Aging and Energetics\u27 \u27Top 40\u27 Future Research Opportunities 2010-2013

Background: As part of a coordinated effort to expand our research activity at the interface of Aging and Energetics a team of investigators at The University of Alabama at Birmingham systematically assayed and catalogued the top research priorities identified in leading publications in that domain, believing the result would be useful to the scientific community at large. Objective: To identify research priorities and opportunities in the domain of aging and energetics as advocated in the 40 most cited papers related to aging and energetics in the last 4 years. Design: The investigators conducted a search for papers on aging and energetics in Scopus, ranked the resulting papers by number of times they were cited, and selected the ten most-cited papers in each of the four years that include 2010 to 2013, inclusive. Results: Ten research categories were identified from the 40 papers. These included: (1) Calorie restriction (CR) longevity response, (2) role of mTOR (mechanistic target of Rapamycin) and related factors in lifespan extension, (3) nutrient effects beyond energy (especially resveratrol, omega-3 fatty acids, and selected amino acids), 4) autophagy and increased longevity and health, (5) aging-associated predictors of chronic disease, (6) use and effects of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), (7) telomeres relative to aging and energetics, (8) accretion and effects of body fat, (9) the aging heart, and (10) mitochondria, reactive oxygen species, and cellular energetics. Conclusion: The field is rich with exciting opportunities to build upon our existing knowledge about the relations among aspects of aging and aspects of energetics and to better understand the mechanisms which connect them

Analysis of French generic medicines retail market: why the use of generic medicines is limited

The market share of generic medicines in France is low compared to other European countries. This perspective paper provides an overview of the generic medicines retail market in France and how the current policy environment may affect the long-term sustainability. Looking at the French generic medicines retail market and the surrounding regulatory framework, all conditions seem to be in place to create a healthy generic medicines market: the country has well-respected regulatory authorities, generic medicines enter the market in a timely manner and prices of generic medicines are competitive compared with other European countries. Despite the success of the demand-side policies targeted at pharmacists and patients, those targeted at physicians were less successful due to a lack of enforcement and a lack of trust in generic medicines by French physicians. Recommendations to increase the use of generic medicines in France round off this perspective paper

Cloning and expression analysis of insulin-like growth factor I and II in liver and muscle of sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, L) during long-term fasting and refeeding.

The exceptionally fast growth that fish experience after periods of fasting has been called 'compensatory growth' or 'catch-up' growth. This phenomenon, reported in a wide range of fish species, has been studied in intensive aquaculture as a means of enhancing feed conversion efficiency, but the mechanisms implicated are complex and not yet fully understood. In the present study, the authors describe the cloning and sequencing of the complete coding sequences of sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II), which are potent mitogens known to play important roles in growth and development. Sea bass IGF-I has an open reading frame (ORF) of 561 bp that encodes a mature protein of 187 amino acids, whereas IGF-II has an ORF of 648 bp encoding a mature protein of 216 amino acids. At the amino acid level, sea bass IGF-I shares a 30% similarity with IGF-II. The authors then report the pattern of IGF-I and IGF-II gene expression in liver and myotomal muscle in response to prolonged fasting and refeeding. Nutritional status significantly influenced IGF-I messenger RNA copy number in both liver and muscle, inducing a down-regulation during fasting and an up-regulation during the recovery from fasting. The trend of IGF-II response was similar, but different feeding regimens did not affect the amounts of transcript as sharply as in IGF-I. Taken together these data indicate that IGF-I and IGF-II participate in promoting sea bass muscle compensatory growth induced by refeeding