Modified Pig Organs May Correct Birth Defects In Infants - Experts

A team of doctors in Britain have perfected the use of modified pig organs to treat newborn babies with birth defects. Babies born missing a section of their oesophagus, the tube linking the mouth to the stomach, are to receive the transplants harvested from pigs and then modified using the child’s stem cells.

‘The Australian’ reported that the landmark lifesaving treatment would be used next year at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London on about 10 children born with severe cases of oesophageal atresia (EA). Similarly, the research team also plans to develop the treatment for adults suffering oesophageal cancer, a far more common and often fatal condition. Esophageal atresia (EA) is a congenital defect, meaning that it occurs before birth.

There are several types. In most cases, the upper oesophagus ends and does not connect with the lower oesophagus and stomach.

Most infants with EA have another defect called tracheoesophageal fistula. Oesophageal atresia can be diagnosed in the foetus at about 20 weeks.
The first children for next year’s trial could be identified in coming months. Oesophagi of varying sizes have been taken from pigs at a British farm in readiness.

These “animal scaffolds” will be modified to remove all their cells. They will then be re-engineered using the child’s stem cells, making them suitable for transplant and avoiding rejection by the patient’s body.


The stem cells will be taken the moment after birth from the babies’ muscle and residual oesophagus. The tissue engineering takes about eight weeks and doctors hope to implant the modified oesophagi at about two to three months after the child is born.

Although 90 per cent of oesophageal atresia cases are treatable via a relatively simple procedure to close the gap, in severe cases the only option is for doctors to surgically move the child’s stomach into the chest cavity.
This can create complications throughout the patient’s life and place them at a greater risk of oesophageal cancer, according to Paolo De Coppi, a consultant pediatric surgeon at Great Ormond Street who is behind the new treatment. Professor De Coppi previously pioneered a similarly groundbreaking transplant in 2010 in which a 13-year-old boy was given a new trachea that was created from a deceased human donor using the teenager’s stem cells.

“This is completely new. Pigs have been used for heart valve replacement for many years, but nobody has received an organ developed from an ‘animal scaffold’ this way,” he said.

Professor De Coppi is also developing a treatment to help children born with shortened bowels, which will again use pig organs and stem cells, either harvested from the bowel or even the child’s skin, to build a new intestine for transplants. He hopes to introduce this in 2020.

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Noncommunicable Diseases Kill Over 40 Million People Each Year - WHO

The following is the recent report of the World Health Organizations (WHO) submission on the fatality of noncommunicable diseases. According to the body, NCD's Kill Over 40 Million people each year.

Overview

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, tend to be of long duration and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behaviours factors.
The main types of NCDs are cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes.
NCDs disproportionately affect people in low- and middle-income countries where more than three quarters of global NCD deaths – 31 million – occur.

Who is at risk of such diseases?

People of all age groups, regions and countries are affected by NCDs. These conditions are often associated with older age groups, but evidence shows that 17 million of all deaths attributed to NCDs occur before the age of 70. Of these "premature" deaths, 87% are estimated to occur in low- and middle-income countries. Children, adults and the elderly are all vulnerable to the risk factors contributing to NCDs, whether from unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, exposure to tobacco smoke or the harmful use of alcohol.
These diseases are driven by forces that include rapid unplanned urbanization, globalization of unhealthy lifestyles and population ageing. Unhealthy diets and a lack of physical activity may show up in people as raised blood pressure, increased blood glucose, elevated blood lipids and obesity. These are called metabolic risk factors that can lead to cardiovascular disease, the leading NCD in terms of premature deaths.

Risk factors

Modifiable behavioural risk factors

Modifiable behaviours, such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and the harmful use of alcohol, all increase the risk of NCDs.

• Tobacco accounts for 7.2 million deaths every year (including from the effects of exposure to second-hand smoke), and is projected to increase markedly over the coming years. (1)
• 4.1 million annual deaths have been attributed to excess salt/sodium intake. (1)
• More than half of the 3.3 million annual deaths attributable to alcohol use are from NCDs, including cancer. (2)
• 1.6 million deaths annually can be attributed to insufficient physical activity. (1)

Metabolic risk factors

Metabolic risk factors contribute to four key metabolic changes that increase the risk of NCDs:

• raised blood pressure
• overweight/obesity
• hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels) and
• hyperlipidemia (high levels of fat in the blood).

In terms of attributable deaths, the leading metabolic risk factor globally is elevated blood pressure (to which 19% of global deaths are attributed), (1) followed by overweight and obesity and raised blood glucose.

What are the socioeconomic impacts of NCDs?

NCDs threaten progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a target of reducing premature deaths from NCDs by one-third by 2030.
Poverty is closely linked with NCDs. The rapid rise in NCDs is predicted to impede poverty reduction initiatives in low-income countries, particularly by increasing household costs associated with health care. Vulnerable and socially disadvantaged people get sicker and die sooner than people of higher social positions, especially because they are at greater risk of being exposed to harmful products, such as tobacco, or unhealthy dietary practices, and have limited access to health services.
In low-resource settings, health-care costs for NCDs quickly drain household resources. The exorbitant costs of NCDs, including often lengthy and expensive treatment and loss of breadwinners, force millions of people into poverty annually and stifle development.

Prevention and control of NCDs

An important way to control NCDs is to focus on reducing the risk factors associated with these diseases. Low-cost solutions exist for governments and other stakeholders to reduce the common modifiable risk factors. Monitoring progress and trends of NCDs and their risk is important for guiding policy and priorities.
To lessen the impact of NCDs on individuals and society, a comprehensive approach is needed requiring all sectors, including health, finance, transport, education, agriculture, planning and others, to collaborate to reduce the risks associated with NCDs, and promote interventions to prevent and control them.
Investing in better management of NCDs is critical. Management of NCDs includes detecting, screening and treating these diseases, and providing access to palliative care for people in need. High impact essential NCD interventions can be delivered through a primary health care approach to strengthen early detection and timely treatment. Evidence shows such interventions are excellent economic investments because, if provided early to patients, they can reduce the need for more expensive treatment.
Countries with inadequate health insurance coverage are unlikely to provide universal access to essential NCD interventions. NCD management interventions are essential for achieving the global target of a 25% relative reduction in the risk of premature mortality from NCDs by 2025, and the SDG target of a one-third reduction in premature deaths from NCDs by 2030.

WHO response

WHO's leadership and coordination role

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes NCDs as a major challenge for sustainable development. As part of the Agenda, Heads of State and Government committed to develop ambitious national responses, by 2030, to reduce by one-third premature mortality from NCDs through prevention and treatment (SDG target 3.4). This target comes from the High-level Meetings of the UN General Assembly on NCDs in 2011 and 2014, which reaffirmed WHO’s leadership and coordination role in promoting and monitoring global action against NCDs. The UN General Assembly will convene a third High-level Meeting on NCDs in 2018 to review progress and forge consensus on the road ahead covering the period 2018-2030.
To support countries in their national efforts, WHO developed a Global action plan for the prevention and control of NCDs 2013-2020, which includes nine global targets that have the greatest impact on global NCD mortality. These targets address prevention and management of NCDs.

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Zamfara State Officials In Trouble Over Missing Meningitis Vaccines

Two officials of Bungudu local council in Zamfara have been ordered to produce the missing Meningitis vaccines allocated to the area or be sanctioned.

The affected officials are the local council’s director of Health, Rabiu Dansadau and the Councillor of Health, Sanusi Umar.

The Chairman of the State Sub-Committee for the Procurement, Management and Distribution of Meningitis drugs and vaccines, Alhaji Aliyu Kagara said on Monday in Bungudu that the committee had discovered massive diversion of the vaccines meant for the area.

He said that a total of 400 I.V injections meningitis vaccines was allocated to the area, but only 30 of the vaccines were accounted for.

“When the committee visited the local government it discovered that 30 persons were treated and there was no trace of the remaining 370 vaccines.

“The two officials must return the drugs and offer convincing explanation of what happened,” Kagara said.
The chairman said that, so far, the affected officials have failed to give satisfactory explanation as to the whereabout of the remaining drugs.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that patients had a week ago told Gov. Abdulaziz Yari when he visited some meningitis isolation centres that they used their money to buy the drugs which was supposed to be free.

NAN learnt that patients pay up N1,000 per vaccine, to get treated.

The governor has already set up a committee under the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Abdullahi Shinkafi to investigate the matter, while the State House of Assembly has also set up its own investigation committee.

A total of 346 people have died of meningitis and 3,145 infected since the reported outbreak of the disease in Zamfara.

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Ekiti State Increases Maternity Leave For Women In Civil Service

The Ekiti State Government (Nigeria) on Monday announced an increase in the maternity leave period for women in its public service from 12 weeks to 16 weeks.

The Permanent Secretary in the State Ministry of Information, Youth and Sports Development, Mr Kola Ajumobi, said this at a public enlightenment forum in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

He said that the gesture was approved by the state governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, as part of his display of love and special regard for the womenfolk in the state.

He said it was also aimed at encouraging exclusive breastfeeding for newly born children in the first six months of birth.

 It is also meant to promote good nutrition for both mothers and their newborn children, he said.

Ajumobi said that nursing mothers would, in addition to the four months, be granted two hours’ off duty every day for a period of six months from the date they resumed from maternity leave.

According to him, the commitment of the Fayose-led administration to the reduction in mothers and children’s mortality and morbidity rate to the barest minimum remains sacrosanct.

Ajumobi said the crèche at the state secretariat had also been invigorated to boost bonding between mothers and their children during official working hours without undue hindrance to performance and efficiency at the workplace.

The permanent secretary lamented that lack of good nutrition; poverty, hunger as well as the lack of access to economic and political empowerment had largely contributed to high maternal and child mortality.

He, however, noted that the present administration in the state would continue to roll out various palliative packages exclusively for women to empower and guard them against avoidable travails.

Ajumobi said such measures already in existence include the provision of N500million as revolving soft-loan to promote small and medium Enterprises driven by women.

Also, women farmers were being supported with various incentives, he said. According to him, the government has also encouraged women’s access to political power. 

Harmful traditional practices to woman’s nutritional and sexual reproductive health, such as widowhood rites and inheritance had become criminal offences in the state, he said.

He also said that rapists and wife beaters now face life sentences in the state.

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Emir Of Kano Decries High Maternal Mortality In Northern Nigeria

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II has blamed societal negligence for the high rate of maternal mortality in the country. He lamented that the worst global mortality rate was more visible in northern Nigeria.

"There is no place in the world where we have high number of maternal mortality than in India and Northern Nigeria. Many things are responsible for this, like illiteracy, poverty and related issues. People are just exhibiting I-don’t-care attitudes towards family health,” he said.

He stated this during the launch of a book titled, “Yanaye Yanayen Ciki da Haihuwa a Likitance” (Medical Conditions of Pregnancy and Delivery) authored by a Consultant Gynecologist, Prof. Hadiza Shehu Galadanchi in Kano.

 

 Sanusi disclosed that: “At the Emirate Council, we have a system of reporting births and deaths monthly. Our ward heads take stock of all births and deaths at birth within their jurisdictional areas. The information we get monthly is heartbreaking.” 

During the event, one of the reviewers of the book, Dr. Abdulhamid Isah Dutse, former Chief Medical Director of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) said the author of the book was able to come up with a figure that 545 pregnant women out of 100,000 die monthly in Nigeria. He added that the case was worse in the northern part of the country.

Governor Umar Ganduje, who was represented by his Deputy, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, assured that the book would be distributed to nurses in health facilities across the state.

“We will liaise with the state Ministry of Health and ensure that health workers gain from this,” he said. Meanwhile, a recent survey conducted under the auspices of Development Research and Projects Centre (DRPC) has shown that Kano State Education Resource Department (KERD) has only 280 craft teachers for 77,299 students in secondary schools.

This was disclosed at a stakeholders’ workshop on using craft education for income generation for secondary schools aged girls held in Kano recently by Prof. Bala Ado Kofar Mata of the Centre for African Entrepreneurship Research and Training. It was organised by the DRPC and funded by Mac Arthur Foundation.

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Cancer Detecting Chewing Gums To Replace Blood Test

In an effort to make cancer diagnosis simple, a biotechnology company has developed chewing gum that could determine whether or not an individual has cancer. According to scientists behind the initiative, the gum absorbs what are called ‘volatiles’, which are chemical compounds that are released by certain forms of cancer in the person’s saliva as they chew it. After it has been chewed for 15 minutes, the product is then analysed to determine whether or not it contains these specific chemicals.

So far, the scientists at the Alabama-based firm, ‘Volatile Analysis’ have developed different types of gum that can detect pancreatic cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer. According to the researchers, if this procedure was successful, it could mean the end of blood tests, urine samples and biopsies.

Chemicalsn produced in the body, called volatile organic compounds, are unique to each type of cancer. For example, a healthy lung and a lung infected with cancer exhale different compounds.
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. It is characterised by out-of-control cell growth and there are over 100 different types of cancer.

Nigeria records 100,000 new cancer cases yearly. Katherine Bazemore, president and Chief Executive Officer, CEO of Volatile Analysis, teamed up with non-profit Hudson Alpha to develop the product. She explained that by determining which of those compounds are found in the gum, doctors can tell which type of cancer is present in the patient. “Technically, the gum concentrates the volatiles,” she added.

She said:“Each disease has different chemicals that come out through your breath.” Bazemore explained that gum remains in your mouth over an extended period of time and is durable enough to withstand testing. Patients would only have to chew the gum for about 15 minutes.

Right now, different types of gum can detect pancreatic cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer. Bazemore is hopeful that they will soon have a singular product that will detect three or four different cancers and diseases. With use of the gum, patients would no longer need to go through blood tests or biopsies.

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