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February, 2013

Our Mission:T h e I n d i a n P h a r m a c e u t i c a l Association-Students’ Forum is a national body of pharmacy students under IPA. It is a platform to promote increased student interactions and activities bringing more co-operation at a national level. IPA-SF will also link the pharmacy students in India with the rest of the world through memberships and a l l i a n c e s w i t h i n t e r n a t i o n a l organizations. The IPA-SF will serve as a unifying factor for the pharmacy students’ community in India bringing them under one umbrella and thus benefit in turn the profession and thus the future health of INDIA.

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The Indian Pharmaceutical AssociationStudents’ Forum

Cover Story- Page No. 1 World Cancer Day

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Cover Story: More About Cancer

Student’s speak:

Six Terrifying Diseases That Science Can't Explain

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Editor’s Choice: Occupational Cancer

IPA-SF Activity report

Homework

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Executive Council

Call for Articles

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Cancer is a major public health problem in the United States and many other parts of the world. One in four deaths in the United States is due to cancer. In India, around 555 000 people died of cancer in 2010. The term cancer is a generalized and refers to a group of more than 100 diseases that can affect any part of the body. It can also be referred as malignant tumors and neoplasms. One defining characteristic of cancer is that there is uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells beyond the usual boundaries, and often spread to other parts of the body. The spreading is called as metastasis and it is the major cause of deaths in persons suffering from cancer. Cancer usually occurs if there is any change in the genes responsible for cell growth and repair.

These changes can arise as a result of the interaction between genetic host factors and external agents which can be categorized as:

Ø Physical carcinogens such as ultraviolet (UV) and ionizing radiationØ Chemical carcinogens such an asbestos and tobacco smokeØ Biological carcinogens such as- Infections by virus (Hepatitis B Virus and liver cancer, Human Papilloma Virus(HPV) and cervical cancer) and bacteria (Helicobater pylori and gastric cancer) and parasites (schistosomiasis and bladder cancer.- Contamination of food by mycotoxins such as aflatoxins (products of Aspergillus fungi) causing liver cancer.

Tobacco use is the single most important risk factor for cancer and causes a large variety of cancer types such as lung, larynx, esophagus, stomach, bladder, oral cavity and others. Although there are still some open questions, there is sufficient evidence that dietary factors also play an important role in causing cancer. This applies to obesity as a compound risk factor per se as well as to the composition of the diet such as lack of fruit and vegetables and high salt intake. Lack of physical activity has a distinct role as a risk factor for cancer. There is solid evidence about alcohol causing several cancer types such as esophagus, pharynx, larynx, liver, breast, and other cancer types.

Development of cancer:

Cancer arises from one single cell. The transformation from a normal cell into a tumor cell occurs in more than one step, typically a progression from a pre-cancerous lesion to malignant tumors. The development of cancer may be initiated by external agents and inherited genetic factors. Ageing is another fundamental factor for the development of cancer. The incidence of cancer rises dramatically with age, most likely due to risk accumulation over the life course combined with the tendency for cellular repair mechanisms to be less effective as a person grows older.

The pace of cancer treatment had changed in the past two centuries in four areas in creating some of the milestones in cancer treatment, chemoprevention, viruses and cancer-vaccine development, and tobacco control.

Reducing the burden of cancer, The existing body of knowledge about the causes of cancer and about interventions to prevent and manage cancer is extensive. The burden of the cancer can be reduced to a considerable extent by employing the following strategies. Ø Changes in tobacco and alcohol use, and dietary and physical activity patternsØ Immunization against HPV infectionØ The control of occupational hazardsØ Reducing exposure to sunlight

More About Cancer

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Another third of the cancer burden could be cured if detected early and treated adequately. Early detection of cancer is based on the observation that treatment is more effective when cancer is detected earlier. The aim is to detect the cancer when it is localized. There are two components of early detection programs for cancer:ØEducation to promote early diagnosis by recognizing early signs of cancer such as: lumps, sores, persistent indigestion, persistent coughing, and bleeding from the body's orifices; and the importance of seeking prompt medical attention for these symptoms.ØScreening is the identification by means of tests of people with early cancer or pre-cancer before signs are detectable. Screening tests are available for breast cancer (Mammography) and cervical cancer (Cytology tests).ØTreatment of cancer is aimed at curing, prolonging life and improving quality of life of patients with cancer. Some of the most common cancer types such as breast cancer, cervical cancer and colorectal cancer have a high cure rate when detected early and treated according to best evidence. The principal methods of treatment are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Fundamental for adequate treatment is an accurate diagnosis by means of investigations involving imaging technology (ultrasound, endoscopy, radiography) and laboratory (pathology).ØRelief from pain and other problems can be achieved in over 90% of all cancer patients by means of palliative care. Effective strategies exist for the provision of palliative care services for cancer patients and their families, even in low resource settings.ØThe three areas for further progress need prioritized attention, namely:

- Tailoring of sequential targeted treatment for an individual patient- Optimization of limited financial resources to best deliver this treatment- How we maximize the Quality of life for an individual patient

References:1)Siegel R, Naishadham D, Jemal A. Cancer Statistics, 2012. CA Cancer J Clin 2013;63:11–30.2)Dikshit R. et al. Cancer mortality in India: a nationally representative survey. The Lancer

2012; 6736(12): 60358-43)DeVita, Jr, V. T. Rosenberg SA: Two hundred years of cancer research. N. Engl. J. Med 2012;366:2207–2214.

-Dr. Akshaya Srikanth, Pharm.DProof Reader, ReseaproHyderabad, India

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Student’s Speak

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The world is full of some pretty awful diseases. The countdown begins......

6.Dancing Plague :

In 1518,in Strasbourg, France, Frau Troffea started dancing in the street. After six days, others began to join in; after a week there were 34. By the end of the month there were 400,though at that point most of the people started dropping dead of exhaustion, starvation and strokes from dancing.

The Mystery :

The whole thing just kind of ended and, despite almost five intervening centuries, modern medicine has no explanation for why 400 French people suddenly danced themselves to death. Many theories have been offered, such as ergotism and mass psychogenic illness, but they have some issues. MPI,at that time have required 400 people to all develop the exact same "mass hysteria" of dancing at a staggered pace over a month, which is pretty unlikely. In the case of ergot poisoning, one of the common side effects is loss of muscular control, which makes complex movements (like dancing) impossible.

5.Stiff Person Syndrome :

People afflicted with it experience increasingly progressive rigidity, so it's kind of like a muscle cramp that never, ever goes away. As the disease progresses, the victim's muscles become more and more stiff until they are completely paralyzed--the muscles becoming so constricted that they are frozen.

The Mystery:

No idea why this syndrome develops in some people. It might have something to do with having diabetes; it could be an autoimmune disease; and it could be the result of a mutated gene. There is no way to predict that it will happen to someone, or how long it will take to cripple them once it starts. There are some treatment options, most of which involve lots of injections that relieve part of the stiffness.

3.Sweating Sickness:

Reportedly it begins with "a sense of apprehension," followed by violent cold shivers, headaches, severe neck, shoulder and limb pain, and oddly, giddiness. After the "cold stage," which can last anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours, there comes the "sweating stage," where the victim starts pouring out sweat While the sweat stage isn't always immediately fatal, it typically leads to more sweating stages that will eventually kill you. It first appeared in 1485 in England, and killed thousands of people within a single year, most likely because by the time anyone realized they had it, the entire village was already infected.

The Mystery:

No idea what it was. People sweat, then die. Quickly. Is it a virus? Bacteria? Something toxic everyone in the area was drinking or eating or breathing? Who knows? Some think it might be a version of the Hanta virus, which is a hemorrhagic fever but there's no proof.

6 Terrifying Diseases That Science Can't Explain

3.Germany's Mystery Calf Disease :

Imagine, if you will, a cute baby cow at the beginning of its long, happy life on the farm.Now imagine that it gets sick with something that makes it sweat blood, and that even the lightest touch causes a horrible wound as if your fingers were made of sharks.

Despite giving the calves vitamins and blood clotting drugs, they all bleed out in a matter of days, leaving behind piles of goo and some seriously confused ranchers.

1.Prions :

There are actually several diseases that are caused by prions, some of which you may never have heard of, like Kuru and Creutzfeldt (Jakob disease) and one most people have heard of, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease.All prion diseases have something in common: They affect the central nervous system by essentially turning it into Swiss cheese.

The condition apparently turns the calves' marrow into gelatin and prevents the production of platelet and white blood cells, making them unable to form clots of any kind and leaving them wide open to infection.

The Mystery:

There is no evidence that this is a disease in the traditional sense of the word.Infected calves have been vaccinated against all kinds of bovine viruses and bacteria, even rare ones, with no luck. It has spread from Germany to Belgium, acting very much like a transmittable disease, but seems to lack anything tangible like a virus to blame. The main theory right now suggests that the baby cows are somehow developing an immunity to their own bone marrow.

2.Ebola and Lujo :

It is hard to imagine that on a continent like Africa where AIDS, yellow fever and malaria rage out of control that there could be an illness that qualifies as "worse."Enter Lujo and Ebola. They are both what are called "hemorrhagic fevers," which is a fancy way of saying they cause you to bleed to death inside your own skin.

The Mystery:

No idea how the virus is carried. It could be bats, monkeys, rats, flowers, mosquitoes.The problem seems to be that every time one of these diseases has an outbreak, they kill so fast and so thoroughly that scientists can't figure out where it came from. The first Ebola outbreak was in 1976 and struck with a 90 percent fatality rate, which is only slightly less than an elderly person driving their Honda through a farmer's market. Lujo is only known from a single incident that started in Zambia and moved to South Africa in 2008, killing 80 percent of the people infected with it.

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Student’s speak

All of these diseases can be transmitted. The best part is that you can have it for up to four years before ever showing symptoms, and once you've got it, it is completely incurable. Also, in the case of meat infected with mad cow disease, prions are not "killed" by cooking, so you could burn an infected steak to charcoal and still wind up insane and dead.

The Mystery:

As if being an incurable brain-shredding disease wasn't bad enough, no one knows where prions come from. They aren't a bacteria or even a virus. They are basically protein that has "gone bad" somehow, and it is entirely possible that our own bodies manufacture them by accident from time to time.

So while contracting a disease from someone else who is infected sucks pretty bad already, prions are the one case where if you don't catch it from someone else, you might just develop it all on your own. Or not. Who knows?

Reference:www.cracked.com

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Student’s speak

- Pooja G.Kamlapure Saraswati Vidya Bhavan’s College of Pharmacy Mumbai

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Editor’s

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choiceOccupational Cancer

The cancer whose surface to occupational exposure that is, professionals like radiologist and radiotherapist have such type of cancer. e.g. Scrotal cancer is caused due to chimney sweeps and bladder cancer due to aromatic amines, lung cancer due to bis-chloromethylether. 2 to 8% of the cancers are thought to be due to occupational exposure.

Development of occupational cancer is initiated by Active mutation in DNA and repeated exposure to chemicals or light rays. It may be promoted by morphologic changes like Modulation by environment and lifestyle and probable threshold.

Agents that lead to occupational cancer of different body parts are as mentioned. Upper respiratory cancers are caused by wood dust, chromium, nickel, mustard gas. Larygneal cancers are caused by asbestos, mustard gas, nickel. The risk factors for hematologic cancers are ionizing radiations, benzene, agricultural works, cytotoxic drugs. Haematologic cancer may also be caused by agricultural exposure i.e. exposure to herbicides and pesticides. Leukemia, multiple myeloma, Hodkins disease and Non Hodkins lymphoma are caused majorly due to agricultural pesticides. Hematologic cancer may be also caused by medical exposure and may cause a special risk to medical practitioners ,matrons and, hospital staff. Anti-neoplastic drugs, ethylene oxide and radiations are the major sources for hematologic cancer. Bladder cancer: Around 20% of bladder cancer is due to occupation. It is especially caused due to dye/pigment and rubber/tyre manufacture. Benzidene, 2-Naphyl amine, 4-nitro biphenyl are the sources of bladder cancer. GI tract cancer: It is primarily found in the workers working in the rubber, wood dust and asbestos industry. For skin cancer, Major causative agents are ionizing radiations, UV radiations, arsenic.

WHOs findings and statistics on occupational cancer:

Ø Air pollution caused 165 000 lung cancer deaths globally in 2004 of which.Ø108 000 were caused by outdoor air pollution.Ø36 000 were due to solid fuels used for cooking and heating. Ø21 000 were due to second-hand smoke.ØUV radiation was estimated to cause 60 000 deaths in 2002 of which: Ø48 000 were melanomas. Ø12 000 were basal and squamous skin carcinoma.

Precautions must be promptly taken to avoid occupational cancer. It can be taken in the primary level at the work place. People working in industries involving radiations must wear a protective body coat, mask and gloves. Also the radiation limits should be restricted to 5rem to reduce the list of cancers. People working in chemical industry .Also 2% of the chemicals are known to be carcinogenic .They possess a threat of lung cancer. Lung cancer can be kept in hold by following the regular precautions related to chemicals. The organisations mentioned carry on research in this field and have formulated rules and protocols to prevent occupational cancers.

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choiceOCCUPATIONAL CANCERS

INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS FOR RESEARCH ON CANCER:

ØAmerican Conference of Government Industrial hygienistsØNational toxicology program, USAØNational Institute for occupational safety and health.

- Tanvee Thakur. Bombay College of Pharmacy Mumbai

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IPA-SF volunteer meeting held at Sultan-ul-Uloom College of Pharmacy Hyderabad

IPA-SF volunteer meeting was held on 08-Jan-2012 at Sultan-ul-Uloom College of Pharmacy, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.The meeting was arranged with the instructions from the Vice-Chairperson Ranjith Reddy. 150 students from 9 different colleges attended the meeting. The main agenda behind this meet is to promote IPA Students' Forum and discuss about the upcoming activities of SF.

Mrs. Anupama, Vice-Principal, Sultan-ul-uloom College was the Chief guest for the meet. Along with the Chief guest, Ratan (Chairperson) and Ranjith Reddy (Vice-Chairperson) were invited on to the dais.

The meeting started by expression of condolence to Ms. Nirbhaya, the para medical student who is the victim of Delhi rape incident.

Following this, Ratan gave a detailed presentation and explained in detail about the activities of IPA and IPA-SF. He welcomed the students to be a part of the Students' Forum.

Then, the chief guest Mrs. Anupama addressed the gathering and appreciated the efforts that are being taken by the Students' Forum. She was impressed with the activities of SF and welcomed us to host bigger events in their college, promising us about provision of the necessary infrastructure and arrangements for the upcoming events.

Later, Ranjith Reddy addressed the students and gave the announcements about the upcoming activities of SF. A discussion session was held and discussed on various issues of Pharmacy students. Specially highlited about "Panache", the mouth piece of SF.

The meeting included considerable interaction with the students including discussions on various issues like job opportunities, internships, pharma conferences, quality education, participation in upcoming activities and so on.

The representatives of "Foundation for Voluntary boycott of Alcohol", addressed the students about their initiatives for making an alcohol free society. The session ended with "Pharmacist’s Oath" followed by the Vote of thanks and Refreshments.

Students of the Following colleges attended the meeting:Ø Geethanjali College of PharmacyØ S.S.J College of PharmacyØ Vishnu College of Pharm. SciencesØ Sultan-ul-uloom College of PharmacyØ Mesco College of PharmacyØ Vathsalya College of PharmacyØ Sridhatha College of Pharm. SciencesØ M.L.R College of Pharmacy

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How much do you know about Cancer?

Type Location

1.Leukemia

c. Blood forming organs like Bone Marrow

2.Retinoblastoma

a. Tissues of the retina

3.Sarcoma

b. Connective or other nonepithelial tissue.

4.Trophoblastic Tumor

d. Cells that help an embryo attach to the uterus (Placentation)

Answers on Page (12)

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1. The selection of articles will solely be the discretion of the Publication Committee of IPA-SF.

2. Every article should have a word limit between 150 to 200 words.3. Articles should be typed in any normal font (Times New Roman) and should have a font size 12 and sent to panachelive@gmail.com in Microsoft Word Format.

4. Articles should be the Author's original work. If the article has been directly picked up from some source then it may amount to plagiarism and such Author's will be barred from any future participation.

5.The names of any references used should be clearly mentioned.6.The names of any Co-author/s should also be mentioned.7.The name of the institution/company of the Author/Co-author/s should be mentioned.8.The efforts of the Authors and Co-authors whose articles have been selected will be duly acknowledged.

CALL FOR ARTICLES

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Answers to Homework:1) c 2) a 3) b 4) d