Theranostics: New Era in Nuclear Medicine and Radiopharmaceuticals

Malignancy and many inflammatory diseases have become a major concern for mankind over the years. The conventional therapy of these diseases lacks the effectiveness of the better diagnosis and targeted treatment of these diseases, but nuclear medicine can be regarded as a savior in the current scenario. Over the years, radioactivity of radioisotopes has been employed for treatment of many diseases. Nuclear medicines came up with radiopharmaceuticals that impart the ability to destroy specific diseased cells with high-energy-emitting radionuclides. Moreover, the emergence of theranostics, which is a combination of single drug used both for diagnostic as well as therapeutic purpose, has added a new feather in the field of nuclear medicines for providing a specific and personalized treatment to the patient. The current chapter discusses about techniques used for imaging of these radionuclides for better therapy and diagnosis of the root cause of the concerned disease by positron emission tomography (PET)/CT and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT as well as the advantages and disadvantages associated with them. It also describes about applications of theranostics and nuclear imaging in cancer treatment and their future perspective

Risk-Benefit Events Associated with the Use of Aspirin for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disorders

Aspirin had been introduced as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory molecule. As further research on aspirin started, other therapeutic effects have been revealed. Now, this molecule has become the polychrest in medical science. Aspirin has served as a drug of choice for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) for the last few decades. However, recent trials have raised questions on the use of aspirin for CVD prevention due to some life-threatening adverse drug events. In spite of that, outcomes of trials will surely assist to frame a guideline for anoxic administration regimen of aspirin in order to prevent CVD

Medicinal Plants Having Antifungal Properties

In the past few decades, a worldwide increase in the incidence of fungal infections has been observed as well as rise in the resistance of some species of fungi to different fungicidal used in medicinal practice. Besides, fungi are the one of the most neglected pathogens as demonstrated by the fact that the amphotericin B and other sold treatments are still used as gold standard as antifungal therapy. The majority of used antifungal treatments have various drawbacks in terms of toxicity, efficacy as well as cost and their frequent use has also led to the emergence of resistant strains. Hence, there is a great demand for developing an antifungal belonging to a wide range of structural classes, selectively acting on new targets with least side effects. Natural products, either as pure phytocompounds or as standardized plant extracts, provide unlimited opportunities for new drug lads because of their having normally matchless chemical diversity. Present chapter focused on the work done in the field of antifungal activities of various plant components and novel approaches which will be the future prospective for the new drug discoveries and providing better antifungal therapy