Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, linear dose, crossover study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a green coffee bean extract in overweight subjects

Abstract Backgroun

Fixed dose combinations- to prescribe or not to prescribe: a dilemma of medical profession

Background: Fixed dose combinations (FDCs) refer to products containing two or more ingredients used for a particular indication in a single dosage form. Prescribing FDCs has become a routine affair in medical practice. There has been increase in the irrational FDCs in the recent past by leaps and bounds. The pharmaceutical companies are luring the physicians to prescribe their products even when they are not needed by the patients. The Indian laws too are not properly defined to grant marketing approvals of FDCs. Hence the rationality of a FDC has become one of the most controversial and debatable issues in general practice.Methods: We hence decided to analyze the existing FDCs in Indian market and study their rationality.Results: We observed that, although many brands of FDCs available are essentially rational as per WHO and Indian essential drugs lists, the irrational FDCs easily outnumber the rational ones. Hundreds of rational FDCs are also available which are not included in WHO or Indian essential drugs lists. A few FDCs with incorrect doses were also noted. Irrational FDCs not only cause more adverse drug reactions but the antibiotic FDCs are responsible for increasing the chances of resistance. A few of these are discussed for their irrationality.Conclusions: It is the need of the hour to raise our voice against the growing list of irrational FDCs and try to reduce the magnitude of this problem by sensitizing the undergraduates, the interns as well as the practitioners regarding their efficacy, safety, suitability, rationality and cost benefit

Melittobia digitata dahms (hymenoptera: eulophidae) y monodontomerus mexicanus gahan (hym.: pteromalidae) on a nest of trypoxylon (trypargilum) mexicanum (saussure) (hym.: crabronidae) collected near Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

In a mud-nest built by Trypoxylon mexicanum, collected near Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, we recorded the presence of two parasitoids Monodontomerus mexicanus (Pteromalidae) and Melittobia digitata (Eulophidae), and one ant: Solenopsis geminata (Formicidae). The pteromalid is reported for the first time from Veracruz while the eulophid is reported from Mexico attacking another hymenopteran. The presence of an ant inside an empty cell is possibly just a coincidence.

Development of microsatellite markers for Carapa guianensis (Aublet), a tree species from the Amazon forest.

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All and only CpG containing sequences are enriched in promoters abundantly bound by RNA polymerase II in multiple tissues

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The promoters of housekeeping genes are well-bound by RNA polymerase II (RNAP) in different tissues. Although the promoters of these genes are known to contain CpG islands, the specific DNA sequences that are associated with high RNAP binding to housekeeping promoters has not been described.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>ChIP-chip experiments from three mouse tissues, liver, heart ventricles, and primary keratinocytes, indicate that 94% of promoters have similar RNAP binding, ranging from well-bound to poorly-bound in all tissues. Using all 8-base pair long sequences as a test set, we have identified the DNA sequences that are enriched in promoters of housekeeping genes, focusing on those DNA sequences which are preferentially localized in the proximal promoter. We observe a bimodal distribution. Virtually all sequences enriched in promoters with high RNAP binding values contain a CpG dinucleotide. These results suggest that only transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) that contain the CpG dinucleotide are involved in RNAP binding to housekeeping promoters while TFBS that do not contain a CpG are involved in regulated promoter activity. Abundant 8-mers that are preferentially localized in the proximal promoters and exhibit the best enrichment in RNAP bound promoters are all variants of six known CpG-containing TFBS: ETS, NRF-1, BoxA, SP1, CRE, and E-Box. The frequency of these six DNA motifs can predict housekeeping promoters as accurately as the presence of a CpG island, suggesting that they are the structural elements critical for CpG island function. Experimental EMSA results demonstrate that methylation of the CpG in the ETS, NRF-1, and SP1 motifs prevent DNA binding in nuclear extracts in both keratinocytes and liver.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In general, TFBS that do not contain a CpG are involved in regulated gene expression while TFBS that contain a CpG are involved in constitutive gene expression with some CpG containing sequences also involved in inducible and tissue specific gene regulation. These TFBS are not bound when the CpG is methylated. Unmethylated CpG dinucleotides in the TFBS in CpG islands allow the transcription factors to find their binding sites which occur only in promoters, in turn localizing RNAP to promoters.</p