Corrado L. Galli - Böcker

This volume addresses some facets of the adverse actions of chemical agents on the central and peripheral nervous systems in developing and mature states. Some of the effects of these chemicals are short-lasting and rapidly reversible; others, especially those that cause structural damage to the nervous system, may result in permanent damage to the organism. The nervous system has several levels of vulnerability to toxic substances. Some substances perturb ion channels or synaptic mechanisms required for the orderly transfer of electrochemical information within the nervous system. Others disrupt sites required for the maintenance of cellular integrity, and these variably result in degenerative responses of neurons and myelinating cells. Further sites of vulnerability include the delicate neural vasculature and neurohumeral mechanisms responsible for physiological homeostasis. The science of neurotoxicology inevitably is a multidisciplinary endeavor, with contributions from biochemistry, physiology, morphology and behavior, to name a few. The challenge is to apply appropriate techniques to investigate neurotoxic phenomena. The first logical step in this analysis is to determine from the point of view of the nervous system the nature of the exposure. Is the chemical a single or multiple entity; is it metabolized; how does it gain access to neural tissue? Once these factors are understood, changes induced by the exposure can be described at various levels from the biochemical to the behavioral.

Major skin diseases, including acne, psoriasis and eczcma, affect the majority of the population at some time in their lives. In general, these diseases are physically and psychologically disfiguring for the sufferers; furthermore, by their very chronic nature skin diseases, unlike most other disease processes, present both acute and chronic therapy problems. In addition, the chronic nature of these diseases can present certain economic problems. Firstly, chronic therapy is becoming increasingly expensive and secondly, patients adhering to a strict treatment regimen will frequently be absent from their gainful employment for either medical consultation or treatment. Given that in all NATO countries the average age of the population is continually increasing, these chronic skin diseases will increase in importance in the coming years. Furthermore, as the average population age increases, additional disease processes such as skin photodamage and carcinogenicity risk becoming major areas of therapeutic concern. This book reviews in detail the major scientific areas of interest for research and clinical scientists working in skin pharmacology and toxicology. The basic principles relating to an understanding of how drugs and chemicals may influence either the skin or the body as a whole are discussed in detail by recognized international scientific experts.

The protection of human health and food and fiber resources against the ravages of pests of many sorts is a continuous struggle by all people in the world. The use of chemical pesticides as an aid in this struggle is now also global. These chemicals are deliberately added to the environment for the purpose of killing or injuring some form of life. Because pesticides are generally less selectively toxic than would be desired, non-target species, including humans, must be protected from injury by these chemicals. This can only be achieved by thorough understanding of the comparative toxicology of these compounds, and by minimizing human (and other desirable species) exposure. The latter can only be achieved by sound regulatory policies that utilize scientific principles and data, properly tempered by both gaps in that data and sociologic and economic considerations. This book contains the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Toxicology of Pesticides: Experimental, Clinical and Regulatory Perspectives" held in Riva del Garda on October 6-15, 1986. This NATO-ASI has been promoted by the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington at Seattle, by the Institute of Pharmacological Sciences, University of Milano and by the Giovanni Lorenzini Foundation, and has been sponsored by both the Society of Toxicology (USA) and the Italian Society of Toxicology.