Pills, Potions and Poisons : How Drugs Work

Pills, Potions and Poisons : How Drugs Work PDF Author: Trevor Stone
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 9780191587849
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 502

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Book Description
About half of all the medicines prescribed by doctors are not taken by their patients. One of the reasons most commonly given by patients for not taking drugs is that they feel unhappy about taking medicines which they do not understand and of which they are afraid. This book attempts to rectify this problem by showing in clear, non-technical language how medicines and other drugs work in the body to reduce the effects of disease. Most chapters include fascinating background information on how some of our most important drugs were discovered, along with intriguing and often amusing anecdotes about the drugs and the people behind their discovery. Each chapter also includes a summary of the key points together with illustrations, photographs or diagrams to summarise the main groups and how they work in the body. The book covers all the major groups of drugs, with complete listings of all the drugs available in the UK and the USA, so that the reader can locate his or her specific drug and read about the actions of the drugs in that group. The various chapters cover drugs used to treat high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, ulcers, cancers, infections, impotence, incontinence, arthritis, osteoporosis, as well as hormone replacement therapy, oral contraceptives and drugs used in disorders of the brain such as schizophrenia, depression, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy. There is also a chapter on drugs which are abused such as cannabis, alcohol, nicotine and ecstasy, and a chapter covering some of the poisons we encounter, such as carbon monoxide, arsenic, sheep dip, and the venoms of snakes, spiders, scorpions and marine organisms. Here, then, a fascinating survey of how chemicals have their effects in the body. It shows how drugs work and explains why it is that taking some medicines for many years is far safer than suffering the long-term effects of disease. Pills, Potions and Poisons is an entertaining read that should also help to improve your health and quality of life.

Pills, Potions and Poisons : How Drugs Work

Pills, Potions and Poisons : How Drugs Work PDF Author: Trevor Stone
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 9780191587849
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 502

Get Book Here

Book Description
About half of all the medicines prescribed by doctors are not taken by their patients. One of the reasons most commonly given by patients for not taking drugs is that they feel unhappy about taking medicines which they do not understand and of which they are afraid. This book attempts to rectify this problem by showing in clear, non-technical language how medicines and other drugs work in the body to reduce the effects of disease. Most chapters include fascinating background information on how some of our most important drugs were discovered, along with intriguing and often amusing anecdotes about the drugs and the people behind their discovery. Each chapter also includes a summary of the key points together with illustrations, photographs or diagrams to summarise the main groups and how they work in the body. The book covers all the major groups of drugs, with complete listings of all the drugs available in the UK and the USA, so that the reader can locate his or her specific drug and read about the actions of the drugs in that group. The various chapters cover drugs used to treat high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, ulcers, cancers, infections, impotence, incontinence, arthritis, osteoporosis, as well as hormone replacement therapy, oral contraceptives and drugs used in disorders of the brain such as schizophrenia, depression, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy. There is also a chapter on drugs which are abused such as cannabis, alcohol, nicotine and ecstasy, and a chapter covering some of the poisons we encounter, such as carbon monoxide, arsenic, sheep dip, and the venoms of snakes, spiders, scorpions and marine organisms. Here, then, a fascinating survey of how chemicals have their effects in the body. It shows how drugs work and explains why it is that taking some medicines for many years is far safer than suffering the long-term effects of disease. Pills, Potions and Poisons is an entertaining read that should also help to improve your health and quality of life.

Pills, Potions, and Poisons

Pills, Potions, and Poisons PDF Author: T. W. Stone
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780198609421
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 476

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Book Description
About half of all the medicines prescribed by doctors are not taken by their patients. One of the reasons most commonly given by patients for not taking drugs is that they feel unhappy about taking medicines which they do not understand and of which they are afraid. This book attempts to rectify this problem by showing in clear, non-technical language how medicines and other drugs work in the body to reduce the effects of disease. Most chapters include fascinating background information on how some of our most important drugs were discovered, along with intriguing and often amusing anecdotes about the drugs and the people behind their discovery. Each chapter also includes a summary of the key points together with illustrations, photographs or diagrams to summarise the main groups and how they work in the body. The book covers all the major groups of drugs, with complete listings of all the drugs available in the UK and the USA, so that the reader can locate his or her specific drug and read about the actions of the drugs in that group. The various chapters cover drugs used to treat high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, ulcers, cancers, infections, impotence, incontinence, arthritis, osteoporosis, as well as hormone replacement therapy, oral contraceptives and drugs used in disorders of the brain such as schizophrenia, depression, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy. There is also a chapter on drugs which are abused such as cannabis, alcohol, nicotine and ecstasy, and a chapter covering some of the poisons we encounter, such as carbon monoxide, arsenic, sheep dip, and the venoms of snakes, spiders, scorpions and marine organisms. Here, then, a fascinating survey of how chemicals have their effects in the body. It shows how drugs work and explains why it is that taking some medicines for many years is far safer than suffering the long-term effects of disease. Pills, Potions and Poisons is an entertaining read that should also help to improve your health and quality of life.

Pills, Potions and Poisons

Pills, Potions and Poisons PDF Author: Trevor Stone
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Drugs
Languages : en
Pages : 476

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Book Description


Poisons

Poisons PDF Author: David J. George
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1315354489
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
A unique book on recognition and investigation of criminal poisoning for investigators of all backgrounds and stages of their careers. Poisons: An Introduction for Forensic Investigators is a concise yet comprehensive overview of toxicants and unanticipated circumstances in which poisoning occurs. This book expands awareness of poisoning possibilities, heightens recognition of the toxic potential of many substances, and provides information to aid in focusing investigations. Poisons discusses life-threatening toxic substances and agents that modify behavior to achieve criminal goals. These include drugs that facilitate sexual assaults and robberies, and those found in medical child abuse and drug-product tampering. More than 230 case studies illustrate both unintentional and intentional poisoning and highlight situations where poisoning may not immediately be apparent. Information is included in pertinent criminal poisoning cases to illustrate the temperament of poisoners, their relationship to victims, their basis for poison selection, and their method of administration. Since Poisons is written by a single author, the discussions, format, educational level, and terminology remain consistent to aid crime scene investigators, homicide detectives, forensic scientists, death investigators, toxicologists, medical examiners, attorneys, and students. The book's more than 650 references are an asset to frame knowledge as well as a resource to return to again and again.

Toxic Histories

Toxic Histories PDF Author: David Arnold
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107126975
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
An analysis of the challenge that India's poison culture posed for colonial rule and toxicology's creation of a public role for science.

Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs

Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs PDF Author: Wayne Bethard
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publications
ISBN: 9781570984327
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Gives an account of early-day medicines and medical practitioners during the past two to three centuries in America.

Poison

Poison PDF Author: Sarah Albee
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 1101932236
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Science geeks and armchair detectives will soak up this non-lethal, humorous account of the role poisons have played in human history. Perfect for STEM enthusiasts! For centuries, people have been poisoning one another—changing personal lives and the course of empires alike. From spurned spouses and rivals, to condemned prisoners like Socrates, to endangered emperors like Alexander the Great, to modern-day leaders like Joseph Stalin and Yasser Arafat, poison has played a starring role in the demise of countless individuals. And those are just the deliberate poisonings. Medical mishaps, greedy “snake oil” salesmen and food contaminants, poisonous Prohibition, and industrial toxins also impacted millions. Part history, part chemistry, part whodunit, Poison: Deadly Deeds, Perilous Professions, and Murderous Medicines traces the role poisons have played in history from antiquity to the present and shines a ghoulish light on the deadly intersection of human nature . . . and Mother Nature.

Poisoner in Chief

Poisoner in Chief PDF Author: Stephen Kinzer
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 1250140447
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
The bestselling author of All the Shah’s Men and The Brothers tells the astonishing story of the man who oversaw the CIA’s secret drug and mind-control experiments of the 1950s and ’60s. The visionary chemist Sidney Gottlieb was the CIA’s master magician and gentlehearted torturer—the agency’s “poisoner in chief.” As head of the MK-ULTRA mind control project, he directed brutal experiments at secret prisons on three continents. He made pills, powders, and potions that could kill or maim without a trace—including some intended for Fidel Castro and other foreign leaders. He paid prostitutes to lure clients to CIA-run bordellos, where they were secretly dosed with mind-altering drugs. His experiments spread LSD across the United States, making him a hidden godfather of the 1960s counterculture. For years he was the chief supplier of spy tools used by CIA officers around the world. Stephen Kinzer, author of groundbreaking books about U.S. clandestine operations, draws on new documentary research and original interviews to bring to life one of the most powerful unknown Americans of the twentieth century. Gottlieb’s reckless experiments on “expendable” human subjects destroyed many lives, yet he considered himself deeply spiritual. He lived in a remote cabin without running water, meditated, and rose before dawn to milk his goats. During his twenty-two years at the CIA, Gottlieb worked in the deepest secrecy. Only since his death has it become possible to piece together his astonishing career at the intersection of extreme science and covert action. Poisoner in Chief reveals him as a clandestine conjurer on an epic scale.

The Elements of Murder

The Elements of Murder PDF Author: John Emsley
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0192806009
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
This book is about elements that kill. Mercury, arsenic, antimony, lead, and thallium can be lethal, as many a poisoner knew too well. Emsley explores the gruesome history of these elements and those who have succumbed to them in a fascinating narrative that weaves together stories of true crime, enduring historical mysteries, tragic accidents, and the science behind it all. The colourful cast includes ancient alchemists, kings, leaders, a pope, several great musicians, and amotley crew of murderers. Among the intriguing accounts is that of the 17th century poet Sir Thomas Overbury, who survived four attempts to poison him with mercury but died when given the poison in enema form - under whose direction remains uncertain. Here, too, is detailed the celebrated case of FlorenceMaybrick, convicted of poisoning her violent husband James with arsenic, but widely believed at the time to be innocent. The question of her guilt is still disputed.Threaded through the book alongside the history is the growing understanding of chemistry, and the effects of different chemical substances on the human body. Thousands suffered the ill effects of poisonous vapours from mercury, lead, and arsenic before the dangers were realized. Hatters went mad because of mercury poisoning, and hundreds of young girls working in factories manufacturing wallpaper in the 19th century were poisoned by the arsenic-based green pigments used for the leaves of thepopular floral designs. Even in the middle of the 20th century, accidental mercury poisoning caused many deaths in Minamata Bay, while leaded petrol poisoned the whole planet, and arsenic still continues to poison millions is Asia.Through vividly told stories of innocent blunders, industrial accidents, poisoners of various hues - cold, cunning, desperate - and deaths that remain a mystery, Emsley here uncovers the dark side of the Periodic Table.

Industrial Innovation in Japan

Industrial Innovation in Japan PDF Author: Takuji Hara
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134098871
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
In this new book, Hara, Kambayashi and Matsushima gather together a collection of case studies of innovation in various industries in modern Japan, including automobile, electronics, semiconductor, component, chemical, pharmaceutical and service industries. Unlike other books in this area, this book focuses on a broader range of Japanese indus