Brain exports presents Nigeria with development path says PwC - ITREALMS

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Exporting Brain Capital to the global market will put Nigeria on the path to become a developed nation in record time, according to the latest report by PwC Nigeria, reports ITREALMS.

This, according to a new report by leading professional services firm, PwC Nigeria which analyses the best development path for the country, informed ITREALMS, that after significantly evaluating relevant trends impacting today’s global business landscape and Nigeria’s unique circumstances as well as her position in the world today, recommended placing Nigerians in high-end of Global Value Chains (GVCs) as the best path forward.

AFTTA advocates regular training to lift people out of poverty, mitigate braindrain - ITREALMS

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The Association of Formally Trained Theatre Artists (AFTTA), in collaboration with Nigeria Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, Responsible Leaders Concerts Limited, Kabesi Owurolawa Foundation, a New Genesis International (USA), has described training and retraining as a tool to mitigate brain drain in the society and in all professions in order to lift people out of poverty, reports ITREALMS.

This was made known at Money Makers Dinner event held at Lagos State Television (LTV) Compound Agidingbi-Ikeja, Lagos, organized by Amb. Dr. Edward Olutoke, who said the gesture was to train people on how to engage in business with good ideas in order to make money.

Scientists effectively tune the brain to alleviate pain

ITRealms:

A set of scientists at The University of Manchester, United Kingdom, have shown for the first time that if the brain is ‘tuned-in’ to a particular frequency, pain could be alleviated, reports ITRealms.

Experts, ITRealms gathered defined chronic pain as pain which lasts for more than six months; is a real problem for many people, with 20-50 per cent of the general population estimated to suffer from it, comprising 20 per cent of consultations in general practice.

According to these scientists, it is a much greater problem in the elderly with 62 per cent of the United Kingdom (UK) population over 75 year’s old suffering from it.

“Chronic pain is often a mixture of recurrent acute pains and chronic persistent pain. Unfortunately there are very few treatments available that are completely safe, particularly in the elderly,” says Dr Kathy Ecsy, the lead scientist of this project.

Nerve cells, she explained on the surface of the brain are co-ordinated with each other at a particular frequency depending on the state of the brain. Alpha waves, she said, are tuned at 9-12 cycles per second have been recently associated with enabling parts of the brain concerned with higher control to influence other parts of the brain. 

For instance researchers at the Human Pain Research Group at The University of Manchester found that alpha waves from the front of the brain, the forebrain, are associated with placebo analgesia and may be influencing how other parts of the brain process pain.

This, the team of scientist said, led to the idea that if man could ‘tune’ the brain to express more alpha waves, perhaps we can reduce pain experienced by people with certain conditions.

ITRealms reports that Dr Kathy Ecsy and her colleagues in The University of Manchester’s Human Pain Research Group have shown that this can be done by providing volunteers with goggles that flash light in the alpha range or by sound stimulation in both ears phased to provide the same stimulus frequency.  They found that both visual and auditory stimulation significantly reduced the intensity of pain induced by laser-heat repeatedly shone on the back of the arm.

Professor Anthony Jones is the director of the Manchester Pain Consortium which is focused on improving the understanding and treatment of chronic pain. 

“This is very exciting because it provides a potentially new, simple and safe therapy that can now be trialled in patients,” he said.

At recent public engagements events, ITRealms gathered that showed they had a lot of enthusiasm from patients for this kind of neuro-therapeutic approach.

Further studies, ITRealms gathered are required to test the effectiveness in patients with different pain conditions but the simplicity and low cost of the technology should facilitate such clinical studies.

Dr Chris Brown, who is a Lecturer in Psychology at The University of Liverpool, who was involved in the research while working in Manchester, said: “It is interesting that similar results were obtained with visual and auditory stimulation, which will provide some flexibility when taking this technology into patient studies.  For instance this might be particularly useful for patients having difficulty sleeping because of recurrent pain at night.”

A video interview with Professor Jones is available here: https://youtu.be/vFf_jJHYr6g

The paper, ‘Alpha-Range Visual and Auditory Stimulation reduces the Perception of Pain’, will be published in the European Journal of Pain.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Cloud strategists brain storm in Mauritius, Oracle commends Africa’s role

ITRealms:

The exchange of best practices and gaining expert insights from top cloud strategists was the key focus for Oracle customers who took part in Oracle’s two day long ‘Africa Executive Summit’ that concluded at the weekend in Mauritius, reports ITRealms.

Oracle also used the opportunity to commend its role on the continent as far as cloud is concerned, saying that ‘Africa Executive Summit’ hosted in Mauritius drove awareness and highlighted the impact of Oracle Cloud Solutions for business growth.

Claire Alexander of Oracle Corporate Communications, informed ITRealms that dozens of customers gathered to understand various aspects of the cloud adoption process including capacity building, innovation, security and the ability to leverage Internet of Things (IoT) for driving business growth with Oracle cloud solutions.

The Vice President of the Russia, Africa and Central Europe at Oracle, Janusz Naklicki, said cloud adoption in Africa is growing at a rapid pace as organizations now realise that cloud offers them speed, value and better return on investment (ROI).

“Africa is a priority market for us and the Africa Executive Summit is in line with our commitment to further drive this interest and support our customers in Africa in their journey to the cloud” he said.

The two day summit, Alexander noted, included a host of information packed activities including panel discussions, customer testimonials and keynote addresses by top Oracle executives including Janusz Naklicki; Cherian Varghese, Cluster Leader, Sub Saharan Africa, Oracle and Deepak Mehra, Vice President – Cloud Architect, Oracle.

“Cloud technology will undoubtedly drive the next phase of growth for businesses in Africa and with our completely integrated cloud platform that spans all layers of the cloud, we are uniquely poised to help SMEs, large organisations and governments in Africa transition to the cloud” Cherian Varghese said.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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