The New Nation - Internet Edition

Treat cancer with Ocean bacteria

Easir Abedin

Biomedicine scientists identified and sequenced the genes of a bacteria called Salinispora tropica. It produces anti-cancer compounds and can be found in ocean sediments off the Bahamas. A product called salinosporamide A has shown promise treating a bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma, as well as solid tumors.

It's estimated that over 1.4 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and for more than 500,000 it will be fatal. But now, scientists have found a new weapon against it. The ocean! You run in it t play in it t splash in it t but what's found at the bottom of it can kill cancer!

"This bacteria makes a really potent anti cancer agent," Bradley Moore, Ph.D., marine biochemist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, Calf., told Ivanhoe.

The bacterium was discovered in 1991, but just recently researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography unlocked the genomic sequence, revealing this bacteria's cancer fighting potential.

"That's how new drugs are discovered. We really have to go out there and grow bacteria, look at the genomes," Dr. Moore said. "What we've recently been able to do is take the enzymes out of the cell, put them in a test tube, and then play God and manipulate these enzymes and make new chemistry."

And make new drugs. "There's a major search underway for better drugs to treat cancer and one way to find these new medicines is to look to nature," Paul Jensen, Ph.D., associate research scientist at Scipps Institution of Oceanography, told Ivanhoe.

And unlike most of the drugs used to fight cancer today -- this bacterium is not found on land.

"When you look at a globe t there's more blue than there is land," said Dr. Moore.

Revealing that our oceans may be an even more valuable resource than we realize. A clinical trial is already underway. A San Diego pharmaceutical company is using it to treat patients that have a form of bone marrow cancer -- and it could soon be tested to treat other cancers.

The American Geophysical Union and The American Society for Microbiology contributed to the information.

Background: Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have discovered bacteria in mud from the Bahamas with the potential to help fight cancer. Now that the bacteria's genome has been successfully sequenced, that information is now being used by a pharmaceutical company to treat bone marrow cancer patients.

About the bacteria: The bacteria known as Salinispora tropica is related to the Streptomyces genus, a land-based group of bacteria considered to be the kinds of antibiotic-producing organisms. First discovered in 1991 in shallow ocean sediment off the Bahamas, it took several years to successfully sequence Salinispora's genome, revealing that this mud-dwelling bacteria produces natural antibiotics and anti-cancer products. Researchers found that 10% of the bacteria's genome is dedicated to producing molecules for antibiotics and anti-cancer agents, compared to only 6% to 8% of most organisms' genomes. The decoding opens the door to a broad range of possibilities for isolating and adapting potent molecules the marine organism naturally employs for chemical defense, scavenging for nutrients, and communication in its ocean environment. One compound, salinosporamide A, is currently in human clinical trials for treating multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells in bone marrow, as well as for treating solid tumors.

Sequencing ABCs: Genome sequencing is figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome: the building blocks that make up an organism's DNA. The entire genome can't be sequenced at once because DNA sequencing methods can only handle short stretches of DNA at a time. So scientists break the DNA into small pieces, sequence those, and then reassemble the pieces into the proper order to sequence the entire genome. There are two ways of doing this. The "clone-by-clone" approach involves breaking the genome into chunks, called clones, each about 150,000 base pairs long, then using genome mapping techniques to figure where each belongs in the genome. Next they cut the clones into smaller, overlapping pieces of about 500 base pairs each, sequence those pieces, and use the overlaps to reconstruct the sequence of the entire clone.

An alternative strategy, called the "whole-genome shotgun method," involves breaking the genome into small pieces, sequencing them, and then reassembling the pieces into the full genome. The clone-by-clone approach is more reliable, but slow and time-consuming. The shotgun method is faster, but it can be extremely difficult to accurately put together so many tiny pieces of sequence all at once neither of these approaches proved sufficient to completely solve the Salinispora tropica genomic puzzle, however. Instead, information about the natural chemistry of the organism helped close the sequencing gap.

(Easir Abedin, M.Sc Microbiology (D.U), MBA is Assistant Manager, Quality Control, NOVO Healthcare and Pharma Ltd.)

Role of religions leaders in preventing HIV and AIDS

'Masjid Council for Community Advancement' and 'Council for Interfaith Harmony, Bangladesh' jointly organized an interfaith dialogue on 'Role of Faith Leaders in Preventing HIV and AIDS' on 22 September 2008 at the conference room of the Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industries Building, Rajshahi, with support from Family Health International (FHI) Bangladesh.

Eminent faith leaders, government and non-government officials and social workers took part in the program. The program was inaugurated by the chief guest Mr. Hafizur Rahman Bhuiyan, Divisional Commissioner of Rajshahi.

In his speech Mr. Bhuiyan exceedingly praised the joint effort of the faith leaders and called for playing effective role in preventing HIV and AIDS.

He thanked the dialogue organizers and opined that only strict adherence to the religious prescription is the key to HIV prevention. He urged each religious leader to make the general mass aware of HI V by preaching his/her own religion's spirit and essence.

Renowned Islamic scholar and Masjid Council chairman Moulana Abul Kalam Azad delivered welcome speech and chaired the program, while FHI country director Ms. Misti McDowell and Mr. Shefaul Karim, Deputy Commissioner of Rajshahi district were present as special guests in the occasion. The special guests, in their speech, highly appreciated the meeting of top leaders of the four major religions of the country on HIV prevention issue.

Mr. A F M Iqbal, Technical Officer SBC, FHI presented a paper highlighting the HIV scenario from global and Bangladesh perspectives, risk factors for Bangladesh, and potential role of faith leaders in HIV prevention.

The program was addressed among others by Prof. Dr. Sukomol Barua, CIHBD presidium member, Yen. Buddhanondo Mohathero, CIHBD National committee member; Advocate Ankur Sen, Convener, CIHBD Rajshahi division; and Rev Provudhan Hira, reputed Christian leader, Rajshahi.

Dr. A S M Habibullah Choudhury, Program Coordinator and SMC focal person for Bangladesh AIDS Program (BAP); Mr. Shah Abdul Baten, Assistant Secretary General of CIHBD; Mr. Kazi Obaidul Haque, Masjid Council Project Manager for BAP; Prof. Leena Rozario; Baidya Nath Toppyo; Moulana Motahar Hossain and a good number of participants took part in the discussion and made valuable contributions to make the dialogue a success. The program was moderated by Mr. Sorowar Chowdhury, Technical Advisor, Masjid Council.

Say no to Tobacco

Bobby Ramakant

It is a pity that India's robust smoke-free policies have been challenged by those with vested interests neglecting the immense and undisputed proven public health benefits of implementing such policies for people at-large.

India is to ban smoking in public places nation-wide from October 2. However the ITC Limited and the Indian Hotel Association are among those who have challenged these public health policies in the court of law. The hearing by the honourable court is due."Secondhand smoke, also know as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. It is involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers, lingers in the air hours after cigarettes have been extinguished and can cause or exacerbate a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma" informs Professor (Dr) Rama Kant, who heads the Tobacco Cessation Clinics at CSM Medical University and Gandhi Memorial & Associated Hospitals.

"Secondhand smoke has been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a known cause of cancer in humans (Group A carcinogen)" informs Dr Rishi Sethi, Department of Cardiology, CSM Medical University.

Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic ammonia and hydrogen cyanide. Secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700-69,600 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year, further adds Dr Sethi.

Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at work are at increased risk for adverse health effects.

There is enough data to de-bunk the apprehensions of ban on smoking at the workplace. Since 1999, 70 percent of the U.S. workforce worked under a smoke-free policy, ranging from 83.9 percent in Utah to 48.7 percent in Nevada. Workplace productivity was increased and absenteeism was decreased among former smokers compared with current smokers.

Secondhand smoke is especially harmful to young children. Secondhand smoke is responsible for between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children under 18 months of age, resulting in between 7,500 and 15,000 hospitalizations each year, and causes 430 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) deaths in the United States annually, says Dr Sethi.

Secondhand smoke exposure may cause buildup of fluid in the middle ear, resulting in 790,000 physician office visits per year.10 Secondhand smoke can also aggravate symptoms in 400,000 to 1,000,000 children with asthma.11

The Surgeon General's Report concluded that scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

The 3rd edition of the "Global Tobacco Treaty Action Guide 2008: Protecting Against Tobacco Industry Interference" was released earlier this week in many countries including India. The Global Tobacco Treaty Action Guide 2008 is produced by Corporate Accountability International [which is in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO)], along with the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT).

"The repeated delay, at times weakening, and postponing the implementation of public health policies in India, particularly the provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, mustn't occur again. With few days to go before India enforces ban on smoking in public places from 2 October 2008, and few more weeks to go before mandatory pictorial warnings on tobacco products from 30 November 2008 get enforced, it is high time to prepare ourselves to contribute effectively in the implementation of these health policies" said Dr Sandeep Pandey, national convener of National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and Magsaysay Awardee (2002).

"For years the tobacco industry has operated with the express intention of subverting public health policies. If the tobacco giants were truly serious about saving lives, they would back off and let governments swiftly, fully implement the public health policies, including the national health policies and also the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) - the first global corporate accountability and public health treaty" added Dr Pandey.

Let us hope that good sense prevails and public health and welfare is upheld above corporate interests.

The vital importance of blood

The Unani system of medicine has always held blood as being of the greatest importance. Blood is considered to be the source of all general body fluids, including yellow bile, black bile and phlegm. The preservation, protection, and maintenance of the proper balance between the various humours and body fluids is the responsibility of the blood. This knowledge has been borne out by the findings of modern physiology.

Current research clearly supports the original concept of the Unani system of medicine, that skin diseases can only be treated effectively if the body's internal physiological imbalance is corrected. The term 'blood purifier' was introduced for this concept during the time of Galen, when he used this to describe the medicinal properties of Shahtara (Fumaria officinalis) as a drug which increases the choric urine.

The Unani system of medicine defines the concept of blood impurity as "the change in the composition of the blood or in its constituents in the form of blood dyscracias, there being a plethora or deficiency, a segregation or derangement brought about by internal or external causes."

The causes are many, and all of them have a direct or indirect influence on the blood. In fact, almost every single disease or symptom affecting the human body brings about, or is brought about by, an alteration in the blood composition.

Skin and its inter-linkage with blood

There is no skin disease which is not accompanied by a corresponding change in the blood. In the Unani system of medicine, the skin is next only to blood in importance. This is because the skin clearly manifests the changes taking place in the blood. This is so true that even a layman, leave alone the expert diagnostician, can notice these changes.

The emergence of Medical Elementology

Medical Elementology as a new discipline in science was instituted at the First International Conference on Elements in Health and Disease held in 1983 at Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi. Eighty-two eminent scientists from 18 countries, including two Nobel laureates, attended this landmark conference.

The papers presented at this conference, and the scholarly discussion which followed, clearly established that as many as 77 of the total 81 elements found in the human body were present in the blood. No organ or fluid of the human body can match up to this. The skin has 55 elements

The hair - 51

The nails - 45

The blood - 77

The element concentration in blood

The presence of all 77 elements in blood is under normal conditions, when no change has occurred due to allergy, bacteraemia, cyanosis, diabetes, leucoderma, etc. In these conditions, according to the Unani system of medicine, some changes must have taken place due to internal or external causes. The corresponding explanation in modern medical thought ascribes the 'impurity' in the blood to abnormal metabolic products, allergens, bacteria, viruses, bile pigments, carbon dioxide, ketone bodies, lipids, etc. The man-made mechanism for purification of the blood is dialysis, used in cases of acute renal failure.

-Hamdard