📰 PMO, NSA tracking impact of Chinese FDI in South Asia
Exercise from national security perspective will look at nature of such investments but lack of detailed, country-wise data may cause hiccups
•In the backdrop of the tense border stand-off in Sikkim with China, the Centre has begun its first ever in-depth assessment of Chinese investments in India’s neighbouring countries.
•The exercise — being conducted mainly from India’s national security perspective — has been initiated by the Prime Minister’s Office and the National Security Adviser, official sources told The Hindu .
•Informal discussions have already been held with the concerned Ministries, including the Commerce and Industry Ministry — the nodal body for foreign trade and foreign investment.
Dynamic mandate
•Given the increasing influence of China in the Indian sub-continent and South Asia, the study will be dynamic and is, among other things, expected to look into various trends, tracking a surge, if any, in Chinese FDI in the region. For instance, Pakistan government data shows that FDI from China jumped from $256.8 million in 2014-15 to $878.8 million in 2016-17 (July-May). Pakistan’s financial year follows a July to June calendar.
•The study will also analyse the impact of these Chinese investments — including those being made as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as One Belt One Road or OBOR) — on India’s national security, sources said requesting anonymity. India’s reservations regarding the BRI/OBOR include strategic concerns on the BRI’s flagship project, the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as it is expected to cover regions including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
•In addition to assessing the nature and impact of Chinese FDI in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the study will track Chinese investments in Afghanistan and Maldives too.
•However, the major challenge in the study will be the lack of detailed, country-wise data on overall FDI (year-wise) and Chinese FDI, in particular.
•According to Biswajit Dhar, Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Chinese investments in countries like Pakistan could, in turn, set the stage for Pakistan to make inroads into markets in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal and challenge the presence of Indian firms in these markets, where India is currently the major player.
•The CPEC/OBOR projects can also better link Pakistan with the Central Asian Republics (CAR) and help the country establish a footprint in those markets, Prof. Dhar said.
📰 is our air becoming dangerous?
What is polluting cities?
•It is now a part of record that several cities in India are among the most polluted in the world. The villain, in most cases, is aerosols and particulate matter. It is a catch-all term for particles of a certain size that are suspended in the lower reaches of the atmosphere. Aerosols emerge from a range of sources including dust, half-burnt carbon particles from vehicle exhaust and crop residues. Natural sources of aerosol include fog and haze. Studies, most of them in Europe, have drawn a link between particulate matter-levels and increased incidence of cardiovascular disease and respiratory problems. Now, it turns out, aerosols may be a grave threat to the Indian monsoon and maybe a bigger worry than greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide.
What about greenhouse gases?
•There’s an ongoing debate on the relative role of greenhouse gases, such as water vapour and carbon dioxide, and aerosols in their influence over the South Asian monsoon. To step back a bit, monsoon clouds gust into the mainland due to a pronounced difference in temperature between the land and the sea. Greenhouse gases trap heat and, over time, cause temperatures to rise over the land and the sea. This affects the temperature gradient between them and, over the decades, leads to a rise in the frequency of extreme rainfall or long, rainless spells. The IMD last year recorded 2016 to be the hottest year in India for over a century, and India has seen at least five drought years since 2002.
How are aerosols different?
•Aerosols, while responsible for air pollution, smog and asthma, are known to shield the land from solar radiation. Though short-lived in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide, their absence would have made the earth hotter. However, the enormity of these dust clouds means that they depress land and sea temperatures. Consequently, this reduces the strength of the monsoon circulation. More than the quantity, it makes rain spells more erratic and because much of agriculture in India is still dependent on monsoon rains between June-September, they pose an additional threat to farmer livelihoods.
Why are aerosols a threat?
•A study at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, led by climatologist R. Krishnan made us aware of aerosols. It is based on the institute’s ongoing work to forecast the effect of greenhouse gases — responsible for global warming and climate change — on Indian monsoon, over the next century. In 2015, Mr. Krishnan reported in the peer-reviewed Climate Dynamics that a combination of greenhouse gases, aerosols and changes in forest-and-agricultural cover was weakening the monsoon over the last 50-odd years. They derived this from mathematical modelling and simulating the climate on supercomputers. Then, the relative contribution of each of these factors were not known. “New simulations however suggest that aerosols may be a far more important factor than GHGs,” said Mr. Krishnan while discussing preliminary findings at a meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences in Bengaluru last week.
What does this mean for India?
•The relative role of these climate-meddlers has consequences for India’s plans to mitigate the effects of climate change. Measures to reduce aerosol emissions without curbing greenhouse gas emissions could mean a hotter land mass and more instances of untimely, extreme rainfall events. Persistent aerosol emissions might lead to more instances of moderate rainfall but could mean anomalous weather and health hazards over large parts of north India. The aerosol-greenhouse gas relationship in exacerbating climate change is an old area of research but teasing out the relative contribution of each is challenging and influences the costs countries must incur to address them.
•India has generally maintained that man-made carbon dioxide pollution is largely due to the years of pollution by the developed West. However, such an argument might weaken if aerosols were brought into the picture because this is a largely South Asian concern. Were carbon dioxide and aerosol interactions proven to be strongly linked, India could be under pressure to adopt more stringent climate-proofing policies.
📰 G20 leaders strike deal on trade
Officials struggle to find common ground on contentious issue of fighting climate change
•The Group of 20 summit came up with compromise language on trade, although officials struggled to find common ground on another contentious issue, fighting climate change.
•In the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to leave the Paris climate agreement, the group agreed in a draft statement to “take note” of the U.S. withdrawal while the other 19 reaffirmed support of the Paris deal to limit emissions of greenhouse gases scientist say are behind global warming.
Fight for attention
•Officials at the summit, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the final statement before its release, said the language had been generally agreed on except for part of the climate section.
•The draft could still change before its final release, which was set for later on Saturday.
•The talks at the two-day summit in Hamburg competed for attention, with violent clashes between anti-globalisation activists and police.
•Climate and trade were two of the most contentious issues, in part due to the assertive stance taken on both by Mr. Trump. He has said trade must be fair as well as open and must benefit American companies and workers. He has focussed on trade relationships where other countries run large surpluses with the U.S., meaning they sell more to U.S. consumers than they buy from American companies.
📰 Indians & Israelis in America pledge to work together
Communities aim at advancing ties between two nations
•A group of Indian-Americans and Israeli-Americans in the Silicon Valley have pledged to work together to advance relationship between the two countries, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to the Jewish state.
•“There is a genuine feeling that India and Israel will be leading the world toward a better future,” Diane Fisher, the community relations director of American Jewish Federation of Bay Area, said at an event on ‘Indo-Israel Relations’ organised by the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies on Thursday.
‘Strategic partnership’
•Marking the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Israel could not be more highlighted than with the current visit of Prime Minister Modi in Israel, said Revital Malca, Deputy Counsel General of Israel in San Francisco.
•“Our strategic partnership with Israel spans from agriculture to military technologies, it should increasingly include human capital investment. Silicon Valley is ideally placed to be frontline of this join effort,” said Rohit Rashith, Deputy Indian Consul General in San Francisco.
•In his comments, Saumitra Gokhale, International Coordinator of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, drew the attention to similarities in history of both the countries being ancient yet continuing cultures and being democratic nations.
📰 The Aligarh connection
Both Shias and Sunnis offer congregational prayers in AMU’s Jama Masjid
•For every Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) alumnus, October 17 is special as it marks the birth anniversary of its founder, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.
•When I was studying at the AMU, the only time I saw its Jama Masjid was during a celebratory dinner somewhere near the Sir Syed Hall. But as it was dark and there was a huge crowd there, it didn’t register. It was only while reading Sir Syed’s book Aasar-us-Sanadeed ( Remnant Signs of Ancient Monuments ) that I realised its significance.
Destruction in 1857
•The year 1857 was a watershed for India, especially for its capital Delhi. After a four-month-long siege of Delhi, the Indian ‘rebels’ — as the British termed them — were defeated and the British East India Company with its army seized control of the Lal Qila (Red Fort) and the city of Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi) and imprisoned the ageing Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. He was exiled to Rangoon after a travesty of a trial where he was accused of sedition against his own empire.
•Having gained control of the city, the British systematically went about destroying all the places they thought had housed the ‘rebels’ or had played an important part during that time.
•One of these was the beautiful Akbarabadi Mosque built by Aizaz-un-Nisa Begum, wife of Shah Jahan, in 1650 A.D. She had been given the title of ‘Akbarabadi Mahal’ after the place of her birth and thus the masjid also became famous by that name.
•It was lovingly described by Sir Syed in the first edition of Aasar-us-Sanadeed as being a “beautiful and heart-pleasing masjid”, one that “refreshes the eyes and rejuvenates the spirit”.
•He went on to write, “In front of it, even the Masjid of the Green Dome (in Medina) looks small.”
•The mosque followed the prevailing style of the era and was built with three domes, seven arches in the façade and two lofty minarets. Sir Syed wrote, “In front of that there is a square 12 x 12 yards hauz , which can make the springs of the sun and moon blush.” It stood in an area which was earlier known as Faiz Bazaar.
•After its destruction in 1857, when Sir Syed visited the place, he was in tears to see the rubble. He allegedly said, “Sahib, angrezo ney Akbarabadi Masjid ko shaheed kardiya hey (Sir, the Englishmen have martyred the Akbarabadi Masjid).” The foundation and platform of the mosque were completely demolished when Edward Park was built in 1911. It is now known as Subhash Park.
•In the aftermath of the Uprising of 1857 and the systematic persecution of the Muslim community, especially the elite who the British felt were mainly responsible for the ‘revolt’, Sir Syed set about thinking of ways to rehabilitate the community. One of them was to integrate them into Indian society via Western education and thus was born the idea of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, which went on to become the Aligarh Muslim University.
•Though the foundation of a Jama Masjid (congregational mosque) for the college’s students was laid in 1877, its construction got delayed due to various reasons, getting completed much after Sir Syed’s death. It was declared open in February 1915.
•Ali Nadeem Rezavi, a professor at the AMU’s history department, tells me that the inscriptions on the Akbarabadi Mosque, which included the Surah Fajr , were unique as they were done by Abdul Haq Amanat Khan, the same genius behind inscriptions on Taj Mahal and Sikandra.
•To cite the AMU’s gazette, these inscriptions were presented to Sir Syed for use in the Jama Masjid by Shahzada Sulaiman Jah Bahadur. The latter had bought them from a scrap dealer in Aligarh, who had the rubble of 1857 monuments brought for sale.
•As Mr. Rezavi says: “These Shahjahani calligraphic panels in black stone on white marble connect the AMU Jama Masjid with the Taj Mahal and Akbar’s tomb in Sikandra. At all three places one can see the workmanship of the same master-calligrapher.”
•He says many features distinguish the AMU’s Jama Masjid. It was the last mosque in India to be built with an arcuate-style true dome. (An arcuate dome is built on the system of true arch, with the help of voussoirs and keystones.)
•Emperor Jahangir claims in his memoirs that in the reign of both him and Akbar, his father, Shias and Sunnis offered congregational prayers in the same mosque. The AMU’s Jama Masjid is the only place where it still happens, says Mr. Rezavi.
📰 Hold the painkillers
They may overtax kidneys and reduce muscles’ ability to recover, say studies
•Taking ibuprofen and related over-the-counter painkillers could have unintended and worrisome consequences for people who vigorously exercise. These popular medicines, known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, work by suppressing inflammation. But according to two new studies, in the process they potentially may also overtax the kidneys during prolonged exercise and reduce muscles’ ability to recover afterward.
•NSAID use is especially widespread among athletes in strenuous endurance sports like marathon and ultramarathon running.
•But in recent years, there have been hints that NSAIDs might not have the effects in athletes that they anticipate. A few case studies also have suggested that NSAIDs might contribute to kidney problems in endurance athletes, and it was this possibility that caught the attention of Dr. Grant S. Lipman, a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford University and the medical director for several ultramarathons.
How they work
•NSAIDs work, in part, by blunting the body’s production of a particular group of biochemicals, called prostaglandins, that otherwise flood the site of injuries in the body. There, they jump-start processes contributing to pain and inflammation. Prostaglandins also prompt blood vessels to dilate, or widen, increasing blood flow to the affected area.
•Taking NSAIDs results in fewer prostaglandins and consequently less inflammation and less dilation of blood vessels. Whether these effects are advisable in people exercising for hours has been uncertain, however.
Study results
•So for one of the new studies, published on July 5 in the Emergency Medical Journal , Dr. Lipman asked 89 participants in several multi-day ultramarathons around the world to swallow either an ibuprofen pill or a placebo every four hours during a 50-mile stage of their race.
•Afterwards, he and his colleagues drew blood from the racers and checked their levels of creatinine, a byproduct of the kidneys’ blood filtering process. High levels of creatinine in an otherwise healthy person are considered to be a sign of acute kidney injury.
•The researchers found that many of the ultra runners, about 44%, had creatinine levels high enough to indicate acute kidney injury after running 50 miles.
•But the incidence was particularly high among the runners who had taken ibuprofen. They were about 18% more likely to have developed an acute kidney injury than the racers swallowing a placebo. Furthermore, their injuries, based on creatinine levels, tended to be more severe.
•The study did not follow the racers in subsequent days or weeks, but Dr. Lipman believes that they all recovered normal kidney function soon after the event ended. The experiment also was not designed to determine why ibuprofen might have increased the risk for kidney problems in the racers. But Dr. Lipman and his colleagues suspect that, by inhibiting prostaglandins, the drug prevented blood vessels from widening as they otherwise might have. Slightly strangling blood flow to the kidneys, he says, might make it harder for those organs to filter the blood.
•The second study, published in May in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , raised similar concerns. It found that by reducing the production of prostaglandins, NSAIDs change how a body responds to exertion, this time deep within the muscles. For that study, researchers in the department of microbiology at Stanford University looked first at muscle cells and tissue from mice that had experienced slight muscular injuries, comparable to those we might develop during strenuous exercise.
•We are not mice, of course. But the findings imply that in people, too, anti-inflammatory painkillers might slightly impair muscles’ ability to regenerate and strengthen after hard workouts, says Helen Blau, the director of the Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology at Stanford, who oversaw the experiment. She suggests that those of us who exercise might want to consider options others than NSAIDs to relieve the aches associated with working out and competing.
•Dr. Lipman agrees. “Maybe consider acetaminophen,” he says, a painkiller found in Tylenol that does not affect inflammation. Or skip the drugs altogether. “I often tell people, think ice baths,” he says.NYT
📰 Luxury carmakers aim to grow size of India market
High-end cars account for 1.2% of the passenger car market
•Despite being engaged in fierce competition, German carmakers are striving to grow the base of the luxury car market in India by introducing latest range of products, reducing the cost of ownership and offering finance at comparatively cheaper rates.
•Though the base of the luxury car market has grown more than 11 to 12 times in the last 10 years with the entry of multiple players, the market is still very small.
•Last year luxury carmakers sold about 34,000 units, which is 1.2% of the passenger car market in India. The luxury carmakers are now working hard to grow this base to at least 5% which will accrue huge volume for them. In Germany the percentage of the luxury car segment is 24% and in the U.S. it is about 10-12%, China 8%, Malaysia 5.4% and Indonesia 2.5%.
•The tax reduction in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime on luxury cars is expected to help carmakers achieve their target sooner than expected. Soon after the announcement of the GST rates in May, all carmakers reduced prices by 2%-9% to bring the prices in line with the post-GST rates and that has resulted in higher sales.
Mercedes-Benz India
•Market leader Mercedes-Benz India sold 40% more cars in June this year as compared to June 2016. In the March to June quarter the company sold 3,521 cars, up 18% year-on-year. For the January to June period the company sold 7,171 units, up 8.7%.
•Roland Folger, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said: “We continue our leadership position in the Indian luxury car market. This sales performance further strengthens our customer centric strategy, which is bearing fruit.”
•He said the company wants the base the grow so that many people can experience luxury and be safe while driving. However, the prohibitive pricing on account of high tax structure remains the key reason for the segment not growing to its fullest potential.
•“The GST regime however, promises a growth potential for the luxury car industry. With 1.2%, India has one of the lowest penetration rates for the luxury segment worldwide, significantly behind countries like Russia, China, Brazil and even Malaysia. With GST regime, we see an opportunity for this sector to unleash its potential and contribute to the overall automotive sector and GDP positively,” Mr. Folger said. The segment would become more competitive through an increase in the customer base, making luxury cars more accessible, Mr. Folger added.
•In the January-to-June period, BMW Group India reported 11.5 % growth in sales at 4,569 units.
BMW Group
•Vikram Pawah, President, BMW Group India said: “BMW Group India will move forward with the ‘Power to Lead’ and will continuously remain a value-driven, customer-focused organization with a clear goal to be the best and set a benchmark in the industry in every aspect with passion, performance and excellence.
•“Today, BMW Group India [has] the fastest growing luxury car brand in the country but our primary goal is to grow the size of the luxury car market in India. We believe leading the growth is more important than anything, even more important than being just number one.”
•Without disclosing the numbers, Audi India head Rahil Ansari said the firm had achieved more than what it expected this year.
•“We expected the luxury car market to showcase a better performance this year and we are already seeing the signs. We welcome the GST. Hopefully this will be a new and exciting phase of the luxury car business,” Mr. Ansari said.
•“The new realigned prices post the GST offer great opportunity to expand the market and widen our customer base.”
•Analysts said the time was now conducive for faster growth in this segment. “It is the best time for the luxury car market and the luxury car makers,” said Abdul Majeed, Partner and Leader Automotive, PwC. “Economic activity in the country is growing and it will lead to demand for more luxury cars,” Mr. Majeed said.
📰 Studying the health of Arabian Sea
The impacts of annual ban on trawl fishery will be assessed
•The marine ecosystems of eastern Arabian Sea would soon become the stage for a series of biogeochemical and biological studies, which are expected to throw light into the ocean dynamics and economy.
•The Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi, and the Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management – Project Directorate, Chennai, both functioning under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, have drawn up a three-year-programme to study the coastal seas of western India. The researchers have primarily identified health of sea, carbon credit, biological productivity, trawl ban effects and oceanography as the thrust areas for the research.
•Under the category health of sea, the researchers would assess ecosystem status of western coastal India for biological resources which are influenced either by natural processes or man-made effects.
•The green house gas emissions from the ecosystems would be assessed for redefining marine carbon credit, as part of India’s commitment to the 2016 Paris Climate Change Summit, said M. Sudhakar, Director, CMLRE.
•The impacts of annual ban on trawl fishery and its impact on fishery resources will be looked into. The influence of coastal upwelling and associated biogeochemistry and biological oceanography on coastal fishery including their mortality, will be studied as part of the project, said G.V.M. Gupta, the Principal Investigator of the project.
•Preliminary studies carried out at the south-western coast of India, according to a project note prepared by CMLRE, have indicated that monsoon trawl ban had a positive impact on benthic production. Similar studies are essential for entire west coast to assess the overall impact of monsoon trawl ban on fishery resources, it said.
•The “evolution to decay of upwelling, its dynamics and associated bio-geo-chemistry all along the eastern Arabian Sea,” the inter-relationship between winter convective mixing (oxygen minimum zone) and coastal upwelling, “factors behind the formation/intensification of seasonal hypoxia (deoxygenation) and greenhouse gases production along the eastern Arabian Sea shelf” will be monitored under the project.
•The National Institute of Oceanography, Kochi, and Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, and a host of fisheries and scientific research institutions are expected to join the project.
📰 Tea plantations decrease bat diversity
Forests now fragmented by tea or coffee plantations were their home
•A recent study shows that tea plantations in the Western Ghats harbour less-diverse bat communities — that perform fewer ecological functions — than those found in coffee estates and forests. Protecting existing forest fragments and river stretches in such intensively-cultivated landscapes could be crucial for bats, which are important insect controllers, pollinators and seed-dispersers.
•Different bat species can perform these varied ecological functions due to the physical features they have evolved, which help them specialise in hunting different prey across habitats. Bats with short, broad wings, for instance, are better suited to plucking off large insects on the wing, in densely-vegetated patches like the forests of the Ghats.
•But forests in this mountain range have changed drastically. In Tamil Nadu’s Valparai, for instance, tea and coffee plantations have fragmented natural forests. To examine how bats respond to such extreme changes in land use, scientists from the Nature Conservation Foundation, National Centre for Biological Sciences and the University of Leeds (UK) quantified bat communities in Valparai, based on their ecological functions. Across different habitats, they examined bat diet, echolocation, body size and wing morphology (which determines their mode of hunting and what habitats they are adapted to).
•The scientists found that tea plantations fared badly: only few insectivorous bats that could adapt to highly modified habitats thrived here. However, rivers running through plantations helped offset this slightly. Coffee plantations did better because of native tree presence which is required for coffee growth; but protected areas and forest fragments were the most ‘functionally’ rich, home to bats with diverse morphologies corresponding to their several functional roles in the ecosystem.
•The team’s results show that bats with shorter and broader wings, like the lesser woolly horseshoe bat, are most vulnerable and require urgent conservation action in Valparai. “These bats are insect eaters; they keep ecosystems healthy and functioning by keeping the insects they eat in check,” says lead author Claire Wordley.
•Bats and other fauna could benefit if tea plantation owners leave a buffer of native trees on both sides of every river, write the authors. Protecting existing forest fragments and extending them wherever possible could also help.
•“While tea plantations will never be as rich for wildlife as coffee plantations, it can be more biodiversity-friendly if small changes in land use practices are implemented,” says Divya Mudappa of NCF.
📰 IISc works to make a common antibiotic more effective against TB
Augmentin combines an antibiotic and an inhibitor, thus being effective against TB
•Bacteria develop resistance against a drug only when they are exposed to it or when the drug is misused. But now, a team of researchers from India has found whether and how drug resistance can develop against a candidate drug called Augmentin even before the drug is approved for treating patients with drug-resistant TB. Augmentin is currently undergoing clinical trials in patients with drug-resistant TB; it is already being used for common bacterial infections.
•Besides deciphering the mechanism by which TB bacteria can develop resistance against Augmentin, the researchers have found ways of overcoming this potential resistance mechanism, thereby making Augmentin a potentially powerful drug to treat both multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB).
•The beta-lactam class of antibiotics such as penicillin, ampicillin and amoxicillin is one of the most widely used class of antibacterial drugs. Despite its ability to kill several types of bacteria, the beta-lactam antibiotics have never been used against TB bacteria. This is because TB bacteria are naturally resistant to this class. TB bacteria inherently produce an enzyme called beta-lactamase which breaks down beta-lactam class of antibiotics (through hydrolysis) and makes the drug ineffective against TB disease.
Making of Augmentin
•One of the strategies of getting around using the beta-lactam class of antibiotics is developing an inhibitor against beta-lactamase enzyme. Clavulanic acid is one such inhibitor, which blocks the beta-lactamase enzyme. Augmentin, which is a combination of a beta-lactam antibiotic (amoxicillin) and beta-lactamase inhibitor (clavulanic acid), can thus be an effective drug against TB bacteria.
•“Till now no one knew the exact mechanism of how the combination of beta-lactam and beta-lactamase inhibitor was killing TB bacteria and how resistance against the combination can emerge in future,” says Dr. Amit Singh from the Centre for Infectious Disease Research at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and the corresponding author of the paper published in the journal eLife. “Our study was able to provide insights into how resistance against Augmentin can emerge.”
•The team used integrated experimental technology and computer tools to understand the mechanism by which resistance against Augmentin can set in.
Deciphering the mechanism
•The first thing that the researchers asked was how the TB bacterium senses the presence of the drug combination in and around it. “We found the bacterium when exposed to this drug combination changes its metabolism and respiration, which led to the production of sub-lethal amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The ROS acts as a danger signal for the bacteria to mount a defence mechanism against Augmentin,” Dr. Singh explains.
•The defence mechanism is through a protein called WhiB4, which is normally present in bacteria and is responsible for regulating the production of beta-lactamase enzyme. When the WhiB4 protein senses the ROS signal, it produces large amounts of beta-lactamase enzyme in the TB bacteria. “This could be one method by which the bacteria can become resistant to Augmentin,” Dr. Singh says.
•Besides producing beta-lactamase enzyme, the WhiB4 protein also controls the production of an antioxidant molecule called mycothiol. The main role of mycothiol is to reduce the excessive increase in ROS so that ROS level is kept in balance; excessive ROS can kill bacteria by damaging proteins, DNA, and cell wall lipids.
•“The WhiB4 protein can detect the ROS signal produced by antibiotics and direct the production of both beta-lactamase and mycothiol, which work together and contribute to bacterium’s ability to resist augmentin,” says Saurabh Mishra from the Centre for Infectious Disease Research at IISc and the first author of the paper.
Making Augmentin powerful
•The researchers demonstrated that it is possible to kill MDR-TB and XDR-TB by simply changing the levels of the regulator, WhiB4, and/or increasing the ROS levels inside the bacteria. “When we knocked out mycothiol production, the level of ROS increased inside the bacteria and ultimately resulted in efficient killing of drug-resistant TB bacteria,” he says.
•There are certain antibiotics (such as clofazimine) that work by increasing the ROS levels inside bacteria. The researchers are currently testing if using such antibiotics along with Augmentin can efficiently kill drug-resistant TB bacteria. Augmentin and clofazimine antibiotics can together elevate the production of ROS. The excessive ROS inside the bacteria can then kill all forms of drug-resistant TB bacteria.
📰 Cocoa: A tonic for cognition and memory retention
This third-in-line beverage tops the other two, coffee and tea, in health benefits, yet it has not become as popular
•Coffee and tea came to be popular in India essentially due to colonial history. They are both imports into our country, and we now grow them in large plantations. Today, Darjeeling Tea and Coorg Coffee are world famous and coveted. Yet, an equally popular drink, cocoa, has not become that popular. All we do is, pretty much to eat it in the solid, processed form as chocolate bars, but not as a “Cuppa.”
•Colonial history has a role in the popularisation of cocoa too, but elsewhere. Cocoa was first discovered and coveted by the Mayan civilisation of Central America. The Mayans gave the plant (and its seeds) the name cocoa (or cacao), meaning ‘The Food of the Gods’. Cocoa seeds were used in family and community functions, and even used as currency. The Aztec Indians there made a drink with cocoa powder, chilli, musk and honey, calling it Chocolatl or “beaten drink”; hence the name chocolate.
•When the Spanish colonised much of the Americas, they popularised and monopolised cocoa, making its production a well guarded secret as they brought it to Europe. Cocoa became the drink of the super rich. A lot of romance and class was associated with it. Love songs, courting the beloved, were written and sung (and are still done) in Europe and America. (For example, you can enjoy watching Doris Day singing “A Chocolate Sundae on a Saturday Night” on Youtube). But as the Industrial Revolution made machines popular, the grinding of cocoa seeds in large amounts and making them available to “all and sundry” made cocoa or hot chocolate lose their fancy.
Only 3 million tons
•Today, while 10 million tons of coffee and 5 million tons of tea are produced yearly across the world, cocoa has a production of about 3 million tons. Yet, this third-in-line beverage tops the other two in health benefits. Indeed, much to the consternation of many in South India, we need to point out that coffee is a “drug,” albeit a mild one, because of the caffeine it contains. Because of this, many people have taken to drinking “decaf” coffee (which is neither here nor there!). Tea, on the other hand, is now recognised to be a health drink, with its content of molecules of the so called flavonoid family acting as antioxidants and cell-protecting molecules (True, it too has caffeine and theobromine, but much less than coffee). But it is cocoa that tops the list as the healthiest drink. Yet it has not become as popular as tea and coffee — a quirk of history based on who our colonials were!
•Over the years, it has become increasing clear that cocoa and chocolates not just good to taste, but are good for cognition as well. Of particular interest is a paper published by Valentina Socci and colleagues, titled “ Enhancing human cognition with cocoa flavonoids,” which has appeared in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, 16 May 2017 ( free access). The authors point out that the family of flavonoids (catechins, quercetin, anthocyanidins) present in cocoa not only act as antioxidants and cell protectants just as tea does, but they protect human cognition, counteract cognitive decline and memory loss as well. In other words, they act directly on the nervous system of the body and the brain. The Socci paper above quotes several earlier works, both relating to the basic biology of the flavonoids in improving health and cognition, but also about a dozen trials involving human volunteers, many of whom show improved working memory, in addition to improvement in blood pressure and insulin resistance.
Cocoa and cognition
•An Italian group led by Dr. G. Desideri has conducted randomised controlled human trials, and found benefits in cognitive function, blood pressure and the metabolic profiles of elderly subjects with mild memory impairment. They call these studies the Cocoa, Cognition and Aging (CoCoA) study.
•What are the molecular underpinnings involved in the mechanisms contributing to learning and memory? An earlier paper by Dr. J.P.E. Spencer, in the journal Proc. Nutr. Soc., 2008, on the control of long-term potentiation and memory lists a series of proteins and enzymes, and how these plant flavonoids reach the brain, crossing the blood-brain barrier, and effect their action. While the exact modes of action are yet to be clarified, it appears that they may protect neurons against damage, reduce inflammation, promote and even generate new connections between nerve cells.
•An editorial in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2015 agrees with much of the conclusions drawn on the positive effects of cocoa on memory retention and gain, and points out that unsweetened and unprocessed dark cocoa powder would be the best, while that processed with alkali (which is paler, and more common in candy-bars) is less effective. It is estimated that 100 grams of the usual dark chocolate contains about 100 mg of flavonoids, while 100 mg of unsweetened and unprocessed cocoa powder may have as much as 250 mg.
•Should one then quit coffee in the morning and go for dark cocoa powder? A friend (whose name skips me for the moment) has suggested that I drink a cup of cocoa every day, along with the morning coffee and the afternoon tea, and perhaps include a glass of red wine in the evenings, so as to maximise benefit — sound advice!
