Therapeutic applications 562 Subject

Radiotherapy generally involves cell destruction, requiring some form of particle emission on decay and a half-life between 1 and 10 days. The choice of a particular therapeutic application determines the type of particle emission (a, ft, or Auger e ), and the energy and half-life of the radionuclide to be used. Considerations include time for delivery of the radiopharmaceutical to its in vivo target, location of the target (tumor surface, tumor cell cytoplasm, tumor cell nucleus) and size of the tumor. The reader is directed to a number of reviews on this subject.15-22... 

Adrenoceptors of the /3-subtype are important mediators of the sympathetic activation of the heart, kidney, and bronchi. /3-Adrenoceptors are also found in other organs and tissues such as blood vessels and the central nervous system. Accordingly, /3-adrenoceptor antagonists or jS-blockers inhibit the stimulating influence of the endogenous catecholamines (noradrenaline, adrenaline) on the various organs and tissues which are subject to sympathetic innervation. In cardiovascular medicine the /3-blockers are used in particular to blunt the sympathetic activation of the heart and kidneys. These effects are mediated by the /3i-subtype of the /3-adrenoceptors. The currently used /3-blockers are all competitive antagonists of the /3i-adrenoceptor, which is the basis of their therapeutic application. 

Psvchopharmaceutieals are medications that can affect the behavior and subjective state of man and are used therapeutically on account of these psychotropic effects. Apart from psychopharmaceuticals, there are man) other substances with psychotropic action, such as alcohol, nicotine, cocaine and heroin, which are characterized as social or addictive products and have no generally recognized therapeutic applications in Western medicine. Analgesics and members of other drug classes also have direct or indirect actions on subjective state and behavior but are not considered to be psychopharmaceuticals because they are not used primarily for their psychotropic effects. 

Apart from psychopharmaceuticals, there are many other substances that also affect subjective state and behavior social drugs such as alcohol and caffeine have little or no therapeutic applications in Western medicine but undoubtedly affect subjective state and behavior, whereas the use of drugs such as marijuana, LSD, cocaine and heroin involves risks that, according to today s opinion, outweigh the possible benefits. 

Fluoride is well established as effective for the prophylaxis of dental caries and has been under investigation for the treatment of osteoporosis. Both therapeutic applications originated from epidemiologic observations that subjects living in areas with naturally fluoridated water (1-2 ppm) had less dental caries and fewer vertebral compression fractures than subjects living in nonfluoridated water areas. Fluoride is accumulated by bones and teeth, where it may stabilize the... 

Corwin Hansch, Peter G. Sammes, John B. Taylor, and Colin J. Drayton, Comprehensive Medicinal Chemistry. The Rational Design, Mechanistic Study, and Therapeutic Application of Chemical Compounds, Vol. 6 Cumulative Subject Index and Drug Compendium, Pergamon, Oxford, UK, 1990. 

The editors concept of clinical chemistry, as stated in previous volumes of this serial publication, encompasses a wide field of subjects— from the mechanism of blood coagulation to the microbiological assay of vitamins, and from the significance of trace metals in health and disease to the therapeutic application of increased gas pressure. The natural history of clinical conditions and their comparison with normal controls share one common feature, namely, the central position of some species of molecules, be they small or large, all of them the natural subject of chemical research. Hence, practical methods develop, either manual or mechanized, the results of which become increasingly more useful for the clinician in diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis. 

The therapeutic application of this drug is limited to such subjects having a history of stable, mild to mderately severe diabetes melitus who still retain residual pancreatic 3-cell function to a certain extent. 

Among circadian rhythms, one of the most studied by means of theoretical models is the sleep-wake cycle (Winfree, 1982 Daan, Beersma Borbely, 1984 Moore-Ede Czeisler, 1984 Strogatz, 1986,1987). A related topic of current interest in view of its therapeutical applications, which has also been approached theoretically (Kronauer, 1990 Kronauer Czeisler, 1993), pertains to the use of light to control the circadian pacemaker in humans. The property of temperature compensation, so characteristic of circadian rhythms, has also been the subject of theoretical investigations (Pavlidis Kauzmann, 1969 Lakin-Thomas, Brody Cote, 1991). 

In many countries the use of animals for research purposes is strictly controlled and only licensed personnel experienced in small animal surgery are able to cany out the required immunization procedures. Also, the protocols used to achieve immunity are themselves subject to strict control so it is worth considering how essential a mAb reagent is for the purpose in hand or if a high affinity polyclonal antiserum would suffice. Nevertheless, for the precise identification of antigenic epitopes or for diagnostic and therapeutic applications mAbs are essential reagents. In the two decades since the publication of Kohler... 

---