Psychedelic Revolutionaries is not only beautifully written-it is timely. We are in the midst of a rebirth in interest in the psychedelic group of drugs with increasingly strong research evidence for ...their clinical benefits and a growing popular turn to daily 'micro-dosing' strategies. Everyone using these drugs will find this book fascinating. David Healy, author of Pharmageddon In the 1950s and 1960s, daring and controversial experimentation of world-wide significance was conducted in one of Canada's poorest and least populated provinces-Saskatchewan. P.W. Barber makes an indispensable contribution to the history of psychedelic research, all the more timely given the current global resurgence in psychedelic science. Gabor Mat author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts Psychedelic Revolutionaries encourages us to think carefully about the relationship between science and psychedelics, while reminding us of the enduring legacy of psychedelic research in our understanding of mental illness. Erika Dyck, author of Psychedelic Psychiatry Taking a dispassionate, scientific, inquiring-but also erudite and sensitive-approach, the author carefully explores the science behind the headlines and presents, for the first time, a detailed analysis of the work carried out. Ben Sessa, author of The Psychedelic Renaissance Both perceptive and accessible, this book is tough to put down. Lucas Richert, author of Conservatism, Consumer Choice, and the Food and Drug Administration during the Reagan Era
In recent decades, significant advances in drug‐delivery systems have enabled more effective drug administration. To deliver drugs to specific organs, a range of organic systems (e.g., micelles, ...liposomes, and polymeric nanoparticles) have been designed. They suffer from limitations, including poor thermal and chemical stability, and rapid elimination by the immune system. In contrast, silica particles offer a biocompatible, stable, and “stealthy” alternative. Bioactive molecules can be easily encapsulated within silica particles by combining sol–gel polymerization with either spray‐drying or emulsion chemistry. Spray‐drying faces challenges, including low yield, surface segregation, and size limitations. In contrast, sol–gel emulsions enable the production of nanoparticles with homogeneous drug distribution, and permit ambient temperature processing, necessary for handling biologicals. Independent control of the size and release rate can be readily achieved. Preliminary in‐vivo experiments reveal enhanced blood stability of the nanoparticles, which, coupled with sustained release of anti‐tumor agents, show good potential for cancer treatment.
Silica particles present an interesting alternative to organic systems for drug delivery. Combining sol–gel synthesis with emulsion technology can produce particles (see Figure) with independently controlled size and release rates. The particle size is controlled by the emulsion chemistry, while the release rate is controlled by the particle microstructure. Preliminary in‐vivo experiments reveal enhanced blood stability of the nanoparticles, which, coupled with sustained release of anti‐tumor agents, show good potential for cancer treatment.
Proteins are in constant motion between different conformational states with similar energies. This has often been ignored in drug design. However, protein flexibility is fundamental to understanding ...the ways in which drugs exert biological effects, their binding-site location, binding orientation, binding kinetics, metabolism and transport. Protein flexibility allows increased affinity to be achieved between a drug and its target. This is crucial, because the lipophilicity and number of polar interactions allowed for an oral drug is limited by absorption, distribution, metabolism and toxicology considerations.
Abstract
Although economic sociology emphasizes the role of social networks for shaping economic action, little research has examined how network governance structures affect prices in the ...unregulated and high-risk social context of online criminal trade. We consider how overembeddedness—a state of excessive interconnectedness among market actors—arises from endogenous trade relations to shape prices in illegal online markets with aggregate consequences for short-term gross illegal revenue. Drawing on transaction-level data on 16 847 illegal drug transactions over 14 months of trade in a ‘darknet’ drug market, we assess how repeated exchanges and closure in buyer–vendor trade networks nonlinearly influence prices and short-term gross revenue from illegal drug trade. Using a series of panel models, we find that increases in closure and repeated exchange raise prices until a threshold is reached upon which prices and gross monthly revenue begin to decline as networks become overembedded. Findings provide insight into the network determinants of prices and gross monthly revenue in illegal online drug trade and illustrate how network structure shapes prices in criminal markets, even in anonymous trade environments.
This paper examines how the recent transition of the opioid crisis from prescription opioids to more prevalent misuse of illicit opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl, altered labor supply behavior ...and disability insurance claiming rates. We exploit differential geographic exposure to the reformulation of OxyContin, the largest reduction in access to abusable prescription opioids to date, to study the effects of substitution to illicit markets. We observe meaningful reductions in labor supply measured in terms of employment-to-population ratios, hours worked, and earnings in states more exposed to reformulation relative to those less exposed. We also find evidence of increases in disability applications and beneficiaries.
Systems biology in drug discovery Butcher, Eugene C; Berg, Ellen L; Kunkel, Eric J
Nature biotechnology,
10/2004, Volume:
22, Issue:
10
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The hope of the rapid translation of 'genes to drugs' has foundered on the reality that disease biology is complex, and that drug development must be driven by insights into biological responses. ...Systems biology aims to describe and to understand the operation of complex biological systems and ultimately to develop predictive models of human disease. Although meaningful molecular level models of human cell and tissue function are a distant goal, systems biology efforts are already influencing drug discovery. Large-scale gene, protein and metabolite measurements ('omics') dramatically accelerate hypothesis generation and testing in disease models. Computer simulations integrating knowledge of organ and system-level responses help prioritize targets and design clinical trials. Automation of complex primary human cell-based assay systems designed to capture emergent properties can now integrate a broad range of disease-relevant human biology into the drug discovery process, informing target and compound validation, lead optimization, and clinical indication selection. These systems biology approaches promise to improve decision making in pharmaceutical development.
Using US panel data on young workers, we demonstrate that those who receive performance pay are more likely to consume alcohol and illicit drugs. Recognizing that this likely reflects worker sorting, ...we first control for risk, ability, and personality proxies. We further mitigate sorting concerns by introducing worker fixed effects, worker-employer match fixed effects, and worker-employer-occupation match fixed effects. Finally, we present fixed effect IV estimates. All of these estimates continue to indicate a greater likelihood of substance use when a worker receives performance pay. The results support conjectures that stress and effort increase with performance pay and that alcohol and drug use is a coping mechanism for workers.
PDF
