EDITOR – The twin villages of Ballineen and Enniskeane, which are central to West Cork, are home to many light industries.
They include McSweeney‘s concrete blocks and gravel; Graingers Sawmills; Ballineen Carbery cheese and Hennessy’s Transport.
Every day dozens and dozens of large trucks snake their way along the winding main road from Bandon.
There are many dangerous spots on this road, but not as dangerous as the narrow bridge near the Bandon Co-op retail centre.
I have a recent picture of two trucks passing there recently – nowhere is there space for the many pedestrians who use that bridge daily. It is an accident waiting to happen.
Michael Hallissey,
Mayfield, Bandon.
Our capacity to destroy has no equal in nature
EDITOR – A hotelier born in Gaza is determined to rebuild his hotel when the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is finally over. His family have lived for generations in Gaza, since long before 1948.
His hotel and gardens were seen as one of the most beautiful in Gaza. It hosted weddings, events and hotel guests from around the world. He and his wife spent years travelling to the US and other countries collecting plants and flowers to make it as unique and lovely as possible. He believed it was worth it and said in an interview, it gave joy to him, his wife, their family, hotel guests, and the local communities.
He said he knew it was bad news for Gaza when he heard of the brief invasion by Hamas (last October) across the border into Israel, shooting dead 1,300 civilians and security personnel at a music festival and in some of the local Kibbutz and retreating with over 200 hostages into Gaza.
He continued to say he knew Israel would respond but not as bad as they have. He and his family, soon after the invasion, moved to a safe place in a nearby country. Their hotel and gardens were destroyed by missiles. Photos of the IDF with Israel’s flag on an inside wall in his ruined hotel were put up on social media. Rare artefacts from ancient Gaza in his hotel were also damaged. He is devastated by the destruction and what is happening to Gaza.
Three brave orphaned boys in Gaza, aged around 10, calmly told a journalist they stay together as their families were killed. They had on their backpacks and were trying to find out where to go next.
The recent protest of some 300,000 people in Israel for another ceasefire now for the safe return of all the hostages may put the necessary pressure on Israel’s government to do that.
I think the invasion and war in Gaza and Russia’s equally grim invasion and war in Ukraine show humans’ capacity to kill and destroy has no equal in the natural world or nature. Both wars continue much longer than expected with huge loss of lives and destruction.
Mary Sullivan,
Cork.
Links found between psoriasis and arthritis
EDITOR – Following my correspondence last February, I write to update readers of The Southern Star on the launch of the ground-breaking HPOS study to detect early signs of arthritis, known as psoriatic arthritis, in people with skin psoriasis.
Since our announcement, our team of researchers has found that, of the first 1,500 participants in the study who have completed a screening tool for arthritis, one in four (25 per cent) have symptoms of possible arthritis, warranting referral to their GP.
While these participants would previously have been diagnosed as having psoriasis, they were unaware of potentially having psoriatic arthritis as well.Psoriasis is a skin condition that affects more than 73,000 people across Ireland, causing scaly and itchy pink/red patches on the skin. For one-third of patients, psoriasis can predispose them to developing the associated condition, psoriatic arthritis.
Symptoms can include joint pain, swelling of the fingers and toes, back pain, and stiffness and pain where ligaments are attached to bones such as the heels. Unless detected and treated early, psoriatic arthritis can result in significant joint damage and disability.
With this ongoing research, we are hoping to identify those features which will predict which patients with skin psoriasis will develop psoriatic arthritis, even before there are any obvious symptoms. In this way, with early intervention, we hope to prevent irreversible joint damage before it occurs.
I’d like to take this opportunity to let readers know that the study continues to recruit people with skin psoriasis, who are 18 years’ old or more, and who do not have a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis. Registration is open at www.hpos.study
Prof Oliver FitzGerald
Consultant rheumatologist
University College Dublin
Dublin 4
