CCAB working on antibody based #cancer treatments

CCAB working on antibody based #cancer treatments pic.twitter.com/qeIn4DUJMP

— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) October 7, 2015

Centre for Commercialization of Antibodies and Biologics (CCAB), a biotech company established with the aim to provide new antibody-based therapies is targeting cancer and other diseases. CCAB held its 2nd business meet in Bangalore recently to identify partners to manufacture antibody-based cancer treatments and antibody based infectious disease treatments including Dengue fever .The event was attended by several top biotech companies in the country. Dr. Sachdev Sidhu, CEO, CCAB the key speakers at the event.

#BodyPower’s Fitness Model hunt in #Bengaluru

UK’s premier health and fitness brand– BodyPower's fitness model hunt ‘FitFactor India auditions’ took place in Bengaluru today.BodyPower is doing a nine city tour for fitness model talent hunt and educational tour.

#BodyPower’s Fitness Model hunt in #Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/VnVLekflWf

— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) October 6, 2015

Expressing excitement about the multicity tour and the upcoming expo in January 2016, Nick Orton, CEO of BodyPower said, “BodyPower Expo 2016 is going to be much bigger and better than ever before! We are also very excited to begin with the pan-India tour. I am happy to see aspiring athletes following their dream and participating an international platform to showcase their talent and effort with this tour.!”

Hemophilia Federation organises AGM 2014 in #Kolkata

Hemophilia Federation (India), Kolkata Chapter, organized its AGM at Kolkata to create awareness about Hemophilia and a discussion session for the Hemophiliacs and its treatment. Swami Sevaratananda, Medical Superintendent, RKMSP,VIMS, Kolkata, Renowned soccer player, Subrata Bhattacharya, Member of Parliament, Sultan Ahmed, , Ms. Cheryl D’ambrosio, President, My Girls Blood , USA were some of the key attendees along with other leading Hematologists.

What Is Hemophilia?
Hemophilia is a rare bleeding disorder in which the blood doesn't clot normally.
If you have hemophilia, you may bleed for a longer time than others after an injury. You also may bleed inside your body (internally), especially in your knees, ankles, and elbows. This bleeding can damage your organs and tissues and may be life threatening.

Present at the event, Ajoy Roy, Regional Council Chairman (East), Hemophilia Foundation (India) said, “The current data in the region is alarming and it shows that there is an urgent need for availability of safe factor concentrates in every hospital of West Bengal including sub divisional hospitals as treatment to address the well-being of the patients in Kolkata and West Bengal. I am confident keeping in mind the need of Hemophilia patients in the state, government will soon take some action to address the gap.”

Semen can work as an anti-depressant

Semen makes you happy. That's the remarkable conclusion of a study comparing women whose partners wear condoms with those whose partners don't.

Semen can work as an anti-depressant.
— Google Facts (@GoogleFacts) August 1, 2014

The study, which is bound to provoke controversy, showed that the women who were directly exposed to semen were less depressed. The researchers think this is because mood-altering hormones in semen are absorbed through the vagina. They say they have ruled out other explanations.

"I want to make it clear that we are not advocating that people abstain from using condoms," says Gordon Gallup, the psychologist at the State University of New York who led the team. "Clearly an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease would more than offset any advantageous psychological effects of semen."

The young sperm, poised for greatness

In the body, a skin cell will always be skin, and a heart cell will always be heart. But in the first hours of life, cells in the nascent embryo become totipotent: they have the incredible flexibility to mature into skin, heart, gut, or any type of cell.

It was long assumed that the joining of egg and sperm launched a dramatic change in how and which genes were expressed. Instead, new research shows that totipotency is a step-wise process, manifesting as early as in precursors to sperm, called adult germline stem cells (AGSCs), which reside in the testes.

The study was co-led by Bradley Cairns, Ph.D., University of Utah professor of oncological sciences, and Huntsman Cancer Institute investigator, and Ernesto Guccione, Ph.D., of the Agency for Science Technology and Research in Singapore. They worked closely with first author and Huntsman Cancer Institute postdoctoral fellow, Saher Sue Hammond, Ph.D. The research was published online in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Typically, sperm precursors live a mundane life. They divide, making more cells like themselves, until they receive the signal instructing them to mature into sperm.

There is evidence, however, that these cells have the potential to do more. Under the unusual conditions that promote the cells to form dense cancerous masses called testicular teratomas, the young sperm transform into precursors of skin, muscle, and gut.

This realization prompted the investigators to examine the gene program within sperm precursors. They wondered, would it be like that of a cell that is destined to become a single cell type, or like that of a cell with the potential to become anything?

The answer, they found, is that the sperm precursors are somewhere in between. The most telling evidence is the status of a quartet of genes: Lefty, Sox2, Nanog, and Prdm14. When activated, the genes can trigger a cascade of events that give cells stem cell properties. In cells limited to becoming one cell type, the genes are silent.

Yet in sperm precursors, the genes bear a code of chemical tags, called methylation groups, indicating that the four genes are silenced, but poised to become active. In other words, embedded within these cells, is the potential to become totipotent.

Cairns compares the tags on the poised genes to bookmarks. "Sperm cells and their precursors put 'bookmarks' at all the important genes they need to access quickly." Once fertilization occurs, he explains, cells have to become fully totipotent in a short amount of time. "Then, when the sperm and egg come together, all you have to do is complete the job that you had already started."

The engineering principal, as he calls it, ensures the transition occurs rapidly and accurately.

The result is just one of many that together comprise a detailed playbook documenting genetic and epigenetic changes that take place along the journey to becoming totipotent. The rich resource will guide future studies toward a deeper understanding of totipotency, cancer, and fertilization.

About Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah

Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) is one of the world's top academic research and cancer treatment centers. HCI manages the Utah Population Database - the largest genetic database in the world, with more than 16 million records linked to genealogies, health records, and vital statistics. Using this data, HCI researchers have identified cancer-causing genes, including the genes responsible for melanoma, colon and breast cancer, and paraganglioma. HCI is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (a 25-member alliance of the world's leading cancer centers) and is a National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center. HCI treats patients with all forms of cancer and operates several high-risk clinics that focus on melanoma and breast, colon, and pancreas cancers. The HCI Cancer Learning Center for patient and public education contains one of the nation's largest collections of cancer-related publications. The institute is named after Jon M. Huntsman, Sr., a Utah philanthropist, industrialist, and cancer survivor.

Even four glasses of wine is enough to harm your health, scientists say

A single alcohol binge can cause bacteria to leak from the gut and increase levels of bacterial toxins in the blood, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Increased levels of these bacterial toxins, called endotoxins, were shown to affect the immune system, with the body producing more immune cells involved in fever, inflammation, and tissue destruction.

Binge drinking is defined by NIAAA as a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08g/dL or above. For a typical adult, this pattern corresponds to consuming five or more drinks for men, or four or more drinks for women, in about two hours. Some individuals will reach a 0.08g/dL BAC sooner depending on body weight. Binge drinking is known to pose health and safety risks, including car crashes and injuries. Over the long term, binge drinking can damage the liver and other organs.

“While the negative health effects of chronic drinking are well-documented, this is a key study to show that a single alcohol binge can cause damaging effects such as bacterial leakage from the gut into the blood stream,” said Dr. George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of NIH.

The study was led by Gyongyi Szabo, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Vice Chair of Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The article appears online in PLOS ONE  External Web Site Policy.

In the study, 11 men and 14 women were given enough alcohol to raise their blood alcohol levels to at least .08 g/dL within an hour. Blood samples were taken every 30 minutes for four hours after the binge and again 24 hours later.

The researchers found that the alcohol binge resulted in a rapid increase in endotoxin levels in the blood and evidence of bacterial DNA, showing that bacteria had permeated the gut. Endotoxins are toxins contained in the cell wall of certain bacteria that are released when the cell is destroyed. Compared to men, women had higher blood alcohol levels and circulating endotoxin levels.

“We found that a single alcohol binge can elicit an immune response, potentially impacting the health of an otherwise healthy individual,” said Dr. Szabo. “Our observations suggest that an alcohol binge is more dangerous than previously thought.”

Earlier studies have tied chronic alcohol use to increased gut permeability, wherein potentially harmful products can travel through the intestinal wall and be carried to other parts of the body. Greater gut permeability and increased endotoxin levels have been linked to many of the health issues related to chronic drinking, including alcoholic liver disease.

About the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA): The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health, is the primary U.S. agency for conducting and supporting research on the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and alcohol problems. NIAAA also disseminates research findings to general, professional, and academic audiences. Additional alcohol research information and publications are available at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov

Is Yoga an answer to infertility?

High level of stress may cause infertility among women and yoga and meditation could help in battling with the problem, says a new research.
Former science teacher and yoga therapist, Aliona Salaru says that stress affects the normal hormone balance in women's body and can result in major inconception, as per reports.

"Trying to become pregnant can add even more pressure to an already stressed women. In the modern world, women often switch into chronic stress, resulting in many possible imbalances, including adrenal depletion, thyroid over or under function and shifts in sexual hormone balance, resulting in sexual dysfunction," said Salaru.

Yoga could be the answer to pregnancy http://t.co/jYEexfZmo5
— Female First (@FemaleFirst_UK) April 17, 2014

The expert also suggests that yoga breathing techniques combined with yoga postures are known not only to be an effective stress reliever but also a tool to habitually ease the symptoms of anxiety.

So, how exactly yoga helps to destress?

Researchers at University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA) published a study revealing that: "Using simple daily meditations reduced the stress levels of people who care for those stricken by Alzheimer's and dementia"

Constant exposure to UV radiation is bad for your eyes

We are all conscious of the damage the sun’s ultraviolet rays cause to our skin and that is why we ensure we buy sunscreen with high SPF (Sun Protection Factor). While we use sunscreens to protect our skin, we hardly do anything to protect our eyes. Did you know that 80% of the information received from the brain is through the eyes, and medical studies prove that constant exposure to UV radiation is bad for your eyes?
Then, how do we protect our eyes from UV exposure? Essilor, the leading French lens manufacturer who specialize in producing highly innovative technology-backed spectacle lenses are offering a new weapon against UV exposure for the eyes – Crizal Forte UV – a revolutionary lens that protects your eyes from UV radiation with a Sun protection Factor – for the Eyes.
Essilor International SA is a France-based ophthalmic optics company engaged in making corrective lenses. Its brands include Varilux, Crizal, Definity, Xperio, Optifog, Kodak and Foster Grant.
Many of us vouch for skincare products that provide UV cover; we consciously look for SPF on the products we purchase, we believe these protect our skin from possible effects like early ageing, wrinkles, darkening and even skin cancer. Yet, many of us are ignorant of the fact that UV radiation causes as much damage to the eyes as to the skin. UV exposure is scientifically known to cause ailments like cataract, photokeratitis, photoconjunctivitis and pterygium in the eye. In fact, 1 out of 5 cataracts may be due to UV exposure. Each year 3 million people go blind from prolonged UV exposure.
There are three types of UV radiation: While UV-C is absorbed by the ozone layer and hence doesn’t cause damage; UV-A and UV-B radiation can have adverse effects on the eyes and vision.
Today there are lenses that protect you from UV damage but UV rays are not restricted from the front of the lens only – it has been scientifically proven than 50% of UV exposure happens from the back and sides of the lens.  Essilor using its vast R&D facilities pioneered the world’s first spectacle lenses that protect you against the harmful UV rays from both the front and back – Crizal Forte UV.
To measure the protection provided to your eye – all you need to check is  an ESPF for your lens - Eye-Sun Protection Factor (ESPF)  is a new international index developed by Essilor & endorsed by a third party. It follows the similar pattern like the SPF, the higher the ESPF the better the UV protection. Which means that if you have an ESPF of 25 – you are 25 times more protected from the sun.
“UV radiation is a recognized source of problem for the eyes. However, UV radiation does not only come from the sun, it comes also from other sources like welding machines, computer screens, and strong ground reflection from snow and water. Hence the importance of eye protection cannot be understated. Yet, while in India there is a lot of talk about SPF for the skin, there is limited understanding and awareness about E-SPF,” says Mr. Shiv Kumar, CEO Essilor India.
Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness in the world. WHO estimates suggest that up to 20 per cent of cataracts may be caused by overexposure to UV radiation and are therefore avoidable.
“Besides short-term and long-term effects of UV exposure, life-long exposure to sun is also believed to be associated with some cancers of the eye like melanoma. A large number of these eye and vision related ailments can be avoided if we adhere to sun protection. And there is no better way to do it than to have UV protection in your lenses,” says Mr. Ram Chandran CBO, Essilor India.
Product – Information
Crizal Forte UV offers your eyes protection against dangerous UV from the front and the back surfaces of the lens, while ensuring the best enduring clarity of vision. Crizal Forte UV also protects against the five enemies of clear vision: reflections, smudges, scratches, dust and water.

World Kidney Day observed at Narayana Health City

As a prelude to World Kidney Day observed on March 13 worldwide, Institute of Kidney Disease and Transplantation at Narayana Health City today organized a unique interactive session for kidney patients, donors and doctors. Transplant recipients and kidney donors attended the meet, interacting with doctors and sharing their experience about life after a transplant. Dr. Devi Shetty, Chairman, Narayana Health was present on the occasion and released a book titled ‘Second Heart’ authored by Dr. Sandeep Huligal.

The session started with an introductory talk by Dr. Lloyd Vincent, HOD and Senior Consultant Nephrologist, Narayana Health City with the focus on this year’s theme – ‘Chronic Kidney Disease and aging’. Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) can develop at any age but becomes common with increasing age. Chronic kidney failure is associated with complications, which are debilitating and impose a serious detriment to quality of life. The change can be brought about with large awareness campaign promoting preventive behaviors, facilitate early screening of people with diabetes and hypertension, so as to prevent early onset of dialysis in India.

Addressing the participants, Dr. Lloyd Vincent, said, “Kidney disease is a silent killer and the need-of- the-hour is to promote preventive measures, encourage early screening and stimulate positive thinking about organ donation and transplantation.” He further added, “Renal diseases are fairly common in people with diabetes, but unfortunately, the nature of disease is such that most people have no symptoms until it is has progressed to an advanced stage.”
Kidney donors and transplant recipients were the real life heroes at the event, who came together and shared their experiences, in a hope to help others manage the challenge. The transplant recipients gave insights about how they lead lives after transplantation. The educative programme also showcased the innovations in screening for kidney disease by with taking images of the retina, which can detect signs of renal diseases through the eye. The programme concluded with a talk by Dr. Rammohan Bhat, and Dr. Krishna Kishore, Consultant Nephrologist, Narayana Health City who spoke about combating the rise in kidney disease.

Narayana Health City had recently conducted screening camps to stress on the aspect that Eye Screening can help detect Kidney disease at an early stage, especially in elderly diabetic patients. The aim of the event was to raise awareness, encourage prevention and educate people about various aspects of kidney disease, proper diagnosis and treatment.

The World Kidney Day aims to increase awareness and promote this life-saving procedure and the donors who make it possible. About 1 in 10 people suffer from some form of kidney damage and every year, millions die prematurely of complications related to kidney. Today, diabetic involvement of the kidney (diabetic nephropathy) represents a major and growing health problem among the elderly. According to a recent study, diabetic nephropathy is found in 40% of diabetic patients and 10% will progress to dialysis or kidney transplantation.