world health tips 30

The research partnership -- involving the University of Warwick , and spanning institutions from Australia, Canada and the USA -- has discovered a compound which could translate into a new drug lead for TB. The group looked at soil bacteria compounds, known to effectively prevent other bacteria growing around them. Using synthetic chemistry, the researchers were able to recreate these compounds with structural variations, turning them into more potent chemical analogues. When tested in a containment laboratory, these analogues proved to be effective killers of Mycobacterium tuberculosis -- the bacterium which causes TB. These chemicals target an enzyme in Mycobacterium tuberculosis called MraY, which catalyses a crucial step in building the cell wall around a bacterium. Attacking this part -- a potential 'Achilles' heel' of the bacterium -- provided an essential pathway for the antibacterial compounds to attack and destroy TB strains. Key reagents and expertise i...

The targeted enzyme's primary purpose is to eliminate excess cholesterol from the brain. But the researchers hypothesized it could also help remove another cholesterol-like molecule -- cholestanol. Cholestanol is normally found in very low levels in the body, at least 500 times less often than cholesterol, but spikes in people with a rare, uncurable genetic disease called cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis. Patients with the disease slowly accumulate cholestanol in areas of the brain responsible for muscle coordination, causing seizures, involuntary movements, and cognitive decline. With help from the right enzymes, the debilitating accumulations could be eliminated. "We found that an enzyme called CYP46A1 not only eliminates cholesterol but also cholestanol from the brain," said Irina Pikuleva, PhD, study lead and Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. "CYP46...