Word: langere
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...their pursuit of better systems, researchers are finding ingenious ways to bypass such natural body defenses as the blood-brain barrier and the macrophages of the immune system, which can block or gobble up newly administered drugs. Another problem, says M.I.T. professor of biomedical engineering Robert Langer, is adverse effects that result even when "people take prescription drugs exactly as prescribed...
...trouble, says Langer, a leading innovator of drug-delivery systems, is that drugs do not stay at constant levels in the body. They typically start low, rise to a peak and then decline. When that happens, Langer says, "those peaks can sometimes be toxic and the valleys totally ineffective." He cites as examples insulin and sleeping pills: "Too much insulin can put you into a coma. Not getting enough insulin can be fatal. Too much sleeping pill can kill you. Too little, and you lie awake all night...
Some of the new drug-delivery solutions are elegant but decidedly low tech. "For people who have a tough time swallowing pills," says Langer, "a company called Alkermes has developed a special straw that is loaded with a premeasured dose of dry medication. The patient then uses the straw to sip water, a soft drink or apple juice." And for a toddler who spits out, throws up or gags on fever-reducing medication, there are fast-acting suppositories to which parents can resort...
Equally remarkable, Langer and his colleagues reported in the journal Nature that they had engineered a prototype microchip that could someday be swallowed or implanted and work as a programmable "pharmacy." It contains up to 1,000 tiny reservoirs of chemicals that are released in the proper quantity and sequence when the chip is exposed to low voltages...
...proof of the pudding is that her findings are meaningful to so many people," says Professor of Psychology Ellen Langer. "There are so few people that have made a contribution to the order that Carol has--regardless of any minor, or even major, experimental...