The ambitious goal of this volume is to provide in chapters written by accomplished scientists and experts in their field a comprehensive overview of the currently available information related to the therapeutic utility of adult bone marrow-derived cells. With excitement generated almost daily about the possible uses of stem cells to treat human disease, but the controversy surrounding their use still raging, adult bone-marrow derived cells are more readily available, and have a staggering range of uses.

Polluted air and contaminated food and water are major causes of human health deterioration, but public health policy has long struggled to effectively address these concerns. This timely book--written for a wide audience of policy makers, researchers, and general readers--synthesizes what we already know about environmental hazards, identifies the gaps in our knowledge, and provides a roadmap for reducing human exposure to environmental pollution. With contributions from leading experts, Environmental Determinants of Human Health examines numerous pollutants, both inorganic and organic, in the context of their human health impacts. Individual chapters explore exposure pathways, macroeconomic impacts of human health deterioration, technological and non-technological methods for reducing exposures, monetary and non-monetary benefits from exposure reduction, and risk communication and awareness, including citizen participation approaches. This volume is a crucial text for policy makers requiring scientific justification for the development of new environmental regulations, scientists researching public health and environmental contamination, and members of the public interested in human health issues.

Today, 25% of Americans smoke and 50% of smokers die from tobacco-related illnesses. Meanwhile, little attention has been given to implementing cessation therapies for our patients who smoke.

Nicotine in Psychiatry: Psychopathology and Emerging Therapeutics examines this timely subject. The book's contributors, subject matter experts in the growing field of nicotine neurobiology andclinical pharmacology, cover the latest knowledge on - The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of nicotine- The effect of nicotinic receptors on the central nervous system (CNS), the recent advances made in understanding the normal function of these receptors, and how this knowledge transfers to the clinical treatment of many CNS disorders- Behavioral factors influencing the effects of nicotine and nicotine's addictive capacity- The association between smoking and specific mental disorders and the association between nicotine and mood- Clinical applications of nicotine as a potential therapeutic agent for a variety of disorders, such as attention deficit, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, schizophrenia, and Tourette's syndrome- Nicotine replacement therapies and various smoking-cessation strategies

This book makes fascinating reading for anyone interested in the recent tobacco public policy debates, as well as clinicians and researchers looking for current information on nicotine and its clinical applications.

Dr. Myrtle A. Davis has assembled a panel of cutting-edge scientists to describe their best methods for detecting, illuminating, and quantifying apoptotic mechanisms in a way that is useful for the design of toxicology and pharmacology studies. These state-of-the-art techniques include flow cytometric, fluorometric, and laser scanning methods for quantifying and characterizing apoptosis, as well as protocols for the use of DNA microarray technology, high throughput screens, and ELISA. Immunocytochemical methods for measuring biochemical and molecular endpoints in tissue sections will be highly useful for those carrying out studies in whole animal models as opposed to cell culture systems.

Progress in Drug Research is a prestigious book series which provides extensive expert-written reviews on a wide spectrum of highly topical areas in current pharmaceutical and pharmacological research. It serves as an important source of information for researchers concerned with drug research and all those who need to keep abreast of the many recent developments in the quest for new and better medicines.

The placebo elicits more passionate debate, scepticism and personal belief than almostany other aspect of medicine. As yet there are no concrete answers - but many challenging observations and powerful effects occur daily in healthcare which need to be examined. This book will stimulate and inform every reader from the experienced practitioner to the new student who has ever asked, What is the placebo really, and why should it matter to me?Written in an accessible and engaging style with contributions from leading figures in healthcare, it tackles issues of the placebo effect in complementary medicine.A clear and engaging exploration of a highly topical subject A clinicians route map through the visible territory and the known research in this areaA fair and even analysis of the possibilities and implications of the topic in clinical practice

The over-arching goal of this volume is to help infertility practitioners evaluate and manage their patients with poor semen quality. The authors review the existing literature on the effects of medications on male fertility, and provide detailed information about what is known, giving the number of individuals and population characteristics for studies of medication effects on male fertility. Medications are designed to treat illness and reduce symptoms, but all have undesirable adverse effects such as headache or stomach upset. Some adverse reactions can even be life-threatening, so it is no surprise that some drugs have negative effects on male reproduction. Medical practitioners rarely consider a man's reproductive plans when prescribing medications. Men are routinely treated with drugs that can impair or abolish fertility. Although practitioners in the field of reproductive medicine generally realize that certain drugs impact negatively on reproductive health, there are limited resources providing evidence-based knowledge useful in counseling patients. Tables throughout this volume summarize the information for each drug, providing a handy reference for clinical use.

This book introduces some emerging functional foods that are natural resources with tremendous promise as nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. The author considers biodiversity and bioprospecting as a response to food security issues, drug-resistance, nutrition-poor diets and other problems, exploring the prospects of several under-utilized nutrients and bioactive repositories. Readers will discover biochemical makeups, validated health benefits, explanations of underlying mechanisms, hurdles in the path of popularity and promotion strategies. Chapters explore particular plants, seeds and fruits including the strawberry guava, opuntia fruits, the Carissa genus, grape seeds, quinoa and the milk thistle (Silybum), amongst others. They are considered as food sources where possible and from the perspective of the roles they can play in complementary and alternative medicine, such as in wound healing, antimicrobial activity, gastroprotective activity in treatment of cancers and as natural antioxidant sources. This rich compilation holds plausible solutions to a range of current issues and it endorses the much-needed goal of sustainability in terms of diet and drugs. It paves the path for further research and development on hitherto obscure natural resources. Scientists working in the area of food development, phytochemical and antioxidant analysis, bioprospecting of low-profile foods and in complementary and alternative medicine will find this work particularly valuable. It will also be of interest to the general reader with an interest in food science, food security, phytochemicals and functional food studies.

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

This monograph contains a description of the discovery and development of a antisecretory therapy in the treatment of acid-related diseases: omeprazole, the first proton pump inhibitor. Overviews compare this and other proton pump inhibitors and discuss their pharmacology, including the mechanism of action, the effect on Helicobacter pylori infection, and the consequences of profound inhibition of gastric acid secretion. The pharmaceutic delivery system is described since it constitutes a special problem with this class of drugs. The clinical experience with proton pump inhibitors in acid-related diseases is reviewed with focus on gastro-esophageal reflux disease and peptic ulcer diseases including Helicobacter pylori and NSAID-induced ulcerations and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Finally, an overview is presented on the socio-economic impact of proton pump inhibitors in acid-related diseases emphasizing the important aspect of quality of life. The monograph is aimed at a broad readership with an interest in the development problems of this, at present, most commercially successful drug; the pharmacology of a "tailor-made" drug for a specific target; the therapeutic strategies in acid-related diseases; and the dramatic changes in the long-term outcome results of the treatment of peptic ulcer diseases where most patients now can be cured from the disease after only one week of drug therapy.

Phytochemicals are components acting individually, additively or synergistically, usually as a component of whole food, that have the characteristics of providing protective, preventative and possibly curative roles in the pathogenesis of cancer and other chronic disease progressions. Nutraceutical is a term used to describe beneficial phytochemicals. The mechanisms of action of nutraceuticals may be one of several. Free radical scavenger and antioxidant nutraceuticals can nullify damage by any number of biochemical mechanisms, but some also exert benefit by enhancing immune function.

A conservative economic analysis was done in 1993 of solely hospital care costs and the roles that three nutrient antioxidants could exert on cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and cataracts. The study considered the potential impact of only three antioxidants, vitamins C and E, and beta-carotene, and the possible annual savings in hospital care costs alone, which could exceed 8 billion dollars. Expert public health physicians believe that as much as 700f disease is preventable.

The chapters in this book were organized to reveal existing and emerging knowledge of nutraceuticals found in garlic, soy and licorice. Lead chapters discuss the epidemiological evidence, and following chapters discuss chemical or biochemical evidence at the cellular level, as well as the presentation of some clinical data.

A major conclusion of the overall effort is that the science of nutraceuticals is very incomplete, but that findings to date have great promise.

Histamine is an important mediator of allergic diseases such as hay fever and bronchial asthma, food allergies, urticaria, and drug hypersensitivity. Knowledge of histamine as a cause of numerous non-allergic symptoms and signs is, however, limited. In fact, histamine intolerance can be responsible for conditions as diverse as seasickness, headaches and migraine, tachycardia, gastric disorders, diarrhea, intolerance to contrast media, parodontosis, period pains, nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, atopic dermatitis, and osteoporosis. This book offers wide-ranging coverage of histamine intolerance. There is extensive background discussion of the origin of histamine, its content in food and alcoholic beverages, and intolerance to red wine. Diagnosis of histamine intolerance is explained, and the various symptoms of histamine intolerance are clearly described. Subsequent chapters cover the conditions mentioned above and also consider the relation of histamine to vitamin B6 and the specific immunotherapy of allergies. This book will prove of value in clinical practice by facilitating differential diagnosis, which is by no means straightforward given the multiplicity of symptoms of histamine intolerance, and by assisting in the selection of therapeutic measures.

The world's population is growing at an unsustainable rate. From a baseline ?gure of one billion in 1800, global population is predicted to exceed nine billion by 2050 and 87. 8% of this growth will be localized in less developed countries. Such uneven population growth will yield a harvest of poverty, malnutrition, disease and en- ronmental degradation that will affect us all. Amongst the complex mixture of political, social, cultural and technological changes needed to address this issue, the development of improved methods of fertility regulation will be critical. The inadequacy of current contraceptive technologies is indicated by recent data s- gesting that the contraceptive needs of over 120 million couples go unmet every year. As a direct consequence of this de?cit 38% of pregnancies are unplanned and more than 50% end in an abortion, generating a total of 46 million abortions per annum particularly among teenagers. If safe, effective contraceptives were ava- able to every couple experiencing an unmet family planning need, 1. 5 million lives would be saved each year (UNFPA 2003). Progress in contraceptive technology should not only generate more effective methods of regulating fertility, but should also provide a range of methods to meet the changing needs of the world's population. Contraceptive practice was revo- tionized in 1960 in the US and 1961 in Europe by the introduction of the oral contraceptive pill by Gregory Pincus, MC Chang and colleagues, based on fun- mental hormone research conducted in Germany.

Pharmacogenomics supports personalized medicine by translating genome-based knowledge into clinical practice, offering enhanced benefit for patients and health-care systems at large. Current routine practice for diagnosing and treating patients is conducted by correlating parameters such as age, gender and weight with risks and expected treatment outcomes. In the new era of personalized medicine the healthcare provider is equipped with improved ability to prevent, diagnose, treat and predict outcomes on the basis of complex information sources, including genetic and genomic data. Targeted therapy and reliable prediction of expected outcomes offer patients access to better healthcare management, by way of identifying the therapies effective for the relevant patient group, avoiding prescription of unnecessary treatment and reducing the likelihood of developing adverse drug reactions.

Coronavirus Drug Discovery, Volume Two: Antiviral Agents from Natural Products and Nanotechnological Applications presents detailed information on drug discovery against COVID-19. Sections in this volume present chapters that focus on the various antiviral agents from natural products that have the propensity to be used as chemical scaffolds for the development of drugs against COVID-19. Also captured are the dietary sources of antioxidant bioactives that may help boost the immune system for the management of COVID-19. Other chapters describe the application of nanotechnology for efficient and effective delivery of drugs against COVID-19. Written by global team of experts, this book is an excellent resource for drug developers, medicinal chemists, pharmaceutical companies in R&D and research institutes in both academia and industry.

Because progress in the field of transporters has been extraordinary, this volume will focus on recent advances in our understanding of the structure, function, physiology, and molecular biology of membrane transporters. There will be an emphasis on transporters as molecular targets for drug delivery and disposition in the body.

Medicinal chemistry is both science and art. The science of medicinal chemistry offers mankind one of its best hopes for improving the quality of life. The art of medicinal chemistry continues to challenge its practitioners with the need for both intuition and experience to discover new drugs. Hence sharing the experience of drug research is uniquely beneficial to the field of medicinal chemistry. Drug research requires interdisciplinary team-work at the interface between chemistry, biology and medicine. Therefore, the topic-related series Topics in Medicinal Chemistry covers all relevant aspects of drug research, e.g. pathobiochemistry of diseases, identification and validation of (emerging) drug targets, structural biology, drugability of targets, drug design approaches, chemogenomics, synthetic chemistry including combinatorial methods, bioorganic chemistry, natural compounds, high-throughput screening, pharmacological in vitro and in vivo investigations, drug-receptor interactions on the molecular level, structure-activity relationships, drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, toxicology and pharmacogenomics. In general, special volumes are edited by well known guest editors.

Recent years have seen unprecedented outbreaks of avian influenza A viruses. In particular, highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses have not only resulted in widespread outbreaks in domestic poultry, but have been transmitted to humans, resulting in numerous fatalities. The rapid expansion in their geographic distribution and the possibility that these viruses could acquire the ability to spread from person to person raises the risk that such a virus could cause a global pandemic with high morbidity and mortality. An effective influenza vaccine represents the best approach to prevent and control such an emerging pandemic. However, current influenza vaccines are directed at existing seasonal influenza viruses, which have little or no antigenic relationship to the highly pathogenic H5N1 strains. Concerns about pandemic preparedness have greatly stimulated research activities to develop eff- tive vaccines for pandemic influenza viruses, and to overcome the limitations inh- ent in current approaches to vaccine production and distribution. These limitations include the use of embryonated chicken eggs as the substrate for vaccine prod- tion, which is time-consuming and could involve potential biohazards in growth of new virus strains. Other limitations include the requirement that the current inac- vated influenza vaccines be administered using needles and syringes, requiring trained personnel, which could be a bottleneck when attempting to vaccinate large populations in mass campaigns. In addition, the current inactivated vaccines that are delivered by injection elicit limited protective immunity in the upper respiratory tract where the infection process is initiated.

Integrative medicine strives to incorporate the best of complementary and conventional modalities. This book details integrative oncology, a nascent field building a rigorous evidenced-based clinical medicine, research, and educational foundation. It examines five prestigious, comprehensive cancer centers based in the US, covering how these centers started their programs, what they are currently doing, and recommendations for starting integrative medicine clinics. The book also discusses the potential harm of alternative and complementary medicine, legal issues, and how to communicate with patients.

This essential methods manual for immunohematologists (or hematologists and immunohematologists) provides information on genes that encode antigens on red blood cells, platelets and neutrophils. The book begins by covering general concepts in molecular biology and specific protocols such as DNA preparation, PCR-RFLP and allele-specific PCR. Information on the erythrocyte, platelet and neutrophil antigen systems and the molecular basis of polymorphisms are presented clearly in a gene facts sheet format. Database accession numbers and useful adjuncts such as Request forms, worksheets for PCR/enzyme digests also serve to benefit the user. The information is clearly presented and easily accessible and is complemented by the excellent diagrams and tabular material. This book is invaluable for both new and experienced researchers in the field and other related disciplines.
Key Features
* Essential for hematologists and those involoved in tissue typing and the study of human genetic polymorphisms
* Presents clearly and concisely the information on a particular variant and the technique used to detect it
* Organized by antigen and provides sequences of polymorphisms and primers
* Details the general concepts and critical information on genes, their products, and sources of relevant nucleic acids
* Includes protocols that allow investigators to set up assays with minimal effort (protocols include primers, reagents, reaction conditions, sizes of amplified products, restriction fragment digests, and the relevant safety information)
* Provides information that helps interpret results in clinical settings
* Contains additional sources of information (e.g., key references, web site addresses, glossary, Database accession numbers, request
forms, and worksheets for PCR/enzyme digests)

This book is an essential handbook on bisphosphonates, the most widely used new class of drugs for osteoporosis therapy. It reviews basic physiology in addition to the indications and adverse reactions of these drugs. Bisphosphonates in Bone Disease, 4E, discusses the compounds' chemistry, mechanisms of action, and animal toxicology before presenting a clinical picture of the diseases treated by bisphosphonates. The book provides a table listing the trade names of the commercially available bisphosphonates, registered indications, and the available forms for various countries. The revised Fourth Edition contains approximately 50% new material, including information on all of the latest drugs.
* The revised fourth edition contains approximately 50% new material
* Includes information on all the latest drugs

Heparins remain amongst the most commonly used drugs in clinical practice. Almost 100 years have passed since the initial discovery of this complex substance and, during this time, understanding of the nature and uses of heparin and related molecules has grown dramatically. The aim of this volume is to summarise the developments that have led to the current status of both heparins as drugs and the field of heparin research, with a focus on the particularly rapid progress that has been made over the past three decades. Individual sections are dedicated to the nature of heparin as a biological molecule, the current approaches and techniques that are used to ensure the safety and reliability of heparin as a medicine, the clinical pharmacology of heparin as an anticoagulant drug, effects and potential applications of heparin aside of those involving haemostasis and, finally, the nature and potential uses of heparin-like materials from both natural and synthetic sources."