Showing posts with label New news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New news. Show all posts
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Monday, 12 September 2011
IIM + Ayurveda = Model Career
www.IIM + Ayurveda = Model career - DNA - English News & Features - Top News - 3dsyndication.com .htm
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
A healthy decision
The move by select insurance groups to cover ayurvedic treatments is wise - and timely. Ayurveda is an ancient Indian medical practice, laced with philosophy around holistic health. It uses plant- and mineral-based medicines, yoga and other natural methods to combat illnesses. In contemporary times, with growing numbers of people rejecting chemical concoctions, ayurveda with its natural elements appeals powerfully to many.
As insurance companies themselves find, several subscribers prefer ayurveda over drugs for particular problems. It makes no sense to deny them insurance - simply because we don't believe in a non-western medical practice. Ironically, despite the large numbers of Indians reaching for ayurveda,India lags behind the world in giving it due recognition. Ayurveda is part of a wide international healthcare umbrella titled 'Complementary and Alternative Medicine' that includes traditional Chinese remedies, naturopathy and aromatherapy. These appeal to many seeking options beyond drug- and surgery-based allopathic practices, whose drawbacks are many.
Ayurveda meets nanotechnology in potential cancer drug
Through an unusual welding of Ayurveda and nanotechnology, two India-born scientists have developed a medicine that promises to cure prostate cancer, which will now be tested by a local company.
Chennai-based drug manufacturer Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd has said it will produce, conduct clinical trials and bring to market the medicine made of gold nanoparticles in a chemical soup partly prepared from herbs such as tea leaves and cinnamon, all used in several Ayurvedic concoctions.
“Patients will only need a single shot of the medicine that can take care of the cancer,” claimed Abhaya Kumar, managing director, Shasun Pharma. “It will be a fundamental shift in cancer therapy with no side effects, radiation and chemotherapy.”
Shasun has licensed the technology from Nanoparticle Biochem Inc., a spin-off company from the University of Missouri, Columbia, whose researchers Raghuram Kannan and Kattesh Katti are among the developers of the technology.
The working of the discovered drug seems simple. The gold nanoparticles—beads crushed to about one thousandth of the width of human hair—are injected into the body where they bind to the surface of cancer cells. Being metal and mildly radioactive, they slowly burn the offending cells to extinction.
Kumar said both Shasun and Nanoparticle Biochem will invest $5 million (Rs.22 crore) each to develop the drug, and by October will ask the Drug Controller General of India’s permission to conduct clinical trials.
Prostate cancer affects 4.6 out of every 100,000 Indians, compared with 104.3 per 100,000 in the US, according to the World Health Organization. In India, 85% men seek treatment when the cancer is in an advanced stage, compared with 15% in the US.
Girish Sahni, director at Chandigarh-based Institute of Microbial Technology, who has previously collaborated with Shasun, said the use of gold nanoparticles for drug development was promising. “It’s a new approach,” he said, “but we’ll have to wait and see if such applications survive clinical trials.”
Though producing gold nanoparticles typically requires use of toxic chemicals such as sodium borohydride or hydrogen, the new method entails submerging gold salts in water and later made to react with cinnamon aldehyde, which generate the nanoparticles, according to researcher Katti.
“In fact, if you don’t have cinnamon aldehyde, you can use cinnamon sticks,” said fellow scientist Kannan, adding that even tea leaves and soya bean can be used to prepare such nanoparticles.
The water pulls out phytochemicals—therapeutic compounds present in plants—out of the herbs, which then react with gold salts to form nanoparticles, as well as provide an extra layer of coating that helps the particles to bind to cell surfaces.
“Because we can do this without toxic chemicals, it’s a totally green process,” Katti said.
Gold is the metal of choice for such therapy because it doesn’t react with surrounding healthy cells, emits radiation within human tolerance limits, and can be moulded into a variety of shapes for use in drug delivery systems. While several approaches to employ gold nanoparticles for medicinal purposes are being tested out, there’s no commercially available drug that employs nanoparticles.
“We only need a gram of gold for 1,000 patients and that will be cheaper than current prostate cancer therapies such as surgery and chemotherapy,” said Shasun’s Kumar.
Preliminary tests on mice, artificially induced with prostate tumours, have showed that 30 days after being injected with the medicine, the tumours hadn’t grown and were a quarter of the size of tumours of afflicted rats not administered the medicine.
Katti’s group last year reported preparing gold nanoparticles with soya bean and published their work in the peer-reviewed Pharmaceutical Researchjournal.
“The application of soy for the production of gold nanoparticles is amazing,” Puspendu Das, physical chemistry professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, said in a statement. “This invention will have far-reaching implications in nanoscience and technology research globally since nanoparticles of gold are used in almost every sensor design and are implicated in lifesciences for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.”
Chennai-based drug manufacturer Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd has said it will produce, conduct clinical trials and bring to market the medicine made of gold nanoparticles in a chemical soup partly prepared from herbs such as tea leaves and cinnamon, all used in several Ayurvedic concoctions.
“Patients will only need a single shot of the medicine that can take care of the cancer,” claimed Abhaya Kumar, managing director, Shasun Pharma. “It will be a fundamental shift in cancer therapy with no side effects, radiation and chemotherapy.”
Shasun has licensed the technology from Nanoparticle Biochem Inc., a spin-off company from the University of Missouri, Columbia, whose researchers Raghuram Kannan and Kattesh Katti are among the developers of the technology.
The working of the discovered drug seems simple. The gold nanoparticles—beads crushed to about one thousandth of the width of human hair—are injected into the body where they bind to the surface of cancer cells. Being metal and mildly radioactive, they slowly burn the offending cells to extinction.
Kumar said both Shasun and Nanoparticle Biochem will invest $5 million (Rs.22 crore) each to develop the drug, and by October will ask the Drug Controller General of India’s permission to conduct clinical trials.
Prostate cancer affects 4.6 out of every 100,000 Indians, compared with 104.3 per 100,000 in the US, according to the World Health Organization. In India, 85% men seek treatment when the cancer is in an advanced stage, compared with 15% in the US.
Girish Sahni, director at Chandigarh-based Institute of Microbial Technology, who has previously collaborated with Shasun, said the use of gold nanoparticles for drug development was promising. “It’s a new approach,” he said, “but we’ll have to wait and see if such applications survive clinical trials.”
Though producing gold nanoparticles typically requires use of toxic chemicals such as sodium borohydride or hydrogen, the new method entails submerging gold salts in water and later made to react with cinnamon aldehyde, which generate the nanoparticles, according to researcher Katti.
“In fact, if you don’t have cinnamon aldehyde, you can use cinnamon sticks,” said fellow scientist Kannan, adding that even tea leaves and soya bean can be used to prepare such nanoparticles.
The water pulls out phytochemicals—therapeutic compounds present in plants—out of the herbs, which then react with gold salts to form nanoparticles, as well as provide an extra layer of coating that helps the particles to bind to cell surfaces.
“Because we can do this without toxic chemicals, it’s a totally green process,” Katti said.
Gold is the metal of choice for such therapy because it doesn’t react with surrounding healthy cells, emits radiation within human tolerance limits, and can be moulded into a variety of shapes for use in drug delivery systems. While several approaches to employ gold nanoparticles for medicinal purposes are being tested out, there’s no commercially available drug that employs nanoparticles.
“We only need a gram of gold for 1,000 patients and that will be cheaper than current prostate cancer therapies such as surgery and chemotherapy,” said Shasun’s Kumar.
Preliminary tests on mice, artificially induced with prostate tumours, have showed that 30 days after being injected with the medicine, the tumours hadn’t grown and were a quarter of the size of tumours of afflicted rats not administered the medicine.
Katti’s group last year reported preparing gold nanoparticles with soya bean and published their work in the peer-reviewed Pharmaceutical Researchjournal.
“The application of soy for the production of gold nanoparticles is amazing,” Puspendu Das, physical chemistry professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, said in a statement. “This invention will have far-reaching implications in nanoscience and technology research globally since nanoparticles of gold are used in almost every sensor design and are implicated in lifesciences for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.”
Ayurvedic medicines having Viagra component found
Beware of the enhancement of ‘sex power’ Ayurvedic medicines, as they can affect your health as some samples of them have been found with dangerous chemical components in Rajasthan.
Some companies are selling Ayurvedic medicines promising increase in ‘sex power’ and these medicines have been found adulterate with Sildenafil, a very harmful and highly intoxicated chemical.
The ayurvedic department of Rajasthan has set up an inquiry and conducted test on the enhancement of ‘sex power’ medicines in the market. The samples for the test were collected from Jodhpur. After the test, Sildenafil was found in three brands of the drugs.
The medicines which were found adulterated are - Health Sun, Musli Power Extra and D Gold -8000. The Ayurveda department is planning to file a case against these companies. ‘Health Sun’ is produced by Jyoti Herb India Pvt Ltd, Mohabewala, Dehra Dun. ’Musli Power Extra’ is produced by the company Kanath Pharmaciticals Muwatpujha, Anarkulam and the makers of 'D Gold -8000 are D India Herbal Lasudha Mori, Indore.
None of the three companies have their production units in Rajasthan, due to which, the Ayurveda Department of Rajasthan have written a letter to the states of their manufacturing to ban the sale of these adulterated drugs.
On a very serious note, the Ayurveda Department wants to ban these adulterated medicines. Around four weeks ago, the department got the report of these adulterated drugs after which Rampal Somani, Drug Inspector of Udaipur, was asked to take action.
Monday, 1 August 2011
Ayurvedic Medicines – A Safer and Much Preferred Option
Ayurveda, also known as the science of life, is a holistic healing science native to the Indian subcontinent. Now it is practiced in almost all parts of the world. It has become one of the most popular and beneficial treatment options among people. The word ‘Ayurveda’ has evolved out of Sanskrit which is actually a combination of two words ‘ayus’ that means life and ‘veda’ which means related to knowledge. Thus Ayurveda refers to the science of life.
Ayurveda not only helps in treating the diseases but it also denotes a complete way of life. Ayurvedic medicines have become the first choice in terms of treatment options for people all over the world. There are various benefits that these medicines offer over all other kinds of treatment options. Given below are some of them:
o Ayurvedic medicines are quite safe as compared to chemical based medicines. These medicines are free from all kinds of side effects thus ensures a safe treatment.
o These medicines not only help you get physical health but also help in maintaining the mental health.
o Ayurvedic medicines aim at preventing the diseases in future apart from treating them in present.
o They are non toxic as well as non invasive and thus people use them as an alternate option along with their other conventional therapies.
o They are beneficial for solving metabolic, chronic and various stress related issues.
o They are quite effective and they are available for almost every kind of ailment.
Taking a look at the above mentioned benefits it becomes crystal clear why people prefer ayurvedic medicines over other treatment options. There are various other facts too about Ayurveda that attract people and make them get inclined towards this holistic approach that has been existent for a very long time. Ayurveda focuses on holistic health instead of concentrating merely on the physical body. This proves to be the most attractive and beneficial aspects of ayurvedic medicines.
They provide physical, mental and spiritual health to people and thus can be considered as one complete medical system. These options treat human body as a part of nature and recommend living a life style closer to the nature. It aims at promoting harmony between individuals and nature. Ayurvedic medicines usually practice and conceptualize some major medicinal subspecialties. These include the internal medicines, general surgery, otorhinolaryngology, pediatrics and gynecology, psychiatry, toxicology, nutrition, detoxification & rejuvenation and fertility & virility
This shows that Ayurvedic medicines cover a very large area of health and you get any of your ailments treated with these medicines. What else can one ask for if he or she gets an assurance that the medicines they are trying would help them without leaving any kinds of adverse effects on their bodies? I don’t think anybody would try ignore such an interesting and on top of all safe option. So, we can understand why Ayurveda has successfully managed to retain its position despite of the various new developments every second day in the field of medical sciences
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)