Principles of Pharmacology
A Tropical Approach

This volume provides a useful and informative introduction to basic pharmacological principles and practice in the context of tropical medicine and diseases.

D. T. Okpako (Author)

9780521121569, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 29 October 2009

592 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm, 0.86 kg

"This textbook is intended to give the pharmacology curriculum for medical, pharmacy, dentistry, and science students in tropical countries a beter orientation. Students in these regions will probably derive valuable insights." Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

This volume, first published in 1991, provides a useful and informative introduction to basic pharmacological principles and practice in the context of tropical medicine and diseases. The author discusses the cultural and environmental factors that affect the use of drugs in the tropics. The book highlights the potential inconsistencies and incompatibilities arising from the use of traditional and orthodox medicine, which can account for the extensive misuse of modern drugs among populations where the two systems are practised. Whilst emphasis is primarily given to the treatment of a wide range of tropical diseases, such as malaria, bilharzia and sickle-cell disease, the underlying principles are also fully explained to provide a conceptual framework for the academic exploration of cultural, genetic, environmental and nutritional factors affecting drug use in the tropics. The author also gives a concise treatment of systematic pharmacology. This makes the volume a useful text for students and practitioners of medicine and pharmacologists and specialists in tropical medicine, and for graduates studying chemotherapy of parasitic diseases. It will also be an important source of reference for medical and pharmacy students.

Preface
Part I. General Background to Drug Usage in the Tropics: 1. Traditional medicine
2. The problems of availability and quality of modern drugs in the tropics
Part II. Fundamental Pharmacodynamic Principles: 3. Measurement of drug response
4. Receptors and drug response
Part III. Fundamental Principles in Drug Disposition: 5. Drug administration and factors affecting drug metabolism
6. Pharmacokinetic principles
Part IV. Factors Affecting Drug Metabolism: 7. The influence of malnutrition and food-derived intoxicants
8. Genetic factors affecting drug action
Part V. Selective Toxicity: 9. Antimicrobial drugs
10. Antiprotozoal drugs
11. Anthelmintics
12. Anticancer and antiviral drugs
13. Drug resistance
14. Strategies for the development of new drugs
Part VI. Systematic Pharmacology: 15. Drug targets in the nervous system
16. Noradrenergic mechanisms
17. Cholinergic mechanisms
18. Anaesthesia
19. Pain and inflammation
20. Drugs acting on the central nervous system
21. Cardiovascular and renal systems
22. Haemopoietic system
23. Endocrine system
24. Local hormones (autocoids)
Index.

Subject Areas: Pharmacology [MMG]