This article is a clinical guide which discusses the “state-of-the-art” usage of the classic monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) antidepressants (phenelzine, tranylcypromine, and isocarboxazid) in modern psychiatric practice. The guide is for all clinicians, including those who may not be experienced MAOI prescribers. It discusses indications, drug-drug interactions, side-effect management, and the safety of various augmentation strategies. There is a clear and broad consensus (more than 70 international expert endorsers), based on 6 decades of experience, for the recommendations herein exposited. They are based on empirical evidence and expert opinion—this guide is presented as a new specialist-consensus standard. The guide provides practical clinical advice, and is the basis for the rational use of these drugs, particularly because it improves and updates knowledge, and corrects the various misconceptions that have hitherto been prominent in the literature, partly due to insufficient knowledge of pharmacology. The guide suggests that MAOIs should always be considered in cases of treatment-resistant depression (including those melancholic in nature), and prior to electroconvulsive therapy—while taking into account of patient preference. In selected cases, they may be considered earlier in the treatment algorithm than has previously been customary, and should not be regarded as drugs of last resort; they may prove decisively effective when many other treatments have failed. The guide clarifies key points on the concomitant use of incorrectly proscribed drugs such as methylphenidate and some tricyclic antidepressants. It also illustrates the straightforward “bridging” methods that may be used to transition simply and safely from other antidepressants to MAOIs.

Temporal changes in factors that contribute to the competitiveness of Florida beggarweed in peanuts were studied in 1986 and 1987. Florida beggarweed leaves were unifoliolate to the ninth node and trifoliolate thereafter. Peanuts grew taller than Florida beggarweed until the R-3 stage of peanuts, after which Florida beggarweed height increased logarithmically. Florida beggarweed branching was suppressed by the peanut canopy until the weed overtopped the peanuts. Florida beggarweed dry weight was reduced 80% by peanuts compared with Florida beggarweed grown alone. Peanuts reduced Florida beggarweed leaf area and canopy area. Percent light attenuation as a function of Florida beggarweed canopy area was described by the equation Y = lnX/25.5. Peanut yields in 60 cm of row on either side of a single Florida beggarweed plant were reduced 19%.

Florida beggarweed seeds were collected in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina from plants differing in morphological characteristics. Seedlings were transplanted into peanut rows in field studies at Tifton, GA, and Jay, FL, in 1986 and 1987, and frequent observations of vegetative and reproductive characteristics were made. The competitiveness of the Florida beggarweed selections was evaluated by comparing pod weights from peanut plants grown in rows adjacent to the individual weed selections with pod weights of weed-free peanuts. There were significant differences among selections of Florida beggarweed in days to maximum height, maximum node formation, maximum branching, and initial flowering and fruiting at both locations. Selection GA-1 generally reached these growth stages earliest, was shorter, narrower, had fewer nodes, and produced less dry matter and fewer seeds than GA-2, which was generally the latest maturing selection. GA-4 produced fewer branches and smaller seeds than the other selections. Peanut pod weights adjacent to Florida beggarweed plants were reduced 12 to 18% in 1986 and 10 to 24% in 1987 compared to weed-free checks. Florida beggarweed selection GA-2 was the most competitive and GA-4 was among the least competitive both years. The variation of measured parameters among Florida beggarweed selections in this study may contribute to the survival and adaptability of this weed with changing environmental conditions, cultural practices, and control measures.

Potassium azide (PA) (112 kg/ha), oxadiazon + 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D) (168 kg/ha + 140 L/ha), dazomet (392 kg/ha), dazomet + chloropicrin (392 + 168 kg/ha), dazomet + 1,3-D (392 kg/ha + 140 L/ha), iodomethane (IM) (336 kg/ha), metam-sodium (MS) (748 L/ha), MS + chloropicrin (748 L/ha + 168 kg/ha), and MS + 1,3-D (748 + 140 L/ha) were evaluated at Jay and Arcadia, FL, in 1998 and 1999 as alternatives to methyl bromide (MeBr) fumigation for the management of common turfgrass weeds. Potassium azide was as effective as MeBr in controlling ‘Coastal’ bermudagrass, yellow and purple nutsedges, alexandergrass, broadleaf signalgrass, tall and sharppod morningglories, and various winter annual broadleaf weeds, but it failed to provide acceptable control of redroot pigweed. 1,3-Dichloropropene + oxadiazon did not control yellow nutsedge, purple nutsedge, or Coastal bermudagrass. Similarly, this combination treatment failed to control carpetweed but did provide 83% control of the winter annual weed species, 71% control of alexandergrass and broadleaf signalgrass, and ≥ 80% control of tall morningglory, sharppod morningglory, and redroot pigweed. Dazomet + combination treatments provided control of Coastal bermudagrass at Jay; however, control of common bermudagrass, alexandergrass, and broadleaf signalgrass was not acceptable at Arcadia. Sedge species control with dazomet + combinations was poor (< 63%) at both sites. Iodomethane, a treatment not yet registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), controlled weedy grass species, sedge species, and broadleaf weeds present at the two locations under different environmental conditions. Metam-sodium alone and MS + chloropicrin, tarped and untarped, and MS + 1,3-D provided acceptable weed control; however, MS + chloropicrin covered with a plastic tarp for 48 h was the best MS treatment. Metam-sodium + chloropicrin, with plastic tarp, controlled weedy grass and broadleaf species equal to MeBr; however, unacceptable sedge species control at Jay and Arcadia was 56 and 79%, respectively. Metam-sodium applied alone failed to control redroot pigweed; however, MS + combinations provided control. These studies confirm that no EPA-registered fumigant alternative to MeBr, applied alone or in combination for preplant turf soil fumigation, exists. Consequently, until such time that an effective alternative is identified, turf managers will be forced to forego fumigation, or they will have to choose a less-effective alternative and accept the consequences of contamination.

Herbicide soil/solution distribution coefficients (Kd) are used in mathematical models to predict the movement of herbicides in soil and groundwater. Herbicides bind to various soil constituents to differing degrees. The universal soil colloid that binds most herbicides is organic matter (OM), however clay minerals (CM) and metallic hydrous oxides are more retentive for cationic, phosphoric, and arsenic acid compounds. Weakly basic herbicides bind to both organic and inorganic soil colloids. The soil organic carbon (OC) affinity coefficient (Koc) has become a common parameter for comparing herbicide binding in soil; however, because OM and OC determinations vary greatly between methods and laboratories, Koc values may vary greatly. This proposal discusses this issue and offers suggestions for obtaining the most accurate Kd, Freundlich constant (Kf), and Koc values for herbicides listed in the WSSA Herbicide Handbook and Supplement.

A peat bed on east-central Graham Island of the Queen Charlotte Islands occurs within a nonglacial fluvial succession that is both overlain and underlain by glacial deposits. Radiocarbon dates of 27,500 ± 400 and 45,700 ± 970 yr B.P. at the top and base of the peat, respectively, indicate that it was deposited during the mid-Wisconsin nonglacial interval. The peat is the first documented mid-Wisconsin organic deposit in northern coastal areas of British Columbia. Three local pollen zones are represented. The lowest zone (PM-1) is restricted to sandy silt directly underlying the dated peat. Very high Cyperaceae and moderate Poaceae pollen percentages characterize zone PM-1, and a variety of other herbs are common, suggesting an open landscape rather than a forested one. The middle zone (PM-2) is characterized by abundant pollen of Picea, Tsuga mertensiana, and Cyperaceae, and also contains pollen of Abies, a genus now absent from the Queen Charlotte Islands. Graham Island probably had extensive forests at this time, but abundant pollen and macrofossils of Cyperaceae and emergent aquatics such as Hippuris vulgaris, Veronica scutellata, Potentilla palustris, and Menyanthes trifoliata indicate that there also were open wetland areas. Zone PM-3 also contains abundant arboreal pollen. Large amounts of Sphagnum spores and Selaginella selaginoides megaspores indicate succession of the wetland area at the sample site to a peat bog. Paleoecological analysis of the data suggests that subalpine vegetation elements were depressed by at least 400 m, probably due to a cooler climate. Probable modern analogs in southeastern Alaska and the presence of Abies (probably A. amabilis) indicate that precipitation was higher on eastern Graham Island during the mid-Wisconsin than at present.

Problems of stratigraphic completeness and poor temporal resolution make analysis of faunal change in terrestrial sequences difficult. The fluvial Neogene Siwalik formations of India and Pakistan are an exception. They contain a long vertebrate record and have good chronostratigraphic control, making it possible to assess the influence of biotic interchange on Siwalik fossil communities. In Pakistan, the interval between 18 and 7 Ma has been most intensively studied and changes in diversity and relative abundance of ruminant artiodactyls and muroid rodents are documented with temporal resolution of 200,000 years. Within this interval, diversity varies considerably, including an abrupt rise in species number between 15 and 13 Ma, followed by a decline in ruminant diversity after 12 Ma and a decline in muroid diversity in two steps at 13 and 10 Ma. Significant changes in relative abundance of taxa include an increase in bovids between 16.5 and 15 Ma, a decrease in tragulids after 9 Ma, and a very abrupt increase in murids at 12 Ma. Megacricetodontine rodents also decrease significantly at 12 Ma, and smaller declines are recorded among myocricetodontine and copemyine rodents after 16 Ma. An increase of dendromurine rodents at 15.5 Ma is also observed. There is also a trend of progressive size increase among giraffoids and bovids throughout the sequence.

We have also investigated relationships between biotic interchange and diversity, body size, and relative abundance, concluding that (1) the rapid increase in ruminant and muroid diversity was largely due to immigration, whereas in situ speciation had only a secondary role; (2) during intervals of increasing diversity, resident lineages did not have higher than average rates of in situ speciation; (3) during intervals with rising diversity, greater extinction did not accompany increased immigration; (4) during intervals with falling diversity, there may have been greater extinction in recently invading lineages; and (5) change in diversity was independent of changes in relative abundance and body size.

The Siwalik formations of northern Pakistan consist of deposits of ancient rivers that existed throughout the early Miocene through the late Pliocene. The formations are highly fossiliferous with a diverse array of terrestrial and freshwater vertebrates, which in combination with exceptional lateral exposure and good chronostratigraphic control allows a more detailed and temporally resolved study of the sediments and faunas than is typical in terrestrial deposits. Consequently the Siwaliks provide an opportunity to document temporal differences in species richness, turnover, and ecological structure in a terrestrial setting, and to investigate how such differences are related to changes in the fluvial system, vegetation, and climate. Here we focus on the interval between 10.7 and 5.7 Ma, a time of significant local tectonic and global climatic change. It is also the interval with the best temporal calibration of Siwalik faunas and most comprehensive data on species occurrences. A methodological focus of this paper is on controlling sampling biases that confound biological and ecological signals. Such biases include uneven sampling through time, differential preservation of larger animals and more durable skeletal elements, errors in age-dating imposed by uncertainties in correlation and paleomagnetic timescale calibrations, and uneven taxonomic treatment across groups. We attempt to control for them primarily by using a relative-abundance model to estimate limits for the first and last appearances from the occurrence data. This model also incorporates uncertainties in age estimates. Because of sampling limitations inherent in the terrestrial fossil record, our 100-Kyr temporal resolution may approach the finest possible level of resolution for studies of vertebrate faunal changes over periods of millions of years.

Approximately 40,000 specimens from surface and screenwash collections made at 555 localities form the basis of our study. Sixty percent of the localities have maximum and minimum age estimates differing by 100 Kyr or less, 82% by 200 Kyr or less. The fossils represent 115 mammalian species or lineages of ten orders: Insectivora, Scandentia, Primates, Tubulidentata, Proboscidea, Pholidota, Lagomorpha, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, and Rodentia. Important taxa omitted from this study include Carnivora, Elephantoidea, and Rhinocerotidae. Because different collecting methods were used for large and small species, they are treated separately in analyses. Small species include insectivores, tree shrews, rodents, lagomorphs, and small primates. They generally weigh less than 5 kg.

The sediments of the study interval were deposited by coexisting fluvial systems, with the larger emergent Nagri system being displaced between 10.1 and 9.0 Ma by an interfan Dhok Pathan system. In comparison to Nagri floodplains, Dhok Pathan floodplains were less well drained, with smaller rivers having more seasonally variable flow and more frequent avulsions. Paleosol sequences indicate reorganization of topography and drainage accompanying a transition to a more seasonal climate. A few paleosols may have formed under waterlogged, grassy woodlands, but most formed under drier conditions and more closed vegetation.

The oxygen isotopic record also indicates significant change in the patterns of precipitation beginning at 9.2 Ma, in what may have been a shift to a drier and more seasonal climate. The carbon isotope record demonstrates that after 8.1 Ma significant amounts of C4 grasses began to appear and that by 6.8 Ma floodplain habitats included extensive C4 grasslands. Plant communities with predominantly C3 plants were greatly diminished after 7.0 Ma, and those with predominantly C4 plants, which would have been open woodlands or grassy woodlands, appeared as early as 7.4 Ma.

Inferred first and last appearances show a constant, low level of faunal turnover throughout the interval 10.7–5.7-Ma, with three short periods of elevated turnover at 10.3, 7.8, and 7.3–7.0 Ma. The three pulses account for nearly 44% of all turnover. Throughout the late Miocene, species richness declined steadily, and diversity and richness indices together with data on body size imply that community ecological structure changed abruptly just after 10 Ma, and then again at 7.8 Ma. Between 10 and 7.8 Ma the large-mammal assemblages were strongly dominated by equids, with more balanced faunas before and after. The pattern of appearance and disappearance is selective with respect to inferred habits of the animals. Species appearing after 9.0 Ma are grazers or typical of more open habitats, whereas many species that disappear can be linked to more closed vegetation. We presume exceptions to this pattern were animals of the mixed C3/C4 communities or the wetter parts of the floodplain that did not persist into the latest Miocene. The pace of extinction accelerates once there is C4 vegetation on the floodplain.

The 10.3 Ma event primarily comprises disappearance of taxa that were both common and of long duration. The event does not correlate to any obvious local environmental or climatic event, and the pattern of species disappearance and appearance suggests that biotic interactions may have been more important than environmental change.

The 7.8 Ma event is characterized solely by appearances, and that at 7.3 Ma by a combination of appearances and disappearances. These two latest Miocene events include more taxa that were shorter ranging and less common, a difference of mode that developed between approximately 9.0 and 8.5 Ma when many short-ranging and rare species began to make appearances. Both events also show a close temporal correlation to changes in floodplain deposition and vegetation. The 7.8 Ma event follows the widespread appearance of C4 vegetation and is coincident with the shift from equid-dominated to more evenly balanced large-mammal assemblages. The 7.3 to 7.0 Ma event starts with the first occurrence of C4-dominated floras and ends with the last occurrence of C3-dominated vegetation. Absence of a consistent relationship between depositional facies and the composition of faunal assemblages leads us to reject fluvial system dynamics as a major cause of faunal change. The close correlation of latest Miocene species turnover and ecological change to expansion of C4 plants on the floodplain, in association with oxygen isotopic and sedimentological evidence for increasingly drier and more seasonal climates, causes us to favor explanations based on climatic change for both latest Miocene pulses.

The Siwalik record supports neither “coordinated stasis” nor “turnover pulse” evolutionary models. The brief, irregularly spaced pulses of high turnover are characteristic of both the stasis and pulse models, but the high level of background turnover that eliminates 65–70% of the initial species shows there is no stasis in the Siwalik record. In addition, the steadily declining species richness and abrupt, uncoordinated changes in diversity do not fit either model.

Both Blank and Debertin start from the premise that technology increases agricultural productivity. As a result, supply increases faster than demand, driving down commodity prices and returns to factors used in agricultural production. Blank emphasizes how farmers respond to this situation by moving to higher risk, higher return commodities until eventually graduating out of agriculture entirely. These changes are accommodated by globalization which allows low-cost imports to substitute for abandoned agricultural production in the U.S. Debertin focuses on the contention that price depressing gains in productivity are due, in part, to publicly-supported agricultural research at Land Grant universities.

The rapid increase of real estate debt and nonreal estate debt outstanding in the farm sector at the national level is well documented [e.g., 2, 4, 6]. Reasons for these increases include the rapid consolidation of land ownership, continuing adoption of capital intensive technology, greater off-farm purchases of operating inputs, increases in land values, and other such factors. On the one hand the ability of the farm sector to attract this debt is encouraging. Yet, serious questions arise concerning agriculture's liquidity position, repayment capacity, and the actual performance of its finance market. Much of the increased debt came from land sellers, other individuals, and merchants and dealers. None of these are specialized lenders.

Money and capital markets exist to provide an exchange system for debt and equity instruments-money substitutes with time dimensions. This financial intermediation process is a two-way flow. The funds-flow originates with savers and terminates with the ultimate borrowers or users of the saved funds. The securities flow originates with ultimate borrowers and ends with primary savers. In addition to savers and borrowers, the principal participants are the financial intermediaries: those firms in which (a) claims on and to others dominate among assets and liabilities and (b) economic activities center upon the purchase and sale of such claims.

Quality-of-life issues in healthcare have come to be of paramount importance for a population that increasingly expects healthcare not only to treat major illnesses but also to optimize normal levels of physical and psychosocial functioning and overall well-being. Healthcare providers have also increasingly appreciated the impact that adverse effects of treatment can have on quality of life, as well as on compliance with and the effectiveness of treatment.

Many functional impairments and adverse treatment effects take the form of clinical complaints that patients and caregivers typically report to their healthcare providers without prompting. Other adverse effects are not so obviously clinical or treatment-related, and patients may not be inclined or may even be reluctant to bring them up when talking with the provider. Impairment of sexual function is a problem of this kind.

Sexual dysfunction appears to be common and frequently underrecognized in certain patient populations. For example, it has been estimated that 25% to 63% of women and 10% to 52% of men with epilepsy have some form of sexual dysfunction, yet in clinical reviews of sexual disorders, epilepsy is not listed as one of the medical conditions commonly associated with impaired sexual function.

Since before the time of Charcot, nonepileptic seizures (NES) have intrigued and perplexed physicians. With the advent of the electroencephalogram, particularly with the addition of continuous video monitoring, the diagnosis of NES has received increasing evaluation. Characteristic historical features and clinical signs of NES, coupled with new diagnostic techniques, have progressively refined our understanding of the disorder. The treatment of patients who have NES has received much less attention and the prognosis of these patients illustrates the need for a more comprehensive, systematic, and validated intervention. These issues are discussed with an emphasis on the need for future research.

The objective of this study was to compare efficacy of two meditation protocols for treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Patients were randomized to two groups—matched for sex, age, and medication status—and blinded to the comparison protocol. They were told the trial would last for 12 months, unless one protocol proved to be more efficacious. If so, groups would merge, and the group that received the less efficacious treatment would also be afforded 12 months of the more effective one. The study was conducted at Children's Hospital, San Diego, Calif. Patients were selected according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition-Revised (DSM-III-R) criteria and recruited by advertisements and referral. At baseline, Group 1 included 11 adults and 1 adolescent, and Group 2 included 10 adults. Group 1 employed a kundalini yoga meditation protocol and Group 2 employed the Relaxation Response plus Mindfulness Meditation technique. Baseline and 3-month interval testing was conducted using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised Obsessive Compulsive (SCL-90-R OC) and Global Severity Index (SCL-90-R GSI) scales, Profile of Moods scale (POMS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Purpose in Life (PIL) test. Seven adults in each group completed 3 months of therapy. At 3 months, Group 1 demonstrated greater improvements (Student's independent groups t-test) on the Y-BOCS, SCL-90-R OC and GSI scales, and POMS, and greater but nonsignificant improvements on the PSS and PIL test. An intent-to-treat analysis (Y-BOCS) for the baseline and 3-month tests showed that only Group 1 improved. Within-group statistics (Students paired t-tests) showed that Group 1 significantly improved on all six scales, but Group 2 had no improvements. Groups were merged for an additional year using Group 1 techniques. At 15 months, the final group (N=11) improved 71%, 62%, 66%, 74%, 39%, and 23%, respectively, on the Y-BOCS, SCL-90-R OC SCL-90-R GSI, POMS, PSS, and PIL; P<0.003 (analysis of variance). This study demonstrates that kundalini yoga techniques are effective in the treatment of OCD.