Biosciences 2000

The following sections are included:

• CONTENTS

The approach of the year 2000 represents for everyone -whether of the Christian denomination, for whom alone the year has real meaning, or not- a milestone by which progress is being measured: progress in education and health, in science and the arts, in technology and general life-style. What has been achieved, and what are the prospects for the future, we ask? It is therefore appropriate, in relation to health and science, to take stock of where we are in so far as the biosciences are concerned, and to try to anticipate the advances that are likely to be made over the next decade or so. That, in essence, is the aim of this volume…

UNESCO has been entrusted by the world community with the promotion of international co-operation in science, education and culture. From this it follows that there is a natural role for the Organization to play in the biosciences programmes which are aimed at strengthening national research capacities and international co-operation in biological sciences and biotechnology. These programmes are carried out through networks of institutions and research groups, collaborative research projects, training activities, workshops, seminars and conferences in co-operation with competent non-governmental organizations and other international and regional scientific bodies.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Population Explosion

• Contraceptive Revolution
  • Contraceptive Methods for Males
  • Synthetic Steroids
  • FSH Vaccine

• Contraceptive methods for females
  • Currently available methods
    • Termination of Pregnancy
    • Emergency Contraception
    • Prolongation of Lactational Amennorrhoea and Interchild Interval
    • Immunological Approaches to Contraception
    • Passive Immunization Strategy
    • Sexually Transmitted Infections
    • A Reproductive Tract Cancer - the Carcinoma of Prostate and Prostatic Hypertrophy
    • New Developments in Amelioration of Reproductive Functions and Quality of Life

• Infertility and Technologies for Treatment
  • In vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF)
  • Intracytoplasmic injection of spermatozoa (ICSI)
  • Technological Contributions to MART
  • Miles to go to reach the Brave New World

• References

To an astonishing extent, Virology finds itself, right at its 100^th birthday, truly at the crossroads: the victim, on the one hand, of its astonishing successes, and, on the other, of unfulfilled expectations. Before charting the courses to which Virology might reasonably be expected to address itself during the first several decades of the third millennium, it is interesting to assess where Virology has been, and what it has achieved.

The properties of the adaptive immune system, especially with regard to the roles played by different components in prevention versus the clearance of intracellular infections, is outlined. Specific antibody is the only mechanism for preventing infection whereas type 1 T cells, especially cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), have now been shown in many systems to control or clear an infection. To date, vaccine development against infectious diseases has almost exclusively concentrated on inducing strong antibody responses. This approach is unlikely to be successful in the case of many agents which cause chronic persisting infections and show great antigenic variation. In the three examples discussed, HIV (AIDS), Plasmodia (malaria) and Chlamydia (trachoma), vaccine development along these lines has been disappointing. In each case, from both human and model infections, the evidence for the importance of CTL responses has become or is becoming compelling. It is time for the vaccine industry to adjust their thinking to this new information, especially as there are now improved methods for inducing these type 1 T cell responses.

Xenografts are being considered not only as an alternative to the shortage of human organs, but for diseases not previously treated though transplantation. Pig cells and tissues could be transplanted to humans to treat diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Later, whole organs from genetically modified pigs may provide a substitute for human organ transplantation. A number of immunological barriers, however, must first be overcome, hyperacute rejection, delayed xenograft rejection, and cell-mediated rejection. The possible risk of zoonotic infections arising in xenotransplant recipients and perhaps spreading in the human population has raised serious concerns, especially involving retroviruses. New ethical, safety and monitoring guidelines need to be set in place before xenotransplantation can become a treatment for the next century.

The immune system plays an intricate role in the control of cancer which has only just started to be understood in spite of decades of trials whose anecdotal successes were never translated into clinical practice. The ability to measure and dissect the immune response has enabled the development of new cancer vaccines and gene therapies to be tried for a wide range of cancers. Some of the difficulties encountered in the introduction of the immune response suggests that the relationship of cancer to the immune system is like a new ‘strange attraction’ to the system which interfaces with normal immune function. The application of strategies derived from chaotic systems is envisaged to provide a powerful; new tool in the management of cancer.

Drug resistance is the major reason for the failure of cancer chemotherapy and hence for the death of so many cancer sufferers. Numbers of cellular systems that bring about multidrug resistance havebeen, and many more are being, discovered. The mechanism of action of a few of these is becoming clearer but finding effective ways to block them remains but a goal for the cancer researcher. Factors that have prevented success so far are the low selectivity of these blockers of multidrug resistance and the fact that they are so well bound to components of the circulating plasma.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Background

• Surgery

• Therapeutics
  • Cytotoxic drugs
  • Genetic targets

• Conclusion

• References

As a strong oxidant, molecular oxygen, on the one hand, is favourable for cell energetics based on the oxidative degradation of respiratory substrates, but, on the other hand, is dangerous as a precursor of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that damage intracellular compounds including DNA. To minimize the ROS-induced damage, living organisms have created a distributed in depth multiline anti-ROS system. However, sometimes ROS appear to be biologically useful. ROS play a role of “biologica weapon” (phagocytosis) and “bad message” (apoptosis), and perhaps components of putative mutator system which increases the genetic diversity of populations. The latter effect, obviously useful for biological evolution, might be unnecessary and even harmful for Homo sapiens who relies now on technical progress rather than evolution. Identification of (i) mutators, i.e. enzymes that generate ROS to induce mutagenesis and aging, and (ii) inhibitors of mutator activity is proposed to be a new approach to the solution of the lifespan increase problem.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. (fMRI)

• New Contrast Mechanisms and Agents

• Tissue Structure

• Tissue Response to Therapy

• Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

• Acknowledgements

• References

Application of genetic technology in medicine today will produce considerable benefits in the future, both from the economic and medicalpoint of view. This chapter focuses in a slightly light hearted manner onsome of the applications of these methods to genetic testing and we have divided our view of present and future testing into four overlapping phases.

Studies of flow across biological and synthetic membranes reveal the principles underlying the flow of materials through narrow pores in such membranes. Application of those insights suggests novel ways in which membranes can be used for the health and benefit of mankind in the twenty first century.

Carbon nanotubes constitute a new class of materials with novel properties arising from their unique structure. In this article, we discuss the methods of preparation, structural characterization and properties of carbon nanotubes in some detail. The opening, filling and functionalizing these nanotubes are examined. In addition to carbon nanotubes, boron-carbon-nitrogen as well as carbon-nitrogen nanotubes are discussed. It is pointed out that ceramic nanotubes can be made by using carbon nanotubes as templates. Applications of nanotubes are indicated.