prGCD - plant cell expressed recombinant Glucocerebrosidase enzyme (GCD) may be used for treating Gaucher disease

Protalix Biotherapeutics proudly announced that prGCD, their lead proprietary product candidate,could be used for the treatment of Gaucher disease.

On their website they mention "We have reached an agreement with the United States Food and Drug Administration on the final design of the pivotal phase iii clinical trial for prGCD through the FDA's Special Protocol Assesment (SPA) process. We have completed enrollment for this study in December 2008 and expect to report results of the clinical trial in the second half of 2009. We anticipate submitting a New Drug Application (NDA) for prGCD to the FDA and other comparable regulatory agencies in other countries in the fourth quarter of 2009. We are treating patients in our pivotal phase III clinical trial in North America, South America, Israel, Europe and South Africa."

This may be a big breakthrough in the management of this otherwise fatal condition.

Know the fat in your diet

In lay man terms fat can be divided into either 'Good fat' or 'Bad fat'. It is important to remember that fat is an essential part of your diet and it is the excess of fat that is harmful.

Unsaturated fats are the Good fats. They could be Mono or Poly unsaturated fats (depending on the number of hydrogen atoms the fat can accept). They decrease the harmful LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein a.k.a. the Bad cholesterol). A specific kind of unsaturated fat called Omega 3 fatty acid has been shown to be cardio-protective (good for your heart).

Below are examples of food items rich in these Good fats.

Monounsaturated fat	Oils from vegetable sources like Olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil and nuts.
Polyunsaturated fat	Most vegetable oils like safflower, corn, sunflower, soya bean oil and cottonseed oil
Omega-3 fatty acids	Salmon and other similar fishes, flax oil and walnuts

 

Saturated and trans fats (trans-fatty acids) are the Bad fats. They can increase the risk of atherosclerosis (clogging of the blood vessels).

Following is a list of these Bad fats that you should avoid.

Saturated fat	Meat, poultry, seafood, egg yolks, dairy products, lard and butter. Amongst plant products coconut and palm oils have the highest saturated fat
Trans fat	Crackers, cookies, french fries and margarine
Dietary cholesterol	Similar to saturated fat except it is only in animal fats.

 

Fat should not contribute more than 35 % of your daily calories per USDA. For example a healthy adult may consume about 2100 calories. No more than 700 should come from fat. Each gram of fat gives 9 calories hence you should not be eating more than 77 grams of fat. This is the MAXIMUM you should eat. No more than 10% of these should come from saturated fats. Trans fat should be no more than 2 grams a day. You should also not be eating more than 300mg of cholesterol a day.

 Using the guide above you should try to change your cooking style trying to replace the Bad fat with the Good counterpart.

Ill effects of caffeine/coffee

Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system and increases wakefulness. It is estimated that more than half of all Americans have at least one coffee every day.

One cup of coffee has about 100mg of caffeine. Up to 200-300mg of caffeine per day have been considered harmless by most. But some circumstances may warrant limiting or stopping caffeine intake. These include:

Insomnia
Nervousness
Restlessness
Nausea/vomiting/gastric ulcer symptoms
Fast or irregular heartbeat
Muscle tremors
Headaches
Anxiety

WHO declares Swine flu a pandemic

WHO declares Swine flu a pandemic, for the first time in 40 years. Pharma companies are rejoicing as this is likely to boost Tamiflu sales.

Laboratory-confirmed cases of new influenza A(H1N1) as officially reported to WHO

Country	Cumulative total		Newly confirmed since the last reporting period
	Cases	Deaths	Cases	Deaths
Argentina	235	0	33	0
Australia	1224	0	173	0
Austria	5	0	0	0
Bahamas	2	0	1	0
Bahrain	1	0	0	0
Barbados	2	0	0	0
Belgium	14	0	0	0
Bolivia	3	0	0	0
Brazil	36	0	1	0
Bulgaria	2	0	0	0
Canada	2446	4	331	1
Cayman Islands, UKOT	1	0	0	0
Chile	1694	2	1283	1
China	142	0	34	0
Colombia	35	0	10	0
Costa Rica	93	1	25	0
Cuba	5	0	0	0
Cyprus	1	0	0	0
Czech Republic	2	0	0	0
Denmark	8	0	1	0
Dominica	1	0	0	0
Dominican Republic	91	1	47	0
Ecuador	60	0	0	0
Egypt	8	0	7	0
El Salvador	69	0	0	0
Estonia	4	0	1	0
Finland	4	0	0	0
France	71	0	13	0
Germany	78	0	15	0
Greece	5	0	0	0
Guatemala	60	0	30	0
Honduras	89	0	55	0
Hungary	3	0	0	0
Iceland	2	0	1	0
India	4	0	0	0
Ireland	12	0	1	0
Israel	63	0	9	0
Italy	50	0	0	0
Jamaica	7	0	3	0
Japan	485	0	75	0
Korea, Republic of	48	0	1	0
Kuwait	18	0	0	0
Lebanon	8	0	5	0
Luxembourg	1	0	0	0
Malaysia	5	0	0	0
Mexico	5717	106	0	0
Netherlands	22	0	12	0
New Zealand	23	0	9	0
Nicaragua	29	0	11	0
Norway	9	0	0	0
Panama	221	0	42	0
Paraguay	16	0	11	0
Peru	64	0	3	0
Philippines	54	0	21	0
Poland	6	0	1	0
Portugal	2	0	0	0
Romania	9	0	0	0
Russia	3	0	0	0
Saudi Arabia	1	0	0	0
Singapore	18	0	3	0
Slovakia	3	0	0	0
Spain	331	0	40	0
Sweden	16	0	2	0
Switzerland	16	0	0	0
Thailand	8	0	0	0
Trinidad and Tobago	2	0	0	0
Turkey	10	0	0	0
Ukraine	1	0	1	0
United Arab Emirates	1	0	0	0
United Kingdom	666	0	109	0
United States of America	13217	27	0	0
Uruguay	24	0	7	0
Venezuela	12	0	8	0
Viet Nam	15	0	6	0
Grand Total	27737	141	2449	2