Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

Kenya:Health CS, PS rivalry to blame for doctors strike, says Atwoli

{Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) Secretary General Francis Atwoli wants President Uhuru Kenyatta to reign on Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu and Principal Secretary Nicholas Muraguri to end the ongoing doctors’ strike.}

On Sunday, Mr Atwoli admitted that had been unable to end the doctors’ strike, signalling a continuation of the protracted industrial action that is in its third month.

He blamed the prolonged industrial action on antagonism between the two high-ranking government officials.

He said: “During the talks, we discovered that there is infighting at the Ministry of Health that involves the Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu and the Principal Secretary Nicholas Muraguri. This affected our negotiations with the doctors’ union.”

He blamed Dr Muraguri whom he said was working with a section of the union officials to frustrate talks towards ending the strike.

“Dr Muraguri is not committed to ending the strike but instead seems determined to use the strike to settle an apparent score with Dr Mailu,” he said.

{{Deliver results }}

“I appeal to President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and separate the two high-ranking ministry officials for the strike to come to an end,” added Atwoli who spoke at Mukuyuni Catholic Church in Kaiti Constituency, Makueni County where he attended Sunday service and presided over a funds drive.

The seasoned trade unionist waded into the doctors’ strike a week ago and promised to deliver results in a weeks time.

The court allowed him and a team of Kenya National Human Rights Commission to help resolve the impasse between the State and officials of Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists’ Union (KMPDU).

The ad hoc team that had volunteered to intervene between the State and the doctors, said that his team had done all it could but had been defeated to persuade the doctors to return to work.

“Through our intervention, the government had offered to increase the basic pay and the allowances for doctors significantly,” said Mr Atwoli.

After the proposed pay hike, he said, the least paid doctor would take home Sh 196, 244 from the current Sh 140, 244 per month.

The highest paid doctor would have earned Sh588,980 up from Sh518, 580 that they had been drawing per month, he said.

The greatest achievement that the Atwoli’s team celebrated, however, was a Sh10,000 increase in risk allowance available to all doctors.

{{Hardline stance }}

Doctors would now take home Sh20,000 a month regardless of whether they are on emergency call. However, KPMDU officials refused to accept the proposed offer in total, Mr Atwoli added.

He said: “I told the union officials to accept the offer first as we continue with the talks as has been the tradition in trade dispute resolution but they would hear none of this.”

He blamed infighting at the Ministry of Health for the hardline stance by the KMPDU officials.

At the same time, Mr Atwoli said that talks to end the strike had also been hampered by senior doctors and those running private clinics whom he said were misguiding young striking doctors to make unrealistic demands.

He hit out at the Senate Health Committee that has ruled that the doctors’ strike is invalid since the contested 2013 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the government and the doctors is illegal.

“I disagree with senators because in making such a ruling, the senators must have wanted to incite the doctors against the State,” he said.

Atwoli, who was accompanied by National Social Security Fund board Chairman Gideon Ndambuki and former Kibwezi MP Kalembe Ndile, appealed to striking doctors to accept the offer proposed by the government as talks to end the impasse continue.

Source:Daily Nation

February 13, 2017
Nine suspected drug traffickers arrested in police operation

{Separate Police operations in different parts of the country on Saturday yielded to the arrest of nine people people who were either found trafficking narcotic drugs or distilling illicit brew.}

The successful operations that were based in credible information from residents, were conducted in the districts of Nyanza, Huye, Kirehe, Ngoma and Gicumbi

In Kirehe, police arrested one Jean Claude Ntirenganya who was at the time found trafficking sixteen cartons of banned illicit gin and other assorted smuggled energy drinks that include Novida.

In Gicumbi where most of illicit gin in the country are in most cases intercepted, police arrested the duo of Emmanuel Niyigena and Jean Baptiste Ntireganya with quantities of illicit gin in various brands.

Elsewhere in Mukingo Sector of Nyanza District, one Sembeba Joseph was also caught red-handed apparently distilling a crude illicit gin called Kanyanga.

At the time of his arrest, Sembeba had already distilled about 100 litres of Kanyanga and had other 500 litres of other locally made psychologic substances he was using to distill the harmful crude gin.

Meanwhile, Fulgence Ngenzo and Faustin Habineza were also apprehended in Ngoma Sector in Huye, during the same operation with at least 34 kilogrammes of cannabis.

Two other identified people are still on the run after police recovered about 470 litres of illicit gin in their house in Gishamvu Sector.

Criminals are said to be using the cover of darkness to either distill or traffic the psychotropic substances, and smuggle goods through porous borders, police said.

Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Protais Rwiyemaho, the commander of Ngoma Police Station, during an awareness campaign against drugs, shortly after the operation, thanked the residents of Ngoma for being the eye and ears of security and reporting drug dealers told residents there that all those arrested will be prosecuted for carrying out activities contrally to the laws.

“All those who were arrested will be arraigned in court to face the charges of conducting criminal businesses that also cause insecurity in communities,” CIP Rwiyemaho.

He urged them to maintain the spirit of community policing and sharing information on any individuals they suspect to be involved in drug related crimes and other unlawful acts.

Source:Police

February 12, 2017
Feel like quitting?10 quotes that will urge you to spur on

{Just imagine if the likes of Nelson Mandela, Isaac Newton, Bill Gates and Martin Luther King Jr quit. Just imagine how the world would have been if not for the zeal and determination of people over the years to not have given up.}

Most times, people choose to give up just close to their breakthrough and they don’t even know it. Quitting puts the final nail on failure.

These quotes will inspire you to not give up:

1. “Most people who succeed in the face of seemingly impossible conditions are people who simply don’t know how to quit.” – Robert Schuller

2. “Quitting is never an option on the road to success. Find the way forward. If you have a positive mindset and are willing to persevere, there is little that is beyond your reach. The attitude of being ready to work even in the face of challenges and despite odds is what will make all the difference in your life.” – Roopleen

3. “From quitting smoking to skiing, we succeed to the degree we try, fail, and learn. Studies show that people who worry about mistakes shut down, but those who are relaxed about doing badly soon learn to do well. Success is built on failure.” – Martha Beck

4. “Quitting is the easiest thing to do.” – Robert Kiyosaki

5. “Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.” – Napoleon Hill

6. “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton

7. “A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.” – Napoleon Hill

8. “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong

9. “If you quit once it becomes a habit. Never quit.” – Michael Jordan

10. “Age wrinkles the body; quitting wrinkles the soul.” – Douglas MacArthur

Quitting might seem appealing; most people tend to quit at the first sign of adversity, and they tend to justify their actions. But how many of them turn out to be successful?

Source:Elcrema

February 12, 2017
Rubavu: Students sensitized on fighting illicit drugs

{About 600 students of SHWEMU secondary school in Rubavu District have been called upon to pursue their education dreams and say no to drug abuse as an obstacle to their better future.}

Inspector of Police (IP) Solange Nyiraneza, the District Community Liaison Officer (DCLO) of Rubavu told the students that abuse of drugs have cut short dreams of some of their colleagues in other schools.

She urged the young people to abstain from trade and consumption of drugs such as cannabis and illicit brew and report any one involved.

“The youth should take a lead in the fight against drugs by advising their peers who abuse drugs on the side effects,” she said

The DCLO said that the law also prohibits trade and consumption of liquor with over 45% alcohol volume content.

She said it is improper for the future leaders to get involved in illicit conduct as it retards human resource development.

A similar exercise was also conducted at Heritage Primary School in Gatsibo district.

Pupils there were also tipped about proper use of roads including the meaning of road safety signs.

The separate campaigns also enlightened the students on the modern day slavery of human trafficking, tricks traffickers use and urged them to report anyone who approaches them with offers abroad, as one of the tricks used to lure their unsuspecting victims.

Source:Police

February 12, 2017
Rwamagara: Commercial motorcyclists urged to be agents of security

{Commercial motorcyclists in Rwamagana District have been called upon to be agents of security in their transport business and be vigilant against people who tend to use their services to commit crimes like smugglers and drug dealers.}

Inspector of Police (IP) Marie Gorette Uwimana, the District Community Liaison Officer (DCLO), while meeting members of TAXI MOTO KIGABIRO over the weekend, reminded them that drug dealers are sometimes facilitated by drivers and motorcyclists, with or without their knowledge.

“Some of the drivers and motorcyclists have been arrested either for facilitating drug dealers or being the dealers themselves; but we also commend those who have played part in this fight by apprehending and reporting drug dealers,” IP Uwimana said.

IP Uwimana said that because of the nature of the businesses, they encounter criminals, who use the cover of darkness to engage in unlawful activities, and urged them to always be vigilant and report anyone they suspect to be transporting illegal luggage.

“If these wrongdoers are not reported, they will continue to cause insecurity, which each and everyone of you shouldn’t allow.”

She informed them that police will always be available to respond to any information on those suspected to be involved in malpractices.

She also appealed to them to respect traffic rules and regulations to avoid fatal accidents.

Motorcyclists are said to be among major causes of fatal accidents due to their recklessness on road, speeding, bad maneuvers and at times riding which under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Source:Police

February 12, 2017
12 phrases you should never use when talking to your partner

{Words can strengthen a relationship and they can also pull down a relationship so it’s really important you use the right words when communicating with your partner.}

Here are 12 phrases you should never use when communicating with your partner

{{1. “Why can’t you be like…..?”}}

It’s never right to compare your partner to someone else. Even if you are trying to help, it does more harm than good.

{{2. “You are always annoying”}}

It’s never right to tell your partner this because you insinuate there aren’t any happy moments with your partner.

{{3. “You can’t do anything right”}}

You make your partner feel worthless when you say this to your partner. If you truly love someone, you will never make him/her feel worthless.

{{4. “It’s fine”}}

Telling your partner it’s fine when it’s obvious you aren’t happy about something is wrong. Your partner isn’t a mind-reader so it’s important you say how you feel.

{{5. “You are so stupid”}}

Never call your partner stupid no matter the circumstances. You should never insult the intelligence of your partner and don’t even use anger as an excuse.

{{6. “You look awful”}}

Saying this about your partner’s appearance is wrong as it could destroy your partner’s self-esteem.

{{7. “I wish you could afford to buy me…”}}

We should be content with what our partner earns. It’s really not fair when you fault your partner for not earning more.

{{8. “If you love me,you will buy me”}}

Manipulation shouldn’t be found in a healthy relationship and demanding gifts as prove of love is an act of manipulation. Love should never be conditional.

{{9. “You are overreacting”}}

Saying this to your partner is hurtful because it signifies your partner’s emotions aren’t important.

{{10. “It’s all your fault”}}

Placing the blame on your partner when something goes wrong isn’t the right thing to do. It’s never all one’s fault.

{{11. “My ex was better in bed ”}}

It’s wrong to tell your partner that your ex was better in bed. Your current partner should always be the best in bed.

{{12. “You should know how I feel”}}

Your partner isn’t a mind-reader so he/she can’t know how you feel until you verbally express your feelings.

Source:Elcrerma

February 12, 2017
Ministry of Defence Football Team wins inter-Institutions tournament

{The Ministry of Defence (MOD) Football Team has emerged the best in Inter-Ministerial and Government Institutions Competition, Category B (Institutions with more than 90 personnel). The tournament that closed officially on 11 February 2017 was organised by Rwandan Association for the Promotion of Sports among the Workforce (ARPST).}

At Petit Stade (Remera), the MOD Football Team was declared champion of 2016-2017 ARPST tournament, after beating Rwanda Natural Resources Authority football team two goals to one (2-1), in the final Match that was played at FERWAFA ground, Remera.

The Ministry of Defence was represented by three teams: Football (male), Basketball (male) and Volley ball (male).

The MoD Volleyball Team was ranked the second after losing the final game to Water and Sanitation Corporation Volleyball Team (three sets to nil). In Basketball, Rwanda Energy Group, Rwanda Natural Resources and MoD teams respectively emerged Champion, Second and Third.

In Category A (Institutions with less than 90 personnel) were crowned Champions as follows: Rwanda Broadcasting Agency in Football; Ministry of Trade, Industry and EAST African Community in Basketball; and Ministry of Sports and Culture in Volleyball.

Source:Minadef

February 12, 2017
Advanced EEG analysis reveals the complex beauty of the sleeping brain

{Multitaper spectral analysis provides clinicians with a powerful tool for quickly visualizing brain activity during sleep.}

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have developed a novel approach to analyze brainwaves during sleep, which promises to give a more detailed and accurate depiction of neurophysiological changes than provided by a traditional sleep study. In a report published in the January issue of Physiology, the research team describes how applying a technique called multitaper spectral analysis to electroencephalogram (EEG) data provides objective, high-resolution depictions of brainwave activity during sleep that are more informative and easier to characterize than previous approaches. The researchers also present a visual atlas of brain activity during sleep in healthy individuals, highlighting new features of the sleep EEG — including a predictor of REM sleep — that could be of important use to clinicians and researchers.

Clinical sleep analysis has historically centered on identifying and tracking common patterns of brain and physiological activity, called sleep stages. Identifying sleep stages has long been a time-consuming and subjective process. Starting in the late 1930s, sleep staging was performed using EEG machines that would cut a paper tape into sheets with 30-second traces of the patient’s brainwave activity. A skilled technician would painstakingly take each paper sheet — almost 1,000 in an 8-hour sleep recording — and decide which sleep stage the patient was in by visual inspection of the EEG traces.

Almost 80 years later, other than slight refinement of the stages and the fact that the 30-second EEG traces now appear on a computer screen, the process of sleep staging remains virtually unchanged, remaining a time-consuming and fundamentally qualitative process. Consequently, even experienced scoring technicians still agree only 75 to 80 percent of the time. The progression of sleep stages over a night, called a hypnogram, is still used as the primary descriptor of sleep architecture. While the hypnogram has been an important tool for describing sleep architecture, since the numerous bumps and squiggles of brainwave traces become undiscernible by eye over large time scales, there are important drawbacks to relying on subjective summaries of sleep instead of objective data.

“During sleep, the brain is engaged in a symphony of activity involving the dynamic interplay of different cortical and sub-cortical networks,” says Michael Prerau, PhD, of the MGH Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Management, lead author of the Physiology report. “Due to practical constraints and established practices, current clinical techniques greatly simplify the way the sleep is described, causing massive amounts of information to be lost. We therefore wanted to identify a more comprehensive way of characterizing brain activity during sleep that was easy to understand and quick to learn, yet mathematically principled and robust.”

The approach used by the MGH investigators provides a paradigm shift allowing clinicians to move away from subjective sleep staging and harness the wealth of objective information contained within EEG data. In their report, the team describes how sleep oscillations are far more easily characterized using spectral estimation than by looking at EEG traces. Spectral analysis is a class of approaches that break a waveform signal into its component oscillations — repeating patterns over time- just as a prism breaks white light into its component colors. In the EEG, these oscillations represent the activity of specific brain networks during sleep and wakefulness.

“At a fundamental level, brain activity is truly organized in terms of oscillations and waves,” says senior author Patrick Purdon, PhD, MGH Anesthesia. “Spectral analysis is just analyzing the signals in terms of these waves, making it the right tool — and in some ways the perfect tool — for the job.” Purdon also points out that traditional sleep scoring is essentially a crude form of spectral analysis, based on recognizing the wave properties by eye.

Spectral analysis may not have been adopted for sleep scoring previously because the prevailing techniques for EEG spectral estimation produced noisy and inaccurate estimates of the power spectrum, making interpretation of the resulting spectrogram difficult. Consequently, the MGH team employed multitaper spectral analysis, a form with greatly reduced noise and increased accuracy compared to more basic methods. Computing a multitaper spectrogram of the sleep EEG, which tracks how the power and frequency of these oscillations change over time, provides more information about which networks are active at different points during sleep.

In their report the researchers use these new vivid images of brain activity to illustrate how the sleep EEG multitaper spectrogram objectively reveals the detailed architecture of an entire night of sleep in a single visualization, rather than 1,000 30-second windows. Repeating patterns of activity — which use color to reflect signal power — become apparent even to the untrained eye, allowing technicians with only a few hours of training to stage with an accuracy comparable to that of traditional sleep scoring.

The investigators comprehensively detailed an atlas of common patterns and transitions seen within healthy individuals during sleep and highlighted the ability of the sleep EEG multitaper spectrogram to show features on time scales ranging from many hours to microevents lasting a few seconds. They were also able to identify novel features of the sleep EEG, including a trend in which bursting in the low-frequency alpha range, which is not currently used in clinical sleep scoring, predicts the onset of REM sleep by several minutes. Purdon says, “We try to remind people that the sleep EEG isn’t just a pile of ‘big data.’ In fact, it’s highly structured, and that structure is deeply connected to the fundamental brain mechanisms of sleep.”

Future research by the team will focus on developing robust quantitative metrics based on the spectrogram. “Moving forward, this enhanced approach will allow scientists to better characterize the complex heterogeneity observed in normal sleep and ultimately to assist in diagnosing sleep and related disorders,” says Prerau, who has received a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke to identify new disease biomarkers within sleep. “It is also fun and easy to learn!” Prerau has created the website http://sleepEEG.org, which hosts free, interactive tutorials designed to teach clinicians and investigators how to read the sleep multitaper spectrogram.

The researchers also are optimistic about the clinical applications of this method. Co-author Matt Bianchi, MD, PhD, of the MGH Department of Neurology and director of the MGH Sleep Lab, says, “The traditional hypnogram has not had the clinical application one might expect for such a fundamental aspect of sleep. This technique is poised to bring EEG patterns, a classic aspect of sleep medicine, back to the forefront. Overall, by improving physician review of patient data, these techniques hold promise to bring modern analytics to routine care — making the patterns of brain activity during sleep accessible and enabling physicians to see the EEG through this dynamic lens.”

Source:Science Daily

February 12, 2017
27 illegal miners arrested in Gatsibo

{Separate coordinated security operations conducted in Gatsibo District resulted into the arrest of 27 people who were found mining cassiterite in Rwimbogo and Muhura sectors.}

According to the Eastern region police spokesperson, Inspector of Police (IP) Emmanuel Kayigi, yhe successful police operations conducted on February 7 and 8, were based on credible information provided by area residents.

“The suspects were taken to Mugera Transit Center where they are being sensitized on the dangers of illegal mining,” Kayigi said.

“Rwanda National Police and other partners in environmental protection are actively involved in awareness and operations against illegal mining and other environmental related crimes,” he added.

“Whereas arrest and prosecution are part of the fight, the main intention, at least for now, is to educate the people on dangers and legal aspects involved in such unlawful activities,” he explained.

IP Kayingi reminded that “mining activities in Rwanda are conducted in accordance with the law protecting the environment and by people legally licensed.”

“There are legalities for one to mine; you must have a license and all the required equipment for safe mining. This is why we request the public to always provide information on anyone involved in illegal mining. These men were mining in a place that is not gazetted for mining, ” he said.

Kayigi pointed out that mining is not something that can be practiced by anyone; it requires skills and knowledge. If it is done wrongly, a lot is at risk, including people’s lives.

He noted that Police in partnership with the local authorities have carried out sensitization campaigns to ensure residents realize the dangers involved in illegal mining, especially in areas that are not gazzetted for mining.

“Collective efforts especially through information sharing are important in curbing illegal mining,” he said.

Undertaking illegal research or commercial activities in valuable minerals attracts a jail term of up to one year and a fine of between Rwf3 million and Rwf10 million or one of these penalties, under article 438 of the penal code.

RNP established, in 2015, the Environmental Protection Unit (EPU) which has been instrumental in enforcing the law, preservation of environment through environmental education, practical interpretation of the environmental laws to citizens and engaging in the public environment management awareness campaign.

Source:Police

February 12, 2017
This is why every man should go to bed naked

{Scientists have warned men against wearing underpants to bed. This is because wearing underpants to bed can make the crotch area too warm.}

Men are being urged to go to bed naked as it could boost their chances of becoming a father.

Dr Brian Steixner, director of the Institute for Men’s Health at Jersey Urology Group told The Sun: “Your nether regions need to be just the right temperature in order to optimise sperm production.

“More bacteria makes for a higher likelihood that any chafed or irritated skin down there becomes infected.”

Sleeping naked helps lower the body temperature which increases a man’s sperm production by keeping his scrotum at a specific temperature.

Sleeping naked is also good for couples because skin-to-skin contact releases oxytocin in the brain which strengthens emotional bond.

Source:Elcrema

February 12, 2017