Africa has the fastest-growing and most youthful population in the world. Over 40% are under the age of 15 and 20% are between the ages of 15 and 24 (the definition of youth). These statistics present a serious challenge. Can Africa seize the opportunities being presented, or do Africa’s youth constitute a ticking, demographic time-bomb? Despite sub-Saharan Africa recording an average annual economic growth rate of 6% or more, this rapid growth has often been non-inclusive and it has become increasingly clear that insufficient attention has been paid to the creation of employment opportunities for young people. The current demographic trend only compounds the problem as the pressure to create new jobs will increase markedly over the coming decades, unless what is known as the “demographic dividend” is realised. One definition of the demographic dividend is “a large workforce that creates a window of opportunity to invest in the education and health of their children, increase economic outputs and invest more in technology and skills to strengthen the economy.” It is a stage that the most successful developing economies experience. Indeed, as much as one-third of East Asia’s economic “miracle” was due to demographic change.
French manicures and finding the end of the sticky tape; if this is all you thought fingernails were good for, think again. A new study explains why our nails are crucial to our natural ability to grow back lost finger and toe tips, and even provides clues as to how we might enhance our limited powers of regeneration. Although we might not be able to regrow whole limbs like salamanders and starfish, we can regrow the ends of amputated digits. For years, scientists have wondered why this only happens when some of the nail is left behind. But now, researchers at New York University in the US have discovered the answer. Studying mice, the biologists found stem cells – cells that can change into any other kind – in a layer just below the nail on mice toes. When the very tip of a toe is amputated, a chain reaction is initiated that draws nerves to the area. This in turn prompts the stem cells to form new bone tendons and muscle. If a digit is amputated too far back and there is no nail, this chain reaction – a cascade that starts with a ‘family’ of proteins known as ‘Wnt’ – doesn’t get started. It’s thought that the same mechanism is behind the regeneration of human fingertips. Assistant Professor Mayumi Ito, who led the research, hopes to tap into this chain reaction to design therapies for regenerating digits amputated above the nail. “If we could identify all the molecules that have this special ability to induce this kind of regeneration, a pharmacological approach to treat amputees might become available,” he says. But it isn’t going to be simple. Other research has shown that simply activating the Wnt proteins when the nail is removed doesn’t initiate regeneration.
Arguably the most influential figure of modern Indian politics, Gandhi became the symbol of Indian nationalism and was given the status of the Father of the Nation after India achieved independence in 1947. Gandhi’s most significant contribution to Indian politics was perhaps his belief in the strength of ordinary people. Gandhi was able to mobilize the Indian people primarily because the demands his politics made upon the individual were not extraordinary. His insistence on non-violence (ahimsa) which underpinned his campaigns of civil disobedience (satyagrah) allowed people to participate in national politics in many different ways—none of which necessarily required a break with people’s daily lives. Gandhi was able to create a national mood, which cut across castes, classes, religions, and regional loyalties by rejecting the boundaries that these created as irrelevant to the moral Truth that he made central to his discourse. This at times led him to limit the more radical aspects of nationalist aspirations of some within the Congress and outside it. Another distinguishing feature of Gandhi’s philosophy, one that was less influential, was his opposition to Western modernization as a model for India’s development.
Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) PARAGRAF SORUSU
Despite this lengthy history, the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in today’s children could hardly be more controversial. On his television show in 2004, Phil McGraw (“Dr. Phil”) opined that ADHD is “so overdiagnosed,” and a survey in 2005 by psychologists Jill Norvilitis of the University at Buffalo, S.U.N.Y., and Ping Fang of Capitol Normal University in Beijing revealed that in the U.S., 82 percent of teachers and 68 percent of undergraduates agreed that “ADHD is overdiagnosed today.” According to many critics, such overdiagnosis raises the specter of medicalizing largely normal behavior and relying too heavily on pills rather than skills—such as teaching children better ways of coping with stress.
Yet although data point to at least some overdiagnosis, at least in boys, the extent of this problem is unclear. In fact, the evidence, with notable exceptions, appears to be stronger for the undertreatment than overtreatment of ADHD.
Medicalizing Normality
The American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual of the past 19 years, the DSM-IV, outlines three sets of indicators for ADHD: inattention (a child is easily distracted), hyperactivity (he or she may fidget a lot, for example), and impulsivity (the child may blurt out answers too quickly). A child must display at least six of the nine listed symptoms for at least half a year across these categories. In addition, at least some problems must be present before the age of seven and produce impairment in at least two different settings, such as school or home. Studies suggest that about 5 percent of school-age children have ADHD; the disorder is diagnosed in about three times as many boys as girls.
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For fifty years, scientists have been working on implantable devices and the idea of implantable medical devices is not new, but most of today’s implements are large, heavy and must be replaced periodically. While we have gotten very good at shrinking electronic and mechanical components of implants, energy storage has lagged in the move to miniaturize. However, now they are developing a new class of medical devices that can be implanted or injected into the human body and powered wirelessly using electromagnetic radio waves. Tiny, implantable medical device can propel itself through bloodstream. They consist of a radio transmitter outside the body sending signals to an independent device inside the body that picks up the signal with an antenna of coiled wire. The power is transferred wirelessly. A researcher took a different tack, choosing instead to model tissue as a dielectric — a type of insulator. As it turns out human tissue is a poor conductor of electricity. But, radio waves can still move through them.
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Many critics have agreed that ADHD is overdiagnosed today. According to them, such overdiagnosis raises the specter of medicalizing largely normal behavior and relying too heavily on pills RATHER THAN skills—such as teaching children better ways of coping with stress. The American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual of the past 19 years outlines three sets of INDICATORS for ADHD: inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity – the child MAY GIVE answers too quickly. A child must display at least six of the nine listed symptoms for at least half a year across these categories. IN ADDITION, at least some problems must be present before the age of seven and produce impairment IN at least two different settings, such as school or home.