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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 11, 2014 at 7:28am

A new group of antibiotics to overcome drug-resistant microbes

Scientists have discovered a new class of antibiotics to fight deadly bacteria such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and other drug-resistant bacteria that threaten public health.

The new class, called oxadiazoles , was discovered by University of Notre Dame researchers led by Mayland Chang and Shahriar Mobashery in silico (by computer ) screening and has shown promise in the treatment of MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureusis ) in mouse models.

MRSA is a bacterium that has developed resistance to penicillin and certain other groups of antibiotics . Researchers who screened 1.2 million compounds found that the oxadiazole inhibits a penicillin-binding protein, PBP2a, and the biosynthesis of the cell wall that enables MRSA to resist other drugs.

The oxadiazoles are also effective when taken orally. This is an important feature as there is only one marketed antibiotic for MRSA that can be taken orally, researchers said.

MRSA has become a global public-health problem since the 1960s because of its resistance to antibiotics. Only three drugs currently are effective treatments, and resistance to each of those drugs already exists. The researchers have been seeking a solution to MRSA for years.

- Agencies

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 11, 2014 at 7:22am

Four new gases that harm ozone layer found, despite bans: Study
Scientists have detected four new man-made gases that damage the Earth's protective ozone layer, despite bans on almost all production of similar gases under a 1987 treaty, a study showed on Sunday { three types of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbon) and one HCFC (hydrochlorofluorocarbon)}.

The experts were trying to pinpoint industrial sources of tiny traces of the new gases, perhaps used in making pesticides or refrigerants that were found in Greenland's ice and in air samples in Tasmania, Australia.

The ozone layer shields the planet from damaging ultraviolet rays, which can cause skin cancer and eye cataracts, and has been recovering after a phase-out of damaging chemicals under the UN's 1987 Montreal Protocol.

In total, the scientists estimated more than 74,000 tonnes of the four had been released to the atmosphere. None was present before the 1960s in Greenland's ice cores, according to the study in the journal Nature Geoscience.

That is only a small fraction of the million tonnes of CFCs produced every year at a 1980s peak, according to the team of scientists in Britain, Germany, Australia, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

These new observations do not present concern at the moment, although the fact that these gases are in the atmosphere and some are increasing needs investigation.

The gases are also likely to be powerful greenhouse gases, albeit in tiny amounts. CFCs are often thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

- Reuters

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 10, 2014 at 6:45am

Psychotherapy course to treat severe depression in terminally ill cancer patients.
Scientists have carried out the first controlled medical experiment in 40 years with the hallucinogenic drug LSD which they used as part of a psychotherapy course to treat severe depression in terminally ill cancer patients.

Volunteers given high doses of LSD - which came to prominence in the hippy culture of the 1960s - showed a 20 per cent decline in their symptoms associated with the extreme anxiety of their medical condition, the researchers found.

The small pilot trial, which involved just 12 men and women, also showed that there were no severe side-effects of lysergic acid diethylamide, the psychoactive chemical commonly known as "acid". However, their depressive symptoms did get worse when given only low doses of LSD, the scientists said.
- The Independent

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 10, 2014 at 6:28am

I never go anywhere near melas, pushkars etc. Because thousands bathing at a single place on river banks increases a lot of pollution. I ask people I know too not to attend them. These fairs, melas not only might make people sick in the short term but also can bring long term pollution problems. Now even judicial system has taken note of this.
Bombay HC forms panel to check pollution in Godavari for Kumbh fair
The Bombay high court has formed a committee headed by a divisional commissioner to monitor works of authorities concerned who are responsible to check pollution of Godavari river in the pilgrim town of Nashik, which is to host Kumbh festival in July-September next year.

The order was passed by Justices A S Oka and S C Gupte on a petition filed by Nasik residents praying for cleaning of Godavari, the second largest river in India after the Ganga, which is the main source of drinking water for Nashik and also used for disposing of industrial and domestic waste.

The high court-appointed panel would also comprise the commissioner of Nashik municipal corporation (NMC), Nashik district collector, representative of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, an expert in the field appointed by the divisional commissioner, and a representative of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute.
-PTI

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 10, 2014 at 6:11am

Scientific temper on the rise among Indians
Scientific temper amongst Indians has increased, according to scientist and poet Gouhar Raza here on Saturday. Citing a latest survey by National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS) carried out during Kumbh Mela of 2013, he said, while scientific temper remained stagnant across the world only China and India has reported a rise.

Raza, a 1979 batch M Tech (Power Apparatus and Systems) from IIT, Delhi is a scientist with NISTADS. He said people's interpretations from cultural and experiential knowledge base have given way to scientific reasoning and questioning. "Indians are getting wiser," he said.

Art and science are no different, Raza said quoting Einstein to make his point. "If a scientific equation is not beautiful it must be wrong. Both art and science, require creativity and have their own aesthetics."

-TNN

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 8:46am

Pine Tree Branches Turned Into Effective Water Filtration Systems
Water Filtration Using Plant Xylem
Effective point-of-use devices for providing safe drinking water are urgently needed to reduce the global burden of waterborne disease. Here we show that plant xylem from the sapwood of coniferous trees – a readily available, inexpensive, biodegradable, and disposable material – can remove bacteria from water by simple pressure-driven filtration. Approximately 3 cm3 of sapwood can filter water at the rate of several liters per day, sufficient to meet the clean drinking water needs of one person. The results demonstrate the potential of plant xylem to address the need for pathogen-free drinking water in developing countries and resource-limited settings.
Main points of the study:
Plant xylem is a porous material with membranes comprising nanoscale pores. The researchers have reasoned that xylem from the sapwood of coniferous trees is suitable for disinfection by filtration of water. The hierarchical arrangement of the membranes in the xylem tissue effectively amplifies the available membrane area for filtration, providing high flow rates. Xylem filters were prepared by simply removing the bark of pine tree branches and inserting the xylem tissue into a tube. Pigment filtration experiments revealed a size cutoff of about 100 nm, with most of the filtration occurring within the first 2–3 mm of the xylem filter. The xylem filter could effectively filter out bacteria from water with rejection exceeding 99.9%. Pit membranes were identified as the functional unit where actual filtration of the bacteria occurred. Flow rates of about 4 L/d were obtained through ~1 cm2 filter areas at applied pressures of about 5 psi, which is sufficient to meet the drinking water needs of one person. The simple construction of xylem filters, combined with their fabrication from an inexpensive, biodegradable, and disposable material suggests that further research and development of xylem filters could potentially lead to their widespread use and greatly reduce the incidence of waterborne infectious disease in the world.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 8:21am

When I was young, I used to feel very sleepy whenever I ate the fish curry my mother made. I used to wonder why. Now I know. And recently I found another evidence. According to new research eating oily fish or omega-3 supplements may help children sleep better, a new Oxford study has found. The study suggests that higher levels of omega-3 DHA, the group of long-chain fatty acids found in algae and seafood,
are associated with better sleep.
Researchers from the University of Oxford explored whether 16 weeks of daily 600mg supplements of algal sources would improve the sleep of 362 children. At the outset of the study, the parents filled in a child sleep questionnaire, which revealed that four in 10 of the children in the study suffered from regular sleep disturbances.

Of the children rated as having poor sleep, the researchers fitted wrist sensors to 43 of them to monitor their movements in bed over five nights. The study showed that the children on a course of daily supplements of omega-3 had nearly one hour (58 minutes) more sleep and seven fewer waking episodes per night compared with the children taking the corn or soybean placebo.

The study looked at sleep in 362 healthy seven to nine-year-old UK school children in relation to the levels of omega-3 and omega-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) found in fingerstick blood samples. Previous research has suggested links between poor sleep and low blood omega-3 LC-PUFA in infants and in children and adults with behaviour or learning difficulties.

However, this is the first study to investigate possible links between sleep and fatty acid status in healthy children. At the start of the study, parents and carers were asked to rate their child's sleep habits over a typical week. Their responses indicated that 40 per cent of the children had clinical-level sleep problems such as resistance to bedtime, anxiety about sleep and constant waking in the course of the night.

The study finds that higher blood levels of the long-chain omega-3 DHA (the main omega-3 fatty acid found in the brain) are significantly associated with better sleep, including less bedtime resistance, parasomnias and total sleep disturbance.
It adds that higher ratios of DHA in relation to the long-chain omega-6 fatty acid AA (arachidonic acid) are also associated with fewer sleep problems.
- PTI

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 6:58am

Increased temperatures increase Malaria too
In a paper published online recently in the journal Science, Pascual and her collaborators looked at how malaria moved up in elevation with temperature in Ethiopia and Colombia. Tracking year-to-year temperature variations from 1990 to 2005, researchers observed how malaria's range shifted.

Infection rates tend to increase as temperatures go up, since the Plasmodium parasite that causes the disease reproduces faster inside vector mosquitoes when it's warmer, increasing the infection likelihood when the mosquito bites someone, Pascual explained. The Anopheles mosquitoes that spread the disease also thrive in the heat.

The results confirmed for the first time that malaria creeps uphill during warmer years and recedes as temperatures cool, a dangerous effect as the climate warms. "The implication is this will, without any mitigation, result in the increase of the malaria burden," Pascual said.

The findings hold promise for better forecasting. In previous work, Pascual found she could predict malaria up to four months in advance in parts of India by monitoring monsoons (ClimateWire, March 4, 2013)
Source: online publication in Science on March 6, 2014.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 6:42am

Bracelets can detect people's chemical exposures
Wristbands are the accessory of choice for people promoting a cause. And the next wave of wrist wear might act as a fashionable archive of your chemical exposure.
Researchers at Oregon State University outfitted volunteers with slightly modified silicone bracelets and then tested them for 1,200 substances. They detected several dozen compounds – everything from caffeine and cigarette smoke to flame retardants and pesticides.

The cheap, colorful, rubbery wristbands have been a popular fad over the past decade in promoting charities and other affiliations.

“We were surprised at the breadth of chemicals" on people's wristbands - Kim Anderson, Oregon State

Chemist Kim Anderson initially tried to use silicone pendants attached to necklaces to test for contaminants. But then, at a football game she saw “all kinds of people, even burly men” sporting wristbands. That’s when the idea hit her.

Silicone is porous and acts similar to human cells, so once chemicals are absorbed by the wristband, “they don’t want to go back to the water or the air,” Anderson said. Chemists can measure concentrations, offering a cheap and easy way to monitor people's exposures.

“This study offers some real possibilities to address the weak link in epidemiological studies – which is the exposure science,” said Ted Schettler of the Science and Environmental Health Network.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 8, 2014 at 6:22am

Docs Should Wash Stethoscopes between Patients, Too
Tests for bacteria found that stethoscopes picked up more microbes from patients than did most parts of the doc's hands.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/docs-should-wash-...

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