Amphibian antidote
WITH drug-resistant microbes increasing by the day, researchers at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, are looking at frogs for developing powerful antibiotics. Tests have indicated
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Mother s touch
researchers at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Kolkata have found discarded human placenta can help fight secondary infections caused by bacteria and fungi during protracted wounds. The
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Liquor and liver
Alcohol is responsible for a liver disorder that affects around one in four people in developed countries. Though the causes are not clear, but livers of alcoholics have identical symptoms. Ann Mae
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CSE welcomes food authorities’ initiative in testing processed food like Maggi
CSE welcomes food authorities’ initiative in testing processed food like Maggi CSE’s earlier lab test on Maggi had revealed high salt content and empty calories Says celebrity endorsement of such
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Impure manure
A research team at the University of Minnesota in USA found antibiotics in plants. The root of the problem was in the soil: manure from animals that were administered antibiotics. The plants
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Egg knock
The Soil Association (sa), an organic farming group, has found that up to 20 million eggs sold in the uk each week could contain traces of a potentially dangerous drug. In tests, nearly one in
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High-throughput sequencing provides insights into genome variation and evolution in Salmonella Typhi
Isolates of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (Typhi), a human-restricted bacterial pathogen that causes typhoid, show limited genetic variation. We generated whole-genome sequences for 19 Typhi isolates using 454 (Roche) and Solexa (Illumina) technologies. Isolates, including the previously sequenced CT18 and Ty2 isolates, were selected to represent major nodes in the phylogenetic tree. Comparative analysis showed little evidence of purifying selection, antigenic variation or recombination between isolates.
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Staying alive
Humans are not the only ones whose survival depends on keeping together
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Prescribing doom
An International Medical Commission-Bhopal survey of prescriptions collected from patients of the Bhopal Memorial Trust Hospital (BMTH) in 1998 and 1999, showed that analgesics, antibiotics,
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Nicholas Piramal & DBT to jointly scout for biomolecules
THE public-private partnership model is now catching up in the drug R&D as well. In a first-ofits-kind partnership, the Rs 3,000-crore Nicholas Piramal Group on Friday signed an agreement with department of biotechnology (DBT) to jointly screen for biomolecules from microbes. The project cost is Rs 25 crore, of which Rs 17.98 crore will be contributed by DBT and Rs 6.88 crore by Nicholas Piramal. About 7,000 isolates per month will be collected and sent to Nicholas for screening, which will amount to 2 lakh molecules in three years. Joint collection will be done by nine institutes under DST such as National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, National Centre for Cell Science, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, National Institute of Oceanography, etc. This is the first project in which industry and academia will work together to screen such a large number of bacterial isolates. The screening will be done for anti-cancer, anti-infective, anti-diabetes and anti-inflammation properties. In addition to culture-dependent method, culture-independent approach will be adopted for a few samples. "The global antibiotic market is worth $25 billion and there's an immense opportunity to increase the share of patents through the discovery of newer molecules. The partnership will eventually help us develop cheaper drugs,' said Union minister for science & technology Kapil Sibal.
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Lascaux caves threatened by microbes
The Lascaux caves in France, which host fabulous prehistoric art, are being threatened by harmful microorganisms again. The invading fungus, a member of the Fusarium family, was first spotted in June 2001 and has now spread to the floor, walls and parts o
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Germ warfare
A new technique would help combat drug resistant infections
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Great survivor
One of the most widely dissemina ted strains of an antibiotic-resistant bacterium responsible for hundreds of infections in European hospitals can be traced back to the 1950s, according to
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UK faces mysterious bee disease
British beekeepers have been confronted by a mysterious disease that has already affected the us and many European countries. Known as colony collapse disorder (ccd), it is possibly the most serious
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Drug dor resistant TB developed
US scientists say they have developed a potential treatment for strains of tubercuosis that have becoming worryingly resistant to antibiotics.
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Babies given antibiotics likely to suffer allergies
Schoolchildren are more likely to have allergies and asthma if treated with antibiotics as babies, a US study presented at the European Respiratory Society conference in Vienna said. If children
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Green tea heals
Although the antibacterial properties of green tea have been known for a long time, an entirely new property of the herb has just been reported by a group of British researchers. I M T
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Remedy for osteoporosis
A common antibiotic may be as effective as oestrogen in preventing devastating bone loss caused by osteoporosis, suggests a new study conducted in the US. Minocycline, a derivative of
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Shrimp lobby bypasses US tax review
At least 104 shrimp exporters from six countries (Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand, and Vietnam) reached an agreement with the us shrimp producers to bypass the country's annual tax review.
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Medicine malady
A new study indicates that microbes can develop resistance even if the intake of antibiotics is minimised