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Biomedical subjects

C Gyllenhaal

Publications and source records attributed to C Gyllenhaal.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Biodiversity as a source of anticancer drugs.

Natural Products have been the most significant source of drugs and drug leads in history. Their dominant role in cancer chemotherapeutics is clear with about 74% of anticancer compounds being either natural products, or natural product-derived. The biodiversity of the world provides a resource of unlimited structural diversity for bioprospecting by international drug discovery programs such as the ICBGs and NCDDGs, the latter focusing exclusively on anticancer compounds. However, many sources of natural products remain largely untapped. Technology is gradually overcoming the traditional difficulties encountered in natural products research by improving access to biodiverse resources, and ensuring the compatibility of samples with high throughput procedures. However, the acquisition of predictive biodiversity remains challenging. Plant and organism species may be selected on the basis of potentially useful phytochemical composition by consulting ethnopharmacological, chemosystematic, and ecological information. On the conservation/political front, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is allaying the anxiety surrounding the notion of biopiracy, which has defeated many attempts to discover and develop new natural products for human benefit. As it becomes increasingly evident and important, the CBD fosters cooperation and adaptation to new regulations and collaborative research agreements with source countries. Even as the past inadequacies of combinatorial chemistry are being analyzed, the intrinsic value of natural products as a source of drug leads is being increasingly appreciated. Their rich structural and stereochemical characteristics make them valuable as templates for exploring novel molecular diversity with the aim of synthesizing lead generation libraries with greater biological relevance. This will ensure an ample supply of starting materials for screening against the multitude of potentially "druggable" targets uncovered by genomics technologies. Far from being mutually exclusive, biodiversity and genomics should be the driving force of drug discovery in the 21st century.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Ethnobotany/ethnopharmacology and mass bioprospecting: issues on intellectual property and benefit-sharing.

Ethnobotany/ethnopharmacology has contributed to the discovery of many important plant-derived drugs. Field explorations to seek and document indigenous/traditional medical knowledge (IMK/TMK), and/or the biodiversity with which the IMK/TMK is attached, and its conversion into a commercialized product is known as bioprospecting or biodiversity prospecting. When performed in a large-scale operation, the effort is referred to as mass bioprospecting. Experiences from the mass bioprospecting efforts undertaken by the United States National Cancer Institute, the National Cooperative Drug Discovery Groups (NCDDG) and the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG) programs demonstrate that mass bioprospecting is a complex process, involving expertise from diverse areas of human endeavors, but central to it is the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that recognizes issues on genetic access, prior informed consent, intellectual property and the sharing of benefits that may arise as a result of the effort. Future mass bioprospecting endeavors must take heed of the lessons learned from past and present experiences in the planning for a successful mass bioprospecting venture.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMed2004

The UIC ICBG (University of Illinois at Chicago International Cooperative Biodiversity Group) Memorandum of Agreement: a model of benefit-sharing arrangement in natural products drug discovery and development.

The Convention on Biodiversity mandates a new approach to the discovery of natural product drugs, one that incorporates concepts of national ownership of genetic resources, intellectual property rights in traditional knowledge, and sharing of economic benefits with countries that are the source of new natural products. The International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) program was established to support experimentation in implementation of the Convention through development and execution of international agreements for bioprospecting. The agreement of one such ICBG program, between the University of Illinois at Chicago and institutions in Vietnam and Laos, is presented here. The core elements contained in the single, five-way Memorandum of Agreement are the arrangements for intellectual property rights, treatment of informed consent, and plans for benefit-sharing (including the sharing of short- and long-term royalty benefits, capacity building, and community reciprocity). Program participants were able to develop a practical and flexible agreement that satisfies the wishes of all institutions that are parties to it.

Africa↗
PubMed2000

Herbal remedies: efficacy in controlling sleepiness and promoting sleep.

Difficulties with sleep and daytime sleepiness are common complaints among adults in the United States. During the past decade, the use of herbal preparations among adults increased from 2.5% to 12.4%. This article presents relevant aspects of the 1994 Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act that stimulated the proliferation of herbal medicinals and reviews the pharmacological properties of the most commonly available herbal wake-promoting and sedating products. Given the rapid increase in use of herbals, health care professionals need to educate themselves and their patients about the use of these preparations.

Holistic Nursing↗
PubMed1996

Intellectual property rights, naturally derived bioactive compounds, and resource conservation. Meeting report.

The first Interim Annual Meeting of the American Society of Pharmacognosy was held October 20-22, 1994, in San Jose, Costa Rica. In the symposium, which was the main scientific focus of the meeting, speakers from both developed and developing countries presented their perspectives on issues regarding intellectual property rights in regard to drug development from natural sources, conservation of natural habitats, and international conventions on bioprospecting. Careful evaluation of existing policies, laws, and conventions; sensitivity to the respective world views of prospective partners; equitable sharing of benefits including scientific collaboration; and a sense of fairness will be necessary to ensure that the genetic resources of all countries will be developed for the benefit of humankind.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMed1991

Medicinal plants of Seberida (Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia).

Field enquiries on the plants used to treat diseases in villages of Seberida Municipality indicated that a large number of plant species (at least 100) are being used in therapy. Many of the uses, however, are magical in nature. Those in which a cause-effect relationship may be established (56) are presented in this paper. A review of the ethnomedical and experimental literature showed that medicinal plant uses in Seberida fall into three categories: those for which uses are corroborated by similar medicinal uses for the same plant or different species of the same genus in other cultures, those for which uses of the plant or species of the same genus are corroborated by evidence of relevant pharmacological activity in the experimental literature and those for which the medicinal uses are not corroborated. A discussion of these categories is presented. Taken as a whole, the medicinal uses of plants in Seberida are characterized by a remarkably high proportion of plants used to treat fevers and malaria and by a high proportion of species of which the leaves are used (externally or internally) for medicinal purposes. Comparison with other studies reported in the literature seems to indicate that a high frequency of the use of leaves in therapy may be a part of a larger cultural phenomenon among the tropical forest tribes of Southeast Asia and the southern Pacific Islands. Possible rationales for this type of use are offered.

Humans↗