Biology & Medical Science Books

Scientists claim regarding HIV, infected genes can be extracted from the cell

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Scientists have said that they have successfully isolated HIV from cells using gene editing technology.

According to scientists, they have used the Nobel Prize winning CRISPR gene editing technology to cut and isolate HIV from the infected cell.

Using this technique, they have separated the infected parts by cutting the DNA like scissors at the molecular level.

The team at the University of Amsterdam says that they hope that with this method HIV infection can be removed from the body.

However, giving more information about the research related to this in a medical conference this week, the team said that the current research proves the "concept" that in this way the infected part of the cell's DNA can be removed, but this method It is not that HIV will be cured soon.

The medicines available till now treat HIV by stopping it from spreading, but they cannot completely eliminate it from the body.

What did scientists find in the study for better cancer treatment?

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Scientists in England have discovered that a patient's complete genetic makeup can lead to positive changes in cancer treatment.

This study has been published in Nature Medicine. In this, information of more than 13 thousand patients has been analyzed.

In this, the mutations behind the development of the tumor are analyzed and the DNA is studied to see whether the patient was born with such a gene due to which the risk of this disease increases.

Researchers found that more than 90 percent of brain tumors and 50 percent of bowel and lung cancers have genetic changes that affect the patient's treatment, such as surgery and specific treatments.

Serum Institute of India (SII) has said that the World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the world's second malaria vaccine.

WHO has given this approval on the basis of pre-clinical and clinical trial data of the vaccine. In trials, this vaccine was found to be quite effective in four countries.

According to the news of news agency PTI, SII has said in a statement that it has become the second vaccine in the world to get the approval of the World Health Organization to protect children from malaria.

This R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine has been developed by SII in collaboration with Oxford University.

SII has said that it has made arrangements to produce 10 crore doses of the vaccine every year and this production will double in the next two years.

Currently this vaccine is being used in Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso. But now after the approval of the World Health Organization, it can be used all over the world.

The Nobel Prize for Medicine has been announced to be awarded to the pair of scientists who invented the technology of mRNA Covid vaccine.

These two scientists are Dr. Catalin Carico and Dr. Drew Wiseman.

This technology was used before the Covid pandemic but later it was given to millions of people around the world.

Further research is being done on this mRNA technology regarding other diseases including cancer.

mRNA i.e. messenger ribonucleic acid tells the body how to make proteins.

A variant of the corona virus has been found in Vietnam, which is a mixed form of variants previously found in India and Britain. Officials say it spreads rapidly through the air.

Vietnam's Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said on Saturday, 29 May 2021, that this new variant of Corona is very dangerous.

The virus always changes its form, that is, mutates. Most variants are not very effective, but some viruses become more contagious after mutation.

Since the identification of the virus of COVID-19 in January 2020, several mutations have been reported so far.

According to the news agency Reuters, Vietnam's health minister said in a government meeting, "A new variant of the corona virus has been found in Vietnam, which is a mixed form of the first virus variant found in Britain and India."

He said, "The new variant is more contagious than the former. It spreads rapidly in the air. This variant has emerged after testing new patients. The genetic code of this virus will be available soon.''

In India, a variant of the corona virus was found in October 2020. This variant is being called B.1.617. It is said to be more dangerous than the Corona variant B.1.1.7 found in the UK.

According to research, two doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine are most effective against virus variants found in India. But one dose of these vaccines is not very effective against it.

So far no evidence has been found that any mutation of the corona virus has caused serious disease in a large population.

The original version of the corona virus has been described as more dangerous for older people and already ill people. But the virus is becoming more contagious without a vaccine and is causing more deaths.

In recent weeks, new cases of corona have increased rapidly in Vietnam. More than 6,700 cases have been reported since the epidemic began in Vietnam. But more than half of these cases have been reported since April 2021. So far 47 people have died here from Corona.

Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) in India on 03 January 2021 allowed emergency use of two vaccines for treatment of COVID-19.

These are two vaccines - Covishield and Covaxin. While Covishield is actually the Indian version of Oxford-AstraZeneca, the Covaxin is India's own vaccine, also known as the indigenous vaccine.

Covishield is being formed by the Serum Institute of India Company in India. At the same time, Covaxin is being formed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a biotech company in India.

After the approval of the emergency use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield in Britain, there was every possibility that Covishield would get approval in India and finally got it.

But with this, no one expected that the Covaxin would be allowed in India so soon.

Some health workers, including the Congress party, have started to question it after the Covaxin was allowed so soon.

After Covishield and Covaxin were granted permission on 03 January 2021, many raised questions as to how permission was granted without releasing data for the third trial of both vaccines.

In the third phase of the trial, the drug is tested on a large number of people and then based on the results, it is found out what percentage of the drug is affecting the people.

The three Vaccine Pfizer BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca and Moderna are discussed in the world, with varying statistics for the Phase 3 trial. The Oxford vaccine has been reported to be up to 70% effective.

In India, Covishield is effective on how many people other than Covaxin. Questions have also been raised on this, but due to the vaccine of Oxford, it is not being given due to the suspicion that the Covaxin is being seen.

The statistics of the Phase-3 trial on 1,600 volunteers in Covishield's India have also not been released. At the same time, it was tried on 800 volunteers in the trial of Phase 1 and 2 of the Covaxean, while in the third phase trial it is said to try on 22,500 people. But their figures have not been made public.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted after being allowed to use Covaxin emergencyly, saying that the third stage trial of Covaxin has not been done yet, without the permissible permission that could be dangerous.

Tagging the Union Health Minister, he wrote, "Dr. Harsh Vardhan please clear this point. Its use should be avoided until all tests are done. Till then India can start with AstraZeneca vaccine.

The Congress leader had to tweet that questions started coming up in India on the vaccine. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also voiced concerns about Covaxin and the health of the people.

Dr Swapnil Parikh, a researcher of infectious diseases in Mumbai, says that doctors are in a difficult situation right now.

He said, "I think it is time to get rid of the regulatory hurdles and complete the process at the earliest."

Dr. Parikh said, "The government and regulators have a responsibility to be transparent about the data, which they reviewed before allowing the vaccine, because if they don't do so, it will affect people's trust."

After questions from the opposition and several health workers, India's Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan came out and he made several tweets and argued about the effect of Covaxin.

In the first tweet, he wrote, "Shashi Tharoor, Akhilesh Yadav and Jairam Ramesh have followed a science-backed protocol to allow the COVID-19 vaccine."

After this, the Union Health Minister made several tweets in support of Covaxin, although he did not mention the statistics of the third phase trial in these tweets.

He wrote that the vaccine is being allowed all over the world on the basis of the encoding spike protein which has an effect of 90%, whereas the Covaxin has antigenic episodes other than the spike protein based on the inactivated virus, so it remains as safe. It is as effective as the rest said.

Along with this, Harshvardhan said that Covaxin is also effective on new variants of corona virus.

Harsh Vardhan also said by tweeting that the Emergency Use Approval (EUA) of covaxine has been given on conditional basis.

He wrote in the tweet, "EUA has been conditioned for Covaxin in clinical trial mode. The EUA that Covaxin received is completely different from Covishield as it will be used in clinical trial mode. All people taking Covaxin will be tracked and monitored if they are on trial.''

"Our goal is to provide global access to the population that needs it the most," said Krishna Illa, chairman of the India biotech manufacturer of Covaxin.

He said in the statement, "Covaxin has given amazing safety data in which several viral proteins have given strong immune response."

However, the company and DCGI have also not given any data that can tell how effective and safe the vaccine is, but a source from the news agency Reuters said that the two doses of this vaccine have an effect of more than 60%.

Delhi AIIMS chief doctor Randeep Guleria, speaking to a news channel, said that he sees the Covaxin as a backup in the event of an emergency and currently Covishield will be used as the main vaccine.

The statement of Delhi AIIMS director Dr. Randeep Guleria was tweeted by news agency ANI, "In case of emergency when there is a sudden increase in cases and we need to get vaccinated, Bharat Biotech Vaccine will be used. It can also be used as a backup when we are not sure how effective the serum institute vaccine is going to be.''

On this statement of Guleria, journalist Tavleen Singh retweeted, "What does this mean?" If vaccination needs backup, then what does the vaccine mean?

He said that by then more drugs of Covaxin would be ready and they would use strong data of Phase-3 to show how safe and effective it is but for the first few weeks the Covishield will be used, which has five million doses.

Covaxin is India's vaccine. While Covishield is also being made in India, it is originally a vaccine from Oxford-AstraZeneca.

After getting the approval of both the vaccines, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi wrote in a tweet that the two vaccines which have been approved for emergency use are both made in India, to fulfill the dream of a self-reliant India. Refers to willpower.

Journalist Shekhar Gupta has also said about vaccine nationalism, "When China and Russia vaccinated millions of people without disclosing the data of the third phase of the trial, and now India also allowed the use without reviewing the third phase of the trial. Has given This is a dangerous step. A mistake can cause huge damage to the vaccine's trust.''

Now, with the approval of emergency use of both these vaccines, it will be given to the health workers and frontline employees first.

India's goal is to vaccinate the corona vaccine to 300 million people by July 2021.

At the time of the onset of the corona epidemic, it was said that it takes years to develop a vaccine for any disease. So don't expect too much about vaccines.

But now ten months later, corona virus epidemic vaccines are being given, and many of the companies that are leading in the invention of these vaccines are behind the domestic companies.

As a result, investment analysts predict that at least two of these companies (American biotech company Moderna and Germany's Bio-N-Tech), together with their partner company, Pfizer of America, will trade billions of dollars next year.

But it is not clear that in addition to this, how many rupees are to be made by the vaccine maker?

The way these vaccines have been funded and the large number of companies that have come forward to manufacture vaccines, it seems that there will be no long-term opportunity to make big profits.

Who has invested money?

Given the need for a vaccine during the Corona epidemic, the government and fund givers gave billions of pounds to plan and test the vaccine. Organizations such as the Gates Foundation openly supported these plans. Apart from this, many people also came forward and supported these plans. Alibaba founder Jack Ma and music star Dolly Parton also came forward and funded the plans.

According to science data analytics company Airfinity, £ 6.5 billion has been given by governments to make and test the Covid 19 vaccine. At the same time, 1.5 billion pounds was given from non-profit organizations.

Only 2.6 billion pounds came from the companies' own investment. Many of these companies rely too much on external funding.

This has been a major reason why large companies have not shown any haste in funding vaccine projects.

Producing vaccines in such emergencies has not proved very beneficial in the past. The process of finding a vaccine takes time. Poor countries require a large consignment of the vaccine, but cannot afford it because of the high price. Rich countries make more profits from daily medicines.

Vaccine companies for the diseases like Zika and SARS suffered heavy losses. On the other hand, the vaccine market for flu-like diseases has billions. In such a situation, if the Covid-19 remains like the flu and needs to be vaccinated annually, then it can be beneficial for the vaccine companies. But only for those companies which will be most effective, they will also be in the budget.

What price are they putting?

Some companies do not want to make a profit in this time of global crisis, especially after so much funding from outside. Major US pharmaceutical companies such as Johnson & Johnson and the UK's AstraZeneca have collaborated with Oxford University-based biotech companies.

These companies have promised on their behalf that they will keep the cost of their vaccine only so that only their cost comes out. As of now, in terms of AstraZeneca, it is believed that it will be available at the cheapest price ($ 4 i.e. around Rs. 300 per dose).

Moderna is a small biotechnology company. Which has been working on the technology behind the RNA vaccine for years. The price of the dose against them is more than about 37 dollars i.e. two thousand seven rupees. Their aim is to make a profit for the shareholders of the company.

However, this does not mean that these prices have been fixed.

Typically, pharmaceutical companies charge differently in different countries. It depends on the governments. AstraZeneca has pledged to keep prices low for only the epidemic. Maybe they will start charging a comparatively higher price from next year. It depends entirely on the nature of the epidemic.

Emily Fields, head of European pharmaceutical at Barclays, says, "Right now the governments of rich countries will pay more. They are so eager about the vaccine or dosage that just how they can end the epidemic.''

She adds, "Probably as more vaccines start coming in the market next year, the price of the vaccine may also come down due to competition."

"In the meantime, we shouldn't expect private companies either," says Rasmus Beck Hansen, Airfinity's chief executive. Especially companies that are small and do not sell any other product. In such a situation, one should not expect them to sell the vaccine without thinking of profit.''

He says, "It has to be kept in mind that these companies have taken a big risk and they have really moved forward."

He adds, "And if you want these small companies to succeed in the future, then they need to be rewarded in that way."

But some differ on the state of humanitarian crisis and public funding. According to him, it is not business time as usual.

Should they share their technology?

With so much at stake right now, there is a demand that the entire technology and information behind these vaccines should be shared so that other countries can make vaccine dosages. For example, companies which are in India and South Africa.

"This should be a prerequisite for obtaining public funding," says Ellen T. Hoen of Medicines Law and Policy.

She says, "When the epidemic started, big pharma companies did not show much enthusiasm about the vaccine. But when the government and agencies came forward with the fund, they had to work on it.''

"They don't understand why they have the privilege to benefit from the results," says Hoen.

She says, "These new discoveries later become the personal property of these commercial organizations."

Although people are sharing some things with each other on an intellectual level, it is not enough in any case.

So Will Pharma Companies Make Bumper Profits?

Governments and multilateral organizations have already pledged to buy billions of doses at fixed prices. In such a situation, for the next few months, companies will be busy fulfilling those orders as quickly as possible.

Companies that are selling vaccine doses to rich countries are also expecting returns on their investment. Although AstraZeneca has to supply the most dosage, it will focus only on meeting the cost.

After the first demand is supplied, it is a little difficult to predict what the situation will be about the vaccine. Because it depends on many things. For example, how long do people who are given a vaccine dose remain immune to the corona? How many vaccines are successful? And how well is the vaccine manufactured and then distributed?

According to Emily Fields of Barclays, "The opportunities to make profits will be very temporary."

Even though people who are currently in the race to make vaccines and are not sharing their intellectual property with others, despite this, 50 such vaccines are being made worldwide which are undergoing clinical trials.

According to Emily Fields, "There may be 20 vaccines in the market in the coming two years." In such a situation, it is becoming difficult for the vaccine to be very expensive.

She believes that in the long run this can have an impact on the company's reputation. If a vaccine is successful, it may prove to be helpful in opening the sale of Covid 19 treatment or other related products.

Hansen of Airfinity says that if this happens, it could be a relief from a difficult phase of the epidemic.

He expects governments to invest in strategy-making in the context of an epidemic. Just as governments are doing now for safety and security.

Among all these, what is the most important and influential thing is that after all how did the market price of Bio-N-Tech and Moderna suddenly go up? This is because their vaccines evidence their concept of RNA technology.

Before the Corona epidemic, Bio-N-Tech was working on a vaccine for skin cancer. While Moderna was working on an RNA-based vaccine for ovarian cancer. If any of it succeeds, it will be a huge achievement.

Bharat Biotech, a company that manufactures a corona vaccine named Covaxin in India, has said that during the clinical trial of this vaccine, two doses are given to the person after 28 days i.e. at an interval of about one month.

According to the news agency ANI, the company has said that the effect of the vaccine can be detected only after 14 days of the second dose. This vaccine is designed in such a way that it is effective on those who take two doses of it.

Regarding the clinical trial of Phase III of the vaccine, the company said that 50% of the people in the Phase III trial are given vaccine while the other 50% are given placebo.

Placebo is a special kind of medicine that does not have any effect on the body. Doctors use this to know how much and what mental effect a person has on taking medicine.

Earlier in the Haryana government, Cabinet Minister Anil Vij informed about his corona test positive coming.

On 20 November 2020, he started the third phase of the vaccine trial by getting a Covaxin vaccine.

The health minister of Haryana, a province of India, had vaccinated on 20 November 2020 to protect against corona virus. The health minister has become infected with the corona virus despite being vaccinated.

Cabinet Health Minister Anil Vij's corona test positive in Haryana government. Anil Vij gave this information on Twitter.

He wrote Twitter, "My corona test has come positive. I am admitted in Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt. Those people who came in contact with me in the past are advised to get their corona checked.

Earlier on 20 November 2020, he started the third phase of the vaccine trial by administering Covaxin vaccine at a hospital in Ambala.

About a year ago today (04 December 2020), scientists came to know about the Sars-CoV-2 corona virus, which spread Covid-19 disease, when some people in Wuhan, China, were reported to be infected.

But according to a new research, the virus caused the epidemic which had infected people many weeks before this.

The results of this research conducted by scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States have been published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

According to the information available so far, officially the scientists got information about the corona virus on 31 December 2019 when health officials of Hubei province of Wuhan, China issued a warning saying that many such cases are being registered in which There are severe symptoms of pneumonia. He called it a strange kind of breathing-related illness.

But eleven months after the epidemic began, researchers now say there are 39 people in three states of the US who have antibodies to the corona virus in their bodies. These antibodies were present in his body for two weeks before he was warned about China's corona virus.

However, the first case of Sars-Cov-2 in the US was reported on 21 January 2020.

What do the research results say?

According to this research, a total of 7,389 people had lost their blood donation in the US from 13 December 2019 to 17 January 2020. Of these, antibodies to the corona virus have been found in blood samples of 106 people.

Antibodies found in a person's body mean that the person has been infected with the virus and their immune system has created antibodies to deal with that virus.

Of the blood samples taken between 13 and 16 December 2019 in California, Oregon and Washington, 39 have antibodies to the corona virus.

According to the research, 67 specimens were deposited in January 2020 in Massachusets, Michigan, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. This was before the outbreak of the epidemic in these states.

Most of the people who came in contact with this virus were male and their average age was 52 years.

Researchers believe that these people may have become antibodies against a corona virus already present in their bodies. However, he says that according to research, most of the people who have received antibodies, many of them had symptoms of Covid-19 at that time.

However, researchers say that large-scale virus infection began spreading in the US in the last week of February 2020. But till now the information about the origin of the virus will be changed by this research?

Where was the virus first found?

Where was the Sars-Cov-2 virus first found? It may never be possible to answer this question.

There have been many indications that the virus was already present in the world for several weeks before it was found in Wuhan, China on 31 December 2019.

But CDC researchers say that they cannot say for sure that these people were infected in their own country or that they were infected by the virus during the journey.

The Red Cross, the organization that organizes the blood donation program, says that only three percent of the people whose samples were collected said that they had recently traveled abroad. Of this, five percent said that they have returned from a tour of the Asian country.

In some other research done before this, evidence of corona virus was found in people of other countries before China warned.

In May 2020, French scientists said that on 27 December 2019, a person was treated as a suspected pneumonia patient near Paris. These individuals were actually infected with the corona virus.

Researchers in several countries had reported that corona virus was found in sewer water samples. These samples were taken several weeks before the epidemic was declared.

In June 2020, Italian scientists had said that on 18 December 2019 traces of the corono virus were found in the sewer waters of the city of Milan. However the first case of corona virus was confirmed much later.

According to a research conducted in Spain, in mid-January 2020, sewer water samples were taken in Barcelona, ​​traces of corono virus were found. But the first case of corona was confirmed here forty days later.

How did this virus reach Brazil? Many questions have also been raised about this.

The first case of corona infection was found in Brazil on 26 February 2020. The first patients from Corona, a 61-year-old businessman from São Paulo, returned from a trip to Italy a few days earlier. By that time Italy had become the second center of the epidemic.

However, a team of researchers from Brazil's Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), a few months earlier, had reported that the virus was found in sewer water on 27 November 2019.

According to another research conducted by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, the first case of Sars-Cov-2 infection was found here in Brazil between 19 and 25 January 2020, about a month before the first coronary infection was officially confirmed in Brazil. However, it is not yet known whether this person had toured overseas or not.

So didn't the virus spread from Wuhan Animal Market?

One thing that is not yet known about Sars-CoV-2 is not when did it come from animals to humans, but rather when did the virus start infecting people?

Experts say that so far the epicenter of the epidemic is believed to be the Wuhan animal market where live and dead wild animals are traded. This is because a large number of cases of infection were reported in the early stages related to this market. But researchers are unsure that the virus started spreading from person to person from there.

Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung at Hong Kong University told the BBC, "If you ask me, I think it is likely that the virus started spreading from the markets where wild animals are bought and sold."

China has also lagged behind its timeline regarding the Corona virus. It is not a big deal to do this during an investigation involving the onset of a fast-spreading virus.

According to a study done by doctors in Wuhan, China, the first case of corona was identified here on 01 December 2019 and it was not related to the animal market. The study was published in the medical journal Lancet.

Some experts say that the virus, which has the potential to spread the epidemic, is present worldwide for months without detection, it is not possible.

But it is possible that the virus has been recognized and already existed in the northern hemisphere, especially during winter.

Britain has become the first country in the world that has approved the use of vaccines made by the Pfizer Company.

The British regulatory body MHRA has stated that this vaccine from Pfizer / Biontech gives 95% protection from Covid-19 and it is safe to allow its widespread use.

It is being told that within a few days, people who are most at risk will start getting vaccinated.

The UK has already placed an order for 40 million doses of this vaccine.

Each person will be given two doses of the vaccine. This means that two crore people can get the vaccine.

It is the fastest developed vaccine in the world which took 10 months to make. It usually takes up to a decade to prepare such a vaccine.

However, experts say that despite the vaccine, people should keep following the rules to prevent infection.

How does this vaccine work?

This is a new type of mRNA corona vaccine that uses small fragments of the genetic code of the corona virus collected during an epidemic. According to the company, small pieces of genetic code increase immunity within the body and prepare the body to fight against Covid-19.

Never before has the mRNA vaccine been approved for use in humans. However, during clinical trials, people have been given doses of this type of vaccine.

The mRNA vaccine is injected into the human body. It tells the immune system to make antibodies to fight the corona virus and to activate the T-cell and destroy the infected cells.

After this, when this person is infected with the corona virus, the antibodies and T-cells in his body start fighting the virus.

Who else was involved in the vaccine race?

Oxford-Astrazenica Vaccine - This is a viral vector type vaccine using genetically modified viruses. It can be stored in the refrigerator at normal temperature and has to be consumed in two doses. So far, it has been found to be 62 to 90 percent effective in clinical trials.

The dose for this vaccine will be up to $ 4.

Moderna Vaccine - This is a mRNA type corona vaccine that is being made by adding some pieces of the virus's genetic code. It will need to be stored at minus 20 degree temperature and it can be stored for six months only. It has to be taken in two doses and it has been found to be up to 95% effective in clinical trials conducted so far.

The dose for this vaccine will be up to $ 33.

Pfizer / Biontech's Vaccine - Like Moderna's vaccine, it is also a mRNA type corona vaccine. It has been found to be up to 95 percent effective in clinical trials conducted so far. It has to be stored at a temperature of minus 70 degrees.

This vaccine will be given two doses and will cost up to $ 15 per dose.

Gamalaya's Sputnik-V vaccine - This is a viral vector type vaccine similar to the Oxford vaccine, which has been found to be up to 92% effective in clinical trials conducted so far. It can be stored in the refrigerator at normal temperature and has to be consumed in two doses.

The dose for this vaccine will be up to $ 7.50.

In addition, Russia is using another vaccine named Sputnik. At the same time, the Chinese Army has approved a vaccine made by Cancino Biologics. Both these vaccines are viral vector type vaccines like the Oxford vaccine.