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Bharat Biotech launches fourth generation typhoid vaccine

new vaccine brings hope to millions by protecting them against typhoid caused by salmonella typhi

Bharat Biotech, a city-based vaccine manufacturer, today announced the launch of Typbar-TCV, the world`s first clinically proven typhoid conjugate vaccine for six months old infants and adults.

Bharat Biotech CMD Krishna M Ella said the new vaccine brings hope to millions by protecting them against typhoid caused by salmonella typhi, a highly virulent and invasive enteric bacterium.

Ella said that this is a fourth generation vaccine against typhoid disease which has been proven to provide long term protection to adults and infants. Typhoid vaccines fall short in two major counts, namely long-term protection and protection of children below two years of age.

“We hope this vaccine will reach millions of people and help reduce the burden of this devastating disease in infants and children,” Ella told reporters at a press conference here, adding that his company had commenced commercial production of Typbar-TCV in pre-filled syringes at its vaccine production facility in Genome Valley.

“The pricing of the vaccine has not yet been decided. There will be two price structures. One for public institutions and the other one will be for private organizations. Pricing will be fixed by next week,” he said.
The plant has the capacity to produce 10 million doses each year, which is expandable to 50 million doses per year in future. Bharat Biotech is the largest producer and supplier of typhoid vaccine in the world, having distributed over 50 million doses globally, he claimed.

Quoting World Health Organization reports, Director-General of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) Christian Loucq said that typhoid fever kills between 250,000 to 600,000, besides causing 20 million illnesses per year, affecting mostly school children.

“The World Health Organization reports that 90 per cent of typhoid deaths occur in Asia and persists mainly in children under five years of age. In India, typhoid fever is observed throughout the year and a greater number of cases coincide with the rainy season,” Loucq said.

While typhoid fever can be cured by antibiotics, resistance to anti-microbials is widespread along with poor diagnostics, he said, adding that hence prevention of typhoid fever is better than curing it.

Source:

http://zeenews.india.com/news/health/health-news/bharat-biotech-launches-fourth-generation-typhoid-vaccine_23585.html

Babies can remember words heard before birth

Babies can remember words heard before birth. It is a so-called `pseudoword

Researchers said an unborn child does indeed hear everything, including people`s voices, which allows them to begin learning words and remembering them once they`re born.

“We believe this shows how well the brain at this age adapts to sounds. It is a sign of very early language learning, or adaptation to the sounds they heard,” said study co-author Minna Huotilainen, from the University of Helsinki`s Finnish Center of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Music Research.

“A newborn baby is not an empty canvas, but has already learned how his or her mother and other family members speak,” said Huotilainen.

Researchers tested the memory of Finnish foetuses by exposing them to a single word – “tatata” – that means nothing in the Finnish language, `Health Day News` reported.

“It is a so-called `pseudoword` that is important for research. It has three syllables, and we chose such a long word to make it challenging for the small brains to find the changes and give them something difficult to learn. Such a word could exist in Finnish. It follows all the rules of the Finnish language,” Huotilainen said.

From the 29th week of pregnancy until birth, about half of the 33 pregnant women in the study listened to recordings of the word repeated hundreds of times.

Sometimes the recordings presented the word with a different middle syllable (“to”) or pronounced differently.

Researchers used scans to test the activity in the brains of all the babies when they heard the word after their birth. Those who had heard it before “showed an enhanced reaction to this specific word,” Huotilainen said.

“They were able to process the word better, and also they were able to detect changes in the word better,” Huotilainen said.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Ali Hussain – a 14 year old with 110 year old body

The fourteen year old boy from Bihar suffers from the rare disorder which causes rapid ageing

A boy born with the appearance and physical maladies of an old man – the story sounds familiar. After all most of us have seen `The curious case of Benjamin Button`, a film in 2008 which is loosely based on F Scott Fitzgerald`s 1922 short story of the same name, said to be one of the earliest literary pieces to have highlighted progeria, an extremely rare genetic disease characterized by rapid ageing.
The condition was highlighted by R Balakrishnan in the 2009 Bollywood film `Paa` with Amitabh Bachchan as the lead protagonist diagnosed with the disorder.

Kids born with this rare genetic disorder have dramatically tougher lives.

Ali Hussain Khan`s story is no different. The fourteen year old teenager from Bihar suffers from the rare disorder which causes rapid ageing and is known to affect just 80 people worldwide.

Ali, whose body ages eight times faster than normal, has seen five of his siblings die from the same genetic condition.

Ali’s parents Nabi Hussain Khan, 50, and Razia, 46, are first cousins and have had eight children in total. Only two of the girls out of eight were born healthy.

Progeria or Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome is an extremely rare genetic disease wherein symptoms resembling aspects of ageing are manifested at a very early age. The disorder has a very low incident rate, occurring in an estimated 1 per 8 million live births. Children born with the rare disorder live only till their mid teens and early twenties.

Children with progeria usually develop the first symptoms during their first few months, characterized by changes in skin, abnormal growth and loss of hair. There has been no significant breakthrough in the treatment of this disease or reversing the symptoms of aging.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/news/health/diseases/the-curious-case-of-ali-hussain-a-14-year-old-with-110-year-old-body_23587.html

 

Long-term study backs early HIV drugs for children

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WHO recommended antiretroviral therapy be started immediately

A landmark five-year trial has strengthened evidence that early use of antiretroviral drugs helps children combat the AIDS virus, doctors reported today.

Conducted in South Africa, the so-called CHER trial made history in 2007, after only two years, when it discovered that early treatment slashed the risk of disease and death from AIDS by 75 percent.

The astonishing finding prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to overhaul its treatment guidelines in 2010 for youngsters with the AIDS virus.

The WHO recommended that antiretroviral therapy be started immediately when HIV is diagnosed in children less than a year old, rather than wait until a threshold of virus infection is reached.

Now completed, the CHER trial takes early-use-is-good a step further, according to results reported in The Lancet.

Children who began an immediate course of drugs were able to interrupt their treatment, giving them a break from the powerful, potentially toxic drugs, researchers found.

Yet even with this interruption, the infants did far better than those who started treatment later.

On average, the children who received the deferred treatment began the drugs about 20 weeks after diagnosis.

Those who began an immediate course of 40 weeks of drugs were able to take a 33-week break before starting treatment afresh. And those who took an immediate 96-week course enjoyed a break of 70 weeks.

The trial was conducted at two sites in South Africa among 377 infants with HIV who were less than 12 weeks old.

The research marks the latest advance in knowledge about antiretroviral drugs, which revolutionised the fight against AIDS from 1996.

The drugs are a lifeline to millions, for they can roll back the virus to below detectable levels.

But if the drugs are stopped, the virus rebounds from boltholes, called reservoirs, in cells in the body.

Two other trials — both small in scale and at a very early stage — have recently raised hopes that hitting HIV with drugs very soon after infection can wipe out this hiding place.

An estimated 34 million people are infected with HIV worldwide, and about 1.8 million die each year.

Infants are especially vulnerable. If untreated, around half of infected newborns die before their second birthday.

The new work revives hopes that flourished in the late 1990s, before the reservoir problem was identified, that patients could get a temporary holiday from AIDS drugs.

“This important finding indicates we may be able to temporarily stop treatment and spare infants from some of the toxic effects of continuous ART [antiretroviral therapy] for a while, if we can monitor them carefully,” said Mark Cotton, a professor at Stellenbosch University near Cape Town, who helped lead the study.

Caution, though, was sounded in a commentary by Robert Colebunders of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, and Victor Musiime of Makerere University College of Health Sciences in Kampala, Uganda.

Treatment interruption is a risky option in poor countries which lack laboratory facilities to monitor levels of CD4 immune cells, they said.

 

Deadly new MERS virus traced to bats

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(MERS) has been discovered in the bat in close proximity to the first known case of the disease in Saudi Arabia

 

The deadly MERS virus that has claimed many lives has been traced to an insect-eating bat in Saudi Arabia, researchers claim.

A 100 per cent genetic match for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) has been discovered in the bat in close proximity to the first known case of the disease in Saudi Arabia, researchers said.

The discovery points to the likely animal origin for the disease, although researchers say that an intermediary animal is likely also involved.

Led by team of investigators from the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University`s Mailman School of Public Health, Eco Health Alliance, and the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia, the study is the first to search for an animal reservoir for MERS in Saudi Arabia, and the first to identify such a reservoir by finding a genetic match in an animal.

“There have been several reports of finding MERS-like viruses in animals. None were a genetic match. In this case we have a virus in an animal that is identical in sequence to the virus found in the first human case.

Importantly, it`s coming from the vicinity of that first case,” said W Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity and a co-author of the study.

MERS was first described in September 2012 and continues to spread. Close to 100 cases have been reported worldwide, 70 of them from Saudi Arabia. The causative agent, a new type of corona virus, has been determined, however, the origin of the virus has been unknown until now.

The researchers collected more than 1,000 samples from seven bat species in regions where cases of MERS were identified in Bisha, Unaizah, and Riyadh.

Extensive analysis was performed using polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing revealed the presence of a wide range of alpha and beta corona viruses in up to a third of bat samples.

One fecal sample from an Egyptian Tomb Bat (Taphozous perforatus) collected within a few kilometers of the first known MERS victim`s home contained sequences of a virus identical to those recovered from the victim.

Bats are the reservoirs of viruses that can cause human disease including rabies and SARS. In some instances the infection may spread directly to humans through inadvertent inhalation of infected aerosols, ingestion of contaminated food, or, less commonly, a bite wound, researchers said.

In other instances bats can first infect intermediate hosts. The researchers suggest that the indirect method for transmission is more likely in MERS.

“There is no evidence of direct exposure to bats in the majority of human cases of MERS,” said Ziad Memish, Deputy Minister of Health, Saudi Arabia, and lead author of the study.

The study appears in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

 

 

Biggest heart attack risks for Indians revealed

Indian researchers have conducted a data mining exercise to find out important risk factors in increasing the chances of an individual having a heart attack.

The authors confirm that the usual suspects high blood cholesterol, intake of alcohol and passive smoking play the most crucial role in `severe,` `moderate` and `mild` cardiac risks, respectively.

Subhagata Chattopadhyay of the Camellia Institute of Engineering in Kolkata used 300 real-world sample patient cases with various levels of cardiac risk – mild, moderate and severe and mined the data based on twelve known predisposing factors: age, gender, alcohol abuse, cholesterol level, smoking (active and passive), physical inactivity, obesity, diabetes, family history, and prior cardiac event.

He then built a risk model that revealed specific risk factors associated with heart attack risk.

Chattopadhyay explained that the essence of this work essentially lies in the introduction of clustering techniques instead of purely statistical modeling, where the latter has its own limitations in `data-model fitting` compared to the former that is more flexible.

He said that the reliability of the data used, should be checked, and this has been done in this work to increase its authenticity. I reviewed several papers on epidemiological research, where I`m yet to see these methodologies, used.

The study has been published in International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology.

 

Pringles Potato Chips contain Cancer causing Chemical – Facts

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One of the most hazardous ingredients in potato chips is not intentionally added, but rather is a byproduct of the processing.

 

To understand the nature of Pringles and other stackable chips, forget the notion that they come from actual potatoes in any recognizable way.

The Pringles Company (in an effort to avoid taxes levied against “luxury foods” like chips in the UK) once even argued that the potato content of their chips was so low that they are technically not even potato chips.

 

So if they’re not made of potatoes, what are they exactly? The process begins with slurry of rice, wheat, corn, and potato flakes that are pressed into shape.

This dough-like substance is then rolled out into an ultra-thin sheet cut into chip-cookies by a machine.

According to io9:

“The chips move forward on a conveyor belt until they’re pressed onto molds, which give them the curve that makes them fit into one another.

Those molds move through boiling oil … Then they’re blown dry, sprayed with powdered flavors, and at last, flipped onto a slower-moving conveyor belt in a way that allows them to stack.

From then on, it’s into the cans … and off towards the innocent mouths of the consumers.”

I suspect nearly everyone reading this likely enjoys the taste of potato chips. However, they are clearly one of the most toxic processed foods you can eat—whether they’re made from actual potato shavings or not.

Potato Chips are Loaded with Cancer-Causing Chemical

One of the most hazardous ingredients in potato chips is not intentionally added, but rather is a byproduct of the processing.

Acrylamide, a cancer-causing and potentially neurotoxic chemical, is created when carbohydrate-rich foods are cooked at high temperatures, whether baked, fried, roasted or toasted. Some of the worst offenders include potato chips and French fries, but many foods cooked or processed at temperatures above 212°F (100°C) may contain acrylamide. As a general rule, the chemical is formed when food is heated enough to produce a fairly dry and brown/yellow surface. Hence, it can be found in:

Potatoes: chips, French fries and other roasted or fried potato foods

  • Grains: bread crust, toast, crisp bread, roasted breakfast cereals and various processed snacks
  • Coffee; roasted coffee beans and ground coffee powder. Surprisingly, coffee substitutes based on chicory actually contains 2-3 times MORE acrylamide than real coffee

Beware: Baked Chips May Be WORSE than Fried!

If you think you can avoid the health risks of potato chips by choosing baked varieties, which are typically advertised as being “healthier,” think again. Remember that acrylamide is formed not only when foods are fried or broiled, but also when they are baked. And according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data on acrylamide levels in foods, baked chips may contain more than three times the level of acrylamide as regular chips!

Interestingly, the same trend holds true for other foods, too, which suggests that baking processed potatoes at high temperature may be one of the worst ways to cook them. For instance, according to the FDA’s data, Ore Ida Golden Fries contained 107 ppb of acrylamide in the regular fried version and 1,098 when baked. So remember, ALL potato chips contain acrylamide, regardless of whether they are natural or not; baked or fried. Likewise, they will ALL influence your insulin levels in a very negative way.

Acrylamide is Not the Only Danger

Acrylamide is not the only dangerous genotoxic compound formed when food is heated to high temperatures.

A three-year long EU project, known as Heat-Generated Food Toxicants (HEATOX), whose findings were published at the end of 2007, found there are more than 800 heat-induced compounds, of which 52 are potential carcinogens. In addition to their finding that acrylamide does pose a public health threat, the HEATOX scientists also discovered that you’re far less likely to ingest dangerous levels of the toxin when you eat home-cooked foods compared to industrially or restaurant-prepared foods.

Additionally, the HEATOX findings also suggest that although there are ways to decrease exposure to acrylamide, it cannot be eliminated completely.

According to their calculations, successful application of all presently known methods would reduce the acrylamide intake by 40 percent at the most—which makes me wonder whether chip manufacturers have really succeeded at this point in reducing acrylamide levels to within legal limits… There’s no updated data as of yet, so there’s no telling whether they’ve been able to comply with the 2005 settlement.

For more in-depth information about acrylamide, I recommend reading the online report Heat-generated Food Toxicants, Identification, Characterization and Risk Minimization.  In general however, just remember that cooking food at high temperatures is ill advised. A few of the most well-known toxins created in high-temperature cooking include:

Heterocyclic Amines (HCAs): These form when meat is cooked at high temperatures, and they’re also linked to cancer. In terms of HCA, the worst part of the meat is the blackened section, which is why you should always avoid charring your meat, and never eat blackened sections.

  • Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): When fat drips onto the heat source, causing excess smoke, and the smoke surrounds your food, it can transfer cancer-causing PAHs to the meat.
  • Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs): When food is cooked at high temperatures (including when it is pasteurized or sterilized), it increases the formation of AGEs in your food. When you eat the food, it transfers the AGEs into your body. AGEs build up in your body over time leading to oxidative stress, inflammation and an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease.

Sources and References

  • io9 October 21, 2001

This was written by Dr. Joseph Mercola, and published at Mercola

 

’40 year old child’ resembles 8 year old baby: Rare Genetic condition

she is 8-years-old. She has a mysterious condition that has caused her to virtually stop aging

40-Year-Old Child will look into the medical mystery of the rare condition that causes slowed-down aging.  Eight-year-old Gabby Williams weighs only 11 pounds.

A girl from Billings, Mont., looks like an infant and needs full caring as if she is a newborn. Her mother and father change her diapers and feeding her multiple times a day.

Her mother, Mary Margret Williams, told that Gabby hasn’t changed much over the years. In fact, her skin still feels like a baby’s and her hair is still fine-textured.

“She has gotten a little longer and we have jumped into putting her in size 3-6 month clothes instead of 0-3 months for the footies,” she said.

She is one of just a handful of people in the world with a rare condition that slows the aging process. Medical researcher Richard F. Walker has been studying Gabby for two years. His particular interest is investigating the cause of slow aging.

“In some people, something happens to them and the development process is retarded,” he said. “The rate of change in the body slows and is negligible.”

Gabby appears with two others who share her condition: a 29-year-old American with the body of a 10-year-old, and a 31-year-old Brazilian woman who’s two-year-old girl.

Walker suspects that Gabby and the others may have a genetic impairment that interferes with a crucial process called “developmental inertia” that affects growth in humans.

Lowa Woman takes Tapeworm to lose weight:

A dieter in Iowa ordered a tapeworm off the Internet in a desperate bid to lose weight and then told her doctor about her extreme weight loss measure.

Lot of people is more worried about their weight and obese. They take lot of measures to loss weight or whatever the tips they heard. The physicians warn them to take advised tips and not what they heard or by own

Some children and youngsters tried some tips on their own without their parent’s knowledge.
A dieter in Iowa ordered a tapeworm off the Internet in a desperate bid to lose weight and then told her doctor about her extreme weight loss measure.

Her physician was stumped by the news and with little clue what to do next he called the Iowa Department of Public Health for help.
Iowa’s Public Health Department medical director Dr. Patricia Quinlisk told the (doctor) to prescribe an anti-worm medication and then issued a warning to health workers about the dangerous practice.

say ‘no’ to tapeworm diet

She said: “Ingesting tapeworms is extremely risky and can cause a wide range of undesirable side effects, including rare deaths,” she wrote.
“Those desiring to lose weight are advised to stick with proven weight loss methods; consuming fewer calories and increasing physical activity.”

 

Measles Alert: Texas Health Officials urge people to be immunized

State health officials asked health care providers to take potential steps on patients with measles symptoms, especially in North Texas.

Texas health officials have issued a measles alert and urge people to be immunized after a dozen cases were reported this year.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said 11 cases were confirmed with Measles alert. In the last week 6 were suffered in Tarrant County, but county Public Health officials updated that number a total of nine cases.

Dallas and Denton reported two measles cases, Harris County has one. Agency officials say Texas had six reported cases of measles in 2011.

State health officials asked health care providers to take potential steps on patients with measles symptoms, especially in North Texas.

Measles is a airborne disease and easily spreads through coughing and sneezing.

Child suffered with Measles

Tarrant County Public Health experts traced some of the area’s measles cases to an adult who had traveled outside the U.S., the agency said. Further details about the person and where he or she traveled were not immediately released.

“Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, 90 percent of the people close to that person who are not immune or vaccinated will also become infected with the measles virus,” according to state health officials.

People should check their immunization status with their health care provider, the agency said.