A potter in India prepares clay. Ordinary clay dug from the ground can kill the drug-resistant superbug MRSA and other lethal infections, and is being investigated as a potential tool in treating patients. (Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images) Clays have been used for thousands of years as a remedy for infected wounds, indigestion, and other health problems, either by applying clay to the skin or eating it. Today, clays are commonly used at health spas in the form of mud baths and facials. Armed with new investigative tools, researchers are beginning to explore their health claims scientifically. "Clays are little chemical drug-stores in a packet," said study co-leader Lynda Williams, Ph.D., a geochemist at Arizona State University in Tempe. "They contain literally hundreds of elements. Some of these compounds are beneficial but others aren't. Our goal is to find out what nature is doing and see if we can find a better way to kill harmful bacteria." Research at Arizona State University shows some forms of clay actually kill salmonella, E. coli, MRSA and Mycobacterium ulcerans, which causes flesh-eating disease. If scientists can figure out how it works, they could make a cheap, low-tech weapon against infection available in countries that don't have access to Western medicine. Arizona State got involved, creating a mixed team of experts in geology and infectious disease. So far it has tested 20 types of clay, and found that three were highly effective.  The on-going research results were presented on  Sunday night, April 5, 2008  to the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, in New Orleans......... vED OF CLAY AS A ANTI-BACTARIAL GIVEN FREE BY NATURE In the study of any of the 18 major and 108 minor puraaAN one would find the information of this news story. puraaAN texts are part of the corpus of ancient and undated sNskRUt text called vED passed on to humanity for about 2 billions years in the bRH`maa-day we currently exists are found in India. vED details the all-encompassing, complete and comprehensive and sciences and its mathematics of the universe we live in and life created in this universe..... vED includes sciences of  sustenance and cyclic re-creation in various cycles of vEDik time concept called bRH`maa-day and night each of 4.32 billions years in a bRH`maa's lifespan of 100 years of 360 bRH`maa-days and nights... Each bRH`maa-day has 14 mnvNTR where sub-creation, sustenance and re-creation cycles called pRtisARg happens....In the part of our universe we exist in called the pRUthvi-lok each bRH`maa-day has 1000 cycles called 4-yug cycles each of 4.32 million years.... We presently are in the 51st year of bRH`maa-life, 7 mnvNTR, 28 kli-yug of the 4-yug cycle and in the 5010th year of the kli-yug of 432,000 years... In puraaAN texts taking daily bath and also washing hands, feet and the private parts after the washroom visits is prescribed to be done using clay as one of many toiletries ....which we currently call soaps, oils, cosmetic creams and oils and detergents...... PVAF presents this news story as a contribution by SHRii Champaklal Dajibhai Mistry from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada who has also contributed this right hand column with an invitation to YOU ALL to shed light on what happened to all the vEDik knowledge humanity should have....that right now we are re-acquiring the sciences of life and creation.... YOU can contribute by clicking on POST A COMMENT in the header of this news item or email your knowledge by clicking here By clicking on the next line....please continue reading this evolving science news by clicking on the line outside this box...but only after reading the right hand column which has vED knowledge leading to details on many pages on this knowledge sharing web site....TO MAKE YOUR TOMRORROW HAPPIER THAN TODAY WITH INCREASED LIFE KNOLWEDGE....

Clay can kill superbugs, study finds April 6, 2008: Ottawa Citizen: Tom Spears  OTTAWA - Ordinary clay dug from the ground can kill the drug-resistant superbug MRSA and other lethal infections, and is being investigated as a potential tool in treating patients. "Healing" clays have been known for years to soak up toxins produced by bacteria, which can limit the spread of infection. But now, research at Arizona State University shows some forms of clay actually kill salmonella, E. coli, MRSA and Mycobacterium ulcerans, which causes flesh-eating disease. If scientists can figure out how it works, they could make a cheap, low-tech weapon against infection available in countries that don't have access to Western medicine. "Clays are little chemical drug-stores in a packet," said study leader Lynda Williams, a geochemist at Arizona State. "They contain literally hundreds of elements. Some of these compounds are beneficial, but others aren't. Our goal is to find out what nature is doing and see if we can find a better way to kill harmful bacteria." Clay is defined as any mineral that forms very tiny grains of less than two microns, or millionths of a metre. How it kills bacteria is still an enormous mystery, but Ms. Williams knows that it does the job somehow - at least in glass dishes of bacteria cultures. Tests in animals haven't started yet. Still, she's hopeful, especially since there's some limited but intriguing experience with human patients underlying the theory. A French woman she knew grew up using clay to heal cuts, as a folk remedy. The woman was married to an ambassador and later travelled to the Ivory Coast. "She saw these people with flesh-eating disease. It's a mycobacterial infection that eats the fat tissue under the skin. It puts out a toxin that's immuno-suppressant, so the body's defences don't kill the bacteria." The French woman tried a variety of clays in an effort to fight the infection. "That would never have been allowed in the United States, but she actually, through trial and error, found some that killed the infection." Eventually, Arizona State got involved, creating a mixed team of experts in geology and infectious disease. So far it has tested 20 types of clay, and found that three were highly effective. "There really are natural clays out there that kill a broad spectrum of human pathogens," Ms. Williams said. The clays would be directly useful only on surface infections, but the team hopes that learning how they work might also inspire drugs that work internally. As well, they hope to find inexpensive ways to kill bacteria as antibiotics lose their effectiveness. "How" is still the big question. They aren't sure whether it's the acidity level in clay (which ranges from very high to very low), the other elements contained in them, the oxygen available to them, or other chemistry. Her results were presented Sunday night to the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, in New Orleans. Ms. Williams cautions that people shouldn't use clay they find themselves, as it may contain arsenic, mercury or other toxic metals. "Healing clays" are also for sale on the Internet, she notes. In fact, her lab tested some that claimed to kill bacteria. Most of them didn't work. © Ottawa Citizen 2008 'Healing Clays' Show Promise For Fighting Deadly MRSA Superbug Infections, Other Diseases ScienceDaily (Apr. 8, 2008) — Mud may be coming to a medicine cabinet or pharmacy near you. Scientists in Arizona report that minerals from clay could form the basis of a new generation of inexpensive, highly-effective antimicrobials for fighting MRSA infections that are moving out of health care settings and into the community. These "superbugs" are increasingly resistant to multiple antibiotics and cause thousands of deaths each year. Unlike conventional antibiotics that are often administered by injection or pills, the so-called "healing clays" could be used as rub-on creams or ointments to keep MRSA infections from spreading, the researchers say. The clays also show promise against a wide range of other harmful bacteria, including those that cause skin infections and food poisoning, the scientists add. Their study, one of the first to explore the antimicrobial activity of natural clays in detail, was presented April 6, at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Clays have been used for thousands of years as a remedy for infected wounds, indigestion, and other health problems, either by applying clay to the skin or eating it. Today, clays are commonly used at health spas in the form of mud baths and facials. Armed with new investigative tools, researchers are beginning to explore their health claims scientifically. "Clays are little chemical drug-stores in a packet," said study co-leader Lynda Williams, Ph.D., a geochemist at Arizona State University in Tempe. "They contain literally hundreds of elements. Some of these compounds are beneficial but others aren't. Our goal is to find out what nature is doing and see if we can find a better way to kill harmful bacteria." In the new study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, Willams and her colleagues collected more than 20 different clay samples from around the world to investigate their antibacterial activities. In collaboration with study co-leader Shelley Haydel, Ph.D., a microbiologist with Arizona State, the researchers tested each of the clays against several different bacteria known to cause human diseases. These bacteria include MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), Mycobacterium ulcerans (a microbe related to the tuberculosis bacterium that causes a flesh-eating disease known as Buruli ulcer), as well as E. coli and Salmonella (which cause food poisoning). The researchers identified at least three clays that killed or significantly reduced the growth of these bacteria. The researchers are working to identify the specific compounds in the clays that may be responsible for its antibacterial activity. Using electron and ion microscopy, the researchers are also exploring how these antibacterial clays interact with the cell membranes of the bacteria in order to find out how they kill. Williams and Haydel are continuing to test new clay samples from around the world to determine their germ-fighting potential. They hope that the more promising clays will be developed into a skin ointment or pill to fight a variety of bacterial infections or possibly as an agricultural wash to prevent food poisoning. Several companies have expressed interest in forming partnerships to develop the clays as antimicrobial agents, the scientists say. But ordinary mud can contain dangerous bacteria as well as toxic minerals like arsenic and mercury, the researchers point out. Until healing clays are developed that are scientifically proven, which could take several years, handwashing and other proper hygiene techniques may be your best bet for keeping MRSA and other harmful bacteria at bay, they say. Adapted from materials provided by American Chemical Society, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

There are 0 additional comments.

Send your news items to be posted to news@prajapati-samaj.ca.

If you have any questions or comments about this web site, send mail to Bhavin Mistry.    
© 1997-2003 Prajaapati Vishva Aashram Foundation.    
Site Design by Helios Logistics Inc.