Weaver – författare

Fully updated and rewritten by a basic scientist who is also a practising physician, the third edition of this popular textbook remains comprehensive, authoritative and readable. Taking a receptor-based, target-centered approach, it presents the concepts central to the study of drug action in a logical, mechanistic way grounded on molecular and biochemical principles. Students of pharmacy, chemistry and pharmacology, as well as researchers interested in a better understanding of drug design, will find this book an invaluable resource. Starting with an overview of basic principles, Medicinal Chemistry examines the properties of drug molecules, the characteristics of drug receptors, and the nature of drug-receptor interactions. Then it systematically examines the various families of receptors involved in human disease and drug design. The first three classes of receptors are related to endogenous molecules: neurotransmitters, hormones and immunomodulators. Next, receptors associated with cellular organelles (mitochondria, cell nucleus), endogenous macromolecules (membrane proteins, cytoplasmic enzymes) and exogenous pathogens (viruses, bacteria) are exained. Through this evaluation of receptors, all the main types of human disease and all major categories of drugs are considered. There have been many changes in the third edition, including a new chapter on the immune system. Because of their increasingly prominent role in drug discovery, molecular modeling techniques, high throughput screening, neurpharmacology and genetics/genomics are given much more attention. The chapter on hormonal therapies has been thoroughly updated and re-organized. Emerging enzyme targets in drug design (e.g. kinases, caspases) are discussed, and recent information on voltage-gated and ligand-gated ion channels has been incorporated. The sections on antihypertensive, antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiarrhythmic, and anticancer drugs, as well as treatments for hyperlipidemia and peptic ulcer, have been substantially expanded. One new feature will enhance the book's appeal to all readers: clinical-molecular interface sections that facilitate understanding of the treatment of human disease at a molecular level.

In this book Weaver looks at Native American literature in order to reflect on Native American values and spirituality. In 500 years of contact and colonization Christianity has been unable to displace traditional religious beliefs and practice, Weaver notes, and even among Indians who consider themselves Christian, traditional ways are often still important and honored. Many practise syncretism and religious dimorphism, religious pluralism that often produces communal tensions and misunderstandings that undermine the work of community organization. Weaver argues, however, that Native American literature speaks across these divisions and he offers a broad reading of several centuries of literature to develop the idea of "communitism"--a nexus of communal and communitarian values that is the bedrock of Native spirituality. His detailed analysis of a diverse set of writings--biographies, tribal histories, novels, plays, etc.--sheds fascinating light on an important and neglected aspect of American literature.