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.