World AIDS Day - December 1 :

Let's strive for an AIDS-free generation

December 1 is known as World AIDS Day where people around the world dedicate the day to activities and events to cherish the memories of those who battled with the disease, and to celebrate progress achieved in the global response to HIV. The day brings together people from around the world to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and demonstrate international solidarity in the face of the pandemic. The day is also an opportunity for public and private partners to spread awareness about the status of the pandemic and encourage progress in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care in high prevalence countries and around the world.

In Sri Lanka the National STD/AIDS Control Program under the Ministry of Health is planning to organise the National World AIDS Day ceremony this year on November 30 at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Colombo 7.

The National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP), Ministry of Health, spearheads the national response to HIV/AIDS in Sri Lanka. NSACP is the focal point for planning and implementation of HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plan and AIDS Policy together with all stakeholders. The main objectives of National STD/AIDS Control Program are: Prevention of transmission of Sexually Transmitted Infections(STIs) including HIV, and Provision of care and support for those infected and affected with STIs including HIV. The main elements of the NSACP are; targeted interventions for prevention of STI/HIV among most at risk populations and general population including youth and women, provision of treatment, care and support for those infected and affected with HIV, comprehensive care for STIs, provision of laboratory services, creating awareness and behaviour change communication, counseling and testing for HIV, prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV, surveillance, research, monitoring and evaluation of STI and HIV services.

Theme

The 2012 theme for World AIDS Day is 'Working Together for an AIDS-Free Generation'.

Between 2011-2015, World AIDS Days will have the theme of 'Getting to zero: zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths'. The World AIDS Campaign focus on “Zero AIDS related deaths” indicates a push towards greater access to treatment for all; a call for governments to act now. It is a call to honour promises like the Abuja declaration and for African governments to at least hit targets for domestic spending on health and HIV.

As a global event, the WHO HIV program will join partners across the world in marking the World AIDS Day 2012 and highlight key challenges and opportunities in implementing the Global Health Sector Strategy on HIV/AIDS.

It is reported that the number of people living with HIV rose from around eight million in 1990 to 34 million by the end of 2010. However, the overall growth of the epidemic has stabilised in recent years.

The annual number of new HIV infections has steadily declined and due to the significant increase in people receiving antiretroviral therapy, the number of AIDS-related deaths has also declined.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, nearly 30 million people have died from AIDS-related causes.

When was the disease first detected? Researchers believe that sometime in the 1930s a form of simian immunodeficiency virus, SIV, jumped to humans in central Africa. The mutated virus became the first human immunodeficiency virus, HIV-1.

The first known case of HIV in a human is said to have affected a person who died in the Congo, later confirmed as having HIV infection from his preserved blood samples.

Sri Lankan reports indicate that the country has an HIV/AIDS infection rate of 0.02 percent.

Of its population of 16,929,700 people, an estimated 2,800 total people are infected with HIV. From 2001 to 2009, there has been 215.385 percent change in the rate of infection among the population. An estimated 200 people die each year from HIV/AIDS in Sri Lanka. Commercial sex workers have a major potential for expanding the HIV positive population.

Zero

Between 2011-2015, World AIDS Days will have the theme of “Getting to zero: zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination”. Zero AIDS related deaths”. The World AIDS Campaign focus on “Zero AIDS related deaths” signifies a push towards greater access to treatment for all; a call for governments to act now.

– RG

Skin cells reveal DNA's genetic mosaic

The prevailing wisdom has been that every cell in the body contains identical DNA. However, a new study of stem cells derived from the skin has found that genetic variations are widespread in the body's tissues, a finding with profound implications for genetic screening, according to Yale School of Medicine researchers.

Published in Nature, the study paves the way for assessing the extent of gene variation, and for better understanding human development and disease.

“We found that humans are made up of a mosaic of cells with different genomes,” said lead author Flora Vaccarino, of the Yale Child Study Centre.

“We saw that 30 percent of skin cells harbour copy number variations (CNV), which are segments of DNA that are deleted or duplicated. Previously it was assumed that these variations only occurred in cases of disease, such as cancer.

The mosaic that we've seen in the skin could also be found in the blood, in the brain, and in other parts of the human body.”

The longstanding belief has been that our cells have the same DNA sequence and this blueprint governs the body's functions.

The Yale team's research challenges this dogma. Some scientists have hypothesised that during development, when DNA is copied from mother to daughter cells, there could be deletions, duplications and changes in the sequence of the DNA, and an entire group of genes could be affected. This premise has been incredibly difficult to test, but Vaccarino and colleagues have done so in this new study.

The team used whole genome sequencing to study induced pluripotent stem cells lines (iPS), which are stem cells developed from a mature-differentiated cell. The team grew cells taken from the inner upper arms of two families.

The team spent two years characterising these iPS cell lines and comparing them to the original skin cells.

While observing that the genome of iPS cells closely resembles the genome of skin cells from which they originated, the team could identify several deletions or duplications involving thousands of base pairs of DNA.

The team then performed additional experiments to understand the origin of those differences, and showed that at least half of them pre-existed in small fractions of skin cells.

These differences were revealed in iPS cells because each iPS line is derived from one, or very few, skin cells.

Vaccarino said these iPS lines could act as a magnifying glass to see the mosaic of genomic differences in the body's cells.

“In the skin, this mosaicism is extensive and at least 30 percent of skin cells harbor different deletion or duplication of DNA, each found in a small percentage of cells,” said Vaccarino.

“The observation of somatic mosaicism has far-reaching consequences for genetic analyses, which currently use only blood samples. When we look at the blood DNA, it's not exactly reflecting the DNA of other tissues such as the brain.

There could be mutations that we're missing.”

“These findings are shaping our future studies, and we're doing more studies of the developing brains of animals and humans to see if this variation exists there as well,” Vaccarino added

- MNT

Finger millet (kurakkan) for a healthy life

by Malika Gayathri Fernando

Taking a look at the nutritional properties of finger millets and how they help revitalise our life style

Food is essential for life, but ‘good’ food helps you to live healthier for longer. This is why most of us try to focus on eating healthy rather than eating just any type of food that comes our way.

Due to this interest that grew through the decades, quite a number of foods have come to the limelight, each promising healthier, more nutritious and tastier meal options than any before. Out of these, none may have been more controversial and more debated about than ‘Finger Millet’, which is scientifically known as Eleusine coracana or, as the locals call it, kurakkan.

Finger Millet belongs to a group of cereals which bearing smaller seeds than either rice or wheat and well adapted to harsh environmental conditions such as droughts and higher elevations.

It is consumed as the staple by people all over the world, especially in Africa and Asia.

Although it is not the Sri Lankan staple, people from ancient Ceylon (our ancestors - Veddas) until this very day consumed it knowing little about all its nutritional benefits.

This crop needs minimal fertiliser or water to grow and seeds can be stored for years without any insect, microbial or mold damage.

Interestingly, a single seed of finger millet produces a large number of grains and as finger millet is often inter-cropped with legumes such as peanut, cow-pea etc. this cereal is a cheaper and highly affordable option for even the poorer segments of a population.

When you consider the nutritional value of the finger millet grain, it is well recognised for its high content of minerals, vitamins, fibre and some beneficial chemical compounds.

It is also a rich source of certain essential amino acids when compared with other starchy foods like cassava, polished rice, maize meal etc.

Finger millet also carry a large pool of minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and manganese and has the claim to the highest calcium content among most other food grains.

This high content of calcium helps maintain healthy bones, free of fractures and other disorders. In addition, the remarkably high iron content in the grain exerts protection against anaemic condition.

It has a considerably lower fat content compared to other cereals. Due to its impressive ability to lower body cholesterol levels, certain cholesterol based diseases: heart diseases, obesity, stroke etc. can be kept under control. Most research findings reveal that it is a good alternative to starchy foods for individuals suffering from diabetes. This benefit is due to the high content of fibre in finger millets.

The cereal also helps its eater feel full with minimal increase of blood sugar level than when the same amount of rice and wheat is consumed. Hence, the properties of blood sugar regulation shown by finger millet are not to be underestimated or overlooked.

Incorporation of finger millet to the diet regularly will also help shield the consumer against several other diseases including high blood pressure, arthritis, rheumatism, stomach disorders, heart diseases and even cancer.

As revealed by different studies, one of the chemical compounds present in the finger millet grain called nitriloside, is efficient in curing different cancers like breast, prostate, lung, skin and colon cancer when used to perform a therapy under the same name as the compound.

This therapy has the added benefit of being free from harmful side-effects.

The ways of preparation of finger millet varies from region to region. It is familiar for Sri Lankans in its grounded form where it serves the purpose of being a flour that can be used to prepare thalapa, bread, puddings, porridge and flat breads which include roti and chapatti.

Although not a familiar practice in Sri Lanka, a most common observation in other countries is the fermentation of finger millet to make drinks such as opaque beer and toddy and these serve as good sources of energy and are highly nutritious.

The nutritional value of the finger millet grain changes with its preparation method; milling removes nutrients to some extent with the removal of the seed’s outer parts while other cooking practices such as steaming, pressure-cooking, flaking, puffing or microwaving improves the nutritional quality and digestibility of the grain.

It is also important to note that iron absorption levels in the body elevates after consumption of the properly prepared finger millet porridge.

Coincidentally, there can be certain harmful or inferior substance present in the grain which can affect good health unfavourably.

Most of this harmful stuff is produced in the grain with microbial growth, spoilage and the exposure to harsh environmental conditions.

Some of these factors can even interfere with mineral absorption in the body.

However, the adverse effects mentioned are only reported in cases where the consumption of such spoilt finger millet is of bulk quantities.

As a whole, finger millets can be recognised as one of the most nutritive cereals that appear on a menu and taking the conscious choice of incorporating it into the day-to-day meals with proper processing will enable the sustenance of a healthier, longer and fuller life.

Self-healing, touch-sensitive plastic skin

Nobody knows the remarkable properties of human skin like the researchers struggling to emulate it. Not only is our skin sensitive, sending the brain precise information about pressure and temperature, but it also heals efficiently to preserve a protective barrier against the world. Combining these two features in a single synthetic material presented an exciting challenge for Stanford Chemical Engineering Professor Zhenan Bao and her team.

Now, they have succeeded in making the first material that can both sense subtle pressure and heal itself when torn or cut. Their findings were published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

In the last decade, there have been major advances in synthetic skin, said Bao, the study's principal investigator, but even the most effective self-healing materials had major drawbacks. Some had to be exposed to high temperatures, making them impractical for day-to-day use. Others could heal at room temperature, but repairing a cut changed their mechanical or chemical structure, so they could only heal themselves once. Most importantly, no self-healing material was a good bulk conductor of electricity, a crucial property.

“To interface this kind of material with the digital world, ideally you want them to be conductive,” said Benjamin Chee-Keong Tee, first author of the paper.

New recipe

The researchers succeeded by combining two ingredients to get what Bao calls “the best of both worlds” - the self-healing ability of a plastic polymer and the conductivity of a metal.They started with a plastic consisting of long chains of molecules joined by hydrogen bonds - the relatively weak attractions between the positively charged region of one atom and the negatively charged region of the next.

“These dynamic bonds allow the material to self-heal,” said Chao Wang, a co-first author of the research. The molecules easily break apart, but then when they reconnect, the bonds reorganize themselves and restore the structure of the material after it gets damaged, he said.

The result is a bendable material, which even at room temperature feels a bit like saltwater taffy left in the fridge. To this resilient polymer, the researchers added tiny particles of nickel, which increased its mechanical strength. The nanoscale surfaces of the nickel particles are rough, which proved important in making the material conductive. Tee compared these surface features to “mini-machetes,” with each jutting edge concentrating an electrical field and making it easier for current to flow from one particle to the next.The result was a polymer with uncommon characteristics. “Most plastics are good insulators, but this is an excellent conductor,” Bao said.

Bouncing back

The next step was to see how well the material could restore both its mechanical strength and its electrical conductivity after damage. The researchers took a thin strip of the material and cut it in half with a scalpel. After gently pressing the pieces together for a few seconds, they found the material gained back 75 percent of its original strength and electrical conductivity.

The material was restored close to 100 percent in about 30 minutes. “Even human skin takes days to heal. So I think this is quite cool,” said Tee.

- MNT