Posts in category: Uncategorized

Both children and adults with atopic dermatitis have an increased risk for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a study published online Aug. 30 in JAMA Dermatology.

I always have a million things to do before my three children return to school. How important are back-to-school physicals, and is it critical to schedule one for my college-bound child and my younger kids?

In 2020, more than four in ten people in the United States had obesity, an increase from three in ten people in the year 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To better understand eating behaviors and food choices that may contribute to obesity, researchers investigate the conditions and environments people encounter while eating in the modern world—like smartphones, advertisements, and the company of others.

People already diagnosed with a mental disorder before the COVID-19 pandemic did not show a disproportionate increase in symptoms afterwards. This is one result from the first systematic review of longitudinal studies following their study population from before to during the first eighteen months of the pandemic. The paper is published in the journal Psychological Medicine.

Iron deficiency is one of the most common forms of nutrient deficiency around the world.

A new paper looking at the causes of death among Australians with type 1 and type 2 diabetes highlights dementia and falls are increasing, while deaths from heart disease are declining.

The built environment can facilitate walking by making it the automatic or preferred choice for citizens. However, most people do not reap these health benefits. While available evidence suggests that higher street connectivity and availability of destinations is likely to support walking behavior, the lack of hard data and comparisons between previous studies complicates matters.

IF there were any doubts about the Zimbabwe election, these have now been settled by the report of the Zimbabwe Council of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB), who have called for an audit because of the many irregularities experienced.

These irregularities had nothing to do with whether there was external influences by the so called imperialists. The irregularities were a result of sheer incompetence or indeed deliberate manipulation to disfranchise a large number of people, especially in the opposition strongholds.

The very fact that independent observers were arrested and their equipment confiscated to prevent transparent and alternative observation of the disaggregated voters number, derived from an equally faulty voters roll invalidated the credibility of the entire exercise.

In a statement the Catholic Bishops acknowledged that there were many challenges regarding the administration of the elections, which included among other things the unavailability of voting materials in some polling stations.

Voters could not find their names on the voters roll and more insidiously, they noted, there were groups of people who mounted exit poll survey desks near polling stations and distribution of campaign regalia to voters at polling stations, all this contrary to electoral laws.

Worrying in some communities, they noted was the distribution of material discouraging people to go and vote.

In the spirit of peace and love after election, they called upon all the aggrieved parties to seek redress through legal procedures.

Indirectly referring to ZANU-PF and Police disruption of opposition political rallies and gatherings, the Bishops categorically stated that these actions violated the right to association as enshrined in the section 58 of the constitution.

More importantly, the Bishops called for respect for international observer and let their objective assessment of the election “Help us as a nation to correct ourselves and move on. Their input should enrich us and act light as the crisis showing the nation, where corrections are needed.”

The Bishops have called for peace and serious introspection as the matters raised by the polls are resolved through the various redress processes.

Therefore the attacks on external forces including the influence of imperialism is far from the malaise that visited the polls, which shortcomings must be addressed objectively.

It is understandable that the observe mission has created consternation as it has departed from the normal reports that often fail to address real issues that elections including our own in Zambia face. 

Hence an observer Mission to Zambia made very little mention of the violence that accompanied the 2021 elections, including the fact that observers were chased out of polling stations in some parts of the country.

Not only that video evidence is available indicating a high level of manipulation and tampering of votes at polling stations, which the observers were aware of but chose to ignore in their final reports.

The SADCC report must be commended for being brave, forthright and above all, objective in identifying factual infringements that hopefully, the legal process, which the Bishops have recommended, will examine to ensure that future elections are not marred.

Time must come to Africa when the vote counts.

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A study led by researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center sheds new light on why tumors that have spread to the brain from other parts of the body respond to immunotherapy while glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer that originates in the brain, does not.

Red blood cells exposed to oxygen deficiency protect against myocardial infarction, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The study also shows that the protective effect is enhanced by a nitrate-rich vegetable diet.