Central diseases

The cause of the orexin-containing cell loss in typical narcolepsy-cataplexy remains unknown, but the HLA association is intriguing because it suggests that autoimmunity could mediate a central disease process. This is not... 

Many patents have been issued on the use of pyrogaUol derivatives as pharmaceuticals. PyrogaUol has been used extemaUy in the form of an ointment or a solution in the treatment of skin diseases, eg, psoriasis, ringworm, and lupus erythematosus. GaUamine triethiodide (16) is an important muscle relaxant in surgery it also is used in convulsive-shock therapy. Trimethoprim (2,4-diamino-5-(3,4,5-trimethoxybenzyl)pyrimidine) is an antimicrobial and is a component of Bactrin and Septra. Trimetazidine (l(2,3,4-trimethoxybenzyl)piperazine (Vastarel, Yosimilon) is used as a coronary vasodilator. l,2,3,4-Tetrahydro-6-methoxy-l-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-9JT-pyrido[3,4- ]indole hydrochloride is useful as a tranquilizer (52) (see Hypnotics, sedatives, ANTICONVULSANTS, AND ANXIOLYTICS). Substituted indanones made from pyrogaUol trimethyl ether depress the central nervous system (CNS) (53). Tyrosine-and glycine(2,3,4-trihydroxybenzyl)hydrazides are characterized by antidepressant and anti-Parkinson activity (54). 

Malaria affects an estimated 270 million people and causes 2—3 million deaths annually, approximately one million of which occur in children under the age of five. While primarily an affliction of the tropics and subtropics, it has occurred as far north as the Arctic Circle. The disease essentially has been eradicated in most temperate-zone countries, but some 1100 cases of malaria in U.S. citizens returning from abroad were reported to the Centers for Disease Control during 1990. Malaria is seen today in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. It is on the increase in Afghanistan, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Escalation of the disease is because of the discontinued use of the insecticide DDT which effectively kills mosquito larvae, but has been found to be toxic to Hvestock and wildlife. Also, chloroquine (6), a reUable dmg for the prophylaxis and treatment of falcipamm malaria, is ineffective in many parts of the world because of the spread of dmg-resistant strains. 

For late-stage disease, in which the central nervous system is impHcated, the compound of choice until recently was melarsoprol (94, Mel B, Arsobal [494-79-1]) for T. b. gambiense or T. b. rhodesiense. The dmg, adrninistered intravenously, is a solution containing a combination of BAT,... 

American trypanosomiasis, known as Chagas Disease, is limited to South and Central America, where it affects 16—18 million people aimuaHy in an area where 90 million are at risk. Although only an estimated 1% of infected individuals contract the disease, poverty and poor housing exacerbate it. There is a particularly high incidence of the disease in children. 

Pilocarpine is being less used in medicine as a diaphoretic in dropsy and similar diseases because of its depressant action on the heart. It has also been employed as a substitute for physostigmine to contract the pupil and reduce intraocular pressure. It has been used as an antidote to atropine, but it does not antagonise the action of atropine in the central nervous system. 

Central to epidemiology is the use of rates to express the health experience of populations. Rates arc important because epidemiology is inherently a comparative discipline. An epidemiologist is constantly attempting to compare the disease experience of a study population with that of a comparison population, A rate is nothing more than a specialized proportion in which the counts of people with a particular disease are placed over a denominator that is composed of people who are at risk, i,e, who have a chance of dcr cloping the disease. Men, for example, would not be included in the denominator used to calculate the prevalence or incidence of uterine cancer,... 

Pentylenetetrazol (188) is a drug with profound stimulatory activity on the central nervous system. As such, the agent was at one time used in shock therapy for treatment of mental disease. Although it has since been supplanted by safer methods, the agents still occupy an important role in various experimental animal models in pharmacology. Addition of hydrazine to the imino ether (186) obtained from caprolactam affords 187. Treat-... 

The wide range of inflammation-related factors that adipocytes secrete is linked to the inflammatory response that the tissue exhibits in obesity [1]. Obesity in general, like an increasing number of other diseases, is characterised by a state of mild chronic inflammation, and adipose tissue plays a central role in this. The production of most inflammation-related adipokines increases markedly in obesity and there is an elevated circulating level of a number of these factors as well as of other inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP). The increased production of inflammatory adipokines (and decreased production of adiponectin with its anti-inflammatory action) in the obese is considered to play a critical role in the development of the obesity-associated pathologies, particularly type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome [1]. 

Little attempt has been made to develop drugs targeted specifically to white adipose tissue and the production of adipokines. It is likely, however, that there will be an increasing emphasis on this approach to the pharmacological treatment of obesity-related diseases, given the current views on the centrality of the adipokines to these disorders. It is, of course, the diseases that obesity leads to, rather than obesity itself, that constitute the main medical challenge. 

The adrenergic system is an essential regulator that increases cardiovascular and metabolic capacity during situations ofstress, exercise, and disease. Nerve cells in the central and peripheral nervous system synthesize and secrete the neurotransmitters noradrenaline and adrenaline. In the peripheral nervous system, noradrenaline and adrenaline are released from two different sites noradrenaline is the principal neurotransmitter of sympathetic neurons that innervate many organs and tissues. In contrast, adrenaline, and to a lesser degree noradrenaline, is produced and secreted from the adrenal gland into the circulation (Fig. 1). Thus, the actions of noradrenaline are mostly restricted to the sites of release from sympathetic nerves, whereas adrenaline acts as a hormone to stimulate many different cells via the blood stream. 

A disease process characterized by deterioration of the macula of the retina that results in a loss of shaip central vision. AMD is the leading cause of central vision loss in the developed countries today for those over the age of fifty years. 

Due to the pivotal role of platelets in thrombus formation, especially in the arterial system, inhibition of platelet function has become a central pharmacological approach. Antiplatelet drugs are given in order to prevent and treat thromboembolic diseases such as coronary heart disease, peripheral and cerebrovascular disease. They have also revolutionized the procedures of invasive coronary interventions as they reduce the risk of restenosis and thrombosis. 

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