Blue-collar jobs require physical rather than mental exertion. Hmm. What’s so wrong with how you do the work as long as you get the job done? Why should the way you do the job matter, you are trying to earn a living aren’t you?
I don’t think you have anything to be ashamed of, society does not just understand that what is important is how much money you take home at the end of the day’s work.
N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.
What’s so wrong if your hands get dirty, you will wash them won’t you? So your palms get tough because of the job you do, and that worries you, buy a hand lotion or better still, go for manicure every now and then, you can afford it, can’t you? Why not go for full body massage, that way all those muscles and joints that have been ‘damaged’ because of the heavy lifting will be taken care of.
You are worried people will call you names, no sweat, English is a wonderful language, you can coin your own words to explain what you do for a living, print it on your business card if you like. Open a web page, nay ya money kill am.
So a ‘common farmer’ can now be called an Agriculturist, an Agribusiness man, an Agronomist or a Cultivation Consultant. No be you start am, receptionists are these days referred to as Front Office Executives. It’s your job and you can describe it the way you understand it.
Mechanic can be an Auto Medic, Carpenter=wood sculptor, or wood expert, or Wood Consultant /Contractor or Wood Technologist, it’s all grammar, as long as it brings money into your pocket at the end of the day. Even Pastors these days prefer to be called Life Coaches, because that pretty much explains what they do in the lives of their members, they teach/train them on managing life’s challenges.
campusflava
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Voter registration: NYSC may exclude some tertiary institutions
The Independent National Electoral Commission may not employ graduating students of state-owned higher institutions for the forthcoming voter registration.
Investigations in Abuja on Monday by THE PUNCH showed that INEC had directed resident electoral commissioners to supplement shortfall in the National Youth Service Corps members with graduating students of federal tertiary institutions.
N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.
It was learnt that the directive was part of measures to ensure that state governors did not influence the voter registration.
INEC had said that 360,000 NYSC members would be needed by the commission for the voter registration.
The commission had also said that if it could not get 360,000 NYSC members, final year students of tertiary institutions would be employed to supplement them.
It was gathered that INEC offices in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory had already got the lists of corps members from the NYSC in the respective states and the FCT.
Investigations showed that the state INEC offices had also written federal tertiary institutions asking for the list of graduating students.
A top official of INEC, who pleaded anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to journalist, said, “The commission reasons that most state universities admit students from their areas and there is the possibility that they will be close to state governments.
“Corps members will be employed for voter registration. In states, where graduating students will be included, such students will be from tertiary institutions and non-indigenes of states.”
When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, declined to categorically confirm the exclusion of graduating students of state tertiary institutions. He however, said, “The NYSC that the commission is getting the corps members from is a federal institution. It is likely that recruitment of graduating students would be limited to federal higher institutions.”
Explaining the modality for recruiting ad-hoc staff for the voter registration, Idowu said that if there was any shortfall after NYSC members had been recruited, the number needed would be announced.
Investigations in Abuja on Monday by THE PUNCH showed that INEC had directed resident electoral commissioners to supplement shortfall in the National Youth Service Corps members with graduating students of federal tertiary institutions.
N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.
It was learnt that the directive was part of measures to ensure that state governors did not influence the voter registration.
INEC had said that 360,000 NYSC members would be needed by the commission for the voter registration.
The commission had also said that if it could not get 360,000 NYSC members, final year students of tertiary institutions would be employed to supplement them.
It was gathered that INEC offices in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory had already got the lists of corps members from the NYSC in the respective states and the FCT.
Investigations showed that the state INEC offices had also written federal tertiary institutions asking for the list of graduating students.
A top official of INEC, who pleaded anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to journalist, said, “The commission reasons that most state universities admit students from their areas and there is the possibility that they will be close to state governments.
“Corps members will be employed for voter registration. In states, where graduating students will be included, such students will be from tertiary institutions and non-indigenes of states.”
When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, declined to categorically confirm the exclusion of graduating students of state tertiary institutions. He however, said, “The NYSC that the commission is getting the corps members from is a federal institution. It is likely that recruitment of graduating students would be limited to federal higher institutions.”
Explaining the modality for recruiting ad-hoc staff for the voter registration, Idowu said that if there was any shortfall after NYSC members had been recruited, the number needed would be announced.
FG releases funds for payment of UNILORIN 49
The University of Ilorin on Monday disclosed that the Federal Government had released funds for the payment of its lecturers who were reinstated by the Supreme Court last year.
The institution’s authorities also stated that both parties that were involved in the litigation had learnt their lessons and put the past behind them.
N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, who spoke at a press briefing to usher in a week-long programme of activities for the 26th convocation of the institution, was reacting to speculations that one year after, the lecturers were yet to be paid.
Oloyede explained that with the release of the lecturers’ entitlements by the Federal Government, the institution had commenced the payment, adding that the school could not have flouted a Supreme Court judgment.
He said that with the court case now settled, “the university is now more invigorated and ready to blaze the trail in Nigeria’s university system.”
He said, “Lessons have been learnt by everyone on the issue of the unilorin 49. We are a law abiding institution. What we have done is to fully comply with the ruling as the Federal Government has provided the resources imposed on us by the court. Today, we pay N386m monthly in salaries.”
The VC called for more accountability in the tertiary education sector, noting that if what the Federal Government makes available to Nigerian universities was judiciously used, the country’s tertiary institutions would be some of the best in the world.
He observed that those who were still complaining that the government was allocating meagre resources to the sector were only doing so because some of the monies allocated were not prudently utilised.
He also took a swipe at universities who were in the “habit of selling honorary degrees,” saying that the whole idea had lost its usefulness.”
Oloyede, who is also the President of the Association of African Universities, contended that people were now being awarded degrees for doing nothing to add value to the society, noting that the school would always distance itself from such acts.
Oloyede stated that honorary degrees had become so cheap in the country, that those who did not deserve them were rewarded “just like the case with chieftaincy titles.”
The VC had earlier in his address said that the university produced 19 first class students, 857 second class upper and 2, 971 second class lower graduates in the 2009/2010 session.
The institution’s authorities also stated that both parties that were involved in the litigation had learnt their lessons and put the past behind them.
N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, who spoke at a press briefing to usher in a week-long programme of activities for the 26th convocation of the institution, was reacting to speculations that one year after, the lecturers were yet to be paid.
Oloyede explained that with the release of the lecturers’ entitlements by the Federal Government, the institution had commenced the payment, adding that the school could not have flouted a Supreme Court judgment.
He said that with the court case now settled, “the university is now more invigorated and ready to blaze the trail in Nigeria’s university system.”
He said, “Lessons have been learnt by everyone on the issue of the unilorin 49. We are a law abiding institution. What we have done is to fully comply with the ruling as the Federal Government has provided the resources imposed on us by the court. Today, we pay N386m monthly in salaries.”
The VC called for more accountability in the tertiary education sector, noting that if what the Federal Government makes available to Nigerian universities was judiciously used, the country’s tertiary institutions would be some of the best in the world.
He observed that those who were still complaining that the government was allocating meagre resources to the sector were only doing so because some of the monies allocated were not prudently utilised.
He also took a swipe at universities who were in the “habit of selling honorary degrees,” saying that the whole idea had lost its usefulness.”
Oloyede, who is also the President of the Association of African Universities, contended that people were now being awarded degrees for doing nothing to add value to the society, noting that the school would always distance itself from such acts.
Oloyede stated that honorary degrees had become so cheap in the country, that those who did not deserve them were rewarded “just like the case with chieftaincy titles.”
The VC had earlier in his address said that the university produced 19 first class students, 857 second class upper and 2, 971 second class lower graduates in the 2009/2010 session.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Southeast ASUU strike
The strike embarked by lecturers of upon universities in the South-East that has lasted for several months now has drawn the attention of concerned citizens of the zone. Some of them have, therefore, expressed concern over the ugly development that has brought academic activities in the zone to a halt, a situation that has questioned the capability of the state governments to effectively run university education.
Consequently, most people in the region had suggested that state universities should be taken over by the Federal Government, leaving for the state only the polytechnics and colleges of education to manage.
N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.
But in an interview with Daily Sun, a former Minister of Education, Chief Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu, opposed the suggestion though he described the situation that has forced the youths of the area to roam the streets as very unfortunate.
He observed that state universities in the country have their origin and were pioneered in the South-east, pointing out that the Imo State University, now Evan Enwerem University established by the late Chief Sam Mbakwe was the first state university.
He argued that it would be unconstitutional to call on the Federal Government to take over state universities because of observed lapses since it is not in the constitution.
“I can’t buy an idea which is not in the constitution. The constitution says that the Federal Government shall and as when possible provide free education as at and when practicable. So, for the time being it is only practicable to try to operate free education by Federal Government within the basic level. Then the constitution provides that education is within the concurrent list and just like the Bible says no man starts a house without counting the cost. So, nobody has compelled any state to build university. So, if a state decides to go into university business they should sit down and count the cost and also bear in mind that university means universal; it is not a local institution, it is not even a national institution, it is a universal institution that has a standard of measurement internationally.
“So, anybody going into it should first make up his mind; after all, all the state universities were established based on enacted laws from their state assemblies unlike the federal universities which will be an enactment of the national assembly. So, what I am saying is that even these states that have federal university, they also have state university.
“I can never guarantee that if you take any state universities from a state government that ten years time they will not create another state university. So, I don’t think it is the best option. One must also note that it is the issue of supply and demand in the 60s; how many people were demanding for university education, the supply of university education was being met by the number demanded. There were three regional universities, Nsukka, Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello and later Lagos they were meeting the demand because of the limited number of demand, but there is an explosion and even now the numbers of universities have not been able to meet the demand, so, we cannot just say let the states take over.
“The Polytechnics are also very challenging institutions to run. And you remember the recommendations we made to government and government accepted to transform all the Polytechnics to degree awarding institutions and and when I asked AMBTE, they said they are still in that process and that they are working out the modalities and when you do that all the institutions will become universities. I don’t buy the idea that Federal Government should take over all the state universities or stop states from operating universities because even the numbers of universities we have now have not been able to meet the demand of university education and secondly nobody compelled any state government to start a state university, they voluntarily entered into it”.
He explained that what was happening is what economists call a shock, adding that as “you finish your budget you get unanticipated item wanting accommodating within the budget. Yes, the argument of our governors are very reasonable, we are operating a federal system and based on true federalism no group has the right to fix salary for the other group, but on the other hand we must also not forget that in as much as education is in the concurrent list the Federal Government has the monopoly of supervising the quality of education, especially at the tertiary level and that is why when you look at the 2009 ASUU-Federal Government agreement you see a clause that states that the Federal Government shall not compel any state government to implement this salary scale, but it should be known that any institution that operates within the university education system shall use this salary scale as a benchmark.
“So, the question becomes, can the state universities operate outside the education system in Nigeria which is very difficult? Having said that we must also not forget the fact that these governors can only be judged by their manifestoes and I judge my governor based on his manifesto; he is doing extremely well; what he has promised is what he is offering. People often quote UNESCO 26 per cent, I have never seen as the former minister any document, I requested the then UNESCO Ambassador of Education, please I want that document, the UNESCO prescription that government should spend 26 per cent on education; he told me that there is no document like that, but even if such a document exists, Ebonyi is spending 33 per cent. What I know is that PDP in its manifesto says every PDP government shall be encouraged to spend 15 per cent of its budget on education. So, if we are spending 33 per cent it means government is doing well; so you can see the paradox and the shock which I have talked about.
Consequently, most people in the region had suggested that state universities should be taken over by the Federal Government, leaving for the state only the polytechnics and colleges of education to manage.
N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.
But in an interview with Daily Sun, a former Minister of Education, Chief Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu, opposed the suggestion though he described the situation that has forced the youths of the area to roam the streets as very unfortunate.
He observed that state universities in the country have their origin and were pioneered in the South-east, pointing out that the Imo State University, now Evan Enwerem University established by the late Chief Sam Mbakwe was the first state university.
He argued that it would be unconstitutional to call on the Federal Government to take over state universities because of observed lapses since it is not in the constitution.
“I can’t buy an idea which is not in the constitution. The constitution says that the Federal Government shall and as when possible provide free education as at and when practicable. So, for the time being it is only practicable to try to operate free education by Federal Government within the basic level. Then the constitution provides that education is within the concurrent list and just like the Bible says no man starts a house without counting the cost. So, nobody has compelled any state to build university. So, if a state decides to go into university business they should sit down and count the cost and also bear in mind that university means universal; it is not a local institution, it is not even a national institution, it is a universal institution that has a standard of measurement internationally.
“So, anybody going into it should first make up his mind; after all, all the state universities were established based on enacted laws from their state assemblies unlike the federal universities which will be an enactment of the national assembly. So, what I am saying is that even these states that have federal university, they also have state university.
“I can never guarantee that if you take any state universities from a state government that ten years time they will not create another state university. So, I don’t think it is the best option. One must also note that it is the issue of supply and demand in the 60s; how many people were demanding for university education, the supply of university education was being met by the number demanded. There were three regional universities, Nsukka, Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello and later Lagos they were meeting the demand because of the limited number of demand, but there is an explosion and even now the numbers of universities have not been able to meet the demand, so, we cannot just say let the states take over.
“The Polytechnics are also very challenging institutions to run. And you remember the recommendations we made to government and government accepted to transform all the Polytechnics to degree awarding institutions and and when I asked AMBTE, they said they are still in that process and that they are working out the modalities and when you do that all the institutions will become universities. I don’t buy the idea that Federal Government should take over all the state universities or stop states from operating universities because even the numbers of universities we have now have not been able to meet the demand of university education and secondly nobody compelled any state government to start a state university, they voluntarily entered into it”.
He explained that what was happening is what economists call a shock, adding that as “you finish your budget you get unanticipated item wanting accommodating within the budget. Yes, the argument of our governors are very reasonable, we are operating a federal system and based on true federalism no group has the right to fix salary for the other group, but on the other hand we must also not forget that in as much as education is in the concurrent list the Federal Government has the monopoly of supervising the quality of education, especially at the tertiary level and that is why when you look at the 2009 ASUU-Federal Government agreement you see a clause that states that the Federal Government shall not compel any state government to implement this salary scale, but it should be known that any institution that operates within the university education system shall use this salary scale as a benchmark.
“So, the question becomes, can the state universities operate outside the education system in Nigeria which is very difficult? Having said that we must also not forget the fact that these governors can only be judged by their manifestoes and I judge my governor based on his manifesto; he is doing extremely well; what he has promised is what he is offering. People often quote UNESCO 26 per cent, I have never seen as the former minister any document, I requested the then UNESCO Ambassador of Education, please I want that document, the UNESCO prescription that government should spend 26 per cent on education; he told me that there is no document like that, but even if such a document exists, Ebonyi is spending 33 per cent. What I know is that PDP in its manifesto says every PDP government shall be encouraged to spend 15 per cent of its budget on education. So, if we are spending 33 per cent it means government is doing well; so you can see the paradox and the shock which I have talked about.
Monday, October 4, 2010
In vitro UK pioneer Edwards wins medicine Nobel
STOCKHOLM – Robert Edwards of Britain won the 2010 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for developing in vitro fertilization, a breakthrough that has helped millions of infertile couples have children but also ignited an enduring controversy with religious groups.
Edwards, an 85-year-old professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge, started working on IVF as early as the 1950s. He developed the technique — in which eggs are removed from a woman, fertilized outside her body and then implanted into the womb — together with British gynecologist surgeon Patrick Steptoe, who died in 1988.
N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.
On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown in Britain became the first baby born through the groundbreaking procedure, marking a revolution in fertility treatment.
Since then, some 4 million people have been born using the technique, the Nobel medicine prize committee said — a rate that is up to about 300,000 babies worldwide a year, according to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.
Today, the probability that an infertile couple will take home a baby after a cycle of IVF is 1 in 5, about the same odds that healthy couples have of conceiving naturally.
"His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity, including more than 10 percent of all couples worldwide," the committee in Stockholm said in its citation. "Today, Robert Edwards' vision is a reality and brings joy to infertile people all over the world."
Despite facing resistance from Britain's medical establishment, Steptoe and Edwards spent years developing IVF from early beginning experiments into a practical course of medicine. In 1980, they founded the world's first IVF clinic, at Bourn Hall in Cambridge, England.
Prize committee secretary Goran Hansson said Edwards was not in good health Monday when the committee tried to reach him. Bourn Hall said Edwards was too ill to give interviews.
"I spoke to his wife and she was delighted and she was sure he would be delighted too," Hansson told reporters in Stockholm after announcing the 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award.
Brown, now 32, gave birth to her first child in 2007, a boy named Cameron who she said was conceived naturally.
"Louise's birth signified so much," Edwards said at Brown's 25th birthday celebration in 2003. "We had to fight a lot of opposition but we had concepts that we thought would work and they worked."
Brown paid tribute Monday to the man who gave her life.
"It's fantastic news, me and mum are so glad that one of the pioneers of IVF has been given the recognition he deserves. We hold Bob in great affection and are delighted to send our personal congratulations," Brown, a postal worker living in Bristol, England, said in a statement released by Bourn Hall.
The work by Edwards and Steptoe stirred a "lively ethical debate," the Nobel citation said, with the Vatican, other religious leaders and some scientists demanding the project be stopped. The British Medical Research Council in 1971 declined funding for Steptoe and Edwards, but the two found a private donation that allowed them to continue their research.
The Vatican is opposed to IVF because it involves separating conception from the "conjugal act" — sexual intercourse between a husband and wife — and often results in the destruction of eggs that are taken from a woman but not used.
There was no immediate comment from the Vatican's top bioethics officials Monday to word of the Nobel.
It was not immediately clear why it took the Nobel committee so long to honor Edwards. Nobel rules were amended in 1974 to prohibit posthumous prizes, which ruled out a shared award with Steptoe. However, Hansson said Edwards "deserves a Nobel Prize on his own" because he made the fundamental discoveries that made IVF therapy possible.
Initially there was also concern about the health of test-tube babies, "so it was of course very, very important that Louise Brown was healthy and that subsequent babies also were healthy," prize committee member Christer Hoog said.
Aleksander Giwercman, head of reproduction research at the University of Lund in Sweden, said Edwards' achievements also provided tools for other areas of research, including cancer and stem cells.
"Many of the illnesses that develop when we are adults have their origin early on in life, during conception," Giwercman said.
The controversy over in vitro fertilization has not dimmed despite its increasing popularity, and debate centers now on who should be able to use the technology. Some experts have questioned whether an age limit should be set on would-be parents, whether women and men who donate their eggs and sperm should be paid, and if gay couples should be eligible.
In France, for instance, lesbians are not allowed to use donor sperm, and in Britain, women cannot be paid more than 250 pounds ($384) for donating their eggs. Germany and Italy both forbid the freezing of embryos.
In 2006, a 67-year-old Spanish woman made headlines around the world when she became a mother after using IVF technology to conceive twins. The uproar continued when she herself died only two years later.
In a statement, Bourn Hall said one of Edwards' proudest moments was discovering that 1,000 IVF babies had been born at the clinic since Brown, and relaying that information to a seriously ill Steptoe shortly before his death.
"I'll never forget the look of joy in his eyes," Edwards said.
William Ledger, head of reproductive and developmental medicine at Sheffield University, called the award "an appropriate recognition" for Edwards.
"The only sadness is that Patrick Steptoe has not lived to see this day because it was always a joint team effort," Ledger said.
Other experts criticized Britain for not honoring Edwards earlier with a knighthood.
"It's a shame Britain hasn't recognized him in a more explicit fashion," said Francoise Shenfield, infertility expert with the European Society of Human Reproduction and lecturer in medical ethics at University College London.
Edwards himself told The Times of London in 2003 said he was "not terribly bothered" about not getting a knighthood.
"I'm a very left-wing socialist and I won't shed a tear. But if you can organize a Nobel, please go ahead," he joked.
Leif and Anna Karin Theelke, a Swedish couple living outside Uppsala, tried for several years to have children before turning to IVF treatment. Both their children, ages 6 and 2, were born using the procedure.
"When we were finally informed that it had worked we felt an incredible relief," Leif Theelke recalled Monday. "Without it we wouldn't have any children."
The medicine award was the first of the 2010 Nobel Prizes to be announced. It will be followed by physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday, literature on Thursday, the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday and economics on Monday Oct. 11.
The prestigious awards were created by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel and first given out in 1901. The prizes are always handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
Famous Nobel winners include President Barack Obama, who received last year's peace prize; Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill. But most winners are relatively anonymous outside their disciplines until they suddenly are catapulted into the global spotlight by the prize announcement.
Edwards, an 85-year-old professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge, started working on IVF as early as the 1950s. He developed the technique — in which eggs are removed from a woman, fertilized outside her body and then implanted into the womb — together with British gynecologist surgeon Patrick Steptoe, who died in 1988.
N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.
On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown in Britain became the first baby born through the groundbreaking procedure, marking a revolution in fertility treatment.
Since then, some 4 million people have been born using the technique, the Nobel medicine prize committee said — a rate that is up to about 300,000 babies worldwide a year, according to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.
Today, the probability that an infertile couple will take home a baby after a cycle of IVF is 1 in 5, about the same odds that healthy couples have of conceiving naturally.
"His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity, including more than 10 percent of all couples worldwide," the committee in Stockholm said in its citation. "Today, Robert Edwards' vision is a reality and brings joy to infertile people all over the world."
Despite facing resistance from Britain's medical establishment, Steptoe and Edwards spent years developing IVF from early beginning experiments into a practical course of medicine. In 1980, they founded the world's first IVF clinic, at Bourn Hall in Cambridge, England.
Prize committee secretary Goran Hansson said Edwards was not in good health Monday when the committee tried to reach him. Bourn Hall said Edwards was too ill to give interviews.
"I spoke to his wife and she was delighted and she was sure he would be delighted too," Hansson told reporters in Stockholm after announcing the 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award.
Brown, now 32, gave birth to her first child in 2007, a boy named Cameron who she said was conceived naturally.
"Louise's birth signified so much," Edwards said at Brown's 25th birthday celebration in 2003. "We had to fight a lot of opposition but we had concepts that we thought would work and they worked."
Brown paid tribute Monday to the man who gave her life.
"It's fantastic news, me and mum are so glad that one of the pioneers of IVF has been given the recognition he deserves. We hold Bob in great affection and are delighted to send our personal congratulations," Brown, a postal worker living in Bristol, England, said in a statement released by Bourn Hall.
The work by Edwards and Steptoe stirred a "lively ethical debate," the Nobel citation said, with the Vatican, other religious leaders and some scientists demanding the project be stopped. The British Medical Research Council in 1971 declined funding for Steptoe and Edwards, but the two found a private donation that allowed them to continue their research.
The Vatican is opposed to IVF because it involves separating conception from the "conjugal act" — sexual intercourse between a husband and wife — and often results in the destruction of eggs that are taken from a woman but not used.
There was no immediate comment from the Vatican's top bioethics officials Monday to word of the Nobel.
It was not immediately clear why it took the Nobel committee so long to honor Edwards. Nobel rules were amended in 1974 to prohibit posthumous prizes, which ruled out a shared award with Steptoe. However, Hansson said Edwards "deserves a Nobel Prize on his own" because he made the fundamental discoveries that made IVF therapy possible.
Initially there was also concern about the health of test-tube babies, "so it was of course very, very important that Louise Brown was healthy and that subsequent babies also were healthy," prize committee member Christer Hoog said.
Aleksander Giwercman, head of reproduction research at the University of Lund in Sweden, said Edwards' achievements also provided tools for other areas of research, including cancer and stem cells.
"Many of the illnesses that develop when we are adults have their origin early on in life, during conception," Giwercman said.
The controversy over in vitro fertilization has not dimmed despite its increasing popularity, and debate centers now on who should be able to use the technology. Some experts have questioned whether an age limit should be set on would-be parents, whether women and men who donate their eggs and sperm should be paid, and if gay couples should be eligible.
In France, for instance, lesbians are not allowed to use donor sperm, and in Britain, women cannot be paid more than 250 pounds ($384) for donating their eggs. Germany and Italy both forbid the freezing of embryos.
In 2006, a 67-year-old Spanish woman made headlines around the world when she became a mother after using IVF technology to conceive twins. The uproar continued when she herself died only two years later.
In a statement, Bourn Hall said one of Edwards' proudest moments was discovering that 1,000 IVF babies had been born at the clinic since Brown, and relaying that information to a seriously ill Steptoe shortly before his death.
"I'll never forget the look of joy in his eyes," Edwards said.
William Ledger, head of reproductive and developmental medicine at Sheffield University, called the award "an appropriate recognition" for Edwards.
"The only sadness is that Patrick Steptoe has not lived to see this day because it was always a joint team effort," Ledger said.
Other experts criticized Britain for not honoring Edwards earlier with a knighthood.
"It's a shame Britain hasn't recognized him in a more explicit fashion," said Francoise Shenfield, infertility expert with the European Society of Human Reproduction and lecturer in medical ethics at University College London.
Edwards himself told The Times of London in 2003 said he was "not terribly bothered" about not getting a knighthood.
"I'm a very left-wing socialist and I won't shed a tear. But if you can organize a Nobel, please go ahead," he joked.
Leif and Anna Karin Theelke, a Swedish couple living outside Uppsala, tried for several years to have children before turning to IVF treatment. Both their children, ages 6 and 2, were born using the procedure.
"When we were finally informed that it had worked we felt an incredible relief," Leif Theelke recalled Monday. "Without it we wouldn't have any children."
The medicine award was the first of the 2010 Nobel Prizes to be announced. It will be followed by physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday, literature on Thursday, the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday and economics on Monday Oct. 11.
The prestigious awards were created by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel and first given out in 1901. The prizes are always handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
Famous Nobel winners include President Barack Obama, who received last year's peace prize; Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill. But most winners are relatively anonymous outside their disciplines until they suddenly are catapulted into the global spotlight by the prize announcement.
No laps for warm laptops; skin damage is possible
CHICAGO – Have you ever worked on your laptop computer with it sitting on your lap, heating up your legs? If so, you might want to rethink that habit.
Doing it a lot can lead to "toasted skin syndrome," an unusual-looking mottled skin condition caused by long-term heat exposure, according to medical reports.
In one recent case, a 12-year-old boy developed a sponge-patterned skin discoloration on his left thigh after playing computer games a few hours every day for several months.
N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.
"He recognized that the laptop got hot on the left side; however, regardless of that, he did not change its position," Swiss researchers reported in an article published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
Another case involved a Virginia law student who sought treatment for the mottled discoloration on her leg.
Dr. Kimberley Salkey, who treated the young woman, was stumped until she learned the student spent about six hours a day working with her computer propped on her lap. The temperature underneath registered 125 degrees.
That case, from 2007, is one of 10 laptop-related cases reported in medical journals in the past six years.
The condition also can be caused by overuse of heating pads and other heat sources that usually aren't hot enough to cause burns. It's generally harmless but can cause permanent skin darkening. In very rare cases, it can cause damage leading to skin cancers, said the Swiss researchers, Drs. Andreas Arnold and Peter Itin from University Hospital Basel. They do not cite any skin cancer cases linked to laptop use, but suggest, to be safe, placing a carrying case or other heat shield under the laptop if you have to hold it in your lap.
Salkey, an assistant dermatology professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, said that under the microscope, the affected skin resembles skin damaged by long-term sun exposure.
Major manufacturers including Apple, Hewlett Packard and Dell warn in user manuals against placing laptops on laps or exposed skin for extended periods of time because of the risk for burns.
A medical report several years ago found that men who used laptops on their laps had elevated scrotum temperatures. If prolonged, that kind of heat can decrease sperm production, which can potentially lead to infertility. Whether laptop use itself can cause that kind of harm hasn't been confirmed.
In the past, "toasted skin syndrome" has occurred in workers whose jobs require being close to a heat source, including bakers and glass blowers, and, before central heating, in people who huddled near potbellied stoves to stay warm.
Dr. Anthony J. Mancini, dermatology chief at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said he'd treated a boy who developed the condition from using a heating pad "hours at a time" to soothe a thigh injured in soccer. Mancini said he'd also seen a case caused by a hot water bottle.
He noted that chronic, prolonged skin inflammation can potentially increase chances for squamous cell skin cancer, which is more aggressive than the most common skin cancer. But Mancini said it's unlikely computer use would lead to cancer since it's so easy to avoid prolonged close skin contact with laptops.
Doing it a lot can lead to "toasted skin syndrome," an unusual-looking mottled skin condition caused by long-term heat exposure, according to medical reports.
In one recent case, a 12-year-old boy developed a sponge-patterned skin discoloration on his left thigh after playing computer games a few hours every day for several months.
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"He recognized that the laptop got hot on the left side; however, regardless of that, he did not change its position," Swiss researchers reported in an article published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
Another case involved a Virginia law student who sought treatment for the mottled discoloration on her leg.
Dr. Kimberley Salkey, who treated the young woman, was stumped until she learned the student spent about six hours a day working with her computer propped on her lap. The temperature underneath registered 125 degrees.
That case, from 2007, is one of 10 laptop-related cases reported in medical journals in the past six years.
The condition also can be caused by overuse of heating pads and other heat sources that usually aren't hot enough to cause burns. It's generally harmless but can cause permanent skin darkening. In very rare cases, it can cause damage leading to skin cancers, said the Swiss researchers, Drs. Andreas Arnold and Peter Itin from University Hospital Basel. They do not cite any skin cancer cases linked to laptop use, but suggest, to be safe, placing a carrying case or other heat shield under the laptop if you have to hold it in your lap.
Salkey, an assistant dermatology professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, said that under the microscope, the affected skin resembles skin damaged by long-term sun exposure.
Major manufacturers including Apple, Hewlett Packard and Dell warn in user manuals against placing laptops on laps or exposed skin for extended periods of time because of the risk for burns.
A medical report several years ago found that men who used laptops on their laps had elevated scrotum temperatures. If prolonged, that kind of heat can decrease sperm production, which can potentially lead to infertility. Whether laptop use itself can cause that kind of harm hasn't been confirmed.
In the past, "toasted skin syndrome" has occurred in workers whose jobs require being close to a heat source, including bakers and glass blowers, and, before central heating, in people who huddled near potbellied stoves to stay warm.
Dr. Anthony J. Mancini, dermatology chief at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said he'd treated a boy who developed the condition from using a heating pad "hours at a time" to soothe a thigh injured in soccer. Mancini said he'd also seen a case caused by a hot water bottle.
He noted that chronic, prolonged skin inflammation can potentially increase chances for squamous cell skin cancer, which is more aggressive than the most common skin cancer. But Mancini said it's unlikely computer use would lead to cancer since it's so easy to avoid prolonged close skin contact with laptops.
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