Efficacy of green tea in treating genetic disorder and tumours
A compound found in green tea shows great promise for the development of drugs to treat two types of tumours and a deadly congenital disease. The discovery resulted from a study in the United States led by Dr. Thomas Smith at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre and his colleagues at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) is found in all living organisms and is responsible for the digestion of amino acids. In animals, GDH is controlled by a complex network of metabolites, absent in species belonging to the other kingdoms. Using atomic structures to understand the differences between animals and plants, Dr. Smith and his colleagues discovered that two compounds found naturally in green tea are able to compensate for this genetic disorder by turning off GDH in isolation and when the green tea compounds were administrated orally. The Smith Lab also used X- ray crystallography to determine atomic structure of these green tea compounds bound to the enzyme. With this atomic information, they hope to be able to modify these natural compounds to design and develop better drugs.
Two other research groups have validated and extended these findings to show that blocking GDH with green tea is very effective at killing two different types of tumours – glioblastomas, an aggressive type of brain tumour and tuberous sclerosis complex disorder, a genetic disease that causes non-malignant tumours to grow on a number organs. While these compounds from green tea are extremely safe and consumed by millions every day, they have a number of properties that make them difficult to use as actual drugs.
Sep-Oct, 2011 VATIS UPDATE: Biotechnology
An hour of exercise daily can help improve memory and learning
Doing exercise for up to an hour a day can improve memory and learning in children and the elderly, say scientists. The researchers found that walking or cycling regularly for between six months to a year can improve memory and problem solving skills in the elderly by between 15 and 20 per cent. They have shown that such exercise can also increase the size of crucial parts of the brain. The scientists have also discovered that children who are fit also tend to be better at multitasking and performing difficult mental tasks than unfit friends, the Telegraph reported.
Professor Art Kramer, director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois, who led the research, said their findings could have major implications for improving children's performance at school and also could be used to help the elderly combat memory loss in old age. "It is a sad fact of ageing that our brain function decreases as we get older. Increasingly people are also living more sedentary lifestyles. While we know that exercise can have positive effects on cardiovascular disease and diabetes, we have found it can bring about improvements in cognition, brain function and brain structure," Kramer said. "It is aerobic exercise that is important so by starting off doing just 15 minutes a day and working up to 45 minutes to an hour of continuous working we can see some real improvements in cognition after six months to a year. Children also seem to benefit and we have found that aerobically fit children exhibit superior cognitive control to lower fit children," Kramer stated.
Work published earlier this year by his team showed that the hippocampus, the part of the brain involved in memory, of elderly people who exercised regularly for more than six months increased by two per cent, effectively reversing brain ageing by one to two years. In the latest research, he also found that fitter children are better at crossing the street when distracted by music or holding a conversation on a hands-free mobile phone compared to those who were less fit.
He found that while the fit children could cross a road in a virtual reality simulation with ease when distracted, the less fit children tended walk at the same speed as the fitter children but misjudged the speed and distance of the computer generated vehicles. "The low fitness kids were just as good at crossing the street when it was the only thing they were doing. If they were listening to music or talking on the headset, they performed badly. They often ended up with the screen going red to show they had been hit," Professor Kramer said.
"One way to look at it is that the high fit kids think more efficiently and so are better at multitasking," the researcher added. in.lifestyle.yahoo.com
Multi-Vitamin pills give zero benefits, says a study
Popping multi-vitamin pills doesn’t seem to confer any real health benefits, according to a new study. A team led by researchers in France tracked 8,112 volunteers who took either a placebo or one containing vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, selenium and Zink, daily for six years.
The study, one of the most exhaustive to date, suggests that millions may be throwing their money away without deriving any benefits. They were just as likely to develop cancer or heart disease as those who took an identical looking dummy pill. It found that pills containing vitamin E, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, selenium and zinc increased the risk of malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, four-fold.
This was a large study following people for a long period assessing everything from their mobility and blood pressure to whether they were happy or felt pain.
February, 2012 Health Action
Early evidence suggests that TB jab could help fight cancer
Scientists have found a new potential mechanism to stimulate the body’s own ability to fight cancer using Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) – the germ commonly used to inoculate against tuberculosis (TB). The researchers, Dr. Wai Liu and Prof. Angus Dalgleish from St. George’s, University of London, the United Kingdom, say that new data suggests a mechanism by which vaccines could enhance the anti-cancer activity of currently available therapies. In laboratory-based experiments conducted with human tumour cells outside of the body, they showed that BCG can instruct white blood cells to produce chemicals called cytokines, which make tumour cells more likely to be detected by the body’s immune system. “Cancerous cells are known to camouflage themselves as healthy cells. This means our blood cells responsible for immunity aren’t able to recognize the cancerous cells as being a problem and so the disease is able to continue to spread,” explains lead researcher Dr. Liu. The new study found that a small quantity of BCG – similar to the amount that is administered in a TB inoculation – can help the immune system recognize the cancer cells as ‘foreign’. The immune system can then fight them in the same way it would any other infection. The cytokines produced as a consequence of the BCG jab set off a chain of events that begins with the hijacking of the tumour and forcing it to switch off its camouflage. This renders it visible to the body’s immune system, and the white blood cells now get targets to attack. The researchers tested the BCG injection on human cells from lung, breast, colon, pancreatic and skin cancer. Their research showed that in three of the cancer types – lung, breast and colon – the restoration of their visibility to immune cells was increased. Within the limits of the laboratory-based study, those cancer cells with reduced camouflage were then successfully targeted by white cells.
www.mediscuss.org
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The art and science of stress
We all enjoy being ‘ambitious, hardworking and career-centric’. The zing in being career-centric’ is to be ‘experienced’ only. We do not realized while enjoying or experiencing the zing that we have allowed backdoor but permanent entry to “STRESS” in our life. Well, what this stress is all about?
We mostly adjust to the changes taking place around us. Some changes force us to change our routine and that we find extremely difficult to adjust. This difficult adjustment takes the form of STRESS in modern day terminology. We need to understand that the physical and mental diseases caused by stress are the most painful and frustrating ones. Here we don’t get any respite of quick solution and instead we are made to suffer till we breathe last.
Causes of stress: There are certain aspects in everybody’s life which are treated as root causes for creation of stress. A) Physical causes, B) Mental causes, C) Habitual causes. 40% stress giving events are out of imagination only and they never take place. 30% events belonging to our past and which cannot be change at all. 12% events are about the criticism from people, for which we cannot do anything. 10% events are related to health, which cannot be avoided even if we take extreme care. 8% only this much of our stress is for legitimate causes only and we need to be careful about that.
Having studied human activities closely from all quartets, following remedies are suited for people in Indian environment. We have short listed some scientifically tested and effective steps that could help in reducing stress level.
1) Quit smoking and tobacco related habits once and for all. Try to minimize no. of cups of tea/coffee to a maximum of ¾ on daily basis
2) Don’t contaminate your good time. Try to enjoy your life moment by moment and do not allow bad memories of yesterday to spoil your today.
3) Let your office be your office only. Don’t use your home as a branch of your office. Avoid bringing office work at home at least on weekend to spoil weekend and create tension in your family.
4) We should try to learn from our past failures. If we brood over our failures of the past, we tend to loose the lesson which is carried by the failures. Learn to be smart with the principle “FORGIVE AND FORGET”.
5) Make it a point to create at least 15 minutes on daily basis for introspection to know where we went wrong and set your priorities of jobs to be done. Every 3 out of 4 officers suffer because of this “priority syndrome”. You need to be with yourself only during these 15 minutes.
6) Stretch your stress during office hours. You need to follow some basic stretching exercises of your arms as well as legs. This will help you having a break and will reduce your stress. You can do it while sitting in your chair also.
7) Make habit to share matter of concern with your boss, staff, family members or friend.
8) Try to write down your plus/minus (stress wise) on daily basis and learn to make use of only plus items in day–to–day activities as that will help reduce the stress creating events.
9) On weekly basis, set up an appointment with yourself. Do anything on that day that will make you happy
10) Do not be over ambitious, over efficient and over confident. Always keep in mind that there are thousands who have done better than you facing more problems than you ever faced.
11) Learn the art of sublimation of your suffering. Try to feel that you are not the only person having problem in the world.
12) Spare no efforts to take care of your health. The state of your health will hold key to most of your stress related problems. Exercise daily for 15 minutes. It could be morning walk, jogging, gym etc..., but do it honestly.
13) Learn to take right decision. Most of our decision should be taken instantly and a few to be taken after thinking for a while. The state of indecision creates stress in our heart.
14) Do not try to do all things on your own. You will not be able to do it and will get pressurized instead. Learn to delegate the jobs whenever necessary.
15) Stop getting ‘instantly mesmerized’ by your boss and learn to assert yourself.
16) Try as hard as possible not to do away from good food habits. Stop eating junk foods. Too much oil, spicy items with junk food is an open invitation to heart problems. Develop a habit of having food at specific time.
17) Try to take sound sleep at night. It is not important as to how many hours of sleep at night. It is not important as to how many hours of sleep we take, but it is how sound the sleep was that matters a lot. Do not watch T.V, before going to sleep.
18) Learn to manage your time, before it starts managing you. Get your priorities right. Your office, career, social activities and above all YOUR FAMILY must be given the time they deserve.
19) Learn the “ART OF RELAXATION” through yoga. This will not only reduce the stress, but will make you feel Relaxed and energetic. Do it after coming home from office.
20) Learn to practice “SHAVASAN”. This one is from Patanjali Yogic methods. First it will take about 15-20 minutes, and then it can be done within two-three minutes. After practicing for a while, you don’t have to lie down every time. You can use even when you are attending some meeting. It takes care of your pulse rate, heartbeats, anger and depression as well
21) Another wonderful tool to manage stress is “Self hypnotism”. In this method you can send instruction to your mind about relaxation of your each and every joint. Remember, this is extremely effective, provided your concentration level is right there at the top. It develops para-sympathetic system to take care of your adrenalin, joints, shivering etc.
December 26, 2011 The Hitavada
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Stem cells may aid vision in blind people
Two legally blind women appeared to gain some vision after receiving an experimental treatment using embryonic stem cells, scientists reported Monday.
While embryonic stem cells were first isolated more than a decade ago, most of the research has been done in lab animals. The new results come from the first tests in humans for a vision problem. Researchers caution the work is still very preliminary.
"This study provides reason for encouragement, but plans to now get such a treatment would be premature," said stem cell expert Paul Knoepfler of the University of California, Davis, who had no role in the research.
Last summer, each patient was injected in one eye with cells derived from embryonic stem cells at the University of California, Los Angeles. One patient had the "dry" form of age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness. The other had a rare disorder known as Stargardt disease that causes serious vision loss. There's no cure for either eye problem.
After four months, both showed some improvement in reading progressively smaller letters on an eye chart. The Stargardt patient, a graphic artist in Los Angeles, went from seeing no letters at all to being able to read five of the largest letters.
However, experts said the improvement of the macular degeneration patient might be mostly psychological, because the vision in her untreated eye appeared to get better too.
Both patients remain legally blind despite their improvements, said experts not connected with the study.
"One must be very careful not to over interpret the visual benefit," said Vanderbilt University retina specialist Dr. Paul Sternberg, who is also the president-elect of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
This early test was meant to study whether the stem cell therapy was safe in people and not whether it would improve vision. Scientists at UCLA and Advanced Cell Technology, which funded the work, said they were pleased that there have been no signs of rejection or abnormal growth months after the procedure.
Embryonic stem cells can transform into any cell of the body. Scientists are hoping to harness embryonic stem cells to create a variety of replacement tissues for transplant, but their use has been controversial because human embryos have to be destroyed to harvest the cells.
The latest news comes two months after Geron Corp. halted its stem cell-based experiment for spinal cord injuries, saying it planned to focus instead on two experimental cancer drugs.
http://news.yahoo.com
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Tulsi as anti radiation medicine
From grandmas home remedies for cough, cold and other ailments, ‘tulsi’ (Indian Basil) is now being tested by Indian scientist for treating people expose to harmful radiations and initial tests have shown some positive results.
Scientists at the Defiance Research and development Organization (DRDO) have developed a tulsi-based herbal medicine for treating people exposed to radiation. The medicine is already in the second phase of trials. According to scientists, tulsi has anti-oxidant properties and can repair cells damaged by exposure to radiation. “Tulsi-based medicine is already in second phase of clinical trials. It has to undergo some more trials before it is finalized and goes for commercial production. Animal trails have also been conducted and their result were quite encouraging, “DRDO’s chief controller (Research and Development) W. Selvamurthy told IANS. Selvamurthy was speaking at the 99th edition of the Indian Science congress held here. Besides tulsi, sea-buckthorn and podophyllum hexandrum were other herbs chosen to develop medicines to not just treat those effected by nuclear radiation but also as a precaution for those going for rescue work in radiation affected areas.
Selvamurthy said it is for the first time in the world that tulsi is being used for treating harmful effects of exposure to radiation.
The same medicine can be used for treating humans and animals exposed to radiation. The cost of this project is around Rs. 7 crors.
“The medicines used for treating radiation-related ailment are very toxic in nature. These herbal medicine would change the way radiation treatment takes place as they would be quite safe, “he added Listing out other innovations by the research organization, Selvamurthy said a special Aloe vera based anti –frostbite cream –Alocal-has been developed for soldiers deployed at higher altitudes. The medicine prevents frostbite and five lakh jars of that cream have already been supplied to armed forces.
Scientists have also developed several other herbal medicines, some especially for Indian Army. “We have developed a special herbal drink for altitude areas. This drink is made from 15 herbs and it will help the soldiers in acclimatizing fast to those tough weathers conditions“, Selvamurthy said.
While the frostbite cream is already in the market, the herbal drink is in the testing phase and will be commercialized soon.
January 30, 2012 The Hitavada
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Oxygen Deprivation: No More
Here is some pure scientific gyaan for you. A protein which kickstarts the response to low levels of oxygen has been identified by scientists. And why is that important? Because this finding may pave the way for research into potentially fatal disorders like cancer, heart attack and stroke. A team of Gladstone Institute has, in fact, Mapped out the chain of events that take place during hypoxia – a condition that can occur in people with maladies such as heart diseases and stroke. It deprives tissues and organs of adequate oxygen supply.
December 1-15, 2011 Down To Earth
The Power of Pain Relief May Boost Without Use of Drugs
Placebos are known to lower pain by generating a hope of relief. Distraction as in case of puzzle solving – relieves pain by keeping the brain active. The researchers suggest that both of these approaches use the same brain process. Researchers observed activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on application of a placebo. That’s the brain’s part responsible for controlling high-level cognitive functions such as attention and memory – used during puzzle solving.
The new research challenges the traditional theory that the effect of placebo is a cognitive function of high-level. Columbia University’s Jonathan J. Friedman, Bradford L. Stevens and Jason T. Buhle and University of Colorado Boulder’s Tor D. Wager were the authors of the new research. They lowered the pain with two approaches – either by placebo administration, or assignment of a hard memory task. “But the joint effect of the two approaches was that the pain reduction levels experienced by people added up with no interference,” says Bulhe.
Study results, published in Psychological Science journal could allow clinicians to minimize pain without drugs.
The 33 study participants went session, researchers used a small metal plate to apply heat to the skin and standardized pain perceptions of each participant. In the second one, an ordinary skin cream was applied on some participants who were told that the cream was a strong but secure analgesic. The remaining ones used a regular hand cream.
In the placebo-alone experiments, contestants were asked to stare at a cross on the screen and rate their level of pain on various applications of heat – the identical intensity, however they were told it changed.
They practiced a difficult memory task – placebo and distraction simultaneously – for other trials. For the last session, those provided with the plain cream received the analgesic and the other way around.
The results shows that during the trials participants who received either the placebo or the memory task only, felt less pain while staring at the cross. The effects of two added up when given together; they did not interfere or interact with each other.
http://drugmega.com
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7 walnuts a day help fight disease and ‘bad’ cholesterol
Walnuts are the healthiest nuts to eat as they are loaded with antioxidants, scientists have claimed. According to them, snacking on as few as seven a day could help ward off diseases and lower cholesterol. Walnuts contain very high levels of polyphenol, an anti-oxidant that can protect the body from molecules which damage tissue. They found that the dry fruit contains the most polyphenol out of a list of nine commonly eaten types of nuts, tests revealed. Brazil nuts and pistachios were close behind, and cashews and hazelnuts had slightly lower levels of antioxidants.
Professor Joe Vinson, from the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania, said that walnuts inhibit the growth of ‘bad’ cholesterol and walnuts rank above Brazil nuts, pistachios, pecans, peanuts, almonds, macadamias, cashews and hazelnuts. He also added that walnuts had the highest free and total polyphenols in both the combined and roasted samples.
Despite the “superfood” potential of walnuts, peanuts are the favourite with consumers and account for 45 percent of the nuts bought in Europe.
The study also found that the antioxidants in peanut butter were considerably lower than in roasted peanuts.
http://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com
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Summer: Top 10 – Naturally Cooling Foods
As the mercury soars across the country, here are 10 naturally cooling foods that’ll help your body cope with the heat and stay healthy.
It’s hot out there! As we reel under the intense summer heat, most of us try to avoid going outdoors and stay cool indoors instead. Another good way of staying comfortable is by consuming foods that are naturally cooling. Try these delicious options to beat the heat.
1. Coconut Water: Tender coconut water is not only delicious and full of health benefits; it also has excellent cooling properties. Easily available, especially in southern India, this should be a staple of anyone’s summer diet.
2. Aam ka panna: Since mangoes are available only in the summer, we Indians know how to make complete use of the fruit. This includes making aam ka paana out of raw mangoes. This tangy drink full of ice and a mix of other juices is perfect for a hot summer afternoon.
3. Butter milk (chach): Curd in general is an excellent coolant. Make a nice, light buttermilk with it, full of spices and lots of ice and stay fresh and hydrated through the day.
4. Watermelon: You should be having lots of this crunchy, juicy fruit through the summer to stay cool and healthy. Along with being delicious, it’s also packed with antioxidants that are very good for you.
5. Fresh lime & water (nimboo paani): How can we leave out good old nimboo pani, the staple of homes and restaurants across the country? While various versions and mixes are available, it’s best to have a nice chilled nimboo pani with salt, pepper and a little bit of sugar to stay cool.
6. Onion: Its tears-inducing properties notwithstanding, onions are an excellent coolant. Add a raw onion to your meal on a hot summer day and it can even protect you from a heat stroke. Just remember to keep some mints close at hand for later!
7. Gulkand (rose petals extract): Gulkand, also known as a rose jam, is made from the extract of rose petals and has amazing cooling properties. If gulkand is hard to come by, you could even try a rose sherbet like Rooh-afzah.
8. Cucumber: Stay as cool as a cucumber! This crunchy vegetable, full of water and lots of fibre is very cooling and should be added to your meals as much as possible.
9. Kokum: which is used extensively in Gujarat and Konkan cooking for its tangy flavours is considered very healthy and also has great cooling benefits. Use it as a substitute for tamarind in your food.
10. Mint: is a cooling herb that can be had in many forms. Add it to your food while you cook it, have it as a chutney or simply add it to your drinking water for a subtle flavour.
www.mdhil.com
