Tag Archives: Disease

The sweet solution to antibiotic resistant bacteria

Posted on March 17, 2014 by | 4 comments

It has been known for some time now that honey has several antibacterial properties, having been employed by many ancient civilizations as a topical treatment for wounds. Honey is an effective treatment against antibiotic resistant bacteria because it effectively attacks bacteria on multiple levels having hydrogen peroxide, acidity, osmotic effect, high sugar concentrations and polyphenols in its arsenal to kill bacterial cells. This makes it very difficult for bacteria to develop resistance to all of the effects of honey simultaneously.

Honey (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Dr. Rowena Jenkins and her team from the University of Wales Institute – Cardiff looked at the antibacterial properties of honey on bacteria that infect wounds. They determined that it wasn’t only the sugar present in honey but other factors that helped kill the bacteria. In their experiment they noticed that one particular protein, called FabI, was entirely missing after the honey treatment. This protein was particularly responsible for fatty acid biosynthesis and without it bacteria couldn’t produce the lipopolysaccharides that are essential to build bacterial cell walls. However they could not isolate which particular element of the honey was responsible for completely destroying the protein.

Another research paper, published the year following Dr. Jenkins work, in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), isolated the protein which was responsible for most of the antibacterial properties  of honey as defensin-1. This protein, the researchers proposed, is added to the honey by the bees that make it and is part of their immune system. Further research into this protein could pave the way to finding treatments that bacteria cannot develop resistance to and even kill antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Honey Bee (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Additionally, Professor Rose Cooper from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff has experimented on the interactions between three types of bacteria and honey, concluding that honey could even have an effect that reverses antibiotic resistance. One of the bacteria she was studying, Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), was shown to become more sensitive to the antibiotic oxacillin when used together with honey. This brings about the proposition that antibiotics should be coupled with honey in treatments to increase their potency and also decrease the chances of bacterial resistance developing.

The research invested into the antibacterial properties of honey show that it is a very effective treatment that should be included into modern medicine in a larger scale. Currently certain medical grade honeys are used in the treatment of infectious wounds. These honeys are handled very differently to conventional honey to avoid contamination as they come in contact with exposed body tissue.

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Further research should be carried out to determine ways in which to administer antibiotic-honey coupled treatments for a greater, less risky effect that has the potential to eradicate antibiotic resistant bacteria.

~Adil Cader.

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Posted in Biological sciences, Issues in science, Science communication, Science in the news

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It’s in the Blood

Posted on March 10, 2014 by | 7 comments

Breakthrough research was published on March 9th 2014 by Dr. Howard Federoff and a team of researchers in Washington DC. They developed a blood test that identifies 10 biological markers which has been shown to determine if healthy individuals will develop Alzheimer’s Disease within two or three years. This amazing stepping stone could help individuals receive treatment before developing symptoms of this horrible neurodegenerative disease.

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35 million people all over the world have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, and this number is rising rapidly. The ripple effect of this disease touches many family members by having to care for them or put them in care-homes. Individuals with onset Alzheimer’s disease become confused, frustrated, and forgetful and eventually progress to where they cannot talk, feed, or even dress themselves. Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease affecting many innocent elderly people and hopefully in the near future, there will be tremendous progress in the treatment of Alzheimer’s; it may just start before symptoms even begin.

Visual representation of Alzheimer’s (Shuttershock)

“This is a very exciting time,” says Federoff, who leads the team. He states that the test could help patients at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and perhaps delay or even stop the progression. “We don’t really know the source of the ten molecules,” admits Federoff, but he suggests that they reflect the destruction of neurons in the brain, which ultimately leads to cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. When neurons are destroyed in the brain, they cannot come back online or be built again.

Simon Lovestone, a University of Oxford neuroscientist is also excited about the findings in this study. “We desperately need biomarkers which would allow patients to be identified – and recruited into trials – before their symptoms begin”, says Lovestone, who is also a coordinator of a European public-private partnership that searchers for new biomarkers for Alzheimer’s.

Blood Vials (Flickr: loscheiner)

Previous studies have emphasized treatment after diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, but no one has ever been completely cured. This new and important research uses blood that is easily accessible, and it has the ability to identify potential risk factors before any symptoms arise. Stopping the disease before it even happens could be an incredible advancement in this field.

Federoff highlights that larger studies must be done exploring a more diverse range of individuals including different races and ages. When these large-scale studies show positive results, perhaps early diagnoses can prevent the disease from becoming aggressive and debilitating to controlled and stable. Overall, this is very promising research that I see possibly flooding the medical field.

By Danielle Marcoux

Sources:

  • http://www.nature.com/news/biomarkers-could-predict-alzheimer-s-before-it-starts-1.14834
  • http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nm.3466.html
  • http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp
  • http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/alzheimers-disease-medications-fact-sheet
  • http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/treatment-overview

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Posted in Biological sciences, Issues in science, Science in the news, Uncategorized

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What’s my title again?

Posted on March 10, 2014 by | 2 comments

A new study by Howard J. Federoff and his team of researchers has been released, and they have discovered a new way of identifying people who are at risk of having Alzheimer or other mental brain impairments within three years. This five year study took place at Georgetown University Medical center,  and the study states that their discovery is capable of predicting the presence of the disease with 90% accuracy, by identifying ten specific  lipids (fats) in your blood that are believed to present disease onset.

Alzheimer is a life altering degenerative disease that is one of the more common types of dementia, a loss of cognitive ability, and it is affecting an estimated 40 million people worldwide, with the World Health Organization stating that the number will double every 20 years.  By 2050, the numbers are expected to rise to over 115 million, a staggering number for something with no cure.

But our current way of predicting Alzheimer is not useful in preventing or treating the disease. At this time, Alzheimer is typically diagnosed when the various symptoms of Alzheimer starts showing up, such as memory loss. However, this comes at a time where there is already irreversible damage to the brain, and as there is presently no cure, the damage is already done.  Although there are various drugs presently available to try and combat these effects, they have all failed and Federoff believes this is due to the drugs being used far too late into the disease timeline.

Comparison of a normal brain and one with Alzheimer’s.
Photo by: National Institutes of Health (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

However, this study gives us a cheap and effective basis for diagnosing the disease, so while it only predicts with 90% accuracy, this is an improvement over the previous method of waiting for the first stages of the disease. Howard J. Federoff explained “We consider our results a major step towards the commercialization of a preclinical disease biomarker test that could be useful for large-scale screening to identify at risk individuals”.

Although this method is not clinically ready yet, this study is a step in the right direction of finding an effective way to combat Alzheimer.

Here is a link to the original study:

http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nm.3466.html

-Jeffrey Chen

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Posted in Biological sciences, Issues in science, Uncategorized

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Global Warming… and Smallpox?

Posted on March 4, 2014 by | 3 comments

    Heatwaves, droughts, freaky weather, and rising sea levels are just some of the extreme consequences we can expect as global temperatures continue to rise over the next few years. However, according to some scientists, we can add another potential disaster to that list: the introduction of new diseases.

    Researchers based in France and Russia retrieved and analyzed a 30,000 year-old permafrost core, in which was contained a sample of giant DNA viruses. These are viruses that are so big that some are visible underneath light microscopes. This giant DNA virus, which the researchers named Pithovirus sibericum, is believed to have been last active during the previous Ice Age.

The Chukotka region of Sibera, where the permafrost core was taken from. (Source: Wikipedia)

    Researchers were able to bring the sample “back to life” in the lab and believe that its protein coat was a factor in protecting it and ensuring that it could tolerate 30,000 years of being encased in permafrost.

 

    Although this virus only infects amoebas and is therefore harmless to humans, this does have grave implications for people: as permafrost begins to melt across the globe, more viruses with the same protective coating could be introduced again. Some of these viruses may in fact be able to infect humans and we may likely immunity to them (seeing as some have disappeared into the ground before Homo sapiens eventually came about).

Microscopic image of Pithovirus sibericum. (Source: Julia Bartolia and Chantal Abergel of UGS and CNRS-AMU)

    One concern expressed in the comments section is smallpox: although the last case of smallpox was in 1977, many smallpox victims of the 1800’s were buried in northern Canada, where they are encased in permafrost. As temperatures continue to rise and ice continues to melt, many of these bodies may be exposed to the surface. Could smallpox survive? Hopefully not. But in a worst-case scenario, we could see the re-emergence of smallpox and although it would be relatively brief (because of our access to vaccines), it would still be devastating to many.

    However, people must be wary of these alarmist attitudes. For example, we don’t know how likely it is that smallpox could survive. Even if it could, could it be re-animated? Pithovirus sibericum needed the help of a lab to start functioning again. So even if these viruses were exposed to the surrounding environment, could they function and infect people? The ability to infect people is an adaptation: many of these viruses would be older than us, so how would they have to ability to infect humans?

   Global warming is a frightening thought, but we don’t need to scare ourselves silly thinking about things that may be more suited for the script of a science fiction movie.

 – Nicholas MacDonald

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Flu Virus

Posted on February 10, 2014 by | Comments Off on Flu Virus

Flu is a common name for influenza, an infectious disease found in mammals and birds, caused by the RNA viruses. Its symptoms include sore throat, runny nose, headache, fever, coughing, and chills. The two modes of transmission for flu include the air through sneezes or coughs, and direct contact through touching contaminated surfaces or nasal secretions and bird droppings. Disinfectants, sunlight and detergents can inactivate the flu virus. Occasionally, pneumonia may develop as a result of flu, either viral pneumonia that is direct or bacterial pneumonia that is secondary. A common sign that flu is developing into pneumonia in both children and adults is when the flu patient seems to be recovering but starts having trouble in breathing or with high fever. However, sometimes flu is confused with an illness like common cold.

Flu spreads in seasonal epidemics leading to severe illnesses and deaths every year. Three flu epidemics occurred in the 20th Century, having been caused by a new virus strain in humans leading to millions of deaths. Most commonly, the strain occurs when the virus spreads form animals to humans. It occurs when new genes from pigs’ or birds’ virus are picked up by human strains. However, there are three common types of influenza that include influenzavirus A, influenzavirus B, and influenzavirus C. Each of these genus have on species, influenza A virus, influenza B virus, and influenza C virus.

Picture of ducks (Source: commons.wikimedia.org)

Influenzavirus A is naturally hosted by wild aquatic birds but the same is spread to other bird species causing a severe outbreak in domesticated poultry. This may be subdivided into serotypes depending on the response of antibodies to the virus. In humans, the confirmed serotypes that cause deaths include H1N1, H2N2, H3N2, H5N1, H7N7, H1N2, H9N2, H7N2, H7N3, H10N7, and H7N9. Influenzavirus B is not as common as influenzavirus A and it infects humans exclusively. However, the only animals known to be susceptible to this flu virus include the ferret and the seal. Influenzavirus B mutates twice to thrice slower than influenzavirus A. Also, it has less genetic diversification, with one influenza serotype. Influenzavirus C is found in pigs, humans and dogs and sometimes causes local epidemics and severe illnesses. It is not as common as other types of influenza viruses with a mild cause of the disease among children.

CDC scientist transferring H7N9 (Source: commons.wikimedia.org)

Therefore, since the modes of transmission for the flu virus include the air through sneezes or coughs, and direct contact through touching contaminated surfaces or nasal secretions and bird droppings, it is advisable that good personal hygiene should be maintained. The hygiene habits include frequent washing of hands, avoidance of touching the mouth, nose and eyes, avoiding contact with patients, avoiding spiting, the use of gloves and face masks when taking care of patients, avoiding smoking as it raises risks of infection, and surface sanitizing.

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