CONTEXT Lifestyle changes to lose weight can be difficult; hence, both prescription and nonprescription diet products are appealing. Usage patterns of the nonprescription products phenylpropanolamine (PPA) and ephedra are of particular interest because of recent safety concerns. OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of overall and specific nonprescription weight loss product use by demographic...

Modern pollen records have been used to successfully distinguish between specific prairie types in North America. Whether the pollen records can be used to detect the occurrence of Eurasian steppe, or even to further delimit various steppe types was until now unclear. Here we characterized modern pollen assemblages of meadow steppe, typical steppe and desert steppe from eastern Eurasia along an...

Plants used to treat inflammatory ailments, pain, fever and infections in the Pamir Mountains in northeastern Afghanistan, were tested for antibacterial and COX-1 inhibitory activity. Water and ethanol extracts of 20 species were tested for antibacterial activity against two gram positive and two gram negative bacteria. The ethanol extract of Arnebia guttata inhibited Staphylococcus aureus with...

Ergogenic drugs are substances that are used to enhance athletic performance. These drugs include illicit substances as well as compounds that are marketed as nutritional supplements. Many such drugs have been used widely by professional and elite athletes for several decades. However, in recent years, research indicates that younger athletes are increasingly experimenting with these drugs to i...

The accelerating rate of vertebrate extinctions and population declines threatens to disrupt important ecological interactions, altering key ecosystem processes such as animal seed dispersal. The study of highly specialized mutualistic interactions is crucial to predict the consequences of population declines and extinctions. Islands offer unique opportunities to study highly specialized intera...