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Opioid research is one of the multidisciplinary research areas that involve advanced techniques ranging from molecular genetics to neuropharmacology, and from behavioral neuroscience to clinical medicine. In current opioid research, it has become increasingly important to use multiple approaches at molecular, cellular, and system levels for investigations on a specific opio- related target system. That often requires understanding and applying cro- field techniques and methods for the success of one’s research projects. Through its broad spectrum of coverage, Opioid Research: Methods and Protocols provides a comprehensive collection of major laboratory methods and protocols in current opio...
Hemoglobin and Hemoglobinologists This volume, Hemoglobin Disorders: Molecular Methods and Protocols, will be introduced with a review of the great milestones in the field, and the scientists responsible for those achievements. The history of hemoglobin can be divided into three periods: the Classical period, the Modern period, and the Post-Modern period. I am inclined to include as the four major members of the classical period Francis Roughton, Quentin Gibson, Jeffries Wyman, and Linus Pauling, not only because of their achievements, but also because of the superb scientists they trained and/or influenced. Francis John Worsely Roughton (1899–1972) (Fig. 1), in his laboratory at Trinity C...
Gene therapy has expanded rapidly over the last decade. The number of clinical trials reported by 2001 included 532 protocols and 3436 patients. Phase I trials predominate with 359 trials of 1774 patients versus Phase II (57 trials with 507 patients) and Phase III (3 trials of 251 patients). The disease overwhelmingly targeted by gene therapy is cancer: involving 331 trials with 2361 patients. Despite the somewhat disappointing results of clinical trials to date, gene therapy offers tremendous promise for the future of cancer therapy. The area of gene therapy is vast, and both malignant and nonmalignant cells can be targeted. Suicide Gene Therapy: Methods and Reviews covers gene therapy that...
This collection of review articles highlights the latest development of antithrombotics and provides proven experimental methods for the further development of new and improved anticoagulants. Among the cutting-edge developments reviewed are the novel usage of low molecular weight heparins, such antithrombin agents as the hirudin, and such antiplatelet drugs as the GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors and ADP receptor antagonists.
Blood–brain barrier (BBB) breakdown leading to cerebral edema occurs in many brain diseases—such as trauma, stroke, inflammation, infection, and tumors—and is an important factor in the mortality arising from these con- tions. Despite the importance of the BBB in the pathogenesis of these diseases, the molecular mechanisms occurring at the BBB are not completely und- stood. In the last decade a number of molecules have been identified not only in endothelial cells, but also in astrocytes, pericytes, and the perivascular cells that interact with endothelium to maintain cerebral homeostasis. However, the precise cellular interactions at a molecular level in steady states and d- eases hav...
“Rule IV. There is need of a method for finding out the truth. Rule V. Method consists entirely in the order and disposition of the objects toward which our mental vision must be directed if we would find out any truth. We shall comply with it exactly if we reduce involved and obscure propositions step be step to those that are s- pler, and then starting with the intuitive apprehension of all those that are absolutely simple, attempt to ascend to the knowledge of all others by precisely similar steps. ” —Rene Descartes, Rules for the Direction of Mind “...Perhaps he would sooner satisfy himself by resolving light into colours as far as may be done by Art, and then by examining the properties of those colours apart, and afterwards by trying the effects of reconjoyning two or more or all of those, and lastly by separating them again to examine what changes that reconjunction had wrought in them. This will prove a tedious and difficult task to do it as it ought to be done but I could not be satisfied till I had gone through it. ” —From Newton’s letter, quoted in The Life of Isaac Newton by Richard Westfall. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
We are in an exciting era in the war against cancer, with real prospects for novel anticancer drugs that are cancer cell-specific without the toxicities that have been the hallmark of conventional cytotoxic cancer chemotherapy. Advances in cancer cell biology fueled by the molecular biology revolution have resulted in the uncovering of many novel potential molecular targets for cancer therapy. New anticancer drug discovery and development is now largely focused on exploiting these new molecular targets, which encompass oncogenes, tumor s- pressor genes, and their gene products, as well as targets involved in tumor angiogenesis, metastasis, survival, and longevity mechanisms. Exploitation of some of these targets has already yielded fruits and introduced new paradigms of molecularly targeted cancer therapy into the clinic, namely, protein kinase in- bition by antibodies or small molecules, exemplified by Herceptin® (trastuzumab), a humanized antibody targeted against the HER-2 growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer; and Gleevec, a small molecule bcr-abl kinase inhibitor for the treatment of chronic myel- enous leukemia.
Diabetes mellitus is the collective name for a group of diseases associated with hyperglycemia (high levels of blood glucose) caused by defects in insulin p- duction, insulin action, or both. About 6. 2% of the US population (17 million people) have diabetes mellitus. It is the leading cause of kidney failure, bli- ness, and amputations. It is also a major risk factor for heart diseases, stroke, and birth defects. Diabetes Mellitus: Methods and Protocols provides a state-of-the-art account of the experimental methodology for studying the molecular defects leading to diabetes mellitus, both at the molecular and biochemical levels. The chapters cover a wide range of topics written by experts i...
During the past decade, significant progress in molecular and cellular te- niques has greatly advanced our understanding of the wound healing p- cess. Many of these new techniques have been utilized in the context of more classic models of wound healing. The combination of new and classic approaches has allowed scientists to make exciting discoveries in the field of tissue repair, resulting in an explosion of information about the healing p- cess. Importantly, these new findings have great relevance beyond wound healing itself. The injury repair process cuts across many disciplines, exte- ing to such broad fields as cancer, inflammation, and atherosclerosis. The relevance of the field to the...
Vaccine research and development is advancing at an unprecedented pace, with an increasing emphasis on rational design based upon a fundamental und- standing of the underlying molecular mechanisms. The aim of this volume is to provide a selection of contemporary protocols that will be useful to both novice and advanced practitioner alike. The variety of procedures required to design, develop, produce, and assess a vaccine is immense and covers aspects of ch- istry, biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, and immunology. No single volume can hope to cover these topics exclusively. Rather, here we attempt to provide a methods sourcebook focusing on hands-on practical advice. Comp- menta...