Research News

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras have found a way to develop non-animal models to test new cancer drugs.

Esophageal cancer or cancer of the food pipe is among common cancers that occur in India. Every year some 47,000 new cases are reported and 42,000 people die due to this cancer. Its occurrence is particularly high in the north-eastern states. It is often diagnosed late as its symptoms are not very specific and patients are treated for other causes. In such a situation, early diagnosis can help save lives.

Researchers have found that Dulaglutide, a commonly used drug for Type 2 diabetes, can be effective against cardiovascular and kidney diseases too. A clinical trial that followed more than 9,900 persons in 24 countries found that the drug reduced cardiovascular events and kidney problems in middle-aged and older people.

Tuberculosis infection results in approximately nine million new cases worldwide every year. TB - causing bacterium can remain dormant in human body for a long time, even for several decades before it becomes infectious. The bacterium remains ensconced within a type of white blood cells called macrophages, when it is in its latent form.

Diabetes - increase in blood glucose levels - is an emerging health problem especially in developing countries. According to the World Health Organisation, India had 69 million diabetic individuals in 2015 and the number is projected to go up to 98 million by 2030. The problem is more serious for Asians as their genetic makeup puts them at a greater risk of diabetes at a younger age than their European counterparts.

Medicated stents are widely used to unblock heart arteries. While the drug prevents the growth of muscle cells around the stent, it however, retards endothelial cells necessary for healing the wound site and may result in the formation of clots. That’s why anti-clotting medications are given, which must be taken life-long; also, they come with adverse side effects.

Variants in the gene ARMC5 may be associated with high blood pressure among blacks, according to a National Institutes of Health study led by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The study team identified 17 variants in the ARMC5 gene that were associated with high blood pressure by analyzing genetic research databases that include those of African descent. The study is published in the July 3, 2019, issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association.

A team of scientists at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, have found that a combination of Vitamin A and Vitamin D3 could be used to treat kala azar.

The recent outbreak of Nipah virus in Kerala, which follows one that occurred in 2018, has brought the focus back on bats which are known to host the virus. Using machine learning - a form of artificial intelligence (AI) – an international group of scientists has identified bat species with the potential to host Nipah virus.

In a major collaborative effort, researchers at UNMC and the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) have for the first time eliminated replication-competent HIV-1 DNA -- the virus responsible for AIDS -- from the genomes of living animals. The study, reported online July 2 in the journal Nature Communications, marks a critical step toward the development of a possible cure for human HIV infection.