An Unproven Theorem

An Interesting read !!! Sambar, an Indian Dish Prevents the Development of Dimethyl Hydrazine (DMH) -Induced Colon Cancer: A Preclinical Study. Prasad VG, Reddy N, Francis A, Nayak PG, Kishore A, Nandakumar K, Rao MC, Shenoy R. Pharmacogn Mag . 2016 Jul; 12(Suppl 4): S441–S445. doi:   10.4103/0973-1296.191454 Abstract BACKGROUND: Colon cancer (CC) is the third commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of mortality in the US when compared to India where prevalence is less. Possible reason could be the vegetarian diet comprising spices used in curry powders. Researchers believe that 70% of the cases are associated with diet. Spices have inherited a rich tradition for their flavor and medicinal properties. Researchers have been oriented towards spices present in food items for their antitumorigenic properties. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effects of sambar as a preventive measure for 1,2-di...

VS Ramachandran: The Marco Polo of neuroscience V ilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran is not a name that rolls off the tongue, even in its more common abbreviated form of VS Ramachandran. Perhaps this is the reason its owner is not as well known by the general public as his fellow neurologist and friend Oliver Sacks. But within the sciences he is seen as one of the great pioneers of our time. In an often-quoted description, Richard Dawkins once wrote: "Ramachandran is a latterday Marco Polo, journeying the Silk Road of science to strange and exotic Cathays of the mind." Such is his reputation for pushing back the boundaries of neuroscience that  Newsweek  magazine identified him among the "100 most prominent people to watch" in the 21st century. Lose yourself in a great story: Sign up for the long read email   Read more The former Cambridge PhD student has also been feted in Britain, giving the Reith lectures in 2003, gaining fellow...

Shared from www.sciencemag.org The frustrated science student behind Sci-hub By  John Bohannon Beyond being the founder of  Sci-Hub, the world’s largest pirate site for academic papers , and risking arrest as a result, Alexandra Elbakyan is a typical science graduate student: idealistic, hard-working, and relatively poor. In 1988, when Elbakyan was born in Kazakhstan, the Soviet Union was just beginning to crumble. Books about dinosaurs and evolution fascinated her early on. “I also remember reading Soviet science books that provided scientific explanations for miraculous events thought previously to be produced by gods or magic.” She was hooked. At university in the Kazakh capital, she discovered a knack for computer hacking. It appealed to her because “unlike higher programming languages that are created by people and are volatile,” making and breaking computer security systems requires a deeper knowledge of mathematics and the primitive “assembly lang...

Shared from www.biotecnika.org Common cold Vaccine- Soon to be a reality? Shows promise in Phase II trials Common Cold- So common, so annoying; running nose, scratchy throat and nonstop sneezing. But looks like we can finally put an end to this, thanks to the Danish biotech- Bavarian Nordic. The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated an RSV vaccine as a high-priority target. The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the perpetrators of the common cold. For most, this means a few uncomfortable days or weeks, but for children and the elderly, the virus can be lethal.  And Bavarian Nordic is developing a vaccine that could put an end to this issue. The vaccine has been proven to put up strong defense against 5 different RSV proteins, through its ongoing Phase II trial that was tested on adults older than 55 for MVA-BN RSV, a universal vaccine for both A and B RSV subtypes. The biotechs’ study, with a 421-patient cohort, rev...