Nnetriplet:
Thanks O.p very informative thread

You are welcome my friend

Many a time in the course of my medical practice, I have had to calm and reassure many concerned and apprehensive parents on the need not to get unnecessary worry over bow legs and knock knees of their children. All they need to understand is the natural history of various angular knee deformities with respect to age.

Angular deformities of the knee are common during childhood and usually are variations in the normal growth pattern. Angular deformity of the knee is a part of normal growth and development during early childhood. Physiologic angular deformities vary with age as:

During first year: Lateral bowing of tibia

During standing and walking year: Bow legs (knees and tibia)

Between 2-3 years: Knock Knees

The condition usually becomes more evident when the child is 2 to 3 years old and normally corrects itself by the time a child is 4 or 5 years old when it attains adult form. However, if the condition is not corrected it could be a sign of an underlying disease that requires treatment.

A perfectly aligned knee has its load-bearing axis on a line that runs through the hip, knee and ankle. Based on the inward/ outward inclination of the head of tibia/fibula; knee angular deformities are classified as:

Genu valgum (knock-kneed): Head of tibia/fibula (not the joint itself), is inclined away from the mid-line of the body

Genu varum (bow-legged): Head of tibia/ fibula is inclined toward the mid-line of the body

Genu Varum (bowed legs): Bowed legs are very common in toddlers. If a child has bow-legs, one or both legs curve outwards. When your child stands there is a distinct space between the lower legs and knees. Bowed legs are rarely seen in adolescents. In most of the cases, children with bowed legs are significantly overweight.

The common causes of bowed legs include:
Physiologic Genu Varum: Most children below the age of 2, show bowing of the legs as a part of normal physiological process. Normally the bowing will correct by 3 to 4 years of age and the legs may have a normal appearance.

Blount’s disease: It is a condition in which there is an abnormality of the growth plate at the upper portion of the tibia (shinbone).

Rickets: It is bone disease that occurs in children due to deficiency of calcium, phosphorus, or vitamin D that are essential for healthy bone growth.

Trauma

Infection

Tumour

The most obvious symptom is bowing of the legs that appear when a child stands and walks. Other common symptoms are awkward walking pattern and turning in of the feet (in-toeing). Bowed legs usually does not cause any pain, however discomfort in the hips, knees, and/ or ankles may occur during adolescence.

Genu valgum (knock-kneed)

Knock knees is a condition in which the legs curve inward at the knees. When a child stands, the knees appear to bend toward each other and the ankles are spread apart.

Knock knees most often develop as a part of normal growth. In some cases, especially if the child is 4 years age or older, knock-knees may occur as a result of other medical problems such as injury of the shin bone, osteomyelitis (bone infection), overweight, and rickets.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of bow legs or knock knees is made through a physical examination. In addition, X-rays may be taken if a child is older than 2 ½ years and has symmetrical legs.

Treatment for Bow legs

As the child grows the condition usually corrects itself. For children with severe, unresolved bow legs, doctors may recommend non surgical treatment options such as bracing, physical therapy, and medications. If non-surgical treatment options do not correct your child’s bow legs, then surgery is considered.

Treatment for Knock-knees

Most children with knock knees do not require any treatment, but if the condition persists after age 7, then a night brace attached to an orthopaedic shoe may be recommended. If the separation between the ankles is severe, surgery may be an option.

http://olisasegun..com.ng/2016/02/all-you-need-to-know-about-knee-angular.html

Many a time in the course of my medical practice, I have had to calm and reassure many concerned and apprehensive parents on the need not to get unnecessary worry over bow legs and knock knees of their children. All they need to understand is the natural history of various angular knee deformities with respect to age.

Angular deformities of the knee are common during childhood and usually are variations in the normal growth pattern. Angular deformity of the knee is a part of normal growth and development during early childhood. Physiologic angular deformities vary with age as:

During first year: Lateral bowing of tibia

During standing and walking year: Bow legs (knees and tibia)

Between 2-3 years: Knock Knees

The condition usually becomes more evident when the child is 2 to 3 years old and normally corrects itself by the time a child is 4 or 5 years old when it attains adult form. However, if the condition is not corrected it could be a sign of an underlying disease that requires treatment.

A perfectly aligned knee has its load-bearing axis on a line that runs through the hip, knee and ankle. Based on the inward/ outward inclination of the head of tibia/fibula; knee angular deformities are classified as:

Genu valgum (knock-kneed): Head of tibia/fibula (not the joint itself), is inclined away from the mid-line of the body

Genu varum (bow-legged): Head of tibia/ fibula is inclined toward the mid-line of the body

Genu Varum (bowed legs): Bowed legs are very common in toddlers. If a child has bow-legs, one or both legs curve outwards. When your child stands there is a distinct space between the lower legs and knees. Bowed legs are rarely seen in adolescents. In most of the cases, children with bowed legs are significantly overweight.

The common causes of bowed legs include:
Physiologic Genu Varum: Most children below the age of 2, show bowing of the legs as a part of normal physiological process. Normally the bowing will correct by 3 to 4 years of age and the legs may have a normal appearance.

Blount’s disease: It is a condition in which there is an abnormality of the growth plate at the upper portion of the tibia (shinbone).

Rickets: It is bone disease that occurs in children due to deficiency of calcium, phosphorus, or vitamin D that are essential for healthy bone growth.

Trauma

Infection

Tumour

The most obvious symptom is bowing of the legs that appear when a child stands and walks. Other common symptoms are awkward walking pattern and turning in of the feet (in-toeing). Bowed legs usually does not cause any pain, however discomfort in the hips, knees, and/ or ankles may occur during adolescence.

Genu valgum (knock-kneed)

Knock knees is a condition in which the legs curve inward at the knees. When a child stands, the knees appear to bend toward each other and the ankles are spread apart.

Knock knees most often develop as a part of normal growth. In some cases, especially if the child is 4 years age or older, knock-knees may occur as a result of other medical problems such as injury of the shin bone, osteomyelitis (bone infection), overweight, and rickets.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of bow legs or knock knees is made through a physical examination. In addition, X-rays may be taken if a child is older than 2 ½ years and has symmetrical legs.

Treatment for Bow legs

As the child grows the condition usually corrects itself. For children with severe, unresolved bow legs, doctors may recommend non surgical treatment options such as bracing, physical therapy, and medications. If non-surgical treatment options do not correct your child’s bow legs, then surgery is considered.

Treatment for Knock-knees

Most children with knock knees do not require any treatment, but if the condition persists after age 7, then a night brace attached to an orthopaedic shoe may be recommended. If the separation between the ankles is severe, surgery may be an option.

http://olisasegun..com.ng/2016/02/all-you-need-to-know-about-knee-angular.html

You can't cure stroke. Stroke is a complication of certain diseases like hypertension.

It is either you completely or partially recover from it.

It can however be prevented.

Chukwudi 44, Please respond to this barbaric allegations against the biography soldiers.

lookandlaff:
There is my story, your story and the truth.

http://deltanewsroom.com/?p=5460


The Nigerian civil war from 6 July 1967 to 1 January 1970 was fought to counter the secession of Biafra from Nigeria. Biafra was a nationalistic aspiration of the Eastern Igbo people at that time and it was borne from the fact that they could no longer coexist with the Northern dominated federal government.
The Nigerian Civil war otherwise known as the Biafra war attracted international attention due to the brutal events of that period. How the conflict was interpreted by foreigners and Nigerians cannot be over emphasised.
The conflict took a toll of human lives. The Igbo tragedy was largely perpetrated in Northern Nigeria, however there was a forgotten tragedy that most international and national observers over looked. The forgotten Biafra ethnic minorities- Efik, Ogoja, Ibibio etc and the Mid West (Urhobo, Edo, Itsekiris, Isoko, Asaba) experience during the Biafra invasion and the Federal Government occupation.
Each time I get into debate with my Igbo brothers and the issue of marginalisation, distrust and ethnic cleansing is shown to my face in a one dimensional sense, I have often reacted with the question….Is warfare one-sided? And who is marginalising who in Nigeria?
The slaughter, rape and torture of the people of the mid west have not been fully blown out in the open until now. Many present day Mid Westerners of my generation have no clue on what actually transpired in a Biafra occupied Mid Western region and what transpired among the Biafra minorities in the East.
This write up is not to point a blaming finger at anyone but is meant to catalyse the objectivity of the individuals from the various regions of Nigeria to sense aright the issue of marginalisation and also to show the reader that the sins of warfare and conflicts is not onesided. This write up will have to kill the delusion and one sided bias of that question…..WHO IS MARGINALISING WHO and what really happened to the Southern minorities during the war.
In Omakas book titled The Forgotten Victims: Ethnic Minorities in Nigeria Biafra War, 1967-1970, he said: The gory experiences suffered by the Biafra minorities have largely been neglected in the historiography of the Biafra war.
This write up will also assert that the atrocities perpetuated by Biafra soldiers on Biafra minorites during those early and late months of the war has largely been hidden from the public debate hence they should be accorded due recognition of victimhood.
Following the massacre of the Igbo people living up North, the Federal Government responded to the Igbo secession with “police action” that was partially military. I will not go into the reason for these atrocities. That is not the purpose of this write up.
However it must be pointed out that blame for atrocities must not be one sided. The Igbo people had a right to defend themselves and the UN recognition against genocide gives a people the right to secede. This is not debateable.
Wikipedia states that the Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of war. This convention is binding to all warring parties.
The dorminating argument of the Nigeria Biafra War is that the Igbo were targeted for extermination by the Muslim North. International media played a significant role in exposing humanitarian tragedies especially in Igbo speaking parts of Biafra. However not much was reported on the atrocities perpetuated against minorities in Biafra both by the Nigerian military forces and Biafra militias.
A Newsweek magazine once report that some of the worst massacres of the war occurred when the federal troops captured minority regions whereupon minority tribesmen turned on the Ibos in blood fury. The quote presents Igbo as victims in the hands of minorities without referencing the experience the minorities suffered in the Igbo dominated region before the arrival of the federal troops. There was another report stating that Ibos were killed by the local people in their thousands in the Mid West on arrival of federal troops. No one seems to ask the question…..why was this the case?
It is not denying the fact that Igbo were massacred during the civil war, however there is an error in the representation of the victims of the massacre.
The number one question is: Attributing the 1966 massacre in the North as only Igbos is an error of judgement. In the G C M Onyiuke led tribunal, it was clearly shown that ethnic minority groups in Eastern and Mid Western Nigeria were victims. It was easy to mistake an ethnic minority for Igbo apart from mere physical appearance there was no other distinct feature to differentiate Igbo from non Igbo. You cannot tell unlike the Yoruba or Hausa facial marks. Ethnic minorities were also killed.
While the Igbos retreated back to the East to form a defence line and secede, no one seems to ask the question if the Biafra ethnic minorities (present day Cross River, Akwa Ibom etc) were actually consulted on the need to secede and if they agreed.
The argument that the war was only Hausa Fulani and Igbo is purely too simplistic.
In the early days of Nigeria, the domination of the three major ethnic groups of Yoruba, Hausa Fulani and Igbo in the political atmosphere of Nigeria was obvious. The leaders of the ethnic minority ethnic groups had found themselves in a disadvantaged position in the entire federal political equation. As a result of this, minority leaders in different regions began to form movements that started the agitation for the creation of more states were their interest will be largely protected. Some of this movement included the Calaber Ogoja River (COR) state, Mid West State movement and Middle Belt State movement. This movement agitated for minority rights in the larger state.
The leaders of the state creation movement believed that the formation of their states will eliminate the domination of the major ethnic groups.
In Chinua Achebes book titled There was a Country, he had this to say on the Niger Delta Region page 47: …”The minorities of the Niger Delta, Mid West and the Middle Belt were always uncomfortable with the notion that they had to fit into the tripod of the largest ethnic groups that was Nigeria…….many of them Ijaw, Kanuri, Ibibio, Tiv, Itsekiri, Isang, Urhobo, Anang and Efik were from ancient nation states in their own right. Their leaders however, often had to subsume their own ethnic ambitions within alliances with one of the big three groups in order to attain greater political results.
And so during the civil war this minority groups were faced with a great dilemma.
[b]THE CONFLICT AND WAR CRIMES.
Revelations about the war atrocities on the minorities have emerged recently. New surviving records, physical evidences and oral histories of the war suggest that minorities in Biafra and mid west became individual and collective victims of the war.
The Biafra minorities did not have a say in the succession. A prolific journalist named Suzanne Cronje on the Biafra war stated that the feelings of the minorities were difficult to define. Loyalties were in fact divided. The cry out for a separate state by the minorities was not a clamour to secede.
When the war broke out, Biafra had stationed some of its troops in the Cross River region including Ikun in Biase Local Government. Though the Ikun initially supported Biafra and had friendly relations with the soldiers, as time went on tensions emerged. Some Ikun men were suspected of collaborating with Nigerian soldiers with no hard evidence. As a result murder, arrests, looting and rapes was meted on that community. William Norris of the London Times who visited Biafra reported an eye witness account of how Ibibio men were surrounded and beaten to death in Umuahia on April 2 1968. They were reportedly forced to march across an open space while the local people attacked them with sticks and clubs.
On another episode, Biafra soldiers took Ikun men to Ohafia for a meeting but never came back with them. An informant alleged that soldiers returned to the community and rounded up some men within their reach and shot them. A survivor who lost her four day old son and grandmother seemed to have suspected foul play from the Ohafia people with whom they share a common boundary.
This victimization continued until the Biafra headquarters issued a statement to stop the genocide. However by this time, the remaining people had escaped leaving behind only soldiers and Ohafia, also some Ikun with a mixed blood of half Ohafia.
B J Ikpeme a Senior Medical Officer in the then Eastern region revealed atrocities perpetuated by Biafra soldiers against the minorities in towns of present day Cross River and Akwa Ibom States.
Ikpemes argument was that Ojukwu`s declaration of Biafra was done against the wishes of the majority of Calaber, Ogoja and Rivers provinces who for many years had agitated for a separate state and not a secession from Nigeria. They were never consulted and Ikpeme also argued that the Igbo leadership had concluded plans of either to force the five million non Igbo speaking Biafra minorities to accept Biafra or eliminate them out rightly. It was on this basis that soldiers were quickly sent to the minority areas to keep down the people, detain or kill anyone who raises an opposing voice against Biafra.[/b]

EroticAngelina:
A of course

buh op, u for use a pic of a fair lady for picture B that is at least close to picture A's beauty level. . so dat it will be a fair competition

Haaaaaaa.
I think she is beautiful enough to compete. In fact, many of my friends chose her over A.

A

tensazangetsu:

Actually bone marrow transplant can cure sickle cell.

May be in the literatures. But no documented evidence yet of any patient successful cured of Hbss with minimum of a year follow up.

Remember this is genetic problem and until there is more than 5-10year review we can't talk of cure yet.

Who is prettier?

Hello friends,

Let's learn something new today...becoming import /export broker

An import-export agent or broker, also known as a trade agent or customs broker, is an individual or a company that sends and receives goods to and from different countries.

Import-export agents or brokers work with both importers and exporters by helping them prepare necessary documents for exporting or importing their products. They also help their clients establish connections in foreign companies. So, they work on both ends of import-export deals—that of the origin and that of the destination.

If you are looking to become an import-export agent or broker, then read on to understand the guidelines you need to get started.

How to Become an Import / Export Agent or Broker

1. Get a degree-: To become an import-export broker, you must understand the basic jargon of import-export law, currency transactions, trade policies, and everything else that goes into making profitable import-export deals.

This explains why your first step towards becoming a successful import-export agent or broker is to get a relevant degree or diploma in international economics or any other discipline that focuses on international business, international marketing, and import-export trading. You can enroll for this at any accredited institution within your state or country.

Obtaining a relevant degree will not only give you the basic conceptual and mathematical knowledge you need to understand and profit from both established and developing markets, but it will also give you insights into the problems and benefits of international markets. You must have all these because import-export brokerage is a risky business that you need to understand before plunging into.

2. Specialize-: After obtaining a relevant degree, you need to decide on a specific area of specialization. You can either focus on a specific type of products such as electronics or agricultural produce, or you can focus on a geographical area such as Southern China.

Specializing is necessary because it helps you understand and meet the licensing requirements of the specific products or geographical location you’re focusing on. Because the success of your import-export career hinges largely on your fluency in the legalities of both sides of the transaction, focusing on one political and geographical area is the best.

3. Study your area of focus-: After choosing an area of specialization, you need to study that area deeply. If you are focusing on a geographical location where a different language is spoken, your first step would be to study the native language and basic protocol that obtain in the country. This is necessary because there is no guarantee that all the documents you will be presented will be in English or that the people you will deal with will understand English.

In addition, you need to study the politics and economics of your area of focus. For example, if you are focusing on agricultural produce, you need to understand the rules and regulations binding these products in certain international markets, how the prices of the products change with times of the year, and so on.

Similarly, if you are focusing on a geographical location, you need to understand the danger, opportunities, and common problems that come with trading with that specific country.

4. Obtain the necessary licenses and permits-: If you are based in the United States, contact the United States Department of Commerce to apply for appropriate licensing or to find out the licensing requirements for doing business with certain other countries. But if you are outside the United States, visit the appropriate local agency to do the same.

5. Review your local export laws-: Before starting out as an import-export agent or broker, you need to understand your country’s export laws. In fact, this is equally as important as studying the import laws that obtain in the country you will be doing business with. You must avoid running into legal problems, as this can cripple your career and prolong your journey to success.

6. Find import-export opportunities and get started-: Once you have carefully taken all the previous steps, then you can apply for import-export job positions or start your own agency or brokerage firm. If you are starting your own business, you need to acquire an initial operating fund and secure office space.

7. Continue researching-:The import-export market is ever changing, and one of the keys to success as a broker or agent is to keep abreast of global economic trends and act accordingly. This is the ‘continuing education’ aspect of the business.

For example, the government in the country you are focusing on might make an announcement that will either increase opportunities or make things more unfavorable. If you get this information on time, you will be able to quickly shift some of your resources accordingly. This is how you build business.

Regards,

Written and submitted by Sunday I. E.

Source; http://olisasegun..com.ng/2016/01/how-to-become-import-export-broker.html

Hello friends,

Let's learn something new today...becoming import /export broker

An import-export agent or broker, also known as a trade agent or customs broker, is an individual or a company that sends and receives goods to and from different countries.

Import-export agents or brokers work with both importers and exporters by helping them prepare necessary documents for exporting or importing their products. They also help their clients establish connections in foreign companies. So, they work on both ends of import-export deals—that of the origin and that of the destination.

If you are looking to become an import-export agent or broker, then read on to understand the guidelines you need to get started.

How to Become an Import / Export Agent or Broker

1. Get a degree-: To become an import-export broker, you must understand the basic jargon of import-export law, currency transactions, trade policies, and everything else that goes into making profitable import-export deals.

This explains why your first step towards becoming a successful import-export agent or broker is to get a relevant degree or diploma in international economics or any other discipline that focuses on international business, international marketing, and import-export trading. You can enroll for this at any accredited institution within your state or country.

Obtaining a relevant degree will not only give you the basic conceptual and mathematical knowledge you need to understand and profit from both established and developing markets, but it will also give you insights into the problems and benefits of international markets. You must have all these because import-export brokerage is a risky business that you need to understand before plunging into.

2. Specialize-: After obtaining a relevant degree, you need to decide on a specific area of specialization. You can either focus on a specific type of products such as electronics or agricultural produce, or you can focus on a geographical area such as Southern China.

Specializing is necessary because it helps you understand and meet the licensing requirements of the specific products or geographical location you’re focusing on. Because the success of your import-export career hinges largely on your fluency in the legalities of both sides of the transaction, focusing on one political and geographical area is the best.

3. Study your area of focus-: After choosing an area of specialization, you need to study that area deeply. If you are focusing on a geographical location where a different language is spoken, your first step would be to study the native language and basic protocol that obtain in the country. This is necessary because there is no guarantee that all the documents you will be presented will be in English or that the people you will deal with will understand English.

In addition, you need to study the politics and economics of your area of focus. For example, if you are focusing on agricultural produce, you need to understand the rules and regulations binding these products in certain international markets, how the prices of the products change with times of the year, and so on.

Similarly, if you are focusing on a geographical location, you need to understand the danger, opportunities, and common problems that come with trading with that specific country.

4. Obtain the necessary licenses and permits-: If you are based in the United States, contact the United States Department of Commerce to apply for appropriate licensing or to find out the licensing requirements for doing business with certain other countries. But if you are outside the United States, visit the appropriate local agency to do the same.

5. Review your local export laws-: Before starting out as an import-export agent or broker, you need to understand your country’s export laws. In fact, this is equally as important as studying the import laws that obtain in the country you will be doing business with. You must avoid running into legal problems, as this can cripple your career and prolong your journey to success.

6. Find import-export opportunities and get started-: Once you have carefully taken all the previous steps, then you can apply for import-export job positions or start your own agency or brokerage firm. If you are starting your own business, you need to acquire an initial operating fund and secure office space.

7. Continue researching-:The import-export market is ever changing, and one of the keys to success as a broker or agent is to keep abreast of global economic trends and act accordingly. This is the ‘continuing education’ aspect of the business.

For example, the government in the country you are focusing on might make an announcement that will either increase opportunities or make things more unfavorable. If you get this information on time, you will be able to quickly shift some of your resources accordingly. This is how you build business.

Regards,

Written and submitted by Sunday I. E.

Source; http://olisasegun..com.ng/2016/01/how-to-become-import-export-broker.html

Following the level of anxiety being expressed by people all over the country on the epidemics of Lassa fever currently being experienced in various states of the federation, the Nigeria Medical Association has deemed it proper that we make a press statement for everyone in these regards. NMA fully commends the efforts of President Mohammadu BUHARI, GCFR for his moral, timely and financial support towards curtailing the unfortunate Lassa epidemic.

We also commend and associate with the Honourable Ministers of Health for their tireless efforts towards nipping the Lassa epidemic in the bud. Their public enlightenment and proactiveness on this epidemic have been most heart warming. This is in addition, and without any prejudice whatsoever, to any other ones being made by the various governments, agencies and bodies in the country. In order to compliment the various efforts of the agencies of Government, the Nigerian Medical Association wish to make the following declarations:

1. Lassa fever is an endemic (locally common) disease discovered as one of the new or emerging diseases since the 1950s or so. The first episode from which the virus causing it was identified was that of missionary Christian health workers in Lassa town in present Borno State of Nigeria and from which town’s name the disease got its name in 1969.

2. Lassa fever is a zoonotic viral infection; in other words, a disease whose primary host is an animal, namely the multimammate rats (i.e., with double row of breasts under her female body) called Mastomys. These rats naturally live in bushes around human homes and visit such homes occasionally for extra food to eat.

3. Human beings get infected with this virus from the contamination of their food or other edibles by the urine and other body excretions of these rats – on their foods, drinks, etc, – usually not properly hygienically stored; i.e., uncovered food!

4. The dry season (such as we now are in) is usually the highest season of Lassa fever because of bush burning that drive these rats from the bushes into the homes, preferably. Other local and cultural habits of drying foods on the roads, streets and even around houses, carelessly (e.g., yam, cassava, plantain and other chips for making local flours for eating or selling) also provide avenues for the spread of the virus.

5. Lassa fever, in the vast majority (some 80%) of cases, passes on un-noticed - with mild fevers, body aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, etc, as for many locally common diseases; and so, remain unnoticed. However in severe cases, these will progress with sore throat, cough, vomiting, diarrhoea and unexplained bleeding from different body openings such as nose, anus, vagina and many others as a result of damage of many body organs caused by this virus. In these cases, mortality (death) rates from the disease may rise rapidly to high levels of up to 50% or more. Late reporting or hiding cases of the disease at home and so multiplying the infection is usually the reason for these types of high mortality rates.

6. Hospital or other man-to-man transmission of the infection follow contamination with food or body fluid transfers, providing the reasons why home members and health workers wherever Lassa fever subjects exist or are taken for came must all practice the highest levels of personal and/or professional hygiene.

7. Outside of Bauchi, Kano, Nasarawa, Niger, Edo and the other states in which the current epidemics are noted, all should know that no state in Nigeria should relax that they are not involved or affected. Lassa fever is not exclusive to any state because of the random population-mixing pattern in the country. In fact ALL the states have the potential to be at risk of being affected if we neglect to observe basic personal and communal hygienic practices at the individual, family and community levels.

So we advise all and sundry in this country at this time as follows:

1. The Federal Government and her Minister and Ministry of Health have risen up and are performing up to task on this matter so far – since the notification of the disease came to their attention. Nobody needs to panic on the matter now!

2. Individual states, local governments, communities, societies, families and individuals should rise up and reciprocate these responses by doing the following:

To individuals

1. Listen to the radios, TV and other mass media and keep yourselves properly informed on the present Lassa situation in the country as well as especially what you should do in the interval.

2. Improve/increase in your personal hygiene along the lines outlined above as well as help your relatives, neighbours and friends to do the same.

3. Ensure that your house is free from rats, all foods and drinks properly covered and/or stored, as may be needed.

4. Encourage all cases of fevers to attend a medical and properly manned health facility very early.

5. Do not eat rats and improve rat control in your personal houses.

To families:

1. Ensure that everybody in your family improves on their personal and group hygiene as outlined above.

2. Do not partake in food drying in the streets, roads and such other places open for bush rat visitations.

3. Ensure that all fevers or illnesses with symptoms as described above are taken promptly to medical facilities for early diagnosis and treatment as appropriate.

To communities:

1. Encourage the cessation of free bush burning in your communities.

2. Discourage the drying of food materials in the open streets and roads.

3. Help to see that all cases of fevers (and other symptoms as listed above) are reported early to hospitals and that your village and LGA Health and Development Committees assist to ensure that your hospitals and health centres are equipped, staffed and made to run properly especially in regard of Lassa and other epidemic diseases.

To local governments:

1. Ensure that your health facilities are staffed, equipped and run properly in regard of Lassa and other such epidemic diseases.

2. See to it that all rampant bush burning in the LGA are stopped or reasonably controlled.

3. Ensure that the drying or cassava, yam and other food chips on the roads and streets is stopped completely or at least reasonably controlled.

4. Help to see that all fevers in the LGA go to the health facilities very early and that all notifiable diseases are so notified by the health facilities in your LGA.

To state governments:

1. Increase your public education especially in all state-owned mass media; increase disease notification and surveillance activities, especially in regard of Lassa and the other epidemic diseases.

2. Endeavour to resuscitate your state hospital for infectious diseases - as Lagos State has at Yaba and which played such tremendous role in the curtailing of the Ebola epidemic of 2014 in the country.

3. Seek to establish your state Primary Health Care Agencies as soonest as possible, optimise them and seek to fully operationalise the ward-based PHC system with community nurse-midwives at these wards as well as the medical officer of health for each LGA, besides the other health facility-based health workers.

To the Federal Government:

1. Please continue in the good efforts that you have brought to the present epidemic.

2. Get the remaining three reported laboratories in the country that is able to identify the Lassa fever virus to full operation and/or establish new ones to augment these. This is very important in the Calabar-Enugu-Makurdi-Yola-Maiduguri axis of the country to augment the presently functioning ones in Lagos, Ibadan, Irrua, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano.


To health workers

1. Please remember that this is your vocation; and a challenge like this one is actually an opportunity to do your best and to shine.

2. Revise your training in the infectious diseases and standard and universal precautions in these regards and do so all of the time and with every patient care.


Signed

Dr. Kayode OBEMBE ( NMA President)

Dr. Adewunmi ALAYAKI ( NMA Secretary General)



http://olisasegun..com.ng/2016/01/nigeria-medical-association-declaration.html

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/15/mike-hearn-senior-bitcoin-developer-says-currency-failed-experiment

Confirms above

Bitcoin, a distributed and decentralised digital currency dubbed “the currency of the Internet”, has been declared a failure by one of its most ardent supporters and developers. In a lengthy post on Medium, Mike Hearn states that “despite knowing that Bitcoin could fail all along, the now inescapable conclusion that it has failed still saddens me greatly.”

This comes as unfortunate timing as PayPal appoints Fintech figure and bitcoin entrepreneur Wences Casares to its board this week. “I am honored to serve on the board of an iconic global company dedicated to driving the transformation of money on a global scale. I look forward to working together with the PayPal board and leadership team to continue to deliver their compelling vision,” Casares said.

However Mike Hearn’s scorn on the Bitcoin industry casts a shadow over financial services rush to take advantage of the digital currency.

Hearn places Bitcoin’s failure squarely on the shoulders of the community, and internal politics, describing it as a system that is now controlled by a handful of people only, a complete opposite of the original goals of the currency as a decentralised monetary system. Most of the disagreements are around whether a key piece of Bitcoin’s technology should be adjusted so that it can support more transactions, the Bitcoin community has essentially been split between those in favor of increasing this limit and those opposed to it suggests Hearn.

If you had never heard about Bitcoin before, would you care about a payments network that:

Couldn’t move your existing money

Had wildly unpredictable fees that were high and rising fast

Allowed buyers to take back payments they’d made after walking out of shops, by simply pressing a button
(if you aren’t aware of this “feature” that’s because Bitcoin was only just changed to allow it)

Is suffering large backlogs and flaky payments

… which is controlled by China

… and in which the companies and people building it were in open civil war?

I’m going to hazard a guess that the answer is no.


It should be noted that Bitcoin is often confused with Blockchain, which is the underlying protocol behind the technology of the currency. The strength behind Blockchain technology is in the authenticity of records, content and transactions, and its decentralised nature. Which opens up the possibilities of many use cases beyond FinTech.

Proof of ownership of digital purchases and content

Proof of authorship of digital goods and content

Digital trading, transaction history, transfer and ownership authenticity

Code authorship in application development

In a post in December I described where Blockchain has this potential.

However, as Mike goes on in his article, he cites a post by ProHashing arguing that the transactional aspect of Blockchain is under threat, where “the issue is that it’s now officially impossible to depend upon the bitcoin network anymore to know when or if your payment will be transacted, because the congestion is so bad that even minor spikes in volume create dramatic changes in network conditions. To whom is it acceptable that one could wait either 60 minutes or 14 hours, chosen at random?”


Mike states that Bitcoin has no future whilst it’s controlled by fewer than 10 people, and that the Blockchain itself as a core mechanism is a failure.

“At a stroke, this makes using Bitcoin useless for actually buying things, as you’d have to wait for a buyer’s transaction to appear in the block chain … which from now on can take hours rather than minutes, due to the congestion.”

If this is the case, then the future of Blockchain as an integral part of the Internet Of Things is also under threat with the same caveats, especially where digital handshakes and the transaction of information can no longer be (a) guaranteed and (b) be conducted in real-time. It also calls into question some of the uses outside of financial services where Blockchain can be applied, such being a decentralised storage system.

Hearn has said he is no longer working on Bitcoin and has moved on, but suggests that the protocol still has a future in the right hands.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theopriestley/2016/01/15/bitcoin-declared-an-inescapable-failure/#2715e4857a0b5c5e845d9bf8