TRESS CAN SPEAK TOO

The Topic ‘Plant’s communication’ is relatively a new Science and a few decades old. The fact that trees communicate with each other seems amazing. This communication can be seen above the ground through some hormones, and below the ground through the regulation of fungus on their roots.

More than 90% of land plants have symbiotic relationship with fungi. Fungal networks enhance host plants' immune systems. It increases the synthesis of defense-related chemicals and makes immune system’s responses faster and efficient called as "priming". Big and old trees are hubs for fungal mycorrhizal network, plays a key role in communicating with other tress, especially their kin. They send signals through the mycorrhizal networks. When a seedling on the forest floor, near to one of these mother trees, links into that network and gets accesses network resource. So, Fungi are called as 'Earth's natural internet’.

This mode of communication was first identified by the scientist using the radioisotopes to trace carbon, nitrogen and water moving between two trees. When one tree is shaded, carbon-based sugars would flow into it from the other tree. These two trees used fungal networks to share resources.

Abovethe ground communication is carried by release of volatile chemicals. Some chemicals attract predators that eat pests, and this type of chemical communication can also be observed below ground. Some plants release these chemicals to alert other plants to activate the immune system. However Interplant communication by chemicals works well only in the lab, and it’s not convincing in the field.

Even though the subject looks small and simple, there is much to be explored in the point of identifying new communication systems, which may be used for betterment of mankind and environment.

Beware of it on the eve of World Asthma Day

At a time when the entire world observes the Asthma day on every first Tuesday in the month of May, it would be appropriate to hint the simple tips that would avoid chronic health disorders like Asthma, as 3 million affected patients across the globe are affected by it.

insights in allergy asthma bronchitis

As many as 300 reasons, including dusting, food (chocolates & monosodium glutamate), smoke, pollen, and emotions (laughing / crying) may act as allergens to trigger intensified Asthma. Several reasons related to our lifestyles including staying prolonged hours in AS rooms and DNA damages may also trigger Asthma.

While the patients that feel allergic to external forces labeled as Extrinsic Asthma (EA, those that are disturbed due to emotions are categorized as Intrinsic Asthma (IA).

Simple measures make great difference to Asthma affected. Eat nutritious food rich with Apple, Avocado, kiwi, spinach, and add turmeric, pepper, mint tea and ginger as part of your diet. Exercise, particularly the breathing exercises, including yoga and maintain personal hygiene. Spotting the exact cause that cause allergy is very important as people diversified reasons that may vary from person must be identified to handle it better.

Early detection provides great relief with simple measures as Asthma is equally lethal.

Bless your Child with a Disease Free World

Are there kids less than 12 years of old at home? It is a must read for you!

More than one million parents with children less than 12 years old created history by registering in the world’s largest immunization programme alert on the eve of ‘WHO Immunization Week’ to close the immunization gap in the country.

With the help of an SMS message, parents should send their child’s name and date of birth to ‘national short code 566778’ so that they receive SMS alerts until the child attains 12 years. This vaccination registration programme is meant to eradicate certain dreadful diseases that can be preventable with victimization, including pneumonia, diarrhea, diphtheria, pertussis, tuberculosis, measles and tetanus. The SMS registration is at no cost incurring to the user.

Malaria Free World with Awareness

World Malaria Day is observed on 25^th April with a theme “End Malaria for Good” and the World Health Assembly has set a Global Technical strategy to eliminate Malaria totally from this planet by 2030, reducing the number of cases by 90% with a special emphasis ending Malaria deaths.

End Malaria for Good

Despite  the WHO report of World Malaria Report 2015 notifies a drastic reduction in Malaria cases across the globe, 3-2 million people are still in the risk of getting affected by it and Sub-Saharan Africa is worst affected in this case. 22% of the Indian population lives transmission area and only 11% of the Indian population free from Malaria.

Malaria can be preventable and creating awareness on what causes Malaria and the measures that need to be taken goes a long way in reducing the incidents. This threatening disease is caused by parasites and mosquitoes, particularly female mosquitoes are the carriers of Malaria parasites. So keep your surroundings clean and take measures to stop the mosquito breeding. Governments must strengthen local governments with enough funds for sanitation and the government primary healthcare centers must be equipped with the basic diagnostic and medical facilities to stop it early. 

Zika Demands more money - NIH

Funding from US Health department helped to start Zika vaccine research by Fauci, Further he extended a new Zika support. Stating that it’s enough to begun not enough to get a finished product. 

The NIH invests nearly $32.3 billion annually in medical research for their citizen. Out of $32.30  billion, 589 $ million or more than 80% of the NIH's funding has been granted to 0.3 million researchers of more than 2500 universities all over the globe. 10% of the NIH budget supports its own lab.

Since it demands more money for the Zika research officials have shifted $47 million of funds from the Ebola research, they used $238 million up to date. 

Researcher of NIH Donovan said fund shift is need of the hour and helps to acute activities such as vector control, Zika diagnosis and vaccines. Supporting Zika ill baby’s and mothers, mapping the epidemiology for the preventive measures.

US Health officials are insisting congress to approve approximately $2 billion emergency Zika funding for the outbreak and to compensate Ebola funds as well.

Back to Traditional Culinary to Foster Public Health

gastroenterology

Westerns nations glorify their achievements on terms of technology and economy by showcasing the advancements in the fields of industry, technology, law, politics, economies and lifestyles, clothing, language etc. Media of mass communication are playing great role in influencing people of non- western origin in adopting western hair color, skin texture, straightens hair and shape. However, it is evident that introduction of western features in the traditional non-Western cultures. Interestingly, the current public health issues related to dietary is driving people increasingly towards Synbiotics. At this juncture, here is an emerging concept that is encouraging public to revisit their indigenous traditional culinary tastes and habits.

Probiotics are defined as viable mass of microorganisms, which reaches intestine to employ positive health effects. Probiotics is defined as fermented ingredient which facilitates specific changes, both in the composition and the activities of the intestinal flora that confers benefits upon host wellbeing and health. Combined synergistic positive health effect of pro- and prebiotics, called as synbiotics. These organisms are called autochthonous members of ecosystem.

digestive diseases

Up to date bifidogenic, non-digestible oligosaccharides (particularly inulin, its hydrolysis product like oligofructose, and (trans) galactooligosaccharides), fulfill all the criteria for prebiotic classification. It is possible to find solutions to the emerging health care problems using synergetic prebiotic diet.

Prebiotic fibers are often natural constituents of a variety of foods, especially whole grains, fruits, root and other vegetables, and legumes. Major part of western diet is lacking prebiotic fibers; consumption of these contributes very low to the colon health.

Well accepted and established synbiotics effects are enlisted: a. lactose intolerance b. antibiotic associated diarrhea c. reducing carcinogenic metabolites in the colon d. inhibiting Helicobacter pylori infection or bacterial overgrowth e. Prevention of respiratory tract infections like common cold, influenza and urogenital infections f. positive effects on lipid metabolism g. stimulation of mineral adsorption and immunomodulatory properties.

Booster to Hepatitis Vaccination is must to Get the Desired Outcome

The task of taking the new born baby to the pediatricians start right at the time of the birth as the infant needs to be immunized immediately after the birth to cope with the environs. The parents of the new born baby get the recommended set of vaccinations to be administered at various intervals from the day one till the child complete 18 years. Apprehensions and doubts regarding the role of boosters or the repetition of a particular vaccine among the parents need to be addressed and this is particularly so regarding Hepatitis-B vaccines.     

A recombinant vaccine Hepatitis B was discovered based on major S protein, which was purified from yeast. As per the WHO recommendation all the infants should receive the HB vaccine soon after the birth, preferably within 24hrs. Universal vaccination is continuously increased to 183 countries till 2013. This could reduce the prevalence of HBs to < 1% in the United States from 9.8% in the year 1984 to 0.7% in 1999. Recent studies have revealed that the response to the vaccination is sometimes decreased in adult over 40 years of age and some individuals do not retain anti-HBs antibodies after complete vaccination.

G145R mutation in the “α determinant” of HBV makes it resistant to the neutralizing effect of anti-HBs, and threaten the effectiveness of HB vaccines, further it is inevitablefor the booster doses.

Vaccination is an easy and cost-effective measure to prevent disease and infection. As per WHO report (2009) 378 million people are chronically affected by HBV and over a 2 billion people worldwide have been exposed. Yet, it is not clear how long the protective effect persist soon after birth vaccination. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, a booster is not necessary because memorized immunity will be activated following HBV exposure.Studies from various countries say that most of memorized immunity disappeared after 20 years post vaccination and booster vaccination is necessary to maintain anti-HBs seropositive.

The term “booster” refers to a vaccination given in a series of doses in order to provide rapid protective immunity against major infections.Boosters may be used to enhance immune memory and provide support of protective immunity against HBV infection.

The question that remains to be unanswered for long time is how long immune memory will last. Yoshihiko Yano from the Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan was of the view that regular and long-term follow-up studies are needed to confirm the duration and persistence of immune memory. So far, there is no randomized trial and it is still difficult to conclude this issue. Hence there is a need of coherent study. This opinion was published in the Journal of Hepatitis.

Early Detection Offers Immediate Cure to Anorexia

Be a vegetarian to escape Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Most western citizens with Eating Disorder (ED) have turned vegetarians, including the top Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities like Pamela Anderson and Aamir khan. Vegan diets tend to be higher in dietary fiber, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron and phytochemicals, and low in calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc and vitamin B12. Well-planned vegan diets can reduce the risk of chronic diseases, including heart disease.

Many studies have suggested that vegetarianism and anorexia are not independent but intertwined, the process may either anorexics turn to vegetarianism as part of their symptomology which may taint the research findings, or that vegetarianism may be an escape route for someone who might otherwise become anorexic.

According to standards in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic (APAD) individuals with anorexia nervosa decline to maintain normal body weight depending on the age and height; they are intensely awful of gaining weight or becoming fat, and exhibit a significant disturbance in the perception of body weight or size. Moreover, for women, the diagnosis insists on loss of periods for at least 3 consecutive cycles i.e. amenorrhea. Whereas in males, amenorrhea is lacking, further it makes difficult to detect anorexia in males. However most of the studies report that male and female with anorexia behave the same way.

Anorexia Nervosa is a form of self-starvation and eating disorder characterized by a distorted body image that leads to restricted eating and other behaviour that prevents a person from gaining weight.

According to a survey among college students, 2% of male population perceived to be overweight among 13 % were actually weighed, whereas females 50% perceived to be overweight. Men don’t desire for tuning of sizes like female “size zero” and are not prone to anorexia.

Although the cultures shared by the male and female has got pressure to attain a look to visually pleasurable and appropriate. Yet there is difference in pressure perceived among the genders, nevertheless males can get eating disorders too.

How to diagnose Anorexia? - Parents, teachers, and instructors may be able to identify the child or adolescent with anorexia. Child psychiatrist or a qualified mental health professional usually diagnoses anorexia in children and adolescents by taking a detailed history of the child's behaviour from parents and teachers. Clinical observations of the child's behaviour, and, sometimes, psychological testing contribute to the diagnosis. Parents who note symptoms of anorexia in their child or teen can help by seeking an evaluation and treatment early. Early treatment can often prevent future problems.

Anorexia, and the malnutrition that results, can adversely affect nearly every organ system in the body, increasing the importance of early diagnosis and treatment. Anorexia can be fatal. Consult your child's doctor for more information.

Prevention of AN? -Preventive measures to reduce the incidence of anorexia are not known at this time. However, early detection and intervention can reduce the severity of symptoms.

Sustainable Drug Delivery system to Treat Angina Effectively

Angina pectoris known as Angina is the sensation or pain in the chest due to ischemia of the heart muscle as a result of obstruction of the coronary arteries. Angina may lead to anemia, abnormal heart rhythm and heart failure. Angina is a leading cause for death during early 20^th century. Hypertension damages the heart vessels leading to blockage in the arteries, resulting in abnormal blood flow to the heart, which causes Angina or chest pain.

Conventional drug delivery system to treat Angina is not very effective as it is not reaching the affected site in an appropriate manner. The guarded therapeutic method of treating Angina and Hypertension is quite challenging as it regulate the drug release. Matrix system is often deployed to attain the expected results. Nifedipine as a matrix tablet is prepared using polymers is orally administered to get the desired effects. Formulation prepared with HPMC K100M showed 97% of drug release at 24 hrs and with Eudragit indicates 99% of drug release at 20 hrs release of Nifedipine drug.

Sustained release of drug is a modified form of dosage that sustains the therapeutic activity of the drug for a long time. In this method, it is possible to eliminate the delay and ensure immediate release of the drug, which in turn produces expected therapeutic effect. Sustained method follows a system of gradual yet sustained method of releasing additional drug over a period of predetermined time, eliminating the need for night dosage. It not only offers the best care to the patient by optimizing the Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetic properties of a drug but also minimizes the side effects. It controls the alarming situation in a short time if it is administered in the most effective way.

Oral administration of the sustained drug delivery is generally preferred as it is easy and convenient to administer orally. It offers a great flexibility in designing the pill in the expected design and dosages in a cost effective manner.

Authors Rita B and Suresh V published these details in the ‘Annals of Clinical and Laboratory research ‘journal.

Air Pollution the most devastating killer on the earth

Annually 5.5 million people across the globe are dying not because of the dangerous diseases like cancer and HIV. It is the air pollution that is leading to heavy death toll and India and China are leading among them where more than 50% of the air pollution deaths taking place in these countries.

Power plants, manufacturing units, vehicle emissions and burning coal and wood are the leading polluters that release carbon, lead and monoxide that release small particles into the air that is dangerous to public health

According to a study taken up by the University of British Columbia research, the measures taken at present by the governments are not sufficient to combat the rate of pollution as the existing pollution levels are enough to cause premature deaths in the next couple of decades.

Air pollution is the fourth leading cause for deaths globally and the leading environmental risk factor for disease. Aggressive measures reducing the pollution drastically are the need of the hour as per the study.

We need a collective effort in empowering poor and marginalized people and communities in order to minimize the risks of air pollution by creating awareness on eco-friendly energy usages. Apart from creating awareness, it is essential to provide access to such energy sources so that the quality of living of the poor and the marginal sections will be improved.

Increased Asthma Risk for Children Born to Women Exposed to Air Pollution

Pregnant women’s exposure to Asthma affects the baby in the womb and such babies may likely to develop asthma before they turn 5 years old, says a research at the University of British Columbia, UK. 

According to Hind Sbihi, research associate in the School of Population and Public Health at UCB, Pregnant women living in the metro cities are particularly affected due to emissions from the vehicular traffic. 

  

The study observed over 65, 000 children in the Vancouver, one of the largest metro cities. Researchers monitored the children below the age of 10 years that are diagnosed asthmatic and have closely assessed the health of the mothers, particularly whether or not they are exposed to vehicular pollution and if so the amount of black carbon, nitrogen dioxide, and nitric oxide intake.

The study revealed the link between the mother’s exposure to polluted air and Asthmatic developments in the new born before they turn 5 years; 25% of children whose mothers lived on the highways had increased risk of developing Asthma at formative years. The risk is particularly high with the increase in nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide levels. Children born with low birth weight and children born to older mother are also at a very high risk of getting affected due to this pollution and may develop asthmatic, the study concluded.  

How the earth may look like in the next 10000 years?

In the absence of any technology that could absorb the emitted carbon into the atmosphere since 1750s and with no clear cut energy policy on earth, what could be the future of the earth in the next 10000 years?

According to a research at Boston College in Massachusetts, USA, the co-author Jeremy Shakun put it forward the research findings. The study observes that our present actions would certainly have grave consequences in store for the civilizations in future as they would blame the past generations for every single development on earth.

The study predicts that at the rate of 10 gigatons of current carbon emission per year, which is expected to grow further as many developing countries on the earth are blindly following the development path of the developed countries. We are not only devastating the natural flora, fauna and greenery, leading to extinction of biodiversity, the alarming carbon emissions are here to pose  major threat for the humanity.

Ever since the beginning of the Industrialization by 1750s, we have already emitted 580 billion metric tons, or gigatons of carbon in the atmosphere and it take longer period to get absorbed by the natural process. By next 100000 years, Carbon levels are expected to rise further by 5,120 gigatons if the current emission levels remain as it is.

It would grave threats to the humanity as 70% of the glaciers outside Antarctica and Greenland disappear due to 7◦ C rise in the temperature, leading to four meters of rise in sea levels. If the thermal expansion of the oceans further adds to this rising sea levels, it is expected to reach 25 meters rise in sea levels leading to a clean sweep of 1.3 billion populations living in the coastal areas of the globe.

Baker’s Solution to treat Glaucoma

Can a baker that bakes bread and pancake able to provide a better solution to treat Glaucoma? The answer appears ‘yes’ as per the scientists at the University College London (UCL). The baker prepares the barter using flour, egg and milk as recipes and places the mix on a circular shaped dish bakes it in the oven by heating it to certain temperature so that the fluid part like the milk and the egg evaporate to give a perfect shape to the pancake.

The scientists of UCL have observed as many as 14 types pancakes prepared across the countries of the globe and have come to an understanding on how to treat Glaucoma, an eye disease that damages optic nerve, leading to vision loss.

The scientists are of the opinion that spongy, tasty, smooth and perfect shape of the pancake can be achieved only when the ingredients in the mix are of exact ratio and the temperature is adjusted perfectly to bake it.

Similarly, the scientists need to work on a mathematical equation that could evaporate the fluids and avoid the pressure these fluids exerting within the eyes, damaging optic nerve.

Surgeons should find a route to flush-out the fluids by carefully cutting the flexible sheets of sclera, says Peng Khaw, from the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. Scientists, engineers and mathematicians are busy working on the exact solution.

We wish them all the best so that millions that are losing vision due to Glaucoma can sleigh with relief. 

Is Government Missing in the Green Growth?

Whenever we utter the word ‘Green’, people are smart enough to guess what could it be? Obviously, it would be something related to climate change as it has become a buzz word throughout the world today, thanks to manmade destruction to the planet earth.

Why lot of fuss?

Planet earth is the only place so far in the entire universe that could give shelter to the living organism as it is blessed with land, water, oxygen and vegetation necessary for the human and the organism to survive. Temperature, rainfall and the atmospheric conditions in other planets have not so far given any assurance for the survival of organism. We need microbes, carbon dioxide and the other gases also in equal proportion to achieve a healthy balance among the living organism. Farming, mining, and other human interventions were not successful so far in any other planets.

What is Green growth?

Ever since human intervention started in a large scale on the earth, we are losing natural vegetation, flora and fauna and reminiscences of toxic wastes on the earth, causing enormous damage to the earth, making it a planet deplorable for the human survival. In order to wipe out our sins, nations across the globe are spending a part of their earnings to repair these damages by taking measures to safeguard the earth. Unfortunately, there is no substantial growth in the funding for revamping the greenery on the earth that could absorb gases harmful to the earth.

Countries across the earth are not setting considerable budget to address the climate change issues is major allegation.  Many young researchers are depending on the government grants for their research and there is no considerable growth in it over the decades. For example, USA’s spending on earth & environmental research was at its height during the year 2003, touching $4.73 billion mark. There was a steady decline in government spending ever since that time. The government spending for the year 2015 was $4/8 billion and the figure remained stable for the past two decades reflects the reality.

Private initiatives are on rise in this regard, posing a ray of hope for the many. Columbia University in New York in collaboration with corporate philanthropists could mobilize has invested US$3.1 million to set up a new center to boost climate change research. University of Chicago and the Delhi government have come together to launch a unique programme called “The Urban Labs Innovation Challenge”, addressing air, water and the other challenges of climate change, involving communities as participants.

Although the Public Private Partnership (PPP) is an encouraging sign in this direction, government must remain the major patron of scientific research related to climate change. Corporate spending is a welcoming gesture as they have the social responsibility towards the society. However, the scenario is further grim in the global south related government spending on environment and the global north, which is a giant carbon emitter, has to shoulder this responsibility as well. 

Global Medical Emergency on Zika

In the wake of ‘Zika’ virus creating havoc in Latin American countries, World Health Organization (WHO) declares Zika as global emergency. This gesture reflects the seriousness of the situation as Brazil is worst hit by the disease, as there are already 4000 registered cases by the end of 2015.

 Zika was first appeared in Brazil by May 2015 and the virus quickly spread to as many as 20 countries within Americas. This virus is basically affecting pregnant women, resulting abnormal child birth. Children born of mother affected due to ‘Zika’ are born with abnormally small heads with damaged brains. Doctors are of the view that this is a clear evidence of ‘Microcephaly’ a congenital disease associated with abnormally small head, with signs of incomplete brain development. Researchers are not able to crack the mysterious link of the the Zika virus with that of Microcephaly till date.

Causes and consequences:

The initial understanding about the spread of this killer virus was through Aedes mosquito bites, which acts as carriers of ‘Zika’ virus. Most of the ‘Zika’ affected do not show any symptoms and the minor symptoms if any can be seen in the form of mild fever, headache, joint pains, eyes turning red, and rashes for a week.

Zika virus remains active for a week in the blood and it spread from person to person through blood transmission, and sex.

Although the disease appeared during 1947 in Uganda, scientists could successfully prevent its spread for decades. Brazil firmly believes 2014 World Cup Tournaments as the root cause of this disease, as foot ball fans in tens and thousands have visited this country from across the globe.

Important Measures to prevent Zika

Although there is no clear vaccine to prevent this epidemic, the spread of the disease can be prevented by taking necessary measures including safe sexual practices, use of condoms, taking all necessary measures in case of blood transfusions during emergency and measures that can stop the breed of mosquitoes freely. Pregnant women must particularly stay very careful and should not visit the affected countries. 

Although Bharat Biotech Ltd, a Hyderabad based Indian company declared that it has got the breakthrough in the form of earliest vaccine to prevent this disease, it is still at the nascent stage of trials and it may take 2 years or more to be available for the general consumption.