With three more people dying due to Encephalitis since yesterday, the death toll in cases related to the mosquito-borne virus in the seven north Bengal districts rose to 105 today.

"Three more deaths have been reported from the North Bengal Medical College Hospital (NBMC) since yesterday," West Bengal Health Services director Biswaranjan Satpathy told PTI.

He said that since January more than 370 infected cases had been reported in the state.

"41 fresh cases were reported since yesterday. The number is decreasing gradually. We hope that we will be able to bring the situation under control within a week as we are taking all preventive measures," Satpathy said.

A red alert in the affected districts has already been sounded by the state government and municipalities have been asked to maintain cleanliness and undertake fogging activities regularly to control the disease.

Jalpaiguri district was the worst-hit with rural areas in Dhupguri and Moynaguri being the most affected because of the presence of a large number of piggeries from where Japanese Encephalitis spread.

NBMC superintendent Amarendra Nath Sarkar said that since January, 80 persons had died of Encephalitis in the hospital, out of which 20 succumbed to Japanese Encephalitis.

At present, he said, there are 42 Encephalitis cases being treated in the hospital.

Blood tests for all suspected cases of Encephalitis in the five districts of north Bengal are being held in the NBMC, Sarkar said.

Why mycobacteria - a family that includes the microbe that causes tuberculosis (TB) - survive oxygen limitation has long been a mystery but not any more. A discovery could lead to a revolutionary class of antibiotics to tackle TB.

Researchers have found that hydrogen is a key factor that enables mycobacteria to survive oxygen-limitation over long periods.

"Mycobacteria grow through combusting their preferred carbon-based fuel sources using oxygen. However, they can also somehow survive for months or years when their oxygen supply is exhausted," said Greg Cook, a professor from University of Otago in New Zealand.

"For example, in people with latent TB infections, mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria are walled in by clumps of immune and other body cells in what is thought to be an extremely low oxygen environment. However, such patients must be monitored for rest of their lives in case the bacteria become active again," he added.

The bacterium is able to quickly switch its cellular metabolism from a primarily oxygen-based one over to one that uses fermentation for energy production instead.

This metabolic mode depends on the production and recycling of molecular hydrogen, a high-energy fuel and diffusible gas.

These cells produce hydrogen to ensure their survival until they once again have access to sufficient oxygen for growth.

The researchers established that mycobacterium smegmatis metabolises molecular hydrogen using three enzymes called hydrogenases.

One hydrogenase produces hydrogen, whereas the other two consume it. These hydrogenases are activated under oxygen starvation by a master regulator called DosR.

The researchers found that strains of mycobacterium smegmatis in which the genes for the hydrogenases or the regulator DosR had been 'knocked out' experienced a hundred-fold reduction in the long-term survival compared to the normal bacterium.

The study appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers have revealed that zinc is one of the most essential trace metals found in human nutrition and lifestyle and it affects the human body in many ways.

The adult body contains about two to three grams of zinc. It could be found in organs, tissues, bones, fluids, and cells. Foods with high protein content, specifically animal protein, would be major sources of zinc in the human diet. Zinc could also be used as fortification for other foods as well. Nearly half of the world's population could be at risk for inadequate zinc intake.

In a new article 'Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety' the researchers reviewed numerous studies and found that Zinc was not only a vital element in various physiological processes; but it was also a drug that helps in the prevention of many diseases.

It was established that the blood zinc level was less in patients brain with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease (Brewer, and others 2010).In a rodent study, it was observed that zinc behaves like an antidepressant (Nowak and others, 2005). It performs a noteworthy role in the regulation of arterial blood pressure. Males and females were reported to metabolize zinc differently when suffering from hypertension (Tubek, 2007).

Zinc deficiency in the liver occurred not only in those with liver cirrhosis, but also in less advanced alcoholic and nonalcoholic liver disease (Bode and others, 1998). A mild deficiency of zinc during a pregnancy could cause increased maternal morbidity, abnormal taste sensation, prolonged gestation, inefficient labor, atonic bleeding, and an increased risk to fetuses (Jameson, 1993).

The metal was very important in the synthesis, storage, and secretion of insulin (Chausmer 1998). A low level of zinc has been shown to play a role in diabetics with associated disease conditions such as coronary artery disease and several related risk factors including hypertension, and elevated levels of triglycerides (Singh and others, 1998). Zinc might also shorten the duration of severe pneumonia and time in the hospital (Brooks, 2004).

Studies show a correlation between zinc deficiency in geriatric patients and reduced activity of the thymus gland and thymic hormones, decreased response to vaccinations, and reduced immunity (Haase and Rink, 2009) and its deficiency has also been linked with delayed wound healing, and has been found to be crucial to the healing of gastric ulcers especially at the early stage (Kennan and Morris, 1993; Andrews and Gallagher-Allred, 1999; Watanabe, 1995).

The article is published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).

A new study has identified three potential pathways by which dried plums may contribute to bone health.

Researchers from San Diego State University and Florida State University Fifty-seven million Americans suffer from low bone density or osteoporosis, a disease which causes bones to become so weak and brittle that even a minor fall or other stresses might cause fractures. So the team examined the mechanism of the bone-protective properties of an unlikely source, California dried plums.

Dr. Shirin Hooshmand, PhD, said that while it was difficult to identify the exact mechanism behind dried plums' positive effect on bones, however, this study identified three potential pathways for the mechanism behind the effect of dried plums on bone resorption and bone formation.

This, according to study author and researcher Dr. Bahram H. Arjmandi, PhD, RD, Florida State University's Margaret A. Sitton Professor of the Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences and Director of the Center for Advancing Exercise and Nutrition Research on Aging (CAENRA) in the College of Human Sciences, was due, in part, to the ability of dried plums to suppress the rate of bone resorption, or the breakdown of bone, which tends to exceed the rate of new bone growth as people age.

Arjmandi suggested that dried plums might actually help to regenerate bone in people who have experienced bone loss, which was a serious issue for men and women alike.

Collectively, both the human and animal studies indicate that adding dried plums to the diet may be an effective way to help support healthy bones.However, the research also suggested that dried plums might also support heart health and digestive health.

The study found that dried plums help manage weight through improved satiety, perhaps by producing lower glucose and/or appetite-regulating hormone concentrations.

The study is published in the British Journal of Nutrition.

Niacin, a common cholesterol drug for 50 years, should no longer be prescribed owing to potential increased risk of death, dangerous side effects and no benefit in reducing heart attacks and strokes, researchers said.

"There might be one excess death for every 200 people we put on Niacin. With that kind of signal, this is an unacceptable therapy for the vast majority of patients," said cardiologist Donald Lloyd-Jones from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.

Niacin should be reserved only for patients at very high risk for a heart attack and stroke who cannot take statins, Lloyd-Jones added.

Lloyd-Jones's research was based on a large new study that looked at adults, aged 50 to 80, with cardiovascular disease who took niacin (vitamin B3) to see if it reduced heart attack and stroke compared to a placebo over four years.

All patients in the trial were already being treated with a statin medication.

Researchers found that Niacin did not reduce heart attacks and stroke rates compared with a placebo.

More concerning, Niacin was associated with an increased trend towards death from all causes as well as significant increases in serious side effects.

These included liver problems, excess infections, excess bleeding, gout and loss of control of blood sugar for diabetics.

"For the reduction of heart disease and stroke risk, statins remain the most important drug-based strategy," Lloyd-Jones said.

The research appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.