A science-based review on selected supplements

The market is full of supplements. These targets the youth, the aged, people interested in sports, and those seeking to reduce or increase weight. Some claim to help build muscles, strengthen bones, joints, prevent heart attacks, build immunity, protect you from infections, prevent cancer, and make you look younger. Each supplement advertisement presents a scientific study in its support.

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Exploring the plant kingdom for the development of novel sunscreen formulations

By Mayuri Napagoda, Sanjeeva Witharana, and Lalith Jayasinghe

Contribution participating in the INPST 2018 Science Communication Awards contest.

Exposure to solar radiation, particularly to its ultraviolet (UV) components has a variety of harmful effects on human skin, ranging from mild inflammatory effects to as severe as causing several types of cancers. Thus, synthetic sunscreens have been introduced to the market to be used as protectants against harmful UV radiation. However, with the realization of the adverse effects associated with the synthetic sunscreen products, there is an increasing demand for sunscreens of herbal origins. Dr. Mayuri Napagoda and her team explain here the significance of plant extracts and plant secondary metabolites for the development of sunscreens with high efficiency and low side-effect profiles while sharing their latest research findings in the field.

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No more drugs… St. John’s Wort and ginseng are there!

By Asmaa F. Galal, Attia A. Yassen, Mai S.Saleh

Contribution participating in the INPST 2018 Science Communication Awards contest.

Could you imagine?! About 16 percent of the world’s population are drug addicts. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 230 million people use illegal drugs at least once a year. Besides, 27 million people are typical addicts with 12 million of them having disabilities and 200.000 die each year (UNODC, 2015).

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Phytoremediation Techniques for Environmental Sustainability – in the Age of Urbanization and Industrialization

”Let us Make Our Earth Pollution Free”

By Dr. Ashwini A. Waoo, AKS University, India

Contribution participating in the INPST 2018 Science Communication Awards contest.

1. Phytoremediation Technology

Our earth was a beautiful planet with plant, animal and microbial diversity but human harshly exploited all natural resources for their benefit. Industrialization and urbanization intensified the problem of pollution. Prof. Ashwini A. Waoo and her team are working on bioremediation and phytoremediation. For the improvement and sustainability of the environment, phytoremediation is a useful way which is well recognized throughout the world.

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Can We Bring Back Extinct Species? Yes… and No

By Mikael Angelo S. Francisco

Contribution participating in the INPST 2018 Science Communication Awards contest.

Approximately 3,600 years ago, the last of the woolly mammoths took their final steps on the frosty soil of Wrangel Island, 140 km off the Russian coast. A small group of around 500 or so stragglers somehow managed to find their way to that isolated island, subsequently outliving their mainland counterparts by roughly 6,000 years.

 Asian Elephant - Richard Towell/Flickr; Woolly Mammoth - Wikimedia Commons
Asian Elephant – Richard TowellFlickr; Woolly Mammoth – Wikimedia Commons
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A Spicy-flavored and Colorful Platter to Support Healthy Brain and Eyesight

By Dr. Nancy Maurya

Contribution participating in the INPST 2018 Science Communication Awards contest.

Neurodegeneration: An age related issue

Neurodegeneration in different forms has been an increasing health concern worldwide as the population ages and hence it has been attracting the attention of many researchers. Examples of neurodegenerative disorders include Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), etc. along with retinal neurodegenerations like age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and glaucoma. AD is irreversible brain disorder occurring due to amyloid plaque formation that is characterized by gradual loss of memory and thinking ability, while PD is a motor system affecting disease involving neuronal death due to Lewy bodies’ formation. AMD involves gradual loss of central vision due to death of macular cells of the retina while glaucoma the infamous ‘Silent thief of vision’, involves increase in the intra-ocular pressure leading to slowly progressing, permanent blindness that begins from the peripheral vision loss. The underlying causes of all these diseases are quite similar like age, oxidative stress, genetic predisposition etc. They all seem quite related to each other with common mechanism of pathogenesis, however, complete understanding of these diseases is still under research. For instance, it is quite well known fact that AD involves β-Amyloid aggregates (plaques) which is the main causative protein in its pathology but role of this protein in ocular disorders like glaucoma is still elusive. β-Amyloid has however, been suggested to be playing an important role in pathogenesis of this ocular disorder by many scientific groups.

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From the Labs to Commercialization: the Estes lab and ImmuCell Success Story

By Ana María Rodríguez, Ph.D.

Contribution participating in the INPST 2018 Science Communication Awards contest.

National Human Genome Research Institute/ Ernesto del Aguila III
National Human Genome Research Institute/ Ernesto del Aguila III

Research discoveries at Baylor College of Medicine can potentially reach the point where they evolve into practical applications that improve the quality of life. After more than 20 years of research, discoveries of Dr. Mary Estes’ lab have reached that point; they successfully resulted in a vaccine against rotavirus, triggered the interest of an industry partner, ImmuCell, and were ultimately developed into a final product that has been approved and is available for use in the U.S.

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‘Superbugs’ might have found their match: Bacteriophages can combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria

By Ana María Rodríguez, Ph.D.

Contribution participating in the INPST 2018 Science Communication Awards contest.

Envision the following possible future clinical scenario: a patient in a hospital develops an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection that is untreatable or only treatable with the most toxic of antibiotics. During the 48 hours it takes to identify the bacterial species and strain, physicians and scientists also screen a library of bacterium-killing viruses at hand, select those that are effective against this antibiotic-resistant bacterial strain and mix a personalized cocktail of phages to successfully treat the patient.

Bacteriophages can infect and kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Courtesy of Scott Holmes
Bacteriophages can infect and kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Courtesy of Scott Holmes

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Multiple biological effects of conjugated linoleic acid may depend upon its ability to activate a multifunctional mechanism

By Paolo Bergamo and Lucia Treppiccione

Contribution participating in the INPST 2018 Science Communication Awards contest.

The increased awareness of consumers about the link between health and nutrition has driven research (and food industry) to explore the beneficial effects of functional foods (which promote health or prevent diseases). Although it can be affirmed that food contains “functional nutrients”, nevertheless, for some of them, dietary indications have changed a lot in the last years. This is the case of milk fat consumption that has been associated, for a long time, with increased incidence of cardiovascular diseases, dyslipidemia or obesity. However, in some recent studies, it was evidenced that milk and cheese intake reduced the cardiovascular risk, diseased mortality and the strongest protective effects were observed in consumers of whole dairy products (Dehghan, M.et al., Lancet. 2018). Among the beneficial components of milk fats, conjugated linoleic acid, owing to its prevailing healthy effects for humans, has been considered a functional ingredient (Kim, J.H. et al., Annu Rev Food Sci Technol. 2016). Although its beneficial effects have been first demonstrated more than thirty years ago, there is still much interest in investigating its protective efficacy and in understanding the mechanisms underlying its biological activities.

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Natural molecule derivatives as Topoisomerase Poisons – Insights into chemotherapeutic failure

By Syed Moiz Ahmed

Contribution participating in the INPST 2018 Science Communication Awards contest.

With the rapid increase in our understanding of disease biology, it is quite evident that treatment outcomes are dependent on patient molecular profiles. The focus is now to get the right treatment to the right patient allowing for greater safety and efficacy. The authors have shed light on a molecular biomarker that could potentially be used in this new treatment paradigm. 

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