Friday, 17 April 2015

Travelling Wishes To All Madonna University Students!!!

A loyal DQB reader, who happens to be a student at Madonna University, sent in this email. She composed a tribute to all Students of the Prestigious Madonna University, Nigeria, as they resume from the Easter break. Here it is;

I m just thinking aloud. Thinking of a lot of things at once. The present, past and future. What is most outstanding in my contemplation is my Journey to school.

I happen to be almost on the verge of graduation, a finalist. My campus is basically a science oriented campus, situated in far away Elele, Rivers state. So for the umpteenth, I ll be making my way back to school to finish what I have started.

Like ants, we would throng the airports and bus parks to make it a distance shorter from school. Of course, some would be Chauffeur-driven back to school. But, I still find it puzzling, that there have been no major case of Road Traffic Accident involving Madonnite on any resumption day. Some would say it is coincidence, other may call it 'Luck'. I choose to see it as 'Divine Providence'.

As usual, normal security checks would be done at the gate. Life would then continue according to the programme of the institution. I have a few months to stay, and I m moved to utter a word of prayer to God, for all Madonnites that would be on the Road to school.
Like HE has always done, these past few years of my stay in school, HE would grant all a safe trip back to campus.

I m relieved. I am going back to that institution, that have given me so much. Looking ahead, the future is definitely bright for us all.
SAFE TRIP, MADONNITES!!!'

Wednesday, 15 April 2015

Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria To begin Clampdown of Illegal Drug Outlets.

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) yesterday said that it is working to stop the circulation of fake drugs by clamping down on illegal vendors.

Registrar of the Council, Nasiru Elijah Mohammed, said this at a retreat organized for key officers of the council in Kaduna. He said medicine vendors must be literate and should secure approval to sell over-the-counter drugs, adding that anyone found selling prescription drugs would have himself to blame.

“Patient medicine vendors must be literate to avoid the sale of expired drugs or those that lose potency over time. We shall ensure that prescribed drugs are only obtained from the authorized dealers,” he said.

He said the council would encourage pharmacists and patient medicine dealers to ensure effective service delivery by attending to the needs of their clients.

He further stated that the council would ensure institutionalization of good pharmacy practice through “promotion of the provision of pharmaceutical care, promotion of patients’ health and quality of life as well as improving visibility and image for pharmacy practices in public.”

Madonna University Nigeria Resumption Fixed For 18 April

A loyal DQB reader just sent an email to me to remind all Madonnites about the resumption date fixed for 18th April, 2015. DQB gathered that all student are to report to campus on this day to begin academic work in earnest!!

The email also admonished female students to watch the load they bring back to campus. This got me interested!! How big truly, is this load? Is it really the females that bring the biggest load, or the males?
From which part of Nigeria is the biggest load coming in from?

Yes... you can send in live pictures of the biggest loads from bus parks or airports across the country. Send in the picture on twitter using the hash tag #madonnaresumes.
Or send the picture on this email.. drokoloemeka@gmail.com
Or share on instagram, tag the photo using #madonnaresumes

Let us catch the student with the biggest load this time!!!

DQB WednesdayDelight Is Back and Better!!!

The Doctors Quarter's Blog WednesdayDelight was shelved temporarily. We had to go back to make it richer and more fun.

Now it is back!!! Keep reading DQB, as details would be communicated soon!

Man Gets 25years to Life Sentence After Killing Family in Crash

(Reuters) - A New York City man was sentenced to a prison term of 25 years to life on Monday over a fatal 2013 hit-and-run car crash that killed a young Orthodox Jewish family, prosecutors said.

Julio Acevedo, 46, was convicted over the collision that killed Raizy and Nachman Glauber, 21, and their premature infant, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office said in a statement.

The victims were members of an Orthodox Jewish enclave in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and were on the way to the hospital in Mar. 2013 when their taxi was hit broadside by a gray BMW sedan, police said. The BMW driver fled the scene on foot.

The baby was delivered by Cesarean section at Bellevue Hospital, where the mother had been pronounced dead on arrival, but died the following day, officials said.

Acevedo was convicted in February of two counts of second-degree manslaughter, one count of criminally negligent homicide and two counts of leaving the scene, the district attorney's office said.

He received an enhanced sentence because he was deemed a "persistent felony offender," the statement said.

Family friends said the child's birth was a ray of hope that was extinguished when he died of his injuries. They said Raizy Glauber was about six months pregnant and wanted to go to the hospital because she was feeling unwell.

Police launched a manhunt for Acevedo, whom a witness picked out of a photo lineup. Acevedo later surrendered to New York City detectives in the parking lot of a convenience store in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Paul Tait)

What is the point of health apps when we are healthy?

Do you have a health app on your smartphone? Have it ever served it's purpose? Do you truly need it, even when you are health? Are there too many app with little value? Are there room for improvement?

Such questions form a debate in the latest issue of The BMJ, which pitches an emergency doctor and editor of a website that reviews health apps against a general practitioner who argues, no, healthy people cannot benefit from them.

Nigeria Nursing Anthem - Outstanding Piece.

I was walking along the nursing auditorium on my way to study. That was when I heard the nurse chant this beautiful anthem. I paused and listened. It is indeed breath taking... enjoy the anthem!!!

We are called to serve humanity

Endowed with the Act and SENSE of CARING

We are built on INTEGRITY and DISCIPLINE

That Transcient through every generation

IMMACULATE and AMICABLE

We are the source of HOPE to ailing ones

And the FOUNDATION for building a Health world

Together we shall Stand

CHORUS:

Nurses are GREAT

Nurses are CARING

An epitome of HUMILITY to SERVICE

We are specially ordained for this VOCATION

YES AM PROUD TO BE A NURSE!!!

From near and far we have gathered with one goal

To Uphold the good name of our PROFESSION

N - For Neatness and Splendor

U - For Understanding

R - For Responsiveness

S - Selfless Service

I - Innovative and Initiative

N - For Nobility

G - Gentleness and Love

CHORUS:

Nurses are GREAT

Nurses are CARING

An epitome of HUMILITY to SERVICE

We are specially ordained for this VOCATION

YES AM PROUD TO BE A NURSE!!!

LUTH School of Nursing Form Out for Sale

The sales of Admission Forms to the School of Nursing, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba for 2015/2016 is in progress and would be on till 3rd July 2015.

According to information on the Lagos university teaching hospital school of nursing website http://www.sonluth.com, The First examination would hold on the 11th of July 2015.

Prospective applicants are however warned to BEWARE OF FRAUDSTERS!!! and Advised "DO NOT PAY INTO ANY INDIVIDUAL'S BANK ACCOUNT

For more information, please visit the school website or visit the school.

Tuesday, 14 April 2015

Chimamanda Adichie Epic Response To Oba Of Lagos's Threat.

Incase you have not read the epic response if multiple award winner, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's response to the Oba of Lagos threat to Igbos living resident in Lagos, here it is.... Do Enjoy!!!

A few days ago, the Oba of Lagos threatened Igbo leaders. If they did not vote for his governorship candidate in Lagos, he said, they would be thrown into the lagoon. His entire speech was a flagrant performance of disregard. His words said, in effect: I think so little of you that I don’t have to cajole you but will just threaten you and, by the way, your safety in Lagos is not assured, it is negotiable.

There have been condemnations of the Oba’s words. Sadly, many of the condemnations from non-Igbo people have come with the ugly impatience of expressions like ‘move on,’ and ‘don’t be over-emotional’ and ‘calm down.’ These take away the power, even the sincerity, of the condemnations. It is highhanded and offensive to tell an aggrieved person how to feel, or how quickly to forgive, just as an apology becomes a non-apology when it comes with ‘now get over it’.

Other condemnations of the Oba’s words have been couched in dismissive or diminishing language such as ‘The Oba can’t really do anything, he isn’t actually going to kill anyone. He was joking. He was just being a loudmouth.’

Or – the basest yet – ‘we are all prejudiced.’ It is dishonest to respond to a specific act of prejudice by ignoring that act and instead stressing the generic and the general. It is similar to responding to a specific crime by saying ‘we are all capable of crime.’ Indeed we are. But responses such as these are diversionary tactics. They dismiss the specific act, diminish its importance, and ultimately aim at silencing the legitimate fears of people.

We are indeed all prejudiced, but that is not an appropriate response to an issue this serious. The Oba is not an ordinary citizen. He is a traditional ruler in a part of a country where traditional rulers command considerable influence – the reluctance on the part of many to directly chastise the Oba speaks to his power. The Oba’s words matter. He is not a singular voice; he represents traditional authority. The Oba’s words matter because they are enough to incite violence in a political setting already fraught with uncertainty. The Oba’s words matter even more in the event that Ambode loses the governorship election, because it would then be easy to scapegoat Igbo people and hold them punishable.

Nigerians who consider themselves enlightened might dismiss the Oba’s words as illogical. But the scapegoating of groups – which has a long history all over the world – has never been about logic. The Oba’s words matter because they bring worrying echoes of the early 1960s in Nigeria, when Igbo people were scapegoated for political reasons. Chinua Achebe, when he finally accepted that Lagos, the city he called home, was unsafe for him because he was Igbo, saw crowds at the motor park taunting Igbo people as they boarded buses: ‘Go, Igbo, go so that garri will be cheaper in Lagos!’

Of course Igbo people were not responsible for the cost of garri. But they were perceived as people who were responsible for a coup and who were ‘taking over’ and who, consequently, could be held responsible for everything bad.

Any group of people would understandably be troubled by a threat such as the Oba’s, but the Igbo, because of their history in Nigeria, have been particularly troubled. And it is a recent history. There are people alive today who were publicly attacked in cosmopolitan Lagos in the 1960s because they were Igbo. Even people who were merely light-skinned were at risk of violence in Lagos markets, because to be light-skinned was to be mistaken for Igbo.

Almost every Nigerian ethnic group has a grouse of some sort with the Nigerian state. The Nigerian state has, by turns, been violent, unfair, neglectful, of different parts of the country. Almost every ethnic group has derogatory stereotypes attached to it by other ethnic groups.

But it is disingenuous to suggest that the experience of every ethnic group has been the same. Anti-Igbo violence began under the British colonial government, with complex roots and manifestations. But the end result is a certain psychic difference in the relationship of Igbo people to the Nigerian state. To be Igbo in Nigeria is constantly to be suspect; your national patriotism is never taken as the norm, you are continually expected to prove it.

All groups are conditioned by their specific histories. Perhaps another ethnic group would have reacted with less concern to the Oba’s threat, because that ethnic group would not be conditioned by a history of being targets of violence, as the Igbo have been.

Many responses to the Oba’s threat have mentioned the ‘welcoming’ nature of Lagos, and have made comparisons between Lagos and southeastern towns like Onitsha. It is valid to debate the ethnic diversity of different parts of Nigeria, to compare, for example, Ibadan and Enugu, Ado-Ekiti and Aba, and to debate who moves where, and who feels comfortable living where and why that is. But it is odd to pretend that Lagos is like any other city in Nigeria. It is not. The political history of Lagos and its development as the first national capital set it apart. Lagos is Nigeria’s metropolis. There are ethnic Igbo people whose entire lives have been spent in Lagos, who have little or no ties to the southeast, who speak Yoruba better than Igbo. Should they, too, be reminded to be ‘grateful’ each time an election draws near?

No law-abiding Nigerian should be expected to show gratitude for living peacefully in any part of Nigeria. Landlords in Lagos should not, as still happens too often, be able to refuse to rent their property to Igbo people.

The Oba’s words were disturbing, but its context is even more disturbing:

The anti-Igbo rhetoric that has been part of the political discourse since the presidential election results. Accusatory and derogatory language – using words like ‘brainwashed,’ ‘tribalistic voting’ – has been used to describe President Jonathan’s overwhelming win in the southeast. All democracies have regions that vote in large numbers for one side, and even though parts of Northern Nigeria showed voting patterns similar to the Southeast, the opprobrium has been reserved for the Southeast.

But the rhetoric is about more than mere voting. It is really about citizenship. To be so entitled as to question the legitimacy of a people’s choice in a democratic election is not only a sign of disrespect but is also a questioning of the full citizenship of those people.

What does it mean to be a Nigerian citizen?

When Igbo people are urged to be ‘grateful’ for being in Lagos, do they somehow have less of a right as citizens to live where they live? Every Nigerian should be able to live in any part of Nigeria. The only expectation for a Nigerian citizen living in any part of Nigeria is to be law-abiding. Not to be ‘grateful.’ Not to be expected to pay back some sort of unspoken favour by toeing a particular political line. Nigerian citizens can vote for whomever they choose, and should never be expected to justify or apologize for their choice.

Only by feeling a collective sense of ownership of Nigeria can we start to forge a nation. A nation is an idea. Nigeria is still in progress. To make this a nation, we must collectively agree on what citizenship means: all Nigerians must matter equally.

30 year old man volunters for first ever head transplant.

In one of our earlier posts, Doctors Quarter's Blog brought to you the report of an Italian scientist that is set to announce plans and schedules of first ever HEAD TRANSPLANT. Now, a 30 year old Russian is to be the first to undergo the procedure.

Dr. Sergio Canavero, of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group (TANG) in Italy, first spoke of his plans to carry out the first human head transplantation in July 2013 - a project named HEAVEN-GEMINI.

At the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopedic Surgeons' 39th Annual Conference in Annapolis, MD, in June, Dr. Canavero will present updated plans for the project, addressing some of the previously identified challenges that come with it.

Though researchers have seriously questioned the feasibility of Dr. Canavero's plans, it seems the first human head transplantation is a step closer to becoming a reality; Valery Spiridonov, a 30-year-old computer scientist from Vladimir, Russia, is the first person to volunteer for the procedure.

Spiridonov has Werdnig-Hoffman disease - a rare genetic muscle wasting condition, also referred to as type 1 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The condition is caused by the loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord and the brain region connected to the spinal cord. Individuals with the disease are unable to walk and are often unable to sit unaided.

Spiridonov was diagnosed with Werdnig-Hoffman disease at the age of 1 and told MailOnline that he volunteered for HEAVEN-GEMINI because he wants the chance of a new body before he dies.

'"I can hardly control my body now," he said. "I need help every day, every minute. I am now 30 years old, although people rarely live to more than 20 with this disease."

The procedure - which is estimated to take 100 surgeons around 36 hours to complete - will involve spinal cord fusion (SCF). The head from a donor body will be removed using an "ultra-sharp blade" in order to limit the amount of damage the spinal cord sustains.

"The key to SCF is a sharp severance of the cords themselves," Dr. Canavero explains in a paper published earlier this year, "with its attendant minimal damage to both the axons in the white matter and the neurons in the gray laminae. This is a key point."

The recipient will be kept in a coma for around 3-4 weeks, says Dr. Canavero, during which time the spinal cord will be subject to electrical stimulation via implanted electrodes in order to boost the new nerve connections.

The surgeon estimates that - with the help of physical therapy - the patient would be able to walk within 1 year.

Spiridonov admits he is worried about undergoing the procedure. "Am I afraid? Yes, of course I am," he toldMailOnline. "But it is not just very scary, but also very interesting."

"You have to understand that I don't really have many choices," he added. "If I don't try this chance my fate will be very sad. With every year my state is getting worse."

Written by Honor Whitman on MNT.

New low-temperature plasma treatment for prostate cancer developed.

Researchers from the University of York in the UK have discovered a potential new treatment option for patients with early-stage prostate cancer - low-temperature plasmas.

The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, seeks to address the current inadequacy of long-term treatment forprostate cancer, despite the continual improvements that have been made to methods of treatment in recent years.

At present, patients who develop early stage organ-confined tumors can be treated with a focal therapy, such as cryotherapy or radiotherapy.

"However, around a third of patients will experience recurrence of their disease following radiotherapy," explains study co-author Adam Hirst. "This may be due to the inherent radio-resistance of a small fraction of the tumor - the cancerstem-like cells. Furthermore, numerous side effects are often experienced following treatment."

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), prostate cancer is the second-most common cancer in American men and the second leading cause of cancer death among this group. Around 1 in 7 will be diagnosed with the disease during their lifetime, at an average age of 66.

"In recent years, the rapidly advancing field of low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasmas has shown considerable promise for future translational biomedical applications," write the study authors, "including cancer therapy, through the generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species."

Low-temperature plasmas are formed when a high electric field is applied across a gas via an electrode, breaking down the gas. As the plasma is formed, a unique reactive environment is formed that contains high concentrations of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species.

The plasmas are subsequently used to transfer reactive oxygen and nitrogen species to a target, leading to oxidative damage and cell death that differs from the kind caused by other forms of therapy.

While other therapies cause apoptosis, prompting cells to die through natural mechanisms that cells can eventually become resistant to, low-temperature plasma breaks up cells and causes necrosis. In necrosis, cell death occurs through the rupturing of cell membranes.

Low-temperature plasma therapy could be a viable, more cost-effective treatment option

The researchers used tissue samples from a single patient in order to take both healthy prostate cells and prostate cancer cells, allowing for a direct comparison of the effectiveness of the treatment.

"Through this research we have found that [low-temperature plasmas] induce high levels of DNA damage, which led in turn to a substantial reduction in colony-forming ability, and ultimately necrotic cell death," states Hirst.

As well as being effective at killing cancer cells, the use of low-temperature plasmas could also be a more cost-effective way of treating organ-confined prostate cancer in comparison with current forms of radiotherapy and photodynamic therapy.

"Using clinically relevant, close-to-patient samples, we have presented the first experimental evidence promoting the potential of [low-temperature plasma] as a future focal cancer therapy treatment for patients with early stage prostate cancer," Hirst concludes.

The researchers will now look at testing the application of low-temperature plasmas on three-dimensional replica tumors in order to assess the precision of plasma application.

"We believe that with appropriate imaging techniques to facilitate accurate tumor targeting and spare normal tissues, the multifaceted action of [low-temperature plasma] will provide advantages over other focal therapies," state the authors.

The team estimates that if all trials are successful, low-temperature plasma could be used to treat cancer patients in 15 years time.

Recently, Medical News Today reported on a study in which an international consortium of scientists reveals the genetic root of prostate cancers in individual men. Their discovery demonstrates that tumors share common gene faults that could offer new targets for treatment.

Source: Medical Institutions

Sunday, 12 April 2015

Erectile Dysfunction Drug, Viagra; Effectiveness, Uses, Side-effects.

Reuters Health) - Viagra is the most effective treatment for erectile dysfunction, but it also has a higher rate of side effects than other options, according to an analysis of more than 150 trials.

Viagra is known generically as sildenafil. Men concerned about possible side effects of Viagra like headaches, flushing, indigestion and nasal congestion may want to start on Cialis, which is known generically as tadalafil, researchers report in European Urology. If that’s not effective, men in some countries can try Zydena (udenafil).

Implement National Health Bill - MDCAN Tells Buhari

Steven Oluwole

President of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association (MDCAN), Steven Oluwole has advised president Elect to undertake a comprehensive reform of the political structure of the country from the Presidency down to all tiers of government. Oluwole, gave the advice while speaking on the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly Elections.

MDCAN also urged the President-elect to bring his tested integrity to bear by sticking to, and implementing his campaign promises on corruption, security and revamping the economy. He said, “The phenomenon of the campaign, which centered on the tested integrity of the President-Elect, should not be political device to win election, but the very instrument to govern, and truly reform the culture of ‘government money in government house’, graft, reckless spending, and impunity of public office holders.while speaking on the just concluded presidential/Senate election.

“The political capital gained by the APC-led government should transform the landscape and curb the rot only known in Nigeria, where senators’ annual take-home pay exceed that of the President of the USA. Governors’ security votes, which make mockery of sanity, should be streamlined to reality.

“There must be complete reform from the Presidency to all tiers of government. A fleet of 11 Aircrafts for Nigerian President, if indeed true, is inexplicable and outrageous when the President of the USA officially has one, and the Prime Minister of UK has none. The outragous allocations for meals, diesel and sundries should be scrapped, when the President of the USA pays for his meals.”Oluwole also advised the incoming Buhari led- government not to change in totality all the policies put in place by outgoing government . According to him: “Change must not be wholesale rejection of the past and present.

“ There must be systematic appraisal of the entire system, which should lead to retention of the good, upgrade of the deficient, and replacement of the repugnant.”

He, however cautioned the Buhari government to resist the idea of privatizing tertiary health care in the country, as this according to him, will deprive the poor from assessing, affordable, qualitative and sophisticated health care services. “The questionable, and possibly ill-motivated, drive to privatise tertiary health care should be resisted. Teaching hospitals should not be converted to for-profit Institutions . “Such conversion will limit the number and category of patients that can receive teaching hospital services to those who have resources to pay.

“They will be robbed of their traditional values, and hindered from effective teaching, research, and development of medical services,” the MDCAN president reiterated.

While commenting on the recently concluded presidential elections, Oluwole said that the elections produced a seismic shift of the political structure and alignments. He, however, warned that the energy must be harnessed to drive development and progress rather than to drive extinction or annihilation of non-participating or dissenting tribes, ethnic groups, and members of discordant schools of thought.”

The outcome of the election says a lot about the vision and expectation of Nigerians for their country.

“The voting, which was for an ideal, was not a gift to a party to proceed on triumphal procession, but to get to work and fix a crumbling nation. The territorial integrity of the country, which did not disintegrate as predicted, must be preserved,” he noted.

Source: Vanguard News.

National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria Part 1 MCQ Screening Exams

Faculty Of Anaesthesia

The under listed candidates are eligible to continue with the other phase of the Examination as stated in the
Time Table.

	Names	Examination Number
1.	Agboola Ayodeji Gbenga	AF/001/12/001/577
2.	Emmanuel Ime	AF/001/13/009/596
3.	Udochu Ihunanya	AF/001/13/110/597
4.	Chime Michael Okwudili	AF/001/13/004/599
5.	Adedolapo Haruna Lasun	AF/001/14/002/641
6.	Egbukichi Benjamin Chisom	AF/001/14/006/654
7.	Azu Jude Chuks	AF/001/14/002/656
8.	Olayode Eniola Rebecca	AF/001/14/120/657
9.	Nwoko Innocent Ibeawuchi	AF/001/14/100/658
10.	Ugwu Euphemia Mgbosoro	AF/001/14/003/663
11.	Otegbeye Ajibola Uthman	AF/001/14/001/667
12.	Olowu Adebambo Olatunde	AF/001/14/002/668
13.	Madubuko Chukwuma Grant	AF/001/14/100/670
14.	Nwagwu Godson Umezirike	AF/001/14/110/672
15.	Ojediran Olubukola Sarah	AF/001/15/001/674
16.	Mohammed Mohammed Jika	AF/001/15/118/675
17.	Ali Hassan Maina	AF/001/15/118/676
18.	Ilesanmi Adedoyin Adunni	AF/001/15/001/677
19.	Opadola Olukayode Adedayo	AF/001/15/152/678
20.	Okafor Celestine Chukwuma	AF/001/15/004/679
21.	Okonkwo Azubuike Venatius	AF/001/15/152/680
22.	Muoghalu Christopher Chikaelo	AF/001/15/004/681
23.	Ilo Doris Ifeyinwa	AF/001/15/166/682
24.	Onyeoji Chinedu Paulinus	AF/001/15/006/683
25.	Yusuf Tijani Mustapha	AF/001/15/011/685
26.	Ngadi Benedict Odinaka	AF/001/15/001/686
27.	Akere Abimdemi David	AF/001/15/007/687
28.	Amlogu Peter Mopah	AF/001/15/152/688
29.	Awah Emmanuel Atemgweye	AF/001/15/009/689
30.	Egbulem Chinyere Ogechi T.	AF/001/15/100/690
31.	Ekwueme Amanna Chinedu	AF/001/15/009/691
32.	Eze Chukwuemeka Ejinkeonye	AF/001/15/002/692
33.	Fatoba Muyiwa Abayomi	AF/001/15/007/693

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Friday, 17 April 2015

SPONSORED POST: WHY ABIA GUBER WAS MESSED UP - By Franklin Fabiano Jnr