Digital edition

Abstract: Therapeutic Area: Medicalpharmacology andtherapeutics are coveredextensively. Format: A conventionalprint editionand new digital, self-assessment,andboardreview (notdescribed here)editions are available. This digitalversion contains differences in linksto otherMcGraw-Hili products depending on specificsubscriptions the reader may have. Institutional subscriptions may includeaccess to Harrison's Online, Hurst's The Heart,LANGE Educational Library, CurrentMedicalDiagnosis & Treatment,Tintinalli'sEmergency Medicine,FitzpatrickColor Atlas, and Williams Obstetrics. Withall subscriptions, the digitalversionallowsfor subject search and linksto McGraw-Hill's AccessMedicine resources, including related updates andcontents, Diagnosaurus (DDxpersonaldigital assistant [PDA] software), anddruginformation (gold standard practiceguidelines, patienteducationmaterial,healthnews from majornewspapers). System Requirements: An individual Internet subscription provides access to the digital version until August 2009. AnyrecentWeb browser software should be adequate on a PC, whileMacintosh requires Internet Exploreror a similarbrowser. The access codefor Internet subscription can be usedonlyonceto establish access andis not transferable. For individual subscriptions, onlyone personat a timemayaccess thedigital version withtheusername andpassword. Audience:Whilethisbookwasonceintended forpharmacologists, it is now a superb sourceof information for all healthcareprofessionals and a must for practitioners and students seekingtrainingin the therapeutics of druguse. Purpose: As the editors state, the purposeof this textbookwas \"to correlate pharmacology withrelated medical sciences, to re-interpret the actionsand usesof drugsin lightof advances in medicine andthebasic biomedical sciences, to emphasize theapplications of pharmacodynamics to therapeutics, andto createa bookthatwillbe useful to students of pharmacology andphysicians alike.\" Content: The bookis broadlydivided into 15 sections and 2 appendices.Different sections contain between I and 12chapters each.A total of 65 chapters werewritten by 99 authors, representing world-renowned experts. Everychapter in the electronicversionbeginswith a tableof contentssection, whileeach sectionof a chapteris linkedto other sectionsof thesamechapter; the references are linked to PubMed. As expected, boththe textandelectronic versions provide comprehensiveandconcise information fordifferent therapeutic drugclasses. Organ systems anddisease entities arediscussed in thecontext of pharmacotherapeutics. In addition, basic principles ofpharmacokinetics andpharmacodynamics,as wellas drug transporters, drug metabolism, and pharmacogenomics (asnewchapters), areincluded. Application of thebasic principles of pharmacology to thecareof individual patients is discussed ina newchapter entitled \"The Science of DrugTherapy.\" The firstappendix contains principles of prescription orderwriting andpatient compliance, whereas thesecond is a table withpharmacokinetic data. Usability:Withitsdesign,thisbookandits user-friendly digitalversion,which allows forfrequent updates, is aneasy-to-use source of comprehensive, concise, andhigh-quality information inpharmacology. Highlights:Mostchapters havebeenextensively revised, witha few consolidated or eliminated fromprevious editions. Besides neweditors, there arealsonewauthors. Despite the largenumber of authors, theeditors' claimthatevery effortwas madeto assureuniformity throughout thechapters appears to be accurate. High-quality figures andtables complement the text.Although thistextbook hashistorically beenpublished every5-6 years,the currentdigital edition allows for biweekly updates at the publisher'sWebsite, including new drug developments and approvals. As further evidence foran increased emphasis on therapeutics, clinical summaries at theend of chapters discuss essential concepts related to theclinical application of drugs. In thedigital version, anadvanced searchengine,PDA\"cut and paste\" capability, and hyperlinked references,as well as links to other McGraw-Hili resources, allowfor efficientandbroad-based information retrieval. For instance, Diagnosaurus provides differential diagnosis of symptoms, signs, anddiseases. Limitations:Within thetextbook, it mightbe desirable to havea dedicated chapter abouttherapeutic drugmonitoring (rOM) andto complement the pharmacokinetic data table in the appendix with additional TOM information, suchas specimen type,optimalcollection time,and therapeutic andtoxicdrugconcentrations. Although someof this information is presented throughout thetext,it is not readily accessible in one place.The digital version shares someof the limitations common to other electronic textbooks. For instance, figuresand tablesare not always designed foroptimal printing. Likewise, the textis presented in themiddle columnof the screenwithoutan optionto increase the viewing area by hiding oneor bothneighboring columns containing linkage information. Comparison with Other Related Books:Despite availability of other majorpharmacology textbooks, Goodman andGilman sremains the goldstandard in the field. Reviewer'S Summary: This textbook with itscomplementary digital version is an outstanding resource at a reasonable price.The digital version'sextensive linksto McGraW-Hili's medical Web siteswithan easyto-usedesignprovidefor quick,convenient, and comprehensive information retrieval. Reviewers: Gyorgy CsakoMD,SeniorScientist, Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda,MD, and Frank Pucino PharmD, Ambulatory Care Clinical Pharmacy Team Leader,PharmacyDepartment, ClinicalCenter,NationalInstitutes of Health

Abstract: Advance online publications or online first publications of academic journals,which generally refer to a digital edition of peer-reviewed articles before print publication,are an important part of achieving sustainable development of journals.Its benefits are quick and easy.Now,advance online publications have not received wide acceptance as same as print publication in China,so its development still faces many difficulties and challenges.