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Since their introduction to the market in the 1960s, benzodiazepines, and among them diazepam, have become one of the most frequently prescribed psychotropic drugs in industrial countries. These compounds are known for their sedative, hypnotic, anxiolytic, muscle-relaxant and anticonvulsant properties and their large therapeutic index. In this book, the authors present current research in the study of the medical uses, pharmacology and health effects of diazepam. Topics discussed include the consequences of early chronic exposure to diazepam on brain plasticity, cerebral functionality and behavior; diazepam use in anxiolytic animal therapy; the diazepam-like effects of medicinal plants; using zebrafish modeling as the foundation of research into the mechanisms of depression and diazepam usage; and the principal indications related to the molecular actions and advantages of diazepam.

Apply the latest vaccination knowledge with a reference that Bill Gates calls'an indispensable guide to the enhancement of the well-being of our world.'Inside Vaccines, you'll find comprehensive and current coverage of every aspect of vaccination, from the development of each vaccine to its use in reducing disease. This medical reference book offers the expert information you need to apply the very latest techniques and information in your practice!Consult this title on your favorite e-reader, conduct rapid searches, and adjust font sizes for optimal readability. Compatible with Kindle®, nook®, and other popular devices.Gain a complete understanding of each disease, including clinical characteristics, microbiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as epidemiology and public health and regulatory issues.Update your knowledge of both existing vaccines and vaccines currently in the research and development stage.Get complete answers on each vaccine, including its stability, immunogenicity, efficacy, duration of immunity, adverse events, indications, contraindications, precautions, administration with other vaccines, and disease-control strategies.Analyze the cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness of different vaccine options.Clearly visualize concepts and objective data through an abundance of tables and figures.Perform seamless searches of the complete text online, access all the references, and download all the images at www.expertconsult.com.Make optimal use of the latest vaccines for pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, human papillomavirus, herpes zoster, meningococcal disease, and much more.Stay at the forefront of new developments with completely updated chapters on malaria and HIV vaccines, a new chapter on vaccine regulations across the world, and many other revisions throughout.

The three years since our last conference in San Francisco have again seen a dramatic expansion of the number of antivirals either licensed or in the late stages of clinical trials. d4T is now licensed for HIV infection, famciclovir and the oral pro-drug of acyclovir, valacyclovir, are now licensed for VZV infections in some countries. Moreover. oral ganciclovir, cidofovir, and sorivudine are not far behind. Clinical trials with the second-site reverse transcriptase inhibitors and the protease inhibitors for HlV infection are proceeding rapidly and on a broad scale, and the preliminary results would suggest that several of these classes of drugs will be licensed as well. Despite this optimism, however, there is increasing evidence that antiviral-resistant strains of pathogenic viruses will be a significant problem, perhaps especially with therapy of HIV infection, and there remains a desperate need for improved drugs (with either improved efficacy or decreased toxicity, or both) for CMV and HIV infections. This book is the edited proceedings of the Fourth Triennial Conference on Antiviral Chemotherapy, held in San Francisco, in November 1994. The conference was sponsored by the University of California, San Francisco, and co-sponsored by the International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR), the Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, and the Australian National Centre for HIV Virology Research. The conference had been organized to present an overview of the field of antiviral chemotherapy.

Scientists and clinicians attending the last'New Directions in Antiviral Therapy'conference in late 1994 could hardly have predicted the revolution in the management of patients with HIV infection that has occurred since. Two new classes of antiretrovirals have been licensed, the second-site RT inhibitors and the protease inhibitors; the long in­ cubation period of active HIV infection, when the infection is clinically latent, is now un­ derstood to be a period of intense viral replication and turnover of CD4 lymphocytes; measurements of HI V RNA concentration in plasma have been shown to be essential tools for monitoring the course of HIV infection, deciding when to treat, and assessing the re­ sults of treatment; and finally, combinations of antiretrovirals, particularly combinations including protease inhibitors, have been shown to have dramatically beneficial effects on patients with HIV infection. These advances, coupled with new drugs for the management of herpesvirus infections, have made dramatic differences in the quality and length of life of HIV-infected patients. Additional advances have been made since 1994 in the prevention or management of influenza virus (zanamavir), respiratory syncytial virus (palvizumab), hepatitis B virus (lamivudine and famciclovir), and enterovirus infections (pleconaril). It is difficult to re­ member that only slightly more than a decade ago there were only a handful of antiviral agents available (none of which were antiretrovirals), and a number of those were either highly toxic, of dubious efficacy, or both.

Henipaviruses form a new genus of emerging paramyxoviruses that are the deadliest human pathogens within the Paramyxoviridae family. This volume deals with the many facets of henipavirus biology, and covers our current understanding regarding the ecology, molecular virology, and pathogenesis of henipavirus infections. It is an international effort written by a multidisciplinary panel of experts at the front lines of research into this lethal emerging group of paramyxoviruses. The first section introduces the epidemiology and ecology of Nipah and Hendra viruses in their respective endemic areas, including a first-hand account of the discovery of Nipah virus during its initial outbreak in Malaysia; the next section documents the molecular virology of henipaviruses, and the substantial advances made towards understanding the unique features of henipavirus entry and tropism; and this is followed by accounts of the clinical and pathologic features of henipavirus infectionsin their human and naturally infected animal hosts. The next sections on pathogenesis provide a comprehensive reference on how henipaviruses counteract the innate immune system, and the relevant pathogenic features in animal challenge models developed to test potential therapeutic strategies. The final sections describe our current and future capabilities for diagnosis and control, including an account of potentially effective immunization strategies that are currently being tested. This book will not only serve as a useful reference for the henipavirus field; it will be useful to basic and animal virologists, ecologists, epidemiologists, physicians, and others interested in emerging infectious viral diseases, as it showcases the multidisciplinary efforts required to understand the genesis, spread and hopefully, control, of a group of lethal emerging zoonotic pathogens.

Oxidants, like other aspects of life, involves tradeoffs. Oxidants, whether intentionally produced or by-products of normal metabolism can either mediate a variety of critical biological processes but when present inappropriately cause extensive damage to biological molecules (DNA, proteins, and lipids). These effects can lead to either damage that is a major contributor to aging and degenerative diseases (or to other diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, immune-system decline, brain dysfunction, and cataracts) or normal physiological function- tissue repair, defense against pathogens and cellular proliferation. On the other hand the body is equipped with a complex antioxidant/oxidant handling system which includes both enzymatic and nonenzymatic (i.e. small molecules such as flavonoids, ascorbate, tocopherol, and carotenoids) produced endogenously or derived from the diet. This book focuses on how the same molecules can have favorable or noxious effects depending on location, level and timing. Each chapter focuses on one particular molecule or oxidant/antioxidant system and provides a state of the art review of the current understanding regarding both positive and negative actions of the system under review.

This unique volume traces the critically important pathway by which a'molecule'becomes an'anticancer agent.'The recognition following World War I that the administration of toxic chemicals such as nitrogen mustards in a controlled manner could shrink malignant tumor masses for relatively substantial periods of time gave great impetus to the search for molecules that would be lethal to specific cancer cells. Weare still actively engaged in that search today. The question is how to discover these'anticancer'molecules. Anticancer Drug Development Guide: Preclinical Screening, Clinical Trials, and Approval, Second Edition describes the evolution to the present of preclinical screening methods. The National Cancer Institute's high-throughput, in vitro disease-specific screen with 60 or more human tumor cell lines is used to search for molecules with novel mechanisms of action or activity against specific phenotypes. The Human Tumor Colony-Forming Assay (HTCA) uses fresh tumor biopsies as sources of cells that more nearly resemble the human disease. There is no doubt that the greatest successes of traditional chemotherapy have been in the leukemias and lymphomas. Since the earliest widely used in vivo drug screening models were the murine L 1210 and P388 leukemias, the community came to assume that these murine tumor models were appropriate to the discovery of'antileukemia'agents, but that other tumor models would be needed to discover drugs active against solid tumors.

Get the straight facts about vaccines and make informed choicesDo you wonder whether vaccines are safe and whether they are all really necessary? This completely revised and updated edition of the classic Vaccines: What You Should Know helps you sort through the latest information about vaccines in order to determine what is right for your family. Coauthored by Paul Offit, a member of the CDC advisory committee that determines which vaccines are recommended for use in the United States, this guide tells you what vaccines are made of and clearly explains how they are made, how they work, and the.

This book aims to set out the political, social, legal and scientific underpinning of risk assessment and risk management for toxic substances. It describes the principles and processes the practitioners undertake when looking at the regulatory risk implications of their work.

Synthetic Analgesics, Part I: Diphenylpropylamines deals with the methods of synthesis, the physical and chemical properties, and the''analgesic''activity of diphenylpropylamines. Topics covered include the''analgesic''activity of methadone, morphine, pethidine, and codeine in animals; diamines and derivatives; R875 and related basic tertiary amides; esters derived from amino acids and secondary and tertiary alcohols; and ketimines, acyl ketimines, and ketones. This book is comprised of 21 chapters and begins with a brief background on the first chemical and pharmacological experiments on diphenylpropylamines, followed by a discussion on''analgesic''activity in humans and animals. The''analgesic''activity of methadone, morphine, pethidine, and codeine in animals is considered. The following chapters explore a variety of compounds such as 3:3-diphenylpropylamines, tertiary alcohols, secondary alcohols, primary alcohols, nitriles, diamines and derivatives, primary and secondary amides, acids and acid chlorides, and aldehydes. Sulfones, dissociation constants, and configurational studies are also described. This monograph will be a useful resource for researchers and practitioners in the fields of organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, and pharmacology.