Infectious Disorders - Drug Targets (Formerly Current Drug Targets - Infectious Disorders) - Volume 8, Issue 2, 2008

Predictive medicine is a new philosophy in healthcare and an attractive subject for currently initiated research activities aimed at a potential application of innovative biotechnologies in the prediction of human pathologies, a development of well-timed prevention and individual therapy-planning. Diabetes care is one of the best examples of an absolute necessity for well-timed prediction, prevention and personalized trea Read More

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a serious medical problem that causes long-term systemic complications and considerable associated morbidity. DM can cause retinopathy (DRP), maculopathy, cataract, optic neuropathy, defects of eye muscles. DM is a risk factor for acute infectious conjunctivitis, bacterial keratitis, herpes virus infections and endophtalmitis. Elevated blood glucose induces structural, physiological and hormonal cha Read More

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder. Currently over 230 million patients demonstrate already an epidemic scale of the disease. It is a lifelong progressive disease with a high mortality worldwide: every 10 seconds one patient dies on DM-related consequences. Whereas cardio-vascular complications are well-known for DM, it is relatively new consideration that diabetic patients are highly predisposed to cancer. P Read More

Degenerative aortic valve stenosis is the leading cause of heart valve disease in elderly resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Although aortic stenosis has been recognized as a complex inflammatory and well-regulated process, its exact pathomechanisms are still largely unknown. Assessment by Echocardiography, Electron Beam Computed Tomography and Multislice Computed Tomography is useful for monitoring Read More

The presence of DNA and RNA circulating in human plasma and serum is described. The possible sources of the DNA/RNA in blood, their ability to enter other cells and to express in the recipient cells are discussed and the relationship with metastases considered. The possible role(s) of the DNA/RNA in clinical diagnosis, in monitoring treatment and in prognosis are considered for diabetes and oncology.

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are involved in a variety of physiological processes such as lipid metabolism, ion homeostasis and immune functions. A large number of these proteins have been causatively linked to rare and common human genetic diseases including familial high-density lipoprotein deficiency, retinopathies, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and cardiomyopathies. Furthermore, genetic variations in ABC trans Read More

Advanced drug delivery systems present indubitable advantages for drug administration. During the past three decades, new approaches for the development of new carriers for this topic have been suggested. This led to explosion of publication activity in the area. This article reviews briefly the history of the topic and focuses on general concepts in the issue. One of the most crucial properties of advanced delivery systems is Read More

Both type I and type II diabetes are common diseases with no cure. Both are characterised by chronic hyperglycaemia and can be managed, at least to some extent, by daily proteins treatments. However, in both cases, administration of the protein does not always control glucose levels in a physiologically normal time frame. A variety of different approaches to restore lost insulin in type 1 diabetes by gene therapy have rece Read More