Wednesday 7 January 2015



EBOLA:
Hope replaces despair as the first human trial of new Ebola vaccine begins
Nurse Pauline Cafferkey
 
The first human trials of a new Ebola vaccine began earlier today in the latest step at halting both the spread of the virus in West Africa and death of care givers and medical personal from Europe and America. This attempt is an initiative of scientists at Oxford University who already have immunised the first healthy volunteers with the new drug. Hopefully, it would protect people against the volunteers against the dreaded disease.
The World Health Organisation said today more than 8,100 people have now lost their lives to the virus, the majority in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Nigeria, the most populous black country in the world with an estimated population of 160 million people was declared Ebola free after the death of a few Ebola victims last October.  The Oxford Vaccine Group, part of the University of Oxford Department of Paediatrics, aims to have vaccinated 72 healthy adult volunteers by the end of this month (January 2015). 

The trail involves a 'prime-boost' vaccine regime, meaning volunteers would receive a first 'prime' injection to stimulate an initial immune response. Following this, they would receive and additional booster injection two in March, which is intended to enhance the body’s immune response.
Ebola virus
The vaccine on trial does not contain any replicating virus, implying that it cannot cause Ebola infection on its own. The immune responses that the vaccine generates – both antibodies and T cells – will also be measured over a period of one year.

Previous trials showed the vaccine was successful in protecting primates against the Kikwit Zaire strain of Ebola – which is similar to the virus causing the current outbreak in Western Africa. The strain has a mortality rate of up to 90 per cent, according to the World Health Organisation. 
The trial's main objective is to test the vaccine's safety, and to test which order the two vaccine components should be given in a prime-boost regime, and how far apart. Developers of the drug, the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, have now accelerated the trial due to the continued spread of the virus in West Africa.
Nurse Pauline in Isolation

Two other Ebola vaccine have been developed. In September, a trial of one another Ebola vaccine developed by GSK/US National Institutes of Health (NIH) began. The vaccine used a single Ebola virus protein to generate an immune response, but similarly could not cause anyone to become infected with Ebola as it didn't contain infectious virus material. The trial involved vaccination of 60 healthy volunteers and initial results are expected later this month. Another Ebola vaccine being developed by the biotech company NewLink Genetics will also soon be on trial. 
The latest known medico victim of Ebola, Nurse Pauline Cafferkey, 39, is fighting for her life after being diagnosed with Ebola last Monday having spent five weeks treating victims in Sierra Leone. Officials at Heathrow had allowed her to board a connecting flight to Glasgow even though she had complained of a fever. Ms Cafferkey, from Glasgow, is in a critical but stable state at a special isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in North London.

Saturday 3 January 2015

FOUTH ANNUAL BIOLOGICAL SAFETY CONFERRENCE

UP-COMING EVENT


4th Annual African Biological Safety Conference
  • Dates: 23 – 25 Mar, 2015
  • Location: Casablanca, Morocco
The African Biological Safety Association (AfBSA) is pleased to announce the 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference, to be held at Hotel Novotel, Casablanca, Morocco from March 23rd to 25th, 2015 in collaboration with Association Scientific de P'institute National D'hygiene.
 
The AfBSA Conference gives a unique opportunity for biosafety professionals to discuss leadership in biorisk management, biohazard waste management and other laboratory biosafety and biosecurity issues in light of emerging diseases in Africa.

Conference Theme
The theme of the 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference is “BRIDGING THE GAPS BETWEEN LABORATORY SAFETY AND EMERGING GLOBAL HEALTH ISSUES" which has been chosen to reflect current laboratory biosafety and biosecurity issues, especially with regards to the Ebola epidemic in western Africa which has highlighted the weakness of biosafety and biosecurity practices in clinical settings within healthcare systems on the continent.

Conference symposia, training workshops:
Applications are invited for those who wish to organize side events, such as pre-conference workshops and symposia associated with the biological Conference. Expression of interest (EOI) can be forwarded to the Chair, 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference at morocco2015@afbsa.org

For more details please visit www.afbsa.org

4th Annual African Biological Safety Conference

  • Dates: 23 – 25 Mar, 2015
  • Location: Casablanca, Morocco
The African Biological Safety Association (AfBSA) is pleased to announce the 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference, to be held at Hotel Novotel, Casablanca, Morocco from March 23rd to 25th, 2015 in collaboration with Association Scientific de P'institute National D'hygiene.
The AfBSA Conference gives a unique opportunity for biosafety professionals to discuss leadership in biorisk management, biohazard waste management and other laboratory biosafety and biosecurity issues in light of emerging diseases in Africa.
Conference Theme
The theme of the 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference is “BRIDGING THE GAPS BETWEEN LABORATORY SAFETY AND EMERGING GLOBAL HEALTH ISSUES" which has been chosen to reflect current laboratory biosafety and biosecurity issues, especially with regards to the Ebola epidemic in western Africa which has highlighted the weakness of biosafety and biosecurity practices in clinical settings within healthcare systems on the continent.
Conference symposia, training workshops:
Applications are invited for those who wish to organize side events, such as pre-conference workshops and symposia associated with the biological Conference. Expression of interest (EOI) can be forwarded to the Chair, 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference at morocco2015@afbsa.org
Important dates
Preconference workshops: March 23rd, 2015
Conference dates: March 24rd to 25th, 2015
  • 1st call for abstracts: December, 12th 2014
  • 2nd call for abstracts: January, 6th 2015
  • Final call for abstracts: February, 4th 2015
  • Symposia/Workshops EOI deadline: February, 11th 2015
  • Abstract deadline: February, 18th 2015
  • Notification of Acceptance or Rejection: 25th February 2015
  • Registration deadline: February, 28th 2015
For more details and to download the conference registration form and abstract submission form. Please visit our website http://redirect.state.sbu/?url=www.afbsa.org
- See more at: http://www.crdfglobal.org/news-and-events/upcoming-events/2014/12/31/4th-annual-african-biological-safety-conference#sthash.Wmmm5dOZ.dpuf

4th Annual African Biological Safety Conference

  • Dates: 23 – 25 Mar, 2015
  • Location: Casablanca, Morocco
The African Biological Safety Association (AfBSA) is pleased to announce the 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference, to be held at Hotel Novotel, Casablanca, Morocco from March 23rd to 25th, 2015 in collaboration with Association Scientific de P'institute National D'hygiene.
The AfBSA Conference gives a unique opportunity for biosafety professionals to discuss leadership in biorisk management, biohazard waste management and other laboratory biosafety and biosecurity issues in light of emerging diseases in Africa.
Conference Theme
The theme of the 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference is “BRIDGING THE GAPS BETWEEN LABORATORY SAFETY AND EMERGING GLOBAL HEALTH ISSUES" which has been chosen to reflect current laboratory biosafety and biosecurity issues, especially with regards to the Ebola epidemic in western Africa which has highlighted the weakness of biosafety and biosecurity practices in clinical settings within healthcare systems on the continent.
Conference symposia, training workshops:
Applications are invited for those who wish to organize side events, such as pre-conference workshops and symposia associated with the biological Conference. Expression of interest (EOI) can be forwarded to the Chair, 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference at morocco2015@afbsa.org
Important dates
Preconference workshops: March 23rd, 2015
Conference dates: March 24rd to 25th, 2015
  • 1st call for abstracts: December, 12th 2014
  • 2nd call for abstracts: January, 6th 2015
  • Final call for abstracts: February, 4th 2015
  • Symposia/Workshops EOI deadline: February, 11th 2015
  • Abstract deadline: February, 18th 2015
  • Notification of Acceptance or Rejection: 25th February 2015
  • Registration deadline: February, 28th 2015
For more details and to download the conference registration form and abstract submission form. Please visit our website http://redirect.state.sbu/?url=www.afbsa.org
- See more at: http://www.crdfglobal.org/news-and-events/upcoming-events/2014/12/31/4th-annual-african-biological-safety-conference#sthash.Wmmm5dOZ.dpuf

4th Annual African Biological Safety Conference

  • Dates: 23 – 25 Mar, 2015
  • Location: Casablanca, Morocco
The African Biological Safety Association (AfBSA) is pleased to announce the 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference, to be held at Hotel Novotel, Casablanca, Morocco from March 23rd to 25th, 2015 in collaboration with Association Scientific de P'institute National D'hygiene.
The AfBSA Conference gives a unique opportunity for biosafety professionals to discuss leadership in biorisk management, biohazard waste management and other laboratory biosafety and biosecurity issues in light of emerging diseases in Africa.
Conference Theme
The theme of the 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference is “BRIDGING THE GAPS BETWEEN LABORATORY SAFETY AND EMERGING GLOBAL HEALTH ISSUES" which has been chosen to reflect current laboratory biosafety and biosecurity issues, especially with regards to the Ebola epidemic in western Africa which has highlighted the weakness of biosafety and biosecurity practices in clinical settings within healthcare systems on the continent.
Conference symposia, training workshops:
Applications are invited for those who wish to organize side events, such as pre-conference workshops and symposia associated with the biological Conference. Expression of interest (EOI) can be forwarded to the Chair, 4th Annual Biological Safety Conference at morocco2015@afbsa.org
Important dates
Preconference workshops: March 23rd, 2015
Conference dates: March 24rd to 25th, 2015
  • 1st call for abstracts: December, 12th 2014
  • 2nd call for abstracts: January, 6th 2015
  • Final call for abstracts: February, 4th 2015
  • Symposia/Workshops EOI deadline: February, 11th 2015
  • Abstract deadline: February, 18th 2015
  • Notification of Acceptance or Rejection: 25th February 2015
  • Registration deadline: February, 28th 2015
For more details and to download the conference registration form and abstract submission form. Please visit our website http://redirect.state.sbu/?url=www.afbsa.org
- See more at: http://www.crdfglobal.org/news-and-events/upcoming-events/2014/12/31/4th-annual-african-biological-safety-conference#sthash.Wmmm5dOZ.dpuf
INTERVIEW



Why we revoked some Ph.D certificates —VC, LASU


Internal crisis, especially at a university community, is always rampant. Intellectuals drive home their points, give the same story different meanings. However, Professor John Obafunwa, the Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), told Saturday Tribune’s NAZA OKOLI that justice will prevail on a number of contending issues that stare the school in the face.

Professor John Oladapo Obafunwa, LASU Vice Chancellor
LASU, sir, it is crisis after crisis. What is responsible for this?
Well, I wouldn’t really say it’s been crisis after crisis. But yes, I understand what you are saying. But you see, that’s in the past now. We have started our exams and things have been going on smoothly. At the so-called peak of the crisis, students started coming back; lecturers started coming back to give lectures. That tells you what? That not everybody was in support of whatever was going on; they dared the  ASUU executives. Throughout the whole crisis, NASU never went on strike because they understood clearly what the situation was. National Association of Academic Technologists never went on strike. SSANU was on strike briefly; we knew all about the attempts of ASUU to use some SSANU members. Issues with SSANU are off. We felt there was some element of normalcy at that point in time, but we still had some pockets of people trying to see how they could distract the administration. Despite all the distractions in the last three years, we were still able to achieve so much

So, this crisis… How did it all start?
When I came in November 2011, there was ASUU; there was an executive that I worked with for about a year. There were no problems. So how come the union suddenly has a problem with us? The only logical conclusion is that there were certain hidden agenda that some people wanted to prosecute. You could discuss with the leaders of any of the unions, particularly ASUU, get things sorted out, even when you had ASUU members that were not doing the right things, the leadership of ASUU handled the issue of erring members. But all of a sudden, we have a leadership that, from day one, said “Sorry, we are not going to chat with you”. From day one, they started talking to me about second term. I don’t think about such things, otherwise, you will never be able to make changes because you want to parley with everybody. That is not my intention.

Second term? Yours or theirs?
They were saying: “You cannot go for second term”.

Would you know why they took that position?
It’s all part of LASU politics. You have people who say that nobody has ever gone for a second term in the history of LASU. Either they kill him, or they make sure that he was forced out. I don’t know….maybe some people were eyeing certain positions, and they felt that if this person be allowed a second term, it would not allow for their own ambitions. But I never allowed that to bother me. Like I said, if you are interested in second term, you will not get things done; you will just maintain the status quo. But that is not my intention. A lot of things have to be changed; starting with the registration of students, getting results out, zero tolerance for sales of handouts, ensuring that academics have the right credentials, ensuring that you don’t continue to accommodate people who will have been lecturers at a lower level for 15 to 20 years; what sort of message are you sending to the students? There are so many issues that people on the outside do not know. We had to deal with exam racketeering, we had to deal with people who are used to collecting some allowances for occupying certain positions, making so much money within the system.
So, it was while you were doing these that you made some enemies out of the academic staff?
That’s right. And perhaps some non-academic staff do not like what is happening. The administration has been bold enough to implement certain provisions in their conditions of service. These are some of the issues. Of course, we had to minimise interaction between lecturers and students when it comes to exams assessment; taking the issue of “sorting” and award of marks head on; insisting that if you’re submitting questions, you must provide marking guidelines; marks cannot be given to people arbitrarily, so that if I mark a paper and I award a particular mark, take that paper with the marking scheme to Sokoto, another examiner will mark it and come to about the same conclusion, maybe plus or minus two or three marks. These are examples of things that the administration insisted on. And again, when people come into the university, they should be able to know when they are going out. When I got into the medical school, UNILAG in 1975, I knew that by 1980 I was going to qualify as a doctor, and that was it. When I was posted to the medical school, you walked in at 200L, you knew that four years from that time, 600L, you should be getting out of the place. We never allowed any sort of strike to disrupt activities in the school. When you sat for exams, within some two hours of finishing the exams, results were ready, granted you were dealing with a smaller number. And that is why we came here, we started with four weeks, we said that results must be ready by then, and the last exams, under three weeks, results were ready. We need to have a stable academic calendar, that’s something that personally, I will not negotiate. And luckily, we have more and more ASUU members coming together and saying we cannot continue in our old ways. I have this letter from a section of ASUU, complaining about Mr Idris-led exco. It states here that Mr Adekunle Idris-led executive has been suspended, and that the new executive is committed to moving the place forward. Of course, I’ve heard things like “the VC is sponsoring them”. This letter was written to the vice chancellor and copied to the visitor, the chancellor, pro-chancellor, special adviser on education. The interim executive is led by Comrade Asokere. If you ask me to point to Asokere in a crowd, I don’t know him and that is a fact.

But how can we be sure that the suspension was done the right way?
There was an ASUU congress. A number of stories are being put in the press, even informing the national ASUU. I thought the national ASUU would at least try to find out the other part of the story. I remember that on the 4th of November, a letter came from Mr Idris, saying that national ASUU planned to have a meeting, and they would want to use certain facilities, and they would like to have security provided. I approved everything. It is customary that when ASUU comes, they would come and pay a courtesy visit to the vice chancellor who would host them to a cocktail or something like that. If there were grievances, if there were issues, things like that would be raised at that forum, discussed and settled. So, this letter came on the 5th and that same day, I gave all the approval. I was even looking forward to meet the national ASUU, so that we’ll sit down and talk about everything. National ASUU came, they did not even deem it fit to pay a courtesy call to their host. When they came, they used our facilities; they said they wanted to use it for two days (6th and 7th). But on the 8th, they were still using our facilities till they had their press conference in the afternoon. And they did not have the courtesy to even ask for the other side of the story. I’m not interested in any courtesy call but it says a lot. And I just kept quiet. Even while they were here, despite the fact that the approval was for 6th and 7th, I continued with what I was doing here. I’ve learnt, in some instances, to just ignore people, pretend as if certain things do not exist.

ASUU has accused your administration of promoting some staff members without due process.
The only way to promote anybody is either through APA form and recommendation coming from the faculty, or by an advertisement. There will be an interview, experts will come in from outside, the results of interviews will go to the Appointments and Promotions Committee. From there, it goes to the Governing Council. It’s after the approval of the council that people can be promoted. The VC cannot promote anybody without the concurrence of the council.

Isn’t ASUU aware that is the process?
ASUU is aware, fully aware; the then ASUU. But people say certain things just to create confusion,  to misinform the system, misinform the outside world. If I have to be bothering myself with what is being said, I will not get anything done in this place. The VC cannot promote anybody on his own; it has to go through a process. If there’s anybody that they feel was promoted without going through the council, let them mention the name. I’ve heard something like heads of departments have been appointed…when it’s supposed to be deans that should appoint. That is not true. Heads of department are not appointed by deans; they are appointed by the VC. The Deans are only asked to recommend, I don’t have to accept their recommendation. If I appoint you as my special adviser, you give me advice, but I don’t have to take your advice because at the end of the day, I’m the one that will be questioned; I’m the one that will be held accountable. If you are going to hold the VC responsible for anything, the VC should also be in a position to be able to hold certain people responsible.

The academic calendar, as it is, provides for little or no break. Is it merely to make up for lost time?
One thing is obvious; the students want this whole thing to end. And they have made the sacrifice, even coming on weekends to do what needs to be done. A number of lecturers have put in a lot of effort. On Tuesday (December 23), I was in College of Medicine for the induction of new doctors. These are people who should have finished since February this year now being inducted in December. That is a very strong message. Since the inception of this administration, we have gone through three consecutive convocations – 2012, 2013, 2014. Before this administration, for five years or so, LASU did not have any convocation. And I recall last year in the Senate, some people were advocating that we should wipe out the 2013/2014 academic session and some of us said no. we knew the agenda, so that there would be a disruption of the academic calendar, so that it would be said that this administration has not taken care of students; we knew that they didn’t want the convocation to take place. But we were determined to do what we needed to do so that people could go to Law School. We had a students’ crisis on January 23. And after some time, we had to recall the students starting with those in their final year, so that they could do their exams, get the results processed through Senate on time for convocation as well as NYSC – particularly NYSC, so that they could go with Batch B. And we achieved that. Meanwhile, some people wanted us to cancel it, just like they tried to see if they could disrupt this present exam, so that we won’t have the session ending in January as planned. Because once we end it in January, between January and September, we’ll be having an uninterrupted academic session; we’ll be back to normalcy, and we would start the 2015/2016 academic calendar in October. And that is something we are determined to see happen. We’ll finish this exam, people will graduate, we’ll have our convocation, God willing, in February, and we continue from there. Isn’t that supposed to be a good thing that would gladden the hearts of students and parents?

The issue of Adekunle Idris: He was awarded a PhD by this school; and the school has also withdrawn the PhD. What kind of message does this send?
One, the VC cannot award a degree, and as such, he can’t withdraw a degree. Making reference to the VC is to muddle the water and make things seem like there is an issue surrounding the VC. Whatever happened was a Senate decision. How did we come about these things in the first instance? In one of the Senate meetings, it was mentioned that a particular lecturer had refused to accept the PhD that was given to her because, according to her, that was not what she applied for. One thing led to the other. We then said: “Okay, Dean, PG School, Dean, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, go and look into this thing and give us a report.” They came with 19 names and Senate looked at it. The day we had a meeting, 30th of October, we had 93 Senate members at the least. Senate looked at the entire 19, and divided the list into three categories. We had the Group One where they felt it was straight forward, no problem. The second group, they felt there were mild problems. The third group,  serious problems. I can tell you that in 2004, the university senate approved M.Phil/PhD Business Administration, M.Phil/PhD Management and Mphil/PhD International Business. There is nothing like Marketing there. Somebody was given a PhD in Business Administration (Marketing) instead of the PhD International Business; that was how the whole thing came up. Could the student have done this alone by himself? The answer is no. There must have been some lapses from within if not outright connivance. That’s a fact. That issue is being looked into; there is a committee working on that. Now, I was talking about the third category where you have people with PhDs in programmes that were never approved by the university; programmes not known to NUC. The first group where we didn’t have any problem, we said “Leave them alone. The second and third groups, withdraw their PhD, tell them to return the PhD because the university no longer recognises those PhD. And then, come and submit the letter given to you when you were doing your registration for the PhD. When you did your conversion from M.Phil to PhD, you must have been given a letter of conversion. Your dissertation too. We’ll now look at everything. Where everything matches what you are supposed to have, you PhD gets returned.”

Is that the stage now?
No, we’ve already gone past that stage, people returned their PhD except probably about two or three people. But of course, whether you return it or not is irrelevant because that piece of paper is useless; it’s no longer recognised. The university has withdrawn that certificate. If you don’t return it, you can keep it as a souvenir if you like. By the way, not all of them are lecturers; some of them are not here. Of course, they reached out to people who are not here and they complied except for about two or three. We reviewed the whole thing and PhD were re-issued. However, where your PhD does not exist, for example Marketing, you cannot have it. The university cannot give what it does not have. The university cannot award a degree that it is not approved to give.

Can you confirm the number of candidates affected, and those whose PhD have been officially withdrawn.
I think it’s just about three or four people that are left. I’ve asked the registrar to give me a lowdown and she sent the information to me. If you have a PhD in Marketing and there is no programme like Marketing, we cannot re-issue such a degree. You have to fulfill the conditions that will merit that degree.

ASUU’s position is that Adekunle Idris was being victimised.
There was no reason to victimise Adekunle Idris. Don’t forget that it is this same administration that promoted him to Lecturer 1 in 2012. He was not chairman of ASUU at that time. Things are done according to the books. Being victimised because he fought for school fees reduction? ASUU did not fight for school fees reduction, the students themselves fought for it.

Yes, they fought for it for a long time, then along the line, ASUU joined them
Excuse me, when the school fees were increased in 2011, ASUU did not raise a finger in this university. The students even wanted ASUU to join them but they said no, and that was how they started paying it. So, ASUU was now trying to make it an issue hoping to get support when they started their crisis last year; I’m talking about ASUU LASU. The students went on their own and I remember, they even told ASUU “don’t fight for us, don’t join us in your crisis.” When we went to Alausa to negotiate, ASUU was not there. I remember that when they were trying to muddle things and put it as part of their demand, they were trying to suggest that the increase in school fees was brought about by Obafunwa when, in fact, the school fees had been increased before I assumed office. And that was the first crisis I had to deal with when I assumed office in November 2011. So for ASUU to be saying all that, it shows the height of deceit and mischief. When they were adding it to the list of their demands, I recall that the pro-chancellor asked them at the meeting of the governing council, “What would you suggest?” And they said “N50, 000.” But when the governor was going to review the case, he went back to N25, 000. It was announced during the students’ convocation. ASUU was not even there. It was a master stroke on the part of the state government. The same ASUU that is saying “We want the fees reduced,” is also saying “We want this to be added to our salary.” Do they want to kill the university? It shows the level of insincerity.

If I may bring you back to Idris Adekunle, don’t you think that the school should have identified and punished those people in the system who were responsible for issuing him the certificate just as quickly as the school has acted in withdrawing the certificate?
There is a committee. They wrote and said they needed more time. But you cannot say because you want to look at what took place inside, which is perhaps going to affect many faculties… you cannot say because of that you won’t take a decisive action where something wrong has happened. Hey, the Lagos State University has no power to award a PhD in Marketing…

But it did
By accident;  because of some kind of misinformation. Are we saying that because it did, it should have been sustained? Assuming someone was given a certificate as a doctor,  but the person never trained as a doctor, are you saying that the university should allow the person to practise? No, you recall the certificate, and find out what went wrong inside, so that it does not occur again. And I can assure you, that is what we are doing.

CULLED FROM SATURDAY TRIBUNE OF 3RD JANUARY 2015.