Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
WHO | Obesity and overweight, 2005
•Cardiovascular disease (mainly heart disease and stroke) - already the world's number one cause of death, killing 17 million people each year.
•Diabetes – which has rapidly become a global epidemic. WHO projects that diabetes deaths will increase by more than 50% worldwide in the next 10 years.
•Musculoskeletal disorders – especially osteoarthritis.
•Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon).
Childhood obesity is associated with a higher chance of premature death and disability in adulthood.
WHO | Obesity and overweight
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Prokinetic Agents and Other Stimulants of GI Contractility, Goodman & Gilman's Pharmacology , 11e.
Prokinetic Agents and Other Stimulants of GI Contractility
Direct activation of muscarinic receptors, such as with the older cholinomimetic agents (see Chapter 7), is not a very effective strategy for treating GI motility disorders because these agents enhance contractions in a relatively uncoordinated fashion that produces little or no net propulsive activity. By contrast, prokinetic agents are medications that enhance coordinated GI motility and transit of material in the GI tract. Although ACh, when released from primary motor neurons in the myenteric plexus, is the principal immediate mediator of muscle contractility, most of the clinically useful prokinetic agents act "upstream" of ACh, at receptor sites on the motor neuron itself, or even more indirectly, on neurons one or two orders removed from it. Although pharmacologically and chemically diverse, these agents appear to enhance the release of excitatory neurotransmitter at the nerve-muscle junction without interfering with the normal physiological pattern and rhythm of motility. Coordination of activity among the segments of the gut, necessary for propulsion of luminal contents, therefore is maintained.
Agents useful clinically in altering GI motility are considered below.
Authorized only
