Question | Answer |
Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) | Unintended side effects from medications such as cough, headache, nausea and so on |
Anaphylactic reaction | A life-threatening reaction to a drug, insect/jellyfish sting, snake bite or foreign substance requiring immediate medical attention |
Chemoinformatics | Application of computer technology, statistics and math to study information about the structure, properties and activities of molecules |
Cumulative effect | Increased effect of a drug that accumulates in the body |
Dependence | Acquired need for a drug after repeated use; may be psychological with craving and emotional changes or physical with body changes and withdrawal symptoms |
Dosage | Amount of drug given for a particular therapeutic or desired effect |
Drug interactions | Response that may occur when more than one drug is taken-The combination
may alter the expected response of each individual drug |
Drug processes | Four biological changes that drugs undergo within the body |
Hypersensitivity | Allergic or excessive response of the immune system to a drug or chemical |
Idiosyncratic reaction | Unusual reaction to a drug, other than expected |
Local effect | Affecting one specific area or part |
Paradoxical reaction | Opposite effect from that expected |
Pharmacogenomics | The study of the effects of genetic differences among people and the impact that these differences have on the uptake, effectiveness, toxicity, and metabolism of drugs |
Placebo effect | Relief from pain as the result of suggestion without active medication |
Prodrug | A newly developed group of chemicals that exhibit their pharmacological activity after biotransformation |
Sources of drugs | Five ways that the drugs are obtained being plants, minerals, animals, synthetic and DNA |
Systemic effect | Affecting the whole body or system |
Teratogenic effect | Effect of a drug administered to the mother that results in abnormalities in
the fetus |
Therapeutic range | A range of drug levels in the blood that will produce the desired effects without causing serious side effects |
Tolerance | Decreased response to a drug after repeated dosage; greater amounts of the drug
are required for the same effect |