Reward for information on bogus drugs

PANAJI: In a bid to curb the menace of spurious drugs, cosmetics and medical devices, food and drugs administration has offered a scheme to reward informers (whistleblowers) who provide vital information leading to seizure of such fake products.

"The reward can be a maximum of up to 20% of the total cost of consignments seized and up to Rs 25 lakh," says Pramod Jain, director food and drugs administration (FDA). "This will be shared by the informer and the officials carrying out the raid."

Though cases of spurious drugs and devices are not much in Goa, Jain said there are reports of the menace in other parts of the country. "This is due to awareness among people in Goa," Jain said. Explaining further, he said, "It has been found that instead of licensed manufacturers, criminals and those without any antecedents get into this activity," Jain said.

The government of India has taken a stern view of the evil and amended Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 to provide for stringent penalties to offenders. "The punishment to criminals will be stringent and has been increased," Jain said.

Special courts designated to handle cases of spurious drugs and medicines will be set up and these will be expedited.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Low Vitamin D Levels Linked to Heart Disease

If your levels of vitamin D are too low, you may be at significantly increased risk for stroke, heart disease and death, a new study suggests.

Researchers followed 27,686 people, aged 50 and older, with no history of cardiovascular disease. The participants were divided into three groups based on their vitamin D levels: normal (more than 30 nanograms per milliliter), low (15 to 30 nanograms per milliliter), or very low (less than 15 nanograms per milliliter).

After one year of follow-up, those with very low levels of vitamin D were 77 percent more likely to die, 45 percent more likely to develop coronary artery disease and 78 percent more likely to have a stroke, and twice as likely to develop heart failure compared to people with normal vitamin D levels, the researchers found.

"We concluded that among patients 50 years of age or older, even a moderate deficiency of vitamin D levels was associated with developing coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke and death," study co-author Heidi May, an epidemiologist with the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, said in a news release from the center.

"This is important because vitamin D deficiency is easily treated. If increasing levels of vitamin D can decrease some risk associated with these cardiovascular diseases, it could have a significant public health impact. When you consider that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in America, you understand how this research can help improve the length and quality of people's lives," May added.

Because this was an observational study, a definitive link between vitamin D levels and heart disease couldn't be established, but the findings point to the need for further research, said study co-author Dr. Brent Muhlestein, director of cardiovascular research at Intermountain's Heart Institute.

"We believe the findings are important enough to now justify randomized treatment trials of supplementation in patients with vitamin D deficiency to determine for sure whether it can reduce the risk of heart disease," Muhlestein said in the news release.

The study was to be presented Monday at the American Heart Association's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.

Source:http://health.usnews.com

Gut disorder 'blamed on leaks'

Genetic defects leading to a leaky gut are a key cause of the inflammatory disorder ulcerative colitis, UK research suggests.

Ulcerative colitis is a life-long, incurable condition, which can cause diarrhoea, fever, abdominal pain and swelling and weight loss. It affects approximately one in 1,000 people. The disorder causes ulceration of the rectum and the colon, but its exact cause has yet to be pinned down. The latest study links the condition to four genes which all play a role in keeping the intestine lining healthy.

The Nature Genetics study is based on an analysis of the genes of 12,700 people. It is twice as large as any previous study - giving the results far greater robustness. The researchers, from the UK IBD Genetics Consortium and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, compared the genomes of 4,700 people with the condition, with those of 8,000 healthy people.

Their work highlighted variants in three regions of the genome which appeared to increase the risk of the condition.

In particular, they zeroed in on four genes - LAMB1, CDH1, CDH3 and HNF4A - which keep the epithelium - the lining of the intestine - working.

The genes affect the seals at the junctions between the cells of the epithelium.

The gut contains a huge number of bacteria which play a key role in the digestive process, and in keeping the gut healthy. However, defects in the epithelium can allow these bacteria to leak into the wall of the intestine, where they can trigger an immune reaction, leading to prolonged inflammation.

Many experts believe this is one of the causes of ulcerative colitis - and the latest research provides hard evidence of a genetic basis to the theory.

Robust evidence

Researcher Dr Miles Parkes, Consultant Gastroenterologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, said: "We have long suspected that genetic defects in the epithelial barrier are important in ulcerative colitis. This large scale genetic study provides the first robust genetic evidence that this is the case."

Professor Chris Mathew, from King's College London, who also worked on the study, said: "This is very significant as most treatments to date are based on damping down immune response. In fact, our data suggests there may be mileage in trying to tighten up the mucosal barrier as well."

One of the genes highlighted by the research, CDH1, has also been implicated in the spread of colon cancer, suggesting their may be a genetic link between the two conditions.

Sir Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust, said the study strongly suggested genetic inheritance was to blame for some people's vulnerability to ulcerative colitis. “Although it is a long way from this discovery to developing new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease, new approaches to the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases require new insights into their causes."

Richard Driscoll, Director of the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease, welcomed the research. He said: "Every increase in knowledge moves us closer to the time when identifying a person's genes may enable them and their doctor to make decisions on treatment with a more certain understanding of how their disease is likely to develop over time."

Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk

A gene that can help you live to 100 'identified'

Scientists have identified a gene which can help one live to 100 years, a breakthrough that they claim may pave the way for anti-ageing drugs.

An international team, led by Albert Einstein College of Medicine, studying a group of people in American Ashkenazi Jewish community with an average age of 97, found they had all inherited a gene that appears to prevent cells ageing.

Their study found that the 86 people analysed and their children had higher levels of an enzyme telomerase which is known to protect the body's DNA from degrading, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

According to the scientists, the finding could lead to anti-ageing drugs.

Telomerase is known to protect telomeres which stop the string of DNA unravelling much like the plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces stop fraying. Each time a cell divides, its telomeres shortens and the cell becomes more susceptible to dying.

By boosting telomerase, the scientists believe they could eventually stop the cells dying and so protect against old age.

The study has been published in the 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences' journal.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Too much selenium linked to high levels of cholesterol

High dietary intake of selenium may increase risk of high cholesterol, a new study by Dr. Dsverio Stranges at the University's Warwick Medical School suggests.

The study recently published in the Journal of Nutrition found that in people who had higher levels of serum selenium, the total cholesterol level increased by 8 percent compared to those who had lower levels.

Selenium is a trace essential mineral and consumers use it as a dietary antioxidant supplement. Selenium is high in Brazil nuts produced from selenium-rich soil, shrimp, carb meat, salon, halibut, brown rice, and whole wheat bread.

Dr. Stranges and colleagues examined data from 1042 participants aged 19 to 64 in the 2000-2001 UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey. The subjects were interviewed for their eating and drinking habits. Blood samples were taken for analysis.

Higher selenium levels were not just linked with higher total cholesterol. The researchers also found that higher levels of selenium in the blood also raise non-high density lipoprotein by 10 percent. Lipoprotein can help predict the risk of a heart attack or chest pain.

Additionally, they found that of those with the highest selenium levels, 48.2 percent reported that they regularly took dietary supplements.

It is uncertain whether higher levels of serum selenium are the cause for the increase in total cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol. The dyufy merely found the association between high selenium levels and higher levels of cholesterol.

Source:www.foodconsumer.org

'Love Hormone' Also Boosts Negative Behavior

Scientists at the University of Haifa, in Israel, have recently determined that the hormone that has been primarily been associated with love – oxytocin – also plays an important part in bolstering negative states of mind. In other words, the chemical is able to make people feel empathy, trust, and generosity, but can also trigger adverse feelings such as jealousy and gloating. The person's state of mind at the time seems to be the only thing that determines whether oxytocin will act positively or negatively.

“Subsequent to these findings, we assume that the hormone is an overall trigger for social sentiments: when the person's association is positive, oxytocin bolsters pro-social behaviors; when the association is negative, the hormone increases negative sentiments,” UH expert Simone Shamay-Tsoory, who was the leader of the new research. Details of the recent scientific investigation were published in the latest issue of the respected scientific journal Biological Psychiatry, AlphaGalileo reports.

The investigation comes on the heels of different studies, which have shown the positive effects that the hormone has on positive states of mind and behaviors. In natural instances, the chemical is released in larger quantities when women go through childbirth, or during intercourse. In the new study, which involved 56 participants, some of them were made to inhale a chemical containing oxytocin, and all of them became more altruistic to each other. Therefore, the team hypothesizes, it may be that, evolutionarily speaking, the chemical plays a crucial role in helping us get more friends.

“Following the earlier results of experiments with oxytocin, we began to examine the possible use of the hormone as a medication for various disorders, such as autism. The results of the present study show that the hormone's undesirable effects on behavior must be examined before moving ahead,” Shamay-Tsoory adds of the research. She adds that other batches of studies demonstrated that aggressive rats that were given oxytocin became even more so, suggesting new obstacles in the path of using the chemical to do good.

Source:http://news.softpedia.com