Mukadam et al. (2008) report cholinesterase inhibitors to be effective in treating delirium. This suggests that cholinesterase inhibitors have a broader spectrum of effect than the treatment of dementia alone. Acetylcholine itself interacts with various other neurotransmitters. Cancelli et al. (2004) report that a fall in acetylcholine levels, as occurs in dementia, could increase sensitivity t...

Dependence of basal cell carcinomas and medulloblastomas on the Hedgehog pathway provides an opportunity for targeted or "personalized" therapy. The recent effectiveness and FDA approval of the first Smoothened inhibitors validates this class of agents, but has revealed drug-resistant tumor variants that bypass Smoothened inhibition. Here, we summarize the effectiveness of Hedgehog pathway inhi...

The renin-angiotensin system is primarily responsible for regulating vascular tone. Drugs that inhibit this pathway, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor antagonists, are widely used to treat hypertension and a variety of cardiomyopathies. Recent studies have shown that, in addition to reducing blood pressure, these drugs also modulate inflammation, adhesion molecul...

Ischaemic preconditioning was originally described in animal hearts as histological infarct-size limitation by a previous brief episode of ischaemia. In humans, ischaemic preconditioning has been demonstrated in several in vitro and in vivo models, including coronary artery bypass grafting and percutaneous transluminal coronary angiograplasty, using surrogate markers of ischaemia and reperfusio...

The era in which vitamin K antagonists were the only option for long-term anticoagulation has ended. Patients now have multiple treatment options for prophylaxis for nonvalvular atrial fibrillation and prevention and treatment for venous thromboembolism. Novel oral anticoagulants, consisting of direct thrombin inhibitors and factor Xa inhibitors, are a diverse group of agents that have reduced ...

Cytoplasmic dyneins 1 and 2 are related members of the AAA+ superfamily (ATPases associated with diverse cellular activities) that function as the predominant minus-end-directed microtubule motors in eukaryotic cells. Dynein 1 controls mitotic spindle assembly, organelle movement, axonal transport, and other cytosolic, microtubule-guided processes, whereas dynein 2 mediates retrograde trafficki...

Antagonists of glutamate receptors of the N-methyl-d-aspartate subclass (NMDAR) or inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) prevent nervous system plasticity. Inflammatory and neuropathic pain rely on plasticity, presenting a clinical opportunity for the use of NMDAR antagonists and NOS inhibitors in chronic pain. Agmatine (AG), an endogenous neuromodulator present in brain and spinal cord, ha...

Blocking the effects of cytokines is a potential new therapeutic avenue for the treatment of Gram-negative sepsis. Three classes of agents are currently being evaluated: antibodies, circulating inhibitors, and receptor antagonists. Data in the current literature support the consideration of these agents as potential therapeutic agents in Gram-negative sepsis. The clinical utility of these agent...