Category Archives: Biochemistry

MCI order on signing med reports causes stir- The New Indian Express – The New Indian Express

BENGALURU:A communication by the Medical Council of India saying that only those who have registered with MCI and state medical councils will be allowed to sign on medical reports has received opposition from the hospital sector. This recent decision by MCI will keep all pathologists and those with MSc or MD in biochemistry, microbiology, medical microbiology away from signing certificates, health and medical reports.

At present, MSc and PhD holders in medical microbiology, medical biochemistry, life sciences, applied biology, cutogenetics and biotechnology are allowed to sign medical test reports. But this new decision by MCI will restrict MSc and PhD holders to only teaching. A senior professor of a medical college in the city said, These are allied sciences and MCI cant restrict them to teaching. If MCI says only those registered with MCI can sign health and medical reports, then only MBBS doctors can sign. These pathology lab reports are system generated and they dont need an MBBS holder to sign them, said another senior pathologist.

Many in the sector have raised the issue with Union health minister J P Nadda on Twitter and some have even asked HRD minister Prakash Javadekar to remove MSc in biochemistry and microbiology courses from the purview of U GC.

Read the rest here:
MCI order on signing med reports causes stir- The New Indian Express - The New Indian Express

Lab test – Rising Kashmir

While clarifying on the matter whether professionals other than MBBS doctors (who are registered with Medical Council of India MCI or State Medical Council) can sign medical test reports, Deputy Secretary MCI Dr Parul Goel maintained that only the registered doctors can and not professionals that have been awarded any other degree. The other degrees include MSc, PhD, degrees in fields like Biochemistry, Microbiology, etc. The order has been justified as preventing any malpractice by what have been described as quacks in the field. The order not only fails on its face value but its place value as well, because the problem apparently is not who signs or attests the medical reports but how much professionally sound they are regarding knowledge, information and judgment. The order certainly puts highly qualified professionals other than MBBS doctors like those in the field of Biochemistry and Microbiology at a disadvantage, and it is ridiculous. How are PhDs or those with degrees in specialized fields in medical science quacks and MBBS doctors qualified? It makes some sense in the case of lab technicians as there has been mushrooming of technicians who are trained in institutes having little to no credibility. But in the case of fields like Biochemistry the council may be forgetting that these professionals at times teach the MBBS doctors while they graduate. Besides certain fields impart greater knowledge and know how about certain medical tests and analyses than a mere MBBS degree. Further, if the decision is compared to that of granting permissions to pharmaceutical units to manufacture medicines and to those in the trade of selling these drugs, there is clearly a disparity. In fact quacks and unscrupulous elements have been manufacturing substandard medicine and even selling substandard medicine being aware of the fact, which goes mostly unchecked and unheeded. The governments or medical authorities should have applied pressure on the government to cease the licenses of these elements and to be careful while issuing new ones. But the practice is that anyone with the pharma background, no matter the institution or its credibility, is given the permission to sell medicine which has a direct impact on the health of the people, and as has been seen a negative impact in the case of those freely selling substandard medicine. When there is no check put in place to curb sale of low quality substandard medicine, how can signing of medical reports be of any significance. The problem in both the cases is the credibility of those who are given the permission to practice freely. Lastly, there are MBBS doctors, like other professionals, who for profit allow their seals/signs to be used and who do not even have any idea about the actual reports.

Follow this link:
Lab test - Rising Kashmir

Global Biochemistry Analyzer Market to Grow at a CAGR of 6 … – Business Wire (press release)

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Biochemistry Analyzer Market 2017-2021" report to their offering.

The global Biochemistry Analyzer market to grow at a CAGR of 6.02% during the period 2017-2021.

The report, Global Biochemistry Analyzer Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

The latest trend gaining momentum in the market is modular design of biochemistry analyzer. The fully automatic biochemistry analyzer is used to analyze many biochemical parameters of blood sample like blood glucose, urea, protein, etc., to detect various diseases like kidney, liver, and other metabolic disorders. Therefore, by analyzing these parameters, the biochemistry analyzer helps in diagnosing various health disorders. It is a high performance-based micro-controller inbuilt with the photometric technology.

According to the report, one of the major drivers for this market is growing aging population. The increase in median age due to the reduction in fertility rate and the increase in life expectancy result in the growing aging population. These two demographic effects reflect the change in a country's population with a rising aging and a declining child population.

Key vendors

Other prominent vendors

Key Topics Covered:

PART 01: Executive summary

PART 02: Scope of the report

PART 03: Research Methodology

PART 04: Introduction

PART 05: Market landscape

PART 06: Market segmentation by end-user

PART 07: Geographical segmentation

PART 08: Decision framework

PART 09: Drivers and challenges

PART 10: Market trends

PART 11: Vendor landscape

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/v5qf2j/global

See the original post:
Global Biochemistry Analyzer Market to Grow at a CAGR of 6 ... - Business Wire (press release)

Tucson Tech: University of Arizona scientists invent new sulfur-based plastics – Arizona Daily Star

In the not-too-distant future, a new type of plastic invented at the University of Arizona might help your car drive itself and, when you arrive at the supermarket, help you pick out a ripe tomato.

Jeffrey Pyun, professor in the UAs Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, led research to develop a new class of inexpensive, sulfur-based polymer, or plastic, with properties that uniquely suit them for use in lenses in infrared devices like heat-sensing cameras.

The invention is the result of a cross-campus collaboration between Pyun, UA optical sciences professor Robert Norwood and UA chemistry and biochem professor Richard Glass.

Pyun, who joined the UA in 2004, discovered the new type of plastic as part of research on sulfur-based materials for advanced batteries he started in 2010.

The new hybrid material is known as CHIPs, which stands for Chalcogenide Hybrid Inorganic/organic Polymers.

Besides semiconductor properties useful for batteries, Pyun found that the new polymer had exciting optical properties in the non-visible infrared wavelengths the part of the electromagnetic spectrum detected by heat-sensing thermal cameras and used by devices such as remote controls and automobile sensors.

In 2010, Pyun and his colleagues were focused on using waste sulfur from petroleum refining industry as low-cost feedstock for a new kind of plastic.

Our thought back then was, how do we take this and directly, or in a single or convenient step, make it into a useful plastic? Pyun said.

Besides its potential use as a semiconductor in batteries, Pyuns group found that the new material had a very high refractive index essentially a measure of how light bends as it passes through a material.

High refractive index materials allow opticians to make thinner eyeglass lenses and also helps lenses on infrared devices see more infrared radiation.

Typically, lens materials for infrared imaging are made of germanium or chalcogenide glass, which contains elements that create a high refractive index but can be complex and costly to produce.

On the other hand, sulfur is cheap and abundant as a refining byproduct and is very simple to turn into plastics.

Sulfur you can get for the same magnitude of cost as coal, so its literally dirt cheap, Pyun said.

There could be a big market for the new plastic in lenses used for industrial infrared applications ranging from missile target seekers, night-vision equipment and infrared detectors used in self-driving vehicles.

The material could someday be used with smartphones to create heat-sensing apps, such as an app that could detect the higher heat signature of a ripe fruit versus an unripe one.

We have basically opened up an enormous new world for plastics in this already-established area, Pyun said. We are the first, and thats why its so exciting.

With the help of Tech Launch Arizona and Paul Eynott, TLA licensing manager for the College of Science, Pyun and his colleagues are starting to court industrial partners that could license the technology and start incorporating it into products.

Pyun has also set up a startup company, Innovative Energetics, to further develop commercial technologies.

Though the sulfur-based polymers could be used for a myriad of plastics applications, infrared optics is the main focus now, Pyun said.

The UA has filed more than 40 separate provisional patents surrounding the technology and has two issue patents, Pyun said.

Its a UA product. Ive been here my entire academic career, and we made it happen really through grassroots efforts, support from the university, our extensive collaborations and international collaborations, he said.

Beyond the UA, Pyuns group has collaborated on the research with scientists at South Koreas Seoul National University, including chemistry professor Kookheon Char.

Tech Launch Arizona has launched a series of podcasts about promising UA technologies, starting with an interview with Pyun.

Contact senior reporter David Wichner at dwichner@tucson.com or 573-4181. On Twitter: @dwichner

Read more here:
Tucson Tech: University of Arizona scientists invent new sulfur-based plastics - Arizona Daily Star

The games scientists play – Lethbridge Herald

By Martin, Tijana on June 26, 2017.

Tijana Martin

Lethbridge Herald

tmartin@lethbridgeherald.com

An unusual pair of third-year classes from the University of Lethbridge recently joined forces to complete a project.

Students from Biochemistry 3300 and New Media 3310 Game Design, Theory and Production, have created two new games after being put in touch through the Agility program.

According to the University, biochemistry professor H.J. Wieden suggested a game might help his students better understand the 3300 course, which is essential for those to understand the metabolic process and synthetic biology.

This is probably the most hated subject matter in all of biochemistry because it is so much material, said Widen in a press release. I thought one way of interacting with it might be putting it into game play so that you could engage with the material.

This year, he asked PhD student Taylor Sheahan to run with his idea and so she made her way to the Agility Lab in hopes of getting 3D game tokens designed.

From there, she met James Graham, who teaches the 3310 Game Design, Theory and Production class.

They had the science but were finding it challenging to insert game play into it, said Graham. We talk about games as systems, they are not just processes that happen, so thats where it has a really nice overlay. You can take the matrix of game design as a system and overlay the science as a system and see how that matrix can be made to line up and then connect that to people in a way that makes science understandable and enjoyable.

At first, the students struggled to find a common language, but Sheahan saw that as a benefit for the biochemistry students. They had to really focus on using layman terms as well as understand the overall concept of how everything fit together so that it would make sense, said Sheahan.

They were trying to communicate complex scientific systems, the metabolic process, in a way that was not didactic and boring, said Graham. My students had to educate themselves to understand the science.

Grahams class of 12 was split into two working groups. One group designed a non-competitive, narrative-based game aimed at Grade 11 students, while the others focused on a ompetitive game designed for third-year biochemistry students, which Sheahan expects will be used in next years class.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

See the original post:
The games scientists play - Lethbridge Herald

New insights into the toxin behind tetanus – Phys.Org

June 26, 2017

Tetanus toxin is the neurotoxin that causes lockjaw. Many are vaccinated, but tetanus still kills tens of thousands of people per year worldwide. Researchers from the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, led by Dr. Pl Stenmark, have now uncovered the poison's structure. For the first time, the way the poison is constructed has been revealed.

"Our discovery could be used to design new medicines", says Pl Stenmark, Associate Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University.

Dr Stenmark and his research team have determined the three-dimensional structure of the entire tetanus toxin protein.

"We can now see the exact positions of the 20 000 atoms that build up the tetanus toxin. It means that we can see how both the toxin and vaccine actually look. Botulinum neurotoxins and the tetanus toxin are the deadliest toxins known to man. The toxins are large proteins that are made by specialised bacteria. The bacteria that produce the tetanus toxin are found in common soil and flourish in untended wounds. One unusual feature of the tetanus toxin is that it travels in nerve cells to the spinal cord from where it can cause life-threatening cramping and spasms."

These start with the shorter nerves in the face (lockjaw) and move on to cause spasms violent enough to break bones.

"We discovered that the poison takes on different forms depending on pH - it appears one way in acidic liquids and very different in a neutral pH environment. We believe that this is important for the toxins ability to move from the wound to the spinal cord and to adapt to different environments. Before this research, no one knew what the toxin looked like or that it changed structure depending on pH."

Pl Stenmark's research group also studies the botulinum neurotoxins, which are similar to the tetanus toxin, but causes paralysis instead of spasms and cramping.

"We want to know more about why these two poisons have nearly opposite effects - tetanus toxin travels through nerve cells to the spinal cord and cause severe muscle cramps whereas the botulinum neurotoxin stays put and causes paralysis. Our findings could be useful in creating new medicines that could be transported to the brain", says Pl Stenmark.

"People are not vaccinated against tetanus in many parts of the world, and infants and new mothers are particularly at risk. Large international vaccination programs have dramatically improved the situation, but tens of thousands of people still die of tetanus every year."

Explore further: Secret of tetanus toxicity offers new way to treat motor neuron disease

More information: Geoffrey Masuyer et al, The structure of the tetanus toxin reveals pHmediated domain dynamics, EMBO reports (2017). DOI: 10.15252/embr.201744198

Journal reference: EMBO Reports

Provided by: Stockholm University

The way that tetanus neurotoxin enters nerve cells has been discovered by UCL scientists, who showed that this process can be blocked, offering a potential therapeutic intervention for tetanus. This newly-discovered pathway ...

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators at Stony Brook University and the Institute of Advanced Sciences in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, have discovered new details about ...

UC Irvine School of Medicine researchers have discovered the mechanism by which bacterial toxins that cause food-borne botulism are absorbed through the intestinal lining and into the bloodstream. Their study, which appears ...

U.S. and German scientists have decoded a key molecular gateway for the toxin that causes botulism, pointing the way to treatments that can keep the food-borne poison out of the bloodstream.

(Medical Xpress)Scientists have manufactured a new bio-therapeutic molecule that could be used to treat neurological disorders such as chronic pain and epilepsy.

Injecting botulinum toxin A (known commercially as Botox) appears to be a safe procedure to improve smiles by restoring lip symmetry in children with facial paralysis, a condition they can be born with or acquire because ...

Inside each and every living cell, there are miniscule structures called membraneless organelles. These tiny powerhouses use chemistry to cue the inner workings of a cellmovement, division and even self-destruction.

Because plants can't get up and run away, they've had to be clever instead. They are the chemists of the living world, producing hundreds of thousands of small molecules that they use as sunscreens, to poison plant eaters, ...

Plastic with a thousand faces: A single piece of Nafion foil makes it possible to produce a broad palette of complex 3D structures. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, researchers describe how they use simple chemical "programming" ...

(Phys.org)A team of researchers at Stanford University has used ultrafast x-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy to quantify the entatic state of cytochrome c. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group ...

Scientists have developed a new low-temperature catalyst for producing high-purity hydrogen gas while simultaneously using up carbon monoxide (CO). The discovery-described in a paper set to publish online in the journal Science ...

A team of chemists from the University of Kentucky and the Institute of Physics Research of Mar del Plata in Argentina has just reported a way to trigger a fundamental step in the mechanism of photosynthesis, providing a ...

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

See original here:
New insights into the toxin behind tetanus - Phys.Org

Professor and his wife donate $1 million for UCLA professorship fund – Daily Bruin

UCLA received a $1 million donation to endow a professorship in medical and drug research.

Michael Jung, a distinguished chemistry and biochemistry professor, and his wife Alice Jung made the donation to establish the Michael and Alice Jung Endowed Chair in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery, according to a UCLA press release on June 14.

Michael Jung said he hopes the gift will allow UCLA to hire a new faculty member who will help further drug discovery and produce more research in medicinal chemistry.

According to the release, Jungs donation was matched by the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences, making the total contribution $2 million. Additional funds came from UCLAs share of proceeds from royalty rights in Xtandi, a prostate cancer medication developed by Jung and his research team.

[Related: A pharmaceutical company will be purchasing the seller of Xtandi for $14 billion.]

Jung has been a faculty member since 1974 and specializes in the field of synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry. He is a consultant for more than 20 industrial biotech and pharmaceutical laboratories, and he is on the scientific advisory board of several pharmaceutical firms.

Jung is currently researching new medications for diseases and conditions such as breast cancer, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis.

The donation is part of the UCLAs Centennial Campaign, which aims to raise $4.2 billion for the university by the end of 2019.

View post:
Professor and his wife donate $1 million for UCLA professorship fund - Daily Bruin

Nelsons celebrate 60 years together – Stillwater News Press

Eldon and Jo Nelson (Hemmerly) will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary June 26, 2017. They were married June 26, 1957 in Dunkird, Ohio in the Dunkirt Methodist Church.

They have two daughters, Laura Nelson, Lewisville, Texas and Julie Kunzelmann, Phoenix, Arizona. Grandchildren include Lindsey Robertof Denton, Texas, Carrie Roberts, recently a Stillwater resident, and Lexie and John Kunzelmann of Phoenix, Arizona.

After graduation from The Ohio State University, EC was hired in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department at Oklahoma State University where he taught Biochemistry while also serving as the Departments student advisor until his retirement in 2004. Jo also was employed by OSU in the Department of Academic Affairs as Senior Staff Assistant to the Associate Vice President(s) for Academic Affairs. She retired in 2003 after which the couple was able to enjoy a cruise and a number of tours. EC and Jo feel blessed for the many years of sharing.

See the original post here:
Nelsons celebrate 60 years together - Stillwater News Press

Finn Named Academic All-American of the Year for Women’s Track and Cross Country – MGoBlue

June 23, 2017

Erin Finn was named the CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for the 2016-17 women's track and field / cross country seasons. This marks the second consecutive season Finn has been named a first-team Academic All-American. Finn is the third Wolverine -- all from the track and field / cross country programs -- to earn the award, joining two-time winner Lindsey Gallo and Kevin Sullivan.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan senior Erin Finn was voted Academic All-American of the Year for women's track and field / cross country and named to the Academic All-America first team for the second consecutive season, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Friday (June 23).

On the combined strength of her national runner-up showings during the indoor track and field / cross country seasons and her near-flawless cumulative undergraduate grade point average as a standout biochemistry student, Finn was selected from among the Academic All-District honorees announced this May in a vote by the CoSIDA Academic All-America committee.

Already among the best-of-the-best in Michigan track and field / cross country history based on her record in competition, Finn now joins a select group in school history who have earned this highest academic distinction that now numbers three: Finn, two-time winner Lindsey Gallo (2004-05) and current men's cross country coach Kevin Sullivan (1998).

Finn's honor marks the seventh time in the past eight years that U-M has had at least one honoree named to the first, second or third team.

Finn was twice an individual national runner-up during the 2016-17 academic year, which culminated in the completion of her undergraduate biochemistry degree with an impeccable 3.98 GPA. For her efforts in the classroom, she earned the 2017 American Institute of Chemists Award for Biochemistry.

She attained this excellence in the classroom while continuing to assert herself as one of the nation's premier long-distance runners.

Finn competed for the Wolverines during both the cross country and indoor track and field seasons in 2016-17, amassing a near-peerless competitive resume that included national runner-up finishes in both sports, a Big Ten title and a regional title.

In cross country, she finished second in the country at the NCAA Championships to lead Michigan to a narrow runner-up national team finish -- tied for the best team finish in program history with the 1994 runner-up squad. Along the way, she won individual Big Ten and Great Lakes Regional titles with team trophies to match.

Indoors, she became the first woman in collegiate history to run 15:30 or faster over 5,000 meters at two consecutive NCAA Indoor Championship meets as she finished as the national runner-up at that distance. She was third at the Big Ten Indoor Championships at both 3,000 and 5,000 meters.

Though her 2017 NCAA outdoor track and field season came to a premature conclusion, she returned for her outdoor debut at the 2017 USATF Outdoor Championships Thursday night (June 22) with a Michigan- and Big Ten-record 32:00.46 clocking over 10,000 meters to finish sixth overall and move to No. 9 on the all-time collegiate performers list.

Finn will return for one final year in both indoor and outdoor track in 2018 as she pursues a master's of public health degree in epidemiology.

CoSIDA Release

Communications Contact: Kyle Terwillegar

Follow this link:
Finn Named Academic All-American of the Year for Women's Track and Cross Country - MGoBlue

Stephan Spencer on His Biochemistry Background, TV Appearances, and GTD – FeedFront Magazine (blog)

Stephan Spencer, SEO expert, consultant, and bestselling author, joined me to chat on my podcast, This is Affiliate Marketing with Shawn Collins.

I wanted to learn more about the real Stephan, so I asked him a variety of questions I figured he had not been asked in previous interviews.

Links from this episode

Subscribe to This is Affiliate Marketing with Shawn Collins on iTunes.

If you enjoyed this episode of This is Affiliate Marketing with Shawn Collins, please share it.

This is Affiliate Marketing with Shawn Collins is focused on the people behind the affiliate management/OPM companies, advertisers/merchants, affiliates/publishers, and affiliate networks.

On each episode, Shawn interviews a new guest related to the industry, so you can learn more about the people of affiliate marketing.

After all, affiliate marketing is about the people; not the companies.

The rest is here:
Stephan Spencer on His Biochemistry Background, TV Appearances, and GTD - FeedFront Magazine (blog)