Clinical and experimental pharmacology & physiology
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Clin. Exp. Pharmacol. Physiol. · Jan 1997
ReviewPharmacological action of Australian animal venoms.
1. Australia has some of the most venomous fauna in the world. Although humans are not usually perceived as being predators against these animals they are often envenomated, accidentally or otherwise. ⋯ Lampona cylindrata). Other venoms, such as those of the jumper ant (Myrmecia pilosula) and bull ant (M. pyriformis), may produce only mild skin irritation to the majority of humans but a severe anaphylactic response in sensitized victims. 4. While there has been a renewed interest in toxinology, further research is required to fully elucidate the pharmacological action of many of these venoms.
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Clin. Exp. Pharmacol. Physiol. · Oct 1996
ReviewClearing 'the fog on the Tyne': can the quality of therapeutics be assessed?
1. The rise in prescribing costs in developed countries is a concern for all physicians, but a particular challenge for clinical pharmacologists. 2. There are wide variations in the amounts and types of drugs prescribed in developed countries. 3. ⋯ A consensus process is described in which primary care physicians developed criteria of prescribing quality, using data readily available within the UK. Practitioners scores using these criteria did not correlate directly with prescribing costs, indicating that cost alone cannot be used as criterion of quality. 5. The measurement of quality in therapeutics remains an important challenge for the future.
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1. Recent findings have further helped to elucidate the mechanisms involved in the transmission and modulation of pain. ⋯ In response to these findings, new agents and techniques have been applied in the clinical setting and new approaches have been developed to use existing agents more effectively. This review presents some of the findings from recent studies and the implications they have for the management of pain.
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1. The central nervous system in mammals is able to react to painful stimuli at many levels that are involved in transmission, modulation and sensation of pain. Endogenous opioid peptides and their receptors are located at key points in pain pathways, and response to pain can be modulated by local application of opioids at many sites. ⋯ Noxious stimulation increases neuronal activity and modulates expression of genes, including immediate-early genes and neuropeptide (i.e. opioid) genes at spinal and supraspinal levels of the somatosensory system. Opioid drugs and endogenously released opioid peptides can modulate signal transduction mechanisms and intracellular processes that lead to alterations in protein phosphorylation and gene expression. These effects of opioids at the cellular level may underlie the mechanisms of pre-emptive analgesia and neuroplastic changes such as tolerance, dependence, sensitization, hyperalgesia, adaptation, addiction, and modulation of pain memories.