Scientists develop inhaled TB vaccine

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and Harvard have developed a novel inhaled tuberculosis vaccine that is easier to administer and store and just as effective as one commonly used globally.
The research team said if the vaccine, which was successfully tested in guinea pigs, tests as well in humans, it could be a promising new weapon against tuberculosis.

Scientists at the UNC School of Pharmacy led by Tony Hickey, insisted that the vaccine eliminates the need for refrigeration and water that has made the current vaccine problematic in some regions.

Hickey and his colleagues vetted a dry powder vaccine provided by Harvard University that is administered using an inhaler.

“It is at least as good as the injectable vaccine. The real advantage is that this vaccine does not need to be refrigerated. It also doesn’t require needles, syringes and water like the injectable vaccine, and administering it is as easy as breathing in, making it ideal for use in developing countries,” Hickey said.

The vaccine is spray dried instead of freeze dried. Spray drying is the process of spraying a liquid through a heated gas such as nitrogen to create a powder.

Reducing 'bad cholesterol'

Swedish scientists have identified a gene that reduces levels of bad cholesterol and combats atherosclerosis, a condition brought about by thickening of inner walls of arteries carrying blood to the heart.

In a new study on mice, Karolinska Institutet researchers have shown that the accumulation of the plaque that causes myocardial infarction and stroke can be prevented if levels of the "bad" LDL cholesterol are reduced before atherosclerotic plaque has progressed beyond a particular point.

The group has also identified a network of 37 genes that lowers levels of blood cholesterol and brings about
beneficial effect, reports Science Daily.

“Previously, much atherosclerosis research was focussed on identifying ways to stabilise the most dangerous plaques in order to prevent them rupturing and causing myocardial infarction or stroke,” said Johan Björkegren of the Institutet, who has led the study.

Now, a sat nav trolley

Shopping in supermarkets will be a new experience all together — with a sat nav new trolley that will make shopping a much easier exercise for shoppers, besides flashing a warning if your groceries have too much fat in them.

The trolleys have been fitted with sat nav, which facilitates an on-board computer that help plan the best route to buy what you want and suggests meal recipes based on it.

The trolleys, which are set to slash the time it takes to do shopping, could be introduced in Britain next year.

They use technology from computer giant Microsoft and are the brainchild of Texas-based firm MediaCart.

Customers can insert a supermarket loyalty card containing details of their previous shopping lists. The location of each item on a list is then shown on a 12-inch screen at the end of the trolley.

If you need something not on the list you can ask the machine.

Voice-recognition software processes the request and shows where the item is.

And if it is stolen from the supermarket it has the technology to “phone home” with its location so it can be collected.

“The trolley shows the best and most efficient route to buy everything on your shopping list. Shoppers can also use the trolley to scan in the product with the barcode,” said a MediaCart spokesman.

Long-life is not a boon

For grannies, this might rather come as a huge shock. An analysis of births and deaths in Costa Rica has found that the longer grandmothers lived, the fewer grandchildren their daughters raised.

For the research, Lorena Madrigal at the University of South Florida, Tampa, US, and Mauricio Melendez-Obando of the Costa Rican Academy of Genealogical Science, analysed church and civil government record data on births and deaths in the country between 1,500 and 1950.

The analysis revealed that women who died before they were 50 had an average number of seven children, whereas women who lived to beyond 80 had an average of 8.3 children.

Astonishingly, the analysis also found that women living beyond 80 had nearly 50 per cent fewer grandchildren — 5.75, on average — than women who died before they were 50; these women had on average 8.9 grandchildren. The researchers argue that that the reason behind such a trend is that when women lived into old age they increased the chances of survival for their children by being good mothers, but living too long created a strain on resources that harmed their grandchildren.