Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) for Antibiotics

Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) for Antibiotics Dhayalini Yoginthran Antibiotic resistance is something that has been growing in the world, some might even say that we are entering or have already entered a post antibiotic world. It is currently one of the superior concerns in the 21 st century, especially in regards to pathogenic microorganisms. Throughout the years, research had allowed for the development of first line antibiotics that were efficacious against infections plaguing the population. Due to resistance build up towards first line agents, second line agents were then used to treat infections, which usually have a broad spectrum in treatment. In some cases pathogens have also acquired resistance towards multiple drugs, one such example would be Staphylococcus aureus (Zainnudin and Dale, 1990) . Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are substances produced by animals, bacteria and plants. They are also known as host defence peptides and are a part of the non-specific immune system. Differences between eukaryotes and pro karyotes show the potential of targeted therapy with the use of AMPs . They are dynamic and are of broad spectrum and have shown plausible evidence that they may be used as a new therapeutic agent. AMPs are quite small, have various sequences and lengths. They are also known to be cationic and amphipathic (Hultmark, 2003). They have shown considerable bactericidal activity against both Gram positive and Gram negative strains of bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis , malignant cells as well as viruses that are enveloped (Reddy et al., 2004). AMPs work by the interaction with the membrane of the potential pathogen thus leads to the perturbation of said membrane. The peptide is then inserted into the bilayer of the membrane that causes the displacement of the lipids. The perturbation and the displacement actions render it easy for the peptide to be translocation into the intracellular target of the pathogen. AMPs are usually derived from coding sequences in a gene, databases of known AMPs have been curated to hold information of AMPs as well as to provide tools to predict possible AMPs that are found in genomes (Fjell et al., 2007). The Antimicrobial Peptide database (APD) is one of the major resource for antimicrobial peptide sequences that have been curated. AMPs from various phylogenetic kingdoms are available, making the prediction of models based on qualitative and quantitative activity easier. In order to bring the development of AMPs into light, certain objectives are to be met. An AMP must be active against the pathogen in which it is targeted against and must have a high therapeutic index. In order to look for a suitable AMP that can act as a broad spectrum antibiotic. A method will be explained to show the screening process to look for one such AMP. The method would be to employ template based studies. A template AMP will be used to look for peptides that have better antimicrobial activity and also is reduced in toxicity by altering amino acid sequence s. In order to elucidate positions of amino acids that are important in antimicrobial activity, a single amino acid in the peptide will be changed, and hence the changes will be studied. Template AMPs that could be used for this would be lactoferrin or magainin. The variety of peptides are designed based on the amphiphilicity and charge of the AMPs and their role in antimicrobial activity. It will be possible to synthesis peptides using a high throughput approach of arrays that is done together with a speedy luminescence assay to portray bactericidal activity. This would lead to us being able to perform a complete substitution method to study the amino acid changes in the desired peptide. Several substitution studies that have been performed have shown that the activity shown by the substituted amino acids differ with regards to the template AMP utilised (Schneider et al., 1995). A linguistic model shall be used to pinpoint patterns in natural peptides (Loose et al., 2006). It is po ssible that the novel peptide that is constructed based on this will show superiority against models that are generated based on the random shuffling of amino acid sequences. Functionally important patterns of amino acids will be found using this linguistic model. In a previous study conducted by Loose et al (2006), 4 out of 40 designed peptides showcased activity against E. coli and B. cereus at an acceptable concentration.

The Ethical View of Utilitarianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

The Ethical View of Utilitarianism - Essay Example Utilitarianism is the ethical view that every action is either right/wrong on the basis of the impact that it will create, more specifically if it will produce the greatest good for the greatest number of people.   Deontology, on the other hand, is the ethical view that at least some actions will be right/wrong regardless of the consequences that they produce. Both theories follow different directs and have their own constraints and thresholds. The constraint of deontologists follows from their view that there may be circumstances in which one would be prohibited from taking an action even though it might trigger greatest amount of human happiness. In Engineer Bill’s case, from deontologist’s point of view, Sarah should be saved even though saving Sarah might mean killing a hundred other people in the train. However a utilitarian would opt for saving the train. (Rainbow) In Janitor Joe’s case unless Joe himself volunteers to give his body parts, it will be ethically wrong to forcefully kill him just to save others. In Engineer Bill’s case both Sarah and train were unexpectedly put under circumstances where Bill is left no other option but to choose. Here in Janitor Joe’s case other options can also be looked into and it makes no sense to impose death on someone even if it is at the cost of so many others. In the case of evil Hobo, Bill must save Sara. This is because Sarah has been deliberately framed into such a situation where she is being catapulted towards death. In this case, while utilitarianism may save the life of many but morally and ethically deontologists perspective holds more weight. The threshold for the deontologist is a limit over the amount of harm that the moral allows him to make while threshold for the utilitarian limits him on the amount of harm he can cause. Every situation is different and sometimes the mo ral action needs to be carefully weighed. In each of the aforementioned situation the context in which a particular ethical action followed was very important.

Assignment for my course International Accounting and Consultancy Essay

Assignment for my course International Accounting and Consultancy. Writer MUST be ON TIME. Writer needs to send me somethinganything on the 13thMarch UK tim - Essay Example The IFRS make the entities achieve this purpose by enabling them to provide segment wise information. However the entities do not incur any excessive cost for such reporting; they are able to make only at a little extra cost. IFRS 8 arises from the IASB's comparison of International Accounting Standard 14 (IAS 14) 'Segment Reporting' with the US standard SFAS 131 'Disclosures about segments of an Enterprise and Related Information'. IFRS 8 replaces IAS 14 and aligns Segment reporting with the requirement of SFAS 131. This paper envisages a critical analysis of the impact and usage of the introduction of IFRS 8 and the extent to which this standard aids in achieving the convergence between national accounting standards and IFRS to deliver high-quality solutions. that files, or is in the process of filing, its (consolidated) financial statements with a securities commission or other regulatory organisation for the purpose of issuing any class of instruments in a public market. However, when both separate and consolidated financial statements for the parent are presented in a single financial report, segment information need be presented only on the basis of the consolidated financial statements. (Deloitte Paper) International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) based in London represented and funded by major accounting firms, industrial companies, financial institutions, central banks and other international and professional organizations throughout the world is committed in developing, in the public interest, a single set of high quality global accounting standards that require transparent and comparable information in general purpose financial statements. According to the IASB Paper on IFRS 8 (2006), the prime objective of the IASB is to achieve the convergence of accounting standards in all the countries around the world. With this objective in view, the IASB and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the United States have undertaken a joint short term project with the objective of reducing the difference between the IFRSs and US GAAP that are capable of resolution in a relatively shorter period of time. The other consideration was that the differences to be addressed must be outside the major projects. With a view to adopting high quality financial reporting solutions, both the Boards considered the standards prescribed by them recently and evolved the new standard as the best combination of existing standards. In order to decide on the new IFRS 8 standard the IASB compared the IAS 14 Segment Reporting and SFAS 131 Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise Related Information. It is worth noting that the IAS 14 was adopted substantially from the earlier standard issued by the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) in the year 1997. Hence the main reason for the issue of a revised standard in IFRS 8 is to increase the convergence of different standards as well as to present the best of the standards available in respect of Segment Reporting. 4.0