Our Diploma program prepares graduates and post graduates to excel in their technical fields, and to design, develop & implement strategies for dealing with challenges associated with those fields. The program’s primary focus is to prepare students to take up practical work in laboratories of food, biopharma, phytochemical, CROs and Govt. Laboratories.
Azyme Biosciences offers a unique and advanced training program on quality control. The ACQA program is an excellent program suitable for chemists, chemical engineers, microbiologists & biotechnologists, who plan to work in a quality control lab or upgrade their knowledge in the quality control sector.
Modules Covered:
1.Basic Techniques of Quality Analysis
2. Instrumentation-HPLC,GC & AAS
Duration– 45 days
Extensive Research Programs:
Objective:
The objective of the program is to familiarize students with the most modern techniques with a strong emphasis on understanding of basics. To imbibe fearless confidence in students to handle any experimental protocol.
Training Takeaways:
Individual handling of all experimental protocols
An understanding on the use & prepation of reagents and solutions
Sample preparation and methods of analysis
Result interpretation
Troubleshooting techniques
Duration: 30-45 working days
Dissertation Projects
Project Topics Included but not limited to : 1.Molecular & Recombinant DNA technology eg: DNA finger printing work , use of RAPD,RFLP,AFLP markers 2. Enzyme Biotechnology
Eg; work currently being carried out industrially useful enzymes, enzymes with anti cancer activity 3. Phytochemical studies for antimicrobial activity Eg: use of various plant parts for investigating their antimicrobial and antioxidant property. 4. Fermentation & downstream Processing / Industrial Biotechnology
Eg : production of antibiotics, amino acids & enzymes
Distance Learning Education Distance Education offers you assistance, complete guidance, counseling and exceptional follow up for distance education. We help working professionals and students to choose University and to get enrolled for distance learning courses at various University across India. We are here to help you achieve professional advancement and personal enrichment by selecting the appropriate distance education course as per your need. Universities: MIT Pune UTS Pune Assam Down Town University Annamalai University Mahatma Gandhi University DY Patil University Karnataka State of Open University Welingkar EILLM CMJ University Courses Offered: MBA PGDBA Post Graduate Diploma PGD Executive MBA Diploma in Business Administration Diploma Courses Labour Law Taxation Law Masters of Law Piping Desigining Energy Management Project Management Finance Management International Business Supplychain Management Materials Management Project Management Infrastructure Management Design Management Information Technology Management Network Infrastructure Management Hospitality Management Human Resource Management Operations Management Wealth Management Financial Management Retail Management Risk and Insurance Management Telecom Management Aviation Management Infrastructure Management Hospital Administration Media Business Management Agri-Business Management Logistics Management Pharma Business Management Post Graduate Diploma along with MBA Masters of Computer Applications Masters of Library and Information Science Master of Journalism and Mass Communication Masters in Science M.Sc in Information Technology,MLT,Computer Science,Bio Technology,Microbiology,Hotel Managament,Mass Communication,Interior Designing,Hotel & Tourism Management,Journalism & Advertisement Master of Arts MA in English,Economics,Sociology,Education,Pol. Science,History Bachelor of Business Management BBM Bachelor of Computer Applications BSc in Information Technology Bachelor of Commerce B.Com M.Com B.A Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of Library and Information Science B.Sc. In Fashion Designing,Computer Science,Bio-Technology,MLT Bachelor of Business Administration Certificate Courses Concepts of Supply Chain Management Brand Management Advanced Certificate in Hospital Administration and Health Management Advanced Certificate in Maternal and Child Health Certificate Course in Endodontics Certificate in Post-Endodontics Certificate Course in Aesthetics Advance Certificate in Restorative Dentistry Advanced Course in Implantology Corporate Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration Corporate Tax Tax VAT B.Tech Bachelor in Technology M.Tech Masters in Technology For further details: info@panurgic.in 9810701332 9958934646
ADMISSION TO Ph.D PROGRAMME 2012 GURU GOBIND SINGH INDRAPRASTHA UNIVERSITY DWARKA CAMPUS, SEC-16-C, NEW Delhi - 110 075
Applications are invited for admission to Ph.D Programme in various disciplines of Engineering, Management, Education, Medicine & Para Medical Health Sciences, Law & legal Studies, Humanities & Social Sciences and Applied Sciences in University School of Studies (USS and Approved Research Centres (ARC .
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA :
An applicant possessing any one of the following qualifications shall be eligible to apply for admission to a Ph.D. programme of the University.
(i A Master’s degree in Technology/ Science/ Medicine/ Pharmacy/ Management/ of a recognized Indian University, or a post graduate degree approved by Association of Indian Universities/AICTE/ UGC/ MCI/ Bar Council/ Pharmacy Council, or any other equivalent qualification to the satisfaction of Academic Council of the University duly approved by equivalence committee of the University, in the relevant field, with not less than 60% marks in aggregate.
(ii (a Applicants with a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/ Technology with either 75% or more marks in aggregate and a minimum of three years, or 60% or more marks in aggregate and a minimum of fifteen years, relevant experience in recognized Institute/ University/ Industry/ Government Organization, may be considered eligible for admission, on the recommendation of SRC and approval by BOS.
(ii (b Applicants with MBBS Degree (approved by MCI with either 60% or more marks in aggregate and a minimum of three years or 50% or more marks in aggregate and a minimum of 15 years relevant experience in Recognized Govt. Hospital/ Organization may be considered eligible for admission on the recommendation of SRC and approval by the BOS.
(iii For applicants belonging to SC/ST category and/or physically handicapped applicants, a relaxation of 5% in marks shall be admissible under eligibility conditions.
(iv Teachers working in any University or its affiliated colleges and having a teaching/research/other relevant experience of not less than 3 years may be allowed a relaxation of 5% marks under clause (i . Provided that out of the two relaxations stipulated under clauses (iii and (iv , only one relaxation is permissible for an applicant.
(v Perspective Research Candidate generally shall not have completed an age of 55 years at the time of submission of application for registration for Ph.D. A relaxation in the prescribed age beyond 55 years can, however be recommended by the SRC/BOS recording appropriate justification for the approval by the Vice-Chancellor.
SELECTION PROCEDURE : All the applicants shall have to appear for Research Aptitude Test (RAT except Foreign Nationals. Candidates shall be provisionally registered if they are selected through the entrance test RAT conducted by the G.G.S. Indraprastha University and thereafter Interview shall be conducted.
IMPORTANT DATES :
Last date for receipt of applications : 16.04.2012 (Monday by 5:00(pm
Date of written Test : 05.05.2012 (Saturday
The application form can be downloaded from the G.G.S. Indraprastha University Website: http://www.ipu.ac.in in hyperlink Research & Consultancy. The interested candidates may apply by 16.04.2012 on the prescribed application form which is available on the University Website. Filled application form along with the relevant Certificates/ Testimonials must reach at “Director (Research & Consultancy office, Administrative Block, C-Wing, Room No. 005, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Dwarka Campus, Sec-16 C, New Delhi -110 075.” Application received after due date will not be considered. There is no fee for filling the application form.
A multinational research team led by scientists at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School has identified the reason why some patients fail to respond to some of the most successful cancer drugs.
Tyrosine kinase inhibitor drugs (TKI work effectively in most patients to fight certain blood cell cancers, such as chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML , and non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC with mutations in the EGFR gene.
These precisely targeted drugs shut down molecular pathways that keep these cancers flourishing and include TKIs for treating CML, and the form of NSCLC with EGFR genetic mutations.
Now the team at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore, working with the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS , Singapore General Hospital, and the National Cancer Centre Singapore, has discovered that there is a common variation in the BIM gene in people of East Asian descent that contributes to some patients' failure to benefit from these tyrosine kinase inhibitor drugs.
"Because we could determine in cells how the BIM gene variant caused TKI resistance, we were able to devise a strategy to overcome it," said S. Tiong Ong, MBBCh, senior author of the study and associate professor in the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Signature Research Programme at Duke-NUS and Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, at Duke University Medical Center.
"A novel class of drugs called the BH3-mimetics provided the answer," Ong said. "When the BH3 drugs were added to the TKI therapy in experiments conducted on cancer cells with the BIM gene variant, we were able to overcome the resistance conferred by the gene. Our next step will be to bring this to clinical trials with patients."
Said Yijun Ruan, PhD, a co-senior author of this study and associate director for Genome Technology and Biology at GIS: "We used a genome-wide sequencing approach to specifically look for structural changes in the DNA of patient samples. This helped in the discovery of the East Asian BIM gene variant. What's more gratifying is that this collaboration validates the use of basic genomic technology to make clinically important discoveries."
The study was published online in Nature Medicine on March 18.
If the drug combination does override TKI resistance in people, this will be good news for those with the BIM gene variant, which occurs in about 15 percent of the typical East Asian population. By contrast, no people of European or African ancestry were found to have this gene variant.
"While it's interesting to learn about this ethnic difference for the mutation, the greater significance of the finding is that the same principle may apply for other populations," said Patrick Casey, PhD, senior vice dean for research at Duke-NUS and James B. Duke Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology.
"There may well be other, yet to be discovered gene variations that account for drug resistance in different world populations. These findings underscore the importance of learning all we can about cancer pathways, mutations, and treatments that work for different types of individuals. This is how we can personalize cancer treatment and, ultimately, control cancer."
"We estimate that about 14,000 newly diagnosed East Asian CML and EGFR non-small-cell lung cancer patients per year will carry the gene variant," Ong said. "Notably, EGFR NSCLC is much more common in East Asia, and accounts for about 50 percent of all non-small-cell lung cancers in East Asia, compared to only 10 percent in the West."
The researchers found that drug resistance occurred because of impaired production of BH3-containing forms of the BIM protein. They confirmed that restoring BIM gene function with the BH3 drugs worked to overcome TKI resistance in both types of cancer.
"BH3-mimetic drugs are already being studied in clinical trials in combination with chemotherapy, and we are hopeful that BH3 drugs in combination with TKIs can actually overcome this form of TKI resistance in patients with CML and EGFR non-small-cell lung cancer," Ong said. "We are working closely with GIS and the commercialization arm of the Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR , to develop a clinical test for the BIM gene variant, so that we can take our discovery quickly to the patient."
The major contributors to the study include additional researchers and teams from the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Genome Institute of Singapore (Dr. Yijun Ruan and Dr. Axel Hillmer , Singapore General Hospital (Dr. Charles Chuah , and National Cancer Centre Singapore (Dr. Darren Wan-Teck Lim .
In addition, the investigators also received important contributions from Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan (Dr. Naoto Takahashi , the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (Dr. Ross Soo , the National University Cancer Institute of Singapore (Drs. Liang Piu Koh and Tan Min Chin , the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (Dr. Seet Ju Ee , the University of Bonn, Germany (Dr. Markus Nothen , the University of Malaya (Dr. Veera Nadarajan , and the University of Tokyo, Japan (Dr. Hiroyuki Mano .
The study was supported by grants from the National Medical Research Council (NMRC of Singapore; Biomedical Research Council (BMRC of A*STAR, Singapore; Genome Institute of Singapore; Singapore General Hospital; and two NMRC Clinician Scientist Awards to Dr. Ong and Dr Chuah.
“Human resistance to antibiotics could bring ‘the end of modern medicine as we know it’,” according to The Daily Telegraph. The newspaper says that we are facing an antibiotic crisis that could make routine operations impossible and a scratched knee potentially fatal. Similarly, the Daily Mail’s headline stated that a sore throat could soon become fatal.
The alarming headlines follow a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO , which set out ways to fight the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR . AMR occurs when infectious organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, adapt to treatments and become resistant to them. The publication specifically addressed the long-known problem of antibiotic resistance, where increasing use of antibiotics can lead to the formation of “superbugs” that resist many of the antibiotic types we currently have. It outlined a variety of measures that are vital for ensuring we can still fight infections in the future and described how other major infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, HIV, malaria and influenza, could one day become resistant to today’s treatment options.
However, despite the future danger posed by antimicrobial resistance, the situation is not irretrievable. As Dr Margaret Chan, director general of WHO, said: “much can be done. This includes prescribing antibiotics appropriately and only when needed, following treatment correctly, restricting the use of antibiotics in food production to therapeutic purposes and tackling the problem of substandard and counterfeit medicines.” The report also highlighted successful cases where antimicrobial resistance has been tackled, demonstrating that we can safeguard the effectiveness of important antimicrobial medicines with dedicated, rational efforts.
Where has the news come from?
WHO has just published a new report (“The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance - Options for action” that sets out a global strategy for fighting antibiotic resistance. It explores how over past decades, bacteria that cause common infections have gradually developed resistance to each new antibiotic developed, and how AMR has evolved to become a worldwide health threat. In particular, the report highlights that there is currently a lack of new antibiotics in development and outlines some of the measures needed to prevent a potential global crisis in healthcare.
This is not the first time WHO has set out such a strategy. In the 2001, WHO published its “Global strategy for containment of antimicrobial resistance”, which laid out a comprehensive list of recommendations for combating AMR. The current report looks at the experiences over the past decade of implementing some of these recommendations, the progress made, and what else should be done to tackle AMR.
What is antimicrobial resistance?
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR occurs when microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or other microbes, develop resistance to the drug that is being used to treat them. This means that the treatment no longer effectively kills or inactivates the microorganism. The term “antimicrobial” is used to describe all drugs that treat infections caused by microorganisms. Antibiotics are effective against bacteria only, antivirals against viruses, and antifungals against fungi.
The case of penicillin illustrates the AMR phenomenon well. When penicillin was first introduced in the 1940s, it revolutionised medicine and was effective against a wide range of staphylococcal and streptococcal bacteria. It was also able to treat infections that had previously been fatal for many people, including throat infections, pneumonia and wound infections. However, with increasing use of antibiotics over the decades, bacteria began to adapt and develop changes in their DNA that meant they were resistant to the actions of the once powerful antibiotic. These bacteria would survive and proliferate, which meant their protective genes would then be passed on to other strains of bacteria. As a result, new and stronger antibiotics had to be created to combat the resistant bacteria.
AMR is driven by many factors, including overuse of antimicrobials for human and animal health and in food production, which can allow microbes to adapt to antimicrobials they are exposed to. Poor infection-control measures, which fail to prevent the spread of infections, also contribute. In particular, the WHO publication reports what it describes as the five most important areas for the control of AMR, as recognised in its 2001 strategy:
surveillance of antimicrobial use
rational use in humans
rational use in animals
infection prevention and control
innovations in practice and new antimicrobials
How big is the problem?
As the report describes, AMR makes it difficult and more expensive to treat many common infections, causing delays in effective treatment or, in the worst cases, an inability to provide effective treatment at all. Many patients around the world suffer harm because infections from bacteria, viruses, fungi or other organisms can no longer be treated with the common medicines that would once have treated them effectively.
The report presents some startling facts on major infectious diseases worldwide:
Malaria: malaria is caused by parasites that are transmitted into the bloodstream by a bite from an infected mosquito. Resistance to antimalarial medicines has been documented for all classes of the drug, which presents a major threat to malaria control. The report describes that a change in national antimalarial treatment policy is recommended when the overall treatment failure rate exceeds 10%. Changes in policy have been necessary in many countries due to the emergence of chloroquine resistance. This means that alternative forms of combination therapy have to be used as first-line treatment.
Tuberculosis: in 2010, an estimated 290,000 new multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB cases were detected among the TB cases notified worldwide, and about one-third of these patients may die annually. Inaccuracies in diagnosis also impede appropriate treatment.
HIV: resistance rates to anti-HIV drug regimens ranging from 10% to 20% have been reported in Europe and the USA. Second-line treatments are generally effective in patients when the first-line therapy has failed, but can only be started promptly if viral monitoring is routinely available.
Common bacterial infections: various bacteria can cause infections within the chest, skin and urinary tract bloodstream, for example, and the inability to fight these infections appears to a growing problem in healthcare. Estimates from Europe are that there are 25,000 excess deaths each year due to resistant bacterial hospital infections, and approximately 2.5 million avoidable days in hospital caused by AMR. In addition, the economic burden from additional patient illness and death is estimated to be at least ˆ1.5 billion each year in healthcare costs and productivity losses.
What can be done about AMR?
The five key areas that the report highlights could tackle the problem of AMR are as follows:
Surveillance of antimicrobial use
Tracking antimicrobial use (in particular antibiotic use and looking at the emergence and spread of resistant strains of bacteria is a key tactic in the fight against AMR. This can provide information, insights and tools needed to guide policy and measure how successful changes in prescribing may be. This can happen both locally and globally.
AMR is a global problem but, at present, there appears to be wide variation in the way regions and countries approach AMR surveillance. This means there is a long way to go before it can be carried out worldwide.
Rational use in humans
Antimicrobials can obviously be important or even lifesaving in appropriate situations, but it is just as important to prevent unnecessary use of antimicrobials, which can lead to resistance. Putting this into practice worldwide is said to be difficult, but rationalising antimicrobial use has had a demonstrable impact on AMR in some cases.
Rational use in animals
Antibiotics are said to be used in greater quantities in food production than in the treatment of disease in human patients. Also, some of the same antibiotics or classes are used in animals and in human medicine. This carries the risk of the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria, including those capable of causing infections in both animals and people.
The problems associated with the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry, including in livestock, poultry and fish farming, are reportedly growing worldwide without clear evidence of the need for or benefit from it. There are said to be major differences in the amounts of antimicrobials used per kilogram of meat produced in high-income countries, and actions need to be taken by national and international authorities to control this.
Infection prevention and control in healthcare facilities
The hospital environment favours the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria. The report highlights the importance of infection-control measures to prevent the spread of microbes in general, regardless of whether they are resistant to antimicrobials. Many facilities and countries are reported to have progressed well since 2001, implementing many recommendations on infection control and prevention, although gaps and challenges still remain.
Innovations
Lastly, the report describes how innovative strategies and technologies are needed to address the lack of new antimicrobials being produced. As the report says, while antimicrobials are the mainstay of treatment for infections, diagnostics and vaccines play important complementary roles by promoting rational use of such medicines and preventing infections that would require antimicrobial treatment. So far, new products coming on to the market have not kept pace with the increasing needs for improvements in antimicrobial treatment. However, current challenges to new research developments can be both scientific and financial.
Can these strategies really stop AMR?
While AMR poses a significant threat to health in the future, the situation does not appear to be irretrievable. The WHO report and an accompanying press release highlight some examples of success stories over the past years:
In Thailand, the "Antibiotic Smart Use" programme is reported to have reduced both the prescribing of antibiotics by prescribers and the demand for them by patients. It demonstrated an 18–46% decrease in antibiotic use, while 97% of targeted patients were reported to have recovered or improved regardless of whether they had taken antibiotics.
A pharmacy programme in Vietnam reportedly consisted of inspection of prescription-only drugs, education on pharmacy treatment guidelines and group meetings of pharmacy staff. These measures were reported to give significant reduction in antibiotic dispensing for acute respiratory infections.
In Norway, the introduction of effective vaccines in farmed salmon and trout, together with improved fish health management, was reported to have reduced the annual use of antimicrobials in farmed fish by 98% between 1987 and 2004.
In 2010, the University of Zambia School of Medicine was reported to have revised its undergraduate medical curriculum. AMR and rational use of medicines were made key new topics to ensure that graduates who enter clinical practice have the right skills and attitudes to be both effective practitioners and take a role in fighting AMR.
How can I help?
There are times when antibiotics are necessary or even vital. However, as patients and consumers, it is important to remember that antibiotics or other antimicrobials are not always needed to treat our illnesses, and we should not expect them in every situation.
For example, the common cold is caused by a virus, which means it does not respond to antibiotics. However, people may expect to be given antibiotics by their doctor when they are affected, even though they offer no direct benefit and could raise the risk of bacteria becoming resistant. Furthermore many common viral and bacterial infections such as coughs, throat and ear infections and stomach upsets, are “self-limiting” in healthy people, which means they will generally get better with no treatment at all.
If, on the other hand, you are prescribed an antimicrobial, it is important to take the full course as directed. Taking only a partial course of an antimicrobial may not kill the organism but may expose it to a low dose of a drug which can then contribute to resistance.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service Food and Drug Administration Silver Spring, MD 20993 Larry Downey Executive Vice President, US Branded Pharmaceuticals Teva Pharmaceuticals USA c/o Teva Neuroscience, Inc. 901...
New collaboration to develop innovative research in immunology and neurologyGovernment minister praises alliance following recently announced Strategy for UK Life Sciences Slough, England, Monday 19th March 2012: UCB Pharma and Oxford University...
A walk-in- interview will be conducted on March 26, 2012 at 11:15 AM in the department of Biotechnology , Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee to select candidates for the following position as per details given below under the DBT sponsored research scheme, "Environmental chemicals and their impact on thyroid functions: An in vitro and in vivo approach to identify them and understand their mode of action" under Dr. Partha Roy, P.I & Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology , Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, for a period up to two years:
2.Candidates should be qualified UGC- CSIR - JRF / Lectureship or GATE. Age : 28 Years, relaxable up to 5 years in the case of candidates belonging to scheduled castes/ tribes and three years in the case of OBC; woman and physically handicapped candidates as per rules.
Application should be Indian national and he/she should bring an application on plain paper giving full details of educational qualifications along with their attested copies while attending the interview. No TA/DA will be paid to the candidate for attending this interview. All terms and conditions are as per rules of lIT Roorkee and DBT .
“Human resistance to antibiotics could bring ‘the end of modern medicine as we know it’,” according to The Daily Telegraph. The newspaper says that we are facing an antibiotic crisis that could make routine operations impossible and a scratched knee potentially fatal. Similarly, the Daily Mail’s headline stated that a sore throat could soon become fatal.
The alarming headlines follow a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO , which set out ways to fight the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR . AMR occurs when infectious organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, adapt to treatments and become resistant to them. The publication specifically addressed the long-known problem of antibiotic resistance, where increasing use of antibiotics can lead to the formation of “superbugs” that resist many of the antibiotic types we currently have. It outlined a variety of measures that are vital for ensuring we can still fight infections in the future and described how other major infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, HIV, malaria and influenza, could one day become resistant to today’s treatment options.
However, despite the future danger posed by antimicrobial resistance, the situation is not irretrievable. As Dr Margaret Chan, director general of WHO, said: “much can be done. This includes prescribing antibiotics appropriately and only when needed, following treatment correctly, restricting the use of antibiotics in food production to therapeutic purposes and tackling the problem of substandard and counterfeit medicines.” The report also highlighted successful cases where antimicrobial resistance has been tackled, demonstrating that we can safeguard the effectiveness of important antimicrobial medicines with dedicated, rational efforts.
Where has the news come from?
WHO has just published a new report (“The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance - Options for action” that sets out a global strategy for fighting antibiotic resistance. It explores how over past decades, bacteria that cause common infections have gradually developed resistance to each new antibiotic developed, and how AMR has evolved to become a worldwide health threat. In particular, the report highlights that there is currently a lack of new antibiotics in development and outlines some of the measures needed to prevent a potential global crisis in healthcare.
This is not the first time WHO has set out such a strategy. In the 2001, WHO published its “Global strategy for containment of antimicrobial resistance”, which laid out a comprehensive list of recommendations for combating AMR. The current report looks at the experiences over the past decade of implementing some of these recommendations, the progress made, and what else should be done to tackle AMR.
What is antimicrobial resistance?
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR occurs when microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or other microbes, develop resistance to the drug that is being used to treat them. This means that the treatment no longer effectively kills or inactivates the microorganism. The term “antimicrobial” is used to describe all drugs that treat infections caused by microorganisms. Antibiotics are effective against bacteria only, antivirals against viruses only, and antifungals against fungi.
The case of penicillin illustrates the AMR phenomenon well. When penicillin was first introduced in the 1940s, it revolutionised medicine and was effective against a wide range of staphylococcal and streptococcal bacteria. It was also able to treat infections that had previously been fatal for many people, including throat infections, pneumonia and wound infections. However, with increasing use of antibiotics over the decades, bacteria began to adapt and develop changes in their DNA that meant they were resistant to the actions of the once-powerful antibiotic. These bacteria would survive and proliferate, which meant their protective genes would then be passed on to other strains of bacteria. As a result, new and stronger antibiotics had to be created to combat the resistant bacteria.
AMR is driven by many factors, including overuse of antimicrobials for human and animal health and in food production, which can allow microbes to adapt to antimicrobials they are exposed to. Poor infection-control measures, which fail to prevent the spread of infections, also contribute. In particular, the WHO publication reports what it describes as the five most important areas for the control of AMR, as recognised in its 2001 strategy:
surveillance of antimicrobial use
rational use in humans
rational use in animals
infection prevention and control
innovations in practice and new antimicrobials
How big is the problem?
As the report describes, AMR makes it difficult and more expensive to treat many common infections, causing delays in effective treatment or, in the worst cases, an inability to provide effective treatment at all. Many patients around the world suffer harm because infections from bacteria, viruses, fungi or other organisms can no longer be treated with the common medicines that would once have treated them effectively.
The report presents some startling facts on major infectious diseases worldwide:
Malaria: malaria is caused by parasites that are transmitted into the blood stream by a bite from an infected mosquito. Resistance to antimalarial medicines has been documented for all classes of the drug, which presents a major threat to malaria control. The report describes that a change in national antimalarial treatment policy is recommended when the overall treatment failure rate exceeds 10%. Changes in policy have been necessary in many countries due to the emergence of chloroquine resistance. This means that alternative forms of combination therapy have to be used as first-line treatment.
Tuberculosis: in 2010, an estimated 290,000 new multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB cases were detected among the TB cases notified worldwide, and about one-third of these patients may die annually. Inaccuracies in diagnosis also impede appropriate treatment.
HIV: resistance rates to anti-HIV drug regimens ranging from 10% to 20% have been reported in Europe and the USA. Second-line treatments are generally effective in patients when the first-line therapy has failed, but can only be started promptly if viral monitoring is routinely available.
Common bacterial infections: various bacteria can cause infections within the chest, skin and urinary tract bloodstream, for example, and the inability to fight these infections appears to a growing problem in healthcare. Estimates from Europe are that there are 25,000 excess deaths each year due to resistant bacterial hospital infections, and approximately 2.5 million avoidable days in hospital caused by AMR. In addition, the economic burden from additional patient illness and death is estimated to be at least ˆ1.5 billion each year in healthcare costs and productivity losses.
What can be done about AMR?
The five key areas that the report highlights could tackle the problem of AMR are as follows:
Surveillance of antimicrobial use
Tracking antimicrobial use (in particular antibiotic use and looking at the emergence and spread of resistant strains of bacteria is a key tactic in the fight against AMR. This can provide information, insights and tools needed to guide policy and measure how successful changes in prescribing may be. This can happen both locally and globally.
AMR is a global problem but, at present, there appears to be wide variation in the way regions and countries approach AMR surveillance. This means there is a long way to go before it can be carried out worldwide.
Rational use in humans
Antimicrobials can obviously be important or even lifesaving in appropriate situations, but it is just as important to prevent unnecessary use of antimicrobials, which can lead to resistance. Putting this into practice worldwide is said to be difficult, but rationalising antimicrobial use has had a demonstrable impact on AMR in some cases.
Rational use in animals
Antibiotics are said to be used in greater quantities in food production than in the treatment of disease in human patients. Also, some of the same antibiotics or classes are used in animals and in human medicine. This carries the risk of the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria, including those capable of causing infections in both animals and people.
The problems associated with the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry, including in livestock, poultry and fish farming, are reportedly growing worldwide without clear evidence of the need for or benefit from it. There are said to be major differences in the amounts of antimicrobials used per kilogram of meat produced in high-income countries, and actions need to be taken by national and international authorities to control this.
Infection prevention and control in healthcare facilities
The hospital environment favours the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria. The report highlights the importance of infection-control measures to prevent the spread of microbes in general, regardless of whether they are resistant to antimicrobials. Many facilities and countries are reported to have progressed well since 2001, implementing many recommendations on infection control and prevention, although gaps and challenges still remain.
Innovations
Lastly, the report describes how innovative strategies and technologies are needed to address the lack of new antimicrobials being produced. As the report says, while antimicrobials are the mainstay of treatment for infections, diagnostics and vaccines play important complementary roles by promoting rational use of such medicines and preventing infections that would require antimicrobial treatment. So far, new products coming on to the market have not kept pace with the increasing needs for improvements in antimicrobial treatment. However, current challenges to new research developments can be both scientific and financial.
Can these strategies really stop AMR?
While AMR poses a significant threat to health in the future, the situation does not appear to be irretrievable. The WHO report and an accompanying press release highlight some examples of success stories over the past years:
In Thailand, the "Antibiotic Smart Use" programme is reported to have reduced both the prescribing of antibiotics by prescribers and the demand for them by patients. It demonstrated an 18–46% decrease in antibiotic use, while 97% of targeted patients were reported to have recovered or improved regardless of whether they had taken antibiotics.
A pharmacy programme in Vietnam reportedly consisted of inspection of prescription-only drugs, education on pharmacy treatment guidelines and group meetings of pharmacy staff. These measures were reported to give significant reduction in antibiotic dispensing for acute respiratory infections.
In Norway, the introduction of effective vaccines in farmed salmon and trout, together with improved fish health management, was reported to have reduced the annual use of antimicrobials in farmed fish by 98% between 1987 and 2004.
In 2010, the University of Zambia School of Medicine was reported to have revised its undergraduate medical curriculum. AMR and rational use of medicines were made key new topics to ensure that graduates who enter clinical practice have the right skills and attitudes to be both effective practitioners and take a role in fighting AMR.
How can I do my part?
There are times when antibiotics are necessary or even vital. However, as patients and consumers, it is important to remember that antibiotics or other antimicrobials are not always needed to treat our illnesses, and we should not expect them in every situation.
For example, the common cold is caused by a virus, which means it does not respond to antibiotics. However, people may expect to be given antibiotics by their doctor when they are affected, even though they offer no direct benefit and could raise the risk of bacteria becoming resistant. Furthermore many common viral and bacterial infections such as coughs, throat and ear infections and stomach upsets, are “self-limiting” in healthy people, which means they will generally get better with no treatment at all.
If, on the other hand, you are prescribed an antimicrobial, it is important to take the full course as directed. Taking only a partial course of an antimicrobial may not kill the organism but may expose it to a low dose of a drug which can then contribute to resistance.
The statistics are stark. More than 1 in 3 Native American women will be sexually assaulted their lifetimes, a rate much higher than the general population. In one study, a stunning 92% of young women reported they had been forced to have sex against their will on a date.
One of the primary fears of any rape victim is an unintended pregnancy. The first line of defense against that possibility is, of course, the prompt administration of emergency contraception.
And this is where things get tricky for many Native women. Most receive their health care from the Indian Health Service and affiliated tribal health centers. Of 157 IHS facilities, only 10% surveyed stock Plan B in their pharmacies, and only 37.5% carried some alternative form of emergency contraception. In the Albuquerque Area, which covers almost all of New Mexico and Utah, only two of its 15 facilities stocked Plan B.
"If you are living on the reservation or on the Pueblos without insurance, or the money to pay for EC or transportation to get you to town, you are out of luck, because you do not have accessibility through our own health care provider," says Charon Asetoyer, a Comanche from Lake Andes, South Dakota and Executive Director of [the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center].
And that assumes women even know to ask or find it. "A lot of women in our communities aren't aware that Plan B even exists or they associate it with the abortion pill RU486, they don't realize the difference because the media and the opposition have projected this: it's an abortion pill, when it really is a contraceptive," Asetoyer notes. [...]
The so-called “conscience clause” also comes into play. "We have had rape victims given prescriptions to get EC, but at IHS they wouldn't administer it, because the Pharmacy Director and her staff didn't believe in it, so she wouldn't administer EC," says Lisa Thompson-Heth of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in Fort Thompson, South Dakota. [...]
"It's not an aspirin; it's not cold tablets,” says Asetoyer. “It's withholding services from a victim.”
You may have already taken note of the gay-hating, immigrant-bashing, ignorance-promoting, climate change-denying, anti-choice, scofflaw attorney general of Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli II. Well, here's another of his finest moments. [...]
Question: What can we do about Obama and the birth certificate thing?
Cuccinelli: It will get tested in my view when someone... when he signs a law, and someone is convicted of violating it and one of their defenses will be it is not a law because someone qualified to be President didn’t sign it.
Q: Is that something you can do as Attorney General? Can you do that or something?
Cuccinelli: Well, only if there is a conflict where we are suing the federal government for a law they’ve passed. So it’s possible.
Q: Because we are talking about the possibility that he was not born in America.
Cuccinelli: Right. But at the same time under Rule 11, Federal Rule 11, we gotta have proof of it.
Q: How can we get proof?
Cuccinelli: Well... that’s a good question. Not one I’ve thought a lot about because it hasn’t been part of my campaign. Someone is going to have to come forward with nailed down testimony that he was born in place B, wherever that is. You know, the speculation is Kenya. And that doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility.
The Daily Mail today put a dampener on the approaching Mother's Day by telling us that it is our mum’s fault if we are “losing the fight against the flab”. The newspaper said that a new study has shown that our mother’s lifestyle may leave us “programmed to be fat”.
Thankfully for our relationships with our mums, the research does not actually say this. The study in question aimed to investigate whether DNA modifications in early life are linked to our size and body composition in later childhood. The modification in question does not change the underlying genetic code but it does decreases the amount of proteins the body makes using the instructions in our genes.
After stringent testing the researchers found only one significant link, between the modification of one gene and height rather than weight. None of the links between DNA modification and body mass index (BMI stood up to stringent testing, and even the study’s authors note the study cannot prove that the DNA modification at birth definitely directly affected height. For the time being, it is probably best to work on improving our health by addressing the lifestyle factors that we can change.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from Newcastle University and other research centres in the UK. It was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Special Trustees of Newcastle Hospitals, the UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the University of Bristol, Asthma UK, the medical nutrition firm Nutricia UK, and the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed open access scientific journal PLoS One.
The story was covered by articles from the BBC News and the Daily Mail, which both featured headlines focusing on how factors in the womb might influence obesity. However, the study found only one outcome to be statistically significant – a link with height.
The BBC did state that only one link stood up to rigorous testing but did not say this was a link with height rather than BMI or body fat levels.
The study did not look at obesity itself, rather it looked at BMI and fat mass. It did not classify the children into weight categories such as ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’ in its analyses, nor did it look at ability to lose weight, as suggested by the Daily Mail’s headline about ‘losing the fight against the flab’.
Both sources mention factors that might influence these DNA modifications in the womb, such as diet, exercise, smoking or drinking alcohol. However, it is important to note that the study did not look at why the DNA modifications might have occurred, so they cannot be attributed to these or any other factors based on this study.
What kind of research was this?
The body uses DNA as the blueprint for producing a range of important proteins. Sections of DNA produce individual proteins are known as genes.
In this study, researchers looked at a type of DNA modification called ‘methylation’, where a chemical compound called a methyl group becomes attached to the outside edge of a DNA strand. This process does not change the underlying genetic code, but it does reduce the amount of protein the body produces using nearby genes. It is one of the ways the body can control how much of each protein is produced.
The study looked at whether the levels of DNA methylation shortly after birth had any relationship to body size later in childhood. To examine the issue it analysed information collected in two cohort studies: the Preterm Birth Growth Study (PBGS , and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC . The level of methylation after birth was calculated using analyses of umbilical cord blood.
What did the research involve?
The researchers initially wanted to identify which genes might be related to BMI composition in childhood. To do this they looked at a group of 24 children in the PBGS study whose BMIs had been measured when they were aged between 11 and 13 years (average 12.35 years . They then looked at how active various genes were in the children with the highest BMIs and those with the lowest BMIs. They did this to identify genes that could be affecting BMI, to target these genes for investigation in the next phase of the study.
A selection of the genes identified through this first phase of the study were then assessed in a second phase of the study, to see whether these differences in gene activity in later childhood, and changes in BMI, might be related to the level of DNA methylation that was in place from the time of birth. The genes selected for this second phase were selected because they could be assessed with the technology the lab had available.
In this second part of the study the researchers looked at the levels of DNA methylation in blood collected from the umbilical cord of 178 babies taking part in the ALSPAC study. These babies had been followed up through childhood, and had data on their body composition, including BMI, fat mass, lean mass, and height at about age nine (average age 9.8 years . Methylation was measured in up to three places within the selected genes.
The researchers analysed whether the level of methylation of these genes at birth was related to body composition at age nine.
What were the basic results?
In the first part of their study, looking at children aged about 12 years, the researchers found that 514 genes had different levels of activity in those with higher BMIs and lower BMIs. From the genes they identified they selected 29 of these genes to look at in the second part of their study.
They found that four of these 29 genes were not methylated in the 178 cord blood samples tested, so they did not study these genes any further. The methylation levels of nine of the remaining genes were each related to at least one measure of body composition at age nine.
However, once the researchers took into account the number of statistical tests they had performed, the methylation level of only one gene was found to have a statistically significant association with a body composition measure. The gene in question was called ALPL, and higher levels of methylation of this gene in umbilical cord blood at birth were associated with being shorter at age nine. Each 1% increase in DNA methylation of ALPL was linked with a 0.15% decrease in height at age nine.
How did the researchers interpret the results?
The researchers conclude that the patterns of DNA methylation in cord blood showed some association with body size and composition in childhood. However, they note that their study is not able to say whether the changes in DNA methylation seen actually cause the differences in body size and composition in childhood, and further research is needed to investigate this.
Conclusion
In recent years there has been a lot of scientific and public interest in how events early in the womb may relate to our health in later life. In this vein, the national press have picked up on this study, which investigated whether DNA modifications during early life might impact on body size and composition in later childhood.
While these press narratives have given the impression that this study linked particular environmental exposures in the womb such as maternal smoking and drinking can lead to DNA modifications and later obesity, this is not the case:
The news sources mention factors that might influence these DNA modifications in the womb, such as the mother’s diet, exercise, smoking, or drinking alcohol. However, it is important to note that the study did not look at how or why the DNA modifications might have occurred, so they cannot be attributed to these or any other factors based on this study.
The study did not look at obesity, rather it looked at BMI and fat mass. It did not classify the children into weight categories such as ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’ in its analyses. It also did not look at whether participants had difficulty losing weight, as suggested by the Daily Mail’s headline about why some people may be ‘losing the fight against the flab’.
The study was relatively small, and only looked at methylation of a small number of genes. Only one association between methylation of one gene at birth and height remained statistically significant after stringent testing. However, the authors themselves note that their study cannot prove that the DNA methylation pattern at birth caused the differences in height seen.
None of the links between DNA methylation at birth and BMI or fat mass remained statistically significant in stringent tests. This means that they cannot be said to be real associations, as they may therefore have just occurred by chance.
If the results of the current study can be confirmed in other studies, researchers will need to try and work out if the link is causal. Even if the link is confirmed and found to be causal (and it is a big IF , it is not clear what, if anything, could be done to alter this.
For the time being, we are probably best working on improving our health by addressing the factors that we know we can change, rather than blaming our Mums for making us ‘programmed to be fat while in the womb’. Not a nice sentiment in the run-up to Mother’s day.
Some people who should know better say the fight for women's health, for reproductive choice and privacy, is a distraction from "real issues." That too much time and energy is being spent on a peripheral concern. It's certainly true that this matter ought not to be up for debate. It ought to have been settled long ago. It's true that progressives and the nation as a whole should be spending all our time dealing with public policy on the economy, on the environmental crisis and energy, on foreign affairs, on education, on the bloated military-industrial complex, on taxes and spending, on keeping right-wingers and moderate enablers of right-wingers out of office from the city council level all the way to the White House.
But our enemies give us no choice. Presidential candidates, congresspeople, state legislators and assorted censorious private-sector busybodies empowered by the Vatican or Rush Limbaugh or their own twisted view that everybody should be beholden to their assessment of what's right for every woman to do with her own body have ramped up their crusade in the past couple of years. What had been a steady nibbling away at women's legal right to abortion has become a full-blown assault that has spilled over into promoting controls on who can use contraception and for what purpose.
We can discuss all day long the origins and hypocritical, double-standard, patriarchal and parochial underpinnings of those who are carrying out this assault. But that takes time away from putting a stop to it, from fighting it head-on and from moving from self-defense to offense. Besides making things tougher to pass the worst such laws, as happened with Virginia's transvaginal ultrasound bill, turning the tables on these benighted reactionaries is what liberals/progressives/leftists ought to be doing.
Self-defense is essential. But the goal of merely hanging onto what we've got when what we've got includes the Hyde Act that punishes poor women and religious conscience laws that permit pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for women who have been raped is simply not enough. That self-defense battle must continue, of course. Not least because the forced-birthers are always coming up with new attacks, like personhood laws that make fertilized eggs equal to human beings already born.
Senior Pre-Formulation Scientist - South East - c45,000 + excellent benefits
My client is a global pharmaceutical company specialising in the discovery and development of therapies for life-threatening diseases.
A position has now become available for a high calibre pre-formulation scientist to join the Pharmaceutical Chemistry group.
The primary responsibilities include: - Laboratory research into physical and chemical properties of pharmaceutical materials. - Work with compounds during pre-clinical development phase from early discovery and lead opt to early toxicology and pharmaceutical studies. - Develop drug forms and formulations to optimize exposure and stability. - Regular involvement with other departments to drive efficiency and effectiveness of company drug development.
This position requires and exceptional pre-formulation scientist with the ability to work autonomously to achieve research success. Excellent understanding of solid-state chemistry including structure and physical aspects of small molecule pharmaceuticals, is essential. Experience working with pharmaceutical compounds at pre-clinical phase leading to toxicology and pharmacology studies is required. In addition, the successful applicant will have a PhD (or equivalent in Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Materials Science, Pharmaceutics or related field. Excellent laboratory skills in pre-formulation including solid-state (XRPD, DSC, TGA & DVS and analytical techniques including HPLC and NMR.
Applicants will be expected to be an expert in their field and display and excellent understanding of early stage pharmaceutical drug discovery.
This is an exceptional opportunity for an exceptional candidate.
The package includes and annual salary of c?45,000 within additional bonus package and excellent benefits.
Interested? Apply online now or contact PULSE Scientific on 01235 861732.
All applicants must be in a position to prove that they are legally entitled to work in the UK and accept employment without infringement of their immigration status.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR HEALTH SERVICES/OUTCOMES RESEARCH POSITIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: The Department of Pharmaceutical Systems and Policy at the West Virginia University (WVU School of Pharmacy seeks applications for an Assistant Professor to join our health services/outcomes research team. This 12-month tenure track position is available immediately. Primary responsibilities include graduate and professional program teaching, graduate student mentoring, and developing an independently funded research program in health services and outcomes research. Salary and start-up packages are competitive. QUALIFICATIONS: Ph.D. or equivalent degree with a strong research focus in patient-reported outcomes (e.g., Health Related Quality of Life, patient satisfaction , or chronic disease epidemiology. Candidates should have a promise for excellence in research and teaching in relevant areas, as well as peer-reviewed publications. Experience and participation in funded research is an advantage and excellent communication skills are important. Candidates should interact effectively with collaborators from diverse disciplines and be eligible for appointment to the graduate faculty in order to teach and mentor graduate students engaged in health services and outcomes research. APPLICATION: Interested persons should submit an application consisting of a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and contact information for three professional references to: Usha Sambamoorthi, Ph.D., West Virginia University School of Pharmacy, PO Box 9510, Morgantown, WV 26506 or by e-mail to usambamoorthi@hsc.wvu.edu with a copy to acframe@hsc.wvu.edu. Applications will be considered as they are received and will be accepted until position is filled. SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY: The School of Pharmacy has a nationally recognized Ph.D. graduate program in health outcomes research with 15 Ph.D. students, the majority of whom are supported by external research funding. It offers exciting opportunities through the Rational Drug Therapy Program which is supported by West Virginia state agencies, the AHRQ funded West Virginia Collaborative Health Outcomes Research of Therapies and Services (CoHORTS center, and the newly established Wigner Institute for Advanced Pharmacy Practice Education and Research. Established partnerships with the state Medicaid program and the state health insurance program, managed care organizations, several pharmaceutical companies, and the nearby National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (N.I.O.S.H. and Mylan Pharmaceuticals offer potential opportunities for collaborative research. In addition, a newly launched School of Public Health and research faculty and graduate programs in business, communication, education, psychology, public administration, and sociology provide opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration and research. The School of Pharmacy is situated within a large state-assisted academic health sciences center which includes a 460-bed teaching hospital, a psychiatric hospital, rehabilitation hospital, and regional cancer center. West Virginia University (a Doctoral Research-Intensive University is the state's land-grant university with an enrollment of 29,000 students. WVU is located in Morgantown, a scenic rural area that has been featured in numerous publications for its high quality of life, cultural amenities, outdoor recreation, and is within easy driving distance to Pittsburgh, PA, and Washington, DC. West Virginia University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. The WVU Health Sciences Center is a smoke free campus. West Virginia University is the recipient of an NSF ADVANCE award for gender equity.
Post : Business Analyst in Pharmaceutical Research
Experience : 0 to 2 yrs
Job Desciption : a. Track the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices industry, especially therapeutic areas/modalities of interest to our regular clients b. Understand project brief given by clients/project leaders, create analysis plan, data requirements, research approach, and prepare reports or executive presentations with key insights and recommendations c. Report to project leader/consultant and assist in executing or execute the projects completely depending on complexity and scale Education : M.Sc - Bio-Chemistry, Biotechnology , Life Science
Salary : INR 1,75,000 - 2,50,000 P.A. The CTC is exclusive of Performance Bonus
Desirable : a. High level of comfort with MS Excel, Power Point, ability to perform basic calculations (basic financial, statistical and data manipulation understand sales and marketing performance metrics, basic data cleaning and organizing, ability to create meaningful charts/ visual representation to simplify complex analyses. b. Web search, high level of familiarity with life sciences lexicon, regulatory framework for pharmaceuticals and biotech c. Attention to detail, accuracy, business relevance in analysis and report writing/executive presentation skills
Location : Bangalore
Contact Details : Executive Name : Ravi Prakash Stratycon Business Solutions Pvt Ltd Address : 14th cross, 2nd block, Jayanagar Bangalore,Karnataka,India 560011 Email Address : raviprakash@stratycon.com
Location: NJ Salary: 110000 Description: The position requires demonstrated expertise in general mammalian toxicology. The position will oversee the conduct of general toxicity and drug safety studies in accordance with current scientific and applicable regulatory standards (ICH, FDA and GLPs and will monitor safety studies related to drug registration. Preferably, the incumbent will be specialized in one or more of the following areas: general safety evaluation, genetic toxicology, safety pharmacology, reproductive toxicology, carcinogenicity evaluation. In addition, he/she is expected to provide technical leadership in non-clinical drug safety assessment in support of worldwide clinical and preclinical R&D. The incumbent will be required to make both informal and formal presentations to internal staff and project teams and may be asked to assist with presentations to senior management as well as providing project team representation and active involvement in process development. The incumbent will be expected to contribute to the preparation of relevant sections of drug registration submissions. Knowledge of the drug development process and experience in interaction with scientific disciplines such as pharmacokinetics, metabolism, medical research and clinical pharmacology are essential. A successful track record of toxicology testing program management, innovative thinking, execution and timely delivery of reports and regulatory submissions is helpful. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES: Direct responsibilities will include, but are not limited to the following: o Participation in the evaluation and qualification of CROs. o Assists in the design of study protocols for nonclinical toxicology and safety pharmacology studies for conduct at CROs. o Conduct, monitor, and manage toxicology studies at CROs. This will involve limited travel (~10% . o Reviews study data and reviews/revises final study reports for department authorization. o Assists in the preparation of the nonclinical safety sections of regulatory submissions for registration/marketing authorizations of new drug products o Provide technical expertise to support project teams goals and objectives. Educational Requirements A minimum MS in pharmacology, toxicology, biochemistry or related science is required. At least 5 - 7 years industry (preferably pharmaceutical experience with 3 + years' experience in the conduct of mammalian toxicology studies. Required Experience & Technical Requirements o Knowledge and expertise in toxicology and standard and alternative toxicology test methods is necessary to address the range of varied chemical substances that will need to be tested and to interpret and report the study results. o Knowledge of GLPs and direct experience in toxicology testing and/or study management is needed to successfully prepare protocols, implement, and adequately oversee the toxicity studies conducted by CROs and to understand the relative strengths and limitations of testing methods as they relate to hazard identification. o Knowledge and experience in internet/database searching is necessary to develop information that will allow the avoidance of duplicative and unwarranted use of animals in toxicology testing and to assure up-to-date and complete knowledge of available toxicology data and regulatory changes and initiatives. This includes but is not limited to experience in successfully searching FDA, EMEA, WHO, NTP, ASTDR, IARC, NLM databases. o Concise and accurate writing skills and clear and effective oral presentation skills. Contact: dld@judge.com This job and many more are available through The Judge Group. Find us on the web at www.judge.com
Biotecnika Info Labs Pvt Ltd, Bangalore is a Parent Company which runs India’s Largest Biosciences Career & education Portal. Biotecnika is where in technology meets life sciences.
“We are a fast growing Bio-techno-media company with extremely talented and fun Loving people you would love to work with. Biotecnika is run by a group of Doctorate & post Doctorates of lifesciences & together we help in the upliftment of postgraduates from any lifesciences background. If you do not like processes, hate pyramid type organizations; love creativity, innovation and fun at work; you will love it here. You will find a very flexible work environment, which treats people like human beings”
Post: Business Development Executive
Company Name: Biotecnika Info Labs Pvt Ltd
Location: in Bengaluru/Bangalore
Experience: 0 to 3 yrs
Salary: INR 1,75,000 - 2,50,000 P.A
Opening(s : 5
Qualification & Duties
Must be a MSc graduate in Bioscience
0 - 3 years Sales experience.
MBA preferred
Good written and oral communication
Client follow ups
Candidate should be willing to sell services and product.
Candidates have to generate leads, qualify the leads on the sales strategies, identify the potential client, client interaction and maintain client relationship.
Understanding the requirement of client and offering them with the appropriate services and product.
Follow up with clients.
Ability to meet multiple objectives within an organization.
Work on Online marketing, Social Media Marketing, Email marketing, Tele Marketing as well as Field marketing
Selling should be your signature statement.
Maintaining relationship with clients and providing business leads, client interaction, team building, follow up with clients.
It's hard to know these days which way the proverbial worm is turning when it comes to shifts in drug policy. Election years tend to do that. Despite an historical turn of events in Central America which saw Presidents of drug trafficking nations come together to call for world wide decriminalization of drugs, in an effort to end the violence and corruption of the drug trade, the US continues to demur, absurdly claiming that the "War on Drugs" has been a success. Even stranger is Canada's recent announcement that they plan to follow the US model of a "tough on crime" approach to drug policy, which threatens to swell their correctional system in the same ways as in the US. Still, good news abounds with recent studies showing that LSD can cure alcoholism, psychedelics can cure PTSD, and cannabis smoking is not nearly as harmful as the prohibition governments claim. ~ CS
To liberalise or prohibit, that is the question. And to answer it the masters of live debate have joined forces with the masters of web technology to create a never-seen-before combination of Oxford debating and Silicon Valley prowess.
Prohibitionists argue that legalising anything increases its consumption. The world has enough of a problem with legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco, so why add to the problem by legalising cannabis, cocaine and heroin?
The liberalisers say prohibition doesn’t work. By declaring certain drugs illegal we haven’t reduced consumption or solved any problem. Instead we’ve created an epidemic of crime, illness, failed states and money laundering.
Julian Assange and Richard Branson; Russell Brand and Misha Glenny; Geoffrey Robertson and Eliot Spitzer. Experts, orators and celebrities who’ve made this their cause – come and see them lock horns in a new Intelligence?/Google+ debate format. Some of our speakers will be on stage in London, others beamed in from Mexico City or Sao Paulo or New Orleans, all thanks to the “Hangout” tool on Google+.
The web will have its say, and so can you at the event in London. Be part of the buzz of the audience, be part of an event beamed across the web to millions. Come and witness the future of the global mind-clash at the first of our Versus debates, live at Kings Place
The message is (or should be deeply disturbing. Shouldn't the USA be ashamed at having the world's largest prison system and highest incarceration rate (754 per 100 000 people ? The richest country in the world has so many of its citizens in prison that it can't afford to house them with even basic minimum medical care (more than half of all prisoners have mental health or drug problems . Prison overcrowding itself has become so terrible in California, that in May, 2011, the US Supreme Court affirmed a lower court order that California release some 46 000 prisoners because of the inhuman conditions under which they were being held. In the Court's words, “A prison that deprives prisoners of basic sustenance, including adequate medical care, is incompatible with the concept of human dignity and has no place in a civilised society.”
More women are ending up behind bars than ever. Between 1980 and 1989, the number of women in U.S. prisons tripled. And the number of women in prison has continued to rise since. In the last 10 years, the number of women under jurisdiction of state or federal authorities increased 21 percent to almost 113,000. During the same time period, the increase in the number of men in prison was 6 percentage points lower, at about 15 percent. The increase in women in the federal population was even larger- over 41 percent from 2000 to 2010.
Most women are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses. Over one-fourth are in prison for a drug offense, while 29.6 percent were convicted of a property crime. Addiction plays a large part in a number of women's property crimes, and a lack of available or appropriate treatment only serves to drive their contact with the justice system.
Stephen Vittoria is that rare commodity in Hollywood today: a filmmaker with a conscience. To be more precise, a filmmaker with a strong political conscience. After making two feature films,>Black and White& Hollywood Boulevard (1996 , as well as three feature documentaries:Save Your Life -- The Life and Holistic Times of Dr. Richard Schulze (1998 ,;Keeper of the Flame (2005 and the award-winning art house hit One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern (2005 , a portrait of the South Dakota senator who tried to unseat Richard Nixon from the White House in 1972.
For his latest exploration into America's socio-political landscape, Vittoria joins forces with radio producer Noelle Hanrahan to bring Long Distance Revolutionary, the story of Mumia Abu-Jamal, to the screen. Born Wesley Cook in Philadelphia, Abu-Jamal made his name as a tireless writer and journalist during the racially-charged 1970s that often portrayed the City of Brotherly Love as anything but. With his intense coverage of the MOVE organization, a black empowerment group whose ongoing battle with the police and city hall came to a fiery end in 1985, Abu-Jamal become a constant thorn in the side of the city's powerful establishment. Things came to a sudden head for Abu-Jamal himself on the evening of December 9, 1981 when he was accused of murdering a Philadelphia police officer. He received a death sentence the following year, and has been on Pennsylvania's death row until early this year, when his death sentence was commuted to a life sentence in December, 2011.
Abu-Jamal's case remains one of the most controversial and heatedly debated in American legal history, with participants on both sides either protesting his innocence in the murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner or his absolute guilt with equal passion and more often, great vehemence.
At a recent conference of journalists at John Jay College, I raised an issue I have about language in the media: the frequent use of the word “felon” to describe a person who has been convicted of a crime.
“Felon” is an ugly label that confirms the debased status that accompanies conviction. It identifies a person as belonging to a class outside many protections of the law, someone who can be freely discriminated against, someone who exists at the margins of society.
In short, a “felon” is a legal outlaw and social outcast.
Scientific theories that addiction hijacks the brain have just increased the stigma that they were meant to stop. At least in the moralistic bad old days, addicts were still viewed as having free will. Here's an alternative to both of these no-win approaches.
Mind-altering compounds, such as LSD and psilocybin, stirred controversy in the 1960s. As the counter-culture’s psychedelic drugs of choice, the widespread use - and abuse - of hallucinogens prompted tougher anti-drug laws.
