#India diabetes rate has jumped 123 %since 1990 A global health survey showed that rates of diabetes among Indians has grown at an alarming rate since the early years of the country emergence as a world power.
Between 1990 and 2013, India saw instances of diabetes grow by 123, %with researchers attributing this to the way lifestyles have changed over that time.
The study looked at 301 acute and chronic diseases and injuries in 188 countries, finding that developing nations like India and China are now mimicking a trend that had began earlier in Western nations.
The biggest increase the researchers observed was in Type 2 diabetes the most common form of the disease which is linked most often to obesity.
Endocrinologist Anoop Misra told Times of India that diabetes was an escalating problem in India
and had major socioeconomic dimensions. apid dietary changes coupled with decreased level of physical activity have resulted in increasing obesity and diabetes in rural and semi-urban areas,
Dr Misra said. Diabetes did no feature in the top 10 of India diseases in 1990,
whereas it is the country eighth-biggest killer. Maggi case should begin new era of food vigilancea leading food safety official has urged India government to view the recent Maggi noodles affair as the beginning of a new era of food safety vigilance.
Thuppil Venkatesh a senior government advisor and expert in lead poisoning, said the ublic clamourthat followed after a state testing allegedly found monosodium glutamate
At the same time, however, the mechanical stress on the products needs to be kept as low as possible,
and stress signals that is otherwise invisible to the human eye. The crop health monitoring imagery utilized by Farmlogs shows information that is actionable
If an individual has a condition like celiac disease Chef Watson can pull up gluten free recipes. While superficially, the app can be used to create interesting, delicious dishes,
may one day be used to treat pain, depression, epilepsy, and other neurological disorders in people by targeting therapies to specific brain circuits.
The National Institute on Drug abuse and the National Cancer Institute supported this work r
#Tiny laresshow when RNA goes off track A new technology called ticky-flaresoffers the first real-time method to track
such as mental disability, autism, and cancer. Sticky-flares have the potential to help scientists understand the complexities of RNA better than any analytical technique to date
which was the first genetic-based approach that is able to detect live circulating tumor cells out of the complex matrix that is human blood.
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin diseases and the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence initiative of the National institutes of health supported the work.
For example, the damage from a major heart attack could cost you around five billion heart cells. Future stem cell treatments will require this number
The study appears in PLOS Pathogens. e are excited to have identified an outstanding candidate for HIV reactivation
Davis. his molecule has great potential to advance into translational and clinical studies. hile HAART has been quite successfuleducing HIV infection in newborns,
and lowering viral loads to virtually undetectable levelshese therapies cannot cure the disease alone. Once treatment is discontinued,
and the infection comes roaring back. As a result, patients must remain on treatment indefinitely,
When disease-causing bacteria invade disease-resistant rice, a small protein produced by the bacteria betrays the invader.
and mounts an immune response to fend off infection, researchers report. Identification of the tiny protein, called Raxx, holds promise for developing more disease-resistant crop varieties and therapeutic treatments for blocking microbial infections in both plants and animals, say the researchers,
who found particular satisfaction in this discovery, two years after retracting the announcement of a similar find.
Disease protection for our food In this new study researchers discovered that the Raxx protein was present in at least eight species of the disease-causing Xanthamonas bacteria that are known to attack ricehe staple food for half of the world populations well as maize, cassava, sugar cane, tomatoes, peppers
, wheat, alfalfa, onions, banana, and citrus. ur research team is delighted to announce the discovery of the Raxx protein,
Ronald notes that her laboratory is currently investigating the role of Raxx during bacterial infection of rice in the absence of the immune receptor.
In the long term, the researchers hope to use this information to develop new strategies to prevent infection in various crops.
and disease resistance for more than two decades and in 1995 announced that a gene called Xa21 confers resistance to the bacterial blight pathogen.
and sparked further research into other key parts of the disease-resistance puzzle. Researchers were confident that
#Rare case uncovers missing clue to Fragile X Fragile X syndrome may not only be a problem of receivers in the brain letting in too much information.
In patients with fragile Xhe most common cause of inherited intellectual disability key gene is disabled completely
GENE NEW ROLE In contrast, the patient in the new study has only a single error in the gene and exhibits only two classic traits of fragile Xntellectual disability and seizures.
GENETIC ERROR Fragile X syndrome results from an inherited genetic error in a gene called FMR1.
so the syndrome affects males more often and more severely than females, who may be able to compensate for the genetic error
One of the mysteries of the syndrome is how loss of a single gene can lead to such a variety of effects in different patients.
anxiety, and impulsive behavior. Typical physical symptoms include enlarged heads, flat feet and distinctive facial features.
Almost one-third of patients with fragile X also show symptoms of autism spectrum disorders.
the researchers genetic sequencing data from more than 900 males with intellectual disabilities but without classic fragile X syndrome.
although this individual has intellectual disability and seizures, his physical features are not typical of the syndrome,
and he is not autistic. To see what effect this mutation might have, geneticist Stephen T. Warren and colleagues at Emory University replicated it in mouse brain cells
who is also an associate professor of biomedical engineering. his patient presents a case of partial fragile X syndrome associated with mutated, rather than absent, FMRP.
researchers were able to verify the same effect from just the mutation and link it to human disease.
Skin cells could grow over a wound more effectively if they moved in accordance with structured cellulose.
which could make it easier to pinpoint the causes of cancer. In many cases, genetic mutations that cause cancer involve chemical changes to individual building blocks of DNAREATING DNA ADDUCTS."
"Natural products can be a source of effective cancer drugs, and several are being used for treating a variety of cancers,
"Gavin Robertson says.""Over 60 percent of anticancer agents are derived from plants, animals, marine sources, or microorganisms.
it may therefore be possible to expand DNA sequencing from the four basic DNA building blocks to include adducts. he scientific community would have an important tool for making a detailed analysis of the molecular mechanisms involved in the initiation of cancer
for patients who experience trauma to a joint that was otherwise healthy before the injury,
Anopheles gambiae, a major malaria vector, is isolated interbreeding with pockets of another malaria mosquito, A. coluzzii. Entomologists initially considered them as the
says medical entomologist Gregory Lanzaro, professor in the pathology, microbiology and immunology department at University of California,
The World health organization World Malaria Report indicates that deaths from malaria worldwide have decreased by 47 percent since 2000.
Now there n urgent need to develop new and effective malaria vector control strategies, Lanzaro says.
#High-res MRI links cerebellum to bipolar disorder A different type of MRI has given researchers an unprecedented look at previously unrecognized differences in the brains of people with bipolar disorder, a new study reports.
The cerebellar differences were not present in patients taking lithium, the most commonly used treatment for bipolar disorder.
professor of psychiatry at University of Iowa. o it really providing a new picture and new insight into the composition and function of the brain in bipolar disease.
Despite being relatively commonipolar disorder affects about one percent of the populationcientists don have a good understanding of what causes bipolar disorder,
Researchers examined 15 patients with bipolar disorder and 25 control subjects matched for age and gender.
ELEVATED MRI SIGNAL Compared to the brains of people without bipolar disorder, the MRI signal was elevated in the cerebral white matter
and the cerebellar region of patients affected by bipolar disorder. The elevated signal may be due to either a reduction in ph or a reduction in glucose concentrationoth factors influenced by cell metabolism.
Previous research has suggested that abnormal cell metabolism may play a role in bipolar disorder. However, investigating metabolic abnormalities in the brain has been hindered by lack of a good imaging tools.
Available methods are slow low-resolution, and require researchers to identify the region of interest at the beginning of the study.
The study is the first time this MRI technique has been used to investigate a psychiatric disease. One reason researchers didn know that the cerebellum might be important in bipolar disorder,
is because no one chose to look there, says Casey Johnson, postdoctoral researcher and first author on the study that is published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. ur study was essentially exploratory.
The majority of bipolar disorder research has found differences in the frontal region of the brain.
and other diseases that involve neurotoxic aggregation. MRI probe detects Alzheimer's at earliest stage Spurred on by the finding,
the researchers conducted an extensive search of the scientific literature on bipolar disorder and began to find pieces of evidence that suggested that the cerebellum may function abnormally in bipolar disorder
and that lithium might potentially target the cerebellum and alter glucose levels in this brain region. ur paper,
The researchers hope that the new insights provided by the T1 rho imaging might help refine understanding of the abnormalities that underlie bipolar disease
While lithium can be an effective mood stabilizer for people with bipolar disorder, it causes numerous unpleasant side effects for patients. f lithium effect on the cerebellum is the key to its effectiveness as a mood stabilizer,
then a more targeted treatment that causes the same change in the cerebellum without affecting other systems might be a better treatment for patients with bipolar disorder,
and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression provided funding for the study.
Inflammation is a normal way for the body to respond to injury or infection. The swelling, heat,
or even tissue death. any diseases result in inflammation, says Samir Mitragotri, professor of chemical engineering at University of California, Santa barbara,
Whether inflammation is a byproduct of the disease or the inflammation is the disease, it is a common indicator of a problem with the system. f we could target the common denominator,
whether the inflammation is coming from cancer or arthritis, we could deliver the drug there,
says Mitragotri, who specializes in targeted drug delivery. By taking advantage of natural body processes, researchers at UC Santa barbara and MIT have developed a method of targeting inflamed tissues
Low Vitamin d linked to aggressive prostate cancer The development of effective cellular backpacks has broad potential,
in a deal that expands the buyer gastrointestinal (GI) disorders and rare-disease portfolios, as well as its global footprint.
an injection drug indicated for long-term treatment of adults with short bowel syndrome (SBS) who need parenteral support.
would complement Shire existing stable of drugs for gastrointestinal diseases.""The acquisition of NPS Pharma is a significant step in advancing Shire's strategy to become a leading biotechnology company, Shire CEO Flemming Ornskov, M d,
The NPS Pharma organization will be a welcome addition to Shire as we continue to help transform the lives of patients with rare diseases."
and ensure we continue to transform the lives of patients with short bowel syndrome, hypoparathyroidism,
and hopefully move toward solving injuries,"said Dr. Hilliard. In the future, neurosurgery may be combined with molecular biology to deliver positive clinical outcomes
and perhaps treat conditions like spinal cord or nerve injuries, he said. During programmed cell death,
Such nerve damage can cause partial or total paralysis. Xue, who first identified the PSR-1 receptor in 2003,
and shrink tumor growth. Jerry W. Shay, Ph d.,professor and vice chairman of cell biology at UT Southwestern,
and colleague, Woodring E. Wright, M d.,Ph d.,professor of cell biology and internal medicine, found that 6-thio-2'-deoxyguanosine could stop the growth of cancer cells in culture and decrease the growth of tumors in mice.
Shay and Wright are co-senior authors of the study nduction of Telomere Dysfunction Mediated by the Telomerase Substrate Precursor 6-Thio-2deoxyguanosineappearing in Cancer Discovery. reatment with 6-thio
6-thio-dg caused a decrease in the tumor growth rate superior to that observed with 6-thioguanine treatment.
In addition, 6-thio-dg increased telomere dysfunction in tumor cells in vivo. These results indicate that 6-thio-dg may provide a new telomere-addressed telomerase-dependent anticancer approach."
as well as tumor burden shrinkage in mice,"noted Dr. Shay, who is also associate director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Cancer cells are protected from apoptosis by telomerase, which ensures that telomeres do not shorten with every division.
Telomerase has therefore been the subject of intense research as a target for cancer therapy.
but these drugs have to be administered for long periods of time to successfully trigger cell death and shrink tumors,
because cells in any one tumor have chromosomes with different telomere lengths and any one cell's telomeres must be shortened critically to induce death. 6-thiodg is used preferentially as a substrate by telomerase
"Since telomerase is expressed in almost all human cancers, this work represents a potentially innovative approach to targeting telomerase-expressing cancer cells with minimal side effects on normal cells,"continued Dr. Shay."
"We believe this small molecule will address an unmet cancer need in an underexplored area that will be rapidly applicable to the clinic
#Ultra-Fast Software Developed to Scan the Human genome Researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital say they have developed an analysis pipeline that cuts the time it takes to search a person's genome for disease-causing variations from weeks to hours.
Rapid diagnosis of monogenic disease can be critical in newborns, so our initial focus was to create an analysis pipeline that was extremely fast,
a Marker of Neuroinflammation in the Brain During Major depressive episodes showed that there was a 30%increase in inflammation among patients experiencing a major clinical episode."
and placental barriers act as critical ramparts to infections from microbial pathogens, yet some have evolved mechanisms to breach the cellular obstacles that lie in their path.
Unlocking the underlying mechanisms of host barrier permissiveness to microbes is critical to understanding the etiology of many infectious diseases.
causing meningitis and encephalitis, as well as the placental barrier, resulting in severe neonatal infection or miscarriage.
Researchers at the Pasteur institute in Paris have discovered the protein pathways that are responsible for allowing Listeria to circumvent host barriers.
Marc Lecuit, M d.,Ph d.,Head of the Biology of Infections Unit at the Pasteur institute and senior author on the study,
results illustrate how microbial pathogens have evolved to invade mammalian tissues, taking advantage of both similarities and differences of host barriers.
They also suggest that the absence of placental constitutive PI3-K activity may reinforce its barrier function toward pathogens
funded by the Movember Foundation and conducted by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London,
in addition to uncovering a gene that may aid tumors in promoting resistance to existing drug therapies.
According to the authors, this is the first study of its kind to use whole-exome sequencing to probe testicular germ cell tumors,
and reveals some potentially important clues as to how the disease could be treated more effectively, stated Paul Workman, Ph d.,chief executive of ICR.
examined tumor samples from 42 patients with testicular cancer. They report previously unidentified chromosome duplications and confirmed data from earlier findings that associated these tumors with the KIT gene,
which has been linked to an array of other cancerous tissues.""Our study is the largest comprehensive sequencing study of testicular tumors published to date,
describing their mutational profile in greater detail than has been possible using previous technologies, says Clare Turnbull, Ph d.,senior author and team leader in predisposition and translational genetics at ICR.
Their preliminary finding of a link between XRCC2 and platinum drug resistance was validated once they sequenced a sample from an additional platinum-resistant tumor. e have identified new potential driver mutations for this type of cancer
whose cancer progresses in spite of the best available treatments,"said Dr. Turnbull Despite the fact that testicular cancer responds well to chemotherapy,
This study provides essential general knowledge concerning testicular germ line cell tumor development but more importantly, valuable insight into the genetic underpinnings as to why certain patients develop resistance to chemotherapy h
The goal of the new procedure is to avoid the transmission of mitochondrial diseases. Under the decision, the embryo would receive nuclear DNA from its mother and father along with healthy MITOCHONDRIAL DNA from a female donor.
Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University estimate that about 2, 500 women of childbearing age in Britain carry mitochondrial disease.
We have great sympathy for families affected by mitochondrial disease and are opposed not in principle to mitochondrial replacement.
as well as disease-focused patient advocacy groups, regulators, and overseers such as institutional review boards, research ethics committees, investigators, their research institutions or universities, journals,
#New Microchip Design Captures Circulating Tumor Cells Circulating tumor cells (CTCS) represent the metastatic seed that can break away from the primary tumor site,
and spread to other parts of the bodyften causing more pathological symptoms than the primary cancer from which the CTCS were derived.
which could yield important new insights into how different cancers spread.""Very little is known about CTC clusters and their role in the progression and metastasis of cancer.
This unique technology presents an exciting opportunity to capture these exceptionally rare groups of cells for further analysis in a way that is minimally-invasive,
"This is the kind of breakthrough technology that could have a very large impact on cancer research."
"The findings from this study were published recently in Nature Methods through an article entitled"A microfluidic device for label-free, physical capture of circulating tumor cell clusters."
and melanoma cancers. The researchers observed CTC clusters ranging from 2-19 cells among 300%of the patients."
Dr. Toner and his colleagues went on to test the technique in a small trial of 60 patients with metastatic cancer.
31%of prostate and 30%of melanoma patientsuggestive of a greater role for CTC clusters in metastatic cancers than previously thought.
Interestingly, the data from this small study also showed a rare presence of non-tumor derived immune cells within clusters,
"Given the increasing number of cancer therapies that engage the immune system, the ability to monitor tumor-immune cell interactions via the blood could be of great value."
"Dr. Toner and his colleagues anticipate that the Cluster-Chip will have an increasingly important role in stimulating new research on CTC cluster biology,
and to develop even better technologies to understand their biology in cancer metastasis. t
#Inexpensive Technique Developed to Manufacture Nanofibers Scientists at the University of Georgia say they have developed an inexpensive way to manufacture nanofibers,
and the delivery of drugs directly to the site of infection.""The process we have developed makes it possible for almost anyone to manufacture high-quality nanofibers without the need for expensive equipment,
These people accumulate numerous self-inflicted injuries, often leading to reduced lifespan. Using detailed genome mapping
From these clinical features of the disease, the team predicted that there would be a block to the production of pain-sensing neurons during the development of the embryo.
#New Gene Subgroup Driving Aggressiveness in Prostate Cancer Identified Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy among males within developed countries.
Most often the majority of prostate cancer is thought of as an organ-confined disease with little genetic variation.
However, data in recent years is beginning to bring into focus that many prostate tumors display substantial amounts of genetic heterogeneity, leading to differential mortality rates.
Now, prostate cancer researchers in Canada have sketched a molecular portrait providing a complete picture of
what they describe as a localized, multi-focal disease within the prostate gland, as well as identifying a new gene subgroup acting as a molecular driver for tumor progression. ur research shows how prostate cancers can vary from one man to anotherespite the same pathology under the microscopes well as how it can vary within one man who may have multiple
tumor types in his prostate, "explained Robert Bristow, M d.,Ph d.,clinician-scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre,
Toronto and senior author on the study. hese sub-types may be important to determining the response to surgery or radiotherapy between patients."
"The findings from this study were published recently in Nature Genetics through an article entitled patial genomic heterogeneity within localized, multifocal prostate cancer.
Specifically, the study involved the molecular profiling of 74 patients with relatively high aggressiveness scores.
The investigators carefully analyzed the genetic backgrounds of each tumor sample, assigning individual aggression scores to the discreet cancer foci regions they identified.
The data revealed that even small cancers within the prostate can contain very aggressive cells capable of varying long term disease prognosis.
Dr. Bristow and his colleagues identified two members of the MYC oncogene family that played essential roles in tumor development.
The researchers identified C-MYC as being the driver of aggressiveness for the disease and L-MYC,
which has already been implicated in lung cancer development, playing a critical role in tumor progression.""This discovery of a new prostate cancer-causing gene gives researchers a new avenue to explore the biology of the disease
and improve treatment,"stated Paul Boutros, Ph d, . principal investigator at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and lead author on the current study."
"By showing that mutations in prostate cancer vary spatially in different regions of a tumor,
this study will aid in the development of new diagnostic tests that will improve treatment by allowing it to be personalized further."
Dr. Bristow thinks that this study takes an important step forward in identifying new biomarkers for prostate cancer and developing novel treatment options for patients."
"Our findings suggest we are getting closer to subtyping prostate cancer based on which gene is present to determine a patients'disease aggression in terms of the risk of spread outside the prostate gland at time of treatment,
said Dr. Bristow. n developing this research tool into a clinical test within three years,
we hope to inform doctors and patients about specialized treatments for each prostate cancer patient. e
when oncologists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) refused to prescribe Zaltrap (ziv-aflibercept) for metastatic colorectal cancer due to its initial $11, 000-per-month cost.
Cancer was the third most expensive category of specialty drugs last year measured per-member-per year, according to Express Scripts;
Multiple sclerosis (MS) was second, and inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the priciest. However, cancer accounts for 32%of drugs costing more than $100, 000 a year,
and is among a handful of key drivers of rising costs here are drugs in cancer that may give five months of life in one indication and 12 days of life in another.
Yet payers are being asked to pay the exact same amount for both, Henry said June 3. hen you get to the point where you have orphan drug pricing for non-orphan drugs,
As for pricing rare-disease drugs higher, Dr. Bach added: dispassionate economist would say that inefficient.
a life sciences and healthcare industry consultant, told GEN. Express Scripts is hoping to repeat the success it enjoyed last year in hepatitis C. In December 2014,
the company immediately added Abbvie Viekira Pak to its National Preferred Formulary as the exclusive option for patients with genotype 1 hepatitis Cust three days after the FDA approved the drug.
and only covers Sovaldi for non-genotype 1 hepatitis C. ur clients will save more than $1 billion this year on hepatitis C medications,
000-a-pill pricing by noting that the cost of Sovaldi is lower than the cost of complications associated with hepatitis C treatment, such as liver damage or liver failure.
Cancer treatments marketed by eight companies accounted for six of the Top 25 Best-selling Drugs of 2014 as listed by GEN,
and its Genentech subsidiary from marketing the top three cancer treatments: Rituxan (rituximab, co-marketed with Biogen and ranked#4), Avastin (bevacizumab;#
or at least slow the progression of such neurodegenerative diseases as ALS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases.
and trigger the disease, said Alex Parker, Ph d.,CHUM researcher and associate professor in the department of neuroscience at the University of Montreal.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a neuromuscular disease that attacks neurons and the spinal cord. Those affected gradually become paralyzed and typically die less than five years after the onset of symptoms.
the person develops the disease. Scientists introduced a mutated human gene (TDP-43 or FUS) into C. elegans.
and suffered far less paralysis, she added. This study highlights a never previously suspected mechanism:
that system triggers a misguided attack against the worm's own neurons. he worm thinks it has a viral or bacterial infection and launches an immune response.
because we caused the disease. This allows us to administer treatment very early in the worm's life.
But ALS is a disease of aging, which usually appears in humans around the age of 55.
But we have demonstrated clearly that blocking this key protein curbs the disease's progress in this worm
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