Tuesday, 15 September 2020
Wednesday, 17 June 2020
The Anatomy of Threat
This article is essentially not a specific health issue from a holistic point of view and view of the time/times, needs to be reflected upon. THE ANATOMY OF THREAT.The world war was sparked off by an innocuous diplomatic misunderstanding in which an English consular attachee was slapped by a German officer. The poor management of that storm in a tea cup eventually metamorphosed into a conflagration that would consume millions of people.Through ages and times, men have always resorted to.wars over simple issues bordering on sovereignty and land and water rights; even irrelevant issue as unimportant as acquisition of women. Though the history of wars has been even par excelsia and ecclesistic yet our rudimentary purview of wars were glimmered by the campaigns of the MedoPersian war chests and Odysses. Why do men in spite of the monumental waste of lives and properties resort to wars over issues that should end at the table; every war has always ended at the table with handshakes and liquor. Why do men fight, taking the beastly path of perdition instead of recognition of the fact that adrenaline remains the focus of wars and their genesis. History is replete with wars and even ones that God fought for the oppressed. The main focus of war causations remains greed which perniciously feeds an ego. The cave men lived a vagabond time of lifestyle and so maintained an itinerant habitus which meant that families tended to go from place to place in search of food, forage or fish. With dwindling resources New habitats were south for and dominated. This itinerant lifestyles exposed communities to skirmishes and so the need would arise to either fight or flee. When man settled in organized communities, the need arose to stratify and consolidate in these communities to ensure a social cohesion. To this end and as people dispersed from the Tower of Babel, they migrated to different parts of the world to found kingdoms, clans and countries. Following the voyages of discoveries and expeditions which enabled the early explorers to discover other worlds or comunities, the former started founding artificial states or countries. The most significant of such states was the ones squeezed into the Indian subcontinent. Such nations were also found in Africa such as Nigeria, Senegambia, Rhodesia etc. In Europe artificial nations also existed such as Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Prussia, Soviet union etc. As at the last count, these nations apart from Nigeria had since disintegrated into nations who have now come to enjoy massive growth in industries and commerce. It must however be emphasized that almost all of these countries saw war before accepting the corollary of the indisputability of wild goose chase of potentates muzzling the people for selfish reasons. Back tracking, it should not be lost to us that even Ashur Banipa, Salmanasor, Tiglatpillezzer and later Sennecherib all waged wars to keep and expand the Assyrian empire which only exist today in history's books. Later, Nebucchadnezzer II with Madok (Evil Merodach)who temporarily succeeded him before he was assassinated by his brother in law all waged wars to keep Babylon together. The Greeks fed on wars yet the Greek city states of Corsica, Sicily and Sadenia all to day exist as figments of the imagination though blood flowed and men lost lives and limbs to keep them. Women and children also bore the burdens of all these wars being the Canon Fudders. Following the arrival of the modern age and the birth of United Nations, the expeditions by nations and sovereigns to expand their empires were put in check. The anatomy of threat tries to x-ray the internity of threats as a harbinger of wars. Whether artificial or natural nations, the main custodian of the existence, persistence and and endurance of these nations is etched in the law of social contract. Jacques Jean Rousseau made it clear that for peace to reign in any nation, the law of social contract should remain the guiding principle for association of diverse elements constituting that nation. According to the treatise of these scholars, social contract remains the voluntary agreement among individuals by which, according to any of various theories, of Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau, organized society is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members. When the social contract is jettisoned on the alter of tribalism or bigotry a societal ferment sets in. According to Rousseau, government is by consent. By expansion, it means there must be a crite for appointing or selecting the peoples who should represent the electorates. It means the methodologies of selection or elections must conform to the rule of law. Threatening people to vote or not to vote like oba Akiolu did during the last governorship election in Lagos is an Achilles hill to the narrative. Threatening to kill people runs contrary to the laws of natural justice. Trying to use the force of arm to subdue a people runs counter productive at the end. 'A captain that wishes to take up a city', according to Machiavelli, 'should rid the inhabitants of the pressures of necessities'. 'After he has succeeded in doing this, he will succeed in convincing them that the very people who are protecting them are their enemies'.'The captain would then easily overrun that city without even shooting in the air, while fighting to take it'. When you shed the blood of the youths who represent the future of a people, you should come to terms of the fact that you will never capture the mind, mood or mirth of those people. The more you kill, the more these bloods especially in extant of war, cry before God for vengeance; whether you believe in God or not. Carl Witz in his brilliant little book boomed that wars are used to threaten and subjugate people but the truth remains that no matter the amount of ammunition a king lines up, with attendant threats, it is impossible to bend the knees of a determined people, especially when those people have indigenous roots.
Sunday, 29 March 2020
COVID-19 UPDATE PREVALENCE; THE RACE FACTOR.
COVID-19 UPDATE. PREVALENCE; THE RACIAL FACTOR. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, it was discovered that mortality among dark skinned persons was much less compared to pale skinned. The photos exposed races or darker races like Africans and Indians were found to be less susceptible to the disease unlike photo protectwd races like Europeans, Asians and Mexicans. After a thorough investigation, I came into conclusion that the following could perhaps shed light into this mystery. Melanin. Melanin is a highly irregular heteropolymer consisting of monomeric units derived from the enzymatic oxidation of the amino acid tyrosine. The process of melanin formation takes place in specialized acidic organelles (melanosomes) in melanocytes. It is known that melanin is always bound to protein in vivo. The effect of various model proteins on melanin synthesis and their interaction with melanin have been studied. It was established that many proteins could increase melanin synthesis at an acidic pH. Further studies proved that while both photo exposed and photo protected races have equal distribution of melanocytes, the photo exposed skins tend to have more elaborate and larger melanosomes. This inbues them with a relative advantage of producing more of the pigment. This comparative advantage further bequeaths them with more thicker, tougher and more resistant skins unlike the light skinned races. The preponderance of thicker tougher skins means better resistance to invading germs or microbes. Skin Acidity. Studies have proven that our skins are acidic. Try licking your skin and you would notice the sour taste. This skin Acidity is one a factor in first line of defence or innate immunity of the body. The ability of our skins to elaborate surface or epidermal acidity though the body cells and plasma are bathed in neutral pH of 7.0 remains a wonder. Studies have shown that dark skinned races have more acidic skins than white skinned races. It has been established that dark skinned races have pHs ranging from 5.0 to 4.5 while white skinned races have skin pHs ranging from 5.3 to 5.5. These differential pH values though appearing close, actually differ exponentially. Such differences have logarithmic values similar to Richter scale earth quake readings. This skin Acidity plays significant roles in eliminating germs that come in contact with the body. The more the acidity, the more resistant the skin. Antimicrobial Peptides. The skins of both white and black races possess the capacity to produce certain complex Peptides called Antimicrobial Peptides. The skin continuously comes in contact with microbial pathogens. To ward off these germs, cells of the epidermis and dermis have developed several innate strategies to prevent infection. Antimicrobial peptides are one of the primary mechanisms used by the skin in the early stages of immune defense. Generally, antimicrobial peptides have broad antibacterial activity against gram-positive and negative bacteria and also show antifungal and antiviral activity. The antimicrobial activity of most peptides occurs as a result of unique structural characteristics that enable them to disrupt the microbial membrane while leaving human cell membranes intact. However, antimicrobial peptides also act on host cells to stimulate cytokine production, cell migration, proliferation, maturation, and extracellular matrix synthesis. The production by human skin of antimicrobial peptides such as defensins and cathelicidins is an inherent process but also greatly increases after infection, inflammation or injury. Some skin diseases show altered expression of antimicrobial peptides, partially explaining the pathophysiology of these diseases. Thus, current research suggests that understanding how antimicrobial peptides modify susceptibility to microbes, influence skin inflammation, and modify wound healing, provides greater insight into the pathophysiology of certain skin disorders offering new therapeutic opportunities. Both defensins and cathelicisins appear to be the most significant antimicrobial peptides with potential capacity and capabilities to eliminate bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens. They're able to do this due to their morphology. They possess both hydrophilic and hydrophobic edges which enable them to attach to the negatively charged bacterial and viral polysaccharide membrane surfaces before lysing them. The antimicrobial peptides also induce a chemotaxis on white blood cells as such recruiting them to sites of bacterial or viral assaults. Meta-analysis shows that darker skinned raves elaborate more of these peptides compared to lighter skinned races. The current ability of dark skinned races to resist COVID-19 are yet to be elucidated but explanation could be found in the preponderance of melanin, skin acidity and antimicrobial peptides in darker races.
Thursday, 26 March 2020
COVID-19 UPDATE
COVID-19 UPDATE: SERO RECONVERSION NOT SAME AS REINFECTION. Sociomedia is awash with reports of successfully recovered cases in China testing positive again. This report is already sending shockwaves in the mind of the populace but I'll like to advise for calm. It's common for such to happen and there are certain circumstances prevalent in such situation. In my last update, I stated that exposure to the virus might not translate to disease. For the same reason, people who already recovered could equally test positive. Why? A virus is regarded as a phage. The reason being that they have this tendency to spring-in their genetic make up, RNA for Ribonucleic acid or DNA for Deoxyribonucleic acid into the host cell to encode and decode the cell with a view to fooling the host cell to produce plasmids or viral particles or outright multiplication of the invader. The signature vector in the progressive treatment of HIV/AIDS is sero tracking, monitoring and CDA count. Reports of HIV patients who sero converted to negative abound. Again certain patient still remain positive irrespective of significant improvement in their clinical status. All these are accounted for by the abundance of viral particles. HIV is not same as COVID-19 for the latter is a flu virus with predeletion for respiratory syncithium. However, the mode of phage action remains same. The virus additionally has the preponderance to stimulate the goblet cells lining the respiratory pathway, forcing them to produce thick mucus which blocks the pathway leading to the formation of mucus plug which is responsible for the extreme respiratory distress and failure which usually kills the patient due to hypoxia and anoxia. The fact that these recovered patients are testing positive again if you like, reconverting again does not translate to new infections but due viral particles or presence of a new viral strain. Since this is a developing story, we are not armed with enough clinical presentation or clinistics of these patients to warrant branding or making absolute conclusions. If these patients remain clinically stable, it means, the current development has to do with immune response to viral particles. Should they develop clinical signs and symptoms, it would mean either they are immuno compromised or presence of new viral strain. The clinical picture will act as a guideline for typification and classification. We expect more reports as the days pass by. Dr. Ikechukwu Onyekwelonwu.
Monday, 23 March 2020
COVID-19 UPDATE; Why You Must Self Isolate.
COVID-19 UPDATE. Why you must self isolate. Unknown to many, they already have the virus and this is not to cause panic. It must be understood that exposure to a pathogen does not always translate to disease for even our bodies harbour a greater number of microbes, some facultative, some symbiotic, some parasitic among whom belong the pathogenic. Why Self Isolate? You need to self isolate to reduce the level of contacts or dissemination an contraction of the germ. You also need to isolate to enable you build up enough immunity against the microbes. Immunity has to do with immunoglobilins which would specifically analysis the virus, code it and then elaborate all immune responses needed to eliminate it or them. It might take between three weeks to two months to achieve. What to Do During Self Isolation. Ensure you eat appropriate diet. Take diets containing protein and lots of vitamins. Ensure you drink lots of water. Do not eat rotten meat. Do not eat pork. Avoid smoking and alcohols. Deworm yourself and your family. Engage in non isometric exercises. Meditate regularly. Ensure regular communication with friends and members of your family. Listen to the news. Ensure adherance to proper hygiene. Wash hands regularly.
Sunday, 22 March 2020
CURRENT MORE EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR COVID-19
COVID-19: New findings. The exigencies facing is such that all hands must now be on deck. The remoteness of my practice has made it difficult to share my findings with colleagues added to the timing for interventions but I am glad to announce to the world that we have another addition to the armamentorium against this ravaging agent. My research led to the conclusion to the fact that baring the toxicity of chloroquine hydrosulphate, use of this drug for treatment of COVID-19 should cease forthwith. In its place should be instituted a more amenable drug with less side effect. I am talking of non other than Magnesium trisilicate. Mode of Action. Magnesium trisilicate or Magnesium trisilicate when taken is absorbed all most into the system where it exerts it's mild adverse effect of alkalosis. All drugs have side effects. This mild alkalosis then leads to slight increase in plasma and body pH. This is same route, Chloroquine uses to fight the virus. The rise in pH then naturally kills the virus which cannot survive in raised pHs. Magnesium trisilicate comes in beautiful crested tablets which can be taken twice or thrice a day. I strongly recommend this harmless antacid to the world for prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Dr. Ikechukwu Onyekwelonwu
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