Increase in Rifampicin dosage shortens tuberculosis treatment duration
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Med-Chemist : "Quintessential Medicinal Chemistry"
Saturday, September 12, 2009
A single dose vaccine for Swine flu !.....
I am reading anything and everything about this H1N1, since it started in Mexico and there were so many different names (many names like - swine flu !, Mexican flu, ....). The deadly virus has caused panic in each and every country, where there are reports of infection of H1N1. The real concern is the use of antibiotics and the real black market for Tamiflu and so many falsely claimed drugs. Now thanx to Dr. Russell Basser and group who have found that a single 15-µg dose of 2009 H1N1 vaccine was immunogenic in adults, with mild-to-moderate vaccine-associated reactions. Congrats for for this important achievement.
A (H1N1) 2009 virus is responsible for the first influenza pandemic in 41 years. This itself shows how important the vaccine is. The results are really interesting and as per the claim by the researchers : by day 21 after vaccination, antibody titers of 1:40 or more were observed in 96.7% those who received the 15-µg dose and 93.3% who received the 30-µg dose. No deaths, serious adverse events, or adverse events of special interest were reported. Local discomfort (e.g., injection-site tenderness or pain) was reported by 46.3% of subjects, and systemic symptoms (e.g., headache) by 45.0% of subjects. Nearly all events were mild to moderate in intensity.
Hope the efforts by the Australian drug maker CSL, Ltd. has yielded a novel vaccine that could take care of the H1N1 pandemic. Congrats once again for this achievement.
Ref : http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0907413
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Discovery Of Natural Odors- a new way to develop cheaper mosquito repellents !..
Entomologists at the University of California, Riverside (Anandasankar Ray, an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology, and Stephanie Turner, his graduate student) working on fruit flies in the lab have discovered a novel class of compounds that could pave the way for developing inexpensive and safe mosquito repellents for combating West Nile virus and other deadly tropica.
The basis for the 'invention' though looks simple, but this finding is of great importance. As for my knowledge goes most of the mosquito repellents are cyclohalothrins, which are a costly affair to prepare [as a synthetic chemist, I know how difficult its to prepare cyclohalothrins (pyrethroids) e.g., Allethrin & Permethrin. When I was working in Rallis India Limited, one of my senior colleague was working on Permethrin and I know how difficult to introduce the halo group that too by using florochlorocarbons CFCs (banned chemicals !)]. Congrats Anandsankar Ray, for this interesting achievement.
When fruit flies undergo stress, they emit carbon dioxide (CO2) that serves as a warning to other fruit flies that danger or predators could be nearby. The fruit flies are able to detect the CO2 and escape because their antennae are equipped with specialized neurons that are sensitive to the gas.
But fruits and other important food sources for fruit flies also emit CO2 as a by-product of respiration and ripening. If the innate response of the fruit fly is to avoid CO2, how then does it find its way to these foods?. The researchers have have identified a new class of odorants – chemical compounds with smells – present in ripening fruit that prevent the CO2-sensitive neurons in the antennae from functioning. In particular two odors, hexanol and 2,3- butanedione, are strong inhibitors of the CO2-sensitive neurons in the fruit fly.
CO2 emitted in human breath is the main attractant for the Culex mosquito to find people, aiding the transmission of these deadly diseases," Ray said. In their experiments they identified hexanol, and a related odor, butanal, as strong inhibitors of CO2-sensitive neurons in Culex mosquitoes. These compounds can now be used to guide research in developing novel repellents and masking agents that are economical and environmentally safe methods to block mosquitoes.
Those interested can listen to Anandsankar
Fruits better than prviously thought !.......
Polyphenol content in fruits usually refers to extractable polyphenols, but a Spanish scientist working at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich analysed apple, peach and nectarine. She found that nonextractable polyphenol content is up to five times higher than extractable compounds. Its really interesting and that might be the reason why our forefathers used to insist to eat whole fruits (though they might not have studied so exhaustively... !).
The interesting findings like, "polyphenols need to be treated with acid to extract them from the cell walls of fruit in the lab" will help at least now onwards to collect all the useful polyphenols (proanthocyanidins, ellagic acid and catechin) which without this new findings might have gone as waste. Dr Paul Kroon from IFR explains: “In the human body these compounds will be fermented by bacteria in the colon, creating metabolites that may be beneficial, for example with antioxidant activity.
Hope these nonextractable polyphenols, (which mostly escape analysis and are not usually considered in nutritional studies), will play a major part of bioactive compounds in the diet in the days to come. Congrats Professor Saura-Calixto, for this achievement.....
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Wearable Artificial Kidney good bye to dialysis !
I have seen people who had kidney failure and how its difficult to get dailysis & to mentain the sterile conditions to avoid infections. Now thanx to a group of researchers from David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, who have come up with a novel idea of developing wearable artificial kidney!.
As per the claim by the researchers, the device—essentially a miniaturized dialysis machine, worn as a belt—weighs about 10 pounds and is powered by two nine-volt batteries. Patients don't need to be hooked up to a full-size dialysis machine, they are free to walk, work, or sleep while undergoing continuous, gentle dialysis that more closely approximates normal kidney function. Despite enduring long hours on dialysis every week—with major limitations in activities, diet, and other areas of life—dialysis patients face high rates of hospitalization and death and more over its a costly affair too.
The Wearable Artificial Kidney is successful in preliminary tests, including two studies in dialysis patients. The new study provides important information on the technical details that made these promising results possible. Though further studies like 'long-term effect' has to be established its a great achievement and hope the researchers will succeed in their endeavor....
Congrats, Victor Gura et.al.,
Launch of Cobroxin for chronic pain relief.....
I used to read in magazines that, there are people who sell Cobra venom (from India) for research purpose and there were many groups working on this field. Yes, now the dream has come true, Nutra Pharma Corp, a biotechnology company that is developing treatments for Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), HIV and Multiple Sclerosis (MS), has announced recently that, it has launched an OTC- pain reliever, Cobroxin, for the treatment of Stage 2 (moderate to severe) chronic pain.
As per the claim by the company, Cobroxin is the first OTC pain reliever clinically proven to treat Stage 2 (moderate to severe) chronic pain. The drug, which was developed by Nutra Pharma’s wholly-owned drug discovery subsidiary, ReceptoPharm, will be available as an oral spray for treating lower back pain, migraines, neck aches, shoulder pain, cramps and neuralgia and as a topical gel for treating repetitive stress, arthritis, and joint pain. More over the claims by the company (All Natural;Non-Addictive ;Non-Narcotic ;Non-Opiate ;More Potent than Morphine ; Long Lasting) are really encouraging and hope will become an alternative to the presently available NSAIDs (which have many side effects).
The mode of action claimed by the researchers, (peptides from the cobra venom) has many ways superior to the current opiate-based analgesics and those containing acetaminophen & there by help to overcome the side effects.
Hope in the days to come the people suffering from chronic pain will have a relief....
For more details on cobroxin u can visit the site ...
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Bhuvan- a satellite mapping tool - an alternate to Google earth ?
Though its premature to claim the advantage of Bhuvan over the Google earth, the comparison between the two like :
1. Google Earth-single layer information, whereas Bhuvan has multilayer info;
2. Google Earth: Images upgraded every 4 years , whereas Bhuvans' are updated every year;
3. Google Earth: No alternate viewing options, whereas Bhuvan has options of viewing on different dates ;
make a superior option.
Well done, ISRO and keep going like this and achieve success in ur future Mars Mission. Its really interesting to note the achievement on the eve of 62 nd Independance Day Celebrations....
Those interested can dowload the toolbar using the link.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
New journal devoted to gene therapy...
As for as my knowledge goes there was no exclusive journal totally devoted to gene therapy until last year. Yeah its really interesting to to see "The Gene Therapy Review" a journal totally devoted to gene therapy. In my opinion it is an important move and was the urgent need of the hour. Now the fields like antisense drugs & gene therapy will get its due importance and hope in the days to come, will bring together all those people to share and gain the knowledge..... Those interested can follow the blog also.....
URL : http://www.genetherapyreview.com/index.php
Blog : http://www.genetherapyreview.com/gene-therapy-blog.html
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Masitinib - a relief for arthritis patients ....
I know the sufferings of arthritis patients closely, (as my mother-in-law is having the problem) it makes patients' life miserable. Though there are a few drugs for the treatment, but are inadequate for patients suffering from active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) especially for those unresponsive to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), new and improved medication is need of the hour. In that aspect clinical trials of Mastineb, 4-[(4-Methyl-1-piperazinyl)methyl]-N-[4-methyl-3-[[4-(3-pyridinyl)-2-thiazolyl] amino] phenyl]benzamide carried out by Alain Moussey et. al., is of great importance.
The study evaluates the safety and efficacy of Masitinib, a potent and selective protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor of c-KIT, in the monotherapy treatment of DMARD-refractory RA.
We also know that, the orally bioavailable mesylate salt of masatinib, a multi-targeted protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor with potential antineoplastic activity selectively binds to and inhibits both the wild-type and mutated forms of the stem cell factor receptor (c-Kit; SCFR); platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR); fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3); and, to a lesser extent, focal adhesion kinase (FAK). As a consequence, tumor cell proliferation may be inhibited in cancer cell types that overexpress these receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), clinical trials also reported.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Antisense drug in combination with paclitaxel for prostate cancer..
I think when I was doing some reference work for my research in 1996, I read about this drug (taxol) [In 1994 the total synthesis has been achieved by Robert Holton of Florida University. He did spend 12 years to achieve the total synthesis because of the assymmtery involved in it [It was after 40 years' after the first exctract from the tree Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia) has shown anticancer activity and the key ingrediant identified was taxiol]. A diterpenoid, with androgen (a male hormone) blockade chemotherapy has played important role in the treatment of cancer.Prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men after skin cancer. It is estimated there will be 218,890 new cases diagnosed in the U.S. this year(2009). Around 1 in 6 men will develop prostate cancer, a third to a half of whom will recur after local treatment and risk progression to metastatic prostate cancer. Metastatic disease invariably progresses to hormone refractory or castrate resistantprostate cancer (CRPC) if given enough time.
Prostate tumours are initially androgen (male sex hormone) dependent, and can be treated with androgen ablation therapy, however once the disease progresses to its most dangerous and aggressive form, CRPC, treatment options are limited and prognosis is poor. Treatment options depend on disease severity and include radiation and chemotherapy, which are designed to induce programmed cell death (apoptosis) of tumour cells. There is a pressing need for the development of new treatment options.
More interesting and significant results have been achieved by an Australian company (Antisense Therapeutics). i.e., in combination with taxol, antisense drug ATL1101 has yielded good results. ATL1101 is a second generation antisense inhibitor of the insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) which as reported previously suppressed the growth of human prostate tumors in an animal model of prostate cancer, and slowed down transition to CRPC when used as a single agent.
The research is of great importance because of the fact that in cell culture experiments, the amount of Paclitaxel required to induce tumor cell apoptosis (cell death) was significantly reduced when used in combination with ATL1101. This ability to 'sensitize' tumor cells to the cytotoxic effects of Paclitaxel affirms ATL1101's potential as a chemo-sensitizing agent to be used in combination with existing prostate treatments to improve the outcomes for patients.
I did work for some of the intermediates (ologonucleotides) for ISIS (contract research) and am excited to see that this company has tie up with ISIS. In my opinion as ISIS , is an established company in this field of research, hope soon there will be relief for those patients for whom CRPC, treatment options are limited and prognosis is poor....
Ref: http://www.antisense.com.au/!upload_files%5Cattachment%5Casx%2009%2018%20June%202009_ATL1101.pdf
More interesting and significant results have been achieved by an Australian company (Antisense Therapeutics). i.e., in combination with taxol, antisense drug ATL1101 has yielded good results. ATL1101 is a second generation antisense inhibitor of the insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) which as reported previously suppressed the growth of human prostate tumors in an animal model of prostate cancer, and slowed down transition to CRPC when used as a single agent.
The research is of great importance because of the fact that in cell culture experiments, the amount of Paclitaxel required to induce tumor cell apoptosis (cell death) was significantly reduced when used in combination with ATL1101. This ability to 'sensitize' tumor cells to the cytotoxic effects of Paclitaxel affirms ATL1101's potential as a chemo-sensitizing agent to be used in combination with existing prostate treatments to improve the outcomes for patients.
I did work for some of the intermediates (ologonucleotides) for ISIS (contract research) and am excited to see that this company has tie up with ISIS. In my opinion as ISIS , is an established company in this field of research, hope soon there will be relief for those patients for whom CRPC, treatment options are limited and prognosis is poor....
Ref: http://www.antisense.com.au/!upload_files%5Cattachment%5Casx%2009%2018%20June%202009_ATL1101.pdf
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