By Catherine Offord A preliminary clinical trial finds that the personalized therapy improves survival rates and has no severe side-effects. Ovarian cancer is a particularly hard-to-treat disease. It’s often diagnosed late, and even after surgery and chemotherapy, around 85 percent of patients relapse and develop chemoresistance. But a preliminary clinical trial, carried out by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, has shown promising results for a new type of vaccine that aims to boost patients’ immune systems to fight the disease. The findings were published yesterday (April 11) in Science Translational Medicine. “This vaccine appears to be safe for patients, and…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
Ondo state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has called for effective action to free waterways of water hyacinth that is impeding the development of water transport as an alternative mode. Making the call in Akure during a courtesy call by a delegation from the Nigerian Maritime and Administration Safety Agency (NIMASA) on Thursday, he said the waterways could serve as a major means of transport in Nigeria. “When water hyacinth is properly harvested, it could be used for something else, even for biogas,” Akeredolu said while urging something be done to harvest the hycinth that that had clogged waterways in Nigeria. Expressing…
Pharmaceutical wastes resulting from human and farm animal consumption are endangering the eco-system of rivers around the world, a new research says. Francesco Bregoli, a researcher at the Delft Institute for Water Education in the Netherlands, told the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2018, on Thursday, when presenting the research findings. A large part of the world’s rivers and lakes are potentially threatened by the high concentration of drug wastes, Bregoli said. Bregoli’s team used diclofenac, an anti-inflammation drug, as a proxy to estimate the concentration of other drugs in global river systems. Diclofenac has been branded as a threat…
The newly-elected President of Sierra Leone, Mr Julius Bio, on Wednesday, April 11, 2018 issued a directive ordering the suspension of timber export. According to the presidential directive issued by State House, the suspension is part of the government’s strategy to fight deforestation in the country. Former President Ernest Koroma suspended the export of timber in 2013, but lifted it in early 2017 in the build-up to the 2018 elections. Although timber logging has created many jobs for Sierra Leonean youths, environmental activists have welcomed the suspension and called on the government to make the suspension a permanent ban. The…
In an ambitious United Nations (UN) campaign to eliminate epidemics of the deadly disease on the African continent, nearly one billion people would be vaccinated against yellow fever by 2026. The mosquito-borne viral disease is a major killer in the continent, where it could spread fast in highly populated areas with devastating consequences. Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said this at the programme’s launch in Nigeria, which is a priority-target country. “With one injection we can protect a person for life against this dangerous-pathogen. This unprecedented commitment by countries will ensure that by 2026 Africa is…
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh has said that Federal Government would establish 14 additional rice mills in the country to meet increasing demand for local rice and achieve self sufficiency. Speaking at the AgroNigeria High Level Rice Conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Ogbeh who was represented by the ministry’s Director of Agribusiness and Marketing, Alhaji Muyiwa Azeez said the mills would be sited in different states. “Different brands of home grown international grade rice can now be found in the market. This has been a great stride. A total of 14 number mills will soon come…
AlphaGalileo, the independent source of breaking research news for the media, is pleased to announce that it has agreed to partner ‘Levers in Heels’ the African initiative giving a voice to African women in science, technology, engineering and technology. AlphaGalileo and Levers in Heels will exchange content to help raise the profile of African female research excellence. For AlphaGalileo this is part of its ‘Africa Initiative’ to generate better awareness of African research carried out by Africans. http://leversinheels.com
The Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st (GCP21) century will on 17 April 2018 hold a world press conference to announce the fourth International Cassava Conference billed to take place in Cotonou, Benin in 11-15 June 2018. Part of the press conference will be exhibition of cassava products including cassava bread, cassava ethanol, cassava snacks, cassava flour, cassava starch, which is used for pharmaceutical products; and traditional products such as cassava fufu, yellow gari among others. The world press conference and exhibition are part of activities earmarked to raise awareness on the potential of the root crop which many term as ‘Africa’s white gold’.…
Seven buildings at the University of lbadan were badly damaged as a result of a heavy rainfall Friday night. Addressing newsmen while assessing the extent of damage on Saturday, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof. Emilolorun Aiyelari described the incident as unfortunate, adding that the institution was yet to determine the cost of damage. Some of the affected buildings include the Students Union Government building, two halls of residence and the Chemistry Laboratory of the institution’s International School. Others were the Tedder and Bello Halls, some structures in the Faculty of Agriculture as well as the electric transformer at the SUG building.…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is collaborating with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to address the sale of substandard drugs in Nigeria. Its Nigeria Country Representative, Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu said on Saturday while commemorating the World Health Day 2018 in Abuja on Saturday that addressing the sale of substandard drugs in the country was very important WHO was to achieve its target of supporting member states in reaching Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030. He said it was only when Nigeria ensured sale and consumption of genuine medicines to citizens that it would…