Indian Biotech News & Discussion

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K Mehta
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Post by K Mehta »

directed drug delivery,
It was so fascinating when I first heard it. enzyme based, small molecule based and antibody based directed drug delivery and all other kinds. Well they still seem to be far from achieved.
Those in vitro experiments especially on animal tissue culture turn out quite differently when whole animal models start being used.

But sanjay your point about exercising, again it comes to fidelity of mt DNA replication and not anti-oxidant levels. JMT

By the way its nice to see the way you guys are going on in this topic. Makes me feel way way good.
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Holy Moly!

Post by Sanjay M »

Hey, K Mehta and csubash, did you hear about this strange discovery?

http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/004389.html

People who have more moles age more slowly than those who don't have them. Apparently, people with moles have longer telomeres than people without moles.

BRB, I'm gonna count my moles now...
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Post by K Mehta »

That is really strange man
moles are themselves an aberrant growth. With more moles it would also mean more aberrant growth.
See the comment on the article. Really strange.
By the way sanjay, is there a forum or site from where you get all these articles?
May be they should have taken other factors into consideration too.
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Post by Sanjay M »

People circulate articles to me.

The thing here is that telomeres are the countdown counters which determine how many times your cells can divide(multiply) before they stop dividing(multiplying) altogether. The average person's cells are able to divide(multiply) about 60 times between the time they are born and the time they die. Telomere counters exist for a reason -- they are meant as a cap to prevent cells from dividing(multiplying) out of control -- aka. cancer.

Having a longer telomere means that your cells can continue dividing more times. Unfortunately, it conversely puts you at greater risk for cancer, since any cancerous cells have more leeway to multiply out of control.

Moles are a sign of such incidents of runaway growth, but which were stopped in time and kept in check by the body's anti-cancer defenses. So moles are telltale indicators of longer telomeres that confer longer life.
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Post by Sanjay M »

csubash
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Post by csubash »

Hi Sanjay M, K Mehta,
It's true that naevus(moles) represent proliferative potential. Congenital naevus i.e birth marks can be considered as normal tissue in a disorganised fashion. On the other hand acquired naevus can be considered as a beningn tumor with potential for malignant transformation eg.junctional naevus. If they consider the acquired neavus as a surrogate marker for telomer length I think one is in trouble if he has plenty of these naevus.
Regarding Hayflick limit apart from tumor cells which escape & become immortalised the other cells which have more multiplying capacity are the Haempoietic(blood) stem cells & epithelial cells of the skin. In fact many cells would have achieved their hayflick limit by the time we reach our adulthood eg cardiac, neural cells which have limited multipling capacity.
Whatever said & done the way to longeivity lies in diet, exercise, etc rather than counting moles or expensive telomerase lotions & potions.
Regards...Subash
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Post by mandrake »

csubhash Can you tell me, Should one consult a doctor if increase in mole is seen? Say for example my dad , age around 47~48. His skin is normally very responsive to summer heat, I have noticed that he has lots of very very small blackish patches in back spinal side of the body and some red as well, are these small things also moles? Should he consult a doctor regarding the same? Is there anything to be concerned of? Was just wondering.
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Post by csubash »

Hi joey
There are some people who are prone for developing moles, particularly gets more prominent as we get older. However the commonest skin cancer called melanoma which develops usually from a mole is uncommon in Indian race, being more common in white skinned caucasian. Having more moles makes you slightly more prone for melanoma. However whether developing more moles is a risk or not- there is no significant evidence. Having sun sensitive skin (eg.blonde hair, freckles) is also small risk factor. But the patches you describe could be anything from prickly heat-red dots(hidradenitis-inflammation of sweat gland) to black heads(comedones-blocked sebaceous(fat)glands)etc.
The most important symptoms of cancerous change of a mole are change in shape, size & colour. Increase in numbers as such don't represent cancerous change. Pigmentation is extremely common as we grow older. From the way you describe I wouldn't worry much. However if any symptoms particularly increase in size(vertical or horizontal), shape becoming irregular or colour becoming darker better to consult a dermatologist.
Hope it helps.
Regards
Subash

joey wrote:csubhash Can you tell me, Should one consult a doctor if increase in mole is seen? Say for example my dad , age around 47~48. His skin is normally very responsive to summer heat, I have noticed that he has lots of very very small blackish patches in back spinal side of the body and some red as well, are these small things also moles? Should he consult a doctor regarding the same? Is there anything to be concerned of? Was just wondering.
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Post by K Mehta »

joey,
moles are generally protruding out from the skin . I think I have seen the kind of thing you said on the back of my grandfather too. He is still healthy. There is no harm in showing to a dermatologist.
Was he hospitalized earlier? The reason I ask is when I had asked one of my doctor uncles about this kind of spots some of which were black some blood red, they told me it was because of continuous bed-ridden condition. I am not a doctor though.
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Post by mandrake »

csubash wrote:Hi joey
There are some people who are prone for developing moles, particularly gets more prominent as we get older. However the commonest skin cancer called melanoma which develops usually from a mole is uncommon in Indian race, being more common in white skinned caucasian. Having more moles makes you slightly more prone for melanoma. However whether developing more moles is a risk or not- there is no significant evidence. Having sun sensitive skin (eg.blonde hair, freckles) is also small risk factor. But the patches you describe could be anything from prickly heat-red dots(hidradenitis-inflammation of sweat gland) to black heads(comedones-blocked sebaceous(fat)glands)etc.
The most important symptoms of cancerous change of a mole are change in shape, size & colour. Increase in numbers as such don't represent cancerous change. Pigmentation is extremely common as we grow older. From the way you describe I wouldn't worry much. However if any symptoms particularly increase in size(vertical or horizontal), shape becoming irregular or colour becoming darker better to consult a dermatologist.
Hope it helps.
Regards
Subash

joey wrote:csubhash Can you tell me, Should one consult a doctor if increase in mole is seen? Say for example my dad , age around 47~48. His skin is normally very responsive to summer heat, I have noticed that he has lots of very very small blackish patches in back spinal side of the body and some red as well, are these small things also moles? Should he consult a doctor regarding the same? Is there anything to be concerned of? Was just wondering.
No he is not caucasious, but normally our skin even mine is responsive to heat, previously when I was in class 5/6 during summer days all big rashes (prickles) used to come in my face, hot water compress helped me that time,.Now a days it does not happens.

What your referring to is kinda like pigments? . He said they disappears and sometime appears due to summer heat sometimes. But they do look like small pigments of moles type. He used to swim regularly years back though in summer.

One more thing besides having moles, he also has a mole (only one of this) like thing in his back spinal side which appears to be not protuding outside the skin but inside the skin, it is black , he did consulted doctor (as per he told me) and they told him that it is of not much concern, if it grows or anything then he should contact them, It has been like that for years. What do you think it can be? It is like a 5mm mole but inside the skin layer and bulged a bit.
K Mehta wrote:joey,
moles are generally protruding out from the skin . I think I have seen the kind of thing you said on the back of my grandfather too. He is still healthy. There is no harm in showing to a dermatologist.
Was he hospitalized earlier? The reason I ask is when I had asked one of my doctor uncles about this kind of spots some of which were black some blood red, they told me it was because of continuous bed-ridden condition. I am not a doctor though.
Nope he was never hospitalised. But I'll ask him to consult a skin specialist. Yes some are blackish pigment like and some reddish pigment like, looks like mole but as small patches, he says due to summer heat, but is it the case? Anyways I'll ask him to consult a doctor.
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Post by Rahul M »

regarding the big mole, did the doc mention a name ? a kelloid for instance ? if yes you need not worry, they are usually not malignant though occasionally painful to touch. at least that's what my doc tells me. my dad's got one on his chest.

may be shiv ji can help.
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Post by mandrake »

Rahul M wrote:regarding the big mole, did the doc mention a name ? a kelloid for instance ? if yes you need not worry, they are usually not malignant though occasionally painful to touch. at least that's what my doc tells me. my dad's got one on his chest.

may be shiv ji can help.
Nope dont know that will have to ask but he consulted doctor pretty long back, dont know even if it is painful or not have to ask that too, but as I said it is just inside the skin layer not outside and black.
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Post by csubash »

hi joey
Moles don't disappear usually. If it appears only during summer months it's very very unlikely to be malignant. Keloid or in lay man's term "proud flesh" are excess scar tissue which appears at site of injury(eg.surgical scar) usually in front of chest or near collar bone/neck & usually not in the back. The way you have described the lesions it's very very unlikely to be sinister. Do consult a dermatologist if you are worried.
K Mehta
Moles usually are not protuberent. Warts, sebaceous cysts(cysts of fat secreting glands), keloids, dermoid cysts, etc are protuberent.
Regards
Subash
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Post by Rahul M »

csubhash, my uncle has a keloid on his back.
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Post by Sanjay M »

hey guys,

the deletion of a single gene is causing mice to live 30% longer, and age more slowly while eating more:

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070723/ ... 23-10.html

So it could perhaps be possible to target this AC5 gene for disruption/suppression by drugs or RNAinterference.
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For those who are less than 100 posts old in this forum

Post by SSSalvi »

Hello all,

Have you noticed that many a times a simple " News Item" quoted from news papers gets deleted from the forums even when the contents are not at all against any individual/organization?

It has happened with me at least on 5 occasions.

The worst part is that the same news item is posted by other 'senior' member with 2000+ posts. And the gentleman posts it not in one topic but puts it on two topics.

I have posted this late in the night so that at least some members will see this post before 'they' delete it and also summarily cancel my membership.

=============

S^3
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Post by JE Menon »

What are you talking about? Pls clarify...
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Post by Jagan »

SSSalvi, There is no reason to make multiple posts of the same post. (I have deleted five copies of your above posts across multiple threads)

If you have any issues with the forum management, please take it up by using the feedback link - you might get more speedier and reliable answers to your queries http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/Feedback.php
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Post by Sanjay M »

ramana
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Post by ramana »

Do we need a science thread?


Book Review from Nature Journal

21 Century Anatomy Lesson
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Post by Rudranathh »

Bio-medical research authority planned

Bangalore : The draft Biomedical Research on Human Participation (Promotion and Regulation) Bill 2008 proposes to institute a Bio Medical Research Authority under which all ethics committees, both public and private have to register, according to DDG, ICMR Dr Nandini Kumar.

She was speaking to the media on the sidelines of Biovision, a seminar on Bioethics, biosafety and IPR organised by T John College on Wednesday.

The Authority will have ICMR Ethics Committee as the advisory, according to the draft which is currently with the Ministry of Health. It has also proposed a penalty for violation of human rights or ethical norms as participants can be exploited. While the bill has to be passed to get teeth, it should be implemented effectively as well, added Dr Nandini.

Pharmacy education
T John College of Pharmacy had also organised a seminar on ‘Breaking new grounds in Pharmacy education’ on Wednesday.

More than 35 colleges across the state participated in the seminar. Speakers from various industries and institutions participated. Dr Shobha Rani, HoD of Pharmacy Department, Al-ameen College of Pharmacy spoke about pharmaco vigilance and its importance in pharmacy.
Dr Gayathri Devi, Registrar of Manipal Clinical Research highlighted on opportunities and challenges in clinical research in India.
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Yogesh »

Unraveling the Origin of Bacterial Fission .. a work by Prof. Dulal Panda of the School of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay and his students... a good piece of information . .
http://www[dot]iitb[dot]ac[dot]in/news/Celldivision[dot]html
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Raj »

Glaxo, Sanofi in talks for Shanta Biotch takeover
GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Aventis are reported to be in separate talks to buy a majority stake in Indian biotechnology firm that pionneered indigenous recombinant vaccines, Shantha Biotech
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Sanjay M »

The future has arrived:

US Doctor Offers 'Designer Baby' Genetic Selection Testing
Dr Steinberg provoked anger earlier this year when he said his fertility clinic could allow parents to produce "designer babies" - choosing eye, hair, skin colour and gender.
...

"From a business standpoint, it's the best thing going. From a medical standpoint, it's a travesty."
Given the prevalence in India of gender-selective abortions and female infanticide, what are the prospects for the Pandora's Box being opened even further?

What happens if the dumb country doctors get their hands on gene-array chips, and start offering tests for stronger/smarter/beautiful/etc children?

At least we won't have to worry about the caste system anymore -- we'll just have to worry about the eugenics wars.
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Sanjay M »

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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by govardhanks »

Sanjay M wrote: Given the prevalence in India of gender-selective abortions and female infanticide, what are the prospects for the Pandora's Box being opened even further?

What happens if the dumb country doctors get their hands on gene-array chips, and start offering tests for stronger/smarter/beautiful/etc children?

At least we won't have to worry about the caste system anymore -- we'll just have to worry about the eugenics wars.
Sir,
I just want to ask one thing are we over reacting to advanced biological research???

1. We can test a nuclear bomb that can kill lakhs people with one explosion.(physics reserach never blocked by human ethics!!)
2. We can recreate the conditions of bigbang in the only planet known to have life (LHC experiment-- again physics research!!)
3. We can create chemical weapons that kill people en massae(chemical research!!)
4. We can design the best and best aircraft so that one day we will have world war..(physics!!!

why can't we do designer babies??? why can't we clone human?(biological research!!)

remember sir all technologies developed has to pass the first experimental stage.. untill we do the experiment we don't know what application and new discoveries it may lead to..

If i take it the other way only biological manipulation is left over.. the last i guess???
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by svinayak »

http://www.indiatoday.intoday.in/index. ... mitstart=1

At the IGIB, Shantanu Sengupta is coming out with surprising findings about cardiovascular diseases and genetic factors. Contrary to popular notions, vegetarians in India have a high susceptibility to heart diseases. That is now found to be due to a deficiency of Vitamin B12. But there was a significant variation of this phenomenon between North and South India.

Shompen tribals
Shompen tribals of the Andaman And Nicobar Islands.
The study found that Northern Indians who were also vegetarian had a much higher degree of susceptibility to heart problems than their southern brethren because of a genetic variation that made them vulnerable. The deficiency in Vitamin B12 and the genetic variation increased the level of an amino acids associated as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

In a laboratory not far from Sengupta, Balaram Ghosh, Head of the Genomics and Molecular Medicine Unit, IGIB is proving just how useful the emerging field known as pharmacogenomics could be. Researching on the cause of asthma in India, his team, after examining over 700 patients, found that many genetic variations that are known to make people susceptible to asthma among European populations were not seen among Indians. They were also able to identify a novel gene that is associated with asthma among Indian patients. These would help them identify high-risk individuals and also advise them on preventive steps.
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Chad Robertson »

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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Neshant »

What happens if the dumb country doctors get their hands on gene-array chips, and start offering tests for stronger/smarter/beautiful/etc children?
Excellent view of that future from the movie Gattaca. India should get a head start on doing this kind of consulting for the west while the west struggles with the moral dilemma. Lets face it, its coming one way or another. People are conciously selecting traits they want when they seek out partners. Its the next step in human evolution :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok3YjypQ-84
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Neshant »

Wemos Film on Clinical Drug Trials in Developing Countries (India)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoMnvUyC ... embedded#!
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Mahendra »

Neshant wrote:
What happens if the dumb country doctors get their hands on gene-array chips, and start offering tests for stronger/smarter/beautiful/etc children?
Excellent view of that future from the movie Gattaca. India should get a head start on doing this kind of consulting for the west while the west struggles with the moral dilemma. Lets face it, its coming one way or another. People are conciously selecting traits they want when they seek out partners. Its the next step in human evolution :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok3YjypQ-84
The technology is prohibitively expensive and it is not likely that dumb country doctors will get their hands on it. Basic primary health care should be the main objective for dumb country doctors.
The rich will sooner or later find a way to have designer babies and it is more than likely that some Indian Whiz will pioneer the technology, but projecting from current trends it does not seem likely that designer babies will pass the ethical test. However like India is a hugely popular destination for firangis looking for a takeaway organ transplant centres, genetic engineering too will probably fall in the same category.

This moral dielmma of the west is pure eyewash, western companies fund clinical trials in developing countries with the aim of marketing the drug in the West first.
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Mahendra »

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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by sanjaykumar »

This is hype bereft of any intellectual advancement.
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Mahendra »

Same was said when the first plane was built
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by sanjaykumar »

Perhaps you can explain the significance of this 'achievement'?
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Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Mahendra »

Don't worry, it is indeed bereft of any intellectual advancement
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