Developing Therapeutics for Alzheimer's Disease: Progress and Challenges provides a thorough overview of the latest advances toward the development of therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease, along with the major hurdles that still must be overcome and potential solutions to these problems. Despite the lack of progress toward developing therapeutics that can slow or stop the progression of this disease, important discoveries have been made and many promising approaches are advancing in preclinical studies and clinical trials. This book outlines the special challenges related to specific targets and approaches, while presenting a realistic, comprehensive and balanced view of drug discovery and development in this area. Written by international leaders in the field, the book assesses prospects for the emergence of effective agents and allows readers to better understand the challenges, failures, and future potential for research in Alzheimer's disease. This book is a valuable resource to academic scientists carrying out translational research in Alzheimer's disease, industrial scientists engaged in Alzheimer's drug discovery, executives in biopharmaceutical companies making strategic decisions regarding the direction of internal research and potential outside partnerships, and graduate-level students pursuing courses on Alzheimer's therapeutics.

Progress in molecular and cellular biology has greatly enhanced our ability to accurately diagnose diseases that are caused by gene mutations, changes in genome structures, and altered gene expression; increased emphasis is now placed on translational research the clinical treatment of these genetically determined diseases. Seeking Cures outlines the progress and implications of science's quest to identify therapeutic targets and initiate novel treatments at the gene, RNA, protein, and physiological levels. Also considered are aspects of treatment at the cellular level (e.g., those with hematopoietic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells). Topics covered in this text include: * outline of the processes typical for identifying disease-modifying therapies * examples of newer therapeutic approaches in use or under investigation to treat lysosomal storage diseases, inborn errors of metabolism, mitochondrial functional defects, and specific monogenic diseases * therapeutic designs for specific complex common diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and autism Through these specific examples, Seeking Cures provides a glimpse at the pursuit-and future-of personalized medicine.

This book offers a series of perspectives on the therapeutic potential of the ritual and clinical use of the Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca in the treatment and management of various disorders. This book presents biomedical and anthropological data on the use of ayahuasca and provides critiques on how it is used for treating depression, PTSD, anxiety, substance dependence, and eating disorders. The volume also explores ayahuasca's role in the psychological well-being and quality of life of humans, and discusses possibilities of it enhancing cognition and coping with grief. The book examines ayahuasca's association with psychotherapy and also highlights the challenges of integrating plant medicines into psychiatry. Further, the book expands on some preliminary research with animals, suggesting that ayahuasca acts at multiple levels of neural complexity. The study on the neurogenic effects of ayahuasca alkaloids opens a new avenue of research with potential applications ranging from psychiatric disorders to brain damage and dementia. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals will find this book relevant to their work regarding substance abuse and alternative medicine.

Leading researchers are specially invited to provide a complete understanding of a key topic within the multidisciplinary fields of physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology. In a form immediately useful to scientists, this periodical aims to filter, highlight and review the latest developments in these rapidly advancing fields. Chapter "Stationary and Non-Stationary Ion- and Water Flux Interactions in Kidney Proximal Tubule. Mathematical Analysis of Isosmotic Transport by a Minimalistic Model" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This collection of essays examines the way psychoactive substances are described and discussed within late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British literary and cultural texts. Covering several genres, such as novels, poetry, autobiography and non-fiction, individual essays provide insights on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century understandings of drug effects of opium, alcohol and many other plant-based substances. Contributors consider both contemporary and recent medical knowledge in order to contextualise and illuminate understandings of how drugs were utilised as stimulants, as relaxants, for pleasure, as pain relievers and for other purposes. Chapters also examine the novelty of experimentations of drugs in conversation with the way literary texts incorporate them, highlighting the importance of literary and cultural texts for addressing ethical questions.

Macrocyclic lactones are chemical compounds that represent the main treatment for parasitic diseases of animals, not only for helminth infections, but also a number of major ectoparasitic infestations. There has been no comprehensive book on this subject for more than a decade and this book fills this gap and provides detailed coverage of the basic science of these drugs and their mode of action, as well as their clinical use in farm and companion animals and in humans.

This book includes an international group of researchers who present the latest achievements in the field of enzyme, immune system, and microbial and nano-biosensors. It highlights the experimental evidence for formation of biological fuel cells (BFCs)-which has a dual purpose - as a device that produces electricity and the systems which produce it simultaneously cleaning up the environment from polluting organic compounds. Considering the work in the field of macro, micro and nano-biosensors, considerable attention is paid to the use of nanomaterials for the modification of working electrodes. Nanomaterials in some cases can significantly improve the parameters of analytical systems. Readers will be interested in the projection of the presented theoretical and experimental materials in the field of practical application of modern analytical developments. The presented results in many cases imply the possibility of using the created models of macro, micro and nano-biosensors, and biofuel elements in the field of health, and protection/restoration of the environment. It includes information about all existing types of transducers of signals in biosensors - electrochemical, optical and quantum-optics, thermoelectric, data of atomic force microscopy, piezoelectric, and more. On the basis of these principles, descriptions are given about the functioning of macro, micro and nano- biosensors for the detection of compounds used in medicine, detection of compounds that clog the environment, and thus affect human health, for compounds that are potentially the basis for the production of drugs, for the selection of compounds that have medicinal activity, for immunodetection, and to assess the quality of food. These questions form the basis of research carried out in the field of biosensors in the world. Since the described models of biosensors have high sensitivity, high measurement speed and selectivity, the described results attract the attention of both the ordinary reader and business class specialists who create and implement analytical technologies. This book is very useful for researchers in life sciences, chemical sciences, physics, and engineering. In addition, it will be useful for the persons working in industry. Advanced technologies specialists will be attracted by the novelty of the proposed solutions and their relevance and ease of implementation. Since the studies contain sections describing the parameters of different biosensors, BFCs, they are easily navigated into assessing the effectiveness of the practical use of the proposed device. The relevant sections indicate such characteristics as detection ranges, life span, type of biological material used, the method of formation of the bio-receptor part. These parameters are of interest to both developers of new models of biosensors and BFC, and their manufacturers.

The purpose of this book is to introduce the classified chemical components of hypoglycemic compounds in natural products, summarize the recent research progress of natural products with hypoglycemic activity in the past 20 years, and provide the original analysis and development opinions of relevant scholars. Hypoglycemic compounds are to target diabetes mellitus, an important public health problem, one of four priority noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) targeted for action by world leaders. Diabetes mellitus is a common endocrine and metabolic disease, which not only causes physiological damage to patients' kidneys, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular vessels, peripheral blood vessels, nerves and eyes, but also causes mental and psychological pressure to patients. Due to the evidence that traditional medicine and natural herbal formula have advantages in treating diabetes, natural products with hypoglycemic activity have been studied extensively in recent years and have been accepted by many scholars all over the world. This book focuses on the progress on the study of the structure, hypoglycemic activities, structure-activity relationships and mechanism of a wide range of polysaccharides, flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, terpenoids, polyphenols and other constituents. It will help students and researchers to understand current approaches and progress in the treatment of diabetes with natural products, which may also be beneficial to develop new hypoglycemic drugs.

This book gathers the main international research findings on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as emerging contaminants in water. It focuses on the major routes of exposure, and the destinations and life cycles of NSAIDs in water, as well as the manifestations of toxicity in different organisms. It also reviews the methods used in the detection, analysis and quantification of NSAIDs in water as well as the biological and chemical methods of removing them. Lastly, the book offers an overview of the legal frameworks in place and provides conclusions and recommendations for the future. Given its scope, the book is an indispensable resource for scientists in academia and industry, as well as for decision-makers involved in contamination assessment and environmental analysis and NGOs interested in the problem of water contamination by NSAIDs.

Without warning stroke can paralyze, blind, or kill. Some victims recover, but many do not and may even suffer another disabling or fatal attack. The drug known as tPA can drastically reduce the long-term disability associated with stroke, but despite its near-miraculous capabilities and the growing support of most neurologists, it has been slow to win acceptance as the standard of care in emergency departments nationwide.
tPA for Stroke chronicles how this remarkable drug came to be tested in stroke victims, its early years in development by the pharmaceutical giant Genentech, and its eventual marginalization due to a convergence of unfavorable political, fiscal, and medical circumstances. For instance, initially many stroke specialists were unconvinced that the drug's benefits outweigh its risks (tPA was originally developed and is still used for cardiac patients). Moreover, neurologists called upon to assess stroke patients have not typically been trained to make decisions in emergency settings--and tPA must be given within a scant few hours after stroke. These and other factors have continued to delay the drug's universal acceptance as the most effective treatment available, and to hamper the general public's awareness that such a treatment exists--a troubling state of affairs that Zivin and Simmons argue must be rectified. Instilling the knowledge that anyone, at any time, is susceptible to stroke, from the old and infirm to the young and healthy, tPA for Stroke is a clarion call to awareness in a rapidly changing healthcare environment in which stroke, long a disease in thrall to resignation and pessimism, must be neglected no longer.