In the span of a few short years the therapeutic management of essential hypertension has been transformed from one of gross empiricism to that of a stable, rational approach based on established pharmacological principles. This success has required a close liaison among the disciplines of chemistry, of pharmacology, and of the clinic, for the niceties and fine nuances governing the relationship between chemical structure and type of biological activity of a compound are all too elusive for charting a reliable course through unfamiliar synthetic molecular configurations. Although autonomic nervous overactivity had never been demonstrably implicated as an etiological factor in essential hypertension, it had been realized earlier that suppression of this system by pharmacological means offered potential therapeutic benefit. Unfortunately, early investigative work had not yielded specific potent autonomic blocking agents with suf- ficiently wide therapeutic indices to be suitable for human use. The initial successful surgical approach to the problem of sympathetic nervous dampen- ing by means of a dorsal thoracolumbar sympathectomy established the validity of such a procedure and laid the groundwork for an ultimate pharmacological approach. Among the effective agents which have been discussed, an action either directly or indirectly upon the sympathetic nervous system or upon the neurohumors which it elaborates has been a common denominator. Such an occurrence inevitably poses the question as to whether such a common denominator has basic meaning or is merely coincidental with respect to the mode of action of the drug.

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, officially recognizing that various risk factors for disease are present in our environment, has proposed the concept of lifestyle-related diseases. These include those diseases that are tied to such lifestyle choices as excessive alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, exposure to stress, and poor diet. Ongoing attention to this issue led to an International Symposium on Free Radicals and Health: Molecular Interventions and Protection of Lifestyle-Related Diseases bringing together the top experts in that area. With the belief that the recognition of the occurrence of risk factors and their identification are important to overcoming lifestyle-related diseases, three of those experts invited prominent participants at the symposium to contribute to a book. Molecular Interventions in Lifestyle-Related Diseases is the result of that effort. This book is divided into three main sections: Free Radicals, Lifestyle-Related Diseases, and Their Protection Free Radicals, Brain Diseases, and Their Protection Nutraceuticals, Functional Foods, Micronutrients, and Pharmacological Interventions When bad lifestyle choices cause oxidants and free radicals to have a negative influence on cell signaling and gene expression, lifestyle-related diseases are set into motion, which in turn lead to further oxidative stress. Molecular Interventions in Lifestyle-Related Diseases addresses the molecular basis of free radicals and lifestyle-related diseases and preventive/therapeutic approaches including the use of nutraceuticals, functional foods, and pharmacological interventions. Each section contains several chapters addressing critical molecular mechanisms, therapeutic interventions, and other issues of relevance to human health that will be of interest to students and researchers in the health professions including nutritional and environmental scientists, molecular and cell biologi

Restructured to be even more useful to real-world clinicians, the revised and expanded second edition of this practical guide offers proven strategies for improving the long-term outcomes and quality of life of individuals with bipolar disorder. Extensive case illustrations bring to life the complexities of helping clients adhere to medication treatments, recognize the early warning signs of manic and depressive episodes, build coping skills, and manage specific symptoms. Replacing the original volume's 20-session protocol (now included in the Appendix) is a new, more flexible assessment and treatment framework that shows how to tailor interventions to each client's needs and level of experience with the illness. The second edition also features current treatment data, information on new medications, and new strategies for preventing relapse and addressing common comorbid conditions.