New Discovery Raises Hope For HIV Patients

Given the serious health and development challenges HIV/ AIDS poses to humanity, scientists have developed an antibody that attacks 99 per cent of HIV strains. Already tested on monkeys, the first clinical trials on human beings could begin next year, according to a report on the BBC.

The study, published in the journal ‘Science’, is a collaboration between the United States (U.S) National Institutes of Health and Sanofi, a pharmaceutical company and it attacked three key parts of the virus – making it harder for HIV to resist the antibodies.

Up until now, HIV has been difficult to treat because of its ability to mutate and change its appearance.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a subgroup of retrovirus) that causes HIV infection and over time acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

AIDS is a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive and without treatment, average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype.

There were approximately 36.7 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2015, majority of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. Of these, 1.8 million were children, most of whom were infected by their HIVpositive mothers during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. Presently, Nigeria has the highest number of HIVpositive children, according to the coordinator of the National AIDS/STI Control Programme, Dr. Sunday Agboje.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that about 3.2 Nigerians adults are currently living with HIV. According to data issued by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, at least 80 per cent of eligible adults (women and men) and 80 per cent of children (boys and girls) are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) based on national guidelines by 2015.
President of the International Aids Society, Prof Linda-Gail Bekker, said the report of the antibody which can attack 99 per cent of HIV strains, is an exciting breakthrough. Medical experts said this development would benefit African populace which presently bear the greatest burden of HIV.

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The Health Risks Of Tattoos On The Body

By Sola Ogundipe

Some call it Body Art, others just call it tattoo. Do you have a tattoo or intend to get one, then you need to read this. It is estimated that one-tenth of adults in the large cities in Nigeria now have at least one tattoo, but getting Body Art may come with long-term medical risks. While it is true that tattoos are becoming more popular than ever, it is also a fact that more and more people than ever are developing infections from contaminated tattoo inks, as well as adverse reactions to the inks. 

Reports of bad reactions to tattoo inks right after tattooing, even years later, are quite common. Adverse effects Several adverse effects involving tattoos have been reported in recent times. The rule of the thumb is this: Before you get a tattoo, you should consider certain key questions. In particular, be concerned about unsafe practices and the tattoo ink. For many of those with tattoos or individuals who had at least one tattoo experience some type of issue such as swelling, rashes, or severe itching that lasts longer than four months and even up to several years. 

Some of these adverse reactions could be treated with anti-inflammatory medications, others could require laser surgery. The most severe issues could result in the formation of scar tissue or skin lesions, and even require the removal of the tattooed area of the skin. 

A significant number of people who receive tattoos experience short-term complications such as pain, swelling, infection, and delayed healing, and the individuals usually seek medical attention or treatment for those issues. Long-term complications are most common in regions tattooed with red or black ink. 

The lack of regulatory oversight in the tattoo industry, as well as the lack of uniform standards amongst dye manufacturers and the poor understanding of the chemical composition of the coloured inks used in the process may play a role in these findings. While you can get serious infections from unhygienic practices and equipment that isn’t sterile, infections can also result from ink that was contaminated with bacteria or mould. Inks and kits sold as “do-it-yourself” to consumers have been associated with infections and allergic reactions. 

Using non-sterile water to dilute the pigments (ingredients that add colour) is a common culprit, although not the only one. There’s no reliable way to tell if the ink used for the tattoo is safe. An ink can be contaminated even if the container is sealed or the label says the product is sterile. Some inks contain pigments used in printer toner or in car paint. None of these chemicals are approved by health regulatory agencies. In fact the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or its Nigerian equivalent, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has not approved any pigments for injection into the skin for cosmetic purposes. Strange reactions You also might become allergic to other products, such as hair dyes, if your tattoo contains a chemical known as p-phenylenediamene (PPD). Strange reactions may happen after getting a tattoo. You might notice a rash—redness or bumps—in the area of your tattoo, and you could develop a fever. 

More aggressive infections may cause high fever, shaking, chills, and sweats. Treating such infections might require a variety of antibiotics—possibly for months—or even hospitalization and/or surgery. A rash may also mean you’re having an allergic reaction. And because the inks are permanent, the reaction may persist. Scar tissue Scar tissue can build up after getting a tattoo. The scar tissue may form when you get a tattoo, or you could develop “granulomas,” small knots or bumps that may form around material that the body perceives as foreign. If you tend to get keloids—scars that grow beyond normal boundaries—you may develop the same kind of reaction to the tattoo. Some people may have swelling or burning in the tattoo when they have Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), although this happens rarely and does not last long. There are still a lot of questions about the long-term effects of the pigments, other ingredients, and possible contaminants in tattoo inks. 

If you get an infection If you get a tattoo and develop an infection or other reaction, contact a health care professional. Notify the tattoo artist so he or she can identify the ink and avoid using it again. Ask for the brand, colour, and any lot or batch number of the ink or diluents to help determine the source of the problem and how to treat it. Whether you’re a consumer, tattoo artist, or health care professional, tell the health expert. Provide as much details as possible about the ink and your reaction and outcome. Reports from consumers are one of the most important sources of safety information. Removing tattoos Then there’s tattoo removal. The short-or long-term consequences of how pigments break down are generally unknown. In addition, some tattoo removal procedures may leave permanent scarring. Removing tattoos may be harder than you expect.

 So think before you ink. Consider the risks. Removing a tattoo is a painstaking process, and complete removal without scarring may be impossible. You should be concerned So should you be concerned because you are planning to get a tattoo? Experts say it is something to think about. Apart from cosmetic purposes, tattoos have no health advantages. However, if you do decide to get a tattoo, have it done professionally. Most persons that develop issues have longstanding, chronic complaints about their tattoo that could persist for months to years. If you have chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis or eczema, seek advice before getting a tattoo. If you already have a tattoo, do not expose the tattooed parts to the sun, as exposure to sunlight can be a trigger for adverse reactions.

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Walnuts: Natural Deffence Against Cancer

Oftentimes, the simplest foods are best for your health, and this is certainly the case for nuts, in which Mother Nature has crafted a nearly perfect package of protein, healthy fats, fiber, plant sterols, antioxidants, and many vitamins and minerals. Among nuts, the case may be made that walnuts are king, as research shows they may boost your health in a number of ways at very easy-to-achieve "doses." Eating just one ounce of walnuts a day (that's about seven shelled walnuts) may be all it takes to take advantage of their beneficial properties.

Walnuts belong to the tree nut family, along with Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, and pistachios. Each has its own unique nutritional profile. One-quarter cup of walnuts, for instance, provides more than 100 percent of the daily recommended value of plant-based omega-3 fats, along with high amounts of copper, manganese, molybdenum, and biotin. Some of the most exciting researches about walnuts go a long way to show how beneficial this gift of nature is to humanity.

Walnuts may help reduce not only the risk of prostate cancer, but breast cancer as well. In one study, mice that ate the human equivalent of 2.4 ounces of whole walnuts for 18 weeks had significantly smaller and slower-growing prostate tumors compared to the control group that consumed the same amount of fat but from other sources. Overall the whole walnut diet reduced prostate cancer growth by 30 to 40 percent. According to another study on mice, the human equivalent of just two handfuls of walnuts a day cut breast cancer risk in half, and slowed tumor growth by 50 percent as well.

Walnuts contain the amino acid l-arginine, which offers multiple vascular benefits to people with heart disease, or those who have increased risk of heart disease due to multiple cardiac risk factors. If you struggle with herpes, you may want to avoid or limit walnuts, as high levels of arginine can deplete the amino acid lysine, which can trigger herpes recurrences.

Walnuts also contain the plant-based omega-3 fat alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which is anti-inflammatory and may prevent the formation of pathological blood clots. Research shows that people who eat a diet high in ALA are less likely to have a fatal heart attack and have a nearly 50 percent lower risk of sudden cardiac death. Eating just four walnuts a day has been shown to significantly raise blood levels of heart-healthy ALA, and walnut consumption supports healthful cholesterol levels.

 Antioxidants are crucial to your health, as they are believed to help control how fast you age by combating free radicals, which are at the heart of age-related deterioration. Walnuts contain several unique and powerful antioxidants that are available in only a few commonly eaten foods. This includes the quinone juglone, the tannin tellimagrandin, and the flavonol morin. Walnuts contain antioxidants that are so powerful at free-radical scavenging that researchers called them "remarkable,"  and research has shown that walnut polyphenols may help prevent chemically-induced liver damage.

Adding healthful amounts of nuts such as walnuts to your diet can help you to maintain your ideal weight over time. In one review of 31 trials, those whose diets included extra nuts or nuts substituted for other foods lost about 1.4 extra pounds and half an inch from their waists. Eating walnuts is also associated with increased satiety after just three days.

One of the less-known benefits of walnuts is their impact on male fertility. Among men who consume a Western-style diet, adding 75 grams (a bit over one-half cup) of walnuts daily significantly improved sperm quality, including vitality, motility, and morphology. Walnuts contain a number of neuroprotective compounds, including vitamin E, folate, melatonin, omega-3 fats, and antioxidants. Research shows walnut consumption may support brain health, including increasing inferential reasoning in young adults.

One study also found that consuming high-antioxidant foods like walnuts "can decrease the enhanced vulnerability to oxidative stress that occurs in aging," "increase health span," and also "enhance cognitive and motor function in aging." The beneficial dietary fat in walnuts has been shown to improve metabolic parameters in people with type 2 diabetes. Overweight adults with type 2 diabetes who ate one-quarter cup of walnuts daily had significant reductions in fasting insulin levels compared to those who did not, and the benefit was achieved in the first three months.

The outermost layer of a shelled walnut – the whitish, flaky (or sometimes waxy) part – has a bitter flavor, but resists the urge to remove it. It's thought that up to 90 percent of the antioxidants in walnuts are found in the skin, making it one of the healthiest parts to consume. To increase the positive impacts on your health, look for nuts that are organic and raw, not irradiated or pasteurized.


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How I Was Forced To Drink My Dead Husband’s Bath Water By Family – Widow

The health risk associated with some harmful cultural practices in Africa, was over the weekend highlighted once again as a widow, Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo, who was allegedly forced to drink the water used to wash her dead husband’s corpse by relatives of the deceased to prove her innocence about the death of her husband, Captain Johnbull Ogheneovo, has alerted police authorities over her plight. The widow who alleged that the incident took place at Emervo in Isoko North Local government area of Delta state after her husband died intestate on 9,May 2017 at Warri, Delta State said she had petitioned the Assistant Inspector -General of Police, Zone 5, Benin, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar, through her counsel, Mr Olayiwola Afolabi.

Her Story

In the petition, Mrs Ogheneovo alleged that when her husband died, she was invited by her husband’s relations to their family house at Emevor village and was forced to disclose her husband’s assets, property, bank details including information about the company where her husband worked before his sudden death. She added that her mobile phone was also seized. Stating that she was legally married to her late husband and the marriage was blessed with five children. The widow narrated that on the day her husband died, she received a call from her husband’s office that he had slumped and had been taken to the hospital. She disclosed that during the funeral rites which commenced with a service of songs on the 29th June 2017, a member of her husband’s family, a Reverend Father with the Roman Catholic Church (name withheld) came with thugs to harass and intimidate her and her children adding that she was given over 30 strokes of the cane by the thugs. She said that the said Catholic cleric also threatened her that if she did not declare the assets of her late husband to the family, he would deal with her. Deceased amputated before burial 

According to her counsel, “Our client was forced by the same family member in the presence of other family members (names withheld) to drink water from an unknown source claimed to be the water used to wash the corpse of her late husband to prove her innocence about his death. As a result of the substance forcibly taken by our client under duress, she was admitted at the hospital due to poisoning which caused her severe stomach ache. The same family member warned her to desist from further interference in their family matter and never to attend the burial. It is imperative to note that our client’s late husband was buried without his legs as they were allegedly amputated based on the instructions of the same family member.” 

She told the AIG that it was through the first son of the late Captain Ogheneovo,Master Shedrack Ogheneovo, who saw his father being buried without his legs intact, that she got to know that her late husband was amputated and the gory sight had continued to have a devastating effect on her son till date. However, she said that despite several attempts to curtail the excesses of the said Priest who now posed as the next of kin to her husband, he ( the priest) has sworn to take over all her late husband’s property and assets despite the intervention of a monarch from the area who had pleaded for settlement. She said that appeals were made to the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Warri, the first Lady of Delta State and the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) over the inhuman treatment meted on her and her children.”As of today, our client and her children have been chased out of the solace of their home by the Rev. Father, who is acting in connivance with other family members. Our client has suffered serious molestation and gross maltreatment in the hands of the said Rev Father who is bent on making life miserable to our client and her children and frustrates all her attempts to expose his selfish evil acts.” Legal action Mrs. Oghenovo said that several legal actions have been instituted against her by the family members with the aim of shutting her and her children from having a say in the sharing of her husband’s estate. She, therefore, called on the police, all relevant government authorities, Civil Societies and human rights organizations to intervene in the matter to ensure that she and her children get justice. Counsel to priest replies In his reply, the Reverend Father who was accused of masterminding the widow’s plight wrote through his counsel, Jonathan Ekperusi to Mrs. Ogheneovo’s counsel, Olayiwola Afolabi that, “Contrary to the malicious and false impressions created in your publications under reference, none of our clients humiliated, intimidated, assaulted, maltreated and/or threatened your client, Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo. “The incessant attacks by your client on our clients, especially against Very Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Stephen Ogheneovo is motivated and driven by greed geared towards hoodwinking our clients to allow your client appropriate to herself alone all the properties of Captain Johnbull Ogheneovo (deceased), to the exclusion of Mrs. Best Oghale Walter (nee Ogheneovo), the eldest child of the deceased. Mrs. Best Oghale Walter, was not born out of wedlock, but was already a child of the deceased long before he met and subsequently married Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo. “The allegations of witchcraft and being born out of wedlock are targeted against Mrs. Best Oghale Walter by your client to embarrass, ridicule, humiliate, and intimidate Mrs. Best Oghale Walter from asserting her rights as an heir and lawful beneficiary to the estate of the deceased. In order to legally redress the serial injustice, Mrs Best Oghale Walter has commenced proceedings in court in Suit No. EHC/162/2017: Mrs. Best Oghale Walter & Anor vs. Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo, over the properties comprising the estate of the deceased, which your client has been tampering with and seeking to dissipate to the exclusion of Mrs. Best Oghale Walter. Our Clients are well to do, and have no interest in their late son/brother’s properties, save that the eldest child, Mrs. Best Oghale Walter gets her share. “Our Clients believe that it is in a desperate attempt to cover the truth about the actual cause of death of the deceased and to distract our clients from seeking investigation of the matter that Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo has resorted to the violent media attack on our clients, especially against Very Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Stephen Ogheneovo. Very Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Stephen Ogheneovo is not the head of the Ogheneovo family of Emevor and did not preside over the burial arrangements of the deceased. “Therefore, he could not have done any of the things alleged against him by his late elder brother’s wife, Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo. Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo has been changing her story from being forced to ‘drink the water used in bathing the corpse of the deceased’ as contained in some media publications. To further disparage and distract our clients, Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo has gone further to wickedly and maliciously allege against our clients, especially against Very Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Stephen Ogheneovo, that they amputated the legs of the deceased before he was buried. “The Police at Zone 5, Benin City, merely advised Very Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Stephen Ogheneovo, as younger brother of the deceased, to ensure that Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo, as a widow, was not harassed by members of the family. Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo’s complaint against Very Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Stephen Ogheneovo to the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Benin Branch; Catholic Bishop of Warri; the Odion (King) of Emevor; among others, have all been duly responded to by Very Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Stephen Ogheneovo. Whilst openly fighting our clients, Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo has been sending emissaries behind the scene to appeal to our clients. “For the records, our clients briefed us that they did not give (not to mention force) Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo, the water used in bathing the corpse of the deceased, and that the entire story was a gross misrepresentation of facts, calculated to vilify, embarrass, harass and humiliate our clients as part of a grand plan by Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo and her cohorts to chase away her husband’s family members in order to effectively disinherit her husband’s eldest child, Mrs. Best Oghale Walter. “Our Clients are not after any of the properties left behind by the deceased. Our Clients’ interest is to ensure that the properties left behind by the deceased are fairly, justly and equitably distributed among the rightful beneficiaries in accordance with the applicable law. Our Clients are pained that Captain Johnbull Ogheneovo, who was doing very well as a businessman and maritime captain died suddenly on 9th May, 2017 barely two (2) days after he visited his sick mother at the Central Hospital, Warri where he even contributed money towards the mother’s treatment.” When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Zone 5 of the Nigeria Police, Benin, Mr. Emeka Iheanacho (DSP) confirmed that the zone has received a petition by Mrs Stella Ogheneovo through her counsel. He disclosed that the Rev. Father in question was invited by the Zonal Investigation Bureau and made his statement adding that the ZIB has commenced investigation into the allegations levelled against the clergyman.










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A widow, Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo, who was allegedly forced to drink the water used to wash her dead husband’s corpse by relatives of the deceased to prove her innocence about the death of her husband, Captain Johnbull Ogheneovo, has alerted police authorities over her plight. The widow who alleged that the incident took place at Emervo in Isoko North Local government area of Delta state after her husband died intestate on 9,May 2017 at Warri, Delta State said she had petitioned the Assistant Inspector -General of Police, Zone 5, Benin, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar, through her counsel, Mr Olayiwola Afolabi.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/09/forced-drink-late-husbands-bath-water-family-widow/

A widow, Mrs. Stella Ogheneovo, who was allegedly forced to drink the water used to wash her dead husband’s corpse by relatives of the deceased to prove her innocence about the death of her husband, Captain Johnbull Ogheneovo, has alerted police authorities over her plight. The widow who alleged that the incident took place at Emervo in Isoko North Local government area of Delta state after her husband died intestate on 9,May 2017 at Warri, Delta State said she had petitioned the Assistant Inspector -General of Police, Zone 5, Benin, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar, through her counsel, Mr Olayiwola Afolabi.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/09/forced-drink-late-husbands-bath-water-family-widow/

Read More