Example from Medicine

Colman, P.M. (2014) Crystallography and new medicines examples from influenza and cell death. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 67, 1720-1723. 

Figure 4.4 The general protocol for information extraction from an herbal text (A-E) is paired with case examples from our work with the Ambonese Herbal by Rumphius. (A) Text is digitized. (B) Through either manual reading or automated extraction the plant name(s), plant part(s), and symptoms or disorders are identified. (C) These extracted data are then updated (as necessary) to reflect current names of the plants, using the International Plant Names Index (IPNI), and the pharmacological function(s) of the described medicinal plants are extrapolated from the mentioned symptoms and disorders. (D) The current botanical names are queried against a natural products database such as the NAPRALERT database to determine whether the plant has been previously examined. (E) Differential tables are generated that separate the plants examined in the literature from plants that may warrant further examination for bioactivity. (Adapted from Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, with permission.) See color plate.

Herbal medicines contain active drugs, in every sense of the word. As such, the principles of pharmacology pertain to them and allow us to understand their effects. The purpose of this chapter is to outline some of these principles. For a more complete treatment of the topic, the reader is directed to the sources listed in the references. Although these principles apply to all drugs, this chapter will draw upon examples from plant drugs to illustrate them. 

The examples from SciFinder and the Merck Index are not intended to question the quality of these products, which we consider to be outstanding. They are invaluable resources to many chemists worldwide, and the error rate in these two databases is insignificant if one takes into account the enormous volume of indexed data. One of us has published a structure-activity paper on HIV-protease inhibitors [31] where a modified peptide was present in both the training set and the test set. Al Leo of Pomona College has recently [32] detected 100 chemical and name errors in the printed version of the sixth edition of Burger s Medicinal Chemistry [33], errors that will be corrected in the on-line edition [34]. One can never be too careful in verifying the available information, in particular if one is to invest a significant amount of resources in that area. 

Quotations relating to medicines taken from public broadcasts, for example on radio and television, and from private occasions, such as medical conferences or symposia, must not be used without the formal permission of the speaker. 

Foster S, Medicinal plant conservation and genetic resources Examples from the temperate Northern hemisphere, Acta //ort 330 67—73, 1993. 

In the past decade, the scientific interest in HDAC inhibitors has increased enormously. This growing interest was accompanied by a sudden increase of the number of publications on the subject. The extensive publishing and patenting in the field of HDAC inhibifion does not allow us to even consider a full coverage of the literature here. Instead, in this review we will focus on the evolution of HDAC inhibitors, significant medicinal chemistry studies from the literature that have contributed to the understanding of HDAC inhibition and a number of examples from the patent literature. This review is by no means an attempt to cover all the literature on this subject. 

In the following discussion, examples of different types of excipient interaction are given. Many of these examples are from the area of solid dosage forms because these are the most common types of medicine available today, and the potential for interaction is probably more complex. However, examples from other types of dosage form are included wherever possible. 

Biosensors with their oft-quoted (ideal) properties would seem to be ready partners for industrial analysts who want information at point-of-need, but as has been pointed out many times, few examples have had the same success as the blood glucose sensors for use in the home (albeit this is an example from medicine rather than industry). The reasons for this have also been pointed out many times, the principal one being that the development and manufacture of the blood glucose sensors is supported by the sadly huge market for diabetic testing and the large amount of investment capital which accrues to that market [6,7]. Further, blood is a sample of reasonably constant composition (in this context), the information is truly useful to the client and the desire for information at home means there is less competition from laboratory-based instruments. This is in contrast to the diverse requirements for analysis in the food industry (for example) which make up a series of... 

Stewart, K. Kinase Inhibitor Design Introduction and Examples from KDR, CHK, and PIM Kinases. Presented at Medicinal Biochemistry Symposium, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, April 2009. 

The next molecules we need to know how to identify are those discovered from nature—natural products. These often have biological activity and many useful medicines have been discovered this way. We shall look at a few examples from different fields. The first is the sex pheromone of the... 

Since prehistoric times, humans have attempted to alleviate ailments or injuries with the aid of plant parts or herbal preparations. Ancient civilizations have recorded various prescriptions of this kind. In the herbal formularies of medieval times numerous plants were promoted as remedies. In modern medicine, where each drug is required to satisfy objective criteria of ef cacy, few of the hundreds of reputedly curative plant species have survived as drugs with documented effectiveness. Presented below are some examples from local old-world floras that were already used in prescientific times and that contain substances that to this day are employed as important drugs. 

Podophyllum peltatum (may apple, or American mandrake) and P. emodi are. respectively, American and Himalayan plants, widely separated geographically but used in both places as cathartics in folk medicine (94). An alcoholic extract of the rhizome known as podophyllin was included in many pharmacopoeias for its gastrointestinal effects it was included in the U.S.P., for example, from 1820 to 1942. At about this time the beneficial effect of podophyllin, applied topically to benign tumors known as condylomata acuminata, was demonstrated clinically (96). This usage was not inspirational, given that there are records of topical application in the treatment of cancer by the Penobscot Indians of Maine and, subsequently, by various medical practitioners in the United States from the 19th century (96). The crude resinous podophyllin is an irritant and unpleasant mixture unsuited to systemic administration. 

Figure 3 Glaziovine, an anti-depressant from Ocotea glaziovii, and olivacine, found in Aspidoderma olivaceum and A. nigricans are examples of potentially valuable medicines derived from plants without apparent traditional use in Brazil. The anti-leukaemic activity of olivacine is...

The combination of phytodiversity and adaptation responses to a constantly changing and demanding environment provides a resourceful milieu from which new useful phytochemicals may be found and exploited if an intelligent approach is adopted. For example, from northern India new compounds of medicinal value are being discovered from Himalayan plants. Known ones are produced by these plants in... 

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