NEWS AND VIEWS

Biotea set to take on health drinks

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anchurian tea or Biotea, a unique brew made in countries such as Russia, Japan, China and Korea, has caught the attention of all as ‘a health drink’. The drink, in recent times, has gained popularity not only outside India but also in the rural parts of the country.
         This cheap and beneficial beverage obtained from a co-culture of yeast and bacteria in tea liquor, detoxifies the body and enhances the immune system, says Dr. S. Ramarethinam, Executive Director (Projects), T. Stanes and Company Ltd. 
Although the ancient Manchurian tea mushroom is new to us, the fermented health beverage is popular among Chinese and Russians as ‘tea of immortality’. Besides its use as a refreshing drink with several curative effects has been attributed to the presence of various acids, enzymes, vitamins and some antibiotic substances.
        Studies on the important bioactive components of Manchurian tea has shown that the unique mushroom has been accredited with considerable healing properties, systemic detoxification, regulation of intestinal flora, cellular strengthening flora, cellular strengthening, metabolic harmonisation, balancing of blood pH and its efficaciousness against a wide spectrum of diseases.
        Dr. Ramarethinam told Business Line that the company was planning to introduce biotea in hospitals owing to its healing properties. “It is not a curative but a preventive medicine”, he said and stressed the need for creating an awareness for tea-based soft drinks, which still remain a ‘non-starter’.
        He disclosed that the defence lab was conducting an analytical study on biotea.

Apr 17, 2002 The Hindu Business Line  

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Dealing with arthritis

The word ‘arthritis’ means ‘inflammation of joints’. It comes from two Greek words, athron meaning joints and tis meaning inflammation.
            The disease results from structural changes in the articular cartilage in the joints usually those which are weight-bearing such as the spine and knees.
            The chief symptoms of osteoarthritis are pain and stiffness in the joints. The pain usually increases after exercise. Other symptoms include watery eyes, wryneck, leg cramps, allergies, arteriosclerosis, impairment in the functioning of the gall bladder and liver disturbances. The possible causes include malnutrition, physical stress, obesity, glandular insufficiency, calcium deficiency and shortage of hydrochloric acid.
            Rheumatoid arthritis is often called the “cooked food disease.” It usually develops gradually over several months with persistent pain and stiffness in one or more joints. Ultimately the whole body gets affected. Symptoms include anaemia, colitis, constipation, gall-bladder disturbances, low blood pressure, deformed hands and feet. The condition may be caused by hormonal imbalance, physical and emotional stress, infection, severe fright, shock and injury. Hereditary factors may also responsible for the onset of this disease.
            The diet of the arthritis patient should be planned along alkaline lines and should include fruits and vegetables for protection and proteins and carbohydrates for energy. It may consist of a couple of raw vegetables. Cabbage, carrot, celery, cucumber, lettuce, onion, radish, tomato and watercress may be used for raw salad. Cooked vegetables may include beet, cauliflower, cabbage, carrot, celery, brinjal, mushroom, onions, peas, beans, spinach, tomato and turnip. In severe cases, it will be advisable, to put the patients on vegetable juice therapy for about a week. Green juice extracted from any green leafy vegetable, mixed with carrot, celery and red beet juice, is specific for arthritis. The alkaline action of raw juices dissolves the accumulation of deposits around the joints and tissues. Fresh pineapple is also valuable as the enzyme in fresh pineapple juice, bromelain reduces swelling and inflammation in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Repeated juice fasts are recommended at intervals of every two months.
            The raw potato juice therapy is considered one of most successful biological treatments for rheumatic and arthritic conditions. It has been used in folk medicine for centuries. The old method of preparing potato juice was to cut the potato into thin slices without peeling the skin and place overnight in a large glass filled with cold water. The water should be drunk in the morning on an empty stomach. Fresh juice can also be extracted from potatoes and drunk diluted with water on 50:50  basis, first thing in the morning.
            Certain foods like cheese (not cottage cheese) sausages, all meats, sugar, white flour, all products made from sugar and white flour, all salad dressing and rice are to be avoided by them. The patient should also avoid condiments, pickles, tea and coffee. Fruits permitted in arthritis are apple, lemon, orange, banana, pear, the various berries, apricot, pineapple, plums and melons.
            The body should be kept warm at all times. Joints should not be bandaged tightly as this limits movement and interferes with the free circulation of blood. There should be plenty of indirect ventilation in the bedroom. Rest is of greatest importance to arthritis who should not overdo their work, exercise or recreational activities.

July, 2002 Health Action 

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Skinned at last

The genome-wide research for genes involved in cancer has revealed that mutations in a single gene are to be blamed for the most malignant melanomas – the deadliest form of skin cancer. The discovery was made by researchers involved in the cancer genome project of the Cambridge-based Sanger Institute. They discovered that the gene called BRAF, which controls the growth of cells, was mutated 66 per cent of malignant melanomas and 10 per cent of colon cancer patients surveyed.
            The mutation switches BRAF on permanently, so it continuously signals cells to grow. “We have already started searching for drugs that will switch it back off,” says Mike Stratton, co-director of the project. Such drugs should stop the growth of malignant melanomas, which account for almost all deaths from skin tumours. “I hope that over the next five years the project would identify majority of genes involved in most common cancers,” says Mike Dexter, director of the Wellcome Trust, which is funding the project.


July 31, 2023 Down To Earth  

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Pranayam for stress

Researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here have discovered a clear link between rhythmic breathing process and a state of relaxed alertness and recommended the practice of ‘pranayam’ and ‘sudarshan kriya’ for
beating stress.
            “There is a deep connection between the body and the mind so what ever affects the mind affects the body, and vice-versa,” said Dr. V. Kochupillai, chief, Rotary cancer hospital, AIIMS, nothing that stress could aggravate any disease, if not induce it.
            However, the practice of ‘sudarshan kriya’ and ‘pranayam’ (SK & P), processes which control breathing patterns, can lead to a person becoming more alert, focussed and attentive, she said. To study the long-term effects of SK & P, electro-encephalogram (EEG) changes were recorded on 19 teachers practising SK & P compared with 15 controls (doctors and researchers from AIIMS not practicing SK & P), Dr. Kochupillai said.
            “Significant increase in beta activity was observed in the left frontal, occipital and mid-line regions of the brains among the teachers compared to controls,” she said.

August 8, 2001 TOI

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Regular Graft Rejection

Achieving immune tolerance to transplanted tissues remains a major hurdle in organ transplantation. Increasingly, it is becoming clear that protocols aimed at improving graft-specific tolerance will need to consider regulatory T cells, because these lymphocytes are known to be important in suppressing immune responses.
            Graca et al. have explored the mechanism behind a form of profound acquired tolerance, induced in rodents through administration of therapeutic nondepleting antibodies directed at T lymphocytes. Recipient mice that underwent this treatment accepted foreign skin grafts from donor mice. In their current work the retransplantation (from the recipients) of the tolerated grafts onto third party mice was sufficient to induce tolerance in those mice to subsequent grafts that otherwise would have been rejected. Regulatory T cells that had infiltrated the grafted tissue (after the initial transplant) were responsible for the transfer of tolerance, because depleting the T cells from the skin graft after transplanting it a second time resulted in rejection. These results are supportive of a functional role for suppressive regulatory T cells within transplanted tissue.

July 5, 2023 SCIENCE Vol. 297

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A Matter of fat

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lthough adipose tissue (body fat) generally gets a bad rap in the context of human health, a growing body of research indicates that this tissue produces several hormones, or “adipokines,” that are essential for normal feeding behavior, metabolism, energy balance and vascular tone. Among the fat-derived hormones is adiponectin, a protein whose serum levels are high in lean individuals and low in obese individuals.
            Previous work had suggested that adiponectin might also regulate insulin sensitivity. This link is strengthened by new work from Kubota et al. and Maeda et al., who independently generated mice genetically deficient in adiponectin. When placed on high-fat diet, mice lacking this hormone showed a weight gain comparable to that of control mice, but, in contrast to controls, they developed moderate to severe insulin resistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes. Intriguingly, Kubota et al. also report that the adiponectin-deficient mice might be more susceptible to vascular disease, as evidenced by the animals’ exaggerated response to mechanical injury of the femoral artery, a model that mimics human atherosclerosis. These results support the view that adiponectin is critical molecular link between obesity, diabetes and atherosclerosis.

July 5, 2023 SCIENCE Vol. 297

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  Tamoxifen may increase risk of uterine sarcoma

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he US Food and Drug Administration issued a new warning on the drug tamoxifen, advising doctors that it may cause an aggressive cancer of the uterus.
            The labeling of tamoxifen will be changed to add a “black box” warning about the newly identified risk of uterine sarcoma, the drug agency said. Black boxes are used to draw attention to problems that are serious and potentially life threatening.
            Tamoxifen was already known to increase the risk of another, less dangerous type of uterine cancer, endometrial adenocarcinoma, which is usually detected at an early, curable stage. But the risk of the more dangerous type of cancer had not been recognised previously.
            The new warning was directed only at women who have not had breast cancer but are at high risk. The warning does not tell those women to avoid tamoxifen, but it does urge them to talk to their doctors about its benefits and risks. The warning does not apply to women who have already had breast cancer and who take tamoxifen to prevent a recurrence. For those women, the FDA said, the benefits far outweigh its risks.
            The warning is also aimed at women who have had a very early form of breast cancer that is still confined to the milk ducts (ductal cacninoma is situ, or DCIS). In those two groups, unlike those who have had invasive breast cancer, it has not been proved that tamoxifen prolongs life, even though it does lower the risk of breast cancer.
            Uterine sarcoma is rare, estimated to occur in 0.17 women per 1000 year who take tamoxifen. In women not taking the drug, there are far fewer cases only 0.01 to 0.02 cases per 10000 women. Since 1978, when tamoxifen was first marketed in the United States, 159 cases of uterine sarcoma worldwide have been reported in women taking the drug.

July 6, 2023 BMJ Vol. 32

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Heart patients to get faster

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rom this week all patients in England who have been waiting on a thrust’s waiting list for more than six months for heart surgery will be offered the chance of having treatment in an alternative hospital. It could be in the public sector or the private sector, in this country of abroad.

July 6, 2023 BMJ Vol. 325

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United States sets new anthrax vaccination policy

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accination against anthrax is to be provided for members of the US forces who are expected to spend at least 15 days in regions where the threat of anthrax attack is considered high, namely Iraq, the Persian Gulf, Korea and possibly Afghanistan. About half of the military’s supply of anthrax vaccine will be stockpiled for civilians in case of a bioterrorist attack.

July 6, 2002 BMJ Vol. 325

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Mosquito cost

Mosquito-borne diseases cause millions of deaths every year. We all produce a cloud of chemicals and mosquitoes can track the odour trail that we leave for quite a distance’, says Laurence J. Zwiebel, assistant professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN, USA). Zwiebel’s group have isolated four highly conserved genes from the genome of Anopheles gambiae- an African mosquito that feed primarily on humans and spreads malaria – that are extremely similar to genes encoding odorant receptors in Drosophila.  Odorant receptors are proteins that extend beyond the olfactory neurons, and cause a cascade of electrochemical events on contact with chemical odours, producing the sense of smell. These genes were found to be expressed only in the antennae and maxillary palps of mosquitoes. By investigating the ligand specificity of these receptors, it is hoped that this information will accelerate the development of insecticides and repellent sprays that are more specific and less poisonous than those in common use. ‘Molecular biology provides a new arrow in the quiver of both high and low tech methods that the World Health Organization and other groups are using to combat this scourge,’ says Zwiebel. Not only could malarial outbreaks be reduced in less-developed countries but also, within America itself, recent outbreaks of West Nile fever indicate that the threat of mosquito-borne diseases cannot be ignored. In addition, the highly conserved nature of the olfactory system means that similar approaches are likely to work in other insects that pose threats as agricultural pests. S de B.

January 1,2024 Trends in
Biochemical Sciences Vol. 27 No. 1

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Better Heparin for Severe MI?

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atients with myocardial infarction (MI) characterized by ST-segment elevation who are treated with the blood thinner enoxaparin, a low-molecular-weight heparin, plus a clot dissolver are significantly less likely to die or have repeat MI within 30 days than patients receiving unfractionated heparin, say Harvard Medical School investigators.
            The findings appear in the March 5 issue of  Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Elliott Antman, MD, an author of the report and associate professor of medicine at Harvard, called for a larger clinical trial to determine whether enoxaparin should be standard treatment for severe MI. Enoxaparin has been shown to be superior to unfractionated heparin for patients with milder MI (without ST-segment elevation).
            The study, ENTIRE-TIMI 23, involved 483 patients who presented with severe MI at hospitals in the United States and Europe. Participants were randomly assigned to standard reperfusion with a full dose of clot-dissolving teneeteplase (TNK) or combination therapy with abciximab and half dose of TNK and unfractionated heparin (UFH) or enoxaparin.
            At 30 days after treatment, 4.4% of the patients on enoxaparin – TNK had died or experienced a recurrent MI vs 15.9% of patients on UFH-TNK (results statistically significant). Major bleeding events occurred in 2.4% of patients treated with UFH-TNK and 1.9% of enoxaparin-TNK patients.
            The death or recurrent at MI rates were 6.5% with UFH-abciximab-TNK and 5.5% with enoxaparin-abciximab-TNK. Major bleeding occurred in 5.2% of patients on UFH and 8.5% of those on enoxaparin.

March 27, 2024 JAMA Vol. 287 No. 12

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Toddler TV Ban Urged

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hildren under the age of 2 should not watch television, and older children should not have television sets or computers in their bedrooms, the American Academy of Paediatrics has concluded after a two year study. Babies and toddlers needed “direct interaction with parent and others significant care givers” for the development of appropriate social, emotional and cognitive skills, the association said in the journal Paediatrics.

 

BMJ Vol. 319.   

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Munch a musk melon and say goodbye to rabies

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cientist at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Bangalore have developed an indigenous recombinant rabies vaccine that comes in the shape of a musk melon or a bunch of lettuce leaves, rather than a glass vial.
            Animals and human beings can now just eat the vaccine vegetable and stay immune to rabies – after the vaccine passes mandatory animal and human tests. UAS scientists have successfully tested these vaccine vegetables on rats.
            “The vaccine will be ready for commercial use in about a year’s time and the UAS has applied for the patent.” Currently the rabies vaccine for people involves several tests and at least three injections.      

August 2002, Health Action

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Seven ways to avoid Alzheimer’s disease

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lzheimer’s disease (AD) is the end result of a long chain of events, many of which may be modifiable. As ongoing research offers more clues on how to reduce the risk of being disabled by AD, here are seven steps to keep the brain function sharp for as long as possible.
·        Establish a brain reserve: Research has found that interesting work, hobbies and an active social life can all help reduce AD risk. Researchers believe that any challenging activity – such as doing crossword puzzles, learning a new language, or taking up an instrument – may help build new brain cells.
·        Exercise your body: Regular physical activity improves blood supply to the brain and helps one stay mentally alert.
·        Eat well: Diet can help protect against four potential causes of Alzheimer’s – inflammation, oxidative stress, elevated homocysteine levels and minor strokes. Avoid oily food and eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. This is especially important for people with an inherited susceptibility to AD.
·        Get enough folic acid: Adequate levels of folate keep down serum levels of homocysteine, which increase the risk of both heart disease and AD.
·        Maintain a positive attitude: A positive emotional state may help hold off cognitive decline. People with a positive attitude may be more successful at dealing with stress and have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can damage the hippocampus, an area of the brain that shrinks in AD.
·        Avoid tobacco and excess alcohol: Cigarette smokers are more than twice as likely to develop AD compared to nonsmokers.
·        Treat chronic conditions that can affect cognitive function: If you have untreated hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes or depression, your risk for Alzeimer’s may be higher.

Apr / Jun. 2002 Capsule

 

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New DNA Detection Method

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esearchers let by Chad Mirkin, PHD, at Northwestern University report in the February 22 issue of Science that they have developed a new technology simplifying DNA detection that could lead to the creation of a handheld device that is more accurate, less expensive, and faster than conventional methods. The method involves a pairing of microelectrodes and gold nanoparticle probes that is 10 times more sensitive and 100,000 times more selective than conventional methods. Eventually it could be used to quickly detect biological weapons such as anthrax and smallpox as well as genetic and pathogenic diseases.
            The researchers say the technology could process and interpret results at a fraction of the cost of conventional technologies, and could not only displace polymerase chain reaction and conventional fluorescence probes in clinical diagnostics but make point-of-care DNA testing possible in physician’s office.

March 27, 2024 JAMA Vol. 287 No. 12

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  Appetite Reducing Hormone

An international team of scientists has discovered a hormone that can significantly decrease the appetite and reduced the amount of food eaten in a day by one third.
            The research, published on Thursday in Nature, shows how scientists from Imperial College, London, with assistance from Oregon Health and Sciences University, USA, and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Australia, discovered the novel action of hormone pyy3-36.
            Pyy3-36 is normally released from the gastro-intestinal tract after eating, in proportion to calorific meal content. It tells the brain the body is no longer hungry.
            When a group of volunteers received artificial infusions of the hormone at normal post-feeding concentrations, their food intakes was reduced by a third for a day.
            The report says the discovery that pyy3-36 suppresses appetite could be of huge benefit to those struggling with weight problems.
            “It may be possible to identify foods which cause the release of more pyy3-36, helping to naturally limit appetite, or it may be possible to create a tablet with a similar effect, providing an excellent, natural and safe long term treatment for obesity,” the authors of the study say.

August 9, 2001 TOI  

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Structure of dengue virus revealed

The researchers of Purdue University, the United States, have unveiled the structure of dengue virus. They worked along with scientists from the California Institute of Technology, the United States. This opens new avenue for research about the ways through which the virus is transmitted and how to prevent its spread. Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a potentially lethal complication that causes high fever, rash and extreme pain in the head, muscles and joints. It can cause internal bleeding, vomiting, severe abdominal pain and at times even death. Mosquitoes in tropical and subtropical regions transmit the virus, which causes more than 50 million cases of infection and 24,000 deaths worldwide each year. The virus is a member of the flavivirus family, which includes the viruses that cause yellow fever, Murray Valley encephalitis and Japanese encephalitis.  
         The three-dimensional structure of the virus was discovered through the techniques of cryo-electron microscopy and three-dimensional image reconstruction. The result of the decoding show that the major protein of the virus called ‘E’ organizes itself to form a protective shell. This shell is made up of 60 sub-units to form 20-sided sphere. It serves as a cage for the genetic material inside, sheltering it from harm until it is released inside a host cell. Most viruses reveal, under electron microscope, surface spikes that are used as part of the attachment process in the cell, with the spikes finding a matching receptor in the host cell. The shape of the dengue virus, however, is different and unusual. Its surface is smooth with small indentations stamped upon the shell, much like a golf ball, where the protein structures come together.

May-June 2002 VATIS UPDATE: Biotechnology 

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Cold Water Therapy Stabilizes Blood Pressure, Reduces Pain and More

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cientific evidence and numerous case histories support the use of “cold-water therapy” as an adjunct to standard treatments for frequent colds, insomnia, high blood pressure – even  cancer and other serious disorders.

The Mechanism

·     Stabilizes blood pressure: Cold water triggers the autonomic nervous system – which controls involuntary functions, such as heartbeat and breathing to raise blood pressure, increase heart rate and constrict blood vessels.
The autonomic responses strengthen with each cold bath exposure, stabilizes blood pressure, improves circulation and balances other bodily functions.
·     Enhances immunity: Cold water stimulates the release of cytokines and other hormone-like substances that are vital to immune function.
·     Recent findings: Breast cancer patients who underwent cold-water therapy for four weeks experienced significant gains in their levels of disease-fighting white blood cells, according to a German study.
·     Reduces pain: Cold causes the body to release endorphins, hormones with proven pain-fighting properties.
·     Improves moods: Cold water activates sensory nerves that lead to the brain. A cold, exhilarating shower can be emotionally uplifting and prime a person for new experiences.
If you can’t tolerate the cold: Keep the water cold but expose only your feet, hands and face. Gradually increase the duration and area of exposure.
Caution: People who are very thin or frail may be unable to tolerate cold showers in the beginning. If you do not feel warm and invigorated after the shower, decrease the length of your next cold shower.
            If you still don’t feel warm within minutes, forgo cold showers. Instead, condition your body with cold sponge bath of the feet, hands, face and then the rest of your body – after your warm shower.
           Do not try cold-water therapy if you suffer from an acute illness, such as severe back pain…have hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis)…. Raynaud’s disease…. or have high blood pressure not controlled by medication.
            Cold water causes a spike in blood pressure, which can be dangerous for those with conditions such as unmanaged hypertension.
            The therapy can be safely used to reduce mildly high blood pressure (150/100 and below) or to raise low blood pressure.

Jan / Mar 2002 CAPSULE

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Scientists turn skin cells into nerves and immune cells

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or the first time, one type of human cells have been turned into another kind. Conventional scientific wisdom states that once a skin cell, always a skin cell. But the researchers at the University of Oslo, Norway, have recently proved this wrong. The scientists used chemicals found in the body to ‘re-programme’ skin cells and turn them into nerves and immune cells.
            They took skin cells and grew them in liquid containing chemicals that are produced by the nerves. The researchers found that after some time the skin cells started to look like nerves and they even activated genes which nerves use. Similar changes occurred when the researchers put skin cells in chemicals made by the immune cells.
            Although the researchers have not yet checked whether the new, re-programmed skin cells function as nerves or immune cells, they say their discovery can lead to treatments which carry the same promise as stem cell treatments without any ethical complication. If ordinary adult cells really can be re-programmed in this way, there is no reason in theory why cells from skin or hair could not eventually be used to replace damaged brain tissues, or rebuild a defective organ. 

May, 31, 2002 Down to Earth






 

Traditional medicine strategy launched

WHO has launched a global plan to make the use of traditional medicine safer, more accessible, and sustainable. Up to 80% of people in developing countries use traditional, complementary or alternative medicine (TM/CAM) as part of primary health care, and its use is increasing in the north. The global market for traditional therapies is US $ 60 billion and growing. This trend brings with it the risk of making some traditional therapies unaffordable to those who now depend on them. The plan points out the need for policies to protect indigenous and traditional knowledge, and for ways to ensure the safety of therapies and prevent their misuse.
            The WHO strategy aims to assist countries to build policies for the evaluation and regulation of TM/CAM product and practices; strengthen the evidence base for the safety, efficacy and quality of these products and practices; ensure their availability and affordability; and promote their sound use by providers and consumers.
            “Traditional or complementary medicine is the victim of both uncritical enthusiasts and uninformed sceptics,” explained Dr. Yasuhiro Suzuki, WHO Executive Director for Health Technology and Pharmaceuticals. “This strategy is intended to tap into its real potential for people’s health and well-being while minimizing the risks of unproven or misused remedies.”
            About a quarter of today’s modern medicines have been developed from plants first used traditionally. The Chinese herbal remedy Artemisia annua, which has been in use for almost 2000 years, was recently found to be effective against drug-resistant malaria. In South Africa, the Medical Research Council is conducting studies on the plant Sutherlandia microphylla, traditionally used as a tonic and now thought to increase energy and appetite in people living with HIV / AIDS. Meanwhile, people in rich countries are turning increasingly to alternative  medicines and treatments, especially for preventive and palliative care. Details of the strategy for making the most judicious and just use possible of TM/CAM can be found at www.who.int/medicines /organization/trm/orgtrmmain.shtml.           

2002, Bulletin of the World Health Organisation Vol. 80(7)  

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A clue to Cachexia

Patients with chronic disease such as cancer and AIDS often develop cachexia, a life threatening disorder characterized by extensive weight loss and degeneration of skeletal muscle. The molecular pathogenesis of cachexia is poorly understood. Zimmers et. al. (p. 1486) show that mice develop a wasting syndrome resembling human cachexia when they are systemically administered high levels of myostatin, a member of the transforming growth factor-b family. Prior administration of proteins that inhibit myostatin activity, such as follistatin, slowed weight loss in the mice. These results suggests that myostatin may be a useful drug for target for prevention or treatment of cachexia, which is estimated to be the ultimate cause of death in about 25% of all cancer patients.      

May 24, 2002, SCIENCE Vol. 296           

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  Choking Links

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igh levels of leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells in the body, could explain why obese people develop dangerous blood clots more often than people who are not overweight. The association between obesity and blood clots is well known, but the cause has remained a mystery. Now, new research with mice, conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan (U-M)  Medical School, USA, indicates that leptin may be responsible. “Our results suggests that clot formation begins with some type of interaction between leptin and the leptin receptor on platelets – blood cells which stick together to make clots,” says Daniel T Eitzman, a cardiologist at the U-M Cardiovascular Centre. 

May 15, 2002 Down To Earth  

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Successful fighting   

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ndia is making dramatic progress in its fight against tuberculosis. The disease infects two million Indians each year – one-quarter of all new cases globally. A treatment campaign that started in 1998 has now reached 40 per cent of India’s population, up from two per cent at the outset, according to a report by an Indian government and US Disease Control and Prevention. Four-fifths of patients are now recovering after the treatment, with the death rate in the treated areas slumping from 29 per cent to four per cent.

May 15, 2002 Down To Earth  

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  Deadly Predictions

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nger and loneliness are just some of the feeling people express when they discover they have Alzheimer’s. But what if you knew 20 years beforehand that this was to be your fate? This disturbing possibility has moved a step closer with researchers from St Louis-based Washington University School of Medicine developing a blood test for Alzheimer’s in mice. The test spots the chemical markers for the disease long before any symptoms appear. Many experts opine that the test would help in evolving better treatment for the disease that is the most common form of dementia in older people across the world.

 May 15, 2002 Down To Earth

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Capitalism faces risk from within

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he chief economist of Deutshe Bank, Prof. Nobert Walter at a press meet, in his talk on “World Economy: Muted recovery,” said that the Enrons and Worldcoms showed that the risk to capitalism is from the inside. The public has lost confidence in stock markets and balance sheets and there has been a negative impact on consumer spending and investment climate.
            Professor Walter said that the incidents are a pointer to the fact that capitalism was allowed to deteriorate. Shareholders have changed to sharehoppers, they want profits every four months. The management of companies reflect this trend.
            “This does not mean that the American financial system should be rejected by Europe and the rest of the world,” he said. Instead there should be pressures put on for ethical behaviour by corporates from the press as well as NGOs. Prof Walter is also a member of the management of Deutsche Bank’s think tank, which covers a wide spectrum of issues from economic rating and sector analysis to country.
     The crisis in the financial system caused by the collapse of Enron and the controversy over Worldcom has led to the American government passing a tough piece of legislation called the Sarbanes-Oxlay Act, which will try and prevent such occurrences. This was stated by Prof. Walter.

August 9, 2001 TOI

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