TOBI'S DESK

The price of tomato has crashed from N25,000 to N800 a basket. Few months ago, the price of the essential commodity skyrocketed following the spread of tuta absoluta also known as ‘tomato ebola’ in most of the states that plant and harvest Tomatoes in large quantities. As of this morning, a basket of Tomato in Kaduna sold for as low as N800.

In a circular released yesterday, Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, ordered the replacement of all striking resident doctors in the various government teaching hospitals. According to the minister, the striking doctors failed to attend their training programs despite ongoing negotiations and so their vacancies should be filled up with other doctors that have before now sent in their applications. However, after a meeting between resident doctors and other health sector stakeholders, organised by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara in Abuja on Tuesday, the leadership of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) agreed to suspend the strike. The Association’s leadership appealed to members to suspend the strike until they reconvene at their next meeting scheduled for July 14

While waiting for a human heart transplant, Stan Larkin lived 555 days without the organ at all. To passers-by, the 25-year-old Ypsilanti, Michigan, resident appeared to be a typical young adult. He enjoyed taking his three toddlers to the park and hanging out with his younger brother, Dominique. What wasn't obvious was that a gray backpack Larkin carried was what kept him alive. Inside that bag was the power source for an artificial heart pumping in his chest. Larkin's real heart was removed from his body in November 2014. It was replaced with a device that allowed Larkin to stay home instead of in a hospital while waiting to receive a transplant. It finally arrived this year, in May. Now, Larkin is recovering from his procedure at the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center. He is scheduled to return home as early as next week. "Most people would be scared to go so long with [an artificial heart], but I just want to tell them that you have to g...

When I first started breaking out from acne when I was 10 years old, my parents bought me all sorts of cosmetic products that promised to clear them away. Of course, nothing I used worked and by the time I became a teenager, I felt hopeless. I was made to believe that this was a natural part of growing up and that they would go away once my hormones balanced out. Only one part of that was actually true — once I stabilized my hormones, my skin would stop breaking out. However, it wasn’t going to do it on its own. I have family members who are in their late 20s and 30s who are still suffering from horrible acne breakouts, which disproves the idea that they will go away on their own. There are more people today suffering from pre-teen and adult acne than ever before and I can tell you right now that it isn’t natural which is why i will like to share what actually worked for me through the 5 easy step to how you can have that perfect clear skin that you have always wanted like i did min...

It was only a few weeks ago that the Labour bodies under the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) reached a compromise with the federal government regarding the removal of fuel subsidy – The National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD) is also warming up for a nationwide strike – The body of resident doctors vowed that the strike which will begin tomorrow, Thursday, June 9 will be indefinite Dr Muhammad Askira, president of the body of resident doctors made this known to journalists on Tuesday, June 7. The president of NARD stated that the decision to embark on a nationwide strike, was taken at the ordinary general meeting of the national executive council of the association, which was held between May 30 and June 5, at Jos, the capital of Plateau state, North-central Nigeria. Association of Resident Doctors carrying placards while holding a peaceful protest over non-payement of their salaries for several months      ...

 Read the press statement below... "In furtherance of its commitment to the criminal justice sector reforms and take the fight against crime to a greater level, the Lagos State Government on Tuesday announced that it has concluded plans to establish the first ever high-powered DNA Forensic Laboratory in Nigeria which will take off within the next six to twelve months. The lab, which would be called the Lagos State DNA Forensics Centre (LSDFC), when fully operational, would fulfill an unmet need for DNA profiling which is a unique forensic technique that is now being used all over the world. Addressing journalists at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre in Alausa on Tuesday, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, said the establishment of the centre was another eloquent testimony of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s sincerity and seriousness towards fighting all forms of criminality. Kazeem, who addressed the media alongside senior officials ...

Colombia says three people have died after contracting the Zika virus and developing a rare nerve disorder. Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria said there was a "causal connection" between Zika, the Guillain-Barre disorder and the three deaths. Earlier, Brazilian scientists said they had detected for the first time active samples of Zika in urine and saliva. However, it is not clear whether the virus can be transmitted through bodily fluids. Zika, a mosquito-borne disease, has been linked to cases of babies born in Brazil with microcephaly - underdeveloped brains. "We have confirmed and attributed three deaths to Zika," said the head of Colombia's National Health Institute, Martha Lucia Ospina. "In this case, the three deaths were preceded by Guillain-Barre syndrome." Guillain-Barre is a rare disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the nervous system. It isn't normally fatal. Ms Ospina said another six deaths ...

An Indian pharmaceutical firm claims that it has developed the world’s first vaccine against mosquito-borne Zika virus, the News Agency of Nigeria has reported. The Head of the Biotech International Limited, Dr. Krishna Ella, said at a news conference that it had already filed for a patient for the Zika vaccine. “On Zika, we are probably the first vaccine company in the world to file a vaccine candidate patient about nine months ago,” he said. Ella said the firm, which is based in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh’s capital Hyderabad, had sought the Indian government’s help for carrying out human and animal trials for the two candidate vaccines, which have been developed by its scientists, using a live Zika virus. The claims came a day after the World Health Organisation said that the Zika virus poses a global public health emergency requiring a united response. The virus has been linked to cases of microce...

rare case of the Zika virus being transmitted through sex, not a mosquito bite, has been reported in the US. A patient infected in Dallas, Texas, is likely to have been infected by sexual contact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) told the BBC. The person had not travelled to infected areas but their partner had returned from Venezuela. Zika is carried by mosquitoes and has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains. It is spreading through the Americas and the World Health Organization has declared the virus a global public health emergency. The American Red Cross has meanwhile urged prospective blood donors returning from Zika-hit countries to wait at least 28 days before donating their blood. The "self-deferral" should apply to people returning from Mexico, the Caribbean or Central or South America during the past four weeks, the Red Cross said in a statement. In another development, two cases of the Zika virus have been...

The World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the explosive spread of the Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects in the Americas, calling it an “extraordinary event” that poses a public health threat to other parts of the world. The U.N. agency took the rare step despite a lack of definitive evidence proving the mosquito-borne virus is causing a surge in babies born with brain defects and abnormally small heads in Brazil and following a 2013-14 outbreak in French Polynesia. Monday’s emergency meeting of independent experts was called in response to the spike in babies born with microcephaly in Brazil since the virus was first found there last year. Officials in French Polynesia also documented a connection between Zika and neurological complications when the virus was spreading there two years ago, at the same time as dengue fever. “After a review of the evidence, the committee advised that the clusters of microcephaly and other neurological com...

A diet low in fiber and high in saturated fat and sugar is associated with lighter, less restorative sleep with more arousals, a new study has found. The researchers suggest that adjusting diet to include more fiber and less saturated fat and sugar may be useful in the management of sleep disorders. "Our message is that a diet high in fiber and low in saturated fat and sugar is associated with better sleep patterns. For a good night's sleep we recommend increasing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and eating less processed foods. That is a healthy diet in many other ways too particularly in terms of cardiovascular risk, so this is another reason to eat the right things." The researchers did not study the mechanism behind these effects, but Dr St-Onge suggested that it could involve effects on circadian systems. "High carbohydrate intake delays circadian rhythms and reduces melatonin secretion, which would delay sleep onset. Hormones also come into play, as ...

More than 1 million people in Russia are HIV-positive, official says Russia's AIDS epidemic is at a dangerous tipping point after the number of people registered HIV-positive passed the 1 million mark, the country's top AIDS specialist said on Thursday, warning the rate of infection had reached record levels. Vadim Pokrovsky, the head of the federal AIDS center, told Reuters that the prevalence of the disease was on the verge of becoming common throughout the population, instead of concentrated primarily within a certain group. Almost 20 percent of the country's drug users and nearly 10 percent of the country's gay people were HIV-positive, he said. Between 55 and 60 percent of cases are linked to drug use and around 40 percent to heterosexual sex. Gay sex accounted for only about 1.5 percent. Russia registered its millionth HIV-positive patient - a 26-year-old woman in the south of the country — on Wednesday, said Pokrovsky. But he added the real number of H...

Centers For Disesase Control and Prevention (CDC ) has issued a travel alert (Level 2-Practice Enhanced Precautions) for people traveling to regions and certain countries where Zika virus transmission is ongoing: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This alert follows reports in Brazil of microcephaly and other poor pregnancy outcomes in babies of mothers who were infected with Zika virus while pregnant. However, additional studies are needed to further characterize this relationship. More studies are planned to learn more about the risks of Zika virus infection during pregnancy. Until more is known, and out of an abundance of caution, CDC recommends special precautions for pregnant women and women trying to become pregnant: Pregnant women in any trimester should consider postponing travel to the areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing. ...

A medical Doctor, Ehivai Njamala died from the deadly viral disease, Lassa Fever in Rivers state today January 14th. The disease, which is fast growing into an epidemic in Nigeria, killed the doctor who is resident at the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH), Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital. According to the Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in the state, Dr. Duro Green, the deceased contracted the disease while treating some patients with the virus at the Disease Control unit in the hospital. Dr Njamala will be the third person to have died from the viral disease since it broke out in the state in December 2015. Lassa fever is a deadly viral disease that is spread by infected rats. Its spread can be stopped by keeping a rodent-free environment and maintaining proper hygiene.

CCTV footage has emerged of a Russian hospital doctor punching a patient who collapsed and later died. The incident took place in the city of Belgorod, 670km (440 miles) south of the capital, Moscow, on 29 December. The patient had earlier kicked a nurse, after which the doctor punched him in the head, Russian media reported. Investigators think it was a case of "involuntary manslaughter", one official told Russian TV, but have launched a criminal case. The story went viral after the CCTV footage came to light. Yelena Kozyreva from the local investigations committee said they believed there was no malicious intent in the doctor's actions. Relatives identified the patient as Yevgeniy Bakhtin, 56, a resident of Belgorod, LifeNews TV reported. The doctor has been named as Ilya Zelendinov, according to the privately owned channel Ren TV.