AUSTRALIAN SCIENTISTS FIND TREATMENT TO BLOCK MALARIA MOSQUITO INFECTION

Australian scientists on Thursday said they have found a unique way to block a malaria infection, opening up a new front in the war on the mosquito-borne parasite which infects 400 million people every year, Australian Associated Press reported on Thursday.

Researchers at the Melbourne-based Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research have identified an alternative method to that used by conventional treatments, which kills off the parasite once it has gained access to a person's red blood cells.
The institute's Dr James Beeson said the new method had proven capable of stopping the parasite from entering the cells altogether, robbing it of the safe haven it needed to multiply while hiding from the body's defences.
"All of the currently licensed anti-malarial drugs that are used in humans act by inhibiting or slowing down the development of the parasite once it is inside the red blood cell," Beeson said.
"This (alternative) approach is to block the parasite from getting inside the red blood cell in the first place ... it would be ideal to use this approach in combination with an existing anti- malarial so it would be a two-pronged attack.

"One would try to stop the parasite from getting in and the other would be trying to stop the development of any parasite within the red blood cells."
The scientists found the blood-thinning drug heparin, which is used to treat blood clots, was effective at stopping the malaria parasite, most commonly Plasmodium falciparum, from attaching and burrowing into red blood cells.
They then developed similar molecules that boosted this effect against the parasite but had no blood-thinning effect.

Beeson said trials to ensure its safety, reformulated and "two-pronged" anti-malarial treatments could be introduced to the world in five to 10 years.
It would boost the protection for travellers in malaria-prone developing nations and provide a more effective treatment for malaria once infection took hold, resulting in less sickness and fewer deaths.

About one million people, mostly children, die as a result of malaria every year.

The findings have been published on Thursday in the international journal
Blood. -- BERNAMA

Pelantikan Melalui Pintu Belakang Membelakangi Aspirasi Rakyat

Daripada rakyat kepada rakyat. Itulah istilah keramat dalam politik demokrasi yang diamalkan di Malaysia. Ia bermaksud pemimpin dilantik oleh rakyat dan segala tindakan pemimpin adalah demi untuk kebaikan rakyat.

Secara teorinya begitulah di bawah konsep demokrasi. Namum hakikatnya, dalam banyak perkara rakyat yang memberi kuasa telah dikesampingkan dalam hal pelantikan pemimpin. Ia berkaitan dengan hal pelantikan jawatan menteri dan timbalan menteri. Pelantikan ke jawatan tersebut sewajarnya diambil di kalangan mereka yang dipilih oleh rakyat melalui proses pilihanraya. Ini kerana hanya mereka yang memenangi pilihanraya layak memegang jawatan tersebut kerana rakyat memilih mereka untuk menjadi pemimpin mereka. Mereka yang kalah dalam pilihanraya, membuktikan bahawa mereka tidak ditolak oleh rakyat.

Oleh itu amalan melantik mereka yang kalah dalam pilihanraya atau mereka yang tidak dicalonkan bertanding dalam pilihanraya ke jawatan menteri dan timbalan menteri adalah berlawanan dengan semangat demokrasi dan membelakangi aspirasi rakyat.

The price of petrol will gradually increased starting this year

In the past few days, it was reported that government will reducing subsidy gradually starting from this year.

According to Malaysiakini, the government could hike petrol prices by an initial 15 sen per litre from their current price at some stage this year under plans presented by a body advising the government on how to cut subsidies.

The benchmark RON 95 grade currently costs RM1.80 per litre.The proposals were made in a public presentation on today to win over voters to accepting higher prices as Malaysia seeks to reduce its budget deficit which stood at a 20-year high of 7 percent of gross domestic product in 2009.

Under the proposals presented by the advisory body, the price of petrol would be hiked some time this year followed by two price hikes totalling 20 sen per litre in 2011 and two more of 20 sen per litre in 2012.

In 2013-2015, the price hikes would slow and by the end of 2015, the price of RON95 would stand at RM2.60 per litre, according to the plans that have yet to be approved by the government.

The forecasts were based on a crude oil price forecast of US$73.06 per barrel for 2011 and US$79.41-US$94.52 for 2013-2015.