 |
|
Indian Pediatrics 1999;36: 1185-1186 |
|
Global Update |
News in Brief The Nobel Prizes Doctors without borders: This year's peace prizewinnner Medicins sans Frontiers was created in 1971 by a group pf French doctors. They realized that in many humanitarian crises, international aides agencies failed to provide enough medical aid and hesitated in speaking out against atrocities being committed if it was politically incorrect to do so. The group's flamboyant and unconventional approach in tackling humanitarian problems includes use of former mercenaries, but no one doubts their results. It vaccinated 4 million people in Nigeria in just 3 months in response to a meningitis epidemic. It is famous for being the first to reach and last to leave from many war torn areas round the world. Conversely, it has been expelled from several countries like Ethiopia and Zaire for being too vocal about locally sensitive issues. (The Times of India, National Edition, 19 October '99). Signal honor: The Nobel prize for medicine or physiology goes to Dr. Gunther Blobel who has done pioneer work in cell biology. Proteins, which have to be transported out, are recognized by peptide tags by the endoplasmic reticulum. This `signal hypothesis' is used to explain how proteins communicate with each other inside the cell and are transported to their correct destination. Similar mechanisms are used in the plant and yeast cell as well (New Scientist, 16 October '99). Disaster Fatal error: On September 30, sheer carelessness led to the worst nuclear accident in Japan in years. Two workers purifying reactor fuel in a Uranium plant north west of Tokyo used more uranium than recommended and did it manually instead of using an automatic mixer. The uranium reached a critical mass and continued to release radiation for almost 20 hours. Two workers were exposed to radiation well above the lethal dose of 7 seiverts. Forty nine others were also exposed and they included ambulance drivers and fire fighters who were not told that it was a nuclear accident. The lymphocyte counts of the two workers with maximum exposure had dropped to zero and stem cell transplant for one and cord blood transplant for the other was being planned according to the last available reports. More than 300 000 residents in a 10 Km area were asked not to move out for 16 hours. Schools and roads were closed. Now people are afraid to use produce grown in that area (BMJ, 9 October '99). Drug Watch To use or not to use: In Britain with the flu season just to begin, there is raging controversy about whether a new drug zaminivir (Relenza) should be used. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended that it should not be used since its cost effectiveness is unclear and its use in risk individuals has not been studied enough. Overall it claims to reduce symptoms by a day which alone may not be good enough reason to use it. But Glaxo-Wellcome which markets it, is furious and considers it an attempt to under-mine innovation in the British pharmaceutical industry (Lancet, 16 October '99). New drug on the block: Pleconaril is a drug which blocks the viral uncoating process and has been used in more than 1700 cases of proven entero viral infections. It has been shown to reduce duration of symptoms in both patients with aseptic meningitis and respiratory tract infections (Lancet, 1 October '99) Technology Gene therapy: There has been a major hiccup in the gene therapy trials. These trials initially used on terminally ill patients have recently been tried for non lethal defects. An 18-year-old boy Jesse Gelsinger who had a genetic defect in the ability to detoxify ammonia in the liver had volunteered for the trial in the University of Pennsylvania. The enzyme was introduced into his system via a genetically engineered adeno virus. While the other 17 volunteers in the trial had no problems, inexplicably his liver failed soon followed by failure of all his other systems. This case aroused fresh debate over the use of adeno viruses in gene therapy. Another trial for cystic fibrosis using adeno viruses had been stopped in the past due to development of inflamma- tion in the lungs of patients (New Scientist, 9 October '99). Vaccine Watch Touch and go: Delivery systems for vaccines are becoming more and more baby friendly. The latest is a naked DNA vaccine encoding the Hepatitis B antigen which when applied to the skin of mice elicits cellular and humoral responses equal to those by intramuscular injections. There is no need for physical or chemical abrasion of the skin before the use of this topical vaccine. The antigen is absorbed through the hair follicles and not directly through the epidermis. Hence it fails to work when follicles are abnormal (Nature Bio-technology, September '99). Population The rise and fall of man: The multiplication of the homosapiens really took off when their food source became reliable, i.e., agriculture was discovered. But we are witness to what may be the final boom. This century has seen 75% of the growth of the human population in the last 10,000 years. On October 12th the world population crossed the 6 billion mark. While quite a few believe that the natural decline in fertlity rates, natural disasters and the HIV epidemic will keep the population under control, others predict that vast populations in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia will be crushed in the demographic trap of increasing poverty and violence. In the 9th October edition of the BMJ, Maurice King floats a provocative hypothesis that the United States deliberately underplays the population explosion as a problem since asking underdeveloped countries to curb their fertility would automatically invite the response that the Americans curb their consumption rates (BMJ, 9 October '99). Gouri Rao Passi, Pedscapes Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine - http://www.archpediatrics.com/. This website has been revamped with a new identity. The site has been made more user friendly and attractive. Moreover, free access to the full text of the complete journal is now available on line. Infectious Diseases in Children- www.slackinc.com/child/idc/idchome.htm. Infectious disease in children, the primary new source for pediatricians, covers new drugs and procedures for diagnosing and testing pediatric infectious diseases. This monthly newspaper presents succinct reports from medical symposia, interviews with the experts in pediatric infectious diseases, news of current developments in diagnostic practices and procedures, vaccines, drugs and treatment. Among the other features are online seminars, chat rooms and weblinks. WHO Bulletin - www.who.int/bulletin/ This is one of the prominent journals on public health in developing countries and is published by the World Health Organization. The abstracts, table of contents and full text (in PDF format) of this monthly journal are available online free of charge. Newborn Screening Manual - www.ahsc. arizona.edu/~msrgsn/pract/praclist.htm. This is a descriptive monograph on the procedures and indications of newborn screening for various diseases including the timing of sample collection, details of the diseases screened, testing methods and definition of abnormal values. The members of the Newborn Screening Committee on the Mountain of States Genetics Network, USA, have compiled this manual. CoffeeBreak (from NCBI)- http://www.ncbi.nlm.gov/. This new addition to the NCBI website contains details on the latest in biomedical research. This site can be accessed through the link on the NCBI webpage. The collections are neatly summarized with editorial comments. Healthfinder - http://www.healthfinder.gov/. This is the US government's Internet directory of authoritative health information, featuring a variety of menu lists with links to on-line journals, medical dictionaries, minority health and prevention and self-care. Information is obtained from US government agencies; national voluntary, nonprofit and professional organizations; and academic institutions and libraries. US Pharmacopoeia (USP) - http://www.usp.org/. The US Pharmacopoeia contains standard elements, a searchable and browsable database of des- criptions, precautions, and side effects of over 750 generic drugs; medication counseling behavior guidelines; quality review, a bimonthly case studies review; Just Ask!, a set of consumer brochures on proper medicine use. Among the interesting features are the USP drug picto-grams, which are standardized graphic images that help convey medication instructions, precautions, and/or warnings to patients and consumers. These can be downloaded from this site. Rare Genetic Diseases in Children - http://mcrcr2.med.nyu.edu/murphp01/homenew.htm. Information on rare genetic diseases in children is presented in this site. In addition message boards and links to these diseases are also available here. This site belongs to the New York University medical center. Pediatric Oncology Branch of the National Cancer Institute - http://cancernet.nci.nih.gov/pedpage/PedBrRes.html. The Pediatric Onco-logy Branch of the National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This Home Page provides patients, families and physicians with an overview of the type of treatments available for children with cancer, and of the research conducted by investigators at the Pediatric Oncology Branch. This site offers online access to active protocols, research, and clinical trial information on Pediatric oncology. Note: These websites have been verified on 20 October '99. In case of any difficulty in accessing the URL's, readers are requested to check the Internet edition of the Journal or contact the author. C. Vidyashankar, |
