Dr Golem or Skin Delivery Systems

Dr. Golem: How to Think about Medicine

Author: Harry Collins

A creature of Jewish mythology, a golem is an animated being made by man from clay and water who knows neither his own strength nor the extent of his ignorance. Like science and technology, the subjects of Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch's previous volumes, medicine is also a golem, and this Dr. Golem should not be blamed for its mistakes—they are, after all, our mistakes. The problem lies in its well-meaning clumsiness.

Dr. Golem explores some of the mysteries and complexities of medicine while untangling the inherent conundrums of scientific research and highlighting its vagaries. Driven by the question of what to do in the face of the fallibility of medicine, Dr. Golem encourages a more inquisitive attitude toward the explanations and accounts offered by medical science. In eight chapters devoted to case studies of modern medicine, Collins and Pinch consider the prevalence of tonsillectomies, the placebo effect and randomized control trials, bogus doctors, CPR, the efficacy of Vitamin C in fighting cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, AIDS cures, and vaccination. They also examine the tension between the conflicting faces of medicine: medicine as science versus medicine as a source of succor; the interests of an individual versus the interests of a group; and the benefits in the short term versus success rates in the long term. Throughout, Collins and Pinch remind readers that medical science is an economic as well as a social consideration, encapsulated for the authors in the timeless struggle to balance the good health of the many—with vaccinations, for instance—with the good health of a few—those who have adverse reactions tothe vaccine.

In an age when the deaths of research subjects, the early termination of clinical trials, and the research guidelines for stem cells are front-page news, Dr. Golem is a timely analysis of the limitations of medicine that never loses sight of its strengths.

Table of Contents:

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction - Medicine as Science and Medicine as Succor

1. The Hole in the Heart of Medicine: The Placebo Effect

2. Faking It for Real: Bogus Doctors

3. Tonsils: Diagnosing and Dealing with Uncertainty

4. Alternative Medicine: The Cases of Vitamin C and Cancer

5. Yuppie Flu, Fibromyalgia, and Other Contested Diseases

6. Defying Death: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

7. The AIDS Activists

8. Vaccination and Parents' Rights: Mumps, Measles, Rubella (MMR), and Pertussis

Conclusion - The Themes Revisited

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Look this: Sicherheit Gemacht Leicht: Eine Checkliste-Annäherung an die OSHA Einhaltung

Skin Delivery Systems

Author: John J Will

Current interest in drug delivery technologies is exceedingly high. Similarly, a recent upsurge in consumer awareness of the potential antiaging and antiwrinkling benefits of natural products and botanicals has spurred a revolution in the cosmetic industry for better skin care delivery technologies, both to preserve inherent activity as well as to enhance their benefits through novel formulation and delivery methods.

With these considerations in mind, Skin Delivery Systems: Transdermals, Dermatologicals and Cosmetic Actives brings together the emerging fields of cosmetic actives with new advances in skin delivery technologies and provides a methodical and systematic explanation of technologies used to transport pharmaceuticals and cosmetic actives through the skin's barriers. After reviewing the basic principles of dermatology and skin penetration, the reference describes and explains the most current methods of transdermal transport. Coverage includes new materials, such as amphiphilic polymers; new formulation methods, such as miniemulsions; and variations on technologies such as sonophoresis and iontophoresis. The authors also show the connections between skin penetration and a variety of active substances, including specialized pharmaceuticals and natural and botanical ingredients used in cosmetics. The book presents critical empirical data and design information intended to assist researchers, product developers, and testers in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.