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News_Naija
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News_Naija
2027: Marks ADC Plots Atikus Candidacy Kachikwu
~3.1 mins read
The African Democratic Congress 2023 presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu, said the faction of the party led by former Senate President David Mark was deliberately structured to produce former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the 2027 presidential flag bearer. Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Kachikwu said the group told him during their meeting that their main interest was reclaiming power. He dared the coalition leaders to prove him wrong by publicly declaring that the 2027 presidential ticket would be zoned to the South. Dumebi stated, “it’s a coalition that has been designed and engineered to produce Atiku Abubakar as its flag bearer, and that is an absolute truth.” President Tinubu’s government has posted a blend of successes and setbacks across different sectors, yet opposition politicians from multiple parties still dismiss the All ProgressivesCongress-led administration as a failure. To forge a stronger front for the 2027 elections, prominent opposition figures announced a fresh political coalition in Abuja on 20 March, a move that triggered national debate over the prospects of a united opposition. Following prolonged negotiations, Labour Party flag-bearer Peter Obi, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, ex-Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai, former Rivers governor Rotimi Amaechi and others converged in Abuja on Wednesday to present the ADC as the coalition’s platform. Although most of these political heavyweights have yet to take up formal ADC membership, they publicly pledged loyalty to the party, which is now under interim leadership—David Mark as national chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as national secretary—after Ralph Nwosu and others stepped down. In a swift reaction, the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu, issued a statement on Wednesday accusing Atiku, Obi and their allies of hijacking the party and lacking the capacity to lead it. Narrating his encounter with the coalition leaders, he stated, “Late last year they approached me concerning this coalition. Eventually, early this year, I agreed to have a meeting with them; a close friend of mine persuaded me to go for a meeting and hear these people out. “I went for this meeting that had former ministers, former highly placed person in the last the last government, and they presented their case to me: the need for a coalition. Everything they said was about Bola Ahmed Tinubu and how his government has destroyed Nigeria. “But I had only one question, because in opposition, you have only one ambition: for you to be the ruling party. So, for us as a party, our plan is how, in the next election, we can win the elections, or we can ensure that we have more people from the party emerge in various offices across the country. “So, if somebody wants to speak about coalition and how to achieve this, we are willing to listen.” Dumebi urged the Mark-led ADC to promptly clarify the party’s stance on the power rotation between the South and the North. The ADC 2023 candidate continued, “But I had one question, and my question was this: seeing that we just finished eight years of President Buhari and that President Tinubu is in his first term, and that you people here, you old politicians that practice a politics of north and south, of regions, do you agree and accept that, if there is a coalition, the south is in its first term and that the south will produce the flag bearer of this coalition? And the response—not considered, immediate response—was, We are taking our power back. “Now imagine my situation as someone who was the presidential flag bearer of a party that came fifth in the last elections. You are saying to me that I cannot aspire to office, that I should foreclose my ambition, that because I happen to be from the south of Nigeria and that there is a presumed majority from the north of Nigeria, that you will take your power back. “So that’s a question for me, and that was an absolute no-no for me, and that ended every talk about coalition, because it was very clear that the coalition was engineered to produce Atiku Abubakar as its flag bearer. “Now, I still say this today: I’m throwing this challenge to this coalition today, to make a pronouncement today that the flag bearer of this coalition will be someone from the southern part of Nigeria so that the second term of the southerners will be finished. Make that statement a categorical statement and we’ll admit you through the front door and say that there is a conversation to be had.”
Read more stories like this on punchng.com
Healthwatch
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Healthwatch
Two Jobs May Lower The Odds Of Dying From Alzheimer's Disease But Why?
~5.0 mins read
Driving a taxi or ambulance may help ward off the most common type of dementia.
Taxi and ambulance drivers were much less likely to die an AD-related death than people in other occupations. AD accounted for 0.91% of deaths of taxi drivers and 1.03% of deaths of ambulance drivers. Among chief executives, AD accounted for 1.82% of deaths, which is close to the average for the general population. While these differences may seem small, they translate to more than 40% fewer deaths related to Alzheimer's among taxi and ambulance drivers.
This benefit did not seem to extend to others with jobs involving navigation. For example, aircraft pilots (2.34%) and ship captains (2.12%) had some of the highest rates of death due to AD. Bus drivers (1.65%) were closer to the population average but still not nearly as low as taxi and ambulance drivers.
Other types of dementia did not follow this pattern. Rates of death due to dementia other than AD were not lower among taxi and ambulance drivers.
Information on death certificates. Researchers in this study used "usual occupation at the time of death" as provided by a survivor presumed to know that information. But that might not be accurate. And many people have more than one job over the course of their lives.
Self-selection. Perhaps people who are prone to AD find navigation more challenging than others, and so tend to avoid these occupations. Similarly, it's possible that people who are less prone to AD tend to have better navigational skills and are more likely to pursue jobs for which that's an advantage. In this way, self-selection, rather than the occupation itself, could have contributed to the study's results.
Confounders. The study's findings could be due to factors other than those assessed by the study (confounders). For example, it's possible that people whose lifelong occupation is driving a taxi or ambulance are less likely than others to smoke. Since smoking is a risk factor for AD, the lower rate of smoking, rather than the occupation, could contribute to fewer AD-related deaths among these drivers.
Chance. The findings could be due to chance, especially because there were just 10 AD-related deaths among taxi drivers. Even a small number of overlooked deaths due to AD could sway the results.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating disease. Despite decades of research, science has not pinned down causes or discovered highly effective treatments. And while a healthy diet, regular exercise, and other measures can help people slow or avoid AD, we badly need more routes for preventing it.
That's why a new study is so intriguing — and potentially game-changing. Researchers have found that the risk of death due to AD is markedly lower in taxi and ambulance drivers compared with hundreds of other occupations. And the reason could be that these drivers develop structural changes in their brains as they work.
Drawing a connection between Alzheimer's disease and work
In the past two decades, small studies demonstrated that London taxi drivers tend to have an enlargement in one area of the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved with developing spatial memory. Interestingly, that part of the brain is one area that's commonly damaged by AD.
These observations led to speculation that taxi drivers might be less prone to AD than people with jobs that don't require similar navigation and spatial processing skills.
A recent study explores this possibility by analyzing data from nearly nine million people who died over a three-year period and had occupation information on their death certificates. After accounting for age of death, researchers tallied Alzheimer's-related death rates for more than 443 different jobs. The results were dramatic.
What did the study find?
Why would driving a taxi or ambulance affect the risk of AD-related death?
One possible explanation is that jobs requiring frequent real-time spatial and navigational skills change both structure and function in the hippocampus. If these jobs help keep the hippocampus healthy, that could explain why AD-related deaths — but not deaths due to other types of dementia — are lower in taxi and ambulance drivers. It could also explain the older studies that found enlargement in parts of the hippocampus in people with these jobs.
And why aren't bus drivers, pilots, and ship captains similarly protected? The study authors suggest these other jobs involve predetermined routes with less real-time navigational demands. Thus, they may not change the hippocampus as much.
What are the limitations of this study?
A single research study is rarely definitive, especially an observational study like this one. Observational studies can only identify a relationship — not establish a firm cause — between a protective factor and a condition like AD. There could be other explanations for the findings. For example:
And even if driving a taxi or ambulance could lower your risk of AD-related death, what's the impact of GPS technology now in widespread use? If these jobs now require less navigational demand due to GPS, will the protective effect of these jobs evaporate?
How might this new study help you reduce your risk of AD?
You might wonder if these findings can be applied to anyone who wants to lower their risk of AD. For example, could outdoor treasure-hunting activities that require complex navigational skills, such as orienteering and geocaching, help stave off AD? At least one small study found that orienteering experts had better spatial memory than orienteering novices.
Could puzzles, video games, or even board games designed to build spatial skills reduce the risk of AD? Think Rubik's Cubes and jigsaw puzzles, Minecraft and Tetris, chess and Labyrinth. A round of Battleship, anyone? And if these activities are actually helpful, how often would you need to play?
I look forward to the results of studies exploring these questions. Until then, it's best to rely on experts' recommendations to reduce your risk of AD, including high-quality sleep, diet, and regular exercise.
The bottom line
I find this new research about taxi and ambulance drivers having lower rates of AD-related death fascinating. Considering how often we hear about the risks of certain jobs, it's encouraging to hear about occupations that might actually protect you from disease.
If confirmed by other research, the results of this study could lead to a better understanding of Alzheimer's disease — and, more importantly, how to prevent it.
profile/5170OIG3.jpeg.webp
Healthwatch
Two Jobs May Lower The Odds Of Dying From Alzheimer's Disease But Why?
~5.0 mins read
Driving a taxi or ambulance may help ward off the most common type of dementia.
Taxi and ambulance drivers were much less likely to die an AD-related death than people in other occupations. AD accounted for 0.91% of deaths of taxi drivers and 1.03% of deaths of ambulance drivers. Among chief executives, AD accounted for 1.82% of deaths, which is close to the average for the general population. While these differences may seem small, they translate to more than 40% fewer deaths related to Alzheimer's among taxi and ambulance drivers.
This benefit did not seem to extend to others with jobs involving navigation. For example, aircraft pilots (2.34%) and ship captains (2.12%) had some of the highest rates of death due to AD. Bus drivers (1.65%) were closer to the population average but still not nearly as low as taxi and ambulance drivers.
Other types of dementia did not follow this pattern. Rates of death due to dementia other than AD were not lower among taxi and ambulance drivers.
Information on death certificates. Researchers in this study used "usual occupation at the time of death" as provided by a survivor presumed to know that information. But that might not be accurate. And many people have more than one job over the course of their lives.
Self-selection. Perhaps people who are prone to AD find navigation more challenging than others, and so tend to avoid these occupations. Similarly, it's possible that people who are less prone to AD tend to have better navigational skills and are more likely to pursue jobs for which that's an advantage. In this way, self-selection, rather than the occupation itself, could have contributed to the study's results.
Confounders. The study's findings could be due to factors other than those assessed by the study (confounders). For example, it's possible that people whose lifelong occupation is driving a taxi or ambulance are less likely than others to smoke. Since smoking is a risk factor for AD, the lower rate of smoking, rather than the occupation, could contribute to fewer AD-related deaths among these drivers.
Chance. The findings could be due to chance, especially because there were just 10 AD-related deaths among taxi drivers. Even a small number of overlooked deaths due to AD could sway the results.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating disease. Despite decades of research, science has not pinned down causes or discovered highly effective treatments. And while a healthy diet, regular exercise, and other measures can help people slow or avoid AD, we badly need more routes for preventing it.
That's why a new study is so intriguing — and potentially game-changing. Researchers have found that the risk of death due to AD is markedly lower in taxi and ambulance drivers compared with hundreds of other occupations. And the reason could be that these drivers develop structural changes in their brains as they work.
Drawing a connection between Alzheimer's disease and work
In the past two decades, small studies demonstrated that London taxi drivers tend to have an enlargement in one area of the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved with developing spatial memory. Interestingly, that part of the brain is one area that's commonly damaged by AD.
These observations led to speculation that taxi drivers might be less prone to AD than people with jobs that don't require similar navigation and spatial processing skills.
A recent study explores this possibility by analyzing data from nearly nine million people who died over a three-year period and had occupation information on their death certificates. After accounting for age of death, researchers tallied Alzheimer's-related death rates for more than 443 different jobs. The results were dramatic.
What did the study find?
Why would driving a taxi or ambulance affect the risk of AD-related death?
One possible explanation is that jobs requiring frequent real-time spatial and navigational skills change both structure and function in the hippocampus. If these jobs help keep the hippocampus healthy, that could explain why AD-related deaths — but not deaths due to other types of dementia — are lower in taxi and ambulance drivers. It could also explain the older studies that found enlargement in parts of the hippocampus in people with these jobs.
And why aren't bus drivers, pilots, and ship captains similarly protected? The study authors suggest these other jobs involve predetermined routes with less real-time navigational demands. Thus, they may not change the hippocampus as much.
What are the limitations of this study?
A single research study is rarely definitive, especially an observational study like this one. Observational studies can only identify a relationship — not establish a firm cause — between a protective factor and a condition like AD. There could be other explanations for the findings. For example:
And even if driving a taxi or ambulance could lower your risk of AD-related death, what's the impact of GPS technology now in widespread use? If these jobs now require less navigational demand due to GPS, will the protective effect of these jobs evaporate?
How might this new study help you reduce your risk of AD?
You might wonder if these findings can be applied to anyone who wants to lower their risk of AD. For example, could outdoor treasure-hunting activities that require complex navigational skills, such as orienteering and geocaching, help stave off AD? At least one small study found that orienteering experts had better spatial memory than orienteering novices.
Could puzzles, video games, or even board games designed to build spatial skills reduce the risk of AD? Think Rubik's Cubes and jigsaw puzzles, Minecraft and Tetris, chess and Labyrinth. A round of Battleship, anyone? And if these activities are actually helpful, how often would you need to play?
I look forward to the results of studies exploring these questions. Until then, it's best to rely on experts' recommendations to reduce your risk of AD, including high-quality sleep, diet, and regular exercise.
The bottom line
I find this new research about taxi and ambulance drivers having lower rates of AD-related death fascinating. Considering how often we hear about the risks of certain jobs, it's encouraging to hear about occupations that might actually protect you from disease.
If confirmed by other research, the results of this study could lead to a better understanding of Alzheimer's disease — and, more importantly, how to prevent it.
Worldnews
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Worldnews
Whats In Trumps Ceasefire Proposal And Can It End Israels War On Gaza?
~3.8 mins read
Discussions over a ceasefire are intensifying as Israel kills more Palestinians, sowing doubts that a deal can happen. Discussions of a ceasefire in Gaza have picked up in recent days. United States President Donald Trump said last week that Israel agreed to the conditions for a 60-day ceasefire, and negotiators could meet to carve out a path to finally ending Israel’s nearly 21-month-long war on Gaza. Hamas said it delivered a “positive response” to mediators, with amendments, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the Palestinian group’s asks “unacceptable” but sent negotiators to the Qatari capital, Doha, for talks nonetheless. Netanyahu is set to visit Washington, DC, on Monday, where reports say Trump would like a deal. “There could be a Gaza deal next week,” Trump told reporters on Saturday, adding that he had not been briefed yet about Hamas’s counterproposal but that it was “good” that they had responded. Here’s all you need to know: According to reports, there are three main demands: At least 743 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid at GHF sites in Gaza in recent weeks. In late June, the Haaretz newspaper reported that Israeli soldiers were deliberately ordered to fire on unarmed people waiting for food. Humanitarians have repeatedly said they are able to distribute aid and food to Palestinians in Gaza and have criticised the GHF for furthering Israel’s political agenda. “It makes aid conditional on political and military aims,” Tom Fletcher, the United Nations chief humanitarian, said in May. “It makes starvation a bargaining chip. It is a cynical sideshow … A fig leaf for further violence and displacement.” Hamas wants the Israeli military to withdraw to the positions it held before it violated the ceasefire in March of this year. In May, the Israeli military began extensive new ground operations in Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians, to take “operational control” of large swaths of the Strip. The Israeli military had already created the Netzarim Corridor, which splits the Gaza Strip into northern and southern sectors, soon after launching the war, and in April, Netanyahu announced the creation of the Morag Corridor in the southern Gaza Strip. In March, Israel unilaterally broke a ceasefire that had been agreed in January, despite the conditions for the ceasefire being upheld by the Palestinian side. This time, Hamas and other Palestinian groups want international assurances that this will not be repeated. Hamas reportedly wants a US guarantee that Israeli air attacks and ground operations, which have killed thousands of Palestinians, will not resume even if the ceasefire ends without a permanent end to the war. There is reportedly a key focus on the remaining Israeli captives in Gaza. The plan is to release 10 living Israeli captives held by Hamas and the bodies of 18 others in exchange for Palestinians lodged in Israeli prisons. The release would be staggered over a number of days. Fifty captives are still in Gaza, with about 20 reportedly alive. On the question of aid, the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross would contribute to distributing sufficient quantities to Palestinians. Lastly, it calls for phased pull-outs of Israeli troops from parts of Gaza. Netanyahu reportedly agreed to the original US proposal but has called Hamas’s amendments “unacceptable”. He has said he will not end the war until all captives are released and Hamas is “destroyed”. The latter goal has been called impossible by many analysts and is believed to be an open-ended political objective for Netanyahu to continue the war as long as he believes it will serve his personal interests. Netanyahu is on trial for corruption and is still widely blamed in Israeli society for the security failures that led to Hamas’s Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, 2023, during which 1,139 people died in Israel and about 250 were taken captive. Analysts believe Netanyahu wants to continue the retaliatory war on Gaza until he can gain enough political leverage to dismiss the cases against him and build enough popular support to remain the leader of Israel. Netanyahu’s war has been supported by his far-right ministers, particularly Itamar Ben Gvir, minister of national security, and Bezalel Smotrich, the minister of finance. They want Israel’s military operations to be intensified to kill more Palestinians and to stop providing any aid to the besieged and starving people in Gaza. Israel is still launching deadly attacks on Gaza, with at least 138 Palestinians killed in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, bulldozers are demolishing homes, and Israel has killed more than 1,000 people since October 7, 2023. People in the West Bank are also suffering recurring attacks by Israeli soldiers and armed settlers from illegal settlements, as well as severe limitations on movement and access to livelihoods. Trump appears keen on reaching one, and Palestinians in Gaza are desperate for the Israeli attacks to cease. However, one major roadblock remains. “Israel and Netanyahu are not interested in reaching a ceasefire,” Adnan Hayajneh, professor of international relations at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera, adding that there is a “very slim chance” of a ceasefire. “What Israel wants is clear … a land without a people,” Hayajneh said. “So Palestinians are given three choices … starve to death … get killed … [or] leave the land, but Palestinians have so far proven they will not leave the land, no matter what.” Follow Al Jazeera English:...
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