Abstract
This paper describes gallium-based chemotherapeutic drugs. Included is a brief discussion of the history and development of these drugs, clinical uses for gallium, and problems with gallium chemotherapy. Also included is a discussion of potential alternate uses for gallium drugs, including using gallium as an antiviral or to combat hypercalcemia.

From the Paper
"Gallium is a naturally occurring group IIIa heavy metal. Because of its low melting temperature (303 K), chemists have long used gallium industrially as a component of low-melting alloys. It has only been within the last forty years, however, that scientists have studied gallium in medicine. Following the serendipitous discovery of platinum's antitumor properties in the late 1960s, the U.S. National Cancer Institute started a systematic study of several metallic elements to see if they too might display anticancer effects. While all of the Group IIIa elements (boron, aluminum, gallium, and thallium) displayed significant cytotoxic activity, gallium was the most active and least toxic of these metals when tested against animal tumors.1 Later, in a separate development, researchers noted gallium's ability to localize in bone, leading clinicians to use 67Ga citrate in some diagnostic bone scans. In the 1970s, a physician conducting such a scan observed quite accidentally that gallium accumulated in nonosseous malignant tissue as well.2 Indeed, further tests showed that gallium was the only IIIa metal to display cytotoxic activity when inoculated at a site other than the tumor itself.1 These unique properties spurred a great deal of research interest in developing gallium-based chemotherapeutic agents."

Tags:cancer, chemotherapeutic, cisplatin, hypercalcemia, hypocalcemia

Abstract
This paper discusses nucleoside analogues as used in chemotherapy and antiviral therapy. The different types of nucleotide analogues are outlined by structure. The transportation of these drugs across the lipid membrane, intracellular metabolism (activation) and mechanism of action are also discussed. The last portion discusses anti-retro viral and chemotherapeutic uses of some agents as outlined above, resistance and counter-resistance factors.

From the Paper
"Structure and different groups of nucleoside analogues. Nucleoside analogues are synthetic drugs that mimic certain nucleosides found intracellularly, specifically the cell nucleus and mitochondria. These drugs are mostly used in oncologic therapy as well as antiviral therapy. Their general mechanism of action relies on their ability to insinuate themselves into replicating strands of DNA or transcribed RNA, taking the place of the nucleoside they are derived from. This has the effect of halting DNA or RNA synthesis, halting viral replication and in some cases, triggering apoptosis. In either case, this consequently results in slowing down and stopping tumor cell or viral replication."

Tags:nucleoside, analogues, medicine

Abstract
This paper explains that the multi-faceted causes and symptoms associated with CHF often leave the health care provider treating the symptoms rather than underlying causes. The author points out that the traditional treatment for CHF has been associated with symptom relief as needed to reduce the load on the cardiac muscle, improve the ability of the heart to pump. and to remove the excess fluid within the body. The paper details the four surgical options: Traditional bypass surgery with or without combination surgical treatments, implantation of ventricular assist devices, ventricular reduction surgery of two main types. and heart transplantation.

From the Paper
"All of the above surgical procedures are needed alternatives or bridges to a natural heart transplant. Though a heart transplant may be the best option in many cases the availability of donor organs is very limited and in acute CHF (especially post MI) the wait time for a natural heart donation can be fatal for the patient. Many of the procedures are thought of as potential replacement for the need for natural heart transplantation, with its well detailed drawbacks, such as rejection, continued immune suppression, infection and simply a wait that outlast the living patient."

Tags:multifaceted, individual, chemotherapeutic, fluid, surgery