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Swine Flu (H1N1) Lessons

This video givs the most usefull imformationa and relates to the field perfectly.

               Natural Secret of Green Tea


Nature has given us lots of herbs with high medicinal values and use of these herbs have become the integral part of life.

One such vital medicinal herb is Tea leaves. Next to water, tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world.Many studies have proved that Green Tea have health benefits.

Some of the various chemical compounds in green tea:

             • Polyphenols and flavonoids
             • Alkaloids, such as caffeine and theobromine
             • Carbohydrates
             • Tannins
             • Minerals, such as fluoride and aluminum

Medicinal Benefits of Green Tea:

The EGCG stops cancer cells from growing by binding with an enzyme, called dihydrofolate reductase, in the body. Scientists have also found that the structure of EGCG is very similar to to a cancer drug called methotrexate. They discovered that EGCG kills cancer cells in the same way that the cancer drug does. These findings have promoted studies about EGCG based cancer treatment. This would mean less side effects, as ECGC does not aggressively attack healthy cells.
Based on these studies, FDA concludes that it is highly unlikely that green tea reduces the risk of breast cancer"
  • Practicing good oral hygiene:
                     Catechin suppresses the formation of plaque by cariogenic bacteria and also kills the bacteria themselves. It also kills other bacteria that cause bad breath. Green tea contains natural fluorine which helps prevent cavities.

•  Cholestrol lowering effects:

                   It has also been effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter takes on added importance when you consider that thrombosis (the formation of abnormal blood clots) is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke.
The mechanism of action is largely unknown, but it appears to increase LDL receptor activity in the liver, prevent absorption of cholesterol in the intestines, lower low density lipoprotein (LDL), raise high density lipoprotein HDL), and lower total cholesterol..
• Controlling high blood pressure:
               Catechin suppresses production of angiotensin II which leads to high blood pressure.
• Lowering blood sugar:
             Catechin and polysaccharides are effective in lowering blood sugar.
• Slowing the aging process:
             Consuming agents that are effective antioxidants will slow the aging process. Green tea is rich in vitamin E, which works as antioxidant. Also, catechin in green tea is a very strong antioxidant.
• It is easing rheumatoid arthritis.
• Provide weight loss benefits to dieters.
             Green tea has thermogenic properties and promotes fat oxidation beyond that explained by its caffeine content per se. The green tea extract may play a role in the control of body composition via sympathetic activation of thermogenesis, fat oxidation, or both.

• Provides better brain Power.
• And other than these,there are more hidden benefits of drinking Green tea everday.
• Japanese people like to drink green tea after meals.

To date, the only negative side effect reported from drinking green tea is insomnia due to the fact that it contains caffeine. However, green tea contains less caffeine than coffee.
Green tea has higher amounts of these chemicals than black tea because the fermentation process alters their composition. So it is better to have green tea than Black on Oolong tea.
Various forms of Green tea is available in the market from China, Japan and other parts of World.
Consuming 3-4 cups of Green Tea provides above mentioned Medicinal benefits.

So,Why can’t you start consuming Tea,everyday  for your health benefits.
by,
N.Shanmuga Priya

                        Vaccination for Hypertension


                      In most challenging era of Hypertension Management, various multiple drug regimens are used to control the Blood Pressure. But the most burdensome is the difficulties in adhering to antihypertensive medication regimens.
                       Good control of hypertension has been undermined by problems of patient compliance with antihypertensive medications. Although many effective drugs are available, only about 25% of patients are optimally controlled, Dr. Nussberger said. "This has probably something to do with the fact that these drugs have to be taken daily and lifelong."
                        However, many of these drugs have a half-life of less than 24 hours, so if patients take them in the morning, the medications are at a trough in the early-morning hours, he said, just as the normal rise in blood pressure takes place and when most cardiovascular events occur.
There is significant potential for this kind of approach to treating hypertension.


Immunization against angiotensin II:


                        "In order to develop a vaccine that can reduce hypertension, it must be able to trigger a highly specific immune response. The blood pressuring- increasing angiotensin II and the blood pressure-reducing angiotensin 1-7 differ by only one amino acid, while the remainder of the structure is identical.
The vaccine spurs the body to make antibodies that target a protein called angiotensin II, which helps constrict blood vessels. By sidelining angiotensin II, blood vessels stay more relaxed, keeping blood pressure lower.
                          There are drugs that act on angiotensin II. But some high blood pressure patients don't take their medicines as instructed, hence the interest in a blood pressure vaccine.
Immunization against angiotensin II may offer a valuable alternative to conventional drugs for the treatment of hypertension, because vaccines induce relatively long-lasting effects and do not require daily dosing. Here we describe the preclinical development and the phase I clinical trial testing of a virus-like particle (VLP)-based antihypertensive vaccine.


7 vaccines under pipeline:
                         In China, researchers are focusing on a target further along the RAS system, and they have developed a virus-like particle (VLP)-based antihypertensive vaccine, ATR12181, that utilizes a peptide from the extracellular portion of rat angiotensin II type 1A (AT1A) receptor. The research is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
                       The vaccine was previously shown to be effective in reducing blood pressure and ameliorating remodeling of target organs in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) at 5 months.The long-term, 64-week study was carried out in 12 male, 6-week-old SHRs. One group of 6 animals was immunized against the peptide from rat AT1A receptor by repeated subcutaneous injections of ATR12181, whereas 6 control animals received 0.9% saline. The schedule for administration in each group was 0, 4, 9, 12, 16, 24, 32, 40, and 52 weeks.

                     At baseline, the average blood pressure level for all of the animals was 139.3 ± 9.4 mm Hg. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) increased in both groups until plateaued at Week 8. From Week 8 onward, SBP was significantly lower in the SHR than in the control group (P < .05). By the end of observation, the difference between the 2 groups was 17 mm Hg .However, blood pressure did not reach goal (140/90 mm Hg) in either group.                                                                                      
                     ATR12181 significantly reduced LV fibrosis and, in the kidneys, glomerular damage and interstitial fibrosis were significantly attenuated in the vaccine group compared with the control group.
                      Another angiotensin II-derived peptide was conjugated to the VLP Qbeta (AngQb). AngQb was highly immunogenic in mice and rats. To test for efficacy, spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were immunized with 400 microg AngQb or VLP alone. Group mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) was reduced by up to 21 mmHg (159 +/- 2 versus 180 +/- 5 mmHg, P < 0.001), and total angiotensin II levels (antibody-bound and free) were increased ninefold (85 +/- 20 versus 9 +/- 1 pmol/l, P = 0.002) compared with VLP controls. SHR treated with the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor ramipril (1 mg/kg per day by mouth) reached an SBP of 155 +/- 2 mmHg. Twelve healthy volunteers of a placebo-controlled randomized phase I trial were injected once with 100 microg AngQb. Angiotensin II-specific antibodies were raised in all subjects (100% responder rate) and AngQb was well tolerated.
                          The current study explored the safety and tolerability of CYT006-AngQb, a virus like particle-based conjugate vaccine that targets angiotensin II in a placebo-controlled phase 2a sequential 2-dose comparison trial. In the study, 72 patients with mild to moderate hypertension, defined as a systolic pressure of 140 to 179 mm Hg and a diastolic pressure of 90 to 109 mm Hg, were enrolled; 5 patients dropped out for reasons unrelated to the study, he noted.
                            The study was done over 4 months; patients were given 100 µg or 300 µg of the antigen or placebo at time zero, then at 1 month and 3 months, after which they were followed for 8 months for safety. End points were safety and tolerability, with an "exploratory" look at efficacy with ambulatory blood pressure measurements and plasma rennin concentrations.
And few other bio-pharma is developing such vaccines for hypertension.


Adverse Events:
                            No serious side effects were linked to the vaccine. Adverse events were generally mild and included injection site reactions and flu-like symptoms and they are pain, erythema, or edema at the injection site. Headache was also more frequent in the vaccination group, but all of these effects occurred over the first 1 or 2 days and were reversible. Several studies to investigate further the safety and efficacy of the vaccine are now being planned, Dr. Nussberger


Conclusion:
                          Dr. Liao and his colleagues believe that targeting the AT1 receptor with a vaccine may provide the basis for an immunologic approach to the treatment of hypertension and its associated cardiovascular and renal risk factors. Further studies are needed to determine the mechanism by which VLP vaccine lowers blood pressure.
                       Nevertheless, the results of this new biotherapy for hypertension are intriguing and promising, and vaccination for hypertension may turn out to be very useful in many patients," If the vaccine fares well in those tests, patients would need "a few injections per year" and hypertension management will become very amicable.

by
N.Shanmuga Priya.

Most advances in the world of drug delivery systems in particular to chronic Cardiovascular Diseases are transpired. In this stipulation, the entire pharmaceutical Industry is binding themselves for the newer drug deliveries with their own Research and Development.

          Cell-selective targeted drug delivery has emerged as one of the most significant areas of biomedical engineering research, to optimize the therapeutic efficacy of a drug by strictly localizing its pharmacological activity to a path physiologically relevant tissue system. These concepts have been applied to targeted drug delivery to the cardiovascular system. Certain devices are used for drug delivery to the cardiovascular system.

            New cell-based therapeutic strategies are being developed in response to the shortcomings of available treatments for heart disease. Potential repair by cell grafting or mobilizing endogenous cells holds particular attraction in heart disease, where the meager capacity for cardiomyocyte proliferation likely contributes to the irreversibility of heart failure.
           Cell therapy approaches include attempts to reinitiate cardiomyocyte proliferation in the adult, conversion of fibroblasts to contractile myocytes, conversion of bone marrow stem cells into cardiomyocytes, and transplantation of myocytes or other cells into injured myocardium.

 Cell-Selective targeted drug delivery systems that fortify R&D pipelines and enhance compounds by:                                                                 
         • Enhancing bioavailability via bypassing first pass metabolism
         • Minimizing pharmaco-kinetic peaks and troughs
         • Improving tolerability and dosing
         • Increasing patient compliance
         • Continuous delivery

Major break throughs are:
       Induction of the proliferation of cardiomyocytes at specific sites of Heart plays pivot role in curing the CVD and Cell-mediated immune modulation for chronic heart disease is useful inventions.

       Cell transplantation of Myoblasts for treatment of congestive heart failure and Injection of adult stem cells for congestive heart failure are astounding.

In conclusion, our Cell-selective targeted drug delivery system showed promising results in enhancing the treatment of selected areas of the Cardio vascular diseases and controlling the dose applied.

        by
        N.Shanmuga Priya.