Rules v. Standards for Patent Law in the Plant Sciences

This article argues that US patent jurisprudence as applied to the plant sciences is moving to a second stage that will be characterized by more by incremental calibration than by spectacular change. The article discusses two doctrines of patent scope that are likely to be implicated in calibrating the utility patent system for the plant sciences: enablement and experimental use. It considers how those doctrines may be refined to serve as calibration tools in the application of patent law to the plant sciences

Survey on the use of misoprostol for induction of labour among Obstetricians in the west African sub region

Context: Wide spread use of misoprostol is increasingly commoner in our obstetrics and gynaecological practice, most especially for Induction of labour in spite of its serious associated risks of maternal and fetal complicationsObjective: To determine the use of Misoprostol for induction of labour among the Obstetricians in the West African sub region.Methodology and settings: During the October 2007 pre examination workshop of the West African College of Surgeons (FWACS), Faculty of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 42 examiners responded through structuredquestionnaires on the use of misoprostol for induction of labour (IOL) in their institutions of practice. Results: About 91 % admit using misoprostol for IOL with only half (50%) having written protocols for labour induction with misoprostol. Almost all (93%) prefer the vaginal route for the administration of misoprostol andabout 74% do not use misoprostol for those with Caesarean section scar compared to only 19% who do. Misoprostol is used for cervical ripening and control of post partum haemorrhage among 24.4% and 50% of theObstetricians respectively. The commonest complications encountered were Fetal distress, uterine rupture and uterine hyper tonus among 54.8%, 52.4% and 45.2% of the respondents.Conclusions: Misoprostol use was high with yet serious complication occurring among those using it for IOL. Despite the manufacturers and other regulatory agents warning against its use in pregnancy because of serious maternal and fetal complications, misoprostol use for IOL is widespread. A regulated use of this drug especially in pregnancy is advocated

Longitudinal Study on the Performance of U.S. Pharmaceutical Firms: The Increasing Role of Marketing

Nowadays, the U.S. pharmaceutical industry has been under thorough scrutiny. Popular press claims of intensive marketing activities that go beyond R&D, the strong increase of me-too drugs, and, at the same time, the high industry profitability have contributed to public skepticism. Despite this increasing role of marketing, studies on the profitability of pharmaceutical firms mainly focus on the role of R&D. In this paper, we investigate the impact of advertising and product differentiation on pharmaceutical firms’ market value over the period 1971-2005. Especially, we examine whether there has been a change in the pattern of returns in these variables over this period. Our results show that, nowadays, pharmaceutical firms’ performance is not only closely linked to their R&D activities but also to marketing activities such as advertising and product differentiation. Since the 1990s, the return of advertising has become three times larger than that of R&D. In addition, we found that the impact of product differentiation came largely from the introduction of the so called incrementally modified drugs (IMD). The vast increase of the number of IMDs since the 1990s is likely to contribute to this development. Our results emphasize the role of advertising and product differentiation in the virtuous rent-seeking behavior in the pharmaceutical industry.Marketing;Panel data;Advertising;Market value;Pharmaceutical industry;Product differentiation

SWEET FUTURE OF STEVIA: A MAGICAL SWEETENER

  The plant Stevia rebaudiana is mainly found in tropical and subtropical regions from western North America to South America. This genus is having near about 240 species of shrubs and herbs in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). It exhibits various properties such as antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, antiyeast, cardiotonic, diuretic, hypoglycemic, hypotensive tonic, and vasodilator effect. It is an important source of a number of antioxidants, for example, benzoic acid, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, rozmaric acid, protocatechuic acid, salicylic acid, and their derivatives and flavonoids including campherol derivatives, catechin, and its derivatives, epicatechin, luteolin, and its derivatives, rutin, and its derivatives. Day by day, there is remarkable increase in demand of high potency sweeteners. The increasing number of diabetic patients and health conscious individuals would push forward the need for alternatives to sugar. The extract from leaves of Stevia is 200 times sweeter than sugar (glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, and lactose). Stevia is a potential alternative source for replacing artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame, and asulfam

Muse, 2005-11-24

Memorial University of Newfoundland's student newspaper, providing coverage of university life as well as national and international news relating to students.Frequency: biweekly, 1951-present. Not published: March 1954? - April 1955. Includes advertisements

Vascular endothelial growth factor regulates melanoma cell adhesion and growth in the bone marrow microenvironment via tumor cyclooxygenase-2

Background: Human melanoma frequently colonizes bone marrow (BM) since its earliest stage of systemic dissemination, prior to clinical metastasis occurrence. However, how melanoma cell adhesion and proliferation mechanisms are regulated within bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) microenvironment remain unclear. Consistent with the prometastatic role of inflammatory and angiogenic factors, several studies have reported elevated levels of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in melanoma although its pathogenic role in bone marrow melanoma metastasis is unknown. Methods: Herein we analyzed the effect of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor celecoxib in a model of generalized BM dissemination of left cardiac ventricle-injected B16 melanoma (B16M) cells into healthy and bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-pretreated mice to induce inflammation. In addition, B16M and human A375 melanoma (A375M) cells were exposed to conditioned media from basal and LPS-treated primary cultured murine and human BMSCs, and the contribution of COX-2 to the adhesion and proliferation of melanoma cells was also studied. Results: Mice given one single intravenous injection of LPS 6 hour prior to cancer cells significantly increased B16M metastasis in BM compared to untreated mice; however, administration of oral celecoxib reduced BM metastasis incidence and volume in healthy mice, and almost completely abrogated LPS-dependent melanoma metastases. In vitro, untreated and LPS-treated murine and human BMSC-conditioned medium (CM) increased VCAM-1-dependent BMSC adherence and proliferation of B16M and A375M cells, respectively, as compared to basal medium-treated melanoma cells. Addition of celecoxib to both B16M and A375M cells abolished adhesion and proliferation increments induced by BMSC-CM. TNF alpha and VEGF secretion increased in the supernatant of LPS-treated BMSCs; however, anti-VEGF neutralizing antibodies added to B16M and A375M cells prior to LPS-treated BMSC-CM resulted in a complete abrogation of both adhesion-and proliferation-stimulating effect of BMSC on melanoma cells. Conversely, recombinant VEGF increased adherence to BMSC and proliferation of both B16M and A375M cells, compared to basal medium-treated cells, while addition of celecoxib neutralized VEGF effects on melanoma. Recombinant TNFa induced B16M production of VEGF via COX-2-dependent mechanism. Moreover, exogenous PGE2 also increased B16M cell adhesion to immobilized recombinant VCAM-1. Conclusions: We demonstrate the contribution of VEGF-induced tumor COX-2 to the regulation of adhesion-and proliferation-stimulating effects of TNFa, from endotoxin-activated bone marrow stromal cells, on VLA-4-expressingThis work was supported in part by grants from the Basque Country Government (IT-487-07), the ISCIII (ADE09/90041), and the Burdinola Professorship on Molecular Medicin

Vital Signs, December, 1978

An eight page newsletter created by the Boonshoft School of Medicine to document the current affairs of the school. This issue includes a variety of feature articles, a research spotlight, alumni notes, and more.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/med_vital_signs/1055/thumbnail.jp