The Circulation of Penicillin in Spain

The Circulation of Penicillin in Spain

Author: María Jesús Santesmases

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-12-18

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 3319697188

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This book reconstructs the early circulation of penicillin in Spain, a country exhausted by civil war (1936–1939), and oppressed by Franco’s dictatorship. Embedded in the post-war recovery, penicillin’s voyages through time and across geographies – professional, political and social – were both material and symbolic. This powerful antimicrobial captivated the imagination of the general public, medical practice, science and industry, creating high expectations among patients, who at times experienced little or no effect. Penicillin’s lack of efficacy against some microbes fueled the search for new wonder drugs and sustained a decades-long research agenda built on the post-war concept of development through scientific and technological achievements. This historical reconstruction of the social life of penicillin between the 1940s and 1980s – through the dictatorship to democratic transition – explores political, public, medical, experimental and gender issues, and the rise of antibiotic resistance.


Fat

Fat

Author: Christopher E. Forth

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2019-06-15

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 178914096X

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Fat: such a little word evokes big responses. While ‘fat’ describes the size and shape of bodies, our negative reactions to corpulent bodies also depend on something tangible and tactile; as this book argues, there is more to fat than meets the eye. Fat: A Cultural History of the Stuff of Life offers a historical reflection on how fat has been perceived and imagined in the West since antiquity. Featuring fascinating historical accounts, philosophical, religious and cultural arguments, including discussions of status, gender and race, the book digs deep into the past for the roots of our current notions and prejudices. Three central themes emerge: how we have perceived and imagined obesity over the centuries; how fat as a substance has elicited disgust and how it evokes perceptions of animality; but also how it has been associated with vitality and fertility. By exploring the complex ways in which fat, fatness and fattening have been perceived over time, this book provides rich insights into the stuff our stereotypes are made of.


Strange Trips

Strange Trips

Author: Lucas Richert

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2019-02-28

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0773556524

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Drugs take strange journeys from the black market to the doctor's black bag. Changing marijuana laws in the United States and Canada, the opioid crisis, and the rising costs of pharmaceuticals have sharpened the public's awareness of drugs and their regulation. Government, industry, and the medical profession, however, have a mixed record when it comes to framing policies and generating knowledge to address drug use and misuse. In Strange Trips Lucas Richert investigates the myths, meanings, and boundaries of recreational drugs, palliative care drugs, and pharmaceuticals as well as struggles over product innovation, consumer protection, and freedom of choice in the medical marketplace. Scrutinizing how we have conceptualized and regulated drugs amid the pressing and competing interests of state regulatory bodies, pharmaceutical and for-profit companies, scientific researchers, and medical professionals, Richert asks how perceptions of a product shift – from dangerous substance to medical breakthrough, or vice versa. Through close examination of archival materials, accounts, and records, he brings substances into conversation with each other and demonstrates the contentious relationship between scientific knowledge, cultural assumptions, and social concerns. Weaving together stories of consumer resistance and government control, Strange Trips offers timely recommendations for the future of drug regulation.


The Antibiotic Paradox

The Antibiotic Paradox

Author: Stuart B. Levy

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2013-11-11

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1489960422

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The discovery of antibiotics heralded medicine's triumph over previously fatal diseases that once destroyed entire civilizations - thus earning their reputation as miracle drugs. But today, the terrifying reality of antibiotic-resistant bacteria resulting from our widespread misuse of antibiotics forewarns us that the miracle may be coming to an end. The seemingly innocent consumer who demands antibiotics to treat nonbacterial diseases such as the common cold or plays doctor by saving old prescriptions for later use is paving the way for a future of antibiotic failure. "What harm can it do?" is a popular refrain of people worldwide as they pop another antibiotic pill. Dr. Stuart Levy - the leading international expert on hazards of antibiotic misuse - reveals how this cavalier and naive attitude about the power of antibiotics can have deadly consequences. He explains that we are presently witnessing a massive evolutionary change in bacteria. This build-up of new antibiotic-resistant bacteria in individuals and the environment worldwide is an insidious and silent process. Thus, unwittingly consumers encounter resistant bacteria in their meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables. Unregulated dispensing of antibiotics in poorer countries breeds countless more resistant strains. Since bacteria recognize no geographical boundaries, resistant forms can travel the globe. If this trend continues to grow unchecked, we may someday find that all of our antibiotics are obsolete. Today doctors can no longer expect that their first choice of antibiotic for women's urinary tract infections or children's ear infections will work. Similarly, cancer therapy is rendered useless if patients are unable to fight infections that are sometimes resistant to eight to ten different drugs. In developing countries, people are now dying of previously treatable diseases that are no longer responsive to traditional antibiotics. These problems are just a harbinger of what will come if we do not act now. Dr. Levy, recognized by The New Yorker for his superb contributions to this field, is sending out an urgent message that the world cannot afford to ignore any longer. The goal of this unprecedented investigation into the dangers of antibiotic misuse is to protect the world community from resistant infections and ensure the success of antibiotics for generations to come


Penicillin

Penicillin

Author: Robert Bud

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 0199254060

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The author sets the discovery and use of penicillin in the broader context of social and cultural changes across the world. He examines the drug's contributions to medicine and agriculture, and investigates the global spread of resistant bacteria as antibiotic use continues to rise.


The Threat of Pandemic Influenza

The Threat of Pandemic Influenza

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2005-04-09

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 0309095042

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Public health officials and organizations around the world remain on high alert because of increasing concerns about the prospect of an influenza pandemic, which many experts believe to be inevitable. Moreover, recent problems with the availability and strain-specificity of vaccine for annual flu epidemics in some countries and the rise of pandemic strains of avian flu in disparate geographic regions have alarmed experts about the world's ability to prevent or contain a human pandemic. The workshop summary, The Threat of Pandemic Influenza: Are We Ready? addresses these urgent concerns. The report describes what steps the United States and other countries have taken thus far to prepare for the next outbreak of "killer flu." It also looks at gaps in readiness, including hospitals' inability to absorb a surge of patients and many nations' incapacity to monitor and detect flu outbreaks. The report points to the need for international agreements to share flu vaccine and antiviral stockpiles to ensure that the 88 percent of nations that cannot manufacture or stockpile these products have access to them. It chronicles the toll of the H5N1 strain of avian flu currently circulating among poultry in many parts of Asia, which now accounts for the culling of millions of birds and the death of at least 50 persons. And it compares the costs of preparations with the costs of illness and death that could arise during an outbreak.


Medicine, Knowledge and Venereal Diseases in England, 1886-1916

Medicine, Knowledge and Venereal Diseases in England, 1886-1916

Author: Anne R. Hanley

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-11-04

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 3319324551

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This book reveals the ever-present challenges of patient care at the forefront of medical knowledge. Syphilis and gonorrhoea played upon the public imagination in Victorian and Edwardian England, inspiring fascination and fear. Seemingly inextricable from the other great 'social evil', prostitution, these diseases represented contamination, both physical and moral. They infiltrated respectable homes and brought terrible suffering and stigma to those afflicted. Medicine, Knowledge and Venereal Diseases takes us back to an age before penicillin and the NHS, when developments in pathology, symptomology and aetiology were transforming clinical practice. This is the first book to examine systematically how doctors, nurses and midwives grappled with new ideas and laboratory-based technologies in their fight against venereal diseases in voluntary hospitals, general practice and Poor Law institutions. It opens up new perspectives on what made competent and safe medical professionals; how these standards changed over time; and how changing attitudes and expectations affected the medical authority and autonomy of different professional groups.


Innovation in Pharmacy: Advances and Perspectives. September 2018

Innovation in Pharmacy: Advances and Perspectives. September 2018

Author: Organizer Committee IPAP18 – Salamanca

Publisher: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca

Published: 2018-09-21

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 8490129762

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This book contains the summaries of the "Innovation in Pharmacy: Advances and Perspectives" that took place in Salamanca (Spain) in September 2018. The early science of chemistry and microbiology were the source of most drugs until the revolution of genetic engineering in the mid 1970s. Then biotechnology made available novel protein agents such as interferons, blood factors and monoclonal antibodies that have changed the modern pharmacy. Over the past year, a new pharmacy of oligonucleotides has emerged from the science of gene expression such as RNA splicing and RNA interference. The ability to design therapeutic agents from genomic sequences will transform treatment for many diseases. The science that created this advance and its future promise will be discussed. Phillip Allen Sharp is an American geneticist and molecular biologist who co-discovered RNA splicing. He shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Richard J. Roberts for “the discovery that genes in eukaryotes are not contiguous strings but contain introns, and that the splicing of messenger RNA to delete those introns can occur in different ways, yielding different proteins from the same DNA sequence. He works in Institute Professor Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, US. Este libro recoge los resúmenes de la «Innovation in Pharmacy: Advances and Perspectives» que tuvo lugar en Salamanca (España) en septiembre de 2018. La ciencia primitiva de la química y la microbiología fue la fuente de la mayoría de las drogas hasta la revolución de la ingeniería genética a mediados de la década de 1970. Luego, la biotecnología puso a disposición agentes proteínicos novedosos como interferones, factores sanguíneos y anticuerpos monoclonales que han cambiado la farmacia moderna. Durante el año pasado, surgió una nueva farmacia de oligonucleótidos a partir de la ciencia de la expresión génica, como el empalme de ARN y la interferencia de ARN. La capacidad de diseñar agentes terapéuticos a partir de secuencias genómicas transformará el tratamiento de muchas enfermedades. La ciencia que creó este avance y su promesa futura será discutida. Phillip Allen Sharp es un genetista y biólogo molecular estadounidense que co-descubrió el empalme de ARN. Compartió el Premio Nobel de 1993 en Fisiología o Medicina con Richard J. Roberts por "el descubrimiento de que los genes en eucariotas no son cadenas contiguas, sino que contienen intrones, y que el empalme del ARN mensajero para eliminar esos intrones puede ocurrir de diferentes maneras, produciendo diferentes proteínas de la misma secuencia de ADN. Trabaja en el Instituto Profesor Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Instituto Tecnológico de Massachusetts (MIT), Cambridge, MA, EE. UU.


Antibiotics and Antimicrobial Resistance Genes

Antibiotics and Antimicrobial Resistance Genes

Author: Muhammad Zaffar Hashmi

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-04-07

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 3030404226

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This volume summarizes and updates information about antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR)/antibiotic resistant genes (ARG) production, including their entry routes in soil, air, water and sediment, their use in hospital and associated waste, global and temporal trends in use and spread of antibiotics, AMR and ARG. Antimicrobial/antibiotic resistance genes due to manure and agricultural waste applications, bioavailability, biomonitoring, and their Epidemiological, ecological and public health effects. The book addresses the antibiotic and AMR/ARG risk assessment and treatment technologies, for managing antibiotics and AMR/ARG impacted environments The book's expert contributions span 20 chapters, and offer a comprehensive framework for better understanding and analyzing the environmental and social impacts of antibiotics and AMR/ARGs. Readers will have access to recent and updated models regarding the interpretation of antibiotics and AMR/ARGs in environment and biomonitoring studies, and will learn about the management options require to appropriately mitigate environmental contaminants and pollution. The book will be of interest to students, teachers, researchers, policy makers and environmental organizations.


Antibiotic Discovery and Development

Antibiotic Discovery and Development

Author: Thomas J. Dougherty

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-12-18

Total Pages: 1119

ISBN-13: 1461414008

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This volume covers all aspects of the antibiotic discovery and development process through Phase II/III. The contributors, a group of highly experienced individuals in both academics and industry, include chapters on the need for new antibiotic compounds, strategies for screening for new antibiotics, sources of novel synthetic and natural antibiotics, discovery phases of lead development and optimization, and candidate compound nominations into development. Beyond discovery , the handbook will cover all of the studies to prepare for IND submission: Phase I (safety and dose ranging), progression to Phase II (efficacy), and Phase III (capturing desired initial indications). This book walks the reader through all aspects of the process, which has never been done before in a single reference. With the rise of antibiotic resistance and the increasing view that a crisis may be looming in infectious diseases, there are strong signs of renewed emphasis in antibiotic research. The purpose of the handbook is to offer a detailed overview of all aspects of the problem posed by antibiotic discovery and development.