Feed producers are faced with choosing from a myriad of growth promoting substances all claimed to improve performance and have some advantage over competitive products. In most cases, these products are "nonnutritional" and contain nothing that contributes directly toward meeting the animals requirement for nutrients. Yet, many have been confirmed to be highly cost-effective when added to feed...

Scientists working in the field of Alzheimer's disease and, in particular, cognitive enhancers, are very productive. The review "Drugs interacting with Targets other than Receptors or Enzymes. Disease-modifying Drugs" was accepted in October 2012. In the last 20 months, new targets for the potential treatment of Alzheimer's disease were identified. Enormous progress was realized in the pharmaco...

This article reviews current data on the use of cognition enhancers as study aids in the student population. It identifies gaps and uncertainties in the knowledge required to make a balanced assessment of the need for some form of regulation. The review highlights the weak evidence on the prevalence of use of such drugs, especially outside the US, and the ambiguous evidence for their efficacy i...

Enhanced production of total saponins was obtained from 40 day old suspension cultures of Bacopa monnieri. The callus yielded not only a 166% increased concentration of saponins but also produced two novel prominent bands of saponins compared to the natural plant system. We report here for the first time an increased potential of cell lines of B. monnieri in suspension for production of saponin...

Piracetam (2-oxo-1-pyrrolidine-acetamide), the most common of the nootropic drugs, is a cyclic derivative of gamma-aminobutyric acid. The treatment with piracetam improves learning, memory, brain metabolism, and capacity. Piracetam has been shown to alter the physical properties of the plasma membrane by increasing its fluidity and by protecting the cell against hypoxia. It increases red cell d...

Our knowledge of the human brain and the influence of pharmacological substances on human mental functioning is expanding. This creates new possibilities to enhance personality and character traits. Psychopharmacological enhancers, as well as other enhancement technologies, raise moral questions concerning the boundary between clinical therapy and enhancement, risks and safety, coercion and jus...

Intestinal permeation enhancers (PEs) are one of the most widely tested strategies to improve oral delivery of therapeutic peptides. This article assesses the intestinal permeation enhancement action of over 250 PEs that have been tested in intestinal delivery models. In depth analysis of pre-clinical data is presented for PEs as components of proprietary delivery systems that have progressed t...

Oral form of citicoline, a nootropic and neuroprotective drug in use for almost five decades, recently was pronounced a food supplement in both USA and EU. The idea of adding citicoline to topical treatment of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) aimed at decreasing intraocular pressure (IOP) appeared as a logical consequence of accepting neurodegenerative character of this disease. Experimental ...

A useful pharmaceutical intermediate, 5-nitromethyl-1-azabicyclo[3.3.0]octane (1), was prepared in one step from 1,7-dichloro-4-heptanone (4) under mild conditions. Catalytic hydrogenation of 1 over Raney Ni in the presence of sodium hydroxide afforded 5-aminomethyl-1-azabicyclo[3.3.0]octane (2) in high yield. Piracetam analogues 20-23, which were pyrrolidine derivatives involving a 1-azabicycl...