Chapter overview

In medicinal use, drugs are usually administered with the best of intentions, which is to have a beneficial therapeutic effect. However, all drugs have the potential to cause unwanted effects too, and these range from being minor or trivial to being life threatening. Unwanted effects are known as adverse reactions or side effects and can occur by a variety of mechanisms. It is important for health care professionals to be aware of potential adverse effects of drugs and to know how to report new ones when they occur. 

Apart from the possibility of adverse drug reactions occurring, individuals show variation in response to drugs and this is particularly likely in the very young and the very old. 

In order to have an effect on the body, therapeutic, adverse or otherwise, a drug must interact with its site of action. Sites of action are known as targets for drug action and include receptors, ion channels, enzymes and carrier molecules. 

The study of the effects that drugs can have on the body and how they produce these effects is known as pharmacodynamics. 

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This chapter overviews the techniques for incorporating external events into a PSA. The discussion was primarily aimed at nuclear power plants but is equally applicable to chemical process plants. The types of external events discussed were earthquakes, fires and floods. Notably absent were severe winds and tornados. Tornados are analyzed as missiles impacting the structures and causing common-cause failures of systems (EPRINP-768). Missile propagation and the resulting damage is a specialized subject usually solved with computer codes. 

The organization of the book is as follows The first chapter. Overview, describes the basic facts, concepts, and a brief account of its history. This chapter is written at a general physics level and can be read as an independent unit. The last section, Historical Remarks, is an integrated part of the presentation of basic concepts in STM. As an introductory chapter of a textbook, it is not intended to be an authoritative and comprehensive treatment of the history of STM. However, serious efforts have been made to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the historical facts. In addition to conducting an extensive literature search, I have consulted several key scientists in STM and related fields. 

D. A. Micha. Potential Energy Surfaces and Dynamics Calculations, chapter Overview of non-reactive scattering, page 685. Plenum Press, New York, 1981. 

Some initial considerations of radical mechanisms and chapter overview... 

This chapter overviews some strategies that have been developed and applied at the academic level, by presenting a case study on the basis of our own experience the search for new catalytic material and processes adapted to the production and purification of hydrogen for feeding PEM fuel cells. 

This chapter overviews the current state of the art of the application of ionic liquids in catalysis by selecting examples mainly from the 2006-2007 literature, and providing information on the different strategies in which ionic liquids are applied in catalysis. 

In the remaining sections of this chapter, overviews of various electrochemical processes/sys-tems are presented. Where appropriate, these overviews refer back to the fundamental principles and theories presented above. 

In the field of applications, one chapter overviews the progress in zeolilic membranes which slowly, but steadily, are coming into practical use. Three chapters deal with the use of zeolites and mesoporous materials as catalysts in organic conversions. These range from the fascinating ship-in-boltle systems via cascade reactions to bulk applications in oil refining and petrochemistry. 

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