Metproxybicyclone, a Novel Carbocyclic Aryl-dione Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase-Inhibiting Herbicide for the Management of Sensitive and Resistant Grass Weeds.

Postemergence control of grass weeds has become problematic due to the evolution of resistance to 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase, acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase), and acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicides. Herein we describe the invention and synthesis journey toward metproxybicyclone, the first commercial carbocyclic aryl-dione ACCase-inhibiting herbicide for the cost-effective management of grass weeds in dicotyledonous crops and in preplant burndown applications. Glasshouse and field experiments have shown that metproxybicyclone is safe for use on soybean, cotton, and sugar beet, among other crops. It is effective on a variety of key grass weeds including Eleusine indica, Digitaria insularis, Sorghum halepense, and Echinochloa crus-galli. Importantly, metproxybicyclone was more efficacious at killing resistant grass weed populations than current ACCase herbicides. Metproxybicyclone controlled the main ACCase target-site and nontarget site resistant mechanisms in characterized Lolium multiflorum and E. indica populations under glasshouse conditions. Excellent control of a broad resistance-causing D2078G target-site mutant E. indica population was also observed under field conditions.

Highly selective and sensitive measurement of active forms of FGF21 using novel immunocapture enrichment with LC-MS/MS.

AIM: Recombinant FGF21 analogs are under wide ranging investigations as a potential therapeutic agent for Type 2 diabetes, as well as other metabolic disorders. The endogenous FGF21 is often used as a surrogate pharmacodynamic(PD) biomarker to assess drug efficacy and safety. Results & methodology: Immunocapture was performed using a monoclonal antibody which had been generated to bind to specific domain of native FGF21 as the capture reagent. After immunocapture, enzymatic digestion was performed and a native FGF21-specific tryptic peptide was monitored using LC-MS/MS by selective reaction monitoring. CONCLUSION: We have successfully developed and validated a bioanalytical assay which provides the specificity to differentiate the endogenous FGF21 from the recombinant therapeutic agent which has nearly identical sequence to the endogenous molecule.

Overcoming interference with the detection of a stable isotopically labeled microtracer in the evaluation of beclabuvir absolute bioavailability using a concomitant microtracer approach.

The oral absolute bioavailability of beclabuvir in healthy subjects was determined using a microdose (100µg) of the stable isotopically labeled tracer via intravenous (IV) infusion started after oral dosing of beclabuvir (150mg). To simultaneously analyze the concentrations of the IV microtracer ([13C6]beclabuvir) and beclabuvir in plasma samples, a liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was initially developed. Surprisingly beclabuvir significantly interfered with the IV microtracer detection when using the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) in the assay. An interfering component from the drug substance was observed using a high resolution mass spectrometer (HRMS). The mass-to-charge (m/z) of the interfering component was -32ppm different from the nominal value for the IV microtracer and thus could not be differentiated in the SRM assay by the unit mass resolution. To overcome this interference, we evaluated two approaches by either monitoring an alternative product ion using the SRM assay or isolating the interfering component using the parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) assay on the HRMS. This case study has demonstrated two practical approaches for overcoming interferences with the detection of stable isotopically labeled IV microtracers in the evaluation of absolute bioavailability, which provides users the flexibility in using either LC-MS/MS or HRMS to mitigate unpredicted interferences in the assay to support microtracer absolute bioavailability studies.

Considerations of electronic medications management systems in hospital setting.

Electronic systems that support clinicians in the task of medication management are now being developed and implemented in the hospital setting. Electronic Medications Management Systems provide support to all the stakeholders within the process of medications and support for the patient centric care model. In this paper we discuss the key elements an electronic medications management systems should possess and what type of these key elements it should possess from a clinical/health information manager perspective. Moreover, the paper considers how it could integrate Electronic Medications Management Systems within the current health information architecture with an acute care hospital.

The effect of guanethidine and local anesthetics on the electrically stimulated mouse vas deferens.

UNLABELLED: Complex regional pain syndrome is often treated with the sympatholytic guanethidine and a local anesthetic in a Bier's block. The efficacy of this treatment has been questioned. Because local anesthetics inhibit the norepinephrine uptake transporter, we hypothesized that this variable efficacy results from the local inhibiting the uptake of guanethidine. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by using a sympathetically innervated mouse vas deferens preparation. Organ bath-mounted mouse vasa deferentia were electrically stimulated in the absence and presence of guanethidine, prilocaine, procaine, and cocaine in various combinations. Prilocaine (1 mM) induced an immediate inhibition of twitch response (maximum 100% after 2 min) that fully reversed after washing. Guanethidine (3 microM) also inhibited twitching by 95% +/- 3% in 15 min, but this effect was only partially reversed after 1 h of washing (33% +/- 12% of control). When prilocaine and guanethidine were added in combination, a reversal of 80% +/- 13% (at 1 h) was observed. Procaine (300 micro M) produced a transient increase (152% +/- 14%) in response. When co-incubated with guanethidine (3 microM), the twitch was reduced to 24% +/- 4% of control and was reversed to 77% +/- 7% after 1 h. Cocaine (30 microM) inhibited the twitch response to 53% +/- 8%, which was fully reversed by 1 h of washing. When co-incubated with guanethidine, the response was reduced to 39% +/- 6% of control and was reversed to 86% +/- 10% after 1 h. In all cases, the reversal produced by the combination was significantly more intense (P < 0.05) than that produced by guanethidine alone. Local anesthetics reduce the sympatholytic actions of guanethidine, and this may explain the variable efficacy of guanethidine in the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome. IMPLICATIONS: In this study, with a sympathetically innervated vas deferens preparation, local anesthetics reduced the efficacy of the sympatholytic guanethidine, questioning its co-administration in the pain clinic.