Drug treatment has become one of the most important cornerstones of modern medicine, successfully influencing the course of many diseases. But in orthopedic surgery, drugs are still used surprisingly seldom. Technical advances like new fracture fixation devices and joint prostheses have revolutionized the lives of many orthopedic surgery patients. But, even today, some patients experience fractures that fail to heal, despite numerous operations, the most modern fracture devices, or bone transplants. Limb amputations are sometimes the only remaining solution in some of the most severe cases of fractures that do not knit together. Me and my fellow researchers believe that we can offer biological help in both fracture healing and in other diseases affecting bone. There are two main cell types in the bone involved during the healing of a fracture. Osteoclasts are specialized cells involved in resorption the breakdown and cleanup of dead bone in a fractured area so that new bone can be laid down. Osteoblasts are the cells responsible for the production of the new bone. A collaboration and a balance between the two are required, both for a swift response to a fracture, as well for maintenance of a functioning skeleton. Delayed healing or lack of … Continue reading →

Eighty percent of the worlds population today has access only to traditional remedies prepared from local plants as solutions for healing. Pharmaceutical research and its associated industries exploit natural products and materials to search for and prepare active ingredients for use as medicines. It is estimated that more than forty percent of the new drugs registered in the last thirty years were obtained or derived from natural sources, or were inspired by natural compounds. For centuries, humans depended exclusively on nature to find solutions for healing. The study of plant species has brought forth major contributions to medical knowledge and has lead to prototypes of major therapeutic drug classes; for example, cardiac glycosides from foxglove leaves (digitoxin), antimalarial drugs from cinchona bark (quinine), hypno-analgesic drugs from poppy latex (morphine), or anti-inflammatory drugs from white willow bark (salicylic acid). Additional studies have revealed evidence of their physiological receptors. This widespread usefulness may be related to the fact that plants, being sessile organisms, chiefly depend on their own structure and composition to achieve biological, physiological, and ecological functions as well as to adapt and survive. Plants can't move, can't yell to chase away aggressors, and can't fend off predators or parasites. So, … Continue reading →

Illustration: Andrew Dyson. Being tough on criminals may be a vote-winner, but putting addicts behind bars only causes other problems. EACH country gets the drugs problem it deserves.'' This is the view of Antonio Maria Costa, the former head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. His explanation is blunt: countries that rely primarily on law enforcement to deal with drug addicts and their associated crimes, rather than treating users as sufferers, perpetuate an expensive cycle of addiction, crime, incarceration and recidivism. By that measure, Australia deserves its big problem with drugs. Illicit drugs cost the national economy some $9 billion a year. Three-quarters of that is spent on law enforcement of drug offences and crimes committed by drug users. Prevention, treatment and harm reduction account for 10 per cent, 7 per cent and 1 per cent respectively. ''Drug addiction is a health condition,'' says Costa. ''It's a pathology that needs to be addressed not in prisons, therefore not by incarceration of the addict, but in hospitals. Prevention, treatment, rehabilitation programs, and then reintegration into society work better than the criminal justice system.'' Advertisement: Story continues below He is not alone in campaigning for a tectonic shift in … Continue reading →

By Vivienne Moxham-Hall. First published in The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 May 2012 Drugs have become so normalised in today's youth culture the penalties just don't matter as much, writes Vivienne Moxham-Hall. When you get to high school, you are taught that drugs are ''bad''. The teachers show you pictures and tell you the horror stories about drugs, but at that age, you can never really believe that something which looks like a sugar pill can wreak all that damage and the stories never really quench any curiosity. The kids at my high school, and others, started experimenting with drugs about the age of 16, when most of us were in year 9. It was mainly cannabis that they would smoke after school and it was usually the ''cool'' kids. But in years 10 and up, the appeal of drugs widened. Whole groups of friends were made around the rave culture and moved towards harder drug experimentation. Raving is where large groups of young adults of varying ages would dance to electronic beats while ''pinging''. The locations of these raves were often released the same day they occurred to avoid detection. These kids would practice their rave moves in their … Continue reading →