Posts Tagged ‘Toronto’
Written by admin on 06 March 2012
Toronto, March 6 (IANS) Researchers have cracked the structure of a virus that causes potentially fatal brain swelling and paralysis in children, a development that could open the way to better antiviral drugs.
The virus, called enterovirus 71, causes hand, foot and mouth disease, and is common throughout the world. Although the disease usually is not fatal, the virus has been reported to cause encephalitis, a potentially fatal illness found primarily in the Asia-Pacific region.
Now, two research teams have reported new findings about the structure of the virus.
One of the teams, from Purdue University, has proposed a way to design antiviral drugs to treat the infection, the journal Science reported.
Another research led by Oxford University researchers has appeared in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
“Taken together, the findings in both papers are useful when you are trying to stop the virus from infecting host cells,” said Michael G. Rossmann, Purdue’s professor of biological sciences and study co-author, according to a statement from the university.
“The common theme is that they both report for the first time on the structure of this virus, and this tells us how to design compounds to fight the infection,” he said.
Researchers led by Rossmann have developed antiviral drugs for other enteroviruses such as rhinoviruses that causes common cold.
Tags: Canada, Toronto
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Written by admin on 03 March 2012
Toronto, March 3 (IANS) The Toronto Raptors dropped the first of seventeen games in March with a 99-102 loss against the Memphis Grizzlies in the National Basketball Association (NBA) league.
Raptors guard Jose Calderon missed a game-tying three-pointer that would have extended the game for the Raptors.
Coming off a light February schedule which consisted of thirteen games, including one game during a ten-day span, March features six back-to-backs for Raptors, twice as many as those in February. In addition, eleven of the matches will be against teams with a winning percentage of 0.5 or better.
The month also features the trade deadline March 15. With little playoff hopes, the Raptors will be looking to move expiring contracts to contending teams to improve the team’s position for the future. With potential players moving, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey will have an even more difficult time to bond with his players.
Casey believes due to the inability to communicate with players during lockout, he has not gotten to know his players as well as he would like to on a personal level, Xinhua reports.
“Summer is a better time to do that, there is a lot of frustration, fatigue, games coming up, playing time, there’s so many things that get in the way of get to know a player on a personal level… You don’t get to know them as well as you do if you had a summer to go spend with them… It’s more conducive to building a solid relationship,” said Casey during his pre-game media conference.
Tags: Canada, Toronto
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Written by admin on 01 March 2012
Toronto, March 1 (IANS) In a lab setting experiment, Scientists have perfected a cutting-edge drug to protect the brain against the damaging effects of a stroke, thus accelerating the process to reduce thousands of stroke-related deaths.
Over 1,000 attempts to develop such drugs worldwide have failed to be translated to a stage where they can be used in humans, leaving a major unmet need for stroke treatment.
Stroke deprives brain regions of blood and oxygen, which causes a complex sequence of chemical reactions in the brain, leading to neurological (nerve or brain cell) impairment, paralysis or death.
Developed by the Toronto Western Research Institute (TWRI), the drug is the first to achieve a neuroprotective effect in the complex brain of primates, in settings that simulate those of human strokes, the journal Nature reports.
Their study shows how the drug, called a “PSD95 inhibitor” prevents brain cell death and preserves brain function when administered after a stroke, according to a TWRI statement.
“We are closer to having a treatment for stroke than we have ever been before. These findings are extremely exciting and our next step is to confirm these results in a clinical trial,” said a jubilant Michael Tymianski, TWRI senior scientist who led the study.
“Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide and we believe that we now have a way to dramatically reduce its damaging effects,” added Tymianski.
The study used cynomolgus macaques, which bear genetic, anatomic and behavioural similarities to humans, as an ideal model to determine if this therapy would be beneficial in patients.
Animals that were treated with the PSD95 inhibitor after a stroke had greatly reduced brain damage and this translated to a preservation of neurological function.
These improvements were observed in several scenarios that simulated human strokes. Specifically, when the treatment was given either early, or even at three hours, after the stroke onset, the animals exhibited remarkable recoveries.
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Written by admin on 29 February 2012
Toronto, Feb 29 (IANS) Serrated teeth lent an unparalled cutting-edge to T. Rex, the most fearsome dinosaur, says a new study.
Until recently, most researchers only noted the varying size of T. Rex’s teeth. But now a paleontologist has discovered that beyond the obvious difference in size of each tooth family, there is considerable variation in the serrated edges of the teeth.
These varying edges not only enabled T. Rex’s very strong teeth to cut through flesh and bone, the placement and angle of the teeth also directed food into its mouth, The Canadian Journal of Earth Science reported.
University of Alberta paleontologist Miriam Reichel analyzed the teeth of the entire tyrannosaurid family of meat-eating dinosaurs and found T. Rex had the greatest variation in tooth morphology or structure, said a university statement.
The dental specialization was a great benefit for a dinosaur whose preoccupation was ripping other dinosaurs apart.
Reichel concluded: “T. Rex’s front teeth were designed for gripping and pulling, while the teeth along the side of the jaw punctured and tore flesh, and teeth at the back of T. rex’s mouth not only did some slicing and dicing, they also forced food to the back of the throat.”
Tags: Canada, Toronto
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Written by admin on 20 February 2012
Toronto, Feb 20 (IANS) Certain foods could give you extra protection against chronic diseases.
Researchers from the University of Guelph led by Brian McBride, have found a way to enrich milk with DHA (docosahexaeonic acid), an essential nutrient that many people are lacking.
A University of Manitoba team led by Rotimi Aluko discovered that certain protein fragments from yellow field pea seeds can lower blood pressure, according to a statement of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Men who are deficient in vitamin D were twice as likely to have a heart attack as men who had adequate levels of the vitamin, according to past studies. Scientists have found evidence that vitamin D plays a role in controlling blood pressure and preventing artery damage, vital for heart health. It is found in fish, milk, egg yolk, liver, cheese and is also synthesised by exposure to sunlight.
Vitamin B complex can also reduce the severity of the asthma attacks. Vitamin A and E when taken together can work to protect your lungs against air pollution.
Gingko Biloba is effective as well, as it will enhance your breathing and help with your bronchial reactions.
Garlic is another great choice, as it contains an anti-inflammatory agent that will reduce your chances of an asthma attack.
Rickey Yada, professor of food science at Guelph who studies the quality of potato chips and french fries, said: “Many researchers end up looking outside the country for partners to develop their ideas – which means R&D opportunities, economic growth and good jobs in food processing go to other places too.”
Yada says a number of challenges is slowing down innovation in the food industry. They include a shortage of proof-of-concept funding; and lack of market intelligence, industrial partners, and a taxing approval and regulatory environment.
These findings were presented at the meeting of the AAAS in Vancouver, Canada.
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Written by admin on 17 February 2012
Toronto, Feb 17 (IANS) Burning coal, wood or charcoal for cooking kills two million people worldwide, each year – more than malaria – thanks to severe respiratory diseases this causes through indoor pollution, warns an expert.
Energy poverty, which is about limited access to clean sources of energy, is practically driving half the global population to rely on such smoke producing sources of fuel, probably the biggest source of indoor pollution, says Hisham Zerriffi, who led the study.
“Energy poverty is one of the biggest human welfare issues of our day. We’re talking about more people who die each year from cooking than from malaria,” says Hisham Zerriffi, assistant professor at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia.
It is often women and children who have to bear the brunt of indoor air pollution, and who carry the burden of collecting fuel to burn, says Zerriffi.
Beyond health and gender equity implications, burning biomass is also tied with carbon emissions and climate change, according to a British Columbia statement.
Despite the availability of technology that can burn a variety of fuels more efficiently, governments, for-profit businesses and NGOs have made little progress in getting individuals to switch to improved cookstoves and modern fuels, adds Zerriffi.
“We need to combine new technologies with smart policies,” Zerriffi says. “We need to help create viable markets, encourage households to switch to new stoves, and fix some of the gaps in funding – especially for those at the lowest end of the income scale.”
“It’s a complicated problem because governments can’t afford to hand out improved cookstoves to a continually growing population, and the private sector needs to recover its costs so they can continue to distribute more stoves,” he says.
When the private sector got into the cookstove business a few years ago, it looked as if this could be a successful solution. Today, these businesses are having trouble. The problem is that the majority of consumers who need this product are very poor with little disposable income for stoves, says Zerriffi.
These findings were presented Friday at the 2012 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Canada.
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