VIDEO: 3 CHILDREN BURN TO DEATH IN NKWANTA FIRE

VIDEO: 3 CHILDREN BURN TO DEATH IN NKWANTA FIRE

 

Residents at Nkwanta in the Volta Region are in a state of shock after three children were burnt beyond recognition when fire razed their home, Wednesday.

The fire which started this morning is suspected to have been fuelled by gallons of pre-mix fuel stored in the house.

Attempts by the officers of the Ghana National Fire Service and bystanders to rescue the children who were trapped in a room proved futile.

According to Mr. Robert Avegidah, the assemblyman for the area, although the GNFS responded immediately after being alerted, the raging fire was stronger than the fire tenders they brought. Three tenants' rooms were also burnt to the ground. 

Although the cause of the fire has not been established, he said what compounded the situation was that "there was some amount of the fuel left in his room" of the father of the victims deals in premix fuel.

A co-tenant said the father of the victims tried to run out of the room with one of the children after an explosion in the room, but failed to rescue any of the children.

He is reported to be responding to treatment at the Nkwanta District Hospital after he suffered serious burns.   

watch video; by JoyOnline

SooboloNewsOnline

John Paintsil arrested for slapping police commander

Former Ghana international John Paintsil is behind bars for allegedly hitting an eye of the East Legon District Police Commander, DSP Emmanuel Basintale.

The spokesperson of the Greater Accra regional police command ASP Effia Tenge has confirmed the news.

According to her, the former guardsman of Hapoel and Maccabi Tel Aviv resisted arrest Tuesday after failing to cooperate with the police in a case involving his wife.

The 34-year-old was put in cells around 5pm Tuesday. ASP Tenge said Paintsil had been invited to the police station after his wife filed a complaint that he had stolen her car.

“When both parties were invited by the police for interrogation, we realised John Paintsil was not ready to cooperate and in the course of interrogation became very furious and decided to leave the meeting,” ASP Tenge told Accra-based Citi FM.

“It was at this point that the District Commander instructed that he should be arrested and a statement taken from him. Because he was not satisfied with that he assaulted the district commander. He hit him in the right eye and also pushed the investigator. So it took some few police personnel to get him arrested,” the PRO added.

She said the commander is receiving treatment while investigations continue.

Paintsil's marriage has hit the rocks over the years, and it will be recalled that in 2013, he was arrested for allegedly stabbing his wife - Richlove - over domestic altercation.

Source:SooboloNewsOnline

Ability to 'Smell' Food Tastes Can Lessen With Age

Ability to 'Smell' Food Tastes Can Lessen With Age

Most in study could distinguish salty from sweet, but more had trouble detecting scents

Your ability to "smell" the foods you taste weakens as you age, new research suggests.

Along with your nose, you can detect aromas through your mouth when you chew your food, which releases certain types of molecules, researchers explained.

The study included 102 healthy nonsmokers, aged 18 to 72, who ate various foods and were asked to rate how intensely they detected two tastes (sweet and salty) and four odors (strawberry, vanilla, chicken and soy sauce).

The volunteers tended to be better at tasting sweet and salty rather than detecting the odors. Only 3 percent of the participants had difficulty tasting at least traces of sweet or salty, but up to 23 percent had trouble detecting some of the odors.

This suggests that there's little difference in how people experience the same taste. But, there could be significant variation in how intensely they experience an aroma, according to researchers Tyler Flaherty and Juyun Lim, of Oregon State University.

Increasing age lowered people's ability to smell more than their ability to taste, according to the study published recently in the journal Chemosensory Perception.

"Generally, large individual differences in odor responsiveness become even greater when aging is considered as a factor," Flaherty said in a journal news release.

Reasons why the ability to smell declines as people get older may include long-term medication use or age-related physical and mental changes. Factors that could affect the ability to detect smells through the mouth include the use of dentures, according to the researchers.

WebMD

Your Car Window May Be Harming Your Skin, Eyes

Your Car Window May Be Harming Your Skin, Eyes

Many don't offer enough protection from the sun's damaging UV rays, study finds

The front windshield of your car probably shields you from the sun's UV-A rays as you drive, but the same may not be true for side windows, a new study finds.

 

Experts have long known that prolonged exposure to ultraviolet A (UV-A) rays can raise the odds for skin cancer and cataracts.

And with the long hours many Americans drive each day, one researcher in California wondered how much sun protection today's cars might offer.

To find out, Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, of the Boxer Wachler Vision Institute in Beverly Hills, analyzed the ultraviolet protection provided by the glass in 29 cars from 15 different automobile manufacturers.

Boxer Wachler measured levels of ambient UV-A radiation behind the front windshield and behind the driver's side window of the cars, which were produced between 1990 and 2014.

While windshield windows tended to offer good protection against UV-A, protection was lower and inconsistent for the side windows of cars, the study findings showed.

The study found front windshields blocked an average of 96 percent of UV-A rays, compared to 71 percent for side windows.

Overall, only 14 percent of the cars offered a high level of side-window UV-A protection, the research revealed.

This could contribute to a higher prevalence of left eye cataracts and skin cancer on the left side of people's faces, Boxer Wachler said. He believes that, based on the new data, "automakers may wish to consider increasing the degree of UV-A protection in the side windows of automobiles."

Dr. Doris Day is a dermatologist and skin cancer expert at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She said UV-A rays can be especially dangerous to the skin.

"The World Health Organization has designated all wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation as known carcinogens," Day said.

"While UV-B is a shorter wavelength of light and is blocked by glass, UV-A is longer and goes deeper into the skin -- causing both skin cancer and premature aging as it breaks down collagen," she explained. "UV-A also goes through glass, making it a potential issue for those who have daily commutes or spend extended periods in the car."

What to do?

Day recommends that people wear sunscreen that protects against both UV-A and UV-B rays. She also noted that drivers can purchase special window tint products that block 99 percent of UV rays.

"This is a great option for those who have older cars or cars that don't have the protection already built in," she said.

The study findings were published online May 12 in JAMA Ophthalmology. 

WebMD