The Evidence-Based Guide to Antipsychotic Medications is designed to provide both clinicians and residents with focused, comprehensive, and clinically relevant information regarding the use of antipsychotic medications to treat a broad range of psychiatric conditions -- from mood and anxiety disorders to substance abuse, personality disorders, and schizophrenia.

The volume editor is a renowned psychiatrist and author with more than 25 years of experience in both clinical and research settings diagnosing and treating patients with mood and psychotic disorders. In addition, each of the volume's 13 contributors is an expert with many years of clinical experience to draw on.The book is down-to-earth and reader-friendly and is structured for maximal utility in both coverage and format: - Key Clinical Points cap each chapter, synthesizing and summarizing the knowledge you can take away, and serving both as a refresher for those using the book as a reference and as a study aid to master the material.- Both FDA-approved and off-label use of antipsychotic medications are addressed, reflecting the reality of clinical practice on the front lines.- Use of antipsychotic medications in both the pediatric and geriatric populations, a potentially controversial subject, is addressed in a nonsensational, straight-forward manner.- The Appendixes provide a wealth of information in tabular format, including drug tables (names, strengths, formulations, pharmacokinetics, and dosing); advice on initiating and monitoring antipsychotic medications; common side effects and their management; and special considerations for use during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

The Evidence-Based Guide to Antipsychotic Medications is the first in a new series that strives to take evidence-based psychiatry from gold standard to standard practice. Scientifically up-to-date and rigorous, yet accessible and easy to understand, this volume stands alone as an indispensable resource on the topic.

In a systematic and clear manner, the authors discuss the problems associated with clinical decision making and explore the current methods to solve them. In this monograph, they examine the results of combining the classical control system approach with the symbolic approaches which have been central to developments in artificial intelligence. Well illustrated with case studies, this volume will prove to be an invaluable resource to system scientists, engineers, computer scientists, and members of the medical community.

This volume presents research on current trends in chemical regulations - a fa- growing, complex, and increasingly internationalized field. The book grew out from a multidisciplinary research project entitled 'Regulating Chemical Risks in the Baltic Sea Area: Science, Politics, and the Media', led by Michael Gilek at Soedertoern University, Sweden. This research project involved scholars and experts from natural as well as social sciences, based at Soedertoern University, Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Karolinska Institutet, and Umea University. The project group organized a multidisciplinary research conference on chemical risk regulations, held in Stockholm, August 15-17, 2007. Most of the contributions published in this book were, in draft form, first presented at this conference. The conference, like the ensuing edited volume, expanded the geographical focus beyond the Baltic Sea area to include wider European, and to some extent also global trends. Many thanks to all project colleagues and conference participants! We are very grateful for the generous financial support received from The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies (OEstersjoestiftelsen), The Swedish Research Council Formas, and from Soedertoern University. Without this support the present book would not have been possible. Special thanks to all of our fellow contributors, all of whom have submitted to- cal papers based on high-quality research. Many thanks also to Tobias Evers, who assisted us with technical editing. Finally, we are grateful for the professionalism shown by our editors at Springer.

The Pope's Piano is a collection of three short fiction stories. The first two tales, "Violin Master" and "The Pope's Piano," have central music themes. Several cats are side characters in the last two stories. All three are best described as religious mysteries where strange, magical things happen that are best attributed to the workings of God.

The third story, "The Kitten with the Bent Ear," describes a college professor leading class discussions on important and difficult topics that affect our daily lives, like the death penalty, expensive medical procedures, abortion, immigration, and end-of-life medical decisions. Interspersed with the class discussion is the story of the professor's cats, including one with several deformities. In "The Kitten with the Bent Ear," the harsh and pragmatic decisions animals in the wild take is contrasted to what are man's options. This story will allow each of us to see all sides of controversial issues and help you solidify your thinking as to what are practical and just solutions.

The trilogy may bring the reader closer to God and let you enjoy the mysteries of life. With love and belief, anything is possible, even miracles.

This work describes the importance of tumor microenvironment in favouring tumor progression and angiogenesis. Under physiological conditions, angiogenesis is dependent on the balance of positive and negative angiogenic modulators within the vascular microenvironment and requires the functional activities of a number of molecules, including angiogenic factors, extracellular matrix proteins, adhesion molecules and proteolytic enzymes. In normal tissues, vascular quiescence is maintained by the dominant influence of endogenous angiogenesis inhibitors over angiogenic stimuli. Tumor angiogenesis is linked to a switch in the balance between positive and negative regulators, and mainly depends on the release by inflammatory or neoplastic cells of specific growth factors for endothelial cells, that stimulate the growth of the blood vessels of the host or the down-regulation of natural angiogenesis inhibitors. In particular, the inflammatory infiltrate may contribute to tumor angiogenesis, and there are many reports of associations between tumor inflammatory infiltrate, vascularity and prognosis. New therapeutic approaches have been developed with the aim to control tumor angiogenesis through targeting of different components of tumor microenvironment.

Volume 2 discusses the relationship between patient and caregiver in terms of structural and interactional determinants. The impact of provider characteristics on "compliance" and "adherence" is given especially noteworthy treatment. Each volume features extensive supplementary and integrative material prepared by the editor, the detailed index to the entire four-volume set, and a glossary of health behavior terminology.

Playing an important role in the treatment of neurological disorders, the delivery of drugs to central nervous system (CNS), both administered directly and administered systematically for targeted action, encounters a major challenge in the form of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which limits the access of drugs to the brain substance. In Drug Delivery to the Central Nervous System, experts in the field present essential methods used to deliver therapeutics across the BBB, both in experimental animals and in humans. In addition to those methods, several overviews of innovative methods and their applications are presented in order to give a glimpse of the future of this research. As a volume in the successful Neuromethods series, this book presents its protocols with the kind of detailed description and implementation advice that is crucial for getting optimal results.

Authoritative and cutting-edge, Drug Delivery to the Central Nervous System serves as an ideal guide to scientists continuing to pursue knowledge of the delicate interactions between pharmaceuticals and the brain.

This book is intended to serve as quick reference handbook on so-called designer drugs. These new, mainly synthetic compounds are also often referred to as analogues of controlled substances. This new work provides a unique directory of 104 designer drugs.
This class of drugs is rapidly growing in variety and number of compounds. Although identification, toxicology and other properties have been thoroughly investigated, their analogues and derivatives remain poorly documented. This book fills the gap.
Data which is available is often contradictory and confused. This directory provides a critical treatment of the subject which is thoroughly indexed including both the subject index and an index listing more that 230 street names of the described designer drugs.
Divided into two parts; the first section describes aspects of designer drug manufacture, new abuse trends, sources of information and terminology. The second, descriptive part, classifies the drugs into ten main categories according to their chemical structure and prevalent pharmacological action. A separate chapter is devoted to each category, followed by a set of corresponding data sheets, street names and eventual synonyms, Toxicological data, short notes on the history of drugs as well as the most pertinent bibliographic references are included.

The main effect of calcium channel blockers is the blockade of calcium entry into cells through voltage operated calcium channels. This volume gives a comprehensive overview of the different classes of CCBs and their various effects. It covers historical development, pharmacology, clinical aspects, and perspectives. All chapters are written by Prof. T. Godfraind, a world leading expert in the field.

"Pharmaceutical Pharmacology", encompassing 78 chapters, is divided into four major comprehensive parts. Part A deals with general pharmacology, pharmacology of peripheral nervous system and pharmacology of central nervous system. Part B is concerned with pharmacology of cardiovascular system, drugs acting on the hemopoetic system, drugs acting on the urinary system, autocoids and drugs acting on the respiratory system. Part C contains chapters on drugs acting on the gastrointestinal tract, pharmacology of endocrine system, chemotherapy and principles of toxicology. Part D discusses mainly clinical pharmacy, pharmacotherapy, important disorders of organ system and their management, therapeutic drug monitoring and concept of essential drugs and rational drug use.To provide a realistic approach to the understanding of the subject, each chapter commences with a crisp introduction followed by classification, treatment of each class of drugs with reference to important 'drugs' vis-a-vis pharmacological actions, pharmacokinetic actions, mechanism of action, therapeutic uses, dosage regimens, adverse drug reactions, drug interaction, etc. The text is profusely illustrated with labelled diagrams, graphics and lucid explanations. It provides the reader an explicit route starting from the molecular understanding of receptors and drug activities to the therapeutic applications of the most important class of drugs.

This book is targeted to biologists with limited statistical background and to statisticians and computer scientists interested in being effective collaborators on multi-disciplinary DNA microarray projects. State-of-the-art analysis methods are presented with minimal mathematical notation and a focus on concepts. This book is unique because it is authored by statisticians at the National Cancer Institute who are actively involved in the application of microarray technology. Many laboratories are not equipped to effectively design and analyze studies that take advantage of the promise of microarrays. Many of the software packages available to biologists were developed without involvement of statisticians experienced in such studies and contain tools that may not be optimal for particular applications. This book provides a sound preparation for designing microarray studies that have clear objectives, and for selecting analysis tools and strategies that provide clear and valid answers. The book offers an in depth understanding of the design and analysis of experiments utilizing microarrays and should benefit scientists regardless of what software packages they prefer. In order to provide all readers with hands on experience in data analysis, it includes an Appendix tutorial on the use of BRB-ArrayTools and step by step analyses of several major datasets using this software which is freely available from the National Cancer Institute for non-commercial use. The authors are current or former members of the Biometric Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute.  They have collaborated on major biomedical studies utilizing microarrays and in the development of statistical methodology for the design and analysis of microarray investigations. Dr. Simon, chief of the branch, is also the architect of BRB-ArrayTools.

Pharmaceutical scientists in industry and academia will appreciate this single reference for its detailed experimental procedures for conducting biopharmaceutical studies. This well-illustrated guide allows them to establish, validate, and implement commonly used in situ and in vitro model systems. Chapters provide ready access to these methodologies for studies of the intestinal, buccal, nasal and respiratory, vaginal, ocular, and dermal epithelium as well as the endothelial and elimination barriers.

Volume eight brings up to date several areas important to physicians who care for people with addictive disorders. It deals with the topic of combined alcohol and other drug dependences, and includes chapters on definition of the dependence syndrome, social deviancy and alcohol dependence, and biolo

Antiplatelet therapy is the cornerstone of treatment of ischemic cardiovascular disease and over the last few years spectacular advancements in this field have been recorded. This is the first comprehensive handbook entirely dedicated to all the aspects of antiplatelet therapy. The book is divided into three main sections, pathophysiology, pharmacology and therapy, for a total of 23 chapters. A large group of leading experts from different European countries and from the USA, both from academia and industry, have contributed to the book. Besides a detailed overview on the pharmacology and clinical applications of all the currently used or of the novel antiplatelet agents, innovative approaches (e.g. intracellular signalling as an antiplatelet target, small RNAs as platelet therapeutics, etc.) or unconventional aspects (e.g. pharmacologic modulation of the inflammatory action of platelets are also treated. The book is oriented to both basic investigators and to clinicians involved with research on platelet inhibition or with the clinical use of antiplatelet therapies.

The understanding of the role of dendritic cells (DCs) in immune responses has come a long way since Steinmann and colleagues described these cells in 1972. - tensive research during the intervening period has provided a good understanding of the complexity of the DC system and its pivotal role in immunity. It is also now clearer how different subsets of DCs interact and regulate each other and how DC populations affect the function of other cells of the immune system. The improved understanding of their role in immune response has led to the idea that modulation of DC functions by, for example, pharmacological agents could be used as a pot- tial therapeutic approach in some pathological conditions. The actual applicability and therapeutic potential of all these approaches is yet to be fully demonstrated but nonetheless, animal models of human diseases are proving to be very helpful in the evaluation of manipulated DCs as a new treatment in diseases like cancer, auto- munity or asthma. DCs are integral to the initiation and regulation of immune response (Banchereau et al. 2000). The outcome of antigen presentation by DCs is determined by their maturation status, which can be induced by their interaction with danger signals. To recognise a wide array of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMP), DCs express a number of pattern recognition receptors (PRR) such as Toll-like rec- tors (TLRs) and C-type lectin receptors (CLR) that recognise structural components of pathogens and discriminate between self and non-self molecules.