Marijuana is a commonly abused drug. It is often called pot, grass, weed, reefer, Mary Jane, or buds. Marijuana cigarettes are commonly referred to as joints or spliffs, and the butt of a marijuana cigarette is called a roach. Marijuana can be eaten, brewed in tea, or smoked. In the United States, it is most often smoked in rolled joints, in pipes, or in hollowed-out cigars (blunts).

Immediate effects of marijuana depend on the strength and potency of its main active chemical, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

Some people feel relaxed or high after smoking marijuana. Other people feel no change. The effects can be felt in seconds after inhaling and within 30 to 60 minutes after eating it. Effects last about 2 to 3 hours.

A person who has just had marijuana usually has dilated pupils and may have red, bloodshot eyes. He or she may behave differently, such as seeming to be dizzy and to have trouble walking or being silly and giggly for no reason. After smoking marijuana, some people may feel hungry (commonly referred to as having “the munchies”) or sleepy. Sometimes people have negative effects from marijuana, such as sudden feelings of anxiety or paranoid thoughts.

Many people do not believe that using marijuana is a problem. But marijuana is not a “safe” drug. It causes physical and psychological problems. Marijuana use is harmful because:¹

• Regular use of marijuana can cause problems with memory and affect problem-solving and learning. It can cause mood swings, anxiety, and depression.
• It can damage the lungs, which may lead to breathing problems (such as wheezing and bronchitis).
• It contains many cancer-causing chemicals.
• When under the influence of marijuana, a person may have reduced inhibitions and impaired judgment. He or she may take risks or have an auto accident.
• It can cause lower sperm counts and increased breast size in males (gynecomastia). In females, it can cause menstrual problems.

Frequent, heavy use of marijuana can lead to needing increasing amounts of it to get the same feelings (tolerance) and possibly to dependence (addiction). If daily use is stopped, flu-like withdrawal symptoms and craving for the drug can develop within 24 to 48 hours and last about 2 weeks.

Long-term, regular use of marijuana may contribute to developing some kinds of cancer, breathing problems similar to smoking (cough and wheezing), and a weakened immune system. Long-term heavy use can lead to reduced motivation and to difficulty maintaining attention to what’s going on around you.

Marijuana is strongly absorbed by fatty tissues in various organs of the body. The chemical THC usually can be detected in urine several days after marijuana has been smoked. If marijuana is used heavily, traces of THC may be detected in urine for weeks after use has stopped.

Signs of use

Changes in a person’s behavior that may indicate marijuana use include:

• Withdrawal, fatigue, and depression.
• Carelessness with grooming.
• Hostility and relationship problems.
• Changes in academic performance and increased absenteeism or truancy. Regular use of marijuana affects short-term memory, learning, and attention span.
• Loss of interest in favorite activities, including sports.
• Changes in eating or sleeping habits.

When a teen is using marijuana, the parent may find evidence of the drug and drug paraphernalia, including pipes and rolling papers, in the teen’s bedroom. There may be a noticeable sweet odor on the teen’s clothing. The teen may burn incense or use room deodorizers to get rid of the marijuana smell. The teen may also use eye drops to get rid of bloodshot eyes.

References

Credits

No related posts.

Montana PBS’s new documentary, Clearing the Smoke, reveals how cannabis acts on the brain and in the body to treat nausea, pain, epilepsy and potentially even cancer.

Extensive interviews with patients, doctors, researchers and skeptics detail the promises and the limitations of medicinal cannabis. Even though the video has an American perspective, marijuana use is illegal throughout many countries of the world for reasons that are not clear.

This video is important because it mainly investigates the scientific basis underlying the medical benefits of marijuana use instead of focusing on the social, political and legal hysteria that have been attached to it.

Watch the full documentary now

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Facial expressions have been called the “universal language of emotion,” but people from different cultures perceive happy, sad or angry facial expressions in unique ways, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

“By conducting this study, we hoped to show that people from different cultures think about facial expressions in different ways,” said lead researcher Rachael E. Jack, PhD, of the University of Glasgow. “East Asians and Western Caucasians differ in terms of the features they think constitute an angry face or a happy face.”

The study, which was part of Jack’s doctoral thesis, was published online in APA’s Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Jack is a post-doctoral research assistant, and the study was co-authored by Philippe Schyns, PhD, director of the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Glasgow, and Roberto Caldara, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

Some prior research has supported the notion that facial expressions are a hard-wired human behavior with evolutionary origins, so facial expressions wouldn’t differ across cultures. But this study challenges that theory and used statistical image processing techniques to examine how study participants perceived facial expressions through their own mental representations.

“A mental representation of a facial expression is the image we see in our ‘mind’s eye’ when we think about what a fearful or happy face looks like,” Jack said. “Mental representations are shaped by our past experiences and help us know what to expect when we are interpreting facial expressions.”

Fifteen Chinese people and 15 Caucasians living in Glasgow took part in the study. They viewed emotion-neutral faces that were randomly altered on a computer screen and then categorized the facial expressions as happy, sad, surprised, fearful, disgusted or angry. The responses allowed researchers to identify the expressive facial features that participants associated with each emotion.

The study found that the Chinese participants relied on the eyes more to represent facial expressions, while Western Caucasians relied on the eyebrows and mouth. Those cultural distinctions could lead to missed cues or misinterpreted signals about emotions during cross-cultural communications, the study reported.

“Our findings highlight the importance of understanding cultural differences in communication, which is particularly relevant in our increasingly connected world,” Jack said. “We hope that our work will facilitate clearer channels of communication between diverse cultures and help promote the understanding of cultural differences within society.”

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September 1st, 2011: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning the public that serious allergic reactions have been reported with the use of the antipsychotic medication Saphris (asenapine maleate). The Contraindications, Warnings and Precautions, Adverse Reactions, and Patient Counseling Information sections of the Saphris drug label have been revised to include information about this risk and to inform healthcare professionals that Saphris should not be used in patients with a known hypersensitivity to the drug.

A search of the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) database identified 52 cases of Type I hypersensitivity reactions (allergic reactions) with Saphris use (see Data Summary below). Hypersensitivity reactions can be classified into four categories (Type I to Type IV). Signs and symptoms of Type I hypersensitivity reactions may include anaphylaxis (a life-threatening allergic reaction), angioedema (swelling of the deeper layers of the skin), low blood pressure, rapid heart rate, swollen tongue, difficulty breathing, wheezing, or rash. These signs and symptoms are consistent with the reactions reported in the 52 cases. Several cases reported multiple hypersensitivity reactions occurring at the same time, with some of these reactions occurring after the first dose of Saphris.

Healthcare professionals should be aware of the risk of hypersensitivity reactions with Saphris and counsel patients who are receiving the drug about how to recognize the signs and symptoms of a serious allergic reaction. Saphris should not be used in patients with a known hypersensitivity to the drug.

Patients should seek emergency medical attention immediately if they develop any signs and symptoms of a serious allergic reaction while taking Saphris.

 Additional Information for Patients

Serious allergic reactions have been reported in patients treated with Saphris. Patients should seek emergency medical attention immediately if they develop any signs and symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as:

Difficulty breathing

Swelling of the face, tongue or throat

Feeling lightheaded

Itching

Serious side effects from the use of Saphris should be reported to the FDA MedWatch program.

Additional Information for Healthcare Professionals

Type I hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis and angioedema, have been observed in patients treated with Saphris. In several cases, these reactions occurred after the first dose.

The hypersensitivity reactions included: anaphylaxis, angioedema, hypotension, tachycardia, swollen tongue, dyspnea, wheezing, and rash.

Saphris is contraindicated in patients with a known hypersensitivity to the product.

Patients should be educated to recognize the signs and symptoms of a serious allergic reaction and advised to contact a healthcare professional immediately if they experience any of these symptoms while taking Saphris.

Adverse events involving Saphris should be reported to the FDA MedWatch program.

Data Summary

Saphris (asenapine maleate) was FDA-approved on August 13, 2009. A search of the AERS database from approval through September 7, 2010 identified 52 cases that reported Type I hypersensitivity reactions associated with Saphris use. Reported signs and symptoms included anaphylaxis, angioedema, hypotension, tachycardia, swollen tongue, dyspnea, wheezing, and rash. Some of the cases reported the occurrence of more than one hypersensitivity reaction following Saphris use. Eight cases reported hypersensitivity reactions after just one dose of Saphris. The reactions reported following one dose included possible angioedema, respiratory distress, and possible anaphylaxis.

Type I hypersensitivity reactions typically require a history of previous exposure to the drug. However, the absence of a known prior exposure does not exclude the reaction, because sensitization may have occurred to a cross-reactive compound in the past even if the patient showed no signs of allergy to the sensitizing product. To date, no specific drug has shown cross-reactivity with Saphris.

Of the 52 cases, 15 reported a resolution of symptoms following Saphris discontinuation, while two of these cases reported a reappearance of symptoms upon reintroduction of Saphris. Nineteen of the cases resulted in hospitalization or emergency room visits, and therapeutic interventions were reported in seven cases.

Although many of the cases have limited information, the findings from the cases are consistent with hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis, and support a temporal association between the onset of the reactions and Saphris use.

References

1.SDI, Vector One®: National (VONA). August 2009-June 2011. Data extracted August 2011.

2.SDI, Vector One®: Total Patient Tracker (TPT). August 2009-June 2011. Data extracted August 2011.

Source: Biospace.com

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With miracle diets around every corner, here are the basic rules of weight loss…

To lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit. A weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week is safe. To lose 1 pound a week you need to cut back on 500 calories a day. That is a total of 3500 calories a week. The best way to achieve this is by reducing your calorie intake and increasing calorie expenditure through exercise.

If you do without your 250-calorie chocolate bar and burn 250 calories by running three miles, you will create a calorie deficit of 500 calories. Do this everyday and you will have a deficit of 3500 calories in one week.

How many calories should you consume to lose weight?
To lose weight, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends a minimum consumption of 1200 calories per day. If your calorie consumption is less than 1000 a day, your body is in danger of not receiving an adequate supply of nutrients. The body then enters a state of semi-starvation, lowering the metabolic rate and depleting the body of its energy stores.

When counting calories, is it necessary to consider the nutritional value of foods?
When you plan your meals, look at the caloric content and body’s nutritional requirement simultaneously. The body needs nutrients from various food groups. To lose weight it is best to consume foods such as watermelon, marsh melon, cucumber, bottle gourd, snake gourd, pumpkins since they are light, filling and easy to digest. Also the diet should have fibre-rich food and vegetables as it helps in elimination. The diet should also include low-fat dairy products, white meat over red meat, sprout and wholegrain products. Having a positive mind and right spirit also helps you in knocking those kilos.

Diet plus exercise
Diet plus exercise is the ideal way to lose weight. A sound weight-loss program should include:
Decreased fat consumption
Portion control
High fibre
An active lifestyle
Consistent, sensible eating and exercise habits

Exercise is crucial
Cardiovascular exercises help reduce body fat and burn calories. Also, metabolic rates can increase up to 25 per cent for six to eight hours after a cardiovascular workout. A duration of 30 to 60 minutes of low-impact cardiovascular activity is recommended to lose weight. Examples of low-impact exercises are walking, swimming or cycling.

Strength training improves bone density, builds strength and enhances the metabolism. You can strength train on various types of equipment in a health club, gym or at home. Strength train two to three times per week.

(Inputs from Mumbai-based weight management expert Namita Jain)

Source : TOI

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The meal you choose tonight could mean the difference between counting sheep and getting some serious shut-eye. So order the salmon.

There are certain nutrients in salmon, as well as in beans, yogurt, and spinach that help you sleep better.

Salmon
The healthy fats in this fish (namely docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA for short) may boost levels of the sleep-regulating hormone melatonin.

Beans
Beans and other legumes provide a nice sampling of B vitamins, including B6, B12, and folic acid, all of which help the body regulate sleep cycles and produce relaxing serotonin. In fact, studies have shown that boosting B vitamins may help people with insomnia.

Low-fat yogurt
Yogurt is a good source of calcium and magnesium – two important sleep-supporting minerals that together help you fall asleep faster and ratchet up your deep-sleep time. And skimping on both may lead to muscle cramps, higher stress levels, and worse sleep.

Spinach
Dark leafy greens are a great source of iron – a nutrient that may help protect against the sleep robber known as restless legs syndrome.

Source: TOI

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About This Webinar

Imaging is one of the key technologies that are enabling advances in well-based screening studies, and multilabeled detection using plate-reading technologies is the foundation of screening platforms for drug discovery. As lead generation seeks to become more targeted and more clinically relevant, we see trends at all levels of automation as well as a movement from classical high throughput screens using overexpressing cell lines, to the use of phenotypic cell lines, high content analysis, and miniaturization. In this webinar, the second in a series of three exploring imaging from cell to well to animal, our panelists will focus on the use of well-based imaging technology now and in the future. They will consider the role of screening in providing unbiased, statistically relevant data and the challenges faced in data management and image analysis. They will also explore the developing trends in establishing collaborations with academia and outsourcing through external organizations and the benefits that these links bring to the advancement of disease research.

During the webinar, our panelists will:

• Consider the application of new technologies in drug discovery
• Discuss the challenges faced when using well-based imaging
• Examine how academic-industry collaborations might drive discovery
• Answer a selection of questions provided by webinar viewers.

Register Now at:
www.sciencemag.org/webinar

Speakers

David W. Andrews, Ph.D.
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario

Jeremy Simpson, Ph.D.
University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

For more information and complimentary registration visit: www.sciencemag.org/webinar

Date:  Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Time: 12 noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific, 4 p.m. GMT, 5 p.m. UK

Duration: 1 hour

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Mass Spectrometry

Angela K. Goodenough, Ph.D. Research Investigator II Bioanalytical and Discovery Analytical Sciences Research and Development Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

Abstract

Proteins and peptides are widely used as biomarkers of disease state, as drug targets, and as biotherapeutics. Multiple MS approaches have been developed for the quantification of proteins, but often suffer from challenges such as extensive sample preparation, long chromatographic run times, and poor selectivity and/or sensitivity. We examined the use of high resolution, accurate mass experiments for the quantification of model proteins from plasma using a suitable isotopically labeled internal standard following overnight digestion with trypsin. Detailed discussions on the results and the benefits/ limitations of high resolution, accurate mass experiments vs. nominal mass analyses are presented.

For full article:

http://www.americanpharmaceuticalreview.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ContentID=7349

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Incredible as it may seem, water is quite possibly the single most important catalyst in losing weight and keeping it off.

Water supresses the appetite naturally and helps the body metabolize stored fat. Studies have shown that a decrease in water intake will cause fat deposits to increase, while an increase in water intake can actually reduce fat deposits.

Here’s why: The kidneys can’t function properly without enough water. When they don’t work to capacity, some of their load is dumped onto the liver. One of the liver’s primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy for the body. But if the liver has to do some of the kidney’s work it can’t operate at full throttle. As a result, it metabolizes less fat more fat remains stored in the body and weight loss stops.

Drinking enough water is the best treatment for fluid retention.

Diuretics offer a temporary solution at best. They force out stored water along with some essential nutrients.

The best way to overcome the problem of water retention is to give your body what it needs — plenty of water. The more salt you eat the more water your system retains to dilute it. But getting rid of unneeded salt is easy — just drink more water.

The overweight person needs more water than a thin one.

Water can help relieve constipation. When the body gets too little water, it siphons what it needs from internal sources.

How much water is enough? On the average, a person should drink eight 8-ounce glasses every day. That’s about 2 quarts. The amount you drink also should be increased if you exercise briskly or if the weather is hot and dry.

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Webinar Description:

Label-free technologies have gained wide acceptance in both academic research settings and in drug discovery laboratories in recent years. With the advent of faster and more accurate label-free technologies, and their pairing with traditional systems for labeled detection, the use of highly sensitive medium to high throughput cellular and biochemical assays in microplate format is now routinely possible.  This advance offers scientists a fuller picture of their system under study and speeds the screening of compounds for drug discovery. This webinar will explore in depth the pros and cons of combining traditional label technologies with label-free assays, a so-called orthogonal approach.

During the webinar, our panelists will:

• Provide an overview of the various label-free technologies available
• Discuss how label-free technologies can be applied in drug discovery research
• Share their experience using a combination of label-free and traditional labeled detection systems
• Answer questions from webinar viewers live and in real time.

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Even if you drink diet soda — instead of the sugar variety — you could still have a much higher risk of vascular events compared to those who don’t drink soda, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2011.

In findings involving 2,564 people in the large, multi-ethnic Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS), scientists said people who drank diet soda every day had a 61 percent higher risk of vascular events than those who reported no soda drinking.

“If our results are confirmed with future studies, then it would suggest that diet soda may not be the optimal substitute for sugar-sweetened beverages for protection against vascular outcomes,” said Hannah Gardener, Sc.D., lead author and epidemiologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Fla.

In separate research using 2,657 participants also in the Manhattan study, scientists found that high salt intake, independent of the hypertension it causes, was linked to a dramatically increased risk of ischemic strokes (when a blood vessel blockage cuts off blood flow to the brain).

In the study, people who consumed more than 4,000 milligrams (mg) per day of sodium had more than double the risk of stroke compared to those consuming less than 1,500 mg per day.

At the start of both studies, researchers assessed diet by a food frequency questionnaire.

NOMAS is a collaboration of investigators at Columbia University in New York and Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, launched in 1993 to examine stroke incidence and risk factors in a multi-ethnic urban population. A total of 3,298 participants over 40 years old (average age 69) were enrolled through 2001 and continue to be followed. Sixty-three percent were women, 21 percent were white, 24 percent black and 53 percent Hispanic.

In the soda study, researchers asked subjects at the outset to report how much and what kind of soda they drank. Based on the data, they grouped participants into seven consumption categories: no soda (meaning less than one soda of any kind per month); moderate regular soda only (between one per month and six per week), daily regular soda (at least one per day); moderate diet soda only; daily diet soda only; and two groups of people who drink both types: moderate diet and any regular, and daily diet with any regular.

During an average follow-up of 9.3 years, 559 vascular events occurred (including ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by rupture of a weakened blood vessel). Researchers accounted for participants’ age, sex, race or ethnicity, smoking status, exercise, alcohol consumption and daily caloric intake. And even after researchers also accounted for patients’ metabolic syndrome, peripheral vascular disease and heart disease history, the increased risk persisted at a rate 48 percent higher.

In the sodium research, 187 ischemic strokes were reported during 9.7 years of follow-up. Stroke risk, independent of hypertension, increased 16 percent for every 500 mg of sodium consumed a day, the scientists calculated. Those figures included adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, alcohol use, exercise, daily caloric intake, smoking status, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and previous heart disease.

Only a third of participants met the current U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans that recommend daily sodium intake fall below 2,300 mg, or about a teaspoon of salt, Gardener said. Only 12 percent of subjects met the American Heart Association’s recommendations to consume less than 1,500 mg a day. Average intake was 3,031 milligrams.

“The take-home message is that high sodium intake is a risk factor for ischemic stroke among people with hypertension as well as among those without hypertension, underscoring the importance of limiting consumption of high sodium foods for stroke prevention,” Gardener said.

Participants’ reporting their dietary behavior is a key limitation of both studies, Gardener said.

In the soda study, investigators also lacked data on types of diet and regular drinks consumed, preventing analysis of whether variations among brands or changes over time in coloring and sweeteners might have played a role.

Co-authors for the soda study are: Tatjana Rundek, M.D., Ph.D.; Clinton Wright, M.D., M.S.; Julio Vieira, B.A.; Mitchell S. Elkind, M.D., M.S.; and Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., M.S.

Co-authors for the sodium study are: Rundek; Wright; Norbelina Disla, B.A.; Elkind; and Sacco. Author disclosures are on the abstract.

Funding for both studies was provided by a Javits award from The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute.

Statements and conclusions of study authors that are presented at American Heart Association scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect association policy or position. The association makes no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at www.heart.org/corporatefunding.

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Drinking fat free milk instead of a fruit drink at breakfast helps you feel fuller and eat less at lunchtime, according to a new study.

During the study, Australian researchers found that drinking fat free milk in the morning helped increase satiety, or a feeling of fullness, and led to decreased calorie intake at the next meal, as compared with a fruit drink.

The milk drinkers ate about 50 fewer calories (or nearly 9 percent less food) at lunch.

In the study, 34 overweight but otherwise healthy men and women participated in two testing sessions – one in which they were served about 20 ounces of fat free milk, and one in which they were served the same amount of a fruit drink (both beverages contributed about 250 calories to the breakfast meal).

During the four hours between breakfast and lunch, the men and women gauged their feelings of fullness and were allowed to eat until comfortably full at lunch.

The researchers found that the milk-drinking adults reported feeling fuller, more satisfied and therefore ate fewer calories at lunch.

The researchers suspect that milk’s protein content, the lactose or simply the thickness of the beverage may play a role in the satiety benefits.

Choosing foods that can help enhance satiety is an important success factor in any weight management plan, the researchers suggest.

The study has been published in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Note:

The fat in whole milk prevents osteoporosis in women, helps healthy brain development of the growing foetus in a pregnant woman and has numerous other nutritional benefits as well that fat-free milk lacks.It’s also a proven fact that milk protein keeps one slim. S0, I would suggest you to go with full fat milk instead .

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Dear Members,

PHARMACY e-BOOKS wishes you a happy and prosperous new year 2011. Thank you.

Regards

Administrator

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A lot of what’s written about science careers focuses on the career options available to individuals or how to apply for jobs when you’re ready to go on the market. The reality, of course, is that we should be thinking about our career long before that point. This booklet looks at the steps you can take throughout your training to better prepare for your career. Whether you’re considering which internship opportunity to pursue, what sort of graduate school experience you might be interested in, or what to expect in your postdoc position, there’s information in this booklet for you.

Click here to download

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Hello everyone! Hope you are enjoying holidays . It has been ages we published content into website. Sorry for that! Because we kinda stuck with finding new web-host and all. Previous web-host was getting on our nerves earlier, in the month of November. We had faced serious downtime and lost our credibility on google and some other search engines . Gladly! Now everything going smoothly because of stablehost, hope this will stay for longer.  I would recommend them to anyone with 100% confidence . Well, time to full stop our sad story and continue with new one. We again started running forums with a caption – Bringing bright minds together . We used to run forums earlier but due to a lot of spam we had to shutdown it. But now we have taken lot of security measures to cut down the spam and deliver spam immune discussion board to our readers. Join in our forums and participate in live discussions, please. Feel it like yours and take responsibility for every action. Make our community big and shout to the world that we are strong .

Following are to links to forum and registration:

Forums link – http://pharmacyebooks.com/forums

You can get to forums either by clicking here or by clicking ‘community’ tab at the top right hand side of the menu.

Registration link: http://pharmacyebooks.com/forums/member.php?action=register

Any suggestion and feedback is much appreciated. Even there is a section in forums on this topic. Post your comment over there, please.

If you are interested! we are looking for moderators for all sections in the forums. We are happy to offer you moderator privileges to your section of interest.

Apply for Moderator: Contact us.

Choose your section and contact us why you are interested?

Oh! Forgot to say. Happy Holidays and Merry Xmas

Thank you for your time and your registration is much appreciated.

Regards

PeB Team.

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Antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables such as carrots can help slow down sight loss in older adults, say scientists.

In a five-year study, scientists in Belfast and Waterford showed that the intake of high levels of both carotenoids – rich antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables – preserved macular pigments, slowing down the progression from early to late age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

AMD is an incurable eye disease which causes blurring of central vision because of its effects on the macula, the central part of the retina.

To reach the conclusion, Professor Usha Chakravarthy, from the Queen’s University Centre of Vision and Vascular Science, looked at nutritional supplements for patients with AMD and found they helped sharpen vision.

More than 400 people with an average age of 77 took part in clinical trials investigating whether carotenoids could prevent progression to the more serious late AMD, reports Sky News.

The supplement contained the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, combined with vitamins C, E and zinc.

These findings are important because this is the first randomised controlled clinical trial to document a beneficial effect through improved function and maintained macular pigment.

Further research is needed to confirm these findings and to identify the numbers needed to treat to prevent one case from progressing from early to late AMD.

- Prof Chakravarthy

Source: TOI

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A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written material.

Most pharmaceutical companies pay both professional writers to produce papers and then pay other scientists or physicans to attach their names to these papers before they are published in a medical or scientific journals.

So, is such information produced by ghostwriters legit? Is it reliable?

Do ghost writers have the necessary skill and knowledge to deduce pharmaceutical data and draw fruitful, true conclusions ?

I doubt so.

Recently, pharmaceutical ghost writing has attracted scrutiny from the lay press and from lawmakers, as well. It is permitted at some institutions, including the University of Washington School of Medicine, while it is prohibited and considered a particularly pernicious form of plagiarism at others, such as Tufts University School of Medicine.

Some university and college students hire ghostwriters from essay mills to write entrance essays, term papers, and theses and dissertations. In the 2000s, many essay mills began offering online services. The most basic ‘essay mill’ service is the sale of a previously written essay. However, since submitting a previously written essay is risky, a ‘customized’ essay-writing service is available for a higher price, often reaching $50 per page.

Universities have developed several strategies to combat this type of academic fraud. Some professors require students to submit electronic versions of their term papers, so that the text of the essay can be compared against databases of essays that are known to have been written by essay mills. Other universities allow professors to give students oral examinations on papers which a professor believes to be ‘ghostwritten’; if the student is unfamiliar with the content of an essay that they have submitted, then the student can be charged with academic fraud. However, ghost writing services in the academic field have become a strong source of income for many with an acumen for writing especially in the ‘customised’ category. Irrespective of the ethical questions, the ghostwriter is not involved in anything illegal.

In the case of a ghostwritten doctoral dissertation or other award for academic merit, the client falsely presenting the work of another as his own may be defrauding both the institution awarding him the degree and anyone in the future who pays him on the basis of his having earned a PhD degree.

Now the question must be asked. Is ghost writing a good practice or bad?

Few people say it is a synonym for “plagiarism”. Few say it is a scientific misconduct. Whatever may be the opinion, it is surely a recipe for disaster. Research in Science and technology has to be fair and transparent. There are many incidents that can be quoted, pointing us towards ghost writing.

For example, according to a website ( http://news.aapc.com/index.php/2009/01/congress-cracks-down-on-pharmaceutical-ghostwriting/) ,  “Wyeth, the pharmaceutical company that makes hormone replacement drugs Prempro and Premarin, is accused of using ghostwriters to write medical journal articles favoring its hormone replacement therapy (HRT) Prempro. Wyeth hired the medical coding company, DesignWrite Inc., to write articles related to Wyeth products and breast cancer risks, according to Congressional letters released from Sen. Charles Grassley”.

Many such ghost writing stories are everywhere in the net. If such allegations are true, then the reliability of the person or company must be questioned. These individuals or companies would have falsified data to move the drug up in the ladder of clinical trails form Phase I to IV. In such case the efficacy of the drug candidate becomes dubious.

Potential  catastrophes await, if such bad manipulated literature is left to circulate in the pharma sector.

Please post your comments and ideas on pharmaceutical ghost writing. What do you think of this whole phenomenon?

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Artificial Neural Networks!

Sounds Complicated, isn’t it?

Yes, it is complicated. But there is a recent surge of pharmaceutical activity in this field of research.

Pharmaceutical scientists are finding new ways to integrate fast developing computer technologies into pharmaceutical research. In this article I have tried to outline a crude analogy to compare this field of research to neural networks in human body. This field of study is vast and needs mathematical approach to fully understand and appreciate the beauty of this approach.

Artifcial Neural Networks (ANNs) are computational modeling tools that have recently emerged and found extensive acceptance in many disciplines for modeling complex real-world problems. ANNs may be defned as structures comprised of densely interconnected adaptive simple processing elements (called artifcial neurons or nodes) that are capable of performing massively parallel computations for data processing and knowledge representation.

Although ANNs are drastic abstractions of the biological counterparts, the idea of ANNs is not to replicate the operation of the biological systems but to make use of what is known about the functionality of the biological networks for solving complex problems. The attractiveness of ANNs comes from the remarkable information processing characteristics of the biological system such as

• nonlinearity,
• high parallelism,
• robustness,
• fault
• failure tolerance,
• learning,
• ability to handle imprecise and fuzzy information,
• and their capability to generalize.

Artifcial models possessing such characteristics are desirable because

1. nonlinearity allows better ?t to the data,
2. noise-insensitivity provides accurate prediction in the presence of uncertain data and measurement errors,
3. high parallelism implies fast processing and hardware failure-tolerance,
4. learning and adaptivity allow the system to update (modify) its internal structure in response to changing environment, and
5. generalization enables application of the model to unlearned data. The main objective of ANN-based computing (neurocomputing) is to develop mathematical algorithms that will enable ANNs to learn by mimicking information processing and knowledgeacquisition in the human brain.

ANN-based models are empirical in nature, how-ever they can provide practically accurate solutionsfor precisely or imprecisely formulated problems and for phenomena that are only understood through experimental data and field observations. In microbiology, ANNs have been utilized in a variety of applications ranging from modeling, classification, pattern recognition, and multivariate data analysis.

Sample applications include:

1. interpreting pyrolysis mass spectrometry, GC, and HPLC data,
2. pattern recognition of DNA, RNA, protein structure, and microscopic images,
3. prediction of microbial growth, biomass, and shelf life of food products, and
4. identifcation of microorganisms and molecules.

The objective of this article is to provide a preliminary understanding of ANNs and answer the why and when these computational tools are needed, the motivation behind their development, and their relation to biological systems and other modeling methodologies, the various learning rules and ANN types, computations involved, design considerations, application to real-world problems, and advantages and limitations.

ANNs and biological neural networks

Because the biological neuron is the basic building block of the nervous system, its operation will be
briefly discussed for understanding artifcial neuron operation and the analogy between ANNs and bio-logical networks.

Biological neuron:

The human nervous system consists of billions of neurons of various types and lengths relevant to their location in the body . Figure down below shows a schematic of an oversimplifed biological neuron with three major functional units — dendrites, cell body, and axon. The cell body has a nucleus that contains information about heredity traits, and a plasma that holds the molecular equipment used for producing the material needed by the neuron . The dendrites receive signals from other neurons and pass them over to the cell body.

Total receiving area of the dendrites of a typical neuron is approximately 0.25 mm . The axon, which branches into collaterals, receives signals from the cell body and carries them away through the synapse (a microscopic gap) to the dendrites of neighboring neurons.A schematic illustration of the signal transfer be-tween two neurons through the synapse is shown in Figure. An impulse, in the form of an electric signal,travels within the dendrites and through the cell body travels within the dendrites and through the cell body towards the pre-synaptic membrane of the synapse. Upon arrival at the membrane, a neurotransmitter (chemical) is released from the vesicles in quantities proportional to the strength of the incoming signal. The neurotransmitter diffuses within the synaptic gap towards the post-synaptic membrane, and eventually into the dendrites of neighboring neurons, thus forcing them (depending on the threshold of the receiving neuron) to generate a new electrical signal.The generated signal passes through the second neuron(s) in a manner identical to that just described.

The amount of signal that passes through a receiving neuron depends on the intensity of the signal emanating from each of the feeding neurons, their synaptic strengths, and the threshold of the receiving neuron. Because a neuron has a large number of dendrites /synapses, it can receive and transfer many signals simultaneously. These signals may either assist (ex-cite) or inhibit the firing of the neuron. This simplifed mechanism of signal transfer constituted the fundamental step of early neuro-computing development and the operation of the building unit of ANNs.

Analogy:

The crude analogy between artifcial neuron and biological neuron is that the connections between nodes represent the axons and dendrites, the connection weights represent the synapses, and the threshold approximates the activity in the soma . The following Figure illustrates n biological neurons with various signals of intensity ‘x’ and synaptic strength ‘w’ feeding into a neuron with a threshold of b, and the equivalent artifcial neurons system. Both the biological network and ANN learn by incrementally adjusting the magnitudes of the weights or synapses’ strengths.

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