Cart is empty When Ju Park was studying epidemiology in graduate school, she volunteered with a harm reduction organization that trained local community members on how to prevent a drug overdose. She traveled around the state to demonstrate how the medication naloxone can be used to reverse an overdose from opioids if administered in a timely manner.
Zambia’s external debt swells to US$13.96 BN
ZAMBIA’s external debt has ballooned to a staggering US$13.96 billion while government has managed to collect about K26.3 billion in the first quarter of 2023 as total revenues and grants, Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has disclosed.
He said the central government external debt had jumped to US$13.96 billion from US$13.36 billion in 2022 and attributed the swell in the country’s external debt to disbursements from multilateral creditors.
Dr Musokotwane was speaking at the 2023 first quarter budget performance in Lusaka yesterday.
“During our January engagement, I presented the debt position as at endseptember 2022, with the central government external debt estimated at US$13.36 billion. In the interest of transparency, the Ministry of Finance and National Planning continues to publish this information in our quarterly debt bulletins, which can be accessed on the ministerial website,” Dr Musokotwane said.
On the domestic debt front, Dr Musokotwane said Zambia’s stock of Government Securities increased slightly to K211.7 billion as at end-March 2023 from K210 billion at end 2022.
He said when measured in dollar terms, the domestic debt rose to US$9.9 billion on account of the Kwacha depreciation.
And Dr Musokotwane has announced that government has so far collected K26.3 billion in the first quarter of 2023 as total revenues and grants, representing a 2.6 percent above the targeted revenue collection for the quarter.
“This was largely due to favourable performance in VAT and exceptional revenue collected from Zambia Information Communication and Technology Authority (ZICTA) from the sale of bandwidth spectrum,” Dr Musokotwane said.
He pointed out that non-tax revenue collections amounted to K4.2 billion against a target of K3.83 billion. The collections from ZICTA largely accounted for this outturn. In terms of spending, Dr Musokotwane said, Government released K38.5 billion to implement various projects and programmes, against a target of K37.8 billion.
Exercise can prevent and treat mental health problems, and taking it outside may add another boost to those benefits
Mental health problems affect one in five people every year. The Canadian Mental Health Association estimates that by the age of 40, about half of people will either have had a mental illness or will currently be dealing with one.
New model of multiple sclerosis correlates demyelination with evolution of cognitive and motor abilities
No treatment currently exists that can stop the silent progression of multiple sclerosis, and many promising drugs have proved ineffective in clinical trials. To reduce this failure rate and better predict the potential of candidate molecules, researchers at Paris Brain Institute, coordinated by Bernard Zalc, have developed a new model of the disease described in Brain.
Study shows that thinking hard about complex problems results in distinct facial muscle movement patterns
Psychology theories suggest that humans tend to primarily invest significant mental resources on problems that will reward them for their efforts. More specifically, they propose that before they start thinking in great depth about a problem, humans ponder on whether the benefits of solving it outweigh the “cost” in terms of required mental efforts.
Wearable ultrasound patch provide non-invasive deep tissue monitoring
A team of engineers at the University of California San Diego has developed a stretchable ultrasonic array capable of serial, non-invasive, three-dimensional imaging of tissues as deep as four centimeters below the surface of human skin, at a spatial resolution of 0.5 millimeters. This new method provides a non-invasive, longer-term alternative to current methods, with improved penetration depth.
Researchers develop stem cell adhesive for arthritis treatment using mussel adhesion protein
Cartilage is the tissue that protects bones by providing shock absorption and facilitates smooth joint movement. Due to its limited intrinsic healing capacity, stem cell transplantation is a promising therapeutic approach to address cartilage inflammation and damage, as well as to promote cartilage regeneration. However, a major limitation of this technique is the rapid disappearance of transplanted stem cells from the smooth cartilage surface and fluidic environment around cartilage, resulting in less effective treatment outcomes.
Chilubi MP Mulenga Fube demands Chella Tukuta recall, Thabo Kawana dismissal
By MILLENNIUM REPORTER
CHILUBI Member of Parliament, Mulenga Fube has urged President Hakainde Hichilema to recall Third Secretary for Press at the Zambian Mission in Brazil, Chellah Tukuta and to dismiss Ministry of Information and Media Director Spokesperson, Thabo Kawana for engaging in politics.
Mr. Fube said Mr Tukuta should be recalled from Foreign Service on the basis of participating in active politics when he is a civil servant who should be non-partisan.
‘Remarkable’ Alzheimer drug reduces cognitive decline, results show
US drugmaker Eli Lilly on Wednesday announced its experimental Alzheimer’s drug significantly slowed cognitive and functional decline, results hailed as “remarkable” by experts.
Researchers decode neural mechanism for alternating memory formation and retrieval in humans
Generating new memories and remembering are two sides of the same coin, although sometimes they can appear as separate mechanisms. These mechanisms which seem to be distanced from each other are actually interconnected and are part of the same neural assemblies, according to a study now published in the journal Current Biology, which reveals the first scientific evidence on humans’ memory dynamics.