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Scientists have identified a new bacterium from a lime quarry in Karnataka, which shows promise of becoming a source of antibiotics. Named Allostreptomyces indica YIM 75704T, the bacterium belonged to Streptomycetaceae, a family of bacteria whose members have attracted attention in recent years for producing various natural products of considerable commercially valuable. They are predominantly found in soil and decaying vegetation. Most of them produce chains of spores and some are noted for their distinct ‘earthy’ odor that results from production of a volatile metabolite called geosmin. “Preliminary studies have indicated that the bacterium could be used to produce antibiotics for several diseases including malaria. More studies, however, need to be conducted before any final conclusion can be reached,” Syed Dastager, scientist at the National Collection of Industrial Microorganism and leader of the team, told India Science Wire. NCIM is part of Pune-based National Chemical Labo...

Doctors have long been using biopsy to diagnose liver fibrosis. A new study says it may be possible to diagnose the liver disease with a blood test in future. Researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), New Delhi, working in collaboration with Justus Liebig University in Germany, have identified diagnostic markers for liver fibrosis. With these markers, it will be possible to diagnose liver fibrosis from blood samples. It will make diagnosis easier to perform, non-invasive, and less prone to sampling errors, researchers say in their study published in journal Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology. The new study has reported that patients of liver fibrosis have elevated levels of two proteins—Cathepsin L and Cathepsin B—in liver tissues as well as blood plasma, compared to healthy people. The increased levels of these two proteins open the possibility of designing a new and better diagnosis for liver disease. There is progressive increase in concentrati...

The occurrence of genetic diseases in certain subpopulations in India and other countries in South Asia is well known. Indian scientists now suspect that this could be due to genetic isolation caused by endogamous marriages over generations. Endogamous marriages—meaning people marrying within a subpopulation based on caste, gotra, language or culture—lead to reduced genetic variation. They are different from marriages among close relatives (consanguineous marriages), a practice also prevalent in parts of South India. In genetics, the phenomenon of a small number of ancestors giving rise to many descendants is known as “founder event” or a population bottleneck. A study of anthropologically different subpopulations in South Asia has revealed that many of them are a result of strong ‘founder events’. In each of such groups, large stretches of DNA originates from a common founder in the last about 100 generations. There is less genetic variation because these subpopulations have li...

Doctors have long been using biopsy to diagnose liver fibrosis. A new study says it may be possible to diagnose the liver disease with a blood test in future. Researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), New Delhi, working in collaboration with Justus Liebig University in Germany, have identified diagnostic markers for liver fibrosis. With these markers, it will be possible to diagnose liver fibrosis from blood samples. It will make diagnosis easier to perform, non-invasive, and less prone to sampling errors, researchers say in their study published in journal Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology. The new study has reported that patients of liver fibrosis have elevated levels of two proteins—Cathepsin L and Cathepsin B—in liver tissues as well as blood plasma, compared to healthy people. The increased levels of these two proteins open the possibility of designing a new and better diagnosis for liver disease. There is progressive increase in concentrati...

Which are the top five cities in the world that face water stress? In terms of water quantity risk, five of 15 major Asia Pacific cities—Shenzhen, Taipei, Singapore, Tokyo and Jakarta—are under stress and at risk of water shortage. One in three cities faces water stress on a global scale. In terms of quality, a majority of Asia Pacific cities suffer from high water source pollution, especially sedimentation. Lower income cities face a greater challenge since their water infrastructure is generally less developed when compared to that of higher income cities. This means they are more likely to be water-stressed. Lower income cities in many parts of the world also have high population densities in their source watersheds, which makes the task of protecting their water sources harder. What are the solutions to the problems faced by these cities? One in four cities globally would see a positive return on investment from investing in watershed conservation. The five conservation st...