Women's health and gender-based clinical trials on etoricoxib: methodological gender bias.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine compliance with published good practice guidelines for gender and clinical trials using etoricoxib. The rationale for choosing etoricoxib was that it is widely used by women and there is evidence of potential interaction with contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy as highlighted in the product characteristics. METHODS: The study reviewed 58 etoricoxib published trials (54 papers) to determine if they met the gender recommendations of the Guidelines of Food and Drug Administration (1993) and the Sex, Gender and Pain Special Interest Group Consensus Working Group Report (2007). RESULTS: Women formed 70% of a total of 49 835 subjects included in the etoricoxib trials, but only 31% of the subjects were in Phase I. About 85.7% of trials did not show sex-stratified data. About 90.6 and 93.3% did not provide efficacy and adverse effects data by sex, respectively. There is scarce information about the influence of issues that specifically affect women. Discussion Women are under-represented in the published etoricoxib trials, specifically, in Phase I. Sex-stratified data on efficacy and adverse effects are scarce in etoricoxib trials. Together with the lack of data on women-specific issues, this suggests that etoricoxib may pose the same potential problems for women as other cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors.

Optimization of xanthatin extraction from Xanthium spinosum L. and its cytotoxic, anti-angiogenesis and antiviral properties.

The aqueous extraction of the sesquiterpene lactone xanthatin from Xanthium spinosum L. favours the conversion of xanthinin (1) to xanthatin (2) via the loss of acetic acid. The cytotoxic (Hep-G2 and L1210 human cell lines) and antiviral activities of isolated xanthatin are established. This natural compound shows significant cytotoxicity against the Hep-G2 cell line and our experimental results reveal its strong anti-angiogenesis capacity in vitro. The structure of xanthatin is determined by spectroscopic methods and for the first time confirmed by X-ray diffraction.

Theory of genetic counseling for rare recessive traits with consanguinity.

The theory of assessing genetic risk for rare autosomal recessive traits in the face of extensive consanguinity is explored. A general lemma is proved that justifies the partition of posterior probability and recursive incorporation of it, as a means of reducing the logic of analysis to steps of manageable complexity: the conditions are that either the components should be independent or that each component, as it is added, is conditioned on the occurrence of all earlier components. An example is given of a pedigree in which the tracing of a gene by the method of expected proportions is misleading, and another that points up the importance of the posterior information. Four classes of patterns are identified and appropriate methods devised for handling them: the single consanguineous loop, multiple mutually-external loops, nested loops, and multiple closures. The latter problem may be treated in general by the use of truncated generating functions, with or without the use of matrix methods.

[Effect of somatostatin analog SMS 201-995 on the growth in vitro and in vivo of colonic adenocarcinoma CT 26 in mice]. / Effet de l'analogue de la somatostatine SMS 201-995 sur la croissance in vitro et in vivo de l'adénocarcinome du côlon de souris CT 26.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a somatostatin analog (SMS 201-995), in vitro and in vivo on mice colonic adenocarcinoma cells CT 26. To perform the in vitro study 50,000 neoplasic cells were grown in RPMI 1640 culture medium with different concentrations of SMS and DNA synthesis determination was made. For the in vivo study, 100,000 cells in balb C mice were implanted. Several doses of SMS (200 micrograms/kg/12 h and 100 micrograms/kg/12 h) were given. The weight, size and DNA content of the tumors was determined. No in vitro effect of SMS was demonstrated. Nevertheless, an in vivo inhibition was found for all the parameters studied. A confirmation of these results in other cell lines could point towards possible hormonal manipulation in the treatment of colonic cancer.

Angular homeostasis: IV. Polygonal orbits.

Some properties are discussed of regular polygons that may result from angular homeostatic processes in stable orbit. To characterize these "homeostatic polygons" we need to discuss the winding number, the sidedness (integer, fractional and irrational), multiplicity, envelopes, and density. A regular (i.e., equilateral, equiangular) polygon may be closed in one revolution about its unique center, in multiple revolutions, or not at all. A homeostatic polygon can be generated only if all vertices are included in a single polygon, which occurs if and only if the number of vertices and the number of revolutions required to complete the polygon are relatively prime. For the homeostatic polygon to have a finite number of sides (without repeating itself) the angle subtended by any two successive vertices at the center must be a rational multiple of 2 pi. Biological implications of these properties are illustrated.