Preface

The scientific understanding of types of poisonings, as well as their change over time, is integral to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of poisonings, and even to the repurposing of fatal toxic agents for use as therapeutic agents.

This book discusses the nature and role of bacterial toxins, snake venoms, heavy metals, and environmental toxins in poisoning and provides up-to-date methods for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of poisoning by these agents. It also addresses the possible repositioning of highly toxic glycoalkaloids found in potatoes to life-saving anticancer drugs.

This book includes six chapters that address several fundamental issues regarding poisoning with fascinating pharmacological, immunological, and therapeutic illustrations. Each chapter has been reviewed and revised, and new authors have presented current research to make this book more informative, illustrative, and easy to read.

We hope this book is useful to a wide range of readers, from students first learning about bacterial, environmental, and snake poisonings to advanced clinicians, forensic medicine practitioners, and researchers who are looking for a review of current approaches not only in the management of poisons but also in redesigning fatal food toxins to life-saving anticancer drugs.

> **Farid A. Badria**  FAB-Lab, Liver Research Lab, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mansour University, Mansoura, Egypt
