Disease | Jotup

Kourtney Kardashian Barker isn’t the first to drink breast milk – but we know surprisingly little about its adult health benefits

Retrieved on:

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Her comment attracted shock, horror and disgust from many social media users, but it’s not the first time Kardashian Barker has used her milk as medicine.

Key Points:

Her comment attracted shock, horror and disgust from many social media users, but it’s not the first time Kardashian Barker has used her milk as medicine.
In 2013, she applied her breast milk to her sister Kim Kardashian’s leg in an effort to heal a patch of psoriasis.
But by drinking her own breast milk, the eldest Kardashian sister helped promote a health trend already steeped in centuries of medical history.
One thing that is not recommended by any health organisation is adult consumption of human milk.

History of human milk as medicine

Many healers of the day also recommended treating eye infections with human milk, which was known as “whitened blood”.
We know that human milk contains many components which can be effective as antimicrobials – lactoferrin and antimicrobial peptides, for example.

Bodybuilders think breast is best

Human milk is also used by some bodybuilders to lose fat and bulk up.
This has created an online marketplace allowing easy access to breast milk.
The 2020 Netflix series (Un)Well featured an episode focused on the safety and ethics of breast milk for bodybuilding.

Lack of research into potential benefits

Considering human milk feeds most of the world’s population for the first six months of their life, it is a surprisingly understudied area.
Researchers have shown preliminary evidence that specific components of human milk could have antimicrobial activity against pathogens that infect adults.
If she does, there are many human milk banks in her native California that would welcome her donation.

Simon Cameron receives funding from UK Research and Innovation for work related to human milk microbiology and composition.

R21 anti-malaria vaccine is a game changer: scientist who helped design it reflects on 30 years of research, and what it promises

Retrieved on:

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Until three years ago nobody had developed a vaccine against any parasitic disease. Now there are two against malaria: the RTS,S and the R21 vaccines. Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford and chief investigator for the R21 vaccine, tells Nadine Dreyer why he thinks this is a great era for malaria control.What makes malaria such a difficult disease to beat?Our hominoid predecessors were being infected by malaria parasites tens of millions of years ago, so these parasites had a lot of practice at clever tricks to escape immune systems long before we came along.

Key Points:

Until three years ago nobody had developed a vaccine against any parasitic disease. Now there are two against malaria: the RTS,S and the R21 vaccines. Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford and chief investigator for the R21 vaccine, tells Nadine Dreyer why he thinks this is a great era for malaria control.

What makes malaria such a difficult disease to beat?

Our hominoid predecessors were being infected by malaria parasites tens of millions of years ago, so these parasites had a lot of practice at clever tricks to escape immune systems long before we came along.
Additionally, the malaria parasite goes through four life cycle stages.
Medical researchers have been trying to make malaria vaccines for over 100 years.

How does the R21/Matrix-M vaccine work?

An antigen is any substance that causes the body to make an immune response against that substance.
We targeted the sporozoites, which is the form that the mosquito inoculates into your skin.
Read more:
Two new malaria vaccines are being rolled out across Africa: how they work and what they promise

A child dies every minute from malaria in Africa. Why are children more susceptible than adults?

The age you’re most likely to die of malaria in Africa is when you are one year old.
For the first six months you are protected largely by your mother’s immunity and the antibodies she transfers during pregnancy.
Without malaria, children would be healthier in general — the disease makes you susceptible to other infections.

What about the pace of vaccine rollouts?

We’ve been disappointed that it’s taken more than six months to roll out the R21 vaccine since it was approved in October last year.
Compare that to a COVID-19 vaccine from Oxford and AstraZeneca that was approved on New Year’s Eve 2020 and rolled out in several countries the very next week.

How big a role will vaccines have in the fight to eradicate malaria?

Nobody is quite sure how many of the older tools such as insecticides and bed nets we need to carry on with.
Anti-malaria medication only lasts for days and parasites are building up resistance against these drugs as well.
There are about 40 million children born every year in malaria areas in Africa who would benefit from a vaccine.
The Serum Institute of India, our manufacturing and commercial partner, can produce hundreds of millions of doses each year.

Adrian Hill receives funding from government and charitable funders of malaria vaccine development. He has received funding awarded to the University of Oxford from the Serum Institute of India to support clinical trials of the R21/Matrix-M vaccine. He may benefit for a share of any royalty stream to Oxford University from the vaccine.

Ancient nomads you’ve probably never heard of disappeared from Europe 1,000 years ago. Now, DNA analysis reveals how they lived

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Thursday, April 25, 2024

Health, Marriage, Down syndrome, Sibling, Cohesion (computer science), Disease, Chronology, Genetics, Society, Research, DNA, Female, Max Planck Society, Woman, Male, European Research Council, Byzantines

For centuries, our main sources of information have been pottery sherds, burial sites and ancient texts.

Key Points:

For centuries, our main sources of information have been pottery sherds, burial sites and ancient texts.
But the study of ancient DNA is changing what we know about the human past, and what we can know.

Who were the Avars?

The Avars were a nomadic people originating from eastern central Asia. From the 6th to the 9th century CE, they wielded power over much of eastern central Europe.

The Avars are renowned among archaeologists for their distinctive belt garnitures, but their broader legacy has been overshadowed by predecessors such as the Huns.
Nevertheless, Avar burial sites provide invaluable insights into their customs and way of life.

Kinship patterns, social practices and population dynamics

We combined ancient DNA data with archaeological, anthropological and historical context.
As a result, we have been able to reconstruct extensive pedigrees, shedding light on kinship patterns, social practices and population dynamics of this enigmatic period.

We sampled all available human remains from four fully excavated Avar-era cemeteries, including those at Rákóczifalva and Hajdúnánás in what is now Hungary. This resulted in a meticulous analysis of 424 individuals. Around 300 of these individuals had close relatives buried in the same cemetery. This allowed us to reconstruct multiple extensive pedigrees spanning up to nine generations and 250 years.

Communities were organised around main fathers’ lines

Our results suggest Avar society ran on a strict system of descent through the father’s line (patrilineal descent).
In contrast, women played a crucial role in fostering social ties by marrying outside their family’s community.
Our study also revealed a transition in the main line of descent within Rákóczifalva, when one pedigree took over from another.
Our results show an apparent genetic continuity can mask the replacement of entire communities.

Future direction of research

Our study, carried out with researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, is part of a larger project called HistoGenes funded by the European Research Council. This project shows we can use ancient DNA to examine entire communities, rather than just individuals. We think there is a lot more we can learn.

Now we aim to deepen our understanding of ancestral Avar society by expanding our research over a wider geographical area within the Avar realm.
Additionally, we plan to study evidence of pathogens and disease among the individuals in this research, to understand more about their health and lives.
Another avenue of research is improving the dating of Avar sites.

Bunbury receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) (project number CE170100015).
Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 856453.

Parrot fever cases amid a ‘mysterious’ pneumonia outbreak in Argentina – what you need to know about psittacosis

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

This is how the yet-to-be-named disease COVID-19 was first described when a cluster of cases was identified in Wuhan, China.

Key Points:

This is how the yet-to-be-named disease COVID-19 was first described when a cluster of cases was identified in Wuhan, China.
This term is being used again to describe a cluster of “atypical” pneumonia cases in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Some cases of psittacosis, also known as “parrot fever”, have been confirmed within this cluster.
Psittacosis, or parrot fever, is caused by bacteria called Chlamydia psittaci, and is a common infection in birds.
A 2017 systematic review concluded that around 1% of pneumonia cases not acquired in a hospital may be the result of psittacosis.

There are often local respiratory infectious disease outbreaks, potentially causing severe pneumonia, and these do not spread more widely or internationally.
At the time of writing this article, there is very little information available about the Argentina outbreak.
There has been no statement from the public health authorities in Argentina, nor the WHO Pan America Health Organisation.
Among the key pieces of information we really would need to know is the likelihood of human-to-human transmission.

Michael Head has previously received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development, and currently receives funding from the UK Medical Research Foundation.

Two new malaria vaccines are being rolled out across Africa: how they work and what they promise

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Malaria incidents are on the rise. There were 249 million cases of this parasitic disease in 2022, five million more than in 2021. Africa suffers more than any other region from malaria, with 94% of cases and 95% of deaths worldwide. This year two revolutionary malaria vaccines are being rolled out across the continent. Nadine Dreyer asks Jaishree Raman if 2024 will be the year the continent takes a significant leap towards beating the disease.The RTS,S malaria vaccineThe long-awaited vaccine was described as a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control.

Key Points:

Malaria incidents are on the rise. There were 249 million cases of this parasitic disease in 2022, five million more than in 2021. Africa suffers more than any other region from malaria, with 94% of cases and 95% of deaths worldwide. This year two revolutionary malaria vaccines are being rolled out across the continent. Nadine Dreyer asks Jaishree Raman if 2024 will be the year the continent takes a significant leap towards beating the disease.

The RTS,S malaria vaccine

The long-awaited vaccine was described as a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control.
It is being aimed at children under the age of 5, who make up about 80% of all malaria deaths in Africa.
Among children aged 5 and 17 months who received 4 doses of RTS,S, the vaccine prevented about 30% of them from developing severe malaria.
Since 2019 more than 2 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have been vaccinated with the RTS,S malaria vaccine.

R21/Matrix M

The R21 vaccine is a significant improvement on the RTS,S vaccine, with 75% efficacy over a year.
The R21/Matrix M vaccine is very cost-effective, projected to retail at $2-$4 a dose, comparable in price to other childhood vaccines used in Africa.
These very encouraging findings prompted several malaria-endemic African countries, including Ghana and Nigeria, to approve use of the R21/Matrix M vaccine well before the World Health Organization.
The WHO finally approved and prequalified R21/Matrix M for use in the last quarter of 2023.

No silver bullet

While the fight against malaria has been significantly bolstered by the availability of these vaccines, they are not the silver bullets that are going to get us to an Africa free of malaria.
This will be the year that many vulnerable young African children will have access to not one, but two malaria vaccines.

Jaishree Raman receives funding from the Global Fund, the Gates Foundation, the South Africa Research Trust, the South African Medical Research Council, the National Research Foundation, and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. She is affiliated with the Wits Research Institute for Malaria, University of Witwatersrand, and the Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control, the University of Pretoria.

Type 2 diabetes is not one-size-fits-all: Subtypes affect complications and treatment options

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Friday, April 19, 2024

You may have heard of Ozempic, the “miracle drug” for weight loss, but did you know that it was actually designed as a new treatment to manage diabetes?

Key Points:

You may have heard of Ozempic, the “miracle drug” for weight loss, but did you know that it was actually designed as a new treatment to manage diabetes?
In Canada, diabetes affects approximately 10 per cent of the general population.

Locks and keys

Every cell in the body needs sugar as an energy source, but too much sugar can be toxic to cells.
This equilibrium needs to be tightly controlled and is regulated by a lock and key system.
Cells cover themselves with locks that respond perfectly to insulin keys to facilitate the entry of sugar into cells.
The body can encounter difficulties producing an adequate number of insulin keys, and/or the locks can become stubborn and unresponsive to insulin.

Severe insulin-deficient diabetes: We’re missing keys!

In the severe insulin-deficient diabetes (SIDD) subtype, the key factories — the beta cells — are on strike.
Why the beta cells go on strike remains largely unknown, but since there is an insulin deficiency, treatment often involves insulin injections.

Severe insulin-resistant diabetes: But it’s always locked!

In the severe insulin-resistant diabetes (SIRD) subtype, the locks are overstimulated and start ignoring the keys.
There are many treatment avenues for these patients but no consensus about the optimal approach; patients often require high doses of insulin.

Mild obesity-related diabetes: The locks are sticky!

Mild obesity-related (MOD) diabetes represents a nuanced aspect of Type 2 diabetes, often observed in individuals with higher body weight.
The locks are “sticky,” so it is challenging for the key to click in place and open the lock.

Mild age-related diabetes: I’m tired of controlling blood sugar!

Mild age-related diabetes (MARD) happens more often in older people and typically starts later in life. With time, the key factory is not as productive, and the locks become stubborn. People with MARD find it tricky to manage their blood sugar, but it usually doesn’t lead to severe complications. Among the different subtypes of diabetes, MARD is the most common.

Unique locks, varied keys

In Canada, unique cases of Type 2 diabetes were identified in Indigenous children from Northern Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario by Dr. Heather Dean and colleagues in the 1980s and 90s.
Read more:
Indigenous community research partnerships can help address health inequities
Childhood-onset Type 2 diabetes is on the rise across Canada, but disproportionately affects Indigenous youth.
Acknowledging this distinct subtype of Type 2 diabetes in First Nations communities has led to the implementation of a community-based health action plan aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples.

A mosaic of conditions

Type 2 diabetes is not uniform; it’s a mosaic of conditions, each with its own characteristics.
Since diabetes presents so uniquely in every patient, even categorizing into subtypes does not guarantee how the disease will evolve.

Lili Grieco-St-Pierre receives funding from Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS). Jennifer Bruin receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), JDRF, Diabetes Canada.

Good news: midlife health is about more than a waist measurement. Here’s why

Retrieved on:

Friday, April 19, 2024

During the appointment they measure your waist.

Key Points:

During the appointment they measure your waist.
GPs and health professionals commonly measure waist circumference as a vital sign for health.
Men are at greatly increased risk of health issues if their waist circumference is greater than 102 centimetres.
More than two-thirds of Australian adults have waist measurements that put them at an increased risk of disease.

How much is too much?

A ratio of 0.6 or more places a person at the highest risk of disease.
This can kick off a discussion about their risk of chronic diseases and how they might address this.
For women, hormone levels begin changing in mid-life and this also stimulates increased fat levels particularly around the abdomen.
Finally, your family history and genetics can make you predisposed to gaining more abdominal fat.

Why the waist?

Visceral fat surrounds and infiltrates major organs such as the liver, pancreas and intestines, releasing a variety of chemicals (hormones, inflammatory signals, and fatty acids).
These affect inflammation, lipid metabolism, cholesterol levels and insulin resistance, contributing to the development of chronic illnesses.

In addition to the direct effects of hormone changes, declining levels of oestrogen change brain function, mood and motivation.
These psychological alterations can result in reduced physical activity and increased eating – often of comfort foods high in sugar and fat.
And importantly, the waist circumference (and ratio to height) is just one measure of human health.

Muscle matters

On current evidence, it is equally or more important for health and longevity to have higher muscle mass and better cardiorespiratory (aerobic) fitness than waist circumference within the healthy range.
So, if a person does have an excessive waist circumference, but they are also sedentary and have less muscle mass and aerobic fitness, then the recommendation would be to focus on an appropriate exercise program.
Conversely, a person with low visceral fat levels is not necessarily fit and healthy and may have quite poor aerobic fitness, muscle mass, and strength.

Getting moving is important advice

Exercise can counter a lot of the negative behavioural and physiological changes that are occurring during midlife including for people going through menopause.
And regular exercise reduces the tendency to use food and drink to help manage what can be a quite difficult time in life.
Measuring your waist circumference and monitoring your weight remains important.

Rob Newton receives funding from National Health and Medical Research Council, the Medical Research Future Fund, Cancer Council Western Australia, Spinal Cord Injuries Australia and the World Cancer Research Fund. Rob Newton is a board member of The Healthy Male.

Draft guideline on good agricultural and collection practice (GACP) for starting materials of herbal origin - Revision 1

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Thursday, April 18, 2024

Reproduction, SCOPE, Eating, Pesticide, Convention, Change control, Confusion, Alkaloid, Climate, Fungus, Directive (European Union), Ethylene oxide, Wind, Wood, Glass, European Medicines Agency, HMPS, QDG, Hygiene, Water, Marketing, Fertilizer, Legislation, Manure, Distillation, Risk, Education, Committee, Compost, Draft, Policy, Person, EMA, Seed, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, Collection, Freezing, GMP, Risk assessment, GACP, Sunlight, Fermentation, Personal protective equipment, Animal, Herbal, Herbicide, Weather, INTRODUCTION, Documentation, Regeneration, Decontamination, EudraLex, Disease, International trade, European Pharmacopoeia, Part, Livestock, Public, Inhalation, Knowledge, Seedling, Factorization of polynomials, Record, Plant, Skin, API, Irrigation, Part Two, Soil, Directive, Pharmacopoeia, Codex, Guideline, Temperature, Attention, Hydrocarbon, Pyrrolizidine alkaloid, Polychlorinated biphenyl, Growth, Rotation, Incineration, Environment, Humidity, Smell, Ventilation, Light, Bird, Mineral, Fumigation, Pyrrolizidine, SOP, Housing, Smoking, Atmosphere, Postharvest, Rain, Liver, QWP, Medicinal plants

REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................... 14

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REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................... 14
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Guideline on Good Agricultural and Collection Practice (GACP) for starting materials of herbal origin
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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This guideline on Good Agricultural and Collection Practice (GACP) for starting materials of herbal origin

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1.
Due to the inherent
complexity of medicinal plants and herbal substances the quality of these starting materials requires an
adequate quality assurance system for the collection and/or cultivation, harvest, and primary
processing.
(either outdoor, indoor or in greenhouses) should be carefully considered, since each of the mentioned
types could have several problems and advantages.
The used cultivation method may be dependent on
the final application of the herbal medicinal product.
primary processing of herbal substances that are used for the preparation of herbal medicinal products.
medicinal plants and herbal substances, ensuring that they are handled appropriately throughout all
stages of cultivation, collection, processing and storage.
their preparations are exposed to a large number of environmental contaminants of both biotic and
abiotic origin.
to existing wildlife habitats and must adhere to CITES (Convention on International Trade in
Endangered species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
https://health.ec.europa.eu/document/download/bd537ccf-9271-4230-bca1-2d...
4 https://health.ec.europa.eu/document/download/fd318dd6-2404-4e67-82b0232...
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Where possible, stable varieties and cultivars naturally
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resistant or tolerant to disease should preferably be used.
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The application should be carried out only by qualified staff using approved equipment.
The following should be noted:
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Damaged plants or plant parts need to be excluded or limited in accordance with a specific
pharmacopoeia monograph, where relevant.
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directly to the sun (except in cases where there is a specific need) and must be protected from
rainfall, insect infestation, etc.
The label must be clear, permanently fixed and made from
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Reflection paper on the use of fumigants (EMEA/HMPC/125562/2006)

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non-toxic material.
Certain exudates that have not been subjected to a specific treatment are
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also considered to be herbal substances.
European Pharmacopoeia General Monograph ?HERBAL DRUGS? 07/2017:1433
Are obtained by subjecting herbal substances to treatments such as
extraction, distillation, expression, fractionation, purification, concentration
or fermentation.

Orphan designation: Recombinant adeno-associated viral vector serotype S3 containing codon-optimised expression cassette encoding human coagulation factor IX variant Treatment of haemophilia B, 26/10/2018 Withdrawn

Retrieved on:

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Orphan designation: Recombinant adeno-associated viral vector serotype S3 containing codon-optimised expression cassette encoding human coagulation factor IX variant Treatment of haemophilia B, 26/10/2018 Withdrawn

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Orphan designation: Recombinant adeno-associated viral vector serotype S3 containing codon-optimised expression cassette encoding human coagulation factor IX variant Treatment of haemophilia B, 26/10/2018 Withdrawn

Orphan designation: branaplam Treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, 16/04/2018 Withdrawn

Retrieved on:

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Orphan designation: branaplam Treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, 16/04/2018 Withdrawn

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Orphan designation: branaplam Treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, 16/04/2018 Withdrawn