Valturna gets FDA approval .....

FDA, has approved Valturna (valsartan & aliskiren respective structures above) tablets, the first and only medicine to target two key points within the renin system, also known as the renin angiotensin aldosteronesystem (RAAS), an important regulator of blood pressure. This is the first approval for Valturna, which is indicated for the treatment of Hypertension (high blood pressure) in patients not adequately controlled on aliskiren or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) monotherapy and as initial therapy in patients likely to need multiple drugs to achieve their blood pressure goals. This unique combination brings together the powerful blood pressure lowering effects of valsartan and aliskiren. Valturna combines in a single pill valsartan, the active ingredient in Diovan((R)), the number one selling branded Hypertension medicine worldwide, and aliskiren, the active ingredient in Tekturna((R)), the only approved direct renin inhibitor (DRI). Valturna offers significantly greater blood pressure reduction than either valsartan or aliskiren alone. Now for the first time, patients have a treatment option in one pill that targets two key points of the RAAS, which may be overactive in many hypertensive patients. The important fact about the combination is - by targeting two key points within the RAAS, Valturna helps blood vessels relax and widen so blood pressure is lowered. Research suggests that up to 85% of hypertensive patients may need multiple medications to help control their blood pressure, underscoring the need for effective combination treatments, hope this combined drugs will help the patients to a large extent. But those people with stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure or eye problems resulting from hypertension will have to wait for some more time....

Ref : http://www.novartis.com/newsroom/media-releases/en/2009/1342100.shtml

Monolaurin as a microbial agent ?

We know that Coconut oil contains about 40 to 55 percent lauric acid. Lauric acid is the main saturated fatty acid found in coconut fat and in palm kernel oil. Lauric acid is also known as n-dodecanoic acid, which is a saturated medium chain C₁₂-fatty acid, hence the Greek name “dodeca”, meaning twelve. A certain biochemical derivative of lauric acid, monolaurin (see right structure), has proven to be anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-protozoal, both in vitro and in vivo experiments — and monolaurin can destroy lipid-coated viruses, including influenza. Lauric acid, however does not have these properties as strongly as monolaurin. When ingesting coconut oil, only a small percentage—an estimated 3%--of the lauric acid will be transformed by the body into the active monolauric acid. This has been shown to elevate the body’s overall immunity to some degree.

Though there were many companies selling this as a dietery suppliment, now monolaurin has been recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is known for its antimicrobial properties. If used in combination with other antimicrobial agents, monolaurin can present an effective barrier to microorganisms.

Thanx to the researchers from Zhejiang University in China, who studied the use of monolaurin as a nontraditional preservative in food products by combining it with commonly used antimicrobials in various concentrations and testing it on bacterial strains including Esherichia coli and on food components such as soy protein and water-soluble starch.

The findings are really interesting :

1. Monolaurin combined with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)，a binding agent, was effective against Esherichia coliand Bacillus subtilis but not Staphylococcus aureus.

2. When combined with the antimicrobial nisin, monolaurin was synergistically effective against all three bacteria.

3. Antibacterial effectiveness was reduced by fat or starch but was not affected by protein.

Congrats for this achievement...

Ref : http://www.ift.org/cms/?pid=1002122

Podophyllotoxin in American Mayapple ?

A common plant called American mayapple (see the picture) may soon offer an alternative to an Asian cousin that's been harvested almost to extinction because of its anti-cancer properties. The near-extinct Asian plant, Podophyllyum emodi, produces podophyllotoxin (see the structure), a compound used in manufacturing etoposide, the active ingredient in a drug used for treating lung and testicular cancer. Podophyllyum emodi is a cousin of the common mayapple, sometimes considered a weed, found in the United States.

Podophyllotoxin and its derivatives are used in several commercially available pharmaceutical products such as the anticancer drugs etoposide, teniposide, and etopophos, which are used in the treatment of small-cell lung cancer, lymphoblastic leukemia, testicular cancer, and brain tumors. Podophyllotixin derivatives are also used for the treatment of psoriasis and malaria, and some are being tested for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Currently, podophyllotoxin is produced commercially using the roots and rhizomes of Indian mayapple, an endangered species harvested from the wild in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and China.

Now the researchers from the US, found that mayapple colonies in the eastern part of the United States can be used for the development of high podophyllotoxin cultivars, which could subsequently provide the base for commercial production of podophyllotoxin in the United States.

Ref : http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/44/2/349

Link Between Protein And Lung Disease Found

Link Between Protein And Lung Disease Found

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House plants to cut Indoor Ozone !

We know that ozone, the main component of air pollution or smog, is a highly reactive, colorless gas formed when oxygen reacts with other chemicals. And ozone pollution is most often associated with outdoor air, the gas also infiltrates indoor environments like homes and offices. And that is why those who have allergy like 'morning sneeze' will be advised by doctors to avoid going outside early in the morning and one can follow this advise sincerely. But when I read in an article that ozone can be released by ordinary copy machines (xerox machines), laser printers, ultraviolet lights, and some electrostatic air purification systems, all of which contribute to increased indoor ozone levels, I got an answer for one of my freind's problem.

We are aware that the extensive list of toxic effects of ozone on humans are pulmonary edema, hemorrhage, inflammation, and reduction of lung function. So I was wondering how one can take care of themselves even by staying in house (avoiding morning walk) ?.

Recently I found this interesting fact that three common indoor houseplants (see pictures), snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciata), spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum), and golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum) can reduce the ozone concentrations effectively.

Hope plants as a mitigation method could serve as a cost-effective tool, where expensive pollution mitigation technology may not be economically feasible in the days to come....

Ref : http://horttech.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/19/2/286

Current Hepatitis C Treatments................

Current Hepatitis C Treatments Work Equally Well, Researchers Report

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Necklace For Long-term And Robust Cardiac Monitoring In Daily Life

Necklace For Long-term And Robust Cardiac Monitoring In Daily Life

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New Antituberculosis Compounds ?

We all know how TB has become a pandemic and several attempts to eradicate the disease have been tried and scientists are still finding new ways. However the most disadvantage part for the scientists lies in the fact that "the disease-causing bacteria have a sophisticated mechanism for surviving dormant in infected cells". i.e., TB bacteria have a sophisticated way to remove the damaged proteins — a protein-cleaving complex known as a proteasome — identified in earlier research by the Nathan lab. By breaking down damaged proteins, the proteasome allows the bacteria to remain dormant, and possibly go on to cause active TB. And hence finding drugs to disable the proteasome would be a new way to fight TB.

In developing proteasome-inhibitor drugs, scientists face several hurdles. A significant one is the fact that human cells also possess proteasomes, which are essential to their survival. To be effective, the drugs would have to specifically target the TB proteasome without adversely affecting the human protein-cleanup complex.

This study represents a shift in strategy for designing antibiotics that treat TB, says Dr. Lin (Assistant Research professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College). All the groups who tried focused on developing drugs that attacked the bacterium in its active phase, but this group has found a compound that may help to destroy it in its dormant stage.

The Weill Cornell team screened 20,000 compounds for TB proteasome inhibition activity. They identified and synthesized a group of inhibitors, which they then tested for their ability to inhibit the proteasome inside the mycobacteria. They also tested the compounds' effect on monkey epithelial cells and human immune system cells in culture. After reading this article, I could recollect the High Throughput Screening of my compounds (Southern Research Institute, Birmingham).  The newly synthesized compounds are specific, less toxic, more active and more over the inhibition of the TB proteasome is irreversible and about 1,000-fold more effective than the minor inhibition observed against human proteasomes.

The structural studies revealed that the inhibitor molecules block the proteasome's ability to degrade proteins in more than one way: by producing a direct chemical change to the proteasome active site, and by altering the conformation of the "pocket" into which protein fragments bind before being degraded. Congrats for this efforts and all the best for their future endeavor.... More....

New Material For Nanoscale Computer Chips

We already use various organic materials for example, flat screens, such as OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode). The new results show how small and advanced devices made of organic materials can become. I read recently about an article in a blog titled Cell phone TV ? and was amused by the use of OLED and it may overtake the usage of LCDs. I would say the following findings are really interesting and are a step ahead - nanochemists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Nano-Science Center, Department of Chemistry have developed nanoscale electric contacts out of organic and inorganic nanowires. In the contact they have crossed the wires like Mikado sticks and coupled several contacts together in an electric circuit. In this way they have produced prototype computer electronics on the nanoscale and by doing so they have succeeded in placing several transistors consisting of nanowires together on a nano device. Though it is a first step towards realisation of future electronic circuitry based on organic materials – a possible substitute for today’s silicon-based technologies. Hope this step will lead to the possibility of making computers in different ways in the near future...

Ref : http://www.ku.dk/english/news/?content=http://www.ku.dk/english/news/danish_chinese_nano_science.htm

New Marker For Alzheimer's Discovered

New Marker For Alzheimer's Discovered

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Genetic Hint For Ridding The Body Of Hepatitis C

Genetic Hint For Ridding The Body Of Hepatitis C

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Ways To Quiet Ordinary Snoring

Ways To Quiet Ordinary Snoring

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A Chip For The Eye? Artificial Vision Enhancers Being Put To The Test

A Chip For The Eye? Artificial Vision Enhancers Being Put To The Test

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New Rabies Vaccine May Require Only A Single Shot... Not 6 !

People were really scared about the number of injections (it used to varies from 12 to 6) rather than the real pain of the dog's bite. Now thanks to Dr. McGettigan according to the researchers, a replication-deficient rabies virus vaccine that lacks a key gene called the matrix (M) gene induced a rapid and efficient anti-rabies immune response in mice and non-human primates.

The M gene is one of the central genes of the rabies virus, and its absence inhibits the virus from completing its life cycle. The virus in the vaccine infects cells and induces an immune response, but the virus is deficient in spreading. The immune response induced with this process is so substantial that only one inoculation may be sufficient enough both pre-exposure and post-exposure settings. The details will be published in the forth coming journal of infectious disease (J Infect Dis.).

Congrats, Dr.McGettigan and co-workers.

Survey Concludes Telaprevir a Winner for HCV Genotype 1 | Hepatitis Central News, Updates and Commentary

I did mention in my earlier blog about this drug and one person did (Dawn - Blog Name) mention she was happy about the info. I am sure the following update will help her. All the best...(Dawn, U can mail me at dr.umesh1969@gmail.com-if u find this info useful). I am happy something I did blog and that helped a needy & this encourages me to do spend more time with my blog.....

Survey Concludes Telaprevir a Winner for HCV Genotype 1 | Hepatitis Central News, Updates and Commentary

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