24 December, 2014, Mauritania, USA NEWS CORP
The opening of Mauritania’s first ever nuclear medicine centre with IAEA support last month will lead to improved access to modern diagnostics and treatment, as well as lower costs. The new facility is part of the country’s National Oncology Centre, which opened in 2010. The centres offer comprehensive services in diagnosing, treating and managing cancer and other diseases in Mauritania and the surrounding region. “We are very enthusiastic about this relationship [with the IAEA], which has begun to deliver very positive results in a very short time,” said Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of Mauritania, at the inauguration of the new facility. “In terms of medical treatment of cancer, we are now in a fairly comfortable position in the sub-region.” Nuclear medicine and radiotherapy are two key areas of medicine that use radiation and atoms that emit radiation, known as radionuclides, to diagnose, treat and manage diseases. For an audio feature on the opening of the nuclear medicine centre, including an interview with President Abdel Aziz, listen to our IAEA Talk podcast: La transformation du traitement du cancer en Mauritanie. Facing cancer head-on Cancer is increasingly recognized as a major public health problem across Africa. The burden of the disease has worsened as rising living standards have led to lifestyle and environmental changes that increase the incidence of cancer, such as unhealthy diets, pollution and physical inactivity. For many years, Mauritania, one of Africa’s 34 least developed countries, has struggled to address the financial and human costs related to cancer. Haematological malignancies and solid tumours, for example, require specialized treatments that were not available at Mauritanian hospitals, requiring patients to seek treatment abroad. Cancer of the cervix, breast, prostate, liver and ovary are among the most common in the country. Today, Mauritania offers patients options for care closer to home. The two centres provide radiotherapy and nuclear medicine services using a linear particle accelerator and a high-dose brachytherapy machine. They also employ more than 20 medical professionals trained through IAEA fellowships, training courses and expert visits. “There were huge challenges ahead of us. We had no infrastructure, no equipment and no human resources to treat our patients,” said Moustapha Mounah, Director of the National Oncology Centre. “Now, after four years, Mauritania is able to conduct radiotherapy and nuclear medicine, with very sophisticated materials, and operated by Mauritanians.” Supporting transformation through cooperation The IAEA has supported Mauritania since 2001 through its technical cooperation programme, assisting the government to transform the country into a nation able to safely and cost-effectively use nuclear techniques. The country now uses nuclear technologies and tools to fight pests and animal disease, map water tables underground, as well as monitor and measure radiation dose levels to protect health care professionals, the public and the environment from ionizing radiation. It is also training engineers and economists to use energy planning tools and databases related to nuclear energy. Although Mauritania still has plenty to do, the country has made great strides in a few short years, giving patients access to better care closer to home that will undoubtedly impact the fight against cancer, President Abdel Aziz said. “We believe that in the future this important relationship for our country, and a model in the sub-region, will continue to evolve. Given these developments, we are very confident that things will continue to improve,” he said.
Sony Pictures said it would show The Interview in some US theatres. The White House praised Sony's about-face, which the studio said would result in "a limited theatrical release" on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot twhich the studio said would result in "a limited theatrical release" on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot twhich the studio said would result in "a limited theatrical release" on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to
Sony Pictures said it would show The Interview in some US theatres. The White House praised Sony's about-face, which the studio said would result in "a limited theatrical release" on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot twhich the studio said would result in "a limited theatrical release" on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot twhich the studio said would result in "a limited theatrical release" on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to
Sony Pictures said it would show The Interview in some US theatres. The White House praised Sony's about-face, which the studio said would result in "a limited theatrical release" on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot twhich the studio said would result in "a limited theatrical release" on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot twhich the studio said would result in "a limited theatrical release" on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to on Christmas Day of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to
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Samuel Afful*, Johannes A.M. Awudza, Shiloh Osae, Slyvester K. Twumasi and Andrews Affum receive Nelson Mandela Research Award-2015 in Chemical Science. Their research findings were published on world's prestigious most read journal: The Journal of Chemical Science. The occurrence, levels and sources of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Weija Lake are presented and levels revealed varying concentrations in the water and the sediments. Liquid-liquid extraction with hexane was used for the extraction of the compounds from the water samples while sediment samples were sonicated on ultrasonic bath with hexane/acetone (3:1) solvent system. The extracts were then cleaned up with florisil and quantified on a micro-capillary gas chromatography equipped with electron capture detector. In all, five indicator PCB congeners namely, PCB # 28, 52, 101, 138, 180 and fifteen OCPs, α-HCH, β-HCH, γ-HCH, δ-HCH, γ-chlordane, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, α-endosulfan, β-HCH, endosulfan sulfate, p,p’-DDT, p,p’-DDE, p,p’-DDD, and methoxychlor were detected. However, the levels of α-HCH, β-HCH, aldrin, dieldrin, γ-chlordane and PCB #118, 153 were below detection limit in the water compartment. In sediments, the mean concentration ranged from 0.15 µgkg -1 dry weight (α-HCH) to 7.08 µgkg -1 dry weight (PCB 52). PCB 28 was detected with the highest concentration of 2.50 µgL -1 in water samples. Data analysis by one way anova indicated significant differences in the levels of most of the organochlorines sampled from the various locations. Generally, the mean levels of the organochlorines in the Weija water and sediments were below quality guideline values. The results, based on one year monitoring, therefore suggest that organochlorine compounds investigated in the present study may not pose health hazard in the waters from Weija Lake. Even though the use of GC-ECD for determination of organochlorine pollutants is well established, the absence of applying other alternative proven techniques for confirmation of OCs identified in the samples could be a limitation. It is author’s recommendation that GC-MS or GC-MS-MS could have served the purpose in confirming the presence of the detected OCs in the samples. This work was supported by National Nuclear Research Institute of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission. Authors express their gratitude to Mr. Paul Fosu of Ghana Standard Authority for the technical assistance and to the technical staff of organic laboratory of Nuclear Chemistry and Environmental Research Centre of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission.
