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Polypharmacy
Polypharmacy (polypragmasia) is the simultaneous use of multiple medicines by a patient for their conditions. Most commonly it is defined as regularly taking five or more medicines but definitions vary in where they draw the line for the minimum number of drugs.Taghy N, Cambon L, Cohen JM, Dussart C. Failure to Reach a Consensus in Polypharmacy Definition: An Obstacle to Measuring Risks and Impacts—Results of a Literature Review. ''Ther Clin Risk Manag.'' 2020;16:57-73 https://doi.org/10.2147/TCRM.S214187 Polypharmacy is often the consequence of having multiple long-term conditions, also known as multimorbidity. An excessive number of medications is worrisome, especially for older patients with many chronic health conditions, because this increases the risk of an adverse event in those patients. The prevalence of polypharmacy is estimated to be between 10% and 90% depending on the definition used, the age group studied, and the geographic location. Polypharmacy continues to gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deprescribing
Deprescribing is the planned and supervised process of intentionally stopping a medication or reducing its dose to improve the person's health or reduce the risk of adverse side effects. Deprescribing is usually done because the drug may be causing harm, may no longer be helping the patient, or may be inappropriate for the individual patient's current situation. Deprescribing can help correct polypharmacy and prescription cascade. Deprescribing is often done with people who have multiple chronic conditions, for older people, and for people who have a limited life expectancy. In all of these situations, certain medications may contribute to an increased risk of adverse events, and people may benefit from a reduction in the amount of medication taken. The goal of deprescribing is to reduce medication burden and harm, while maintaining or improving quality of life. "Simply because a patient has tolerated a therapy for a long duration does not mean that it remains an appropriate tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multimorbidity
Multimorbidity, also known as multiple long-term conditions (MLTC), means living with two or more chronic illnesses. For example, a person could have diabetes, heart disease and depression at the same time. Multimorbidity can have a significant impact on people's health and wellbeing. It also poses a complex challenge to healthcare systems which are traditionally focused on individual diseases. Multiple long-term conditions are much more common in older people, affecting more than half of those over 65, however, they can also be found in young people. Definition The concept of multiple long-term conditions is not clearly defined and may be referred to by various names. Difference from comorbidity Multimorbidity is often referred to as comorbidity even though the two are considered distinct clinical scenarios. Comorbidity means that one 'index' condition is the focus of attention, and others are viewed in relation to this. In contrast, multimorbidity describes someone havi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drug Interaction
Drug interactions occur when a drug's mechanism of action is disturbed by the concomitant administration of substances such as foods, beverages, or other drugs. The cause is often the inhibition of the specific receptors available to the drug, forcing the drug molecules to bind to other non-intended targets which results in an array of side-effects. The term selectivity describes a drug’s ability to target a single receptor, rendering a predictable physiological response. For example, the binding of acetylcholine to muscarinic tracheal smooth-muscle receptors (M3) results in smooth muscle contractions. When free receptors become occupied by agonists - drugs that bind and activate receptors - and antagonists - drugs that inhibit/ block activation - the opportunity for drugs to target their intended receptor decreases as most receptors are already occupied. Therefore, when the number of free receptors decreases, the drugs begin binding to other secondary receptors, cau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adverse Drug Reaction
An adverse drug reaction (ADR) is a harmful, unintended result caused by taking medication. ADRs may occur following a single dose or prolonged administration of a drug or result from the combination of two or more drugs. The meaning of this term differs from the term "side effect" because side effects can be beneficial as well as detrimental. The study of ADRs is the concern of the field known as ''pharmacovigilance''. An adverse drug event (ADE) refers to any unexpected and inappropriate occurrence at the time a drug is used, whether or not associated with the administration of the drug. An ADR is a special type of ADE in which a causative relationship can be shown. ADRs are only one type of medication-related harm, as harm can also be caused by omitting to take indicated medications. Classification ADRs may be classified by e.g. cause and severity. Cause *Type A: Augmented pharmacologic effects - dose dependent and predictable :Type A reactions, which constitute approximatel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overmedication
Overmedication is an overutilization of medication wherein a patient takes voluntarily, or is prescribed, unnecessary or excessive medications. While not strictly a medical condition, common symptoms may include: slurred speech, drowsiness, confusion, and poor motor skills. Hence it is a risk factor for falls, especially among the elderly. Children with behavior problems are also at risk of overmedication, with parents wanting an easy fix, and drug companies and doctors often obliging. Overmedication in the elderly A report in 2018 by Human Rights Watch, found that every week in American nursing homes, around 180,000 residents are given antipsychotic drugs who do not have the diagnosis for which the drugs are approved. Most of these people have behavioral issues or some form of dementia. The drugs are often administered without informed consent. The reason these drugs are administered is for the sedative effect, which makes the patients docile and easier to manage. Overmedication ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genome
In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as regulatory sequences (see non-coding DNA), and often a substantial fraction of 'junk' DNA with no evident function. Almost all eukaryotes have mitochondria and a small mitochondrial genome. Algae and plants also contain chloroplasts with a chloroplast genome. The study of the genome is called genomics. The genomes of many organisms have been sequenced and various regions have been annotated. The International Human Genome Project reported the sequence of the genome for ''Homo sapiens'' in 200The Human Genome Project although the initial "finished" sequence was missing 8% of the genome consisting mostly of repetitive sequences. With advancements in technology that could handle seq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pharmacokinetics
Pharmacokinetics (from Ancient Greek ''pharmakon'' "drug" and ''kinetikos'' "moving, putting in motion"; see chemical kinetics), sometimes abbreviated as PK, is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to determining the fate of substances administered to a living organism. The substances of interest include any chemical xenobiotic such as: pharmaceutical drugs, pesticides, food additives, cosmetics, etc. It attempts to analyze chemical metabolism and to discover the fate of a chemical from the moment that it is administered up to the point at which it is completely eliminated from the body. Pharmacokinetics is the study of how an organism affects a drug, whereas pharmacodynamics (PD) is the study of how the drug affects the organism. Both together influence dosing, benefit, and adverse effects, as seen in PK/PD models. Overview Pharmacokinetics describes how the body affects a specific xenobiotic/chemical after administration through the mechanisms of absorption and distribut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transitional Care
Transitional care refers to the coordination and continuity of health care during a movement from one healthcare setting to either another or to home, called care transition, between health care practitioners and settings as their condition and care needs change during the course of a chronic or acute illness. Older adults who suffer from a variety of health conditions often need health care services in different settings to meet their many needs. For young people the focus is on moving successfully from child to adult health services. A recent position statement from the American Geriatrics Society defines transitional care as follows: For the purpose of this position statement, transitional care is defined as a set of actions designed to ensure the coordination and continuity of health care as patients transfer between different locations or different levels of care within the same location. Representative locations include (but are not limited to) hospitals, sub-acute and post- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Information Silo
An information silo, or a group of such silos, is an insular management system in which one information system or subsystem is incapable of reciprocal operation with others that are, or should be, related. Thus information is not adequately shared but rather remains sequestered within each system or subsystem, figuratively trapped within a container like grain is trapped within a silo: there may be much of it, and it may be stacked quite high and freely available within those limits, but it has no effect outside those limits. Such data silos are proving to be an obstacle for businesses wishing to use data mining to make productive use of their data. Information silos occur whenever a data system is incompatible or not integrated with other data systems. This incompatibility may occur in the technical architecture, in the application architecture, or in the data architecture of any data system. However, since it has been shown that established data modeling methods are the root cau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Datos Pegados Ff93
Datus or Datos ( grc, Δάτος), also Datum or Daton (Δάτον and Δᾶτον), was an ancient Greek city located in Macedonia, specifically in the region between the river Strymon and the river Nestos. It was founded by colonists from Thasos at 360 BCE, with the help and support of the Athenian exiled orator Callistratus of Aphidnae. Datos was a seaport, close to Mount Pangaion with its rich gold veins and to another Thasian colony, Crenides. The two colonies provoked the Thracians but at the same time gave Philip II of Macedon the justification for penetrating the area and founding Philippi in 356 BCE. The name was also applied to a wide region. There was some conjecture that Datus was the same as the later Neapolis (near modern Kavala), A proverb current in antiquity celebrated Datus for its "good things."Zenob. ''Prov. Graec. Cent.'' 3.71; Harpocrat. ''s.v.'' Δάτος See also *Greek colonies in Thrace Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or rel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diabetes Mellitus
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased appetite. If left untreated, diabetes can cause many health complications. Acute complications can include diabetic ketoacidosis, hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state, or death. Serious long-term complications include cardiovascular disease, stroke, chronic kidney disease, foot ulcers, damage to the nerves, damage to the eyes, and cognitive impairment. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough insulin, or the cells of the body not responding properly to the insulin produced. Insulin is a hormone which is responsible for helping glucose from food get into cells to be used for energy. There are three main types of diabetes mellitus: * Type 1 diabetes results from failure of the pancreas to produce enough insulin due ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antiepileptics
Anticonvulsants (also known as antiepileptic drugs or recently as antiseizure drugs) are a diverse group of pharmacological agents used in the treatment of epileptic seizures. Anticonvulsants are also increasingly being used in the treatment of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, since many seem to act as mood stabilizers, and for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Anticonvulsants suppress the excessive rapid firing of neurons during seizures. Anticonvulsants also prevent the spread of the seizure within the brain. Conventional antiepileptic drugs may block sodium channels or enhance γ-aminobutyric acid ( GABA) function. Several antiepileptic drugs have multiple or uncertain mechanisms of action. Next to the voltage-gated sodium channels and components of the GABA system, their targets include GABAA receptors, the GAT-1 GABA transporter, and GABA transaminase. Additional targets include voltage-gated calcium channels, SV2A, and α2δ. By blocking sodium or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
