Why is there no staph vaccine?

Attempts to establish a Staphylococcus aureus methicillin-resistant vaccine (MRSA) did not outsize the ubiquity and antibiotic adaptability of the superbug.

Washington D.C: Staph bacteria are mostly feared for drug-resistant strains, which are becoming a serious threat to public health because they are the leading cause of potentially dangerous skin diseases. Attempts to establish a Staphylococcus aureus methicillin-resistant vaccine (MRSA) did not outsize the ubiquity and antibiotic adaptability of the superbug.

Research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may help to explain why past vaccination attempts failed, as well as proposing a new approach to vaccine design. This strategy concentrates on the stimulation, during or within the first few days after birth, of untapped immune cells and the immunization against staphs....read more

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NTU Singapore scientists find easier way to harvest healing factors from adult stem cells in the lab

Pharmabiz

A research team at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has found an easier way to harvest healing factors – molecules that promote tissue growth and regeneration – from adult stem cells. Presently, scientists ‘pre-condition’ adult stem cells to secrete healing factors by putting them in a low-oxygen chamber or by using biochemicals or genetic engineering. However in lab experiments, the NTU team of materials scientists and biologists tried mimicking the physical conditions that cells find inside the body and grew a particular type of stem cell – Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) – on a softer surface than is normally used. MSCs grown on the softer surface, known as hydrogel, increased their secretion of healing factors, known as the secretome, compared to normal growing surfaces. This method of growing MCSs on hydrogel, a three-dimensional network of polymers with high water content, could potentially be scaled up for mass production of healing factors by biotech companies. The findings were reported in Advanced Healthcare Materials by a multi-disciplinary team comprising NTU Assistant Professor Dalton Tay from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, and NTU associate professors Andrew Tan from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and Newman Sze from the School of Biological Sciences. In the human body, MSCs are present in many tissues, muscles and organs. When they detect tissue damage, they produce healing factors to speed up repairs. Earlier studies by the same team showed that when bioengineered secretome was applied to mice skin wounds, after five days wounds had closed by an average of 71 per cent. Mice which did not have the secretome applied had wound closures of 60 per cent after five days.

AstraZeneca gets Chinese approval for triple-combo therapy, budesonide/glycopyrronium/formoterol fumarate to treat COPD

Pharmabiz

AstraZeneca announced that budesonide/glycopyrronium/formoterol fumarate has been approved in China for the maintenance treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This is the first approval by the National Medical Products Administration for a triple-combination therapy in a pressurised metered-dose inhaler (pMDI), which uses the innovative Aerosphere delivery technology. The approval follows a priority review and is based on results from the phase III KRONOS trial in which PT010 demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in trough forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), the primary endpoint for China, compared with dual-combination therapies Bevespi Aerosphere (glycopyrronium/ formoterol fumarate) and PT009 (budesonide/formoterol fumarate). The safety and tolerability of PT010 were consistent with the known profiles of the dual comparators. Data from the KRONOS trial were published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine in October 2018. Mene Pangalos, executive vice president, bioPharmaceuticals R&D, said, “Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease affects almost 100 million people in China, and is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. With this approval, we are now able to provide a powerful new triple-combination therapy to patients for whom new treatments are critically needed. Our triple-combination therapy is administered in a pressurised metered-dose inhaler, an important device option for clinicians and patients in China.”

Hyderabad Vet Rape & Murder Case: AIIMS Doctors Conduct Second Autopsy of Slain Accused

News18- IANS

A team of forensic experts on Monday conducted a second post-mortem of the bodies of the four accused in the Hyderabad veterinarians rape and murder case. All four accused were killed in an alleged encounter by the police on December 6. On the direction of the Telangana High Court on Saturday, forensic experts from New Delhis All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) conducted the autopsy at the government-run Gandhi Hospital here. Gandhi Hospital Superintendent Shravan Kumar told reporters that the autopsy procedure was videographed as per the court orders. The videograph and autopsy report will be submitted to the court. The High Court had ordered the second autopsy after Shravan Kumar personally appeared before the court and informed that the bodies will be totally decomposed in five days. After the autopsy the bodies will be handed over to their families. The relatives, who were waiting to receive the bodies, said the last rites will be performed in their native district Narayanpur. The court passed the orders on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by social activists K. Sujaya and others. Mohammed Arif (26), Jollu Shiva (20), Jollu Naveen (20) and Chintakuntla Chennakeshavulu (20), all accused in the gang rape and murder of a veterinary doctor were allegedly killed by the police near Shadnagar on the outskirts of the city.

Curbing cancer treatment cost a challenge: Experts

ET Heathworld- TNN

Cost-effective cancer care is a challenge at a time when infrastructure maintenance is turning expensive and state hospitals are failing to cope with the swelling of patients that depend on them for treatment. The rising medico-legal expenses, triggered by frequent litigations against private hospitals over the last two-and-half years, too, have proved to be an obstacle in rationalizing charges, observed speakers at a panel discussion on “Bengal’s cancer care needs a booster dose in cost, quality, infrastructure or just credibility” organized by the Bengal Oncology Foundation on Sunday. Even though the government was providing free treatment, the huge load on state hospitals was proving to be a deterrent in cancer treatment, felt director of medical Education Pradip Mitra, one of the panellists. “Cancer treatment can’t wait, nor can it be deferred. So, a section of patients is being forced to seek treatment at private hospitals which are often prohibitively expensive. This is an unfortunate situation,” said Mitra.