GNIPST BULLETIN 2013

1118-1177-4796-9849-7562-5062

TO GROW AS A CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN THE FIELD OF PHARMACEUTICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE

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15th March 2013

Volume No.: 23

Issue No.: 03

Vision

Contents

Message from GNIPST Letter to the Editor News Update Disease Outbreak News Health Awareness Forth Coming Events Drugs Update GNIPST Photo Gallery
For your comments/contribution OR For Back-Issues, mailto:gnipstbulletin@gmail.com

Campus News Students Section Editors Note Archive

1 EDITOR: Debabrata Ghosh Dastidar

GURU NANAK INSTITUTE OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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MESSAGE FROM GNIPST

All the members of GNIPST are proud to publish the 23rd Volume of GNIPST BULLETIN. This bulletin has successfully completed its twenty months journey. We hope it has kept the readers updated of recent activities in pharmaceutical & biological sciences and also introduced them with the different activities of our esteemed institution. We are thankful to all of you for your great cooperation & support and are looking forward to the same in future.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

NEWS UPDATE

Temp-Controlled 'Nanopores' May Allow Detailed Blood Analysis (08 MARCH 2013)
Tiny biomolecular chambers called nanopores that can be selectively heated may help doctors diagnose disease more effectively, according to a new research. Read more

Anti-Aging Drug Breakthrough

(08

MARCH 2013)

Drugs that combat aging may be available within five years, following landmark work. The work finally demonstrates that a single anti-aging enzyme in the body can be targeted, with the potential to prevent age-related diseases and extend lifespans. Four
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thousand synthetic activators, which are 100 times as potent as a single glass of red wine, have been developed -- the best three are in human trials. Read more

Biological Tooth Replacement Is a Step Closer. (08

MARCH 2013)

Scientists have developed a new method of replacing missing teeth with a bioengineered material generated from a person's own gum cells. Current implant-based methods of whole tooth replacement fail to reproduce a natural root structure and, as a consequence of the friction from eating and other jaw movement, loss of jaw bone can occur around the implant. Read more Length

of

DNA

Strands

Can

Predict

Life

Expectancy (09

MARCH 2013)

Can the length of strands of DNA in patients with heart disease predict their life expectancy? Researchers who studied the DNA of more that 3,500 patients with heart disease, say yes it can. Read more Store Donated Blood for More Than 3 Weeks?

Say NO (Nitric Oxide)

(10

MARCH 2013)

Transfusion of donated blood more than three weeks old results in impaired blood vessel function, a new study of hospital patients shows. Blood banks now consider six weeks to be the maximum
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permitted storage time of blood for use in transfusion, but recent studies have suggested transfusing blood stored for more than a few weeks has adverse effects in patients undergoing cardiac surgery or critical care. Read more Aspirin

May

Lower

Melanoma

Risk

(11

MARCH 2013)

A new study has found that women who take aspirin have a reduced risk of developing melanoma -- and that the longer they take it, the lower the risk. The findings suggest that aspirin's antiinflammatory effects may help protect against this type of skin cancer. Read more

Immune Cells Cluster and Communicate 'Like Bees,' Researcher Says (13
MARCH 2013)

The immune system's T cells, while coordinating responses to diseases and vaccines, act like honey bees sharing information about the best honey sources, according to a new study. Read more

Bitter Melon Juice Prevents Pancreatic Cancer in Mouse Models (12

MARCH 2013)

A new study shows that bitter melon juice restricts the ability of pancreatic cancer cells to metabolize glucose, thus cutting the cells' energy source and eventually killing them. Read more

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Computer Models Predict How Patients Will Respond to HIV Drugs Without the Need for Resistance Testing (14
MARCH 2013)

Computer models can predict how HIV patients whose drug therapy is failing will respond to a new treatment. Crucially for patients in poorer countries, the models do not require the results of expensive drug resistance tests to make their predictions. The study also showed that the models were able to identify alternative drug combinations that were predicted to work in cases where the treatment used in the clinic had failed, suggesting that their use could avoid treatment failure. Read more

Tobacco Industry Appears to Have Evaded FDA Ban On 'Light' Cigarette Descriptors (13
MARCH 2013)

New research shows one year after the U.S. government passed a law banning such descriptors as "light," "mild," and "low" on cigarette packages, smokers can identify their brands because of color-coding that tobacco companies added to "light" packs after the ban. These findings suggest the companies have been able to evade the ban on misleading wording and still convey false and

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deceptive message that lights are safer than "regular" cigarettes.

Read more

Goats' Milk With Antimicrobial Lysozyme Speeds Recovery from Diarrhea

2013)

(13

MARCH

Milk from goats that were genetically modified to produce higher levels of lysozyme, a human antimicrobial protein, has proved effective in treating diarrhea in young pigs and may one day be used to help prevent human diarrheal diseases that each year claim the lives of 1.8 million children around the world. Read more

HEALTH AWARENESS

LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS
Lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis, is a neglected tropical disease. Infection occurs when filarial parasites are transmitted to humans through mosquitoes. When a mosquito with infective stage larvae bites a person, the parasites are deposited on the person's skin from where they enter the body. The larvae then

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migrate to the lymphatic vessels where they develop into adult worms in the human lymphatic system. Infection is usually acquired in childhood, but the painful and profoundly disfiguring visible manifestations of the disease occur later in life. Whereas acute episodes of the disease cause temporary disability, lymphatic filariasis leads to permanent disability. Currently, more than 1.4 billion people in 73 countries are at risk. Approximately 65% of those infected live in the WHO South-East Asia Region, 30% in the African Region, and the remainder in other tropical areas. Lymphatic filariasis afflicts over 25 million men with genital disease and over 15 million people with lymphoedema. Since the prevalence and intensity of infection are linked to poverty, its elimination can contribute to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Cause and transmission

Lymphatic filariasis is caused by infection with nematodes (roundworms) of the family Filariodidea. There are three types of these thread-like filarial worms: Wuchereria bancrofti, which is responsible for 90% of the cases Brugia malayi, which causes most of the remainder of the cases
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B. timori, which also causes the diseases. Adult worms lodge in the lymphatic system and disrupt the immune system. They live for 6-8 years and, during their life time, produce millions of microfilariae (small larvae) that circulate in the blood. Lymphatic filariasis is transmitted by different types of mosquitoes for example by the Culex mosquito, widespread across urban and semi-urban areas; Anopheles mainly in rural areas, and Aedes, mainly in endemic islands in the Pacific.

Symptoms
Lymphatic filariasis infection involves asymptomatic, acute, and chronic conditions. The majority of infections are asymptomatic, showing no external signs of infection. These asymptomatic infections still cause damage to the lymphatic system and the kidneys as well as alter the body's immune system. Acute episodes of local inflammation involving skin, lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels often accompany the chronic lymphoedema or elephantiasis. Some of these episodes are caused by the body's immune response to the parasite. However most are the result of bacterial skin infection where normal defences have been partially lost due to underlying lymphatic damage.

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When lymphatic filariasis develops into chronic conditions, it leads to lymphoedema (tissue swelling) or elephantiasis (skin/tissue common. Such body deformities lead to social stigma, as well as financial hardship from loss of income and increased medical expenses. The socioeconomic burdens of isolation and poverty are immense. thickening) of limbs and hydrocele (fluid accumulation). Involvement of breasts and genital organs is

Treatment and prevention

The recommended regimen for treatment through mass drug administration (MDA) is a single dose of two medicines given together - albendazole (400 mg) plus either ivermectin (150-200 mcg/kg) in areas where onchocerciasis (river blindness) is also endemic or diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) (6 mg/kg) in areas where onchocerciasis is not endemic. These medicines clear microfilariae from the bloodstream. Mosquito control is another measure that can be used to suppress transmission. Measures such as insecticide-treated nets or indoor residual spraying may help protect populations in endemic regions from infection. Patients with chronic disabilities like elephantiasis, lymphoedema, or hydrocele are advised to maintain rigorous
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hygiene and take necessary precautions to prevent secondary infection and aggravation of the disease condition.

DISEASE OUTBREAK NEWS

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

DRUGS UPDATES
FDA approves Lymphoseek to help locate lymph

nodes in patients with certain cancers

FEBRUARY 2013)

(13

The U.S. FDA approved Lymphoseek (technetium Tc 99m tilmanocept) Injection, a radioactive diagnostic imaging agent that helps doctors locate lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer or melanoma who are undergoing surgery to remove tumor-draining lymph nodes. Read more

CAMPUS NEWS
The poster Oolong tea as a source of natural antioxidant, presented in the national seminar, organized by GNIT, Panihati, Kol-114, by
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Anirban Banerjee (M.Pharm., 1st yr.), Dibya Das (B.Pharm., 4th yr.), Rahul Deb Mondal (M.Pharm., 1st yr.), was awarded third prize.

STUDENTS SECTION
WHO CAN ANS WER FIRS T???

() William and James Horlick were associated with invention of which patented food

product? () Which type of classification system was

created by Melvil Dewey?

Answer of Previous Issue Question:

A) Pseudomonus putida

B) Keypad

Send your thoughts/ Quiz/Puzzles/games/writeups or any other contributions for Students Section & answers of this Section at EDITORS NOTE I am very happy to publish the 3rd issue of 23rd Volume of GNIPST BULLETIN. It is my great pleasure to introduce you to the newly launched facebook account GNIPST bulletin. You are cordially
gnipstbulletin@gmail.com

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invited to add this account to your friend list. The current issues will also be directly available on facebook. I would like to convey my thanks to all the GNIPST members and the readers for their valuable comments, encouragement& supports. Special thanks to Dr. Prerona Saha for her advice; Mr. Soumya Bhattacharya, for his contribution in students section. It would be my great pleasure to receive the contributions, suggestions & feedback from your desk for further upliftment of this deliberation GNIPST BULLETIN.

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ARCHIVE The general body meeting of APTI, Bengal Branch has been conducted at GNIPST on 15th June, 2012. The programme started with a nice presentation by Dr. Pulok Kr. Mukherjee, School of Natural Products, JU on the skill to write a good manuscript for publication in impact journals. It was followed by nearly two hour long discussion among more than thirty participants on different aspects of pharmacy education. Five nonmember participants applied for membership on that very day. GNIPST is now approved by AICTE and affiliated to WBUT for conducting the two years post graduate course (M.Pharm) in

PHARMACOLOGY. The approved number of seat is 18.

The number of seats in B.Pharm. has been increased from 60 to 120. 2nd World Congress on Ga-68 (Generators and Novel Radiopharmaceuticals), Molecular Imaging (PET/CT), Targeted Radionuclide Therapy, and Dosimetry (SWC-2013) : On the Way to Personalized Medicine Dates 28 Feb 2013 02 Mar 2013 Location: Chandigarh, India.Details.

AICTE has sanctioned a release of grant under Research Promotion Scheme (RPS) during the financial year 201213to GNIPST as per the details below:
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a. Beneficiary Institution: Guru Nanak Institution of Pharmaceutical Science & Technology. b. Principal Investigator: Dr. LopamudraDutta. c. Grant-in-aid sanctioned:Rs. 16,25000/- only d. Approved duration: 3 years e. Title of the project: Screening and identification of potential medicinal plant of Purulia&Bankuradistricts of West Bengal with respect to diseases such as diabetes, rheumatism, Jaundice, hypertension and developing biotechnological tools for enhancing bioactive molecules in these plant.

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