SLEEPING POSITION REDUCES STILLBIRTHS

Women are being advised to sleep on their side in the last three months of pregnancy to help prevent stillbirth.

A study of just over 1,000 women found the risk doubles if women go to sleep on their backs in the third trimester.

The study looked into 291 pregnancies that ended in stillbirth and 735 women who had a live birth.

Researchers say the position which women fall asleep in is most important - and they should not worry if they are on their back when they wake up.

The MiNESS study, published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (BJOG) is the biggest of its kind, and confirms findings from smaller studies in New Zealand and Australia.

Prof Alexander Heazell, clinical director at the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester, who led the research, advises women in their third trimester to sleep on their side for any episode of sleep, including daytime naps.

Tips for going to sleep on your side

• Put a pillow or pillows behind your back to encourage side-sleeping

• If you wake during the night, check your position and go back to sleep on your side

• Pay the same attention to sleep position during the day as you would during the night

• If you wake on your back during the night, don't worry, just roll on to your side

• The study didn't find a difference in risk between right or left side

Source: Tommy's charity

Researchers can't say for certain why the risk of stillbirth is increased - but there is a lot of data that suggests when a woman is lying on her back, the combined weight of the baby and womb puts pressure on blood vessels which can then restrict blood flow and oxygen to the baby.

Edward Morris, from the BJOG, said the new research was "extremely welcome" .

"This is an important study which adds to the growing body of evidence that sleep position in late pregnancy is a modifiable risk factor for stillbirth."

The pregnancy charity Tommy's has started a campaign to raise awareness of the study and to encourage women to sleep on their side.

The BBC

NO X-RAY MACHINE AND MEDICAL CONSUMABLES AT ASO ROCK CLINIC

“I called the Aso Clinic to find out if they have an X-Ray machine, they said it’s not working

“In the end I had to go to a hospital owned and operated by foreigners 100 per cent

“There is a budget for the Hospital and if you go there now, you will see a number of constructions going on but they don’t have a single syringe there. What is the purpose of the buildings if there are no equipment there to work with?”

“You can imagine what happens across the states to governors wives if this will happen to me in Abuja,” she said.

Those were the words of the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, as she expressed worry over the running of the Aso Rock Clinic and stated that what Nigerians are experiencing in the health sector is unimaginable.

She followed the footsteps of her daughter, Zahra, by criticising the management of Aso Rock Clinic.


Zahra Buhari had last week taken to her Instagram page to criticise the Permanent Secretary of the State House, Jalal Arabi, for his inability to provide even Paracetamol tablets to the clinic despite a budget of N3 billion for the provision of drugs to the hospital.


Speaking Monday at a stakeholders meeting on Reproductive, Maternal, Nutrition, Child Advocacy and Health and Nutrition, RMNCAH+N, at the State House, Abuja, Mrs. Buhari said she recently fell ill and was advised to travel to London for treatment, but she refused.


The Aso Rock Clinic management said last week it was short of funds for major projects and purchases and would demand the commercialisation of the clinic’s operations for efficiency.

MONKEY POX HITS SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA

The Monkey pox epidemic has spread to Akwa Ibom State.

One case of the disease, which was first detected in Bayelsa state, has been confirmed.

The Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Charles Udoh, who confirmed this said two other suspected cases are under investigation.

Meanwhile, Cross River state Government on Sunday said it had strengthened its surveillance team in border communities and all the local governments of the state as monkey pox outbreak hits some states in South-South.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Inyang Asibong, who disclosed this in an interview with the newsmen in Calabar said the state had also taken proactive measures by dispatching its epidemiological team to strategic areas in the state.

Asibong described monkey pox as a rare viral disease transmitted to humans from animals, adding that the first case was noticed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970.

According to her, infection of the disease results from direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids and muscular injury of infected animals. She said that the incubation period ranged five to 21 days.

NIGERIANS ADVISED ON HOW TO AVOID MONKEYPOX

The Federal Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, has called on Nigerians to stop eating dead animals, bush meat, particularly monkeys, as Nigerian health authorities launch measures to curb the spread of monkeypox, following recent suspected cases of the virus in Bayelsa State.

In a press statement by the ministry on Thursday, Mr. Adewole assured Nigerians that the health ministry was working on curbing the spread of the disease.

Symptoms of the disease include headache, fever, back pains and in advanced cases, rashes bigger than those caused by chicken pox.

The minister urged anyone with the symptoms to immediately report to the nearest health facility, while advising health workers to maintain a high index of suspicion and observe safety precautions.

He warned that there is no known treatment or preventive vaccines, hence people should be at alert and avoid crowded places as much as possible.

Mr. Adewole outlined measures being taken to include placing health facilities in Bayelsa on alert, having patients suspected of the disease quarantined, and providing supportive treatments being offered to the victims.

The minister said investigation is still on-going and that health partners were working with the ministry on the reported outbreak.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC team in Bayelsa state are also supporting the state government in curbing the spread of the disease, he said.

★

Monkeypox, a viral disease, broke out in Yenagoa, Bayelsa capital and about 11 persons have been placed under medical surveillance.

An isolation centre was created by NCDC and the epidemiological team of the state’s Ministry of Health to control the spread of the virus.

About 49 other persons who had been in contact with the persons infected with the virus are also being tracked by health experts.

WINNERS OF 2017 NOBEL PRIZE FOR MEDICINE

Three scientists who unravelled how our bodies tell time have won the 2017 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine.

The body clock - or circadian rhythm - is the reason we want to sleep at night, but it also drives huge changes in behaviour and body function.

The US scientists Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young will share the prize.

The Nobel prize committee said their findings had "vast implications for our health and wellbeing".

According to a BBC report, a clock ticks in nearly every cell of the human body, as well as in plants, animals and fungi.

Our mood, hormone levels, body temperature and metabolism all fluctuate in a daily rhythm.

Even our risk of a heart attack soars every morning as our body gets the engine running to start a new day.

The body clock so precisely controls our body to match day and night that disrupting it can have profound implications.

The ghastly experience of jet lag is caused by the body being out of sync with the world around it.

In the short term, body clock disruption affects memory formation, but in the long term it increases the risk of diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

SUPER MALARIA A GLOBAL HEALTH THREAT

The rapid spread of "super malaria" in South East Asia is an alarming global threat, scientists are warning.

This dangerous form of the malaria parasite cannot be killed with the main anti-malaria drugs.

It emerged in Cambodia but has since spread through parts of Thailand, Laos and has arrived in southern Vietnam.

The team at the Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Bangkok said there was a real danger of malaria becoming untreatable.

Prof Arjen Dondorp, the head of the unit, told the BBC News website: "We think it is a serious threat.

"It is alarming that this strain is spreading so quickly through the whole region and we fear it can spread further [and eventually] jump to Africa."

99% HIV STRAINS CAN BE RENDERED INEFFECTIVE

Scientists have engineered an antibody that attacks 99% of HIV strains and can prevent infection in primates.

It is built to attack three critical parts of the virus - making it harder for HIV to resist its effects.

The work is a collaboration between the US National Institutes of Health and the pharmaceutical company Sanofi.

The International Aids Society said it was an "exciting breakthrough". Human trials will start in 2018 to see if it can prevent or treat infection.

Our bodies struggle to fight HIV because of the virus' incredible ability to mutate and change its appearance.

These varieties of HIV - or strains - in a single patient are comparable to those of influenza during a worldwide flu season.

So the immune system finds itself in a fight against an insurmountable number of strains of HIV.

Super-antibodies

But after years of infection, a small number of patients develop powerful weapons called "broadly neutralising antibodies" that attack something fundamental to HIV and can kill large swathes of HIV strains.

Researchers have been trying to use broadly neutralising antibodies as a way to treat HIV, or prevent infection in the first place.

• 'Mind-blowing' cows hold clue to beating HIV

• Antibody helps keep man's HIV at bay for 10 months

The study, published in the journal Science, combines three such antibodies into an even more powerful "tri-specific antibody".

Story: BBC

COURT RULES HOMOSEXUALITY A DISEASE

Brazilian activists and celebrities have condemned a court ruling that approves a "cure" for gay people.

Waldemar de Carvalho, a federal judge in the capital Brasilia, backed a psychologist who had her licence revoked for offering so-called "conversion therapy".

Rozangela Justino is an evangelical Christian who has called homosexuality "a disease".

Critics have called the ruling regressive and medically unsound.

Brazil's Federal Council of Psychology banned psychologists from offering treatments that claim to change people's sexuality in 1999.

It said in a statement that the decision "opens the dangerous possibility of the use of sexual reversion therapies" and promised to fight it in court.

Prominent pop star Anitta shared her disgust in an online video, which has been watched by over a million people.

Story: BBC

REKINDLE THE SEX INTEREST.

Five tips to rekindling interest in sex

• Start talking about the issue early on rather than leaving it to fester - ignoring it can lead to other problems and make you feel resentful. If that doesn't work, confront the reason why you don't want to talk about it

• Explore other forms of intimacy such as holding hands, talking gently to each other, cuddling and stroking rather than full-on sex

• Feeling as if you are not being heard is a barrier to sex - so make your partner feel respected and important

• Get some additional support by going to see a sex therapist, relationship counsellor or your GP

• Relax - many relationships work very well when they are non-sexual, if it's an outcome that is reached jointly

In the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles in Britain, those who found it "always easy to talk about sex" with their partner were less likely to say they lacked interest.

However, those whose partner had had sexual difficulties, and those who were less happy in their relationship, were more likely to say they had lost interest in sex at some stage, the researchers said.

Among women, the study found that "not sharing the same level of sexual interest with a partner, and not sharing the same sexual likes and dislikes" were also a factor in loss of interest in sex.

Source: BBC

ALL CHILDHOOD VACCINES CAN BE TAKEN AT ONCE

A technology that could eventually see every childhood vaccine delivered in a single injection has been developed by US researchers.
Their one-shot solution stores the vaccine in microscopic capsules that release the initial dose and then boosters at specific times.
The approach has been shown to work in mouse studies, described in the journal Science.
The researchers say the technology could help patients around the world.
Childhood immunisations come with tears and screams. And there are a lot of them.
• Diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, Hib and hepatitis B at eight, 12 and 16 weeks.
• Pneumococcal jab at eight weeks, 16 weeks and one year
• Men B vaccine at eight weeks, 16 weeks and one year
• Hib/Men C vaccine at one year
• Measles, mumps and rubella at one year and three years and four months
Source: NHS Choices
A team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has designed a new type of micro-particle that could combine everything into a single jab.
The particles look like miniature coffee cups that are filled with vaccine and then sealed with a lid.
Crucially, the design of the cups can be altered so they break down and spill their contents at just the right time.
One set of tests showed the contents could be released at exactly nine, 20 and 41 days after they were injected into mice.
Other particles that last for hundreds of days have also been developed, the researchers say.
The approach has not yet been tested on patients.














Source: BBC

WOMEN GET EASILY TURNED OFF SEXUALLY

Women are more than twice as likely as men to lack interest in sex when living with a partner, a study of British sexual attitudes suggests.
It found that while men and women lost passion with age, women were often left cold by longer relationships.
Overall, poor health and a lack of emotional closeness affected both men's and women's desire for sex.
The findings are based on the experiences of nearly 5,000 men and 6,700 women, published in BMJ Open.
The UK researchers said problems of sexual desire should be treated by looking at the whole person, rather than simply resorting to drugs.
Relate sex therapist Ammanda Major said losing interest in sex wasn't necessarily abnormal, and there were many different reasons why men's and women's needs changed.
Poor physical and mental health, poor communication and a lack of emotional connection during sex were the main reasons why men and women lost interest.

DEATH CAN'T STOP A GOOD HEART

Jemima Layzell, a 13-year-old girl from Somerset, who died in 2012 from a brain aneurysm has helped a record eight different people, including five children, through organ donation.
She donated her heart, pancreas, lungs, kidneys, small bowel and liver.
It is a legacy that her parents said she would have been very proud of.
NHS Blood and Transplant said no other donor had helped this many people.
Jemima collapsed during preparations for her mum's 38th birthday party and died four days later at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
Her heart, small bowel, and pancreas were transplanted into three different people while two people received her kidneys.
Her liver was split and transplanted into a further two people, and both of her lungs were transplanted into one patient.
Normally, a donation results in 2.6 transplants - eight is very unusual.
According to Jemima's parents, she had never heard of organ donation before and found it a little bit unsettling but totally understood the importance of it.
She said they still found the decision to donate their daughter's organs hard, but felt it was right.
Jemima's family have set up a trust in her name to promote organ donation.

DANCING KEEPS YOUR BRAIN HEALTHY

Engaging in physical exercise has an anti-aging effect on the hippocampus region of the brain — an area that controls memory, learning and balance.

A new study has compared different forms of physical exercise — dancing and endurance training — undertaken by elderly volunteers for 18 months, has shown that both can have an anti-aging effect on the brain, but only dancing resulted in a noticeable difference in behaviour. This difference is attributed to the extra challenge of learning dancing routines. As we grow older we suffer a decline in mental and physical fitness, which can be made worse by conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. But older people who routinely partake in physical exercise can reverse the signs of aging in the brain, and dancing has the most profound effect.

SURE WAY OF PREVENTING CANCER

A study has shown that walking for just an hour a day can more than halve a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. Women who walk regularly and take further gentle exercise for at least an hour a week are 55 per cent  more likely to reduce the risk of a tumour than those who never work out. The findings back earlier studies, which suggest even gentle exercise is crucial in helping to prevent the disease.

Thousands of women each year are diagnosed with breast cancer, which kills about  a quarter of its victims. It affects one in ten women at some point in their lives. Risk factors range from being overweight and having a family history of the disease, to smoking and going through the menopause.
A spokesman for Cancer Research UK said that maintaining a healthy body weight is one of the best ways to reduce the risks of breast cancer. This is because fat tissue in those who are overweight produces more hormones and growth factors than in slimmer people. High levels of some of these hormones, including oestrogen and insulin, can increase the risk of certain cancers.



Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Not all tumors are cancerous; benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body.
Treatment‎: ‎Radiation therapy‎, ‎surgery‎, ‎chemotherapy‎, and targeted therapy.‎
Causes‎: ‎Tobacco, ‎obesity‎, poor diet, ‎lack of physical activity‎, excessive alcohol, etc
Symptoms‎: ‎Lump, abnormal bleeding, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss, etc
Deaths‎: ‎8.8 million (2015)‎
Reference: Wikipedia

IVF AS SOLUTION TO INFERTILITY

Nelson believes the wrong assumption by couples with fertility issues has made many lose chances at having their own children because they believed if their single IVF treatment didn’t work, then they are very likely not to be successful at the second, third or even the sixth cycles.
He is of the opinion that most fertility clinics have operated under the assumption that couples who have completed three or four unsuccessful IVF cycles are less likely to benefit from future cycles, adding that this recent revelation may alter how fertility clinics inform patients and/or whether they recommend multiple treatment cycles.

While some infertile couples settle for a single IVF cycle in their quest to have babies, but often get disappointed at the outcome, the World Health Organisation believes that women below the age of 35 need to undergo at least two cycles, and recommends three for women above 35 to improve their chances of success.

CANCER PEN IDENTIFIES AFFECTED TISSUES IN 10 SECONDS

A handheld device can identify cancerous tissue in 10 seconds, according to scientists at the University of Texas.
They say it could make surgery to remove a tumour quicker, safer and more precise.
And they hope it would avoid the "heartbreak" of leaving any of the cancer behind.
Tests, published in Science Translational Medicine, suggest the technology is accurate 96% of the time.
The MasSpec Pen takes advantage of the unique metabolism of cancer cells.
Their furious drive to grow and spread means their internal chemistry is very different to that of healthy tissue.

How it works

According to the BBC, the pen is touched on to a suspected cancer and releases a tiny droplet of water.
Chemicals inside the living cells move into the droplet, which is then sucked back up the pen for analysis.
The pen is plugged into a mass spectrometer - a piece of kit that can measure the mass of thousands of chemicals every second.
It produces a chemical fingerprint that tells doctors whether they are looking at healthy tissue or cancer.
The challenge for surgeons is finding the border between the cancer and normal tissue.
In some tumours it is obvious, but in others the boundary between healthy and diseased tissue can be blurred.
The pen should help doctors ensure none of the cancer is left behind.
Remove too little tissue, and any remaining cancerous cells will grow into another tumour. But take too much, and you can cause damage, particularly in organs such as the brain.

TREATMENT OF BRAIN CANCER WITH ZIKA VIRUS

Zika has always been seen only as a global health threat - never as a remedy.
This view is about to change. According to US scientists,
The harmful virus that can cause devastating brain damage in babies could offer up a surprising new treatment for adult brain cancer.
Latest research shows the virus can selectively infect and kill hard-to-treat cancerous cells in adult brains.
Zika injections shrank aggressive tumours in fully grown mice, yet left other brain cells unscathed.
Human trials are still a way off, but experts believe Zika virus could potentially be injected into the brain at the same time as surgery to remove life-threatening tumours, the Journal of Experimental Medicine reports.
The Zika treatment appears to work on human cell samples in the lab.

ABOUT ZIKA VIRUS:

Zika is a virus people can catch if they are bitten by an infected mosquito

• Most people will have few or no symptoms, but the disease can pose a serious threat to babies in the womb

• Affected infants have been born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains - a condition known as microcephaly

• The infection has been linked to severe birth defects in almost 30 countries

• Although Zika is no longer "an international medical emergency", the World Health Organization says it is closely monitoring the infection






Source: BBC

STATE OF EMERGENCY SHOULD BE DECLARED ON EDO STATE HEALTH SECTOR

Edo State chapter of Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has raised the alarm over what it described as the sorry state of health facilities in the state, regretting that doctors are using candles in hospital wards rather than electricity.
It, therefore, urged the state government to revamp health care facilities in the state to stop unnecessary deaths in hospitals.
According to Vanguard, the state chairman of  NMA,  Dr Emmanuel Osaigbovo, who raised the alarm while briefing journalists in Benin City, urged the state government to declare state of emergency in the health sector.

MINISTER OF HEALTH PROVIDES SOLUTION TO HOSPITALS WHILE DOCTORS ARE ON STRIKE.

The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole has directed the Medical Directors and Chief Medical Directors of Federal Government owned Hospitals to ensure that Consultants and Youth Corps Doctors as well as Doctors on Internship are on duty to provide health services at the hospitals in order to ensure there is no break in healthcare services to patients.
The Minister assured all Nigerians that the Federal Government Health Facilities will be open and render services to the people while the government continues to dialogue with the resident doctors to return to work.
The statement added that arrangements are also on to make use of Armed forces, Police and Federal Road Safety Health Facilities. The Minister expressed optimism that the ongoing resident Doctors strike will soon be resolved.

A MAN'S HEART IS 10 YEARS OLDER THAN HIS AGE

One-tenth of 50-year-old men have a heart age 10 years older than they are, heightening their risk of a fatal heart attack or stroke, a study suggests.

The Public Health England analysis is based on responses from 1.2 million people to its Heart Age Test - 33,000 of whom were men aged 50.

The organisation also predicts that 7,400 people will die from heart disease or stroke this month alone.

Heart disease is the main cause of death among men and second among women.

Most of these deaths are preventable and a quarter are people aged under 75.

"Addressing our risk of heart disease and stroke should not be left until we are older," PHE's head of cardiovascular disease Jamie Waterall said.


How to improve your heart health:

• Give up smoking

• Get active

• Manage your weight

• Eat more fibre

• Cut down on saturated fat

• Get your five a day fruit and vegetables

• Cut down on salt

• Eat fish

• Drink less alcohol

• Read labels on food and drink packaging







Source: NHS Choices/BBC