Emerging Scientific Fields

Came across this very interesting compilation. Check out the comments also!

 1. Neuroparasitology-I had covered this in a previous post!
 2. Quantum Biology
 3. Exo-meteorology
 4. Nutrigenomics
 5. Cliodynamics
 6. Synthetic Biology
 7. Recombinant Memetics
 8. Computational Social Science
 9. Cognitive Economics
 10. Organic Electronics
 11. Quantitative Biology

To know more about these fields click on the link below.

http://io9.com/5987296/11-emerging-scientific-fields-that-everyone-should-know-about

Child Labour

"Awake, arise and stop not till the goal is reached". This was a clarion call given by Swami Vivekananda. I have struggled to have a purpose in life which will never make me question the meaning of life. Have been lucky most of the time. Family, selfishness and delusional beliefs have sustained me. Health and education are very close to my heart and am working towards making difference in health and education.

 Conscience gets stirred many a times but hardly acts. Actions are all that count and am making a blueprint for actions.

 Old age, illness, disability, the not so privileged brethrens who starve and bear extreme climates-all are seen by the eyes, felt by the heart but are not registered deeply enough in the brain to act.
I fail daily to live upto my expectation. Today i have been stirred by an article in New York Times. Children Toil in India’s Mines, Despite Legal Ban, I daily see child labour and do not take any action to eliminate it. I have thought about it for more then a decade  and i am still thinking. I will make a difference.
For those of you who read the comments in the NYT article try to keep emotions aside and imbibe the facts. Laws, regulations are just facilitators, we all individually have to act in our own capacity to free the children. This is directly related to the health, wealth and culture of a community. I used to think and still ponder that the test for a society is how it takes care of the elderly, fragile, deprived and weak. We are failing at both ends. We are neither tending to the seeds or to the trees which have born fruits. We have a long way to go.

Facts:

1. India is sadly the home to the largest number of child labourers in the world. The census found an increase in the number of child labourers from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.59 million in 2001.

2. According to the statistics given by Indian government there are 20 million child laborers in the country, while other agencies claim that it is 50 million.

3. At least 100,000 children go missing from their homes in India every year – 274 each day – and only 10% are registered as officially missing.

4. Between 2008 and 2012 a total of 452,679 child labour and trafficking cases were reported. The records show that out of those 25,006 prosecutions, only 3,394 employers or traffickers were convicted.

References:
1. http://www.childlineindia.org.in/child-labour-india.htm
2. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/it-was-the-sweet-smell-of-freedom-for-them/article4446960.ece
3. http://www.childlabor.in/tag/child-labour-in-india
4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/feb/23/india-law-child-labour
5. http://ncpcr.gov.in/Reports/Magnitude_of_Child_Labour_in_India_An_Analysis_of_Official_Sources_of_Data_Draft.pdf

Poor Quality Drugs

Lancet has published today an editorial highlighting the risk and cost of poor quality drugs.
Few numbers;
1. 120 people died and hundreds more suffered adverse reactions after taking a contaminated heart medicine in Pakistan.
2. Contaminated injectible steroid in US has caused outbreak of fungal meningitis resulting in 704 people getting sick and 46 killed.
3. The contamination of heparin by Chinese counterfeiters in 2007 and 2008, killed 149 patients in the USA.
4. In 2009, the European Union seized 34 million fake tablets in just 2 months, including antibiotics, cancer treatments, and sildenafil citrate (Viagra).
The numbers are much higher but we are not made aware of them because of various reasons.
There is a need for more research and robust data gathering to estimate the burden of poor quality drugs. This has been hampered on many accounts.
In fact Royal Pharmaceutical Society's 1989 statement reads like this, "no great  publicity (about fake drugs) should be sought because it could damage public confidence in medicines" (Cockburn et al : 2005; SCRIP, 1989).
With innovative technologies (like RFID), advanced data assimilators and analytics (Watson), advanced pharmacovigilance, collective involvement, responsibility, and responses of all interested parties: health professionals, drug regulatory authorities, judicial entities, and drug companies at both national and international levels.-Can and will make a difference.

References:
1.Strenghtening Global Action Against Poor Quality Drugs
2. Countering the Problem of Falsified and Substandard Drugs
3. Counterfeit drugs: a growing global threat

Epigenetics-Nature versus Nurture

Among the many topics which i like to debate about, Nature versus Nurture holds a special place. It can also be called as debate of free will verus determinism. Will ponder more about that in some other post.
Today would like to bring attention to "Epigenetics". A very interesting field which kind of favors nurture theory or on second thoughts does it!!.
Let me get this by posing few questions.

1. Does our diet have an influence on our children?

2. Can I blame my health condition on my mother for what she ate or did not eat during pregnancy?

3. How do our genes learn from our experiences? How is the information incorporated into the DNA?

4. How does from a single cell embryo we become complex human beings? How does the stem cell know to become eye or ear or cardiac cell?

5. How does my nutrition and my environment influence the expression of my genes?

6. Why are identical twins different in terms of characteristics, behavior preferences?

7. Can anxiety or calmness be related to the amount of cuddling and care you received during infancy?

The answer to above question partly lies in epigenetics.

Excellent site to learn is http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/

But answers with my bias and understanding are:

1. Yes, our diet has an influence. If your paternal grandfather had food abundance you may have a shortened lifespan!!

2. During early embryonic period it is very crucial for mothers to have balanced nutritious diet (vitmin B complex, folic acid etc.). Lack of key nutrients can increase risk of obesity, cancer and diabetes.

:) Boys, men eat less and feed the women properly!

3. Our experiences can be tagged to DNA by processed called as methylation and acetylation. They are prone to change. Toxins have detrimental effect by acting on these processes.

4. By epigenetics cells become destined organs! (Language)

5. Even for adults having methyl ric food is beneficial. Food guide.

6. The genes may be same but the expression is different because of epigenetics. Also the genes are not same!!

7. Yup, if we extrapolate data from rats. Pup which is licked for first week is more calm. But we do not want the whole world to be full of Buddhas (Monks).

In another post will try to focus on role of epigentics in cancer and how this is being targeted to fight cancer.

Food Wastage and Hunger

Cultures are very important. Japanese are considered very disciplined and especially with respect to food. They do not waste even a single rice grain. Similarly it is culturally unaccetable to waste food in Germany.
India has also seen many famines and even today many sleep hungry. For some or the other reason culturally we have not imbibed frugality with respect to food. The large middle class (pardon the generalization) is not perturbed by the wastage of food.
Most corporates provide subsidized food and employees help themselves liberally. They most of the times take food more than what they intend to eat. This results in food being wasted. The same is true in restaurants and few homes. People do feel guilty at times but hardly it makes them more conscious about the servings which they need to help themselves with.
How do we change this?
How do we make the large burgeoning middle class realize that there are children sleeping hungry. There are children dying of malnutrition.
An excerpt from Lancet

"

The fact that an inexpensive and readily treatable

condition that aff ects 868 million people, kills

2·3 million children per year, and was targeted as

a Millennium Development Goal, should remain

uncontrolled year after year is as shocking as it is

shameful. Moreover, that hunger still has such a grip on

14% of the world’s population—despite enough food

being produced to feed everyone—is an indictment of

failed policies at many levels, according to

Enough food

for everyone IF,

a report by a collaboration of more than100 charities and religious groups, launched on Jan 23."

People interested to read more about hunger can refer Harsh Mander's book, Ash In The Belly.

Diabetes and Cancer

Chronic diseases are the scourge of the new age. All over the world people living with diabetes are expected to increase, especially in India.
Epidemiological studies indicate an increased risk of cancer for diabetic people. There is increased risk of hepatocellular cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, colorectal cancer, stomach cancer and bladder cancer. Prostate is the odd guy out as the risk for it is decreased if you have diabetes (possibly because of low testosterone levels).
The causal relationship between diabetes and cancer is not well established. There may be confounding bias, observational bias as the evidence is epidemiological. There are few biological hypothesis. Hyperinsulinemia drives growth and diabetics have hyperinsulinemia. Also cancer cells express IGF-1 (Insulin like growth factor receptors) receptors. Inflammation is more common in diabetics and chronic inflammation is a risk for cancer.
Summary and Actions To Be Taken:

1. Epidemiological evidence is there to say that diabetics are at increased risk for cancer.

2. Causal relationship and biological mechanism still needs further elucidation.

3. Diabetes and cancer share several risk factors, like obesity and physical inactivity. An effort to prevent and control diabetes will have a positive effect on cancer incidence. One need not have to wait for conclusive evidence to implement healthy habits and preventive measures.

4. Researchers and clinicians need to be more aware and collect prospective data. Also design studies to benefit patients.

5. The cancer risk conferred by diabetes may be moderate but considering that 366 million people have diabetes worldwide and it is expected to reach 552 million by 2030 calls for awareness and action.

Reference: Diabetes mellitus and cancer risk: Review of the epidemiological evidence

Note: Inequality, poverty, malnutrition (which includes both undernourishment and over eating), access to health care can all be related to the above article. The economic burden and loss can be staggering if we do not positively work towards preventive measures.

Hunger, Biofuel, Taxes, Aid-How are they all related?

My brain has been convinced of capitalism and the benefits of it. Now and then I like to challenge my beliefs and concepts. The choice of capitalism as a solution to better health and wealth of the society comes from the failure of socialism. But one does see lot of inequality, plenty of destitutes, hungry children and women. Get to hear justifications that each makes his own destiny and is architect of his own life. So are the poorest responsible for their condition all by themselves? How responsible are we? How responsible is each person who can make a difference? How responsible are governments?
Few lectures, few readings are making me challenge my thoughts and look closely at some loopholes in capitalism. There is a better way and we need to innovate that better way and employ it.
Lancet has published recently an article, "Hunger:Enough Is Enough". An inexpensive and readily treatable condition in the world is HUNGER. The figures are shameful considering that there is enough food for everyone and lot gets wasted. Numerous reasons are there why the hungry remain hungry. Women and children are the vulnerable lot. And most of them are small farmers.
A report has called for UK to take leadership position in taking action against global hunger. The report Enough Food For Everyone If  is a wake up call for each individual and every government and not just for UK. We all have a moral responsibility to ensure that food which is available reaches those who are dying of hunger.
The policy to use biofuels extensively has led to increase in food prices leading to denial of food to the poor. The poor and small farmers suffer the most as the local products are exported. Also the dodging of taxes results in less funds for governments to employ welfare programs. Tax havens, multiple corporate entities ensure a smooth legal way of avoiding taxes. The taxes avoided are in the developing countries which undermines their ability to utilize those funds. Such and many other facts are highlighted in the report. There could be many counter arguments. One appears in Lancet titled "What's Wrong With Inequality?". Greater regulations normally end up in the flight of capital from developing nations. Markets need to have freedom. Free markets are the best.
But what we see around us need to stir us to innovate better solutions.

The following video gives some hope.