Temporal Aspects of Therapeutics.

Abstract This book, the second volume of a series, represents the proceedings of a conference held October 18–20, 1972 and sponsored by the innovative Alza Corporation of Palo Alto, Calif. It speaks to biochemists, pharmacologists, and endocrinologists about the need for more polyparameter quantitative experiments and their interpretation by multivariate analysis. While simple versions of such experiments are becoming common in the area of pharmacokinetics, they are rarely conducted and published by the above specialists. Such experiments allow for the construction of dynamic mathematical models from which extrapolations can be made relevant to normal/abnormal life processes, the interaction of drugs and life processes, and the interaction of multidrug and multilife processes. Insights achieved from such extrapolations demand further polyparameter experiments, etc. This volume focuses on only one such dynamic parameter, time, and proceeds from basics up to the design of effective drug delivery systems. Listing of chapter headings (authors) indicates the logical progression of the material presented: The Biological Time Scale (H. J. Morowitz), Temporal and Hierarchical Organization in Biosys- tems (F. E. Yates and A. S. Iberall), Time and Timelessness in Biological Clocks (A. T. Winfree), Sequential Assembly of Virus Particles (D. Kaiser), Temporal Aspects of Macromolecular Synthesis in Eukaryotic Cells (E. B. Thompson), Hormonal Control