Magic Molecules: How Drugs Work
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Digital Print ed., 8/21/2008
EAN 9780521044158, ISBN10: 0521044154
Paperback, 284 pages, 23.4 x 15.6 x 1.6 cm
Language: English
All of us are drug users, in the broadest sense of the word. Drugs can be medicines, they can be used for pleasure, and they can also be used to protect our long-term health. It is important that we are well informed about the drugs we use - how they work, their benefits and their risks. This book is a unique guide for the general science reader to the drugs of everyday life - from the main types of medicine through to recreational drugs and food supplements. It looks at how drugs interact with their targets in the body, where they come from, how they are developed and what drugs to expect in the future. All the major pharmaceutical medicines are reviewed - painkillers, antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs, anti depressants, heart drugs, tranquillizers and hormones. However this book is much more than a consumer handbook - it also conveys the fascinating science of drug discovery in an easily accessible way.
List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. How drugs work
2. From penicillin to Prozac
introducing pharmaceutical drugs
3. Fighting infection
4. The hormonal revolution
5. Cardiovascular drugs
protecting the heart and brain
6. The problem of pain
7. The cancer challenge
8. Drugs for the mind
9. Drugs of recreation and addiction
10. Natural alternatives
vitamins, minerals and herbs
11. In the pipeline
gene-based medicine
Bibliography
Index.
'... this book flows like a river, uncovering the delicate dance between drugs and health and filling in the background ... Magic Molecules really hits the spot.' Ben Crystall, New Scientist