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Popular Articles

World Heart Federation Warns That Burden Of Tobacco Epidemic Continues To Worsen Societies And Economies - 6 M People Will Die And $500 Billion Lost
G-20 leaders pledged to provide the International Monetary Fund with $500 billion to help struggling economies, sparking global controversy. Yet startling research shows that the combined costs of tobacco-related death and related productivity losses, healthcare expenditures, employee absenteeism, and widespread environmental harm are responsible for draining the same amount - $500 billion - from the global economy each year and it receives much less attention than it deserves.

Landmark Five-Year African Study Indicates That HIV Therapy May Be Given Safely In Re-Limited Settings Without Routine Laboratory Monitoring
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:GILD) highlighted results from a study known as DART (Development of Anti-Retroviral Treatment in Africa), which evaluated the need for routine laboratory monitoring in adults taking antiretroviral therapy in Africa. The DART trial was an open-label, randomized study comparing clinical and laboratory monitoring to clinical monitoring alone for efficacy and toxicity. In this study, 74 percent of patients were on a treatment regimen containing Viread® (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate). At baseline, more than 50 percent of patients had reduced renal function. The results indicated that Viread was well tolerated and that the incidence of renal adverse events was low. DART researchers concluded that renal function test results were similar in both arms of the trial for up to five years, suggesting that routine monitoring of Viread may not be necessary in re-limited settings when using the product as part of a first-line HIV treatment regimen. The results of the study were presented today at the 5th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2009) in Cape Town, South Africa.
News of the day
New Control System Of The Body Discovered - Important Modulator Of Immune Cell Entry Into The Brain - Perhaps New Target For The Therapy
Researchers in Berlin, Germany have ameliorated inflammation of the brain in mice caused by immune cells. A receptor they discovered on the surface of T cells in the central nervous system (CNS) plays the key role. The researchers showed that this bradykinin receptor 1 (B1) controls the infiltration of immune cells into the CNS. When they activated B1 in mice with encephalitis, they were able to slow down the crossing of the immune cells through the blood-brain-barrier into the CNS. As a result, the inflammation markedly decreased. The work by Dr. Ulf Schulze-Topphoff, Prof. Orhan Aktas, and Professor Frauke Zipp (Cecilie Vogt-Clinic, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Max DelbrÃøck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and NeuroCure Research Center) together with researchers in Canada and the USA may unveil a new target for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) (Nature Medicine, doi 10.1038/nm.1980)*.
Oncology

DNA Binding Compound That Kills Bacteria In 2 Minutes Could Lead To New Antibiotics

A synthetic DNA binding compound has proved surprisingly effective at binding to the DNA of bacteria and killing all the bacteria it touched within two minutes. The DNA binding properties of the compound were first discovered in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick by Professor Mike Hannon and Professor Alison Rodger (Professor Mike Hannon is now at the University of Birmingham). However the strength of its antibiotic powers have now made it a compound of high interest for University of Warwick researchers working on the development of novel antibiotics. Dr Adair Richards from the University of Warwick said: "This research will assist the design of new compounds that can attack bacteria in a highly effective way which gets around the methods bacteria have developed to resist our current antibacterial drugs. As this antibiotic compound operates by targeting DNA, it should avoid all current resistance mechanisms of multi-resistant bacteria such as MRSA." The compound [Fe2L3]4+ is an iron triple helicate with three organic strands wrapped around two iron centres to give a helix which looks cylindrical in shape and neatly fits within the major groove of a DNA helix. It is about the same size as the parts of a protein that recognise and bind with particular sequences of DNA. The high positive charge of the compound enhances its ability to bind to DNA which is negatively charged. When the iron-helicate binds to the major groove of DNA it coils the DNA so that it is no longer available to bind to anything else and is not able to drive biological or chemical processes. Initially the researchers focused on the application of this useful property for targeting the DNA of cancer cells as it could bind to, coil up and shut down the cancer cell"s DNA either killing the cell or stopping it replicate. However the team quickly realised that it might also be a very clever way of targeting drug-resistant bacteria. New research at the University of Warwick, led by Dr Adair Richards and Dr Albert Bolhuis, has now found that the [Fe2L3]4+ does indeed have a powerful effect on bacteria. When introduced to two test bacteria Bacillus subtilis and E. coli they found that it quickly bound to the bacteria"s DNA and killed virtually every cell within two minutes of being introduced - though the concentration required for this is high. Professor Alison Rodger, Professor of Biophysical Chemistry at the University of Warwick, said: "We were surprised at how quickly this compound killed bacteria and these results make this compound a key lead compound for researchers working on the development of novel antibiotics to target drug resistant bacteria." The researchers will next try and understand how and why the compound can cross the bacteria cell wall and membranes. They plan to test a wide range of compounds to look for relatives of the iron helicate that have the same mechanism for action in collaboration with researchers around the world.Professor Mike Hannon from the University of Birmingham said:"This research is a great example of how the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick are working together to deliver exciting new research that can impact on medicine and healthcare - key themes of the AWM "Birmingham Science City" initiative which seeks to make the West Midlands the leading player in science and technology in the UK." The research has just been published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents in a paper entitled Antimicrobial activity of an iron triple helicate by Dr Adair D. Richards, and Professor Alison Rodger from the University of Warwick, Professor Michael J. Hannon from the University of Birmingham and Dr Albert Bolhuis from Bath University. Issue 33 pp469-472 http://www.ijaaonline.com/article/S0924-8579(08)00577-3 Adair Richards University of Warwick


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