Could an antibody from the blood of an Indian HIV patient help create the elusive HIV vaccine? (Antibody is an infection-fighting protein produced by our immune system when it detects harmful substances).

The hunt has begun to identify 100 volunteers belonging to a rare group of HIV infected patients who stay healthy for years without requiring life-saving antiretroviral treatment (ART). These antibodies in their blood are the ones that bars HIV from entering their blood cells and replicating, thereby progressing to AIDS.

Scientists say these antibodies would ultimately reveal the Achilles heel of the virus and help create the elusive vaccine. This is part of International Aids Vaccine Initiative's (IAVI) programme called Protocol G, a global hunt for such antibodies launched in 2006.

So far, blood samples of 1,800 such HIV patients have been screened across 12 countries and 19 broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAbs) have been identified. A bNAb is an antibody capable of stopping a variety of HIV subtypes from infecting their target cells.

"Only a minority of people who are infected with HIV produce bNAbs. Although HIV is a wildly mutable virus, certain parts of it are relatively resistant to change. These parts are essential to the virus's ability to infect, and they are the elements of HIV that bNAbs target," experts said.

Just a few weeks ago, department of biotechnology (DBT) cleared the proposal to roll out Protocol G in the country. It is being implemented by IAVI and YRG Care from Chennai - the same organization that isolated the first HIV case in India in 1986.

The blood samples collected from the 100 volunteers will be tested at Translational Health Sciences and Technology Institute (THSTI), which is being built in Gurgaon.

IAVI's India chief Dr Rajat Goyal told TOI that "This is a landmark project for India. We are presently identifying volunteers, who are at least 18 years, infected with HIV at least three years ago but has not received ART. By April, samples will be picked up and tested against a standard panel of HIV isolates by the end of 2012. We will then know whether there is a population of interest from whom these bNAb can be identified and characterized."

Careful study of bNAbs is expected to reveal vulnerabilities of the different types of HIV. Most importantly, scientists expect that they can use information about how bNAbs bind to HIV to construct immunogens - the active ingredients of vaccines - that elicit similar antibodies. The more such antibodies researchers have in hand, the more clues they can get about how best to target HIV with a vaccine.

The project has tested HIV patients in Thailand, the UK, the US, Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Australia and Zambia to identify bNAbs.

HIV infects 7,100 people daily. The quest to develop an AIDS vaccine has consumed scientists for 25 years since the discovery of HIV. Scientists say HIV is the most mutable virus ever encountered. A number of different subtypes of the virus, known as clades, circulate in different regions of the world. Within those clades there is considerable variability, and, beyond that, the virus mutates furiously within the people it has infected.

Second, because no one is known to have cleared an HIV infection, scientists do not know which elements of the immune response must be engaged to control the virus - and thus are uncertain how to replicate such responses.

The immune system has a very narrow window of opportunity in which to neutralize HIV before the virus establishes a lifelong infection.

Kills disease-causing parasite once it becomes infected

There may soon be a new weapon in the fight against malaria - a genetically-modified mosquito that kills the disease-causing parasite once it becomes infected.

Malaria is a leading cause of death worldwide. The mosquito-borne illness was responsible for 655,000 deaths in 2010, according to the latest World Health Organization figures, most of them, young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Researchers have genetically engineered mosquitoes to boost their immune system, thereby blocking transmission of the disease to humans.
The altered mosquitoes produce higher than normal levels of the immune system protein, Rel2. That activates a host of anti-parasitic molecules which, in turn, launch an all-out attack on the malaria parasite. The parasite enters the insect's gut after it takes a blood meal from infected humans.

"We're basically attacking the parasite with multiple weapons at the same time as it is infecting the mosquito, and that will much make it more difficult for this parasite to develop resistance," says George Dimopoulos at the Johns Hopkins University Malaria Research Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

So far, the genetically modified, or GM, mosquitoes are breeding and living as long as normal mosquitoes. Dimopoulos says that's good news because he hopes eventually to breed them with mosquitoes in the wild so off-spring are born with heightened immune systems.

While GM mosquitoes could be a powerful weapon against the dreaded disease Dimopoulos says it will remain only one tool in the fight against the deadly malaria parasite.

"Our approach, based on genetically-modified mosquitoes, will only work in areas where transmission of malaria is carried out by a single mosquito species and not multiple species of mosquitoes because we will not be able to genetically manipulate each one of them individually."

Dimopoulos's team worked with Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, the principal carrier of the malaria parasite in Africa. They are continuing research to see whether the genetic manipulation works on other species of mosquitos that transmit malaria parasites.

India has found a way to increase the number of doctors specifically to treat cancer. The Union health ministry will soon allow every professor of three disciplines - radiotherapy, medical oncology and surgical oncology - to teach three students as against the existing norm of two.

Besides, associate professors across all specialities will be allowed to take two students under their wing as against one as per the present norm. Assistant professors, who qualify to be associate professors, will also be allowed to take one student under their care.

A ministry official told TOI "The Medical Council of India has sent us these recommendations. We will clear the proposal, and ask MCI to notify the new rules this week itself."

In order to ramp up the country's skilled medical manpower, the government had come out with a similar notification in 2009. As against the average global norm of teacher-student ratio of 1:3 in post-graduate level, the ministry made it two students per one teacher. Till then, the teacher-student ratio in India was 1:1.

An official added, "The number of cancer cases is spiraling in India, but we don't have enough doctors to treat it. The new notifications would increase number of doctors by at least 5,000."

Doctors across 21 states will also soon get a one-year crash course in oncology, especially training in early detection of cancer and how to deliver chemotherapy. Cancer annually kills four lakhs Indians. In developing countries, cancer ranks third as a cause of death and accounts for 9.5% (3.8 million) of all mortality. Cancer is curable if detected early. The results of treatment in stage I and II (early stage) are about 80%. In late stage diseases (stage III and IV), the results are less than 20%.

In India, about 70% patients are in advanced stage, and are difficult to treat. By 2015, the number of new cases is expected to cross 15 lakhs. Among Indian males, lung, head and neck cancer are most common and among women, breast and cervical cancer are most frequent.

According to the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer announced in June, 2010, 65 tertiary cancer centres that would carry out screening, biopsy and treatment of cancer will be set up in 21 states.

According to the ministry, there are about 2.8 million cases of cancer in India at any given time and more than half a million patients die due to cancer every year. The ministry is giving Rs 1 crore to each district hospital to provide free chemotherapy to 100 patients. It will give Rs 100 crore (an estimated cost of chemotherapy per patient per year being Rs 1 lakh) to the 100 shortlisted district hospitals to provide free chemotherapy.

Eating a highfat diet even for a short period may change the brain in ways that makes it harder to lose weight, a new study has found.

In experiments on rodents, a team from the University of Washington School of Medicine found that when placed on a high-fat diet, animals developed injuries to a brain area called hypothalamus that controls the urge to eat and sends signals to stop eating when full. Signs of similar damage in the same brain area in obese people have also been found, the researcher said.

"Within 24 hours of switching rodents to a highfat diet, we found injury in the hypothalamus area," study co-author Michael Schwartz, an endocrinologist at the University said.

According to the researchers , obesity causes inflammation in the tissues and organs. This isn't the same type of inflammation you get during an allergic reaction. Instead it's a low level of inflammation that persists in the body.

The team speculated that obesity might be linked with inflammation in the hypothalamus , "which may prevent it from responding to hormones like insulin that regulate our body weight" , said co-author Joshua Thaler.

Consumption of drugs will shoot up this New Year eve, says a survey. Disposable incomes, availability of drugs, pressure to succeed and disjointed families are likely to lead to higher consumption in the age group of 16-30 years, according to the survey conducted in cities like Ahmedabad, Goa, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Chennai by Assocham Social Development Foundation (ASDF). The findings indicate an almost 100% increase in consumption of drugs in the last 10 years.

The survey of more than 3,000 teenagers found that most of them initially took to drugs to be at par with their peer groups. But, there are many others who say they resorted to drugs as they feel that the intoxicating effect of the drugs sways them away from the tensions of day-to-day life.

"There are at least five places in Ahmedabad where my friends and I get our required dose of drugs from. Drugs like hash and weed is available for as low as Rs 50 a pouch. The price goes up a bit during festive season. I first tried drugs three years ago and it has become a habit now. Most of my friends have taken to drugs to beat stress, get over break-ups and to improve concentration during exams," said Amit Patel (name changed), a third-year engineering student.

"Use of party drugs among youth is very high. Usually, upper class adolescents take this, mostly, girls get influenced by these drugs and they think party drugs are cool, naughty and fashionable," added the survey.

Majority of the respondent believe that only marijuana and heroin are dangerous, while party drugs would just give a high without causing any side effects, which is wrong, according to the survey. The physical effects might be mild in the beginning but later it causes nausea, loss of consciousness, loss of reflexes and impaired breathing.

It is estimated that, in metros, by the time boys reach the 11th grade, about 65% of them have tried at least one of the drugs, said DS Rawat, secretary general, Assocham. The survey also says that 56% of BPO employees consume drugs excessively, at least five to six times in a month. It also indicates that call centre workers are at higher risk because of the size of the salaries they are receiving at a relatively young age. About one in 10 call centre workers smoke drugs during work hours.

The survey further stressed that the professional counseling, workshops, educative film shows in order to create awareness on effects of bad habits.