Prevention is Better than CureWritten by Brenda Townsend Hall
Scientists at Imperial College, London, point way to stopping malaria at its source: mosquitoMalaria remains one of world's most intransigent diseases, causing suffering and posing serious threats to development in some of world's poorest countries. Transmitted through bite of a female mosquito (Anopheles stephensi), it affects more than 300 million people and causes more than one million deaths each year, 90 percent of which occur in Africa. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), most of these deaths are among children under age of five. Pregnant women are also especially vulnerable to this disease, which is increasingly resistant to drugs used to treat it. Malaria is characterised by WHO as 'both a disease of poverty and a cause of poverty'. As no effective vaccination been developed and none is on horizon, situation seems to hold little promise for those whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by disease. Now progress in field of genetics has led scientists from Imperial College, London, to map means by which it could be eradicated - not by treatment but by prevention. Genetically modified mosquitoes that do not transmit malaria were first bred under laboratory conditions three years ago. The hope has been that such a strain, if released into wild, would become absorbed into native population and spread gene that stops transmission of malaria parasite, thus transforming insects from 'disease carriers to disease fighters.' Unfortunately this hope has so far been thwarted. It seems that transgenic mosquitoes do not have clout to dominate over their wild relatives. On contrary, they quickly die out if they breed freely with their unmodified counterparts. The Imperial College Study, in which transgenic mosquitoes were mated with unmodified insects showed that beneficial gene was lost over course of between 4 and 16 generations. Given short life-cycle of insects, this represents only a very slight time span. Infinite numbers of mosquitoes would therefore need to be released in a particular place to give them a hope of replacing wild, parasite-riddled varieties - meaning that scale and cost of such an activity would probably be prohibitive. However, scientists involved in project, which is funded by Wellcome Trust, are confident that what has been learnt points way ahead. Now they have to carry out feasibility studies and look at costs involved to see if they can find solutions to problems they have encountered. Surmounting these difficulties would make possible not just a malaria-free future but would also allow similar techniques to be applied in fighting yellow fever and dengue. The obstacle race Professor Andrea Crisanti, who has recently jointly published a paper on these studies, acknowledges that further work is needed on molecular genetics of problem: 'an increasingly important challenge is to study population biology of transformed mosquitoes and understand how a beneficial gene can be driven through a wild population,' he says. He recognises too that public concern over genetic modification in general means that environmental and bio-safety aspects of work will play an important role. The population studies being undertaken by himself and his team will be essential to regulatory processes associated with such issues.
| | When your doctor asks, “What Medications are you Taking,” Do You Truly Know?Written by Lena Sanchez
When your doctor asks, "What Medications are you Taking," Do You Truly Know? © By Lena SanchezWhat if you don't need heart medication and you are getting it anyway? How about blood pressure medication, maybe birth control? Think about consequences! If you are drinking or bathing in tap water you may be getting prescriptions prescribed for someone else and you won't ever know it! The pharmacist isn't messing up nor your doctor, read on and see what prescriptions you are really taking! If you are having health problems and drinking or bathing in Tap water, could good old water be culprit? May be! A 2000 U.S. government analysis showed nation's waterways are awash in chemicals used in beauty aids, medications, cleaners, and foods. Among substances found were caffeine, contraceptives, painkillers, insect repellent, perfumes, and nicotine. How much? All they know for sure it's unacceptable levels! That was 2 one-half years ago and more have been added since? Scientists say problem is that these substances largely escape regulation and defy municipal wastewater treatment facilities. All long-term effects of exposure are still unclear and there are not many studies being done to find out. The few studies that have been published are not good news! Compounds of all kinds, and more being added daily, are sold on supermarket shelves and found in virtually every medicine cabinet and broom closet as well as at farms and factories. And they are flushed or rinsed down drain every day. But they do not disappear or break up, researchers warns. Having worked in medical offices for twenty plus years I can attest that this does happen... We were taught to flush outdated medications down toilet. We all assume our government local, federal and state will have something to clean our water. Boy what ostriches we are sticking our heads in sand. I can only regret my actions that contributed to this problem and will absolutely never do it again... Look at all medical offices and thousands and millions of outdated medications, in each office, dumped into your tap water? Not a pretty thought! This is first generation to be raised with such horrendous chemical dangers and we still do not know whole affect that is being put upon us. My grandmother always said, "Better to be safe than sorry." I thought she was just old but you know she was smarter than I gave her credit for. Now it's my turn to pass on wisdom gained by age. But at least I have lived to age because my childhood was free of poisons that my children and grandchildren have been and are subjected to daily! Are you and everyone in your family going to be so lucky? Not unless you watch what goes into and on your body! What some say is good for us isn't! A study, from Journal of Brain Research Vol. 784, 1998, indicates that low levels of fluoride in drinking water of animals - equal to amount of fluoride found in fluorinated water systems- causes damage to brain tissue, similar to pathological changes found in humans with Alzheimer¹s and other severe forms of dementia.
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