Drug Synergism and Dose-Effect Data Analysis


Book Description

Not since this author's bestselling Manual of Pharmacologic Calculation has there been an available reference for drug data analysis. Incorporating the most relevant parts of that work, Drug Synergism and Dose-Effect Data Analysis focuses on drug combinations and all the quantitative analyses needed to analyze drug combination dose-effect data and to design experiments with two or more compounds. The book contains the statistical methods, the theory, and the computation algorithms needed to analyze single and combination drug data. Numerous examples accompany a presentation that illustrates the calculations and experimental design considerations for modern drug analysis.




Developing a Protocol for Observational Comparative Effectiveness Research: A User's Guide


Book Description

This User’s Guide is a resource for investigators and stakeholders who develop and review observational comparative effectiveness research protocols. It explains how to (1) identify key considerations and best practices for research design; (2) build a protocol based on these standards and best practices; and (3) judge the adequacy and completeness of a protocol. Eleven chapters cover all aspects of research design, including: developing study objectives, defining and refining study questions, addressing the heterogeneity of treatment effect, characterizing exposure, selecting a comparator, defining and measuring outcomes, and identifying optimal data sources. Checklists of guidance and key considerations for protocols are provided at the end of each chapter. The User’s Guide was created by researchers affiliated with AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program, particularly those who participated in AHRQ’s DEcIDE (Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions About Effectiveness) program. Chapters were subject to multiple internal and external independent reviews. More more information, please consult the Agency website: www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov)




Synergism and Antagonism in Chemotherapy


Book Description

Practical, mechanism-oriented coverage of chemotherapeutic drug interactions in the clinic and in experimental model systems. Anticancer, antimicrobial, and antiviral systems are included, as well as methodology for characterization and quantization of synergism and antagonism. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Preventing Medication Errors and Improving Drug Therapy Outcomes


Book Description

Read this book in order to learn: Why medicines often fail to produce the desired result and how such failures can be avoided How to think about drug product safety and effectiveness How the main participants in a medications use system can improve outcomes and how professional and personal values, attitudes, and ethical reasoning fit into




Science and Decisions


Book Description

Risk assessment has become a dominant public policy tool for making choices, based on limited resources, to protect public health and the environment. It has been instrumental to the mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as other federal agencies in evaluating public health concerns, informing regulatory and technological decisions, prioritizing research needs and funding, and in developing approaches for cost-benefit analysis. However, risk assessment is at a crossroads. Despite advances in the field, risk assessment faces a number of significant challenges including lengthy delays in making complex decisions; lack of data leading to significant uncertainty in risk assessments; and many chemicals in the marketplace that have not been evaluated and emerging agents requiring assessment. Science and Decisions makes practical scientific and technical recommendations to address these challenges. This book is a complement to the widely used 1983 National Academies book, Risk Assessment in the Federal Government (also known as the Red Book). The earlier book established a framework for the concepts and conduct of risk assessment that has been adopted by numerous expert committees, regulatory agencies, and public health institutions. The new book embeds these concepts within a broader framework for risk-based decision-making. Together, these are essential references for those working in the regulatory and public health fields.




Kinesins and Cancer


Book Description

This interdisciplinary volume collates research work on kinesins and cancer. Authors attempt to validate members of the kinesin superfamily as potential targets for drug development in cancer chemotherapy. The work begins by highlighting the importance of kinesins, summarising current knowledge and how they are shown to be crucial for mitosis. Chapters go on to explore how this family of proteins are emerging as a novel target for chemotherapeutic intervention and drug development. Readers will learn how kinesins travel along microtubules to fulfill their many roles in intracellular transport or cell division. Several compounds that inhibit two mitotic kinesins (called Eg5 and CENP-E) have entered Phase I and II clinical trials and are explored in these chapters. Additional mitotic kinesins are currently being validated as drug targets, raising the possibility that the repertoire of kinesin-based drug targets may expand in the future. The book is suitable as a reference standard for the field of kinesins and cancer. It will interest those in academia and pharmaceutical companies, and anyone with an interest in the medical relevance of these proteins, which cutting edge methodologies are now enabling us to understand in astonishing detail.




Dose-Response Analysis Using R


Book Description

Nowadays the term dose-response is used in many different contexts and many different scientific disciplines including agriculture, biochemistry, chemistry, environmental sciences, genetics, pharmacology, plant sciences, toxicology, and zoology. In the 1940 and 1950s, dose-response analysis was intimately linked to evaluation of toxicity in terms of binary responses, such as immobility and mortality, with a limited number of doses of a toxic compound being compared to a control group (dose 0). Later, dose-response analysis has been extended to other types of data and to more complex experimental designs. Moreover, estimation of model parameters has undergone a dramatic change, from struggling with cumbersome manual operations and transformations with pen and paper to rapid calculations on any laptop. Advances in statistical software have fueled this development. Key Features: Provides a practical and comprehensive overview of dose-response analysis. Includes numerous real data examples to illustrate the methodology. R code is integrated into the text to give guidance on applying the methods. Written with minimal mathematics to be suitable for practitioners. Includes code and datasets on the book’s GitHub: https://github.com/DoseResponse. This book focuses on estimation and interpretation of entirely parametric nonlinear dose-response models using the powerful statistical environment R. Specifically, this book introduces dose-response analysis of continuous, binomial, count, multinomial, and event-time dose-response data. The statistical models used are partly special cases, partly extensions of nonlinear regression models, generalized linear and nonlinear regression models, and nonlinear mixed-effects models (for hierarchical dose-response data). Both simple and complex dose-response experiments will be analyzed.




Mechanisms of Drug Interactions


Book Description

Over the years a number of excellent books have classified and detailed drug drug interactions into their respective categories, e.g. interactions at plasma protein binding sites; those altering intestinal absorption or bioavailability; those involving hepatic metabolising enzymes; those involving competition or antagonism for receptor sites, and drug interactions modifying excretory mechanisms. Such books have presented extensive tables of interactions and their management. Although of considerable value to clinicians, such publica tions have not, however, been so expressive about the individual mechanisms that underlie these interactions. It is within this sphere of "mechanisms" that this present volume specialises. It deals with mechanisms of in vitro and in vivo, drug-drug, drug food and drug-herbals interactions and those that cause drugs to interfere with diagnostic laboratory tests. We believe that an explanation of the mechanisms of such interactions will enable practitioners to understand more fully the nature of the interactions and thus enable them to manage better their clinical outcome. If mechanisms of interactions are better understood, then it may be pos sible for the researcher to develop meaningful animal/biochemical/tissue cul ture or physicochemical models to which new molecules could be exposed during their development stages. The present position, which largely relies on patients experiencing adverse interactions before they can be established or documented, can hardly be regarded as satisfactory. This present volume is classified into two major parts; firstly, pharmacoki netic drug interactions and, secondly, pharmacodynamic drug interactions.




Pharmaceutical and Clinical Calculations


Book Description

Pharmaceutical and clinical calculations are critical to the delivery of safe, effective, and competent patient care and professional practice. Pharmaceutical and Clinical Calculations, Second Edition addresses this crucial component, while emphasizing contemporary pharmacy practices. Presenting the information in a well-organized and easy-to-under




Drug Benefits and Risks


Book Description

This is an inclusive reference exploring the scientific basis and practice of drug therapy. The key concept is to look at the balance between the benefits and risks of drugs but in this context also the social impact which drugs have in modern societies is highlighted. Taking an evidence-based approach to the problem, the practice of clinical pharmacology and pharmacotherapy in the developing as well as the developed world is examined. For this purpose the book * Covers general clinical pharmacology, pharmacology of various drug groups and the treatments specific to various diseases * Gives guidance on how doctors should act so that drugs can be used effectively and safely * Encourages the rational use of drugs in society This book brings together a large amount of excellent content that will be invaluable for anyone working within, or associated with, the field of clinical pharmacology and pharmacotherapy - undergraduates, postgraduates, regulatory authorities and the pharmaceutical industry.