Progress In Drug Research 47 1996

Volume 47 of "Progress in Drug Research" contains eight reviews and the various indexes which facilitate its use and establish the connection with the previous volumes. The articles in this volume deal with inotropic steroids, with chemokines and their involvement in a wide range of inflam matory diseases, with the subclassification and nomenclature of ul- and Uz-adrenoceptors, with Chinese traditional medicine, with drug targets in the molecular pathogenesis of asthma, with cytokines and their therapeutic application in immunosuppression and immunostimulation, with alter native medicine and with the potential use of calcium blockers in psy chiatry. These reviews and the quotations of original articles provide the reader with valuable information on several new developments in the world-wide search for new and better medicines. In 1959, when the Editor started this series of monographs, it was his intention to help disseminate informa tion on the vast and fast growing domain of drug research. Already at that time,it was not possible to follow the major individual publications in this field, and the reader was thereby provided with a tool to keep abreast of the latest developments and trends. This goal remained unchanged over the last 37 years, and I believe that the reviews in PDR are useful to the non-specialist who can obtain an overview of a particular field of drug research in a relatively short time.

Progress in Drug Research is a prestigious book series which provides extensive expert-written reviews on a wide spectrum of highly topical areas in current pharmaceutical and pharmacological research. It serves as an important source of information for researchers concerned with drug research and all those who need to keep abreast of the many recent developments in the quest for new and better medicines.

Founded in 1959 by its current Editor, the series has moved from its initial focus on medicinal chemistry to a much wider scope. Today it encompasses all fields concerned with the development of new therapeutic drugs and the elucidation of their mechanisms of action, reflecting the increasingly complex nature of modern drug research. Invited authors present their biological, chemical, biochemical, physiological, immunological, pharmaceutical, toxicological, pharmacological and clinical expertise in carefully written reviews and provide the newcomer and the specialist alike with an up-to-date comprehensive list of prime references. Each volume of Progress in Drug Research contains fully cross-referencing indices which link the books together, forming a virtually encyclopaedic work. The series thus serves as an important, time-saving source of information for researchers concerned with drug research and all those who need to keep abreast of the many recent developments in the quest for new and better medicines.

Hypertension is one of the cardiovascular diseases which is most common throughout the world. It is generally defined as an elevation of systolic and/or diastolic arterial blood pressure, which is 120/80 mm Hg in normal situation. A value of 140/90 mm is generally accepted as the upper limit of normotension. Hypertension with certain risk factors such as hypercholes terolemia, diabetes, smoking and a family history of vascular disease pre disposes to arteriosclerosis and consequent cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The treatment of hypertension leads to reduced risk of hyperten sive renal failure, haemorrhagic stroke, myocardial infarction and cardiac failure. In most cases, the cause of the hypertension can not be clearly defined. Such hypertension is termed as essential hypertension. In a few cases (5- 15%), the hypertension is secondary to definable causes, such as renal artery stenosis, a pheochromocytoma, or an endocrine disorder. This type of hyper tension is known as secondary hypertenSion. Although the exact etiology of essential hypertension is still not well known, the following factors are sup posed to play causative roles.

Jay A. Glasel: Drugs, the human genome, and individual-based medicine.- Vera M. Kolb: Herbal medicine of Wisconsin Indians.- Paul L. Skatrud: The impact of multiple drug resistance (MDR) proteins on chemotherapy and drug discovery.- John W. Ford, Edward B. Stevens, J. Mark Treherne, Jeremy Packer and Mark Bushfield: Potassium channels: Gene family, therapeutic relevance, high-throughput screening technologies and drug discovery.- David T. Wong and Frank P. Bymaster: Dual serotonin and noradrenaline uptake inhibitor class of antidepressants - Potential for greater efficacy of just hype?.- Satya P. Gupta: Advances in QSAR studies of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors.