This book will provide the latest advances in molecular and cellular biology for establishing the foundation of a complete understanding of the mechanisms of breast differentiation leading to cancer prevention. The authors are based on the epidemiological evidence indicating that early first full term pregnancy is a protective factor in human against breast cancer and they have used this paradigm and developed experimental systems in both in vivo and in vitro that have demonstrated mechanistically how the differentiation at the organ and cellular level takes place. This knowledge has provided the blueprint for developing better understanding of the basis of cancer prevention. The transcriptoma analysis of the breast of pre and post-menopausal women has established a genomic signature imprinted in the breast that differs according to the reproductive history of the woman showing that early first full term pregnancy reprogram the organ. This reprogramming takes place at the chromatin level by changing the transcriptional process. The modification of the transcriptional control is due to the expression of non coding RNA sequences and posttranscriptional control driven by the splicesome. The plasticity of the genome of the human breast make possible this reprogramming that is not only induced by the physiological process of pregnancy but by the use of hormones that mimic pregnancy without pregnancy. The author have established the basis of clinical trials for prevention and the discovery that short 15aa peptides of the chorionic gonadotropin hormone can be used in human breast cancer prevention based on preclinical and clinical data.

Following 50 years of glucocorticoid use in a clinical setting, an international body of expert scientists and physicians presents the most expansive survey of glucocorticoid pharmacology to date. This work traces the history of glucocorticoid biology from the seminal description of glucocorticoid insufficiency by Thomas Addison in the mid-19th century, up to current advances in elucidating the molecular basis of glucocorticoid action. Important discoveries are presented, as well as milestones in drug development, a survey of current clinical practice, and prospects for novel glucocorticoid-based therapeutics. Scientists and clinicians will appreciate the scope of this work, which is of special interest to workers in the fields of endocrinology, inflammation and autoimmune disease.

This comprehensive guide covers prescribing controlled substances for patients with acute or chronic pain and provides a balanced discussion on appropriate treatment, addiction, safety and complications. Chapters feature evidence-based strategies and clinical modalities that address diagnostic challenges, treatment guidance, alternatives to opioid management and the significant legal risks within the current regulatory environment. Authored by leaders in pain medicine, physicians and appropriate health care professionals will find Controlled Substance Management in Chronic Pain to be an indispensable resource.

Cardiac electrophysiologists have many options for treating arrhythmias, including catheter ablation and implantable cardiac defibrillators.? Antiarrhythmic agents, which are pharmaceutical agents used to suppress fast rhythms of the heart (cardiac arrhythmias), represent another treatment option. This issue summarizes? the most current thinking on the role of pharmaceuticals in relation to other types of treatment, helping electrophysiologists to determine the best method for managing their patients.

The chemistry of phenols tends to be ignored in organic chemical textbooks and to be lost amongst the many classes of functional derivatives. This volume is not intended to provide a textbook approach but rather to give an account of developments in phenol chemistry in the last two decades.

Features of this book:

- Numerous phenolic systems have been covered in detail, e.g. phenolic propanoids.

- The emphasis throughout has been on synthesis, on what can be achieved by the use of phenolic intermediates and in the construction of phenolic end products.

- Many chapters enable the reader to refer to the original literature wherever possible.

- Various chapters provide a fund of tutorial material and problems for undergraduate studies and further, which will encourage perusal of the literature. Some 2000 references to applied and academic papers are given.

Phenols are ubiquitous substances and now it is more widely accepted that there are pros and cons connected with their usage. The pros for compounds are well-known and are illustrated by perennial panaceas such as aspirin, paracetamol, codeine, etc. The cons are less obvious because they are also materials deeply entrenched in our standard of living and in most cases inherent hazards have only recently come to light. The book will be of interest to postgraduate students in academic and industrial work.

Dr. Hunt has assembled a group of top experts to discuss the newest and most successful medical therapies to treat gastrointestinal diseases.? The issue is divided into sections devoted to each of these diseases states or disorders: ? acid-related disorders, functional gastrointestinal disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, gastrointestinal oncology, and hepatitis; the last 2 articles address the future directions in gastrointestinal pharmacotherapy.? Articles of special interest include those on? Anti-TNFa Drugs and New Biological Drugs for IBD, 5-ASA Drugs and Modified Formulations, and Potential for Manipulation of the Microbiome in Gastrointestional Disease

This book provides multidisciplinary reviews of the mechanism of action and uses of methotrexate in the treatment of cancer, psoriasis, gynecologic and inflammatory diseases. The intended audience is composed of clinicians involved in the care of patients suffering from oncologic, gynecologic, rheumatic diseases as well as scientists involved in research into the pathogenesis and treatment of these diseases. This book is unique in that it provides a single, state-of-the-art source for information regarding the mechanism and use of methotrexate in many different areas of medicine.

Psychophysiology is an ever expanding field. The application of psychophysiological investigations to psychiatric disorders is likewise expanding and has in fact shed much light on some of the neural processes contributing to the development of psychiatric symptoms and/or their amelioration following treatment. In the first part of this volume, we have selected a number of conditions where psychophysiological investigations have recently provided some insight into the pathophysiology of a particular manifestation (e.g., dissociation) or a disorder. Although this volume has a main focus on electrophysiological investigative modalities where neuroimaging was complimentary this added insight was included. The second part of the volume focuses on novel uses of psychophysiological measures, combining it with neuropsychology and imaging where possible, in the context of neuropsychiatric research and describes advanced analytical tools. Both basic and clinical investigators in this field should find the reviews and interpretations provided clear and informative. Clinicians will find this volume easy to assimilate. While direct clinical applications may be down the road, the insights provided should help the practicing clinicians to have firmer understanding of the complexity of the disorder they manage in everyday practice.

Get the most from your study time, and experience a realistic USMLE simulation with Rapid Review Pharmacology, 3rd Edition, by Drs. Thomas Pazdernik and Laszlo Kerecsen. This new edition in the highly rated Rapid Review Series is formatted as a bulleted outline with photographs, tables, and figures that address all the pharmacology information you need to know for the USMLE. And with Student Consult functionality, you can become familiar with the look and feel of the actual exam by taking a timed online test that includes more than 450 USMLE-style practice questions. Review all the information you need to know quickly and easily with a user-friendly, two-color outline format that includes High-Yield Margin Notes. Take a timed online test at www.studentconsult.com with more than 450 USMLE-style questions and full rationales for why every possible answer is right or wrong. Access the most current information with completely updated chapters, images, and questions. Profit from the guidance of series editor, Dr. Edward Goljan, a well-known author of medical study references, who is personally involved in content review. Easily review all essential information with new drug tables that detail mechanism of action, clinical uses, and adverse reactions. Study and take notes more easily with the new, larger page size. Practice with a new testing platform on USMLE Consult that gives you a realistic review experience and fully prepares you for the exam. Learn the "must know" pharmacology information needed to succeed on the USMLE

In this book, leading international experts analyze state-of-the-art advances in gene transfer vectors for applications in inherited disorders and also examine the toxicity profiles of these methods. The authors discuss the strengths and weaknesses of available vectors in the clinical setting, and specifically focus on the challenges and possible solutions that researchers are testing in order to improve the safety of gene therapy for genetic diseases. This comprehensive and authoritative overview of vector development is a necessary text for researchers, toxicologists, pharmacologists, molecular biologists, physicians, and students in these fields.

The field of oligonucleotide therapeutics research is ripe with the prospect of new discoveries. In "Therapeutic Oligonucleotides: Methods and Protocols," a selection of established and emerging methods for the application of oligonucleotides as therapeutics are presented, all providing the tools needed to inspire great changes in the field. Divided into twenty-one chapters, this detailed volume meticulously describes vital protocols for optimizing and improving cell uptake, such as photochemical internalization, modified cell penetrating peptides, antibody conjugates, and nanoparticles. Other chapters address quantitation of RNA therapeutics in cells, assaying gene knockdown, selecting the best target site and synthesis of various modified oligonucleotides. Written in the successful "Methods in Molecular Biology " series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.

Authoritative and easily accessible, "Therapeutic Oligonucleotides: Methods and Protocols "serves as a timely resource for both professionals and novices pursuing research in this exciting and pioneering field."

The role that placebos play in many treatments is clear: they not only play a complimentary role in various treatment options but they can sometimes be the only beneficial option for treatment. Brain imaging studies over the past decade have shown that placebo-treated patients undergo some of the same changes in brain activity as those treated with pharmacologically active substances. Yet this important component of healing is not yet harnessed in clinical settings. The Placebo Effect in Clinical Practice brings together what we know about the mechanisms behind the placebo response, as well as the procedures that promote these responses, in order to provide a focused and concise overview on how current knowledge can be applied in treatment settings. An introductory chapter documents the ubiquity and extent of the placebo response and discusses the history of the placebo response in relation to medical treatment. Several subsequent chapters focus on how placebos work and how the placebo effect can be enhanced. Expectation, conditioning and elements of the treatment situation are covered in separate chapters. The relationship between psychotherapy and placebo treatment is covered as is the ethics of deliberate use of the placebo effect. Because placebo effects are particularly prominent in some psychiatric conditions, particular attention is given to the role of the placebo response in psychiatric treatment. The final chapter summarizes what we currently know and offers concrete suggestions for how what we know of the placebo effect can be used to enhance the benefit of all treatments.

Classical natural product chemistry is transitioning to modern day metabolomics as a result of the advent of comprehensive analytical platforms and sensitive analytical instrumentation. Therefore, it is worthwhile to summarize recent developments with current analytical platforms and highlight how metabolomics is being integrated into this classical field to dereplicate and profile natural product extracts. Metabolomics Tools for Natural Product Discoveries: Methods and Protocols aims to unite diverse and recently developed methodologies and protocols in order to identify bioactive secondary metabolites for the purpose of drug discovery. Some topics covered in this volume include applications for the extraction of selected natural products from less common sources such as bryophytes and hard corals, various biological assays, comprehensive applications and strategies for GC-MS, LC-MS, and NMR, as well as protocols and strategies for the structure elucidation of isolated natural products. Written in the successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and easily accessible Metabolomics Tools for Natural Product Discoveries: Methods and Protocols seeks to serve both professionals and research students with its well-honed methodologies for natural product isolation, biomarker discovery, dereplication, biological assays, and comprehensive metabolomic platforms available for high-throughput analyses.

Microbial Phenazines: Biosynthesis, Agriculture and Health focuses on phenazines, a group of upwards of a hundred nitrogen-containing redox-active heterocyclic compounds of bacterial origin that have long attracted scientific interest because of their colorful pigmentation. Our understanding of these fascinating natural products and their role in human health and the environment has advanced rapidly in recent years, but we are only now beginning to be able to exploit the potential of these compounds in such fields as agriculture and medicine. This volume includes information on the biochemistry and genetics of phenazine synthesis, the physiological effects of phenazines, and methods for the isolation and identification of phenazines with the aid of spectroscopic and electrophoretic techniques. Also included are chapters focused on the roots of phenazine research in the biological control of plant pathogens and recent knowledge of the diversity of phenazine-producing microorganisms and the environments in which they occur. A final chapter addresses the potential of phenazines in the treatment of cancer.

This book was conceived from a simple question as to why cancer is so difficult to treat. Ultimately we want to find ways to cure cancers, but that may be an elusive dream at least with the technologies we have now and expect to have in the near future. This leads the question of whether it is possible to improve current cancer treatment methods, especially from the perspective of enhancing targeted drug delivery to tumors. This volume is designed to provide information related to the difficulties in treating cancers through targeted drug delivery, our current understanding of cancer biology, and potential technologies that might be used to achieve enhanced drug delivery to tumors. An ideal drug delivery system for treating cancers would maximize the therapeutic efficacy with minimal side effects in clinical applications. The seemingly improved anticancer efficacy of the current nanoparticle-based formulations needs to be viewed from the context of very poor success rates for translation to human applications. The results of in vitro cell culture models and small animal in vivo experiments have not been extrapolated to clinical applications. Finding the reasons for the lack of successful translation is required if we are to discover approaches to substantially extend the survival time of cancer patients, and hopefully identify cures. Cancer Targeted Drug Delivery: Elusive Dream describes some answers of achieving the so far elusive dream of treating cancers like other chronic diseases with therapies that focus using improved drug delivery systems designed to better align with the unique biological and physiological properties of cancer.

The publication of the extensive 7-volume work "Comprehensive Molecular Insect Science" provided library customers and their end-users with a complete reference encompassing important developments and achievements in modern insect science, including reviews on the ecdysone receptor, lipocalins, and bacterial toxins. One of the most popular areas in entomology is pharmacology, and this derivative work, "Insect Pharmacology," taps into a previously unapproached market the end user who desires to purchase a comprehensive yet affordable work on important aspects of this topic. Contents will include timeless articles covering sodium channels, spider toxins and their potential for insect control, insect transformation for use in control, amino acid and neurotransmitter transporters, and more. New summaries for each chapter will give an overview of developments in the related article since its original publication.
Articles selected by the known and respected editor-in-chief and co-editor of the original MRW

The articles are classic reviews offering broad coverage of essential topics in pharmacology, with special addenda including author notes on the chapter since its original publication

Introduction by the editor puts the selected body of work in context for this volume, highlighting the need for entomologists, pharmacologists and related researchers to have these reviews in their personal collection "

The action of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), ranging from direct killing of invading pathogens to immune response modulation and other complex biological responses, has stimulated research and clinical interest for more than two decades, but the area is still burgeoning due to emerging discoveries in the functions, roles, and regulation of AMPs, thus making the study of antimicrobial peptides a multi-disciplinary and rapidly evolving field. In Antimicrobial Peptides: Methods and Protocols, leading investigators present a broad, up-to-date collection of current research and experimental methods for the isolation, characterization, production, and optimization of antimicrobial peptides. Additional chapters detail methodologies in several microscopy techniques, high-throughput screening, QSAR modeling, and computer-aided design used to study these compounds, while key review articles survey potential medical applications of antimicrobial peptides as innovative anti-infective and immunomodulatory agents, as well as emerging discoveries in their function, regulation, and roles in innate immunity. As a volume in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and wide-ranging in its applications, Antimicrobial Peptides: Methods and Protocols provides both an authoritative guide for lab work on AMPs or related substances and a useful collection of thought stimuli to inspire further scientific endeavours in a wide array of vital fields.

In this volume we will cover technologies and associated methodologies that allow identification, characterization and application of therapeutic peptides.

The section covering identification will cover areas such as display on the surface of filamentous or lytic phage, substrate phage display, ribosome display and the use of peptide library pools.

Often the output from library selection is not a peptide but the sequence of a peptide. We will therefore discuss approaches to produce peptide ligands both synthetically and through recombinant techniques. This section will also include a discussion of how peptides may be produced such that their serum residence time can be extended to allow weekly dosing such as fusions to other larger proteins or through modification with PEG.

The next section covers biophysical tools for characterization of peptide interactions with proteins. These include fluorescence polarization, equilibrium dialysis, radioligand binding assays, regular and array based SPR analysis.

The remaining section outlines methods for preparation and application of peptides as: imaging agents; targeting agents for radionuclei; receptor antagonists, and as tools to mediate cell penetration

This unique and much needed textbook will meet the rapidly emerging needs of programs training pharmacologic scientists seeking careers in basic research and drug discovery rather than such applied fields as pharmacy and medicine. While the market is crowded with many clinical and therapeutic pharmacology textbooks, the field of pharmacology is booming with the prospects of discovering new drugs, and virtually no extant textbook meets this need at the student level. The market is so bereft of such approaches that many pharmaceutical companies will adopt Hacker, et al. to help train new drug researchers.
The boom in pharmacology is driven by the recent decryption of the human genome and enormous progress in controlling genes and synthesizing proteins, making new and even custom drug design possible. This book makes use of these discoveries in presenting its topics, moving logically from drug receptors to the target molecules drug researchers seek, covering such modern topics along the way as side effects, drug resistance, Pharmacogenomics, and even nutriceuticals, one in a string of culminating chapters on the drug discovery process.
*Uses individual drugs to explain molecular actions
*Full color art program explains molecular and chemical concepts graphically
*Logical structure reflecting the current state of pharmacology and translational research, starting with receptors and finishing with target molecules
*Covers such intricacies as drug resistance and cell death
*Consistent format across chapters and pedagogical strategies make this textbook a superior learning tool