Short-Term and Medium-Term Prospects of Agricultural Sector in Gujarat – Some Policy Recommendations

By mid-September, 2003 it is becoming clear that Gujarat is likely to experience a bumper crop in the year 2003-04. The State Ministry of Agriculture is looking for some concrete suggestions, advice and policy recommendations to better manage the situation likely to be created by the bumper crop this year. Falling prices in the face of bumper crop can considerably wipe out positive effect on agricultural incomes in the hands of farmers in the State. Short-term measures to avoid such a situation need to be integrated into medium term and long term development strategy for the State agricultural sector. The present paper provides some implementable policy recommendations in this context.

Changing patterns of first medical contact management profile of corneal ulcers in a developing country: a hospital-based study

Background: Infectious keratitis is a major cause of corneal blindness throughout the world. There are guidelines and protocols for management of infectious keratitis, but these are rarely practiced by the treating physician. The aim of this study is to find the first medical contact management profile in a tertiary care Centre in north India and compare it to the previous studies to see the changing patterns of first contact management in our country.Methods: The data for the study was collected by retrospective data review of 100 consecutive patients with infectious keratitis. Various parameters were studied and statistical correlation established, where it was felt necessary. The parameters were age and sex distribution, first medical contact, initial treatment prescribed, time interval for first medical contact, inciting factors for corneal ulcer, bacterial and fungal culture spectrum, visual recovery after medical and surgical treatment.Results: Data review of 100 consecutive patients with infectious keratitis was done. More than 70% of patients were above 40 years of age. In 54% of patients, no inciting agent could be identified. The first medical contact for majority of patients was ophthalmologists in independent practice (48%). Time interval for first contact to any health professional varied from one day to 75 days with mean 4.63 days. Moxifloxacin hydrochloride   eye drops was the most commonly used drug.   Staphylococcus epidermidis was the commonest isolate grown in the culture (38.9%).Conclusions: Early diagnosis and appropriate management of infectious keratitis is important and role of first medical contact of patient is most crucial in final outcome

Zeitgebers (time cues) for biological clocks

The spatial and temporal aspects of the geophysical environment act as prominent selection forces for the evolution of life on this planet. The spatial features of the environment open up a choice of spatial niches and the temporal aspects on the other hand provide opportunities for adopting different temporal niches. Hence, both the spatial and the temporal properties of the environment together enhance the possibility for living organisms to exploit a given ecological niche at a given time of the day. The temporal selection pressures of the geophysical environment are composed of a number of abiotic factors such as light/dark cycles, temperature cycles, humidity cycles, and a range of biotic factors such as inter-individual interactions, interactions with preys, predators and parasites. Although the study of temporal organization in living organisms is relatively a recent phenomenon in biology, we now have access to a fair amount of knowledge about it in a number organisms ranging from cyanobacteria to humans. In this review, we shall focus mainly on three core questions related to timekeeping in living organisms: How are circadian clocks made to oscillate at desired frequencies?; What are the geophysical cycles that fine-tune circadian clocks?; Why are circadian clocks circadian

Relationship between period and phase angle differences in Mus booduga under abrupt versus gradual light-dark transitions

This article does not have an abstract

Sistema de administración de fármacos autoemulsionante: una estrategia para mejorar la biodisponibilidad oral

Objetivo: La vía oral siempre ha sido la ruta preferida de administración de fármacos en muchas enfermedades y hasta hoy es la primera forma investigada en el desarrollo de nuevas formas de dosificación. El principal problema en las formulaciones de fármacos orales es la baja y errática biodisponibilidad, lo que resulta fundamentalmente por la escasa solubilidad en agua, con lo que plantean problemas en su formulación. Para la administración terapéutica de los grupos activos lipófilos (BCS clase II drogas), las formulaciones a base de lípidos están teniendo cada vez más atención. Métodos: Con ese objetivo, a partir de los sitios web de PubMed, HCAplus, Thomson, y sus registros se utilizaron como fuentes principales para llevar a cabo la búsqueda de los artículos de investigación más importantes publicados sobre el tema. A continuación, la información fue analizada cuidadosamente, poniendo de relieve los resultados más importantes en la formulación y desarrollo de sistemas de administración de fármacos auto-emulsionante micro, así como su actividad terapéutica. Resultados: El sistema de administración de fármacos autoemulsionante (SMEDDS) ha ganado más atención debido a la mejorada que permite la reducción de la biodisponibilidad oral en dosis, los perfiles temporales más consistentes de la absorción del fármaco, la orientación selectiva de fármaco (s) hacia la ventana de absorción específica en el tracto gastrointestinal, y la protección del fármaco (s) desde el entorno poco receptivo en el intestino. Conclusiones: Este artículo proporciona una visión completa de SMEDDS como un enfoque prometedor para abordar eficazmente el problema de moléculas poco solubles.Aim: Oral route has always been the favorite route of drug administration in many diseases and till today it is the first way investigated in the development of new dosage forms. The major problem in oral drug formulations is low and erratic bioavailability, which mainly results from poor aqueous solubility, thereby pose problems in their formulation. For the therapeutic delivery of lipophilic active moieties (BCS class II drugs), lipid based formulations are inviting increasing attention. Methods: To that aim, from the web sites of PubMed, HCAplus, Thomson, and Registry were used as the main sources to perform the search for the most significant research articles published on the subject. The information was then carefully analyzed, highlighting the most important results in the formulation and development of self-micro emulsifying drug delivery systems as well as its therapeutic activity. Results: Self-emulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) has gained more attention due to enhanced oral bio-availability enabling reduction in dose, more consistent temporal profiles of drug absorption, selective targeting of drug(s) toward specific absorption window in GIT, and protection of drug(s) from the unreceptive environment in gut. Conclusions: This article gives a complete overview of SMEDDS as a promising approach to effectively deal with the problem of poorly soluble molecules

Diffusion-negative MRI in acute ischemic stroke: a case report

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens