Hope=Pillar for change

Hope; a feelings that ones expectation will be fulfilled in the near future. A student have hope to be a successful person in future, a business person hope for more profit,a researcher hope to give new theory ,a leader hope for the development of the county and so on. Everyone in the world are living in the ship of hope,but does really everything goes well as we hope?

The social status is not ascribed but in our society women are given social status by birth to be inferior to men. Women are treated as the object in their own homes, of beating rape,incest and traditional practices such as honor killings,dowry related violence,genital mutilations,son preference and early marriages furthermore,women are also target of violence in society(e.g.,rape,sexual abuse,trafficking,forced prostitution,pornography). Even today women have to sleep in stables, separate from others when they are undergoing their monthly menstruation because they are considered as “impure”to contaminate others.Still the girls in rural Nepal are married off before puberty. Female are not allowed to walk alone and talk with male friends.Girls are deprived from education because they have to get marry and go to their husbands home.This could be because of customs and traditions we are following years long,which forced the women to tolerate the violence as tradition and part of their life and further more due to so many year of violence women has become habituate to it and thus cannot raise their voice against the torture they face in everyday life.

Questions: is this possible”? Will our dreams come true?

Health Camp and Oral Health Hygiene Program in Baglung District of Nepal

Health Camp and Oral Health Hygiene Program in Baglung District of Nepal

Healthy Nepal Foundation organized a free health camp in Baglung district of Nepal, it is a collaborative work of students volunteers  from Kathmandu University (Biotechnology department) and Pokhara University (Medical Microbiology department) had organized free health camp, education program and library establishment at dhamja-5, baglung district, remote area of Nepal. At least 250 people received treatment at the health camp organized at Dhamja village development committee of the district. On the occasion, personnel involved in the treatment of the local patients also distributed medicines to the needy.

A special thanks to Healthy Nepal Foundation Medical Team for organizing program. As talking about villagers, as they do came from very poor working families they suffer from a variety of preventable health issues which the family cannot afford to pay to have treated in local hospitals. Several times a year Healthy Nepal Foundation medical volunteers in Nepal visit and give health check-ups to all the school children and villagers.

According to healthy Nepal Doctor Kalpana Ghimire many females were unknown about disease and also they are hiding their disease due to different factors like social, economic. Many students gain knowledge about oral heath hygiene. Ms. Yashoda Kandel student of biotechnology told they have established “One class -One community” aim to established one library to different district of Nepal it’s a great initiative work of biotechnology students. Mr. Sunil Pandey student of medical microbiology added The World Bank’s Rural Development Family is taking a broad perspective on rural development and integrating the various facets of rural life into its policies and projects but in Nepal still it is not in process Mr. Pandey added rural areas require basic education strategies that are different from the national model, which is often based on assumptions more attuned to urban schools. Basic education is one of these facets and must be included in an integrated perspective.

Dr. Kalyan sapkota added, in order to develop persons individual health first basic health education is needed and need to improve their own quality of life, people living in rural areas need at least a basic education. Rural health development suffers when basic health education are not provided individually.

 Founder of HNF Mr. Kiran sapkota added our we will bring many program in the days to come

Thank you for all volunteers who helped to manage program.

                                 Need of Advocacy and awareness about cancer in Nepal

 Many people in Nepal are ignorant about cancer. This is because unlike infectious disease, chronic diseases like cancer comes under least priority area of governmental health policy in Nepal. Very few national programs are conducted to educate and aware people about cancer. Education program are conducted sporadically and only few people have access to such program.

In the recent time, Healthy Nepal Foundation (HNF), an organization dedicated to increase awareness about cancer has done some remarkable work to increase understanding of cancer to Nepalese population. Since 2012, HNF has developed several education modules to educate students and public about common cancer such as cervical, breast, oral and lung cancer in Nepal. With the help of volunteers from different colleges, this organization conducts program at colleges and sometime in the community. 

TUTH Nursing student Leraning about breact cancer condition in Nepal

Dr. kalyan sapkota addressing key points of breast cancer at NAMS to Nursing students

Volunteers is the main working pillars of HFN. “With the help of volunteers, we are able to conduct education programs at around twenty schools to date and our main goal is to educate student and the public about cancer and its prevention”, said Kiran Sapkota, co-founder of the organization. “We are dedicated to educate and inform public about risks of cancer and promote healthy life style to reduce cancer burden in the society”, Sapkota said.

Members of healthy Nepal foundation have conducted several education program at secondary schools, higher secondary colleges and universities around the nation. HN College Coordinator Mr. Sunil Pandey, who is also a student of Medical Microbiology at Nobel College, said “we have got very good response and appreciation from both teachers and guardians from respective schools where we conduct cancer education program”.  Mr. Pandey was so passionate to assist HNF that he allocate his tight time schedule out of his college to conduct programs around the nation. Mr. Pandey contact schools, recruit volunteers, communicate with teacher and conduct education awareness program at different schools around the country. “With the help of experts we were able to develop education material for only few cancers and we are still developing additional cancer programs in the future” said Pandey.

Healthy Nepal Foundation is operated by physicians, public health officials, and community and school volunteers. Till date it has conducted programs in Parwat, Myagdi, Baglung, Pokhara, Kathmandu, Chitwan and several other districts. “Our main aim is to make a disease free healthy society” said Dr. Kalyan Sapkota, another co-founder of the organization. Dr. Sapkota and his team have conducted cancer screening programs at several communities in Myagdi, Parwat and Baglung in the past.

Currently Healthy Nepal has concentrated more of its activities on educating students and public about cervical and breast cancer. “These two cancers are the significant cause of mortality and morbidity in women in Nepal” said Dr. Sapkota. With the available funding, Healthy Nepal Foundation had organized free Pap smear screening camp at different places in Nepal.  A pap test is the best way to detect cell changes that may be early sign of precancerous of the cervix.                        

Dr. Sapkota added that, Breast cancer affects one in eight women during their lives. No one knows why some women get breast cancer, but there are a number of risk factors. “If we reduce these risk factors, we can minimize the number of cancer patients in Nepal’, said Dr. Sapkota.  Sharing his experience while conducting cervical cancer awareness program, Mr. Sunil Pandey said, we were so shocked to know that many students do not know much about common cancer, and many have misconception about it. After we conduct program, we do posttest and found that our program really changed how students perceive about cancer. Their knowledge remarkably changes just after an hour or two education session, added Mr. Pandey. Many women do not know about the screening test available to detect cancer at early age. This include Pap smear screening and self-breast examination in Nepal.

Mr. Sunil Panday said there are several opportunities available for youth to be involved in cancer education projects. He is recruiting many volunteers to initiate oral and lung cancer awareness in the near future. For more information or to get involved, email healthynepalfoundation@gmail.com, or visit the organization’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/healthynepal

Bacteria and hand-washing- Pragmatic to school children

Hand washing is thought to be effective for the prevention of transmission of

Diarrhea pathogens. However it is not conclusive that hand washing with soap is more

Effective at reducing contamination with bacteria associated with diarrhea than using

Water only.

How many times has someone told you: “Go wash your hands before dinner?”

Image: Shree Dharmodaya Lower secondary School Mirkot-5, Gorkha District

Why is hand washing important?

Some microorganism are beneficial to you and some are harmful. The most common microorganism is bacteria. Microorganisms can be transmitted from person to person in many ways.

Bacteria
are
a
diverse
group
of
microscopic,
single celled
organisms.
Viruses
are
microscopic
and
infect
cells
using
the
cells
as
hosts
for
reproduction.
Both
bacteria
and
viruses
can
cause
disease
in
humans.
However,
bacteria
and
viruses
exist
in
the
environment
all
around
us
and
most
do
not
harm
people. A
pandemic
is
an
outbreak
of
a
disease
around
the
world.
Scientists
and
health
professionals


are
concerned
about
the
possibility
of
an
H1N1
influenza
(flu)
pandemic.
When
a
flu
pandemic


happens,
people
may
have
little
or
no
immunity,
and
a
vaccine
may
not
exist
for
this
new
flu
virusThe
disease
then
spreads
easily
person‐to‐person
and
may
cause
serious
illness
across
the
country


and
around
the
world
very
quickly.

A
vaccine
is
currently
being
tested
for
the
H1N1
influenza.



According
to
the
Centers
for
Disease
Control
and
Prevention,
the
most
common
method


that
pathogens
are
spread
is
via
the
hands.
Therefore,
proper
hand
hygiene
helps
to
limit
the
spread
of
the
flu
and
other
infectious
diseases,
and
is
the
single
most
effective
way
to
prevent
the
spread
of
disease.
Hand
washing
reduces
diseases
that
are
spread
through
fecal–oral
or
hand‐to‐mouth
transmission,
direct
or
indirect
transmission(i.e.,
close
contact
by
sharing
personal
items),
and
respiratory
or
airborne
transmission
(i.e.,
coughing
or
sneezing).



Micro-organisms play an important role in all our lives and many are so small they can only be seen

under a microscope. Many micro-organisms are helpful to us whilst others can be harmful; micro-organisms that harm humans tend to be referred to as germs. These germs can be a bacteria, fungi and

virus.

Germs mainly enter the home on people, food, in contaminated water or via pets and pests. Once inside

the home they can be transferred from person to person or from the source to a person by direct contact,

or through indirect contact via a surface and back again. This latter process is often called cross-contamination.

Cross-contamination is one of the greatest causes of illness and disease in the world, where a greater

focus on the practice of improved and targeted hygiene measures in the home could lead to a reduction

in infectious diseases on a global scale. Improved home hygiene strategies include:

•  The need for home hygiene to receive the same scientific approach generally applied to hospitals

or food manufacturing

•  The recognition that good hygiene is not about trying to completely rid a home of germs, but

about effectively implementing good hygiene measures or practices and using them in the right

place at the right time

•  The distinction in people’s minds about the difference between removing dirt and hygienic

cleaning

Hand washing

Why is hand washing so important?

The hands are one of the greatest ways cross-contamination and cross-infection can occur in the home.

Hand washing is therefore the single most important thing you can do to help reduce the spread of

infections. Regularly washing your hands properly with antibacterial soap and warm water can help

protect you, your family, and others against the risk of infection. If antibacterial soap and warm water are

not available, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer should be used.

Why is surface cleaning so important?

Pathogenic micro-organisms and fungal spores entering the home can survive on surfaces for significant

periods of time and can be transferred to the hands when touched. Germs from hands can then be

transferred to other surfaces and other people, leading to infection. To break this chain of infection,

household surfaces should be cleaned thoroughly with an antibacterial cleanser or disinfectant on a

regular basis, reducing the risk of cross-contamination and lowering the risk of illness.

Why is food hygiene so important?

The micro-organisms that cause food-borne illness can be spread directly onto chopping boards, utensils,

work tops and other foods from raw meat and vegetables during food preparation. These micro-organisms can then spread to other surfaces around the home via your hands. Once one person is

infected with food-borne micro-organisms, it’s highly likely that they will pass this onto others in your

home and community, particularly if hygiene practice is poor. In order to prevent cross-contamination,

surfaces and utensils that are used to make and prepare raw food, particularly poultry and meat, should

be thoroughly cleaned with an antibacterial cleanser or disinfectant after each use.

Children Involving in Praggmatic Procedure of Handwashing

Fact about cancer screening

Cancer Screening
WHAT IS SCREENING?

The term screening refers to the regular use of certain examinations or tests in people who do not have any symptoms of cancer, but are at high risk for developing certain types of cancer. For many types of cancer, progress in the area of cancer screening has offered promise for earlier detection, which often results in higher cure rates.
WHO SHOULD UNDERGO SCREENING TESTS FOR CANCER?

Not everyone needs to undergo regular screening for cancer. There are many factors that determine who should be screened. Over the years, researchers have established risk factors for certain types of cancer. Risk factors are certain characteristics or exposures that make people more likely to develop a type of cancer than other people who do not have those risk factors. Risk factors are different for different types of cancer.
There are two types of risk factors: genetic factors and non-genetic (environmental) factors. A genetic factor is an inherited, unchangeable trait. A non-genetic factor is a variable in a person’s environment, which can often be changed. Non-genetic factors may include diet, exercise, or exposure to other substances present in our surroundings. These non-genetic factors are often referred to as environmental factors. Some non-genetic factors play a role in facilitating the process of healthy cells turning cancerous (i.e. the correlation between smoking and lung cancer), while other cancers have no known environmental correlation, but are known to have a genetic predisposition. A genetic predisposition means that a person may be at higher risk for a certain cancer if a family member has that type of cancer.
WHAT TYPES OF SCREENING TESTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR CANCER?

There are many different types of screening tests designed to detect different types of cancer. Depending on the risk factors that are present, patients at a high risk for a certain type of cancer may be required to undergo any one of a number of tests. Examples of screening tests include imaging tests, such as CT scans or mammography; blood tests; or even surgical biopsy procedures. Some screening tests are non-invasive, such as diagnostic imaging, while other screening tests are more invasive, such as blood tests or colonoscopies. Screening tests are designed specifically to screen for certain types of cancer. For example, women at a high risk of developing breast cancer may need to undergo frequent mammograms, whereas individuals at a high risk for colon cancer will need to undergo colonoscopies.
Another type of screening test is predictive genetic testing. Modern technology has enabled us to identify relationships between specific genetic mutations and some cancers. As we continue to learn more about genetic mutations and identify additional mutations, the role of genetic testing will continue to grow.
Predictive genetic testing is used to determine if an individual has a genetic mutation that may predispose him/her to developing cancer. An accurate test will reveal a genetic mutation, but cannot guarantee that a person will develop cancer. Likewise, a genetic test that does not find a specific mutation cannot guarantee that an individual will not develop cancer. These tests only suggest that a person may or may not be at some level of increased risk.

Research findings call for a rethinking of cancer genetics

Johns Hopkins researchers report that the deletion of any single gene in yeast cells puts pressure on the organism’s genome to compensate, leading to a mutation in another gene. Their discovery, which is likely applicable to human genetics because of the wayDNA is conserved across species, could have significant consequences for the way genetic analysis is done in cancer and other areas of research, they say.

Deletion of Gene B causes instability in the 

genome that is compensated for through a 

secondary mutation in Gene A. 

Credit: Xinchen Teng

Summarized in a report to be published on Nov. 21 in the journal Molecular Cell, the team's results add new evidence that genomes, the sum total of species' genes, are like supremely intricate machines, in that the removal of a single, tiny part stresses the whole mechanism and might cause another part to warp elsewhere to fill in for the missing part.

"The deletion of any given gene usually results in one, or sometimes two, specific genes being 'warped' in response," says J. Marie Hardwick, Ph.D., the David Bodian Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences at the school of medicine. "Pairing the originally deleted gene with the gene that was secondarily mutated gave us a list of gene interactions that were largely unknown before."

Hardwick says the findings call researchers to greater scrutiny in their genetic analyses because they could unwittingly attribute a phenomenon to a gene they mutated, when it is actually due to a secondary mutation.

“This work has the potential to transform the field of cancer genetics,” Hardwick says. “We had been thinking of cancer as progressing from an initial mutation in a tumor-suppressor gene, followed by additional mutations that help the cancer thrive. Our work provides hard evidence that a single one of those ‘additional mutations’ might come first and actively provoke the mutations seen in tumor-suppressor genes. We hope that our findings in yeast will help to identify these ‘first’ mutations in tumors.”

The beauty of working with yeast, Hardwick says, is that it is easy to delete, or "knock out," any given gene. Her team started with a readily available collection of thousands of different yeast strains, each with a different gene knockout.

At their preferred temperature, each of these strains of yeast grows robustly even though they each have a different gene missing. Hardwick's team first asked a fundamental question: Within a given strain of yeast, does each cell have the same genetic sequence as the other cells, as had generally been presumed?

"We know, for example, that within a given tumor, different cells have different mutations or versions of a gene," explains Hardwick. "So it seemed plausible that other cell populations would exhibit a similar genetic diversity."

To test this idea, her team randomly chose 250 single-knockout strains from the thousands of strains in the collection. For each strain, they generated six sub-strains, each derived from a single yeast cell from the “parental batch.”

They then put each sub-strain through a "stress test” designed to detect sub-strains with behaviors that varied from the behavior of the parental batch. All of the sub-strains grew indistinguishably without stress, but when the temperature was gradually raised for only a few minutes, some sub-strains died because they could not handle the stress. When the Hardwick team examined their genes, they found that, in addition to the originally knocked-out gene, each of the sub-strains that faltered also had a mutation in another gene, leading the team to conclude that the cells in each strain of the single-gene knockouts do not all share the same genetic sequence.

They then tested all 5,000 of the original single-gene knockout strains to find sub-strains that could overgrow when given low-nutrient food — a trait that tumor cells often possess. This was another stress test designed to detect differences between the individual cells taken from the parental batches. They identified 749 such knockout strains and showed that their growth differences were often due to secondary mutations.

In total, the team’s evidence indicates that 77 percent of all the knockout strains have acquired one or two additional mutations that affect cell survival and/or excessive growth when food is scarce.

Hardwick believes that stressing yeast in other ways may lead to an even higher percentage of double-mutant strains. In fact, she said she believes that “essentially any gene, when mutated, has the power to alter other genes in the genome." Deleting the first gene seems to cause a biological imbalance that is sufficient to provoke additional adaptive genetic changes, she explains.

Furthermore, in all of the strains that they examined, they found that the secondary mutations that appeared after a given knockout were always in the same one or two genes as in their earlier observations. Unexpectedly, Hardwick said, the altered growth of the sub-strains was usually due to the secondary mutations, not the original knockout, and many of those secondary mutations were in genes that are known to becancer-causing in humans.

Source:Source: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/

Description, Areas and Scope of Medical Microbiologist

Description, Areas and Scope of Medical Microbiologist

Medical microbiology course is branch within the field of medicine which focuses on micro organisms of medical interest which include the bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites which are of medical importance and are capable of causing infectious diseases in human beings. Microbiologists can rather be called as detectives who investigate in the microscopic world - a world that holds much wonder and mystery, the world which much people cannot see.

Medical Microbiology Course description includes the study of microbial pathogenesis and epidemiology and is related to the study of disease pathology and immunology. Microbiologists study micro organisms which can cause disease in people, looking into life cycles of such organisms, on how they cause infection, how they spread, and cause disease, the means to treat the diseases and irradiate the disease causing microbes.

This field of microbiology is constantly engaged with identifying new micro organisms, monitoring changes in rapidly mutating species and dealing with the ongoing challenges in medicine, ranging from the development of resistance to antibiotics in bacteria to contamination of water supplies with protozoans. They work in all ways to contribute to mankind and improve humans and environmental quality of life and living.

SCOPE AND CAREER PROSPECTS FOR A MICROBIOLOGIST:

TEACHING : If you are interested in teaching as a profession and if you are interested to pursue your masters degree, and you are basically a science student, then microbiology is the best suited to pursue a masters in. Teaching is a noble profession, and the returns after completing your study is tremendous. And again the scope is vast as it is the basic subject of study in all medical colleges as well as Para medical colleges like dental science, physiotherapy, pharmaceutical science, nursing science, radiography, lab technology etc. It is the most highly paid among the teaching profession in science, even at the initial stage as a beginner. As well you get an opportunity to work among the dignified doctors and amongst the highly esteemed medical professionals. Academic microbiologists are employed by universities, schools and teaching hospitals.
RESEARCH SCIENTIST : Research is a never ending field and thus one can take up research. As a research scientist a microbiologist can work in universities, institutions, industries, hospitals, government organizations and carry out research in laboratories. Many work as associate or assistant scientists or researchers doing the routine work of conducting experiments, others are senior scientists or project managers who lead experiments, supervise lab workers, interpret data and develop new theories and experiments.
CLINICAL ASSOCIATE : One can get into clinical research as clinical coordinator or clinical trials administrator and later on generally qualify to move on to a full clinical research associate position.CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGIST - Clinical microbiologist assist the treating team of doctors with the investigations, diagnosis and treatment of disease. That analyze and interpret data related to patient samples. They work for the betterment of the society by engaging in a wider range for complex work in laboratories specially against incurable, life threatening diseases like cancer, AIDS etc. They advise clinicians on the use of tests, diagnosis of disease and planning and progress of the treatment. They work to combat problems such as outbreaks of epidemics, food poisoning, pollution of air and water, for eg., they check blood samples sent in by physicians to check for any communicable diseases.
TOXICOLOGIST : Microbiologists are employed as toxicologists in investigatory laboratories. They plan and carry out laboratory and field studies to identify, monitor and evaluate the impact of toxic materials and radiations on human and animal health, and on the health and current status of the environment, as well as the impact of future technologies.
FORENSIC SCIENTISTS : Microbiologists with appropriate skills are also considered for posts in forensic science.
BIOMEDICAL SCIENTISTS : Following basic training, most biomedical scientists specialize in one aspect of medical laboratory science. The main areas are microbiology, clinical chemistry,transfusion science, hematology, histopathology, cytology, immunology and virology.
BIOSTATISTICIAN : Biostatisticians are statisticians who work in th health related fields. They design research studies and collect and analyze data on problems such as how disease progress, how safe is the treatment, or the impact of certain risk factors associated with medical conditions.
Microbiologists have enough and more jobs as quality assurance specialists in the pharmaceutical companies, food processing industry, diary and milk products, beverages, hotels, biotechnology companies, agriculture, forestry etc.
Phd. : for those interested in further study, they can take up doctorate and go for further specialization and research. Foreign fellowships for doctorate degree are also available.They can also work for medical and scientific publishing firms.
LIST OF VARIOUS POST GRADUATE COURSES OFFERED IN MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY:

B.Sc - Bachelor of science in medical microbiology
M.Sc - Masters of science in medical microbiology
M.D - Doctor of medicine in medical microbiology
Phd - Doctorate in medical microbiology