Current Clinical Pharmacology - Volume 3, Issue 2, 2008

Background: Clinical developments of new treatments are impossible without adequate diagnostic tests. Several working parties including the Consolidated Standard Randomized Trials (CONSORT) movement and the Standard for Reporting Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD) group have launched quality criteria for diagnostic tests. Particularly, accuracy-, reproducibility- and precision-assessments have been recommended, but me Read More

The so-called central or upper-body obesity has been shown to play a key role in the development of insulin resistance and lipid abnormalities that commonly are associated with metabolic syndrome. Reducing free fatty acids (FFA) levels improves insulin resistance and lipid profile in metabolic syndrome. The established approach to improving FFA metabolism in obesity is based on inhibition of lipolysis, weight loss and treatment Read More

In the past few years many encouraging advancements have been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis and tumor progression. These improvements have led to the identification of promising new targets for cancer therapy. There has been much success with the HER2 targeting antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin®) in the treatment of early stage and metastatic breast cancer. Cons Read More

The development of functional brain nuclear medicine techniques and their application in the investigation of neuropsychiatric disorders, have contributed significantly in the illumination of the underlying pathophysiological processes of these disorders. Furthermore, Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) brain studies provide information in early diagnosis, differentia Read More

The increased understanding of the pathogenetic and oncogenic pathways underlying cancer has allowed the successful development of novel approaches to treating the disease. The use of drugs to correct specific genetic defects responsible for the biological behaviour of cancer cells has been successfully applied to the clinic. These have included agents that interfere with cell proliferation and cell cycle signalling, neo-vasc Read More

Nosocomial pneumonia is the most frequent and leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Pseudomonas aeruginosa the most frequent causative agent is intrinsically resistant to most antibiotics. The study was aimed at comparing the efficacy and safety of fixed dose combination (FDC) of Cefepime and Amikacin with that of Cefepime alone in treatment of patients suffering from nosocomial pneumonia. Patients (n=200) su Read More

This review addresses recent developments in amyloid β (Aβ), total tau (t-tau) and phosporylated tau (p-tau) protein analysis, in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma as biomarkers for dementia. Recent research focused on the progression of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) into dementia and the differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). A combination of Aβ42 and t-tau in CSF can discriminate between p Read More

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is considered to be one of the most important regulators of angiogenesis and a new key target in anti-cancer treatment. Various clinical trials have validated the clinical importance of anti- VEGF or anti-VEGF receptor (VEGFR) therapy. Currently the humanized monoclonal antibody bevacizumab (blocks VEGF-A), and the tyrosine kinase inhibitors sunitinib and sorafenib (inhibit VEGFRs) Read More