To repel the effect of the evil eye, Senegalese people may wear cowrie shell bracelets. The sea shells are said to absorb the negative energy of the thiat, and gradually darken until the bracelet breaks. It is also common for superstitious people to wear "gris-gris" made by a marabouts to avoid misfortune. Indian subcontinent
India
In the northern states of India, like the Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh, the evil eye is called "nazar" (meaning gaze or vision) or more commonly Buri Nazar. A charm bracelet, tattoo or other object (Nazar battu), or a slogan (Chashme Baddoor (slogan)), may be used to ward off the evil eye. Some truck owners write the slogan to ward off the evil eye: "buri nazar wale tera muh kala" ("O evil-eyed one, may your face turn black"). In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, people call it as Disti or Drusti, while people of Tamil Nadu call it drishti or kannu (translated, means evil eye). The people of Kerala also call it “kannu”, which translates to “eye”. To remove Drishti, people follow several methods based on their culture/area. Items often used are either rock salt, red chilies, white pumpkins, oiled cloth, or lemons coated with kumkuma. People remove Drishti by rotating any one of these items around the affected person. The person who removes it will then burn the item, or discard it in a place where others are not likely to stamp on these items.
Mechanism
In cell biology, actinomycin D is shown to have the ability to inhibit transcription. Actinomycin D does this by binding DNA at the transcription initiation complex and preventing elongation of RNA chain by RNA polymerase. History
Actinomycin D was the first antibiotic shown to have anti-cancer activity. It was first isolated by Selman Waksman and his co-worker H. Boyd Woodruff in 1940. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on December 10, 1964, and launched by Merck Sharp and Dohme under the trade name Cosmegen. Research use
Because actinomycin can bind DNA duplexes, it can also interfere with DNA replication, although other chemicals such as hydroxyurea are better suited for use in the laboratory as inhibitors of DNA synthesis. Actinomycin D and its fluorescent derivative, 7-aminoactinomycin D (7-AAD), are used as stains in microscopy and flow cytometry applications. The affinity of these stains/compounds for GC-rich regions of DNA strands makes them excellent markers for DNA. 7-AAD binds to single stranded DNA; therefore it is a useful tool in determining apoptosis and distinguishing between dead cells and live ones. References
External links
"Dactinomycin". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine.