.
"We are following the direction of, and strictly adhering to, all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines in place for airlines in response to the Ebola virus," the airline said.
Utah, USA -- According to the IEA, solar PV could conceivably be used to generate as much as 16 percent of the world’s electricity needs by mid-century, with solar thermal electricity generated by concentrating solar plants (CSP) accounting for another 11 percent.
ReplyDeleteThe reports state that when combined, PV and CSP could cut annual carbon dioxide emissions by more than 6 billion tonnes – effectively equaling the current output of worldwide transportation emissions and exceeding all CO2 emissions produced in the U.S. today.
According to Technology Roadmap: Solar Photovoltaic Energy, a decrease in the emission of 4 billion tonnes of CO2 per year could occur with worldwide installation of 4,600 GW of PV capacity by 2050. In order for this to occur, total PV capacity will have to reach an average of 124 GW per year, rising to 200 GW per year between 2025 and 2040.
Scott Sklar, chair of the Steering Committee of the Sustainable Energy Coalition and president of The Stella Group, says these targets in PV capacity are entirely within the realm of possibility. “I do think PV can hit these growth levels,” Sklar said, adding that a combination of “reduced loads and storage” – in addition to the use of other renewable energy sources like biomass – will have to be factored into the overall equation to achieve round-the-clock power generation.
By the beginning of 2014, total worldwide PV capacity had surpassed 150 GW and the IEA reports an estimated 100 GW of capacity being installed on a daily basis throughout 2014. “Massive cost reductions” were cited for the exponential growth, which saw more PV capacity installed in the last four years than in the last 40 years combined. The IEA believes the cost of PV will continue to drop, eventually hitting a cost decrease of 65 percent by 2050.
Sklar is also confident PV cost will plunge, if not quite by the margins predicted by the IEA. “Just by the aggregation of purchasing of materials, and scale-up of both module manufacturing and delivery chain, we can reduce costs at least by 50 percent by 2050,” Sklar said. “Possibly more.”
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for a stronger response to the spread of Ebola on Thursday, saying that "we have to work now so that this is not the world's next AIDS."
ReplyDelete"In the 30 years I've been working in public health, the only thing like this has been AIDS," CDC director Thomas Frieden said at a World Bank meeting in Washington.
"Speed is the most important variable here. This is controllable and this was preventable," he said. "Public health is sorely underinvested in and yet it is a best buy," he said.
The West are now scared of Ebola. They were too slow to act to contain the scourge. Now they are afraid. Too bad.
DeleteFrieden's comments come in the wake of budget cuts at the CDC, which dropped from $6.5 billion in 2010 to $5.9 billion in 2014, according to analysis by The Hill. The CDC also took a hit during last year's sequester, when the center cut more than $285 million dollars out of its budget, a large portion of which was initially aimed toward programs that prevent the spread of infectious disease.
ReplyDeleteLatest Ebola updates
Disputes over funding the response to Ebola has angered some lawmakers, including Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who blamed Congress for budget cuts in the Boston Herald on Thursday.
"So now, we're out spending millions, billions of dollars in emergency response. People have lost their lives, we're all very worried, instead of spending the money in advance to do more of the research to avoid this kind of problem," said Warren, who sits on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension.
he Oyo State Government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a United Kingdom-based milk producing company, Kama Milk Industry for the processing and production of soya milk.
ReplyDeleteWhen it eventually comes on stream, the company, whose establishment will cost $25 million (N4 billion), will be producing about 750,000 metric tons of soya milk per annum, aside the provision of about 100,000 jobs for the people of the state.
http://www.oyostate.gov.ng/oyo-uk-firm-sign-mou-to-establish-n4b-soya-milk-firm/
Very good news. Let the good work continue
DeleteSoya milk is a very good source of protein. If the project succeeds, that will be great. I support.
DeleteAre u sure its not a way of stealing our ,money?
DeleteThis is definitely not a fraudulent scheme!
DeleteSterling Bank Plc has financed the Karma Milk Industries Ltd’s $20million Soya bean Processing Mill and Edible Oil Refinery Plant in Abuja, under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS).
This, according to a statement from Sterling Bank’s Head, Corporate Affairs, Mrs. ‘Bimbo Sowemimo, was a demonstration of the bank’s commitment to lending to the agriculture sector of the economy,
The CACS was established by the apex bank to promote commercial agricultural enterprises in Nigeria and to fast-track development of the agricultural sector of the economy by providing credit facilities to commercial agricultural enterprises at a single digit interest rate. The credit scheme is also geared towards enhancing national food security among others.
Dr. Lajide you should definately become a journalist! You have timely response to users requests. Fantastic.
DeleteDo you have time to enjoy and socialize? I really appreciate your contributions on this blog/ Ride on.
I concur
DeleteI feel very rewarded, when an author and possibly up-coming journalist is communicating with a receptive audience! However, there is more to come! My partnership for medical solutions with doctors beyond borders, and my up-coming e-book; titled Religion, the mind and creativity.
DeleteAn official familiar with the case told CNN that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will investigate to see if guidelines were followed properly.
ReplyDelete"The CDC is looking very carefully around the circumstances of this patient's infection and will look to see if there were any breaches and, if so, what those were," the official said.
[Previous story, posted at 10:03 a.m. ET]
A female nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas has tested positive for Ebola after a preliminary test, officials said.
Confirmatory testing will be conducted Sunday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Test results are expected to be announced later in the day.
The patient is a female nurse, an official who is familiar with this case told CNN.
She helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person ever diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, Texas Health Resources chief clinical officer Dan Varga said. Duncan died Wednesday.
The nurse is in stable condition, Varga said.
Baghdad (CNN) -- ISIS fighters stand on the verge of victory on two fronts, and poorly equipped local forces do their best to resist.
ReplyDeleteThe Islamist extremists appear set to take a key Syrian town along the Turkish border and an entire province on Baghdad's doorstep.
Leaders in Iraq's Anbar province pleaded for U.S. ground troops to halt the group's rapid, relentless assault. Officials in Baghdad and Washington have not given recognition to their appeal.
In a major setback, Gen. Ahmed Saddak, the police chief of Anbar province, was killed Saturday night in a roadside bomb that targeted his convoy, officials said.
ISIS, the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" which also is referred to as ISIL, controls about 80% of the province, said Anbar Provincial Council president Sabah Al-Karhout.
Are you in Ibadan? There has been a very terrible accident involving a tanker. Kindly call ur friends and family to know I'd they are safe.
ReplyDeleteThe dead are still being mourned; those who seem to have survived are painfully hanging on with varying degrees of burns. The growing number of the bereaved is disturbing as no fewer than eleven people have been confirmed dead following, in Saturday night’s petrol tanker explosion at Molete, Ibadan, while 16 others, including Mr Samson Oyewo, a staff of the Nigerian Tribune, are currently under intensive care at the University College Hospital, Ibadan Central Hospital and Immaculate Hospital, Ibadan.
DeleteA visit to the morgue of the State Hospital, Ring Road, Adeoyo, by the Nigerian Tribune, revealed that 10 corpses had been deposited there. The morgue attendant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated that “We got 10 corpses which included children and adults.”
The raging inferno which spread from Molete round about to Bode area of Ibadan lasted from about 8 pm Saturday night till about 3am, on Sunday, breezed past Prolek filling station before concerted efforts of the Oyo State Fire Service and well-meaning individuals could quench the inferno.
Nigerian Tribune was informed that this incident would be the 5th occurrence in the Molete area having recorded same in August 1971, September 1975, April 1987 and the penultimate in 1994.
Mr Eze Emmanuel, whose chemist shop was burnt recounted, “I just went to park my car and all I heard was a loud sound and fire ensued. It spread to my shop and even one of my customers who came to purchase something was burnt. My younger brother escaped through the back door, while the customer he sold something to was burnt. As at September when I took stock, it amounted to N4.3million.”
ReplyDeleteOne of the affected traders, Mrs Alarape Sulaimon, expressed sadness at the loss of her wares running into thousands that she sold to make a living.
“My sister and her three children are dead”
A sad Olujimi Olusegun told the story of how he got the news of the death of his sister and her children. According to him, “What happened remains a sad occurrence to me. I got a call this morning from an old time friend. But I ignored the call. Later, my younger brother called me, telling me that my sister’s husband was involved in an accident in Molete. After that, my father called and informed me that my elder sister was dead. She was 32 years old. She gave birth to three children. All her children were burnt to death. Her husband who survived is being treated at the hospital.”
Molete, Ibadan, fire disaster
But perhaps most challenging to the mainstream assumption that Ebola can only be spread through physical contact with a person who is showing symptoms of infection is the following explanation by two national experts on infectious disease transmission, both professors in the School of Public Health, Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, at the University of Illinois at Chicago (footnotes omitted):
ReplyDeleteWe believe there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles both near and at a distance from infected patients, which means that healthcare workers should be wearing respirators, not facemasks. [Aerosols are liquids or small particles suspended in air. An example is sea spray: seawater suspended in air bubbles, created by the force of the surf mixing water with air.]
Keep in mind the nurse from Texas who contracted ebola, and the Spanish nurse were presumed to be wearing personal protective gear in the course of their duties!
Canadian scientists have shown that the deadliest form of the ebola virus could be transmitted by air between species.
ReplyDeleteIn experiments, they demonstrated that the virus was transmitted from pigs to monkeys without any direct contact between them.
The researchers say they believe that limited airborne transmission might be contributing to the spread of the disease in some parts of Africa.
They are concerned that pigs might be a natural host for the lethal infection.
What we suspect is happening is large droplets - they can stay in the air, but not long, they don't go far. But they can be absorbed in the airway”
Dr Gary Kobinger Public Health Agency of Canada
Ebola viruses cause fatal haemorrhagic fevers in humans and many other species of non human primates.
Details of the research were published in the journal Scientific Reports.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the infection gets into humans through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs and other bodily fluids from a number of species including chimpanzees, gorillas and forest antelope.
The fruit bat has long been considered the natural reservoir of the infection. But a growing body of experimental evidence suggests that pigs, both wild and domestic, could be a hidden source of Ebola Zaire - the most deadly form of the virus.
ReplyDeleteNow, researchers from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the country's Public Health Agency have shown that pigs infected with this form of Ebola can pass the disease on to macaques without any direct contact between the species.
In their experiments, the pigs carrying the virus were housed in pens with the monkeys in close proximity but separated by a wire barrier. After eight days, some of the macaques were showing clinical signs typical of ebola and were euthanised.
One possibility is that the monkeys became infected by inhaling large aerosol droplets produced from the respiratory tracts of the pigs.
One of the scientists involved is Dr Gary Kobinger from the National Microbiology Laboratory at the Public Health Agency of Canada. He told BBC News this was the most likely route of the infection.
What we suspect is happening is large droplets - they can stay in the air, but not long, they don't go far," he explained.
"But they can be absorbed in the airway and this is how the infection starts, and this is what we think, because we saw a lot of evidence in the lungs of the non-human primates that the virus got in that way."
Doctors Beyond Borders
ReplyDelete311, Suncity Business Tower
Gurgaon, Haryana, India
122009
RE: Authorization Letter
This is to authorize and certify Dr. Adesola Lajide to act as an
International Healthcare Facilitator on behalf of Doctors Beyond
Borders for a period of one year from the date of this letter. This
letter is renewable every one year with a current letter of authority.
As an International Healthcare Facilitator, Dr. Adesola Lajide will
assist in referring tertiary patients for care at International
accredited empanelled hospitals to Doctors Beyond Borders. In
order to achieve this Dr. Adesola Lajide has the authority to engage
and introduce various hospitals, doctors and healthcare providers to
Doctors Beyond Borders.
Dr. Adesola Lajide will at all times comply with the laws and
regulations applicable to Dr. Adesola Lajide in operation of services
in its own country of business/operations and the country of the
referred patients.
Stay tuned for more resources and information!
CNN) -- The nurse wore a mask, gown, shield and gloves as she helped care for a dying Ebola patient in Texas.
ReplyDeleteAnd a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said she tested positive for Ebola, health officials are still trying to figure out how exactly she caught it.
"Something went wrong, and we need to find out why and what," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The woman, Nina Pham, took basic precautions while treating Ebola-stricken Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan at a Dallas hospital. Now she is the first person to have contracted the deadly virus in the United States.
There are few details that are known about what might have gone wrong.
On Monday, Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, told reporters that it's still unknown how the infection occurred, only that a "breach in protocol" for treating a patient happened.
(CNN) -- A United Nations medical worker who was infected with Ebola while working in Liberia has died in Germany.
ReplyDeleteHis death further raises questions of just how equipped health officials are in dealing with cases of the disease
The 56-year-old man was Sudanese, a spokesman for the St. Georg hospital in Leipzig said Tuesday. He was being treated in a secure isolation ward there. And the clinic said last week that its doctors and medical staff were "perfectly prepared" for the task.
Following the man's death, Germany is treating only one other Ebola patient, according to St. Georg hospital spokesman Constantin Sauff.
(CNN) -- A second health care worker who cared for an Ebola patient at a Dallas hospital has contracted the virus herself.
ReplyDeleteThe worker, a woman who lives alone, was quickly moved into isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, authorities said Wednesday.
The news cast further doubt on the hospital's ability to handle Ebola and protect employees. It's the same hospital that initially sent Thomas Eric Duncan home, even though he had a fever and had traveled from West Africa. By the time he returned to the hospital, his symptoms had worsened. He died while being treated by medical staff, including the two women who have now contracted the disease.
"I don't think we have a systematic institutional problem," Dr. Daniel Varga, chief clinical officer of Texas Health Resources, told reporters Wednesday, facing questions about the hospital's actions.
Dallas (CNN) -- Kisha Bell walks into the Neighborhood Medical Center in Dallas complaining of abdominal pain. But she has a much more pressing concern weighing on her mind.
ReplyDelete"Ebola -- can you tell me, I guess, as far as like the symptoms?" she asks the doctor.
Ebola isn't spreading across the United States, but anxiety about the virus certainly is.
The epicenter is Dallas, where the country's first diagnosis and the first transmissions of Ebola were made.
Before this month, Dr. Martin McElya said he's never been asked about Ebola. Now he's fielding a wave of questions.
"I say, 'You're not going to get it from someone who sneezes across the room, or because you're sharing an airspace," McElya said. "It's going to require more of an intimate contact, and people seem relieved by that fact."
2nd health care worker tests positive for Ebola at Dallas hospital
False alarms galore
But in the sky and on the ground, the fear persists.
And with the news Wednesday that a second health care worker tested positive for the virus at the Dallas hospital while tending to the now-deceased Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, those fears are magnifying.
Five people with flu-like symptoms on a flight from Dubai to Boston were examined by workers in hazmat gear upon landing. It turns out none had the criteria for Ebola or had visited West Africa.
At Los Angeles International Airport, 40 firefighters responded to a plane from New York when a passenger had flu-like symptoms.
Editor's note: Professor Steve Keen is the head of Economics, History & Politics at Kingston University London, the author of Debunking Economics, and the publisher of a Debtwatch blog. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
ReplyDelete(CNN) -- The stock market's recent jitters have made many investors wonder whether there's a new financial crisis just around the corner. Well, of course there isn't -- because we've never really left the last one.
Financial crises of the scale of the 2007 crash only really end when their causes are unwound by debt repayment, bankruptcies, debt write-offs, and inflation.
In the 1930s, there was plenty of all four. The end result was that US private debt fell by almost 100% of GDP from its deflation-spiked peak of 130% in 1933, to a low of 35% at the end of WWII.
By comparison, the debt cutting we've been through so far in this crisis is trivial -- a fall of under 20% from a far higher peak of 175% in 2010.
We're attempting an economic revival from a debt level that exceeds the worst level reached during the 1930s.
And we thought this was going to work?
It has and will, of course, for a while. So long as we're willing to borrow more than we repay, there will be growth. Rising debt means there is more money in the system, driving up the economy.
CNN) -- As the world reels from its worst Ebola outbreak, the nation hardest hit is declaring a shortage of body bags, which are crucial to preventing the spread of the deadly virus.
ReplyDeleteLiberia, one of three countries most affected by the outbreak, said it has 4,900 body bags nationwide.
FIGHTING EBOLA
A six-month forecast of items Liberia predicts it will need to help fight Ebola.
It needs 85,000 more in the next six months, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
A grim inventory of supplies shows body bags were not the only items lacking. Liberia is also experiencing a shortage of other supplies needed to fight the virus, including protective suits, face masks, gloves and goggles.
Liberia said it needs 2.4 million boxes of gloves in the next six months, but it has only 18,000 boxes. Each box has 100 pairs.
It also needs about 1.2 million hooded overalls within the same time frame, but it has only 165,000.
The numbers are the latest setback in Liberia's fight against Ebola, which has killed at least 2,458 people in the nation. This week, health workers in the nation went on strike to demand higher pay, leaving some clinics unattended.
CNN) -- The day before she went to the hospital with Ebola symptoms, Amber Vinson was flying halfway across the country on a commercial jet with 132 other people.
ReplyDeleteCenters for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden said she never should have stepped foot on the flight, but another federal official told CNN that no one at the agency stopped her.
Before flying from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday, Vinson called the CDC to report an elevated temperature of 99.5 Fahrenheit. She informed the agency that she was getting on a plane, the official said, and she wasn't told not to board the aircraft.
The CDC is now considering putting 76 health care workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas hospital on the TSA's no-fly list, an official familiar with the situation said.
The official also said the CDC is considering lowering the fever threshold that would be considered a possible sign of Ebola. The current threshold is 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
After authorities announced the 29-year-old nurse had been diagnosed with Ebola on Wednesday, they were quick to say guidelines weren't followed when she took the commercial flight.
I think the CDC is to blame for allowing her make the travel. She called them and asked for permission. Her temperature was getting high Yet she was allowed to travel. Maybe we here in America are taking the disease very lightly.
DeleteI agree with you!
Delete(CNN) -- A nurse with Ebola may have shown symptoms of the virus as many as four days before authorities once indicated, meaning that she might have been contagious while flying on not just one, but two commercial flights, officials said Thursday.
Amber Vinson was hospitalized Tuesday, one day after she took a Frontier flight from Cleveland to Dallas. Tests later found that Vinson -- who was among those who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, at Dallas' Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital -- had Ebola.
Authorities indicated Vinson had a slightly elevated temperature of 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit, which was below the fever threshold for Ebola, but didn't show any symptoms of the disease while on her Monday flight. This is significant because a person isn't contagious with Ebola, which spreads through the transmission of bodily fluids, until he or she has symptoms of the disease.
But on Thursday, Dr. Chris Braden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters in Ohio that "we have started to look at the possibility that she had symptoms going back as far as Saturday. ... We can't rule out (that) she might have had the start of her illness on Friday."
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/16/health/us-ebola/index.html
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is an acute and often deadly disease caused by Ebola virus (EBOV). The possible intentional use of this virus against human populations has led to design of vaccines that could be incorporated into a national stockpile for biological threat reduction. We have evaluated the immunogenicity and efficacy of an EBOV vaccine candidate in which the viral surface glycoprotein is biomanufactured as a fusion to a monoclonal antibody that recognizes an epitope in glycoprotein, resulting in the production of Ebola immune complexes (EICs). Although antigen–antibody immune complexes are known to be efficiently processed and presented to immune effector cells, we found that codelivery of the EIC with Toll-like receptor agonists elicited a more robust antibody response in mice than did EIC alone. Among the compounds tested, polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (PIC, a Toll-like receptor 3 agonist) was highly effective as an adjuvant agent. After vaccinating mice with EIC plus PIC, 80% of the animals were protected against a lethal challenge with live EBOV (30,000 LD50 of mouse adapted virus). Surviving animals showed a mixed Th1/Th2 response to the antigen, suggesting this may be important for protection. Survival after vaccination with EIC plus PIC was statistically equivalent to that achieved with an alternative viral vector vaccine candidate reported in the literature. Because nonreplicating subunit vaccines offer the possibility of formulation for cost-effective, long-term storage in biothreat reduction repositories, EIC is an attractive option for public health defense measures.
ReplyDeleteDr. Kindly make ur message less technical. Many of us reading don't understand some of these medicall terms. The message is very important.
DeleteKindly forgive my medical jargon! A few colleagues have suggested that some naturally occurring vitamins and supplements which can boost the immune response, could be the key to the treatment of ebola;
Deletehttp://www.thefullwiki.org/Pellagra
Permit me to refer to the on-going debate in Nigeria about the efficacy and effectiveness of bitter kola in the cure of ebola!
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garcinia_kola
Ebola virus (EBOV) entry requires the virion surface-associated glycoprotein (GP) that is composed of a trimer of heterodimers (GP1/GP2). The GP1 subunit contains two heavily glycosylated domains, the glycan cap and the mucin-like domain (MLD). The glycan cap contains only N-linked glycans, whereas the MLD contains both N- and O-linked glycans. Site-directed mutagenesis was performed on EBOV GP1 to systematically disrupt N-linked glycan sites to gain an understanding of their role in GP structure and function. All 15 N-glycosylation sites of EBOV GP1 could be removed without compromising the expression of GP. The loss of these 15 glycosylation sites significantly enhanced pseudovirion transduction in Vero cells, which correlated with an increase in protease sensitivity. Interestingly, exposing the receptor-binding domain (RBD) by removing the glycan shield did not allow interaction with the endosomal receptor, NPC1, indicating that the glycan cap/MLD domains mask RBD residues required for binding. The effects of the loss of GP1 N-linked glycans on Ca2+-dependent (C-type) lectin (CLEC)-dependent transduction were complex, and the effect was unique for each of the CLECs tested. Surprisingly, EBOV entry into murine peritoneal macrophages was independent of GP1 N-glycans, suggesting that CLEC-GP1 N-glycan interactions are not required for entry into this important primary cell. Finally, the removal of all GP1 N-glycans outside the MLD enhanced antiserum and antibody sensitivity. In total, our results provide evidence that the conserved N-linked glycans on the EBOV GP1 core protect GP from antibody neutralization despite the negative impact the glycans have on viral entry efficiency.
ReplyDeleteAmerica, Spain, Germany all have recorded cases or suspected cases of Ebola. This disease is gradually becoming a monster. We need to act fast.
ReplyDeleteYes. The virus has killed a lot of people within a very short time. We need to act really fast before it becomes disastrous.
Delete(CNN) -- A Texas hospital health worker who may have handled Thomas Eric Duncan's fluid samples has been quarantined on a cruise ship in Belize -- another reminder of the widespread fears of the deadly virus.
DeleteThough the employee did not have direct contact with Duncan, he or she "may have had contact with his specimen," the U.S. State Department said Friday.
A doctor at the cruise ship has declared the worker symptom-free and in good health, but the worker will remain under isolation as a precaution, it said.
It's been 19 days since the worker handled Duncan's fluid samples -- two days shy of the 21-day incubation period for Ebola.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/17/health/us-ebola/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama said Thursday night that it "may be appropriate" for him to appoint a czar to lead his administration's response to Ebola.
Delete"It may make sense for us to have one person ... so that after this initial surge of activity, we can have a more regular process just to make sure that we're crossing all the T's and dotting all the I's going forward," Obama said.
His comments to reporters in the Oval Office came after a meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden, Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco and others. Obama pointed to those two as the leaders of the U.S. response to Ebola so far.
He said they've done an "outstanding job" so far, but that with flu season coming and Homeland Security officials also involved in combatting ISIS, "they also are responsible for a whole bunch of other stuff."
Obama also said he has no "philosophical objection" to a ban on travel between West Africa and the United States. But said that doing so could make it tougher to determine whether passengers entering the United States from elsewhere had recently visited the region that's at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/16/politics/obama-ebola-czar/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
This discussion is getting interesting
ReplyDeleteEbola is fast becomming the next HIV/AIDS.
DeleteI agree with you!
DeleteWashington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama will appoint Ron Klain his "Ebola czar," knowledgeable sources tell CNN.
The president on Thursday signaled his openness to the idea to have one individual coordinating the entire federal response to any threat of an outbreak in the United States.
"It may make sense for us to have one person ... so that after this initial surge of activity, we can have a more regular process just to make sure that we're crossing all the T's and dotting all the I's going forward," Obama said.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest got a little more specific with reporters after the announcement was made Friday.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/17/politics/ebola-czar-ron-klain/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
(CNN) -- The World Health Organization vowed Saturday to make public a full review of its response to the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa once the crisis is under control.
ReplyDeleteBut the United Nations health agency, which is among those leading the battle against a scourge that has claimed more than 4,500 lives in West Africa, declined to comment on a scathing internal document, cited in an Associated Press report, describing its response as botched and riddled with incompetence.
"Nearly everyone involved in the outbreak response failed to see some fairly plain writing on the wall," WHO said in the document, according to the Associated Press. "A perfect storm was brewing, ready to burst open in full force."
WHO called the leaked document a first draft that had not been fact-checked or reviewed by its staff as part of its continuing review of the response.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/18/world/who-ebola-response/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
(CNN) -- Concerns about even remote chances of Ebola exposure rippled Friday from a U.S. airline to a cruise ship off Belize, with Frontier contacting hundreds who flew with an infected nurse and Carnival quarantining a health worker only tangentially linked to an Ebola patient's care.
ReplyDeleteThe airline's move relates to Amber Vinson, a Dallas nurse who treated an Ebola patient and then was diagnosed with the virus this week after flying round trip between Dallas and Cleveland. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said Thursday she could have had symptoms earlier than believed -- a period possibly covering her two flights on Frontier Airlines.
Frontier spokesman Todd Lehmacher said that, by early Friday evening, airline officials had contacted as many as 800 passengers, including those on Vinson's October 10 flight to Cleveland, her October 13 return flight to Dallas and five other trips taken by the latter plane before it was taken out of service. The CDC, even as it said these passengers have an extremely low chance of getting Ebola, is reaching out to those on Vinson's flights.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/17/health/us-ebola/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Nigeria has been declared officially free of Ebola after six weeks with no new cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
ReplyDeleteAfrica's most populous country won praise for its swift response after an infected Liberian diplomat brought the disease there in July.
The WHO officially declared Senegal Ebola-free on Friday.
Great!
DeleteWhile Ebola cases keep spiraling out of control in three West African countries, there are glimmers of hope elsewhere in the world.
Nigeria was declared Ebola-free Monday, following an announcement that Senegal is now rid of the virus.
A nurse's aide in Spain has also beaten Ebola after spending weeks hospitalized with the disease.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/20/health/ebola-outbreak-roundup/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
L’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) a officiellement déclaré lundi que le Nigeria est parvenu à éradiquer totalement l’épidémie de fièvre Ebola après six semaines sans nouveaux cas.
ReplyDeleteLe pays le plus peuplé d'Afrique a su réagir rapidement lorsqu’un diplomate libérien a contracté la maladie en juillet dernier.
Auparavant, l'OMS a également déclaré vendredi l'éradication du virus au Sénégal.
Liberia president describes heavy cost of Ebola
ReplyDelete2014-10-20 11:14
Monrovia - Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said Ebola has killed more
than 2 000 people in her country and has brought it to "a standstill," noting
that Liberia and two other badly hit countries were already weakened by years
of war.
Appealing for more international help, Sirleaf described the devastating effects
of Ebola in a "Letter to the World" that was broadcast on Sunday by the BBC.
"Across West Africa, a generation of young people risk being lost to an
economic catastrophe as harvests are missed, markets are shut and borders
are closed," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said.
Also Read: US Company mocks Nigeria with Ebola T-shirt
"The virus has been able to spread so rapidly because of the insufficient
strength of the emergency, medical and military services that remain under-
resourced."
In neighbouring Sierra Leone, emergency food rations were distributed for a
third day Sunday to give a nutritional lifeline to 260 000 residents of an Ebola-
stricken community on the outskirts of the capital, Freetown.
Food supplies
The Waterloo area has 350 houses under quarantine with people suspected of
having the Ebola virus and infections in the district are rising, according to the
UN World Food Programme. Packets with food for 30 days were delivered to
the quarantined homes and to Ebola patients at treatment centres.
The rest of Waterloo's residents went to 60 distribution centres to receive the
food supplies. The mass distribution, which started on Friday, for the most
part went smoothly but was disrupted at two of the 60 distribution points by
people pressing to get the food, said Gon Myers, WFP director in Sierra Leone.
The emergency food deliveries came as the international community ramps up
its response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which continues to spread.
The total death toll has risen to more than 4 500 people from the 9 000
infected, according to the World Health Organisation.
Although Senegal has been declared free of Ebola and Nigeria is expected to
get the all clear, the epidemic remains out of control in Sierra Leone, Guinea
and Liberia. WHO warns that by December there could be as many as 10 000
new infections per week.
Fourteen other West African countries have been identified as at risk and steps
are being taken to prepare them, said Isabelle Nuttall, director of WHO's global
capacities.
Medical supplies
The United Nations has established a regional headquarters for the response to
Ebola in Accra, Ghana.
The director of the World Health Organisation Margaret Chan was scheduled to
attend a meeting in Ghana but did not make any public appearances,
cancelling a scheduled press conference Saturday.
Chan and WHO have come under scrutiny following an internal document
obtained by The Associated Press which said the UN health organisation did
not respond adequately to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
West Africa: Situation remains dire
DeleteBut all the positive news doesn't dent the epidemic still spreading in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. WHO said those countries still have "widespread and intense transmission."
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/20/health/ebola-outbreak-roundup/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
US Company mocks Nigeria with Ebola T-shirt
ReplyDelete2014-10-20 10:08
Lagos - While Ebola has killed almost 4 500 people in Liberia, Guinea and
Sierra Leone a souvenir T- shirt which mocks Nigeria and the current Ebola
outbreak is being sold by a website.
The United States based company has called the deadly virus outbreak a ‘hip
new craze’
The company decided to shamefully make profit from it by selling a shirt with
the inscription "I went to Nigeria, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt and
Ebola."
It was designed By MentalPoo of Salem, New Hampshire and is being sold by
Zazzle Apparel for $25.9.
The product description reads:
“Hop on the hip new Ebola craze! Tell everyone you're a world class traveler
AND probably have a deadly communicable disease with this Nigerian souvenir
tee!”
The disease, which has infected 2 Americans, killed 9 people in Nigeria before it
was contained and the country is set to be declared officially Ebola-free on
Monday, October 20.
Reckless!
Delete2015: Osibajo, Borofice, Edun tipped to emerge as Buhari’s
ReplyDeleterunning mate
Posted on Daily Post 30 minutes ago
The camp of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the APC national leader may
have perfected their strategies to ensure one of their own emerges as
running mate to Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, if he eventually wins the
party’s presidential ticket. According to Vanguard report, Asiwaju
Tinubu’s associates have line up three possible running mates to the
retired […]
2015: Osibajo, Borofice, Edun tipped to emerge as Buhari’s running mate
Intruiging!
DeleteEbola: Lagos to deploy health workers to Sierra Leone
ReplyDelete2014-10-20 15:02
Ikeja - The Lagos State Government on Sunday said it was finalising
arrangements to deploy some health workers who had helped in the
containment of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the state to Sierra Leone .
The Governor, Babatunde Fashola, made the announcement in Ikeja while
speaking at a programme to commemorate the 2 700 days of his
administration in office.
The governor said the health workers were to replicate the state's virus
containment strategies in the Sierra-Leone with a view to assisting the Ebola-
hit country overcome the health crisis.
Fashola said although Nigeria was, as of now, free from the disease, there was
still the risk of new infections from cross-border movements.
He, therefore, said the state's planned mission to Sierra Leone was not only
to assist the country to overcome the great health challenge, but also reduce
the risk of the disease to countries within the sub-region.
Sierra Leone accounts for a substantial number of the over 4 000 global Ebola
deaths.
"Lagos is free from Ebola, Nigeria is free from Ebola but that does not mean
there cannot be another case.For as long as people are moving from countries
to countries ,the risk of infections is still there.
'That is why I appeal to the Federal Government to continue to scrutinise
people travelling into Nigeria from land,sea and air from regions where the
problem is still ravaging.
"That is why some of the things the commissioner for health will be
announcing very soon is the arrangements we are making to send some of our
health workers and volunteers to go and help out in Sierra Leone.
"That is the only way we ,the whole of Africa and the World can be safe."
Fashola expressed optimism that EVD, just like other infectious diseases like
Cholera that had once ravaged humanity without remedy, would soon get a
cure.
He said Nigerians needed not live in fear of the disease coming back into the
country but urged them to take precautions that would guard against new
infections in the country.
Fashola said the state government had taken a number of initiatives to
prevent a return of Ebola in the state.
Also Read: WHO may declare Nigeria and Senegal Ebola-free within days
Some of the strategies, according to him, include the deployment of screening
equipment to schools, hospitals and the construction of sanitary facilities in
schools.
Others are training and retraining of personnel on infectious diseases diagnosis
and the sensitisation of residents on how to be safe from the problem.
Fashola also announced that he had appointed Dr Oluwakemi Sekoni his
Scientific Adviser as a move to enhance better response to Ebola disease and
other infectious ailments.
The governor said the responsibilities of the new adviser would include
providing public information about infectious diseases for effective response.
Others are actions and coordinating science-based research on food
sufficiency, air pollution and helping in all other things that were likely to
improve the general well-being of Lagos residents.
Laudable effort!
DeleteThank you for your comment. Let us join hands to defeat this monster We really appreciate your efforts on the Infoplus blog.
Delete(CNN) -- From a globally lauded athlete to convicted killer, Oscar Pistorius' fall from grace culminated Tuesday with a five-year sentence in the shooting death of his girlfriend.
ReplyDeleteThe sentence was imposed for the charge of culpable homicide, which in South Africa means a person was killed unintentionally, but unlawfully.
Under South African law, he will have to serve at least one-sixth of his sentence -- 10 months -- before he can ask to be placed under correctional supervision, usually house arrest, instead.
Pistorius was also given a three-year sentence on a firearms charge, but it was suspended for five years on condition he's not found guilty of another crime where there's negligence involving a firearm during that period.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/21/world/africa/south-africa-pistorius-sentencing/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
(CNN) -- There are fears of Russians and it is October, but it's not a Tom Clancy novel. It is a case of international naval intrigue off the Swedish coast that brings back memories of the Cold War.
ReplyDeleteThe Swedish military on Monday intensified a search in the ocean off Stockholm for an underwater mystery vessel, but stopped short of calling it a submarine. Civilian vessels were ordered to stay at least six miles (about 10 kilometers) away from the Swedish warship conducting the search, the English-language website The Local reported.
The search began Thursday after Swedish intelligence picked up an emergency radio call in Russian, reported The Local, citing the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
The radio transmissions were being sent to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, 330 miles (530 kilometers) south of Stockholm on the Baltic's southern shore, according to The Local report.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/20/world/europe/sweden-russia-submarine-mystery/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
(CNN) -- Ebola vaccine testing could start in the next few weeks, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, as health officials scramble to quell the virus that has killed more than 4,500 people.
ReplyDeleteThe goal is to launch vaccine trials in West Africa by January, said Dr. Marie Paule Kieny, WHO's assistant director general for health systems and innovation.
This is the messy truth about Ebola
Understanding Ebola protocols
It's not clear when vaccines could be distributed to the masses. That won't be determined until after the testing results come in.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/21/health/ebola-outbreak/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
Exactly Dr. Lajide. Ebola serum will be launched in West Africa within the coming weeks. We do hope that you will keep disseminating such useful information.
DeleteHavana, Cuba (CNN) -- In all likelihood, the 91 Cuban health workers heading to West Africa on Tuesday will face the most perilous assignment of their careers.
ReplyDeleteThey are joining 165 of their colleagues already working in the region to halt the spread of Ebola.
Although Cuban government officials say the majority of the health workers being sent to West Africa are veterans of previous tough postings, the risks that Ebola presents are unique.
"This is the biggest challenge I have ever faced in my life, it's a very dangerous disease," said Dr. Osmany Rodriguez, a Cuban who completed previous assignments in Zimbabwe and Venezuela. Rodriguez said he will soon be sent to treat people suffering from Ebola in either Liberia or Guinea.
"My family, they are a bit worried but they know I will be taking care of everything. They will trust in my daily habits and routines in order to avoid the disease," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez spoke to CNN as he trained at the Pedro Kouri Institute for Tropical Diseases in Havana, where health workers are drilled by instructors provided by the World Health Organization on how to put on and take off seven different layers of clothing that provide protection from the epidemic.
"The important thing is to save lives," said Dr. Jorge Perez Avila, the institute's director. "Why are Cubans going to Africa? To save lives."
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/21/world/americas/cuba-ebola-diplomacy/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reports that more than 1000 people who have been admitted to their Ebola treatment centres in West Africa have now recovered.
ReplyDeleteSince the beginning of the Ebola outbreak in the region, MSF has admitted more than 4,500 patients to its Ebola care centres across Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Among these, more than 2,700 were confirmed as having the disease.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) affirme que plus de 1000 personnes qui ont été admises dans leurs centres de traitement pour Ebola en Afrique de l’Ouest sont désormais guéries.
Depuis le début de l’épidémie dans la région, plus de 4500 personnes ont été traitées dans les centres de MSF en Guinée, Sierra Leone et Libéria.
Parmi eux, plus de 2700 ont été contrôlés positifs à la maladie.
Positive and encouraging news!
DeleteCNN) -- The World Health Organization is sending additional medical experts to Mali to help the West African country prevent the spread of Ebola after its first confirmed case, a spokesman said Friday.
DeleteA 2-year-old girl was diagnosed with the disease Thursday, having been brought into the country from neighboring Guinea, where the current catastrophic outbreak is believed to have started.
Local authorities say they are monitoring 43 people who had contact with the infected child, said WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic.
They include 10 medical workers who came into contact with her in the town of Kayes, west of the capital city of Bamako, he said.
The extra WHO medical experts are being sent immediately to Mali to help its Ministry of Health respond, said Jasarevic. They will bolster a WHO team that was already in the country to help with general preparedness.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/24/world/africa/mali-ebola/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Washington (CNN) -- All travelers flying into the United States from the West African countries most impacted by the Ebola virus can only enter the U.S. through five airports, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteStarting Wednesday, passengers traveling from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea can only gain entry through the international airports in New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey -- which account for 94% of all incoming travelers from those countries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/21/politics/travel-restrictions-west-africa/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
(CNN) -- A doctor who has devoted years to aiding gang-rape victims in the conflict-torn Democratic Republic of Congo has been given Europe's top human rights award, the Sakharov Prize.
ReplyDeleteDenis Mukwege has dedicated years to providing a rare sanctuary for rape survivors in Bukavu, in the east of his homeland.
Many travel hundreds of miles to have their physical and psychological wounds healed at the Panzi Hospital he founded. Rape is used as a weapon of war in the region, making his services crucial.
The gynecologist is thought to have operated on more than 40,000 women since setting up his hospital during the 1998 war in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
During the worst periods of the conflict, it was estimated that one woman was raped every minute in the country, a European Union news release announcing the award said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/22/world/europe/eu-sakharov-prize-mukwege/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
(CNN) -- Ben Bradlee, the zestful, charismatic Washington Post editor who guided the paper through the era of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate and was immortalized on screen in "All the President's Men," has died. He was 93.
ReplyDeleteBradlee began end-of-life care at his home last month after suffering from Alzheimer's disease and dementia for several years. He was the executive editor of The Washington Post from 1968 to 1991, during which time the paper covered the downfall of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/21/us/ben-bradlee-dies/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
Serum made from the blood of recovered Ebola patients could be available within weeks in Liberia, one of the countries worst hit by the virus, says the World Health Organization.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking in Geneva, Dr Marie Paule Kieny said work was also advancing quickly to get drugs and a vaccine ready for January 2015.
___
L'Organisation Mondiale de la Santé annonce qu’un sérum fabriqué à partir de sang de patients guéris d’Ebola pourrait être distribué d’ici quelques semaines au Libéria, l’un des pays les plus touchés par le virus.
S’exprimant à Genève, le Dr Marie Paule Kieny a affirmé que les travaux avançaient rapidement pour que les traitements et les vaccins soient disponibles dès janvier 2015.
At the same time, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy announced on Twitter that the European Union will increase its aid to help West Africa fight Ebola by $380 million to $1.2 billion.
ReplyDeleteThe EU had pledged 700 million euros, and boosted its pledge to 1 billion euros.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/24/world/africa/mali-ebola/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
(CNN) -- When doctors risk their lives and sacrifice their livelihoods to go to West Africa and provide desperately needed treatment to those suffering from Ebola, what should be their reward upon coming home?
ReplyDeleteThree weeks off, some say -- whether they like it or not.
The governors of New York and New Jersey instituted just such a policy Friday, announcing that airport screening will be stepped up in their states and that any arriving passengers who'd recently been in the West African nations hit hardest by Ebola could be hospitalized or quarantined for up to 21 days -- sick or not.
Measures such as these would affect people who lived or traveled to countries such as Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where all but a handful of the nearly 10,000 documented Ebola cases and almost 5,000 deaths have occurred. And it would also impact those who brought their medical expertise to West Africa, doing what they could to prevent more people from dying or spreading the disease.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/24/health/ebola-travel-policy/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Bamako, Mali (CNN) -- The first confirmed Ebola patient in Mali has died, according to state TV reports, citing government health officials.
ReplyDeleteThe victim, a 2-year-old girl, had traveled to the country with her grandmother from Guinea -- one of the three countries hardest hit during the recent Ebola outbreak.
Earlier on Friday, the World Health Organization said that the girl had multiple opportunities to expose others to the virus.
The girl first went to a clinic Tuesday after entering the country, WHO Assistant Director-General Marie-Paule Kieny said at a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
The WHO said it was working to confirm media reports that the child's mother showed Ebola-like symptoms before her death.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/24/world/africa/mali-ebola/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
New York (CNN) -- One day after New York officials announced a Doctors Without Borders physician had tested positive for Ebola, another person who treated patients in West Africa developed a fever and was put in isolation at a northern New Jersey hospital.
ReplyDeleteThe second health care worker, a woman who hasn't been identified by name, did not have any Ebola symptoms upon arrival Friday at Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey health department spokesman Donna Leusner said.
Yet things changed in the hours that followed. According to Leusner, "This evening, the health care worker developed a fever and is now in isolation and being evaluated at University Hospital in Newark."
That woman is being tested for Ebola, according to a government official who is receiving updates about the situation.
Unlike Dr. Craig Spencer, the 33-year-old now in isolation at Bellevue Hospital in nearby New York City, this second health care worker is not confirmed to have Ebola.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/24/health/new-york-ebola-case/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Washington (CNN) -- Ebola is very much on the minds of Americans, as 8 in 10 Americans believe someone new will be diagnosed with the disease in the coming weeks. But there is overwhelming confidence in the federal government's ability to prevent a nationwide epidemic, a new CNN/ORC International Poll shows.
ReplyDeleteMore than 7 in 10 Americans say the federal government can stop an Ebola epidemic, and 54% believe the federal government is doing a "good job" in addressing the disease.
READ: Boy tested for Ebola in NYC
The high marks on the government's response to Ebola come at the same time that President Barack Obama's overall approval rating is only 45% and Americans are angry over the direction of the country.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/27/politics/ebola-poll/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Hmm. I thought Obama said the Ebola threat was very low in the US
ReplyDeleteThe entire world is at risk from the ebola virus. The current ebola pandemic is the largest, most scary and dangerous since the discvery of the ebola virus in 1976.
DeleteEditor's note: Reza Aslan is the author of "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth" and a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.
ReplyDelete(CNN) -- The tragic murder of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau -- "a recent convert to Islam" as every media outlet in the United States would like to remind you -- has added fuel to the already fiery debate in this country over the inherently violent nature of religion in general, and Islam in particular.
It seems that, in the minds of many, the only possible reason a Muslim convert would go on a shooting spree in the Canadian Parliament is because his religious beliefs commanded him to do so.
Of course, it could very well be the case that Zehaf-Bibeau was motivated by his Islamic beliefs. It could be that he read a particular passage in the Quran, understood it to mean he should kill as many Canadian government officials as possible, and then went out and did just that.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/26/opinion/aslan-islam-doesnt-cause-terrorism/index.html?hpt=hp_t5
Washington (CNN) -- A 21-day quarantine for all military personnel serving in Ebola stricken areas of west Africa is expected to be approved by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteThe quarantine was pushed for by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pentagon officials acknowledge. Initially the measure will apply to all personnel leaving the West Africa area. But "after a few weeks we will reassess," and see if the quarantine is still needed a military official tells CNN.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/29/politics/military-ebola-quarantine/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
(CNN) -- Not long ago, Kaci Hickox was fighting Ebola in West Africa, doing what she could to treat those with the deadly disease. Now, she's in the middle of a different fight -- this time, in Maine.
ReplyDeleteMaine health commissioner Mary Mayhew said late Wednesday afternoon that, even as it continues talks with Hickox's representatives, the state is in the process of filing a court order to require the nurse to abide by a 21-day quarantine. Mayhew cited concerns about Hickox's hands-on role in dealing with Ebola patients, as well as "concerns about the lack of reliability and the lack of trustworthiness in the information that has been received."
"You need to be able to have trust and credibility in that information," the state health commissioner said. "That makes her a higher risk."
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/29/health/us-ebola/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Portland, Maine (CNN) -- When President Barack Obama visited Maine on Thursday, he didn't come within 300 miles of the nurse protesting her state-mandated Ebola quarantine.
ReplyDeleteBut he has inserted himself in the middle of a growing debate between the federal government and states over their rules for health workers returning from the Ebola zone.
Kaci Hickox, the Doctors Without Borders worker hailed by the White House as a hero for treating Ebola patients in Liberia, on Thursday defied the demands the Maine's Republican governor to remain inside her home near the Quebec border. She was spotted leaving her house by bike, trailed by a state trooper.
Obama, who traveled to Portland on Thursday for a campaign rally, has sought to tamp down on fears of recently-returned health workers, inviting a group of them to the White House Wednesday and hailing their mission as essential.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/30/politics/obama-maine/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
The president of the World Bank has made an appeal for thousands of medical workers to volunteer and help contain the growing Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
ReplyDeleteJim Yong Kim said at least 5,000 medics and support staff were needed to beat the current outbreak which has killed nearly 5,000 people.
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Le président de la Banque Mondiale, Jim Yong Kim, a demandé mardi aux personnels de santé de se porter volontaires pour aider les pays affectés à lutter contre le virus Ebola.
Jim Yong Kim estime que 5000 professionnels de santé sont nécessaires pour contenir l'épidémie qui a tué près de 5000 personnes pour la plupart en Guinée, en Sierra Leone et au Liberia.
Timely humanitarian appeal! However read the next post to learn more about how official stigmatization serves as a big disincentive!
Delete(CNN) -- Canada will stop processing visa applications from foreign nationals who have visited West African nations with large outbreaks of the Ebola virus, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said Friday.
ReplyDeleteApplications will be returned to people from Ebola hot spots who have already applied for visas, officials said in a press release.
The changes do not affect Canadians currently in West Africa, the press release said. Health care workers in West Africa will be permitted to travel back to Canada.
The action is similar to that taken by Australia several days ago.
"Our number one priority is to protect Canadians," Alexander said. "We continue to work with domestic and international partners to aid efforts to respond to the outbreak in West Africa, while strengthening our domestic preparedness here at home."
Also on Friday, the United Nations Ebola coordinator said it's not necessary to quarantine people merely because they come from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea.
"People do not need to be quarantined unless they have come into contact with people have Ebola or unless they have symptoms," said Dr. David Nabarro, U.N. system coordinator on Ebola.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/31/world/world-ebola-outbreak/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
France admits Ebola patient
ReplyDeleteFrance is treating an Ebola patient who contracted the virus while working for the United Nations in Sierra Leone, the French health ministry said Sunday. The patient is now in high-security isolation at an army teaching hospital in Saint-Mande near Paris.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/02/health/ebola-up-to-speed/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
(CNN) -- Boko Haram laughed off Nigeria's announcement of a ceasefire agreement, saying there is no such deal and schoolgirls abducted in April have been converted to Islam and married off.
ReplyDeleteNigerian officials announced two weeks ago that they had struck a deal with the Islamist terror group.
The deal, the government said, included the release of more than 200 girls whose kidnapping at a boarding school in the nation's north stunned the world.
Boko Haram: Abducted girls married off
In a video released Saturday, the Islamist group's notorious leader fired off a series of denials.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/01/world/africa/nigeria-boko-haram-denies-deal/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Swirling winds and heavy downpours probably did more than the massive Israeli police presence to dampen Palestinian protests in Jerusalem over the weekend.
ReplyDeleteDire predictions that a third intifada was about to erupt after the brief closure of the Temple Mount -- known to Arabs as the Noble Sanctuary -- came to nothing. But the weather could not sweep away the toxic atmosphere in the city.
Tension in Jerusalem is perhaps at its greatest since the end of the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, ten years ago -- stoked by a rash of what some call hate crimes and others acts of terror. Regular -- almost daily -- outbreaks of stone-throwing by Palestinian teenagers are answered by tear gas and rubber bullets; hundreds of minors have already had their first taste of jail.
The city's mayor, describing the violence as intolerable, has announced that surveillance balloons equipped with HD cameras will be deployed above troublesome neighborhoods to prevent disturbances. The Israeli cabinet is considering legislation that would introduce prison terms of up to 20 years for throwing stones.
One of the most restive neighborhoods in Jerusalem is Silwan, a densely-packed area in the shadow of the Temple Mount, where there is little work, a heavy police presence and a growing colony of Jewish settlers, moving into properties bought from Palestinians.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/03/world/meast/jerusalem-temple-mount-crisis-lister/index.html?hpt=hp_t5
What's the intifada? That's the first time I'm hearing this.
DeleteIntifada (انتفاضة intifāḍah) is an Arabic word which literally means "shaking off", though it is popularly translated into English as "uprising", "resistance", or "rebellion". Intifāḍat ("uprising of"), which is the same word in the construct state, should not to be confused with the Arabic plural intifāḍāt (انتفاضات). It is often used as a term for popular resistance to oppression.
DeleteThe First Intifada or First Palestinian Intifada (also known as simply as "the intifada" or "intifadah"[note A]) was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories,[6] which lasted from December 1987 until the Madrid Conference in 1991, though some date its conclusion to 1993, with the signing of the Oslo Accords.
The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada (Arabic: انتفاضة الأقصى Intifāḍat al-ʾAqṣā; Hebrew: אינתיפאדת אל-אקצה Intifādat El-Aqtzah), was the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation – a period of intensified Israeli-Palestinian violence. It started in September 2000, when Ariel Sharon made a visit to the Temple Mount, seen by Palestinians as highly provocative; and Palestinian demonstrators, throwing stones at police, were dispersed by the Israeli army, using tear gas and rubber bullets.
Editor's note: Martha Pease is CEO of DemandWerks, which advises companies on strategies for growth. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
ReplyDelete(CNN) -- As we learned in past battles with polio and AIDS, the key to solving a massive health crisis is to move public sentiment away from fear and stigmatization toward action and acceptance. That is why a recent ad campaign about Ebola from Medicins Du Monde -- MDM or Doctors of the World -- is so encouraging
An international humanitarian and medical organization with a long history of advocating for vulnerable populations, MDM joined in the United States with ad agency Publicis Kaplan Thaler to turn public fear of Ebola on its head by asking people to donate a hazmat suit to workers in Africa. The symbol of the fearful hazmat suit is reintroduced as a crucial piece of the solution: "Here it's a costume. There it saves lives."
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/03/opinion/pease-ebola-stigma-consequences/index.html?hpt=hp_t5
(CNN) -- A Spanish nurse's assistant who left the hospital Wednesday after beating Ebola said she was still weak but gave thanks to God and the health workers who cared for her that she was still alive.
ReplyDeleteLooking frail but happy, Teresa Romero Ramos was greeted by cheers as she spoke to journalists, flanked by her husband, Javier Limon.
Romero, who described her recovery as a "miracle" from God, said she was ready to do whatever she could to help others infected with Ebola.
And she indicated that she still doesn't know how she contracted the virus.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/05/world/europe/spain-ebola-nurse/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
Jim W. Director, National Infectious Disease Forecast Center
ReplyDeletehttp://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/2014/11/airborne-ebola-a-review-of-the-issue.html
I had the opportunity of reading the reference article posted by Jim. The last paragraph of the article posed a question. 'Does ebola have pandemic potential?' According to the article the answer is 'extremely unlikely' Permit me to ask, What is the definition of a disease pandemic? A pandemic is defined as “an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people” http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/7/11-088815/en/ The reference further goes on to explain 'There is then ample opportunity to further describe the potential range of influenza pandemics in terms of transmissibility and disease severity. The emerging evidence for A(H1N1) is that transmissibility, as estimated by the effective reproduction number (R, or average number of people infected by a single infectious person) ranged from 1.2 to 1.3 for the general population but was around 1.5 in children
I think it is very important to keep in mind the R according to the lead reference; Ebola-Zaire, when it appeared in Kikwit in 1995, was believed to be associated with an Ro of 2.7. Currently, the Ro in West Africa for Ebola-Zaire, despite it being the most heavily mutated Zaire strain ever documented in history, is estimated to be less than 2.7.
'publicly reported facts here in the US: that the pre-admission Ro for Dallas was zero; and the post-admission Ro was 2'
When we eventually disseminate public health messages about ebola that the current ebola epidemic has spread easily in at least two continents and possibly met the WHO definition of a pandemic.
In addition health care workers should note; Is reduction in risk of exposure utterly maximized with PPE that includes PAPR and N95? Sure. Will you, the average provider, have such equipment available to you when you need it? Probably not with PAPR. Probably with N95 (albeit there is a limit to the supply). Will you have access to surgical masks? Yes, in abundance.
A new British Ebola treatment facility opens to patients today in Kerry Town, near the Sierra Leone capital Freetown.
DeleteThe Kerry Town complex includes an 80 bed treatment centre to be managed by Save the Children and a 12 bed centre staffed by British Army medics specifically for health care workers and international staff responding to the Ebola crisis. The 12 bed facility is expected to expand to 20 beds in the New Year.
It is the first of six centres to be built by Britain in a bid to contain, control and defeat Ebola in Sierra Leone.
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Un nouveau centre britannique de traitement pour Ebola a ouvert aujourd’hui à Kerry Town près de Freetown, la capitale de la Sierra Leone.
Le complexe à Kerry Town comprend un centre de traitement de 80 lits qui sera géré par Save the Children et de 12 autres lits supervisés par le personnel médical de l’armée britannique en particulier une équipe de soins et un groupe de médecins internationaux devant face à la crise Ebola. La douzaine de lits devrait passer à 20 lits d’ici l’année prochaine.
C’est le premier des six centres construits par la Grande-Bretagne dans le but de contenir, contrôler et vaincre Ebola en Sierra Leone.
Facebook launches Ebola fundraising campaign; http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/06/technology/social/facebook-ebola/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
Delete(CNN) -- The 43 Mexican students who disappeared in southern Mexico in September were abducted by police on order of a local mayor, and are believed to have been turned over to a gang that killed them and burned their bodies before throwing some remains in a river, the nation's attorney general said Friday.
ReplyDeleteThis is the conclusion that investigators have reached, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said, though he cautioned that it cannot be known with certainty until DNA tests confirm the identities.
This will be a challenge, he said, as the badly burned fragments make it difficult to extract DNA.
"I have to identify, to do everything in my power, to identify, to know if these were the students," Murillo said.
Parents of the college students reacted immediately, some saying the evidence is inconclusive and insisting that their children are alive.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/07/world/americas/mexico-missing-students/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama is sending up to 1,500 more soldiers to Iraq to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces to fight ISIS, in a deployment that would almost double the total number of American troops there to 2,900.
ReplyDeleteThe White House said in a statement that it will also ask Congress for another $5.6 billion to fund the fight against ISIS. The troops will not have a combat role, and will operate from bases outside Baghdad and Erbil.
To date, Anbar province and Taji district have been considered as two likely locations for operations centers outside of Baghdad and Erbil. CNN reported last week that the military was preparing plans to deploy U.S. advisers to Anbar, much of which is under the control of ISIS.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/07/politics/obama-sends-troops-to-iraq/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
The fight against ISIS is really taking its financial and material toll on the US. With the recent Republican advantage in Congress, Obama faces an uphill task in the next two yeqrs. God Bless America
DeleteI totally agree with you Phil. A clear cut victory over ISIL needs the support of Turkey. And a victory will really boost Obama's image at home.
DeleteWashington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama is sending up to 1,500 more soldiers to Iraq to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces to fight ISIS, in a deployment that would almost double the total number of American troops there to 2,900.
ReplyDeleteThe White House said in a statement that it will also ask Congress for another $5.6 billion to fund the fight against ISIS. The troops will not have a combat role, and will operate from bases outside Baghdad and Erbil.
To date, Anbar province and Taji district have been considered as two likely locations for operations centers outside of Baghdad and Erbil. CNN reported last week that the military was preparing plans to deploy U.S. advisers to Anbar, much of which is under the control of ISIS.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/07/politics/obama-sends-troops-to-iraq/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
(CNN) -- The death of actor and comedian Robin Williams has officially been ruled a suicide, the coroner in Marin County, California, said Friday.
ReplyDeleteAlcohol and illegal drugs were not involved, the statement from the coroner's office said. Prescription drugs were found in "therapeutic concentrations," the statement added.
Williams was found dead in his Tiburon, California, home August 11 from what investigators suspected was a suicide by hanging. He was 63 years old.
The death certificate, obtained by CNN on August 21, says his ashes were scattered off the coast one day later.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/07/showbiz/robin-williams-autopsy/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
Kano, Nigeria (CNN) -- At least 47 people were killed and 79 were wounded Monday by a suicide bombing outside a school in northern Nigeria, police said.
ReplyDeleteThe attacker was disguised as a student when he set off the explosion in a government boarding school in the town of Potiskum, police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu said.
"We suspect Boko Haram is behind the attack," Ojukwu said.
The explosion took place at 7:50 a.m. local time outside the principal's office, where students had gathered for a daily speech.
"We were waiting for our teachers to come and address us at the assembly ground when we heard a huge explosion," student Adamu Ibrahim said.
It was not immediately clear how many of the casualties were students.
Although no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, Boko Haram is the prime suspect.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/10/world/africa/nigeria-bombing/index.html?hpt=hp_t1