ACS News Service Weekly PressPac: June 13, 2007

• New “Hot Pocket” Geography May Point Toward Better Avian Flu Drugs
• Toward A Much-Needed New Test for Cancer of the Urinary Bladder
• Protein-Enriched Milk May Reduce Need for Antibiotics in Animal Feed
• Crude Oil Contains Less Toxic Mercury than Coal
• Concerns about Safety of Chinese Ingredients May Be Unwarranted When It Comes To Prescription Drugs

Amid heightened concern over a possible epidemic of bird flu in humans, scientists in the United States and Taiwan are reporting critical new insights into the architecture of a key enzyme in the H5N1 avian influenza virus that enables the virus to spread. The report is scheduled for the June 20 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly publication.

Rommie E. Amaro and colleagues focused on what has been termed the “hot pocket,” or more technically “the 150-loop.” This chain of amino acids forms a cavity in the neuraminidase enzyme that facilitates H5N1’s spread. Anti-flu drugs called neuraminidase inhibitors work by entering and binding to the hot pocket, almost like a hand fitting into a glove.

In the new study, researchers report that the hot pocket actually can have internal shapes substantially different than previously believed. That new structural understanding of the 150-loop could be valuable in efforts to design new and more effective anti-flu drugs, they state. Drugs capable of fitting more snugly into the cavity could yield a class of neuraminidase inhibitors that are more effective against H5N1-like flu viruses.

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The search for ways to promote growth of farm animals without adding antibiotics to feed has led scientists in Taiwan to an advance toward genetically engineering animals that produce higher levels of a natural growth-promoting protein in their milk.

In a study scheduled for publication in the June 13 issue of ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly journal, Winston T. K. Cheng and colleagues point out that the protein, lactoferrin (LF), has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory actions and may serve as an alternative to antibiotics in agriculture. The researchers genetically engineered laboratory mice to produce milk enriched in pig LF, and studied the growth of 10 generations of mice pups fed on the milk. Mice fed LF-enriched milk grew 10-15 per cent faster than those fed on ordinary milk.

“In animal husbandry, it is thought that supplementing the diet of neonatal pigs with porcine LF may decrease mortality rates of piglets due to diarrhea and anemia by rendering them more resistant to common infectious agents,” the report states. “Transgenic animals expressing the LF protein in the mammary gland and secreting high levels of LF in the milk may be generated to produce a whole new herd of diarrhea- and anemia-resistant piglets with better growth performance and commercial value.”

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With Chinese manufacturers poised to increase exports of drug ingredients— and perhaps even begin shipping finished drug products—to the United States, an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS’s weekly newsmagazine, questions allegations that foreign-made ingredients often are manufactured in factories that have never been inspected by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The article, written by Jean-Franåois Tremblay, of C&EN’s Asia-Pacific Bureau, notes that concerns about counterfeit ingredients arose after recent scandals involving Chinese food and drug ingredients. In one incident, media reports said that an over-the-counter cough syrup formulated with a counterfeit Chinese ingredient killed dozens of people in Panama last November.

It is unlikely that counterfeit ingredients could reach prescription medicines sold in the United States because of the high degree of scrutiny that those ingredients receive in China and along their route to the pharmacy shelf, Tremblay reports. However, there is less scrutiny from FDA and other sources for over-the-counter or nonprescription ingredients. FDA only inspects the formulation facilities that make pills, syrups, and other finished products out of ingredients purchased from various suppliers, the article notes.

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• General Chemistry Glossary
  The General Chemistry Glossary is an online resource that can help you to find definitions to common—and uncommon—chemical terms.

ACS Updates: Hot research that can be a treasure trove for journalists seeking news and feature topics, or trying to keep current in rapidly-evolving scientific disciplines.

• Forensic Science
  Concise summaries of articles on forensic science published from 2005-2006 in a dozen major journals, courtesy of ACS’ Analytical Chemistry. View these summaries online or download the PDF.
• Emerging Water Contaminants
• Summaries of key research articles on water analysis and emerging contaminants published mainly from 2005-2006. View these articles online or download the PDF.

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• Listen to Science news podcasts from the American Chemical Society.

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News media resources from the March 25-29 meeting in Chicago include more than 9,000 abstracts of technical presentations and more than 1,000 non-technical summaries in a searchable database, plus press releases, podcasts, and other material. If you are researching or sourcing stories on chemistry-related topics, this resource can be a treasure trove accessible by the following:

• ACS News Service’s National Meeting Press Book page
• ACS Chicago National Meeting News Page
• ACS Press Center

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• Beach Sand May Harbor Disease-Causing E. Coli Bacteria
  View this article online or download the PDF.
• Fireworks Displays Linked to Perchlorate Contamination in Lakes
  View this article online or download the PDF.

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