Posts in category: Uncategorized

Infectious disease outbreaks in African countries are, unfortunately, all too common. Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Uganda; Marburg virus in Guinea or Equatorial Guinea; cholera in Malawi; malaria and tuberculosis are among them.

Health professionals may suggest people spend more time out in nature to help with their physical fitness by doing activities in woods, parks or gardens, but research has shown nature-based programs are also particularly effective for improving poor mental health.

By NATION REPORTER

A STATE-OF-THE-ART research laboratory will be established in Zambia, thanks to £1 million of Scottish Government international development investment.

First Minister Humza Yousaf confirmed the funding following a meeting with President Hakainde Hichilema, alongside a delegation from the Zambian Government at Panmure House in Edinburgh.

Scotland has had a longstanding partnership with Zambia, with a joint commitment to collaborate in key areas, now to include health through tackling the burden of non-communicable diseases.      

 The new facility, hosted by the University of Zambia shall support life-saving research and increase access to vaccines in the country.

The funding has now extended existing Scottish government support for the Blantyre-Blantyre partnership between the University of Glasgow and Kamuzu University of Health Science in Malawi.

It shall create a ground-breaking three-country collaboration in scientific research between the universities in Scotland, Malawi and Zambia. “The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of countries working together across continents to jointly tackle global health challenges. This initiative, led by Zambian and Malawian expertise, with Scottish Government support, will improve health outcomes in these countries as well as produce research that will contribute to global good,” First Minister Yousaf said.

“This cutting edge research will also help to champion inclusion and build capacity across Africa.

For instance, the female engineers trained to install solar power at the laboratory will help to drive expansion in this sector and its future contribution to the Zambian economy.

This type of investment and collaborative approach shows the contribution Scotland can make and the impact it can have internationally when we also use our expertise to add value in our partnerships with other countries,” he said. 

“It was a pleasure to meet with the President of Zambia and his colleagues in Edinburgh to confirm significant additional funding to extend this existing project in to Zambia. It was also great to discuss Scotland’s ongoing commitment to strengthening ties with Zambia and other areas for further co-operation such as inclusive education, equalities and renewable energy,” the First Prime Minister said.

And President Hichilema said his government had always believed in education because it was the best investment any country would make.

“We have always believed that education is the best investment a country can make. Scotland’s history as a global leader in Education and Economics is well known. Zambia’s partnership with Scotland goes back many years and we welcome the opportunity to refresh and renew this historic friendship,” President Hichilema said.

President Hichilema was leading a delegation comprising Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stanley Kakubo, Douglas Syakalima, the Minister of Education and Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane, the Minister of Finance and National Planning.

In the future, artificial intelligence will play an important role in medicine. In diagnostics, successful tests have already been performed: for example, the computer can learn to categorize images with great accuracy according to whether they show pathological changes or not. However, it is more difficult to train an artificial intelligence to examine the time-varying conditions of patients and to calculate treatment suggestions—this is precisely what has now been achieved at TU Wien in cooperation with the Medical University of Vienna.

People who use a Peloton exercise bike at home should check their model number immediately.

Medical cannabis treatment may be associated with improvements in health-related quality of life for patients with a range of health conditions, according to a case series study published online May 9 in JAMA Network Open.

The intravenous delivery of immune-modulating cells may someday slow the expansion of bulges in the aorta, known as abdominal aortic aneurysms. A second study found evidence that a COVID-19 infection may promote the enlargement of these dangerous bulges. These preliminary studies were presented at the American Heart Association’s Vascular Discovery: From Genes to Medicine Scientific Sessions 2023. The meeting, held May 10–13, 2023, in Boston, is a premier global exchange of the latest advances in new and emerging scientific research in arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, vascular biology, peripheral vascular disease, vascular surgery and functional genomics.

In a pilot study carried out at the University of Eastern Finland, the use of background music was found to reduce dental students’ stress and improve their performance during preclinical tooth preparation exercises. The results were published in Journal of Dental Education.

Humans encounter innumerable pathogenic bacteria, viruses and other microbes in their day-to-day activities. While infections from some pathogens can be easily cleared by the innate immune system, others can evade this first line of defense and require the highly specific responses of the adaptive immune system. Vaccines are also able to activate the adaptive immune system to create “memory” conferring long-lasting immunity specific to the pathogen. However, research demonstrates that protective immunity developed naturally and through vaccination may weaken over time.

A free vending machine that dispenses the overdose-reversal drug naloxone was unveiled this week at Santa Clara University, the first such campus resource in the San Francisco Bay Area, school officials said.