Handbook of Opium: History and Basis of Opioids in Therapeutics traces the history of poppy from its prehistory, its use in Greek and Egyptian medicine through the European Renaissance, and the opioid epidemic of the present day. The book explores the discovery of morphine and its alkaloids, reviews its biosynthetic process, and covers the evolution of synthetic opioids. Further, it reviews the biological effects of opium and the molecular basis of its actions, including future perspectives in clinical applications with therapeutic targets. The book is interspersed with numerous notes on the events and great minds in history and medicine who advocated, analyzed and advanced opium through history. The book is a comprehensive review on opium, covering a breadth of topics, including its history, botany, chemistry, trade, physiology, clinical use and molecular biology, with numerous references, tables, vignettes and illustrations included for additional understanding.

The intent of current investigation is to make colon targeting methylprednisolone compression coated tablets using time dependent polymer hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and pH sensitive polymer Eudragit S100 that retard the liberation of drug in upper gastro intestinal system and also show progressive release in colon. The prepared formulations were optimized using dissolution tests and evaluated for colonic delivery by x-ray imaging and pharmacokinetic studies in healthy humans. The optimized formulation of methylprednisolone showed 10.52 0.68% in the initial lag period of 5 h followed by progressive release up to 101.43 3.33% for 24 h. The x-ray imaging study in human volunteers illustrated that the tablets arrived to colon with no loss of integrity in the upper gastrointestinal tract. Cmax of colon targeted compression coated tablets was 10324.83 ng/ml at Tmax 10 h which clearly indicates the capability of compression coated tablets to give colon targeting."