Cow’s milk – an unlikely HIV/AIDS
cure?
A
study has claimed that antibodies from cow’s milk that protect against HIV can
be potentially developed into affordable creams that can help protect humans
against the infection. Dr Marit Kramski from Melbourne University found that
when pregnant cows were vaccinated with a HIV protein, they produced high
antibodies against the disease in their colostrum – the first milk produced
after giving birth to a calf.
The
antibodies bind to the HIV virus and inhibit the virus from entering human
cells, Dr Kramski and her colleagues discovered.
‘We
think the antibodies bind to the surface of the virus and block the protein
which needs to be freed to get in contact with human cells — like a key and
lock system. If the key’s not accessible or you change the key, you can’t open
the door,’ Kramski said. Dr Kramski said that the method can generate up to one
kilogram of antibodies from a single cow leading to an affordable prevention
treatment for HIV. ‘It’s a very cheap and easy way to produce a lot of
antibodies,’ she added.
The
next step would be to test the effectiveness and safety of the milk before
developing the antibodies into a cream that could be inserted in the vagina
allowing women to protect themselves against contracting the virus during sex.
‘We
have the antibodies at the moment — the next step will be formulation,’ Kramski
said. ‘A lot of women, especially in Africa or South America, don’t have the
power to say you need to use a condom before we have sex. The cream would give
women the power to protect themselves,’ she added. ‘This milk looks like it can
be a cheap, easy new prevention tool, because if you use drugs it’s really
expensive,’ she said. Dr Kramski developed the milk in association with
Australian biotechnology company Immuron Ltd.
Source: http://health.india.com
18.10.2012
Alcoholic women have
shorter lifespans
According
to German researchers, the annual death rates of alcohol-dependent women are
460 percent higher than the non-drinking general population while male
alcoholics have a 190 percent higher death rate than the general population.
‘Clinical
data has revealed a higher proportion of individuals who have died than among
the general population of the same age,’ explained Ulrich John, professor of
epidemiology and social medicine at the University of Greifswald.
John
and colleagues gathered a random sample of 4,070 respondents aged between 18
and 64 years. Of them, 153 were identified as alcohol dependent (AD). Of these,
149 (119 males, 30 females) were followed for 14 years.
‘Gender-specific
data is rare, even among clinical samples. Furthermore, these studies have two
main limitations,’ adds John, according to the journal Alcoholism: Clinical
& Experimental Research.
‘First,
we know that only a minority of AD individuals receive treatment. We lack
knowledge about how this selection occurs. Second, we have no evidence about
the potential effects of specialized alcoholism treatment on mortality among
people who had been diagnosed AD,’ says John, according to a University
Medicine statement.
‘We
would like to know whether treatment might enhance survival time. For ethical
reasons, no controlled trials are possible. Thus, longitudinal descriptive data
as in this study are helpful,’ says John, study co-author. John adds that
Germany is well-suited for this kind of research since it is mandatory for
residents to provide vital status data.
‘Our
data are also of international interest because researchers used the Composite
International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), which is an internationally and
widely accepted instrument,’ he said.
Source: http://health.india.com
18.10.2012
Attempt the
impossible in order to improve your work
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