Current perspective on research in the Asia-pacific region

INTRODUCTION

Biotech in the Asia pacific region has been growing at a tremendous rate, whether good research or bad? We have to wait and see. This in turn is spiraling our economic growth upwards. We are seeing lots of new institutes coming up. Some are research institutes and some, manufacturing plants. The governments of these Asian nations are providing both financial and moral impetus to these fledgling entrepreneurs. The major international bodies are also recognizing Asia as a promising hub for new research. Noteworthy was the selection of Seoul as a site for the international vaccine institute. Seoul-based International Vaccine Institute (IVI) has developed the world's first "cheap cholera vaccine" and the vaccine will be brought in use in India. By Gods grace the Asian nations have no dearth for manpower. Bigger companies like Novartis; Astrazeneca etc are opening their plants in these countries because they see hope in these countries. They look towards these countries in the hope of getting cheap labor. The people are hardworking and trustworthy.

South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong have already transformed from developing to newly developed countries. A good example is that of Japan. The Japanese government has been deeply involved in the biotech sector. They have various levels in their organization catering to different areas of science. The recent economic recession has been taken in a positive spirit by the scientific companies. Many companies have restructured their labs to enhance overall efficiency and to suit the needs of the researchers. The global meltdown has seen the companies foster better relationships with the universities. In the early seventy`s and eighty’s the universities used to work in isolation with only the little support they get from the government. Their research mainly used to be academically oriented. The professors and students aim was to generate papers or patents by hook or crook. But today the reality is different. Researchers find happiness when their discovery or invention is being used to treat animals, plants or humans. The focus has changed with the advent of better techniques and instrumentation. The level of research has gone up by great magnitude.

The west is turning towards Asia for their pharmaceutical needs. Asian pharmaceutical companies have manufacturing plants with good manufacturing practice facilities, market experience and investment capital. Westerners are thronging Asia to find cures for every problem using old herbs and plant medicine. WHO has been instrumental in advocating research in the field of ancient medicines using Asian herbs and plants. Age old ancient remedies are now processed and produced in modern pharmaceutical facilities.

The development of medicinal plants is not unique to China and other Asian nations. Many ancient and modern cultures have developed the use of plants for medicine .The importance of medicinal plants is obvious, as a source of many current drugs manufactured by the pharmaceutical companies are derived from plants. Quinine, ephedrine, atopine, codeine and salicylic acid are all derived from plants known to be effective in the treatment of certain diseases.

The recent interest in the search for effective therapeutic agents derived from plants, for diseases and beauty is related into increasing interest in oriental herb medicines and health food. Many people have accepted medicinal plants for hundreds and thousands of years and the information obtained from this experience provides the practical knowledge on which plants to use for each disease.

A classic example is the discovery of gossypol, as a male oral contraceptive. In 1957, researchers working in eastern china noticed that childless families among people consuming large quantities of crude cotton seed oil while it was observed that women who were brought up on a diet of cotton seed oil but married men outside the region were raising children at normal rates. While those who married men from the same region remained childless. In 1971, researchers studied the effect of cotton seed oil extract on male rats. Mating of male rats treated with the extracts produced no offspring. After taking these rats off the diet, fertility was restored 3-5 weeks later. The researchers concluded that the extract of cotton seed oil is an effective oral contraceptive. Later it was abandoned as it was impairing early embryonic development. Today it is sought after for its anticancer properties.

There are lots of researchers out in the world doing meaningless research too. If you look up the USPTO or any other patent data base, you would find thousands of patents that are not going to benefit anybody but yet money was spent on those projects which could have been put to better use.

In Asia too, lots of research institutes do redundant work. There is a liver cancer group working in Malaysia, one in Singapore, one in Thailand etc.the researchers might be doing overlapping redundant work. We could minimize the costs if we all get together and focus on one or two projects in each country.

With the explosion of new biotechnology companies, during the last few years, there was great excitement over the potential profits of such investment. Financial support became available. And many companies attracted millions of dollars of operating capital from stock offerings. Investors enthusiastically expected scientific discoveries and the subsequent profits. Non scientific firms, especially the IT companies started investing in science. However they later realized that marketable products did not appear as rapidly as initially expected .An investor from the science background would understand that it takes time to reap the fruits of biotech research but investors from other background often have difficulty in understanding the slow and tedious process involved in research, development and regulatory licensnsure.In the past years companies could produce only one product after eight to ten years of research.

To set up a manufacturing plant requires lot of money. Smaller companies realize this when they finish their initial research and development work. Once they realize they can’t go any further, the company collapses. Strategic alliance is an answer to this problem. Smaller companies can form a relationship with big established players if they have a promising product in the pipeline so that the larger pharmaceutical companies will have early access to the products of new technology and in return the small biotech companies receive the necessary capital to continue research activities during the initial stages which incur high expenses without a marketable product.

With all the research-are we not still at the mercy of god? Are we still not seeing sporadic bursts of either an unknown disease agent or a known one resurfacing? H1N1 virus, SARS virus, HIV virus are some good examples. We need to do research also at a humble pace and not play god.

In 1978 the Rockefeller foundation sponsored a conference of medical scientists to discuss and evaluate health status in the US. Despite the tremendous research in the control of diseases the participants in the meeting expressed that the general state of health was on the decline. Hence the title for the report of the conference was aptly called ‘doing better but feeling worse’
With all the research going on around the world, where are we going? As and when a new deadly virus sufaces, we are back to square one. People die in large numbers. Yes we are coping but not without leaving somebody dead. We do research and proclaim to the world we have eradicated polio, anthrax, etc, etc.and one fine day they resurface again and we again re-search. Take the present crisis of H1N1 virus. We have had pandemics in 1918 and 1968 and 1976.Then why couldn’t it be eradicated? Yes, viruses are problematic, since they change their surface antigen structure. At least bacterial diseases should be well controlled by now. I think we shouldn’t play God and contain our research activities to meaningful research e.g. people in south Africa do not have good clean drinking water. Can the research bodies get together do water treatment research and provide clean water to everybody on earth. An easy task indeed!!

Can we build good houses for people, doing research on low cost robust construction materials, can we do research to breed more cows, more crops,etc so that earth becomes a bountiful place to live on.

Asia pacific region has done extremely useful research but at the same time we should condone research like the “melamine in milk research” of China. Finding out that adding melamine to milk would increase the nitrogen or protein content also would have taken considerable time and intelligence on the part of the culprits. It is heartening to know the culprits were brought to justice. It is high time we look beyond our selfish needs and use scientific knowledge to better use. We can’t compete with God. Even a scientist who calls himself atheist would have to believe that there does exist God. Are we scientists able to handle hurricanes, bushfires, flood, heavy snowing etc?With no malice towards anyone I would like to say that the current global meltdown has been caused not due to scientific mismanagement but due to the greed and mismanagement shown by the westerners..

CONCLUSION

I, as a scientist would like to conclude by saying that as scientists we need to become more responsible, look beyond ourselves, know that there are people who need us, our science to make them happy. Lets work together to make our earth a better place to live.


REFERENCES

Molecular cancer therapeutics,june21,2004(C.L.Oliver etal)(−)-Gossypol acts directly on the mitochondria to overcome Bcl-2- and Bcl-XL-mediated apoptosis resistance

www.chinaview.cn

www.google.com

www.find-health-articles.com/msh-gossypol.htm

Managing biotechnology in drug development-Chi Jen lee

 

Knowledge and Evolution of Bioinformatic

Hina Dalal
India

I can remember as a child always asking myself the “why” questions of life. What is the purpose of life? Why are we here? Why do certain things happen? And is there really a God? I had always kept these questions to myself and eventually pushed them out of my mind altogether. I have come to agree with Socrates that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” In my opinion life is a combination of philosophical ideas such as morality, respect, free-will and scientific issues. For the longest time, I really did not know who I was. Not that I was confused about who I saw in the mirror, but I had know idea why I thought the way I did about things. Science had always interested me.

Since the dawn of man, humans have always wanted to seek out the truth. Man has pondered and explored great thoughts and concepts that have caused much confusion.

The Web of Knowledge
Great theorist and philosophers such as the stoics, skeptics, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Hume, Berkeley, Kant, Bertrand Russell, Darwin, Freud, and all of 20th century science have struggled with the question what is knowledge? And can we have knowledge? "To know" and "knowledge" are potent concepts and before taking Text and Critics, I took it for granted that I had knowledge of what knowledge is. Then came a simple question, "how is nature related to knowledge?" I didn't have an answer. But more importantly, before I could answer the former, I realized I didn't "know" what knowledge is. How could it be that I had never considered one of the most important philosophical questions asked of mankind--what can we know and what is knowledge?

The Synthesis of Knowledge
"Society values mental labor more highly than manual labor." This is a claim that Ruth Hubbard makes in her essay "Science, Facts, and Feminism." This claim suggests that those who are the thinkers, the innovators, the inventors, and the great minds are highly valued by society; however, those who are the doers, the laborers, the hand-crafters, and the workers are not valued as greatly. Hubbard implies that society regards mental labor as more important than manual labor because it requires more specifically human qualities. Knowledge making is one of these specifically human qualities. Mental laborers and manual laborers are distinguished by this knowledge making process.

In the past, the discovery of human disease genes has historically been an arduous undertaking. Extensive and exhaustive studies of genetic inheritance and pedigrees in generations of families led to the discovery of the color blindness gene on the Y chromosome in the early 1990's. As more biological tools became available, the pace of gene discovery increased. However, much of the biological laboratory practices were still rooted in intensively manual procedures. With the introduction of computing power in the mid-1980's, disproportionate amount of resources were being applied to hundreds of individual gene discovery efforts, such as Huntington's Disease and muscular dystrophy. It was with this realization that a large-scale effort at mapping the human genome was undertaken and in 1990, the Human Genome Project was deemed possible and launched officially by the National Institute of Health (Pollack). In 1988, the Human Genome organization (HUGO) was founded. The first complete genome map was published of bacteria Haemophilus Influenza. In 1990, the Human Genome Project was started.By 1991, a total of 1879 human genes had been mapped. In France,in 1993, Genethon, a human genome research center produced a physical map of the human genome. Three years later, Genethon published the final version of the human genetic map. This concluded the end of the first phase of the Human Genome Project.

The Atom of Evolution
The main mechanism of evolution is that biological entities change, are selected, and reproduce. We propose a different concept in terms of the main agent or atom of evolution: in the biological world, not an individual object, but its interactive network is the fundamental unit of evolution. The interaction network is composed of interaction pairs of information objects that have order information. This indicates a paradigm shift from 3D biological objects to an abstract network of information entities as the primary agent of evolution. It forces us to change our views about how organisms evolve and therefore the methods we use to analyze evolution.

Bioinformatics and paradigm shift
Bioinformatics is a scientific discipline that analyzes, seeks understanding of, and models all life as an information processing phenomenon on utilizing energy with methods from philosophy, mathematics, and computer science using biological experimental data. Due to its information processing nature, bioinformatics is one of the broadest and deepest scientific disciplines. All biological research is, aiming to understand the architecture of information processing in life. For example, the analysis of genomes and genes is to discover the underlying linguistic rules of molecules (Searls, 1993) and the concept of proteins as computational elements (Bray, 1995). In this sense, the shortest possible definition of bioinformatics is: Bioinformatics is Biology and Biology is Bioinformatics.

In the next 20 years, bioinformatics will become the core of biological education even in secondary school biology courses. The early 2000s is at the point where the conventional views of molecular biology should change with new revolutionary views in biology. One of them is the transition from the conventional object-oriented understanding of biology to an interaction-oriented understanding.

Technology is changing the way the world works in profound ways at an unprecedented rate. As we speak, scientists in labs around the world are decoding the remaining portion of the genome map. One day (even now), with the information compiled in GenBank, scientists can discover new drugs, new methods of gene therapy, and other preventive measures which will vastly improve the quality of life (NCBI). David Smith, previously a director of the Department of Energy, said, "These are exciting and challenging times for biological researchers. The wealth of information and capabilities now being generated by the various genome projects and other biological endeavors will lead over the next two decades to more insights into living systems than have been amassed in the past two millennia. Biology is truly undergoing a revolution" (Walters 545).

Bioinformatics started over a century ago when Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk cross-fertilized different colors of the same species of flowers. Mendel illustrated that the inheritance of traits could be more easily explained if it was controlled by factors passed down from generation to generation. Since Mendel, bioinformatics and genetic record keeping have come a long way.

Ever since the DNA sequence data started emerging some three decades ago, the mathematicians and computer programmers started showing interest in Biology as sequences were strings comprising of four characters only and why should anybody be not interested as these strings of ATGC which have the code of Life in them!! It was in early 90s that Bioinformatics became to be known as the discipline to aid the research in Biological Sciences as the sequence data started coming at a reasonably good pace. It is the simplicity of these sequences (in terms of Representation) that their analysis and further translation to Protein structures and functions has aroused interest of diversed group of researchers. These are perfect representations for computer analysis and have laid the foundation for the project of the scale of Human Genome Project (HGP).

Second is the concept of similarity. Evolution has operated on every sequence that we see today. It conserves genes that encode important proteins and sequences that are involved in gene regulation. Sequences that encode useful functions are transferred, like code modules, from one organism to another. Because of evolution similar sequences have similar functions. This young, emerging field i.e. bioinformatics at its core has fundamental concepts of physics, chemistry and statistics and the algorithms for comparing, analysis and translating the sequences to find similarity , are major tools. At many different levels they are used to find genes, determine their functions , study their regulation and assess how they and entire genomes have evolved over time.

Another fundamental of Bioinformatics is that it is a practical science driven by data and algorithms. The increasingly large amount of experimental data has driven the development of data representations and algorithms that are use to manage this information. A major challenge in biology is to make sense of the enormous quantity of sequence and structural data that are generated by genome sequencing projects, proteomics and other large scale Molecular biology efforts. But it was the HGP – its massiveness in terms of automation, production lines and money that opened the avenues. For example the growth of Genbank database poses a real challenge to biological search. The tools of Bioinformatics help to reveal fundamental mechanisms underlying Biological problems related to the structure and function of macromolecules, biochemical pathways, disease process and evolution.
Bioinformatics was fuelled by the need to create huge databases , such as Genbank, EMBL and DNA Database of Japan to store and compare the DNA sequence data erupting from the human genome and other genome sequencing projects. It enables researchers to analyze the terabytes of data being produced by the Human Genome Project. Gene sequence databases and related analysis tools all help scientists to determine whether and how a particular molecule is directly involved in a disease process. That in turn, helps them find new and better drug targets.

The diagram below graphically represents the several methodologies which together make up the discipline of bioinformatics.

Fig. 1. Diagram of several methodologies which together make up the discipline of bioinformatics.

CONCLUSION

Bioinformatics can be thought of as a central hub that unites several disciplines and methodologies as shown below. It brings together several activities and this may explain why we get so many definitions for bioinformatics. Modern biology is becoming an information science as contemporary biological problems are associated with networks, circuits, controls, and molecular evolution. An interaction pair as the most fundamental evolution unit has been introduced for mapping interactomes and biological networks. The ultimate understanding of life will be achieved through understanding the complexity of such interaction networks at two very different domains: a long evolution interaction process and a short period of cellular interaction processes. Recent efforts on mapping the interactions of biological information objects, such as interactome map, interfaceome map, network biology approach, and various servers associated with them, are introduced. Complete computational simulation of life by human beings will be achieved in the next few decades.

However complex this will be and whatever experimental techniques will be necessary for us to reach that stage of evolution, it is necessary to map and interpret the interactions of molecules, especially proteins.

The science of taking risks!

Charles Gullo, PhD
Principal Research Scientist, SGH
Assistant Professor, Duke/NUS GMS
Adjunct Assistant Professor, NUS

INTRODUCTION

Scientific research in the Asia Pacific region has been making tremendous headway in recent years. In countries like Singapore the infrastructure and commitment by government and more recently industry has expanded interest in biomedical research ten- fold. Regionally, biomedical research seems on the rise in countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The magnitude and progress of research, both scientific and medical, has traditionally been stronger in countries like Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Australia, but these countries are starting to publish higher quality works. As the standard of living improves in South East Asia, more and more governments are realizing the importance of the biomedical industry and what it could mean for big pharma, medical services, and research and medical equipment companies.
However, there are a number of challenges that remain ahead. Notwithstanding economic and further infrastructure demands, the most pressing issues are perhaps personality and traditional ones. As an American working in Singapore as a research scientist/faculty over the past six years, I have noticed several disturbing attributes of my Asian students/trainees/counterparts. On the whole, they are less willing to take risks than the average Westerner. This in turn makes them less willing to collaborate and communicate outside of their comfort zone.

Let me expand upon this a little. I have noticed that medical students from Asian countries (particularly South East Asian) countries are extremely reluctant to participate orally in discussions, even when prompted. When asking audience members to raise their hands in favor or not in favor of a particular issue, it is common for a majority of them not to respond at all. This occurs despite the fact that the class size is small and the students know each other quite well. When asked questions directly it is very difficult to get a response and if it comes at all it is often quite delayed. This is less likely to happen in Western countries. As a faculty member, one must be very patient. In addition, many students and trainees that I know and interact with daily are not willing to design their own projects but like to defer to the projects the supervisor has laid out for them. Some of my more senior colleagues don’t wish to confront an errant employee, don’t wish to communicate openly with their subordinates, and seem unwilling to open up to their colleagues. Many other examples abound. Speaking up and speaking out is not encouraged and criticism is rarely presented in public.

Although it is argued that Asians are less aggressive than their Western counterparts, much of this can be attributed avoidance or ‘risk’. The student or trainee may not wish to seen as wrong to their peers as this may be perceived as being ‘unintelligent’. They are less willing to make a stand for what they think might be right even if they turn out being wrong. Perhaps many also do not see the benefit of taking calculated risks and the healthiness of speaking up and being heard. As Americans we are taught early to speak up and be heard. We understand that being right is not the most important thing all of the time but contributing and being heard is also vital. We know that out side the classroom we will get ahead if we take risks and if we promote ourselves. We understand how to take constructive criticism and build from it.

What I worry about is that this lack of risk taking transcends into other areas as well. If one is not willing to take the very small risk of being wrong is a discussion, one is certainly less willing to take bigger risks. If one does not develop his or her oral presentation skill, albeit at incremental steps, it is unlikely that he or she will be able to move ahead and stay competitive. If healthy criticism is not part of the daily curriculum or work environment, then positive development is going to be difficult to achieve. Science is highly collaborative now and large discoveries are made by teams. Gone are the days of individual discoveries made quietly by geniuses sitting in small closets. This has been replaces by more aggressive team building strategies where researchers heartily criticize their colleagues work, sometimes make mistakes, but ALWAYS learn. Unless we teach our trainees to take risks, to speak up, to criticize and be criticized in a healthy manner, I think we are going to fall behind.

CONCLUSION

Thus, although the monies are being appropriated, the infrastructure is being built, and other resources are becoming available, the most important aspect of research, the people doing the work have not completely risen to the challenge. In order for important discoveries to be made, risks HAVE to be taken. In order for these discoveries to be translated and disseminated, communication and collaborations MUST be enhanced. Finally, in order for our research to be widely accepted here in Asia, we must have confidence in ourselves. Unfortunately, despite the educational and technical expertise our researchers have achieved the required ‘risk taking’ skills are still lacking. I hope we can change our attitudes quickly and catch up with the rest of the world.

 

 

Human rights and cultural features of health care provision

INTRODUCTION

The right for health care is one of the inherent human rights. This is why students of regular medical establishments – future doctors – are instructed according to the following principle: a doctor shall at all times render medical assistance to any sufferer or a person who needs it. However, the nature of the rendered medical assistance may run counter to cultural and religious beliefs of a person. This medical assistance may entail violation of another inherent human right – religious freedom.

Consequently, religious, cultural and ethnical peculiarities may indeed impose certain restrictions when providing health care, so as they do not run counter to person’s beliefs. This situation is more likely to occur when providing health care within the framework of humanitarian aid in the context of armed conflicts, natural calamities, technological disasters and other emergencies, when medical assistance is rendered by doctors from abroad, who may not be aware of local habits. However, a similar situation may just as well occur in a multi-confession country in case of any kind of emergency, including in recourse for emergency medicine. If a doctor and a patient have different cultural and religious background, the two human rights – for health care and religious freedom – may run counter to each other.

Provision of medical assistance ignoring individual features, particularly religious and cultural beliefs, may entail highly adverse consequences, including violation of human rights for observance of religious, cultural, ethnical and other standards, traditions, practices, etc. Unawareness of these cultural, ethnical and religious traditions may sometimes result in a tragedy, including the sphere of the human rights protection. For instance, in the US, several patients have won the suits in which they asserted claims against attending physicians for violation of their religious rights. In Islamic countries, employees of the Russian Federation Ministry of Emergencies have faced conflicts with local population when they tried to provide assistance to women in some instances; local residents thought that the rights of the latter had been violated.

When providing health care in India, it is prohibited to use medicines based on calf serum (certain kinds of vaccines, serums, epithelizing/regenerating drugs, etc.), as a cow is considered a sacred animal. Religious traditions of this country imply that a doctor can in no circumstances afflict patients. The doctor has to be patient, considerate, calm, compassionate, and highly civil, especially with women. The doctor can never lose countenance, be arrogant, and self-conceited. By no means, neither a patient nor his/her relatives can be told about a threat of death, even if it’s persuasive; at all times, the doctor shall instill hope for prompt and ultimate recovery. Whatever the situation, the doctor shall fight for patient’s life. Information on patient’s disease, life and family background shall be kept strictly confidential as a medical secrecy.

In Buddhist countries, active euthanasia, artificial life support is considered violation of human rights. Buddhist’s rights shall also be violated if his/her feet are directed towards shrine when getting health care, including emergency medical care.

For Jews, violation of the human right is postmortem autopsy and removal of organs for transplantation without prior consent of a deceased person. Notices on medical condition of a Jew, including his/her terminal state, also violate his/her rights. According to Judaic religious traditions, death is a heart failure and respiratory standstill. If a rabbi has not been summoned to a deceased person, this is also violation of human rights of the latter. Jew’s rights are also violated if they are given medicines which are not kosher.

For orthodox Catholics, human rights are violated if all advanced medical achievements have not been used for their survival (including transplantation of organs, artificial support of heart, lungs, etc.).

In the Orthodox tradition, use of donor organs does not represent violation of human rights, unless a donor has suffered extensive damage and has not provided a relevant consent (for instance, skin transplantation, transplantation of one and two kidneys). Removal of organs from a deceased person violates his/her rights. Violation of an orthodox Christian’s rights is his/her asexualization, including in accordance with medical indications.

Blood transfusion without a patient’s or his/her relatives’ consent, even for survival, is considered a crime against person in certain countries confessing Islam, and in a number of African countries. Violation of this right by a doctor entails criminal responsibility. Examination of a Moslem woman by a male doctor without the presence of her relatives is a violation of her rights, even in an emergency. A Moslem’s visit to a dentist during the Ramadan can result in his faintness, as the Moslems observe a strict fast during this religious holiday.

Therefore, patient’s religious beliefs, cultural and other personal peculiarities shall be considered when providing health care to ensure that his/her human rights for religious freedom are not violated. In the contemporary multi-polar environment, in the age of technological disasters and calamities, prompt actions of doctors and rescuers are important to safe people’s lives. These people may quite often be residents of different countries, and the nature of this assistance requires that a new issue be raised by an international community: principles of emergency medical treatment in the context of cultural, ethnical, religious and other features. Evidently, the main burden of this care shall be borne by governments of world powers, executive and legislative authorities of health care and emergency, as well as state and religious leaders. A concept elaboration is needed in this respect, perhaps, each country, or even state regions need their own regulations for emergent medical treatment. It is indispensable that each participant declares relevant regulations for priority setting in each specific situation, to decide what is of a higher priority: to save a person’s life or to observe corresponding religious traditions.

Human life is an utmost value, which is acknowledged in many constitutional laws and religions. WHO, UNESCO, and many more international organizations mainly engaged in humanitarian activities, develop programs for control over major diseases of mankind that pose a global threat.

CONCLUSION

In these emergent settings there is a burning issue of possibility, in terms of medical ethic and human rights, to neglect some of cultural and religious features to save people’s lives. Based on regulations on state responsibility in medicine, set forth in the Alma-Ata Declaration, 1978, World Health Care Declaration and principal objectives of the strategy “Health for Everybody in the century”, there is a need to develop databases on cultural and religious features of health care provision. Once created, this ordered database may further on be used for training of medical workers. Next, there will be a chance to reach agreement on both interstate and interreligious levels. The principle, set forth in a form of a document accepted by a consensus of all world countries, may soon be represented as a declaration under a possible name “Universal Declaration of Ethical Principles on Human Survival and Health Protection in the 21st Century”. Elaboration of this international document, which will first of all touch upon coordination of ethical norms and human rights during health care (it might be possible to reach a consensus in kind of “delegating” a part of powers held by state and church to medical rescuers), could be initially entrusted to the European Parliament – one of the widely acknowledged world organizations in protection of human rights – with co-operation of the WHO and many other participants of the programs for human survival and health protection.

 

 

Are We Really Advancing as We Claim and See?

Thirumulu Ponnuraj Kannan
School of Dental Sciences
Universiti Sains Malaysia
16150 Kubang Kerian
Kelantan, Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

The world is marching towards a scientific explosion with its tumultuous advancements in technical know-how and better scientific understanding of the hidden facts persisting in nature. But my question is “Are we really advancing as we claim and see?” or is it a mere deciphering of facts which lay hidden in the yester-years. My essay revolves around this. It is a very well known fact that Man has existed since many many years and is continuing to exist like all other fauna and flora in this universe. But what surprises me is that “Were there really less number of diseases during ‘those times’ as compared to the ‘modern time’?” or “Were ‘those older people’ really stronger and had greater resistance to combat the diseases and adverse conditions that prevailed at that time?” But one thing is for sure that as years have rolled by, even though sophistication, automation and comforts have increased and taken control of man’s day today activities, so are the number of diseases and the calamities of nature. So, where does this come from? Is it because of man’s in depth intervention into nature or is it by nature itself, which has taken an acute turn to keep the population under check. All right, if we were to turn around and consider the advancements of science and technology from another perspective, can we assume that intervention into nature to decipher the codes of the disease is harmful and disastrous? And I presume the answer is going to be ‘Definitely Not’, because, we are looking into the possibilities of alleviating the sufferings of mankind by doing all these research and in making the population ‘healthier’ in terms of their birth, their living and existence. Once again, coming back to the same old point “Were the people living centuries back not leading a healthy life?” It is a big point to be pondered over, contemplated and to be debated. The advancements in science and knowledge has of course paved way for a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease, but one thing we have to bear in mind that the increase in the number of hospitals is not a march towards health but towards decay. Hence, the ‘older’ people even though did not have excellent facilities to lead a normal life but were leading an otherwise ‘normal life’, free from pollution, politics, racism and even more without interfering with nature much and in turn the nature reciprocated without interfering with their lives as much. But, the current scenario is such that all of a sudden, newer and newer diseases are emerging like the current swine flu, in addition to calamities like Tsunami and earthquakes which increase the death tolls enormously. Can we attribute all these to the Nature’s wrath for the interference that Man has created to It? Quite possible, for which we cannot have a definite answer. But science has become the demi-God now and the verdict of it remains strong. Whatever the reason we attribute to, still we can arrive at one conclusion that, life has become tougher and is getting tougher, living creatures face more and more challenges, many unsolved, and live in a state of mental turmoil, quite feeling unsecured of what is in store for them in the future.

CONCLUSION

Hence, I may infer that the humanity as a whole were better well off as compared to the current scenario and as years pass by, we will have more and more challenges to face, despite the ‘scientific spell’ that may rule and conquer the world. May be the scientists as well as the lay-men have to take cognizance of the above dearth in what we construe as ‘modern science’ and redirect science and research to restore the virulence, health and peace that prevailed in the yester-years.

Future of Education in Asia

Charnwit Kositanont Ph. D
Director of the Inter-department of Environmental Science,
Departent of microbiology, Faculty of Science,
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330,
Thailand.

INTRODUCTION

Asia is known as the largest continent which cover nearly 30% of total land area with population is more than 4 billion. Several important civilizations and religions originated in Asia. The Asian accumulated knowledge has been passed through her people from generation to generation via different appropriate techniques of the area. In Thailand, education was arranged in temples. Monks were normally educated for studying Buddhism from books. Later people around the temple sent their children to study with monks which taught not only how to read and write but also Buddhism and social ethic to students. Therefore, temples took a role as community centers with Buddhism as the background.

In the reign of King Rama the fifth, Thai education started to change to the western style in order to modernize Thailand to the same standard as western countries. The public schools were set up separately from temples. The first university was established in English style. A number of Thai students were sent to study oversea to accelerate the modernization process. The intention of the King Rama the fifth was success. Thailand has developed to be one of the leading countries in South-East Asia.

After Korean War, Thai education was changed again. At this time, Thai government adopted the global economic idea of being a part of the world economics. Thailand supposed to be a food supplier and an assembly station for developed countries. Import of machines becomes the main expense of the country. Therefore, education emphasized on producing skilled work force for industries. The important properties of the product are:

• Ready for being a part of hard working team,
• Capability in improving work efficiency,
• Capability in cost reduction,
• Doing just one most appropriate skill,
• Be able to search for more advance technology from oversea.

The result as we can see is Thailand becomes a good place to invest as an assembly line with cheap labor cost. Technology development is rarely reported. This situation is not only occurring in Thailand, but also in almost every country in Asia. The recent world economic crisis has shown us that while being a part of the world economics, we cannot ignore of being a self sufficient community, being flexible and ready to support neighboring countries. The present king of Thailand has successfully demonstrated how important of being self sufficient.

CONCLUSION

Therefore, the future of education in Asia has to be changed. Asia should not be only a technology user. We have a long history in inventing technology. Asia should restart technology developing let‘s say as appropriate technology. The technology should serve local community as a priority. The scientific analysis of local knowledge will give important impact in developing new technology in the future. Education should convince Asian that people in any continent are equal and should be treated as friend. However, for Asian, our identity is very important which can cause conflicts in many ways. For that reason, science of cooperation and conflict management must be emphasized. As we know, several problems such as bird flu, HIV, pollution cannot be solved by one country. Therefore, networking in education must be encouraged.

For conclusion, future education of Asia should focus on technology development for solving local problems. The open for cooperation must be emphasized as well as conflict management.

Are medical factors responsible for gender discrepancy in kidney transplantation?

INTRODUCTION
Renal transplantation is the best treatment for end stage renal disease for longer life expectancy, better quality of life and lower health care coasts than the maintenance of dialysis . Although cadaveric kidney is used in the majority of transplantations living related donors are also important source of kidney. In 1996, Tarasaki pointed out that despite histocompitability, the survival rate of unrelated donor’s (spouse, friend etc) graft are almost as same as related donor. From that time living unrelared kidney transplantation has been gone up world wide. Available literature shown that gender discrimination in renal transplantation in both cadaveric and living kidney are very prominent. Gender discrepancy scenario will touch any one when one look at who donates and who receives the organ. It has been observed that women are more likely to donate and less likely to receive kidney transplantation than men. In Germany mother donates most frequently (27%) taking 1st position whereas father donated less then half 13% as much taking the third position. The second position is occupied by wife 19% whereas husband come only fifth position (11%). There is remarkable discrepancy for brother (8% ) taking the six position and sister (12%) tasking fourth position 5. But the gender distribution among the recipients were reverse: Two third recipients were male and one third recipients were female.

This gender discrimination in transplantation medicine has raised medico-legal problem. Little attention has been given in this field. Present study was taken to find out the factors in gender discrimination in kidney transplantation and discussed its pitfall. It may in turn help to reduce the disparities and can protect this vulnerable group.

FACTOR RESPONSIBLE FOR DISCREPANCY

Literature shows that the transplantation process involves a series of steps. Such as: medical, social, economic, cultural, and psychological. Medical factors will be discussed for this discrepancy. Medical factors includes

• Biological factor
• Dialysis
• Medical ground
• Waiting List
• Age

Biological factor:
All patients for renal transplantation are periodically screened for the presence of cytotoxic antibody and placed on waiting list .It has been found that women had more cytotoxic antibody than men (53% vs 32% ) against more than 50% random lymphocyte donor . Female have higher percentage of cytotoxic antibody in 46-60 years of life that may influence in large differences in transplant rate between men and women in 46-60 years age group.

Advent of immunosuppressive drug cyclosporine overrides the influence of biological barrier such as tissue and blood typing . Women also receive less dialysis where the presence of cytotoxic antibody is not important . Cytotoxic antibody did not answer scientifically for the gender discrepancy. However transplant inequality still remains in other age group .

Dialysis:
Female patients receive dialysis have a slight better survival pattern than men . Only 30-35% female patients receive dialysis . In Canada dialysis female patients over age of 65 years had only one fifth the chance of receiving treatment 10. In Britain physician exclude patients over 55 years old from dialysis .
It is a big question why females get less dialysis even it works better on them.

Medical Factor:
Diabetic patients had 1.3% more chance of receiving transplant than hypertensive patient. Hypertensive renal disease is more common in man and black. Patient older than 50 years had more complication than young.
But men receiving dialysis had more hypertensive and less diabetic than women but women receiving less transplant .Black and women both had low transplant rate. Women and children had less medical complications than men but both groups get less transplantation.

Economical factor:
One can point out that men have more able to afford additional cost related to transplantation because increase income or supplemental insurance coverage. In Canada health care is equally accessible to all with respect to income. But still gender inequality on transplant rate in Canada is pronouncing.
Economical factor my be a barrier but question is why gender difference exist where medical care is financing by government.

Waiting List:
US study shown that sex difference occurred at both stage of process (living and cadaveric) .It was found that males are more likely to be put on waiting list because of higher urgency attributed by medical staff for the symptom presented by men like male patient s are reportedly treated more aggressively than female independent of severity of disease in coronary heart disease. Where females are experiencing pain reportedly wait longer than men.
For living transplantation patient recruits their own donor. For the economic condition of men, they can recruit their won donor that may make gender difference in transplantation process. But for the cadaveric organ, there are network to allocate kidney word wide (United Network for Organ Sharing UNOS, Eurotransplant International foundation, Southern Organ Procurement Foundation etc).

Starzl recently described a very fair system of cadaveric kidney transplantation on waiting list but transplantation centre are maintaining their won system of waiting list. Unique and strict waiting list should be maintained to reduce inequality.

Age:
It has been found that black men between 21-45 years receive less transplant than white of same age group.
And women of 46-60 years have less than half chance to receive same age group. Black and women between 21-45 have only one third chance to receive a kidney. Man more likely to receive a transplant in every age category.

CONCLUSION

From last 30 years literature it has been assumed that females are more likely to donate but less likely to receive a kidney. Biological and medical differences between men and female in renal transplantation did not explain logically. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with organ donation by women but instead of simply congratulating women on their altruism or direct or indirect appeal would encroach unfairly on individual decision. Probably economic, attitudinal or psychological factors are the cause for the gender differences in organ transplantation.


RECOMMENDATION

Assessments of need base worth in certain societal roles on presumptions basis must be avoided. Development of regulations for alleviation of gender inequality in kidney transplantation are advocated. Procedure and technique for waiting list that minimize the possible gender bias should be developed and implemented. Further research on possible causes of gender disparities should be conducted.


REFERENCES

Livensky NG. Organ donation by unrelated donors.New Eng J Med 2000;343:430-432

Nikola BA. Gender imbalance in living organ donation. Med Health Care Pholos 2002;5:199-204

Tarasaki Pi, Cecka Mj, Gjerton DW and Takemoto S. High survival rates of kidney trasplans from spousal and living unrelared donor. N Eng J Med 1996;333(6):333-336.

Schaubel DE, Stewart DE, Morrison HI, Zemmerman DL, Cameron JI, Jeffery JJ. Sex inequality in kidney transplantation rates. Arch Intern Med 200;160(15):2349-2354.

Kjellstrand CM. Age sex and race inequality in renal transplantation. Arch Inter Med 1988; 148:1305-1309

Eurotransplant Annual Report 1998, Leiden,Eurotransplant 1999.

United network for organ sharing :Number of living donor. 1Jan1988-30 June1999. Richmond. Va, UNOS OPTN/Scientific registry 1999.

Lundren G, Albrechtsen D, Flatmark A. HLA-matching and pretransplant blood transfusion in cadeveric renal transplantation. A changing picture with cyclosporine. Lancet1986;2:66-68

Eggers PW, Connerton R, McMullan M, The medicare experience with end stage renal disease: trends in incidence, prevalenceand survival. Health care Fin Rev 1984; 5:69-88

Schrie J , Silins J, Colburn HN et al. Canadian renal failure registrars and report. Ottawa, Kidney foundation of Canada,1986

Bloembergen WE, Mauger EA, Wolfe RA, Port FK. Association of gender access to cadevaric renal transplantation. Am J Kid Dis 1997;30:733-738.

Alexzander GC, Sehgal AR. Barrier to cadaveric renal transplantation among black,women and poor. JAMA 1998;280:1148-1152.

Starzl TE, Hakala TR,Tzakis A,Gordon R,Stier A,Makowka A. et al. A multifactoral system for equitable selection of cadaveric kidney recipient. JAMA 1987;257:3073-3075

Council of ethical and judicial affairs of American Medical Association. Gender disparities in clinical decision making. JAMA 1991;266:559-562.

 

 

Current Status of Korean Biodiversity Management

INTRODUCTION

While the number of the biological species in Korea is estimated to be 100,000 or more, only 29,916 species are identified. Among those, the data of 18,027 (60.26%) species are digitalized, including 99.83% of insects recorded in Korea. Only the data from 39.25% of spiders, 35.47% of fishes, and 6.98% of amphibians and reptiles are cataloged into databases. However, the 18 taxa including arthropods, porifera, molluca, and bryozoa are not digitalized yet, which is the same for fungi, protista and prokaryotae.

The National Science Museum (NSM) under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Korea is in charge of keeping and managing of specimens and the data on the biodiversity in Korea. Presently, the Museum keeps more than 1,400,000 actual collections. It also acts as the Korean secretariat of GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), and runs the association of about 30 biodiversity-related institutes in Korea. As of October 2008, it possesses 1,170,000 data records from 18,000 species which are registered in the GBIF for worldwide service. The Korean BioInformation Center (KOBIC) of Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, has developed a national bio-resource information retrieval system for the integrated search, distribution, and statistical analysis on the fields of biodiversity, biological resources, and bioinformation distributed across different organizations and institutes in Korea. The National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), under the Ministry of Environment, is collecting data and keeping about 1,300,00 specimens. NIBR also provides the information on biodiversity-related laws and regulations, policies, and publications. Also, the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) has constructed an information network for the Korean ecosystem, and collects and controls the information on the exotic plants. It also has constructed database for the information on the native and specific species of Korea.

Compared with the global trend of rapidly increasing biodiversity data, Korea is still behind the trend. According to the annual report of GBIF, the number of data records through the world was 85,889,431 from 154 data providers in Jan. 2006. In Oct. 2008, the number of data records has greatly increased to 148,071,156. As a matter of fact, the increasing rate of biodiversity data in major countries, from 2007 to 2008, were 92.9% in France, 71.3% in Spain, 60.2% in Japan, 46.7% in Sweden, 38.8% in the United States, which are incomparable with 7.9% in Korea (Fig. 1).

According to the increase of the importance on biodiversity, Korea has established many national plans and strategies for biodiversity management by various related authorities since the early 2000s. However, further continued supports are required for the research, education and training of taxonomists for biodiversity studies. In conclusion, it is necessary to implement an integrated management system that enables the nation to systematically collect, secure, and digitize the biodiversity resources to exploit them for scientific research, conservation, management, and industrial purposes. For this, a variety of efforts to establish the national-level infrastructure is necessary. It includes the creation of related policies and regulations, R&D investment, training experts, data standardization, and establishment of central information management system. This will maximize the synergy of utilizing biodiversity information through comprehensive integration with various sets of information such as molecular and genetic data.





Fig. 1. Increasing rate of biodiversity data in major countries (GBIF, Oct. 2008).

Current Perspectives of Life Science Research in Asia

INTRODUCTION

It is clear that economies and nations, that ride the wave of Life Sciences and
biomedical innovation, will grow and prosper, while those that fail or fall behind could
miss out on the world's next industrial revolution and experience declining growth rates,
incomes and power.

Worldwide the life-sciences industry make up a trillion dollar industry and with today's
technological advances, it is an industry that will continue to grow at a rapid rate. Now,
here is this more evident than across Asia-Pacific.
A sustained and successful Life Sciences industry requires a culture of innovation, risk
taking, creativity and information sharing. It also requires supportive and dynamic
government policy focused on fostering smart people, smart ideas, smart investment,
smart partnerships and alliances.

Research in Life sciences provide considerations to the Government in matters
pertaining to ethics for the industries, especially bio-industries, research organizations,
professional scientific organizations, and individuals in conducting research related to
human, animals, plants, microorganisms, and the environment.
Research in the field of biotechnology, molecular biology, genetic engineering, cloning
technology, genomics, proteomics, stem cell experiments was conducted by various
universities/research organizations.

The mission of research in Life science is also to advance studies related to bio-safety,
bio-security & bioethical principles, to provide considerations to the Government on
aspects of bioethics in research, development and implementation of science and life
science-based technologies & to distribute general understanding and knowledge on
bioethics. Although the bioethics commission has been established, the ethics of the
research are remaining the responsibility of scientist and its community.

Current perspectives in Life sciences examine the current ethical stance in Asia
generally and the impact that biotechnology has already on the cultural values of
communities and the policy-making process in research. Recommendations are made
about how public policies can help people to face the bioethical challenges of
biotechnologies. The universal principles of bioethics can be applied and be of value to
people in a diverse range of cultures.

The government of Asian countries fully supports scientists and institutions in
countering any misuse of biological agents Incentives. Producing biological weapons
are simple, the materials and the knowledge are widely available. The biological agents
are easy to be stolen from the laboratory.
“It seems that there are no single measures to distinguish conclusively between
permitted and prohibited activities”

The source of biological agents is widely spread, esp: Bacillus anthraccis, is a naturally
occurring disease in Asia, Pseudomonas coccovenenans: heat resistant, highly lethal &
traditional. The danger of biological agent heavily depends on the person who is
handling the agent.

Biological weapons are Bacteriological (biological) agents of warfare are living
organisms, whatever their nature, or infective material derived from them, which are
intended to cause disease or death in man, animals or plants, and which depend for
their effects on their ability to multiply in the person, animal or plant attacked.
Research in Life sciences provide considerations to the Government in matters
pertaining to ethics for the industries, especially bio-industries, research organizations,
professional scientific organizations, and individuals in conducting research related to
human, animals, plants, microorganisms, and the environment.

Foster dialogue considering the multiple facts of bio-security needed to address
biological threats. They facilitate open discussion among scientists and technical
Highlight relationship of security concerns among the public health, agriculture,
veterinary, government and private sectors.

In short research in life Sciences is raising the awareness to the public, promoting
awareness among scientific communities & strengthening national capacity building
(personnel, equipment, surveillance system, national coordination, cooperation and
management, and international cooperation). It’s also enhancing collaboration in the
region and developed countries.

CONCLUSION

It discusses the mutual concerns and goals with countries to identify opportunities for
sustainable long-term collaboration and engagement into technology development and
transfer, training and resource sharing, capacity building & finally securing.

Life Sciences Research in Asia

INTRODUCTION

The seeds of creativity are rooted in history and heritage, the milieu in which all things began. Asian history too is rich in its exploits in science and innovation. While being the largest, most populated continent, Asia is also home to the most ancient civilizations of the world. Literature, science, art, philosophy and education were a way of life in this womb of all civilization. Seminal discoveries and innovation in mathematics, astronomy, the life sciences, medicine and surgery emerged from here. Scrolls describing these were lost to time and decay or, simply to a language not deciphered, understood or broadcast globally. Thus, the foundations of modern mathematics, science and medicine including the use of zero, the binary number system, the Pythagorean theorem, the heliocentric theory, concepts of vaccination and surgery, were recorded in ancient Asian texts. Such observations or practices came about, way ahead of the time, when minds outside Asia had not yet formally defended or formulated theories or, even commenced debate on these issues. The birth of formal education, replete with large residential university campuses housing various branches of learning and specialist teachers also occurred here. Fertile minds, societies that encouraged debate and rhetoric, rich states that valued and patronized learning and science, as well as, formal systems of education and documentation formed the ground from which research, discovery and innovation sprung and prospered.

Millennia and centuries later, Asia is no longer a conglomeration of a few strong foci of riches and power. The ancient kingdoms and dynasties have given way to 47 countries, each with a sociopolitical milieu of its own. Some are democracies burgeoning with populations, marked by size and disparate distribution of resources. Other countries have been subject to a string of military coups. Still others have proclaimed democracies, where the media and people are under strict scrutiny of the state. Some have arisen from the ashes of a larger, stronger state and are struggling with issues of political and economic instability. Among these countries, there are such, where basic life systems sustained by stable governance is the need of the hour. Also among these, are Asian nations, where great technological progress and significant growth in life sciences research has occurred.

Modern, successful life science research in the developed world, supported by industry or government funding, stands on technological innovation and group dynamics. The factories churning out science are not simply great minds working alone with industrious diligence as in olden times. The “group” is where all science is done. Public relations skills, communication and networking leading to intramural, extramural and/or global collaborations are widely used for furthering research. There are examples of centers in Asian countries following these principles that have seen fast dissolution of the divide between industry, academia and government supported life science research.

No branch of science is exclusive. Great lessons can be learned from the essential principles of one life science domain and applied to solve analogous problems of another. Further, advances in physical and chemical sciences directly contribute to growth of the life sciences. Mathematics and computation greatly aid in simulating, modeling and testing life science concepts. Thus, along with collaborations in the various domains of life science, interactive communication with the non-life sciences, mathematics and computational sciences has occurred in some centers. This cause can be furthered with more life sciences conferences, forums and societies that include physical and chemical scientists, statisticians and mathematicians and information technology experts.

Research on life science teaching and life science graduates is needed to pinpoint the areas, where progress needs to be made. Implementing uniformity in standards of teaching is a question of great import. Already existing good quality life science teaching centers need to be fostered. It is important to increase the number of students graduating with M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in life sciences. It is even more important to track the future employment, growth and career tracks being followed by these graduates. In addition to theses supervisors, senior scientists and allied science professionals from the same or other institutions may bestow guidance and mentoring, focusing on career issues. Further, graduate students also need to be enlightened on alternative career paths in science. This may include scientific writing, publishing, intellectual property, coordination, management, as well as, teaching. Students trained in the life sciences, need to be informed, according to core strengths and weaknesses, to aid them in finding suitable niches and professional satisfaction and, contribute to growth of science.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, advancements have occurred in life sciences research in developing Asian countries due to state science policy and budget allocation as well as collaborative science. However, good quality life science research remains the domain of select centers of the Asian nations. The life sciences research output as judged by number of indexed publications is far from comparable to that of the developed nations of the world. Allied fields that support and serve research like science writing, patent law, good quality teaching etc. should also be promoted so that the birth and growth of life science innovation is bolstered.

"views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect the opinion of any institutions Ms. Swapa Menon is affiliated with"

SNPs: where we differ among each other…

iNTRODUCTION

I always tend to get enthralled by the fact that we humans are quite different from each other in more than one aspect. Although more than 99 percent of human DNA sequences are the same, humans do differ among themselves in the remaining sequences. Most of these sequences are different at single point and thus cause polymorphism which in simple terms is referred to as single nucleotide polymorphism. These variations in DNA sequence can have a major impact on how humans respond to disease; environmental factors such as bacteria, viruses, toxins, and chemicals; and drugs and other therapies. As the natural selection phenomenon says that variations that enable individuals to sustain adverse conditions are already present or are developed with the passage of time in the form of mutation, SNPs provide an ideal platform for studying and even harnessing these variations among humans for betterment of mankind.

What are SNPs?

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms are the changes at single nucleotide level in the genome between members of same species. SNPs are the changes in the nucleotides which result in the sequence variation at the same place location in the genome in different individuals of same population. As we know, humans differ among themselves in genotypes (genetic makeup) as well as phenotypes (external look). Physical appearance, response towards drugs and susceptibility to a disease are some of the aspects in which humans differ. These differences could be due to SNPs as they change the way in which some of the important proteins are coded. Difference in proteins changes the way an individual responds towards a drug as the protein needed for the activity of a drug may be modified or absent in the individual due to SNPs. Moreover, individuals show more susceptibility towards development of a disease as compared to other individuals of the same population due to the absence or modification of important proteins. Some of these SNPs are shared by large sections of the population, which make them highly attractive targets for disease research.

How are these SNPs generated?

SNPs are the sequence differences at single nucleotide position. These sequence differences, like polymorphism within a species, result from the basic forces of selective pressure and neutral drift through evolution. SNPs are also evolutionarily stable — not changing much from generation to generation—making them easier to follow in population studies. Humans are estimated to have around 3.7 million SNPs that were found after the Human Genome Project.

How does it affect us?

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms do affect humans in more than one ways. These polymorphisms may affect how organisms develop diseases and respond to chemicals and drugs. Moreover, since SNPs present in coding region change the way different proteins are translated, the malfunction protein may render some individuals more prone towards a particular disease than to others. SNPs do not cause disease, but they can help determine the likelihood that someone will develop a particular illness.

SNPs are tiny variations in nucleotides, which change the way in which important proteins are made. These differences in proteins result in the marked differences shown by humans ranging from colour of the eyes to susceptibility towards a disease. The human genome consist both the coding (exon) and non-coding regions (introns) so SNPs can be present in both of these regions. Non-coding region SNPs are mainly used as markers for genes involved in various disorders. However, coding region SNPs can result in changing the amino acid in the resultant protein. Such SNPs are non-synonymous and those which do not result in change of amino acid are called synonymous. Specific amino acid substitution in a protein will affect the protein's function and hence the way in which we respond to a particular pathogen. A number of researchers have suggested that most SNPs that are involved in causing complex traits may be found in regulatory elements of the genome. However, to date, most of the reported SNPs associated with complex traits have been found in exons.

Predicting whether giving SNP is likely to cause disease or not?

SNPs that can be mapped to protein structures are classified into three types: the one which are present inside the pocket or a void, those present on a convex region or shallow depressed region and those buried in the interior. It was found that the majority of disease associated nsSNPs (non synonymous SNPs – these cause the amino acid change in proteins) are located in voids or pockets on proteins, and only a small number of SNPs are buried completely in the interior. Disease nsSNPs are found to be far less likely to be located in shallow depressed regions or convex regions of protein. This observation can be used in predicting which SNPs plays vital role in causing a disease.

Furthermore, computational methods are also used for predicting whether any given SNP is likely to be disease-associated. This prediction requires using a standard application of Bayes’ Rule in computing the probability of an SNP being a disease SNP, the conditional probability of the given SNP and the general statistical distribution of the given SNP. These statistics must be combined carefully with the more established statistical analysis of SNPs with respect to their polymorphism across different populations.

IGVdb: A new initiative

IGVdb or the Indian Genome Variation Database is a consortium set up in 2003 for screening and validating the SNPs present in various population types present in India. One of the main aims of the consortium is to understand the inherent genetic variability of various subpopulations in India and developing markers for disease or understanding the drug response.

Applications

The applications of SNPs are mainly concentrated on two fields: one involved in being used as markers and other being used for developing personalized medicine for individuals.
(a) SNPs could be used towards genetic disease diagnosis
Association of SNPs to a particular disease enables us to use the SNPs as a marker for the disease and also finding individuals predisposed towards a particular disease so that he/she may be given proper care well before the disease symptoms arrive.
One such example is of atopic asthma, here the disorder being related to hypersensitivity of individuals towards some common antigens, occurs due to the malfunctioning of proteins like Mannan Binding Lectin (MBL) and various Surfactant Proteins (SP). Particular SNPs are found to be markers in people affected with the disease. So, the individuals can be screened for SNP sites quite earlier in their life for finding the risk of them being a candidate for developing atopic asthma later in their life.
Similarly, in predicting disease resistant traits in animals, SNPs can be used as a genetic marker or region that we can identify as susceptible region to the disease. Similarly, lactoferrin mutation in buffalo, coronary heart disease, crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and colorectal carcinoma (CRC) are also based on the same theme. Based on same theme, markers are also developed that play an important role in transfer of important horticultural traits in plants, one such is being done for apple. Similarly, a set of markers are also characterized and validated that can be used in forensics application.

(b) Developing SNPs to check effectiveness towards a drug or Personalized Medicine
SNPs are useful in helping researchers to determine and to understand why individuals differ in their abilities to absorb or clear certain drugs, as well as to determine why an individual may experience an adverse side effect to a particular drug. This is the main feature of developing personalized medicine for individuals, i.e., the drugs that are tested to work effectively in a particular individual. For such phenomenon, the individuals would be first screened.

Fig. 1. Proposed SNP Profile.

A similar case has been with a drug known as Albuterol, a drug commonly prescribed to relieve the symptoms of asthma. The drug was found to be relieving the symptoms only in some people and not in others. Some people even showed a no response to the drug. A set of 13 SNPs were the main cause of this effect. The presence and absence of these SNPs among different individuals has led to 12 different haplotypes which responds variably towards Albuterol varying from good response to fair, none and a poor response.

Problems over working with SNP

Large amount of SNP detection and its availability online for free is basically the availability of a large amount of genetic information of a person which is freely available for other to look into and thus raises a whole host of ethical issues.

Frequent cases of companies sacking their employees based upon their medical checkup are coming into fray these days. Recent technological innovations have made a possibility of human genome sequencing to be priced at lower and more affordable prices. Now if the markers of certain diseases are made available in public databases then it will become easy to characterize humans among those who will develop certain diseases in the future and those who will not. This wealth of information will obviously generate the urge among companies to hire employees based upon their physical fitness and lesser chances for developing diseases in the future. This situation will raise a whole lot of differentiation among humans.

Moreover, finding individuals that respond more towards a drug and less towards its other variant will force the pharmaceutical companies to concentrate more towards that drug and hence raising the price of the other drug. The smaller lot of people who still respond to the other drug will face problems then.
Moving on to the scientific problems being faced, SNPs rarely have optimum allele frequencies and often show marked differences in frequency distributions between populations, making polymorphic content an important additional characteristic.

CONCLUSION

As we are approaching the era of “Thousand Dollar Genome” ($1000 per re-sequenced human genome in 24 hours), the individualized treatment and care of individuals have already been proposed. It may appear a long time off since we would be able to get our own genome sequenced in less than 24 hours which will help our doctors to find out which medicine we would respond to and which not, advances in genotyping are moving fast. As we are all poised to reach that time, the SNPs in future will answer the way by which treatments will be done, diseases will be screened and treated before they show any symptoms, crop’s improvement, animal bread improvement will be done and many other fields that will also depend upon the SNPs.
The central theme I see in this case is that we humans have a similar and common goal of making mankind free of disorders and diseases and provide better life for our future generations. We humans have

Current state of life science research in Asia

S. Sudhakaran, M.Sc., M.Phil., Ph.D., F.L.S.(London)
Coordinator, Department of Biotechnology,
Faculty of Applied sciences,
AIMST University,
3 1/2 Bukit Air Nasi, Jalan Bedong, Semeling 08100,
Kedah Darul Aman, Malaysia.

INTRODUCTION

The global increase in population (70 million people increase per year and 7.5 billion within the next 20 years, mostly in the developing nations), decreasing land availability, urbanization and less concern over the environment, all made us to think much about sustaining the life on the Earth. We, the humans are the one who made life sustainable by innovative researches, revolutions and catered the need of the existing population. Both developed countries and developing countries are now highly concerned about the global changes in economy and environment, as both of them have a direct impact on human welfare and life. Though, the scientific communities are targeting their research and innovations towards three major goals such as heal, fuel and feed, the technology and resources are still insufficient. The biotechnology and its development in particular and life sciences research in general in developed countries are tremendous (Projected to expand to US$ 1.76 trillion by 2010), whereas in the developing countries the scenario is quite different, especially in Asian region the life science research is still in infancy. There are varieties of researches under various funding/ grants but the result out come is not directly applied or marketable either. The lab to land/market potential is not available in all the sectors and people are also not aware of all the developments and pros and cons of the products and the services coming out of the researches. There are countries like India, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore which are the main Asian countries where the government has taken initiatives to strengthen Biotechnology. India and China are the countries gradually entering in to the map of biotech crops growing countries with 7.6 and 3.8 million hectares respectively (Clive James, 2009). The major problems with reference to the developing countries are limited infrastructure, limited distribution, and huge disparities between regions, geographic barriers, cultural barriers and different tastes, needs of the people. Nevertheless the growth, development and innovation in the area of life sciences had already started growing and the main focus of government(s), academic and research institutions are towards surveillance & outbreak Management, infectious Diseases, food, herbs & protecting biodiversity resources, chemicals & drugs, food Safety, drug discovery & development. The biotechnology has been identified as an important engine of growth. The Agricultural Biotechnology (New crops with Improved production and nutritional value, plants against drought, salinity or major disease, aquaculture, breeding & livestock production etc.) research in India, China and Japan, Industrial biotechnology (Bioprocess, cutting edge technology for second generation biofuel development like algal biofuel and bioethanol) research in Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia and health care biotechnology (Rapid development of vaccines, biomarkers drugs, biotherapeutic agents against major infectious diseases that occur as large outbreaks or epidemics (HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, influenza, dengue, etc) and chronic diseases such as diabetes or stroke), Biomedical devices and implants) research which are the main priority areas for many Asian countries as the biodiversity wealth and man power availability are very high. With reference to Malaysia by 2020, the biotech sector is expected to create 280,000 jobs and foreign investment should reach RM 30Billion. In the sixth edition of the annual BioMedical Asia 2009 held at Suntec Convention Center in Singapore, speaking at the opening ceremony of the conference, Mr Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Government of Singapore, said that, “The biomedical sector continues to have good long term growth prospects, particularly in Asia. The growing middle class, higher disposable incomes coupled with greater awareness of health issues, as well as an aging population, are key drivers that underpin the industry’s potential in Asia.” India, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan are a few countries in Asia which have significant ongoing research projects in nanotechnology (Jahanara Parveen et al., 2009) which is a recent development in science and technology.

Developing countries, need to develop and build appropriate scientific and innovative environment (Competitive access to laboratories infrastructures and human resource), enough financial support: right investors (True venture capitalists) and adequate infrastructure (Well structured govt. or regional policies at all levels i.e. legal, financial, academic, ethical and industrial that enables biotech to develop as an industry) to cater the needs of the public. The Green (Agricultural) biotechnology helps to enhance agricultural productivity in developing countries whereby finds a way to alleviate poverty, improves food security & nutrition and promotes sustainable use of natural resources. The Red (Medicine and health care) biotechnology opens up new possibilities to prevent, treat and cure incurable diseases using novel methods of treatment and diagnosis. It uses living organisms – plant and animal cells, viruses and yeasts - to assist in the large scale production of medicines for human use (bio manufacturing). It also includes the production or development of medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and emerging cell and gene therapies, personalized healthcare and medicine through SNPS and Pharmaco-genomics. Recent researches on stem cells and storage of umbilical cord cells are also found promising. The White (Industrial) biotechnology in which eco-efficient enzyme production, biofuel are of major concerns. Living cells are used as bio-factories to make antibiotics, vitamins, vaccines and proteins etc. The bioinformatics platforms are providing data, knowledge and information management on scientific (nucleotide/amino acid) sequences or structural information and transforming knowledge into wealth. As correctly pointed by John Wooley (2005), the world of scientific computing and advanced IT reached the level of being fully applicable to a wide range of deep biological research themes. Thus the technology could be exploited towards the development of nutraceuticals and cosmecueticals as the global herbal market alone is estimated at RM80 billion in 2000 and projected by the World Bank to grow to US 5 trillion in 2050. It is well known that the intellectual capacity of Asians in software development and bioinformatics is tremendous and it could be exploited to the maximum to deliver services to the society.

CONCLUSION

The green revolution, rDNA technology, genomic era developments and current post genomic innovations all are memorable mile stones in the fundamental and advanced research in life sciences to develop products and perform services. The developing countries are taking initiatives to improve the life science research by defining niche areas, forging close linkages and exploiting existing strengths in disparate fields, creating enterprises, developing a strong science capacity and protecting intellectual property rights. I believe that in a decade of time period, developing countries will be able to compete with developed countries and excel in their research and its implications. The fundamental and applied researches should be properly handled with utmost care, so that the research and innovations are not only able to resolve the existing problems and serve the current society but also to regulate and sustainably maintain/utilize the existing natural wealth without creating any new threats to the golden globe.

Life Sciences: Yes! It’s happening in Asia

INTRODUCTION

Hey, what‘re you up to after you graduate? What else? I’d opt for PhD in Europe/United states. This couplet of conversation is time and again surrounded by the student-scientists living in Africa, Asia and some of the Far East countries. I was often asked: Is Biotech/Life Science industry thriving in Asia? What is that element lacking in these parts of the world? For an enthusiast or a young entrepreneur, statistics are always beyond measures as they keep youthful blood and vibrant energy. Aspiration’s key to success and that capability of problem formulation for young scientists from Asia was missing sometime in 1990s. But today, we have more number of scientists staying back in Asia while preferring to take huge steps to exploit and pave way for life science industries. Moreover, it was documented1 couple of years ago that for the first time since 2000, the funds raised in initial public offerings (IPO) during the second quarter of 2007 exceeded $1 billion, and almost topped $3 billion by the end of the year with a notable contribution of companies floating on Asian markets (See image, courtesy : BCIQ online intelligence).

This commentary provides you five main beliefs to make your country a breeding ground of invitations for life sciences.

Fig. 1. Five main beliefs.

1. Keep Attitude positive
The complex the allow you to move ahead is attitude. Dream a lot, convert dreams into thoughts, visualize your thoughts, and convert them into actions. At this point, your attitude begs a question: Where are you moving? Why and importantly how. Attitude sets an example to start promoting your ideas. It clearly makes an impact to set your goals and move forward in a proper direction. And it’s time to ponder.

2. Always “ponder”
Scientists become great and big with six letter word: P-O-N-D-E-R. Think, think and think! The reflection would certainly be from your thoughts. Especially to thrive in life sciences, we need to set aside parallel thoughts to formulate a problem like:. What if it fails? This may be one of those stupid questions but would certainly prove to be intelligent questions when the project meets assessment. Always consider elective thoughts or back-up judgments’. This allows you to research that novel, allows you sufficient time to take strides, keep you focused and move forward for challenges.

3. Accept challenges and demand patience
Many a time there would be unpleasant experiences, right from funding to setting up
Labs etc. The best antidote for this is to stay hungry and foolish while accepting challenges and demanding patience.

4. Get Energized
In countries like India, at times you may have to be self-sufficient to know how to apply for positions, write grants etc. There should be sufficient energy and art to write how of a problem formulation for your research, write a review of your work in context and importantly put up your energy to reach to a point of appraisal. This can be done by discussing with your mentors, teachers and other professionals.

5. Give-it away…
A very important thing that you need to do at the end of the day is to give-it away. Give what you learnt from your mentors, get your mentees be inspired and see that the cycle that you processed always takes action.

CONCLUSION

After all, this is what matters to be in Asia to US/Europe.

REFERENCE

Global biotech overview 2008: http://www.biodirectory.it/show_section.php?sectionId=111302

The Clinical Trials of Deep Brain Stimulation in Developed Countries’ Current Practice

INTRODUCTION

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical procedure used to treat a variety of disabling neurological symptoms—most commonly the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), such as tremor, rigidity, stiffness, slowed movement, and walking problems. The procedure is also used to treat essential tremor, a common neurological movement disorder. At present, the procedure is used only for patients whose symptoms cannot be adequately controlled with medications. In DBS electrodes are connected by wires to a type of pacemaker device (called an impulse generator) implanted under the skin of the chest, below the collarbone. The impulse generator can easily be programmed using a computer that sends radio signals to the device. DBS can directly change brain activities in a controlled manner, and its effects are reversible(http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/deep_brain_stimulation/deep_brain_stimulation.htm, R. Kumar et al 1998).

Lately, the clinical trials of DBS have been applied for various psychiatric disorders in USA, Canada, Germany and France, such as obsessive compulsive disorder, Tourette syndrome and severe depression.(B. S. Appleby 2007) Nevertheless, DBS therapies for psychiatric disorders are still at their experimental stage and they maybe contain risks in implanting the device into a person's brain which possibly alters that person's brain function and hence his personal identity.

Many advanced countries, including the United States, Germany, France, South Korea, Singapore and Japan are accumulating experience on DBS therapy and research. DBS devices are expected to be miniaturized in the near future, which will cause the demand for them to expand drastically. Before DBS and brain–computer interface (BCI) as new, dramatically effective methods to overcome disorders of brain function are widely used, it is required to clarify and overcome problems that are currently being faced by these techniques.

We investigated under the project Safety Issues in Neuroscience and their Effects on Research Activities in the Field of Life Sciences in Japan, funded by International cooperative research/Leading survey program, Project 2007-8 of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of the Japanese Government.

Under this international project, the effects of DBS therapies for psychiatric disorders were investigated; 1.Safety of DBS electrodes a)Mechanism of their deterioration, b)Prevention of deterioration c)Development of new materials that can withstand long-term use 2.The patient selection criteria 3.The role of coordinators who mediate between patients (or end-users) and DBS devices 4.Social concerns about personality changes and brain plasticity 5.Lessons from the past: a re-examination of ethical debates on prefrontal lobotomy 6.The possible use of DBS for the purpose of brain enhancement 7.End users’ expectations and fears about DBS 6.Comparison of DBS with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). As a result, the conditions for proper application of the DBS technique were clarified.

The project sought the information on the following areas: We visited five research centers in USA（Mayo Clinic-Jacksonville, Emory University, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic-Rochester, University of Minnesota）, two research centers in Germany(Univ. of Tuebingen、Univ. of Bonn) and one research center in France（l'Université Paris-Sud).

We started to verify in the safety of DBS electrodes. The electrodes used were manufactured by Medtronic, as these were the only ones with official approval.(C. Pea 2007) The electrodes implanted six years ago were still working, which represented a long follow-up period. The early versions suffered from lead breakages; however, the latest version of the device does not have this problem. Several of the investigators were interested in research to improve the electrodes. Improvements suggested included making the device smaller and batteries that last longer.

Complications of the DBS surgery were a low incidence of bleeding (1–3%) and infection. Some patients became apathetic or confused, or had hallucinations and delusions after the operation, but these effects could be largely controlled by adjusting the stimulation parameters and/or the use of dopaminergic drugs.

There was concern that research on DBS was compromised because it was largely funded by the manufacturer of the device used, who could influence the kind of research performed and what results could be published. Safety criteria regarding the use of DBS were set by individual institutions, although FDA approval was necessary to use DBS devices.
The basic ethical principles were applied in a DBS program: any intervention should benefit the patient; the patient should not be harmed; and the doctor should act according to the patient’s will.(J. F. Childress & T. L. Beauchamp 2003)

Coordinated multidisciplinary teams were constructed with neurosurgeons, neurologists, specialist nurses, and administrative staff to schedule procedures and appointments. They had a group discussion after a patient had been seen to decide whether or not the patient would be offered DBS. The programmer was usually a specially trained nurse. One patient would have preferred a doctor to do the programming

Research studies required Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval; these boards included a broad range of people, including physicians, nurses, lay people, lawyers, ministers, and members of humanities departments at the same institution.
Patient selection involved a multidisciplinary team involving members from different medical and surgical disciplines, and a bioethicist if this was considered appropriate. The patient selection criteria were stringent and included very severe illness and failure of all other possible treatments, including electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Patients with personality disorders or addictive disorders were not accepted.(H.S. Mayberg et al. 2005, J. W. Mink et al 2006, M. Hamilton 1960)

For psychiatric diseases, psychiatrists should establish the conditions for surgery. This will avoid many failures resulting from the misuse of this technique. The DBS team alone never decides on which patient will get the device, and psychiatrists are always consulted. This is a very important ethical aspect in this issue.

The doctors considered that very ill patients were usually competent to give informed consent. A member of the patient’s family was not normally required to sign informed consent for adult patients. However, support from the patient’s family was considered important. In France, generally, consent from the patient was the principal requirement; however, the situation was difficult in cases where the patient was considered unable to make an informed and rational decision. The decision could then be taken by a legal representative, but the DBS team might not believe that the decision then taken was in the patient’s best interest. Even a desperately ill patient would be possible to deny a treatment that could relieve their symptoms. Another problem that may arise if consent is given by somebody other than the patient is that the patient may not be compliant with the treatment after the surgery has been performed. Therefore it is very difficult to work with a person who does not understand what is being proposed by way of treatment. With this kind of surgery, more than 95% of people give their own signature.

The procedure was discussed with patients before the operation to ensure that they fully understood the benefits and risks of DBS before giving their consent. Patients often have high expectations; however, they need to be informed that DBS is not a cure, but simply a means of reducing the severity of their disease, and that it is an invasive procedure with attendant risks.
Patients do have fears about DBS; added to the general fear of surgery is the fear of having one’s brain entered and interfered with. However, fear is reduced when it is explained that the likelihood of adverse effects is low.
The conflict of interest is always assessed whether the individual has any monetary gain from the proposed project. However gains are obtained from talks and awards. The possibilities of fame and career advancement as well as financial matters, should include in items to check by Conflict of Interest Board.

There was little definite information on whether personality changes might occur after DBS. Some doctors mentioned that it was not easy to know what a patient’s baseline personality was. They were not aware of any significant psychological effects, though there was some anecdotal evidence for changes. One team ensured that all DBS patients had psychiatric and neuropsychological evaluations.

A German neurologist said that the patient may be informed about the probable adverse effects, containing “affect personality” ; however, it is debatable whether these effects, especially on personality can be considered entirely bad. The real question is not whether DBS affects personality, but whether it affects the personality in a good way or a bad way. I really agree with his opinion.
Since the publication of an academic article by Dr. Alim Benabid in 2004 detailing 15 years of experience with patients who had received DBS, more information is now available on these aspects. It was possible that DBS might result in a change in family dynamics if the patient became more active and less dependent on the family. Cognition appears to improve after DBS, as reported by patients.(K. Ashkan et al. 2004)

An advantage of DBS over electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is that the stimulation provided is highly localized. ECT, also known as electroshock, is a well established, albeit controversial psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Despite the possible loss of memory, ECT is most often used as a treatment for severe depression today. TMS cannot be used to probe deeper into the brain, but it can be used to stimulate the cortex. Now, TMS is not better than DBS because of major technical limitations. The technique of TMS provides magnetic stimulation, and the frequency and amplitude of stimulation are not the same as with electrical stimulation. Another advantage of DBS is that its effect is sustained. With TMS there may be a clinical effect for only few days. On the other hand, compared with ECT and TMS, DBS is an invasive procedure. Whether a given patient should receive either of the treatments should be decided on merit for the particular patient.

Past experience with lobotomy reveals that many issues regarding this procedure need to be resolved. A lobotomy is a neurosurgical procedure, a form of psychosurgery. It consists of cutting the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex. These procedures result in major personality changes beyond what is desired, and can cause severe mental disabilities. Lobotomies were used mainly from the 1930s to 1950s to treat a wide range of severe mental illnesses. (A. Lima 1973)

Although a lobotomy has some benefits, it has been used on a massive scale without any defined criteria. The lobotomy studies that have been performed were poorly designed.(A. A. Baker and L. Minski 1951) Thus, programs using new techniques must be performed systematically using very well defined ethical boundaries in association with bioethics and internal and external oversight. Cingulotomy was being done at some centers, and it was felt that this would work for some patients. However, cingulotomy was irreversible, unlike DBS. Technology was moving towards reversible or noninvasive procedures, though lesioning still had a role in some circumstances, for example, in some types of epilepsy.

All the doctors considered that DBS would not be acceptable for the cognitive enhancement of normal healthy people, although this was a gray area and future developments in technology and societal values could affect this view. Partly it was a matter of a poor risk–benefit ratio; there would never be zero risk for operations on the brain.

Public education about DBS was undertaken annually through several public events. Mass media such as Newspapers, radio, and television could be used for public education. However seeking publicity in the community was inappropriate for an experimenter. Interest in DBS was increasing, but there was not enough data to support the possible uses that had been suggested. Examples of such applications were to treat obesity and heroin addiction.

The use of DBS to treat psychiatric conditions was considered to be at an earlier stage of development than its use for movement disorders. In Germany and France, there was felt to be some initial reluctance of the public to accept it. This was partly due to historical factors such as the Nazi party’s medical experiments in Germany and the widespread fear of electroconvulsive therapy in France. The medical profession may also be slow to accept it because of the relative lack of evidence for its effectiveness compared with DBS for movement disorders. However, clinical trials are in progress, and acceptability is expected to increase.

CONCLUSION

In the near future, the clinical trials of DBS will be started for various psychiatric disorders in Japan and may be in Asian countries. In that time, we hope that our project report will be utilized and DBS therapies for psychiatric disorders will be introduced in the proper way.


REFERENCES

National Institutes of Health (NIH)：NINDS Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease Information Page
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/deep_brain_stimulation/deep_brain_stimulation.htm

R. Kumar, MD, A. M. Lozano, MD, PhD, Y. J. Kim W. D. Hutchison, PhD, E. Sime, RN et al：Double-blind evaluation of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation in advanced Parkinson's disease. NEUROLOGY 51:850-855, 1998

B. S. Appleby, MD, P. S. Duggan, AB, A. Regenberg, M Be & P. V. Rabins, MD, MPH：Psychiatric and Neuropsychiatric Adverse Events Associated With Deep Brain Stimulation. Movement Disorders 22, 12:1722-1728, 2007

C. Pea, K. Bowsher, A. Costello, R. De Luca, S. Doll et al：An Overview of FDA Medical Device Regulation as it Relates to Deep Brain Stimulation Devices. Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering 15, 3:421-424, 2007

J. F. Childress & T. L. Beauchamp：Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford University Press, USA, 2001, 618,2003

H.S. Mayberg, A.M. Lozano, V. Voon, H.E. McNeely, D. Seminowicz et al：Deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression. Neuron 45, 5: 651-660, 2005

J. W. Mink, J. Walkup, K.A. Frey, P. Como, D. Cath et al ： Patient selection and assessment recommendations for deep brain stimulation in Tourette syndrome. Movement Disorders. 21, 11:1831-1838, 2006

M. Hamilton： A rating scale for depression. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat. 23:56-62, 1960

K. Ashkan, B. Wallace, BA Bell, AL Benabid ：Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus in Parkinson's disease 1993-2003: where are we 10 years on ? . Br J Neurosurg 18, 1:19-34. Review, 2004

A. Lima：Egas Moniz, 1874-1955. Surg. Neurol. 1,9:247-248, 1973

A. A. Baker and L. Minski ：Social adjustment of neurotic patients after prefrontal leucotomy. British Medical Journal, 2, 11:1239-1243, 1951

 

Perspective on Current State of Life Science Research in Asia

INTRODUCTION

Last from 5 years I am listening that technology in life science area is booming not a sufficient kind of projects are available, it is irony and hard to digest some people have started business out of it. we are not nurturing the young minds towards the research and development but stopping them not to do research, there is no dearth having such degrees no jobs no employment, if it is some where then meager salaries are given,
An analytical framework for understanding the ethics of work culture in life sciences society uses to move people into and out of statuses, roles, rights, and obligations, is perceived differently in various societies. We will see how changes in the proportion of people in a population at each age level have important social consequences in different societies. I strongly believe that in our region (INDIA) we have the maturity to discuss these issues openly… and at times to agree to disagree, on the basis of mutual respect… but in the process come to understand each other better. In so doing, we enhance our own ability to work together on major current challenges such as health sciences and BIOTECHNOLOGY only to procure the exact meaning of living healthy life…but we also build for the region an ever-firmer foundation of understanding, bringing a new strength to all our cooperation and shared Endeavour’s.

The job market goes up and down periodically, but there is always a job for the right person, be it an IT professional or a scientist, cream will always be in demand. So whatever you do, do it sincerely and with hard work. When we start doing this, we won’t need to go looking for jobs, they will start looking for you.
The industry is booming, diseases aplenty and problems becoming more and more complex. This needs for research work.
The USA and China are all encouraging doctoral programs. Why? As they know this is the way a nation progresses. Let’s stop thinking small and think big for ourselves. We can make it if we think we can make it.

Just I have some how listed some roles we should do for enhancement of life system in ourselves:

1. New performance indicators for skills and knowledge should be monitored.
2. A quantitative point of view predominates: it is monitored through the number of education hours, days per worker and investigation of workers satisfaction, statements of processed units
3. Increase the number of indicators reflecting requirements for further education
4. Initiate the existence of an accreditation subject for granting of certificates and credits for participation in long life education.
5. There must be some specialised courses and study fields. Specialized study follows the educational programmes containing all required necessary knowledge for trainees.


Last but not the least the research programes in our institutions need to - take on real and relevant projects which not only give the scholars a chance to contribute not only to the betterment of overall quality of life but also address ethics in research; in line with global standards. The high-tech life science research growth also opens up the need of better & stricter implementation of research ethics in form of consitution of an ethics board, framing of guidelines, implementation of such guidelines and more importantly spreading the awareness and importance of such high ethical standards in life science research. This is especially true in newly developing countries, many of which fall in Asia and are now experiencing a surge in life science education and research. Another issue worth mentioning is that we need to distinguish between real research & so called in- research which in author’s opinion follows the current research fads and fund flows accross the world. The third issue which the author would humble like to draw the attention is the level of creative freedom & innovation opportunities being provided to the young scientist & researchers can be used an effetive mesaure of mature scientific community, which is not always bound with konwn & accepted methods but encourages ‚out-of-box‘ enquiry & stays true to the real sprit of RESEARCH.

(FOR MY OWN REGION)
Have we ever wondered why a PhD is respected so much in developed countries and not in Asia? It is because they devote their work to science. This field of research is for people who want to make a difference. It is for those who want to make a difference.
When we all will grow old, and about to leave this planet forever. Our entire life will reflect in front of us. Do ask our self this question:- "What have we done in our life that is of relevance ?". Why should you be remembered or thought about by people in our absence. Have you done anything to contribute to the betterment of life? Science is for the pure and relentless. One who walks this path faces many obstacles, disappointments and setbacks. but it is only this people who make a difference.

Imagine if Loius Pasteur, Albert Einstein or Raman had thought just like that. Do we think we would remember them today? Do we think we care about Raman the mathematician or Raman the sundry MNC employee?

CONCLUSION

As far as personal life is concerned, it is in our hands how we manage them. If you know how to manage your relations, you will not face a problem. You need to be a little accountable to our roles.
I hope to see continued progress in the functionality and interoperability of science in future

I once again congratulate in bringing such a distinguished thought among us and forced to think about the perspective of current science in Asia…

Wu Wei of Tao and Mindful Meditation to save Nature in the 21st Century

INTRODUCTION

We all know that capitalistic society in this 21st century only leads to natural disaster. We use natural resources to satisfy our needs with no limit, as more production means more profit. At the moment we are starting to be concerned about the world we are living in, how to save our environment etc. We all have to face ecology problems and solve these, together, to go deep into the essence of our being to learn to exist in a different light. The purpose of this paper is to bring the ideas of Wu Wei of Tao and the practice of Mindful Meditation to help man see the reality in life, to see things as they are. This should enable one to be satisfied with life from within; no need for more material gains and an increased ability to save our environment.

With modern propaganda and the habit of comparison man’s mind has become more materialistic. Most men in this century cannot understand and realize the meaning of here and now. We always search for what we do not have and are never satisfied with what we have. We tend to look for something in the future, not really appreciating the present, the longest moment of our life. The concept of Wu Wei means doing nothing, or non action. This is one of Tao’s important ideas. As the following from Tao-Te Ching:

The Tao in its regular course does nothing (for the sake of doing it),
And so there is nothing which it does not do. (Legge, chap.37)

It is the basic way to conform with nature, which does not mean laziness or lack of thought, but means not indulging in useless effort and not doing anything contradictory to nature. According to Alan Watts, non-doing is …
“ what we mean by going with the grain, rolling with the punch, swimming with the current, trimming sails to the wind, taking the tide at its flood, and stooping to conquer…..the life-style of one who follows the Tao, and must be understood primarily as a form of intelligence.”
Tao: The Watercourse Way, (Pantheon Books, 1973.)

Intelligence understands true happiness as not connected to the past or the future, true happiness is here and now. It is something from within, the oneness with all right in this moment. - Osho wrote in Tao: The Pathless Path, that can be applied well to the present situation. Osho described in this book how a student came across an old man collecting rice in the rice field and singing at the same time. The student could not understand why the old man was happy, so he asked the old man, why are you so happy and able to sing and collect rice at the same time? The old man said, “All of us are entitled to be happy like me, if they do not cling to their past, their belonging, their honor or fame or the future. I welcome death and I am happy for that.”

Tao lead us to see that all is connected or related to one another, nothing can be separated. There is no division in Tao. It is important for us to see thing as the whole. Tao is life, love, happiness, emptiness, peace and death. These are facts about life. When one realizes it one can become one with nature. Tao leads man to understand the essence of one’s life, or knowing how to exit.

One has to learn how to live for oneself first, then be able to live for others. This is the way of nature. If one finds happiness from within, one is able to bring happiness to others as well. Finding happiness from others can bring one more happiness as well. Happiness can also be reflected from the surroundings, the natural world around us. Such simplicities in Tao are powerful forces in life.

Through the understanding of Wu Wei, we can exist along with nature, sailing as the wind, swimming with the current. In this sense we can do nothing against nature. We have to start to learn how to listen and live with nature once more, not to conquer but to be with. It is our intelligence to be able to understand nature, which means to exist in every moment of the present, which is now. It means we are truly free from the past and able to enjoy the present moment and never let the future interfere with the present. This idea of now, being with the present is very much like Mindful Meditation in Buddhism and even like being an observer in Quantum Physics (Umavijani, C.2008)

Mindful meditation in Buddhism means one has to observe oneself at all time, not to clinging to the past or thinking about the future. One becomes one with the present moment. The awareness of oneself in all directions of one’s being means the complete existence in every moment of one’s life. (This concept is very much like Tao, absorbing nature or things around us.) In Mindful Meditation, one who practices is the one who is watching oneself at all times both physically and mentally. One can observe one’s body, such as sitting, walking, reclining etc., and also observe one’s mind, as in thoughts, emotions, feelings, and perceptions. Metaphorically, it is like looking at oneself in a mirror. This oneness leads one to be able to absorb the natural flow of nature around us as well. Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma expressed Mindful Meditation in the following:

The meditator who is ever watchful of the rising and of the abdomen and the phenomena that arise at the of sensory impingement finds that the perception of sound disappears at once when noted as “hearing, hearing;” the perception of sight vanishes when notes as “seeing, seeing;” so also the perceptions of thoughts and ideas disappear as soon as they are noted as thoughts or ideas. Observation and realization thus come through personal knowledge that perception is not everlasting; it does not last even one second and has the nature of incessantly ceasing. Let alone perceptions perceived in previous existences, even in the present life, perceptions experienced in past moment s are no longer existent, they have all ceased and vanished.

(The Great Discourse on Not Self. Translated by U.K.Lay)


When one is fully aware of the present moment, the sense of satisfaction of oneself will appear from within naturally. (There are sixteen stages of the mindful meditation according to Theravada Buddhism.) This realization about oneself enables one to live a full life by not wanting anything more, able to be with the present moment at all times. One can become self sufficient within oneself by understanding the wonder of the mechanism nature of the self – the body-self. This machine functions by itself. When one truly observes from moment to moment, one comes to the realization that the body and the mind are in the process of change at all times. And through this realization the observer can also truly understand what one observes. Understanding that all things are interrelated and inseparable from one and another, the reality of the self can be realized by the observing mind. One can realize that one has no control over the body such as in aging, sickness or death. But without Mindful Meditation, one may live in the world of illusion, and cannot distinguish between what is real and what is not.

Through Mindful Meditation one can come to the realization of reality in nature having three characteristics, impermanence, suffering (as things are changing, decaying at the same time, some things changing new to old, or young to old age ) and the concept of no–self, that one is merely the mechanism of the body-self. Through these realizations one is able to maintain an equilibrium within one’s mind and body, no more sense of greed and wanting; satisfied with oneself.

Hence, ecology and natural resource problems can be solved by realizing the truth in nature. This truth can be achieved through understanding and being one with nature in Tao. The process of realization leads one to be able to be satisfied in life and know the necessity from within. If we know what is really enough, then we need not produce unnecessary things in the world, which will use up natural resources more. The Buddha set examples for his followers: the monk needs a bowl of food, and a piece of rope and cloth to cover himself, and no other belongings. But at present we need not only shelter, food, medicine, and cloth, but also televisions, computers, mobile phones, MP3,4 etc.; or wanting to have second home, or more belongings from advertisements. There is no limit to our wanting. We only look for what we do not have rather than appreciate what we have. Then we try to get more and more and do not realize the meaning of enough.

An interesting study was made by Gregg Easterbrook, who wrote The Progress Paradox: How life gets better while people feel worse. ( 2002) He stresses that Americans in this century have better health care, housing, a better standard of living and more free time, but people feel worse. This book mentioned that about 50% of present Americans feel that their lives are worse than their parents. They feel that in their
generation there is more violence and bad news, and no hope for the future. Partly this is from the media always posting bad news and violence, as bad news and violence can sell. Americans are also the victim of all kinds of propaganda. They feel the need to get any new product in the market. They have the urge to have more than others and end up in dept and with no savings. And the irony of the story that Easterbrook mentioned is that the more they are in debt, the more they want to spend, which only leads to more stress, discontent and misery. (This great debt of the American Society is partly the cause for the collapse of the American economy in this year 2008.) This story may not only be true in the States, but also elsewhere when people overspend with credit cards and do not realize what they really need in life.

Modern technology and propaganda lead us to be confused between what we want and what are the necessities in our life, and we associate success with material things rather than what we can appreciate from within. It is interesting to see Easterbrook suggest at the end of his book that the era of materialism is coming to an end. Since buying and having do not solve problems, now Americans are going through an era of finding the meaning of life, free from materialism and moving away from the edge of individualism. We all need to find out who we are and what we really want from life or the meaning of life. Americans may be the pioneers to really discover this knowledge.

Tao and Mindful Meditation give directions for man in this century to be able to direct oneself towards what one wants from this life. Simplicity in life, understanding oneself through one’s observations and the ability to be one with nature are clues of how to live this life. If one is able to practice Wu Wei in everyday life, to be with the present at all times, one will not suffer from wanting more and be able to live life fully. Life can be meaningful in every moment.

Mindful Meditation enables us to realize the reality of things, especially the knowledge of ourselves. Through this realization we become one with nature or reality. Wisdom through this realization enables us to rise above the material object. We will not be concerned with what we have or do not have any more. We can have a sufficient life, able to be satisfied with ourselves, living life fully.

If many people practice these ideas, it is as if they have a vaccine to save them from a virus, enabling them to stop wanting more, and live this life free from desire. They will act naturally and spontaneously according to the situation. They will be able to be satisfied with themselves, and there will be not much demand to produce more goods. Natural resources can be protected. Right now we have plenty of commodities such as housing, clothing, etc. that can be contributed to all. But at present some have more than enough, and some do not have any. The problem that we are having now is not the problem of having no goods, but the problem of contribution. If we realize that we do not need that much we can contribute more to those who do not have. Many thinkers in this century feel that what is important to the world now is to give and distribute more, for example Gates, and Buffet and many others.

CONCLUSION

Finally, we hope through the practice of Wu Wei and Mindful Meditation man can be led to live to the fullest, being self sufficient and feeling for nature around us more. The best way to attain this state has to come from the inner self, realization from within through Wu Wei and Mindful Meditation. Then natural resources can be saved.

REFERENCE

Umavijani, C., Quantum Physics and Buddhist Characteristics of Reality for Peace in the 21st Century. (Sanskrit Studies Centre Journal, Bangkok, 2008), volume IV,p.146-153.