Man Born With His Heart In His Abdomen (PICTURED)

Man Born With His Heart In His Abdomen (PICTURED)

Tolu on August 23, 2013

 

A man who has lived his entire life with a heart protruding from his abdomen is finally able to walk upright without getting out of breath or turning blue. Huang Rongming, from Henan province in China, underwent life-changing surgery to correct heart a defect and move the organ away from hisabdomen and into his ribcage.
He had lived with the rare condition for 24 years until a doctor told him his condition was rapidly deteriorating and that he required urgent surgery.
Conprivate part heart displacement is incredibly rare and occurs in just five babies out of every million born. Most patients die soon after birth.
Mr Rongming could not afford the procedure that would place his heart in his chest as it should be, but media coverage of his condition enabled him to undergo to life-changing operation.
‘It’s a dream come true. I’m going to lead a normal life like everyone else,’ he told ChinaDaily.
Before surgery, Mr Rongming’s heart could clearly be seen pumping underneath a thin layer of skin and bulging out from his upper belly.
When Mr Rongming was born, doctors did not think he would survive, as his protruding heart had defects and was vulnerable to injury. His parents admitted they were anxious when he was a boy and said that he was not allowed to play with other children for fear that he would die.
The condition made the young Mr Rongming vulnerable to breathlessness and turning blue if he stood up as well as sudden death if his heart was knocked.
Earlier this year he sought treatment at Wuhan Union Hospital. His doctor, Dong Nianguo, a cardiac surgeon at the hospital, was astonished that he was still alive. Tests showed Huang’s condition was deteriorating rapidly, and he needed immediate surgery, which could cost about 200,000 yuan.
Huang’s story attracted considerable media coverage and within six days of his story being reported, he received all the money he needed from kind readers.
The surgery lasted more than 10 hours and was entirely successful. His abdomen is now flat and his heart defect fixed. Mr Rongming

FG not ready to end strike – ASUU

By  DAYO ADESULU & LAJU ARENYEKA
LAGOS— After 10 unsuccessful meetings with the Federal Government, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday said government was not ready to end the 8-week-old strike, lamenting that government displayed dishonesty and lack of integrity during negotiations.
At a briefing in Lagos, ASUU’s President, Dr. Isa Faggae, claimed that government had declared it would not implement the agreed injection of funds to revitalize the public universities, but was only making a dubious statement of supporting some universities with N100 billion.
He said: “Government had also declared that it will not pay university academics their earned allowances which accumulated from 2009 to 2013. Rather, it is talking about providing N30 billion to assist various Governing Councils of Federal Universities to defray the arrears of N92 billion owed to all categories of staff in the university system.”
Narrating the union’s experience at the last meeting with the Government held on Monday, Faggae said: ASUU was shocked by the level of deceit, dishonesty, and lack of integrity displayed by the Government. Never in the history of ASUU-Government relations have we, as a union, ever experienced the kind of volte-face exhibited by Government. At one stage in the interaction, the Secretary to the Government Federation ridiculed the agreement, the MoU and the Needs Assessment Report, mocking the Minister of Education to “go and give them N400 billion,” at which members of the government scornfully laughed.”
He argued that the Governor Gabriel Suswam-led Implementation Committee was being used as smokescreen to “deceive ASUU, Nigerian students and their parents, as well as other unsuspecting members of the public on the purportedly released N100 billion for the implementation of the Needs Assessment Report.
First, he said, government plans to divert the regular yearly allocations to universities by Tertiary Education Trust, TETFund, to make at least 70% of the N100 billion. This is unacceptable to ASUU. It is like robbing Peter to pay Paul, since the idea of revitalization took full cognizance of the intervention role TETFund ab-initio.
“Again, contrary to subsisting operational procedures, about 75% of the money meant for revitalizing universities would not be released to them as the Suswam Committee plans to hand over construction of the hostel projects to the Federal Ministry of Education and/or the National Universities Commission, for implementation. This is illegal; neither the ministry nor NUC is backed by laws of Nigerian Public Universities to divert monies meant for the development of these institutions into centrally executed projects.”
Dr. Faggae questioned the committee’s motives for proposing to commit N1.6 million to a bed space, instead of N200, 000 to N400, 000, saying, “We see a continuation of outrageous contract regimes in the plan to centrally coordinate the construction of student hostels as done in the case of the 12 newly established Federal Universities with TETFund resources. The NUC has transmuted itself into a “Tenders’ board” which awarded contracts for the construction of 560 bed spaces hostel for each university at a whooping sum of 1.2 bn. This contract sum translates into N2.143 million per bed space.”

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/08/fg-not-ready-to-end-strike-asuu/#sthash.npS9lRtF.dpuf

‘I Am Nigeria’s Technological Saviour’.

Fidelis Nwachukwu is the CEO of Final Tech Engineering. He is a secondary school dropout with a natural skill to build machinery and complex engines. The father of five who hails from Abia State speaks to Ugochukwu Iroka about his passion for machines, the challenges he faces and his plans for the future.
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What compelled you to go from engine repairs to engine building?

When I realized I had a very good understanding of mechanics, I decided to use it to help my family and my country by not hiding myself in a place where my talents won’t be fully utilized. We have many talented people in this country but they hide themselves maybe out of fear or frustration and the country gains nothing from them. I am determined that my case will be different. By God’s grace and the help of the government and fellow Nigerians, I will use my gift to benefit the nation, myself and my family.

How did you acquire the knowledge for the prototypes you build?

I trained myself by learning from my mechanic master, and reading books on engineering and practising continuously. I carry out researches on many big engineering firms and try to replicate their processes. My biggest project is a fully functional model of a multipurpose earth moving machine (miniature excavator). It has taken me 12 years of study and research to come up with this.

Question: What are your plans for the future?
Answer: I want to move from building prototypes to building the actual machines. I have blueprints on many projects that I plan to execute. I hope to head a firm that will greatly reduce Nigeria’s dependence on foreign countries for technology. I want to be Nigeria’s technological saviour. I also want to help youths that are talented engineers. I plan to open a school where I can teach them and help them develop their talents.

Question:What are the major problems you face?
Answer: My major problem is lack of funds to execute the projects. The projects are very capital intensive and I don’t have the proper equipment. That is why I moved from Abia to Abuja where I believe I would have a better chance of being noticed. I have gone to exhibit my model at the Ministry of Science and Technology, at the office of the Presidential Standing Committee on Inventions and Innovations (PSCII). I want to appeal to the government and other well meaning Nigerians to give me a chance to prove myself. Given the right environment and tools, I will surprise Nigerians with my output.

Question: Nigeria was ranked very low in a recent survey for innovation. Why do you think this is so?
Answer: See, Nigerians are naturally innovative. The average Nigerian child makes all his toys himself from wood, plastic or paper. Therefore, it’s not an issue of lack of ingenuity. I will place the blame on the education sector; the schools do not encourage innovation. The curriculum is not practical oriented. Everything is in theory. Can you imagine chemistry students learning about titration with only textbooks? This is not good. I also believe parents should allow their children do what they want to do without trying to influence their career choices.

Question: What advice do you have for youths who are aspiring engineers and other Nigerians?

Answer: My advice is that they continue pursuing their dreams. Engineering is not something you can learn by only reading books. You must be ready to get your hands dirty. With self belief and hard work, nothing is impossible. My advice to fellow Nigerians is that they should try to support smart and innovative people so that our economy can grow like that of those big countries. That is why I keep shouting ‘na so oyinbo start.’ - Leadership. - Hope For Nigeria.