Posts in category: Uncategorized

A new blood test called p-tau217 shows promise as an Alzheimer’s disease biomarker, and when used in a two-step workflow very high accuracy to either identify or exclude brain amyloidosis, the most important and earliest pathology. That is an innovation now presented by researchers at the University of Gothenburg, together with colleagues at University of Lund and in Montreal, Canada.

SOME franchise companies engaged to be collecting waste in Lusaka do not have the necessary equipment and human capital which has rendered them effective and inefficient in their business of managing waste, the Lusaka City Council has disclosed.

Lusaka Mayor Chilando Chitangala has revealed that the council is now aware that some companies that were engaged for waste management in fact lacked the necessary equipment for them to be able to manage waste effectively. 

Ms Chitangala said all the wards had companies that were supposed to collect garbage but the challenge had been that some of the companies lacked the proper machinery and human resource because they lied their way to being awarded contracts. 

“As the Lusaka City Council, we have made sure that there is a waste collection in all the wards but the challenge has been that some of the franchise entities do not have the necessary equipment and manpower to do the work. This is because when they were getting the contracts, they pretended as if they had everything when in fact not,” Ms Chitangala said. 

Ms Chitangala said the lack of appropriate equipment by some of the contractors had resulted into some areas in the city go for weeks without having their waste collected because the companies in those areas did not have the equipment to ensure the timely collection of waste. 

Ms Chitangala said the contracts for the current companies, most of which lacked appropriate equipment are expiring next month and the Council would be engaging new contractors in waste management. 

‘’We are going to make sure that the  franchise companies we will engage after next month show proof of their equipment and human resource because, now, we are more aware and we will do things differently,” Ms Chitangala said. 

Ms Chitangala said companies prospecting to be engaged in the management of waste should prove to the council that they had the ability by having all the necessary machinery and human resource.

She said the lack of equipment and human resource by the companies had put the council in bad light as some stakeholders tended to think the local authority was failing in the management of waste. 

She said:  “We have people who say Lusaka City Council has failed to manage waste all because of the franchise companies who do not have the machinery and man power. But going forward, that is not something we will condone when we start awarding contracts’.

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Depression in children younger than 13 years old is uncommon and did not increase substantially between 2004 and 2019, according to a review published online Aug. 28 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Infants who spent most of their first year in the pandemic have fewer types of bacteria in their gut than infants born earlier, according to a team of developmental psychology researchers.

Annabelle Singer was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when she helped develop a light and sound therapeutic system that opened the door to a hopeful future of non-invasive treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

For most of modern medicine, cancer drugs have been developed the same way: by designing molecules to treat diseased cells. With the advent of immunotherapy, that changed. For the first time, scientists engineered patients’ own immune systems to recognize and attack diseased cells.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks second in leading causes of cancer-related deaths globally, according to the WHO. For the first time, researchers from Helmholtz Munich and the University of Technology Dresden (TU Dresden) show that artificial intelligence (AI)-based predictions can deliver comparable results to clinical tests on biopsies of patients with CRC.

THAT Zambians have never let tribalism become a divisive issue is something they should be proud of and guard jealously.Of course, there could be petty tribal differences once in a while but in the end, common sense has always prevailed.

It is against this background that we call for sanity between the Lunda and Luvale of Zambezi after the violent clashes during which several people were injured.

Government has since dispatched security officers to Zambezi after the violent conflict.It is also heartening to learn that Local Government and Rural Development Minister Gary Nkombo and 

Home Affairs and Internal Security Minster Jack Mwiimbu were engaging Senior Chief Chinyama of the Luvale and Senior Chief Ishindi of the Lunda to pacify the situation.We note that this issue is historical, which is themore reason that a lasting solution is found for the two tribes to cease the long-standing acrimony.

The latest incident arose over an area in the East Bank of the Zambezi River, where young boys who have come of age and the Makishi emerge from to cross the river in preparation for this weekend’s Likumbi Lya Mize Traditional Ceremony of the Luvale people of Senior Chief Ndungu’s area.

The two tribes share the district and are found on either side of the Zambezi. In reality, they are one people who have lived together since time immemorial.

That they have been neighbours for ages should prompt them to learn to co-exist and appreciate each other’s presence.If anything, what values are the elders teaching to their children – the young boys coming of age – that people across the river are their enemies?

We agree with Chief Chisunka, the House of Chiefs Chairperson who has called for urgent intervention to ensure peace prevails.Chief Chisunka said the disturbing violent clashes unfolding between the Congo and Chipepo communities of Southern Province and the Lunda and Luvale communities of Zambezi was saddening. 

He has called on the Provincial Council of Chiefs and the Department of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs in the affected provinces to convene a meeting urgently.Chief Chisunka said the meeting should be a platform for resolving all outstanding disputes, once and for all.

We do not think there is a bigger problem that cannot be resolved through dialogue and the parties involved should take advantage of the intermediaries to lay their cards on the table and 昀椀nd a peaceful formula.

As Chief Chisunka said, traditional leaders must guide and advise the nation, political parties, andevery group of people on how to coexist in peace asbrothers and sisters.Chief Chisunka said it was important that we urgently work together to attend a peaceful and sustainable resolution to these tribal conflicts, thereby being a positive example for all.

Tribal conflicts can have devastating effects on a country and examples are there to serve as a warning.

“We have only one Zambia, and it is our collective responsibility to safeguard its peacefulness and unity,” said Chief Chisunka.No Zambian can argue with that.

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An innovative model of care that offers new mothers psychotherapy delivered by other mothers who have also experienced postpartum depression (PPD) should be implemented in clinical practice, according to researchers at McMaster University.

Vitamin C and other antioxidants stimulate the formation of new blood vessels in lung cancer tumors, a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows. The discovery corroborates the idea that dietary supplements containing antioxidants can accelerate tumor growth and metastasis.