Disease viruses and

A healthy discussion on a topic like Chemistry as the Central Science is certainly a need of the hour, particularly when new viruses and diseases, environmental pollution and need to device new green synthetic procedures are posing a challenge to the mankind. I am sure that deliberations during the conference will be academically rewarding for the participants and the recommendations will be useful to all the stakeholders. 

FIGURE 1.25 The virus life cycle. Viruses are mobile bits of genetic iuformatiou encapsulated in a protein coat. The genetic material can be either DNA or RNA. Once this genetic material gains entry to its host cell, it takes over the host machinery for macromolecular synthesis and subverts it to the synthesis of viral-specific nucleic acids and proteins. These virus components are then assembled into mature virus particles that are released from the cell. Often, this parasitic cycle of virus infection leads to cell death and disease. 

Thiopheneglyoxal has been found to be only moderately active against Newcastle disease virus and influenza virus in embryonated eggs. ... 

Viruses are small infectious agents composed of a nucleic acid genome (DNA or RNA) encased by structural proteins and in some cases a lipid envelope. They are the causative agents of a number of human infectious diseases, the most important for public health today being acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), hepatitis, influenza, measles, and vituses causing diarrhoea (e.g., rotavirus). In addition, certain viruses contribute to the development of cancer. Antiviral drugs inhibit viral replication by specifically targeting viral enzymes or functions and are used to treat specific virus-associated diseases. 

Since the pioneering work of Kleymann et al. (2002), Betz et al. (2002), Baumeister et al. (2007), and Crute et al. (2002), who showed that compounds identified as inhibitors of the helicase-primase enzyme complex could alleviate herpesvirus-induced disease in animal models, the attention of researchers developing antiviral compounds has been drawn more and more towards the virus-encoded helicases, particularly those of Herpes viruses and of RNA viruses such as Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and SAKS coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Enzyme activity is usually assayed by measuring NTPase activity in the presence of an appropriate nucleic acid co-substrate although, more recently, novel fiuorimetric and luminescence principles have been applied to the measurement of strand unwinding and/or translocation of the protein along the nucleic acid (Frick 2003, 2006). 

Nelson CJ, Carrigan KA, Lysle DT (2000) Naltrexone administration attenuates surgery-induced immune alterations in rats. J Surg Res 94(2) 172-177 Noel RJ Jr, Kumar A (2006) Virus replication and disease progression inversely correlate with SIV tat evolution in morphine-dependent and SIV/SHIV-infected Indian rhesus macaques. Virology 346(1) 127-138... 

Propagated outbreaks of infection relate to the direct transmission of an infective agent from a diseased individual to a healthy, susceptible one. Mechanisms of such transmission were described in Chapter 4 and include inhalation of infective aerosols (measles, mumps, diphtheria), direct physical contact (syphilis, herpes virus) and, where sanitation standards are poor, through the introduction of infected faecal material into drinking water (cholera, typhoid). The ease oftransmission, and hence the rate of onset of an epidemic (Fig. 16.3) relates not only to the susceptibility status, and general state of health of the individuals but also to the virulence properties of the organism, the route oftransmission, the duration of the infective period associated with the disease. 

The genes of the inducible and the constitutively expressed forms of NOS have been cloned and expressed. The expression of inducible NOS in the brain tissue of animals with experimentally induced neurological disorders (boma disease virus and rabies virus in rats), herpes simplex virus (mice) and experimental allergic encephalitis (in rats) suggests that NO produced by induced NOS may be a toxic fector in the pathogenesis of neurological diseases (Koprowski et /., 1993). 

In the United States in recent years several diseases with animal hosts are now infecting humans. The Arena virus has as its host certain desert rodents. Rodent droppings when dry and airborne as dust particles infect humans, often with lethal consequences. The West Nile virus appeared in the United States in 1999. Birds carry this virus, and mosquitoes are the vector to humans. In 1999 the virus was localized in the New York City area. By 2000 it has spread across New York State and into New Jersey and Massachusetts. The West Nile virus is especially lethal when it infects children, the elderly, or those with a compromised immune system. 

Linnen, J., era/. (1996). Molecular cloning and disease association of hepatitis G virus A transfusion-transmissible agent. Science 271,505-508. 

The discovery of the base-paired, double-helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) provides the theoretic framework for determining how the information coded into DNA sequences is replicated and how these sequences direct the synthesis of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and proteins. Already clinical medicine has taken advantage of many of these discoveries, and the future promises much more. For example, the biochemistry of the nucleic acids is central to an understanding of virus-induced diseases, the immune re-sponse, the mechanism of action of drugs and antibiotics, and the spectrum of inherited diseases. 

A 27- year-old male with a three-year history of AIDS complains of progressive blurring of vision for two days. Eye examination reveals evidence of retinitis consistent with cytomegalic virus inclusion disease. Intravenous treatment is started, and within five days the patient complains of muscular weakness and cramping. Blood chemistries show a creatinine of. 5.2 mEq/L and a Ca of 6.9 mEq/L. 

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