This volume explores techniques that are currently used to understand solid target-specific models in computational toxicology. The chapters are divided into four sections and discuss topics such as molecular descriptors, QSAR and read-across; molecular and data modeling techniques to comply with both scientific and regulatory sides; computational toxicology in drug discovery; and strategies on how to predict various human-health toxicology endpoints. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the methods and software tools used, step-by-step, readily reproducible computational protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Computational Toxicology: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for researchers who are interested in learning more about this expanding field.

This book sheds light on the major functions of microbial communities in aquaculture ecosystems, showing that by recycling nutrients, degrading organic matter and preventing disease outbreaks, a variety of microbes are truly beneficial to a wide range of aquaculture industries. It discusses how deteriorating environmental quality enables some microbial strains to trigger disease, describes the development of highly sustainable tools to improve water quality, and identifies crucial factors that endanger microbial homeostasis in aquaculture ecosystems. The book also covers post-antibiotic approaches for preventing and treating opportunistic microbial infections based on harnessing environmental and fish-associated microbial communities. Furthermore, it explores how manipulating and engineering these complex microbial communities using bio-agents such as probiotics, phages, natural nutritional additives, or with fine-tuned biofilters will open the door for new ways to develop a more sustainable and cost-effective aquaculture industry. Including an accessible presentation of modern high-throughput sequencing technology to identify host-microbial interactions in aquaculture ecosystems, this book is a valuable resource for scientists, aquaculture and fishery experts, sustainability enthusiasts and scholars in the areas of biology and marine agriculture.

The Progress in Medicinal Chemistry series is a respected and instructive source of information on the subject. It has a long established reputation for excellent coverage of almost every facet of medicinal chemistry. This volume includes information on the discovery and development of Atorvastatin; the discovery of CEP-1347/KT-7515, an JNK/SAPK pathway for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such; and the discovery of second generation Quinazolinone non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors of HIV-1; and molecular modeling of Opioid receptor-Ligand complexes.

Androgens are critical regulators of prostate differentiation and function, as well as prostate cancer growth and survival. Therefore, androgen ablation is the preferred systemic treatment for disseminated prostate cancer. Androgen action is exerted in target tissues via binding the androgen receptor (AR), a nuclear receptor transcription factor.

Historically, the gene expression program mediated by the AR has been poorly understood. However, recent gene expression profiling and more traditional single-gene characterization studies have revealed many androgen-regulated genes that are important mediators of androgen action in both normal and malignant prostate tissue. This book will focus on the androgen-regulated gene expression program, and examine how recently identified androgen-regulated genes are likely to contribute to the development and progression of prostate cancer. Recent studies that have attempted to unravel how these genes are deregulated in androgen depletion independent prostate cancer will be included

The aim of this book is not only to introduce readers with a broad spectrum of biological actions of the NOP receptor, but also to feature a detailed look at the N/OFQ-NOP receptor system, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, and clinical data of NOP-targeted ligands. This special volume book - for the first time focusing on the NOP receptor - is designed to serve as a useful reference, stimulate more research on the N/OFQ-NOP receptor system, and lead to more development of NOP-related ligands for several therapeutic applications.

This volume covers contemporary advances in five important areas of pharmacology and medicinal chemistry including: a comprehensive account of inhibitors of the caspase family of proteolytic enzymes that represent a new class of anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic agents of potential value in rheumatoid arthritis, and other peripheral and central indications; adoc umented survey of semi-synthetic and totally synthetic antibiotics and anti HIV agents and their sites of interaction; inhibitors of the intracellular enzyme acyl-CoA: cholesterol O-acyltransferase (ACAT) developed for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia; and recent progress in growth hormone secretagogues, with the focus on strategies to improve oral bioavailability and duration of action. Inhibition of the proteolytic enzyme, hepatitis C protease N-3(NS3), required for viral replication, is one of the most attractive targets for HCV infections. Progress and prospects in the design of peptide and non-peptide inhibitors are described here. design and clinical potential of new drug molecules; valuable summaries of structure-activity relationships in topical areas of medicinal chemistry; and extensive references to the biology, medicinal chemistry and clinical aspects of each topic.

This book presents an overview of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), their mechanisms of antimicrobial action, other activities, and various problems that must still be overcome regarding their clinical application. Divided into four major parts, the book begins with a general overview of AMPs (Part I), and subsequently discusses the various mechanisms of antimicrobial action and methods for researching them (Part 2). It then addresses a range of activities other than antimicrobial action, such as cell penetration, antisepsis, anticancer, and immunomodulatory activities (Part 3), and explores the prospects of clinical application from various standpoints such as the selective toxicity, design, and discovery of AMPs (Part 4). A huge number of AMPs have been discovered in plants, insects, and vertebrates including humans, and constitute host defense systems against invading pathogenic microorganisms. Consequently, many attempts have been made to utilize AMPs as antibiotics. AMPs could help to solve the urgent problem of drug-resistant bacteria, and are also promising with regard to sepsis and cancer therapy. Gathering a wealth of information, this book will be a bible for all those seeking to develop antibiotics, anti-sepsis, or anticancer agents based on AMPs.

Here in a single source is a complete spectrum of ideas on the development of new anticancer drugs. Containing concise reviews of multidisciplinary fields of research, this book offers a wealth of ideas on current and future molecular targets for drug design, including signal transduction, the cell division cycle, and programmed cell death. Detailed descriptions of sources for new drugs and methods for testing and clinical trial design are also provided.
KEY FEATURES:
* One work that can be consulted for all aspects of anticancer drug development
* Concise reviews of research fields, combined with practical scientific detail, written by internationally respected experts
* A wealth of ideas on current and future molecular targets for drug design, including signal transduction, the cell division cycle, and programmed cell death
* Detailed descriptions of the sources of new anticancer drugs, including combinatorial chemistry, phage display, and natural products
* Discussion of how new drugs can be tested in preclinical systems, including the latest technology of robotic assay systems, cell culture, and experimental animal techniques
* Hundreds of references that allow the reader to access relevant scientific and medical literature
* Clear illustrations, some in color, that provide both understanding of the field and material for teaching

The detrimental effects of incomplete data sets on the results of clinical trials are both well known and all too commonly recurrent. It is essential that the correct statistical methodology be applied in order to effectively analyse the results of trials affected by missing data.

Missing Data in Clinical Trials provides a comprehensive account of the problems arising when data from clinical and related studies are incomplete, and presents the reader with approaches to effectively address them. The text provides a critique of conventional and simple methods before moving on to discuss more advanced approaches. The authors focus on practical and modeling concepts, providing an extensive set of case studies to illustrate the problems described.

Provides a practical guide to the analysis of clinical trials and related studies with missing data. Examines the problems caused by missing data, enabling a complete understanding of how to overcome them. Presents conventional, simple methods to tackle these problems, before addressing more advanced approaches, including sensitivity analysis, and the MAR missingness mechanism. Illustrated throughout with real-life case studies and worked examples from clinical trials. Details the use and implementation of the necessary statistical software, primarily SAS.

Missing Data in Clinical Trials has been developed through a series of courses and lectures. Its practical approach will appeal to applied statisticians and biomedical researchers, in particular those in the biopharmaceutical industry, medical and public health organisations. Graduate students of biostatistics will also find much of benefit.

Fullerens, Graphenes and Nanotubes: A Pharmaceutical Approach shows how carbon nanomaterials are used in the pharmaceutical industry. While there are various books on the carbonaceous nanomaterials available on the market, none approach the subject from a pharmaceutical point-of-view. In this context, the book covers different applications of carbonaceous nanomaterials. Chapters examine different types of carbon nanomaterials and explore how they are used in such areas as cancer treatments, pulse sensing and prosthetics. Readers will find this book to be a valuable reference resource for those working in the areas of carbon materials, nanomaterials and pharmaceutical science.

Pharmacogenetics, Volume 83, the newest volume in the Advances in Pharmacology series, presents a variety of chapters and the best authors in the field, with this release highlighting regulatory perspectives, the implementation of pharmacogenetics in everyday clinical setting, imaging in pharmacogenetics, pharmacoepidemiology in pharmacogenetics, epigenetics and micro RNA in pharmacogenetics, ethnicity in pharmacogenetics, pediatric pharmacogenetics, pharmacogenetics and adverse drug reactions, and cytochrome P450 pharmacogenetics amongst other important topics. This series presents an essential resource for pharmacologists, immunologists, and biochemists alike.

This book presents an extensive study on the effectiveness of recent regulations on pharmaceutical prices in India, exploring the weaknesses in the design and implementation of pharmaceutical price controls and investigating what can be done to fix the broken system. In addition, it examines the extent to which essential medicines are actually made affordable by price controls. The book argues that companies make the pharmaceutical price control regime largely ineffective by coordinating to increase pre-regulation prices; by diversifying horizontally away from the regulated markets and increasing prices in the unregulated markets; by manipulating trade margins; and by refusing to comply with the regulation because the penalties remains negligible. The book draws on extensive empirical research involving India's 2013 Drug Price Control Order and widely-used medicines such as paracetamol and metformin to illustrate how firms have weakened regulation. It argues that the regulatory regime can be strengthened by using systematic analysis of product- and region-level data in the Indian pharmaceutical industry, and by screening for the strategies that firms currently employ to circumvent regulation. In closing, it discusses recent efforts to strengthen the implementation of price controls in India and expanding the scope of price controls to medical devices.

The cumulative death toll from AIDS has reached 16.3 million individuals, and more than 33 million persons are currently living with HIV-1. Although it is one of the most-widely studied viruses, many mysteries remain about this pathogen. In this comprehensive two-volume set, HIV-1: Molecular Biology and Pathogenesis, leading investigators in HIV research present a timely picture of the molecular mechanisms which guide HIV-1 expression and replication and provide the most current clinical strategies for combating this virus. Twenty-six teams of experts unravel structure-function interactions of HIV-1 with host cells and the resulting pathological consequences, review strategies fo treatment, and describe ongoing progress in developing animal models and prophylactic vaccines.
The two volumes, covering viral mechanisms and clinical applications, respectively, are written by an international collection of AIDS expers from North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
Key Features
* Detailed insights into viral packaging, expression, and assembly
* Mechanistic understanding of how HIV interacts with receptors and infects cells
* Delineation of virally encoded regulatory processes unique to HIV
* Clinical Applications:
* An updated review of current chemotherapeutics for HIV
* New concepts in the discovery and design of novel anti-HIV drugs
* The latest developments in HIV-vaccine research

Substance Use Disorders: Assessment and Treatment is a summary of everything a therapist should know about substance abuse in one easy-to-read comprehensive book. The book begins with a discussion of the pharmacology of specific drug classes (opioids, hallucinogens, etc.) and the epidemiology of abuse. It then presents psychological theories of substance abuse, the initiation and progression of substance abuse disorders, issues of prevention and early intervention, and screening and assessment for substance abuse (including specific tests for assessment) and discusses in detail the various treatment methodologies available. Two final chapters explore issues relevant to special populations and legal and ethical considerations, regarding issues such as confidentiality and coerced treatment.
Key Features
* A synthesis of the current research and clinical literature
* Includes strengths and weaknesses of commonly used psychometric assessment measures
* Presentation and review of a complete Psychosocial/Substance Use Assessment form
* Discussion of treatment settings and criteria for placement decisions
* Discussion of treatment alternatives and effectiveness of major pharmacological and psychotherapeutic approaches
* Discussion of factors leading to Relapse, and components of Relapse Prevention programs