PRIONS

Article published in Kathmandu Infotiser in August, 2006 issue. 

We are told and taught after time to wash our hands before having food and to maintain hygienic conditions so that we don’t suffer from diseases. We teach our juniors that diseases are caused by microbes or the microscopic harmful organisms called germ or pathogens. Unfortunately, scientists have discovered PRIONS, which are neither pathogens nor organisms but are proteinaceous infections particles that cause severe and neurodegenerative diseases in human and animals.

PRIONS- AN INTRODUCTION

Prions are the peculiar type of disease causing agents. They are proteinaceous infectious particles or more preciously protein molecules. Prions are much smaller than any virus known so far with so less to calculate. They were first discovered by Stanley B. Prusiner in 1995 and are found to cause diseases in both humans and animals. Prusiner was later awarded a Nobel Prize in 1997 for his research on these deadly agents. Proteins are made up of made up of amino acids, which can results into prions. These particles cause severe neurodegenerative diseases in humans and animals causing loss of memory, movement and other abnormalities.

PRONS- STCUTRURE, CONTROVERSY AND MYSTERY

Like normal protein, Prions being macromolecules, are made up of amino acids. Amino acids are building blocks of all proteins, which are synthesized by the body as well as obtained through diet. Hence, the most mysterious and controversial things are about the origin of Prions. Various scientists have put forth different hypotheses but none of them are satisfactory or convincing. What they collectively believe is that the human body consists of genes that code for normal Prions protein, which later gets converted into infectious and abnormal forms of proteins causing mysterious diseases. It’s same with the animal. The normal prions proteins convert into infectious protein with the help of nucleic acid, which could be the part of a virus. The protein is called a PrP protein that is present even in the human beings.

DISEASES CAUSED BY PRIONS

Prions are found to cause neurodegenerative diseases in human as well as in other mammals. In human, they may cause diseases like kuru, creutzfields-jakob disease (CJD), etc. both are neurodegenerative disorders that ultimately affect the smooth functioning of the brain. In animals, it causes Scarpie in sheep, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow diseases in cows.

THE CURE AHEAD

So far there has been hardly any progress regarding cure for Prion diseases. Scientists are still under research about the origin of Prions and the process by which a normal Prions protein becomes abnormal.

Mediation, an integral part of my life

We born, grow up, work, work and then lastly leave this plant with unaccountable personal desires. If we are given a chance to list our unfulfilled desires; there may be dozens of points at the last moments of our life.

We are set up with the thoughts that the yoga, morning walks, meditation etc. and other self-realization practices are meant for later stages of life.  We tend to think that we work and earn, save for retired life and then we relax with our savings later.

Taking Sanyas (Dikshya) from Swami Anand Arun at Osho Tapoban on 27th March 2007.

I never realized the immense joy of the meditation before I decided to get away from the colors during the holi (March 2005), which is in a true sense a festival of colour.  I simply thought to get away colors especially with balloons filled with dirty water during the holi, which has been the normal and growing trend in Kathmandu. I knew my friends would come to my room and start spraying water and colors and, I wanted to find the peaceful place to get rid of that. I chose to join three days meditation camp at osho tapoban.

Never meditated before, giving full concentration was really tough to me. The completely silent place, the chirping sounds of the birds, the waterfalls, and at the top, the location at the middle of the forests totally amazed me. I felt, I am somewhere in a divine lands. We had no access to the newspapers that meant there was no bad news especially about crimes. There were neither the news on violence nor the tv serials and movies. I was completely in a new world with very healthy foods. No wonders in two days, I was completely into meditation and then started thinking what if I take dikshya from swami Ananda Arun who was conducting that meditation camps there. After the discussions with the people at the camp from different walks of life, I decided to be a disciple of osho and I submitted an application with a promise to continue meditation at least one hour each day at home.

The sanyasi celeberation or in another words, the day I took sanyaas was one of the most memorable of days my life. I took sanyas on 27^th march 2005, and I was named as swami Dhyan Rajendra. I was given this name in a way that the name is given to a newly born child. Swami Ananda Arun informed the mass to treat these neo-sanyas as the newly born child. He further reiterated to love them, respect them and fill them with lots of affection and love. People congratulated me, thanked me and welcomed me to the world of meditation as the newly born baby. They hugged me, pat me and made me feel that I am really a child again. I felt, I am born again. My perspective towards life, people, and this world changed forever. I cherished the moment of my birth as a sanyasi. I continued meditation even at home after that.

I have two birthdays then, one is on 28^th September as the day I entered to this beautiful world and another is on 27^th March as the day of my rebirth entering to this beautiful world of meditation and inner self. I feel, am lucky to have an opportunity to celebrate my birthday twice in a year. I am happy to go much deeper into my life and myself. My rebirth has given me an insight into the world, people, living beings, like plants and animals, culture, religion and education. I am now much clearer on my dream, desires and my inner self. Every year on 27^th March, I will remember I was reborn on that day.  I will cherish this day with meditation, which brings joys, excitement, lots of happiness and energy around.

Hence, meditation has been an integral part of my life. I work, and manage my time for my other daily stuffs along with the time for meditation. I feel, every individual should meditate and feel the joy of existence. Life seems to be more meaningful, joyous and cherished when it 

Science, Politics and Life

Published in Kathmandu Infotiser in March 2006

I was really surprised when I read about Albert Einstein during my school days. He had to leave his country; Germany for being involved in politics and criticizing his government. He was then, a kind of refugee in USA and lived and died there. Lots of questions and curiosity crammed up in my psyche about his life; why a great intellect and a scientist of that time like him had to involve in politics? I might be too adolescent to understand all those.

I finished my graduation from India and came back to Nepal in 2001. I had a kind of annoyance, which I still called a political frustration that was prevailed in many youths like me. In one hand, Maoists insurgencies and in another power game amongst top leaders of the political parties disappointed many young people like me. Thousands of scholars drained out of the countries. I was amongst those who hoped that the peace would be stored in the country but all were in vain.

I observed many college students on streets fighting with their demands. I thought the students should study first. Then, the violence, corruptions, bandhs etc. brought me politically much closer. The king step by step grabbed the power and February 1^st, 2005, was a kind of black day in our history. I lost my patience like other peace loving Nepalese people witnessing all of those violations in everything including our basic human rights like speech. The blood in my body boiled after I was injured by police beating during our peaceful protests in a lane near to our residence.

People from almost all walks of life are at the bottom of the ongoing protests for complete democracy in Nepal. I now understand why Einstein was involved in politics. If we see globally, we find that the country which is politically stable is more progressed in science and technology which in turn, is more developed and prosperous. Science and technology, politics and development are a kind of three angles of a triangle. Life of civilian depends on how developed is the nation. Therefore, Science, politics and life are integral part affecting each other in all aspects

Science is all about exploring new things by continuous discovery, inventions and experiments that are then implemented in our daily lives for our benefit or the benefit of entire human society. These all need creativity which require peace of mind. The chaos disturbs us and creativity is hindered. Scientists need freedom to think and work. Everyone has their own field and interest. It’s not at all necessary for anyone to have interest in every field. But political consciousness is the most important and a vital part of our life. It everyday affects us. Political crisis we are facing for many years is the most suitable example. It’s not necessary for us to get interest in politics and actively involved in it. But a person having no political awareness is like a numb. I still find many people who are not aware and not wanting to be aware about the crisis in the country. I wonder whether they are really a part of Nepalese society. Many foreigner friends of mine write to me asking about the situation. What about our own youths? Youths should shoulder the responsibility of the country. We know the leaders have done the mistakes, but we can not ignore our responsibility blaming on them. We are going to face and live much longer than they are. It’s also our responsibility to pressurize them to take decision in our favor. We should be much cautious for the actions of our leaders so that we can exclude those who cannot contribute according to need of the society after they are elected. Therefore, political awareness and active involvement in any form is always essential for each citizens of the country especially youngsters.

Genetic Smuggling

Published in Kathmandu Infotiser on February 2006

Smuggling of drug is common news, but have you ever heard of genetic smuggling? Nepal’s rich biodiversity has been quite a business for illegal traders of plant and animal parts to the outside markets. Our country has a wealth of natural herbs, some rare plants and animals but due to the lack of proper monitoring, we are conditioned to bear immense genetic loss, which could do a great deal in uplifting the national economy. Genetic smuggling is a serious issue but it has barely been raised. So, we all should be aware of this term and check this illegal trade in a time to preserve out natural identity.

Le’s consider a surprising and possible example here. A foreigner takes a grain of rice or a seed of any indigenous plant form out country. He will neither be checked not be objected to carry the plant or animal samples with him to another country. Then he cultures those samples at this place and thus the whole plant or animal is regenerated through any biological techniques now available. And it gets patented in that country and we lose our claim on that particular plant or animal. This kind of loss is considered as the genetic loss or genetic smuggling which is quite an in-thing taking place here but not many of us are aware of this trend and the possible consequences that could follow.

The common example has been the patenting of Basmati rice and other 10 indigenous herbs of India by the United States. Basmati rice was patented by rice Tec Inc. of USA. Similarly, MNC of USA had patented bitter gourd, jamun, gurmur and brinjal. The patent was granted on edible herbal compositions for anti-diabetic properties. It comprised mixtures of at least two Indian herbs selected from a group of few herbs such as jamun bitter gourd, brinjal, and gurmur as ant diabetic agents to reduce sugar. Then India could only use the mixture inside the country but could not export the similar mixture to any other country. All those above-mentioned herbs originated in India and are now naturalized through out the neighbouring countries. Extracts of seeds, stem, leaves and flowers of Jamun reduce the blood sugar level thus helping to prevent diabetes. Similarly, bitter gourds, gurmur, have been used as remedy for diabetes. Later on, India filed the case to cancel the patenting and got the patents of basmati rice cancelled. Nepal occupies only 0.1 per cent of the total land on earth while it contains over 2 per cent of the world’s flowering plants, 8 per cent of birds, and 4 per cent of mammals. There are 225 species of mammals, 879 species of birds, 200 species of fishes, 147 species of reptiles, 43 species of amphibians, insects and other animals that make Nepal one of the riches countries in the world in terms of biodiversity. As we know, Yak is an animal found in Himalayan region that’s capable of living in cold regions for several days without food. It has been crossed with cattle to produce Chauri. Yak is one of the indigenous animals of Nepal. The cold resisting genes of Yak is our genetic ornament. Such genes can also be transferred to other organisms if needed and this trend of taking plants and animals’ samplings from Nepal without any legal impositions is making us lose much on biodiversity and nature.

Another examples could be vultures that have high vision power. The genes of these vultures are our genetic wealth which should be conserved but unfortunately due to the lack of awareness, the number of vultures in our country is fast decreasing. Recently, India and Bhutan applied for the patent rights on yak cheese. Hence, we could be losing our own indigenous animals, like Chauri too.

Now the questions arise; are Nepali organisms not grown and patented in other countries? Is Nepal in a position to recover those kinds of genetic and biological losses? The answer would be NO. Nepal is not in a position to solve its own internal problems. The political instability and other domestic problems have been pushing Nepal backwards and if the genetic resources are not timely monitored, genetic loss will evolve as a serious push-back to the national economy.