In these uncertain times, how much can you trust health news? Is the research behind breaking headlines reliable? This book is an indispensable resource for students and general readers, helping them evaluate and think critically about health information. "People Who Drink Coffee Live Longer." "Students Learn Better When Listening to Classical Music." "Scientists Discover the Gene That Causes Obesity." We are constantly bombarded with reports of "groundbreaking" health findings that use attention-grabbing headlines and seem to be backed by credible science. Yet many of these studies and the news articles that discuss them fall prey to a variety of problems that can produce misleading and inaccurate results. Some of these may be easy to notice-like a research study on the benefits of red meat funded by the beef industry, or a study with a sample size of only 10 people-but others are much harder to spot. Skewed Studies: Exploring the Limits and Flaws of Health and Psychology Research examines the most pervasive problems plaguing health research and reporting today, using clear, accessible language and employing real-world examples to illustrate key concepts. Beyond simply outlining issues, it provides readers with the knowledge and skills to evaluate research studies and news reports for themselves, improving their health literacy and critical thinking skills. Brings together and thoroughly explores the many ways in which health research and reporting can be flawed and problematic Improves readers' critical thinking skills and gives them practical tools to better evaluate the health information they come across Explains scientific and statistical concepts in clear, easy-to-understand language Includes a curated and annotated directory of resources for readers seeking additional information

In healthcare, the realisation of an optimistic prognosis against pessimistic ones depends on current innovations in diagnostic and cost-effective treatment approaches being widely adopted in clinical practice. Utilisation of advanced early and predictive diagnostics, targeted prevention and personalised medical approaches could enable the elderly subpopulation to reach the 100-year age limit in good physical and mental health, as actively contributing members of society. This task requires intelligent political regulations and creation of new guidelines to advance current healthcare systems. In this book, we will collect contributions from several geopolitical regions of Europe, Asia and USA that provide expert opinion on healthcare organisation and outlook as well as economical aspects of personalised medicine.

Design and Analysis of Cross-Over Trials is concerned with a specific kind of comparative trial known as the cross-over trial, in which subjects receive different sequences of treatments. Such trials are widely used in clinical and medical research, and in other diverse areas such as veterinary science, psychology, sports science, and agriculture. The first edition of this book was the first to be wholly devoted to the subject. The second edition was revised to mirror growth and development in areas where the design remained in widespread use and new areas where it had grown in importance. This new Third Edition: Contains seven new chapters written in the form of short case studies that address re-estimating sample size when testing for average bioequivalence, fitting a nonlinear dose response function, estimating a dose to take forward from phase two to phase three, establishing proof of concept, and recalculating the sample size using conditional power Employs the R package Crossover, specially created to accompany the book and provide a graphical user interface for locating designs in a large catalog and for searching for new designs Includes updates regarding the use of period baselines and the analysis of data from very small trials Reflects the availability of new procedures in SAS, particularly proc glimmix Presents the SAS procedure proc mcmc as an alternative to WinBUGS for Bayesian analysis Complete with real data and downloadable SAS code, Design and Analysis of Cross-Over Trials, Third Edition provides a practical understanding of the latest methods along with the necessary tools for implementation.

Drug Discovery with Privileged Building Blocks traces back PharmaBlock's founding philosophy of designing privileged building blocks. High-quality building blocks are crucial not only to biological activities of different molecules but also to ADMET properties, which eventually will impact the success rate of drug discovery projects. A thorough study of how building blocks perform in drug molecules and a regular analysis of new building block structures in the latest researches have proven to be a fruitful strategy to generate novel building blocks. Using this strategy, PharmaBlock has supplied the drug industry with a great number of building blocks, which are increasingly being adopted by drug hunters, and these are identified in this book. Each chapter may be read and studied without learning the previous chapters. This book will be a good starting point for novice medicinal chemists, and veteran medicinal chemists will find it useful as well. Key Feature The book covers privileged building blocks appearing most frequently on patents for novel drugs. The latest relevant tactics are explained in the context of drug design and medicinal chemistry. Key synthesis, especially large-scale synthesis, is described. The most recent literature references are cited.

Drug Discovery with Privileged Building Blocks traces back PharmaBlock's founding philosophy of designing privileged building blocks. High-quality building blocks are crucial not only to biological activities of different molecules but also to ADMET properties, which eventually will impact the success rate of drug discovery projects. A thorough study of how building blocks perform in drug molecules and a regular analysis of new building block structures in the latest researches have proven to be a fruitful strategy to generate novel building blocks. Using this strategy, PharmaBlock has supplied the drug industry with a great number of building blocks, which are increasingly being adopted by drug hunters, and these are identified in this book. Each chapter may be read and studied without learning the previous chapters. This book will be a good starting point for novice medicinal chemists, and veteran medicinal chemists will find it useful as well. Key Feature The book covers privileged building blocks appearing most frequently on patents for novel drugs. The latest relevant tactics are explained in the context of drug design and medicinal chemistry. Key synthesis, especially large-scale synthesis, is described. The most recent literature references are cited.

Intellectual Property and Health Technologies

Balancing Innovation and the Public's Health

Joanna T. Brougher, Esq., MPH

At first glance, ownership of intellectual property seems straightforward: the control over an invention or idea. But with the recent explosion of new scientific discoveries poised to transform public health and healthcare systems, costly and lengthy patent disputes threaten both to undermine the attempts to develop new medical technologies and to keep potentially life-saving treatments from patients who need them.

"Intellectual Property and Health Technologies" grounds readers in patent law and explores how scientific research and enterprise are evolving in response. Geared specifically to the medical disciplines, it differentiates among forms of legal protection for inventors such as copyrights and patents, explains their limits, and argues for balance between competing forces of exclusivity and availability. Chapters delve into the major legal controversies concerning medical and biotechnologies in terms of pricing, markets, and especially the tension between innovation and access, including:

The patent-eligibility of genesThe patent-eligibility of medical process patentsThe rights and roles of universities and inventorsThe balancing of access, innovation, and profit in drug developmentThe tension between biologics, small-molecule drugs, and their generic counterpartsInternational patent law and access to medicine in the developing world

As these issues continue to shape and define the debate, "Intellectual Property and Health Technologies" enables professionals and graduate students in public health, health policy, healthcare administration, and medicine to understand patent law and how it affects the development of medical technology and the delivery of medicine. "

This book provides a user-friendly introduction to the qualitative methods most commonly used in the mental health and psychotherapy arena. * Chapters are written by leading researchers and the editors are experienced qualitative researchers, clinical trainers, and mental health practitioners * Provides chapter-by-chapter guidance on conducting a qualitative study from across a range of approaches * Offers guidance on how to review and appraise existing qualitative literature, how to choose the most appropriate method, and how to consider ethical issues * Demonstrates how specific methods have been applied to questions in mental health research * Uses examples drawn from recent research, including research with service users, in mental health practice and in psychotherapy

Phylogenetic presentation of medicinal plants and a chemotaxonomical rationale of antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal action. Discusses chemical structure-activity relationship, pharmacokinetics, and oral bioavailability of antimicrobial principles Introduces the molecular mechanism of natural products on viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Contains a selection of hand-made botanical plates and useful bibliographic references A useful research tool for postgraduates, academics, and the pharmaceutical, herbal, or nutrition industries.

Phylogenetic presentation of medicinal plants and a chemotaxonomical rationale of antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal action. Discusses chemical structure-activity relationship, pharmacokinetics, and oral bioavailability of antimicrobial principles Introduces the molecular mechanism of natural products on viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Contains a selection of hand-made botanical plates and useful bibliographic references A useful research tool for postgraduates, academics, and the pharmaceutical, herbal, or nutrition industries.

Single-Arm Phase II Survival Trial Design provides a comprehensive summary to the most commonly- used methods for single-arm phase II trial design with time-to-event endpoints. Single-arm phase II trials are a key component for successfully developing advanced cancer drugs and treatments, particular for target therapy and immunotherapy in which time-to-event endpoints are often the primary endpoints. Most test statistics for single-arm phase II trial design with time-to-event endpoints are not available in commercial software. Key Features: Covers the most frequently used methods for single-arm phase II trial design with time-to-event endpoints in a comprehensive fashion. Provides new material on phase II immunotherapy trial design and phase II trial design with TTP ratio endpoint. Illustrates trial designs by real clinical trial examples Includes R code for all methods proposed in the book, enabling straightforward sample size calculation.

Medicinal Chemistry: A Look at How Drugs Are Discovered is written for those who are interested in learning how drugs are discovered. Compared to other books on the market, this text takes a different approach by presenting the subject on chemical reaction mechanism terms, which ideally makes the subject matter more interesting and easier to comprehend. The authors describe the drug discovery process, from advancing an initial lead to the approval process, and include drug discovery sources. Additional features: Explains medicinal chemistry on chemical mechanism terms, allowing for a more interesting and easier to comprehend text Includes valuable insights toward the various pathways taken at pharmaceutical industries in drug discoveries Improved by including questions raised and suggestions made from students in the authors' medicinal chemistry classes This book will benefit both upper level undergraduates and graduates studying in the fields of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, as well as scientists working in the pharmaceutical industry.

This new volume looks at the applications of biomarkers as important tools for herbal drug discovery, presenting research on phytoconstituents with advanced nanotechnological applications for healthcare benefits. Herbal drug discovery based on biomarkers is an emerging area in complementary and alternative medicine that has tremendous potential in healthcare. Conventional medications have limited efficacy and high toxicity, whereas herbal drugs are said to provide wide structural diversity that is not usually seen with conventional/synthetic drug molecules. Recognition of various herbal constituents, such as terpenoids, fatty acids, flavonoids and steroids, are well explored in the management and treatment of various disorders in this volume. These agents target various biomarkers such as nitric oxide (NO), cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules, NF- k , lipoxygenase (LOX), and arachidonic acid. Biomarkers as Targeted Herbal Drug Discovery: A Pharmacological Approach to Nanomedicines discusses phytoconstituent-based nanotherapeutics with applications for some specific health issues, such as arthritis, leishmanicidal, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, ocular disorders, etc.

In collaboration with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), this timely volume provides a comprehensive review on all areas of breast cancer survivorship research, highlighting research that is underway or in development. The range of topics covered include the biology and management of fatigue and cognitive dysfunction on breast cancer survivorship, the biology and management of Neuropathy and Arthralgias, the ongoing research on the biology of diet and lifestyle interventions in survivors, and more. With the tremendous growth in the number of breast cancer survivors, researchers have moved beyond describing the outcomes of breast cancer treatments and are focusing their research on understanding the mechanisms underlying the development of the late effects of breast cancer treatment, as well as the development and evaluation of interventions to mitigate some of the persistent symptoms-topics which are also explored in this volume. In addition, current research on how to improve survivorship and reduce recurrence of breast cancer through behavioral and lifestyle modifications is also discussed.

Signal Detection for Medical Scientists: Likelihood Ratio Based Test-Based Methodology presents the data mining techniques with focus on likelihood ratio test (LRT) based methods for signal detection. It emphasizes computational aspect of LRT methodology and is pertinent for first-time researchers and graduate students venturing into this interesting field. The book is written as a reference book for professionals in pharmaceutical industry, manufactures of medical devices, and regulatory agencies. The book deals with the signal detection in drug/device evaluation, which is important in the post-market evaluation of medical products, and in the pre-market signal detection during clinical trials for monitoring procedures. It should also appeal to academic researchers, and faculty members in mathematics, statistics, biostatistics, data science, pharmacology, engineering, epidemiology, and public health. Therefore, this book is well suited for both research and teaching. Key Features: Includes a balanced discussion of art of data structure, issues in signal detection, statistical methods and analytics, and implementation of the methods. Provides a comprehensive summary of the LRT methods for signal detection including the basic theory and extensions for varying datasets that may be large post-market data or pre-market clinical trial data. Contains details of scientific background, statistical methods, and associated algorithms that a reader can quickly master the materials and apply methods in the book on one's own problems

"This is truly an outstanding book. [It] brings together all of the latest research in clinical trials methodology and how it can be applied to drug development.... Chang et al provide applications to industry-supported trials. This will allow statisticians in the industry community to take these methods seriously." Jay Herson, Johns Hopkins University The pharmaceutical industry's approach to drug discovery and development has rapidly transformed in the last decade from the more traditional Research and Development (R & D) approach to a more innovative approach in which strategies are employed to compress and optimize the clinical development plan and associated timelines. However, these strategies are generally being considered on an individual trial basis and not as part of a fully integrated overall development program. Such optimization at the trial level is somewhat near-sighted and does not ensure cost, time, or development efficiency of the overall program. This book seeks to address this imbalance by establishing a statistical framework for overall/global clinical development optimization and providing tactics and techniques to support such optimization, including clinical trial simulations. Provides a statistical framework for achieve global optimization in each phase of the drug development process. Describes specific techniques to support optimization including adaptive designs, precision medicine, survival-endpoints, dose finding and multiple testing. Gives practical approaches to handling missing data in clinical trials using SAS. Looks at key controversial issues from both a clinical and statistical perspective. Presents a generous number of case studies from multiple therapeutic areas that help motivate and illustrate the statistical methods introduced in the book. Puts great emphasis on software implementation of the statistical methods with multiple examples of software code (both SAS and R). It is important for statisticians to possess a deep knowledge of the drug development process beyond statistical considerations. For these reasons, this book incorporates both statistical and "clinical/medical" perspectives.

Angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis have become attractive targets for drug therapy because of their key roles in a broad spectrum of pathological disease states ranging from macular degeneration to tumor growth and metastasis. A substantial increase in the research effort over the past decade has deepened our understanding of the basic mechanisms underlying angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, promoting the development of promising therapeutics for the clinical management of vascular-related diseases. These extraordinary advancements have been built upon a vast array of diverse analytical techniques developed globally throughout the field. Over the years, these methods have evolved to suit the specific needs of different researchers and experimental scenarios, resulting in a myriad of technical variants of basic assay approaches.

"The Textbook of Angiogenesis and Lymphangiogenesis: Methods and Applications" is an up-to-date comprehensive textbook on angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis techniques and applications. This volume is designed to embody the collective works of experts in the clinical as well as the basic research arenas who have significantly contributed to the development and application of techniques in all areas of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. Each chapter introduces and discusses one or a group of closely related techniques and convey step-by-step protocol information and detailed technical guidance to the reader. Emphasis has been placed on explanatory illustrations, critical technical steps as well as divulging information on the benefits and caveats of specific practices related to the methods discussed. This manual is intended to serve as a written guide for both newcomers and established professionals in the field.

An odd and unexpected finding was reported by the laboratory of Richard Jorgensen in 1990: expression of extra copies of the gene encoding chalone synthase in petunias turned off the endogenous chalone synthase gene. An observation that appeared totally unrelated was made by the laboratory of Victor Ambrose in 1993: a gene in Caenorhabditis elegans, lin-4, controlled the timing of larval development but did not encode a protein. Rather, it expressed two small RNAs that were complementary to the 3'-untranslated region of the lin-14 gene in a region that had previously been shown to repress expression of the LIN-14 protein. From another quarter, David Baulcombe's laboratory showed in 1997 that plant viruses could induce sequen- specific gene silencing. Then in a landmark paper, Andrew Fire and Craig Mello showed in 1998 that double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) triggers a gene-silencing mechanism that they dubbed RNA interference (RNAi), for which discovery they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2006. These diverse findings have triggered an explosion of research around the world in both plants and animals to discover the mechanisms and broader ramifications of RNAi. We now know that there are both exogenous pathways involving formation of siRNA when dsRNA is introduced and endogenous pathways involving miRNA, piwiRNA, and rasiRNAs. All pathways culminate in formation of an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) containing a member of the Argonaute protein family bound to a 22-nt RNA strand that interacts with a target mRNA or gene through Watson-Crick base pairing.

Cancer research is at a crossroads. Traditionally, cancer has been thought of as a disease of gene mutation, where the stepwise accumulation of cancer gene mutations is the key, and the identification of common gene mutations has been considered to be essential for diagnosis and treatment. Despite extensive research efforts and accumulated knowledge on cancer genes and pathways, the clinical benefits of this traditional approach have been limited. Recently, cancer genome sequencing has revealed an extensive amount of genetic heterogeneity where the long-expected common mutation drivers have been difficult, if not impossible, to identify. These realities ultimately challenge the conceptual framework of current cancer biology.This book introduces a new concept of genome theory of cancer evolution, in an attempt to unify the field. Many important and representative, but often confusing, questions and paradoxes are critically analyzed. By comparing gene- and genome-based theories, the hidden flaws of many popular viewpoints are addressed. This discussion is intended to initiate a much-needed critical re-evaluation of current cancer research.

This book presents a road map for applying the stages in conceptualization, evaluation, and testing of biomedical devices in a systematic order of approach, leading to solutions for medical problems within a well-deserved safety limit. The issues discussed will pave the way for understanding the preliminary concepts used in modern biomedical device engineering, which include medical imaging, computational fluid dynamics, finite element analysis, particle image velocimetry, and rapid prototyping. This book would undoubtedly be of use to biomedical engineers, medical doctors, radiologists, and any other professionals related to the research and development of devices for health care.

Statistical methods that are commonly used in the review and approval process of regulatory submissions are usually referred to as statistics in regulatory science or regulatory statistics. In a broader sense, statistics in regulatory science can be defined as valid statistics that are employed in the review and approval process of regulatory submissions of pharmaceutical products. In addition, statistics in regulatory science are involved with the development of regulatory policy, guidance, and regulatory critical clinical initiatives related research. This book is devoted to the discussion of statistics in regulatory science for pharmaceutical development. It covers practical issues that are commonly encountered in regulatory science of pharmaceutical research and development including topics related to research activities, review of regulatory submissions, recent critical clinical initiatives, and policy/guidance development in regulatory science. Devoted entirely to discussing statistics in regulatory science for pharmaceutical development. Reviews critical issues (e.g., endpoint/margin selection and complex innovative design such as adaptive trial design) in the pharmaceutical development and regulatory approval process. Clarifies controversial statistical issues (e.g., hypothesis testing versus confidence interval approach, missing data/estimands, multiplicity, and Bayesian design and approach) in review/approval of regulatory submissions. Proposes innovative thinking regarding study designs and statistical methods (e.g., n-of-1 trial design, adaptive trial design, and probability monitoring procedure for sample size) for rare disease drug development. Provides insight regarding current regulatory clinical initiatives (e.g., precision/personalized medicine, biomarker-driven target clinical trials, model informed drug development, big data analytics, and real world data/evidence). This book provides key statistical concepts, innovative designs, and analysis methods that are useful in regulatory science. Also included are some practical, challenging, and controversial issues that are commonly seen in the review and approval process of regulatory submissions. About the author Shein-Chung Chow, Ph.D. is currently a Professor at Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC. He was previously the Associate Director at the Office of Biostatistics, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Chow has also held various positions in the pharmaceutical industry such as Vice President at Millennium, Cambridge, MA, Executive Director at Covance, Princeton, NJ, and Director and Department Head at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Plainsboro, NJ. He was elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association and an elected member of the ISI (International Statistical Institute). Dr. Chow is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics and Biostatistics Book Series, Chapman and Hall/CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, New York. Dr. Chow is the author or co-author of over 300 methodology papers and 30 books.

Dynamic Treatment Regimes: Statistical Methods for Precision Medicine provides a comprehensive introduction to statistical methodology for the evaluation and discovery of dynamic treatment regimes from data. Researchers and graduate students in statistics, data science, and related quantitative disciplines with a background in probability and statistical inference and popular statistical modeling techniques will be prepared for further study of this rapidly evolving field. A dynamic treatment regime is a set of sequential decision rules, each corresponding to a key decision point in a disease or disorder process, where each rule takes as input patient information and returns the treatment option he or she should receive. Thus, a treatment regime formalizes how a clinician synthesizes patient information and selects treatments in practice. Treatment regimes are of obvious relevance to precision medicine, which involves tailoring treatment selection to patient characteristics in an evidence-based way. Of critical importance to precision medicine is estimation of an optimal treatment regime, one that, if used to select treatments for the patient population, would lead to the most beneficial outcome on average. Key methods for estimation of an optimal treatment regime from data are motivated and described in detail. A dedicated companion website presents full accounts of application of the methods using a comprehensive R package developed by the authors. The authors' website www.dtr-book.com includes updates, corrections, new papers, and links to useful websites.

PREFACE The Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture is involved in agricultural research and development and assists Member States of FAO and IAEA in improving strategies to ensure food security through the use of nuclear techniques and related biotechnologies, where such techniques have a valuable and often unique role. In particular, molecular diagnostic methods have rapidly evolved in the past twenty years, since the advent of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). They are used in a wide range of agricultural areas such as, improving soil and water management; producing better crop varieties; diagnosing plant and animal diseases; controlling insect pests and improving food quality and safety. The uses of nucleic acid-directed methods have increased significantly in the past five years and have made important contributions to disease control country programmes for improving national and international trade. These developments include the more routine use of PCR as a diagnostic tool in veterinary diagnostic laboratories. However, there are many problems associated with the transfer and particularly, the application of this technology. These include lack of consideration of: the establishment of quality-assured procedures, the required set-up of the laboratory and the proper training of staff. This can lead to a situation where results are not assured. This book gives a comprehensive account of the practical aspects of PCR and strong consideration is given to ensure its optimal use in a laboratory environment. This includes the setting-up of a PCR laboratory; Good Laboratory Practice and standardised of PCR protocols.

This volume provides an integrated account of our current understanding of the functions of D-type cyclins during development and tumorigenesis, with special emphasis on the kinase-independent functions of these proteins. The volume will provide a thorough review of the latest discoveries on the new functions and interacting partners of mammalian cyclin Ds crucial to explain their oncogenic and differentiation properties in different cellular contexts. The volume begins with a historical perspective of how D-type cyclins were first discovered and eventually cloned from cancer tissues, followed by an account on the canonical functions of cyclin Ds during the G1-S transition of the cell cycle. Several chapters will be devoted to review the functions of D-type cyclins as transcriptional regulators and the mechanisms through which these novel functions could impact the tumorigenic process. Also discussed is emerging evidence that points to a role of D-type cyclins, particularly cyclin D1, as a cytoplasmic regulator of various cellular functions. This property, in human cells at least, is traceable to certain splice isoforms with novel oncogenic implications. Finally, a chapter is devoted to recent efforts to revise the canonical view of the "retinoblastoma pathway" to incorporate new evidence that suggests that cyclin D1's role in G1 is to singly-phosphorylate the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) for discrimination of target protein interactions. This work represents a significant departure from the view of cyclin D1 as a negative regulator of pRb and may have critical implications for understanding the function of antineoplastic agents that target the cyclin D1-associated kinases.

Much research has focused on the basic cellular and molecular biological aspects of stem cells. Much of this research has been fueled by their potential for use in regenerative medicine applications, which has in turn spurred growing numbers of translational and clinical studies. However, more work is needed if the potential is to be realized for improvement of the lives and well-being of patients with numerous diseases and conditions.This book series 'Cell Biology and Translational Medicine (CBTMED)' as part of SpringerNature's longstanding and very successful Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology book series, has the goal to accelerate advances by timely information exchange. Emerging areas of regenerative medicine and translational aspects of stem cells are covered in each volume. Outstanding researchers are recruited to highlight developments and remaining challenges in both the basic research and clinical arenas. This current book is the tenth volume of a continuing series.