Castro's son explains the foundation of Cuba's biotech success
Engineering News (New Zealand)
CUBA is undisputably a poor and underdeveloped country. Its gross domestic product (GDP), measured in purchasing power parity terms (PPP), was estimated as being just over $51-billion last year, in comparison to a South African 2007 GDP (also PPP) of $467,6-billion. Cuba's per capita GDP is $4 500, as against South Africa's $10 600.
Yet Cuba has established itself as one of the world's leading countries regarding biotechnology, in both qualitative and quantitative terms, and with regard to both research and the development and commercialisation of new products. For example, Cuba is one of only three countries to have developed and produce a Hepatitis B vaccine (the other two are the US and France). The Cuban vaccine is widely regarded as the best available, and has been exported to more than 30 countries.
How has such a poor country created such an impressive high-technology sector? "What is necessary to promote scientific capability is human resources," explains Cuban State Council scientific adviser Dr Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart. "The creation of knowledge needs substantial human resources and access to information. The key fact in the application of science and technology to our national economy was the availability of large numbers of workers with education, capable of being trained."
"Cuba based its achievements on its human potential," states Castro Diaz-Balart, who is the son of former Cuban President Fidel Castro. "It required considerable effort, but it promises a bright future."
Castro Diaz-Balart cites a comment by Cuba's national hero, José Martí, "to be free, first be cultured."
"Drawing from our own experiences - which may not be applicable to everyone - we first gave due attention to education, combatting illiteracy; the second thing is to create some [research] facilities. Start with the universities; universities play a very important role. In Cuba, half of all research is done in universities," elucidates Castro Diaz-Balart. "Third, develop facilities for international collaboration, both South-South and South-North, otherwise you will have a brain drain. In the past 40 years, 1,2-million Latin Americans have gone from Latin American universities to North America and Europe. The aim should be real collaboration between different countries."
In 1959, Cuba had three universities with about 15 000 students. Today, it has 66 universities - including 15 dedicated medical universities, plus other specialist universities - with some 600 000 students. "In Cuba, education is free, but that doesn't mean it doesn't cost. We have worked for decades to have what we have now," he highlights. "We had human capacity building in the 1970s and 1980s, with lots of people studying abroad - in Russia; we graduated 22 000 people in Russia. But we (now) have critical mass in many areas."
The heart of Cuba's biotechnology sector is the West Havana Scientific Pole, which comprises 25 scientific institutions and 58 manufacturing centres, employing more than 10 000 people, of which more than 3 000 are scientists and engineers. Key institutions in the Pole include the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Centre, the National Bio-Preparations Centre, the Molecular Immunology Centre, the Pharmaceutical Chemistry Centre, and the National Centre for Animal and Plant Health. "I think it is the largest biotech complex in the Third World," says Castro Diaz-Balart. It operates in the fields of medicine, animal health, and agrobiotech.
Since 1981, Cuban biotechnology has developed more than 60 commercial products.
At first, progress was limited - between 1981 and 1990 only three such products were developed. Since then, however, things have accelerated significantly - between 1991 and 2000 19 more were added to the list, and another 38 commercial biotech products were developed between 2001 and 2007.
This progress has also been based on four strategic concepts - ‘closed loop organisation' meaning that research, development, commercialisation, and production take place under the aegis of the same institution; export orientation; building an Intellectual Property platform; and maintaining a tight relationship between research and industrial strategy. "These strategic concepts have proved most useful," reports Castro Diaz-Balart.
The Claim: Caffeine Causes Dehydration
NY Times
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
Medical experts have been saying for years that caffeine acts as a potent diuretic. Consume too many caffeinated beverages, and you end up drinking yourself into dehydration.
But research has not confirmed that notion. Most studies have found that in moderate amounts, caffeine has only mild diuretic effects — much like water.
One report, by a scientist at the University of Connecticut who reviewed 10 previous studies, appeared in June 2002 in The International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.
Investigations comparing caffeine with water or placebo seldom found a statistical difference in urine volume, the author wrote. "In the 10 studies reviewed, consumption of a caffeinated beverage resulted in 0 to 84 percent retention of the initial volume ingested, whereas consumption of water resulted in 0 to 81 percent retention."
Another study, in the same journal in 2005, involved scientists following 59 active adults over 11 days while controlling their caffeine intake. They were given caffeine in capsule form on some days and on other days were given a placebo. Researchers found no significant differences in levels of excreted electrolytes or urine volume.
Other recent studies have found similar results.
Why we should sterilise teenage girls ... temporarily at least
Daily Mail (UK)
Young mums: 'Not having a baby takes intelligence and planning'
Last week, an intriguing proposition was mooted by Government minister Dawn Primarolo.
Teenage girls, she said, could be steered towards what is described as "long-term contraception".
This is now possible thanks to the development of contraceptive jabs and implants which can last up to five years.
When Can Bacteria Do Us Good?
Arab News
Everyone is terrified by the word “bacteria.” Why? Because we know how damaging bacteria are to our health, leading to pain and complications such as infections, limb amputations, and sometimes death. Fortunately due to antibiotics, infected wounds and organs are treated and lives are saved.
But, do we need to resort to such powerful drugs every time we have a septic throat or wound, intestinal or urinary infection, or inflamed gums? No, because we have internal “good bacteria” that make our immune systems powerful enough to destroy invasive “bad bacteria.” Beneficial bacteria coexist harmoniously with pathogens in our bodies to protect from infections, thus maintaining health balance, symbiosis. Let us explore how ‘good bacteria’ work to keep us healthy and well.
Our body carries billions of beneficial bacteria to counteract microorganisms. They are our first line of defense. They are vital to the digestive tract well-being, the most exposed system to pathogens and that is through food ingestion. They also support metabolic functions by expediting the digestive process. How is that?
Probiotics, or ‘beneficial bacteria,’ deter the proliferation of ‘bad bacteria’ by producing a moderately acidic solution in the gut to eliminate the “bad guys.” Probiotics encourage mucus to attract good microbes in the gut to expel the invaders.
The coexistence of beneficial and harmful bacteria in the gut spares us digestive disorders like diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gas, bloating, discomfort, indigestion, and malabsorption. Moreover, dysbiosis, bacterial imbalance, can lead to other problems unrelated to the digestion like recurrent colds and infections, urinary tract and prostate infections, infertility, and suppressed immunity, while increasing cancer incident. Let us see what provokes dysbiosis.
Symbiosis can be disturbed by certain factors like mental, emotional, and physical pressures, sleep loss, unbalanced nutrition, antibiotics and other drugs, environmental toxins, and chemotherapy.
Despite their life-saving effects, antibiotics can be most disruptive to the body’s bacterial balance. They destroy pathogens along with the intestinal microflora, the beneficial bacteria, which protect the digestive system. The elimination of the good bacteria gives opportunity for harmful bacteria to spread fast and make noxious compounds, which provoke gas, bloating, severe cramps, and diarrhea. Side-effects of antibiotics are not only limited to the digestive tract, but to other disorders.
With such imbalances, bacterial and yeast infections can flourish in other parts of the body such as the female urogenital tract.
Probiotic supplements have been shown to restore bacterial equilibrium by deterring the multiplication of microbes, preventing bacterial and viral gastroenteritis. In studies, probiotic therapies have also been effective in reducing food allergies and eczema; healing and warding off urinary tract infections; lowering incidents of cold sores; and sometimes decreasing cholesterol levels.
In a Belgian study, a correlation was found between vaginal bacterial dysbiosis with reproductive disorders such as difficulty getting pregnant, early abortions, and premature labor.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Nobel Prize winner Elie Metchnikoff found a connection between Bulgarian peasants’ good health and longevity and fermented milk. He believes that “Lactobacilli can displace toxin producing bacteria, promoting health and prolonging life.”
Suppressed immunity can be boosted by probiotic therapy. When Finnish children drank milk fortified with probiotics, they experienced less incidents of respiratory problems.
With probiotic therapy, success of healing is possible. It reduces digestive disorders and recurrent colds and decreases the risk of respiratory, sinus, bladder, urinary, and prostate infections. A bonus of the treatment is resistance to viral and infectious diarrhea in travelers.
Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir and soy-based tempeh and miso contain “friendly bacteria.” A healthy choice of yogurt should carry the label, “live active cultures.” Yogurt mixed with fruit chunks, nuts, seeds, and cereals makes tasty dishes, rich in nutrients, “good” bacteria, and fiber and maintains health balance. Probiotic supplements are an alternative to probiotic dietary intake. If it interests you to enjoy a healthy long life, enrich your nutrition with probiotics. Believe me, you will see a big difference!
Gene-block birth control 'on way'
BBC
A contraceptive drug that avoids the side effects of hormonal birth control is on the horizon, say scientists.
An American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference was told a technique called "RNA interference" could stop sperm entering the egg.
Oral contraceptives can cause nausea, headaches, and low sex drive and raise slightly the risk of DVT and strokes.
However, the new "Pill" is at least a decade away - and may have its own side-effects.
RNA interference is a way of "silencing a gene" to stop it working properly, and the researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston have identified a gene called ZP3 which is active in eggs just before they are fertilised.
ZP3 produces a protein which allows the sperm to bind to the surface of the egg. If this protein isn't there, the egg can't be fertilised.
The Boston team "silenced" the ZP3 gene in mice, and found they could not get pregnant.
Big seller
Dr Zev Williams, who presented the research to the conference, said: "We simply don't have a contraceptive drug that is non-hormonal and reversible.
"What we are trying to do is to think about contraception in a new way.
"Obviously there are going to be hurdles and it is going to take a lot of time, but the need is there and we think it can be achieved."
Professor Bill Ledger, from the University of Sheffield, said that a lot of women still had side effects, even on the modern hormonal contraceptives. "This is a new concept. If it were available, I am sure a lot of people would want to take it.
"If it isn't hormonal, that's a big selling point."
However, the researchers estimate that it will be at least 10 years before clinical trials of an RNAi contraceptive would be possible.
Off-target
Dr Martin Fabani, a researcher in the technique at Cambridge University, said that obstacles would need to be overcome, and that there was no guarantee that side-effects could be avoided completely.
He said: "RNA interference is fantastic and there was a big hype around it, but people are starting to see what we call 'off-target' effects - where the therapy has an unwanted effect elsewhere in the body.
"Every single application has some degree of off target effects."
The research into ZP3 has one advantage in this respect, as the gene appears to be active only in eggs prior to the moment of fertilisation, and nowhere else in the body.
The researchers say this means it could be "switched off" without necessarily affecting either the prior development of the egg and ovulation, or other parts of the body.
