Ebola Doctors Are Divided on IV Therapy in Africa

Medical experts seeking to stem the Ebola epidemic are sharply divided over whether most patients in West Africa should, or can, be given intravenous hydration, a therapy that is standard in developed countries. Some argue that more aggressive treatment with IV fluids is medically possible and a moral obligation. But others counsel caution, saying that pushing too hard would put overworked doctors and nurses in danger and that the treatment, if given carelessly, could even kill patients.
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Partners in Health, using the French initials for Doctors Without Borders, whose staff members have worked on the front lines of Ebola outbreaks for years. “What if the fatality rate isn’t the virulence of disease but the mediocrity of the medical delivery?”

Doctors Without Borders representatives strongly disagreed, saying that Dr. Farmer’s assumptions about Ebola were incorrect, that intensive rehydration would probably not save as many patients as he believes, and that the W.H.O.’s position has not been proved.

The group’s overwhelmed doctors do what they can, officials said, but it is hard to insert needles while wearing three pairs of gloves and foggy goggles. IVs must be monitored, drawing virus-laden blood for tests is dangerous, and patients yank needles out — sometimes in delirium, sometimes just to go to the toilet when no nurse is around.

Burial Boys of Ebola

God Bless these courageous men and healthcare workers ...some of whom have contracted ebola and died: Link
Another link about these health workers: Link

Honoring the Missing Schoolgirls

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and, by all means, let’s use it to celebrate the moms in our lives with flowers and brunches. But let’s also use the occasion to honor the girls still missing in Nigeria.

One way is a donation to support girls going to school around Africa through the Campaign for Female Education, Camfed.org; a $40 gift pays for a girl’s school uniform.

Another way to empower women is to support Edna Adan, an extraordinary Somali woman who has started her own maternity hospital, midwife training program and private university, saving lives, providing family planning and fighting female genital mutilation. AtEdnaHospital.org, a $50 donation pays for a safe hospital delivery.

Or there’s the Mothers’ Day Movement, mothersdaymovement.org, which is supporting a clean water initiative in Uganda. With access to water, some girls will no longer have to drop out of school to haul water.

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Spokane doctor brings first retina laser to Angola

It took two years of fundraising and a mountain of paperwork for Dr. Eric Guilielmo of Spokane Eye Clinic to install a retina laser at a hospital in Angola, a country located on the southwest shore of Africa. Many of the patients there suffer from retinal eye conditions and up until Dr. Guilielmo brought the disassembled laser to the country there was nothing available to save them from blindness.

Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975, and then spent the next 27 years engaged in a blood diamond funded civil war. President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has  been in power since 1975 and has been accused of corruption and of plundering the country’s oil wealth. According to Forbes, the people of Angola live off of $2 a day while President dos Santos has secured a $3 billion fortune for his daughter through questionable government funded business deals.
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Photos that Bear Witness to Modern Slavery

Slavery has come back into our sphere of attention with "Twelve Years a Slave." Lisa Kristine poignantly (and painfully) brings attention to modern day slavery in this Ted Talk. It will take 30 minutes of your time to view and in my view will be very worthwhile.
UvealBlues

For the past two years, photographer Lisa Kristine has traveled the world, documenting the unbearably harsh realities of modern-day slavery. She shares hauntingly beautiful images — miners in the Congo, brick layers in Nepal — illuminating the plight of the 27 million souls enslaved worldwide. (Filmed at TEDxMaui)
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3D Printing Low-Cost Prosthetics Parts in Uganda

Researchers at the University of Toronto, in collaboration with Autodesk Research (Toronto, Ontario) and CBM Canada (Stouffville, Ontario) are employing 3D-printing techniques to produce cheap, fast, and easily customizable prosthetic sockets for use in the developing world. I was invited to check out the lab on behalf of Medgadget to get a better idea of what’s the latest in custom printed prosthetic devices.
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Ryan Schmidt: We first create a 3D scan of the limb using an Xbox Kinect. We can bring that digital limb into Autodesk Meshmixer, smooth out the rough scan mesh, and use it directly to design the socket. We create a molded “bucket” around the limb’s contours, and can use Meshmixer to quickly push and pull parts of the design to modify its shape. In the end, the model is sent to a 3D printer, which prints the socket in a few hours using PLA (poly lactic acid), a thermoplastic that is easily modifiable with heat. This method can make a typical socket for under $10;;

Medgadget: What benefits does this 3D printing method have over the traditional method?

Matt Ratto: The traditional method involves wrapping an amputated limb with a plastic mold to first create a negative cast. Once that dries, plaster is poured into the negative cast to make a positive cast, which serves as a representation of the actual limb. Finally, a socket is molded around the positive cast, and can be used upon curing.

Ryan Schmidt: The traditional method is very time-consuming, especially if iteration needs to be done. It’s a destructive process, so any modifications destroy the original molds, and that information is lost. The method we use with 3D printing allows for a quick scan to digitize the limb, simplifying the process. It allows for quick and non-destructive modifications.

3D scanning has become increasingly widespread, and the capabilities of 3D printers have been steadily improving. The missing piece now, and the novelty of Meshmixer, is the ability to deal with the data and models and link the scanning and fabrication.

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An Eye Phone to Fight Blindness

Did you know that 285 million people suffer from blindness or poor eyesight? More shocking: Many times, all they need is a pair of glasses or simple cataract surgery. The problem is that 90 percent of those affected live in developing countries that have only a handful of ophthalmologists, who often work in major cities and are impossible to reach from remote villages.

Andrew Bastawrous may have a solution. The 34-year-old ophthalmologist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine invented the Portable Eye Examination Kit, or PEEK, a mobile app and clip-on hardware that transforms a smartphone into a pocket-size optical clinic. He recently launched a pilot study involving 5,000 people in Nakuru, Kenya, which is scheduled to wrap up in March. Hoping to make PEEK available around the world, Bastawrous is also planning trials in Tanzania, Botswana and India.

In Nakuru, Bastawrous will compare PEEK’s photos to those taken by state-of-the-art hospital equipment that costs around $160,000 and requires a team of trained personnel to operate. In contrast, an eye specialist with minimal training can use PEEK — which costs only about $500 — to gather detailed information. The phone screen displays a simple vision test (expected to hit app stores next month) while the camera scans the eye for cataracts. Meanwhile, the camera’s flashlight can be used to check for glaucoma and other diseases. PEEK also stores contact information and GPS data for each patient, which can then be emailed to doctors. For now the app works only on Androids, but Bastawrous plans to make PEEK available across platforms.

Read more: Andrew Bastawrous's Visionary App | Rising Stars | OZY 
 

Here is a Link to an incredible photo documentary of the Serengeti Lion: Link
(Make sure you have some time when you go to this link ;)
Uvealblues

VAPOR ‘NANOBUBBLES’ DETECT MALARIA THROUGH SKIN

A noninvasive technology can accurately detect even low levels of malaria infection through the skin in seconds with a laser scanner that requires no dyes, diagnostic chemicals, or needles.

As reported in a preclinical study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the technology detected a single malaria-infected cell among a million normal cells with zero false-positive readings.

The technology uses a low-powered laser that creates tiny vapor “nanobubbles” inside malaria-infected cells. The bursting bubbles have a unique acoustic signature that allows for an extremely sensitive diagnosis
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Nelson Mandela and Freedom

Growing Up in a Kenyan Slum Taught Me the Real Value of Stuff

It was only after experiencing the abundance of stuff in the United States that Simon Okelo learned to value life with less, the way he grew up.
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Instead of being attracted by anything that is on sale, I find myself thinking how fortunate I am to be in a place where there are so many options. I also feel lucky that I am likely the only person from Manyatta in any Costco store in the world at that moment. Such reminders make me appreciate my purchases and use them sparingly, because I find joy in simplifying my lifestyle. I don’t aim to match the living standards in Manyatta or to live up to the expectations of society in Seattle—I actively practice being conscious about my choices.

Memories of my childhood help—like my neighbors enjoying a cup of water after a long wait, taking each sip as if it were the most delicious and expensive drink in the world. Like them, we could savor our possessions, share what we don’t need, and take pleasure from others’ enjoyment. Consuming just enough.

Africa’s Drinking Problem: Alcoholism on the Rise as Beverage Multinationals Circle Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/08/09/africas-drinking-problem-alcoholism-on-the-rise-as-beverage-multinationals-circle/#ixzz2biqHwY00

One of the things Sinkele finds most astonishing is that multinational companies are getting tax-breaks for selling beer to people on the breadline. While governments in the West are considering minimum pricing standards for alcohol, in nearly a dozen countries across Africa, amidst soaring food prices, governments are applying tax-breaks to booze, which, according to the World Health Organization, kills more people than AIDS or tuberculosis. ”It’s better assisted suicide,” Sinkele says.

In Kenya, multi-national beverage company Diageo’s second-best selling beer, Senator Keg, is served in 300 ml servings for 25 shillings (around 30 cents). The company, which reportedly controls a staggering 97% of the beer market, until June enjoyed a 100% tax exemption on Senator to keep it cheap. “This gave consumers a safer alternative to unregulated and bad quality brews which often lead to fatalities,” Diageo’s Group Corporate Relations Director Brenda Mbathi says. Sinkele says the new Government realized the tax break was nonsensical, which is why they rescinded it.

Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/08/09/africas-drinking-problem-alcoholism-on-the-rise-as-beverage-multinationals-circle/#ixzz2biqOf9Us

Mugabe Declared Winner in Zimbabwe; Opposition Leader Calls Result a 'Sham"

No surprise there...what a shame...how much longer can this go on?
Uvealblues
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Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa

Search giant Google is intending to build huge wireless networks across Africa and Asia, using high-altitude balloons and blimps.

The company is intending to finance, build and help operate networks from sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia, with the aim of connecting around a billion people to the web.

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A Beautiful Multimedia Newspaper Exposes Life In The World’s Largest Refugee Camp

The Dadaab Stories site gives you a window into daily life in the African camp, home to 500,000 Somali refugees. But it’s not Western filmmakers making sob stories: The site is reported by the refugees themselves.
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The 4 Ideas That Melinda Gates Thinks Are Changing The World

For the past three years, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has hosted TEDxChange, a TEDx event with the goal of spurring action around the ideas supported by the foundation. This year, host Melinda Gates introduced seven speakers-- a theologian talking about faith and family planning, and children featured in the film The Revolutionary Optimists--who all discussed topics related to the event’s theme of "positive disruption." We talked to her after the event to learn more about some of the things happening around the world that Gates considers to be most disruptive--in a good way.
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Docs channel MacGyver, turning iPhone into a microscope to diagnose parasites

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ORONTO - It's an accomplishment worthy of MacGyver.

Armed with only a mobile phone, some double-sided tape, a cheap ball lens and a flashlight, some doctors have jerry-rigged a microscope capable of diagnosing intestinal parasites in Tanzanian children.

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Infection rates can be particularly high in poor, remote regions of developing countries. Children afflicted by these worms can suffer from chronic anemia and malnutrition, which can stunt physical growth and mental development.

To look for the eggs that develop into these parasites, the scientists typically smear a small amount of stool on a glass slide, cover it with a second, and study the magnified image using a light microscope. Those cost about $200 and require electricity — which is not a constant in some settings.

So Bogoch and his colleagues affixed an $8 ball lens to the camera lens of an iPhone, using double-sided tape. They propped slides over a cheap flashlight and examined the magnified image with the adapted iPhone's camera.

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In Africa, food staple toxin debilitates kids

MICHIGAN STATE (US) — Poorly processed cassava, a food staple in much of sub-Saharan Africa, afflicts as many as tens of millions of children with konzo, a disease with devastating physical and cognitive effects.

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New Smaller, Cheaper PCR Machine for Disease Diagnosis in Remote Parts of The World

Back in 2006, researchers at Caltech created a relatively small and cheap PCR machine that was commercialized as the Eco device and sold for $13,000. This was a breakthrough, allowing public health professionals to screen people effectively during a viral epidemic like that experienced from H5N1 bird flu.
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The team hopes that the final version of the device will cost within $1000 and each test it performs will be around $5.

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Uganda rainfall linked to infant brain swelling

In Uganda, the number of infant infections that lead to hydrocephalus rises significantly before and after the country’s twice-a-year rainy seasons.
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