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Healthcare online Keeping you up-to-date
VOL.  18     ISSUE: 8  August  2020 Medical Services Department

SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Features

EDITORIAL TEAM

OMAR AKRAMUR RAB

MBBS, FCGP, FIAGP,

P G Dip. Business Management

MAHFUZUR RAHMAN

MBBS, MBA

Rubyeat Adnan

MBBS, MPH

EDITORIAL

Dear Doctor,

Hope that you are enjoying this online healthcare bulletin.
Our current issue focused on some interesting features like -


"SARS-CoV-2 Strains !", "Immunity Booster !", "NMB Protein !", "Stroke Warning Signs !",  "Shorter Symptoms !", "Antivitamins !".

In our regular feature, we have some new products information of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Ltd. as well.

We will appreciate your feedback !

Click on to reply mode.

Yours sincerely,

 

Editorial Team

Reply Mode      : e-square@squaregroup.com

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of its editor or SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
 SARS-CoV-2 Strains !

The Six Strains of SARS-CoV-2

SARS-CoV-2 mutation rate remains low. Across Europe and Italy, the most widespread is strain G, while the L strain from Wuhan is gradually disappearing. These mutations, however, do not impinge on the process of developing effective vaccines. The virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, presents at least six strains. Despite its mutations, the virus shows little variability, and this is good news for the researchers working on a viable vaccine. These are the results of the most extensive study ever carried out on SARS-CoV-2 sequencing. Researcher’s analysis of 48,635 coronavirus genomes, which were isolated by researchers in labs all over the world. The first results are encouraging. The coronavirus presents little variability, approximately seven mutations per sample. Common influenza has a variability rate that is more than double. Researcher said that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is presumably already optimized to affect human beings, and this explains its low evolutionary change & this means that the treatments we are developing, including a vaccine, might be effective against all the virus strains. Currently, there are six strains of coronavirus. The original one is the L strain that appeared in Wuhan in December 2019. Its first mutation the S strain appeared at the beginning of 2020, while, since mid-January 2020, we have had strains V and G. To date strain G is the most widespread: it mutated into strains GR and GH at the end of February 2020. Strain G and its related strains GR and GH are by far the most widespread, representing 74% of all gene sequences. Globally, strains G, GH and GR are constantly increasing. Strain S can be found in some restricted areas in the US and Spain. The L and V strains are gradually disappearing. Besides these six main coronavirus strains, researchers identified some infrequent mutations that, at the moment, are not worrying but should nevertheless be monitored.
SOURCE: Science Daily News, August 2020

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 Immunity Booster !

 Gut Bacteria Can Enhance Immunotherapy

Researchers have discovered which gut bacteria help our immune system battle cancerous tumours and how they do it. The discovery may provide a new understanding of why immunotherapy, a treatment for cancer that helps amplify the body's immune response, works in some cases, but not others. The findings, published in Science, show combining immunotherapy with specific microbial therapy boosts the ability of the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells in some melanoma, bladder and colorectal cancers. Recent studies have provided strong evidence that gut microbiota can positively affect anti-tumour immunity and improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy in treating certain cancers, yet, how the bacteria were able to do this remained elusive. First, the researchers identified bacterial species that were associated with colorectal cancer tumours when treated with immunotherapy. Working with germ-free mice, then introduced these specific bacteria along with immune checkpoint blockade, a type of cancer immunotherapy. Research revealed that specific bacteria were essential to the immunotherapy working. The tumours shrank, drastically. For those subjects that did not receive the beneficial bacteria, the immunotherapy had no effect. The researchers then validated the findings in both bladder cancer and melanoma. The next step in this work will be to study the finding in humans. The three beneficial bacteria associated with the tumours in mice have also been found in cancers in humans. Researcher said that identifying how microbes improve immunotherapy is crucial to designing therapies with anti-cancer properties & the microbiome is an amazing collection of billions of bacteria that live within and around us every day. Researcher are in the early stage of fully understanding how they can use this new knowledge to improve efficacy and safety of anti-cancer therapy and improve cancer patient survival and well-being.

SOURCE: Science Daily News, August 2020

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 NMB Protein !

Nervous System Protein May Help Treatments for Inflammatory Diseases

Researcher may have found the key to treating inflammatory diseases like asthma, allergies, chronic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Researchers discovered that neuromedin B (NMB), a protein produced by the nervous system, was responsible for preventing overactive immune responses and damaging inflammation. An immune response refers to the body's ability to recognize and defend itself against harmful substances. Although beneficial to help clear infections, an immune response can also promote damaging inflammation if not properly restricted. The researchers found that the NMB protein can stop the type of inflammation that that occurs in diseases like asthma, allergies, chronic fibrosis and COPD. Researcher said that for many years, the mechanism through which the body shuts down an inflammatory response to heal itself after worm infections remained poorly understood. Study provided that understanding and a hope for possible treatments using NMB, which has great potential to treat inflammatory diseases like asthma, allergies and COPD. COPD is the third most common cause of death among inflammatory diseases and allergies the sixth in the United States. Researcher previously thought the immune system was capable of regulating itself in order to resolve inflammation to prevent tissue damage. However, emerging work is beginning to reveal that complex interactions between the immune system and the nervous system serve to restrict inflammation and promote health.

SOURCE: Science Daily News, August 2020

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 Stroke Warning Signs !

Stroke Warning Signs Often Occur Hours or Days before Attack

Warning signs of an ischemic stroke may be evident as early as seven days before an attack and require urgent treatment to prevent serious damage to the brain, according to a study of stroke patients published the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Eighty percent of strokes are ischemic, caused by the narrowing of the large or small arteries of the brain, or by clots that block blood flow to the brain. They are often preceded by a transient ischemic attack (TIA), a "warning stroke" or "mini-stroke" that shows symptoms similar to a stroke, typically lasts less than five minutes, and does not injure the brain. The study examined 2,416 people who had experienced an ischemic stroke. In 549 patients, TIAs were experienced prior to the ischemic stroke and in most cases occurred within the preceding seven days: 17 percent occurring on the day of the stroke, 9 percent on the previous day, and 43 percent at some point during the seven days prior to the stroke. Researcher said that some time that TIAs are often a precursor to a major stroke & what we haven't been able to determine is how urgently patients must be assessed following a TIA in order to receive the most effective preventive treatment. This study indicates that the timing of a TIA is critical, and the most effective treatments should be initiated within hours of a TIA in order to prevent a major attack. Lead researcher also noted that clinical guidelines should be amended accordingly.
SOURCE: Science Daily News, August 2020

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 Shorter Symptoms !

Multivitamin Supplement Linked to less-severe, Shorter Illness Symptoms

Older adults who took a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement with zinc and high amounts of vitamin C in a 12-week study experienced sickness for shorter periods and with less severe symptoms than counterparts in a control group receiving a placebo. The researcher involved 42 healthy people ages 55 to 75 and was designed to measure the supplement's effects on certain immune system indicators. It also looked at bloodstream levels of zinc and vitamins C and D while taking the supplement, as these micronutrients are important for proper immune function. The immune indicators, including white blood cells' ability to kill incoming pathogens, were unaltered in the group receiving the supplement. The multivitamin group showed improved vitamin C and zinc status in the blood. Most intriguingly, illness symptoms reported by this group were less severe and went away faster than those experienced by the placebo group. The same percentage of participants in each group reported symptoms, but days of sickness in the supplement group averaged fewer than three compared to more than six for the placebo group. That likely contributes to a decline in the immune system, most often characterized by increased levels of inflammation, reduced innate immune function and reduced T-cell function. The multivitamin supplement used in the study focused on vitamins and minerals typically thought to help immunity. Researcher results suggest more and better designed research studies are needed to explore the positive role multivitamin and mineral supplementation might play in bolstering the immune system of older adults.
SOURCE: Science Daily News, August 2020

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 Antivitamins !

Are Antivitamins the New Antibiotics? 

Antibiotics are among the most important discoveries of modern medicine and have saved millions of lives since the discovery of penicillin almost 100 years ago. Bacteria can develop resistance to antibiotics which then leaves doctors struggling to find effective treatments. Particularly problematic are pathogens which develop multi-drug resistance and are unaffected by most antibiotics. This leads to severe disease progression in affected patients, often with a fatal outcome. Scientists all over the world are therefore engaged in the search for new antibiotics. Researchers have now described a promising new approach involving "antivitamins" to develop new classes of antibiotics. Antivitamins are substances that inhibit the biological function of a genuine vitamin. Researcher investigated the mechanism of action at the atomic level of a naturally occurring antivitamin of vitamin B1. Some bacteria are able to produce a toxic form of this vital vitamin B1 to kill competing bacteria. This particular antivitamin has only a single atom in addition to the natural vitamin in a seemingly unimportant place and the exciting research question was why the action of the vitamin was still prevented or "poisoned." Researcher team used high-resolution protein crystallography to investigate how the antivitamin inhibits an important protein from the central metabolism of bacteria. The researchers found that the "dance of the protons," which can normally be observed in functioning proteins, almost completely ceases to function and the protein no longer works. It is interesting to note that human proteins are able to cope relatively well with the antivitamin and continue working. The human proteins either do not bind to the antivitamin at all or in such a way that they are not 'poisoned', said by lead researcher. The difference between the effects of the antivitamin on bacteria and on human proteins opens up the possibility of using it as an antibiotic in the future and thus creating new therapeutic alternatives.

SOURCE: Science Daily News, August 2020

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New Products of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Product HyponorTM  
Generic Name Norepinephrine
  Strength 2 mg/2 ml
  Dosage form Injection
  Therapeutic Category Anti-hypotensive
Product LivacolTM
Generic Name

Obeticholic Acid 

Strength 5 mg
Dosage form Tablet
Therapeutic Category Bile Therapy & Cholagogues
Product RelatroTM
  Generic Name Dantrolene Sodium
  Strength 25 mg
  Dosage form Capsule
  Therapeutic Category Peripheral Muscle Relaxant

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