1. A method of treatment of obesity in a patient with a body mass index of 30 kgm2 or greater, comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of at least one of sclareol and sclareolide to the patient to reduce said body mass index.
2. The method of treatment as in claim 1, comprising administering to the patient of at least one of a compound of sclareol and sclareolide in an amount effective to reduce the body mass index of the patient from a value greater than 30 kgm2 to a value of 30 kgm2 or less.
3. The method of treatment as in claim 1, wherein said at least one of a compound of sclareol and sclareolide is substituted with one of alkalyl, aryl, halogen, hydroxyl and amino groups.
4. The method of treatment as in claim 1, wherein said at least one of a compound of sclareol and sclareolide comprises at least one of an optical isomer, chiral compound and a mixture of optical isomer and chiral compound thereof.
5. The method of treatment as in claim 1, further comprising administering said compound as an amount effective to at least one of induce lipolysis and increase leptin secretion.
6. The method of treatment of claim 1, wherein said compounds are obtained as an extract of a plant.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising administering said compound in oral form.
8. A method of treatment of an overweight condition in a patient comprising administering to the patient, a therapeutically effective amount of at least one of a compound of sclareol and sclareolide effective to reduce the body mass index of the patient to about 24 kgm2.
9. The method of treatment as in claim 8, wherein said at least one of a compound of sclareol and sclareolide is substituted with one of alkalyl, aryl, halogen, hydroxyl and amino groups.
10. The method of treatment as in claim 8 wherein said at least one of a compound of sclareol and sclareolide comprises at least one of an optical isomer, chiral compound and a mixture of optical isomer and chiral compound thereof.
11. The method of treatment as in claim 8, further comprising administering said compound as an amount effective to at least one of induce lipolysis and increase leptin secretion.
12. The method of treatment of claim 8, wherein said compounds are obtained as an extract of a plant.
13. The method of claim 8, further comprising administering said compound in oral form.
14. A process for the identification of a composition or compound usefull in the treatment of an overweight or obese person, comprising an assay comprising:
a) obtaining an extract of an ethnobotanical plant, and
b) evaluating the activity of the extract in an assay selected from the group consisting of a lipolysis assay, an assay that measures the amount of glycerol introduced by a cell into a suspension medium of the cell, an adipocyte differentiation assay, an assay that measures the level of the enzyme glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, an assay that measures the inhibition of differentiation of preadipocytes to adipocytes, an assay that measures the accumulation of lipid in an adipocyte, an assay that measures the de-differentiation of adipocytes into preadipocytes, and combinations thereof.
15. The process of claim 14, wherein said ethnobotanical plant is clary sage.
16. The process of claim 15, wherein said extract is a bioactive diterpene.
17. The process of claim 16, wherein said composition or compound is sclareol.
18. The process of claim 16, wherein said composition or compound is sclareolide.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A sheet delivery mechanism comprising:
offset rollers rotatably supported for discharging a sheet in a sheet transport direction;
an offset unit rotatably supporting the offset rollers;
an offsetting force generator for shifting the offset unit back and forth along a direction perpendicular to the sheet transport direction between a reference stop position and an offset stop position relative to a housing of an apparatus; and
an offset unit swinging mechanism for swinging the offset unit about an axis parallel to rotary shafts of the offset rollers in such a manner that a sheet output direction in which the offset rollers eject the sheet varies to a direction pointing away from a sheet delivery tray when the offset unit is shifted along the direction perpendicular to the sheet transport direction by the offsetting force generator.
2. The sheet delivery mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the offset unit swinging mechanism includes a guide groove at least part of which is inclined with respect to the sheet transport direction and a projection slidably fitted in the guide groove, and wherein one of the guide groove and the projection is disposed on the offset unit and the other is disposed on the housing of the apparatus.
3. The sheet delivery mechanism according to claim 1 further comprising a sheet squeezer, wherein the offset rollers are a pair of upper and lower offset rollers and the sheet squeezer exerts a downward pushing force against the sheet being ejected from between the upper and lower offset rollers from the side of the upper offset roller to force the sheet toward the sheet delivery tray.
4. The sheet delivery mechanism according to claim 3, wherein an one end of the sheet squeezer is mounted loosely on the rotary shaft of the upper offset roller and the other end of the sheet squeezer extends downward beyond a point of contact between the upper and lower offset rollers.
5. The sheet delivery mechanism according to claim 1 further comprising a roller turning force generator for turning the offset rollers, wherein the offsetting force generator and the roller turning force generator are simultaneously operated to discharge the sheet being transferred.
6. The sheet delivery mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the offset rollers can be shifted to more than one stop position from the reference stop position.