WHO Backs Local Therapies For COVID-19

As the African Traditional Medicine Day (ATMD) holds today, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, has harped on promotion of the continent’s rich and diverse medicinal plants and herbs in improving well-being.

She said for generations, the vast majority of people in Africa had relied on traditional medicine as trusted and affordable source of healthcare needs.

The Botswanan submitted that as part of the COVID-19 response, promising local therapies were emerging.

She said: “In Cameroun for example, the Ministry of Health has approved two products as complementary therapies for COVID-19. Madagascar’s herbal remedy, COVID-Organics Plus Curative, is in Phase III trials and encouraging preliminary results have been reported. We look forward to the final results of this trial, and of trials underway for different products in 12 other African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa.”

Moet noted that with the support of national and district authorities, traditional health practitioners are leading the charge in building buy-in for COVID-19 prevention measures and referring patients for timely care. This, she explained, is contributing to strengthening and building confidence in health systems throughout Africa.

The physician said, at the highest levels, the pandemic has improved awareness of the value of traditional medicine, adding that investing more in research and development would harness homegrown solutions to improve well-being on the continent and other parts of the world.

The official went on: “Natural remedies are burgeoning in popularity in western countries and have a long history in China, India and other places. Major pharmaceutical companies are also looking to Africa for new active ingredients. With the right partnerships and investments, tried-and-tested African traditional medicines could find a broad global market.

“WHO and other multilateral organisations are playing key roles in supporting capacity development in the traditional medicine sector, including the development of local manufacturing.

“Recently, we looked back on the progress achieved in the Second Decade of African Traditional Medicine from 2011 to 2020 and in the implementation of the Regional Strategy on Enhancing the Role of Traditional Medicine in Health Systems 2013–2023.”

Moeti said WHO’s evaluation revealed that 40 African nations now have policy frameworks for traditional medicine, up from only eight in 2000.

The public health specialist said communities have been mobilised to participate in raising awareness on traditional medicine.

Similarly, Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, told journalists, yesterday, that to achieve rapid development of the herbal medicine industry in Nigeria, there was need for both herbal medicine practitioners and researchers to collaborate.

To this end, she said her organisation set up an herbal medicine product committee in March 2019 before the advent of the novel coronavirus, to advance research in herbal medicine.

Adeyeye made the disclosure in Abuja ahead of today’s continental event.

The NAFDAC DG, in a statement by the agency’s Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, confirmed many of the herbal products are being subjected to review by different agencies of government nationwide.

The pharmacist advised Nigerians to use herbal medicines with caution to prevent avoidable deaths and complications.

To the Director, Pax Herbal Clinics Ewu, Edo State, Rev Fr. Anselm Adodo, traditional medicine is a holistic discipline involving use of indigenous herbalism combined with aspects of African spirituality.

He said about 80 per cent of Africa’s population relies on traditional medicine for their basic health needs.

“In some cases, traditional medicine is the only healthcare service available, accessible and affordable to many people on the continent. In this case, the significant contribution of traditional medicine as a major provider of healthcare services in Africa cannot be underestimated,” he added.

  

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The Effect Of Acid Rain On Natural Health

Environmental pollution can lower the pH of precipitation, creating acid rain. This type of acid precipitation can directly kill some organisms, like trees and fish, devastating ecosystems.

While impacts of acid rain on humans is not very dramatic, it can indirectly cause health problems, particularly lung issues. Acid rain has decreased since the late 1970s in North America, where tighter U.S. regulations have improved air quality.

Acid Rain

All rainwater has a slightly acidic pH level due to ambient levels of carbon dioxide in the air. Certain industrial pollutants, however, can decrease the pH excessively, causing it to pose a danger to the environment. Sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides, for example, can have a dramatic effect on rainwater's pH.

Rain contaminated by these compounds changes the pH of water and soil, making them more acidic. Certain trees and fish have adapted to specific pH levels and changes in pH can kill them, leaving parts of forests, lakes and rivers devoid of life.

Direct Effect of Acid Rain on Humans

While acid tends to bring to mind the image of corrosive chemicals dissolving metals and other materials, acid precipitation does not have direct effects on human health. Acid rain does not have an acidic enough pH to burn human skin.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Swimming in an acidic lake or walking in an acidic puddle is no more harmful to people than swimming or walking in clean water." While acid rain cannot burn your skin, it is linked to several indirect health effects.

Indirect Effects of Acid Rain

Everything is connected in air quality. While acid rain cannot harm humans directly, the sulfur dioxide that creates it can cause health problems. Specifically, sulfur dioxide particles in the air can encourage chronic lung problems, like asthma and bronchitis.

Additionally, the nitrogen oxides that create acid rain promote the formation of ground-level ozone. While ozone high above the Earth helps block ultraviolet radiation, ground-level ozone promotes severe lung problems like chronic pneumonia and emphysema.

When acid rains fall at places located at higher altitudes, acid rains lead to thick acidic fog that hangs low, affecting visibility and causing irritation to eyes and nose. Acidic fog also affects trees and plants and causes their leaves to turn brown and wilt.

Apart from the effects of acid rain on air quality, acid rains also greatly affect environmental balance. Acid rain falling directly on trees and crops can harm them. Runoff from acid rain leaches minerals such as aluminum from soil, thereby decreasing its pH and making the soil acidic. Acidic soil is detrimental for the growth of crops and results in damaged harvests.

When the acidic runoff flows into lakes, rivers and seas, it disturbs the balance of these aquatic ecosystems and causes injury or even death of aquatic organisms. Imbalance in aquatic ecosystems has an adverse effect on fishing industry.

Environmental Successes

In some ways, the reduction of acid rain in the United States is one of the biggest successes of environmental policy. Since the 1970s, various laws have reduced the emission of sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides from power plants, including the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement of 1991.

The longest continuous rain-chemistry monitoring station in North America, the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forrest in New Hampshire, found that hydrogen ion concentration (pH) decreased by roughly 60 percent since the 1960s.

The EPA estimates that the reduction in the acid rain-producing emissions has saved $50 billion in health care costs. Despite the overall positive picture, some areas in New England are still recovering.

  

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Millet Based Diets Can Reduce Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes - New Study

A new study has shown that eating millets reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and helps manage blood glucose levels in people with diabetes.
The study indicates the potential to design appropriate meals with millets for diabetic and pre-diabetic people as well as for non-diabetic people as a preventive approach.

Drawing on research from 11 countries, the study published in Frontiers in Nutrition shows that diabetic people who consumed millets as part of their daily diet saw their blood glucose levels drop 12-15% (fasting and post-meal), and blood glucose levels went from diabetic to pre-diabetes levels.
The HbA1c (blood glucose bound to hemoglobin) levels lowered on average 17% for pre-diabetic individuals, and the levels went from prediabetic to normal status. These findings affirm that eating millets can lead to a better glycemic response.

The authors reviewed 80 published studies of which 65 were eligible for a meta-analysis involving about 1,000 human subjects, making this analysis the largest systematic review on the topic till date, said International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

"No one knew there were so many scientific studies undertaken on millets' effect on diabetes. These benefits were often contested, and this systematic review of the studies published in scientific journals has proven that millets keep blood glucose levels in check, reducing the risk of diabetes, and has shown just how well these smart foods do it," said Dr. S Anitha, the study's lead author and a senior nutrition scientist at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

"Diabetes contributed to very high disease burden from 1990-2016 in India. Diabetes-related health expenditure was over $7 million. There is no easy solution, and it requires a lifestyle change, and diet is a very important part of this. This study provides one part of the solution useful for individuals and governments. How we use this and implement it into programs needs careful planning," said Hemalatha, Director, National Institute of Nutrition (NIN).

Raj Bhandari, one of the study's authors and a representative on the Indian National Technical Board of Nutrition, noted that additional attention to our health has been accelerated due to Covid-19 and diabetics are even more vulnerable to the virus. "Our diets play a critical role and if we could bring millets back as a major part of our diet, we would not only help in controlling diabetes, but we would also be adding important nutrients to our plate."

According to the International Diabetes Association, diabetes is increasing in all regions of the world. India, China and the US have the highest numbers of people with diabetes. Africa has the largest forecasted increase of 143% from 2019 to 2045, the Middle East and North Africa 96% and South East Asia 74%. The authors urge the diversification of staples with millets to keep diabetes in check, especially across Asia and Africa.

Strengthening the case for returning millets as staples, the study found that millets have a low average glycemic index (GI) of 52.7, about 30% lower glycemic index (GI) than milled rice and refined wheat, and about 14-37 GI points lower compared to maize. All 11 types of millets studied were either low (<55) or medium GI (55-69), GI being an indicator of how much and how soon a food increases blood sugar level. The review concluded that even after boiling, baking and steaming (most common ways of cooking grains) millets had lower GI than rice, wheat and maize.

 

"Millets are traditional foods consumed in India. Use of locally available millets as dietary diversification coupled with good lifestyle modifications would help reduce not only Type II diabetes but also gestational diabetes.," said study co-author Professor Kowsalya Subramaniam, (Food and Science Nutrition), Registrar at Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women (deemed to be university) in Tamil Nadu.

 

"The global health crisis of undernutrition and over-nutrition coexisting is a sign that our food systems need fixing. Greater diversity both on-farm and on-plate is the key to transforming food systems. On-farm diversity is a risk mitigating strategy for farmers in the face of climate change while on-plate diversity helps counter lifestyle diseases such as diabetes. Millets are part of the solution to mitigate the challenges associated with malnutrition, human health, natural resource degradation, and climate change. Trans-disciplinary research involving multiple stakeholders is required to create resilient, sustainable and nutritious food systems," said Dr. Jacqueline Hughes, Director General ICRISAT.

 

This study is first in a series of studies that has been worked on for the last four years as a part of the Smart Food initiative led by ICRISAT that will be progressively released in 2021. Included are systematic reviews with meta-analyses of the impacts of millets on: diabetes, anaemia and iron requirements, cholesterol and cardiovascular diseases and calcium deficiencies as well as a review on zinc levels.

As part of this, ICRISAT and the Institute for Food Nutrition and Health at the University of Reading have formed a strategic partnership to research and promote the Smart Food vision of making our diets healthier, more sustainable on the environment and good for those who produce it," explained Joanna Kane-Potaka, a co-author from ICRISAT and Executive Director of the Smart Food initiative.

End of the article

  

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How Loud Noise Causes Hearing Loss

Hearing loss is a decrease in your ability to hear or understand speech and sounds around you. Hearing loss can happen when any part of the ear or the nerves that carry information on sounds to your brain do not work in the usual way. In some cases, hearing loss can be temporary. However, it can become permanent when vital parts of the ear have been damaged beyond repair. Damage to any part of the ear can lead to hearing loss.

Loud noise is particularly harmful to the inner ear (cochlea). A one-time exposure to extreme loud sound or listening to loud sounds for a long time can cause hearing loss. Loud noise can damage cells and membranes in the cochlea. Listening to loud noise for a long time can overwork hair cells in the ear, which can cause these cells to die. The hearing loss progresses as long as the exposure continues. Harmful effects might continue even after noise exposure has stopped. Damage to the inner ear or auditory neural system is generally permanent.

Damaged Hair Cells in Your Ears Can Lead to Hearing Loss

The average person is born with about 16,000 hair cells within their cochlea. These cells allow your brain to detect sounds. Up to 30% to 50% of hair cells can be damaged or destroyed before changes in your hearing can be measured by a hearing test. By the time you notice hearing loss, many hair cells have been destroyed and cannot be repaired.

After leaving a very loud event, such as a concert or football game, you may notice that you don’t hear as well as before. You might not hear whispers, sound might seem muffled, or you may hear ringing in your ears. Normal hearing usually returns within a few hours to a few days. This is because the hair cells, similar to blades of grass, will bend more if the sound is louder. But they will become straight again after a recovery period.

However, if loud noise damaged too many of the hair cells, some of them will die. Repeated exposures to loud noises will over time destroy many hair cells. This can gradually reduce your ability to understand speech in noisy places. Eventually, if hearing loss continues, it can become hard to understand speech even in quieter places.

Noise Can Also Damage Nerves in Your Ears

In addition to damaging hair cells, noise can also damage the auditory nerve that carries information about sounds to your brain. Early damage may not show up on your hearing test. It can create a ‘hidden hearing loss’ that may make it difficult for you to understand speech in noisy places. The effect of loud noise over time affects how well you might hear later in life. It also affects how quickly you might develop hearing problems, even after exposure has stopped.

 How Do We Hear?

We hear sound because of vibrations (sound waves) that reach our ears. We recognize those vibrations as speech, music, or other sounds.

Outer Ear
The outer ear—the part of the ear you see—funnels sound waves into the ear canal. The sound waves travel through the ear canal to reach the eardrum.

Middle Ear
The eardrum vibrates from the incoming sound waves and sends these vibrations to three tiny bones in the middle ear. These bones amplify, or increase, the sound vibrations and send them to the inner ear.

Inner Ear
The inner ear contains a snail-shaped structure filled with fluid called the cochlea. Sound vibrations create waves in the cochlear fluids. As the waves peak, they cause tiny hair cells to bend, which converts the vibrations into electrical signals. These tiny hair cells are called stereocilia (types of receptors that can detect sound).

Auditory Nerve
The auditory nerve carries the electrical signals from the inner ear to the brain. The brain interprets the signals as sound that you recognize and understand.

  

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Important Health Benefits Of Crayfish

Different people eat crayfish differently, some take it as a snack, while some use it as spice for all foods they cook. They are one of the most popular cuisine all around the world and they are categorized as seafood. Crayfish is very beneficial to human health and it can be taken as often as you like.

Below are some of the health benefits of crayfish:

Weight loss

Crayfish serves as a very good ingredient for weight loss because it contains low fats as well as traces of carbohydrates. Crayfish helps in making a healthy and nutritious diet. This seafood can go a long way is serving as salads and green vegetables.

Strong bone

Cray fish helps in development of bones because of the presence of minerals like calcium and magnesium which is essential. It can help in minimizing the chances of developing bone-related diseases that are caused by calcium and magnesium deficiency.

It serves also as a source of iron, daily intake of crayfish which aids in improving the production and circulation of blood in the body and can effectively reduce the chances of developing anemia and other low iron-related health conditions.

Brain development

Constant intake of crayfish can help to prevent the chance of Alzheimer’s disease. Crayfish is also very good for growing children because it will help in brain development. The omega-3 acids present in the seafood also aids in promoting the cognitive function.

Smooth skin

Crayfish is very good for the skin. This seafood aids in making the body smooth by removing spots and blemishes and also helps in promoting a beautiful and healthy skin.

Prevents depression

Constant consumption of crayfish can really help in dealing with depression because of the presence of omega 3 present in it.  Therefore it is advisable for those suffering from depression to always eat enough of this seafood regularly because it will really be of great help to them in combating stress and depression.

  

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Nigeria To Begin Local Manufacturing Of COVID-19 Vaccines By 2022 - NAFDAC

The federal government has said it is targeting to commence local manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines in the next 12 months.

This is just as the federal government yesterday said it has concluded the training of about 40,739 health workers across the nation for the phase two vaccine roll out.

The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who revealed government’s planned local manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines while speaking on ARISE News Channel’s ‘The Morning Show,’ also said the agency has commenced clinical trials on three local herbal medicinal products for the treatment of the virus.

Adeyeye said the government was concerned about the absence of medicine security and its implications for the healthcare needs of the people.

She said the federal government was particularly worried about current challenges posed by inadequate supply of the vaccines to take care of millions of Nigerians, adding that the government was working diligently to start local manufacturing of the vaccine.

When asked to give update on the plan to establish a factory in Nigeria that would undertake local manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines, Adeyeye said: “In terms of local manufacturing, the federal government is working assiduously to ensure that there will be local manufacturing of vaccines within a year.”

According to Adeyeye, with less than two per cent of the country’s population vaccinated so far, the federal government was conscious of the constraints posed by lack of drug security.

Adeyeye further said NAFDAC has initiated a process to develop herbal medicine products in the country by setting up the Herbal Medicine Product Development Committee to advance the development of herbal medicine.

She added that the purpose was to bring herbal medicine practitioners and researchers together so as to subject their products to scientific investigation.

She described the development of herbal medicine as a very complicated process.

According to Adeyeye, NAFDAC undertakes a rigorous process in approving herbal medicines for the listing by inspecting the premises of the practitioner to ensure that it meets the required hygienic standards

She also said the agency runs a number of relevant tests before approving herbal medicine products for listing.

In addition, Adeyeye disclosed that NAFDAC has so far commenced clinical trials on three herbal medicine products with a view to confirming their efficacy for the treatment of COVID-19.

“Since the outbreak of COVID-19, we have approved 45 herbal medicines for listing for temporal approval but you cannot say that they cure COVID-19. Out of these numbers, two or three herbal medicine products have started clinical trials,” she said.

Adeyeye said listing a product only means that it is now safe for consumption but does not confirm how efficacious such a medicine would be until it is subjected to clinical trials.

“It does not confirm how efficacious such herbal drug is until it is subjected to clinical trials. To do clinical trial, it has to be well designed. It is not just that I gave it to 10 people in my village and it worked, but you have to do it in such a way that it will attract recognition across the world. That clinical trial stage is what is going on now,” she said.

Adeyeye also spoke of the Central Bank of Nigeria assisted initiative known as the Research and Development Intervention Scheme which provides funds to assist local production of medicine.

“It cost a lot of money, that is why the CBN is helping to put some money into this intervention scheme for those who are successful during the grant review process,” she added.

  

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Study Links Sleep Deprivation To Accelerated Aging In New Mothers

According to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers, when new mothers complain that all those sleepless nights caring for their newborns are taking years off their life, they just might be right.

UCLA research published this study in the journal Sleep Health.

Scientists studied 33 mothers during their pregnancies and the first year of their babies' lives, analyzing the women's DNA from blood samples to determine their "biological age," which can differ from chronological age. They found that a year after giving birth, the biological age of mothers who slept less than seven hours a night at the six-month mark was three to seven years older than those who logged seven hours or more.

Mothers who slept less than seven hours also had shorter telomeres in their white blood cells. These small pieces of DNA at the ends of chromosomes act as protective caps, like the plastic tips on the ends of shoelaces. Shortened telomeres have been linked to a higher risk of cancers, cardiovascular and other diseases, and earlier death.

"The early months of postpartum sleep deprivation could have a lasting effect on physical health," said the study's first author, Judith Carroll, UCLA's George F. Solomon Professor of Psychobiology. "We know from a large body of research that sleeping less than seven hours a night is detrimental to health and increases the risk of age-related diseases."

While participants' nightly sleep ranged from five to nine hours, more than half were getting less than seven hours, both six months and one year after giving birth, the researchers report.

"We found that with every hour of additional sleep, the mother's biological age was younger," said Carroll, a member of the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at UCLA's Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. "I, and many other sleep scientists, consider sleep health to be just as vital to overall health as diet and exercise."

Carroll urged new mothers to take advantage of opportunities to get a little extra sleep, like taking naps during the day when their baby is asleep, accepting offers of assistance from family and friends, and, when possible, asking their partner to help with the baby during the night or early morning. "Taking care of your sleep needs will help you and your baby in the long run," she said.

Co-author Christine Dunkel Schetter, a distinguished professor of psychology and psychiatry at UCLA, said the study results "and other findings on maternal postpartum mental health provide the impetus for better-supporting mothers of young infants so that they can get sufficient sleep -- possibly through parental leave so that both parents can bear some of the burdens of care, and through programs for families and fathers."

Dunkel Schetter added that while accelerated biological ageing linked to sleep loss may increase women's health risks, it doesn't automatically cause harm to their bodies. "We don't want the message to be that mothers are permanently damaged by infant care and loss of sleep," she emphasized. "We don't know if these effects are long-lasting."

The study used the latest scientific methods of analyzing changes in DNA to assess biological ageing -- also known as epigenetic ageing, Dunkel Schetter said. DNA provides the code for making proteins, which carry out many functions in the cells of our body, and epigenetics focuses on whether regions of this code are "open" or "closed."

"You can think of DNA as a grocery store," Carroll said, "with lots of basic ingredients to build a meal. If there is a spill in one aisle, it may be closed, and you can't get an item from that aisle, which might prevent you from making a recipe. When access to DNA code is 'closed,' then those genes that code for specific proteins cannot be expressed and are therefore turned off."

Because specific sites within DNA are turned on or off with ageing, the process acts as a sort of clock, Carroll said, allowing scientists to estimate individuals' biological age. Greater an individual's biological, or epigenetic, age, the greater their risk of disease and earlier death.

The study's cohort -- which included women who ranged in age from 23 to 45 six months after giving birth -- is not a large representative sample of women, the authors said, and more studies are needed to better understand the long-term impact of sleep loss on new mothers, what other factors might contribute to sleep loss and whether the biological ageing effects are permanent or reversible.

Carroll and Dunkel Schetter reported last year that a mother's stress prior to giving birth may accelerate her child's biological ageing, which is a form of "intergenerational transfer of health risk," Dunkel Schetter said.

Co-authors of the new study included researchers from the department of psychology, the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences, and the department of human genetics and biostatistics at UCLA and from the psychology department at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Funding sources for the study included the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Aging, both part of the National Institutes of Health. (ANI)

  

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Best And Worst Foods For Stomach Ulcers

    What Causes Ulcers?

Doctors used to think that certain foods could give you ulcers. But now we know other things cause them, like taking pain-relieving drugs for a long time or infection with bacteria called H. pylori.Although food doesn’t cause or treat ulcers, some can make your pain worse, while others may help you heal faster.

Best: Foods With Probiotics

Foods like yogurt, miso, kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, and tempeh are rich in “good” bacteria called probiotics. They may help ulcers by fighting an H. pylori infection or by helping treatments work better.

Best: Fiber-Rich Foods

Apples, pears, oatmeal, and other foods that are high in fiber are good for ulcers in two ways. Fiber can lower the amount of acid in your stomach while easing bloating and pain. Research has also shown that a diet rich in fiber may help prevent ulcers.

Best: Sweet Potato

It’s high in vitamin A, and there’s evidence that this nutrient can help shrink stomach ulcers and may also play a role in preventing them. Other foods with a good dose of vitamin A include spinach, carrots, cantaloupe, and beef liver.

Best: Red Bell Pepper

It’s rich in vitamin C, which can help protect you from ulcers in a number of ways. For one, vitamin C plays an important role in wound healing. People who don’t get enough are also more likely to get ulcers. Get this nutrient in citrus fruits, strawberries, kiwis, and broccoli, too.

Worst: Milk

Doctors used to tell people to drink milk to treat their ulcers. That was before better remedies, like acid-blocking drugs, came along. Today we know milk can’t help prevent or relieve an ulcer. In fact, it might actually make things worse by prompting your stomach to make more acid.

Worst: Alcohol

If you’re prone to ulcers or have one now, it’s best to limit alcohol or avoid it altogether. Research has shown that booze irritates and can even damage your digestive tract. It can make ulcers worse.

Worst: Fatty Foods

They take longer to digest, which can lead to belly pain and bloating -- bad news if you have an ulcer. If they make your stomach feel worse, take a break from them.

Spicy Foods: It Depends

For a long time, doctors thought spicy food was a major cause of ulcers. We now know this isn’t true. Still, some people find that it makes their symptoms worse. Avoid it if it causes you pain.

Citrus Fruits: It Depends

At first, it would seem to make sense that acidic foods like citrus and tomatoes would aggravate ulcers. But there’s no strong evidence that they have any effect on them. Still, we all have unique reactions to foods, so if acidic ones make your ulcer feel worse, skip them.

Chocolate: It Depends

Chocolate has lots of potential health benefits. But it often causes discomfort for some people who have ulcers. If eating chocolate makes you feel worse, wait to indulge until your ulcer has healed.

Caffeine: Ask Your Doctor

The research is mixed on whether caffeine -- coffee in particular -- makes ulcers feel worse. Yet it’s still common advice to cut it out if you have one. Ask your doctor, but you may not have to give up coffee as long as your symptoms don’t get worse.

Source: WebMD

  

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Fruit Compounds Can Prevent Parkinson's Disease - New Study

Researchers in the United States have shown that a compound found in fruit - farnesol - has the potential to play a protective role to dopamine-producing brain cells.

Research results published in the journal of Science Translational Medicine uncover important insights to how a naturally occurring compound could pave the way for potential treatments to slow or stop Parkinson’s. 

Protecting brain cells

In Parkinson’s, vital brain cells are lost over time but it isn’t completely clear what’s causing this. One clue is that damaging agents build up within cells over time to cause problems. 

Previous research has shown that in the brain cells of people with Parkinson’s, there is a buildup of a protein called PARIS, which reduces the protection of cells from damaging agents. 

What do the latest results show?

In this study, researchers tested a large number of drugs and natural compounds to see if any stopped the build up of this protein. Farnesol was selected and further investigated to see if stopping PARIS had a protective effect on brain cells. 

Researchers used a mouse model of Parkinson’s to understand the impact of a diet enriched with farnesol. The results showed that the animals receiving the farnesol diet compared to the normal diet had less damage to their dopamine producing brain cells. The mice showed improvement in strength and coordination tasks, too. 

Professor David Dexter, Associate Director of Research at Parkinson's UK said: 

"Parkinson's is what happens when dopamine producing cells in the brain die, so this study is important as it highlights a new pathway that could target and protect these brain cells in a person with Parkinson's. 

"145,000 people are currently living with Parkinson's in the UK and it is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world, so the need for a new treatment which could slow or stop Parkinson's in its tracks has never been more urgent. Designing more potent drugs which replicate the action of the natural compound - farnesol - would be the next steps for researchers to progress this into clinical trials and potentially hold the key for a groundbreaking new treatment."
 

  

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COVID-19 Won't Be The Last Pandemic, WHO Warns

The World Health Organisation has said the COVID-19 pandemic might not be the last the world would witness, even as it called for sustained fight against

the virus.

Country Representative, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, disclosed this at the ninth General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Epidemiological Society

of Nigeria held in Port Harcourt.

Mulombo said the pandemic has provided Nigeria and the global community opportunity to strengthen immunisation, build capacity of health workers and strengthen

disease surveillance.

He noted: “COVID-19 pandemic has taught us a great lesson on preparedness. It is not yet over. It may not likely be the last pandemic. Therefore, we must

sustain the tempo.”

Earlier, Chairman, Local Organising Committee of EPISON’s ninth AGM, Dr Omosivie Maduka, said the event was imperative to evaluate the epidemic and intelligence

tools used in the control of the pandemic.

“At the end of the conference, we will issue a communiqué that will state our key observations concerning our successes and challenges with the COVID-19

response in various aspects and we will be proffering our expert opinion on what needs to be done, to be able to take us from where we are to where we

need to be, which is a complete and total control of the pandemic,” he said.

Nigeria, meanwhile, received 4 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the United States, yesterday, as the country steps up efforts to battle

a third wave of infections.

The doses, which came on two planes, were received by officials from the UN children agency, UNICEF, on behalf of Nigeria at the airport in Abuja.

It was the second batch of vaccines to arrive in Africa’s most populous nation after 4 million doses were delivered in March under the COVAX scheme.

This came as the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and the United States (US) Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that the Delta coronavirus

variant appears to cause more severe illness and spreads as easily as chickenpox.

They said vaccination is not enough by itself to stop the spread of variants and recommended combination with non-pharmacological interventions such as

isolation and quarantine, physical distancing, use of facemasks and hand hygiene.

President, NMA, Prof. Innocent Ujah, told The media , yesterday: “We need to be more careful because the Delta variant of is spreading so fast and can

be very deadly. The government and the citizens have their parts to play. While the government provides vaccines and other materials, the people should

wear their facemasks. We need to appropriately use facemasks and wash our hands. We have failed in social distancing. Vaccination alone cannot prevent

the spread of COVID-19.”

He said further: “Nigerian doctors will continue to show commitment. We will continue to treat patients. The essence is to interrupt transmission chain

if we are able to follow Non Pharmacological Procedures (NPP). We are very lucky that many more Nigerians are surviving the pandemic. We should not over

stretch our luck. We have had several seminars to discuss what is happening and how to support government.”

A CDC internal document outlined unpublished data that showed fully vaccinated people might spread the Delta variant at the same rate as unvaccinated people.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky confirmed the authenticity of the document, which was first reported by The Washington Post.

“I think people need to understand that we’re not crying wolf here. This is serious,” she told CNN. “It’s one of the most transmissible viruses we know

about. Measles, chickenpox, this — they’re all up there.”

The CDC is scheduled to publish data that will back Walensky’s controversial decision to change guidance for fully vaccinated people. She said the CDC

was recommending that even fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in places where transmission of the virus is sustained or high.

She said everyone in schools: students, staff and visitors should wear masks at all times. “The measures we need to get this under control are extreme,”

Walensky said.

She said the data in the report did not surprise her. “It was the synthesis of the data all in one place that was sobering,” she said.

The CDC presentation said the Delta variant is about as transmissible as chickenpox, with each infected person, on average, infecting eight or nine others.

The original lineage was about as transmissible as the common cold, with each infected person passing the virus to about two other people on average. That

infectivity is known as R0.

“When you think about diseases that have an R0 of eight or nine, there aren’t that many,” Walensky said. And if vaccinated people get infected anyway,

they have as much virus in their bodies as unvaccinated people. That means they’re as likely to infect someone else as unvaccinated people who get infected.

“The bottom line was that, in contrast to the other variants, vaccinated people, even if they didn’t get sick, got infected and shed virus at similar levels

as unvaccinated people who got infected,” Dr. Walter Orenstein, who heads the Emory Vaccine Center and who viewed the documents, told CNN.

But vaccinated people are safer, the document indicates.

“Vaccines prevent more than 90 per cent of severe disease, but may be less effective at preventing infection or transmission,” it read.

It said vaccines reduce the risk of severe disease or death 10-fold and reduce the risk of infection three-fold. The presentation also cites three reports

that indicate the Delta variant, originally known as B.1.617.2, might cause more severe disease.

Also, researchers have warned that vaccination alone won’t stop the rise of new variants and in fact could push the evolution of strains that evade their

protection.

They said people needed to wear masks and take other steps to prevent spread until almost everyone in a population has been vaccinated.

Their findings, published in Nature Scientific Reports, support an unpopular decision by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to advise even

fully vaccinated people to start wearing masks again in areas of sustained or high transmission.

“We found that a fast rate of vaccination decreases the probability of emergence of a resistant strain,” the team wrote. 

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