Ancient drugs

As beta-lactam antibiotics continue to be a major contributor to human health preservation, research on the biosynthesis of penicillin, an almost ancient drug, continues to open up roads to new technologies and perspectives. The provision of precursor peptides to be transformed enzymatically with chemically unachieved efficiency into mono- or bicyclic antibiotics has been termed by Jack Baldwin and colleagues the irreversible commitment of metabolic carbon to the secondary metabolism [1]. The synthesis of such peptides is indeed performed by a remarkable class of synthetases which, in contrast to the protein-synthesizing machinery, have been termed a nonribosomal system or nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) [2]. These peptide synthetases have been shown to catalyze the irreversible synthesis of peptides differing both in sequence and stmctural variability, thus extending the scope of directly gene-encoded poly-... 

Marijuana is an ancient drug used since prehistoric times in parts of the Old World. It is a product of the hemp plant. Cannabis sativa, a species that also provides a useful fiber, an edible seed, an oil, and a medicine. That is a lot for one plant to do, vsrhich explains why it has always been an important cultivated crop. Cannabis is probably native to central Asia. It tends to grow in waste places around camps and settlements and has been associated with human beings for so long that it is unknown in a truly wild state. 

Hawley, SjV., Fullerton, M.D., Ross, FA., et al. (2012) The ancient drug sahcylate directly activates AMP-activated protein kinase. Science, 336 (6083), 918-922. 

Finkelstein Y, Aks SE, Hutson JR et al (2010) Colchicine poisoning the dark side of an ancient drug. Clin Toxicol (Phila) 48 407-414... 

This class of drugs acts presynaptically. There are a number of compounds which fall into this category including the very ancient drug ephedrine through to more recent drags... 

Cardiac Glycosides Potent Drugs from Ancient Times... 

The active principle of the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale), colchicine (48), is one of the very few drugs that have remained in reputable medical use since ancient times. This drug was the only useful treatment available for the excruciating pain associated with crystallization of uric acid in the joints characteristic of gout until the advent of allopurinol. Although the precise mechanism by which colchicine gives this dramatic relief remains undefined, the antimitotic activity of this agent is... 

Aziridine 269 (Scheme 3.98), on treatment with pyrazole (270) and subsequent TFA deprotection, gave P-pyrazolylalanine 271, first isolated from Citrullus vulgaris (a water melon) and isosteric with histidine [148]. Treatment of 269 with 1,2,4-ox-adiazolidine-3,5-dione 272 gave (S)-quisqualic acid (273), an active ingredient of the ancient Chinese drug Shihchuntze, an anthelmintic made from the seeds of Quisqualis indica [148]. 

There are three systems of measurement of drug dosages die metric system, the apothecaries system, and household measurements. The metric system is die most commonly used system of measurement in medicine A physician may prescribe a drug dosage in die apotiiecaries system, but for die most part this ancient system of measurements is only occasionally used. The household system is rarely used in a hospital setting but may be used to measure drug dosses in the home... 

Varella, Evangelia A. Experimental techniques and laboratory apparatus in ancient Greece drug and perfume preparation. Medicinanei secoli 8, no. 2 (1996) 191-206. 

Baez, H., Castro, M.M., Benaventeb, M.A., Kintze, P., Cirimelee, V., Camargo, C. and Thomas, C. (2000). Drugs in prehistory chemical analysis of ancient human hair. Forensic Science International 108 173-179. 

Although human civilization has been experimenting and consuming drugs for many centuries, it is only in the past hundred years that the foundation was laid for the systematic research and development of drugs. Readers are referred to Appendix 1 for a brief description of the history of drug development since ancient times. 

Alloys of zinc were used for brass production as early as in the ancient times. Trials of zinc production were conducted in Europe in the 6th century, however it had been produced earlier in China and India. Zinc is widely applied, i.e., in metallurgy, electrotechnics, printing, rubber production, production of articles of daily use, paints, drugs, disinfectants, and impregnates, as well as in microfertilizers and pesticides. 

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