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12.3: Materials for Medicine

  • Page ID
    21779
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    • 12.3.1: Anti-Cancer Drugs I
    • 12.3.2: Anti-Cancer Drugs II
    • 12.3.3: Antidepressants
      Antidepressant drugs are used to restore mentally depressed patients to an improved mental status. Depression results from a deficiency of norepinephrine at receptors in the brain. Mechanisms that increase their effective concentration at the receptor sites should alleviate depression.
    • 12.3.4: Barbiturates and Benzodiazepines
      Barbiturates are central nervous system depressants and are similar, in many ways, to the depressant effects of alcohol.
    • 12.3.5: Drugs Acting Upon the Central Nervous System
      Chemical influences are capable of producing a myriad of effects on the activity and function of the central nervous system. Since our knowledge of different regions of brain function and the neurotransmitters in the brain is limited, the explanations for the mechanisms of drug action may be vague. The known neurotransmitters are: acetylcholine which is involved with memory and learning; norepinephrine which is involved with mania-depression and emotions.
    • 12.3.6: Hallucinogenic Drugs
      Hallucinogenic agents, also called psychomimetic agents, are capable of producing hallucinations, sensory illusions and bizarre thoughts. The primary effect of these compounds is to consistently alter thought and sensory perceptions.
    • 12.3.7: Local Anesthetics
      Local anesthetics are agents that reversibly block the generation and conduction of nerve impulses along a nerve fiber. They depress impulses from sensory nerves of the skin, surfaces of mucosa, and muscles to the central nervous system. These agents are widely used in surgery, dentistry, and ophthalmology to block transmission of impulses in peripheral nerve endings.
    • 12.3.8: Misc Antibiotics
      Antibiotics are specific chemical substances derived from or produced by living organisms that are capable of inhibiting the life processes of other organisms.
    • 12.3.9: Narcotic Analgesic Drugs
      Narcotic agents are potent analgesics which are effective for the relief of severe pain. Analgesics are selective central nervous system depressants used to relieve pain. The term analgesic means "without pain". Even in therapeutic doses, narcotic analgesics can cause respiratory depression, nausea, and drowsiness.
    • 12.3.10: Penicillin
      The penicillins were the first antibiotics discovered as natural products from the mold Penicillium.
    • 12.3.11: Sulfa Drugs
      Sulfonamides are synthetic antimicrobial agents with a wide spectrum encompassing most gram-positive and many gram-negative organisms. These drugs were the first efficient treatment to be employed systematically for the prevention and cure of bacterial infections.


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