Preliminary results from a large-scale Phase III trial of RTS,S show that the malaria vaccine candidate can provide young African children with significant protection against clinical and severe malaria.

The results were announced Wednesday at a malaria forum hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle.

The trial, conducted at 11 trial sites in seven countries across sub-Saharan Africa, showed that three doses of RTS,S reduced the risk of children experiencing clinical malaria and severe malaria by 56 percent and 47 percent, respectively. This analysis was performed on data from the first 6,000 children aged 5 to 17 months, over a 12-month period following vaccination.

Clinical malaria results in high fevers and chills. It can rapidly develop into severe malaria, typified by serious effects on the blood, brain or kidneys that can prove fatal.

The results were also published online Tuesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. The clinical trial is scheduled to continue through 2014 and will include tests on more than 15,000 children, from infancy on up.

"This potentially translates into tens of millions of malaria cases in children being averted," Tsiri Agbenyega, who heads malaria research at a Ghanaian hospital that was one of the 11 research sites, said during a conference call from Seattle. "This is remarkable when you consider there has never been a successful vaccine against" a parasite.

"The results are encouraging, but we still have a way to go," said Agbenyega.

Half the world's population is at risk of malaria. The disease is responsible for close to 800,000 deaths each year, most of whom are children under five in sub-Saharan Africa.

It is far harder to make a vaccine against parasites like malaria than to make one against a virus. The malaria parasite changes shape as it moves from blood to liver and back to the blood, and each form has different surface proteins.

The dengue count has crossed 2,500 cases and 25 patients have died because of the vector-borne disease. Authorities of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital confirmed that 20 patients have died.

While three patients have died in Christian Medical College and Hospital, two have succumbed to the disease in SPS Apollo Hospital.

However, the health department officials continue to play ostrich and admit that only 200 patients have been admitted in the city. They deny that any patient has died yet.

The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, recently conducted a study on 14 fresh fruits and 120-130 foods so as to compile a database on the antioxidant activity on most commonly consumed foods in India.

The study was conducted on most commonly consumed fresh fruits in India such as guava, pine-apple, Indian plum, mango (ripe), apple, chiku, watermelon, custard apple, grapes (green), orange, papaya (ripe), pomegranate, sweet lime and banana.

"This was the first-of-its kind research carried and interestingly, out of 14 fresh fruits, we found that mango and guava were rich in antioxidants," Dr Sreeramulu, scientist, endocrinology and metabolism division, NIN, Hyderabad, informed FnB News in a telephonic talk.

Ramulu said that the data available on most commonly consumed foods and fresh fruits were scanty on antioxidant activity (AOA) that had also received less attention so far in the country, hence it was pertinent to determine the AOA in such foods.

He said that the findings were quite interesting as the research indicated that fruits which were rich sources of nutrition and that were rich in antioxidants helped scavenge the free radicals that destroy tissues.

In the study, guava came in at the top with antioxidant activity ranging from as high as 496 mg/100 gm to as low as 22 mg/100 gm in pineapple. He further said that antioxidants play a crucial role in preventing cellular damage which was the most common reason for ageing, cancer and other degenerative diseases.

Initially for the study, three samples of each variety of fresh fruit were purchased from each of the three local markets, pooled and considered as a single sample of that market. Total quantity of each pooled sample was 250-300 gm. Adequate care was then taken to avoid unripe, damaged and overripe fruits.

Fruits purchased from the market were cleaned and edible portions were cut into small pieces and extracted with acidified aqueous methanol. Briefly, edible portions of total sample were powdered in a domestic blender where fresh fruits were directly taken into polytron homogeniser and extracted. Extraction and analysis of antioxidant activity and total phenolic content was done separately in three market samples.
Ramulu mentioned that epidemiological studies suggest that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables was associated with a lower risk of degenerative diseases and that the current lifestyle caused overproduction of free radicals and reactive oxygen species.
Therefore, natural antioxidants protect from oxidative stress and associated diseases and play an important role in healthcare whereby, plant foods were the primary source of natural antioxidants. Fruits and vegetables are important dietary sources of antioxidant polyphenols to humans.

"As compared to fresh fruits, polyphenolic content and AOA of dryfruits are expected to be high due to their low moisture content with increased shelf life. In recent times, natural antioxidants have attracted considerable interest among nutritionists, food manufacturers and consumers because of their presumed safety and potential therapeutic value," he pointed out.

The number of people falling ill with tuberculosis has declined for the first time, according to the World Health Organization.

New figures show the global death toll has also fallen, to its lowest level in a decade, with major headway made in China, Brazil, Kenya and Tanzania.

But the WHO warns that a lack of funds threatens progress, especially in relation to multi-drug resistant TB.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said there was no cause for complacency.

According to the WHO, the figures represent a significant milestone in the battle against a disease that infects one third of the world's population, although only a small proportion become sick as a result.

The number of people who died from tuberculosis peaked at 1.8 million people in 2003; by 2010 this had declined to 1.4 million.
Challenges ahead

Spectacular progress was made in China, said the WHO, where the death rate fell by almost 80% between 1990 and 2010. In Kenya and Tanzania there has also been a substantial decline in the last decade after a peak linked to the HIV epidemic.

"This is major progress. But it is no cause for complacency," the UN Secretary-General said in a statement.

"Too many millions still develop TB each year, and too many die. I urge serious and sustained support for TB prevention and care, especially for the world's poorest and most vulnerable people."

Money is the key to the current progress, said the WHO, particularly domestic funding in larger countries like Brazil.

But the organisation warned that substantial challenges lie ahead, with a projected gap in funding of $1bn for 2012.

Another problem is the multi-drug resistant form of the disease.

A new rapid test is revolutionising diagnosis but there is a concern that only a small percentage of the people diagnosed with multi-drug resistant TB are receiving treatment.

Researchers say thinness inherited by children

Children whose parents are thin are three times more likely to be slim than children whose parents are overweight, a British study suggests.

Children and teens who are apparently healthy can be categorized as underweight in developed countries, and parents are often concerned about how to feed a son or daughter who is thin. Researchers at University College London did the first known study to investigate how thinness might be transmitted between generations.Researchers at University College London did the first known study to investigate how thinness might be transmitted between generations. Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters

But low weight may simply represent the low end of the healthy distribution of weight.

To find out more, researchers at University College London did the first known study to investigate how thinness might be transmitted between generations.

The study in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine showed a strong family influence on pediatric thinness, based on the results of a health survey from 2001-06 that measured heights and weights of 7,000 families.

Lead author Dr. Katriina Whitaker of UCL Epidemiology & Public Health and her co-authors found:

When both parents were in the thinner half of the healthy weight range, the chance of the child being thin was 16.2 per cent.
7.8 per cent when both parents were in the upper half of the healthy weight range.
5.3 per cent with two overweight parents.
2.5 per cent for children with two obese parents.

About 5.7 per cent or 402 of the 7,078 children and teenagers in the study were categorized as thin according to the International Obesity Task Force.

The study suggests children of thinner parents are likely to be genetically predisposed to have a lower body weight.

'As long as thinner infants stay on track ... and especially if their parents are thin, there may be no cause for concern regarding the weight of those children and adolescents and no need for parents to change their feeding practices,' the study's authors concluded.

This study was funded by a grant from Cancer Research UK.