Likes Alter energy: 20

Showing posts with label 20. Show all posts

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Nigeria Ranked Top 20 economies by 2050

Nigeria Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealareuters

Nigeria to be Ranked 13th among World’s Top 20 Economies by 2050, says PricewaterhouseCoopers Report.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (trading as PwC), a major international accountancy and multinational professional services firm has issued a report that predicted that Nigeria will be ranked one of top 20 largest economy in the world by 2050. With a projected GDP of almost $4 trillion by 2050, 6 percent growth and vibrant youthful population, Nigerias economic future looks very promising and reassuring. But does Nigeria has what it takes to make it happen?

The report published by the Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC’s) macroeconomics team was based on the modeling approach that is anchored on the utilization of the World Bank GDP data up to 2011 and "medium term projections for real GDP growth between 2012 and 2017. We then use our long-term economic model to estimate trend growth rates from 2018 to 2050." PricewaterhouseCoopers projections are based on the below specific paradigm tabulation:

· Growth in the population of working age (based on the latest UN population projections).

· Increases in human capital, proxied here by average education levels across the adult population.

· Growth in the physical capital stock, which is driven by capital investment net of depreciation.

· Total factor productivity growth, which is driven by technological progress and catching up by lower

income countries with richer ones by making use of the latter’s technologies and processes.

The key point here is that it is a microeconomics projections based on econometric forecasting with sound empirical data. The probability advantage is there, but the certainty may not be there, for the outcome is not written on the stone. The bulk of the work must be done by Nigeria to become a powerful and sustainable economy by 2050.Nigeria must diversify her economy away from oil. An economy based on export of natural resources, oil in case of Nigeria is not the wave for the economy of 21st century. Moreover, all corners of the world are overflowing with oil and the coming of the nosedive of oil price and glut are inevitable.

At the interim, Nigerias natural resources especially its large earning from crude oil can do a whole lot of good when it is put into a good use especially in the provision of durable infrastructures. Oil can be an engine of development, PricewaterhouseCoopers report put it this way, "Nigeria could be the fastest growing country in our sample due to its youthful and growing working population, but this does rely on using its oil wealth to develop a broader based economy with better infrastructure and institutions (e.g. as regards rule of law and political governance) and hence support long term productivity growth – the potential is there, but it remains to be realized in practice." This report reinforces that Nigeria vibrant and mammoth population is a thing of joy, when properly managed and geared into optimum productivity and wealth creation. But the youths must be encouraged and incentify to shy away from life of crime and violence.

Nigeria must keep her young and growing population educated and healthy. Poor educational facilities and inferior technological curriculum for schools will not cut it. Nigerian workforce must be familiarize with modern technology and technical know-how for them to take the advantage of the future opportunities. Nigeria must be able to compete with China and India for investments and capitals.

Nigeria realization of this prediction is also based on having a sound macroeconomics fundamental which includes low to moderate inflationary rate, a stable currency and implementation of an attractive and incentive-orientated fiscal policy that is commerce, investment and trade friendly. Nigeria needs a sustainable political economy stability that is rooted and planted on peace and prosperity. Naira can be safeguard and not be open for aggressive speculators to weaken it. Nigeria should accumulate an intimidating foreign reserve as a war chest to stabilize naira which is doable with arrays of export products other than oil.

According PwC report, "The world economy is projected to grow at an average rate of just over 3% per annum from 2011 to 2050, doubling in size by 2032 and nearly doubling again by 2050.". In this case, Nigeria has a good prospect because her economy is projected to grow at 6 percent or even more in the future and Nigeria has the advantage because many sectors of the economy that needs to be improve and can attract more capitals and investments.

While China and India are making their biggest gains by 2050, many other economies including Brazil, Poland, Mexico, Indonesia, Vietnam and South Korea are becoming economic powerhouses on their respective regions and on global economic theater. The PricewaterhouseCoopers report stated that:

"China is projected to overtake the US as the largest economy by 2017 in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms and by 2027 in market exchange rate terms. India should become the third ‘global economic giant’ by 2050, a long way ahead of Brazil, which we expect to move up to 4th place ahead of Japan. Russia could overtake Germany to become the largest European economy before 2020 in PPP terms and by around 2035 at market exchange rates. Emerging economies such as Mexico and Indonesia could be larger than the UK and France by 2050, and Turkey larger than Italy. Outside the G20, Vietnam, Malaysia and Nigeria all have strong long-term growth potential, while Poland should comfortably outpace the large Western European economies for the next couple of decades".

Nigeria policy makers should see this report as a clarion call to be ready and alert to put her house in order and to set her priorities right. The path to a powerful economy by 2050 is paved with discipline, hard work and supreme dedication. The problems of corruption and mismanagement must not be given the room to side track this radiant projection.

2050 Projected GDP at PPP (2011 US$bn)

1. China 53,856

2. US 37,998

3. India 34,704

4. Brazil 8,825

5. Japan 8,065

6. Russia 8,013

7. Mexico 7,409

8. Indonesia 6,346

9. Germany 5,822

10. France 5,714

11. UK 5,598

12.Turkey 5,032

13.Nigeria 3,964

14. Italy 3,867

15. Spain 3,612

16. Canada 3,549

17. South Korea 3,545

18.Saudi Arabia 3,090

19. Vietnam 2,715

20. Argentina 2,620 (Source: PwC)

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Readings health and medicine 20 October 2007

The text following each item is quoted material, except for editorial comments, which are in color.

BubR1 Protein: A Key Regulator of Aging: Hoping to find a way to help people maintain their independence and quality of life as they grow older, Jan van Deursen, Ph.D., and a team of collaborators are investigating the relationship between common aging-associated diseases and the protein BubR1. He became interested in aging-related research after observing that mice deficient in the protein BubR1 age faster than normal mice. They say BubR1 deficient mice may hold the key to preventing or delaying disorders such as cataracts, muscle weakness and cardiovascular disease.
Aging and the Growth Hormone Crash: What Comes First?: "If pituitary hormones were released like water from a faucet into a bathtub, thered be a constant slow filling of the tub in proportion to its size and whether or not the drain was open — you could solve that with high school physics," explains Dr. Veldhuis. "One of the complexities is that the pituitary squirts out a pulse of hormones at random times."

The pituitary gland, a pea-sized structure located at the base of the brain, regulates many key functions in the body. It secretes seven hormones in response to commands from the hypothalamus of the brain. Dr Veldhuis is interested in observing the pituitary response for its influence on aging. He is most interested in its secretion of the growth hormone (GH), which stimulates protein synthesis and cell division in cartilage and bone tissue. GH has a tendency to remove intra-abdominal fat, which is associated with diabetes and heart disease (metabolic syndrome).
Hormone dilemma, 5 years on: Five years ago this month, a landmark study dashed the belief that hormone treatment is the key to keeping women of a certain age sexy, healthy and young.

On the contrary, maintaining estrogen and progestin at abnormally high levels after menopause was shown to be risky for their hearts, brains, breasts and blood vessels.

The government study abruptly transformed the use of hormone therapy - and, in the ensuing years, has undermined the idea that women who dont get long-term treatment are doomed to decrepitude. ...

The landmark research remains bitterly controversial, its findings incredibly complex. In recent months, reanalyses of the data have found that while hormones raise heart risks for women long past menopause, they pose no such danger - and may have cardiac benefits - for recently menopausal women.

Critics of the study - known as the Womens Health Initiative - have argued for five years that it overstated the heart risks for younger women.

While the science is still evolving, hormones have been firmly reestablished in a limited role: to relieve the passing discomforts of dwindling estrogen.

And yet the risk of breast cancer from estrogen therapy has been reaffirmed in recent studies – under certain circumstances. But uncertainties still remain. See here, here, and here.
Can Fat Be Fit?: Two years ago Katherine M. Flegal, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did a new statistical analysis of national survey data on obesity and came to a startling conclusion: mildly overweight adults had a lower risk of dying than those at so-called healthy weights. ...

Stampfer cites the Flegal study as a prime example of the errors the critics make. The reason being overweight seemed to reduce mortality is because Flegal used the wrong comparison group, he says. The lean group in her study included smokers and people with chronic illnesses—both of whom have increased mortality risks, but not because they are slim. “When you get sick, you lose weight, and you die,” Stampfer says. Compared with those who are smokers or chronically ill, people who are overweight come out looking better than they should.
Eating Made Simple: Studies focusing on one nutrient in isolation have worked splendidly to explain symptoms caused by deficiencies of vitamins or minerals. But this approach is less useful for chronic conditions such as coronary heart disease and diabetes that are caused by the interaction of dietary, genetic, behavioral and social factors. If nutrition science seems puzzling, it is because researchers typically examine single nutrients detached from food itself, foods separate from diets, and risk factors apart from other behaviors. This kind of research is “reductive” in that it attributes health effects to the consumption of one nutrient or food when it is the overall dietary pattern that really counts most.
Cutting Cholesterol, an Uphill Battle: About 85 percent of the cholesterol in your blood is made in your body. The remaining 15 percent comes from food. But by reducing dietary sources of saturated fats and cholesterol and increasing consumption of cholesterol-fighting foods and drink, you can usually lower the amount of harmful cholesterol in your blood. My college roommate, for example, recently adopted a mostly vegetarian-and-fish diet, minus cheese but with occasional meat and chicken, and lowered her total cholesterol from 240 to 160 milligrams.
Deadly Inheritance, Desperate Trade-Off: Mrs. Platt is part of a study aimed at preventing pancreatic cancer in people who are at high risk for it, by finding precancerous growths and removing all or part of the pancreas to get rid of them. So far, about 20 people have had the preventive surgery at Johns Hopkins, and a small number of others have undergone it at other centers.

In essence, these patients are trading the risk of cancer for the reality of diabetes, and their willingness to do it is a measure of the fear and desperation that pancreatic cancer provokes.

“With pancreatic cancer you don’t have much opportunity to save lives, and we are, with this approach,” said Dr. Canto, the director of endoscopy at Johns Hopkins.
Electric fields have potential as a cancer treatment: Yoram Palti, of the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, and his colleagues have demonstrated another way to disrupt cell division: alternating electric fields with intensities of just 1–2 V/cm. The fields they use, with frequencies in the hundreds of kilohertz, were previously thought to do nothing significant to living cells other than heating them. But Palti and colleagues have conducted a small clinical trial showing that the fields have an effect in slowing the growth of tumors.
Science begins at home: Chemotherapy drugs, like most medicines, reach cells by slipping through narrow spaces in the walls of blood vessels that crisscross the body.

But all blood vessels are not alike.

The abnormal, leaky vessels that supply cancer cells have openings up to 100 times larger than those found in healthy vessels -- its like comparing a soccer ball with a Goodyear blimp.

In a way, this biological quirk was the reverse of the problem he faced in seeking a molecular petroleum sieve.

Instead of creating a mesh, he wanted to bulk medicines up so their molecules wouldnt pass through the wall of normal blood vessels. At the same time, they needed to remain small enough to fit through pores of vessels feeding cancerous cells.

One anecdotal example of the difficulties of developing new and better drug therapies.
Mysteries of autoimmune diseases unravel: Scientists say immune disorders, which range from common diseases such as juvenile diabetes or lupus to some so unusual that many doctors have never heard of them, are among the most mysterious of ailments, genetically complex and so diverse that estimating their true prevalence is a guessing game. But with major advances in genetics and exponential growth of knowledge about the immune system, scientists say important discoveries are tantalizingly within reach. ...

Immune system disorders often cluster in families and within an individual, says Virginia Ladd, president of the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association. "Once you have one, you have others. Some patients say if you live long enough, you can collect them."
Visualizing the Molecules that Cause Infectious Disease: Seeing with Supercomputers: CAMDL specializes in developing computer simulated models aimed at the discovery of new treatments for infectious diseases and cancer. It is one of few labs conducting advanced research in computational, medicinal, synthetic and combinatorial chemistry under one roof.

The laboratory houses supercomputing hardware and software used to process highly complex biological data, and develop comprehensive databases of three-dimensional molecules. Dr. Pang has adapted his imaging concepts from the small computer screen to a large wall screen where visitors are drawn into a three-dimensional, sub-microscopic world. Researchers can examine and study, in simulation, microsecond-scale proportions of proteins and enzymes associated with malaria, avian flu and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). This ability has led to significant discoveries in the lab that Dr. Pang says will impact the prevalence and spread of infectious diseases.
Small-Scale Solutions: Chemists first invented lab-on-a-chip devices to analyze gases in the 1970s, but the effort to make practical microfluidics tools for biological studies has gained traction only in the past decade. One major advance, led by George Whitesides at Harvard University in the late 1990s, was to fabricate the chips from cheap, flexible rubber rather than the expensive, stiff silicon used to manufacture computer chips. In a method dubbed "soft" lithography, Whitesides and his colleagues started with the same photographic processes that computer-chip companies use to cast an integrated-circuit blueprint in a single wafer of silicon, but they poured rubber into the chip-making molds instead.
Vaccines and Their Promise Are Roaring Back: By the mid-1990s, however, innovation in vaccines had virtually come to a halt. Only a handful of companies even tried to develop new ones, compared with 25 in 1955.

But in a stunning reversal, innovators today are chasing dozens of vaccines, stimulated by some recent high-profile successes. ...

The allure of the silver bullet — of wiping out an entire class of related diseases with a single injection — remains a powerful symbol of technological advance.

Tags: aging, cancer, hormones, endocrine system, cholesterol, autoimmune disease, health, medicine