The use of compatibilizer and nanoclay in polymer blends may lead to a high performance material which combines the advantages of compatibilized polymer blends and the merits of polymer nanocomposites. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 123: 1801-1811, 2012″
“Background: The choice of appropriate artemisinin-based combination therapy depends on several factors (cost, efficacy, safety,

reinfection rate and simplicity of administration). To assess whether the combination dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) could be an alternative to artemether-lumefantrine (AL), the efficacy and the tolerability of the two products for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum PD98059 concentration malaria in sub-Saharan Africa have been compared.

Methods: A multicentric open randomized controlled clinical trial of three-day treatment of DP against AL for the treatment of two parallel groups

of patients aged two years and above and suffering from uncomplicated falciparum malaria was carried out in Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal. Within each group, patients were randomly assigned supervised treatment. DP was given once a day for three days and AL twice a day for three days. Follow-up visits were performed on day 1 to 4 and on day 7, 14, 21, 28 to evaluate clinical and parasitological results. The primary endpoint was the recovery rate by day 28.

Results: Of 384 patients enrolled, 197 were assigned DP and 187 AL. The recovery rates adjusted by genotyping, 99.5% in the DP group and 98.9% in the AL group, were not statistically different (p = 0.538). No Early Therapeutic Failure (ETF) was observed. At day 28, two patients in the DP group Fedratinib and five in AL group had recurrent parasitaemia with Plasmodium falciparum. In the DP group, after PCR genotyping, one of the two recurrences was classified as a new infection

and the other as recrudescence. In AL group, two recurrences were classified after correction by PCR as recrudescence. All cases of recrudescence were classified as Late Parasitological Failure (LPF). In each group, a rapid recovery from fever and parasitaemia was noticed. More than 90% of patients did no longer present fever or parasitaemia 48 hours after treatment. Both drugs were well tolerated. Indeed, no serious adverse CDK assay events were reported during the follow-up period. Most of the adverse events which developed were moderate and did not result in the treatment being stopped in either treatment group.

Conclusions: Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine was as effective and well-tolerated as artemether-lumefantrine in the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria. In addition, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, a single daily dose, could be an advantage over artemether-lumefantrine in Africa because of better treatment observance.”
“Drought at the reproductive stage is a major constraint to pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] productivity.