Over 90 Percent Of Nigerian Female Prisoners Are Pregnant

An alarm has been raised over the poor health conditions of female inmates of Nigerian prisons.The National Council of Women’s Society (NCWS) has disclosed that 90 per cent of female prisoners in the country were either pregnant or nursing mothers.
The society’s president, Mrs. Gloria Shoda, made the disclosure a couple of days ago in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital at the inauguration of new executives.
She appealed to the Federal Government to formulate policies to protect female prisoners. She also urged the National Human Rights Commission to intervene to stop all forms of discrimination against female prisoners who are awaiting trial.
According to her, assisting women with the relevant skills could help in building a better society.She said: “It is only when women are considered as the center of development that the economy could be better developed.
“We urge government to integrate gender into its developmental agenda by including them in public policy and governance. Women and girls are facing so many unpleasant challenges in the country. Everyday, the newspapers report incidents of violence against them even in the internally displaced persons camps.”
She urged them to embrace the nationwide slogan of “change begins with me,” to support one another.
Investigations carried out by Nigeria Natural Health Online shows that these pregnant women do not have a standard prenatal attention that a normal pregnant woman should have. There are a range of adverse health effects associated with maternal under-nutrition. It can affect both the pregnant woman and developing baby in the short and long-term.
A woman’s nutritional status at the time she becomes pregnant influences her health during pregnancy and the health of her baby. It is determined largely by her nutritional intake before pregnancy. If a woman is under-nourished prior to conception because she does not eat enough, she may be malnourished and underweight at the time she conceives. This will have an ongoing effect on her nutritional status throughout the pregnancy. Her nutritional status at the time she becomes pregnant is also an important factor influencing the health of the foetus, as well as the long term health of the infant.
Women who are under-nourished (have a BMI of <18 .5kg="" m="" sup="">2

) at the time of conception are unlikely to improve their nutritional status during pregnancy, when their bodies have additional demands due to the growing baby. They may fail to gain sufficient weight during pregnancy and have a higher risk of maternal mortality (dying whilst pregnant) than normal weight women. Under-nourished women may also lack the nutritional stores required to support embryo growth. Embryo refers to a fertilised egg, before it begins to take on human characteristics (at which stage it is referred to as a foetus). In the first few days after conception the embryo exists in the woman’s womb but has not yet implanted into the lining of the womb where it will grow throughout the pregnancy. This is known as the pre-implantation period and is the period of pregnancy in which cells divide and replicate most rapidly. Maternal malnutrition can adversely affect the division and replication of cells in the embryo at this stage, impairing its development. Impaired embryo development in turn adversely effects the development of the foetus in the later stages of pregnancy.
A woman’s nutritional status at the time she becomes pregnant also influences the differentiation of cells in the embryo into foetal and placental cells. When the embryo implants into the wall of a woman’s uterus, it develops two types of cells, those that will become the foetus and those which will become the placenta (the structure which nourishes and supports the foetus during pregnancy). In undernourished women, a greater number of cells are likely to form the placenta compared to the foetus, meaning that the foetus begins its life smaller than it should do. This can lead to restricted foetal growth and increases the risk of the baby being born at a low-birth weight (<2 .5kg="" a="" associated="" birth="" in="" is="" low="" of="" range="" strong="" turn="" weight="" with="">adverse outcomes
in childhood and later in life.In the light of the above revelations, analysts who spoke with Nigeria Natural Health Online, said the federal government of Nigeria should pay attention to the alarm raised by NCWS and come to the rescue of these pregnant female prisoners.

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Under-Cooked Chicken Could Cause Paralysis

Researchers have alerted the public that undercooked chicken could trigger a potentially fatal neurological condition that makes sufferers paralysed.
The warning came ahead of public preparation for the Yuletide, a season of celebration when millions of families cherish chickens as part of the delicacy consumed to celebrate both Christmas and the coming New Year. These are the findings of a research published in the ‘Journal of Autoimmunity’.
A common bacteria, ‘campylobacter jejuni’, which lurks in the raw flesh of chickens has been found to cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, GBS, a lifethreatening disorder where the body’s immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system.
Early symptoms include feeling weak and experiencing tingling sensations in the legs. ‘Campylobacter jejuni’ infects more than a million people yearly in the United States, U.S and is also known to trigger other autoimmune disorders such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Reiter’s arthritis. Scientists at Michigan State University have shown how the bacteria triggers GBS, and hope that discovery will help formulate a cure.
If chicken isn’t cooked to a proper minimum internal temperature, harmful bacteria can remain, posing a threat, the UK Edition of ‘The Sun’ reported. It is well known that some bacteria in undercooked chicken can cause a nasty bout of food poisoning.
But now, the evidence points to a far more important reason to ensure your chicken is cooked thoroughly. Reacting to the development, Lead Author of the study, Professor Linda Mansfield, said: “What our work has told us is that it takes a certain genetic makeup combined with a certain campylobacter strain to cause this disease.
“The concerning thing is that many of these strains are resistant to antibiotics and our work shows that treatment with some antibiotics could actually make the disease worse.”
GBS is the leading cause of acute neuromuscular paralysis, yet the exact cause remains a mystery to experts. Prof. Mansfield and her team have created three preclinical models of GBS that represent two different forms of the syndrome seen in humans.

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Why Syphilis May Soon Become Untreatable

Amid concerns over a new drug-resistant strain, doctors have alerted the public that Syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease (STD), could become impossible to treat with key antibiotics.
This is the findings of a new study published in the journal ‘Nature Microbiology’. Although, Syphilis was once a death sentence, the vast majority of syphilis cases today are curable with penicillin injections.
However, a new study has revealed an aggressive new strain of the infection is more widespread than previously thought – and there are limited ways to control it.
Syphilis is a highly contagious disease spread primarily by sexual activity, including oral and anal sex. Occasionally, the disease can be passed to another person through prolonged kissing or close bodily contact. Although this disease is spread from sores, the vast majority of those sores go unrecognised.
The infected person is often unaware of the disease and unknowingly passes it on to his or her sexual partner. Pregnant women with the disease can spread it to their baby. This disease, called congenital syphilis, can cause abnormalities or even death to the child. Similarly, Syphilis cannot be spread by toilet seats, door knobs, swimming pools, hot tubs, bath tubs, shared clothing, or eating utensils.
Estimates suggest that there were 10.6 million cases worldwide in 2008, with many carrying the disease unaware they are actually infected. Cases of syphilis are common among both heterosexuals and men who have sex with men – but the latter group has been more affected.
There are two common types of syphilis: Nichols and Street Strain 14 (SS14). In an analysis of syphilis samples, researchers by the University of Zurich in Switzerland, found the most common to be SS14-Ω, a subset of SS14.
Alarmingly, 90 per cent of the SS14-Ω samples they analysed were resistant to antibiotics. It was reported that although, scientists have yet to detect any penicillin- resistant strains, the discovery is an ominous sign that it is adapting to modern medicine.
Cases of the chronic bacterial infection have shot up by 71 per cent in England since 2011, according to the latest figures. Syphilis cases are also increasingly more common in the United States, with infections rising 15 per cent between 2013 and 14; and another 19 per cent from 2014 to 2015, according to data issued by the U.S. Centre for Disease Control, CDC. Data obtained from other sources indicate that the disease is also rising in countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
Scientists are unsure just how many of these cases can be put down to the relatively new strain that is growing resistant to key antibiotics. But they said the emergence of a drug-resistant forms could make syphilis, a potentially fatal sexually transmitted infection, STI, even harder to treat.
A study of syphilis infections in 13 countries in 2012 to 2013 shows how a drug resistant strain of the disease is far more widespread than previously thought. SS14-Ω is particularly resistant to the class of antibiotics called macrolides, the researchers from the University of Zurich said.
The possibility that the second-line medication for the disease – used when penicillin injections are not appropriate – might lose their effectiveness has alarmed experts.
Reacting to the development, Lola Stamm, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina in the United States, said the findings should serve as a warning to doctors not to oversubscribe antibiotics. “Physicians need to be extremely wary about using macrolide drugs to treat syphilis,” she said.

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Marijuana Can Cause Blindness

Scientists have warned those who indulge in regular use of Cannabis, also known as Marijuana that it could damage eyesight. These findings are published in the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association’.
The small study in France found prolonged marijuana use could wear down retinal ganglion cells, the nerves that sit just behind the retina. A retinal ganglion cell (RGC) is a type of neuron located near the inner surface (the ganglion cell layer) of the retina of the eye.
It receives visual information from photoreceptors via two intermediate neuron types: bipolar cells and retina amacrine cells. These cells are key for transmitting information back to the brain in order to form an image.
The study found people who smoked weed for around six years experienced a delay in neural signals to the brain – even after giving up the drug. The finding complicates scientific understanding on the link between cannabis and vision, since previous studies have shown the drug helps patients with glaucoma, and even improves night vision.
Reacting to the development, Lead Investigator, Dr. Vincent Laprevote, of the Pole Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie du Grand Nancy in France, said: “Our findings may be important from a public health perspective since they could highlight the neurotoxic effects of cannabis use on the central nervous system as a result of how it affects retinal processing.
“Independent of debates about its legalisation, it is necessary to gain more knowledge about the different effects of cannabis so that the public can be informed.
“Future studies may shed light on the potential consequences of these retinal dysfunctions for visual cortical processing and whether these dysfunctions are permanent or disappear after cannabis withdrawal.”
The small study involved 52 participants – 28 cannabis users, 24 never users. All of the cannabis users stopped consuming the drug before the trial started, but had been regularly using it for at least six years.
The researchers used a standard electrophysiological measurement called pattern electroretinography (PERG), which involved averaging a high number of responses.
After adjustment for the number of years of education and alcohol use, there was a significant increase for cannabis users of the amount of time it took for the retina to transmit signals to the brain.
There are many known effects on the body when using marijuana. Some of these relate to the eyes while others impact other areas of the body. Studies have found that attention, memory and learning are all impaired by heavy marijuana use, even after stopping the drug for more than 24 hours. Marijuana users also exhibit impaired driving abilities, slower reaction times and difficulty concentrating. Marijuana can also impact perception, making colors appear brighter, etc. When it comes to eyesight marijuana commonly alters peripheral vision. 

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Fresh Fish, Fruit, Vegetables Improve Sperm Health - New Studies

New studies have found that sperm quality is higher among men who eat more fresh fish, fruit and vegetables  and less junk food or red meat.

The quality of sperm was also improved among those who took brisk walks, compared with those who either did little physical activity or went running.

The three papers, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine in Florida, highlight the importance of the lifestyle of a prospective father as well as that of their female partner in determining hether or not they can have a baby.

In the first study, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health looked at what 188 students ate and drank.

They divided their diets into a "prudent" one characterised by high intake of fish, fruit, vegetables and pulses, and a "western" one full of pizza, red and processed meat, high energy drinks and snacks.

Those with the best diet had 11 per cent more motile sperm - better at swimming towards an egg - than those with the least healthy eating habits.
Lead researcher Audrey Gaskins said: "Motility is most important for couples who want to try to conceive naturally. A small increase could lead to a small increase in fertility."
A separate study at Harvard analysed the diet of 99 men who were already attending a fertility clinic because they and their wives or girlfriends were unable to get pregnant.
Academics found that consumption of Trans Fatty Acids - previously found in many fried fast food joints but now being phased out - was linked to sperm concentration.
Men who took 1.3 per cent of their calories from trans-fats had on average 48million sperm per millilitre of semen, compared with 79m among those who had consumed just 0.7 per cent of their calories in the form of the fat.
Dr Allan Pacey, a fertility expert at the University of Sheffield, commented: "The influence of a man's diet on his semen quality has been of interest for some time.
"For example, there is now good evidence from a variety of studies that men with a higher antioxidant intake have slightly better semen quality and are more likely to become fathers than men who don't. Similarly, there are also studies showing that men who consume key nutrients, ejaculate better sperm.
"Therefore the results of this study, comparing a Western diet with one which is more 'Mediterranean', is not really a surprise and nicely illustrates that a good diet is of benefit when trying to conceive."
A third paper, carried out at the Yamaguchi University School of Medicine in Japan, compared sperm motility among 215 men after analysing how much physical activity they did in an average week.
It found that those who did moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, had better swimming sperm than both those who did little physical activity and those who did strenuous activities.
Dr Pacey said: "There are a number of studies which have examined the relationship between physical exercise and semen quality, often with contradictory results.
"Therefore we have an unclear picture about what effect exercise plays in male fertility, if any.
"We know that obesity and poor diet can reduce sperm production so perhaps in this study we are seeing the positive effects of healthy living as much as we are seeing the benefits of exercise."

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The Effect Of High Blood Pressure On Your Sex Life

High blood pressure often has no signs or symptoms. But the impact on your sex life may be obvious. Although sexual activity is unlikely to pose an immediate threat to your health — such as a heart attack — high blood pressure can affect your overall satisfaction with sex.
A link between high blood pressure and sexual problems is proved in men. For women who have decreased sexual satisfaction, it’s not yet proved that high blood pressure is to blame.
High blood pressure’s effect on sexual problems in women isn’t well-understood. But it’s possible that high blood pressure could affect a woman’s sex life.
High blood pressure can reduce blood flow to the vagina. For some women, this leads to a decrease in sexual desire or arousal, vaginal dryness, or difficulty achieving orgasm. Improving arousal and lubrication can help.
Like men, women can experience anxiety and relationship issues due to sexual dysfunction.
High blood pressure medications that can cause sexual dysfunction as a side effect include:

• Water pills (diuretics): Diuretics can decrease forceful blood flow to the penis, making it difficult to achieve an erection. They can also deplete the body of zinc, which is necessary to make the sex hormone testosterone.
• Beta blockers:These medications, especially older generation beta blockers such as propranolol (Inderal, Innopran XL), are commonly associated with sexual dysfunction.

Natural therapy is not just to lower the blood pressure but to release some biomolecues to the body which check the root cause of increasing blood pressure.  Evidence from researches and alternative medicines have shown that the root cause of high blood pressure can be reversed and consequently eliminate high blood pressure and sexual problems attached to it.

If sexual side effects persist, ask your doctor about other medication options. Some high blood pressure medications are less likely to cause sexual side effects, such as:

• Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors
• Calcium channel blockers
• Angiotensin II receptor blockers

To help your doctor select the most appropriate medication for you, tell him or her all the other medications you're taking now — including herbal supplements and over-the-counter drugs. Sometimes a particular combination of medications or supplements contributes to sexual problems.
If your doctor says it's OK, you may be able to stop taking blood pressure medications temporarily to see if your sex life improves. To make sure your blood pressure remains within a safe range, you may need frequent blood pressure readings while you're not taking the blood pressure lowering medication that may be causing your sexual difficulties. This can be done with a home blood pressure monitoring device for convenience.

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