Posts in category: Uncategorized

A clinical trial at the National Institutes of Health found that a medication, denosumab, significantly reduced abnormal bone turnover in adults with fibrous dysplasia, a rare disease marked by weak and misshapen bones. Bone turnover, a process in which old bone is continuously replaced with new bone, is unusually accelerated in fibrous dysplasia and contributes to bone abnormalities.

For a while, lockdown was all anyone could talk about. Now that the dust has settled and our sourdough starters have matured, what have scientists learned about the emotional toll of lockdowns?

Our addiction to smartphone apps could be affecting our health negatively, leading to issues like sleep deprivation, says a UNSW Business School technology expert.

Artificial intelligence is better than humans at assessing heart ultrasounds, the main test of overall cardiac health, the most rigorous trial yet conducted on the subject found on Wednesday.

Hudson Institute researchers have conducted the first attempts to collect umbilical cord blood cells, with a view to using them to prevent brain damage in preterm babies.

A recent paper in the journal PLOS ONE suggests that humans have yet to reach their maximum age and that there might not even be one. In the paper, “Mortality postponement and compression at older ages in human cohorts,” David Mcarthy of the Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, and his former Ph.D. student, Po-Lin Wang, currently at Muma College of Business, University of Southern Florida, use mathematical modeling of longevity trends, without reference to any biological, social or medical science to extrapolate the future of human longevity.

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a disease that, due to its rare nature, can pose difficulties for both patients and medical professionals. A new survey of allergists/immunologists from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) shows that diagnosing, treating and managing this condition can be challenging for patients and healthcare providers—including patients in rural areas. An article about the survey is published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

While youth and teens struggling with psychosis benefit the most with early intervention care, 20 to 40 percent of them drop out of care programs, if they begin them at all. But a recent study shows that ethnoracially minoritized youth, especially, are less likely to utilize an early intervention program and are more likely to drop out once they begin.

If you work indoors, live in the north, avoid the sun, are lactose intolerant, vegan, elderly or darker skinned, chances are you may be deficient in vitamin D. It’s a common problem affecting as many as 25% of Americans, according to a recent study. Deficiency rates are even higher among Black Americans, reaching 60%.

IT is obvious that Government does not have answers to the reported shortage of mealie meal in some parts of the country and the high prices on the market.

Instead, what the nation is being treated to is an established tradition as exemplified by Copperbelt Province Minister Elisha Matambo at the weekend.

Mr Matambo made an impromptu visit to some of the Ndola-based millers to ascertain the cause of mealie-meal crisis in the region.

Authorities have attributed the shortage of the staple food to traders and milling companies opting to smuggle the commodity to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where the mealie meal is said to be trading at as high the price as K500.

But this is an accusation that the Millers Association of Zambia has often refuted.   After all, the law allows them to export a certain amount of mealie meal and this has to be sanctioned by the government.

Mr Matambo during the visit did not make any policy statement as to how Government would ensure that the persistent shortage is resolved.

Instead, he repeated what the public has heard before, that “we are warning mealie-meal smugglers on the Copperbelt that they will be visited by the law should they continue with their trend.”

He said Government would not allow unscrupulous people to continue sabotaging the country’s food security policy.

“ Anyone who will be found guilty of smuggling mealie-meal will have their licences revoked and their vehicles forfeited to the state.

“We reiterated our position that millers must also be transparent, when offloading mealie-meal on the market and done timely,” Mr Matambo said.

As we have noted before, smuggling of mealie meal to Congo DR is not a new phenomenon that can be used as an excuse for the ongoing shortage.

What the nation wants to know is where the mealie meal is going since the government has assured that the country has more than enough maize with the Food Reserve Agency.

Agriculture Minister Reuben Mtolo Phiri says the FRA, has continuously been releasing maize on the market to ensure constant supply of mealie meal to millers.

According to Mr Phiri, FRA is holding 342, 135.52 metric tonnes of maize at strategic grain reserves.

Mr Phiri said FRA has released maize onto the local market, and prices of mealie meal would have stabilised with no risk of having abnormal prices on the local market.

The Minister has emphasised that the national strategic food reserve is sufficiently stocked and the country has adequate capacity to address any short to medium term threats to the stability of mealie meal prices.

It is not good enough to be repeating that there are enough stocks of maize in the country when consumers are not able to find it in their shops and at a price they can afford.

It is like in the health sector where hospitals and clinics are facing a crippling shortage of medicines while government officials maintain that there are adequate stocks – after making much-publicised visits.