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Adjuvant
In pharmacology, an adjuvant is a drug or other substance, or a combination of substances, that is used to increase the efficacy or potency of certain drugs. Specifically, the term can refer to: * Adjuvant therapy in cancer management * Analgesic adjuvant in pain management * Immunologic adjuvant In immunology, an adjuvant is a substance that increases or modulates the immune response to a vaccine. The word "adjuvant" comes from the Latin word ''adiuvare'', meaning to help or aid. "An immunologic adjuvant is defined as any substance that ... in vaccines This is a specialized usage of a word (derived from the Latin verb "adjuvare", ''to help''), which also has a more general meaning as someone or something assisting in any operation or effect. {{sia Adjuvants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adjuvant Therapy
Adjuvant therapy, also known as adjunct therapy, adjuvant care, or augmentation therapy, is a therapy that is given in addition to the primary or initial therapy to maximize its effectiveness. The surgeries and complex treatment regimens used in cancer therapy have led the term to be used mainly to describe adjuvant cancer treatments. An example of such adjuvant therapy is the additional treatment usually given after surgery where all detectable disease has been removed, but where there remains a statistical risk of relapse due to the presence of undetected disease. If known disease is left behind following surgery, then further treatment is not technically adjuvant. An adjuvant used on its own specifically refers to an agent that improves the effect of a vaccine. Medications used to help primary medications are known as add-ons. History The term "adjuvant therapy," derived from the Latin term ''adjuvāre'', meaning "to help," was first coined by Paul Carbone and his team at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Immunologic Adjuvant
In immunology, an adjuvant is a substance that increases or modulates the immune response to a vaccine. The word "adjuvant" comes from the Latin word ''adiuvare'', meaning to help or aid. "An immunologic adjuvant is defined as any substance that acts to accelerate, prolong, or enhance antigen-specific immune responses when used in combination with specific vaccine antigens." In the early days of vaccine manufacture, significant variations in the efficacy of different batches of the same vaccine were correctly assumed to be caused by contamination of the reaction vessels. However, it was soon found that more scrupulous cleaning actually seemed to ''reduce'' the effectiveness of the vaccines, and some contaminants actually enhanced the immune response. There are many known adjuvants in widespread use, including aluminium salts, oils and virosomes. Overview Adjuvants in immunology are often used to modify or augment the effects of a vaccine by stimulating the immune system to re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Analgesic Adjuvant
An analgesic adjuvant is a medication that is typically used for indications other than pain control but provides control of pain in some painful diseases. For instance, caffeine has minimal analgesic effect on its own, but may have an adjuvant effect when given with paracetamol (acetaminophen). Examples include: * Anticonvulsants ** carbamazepine, gabapentin, pregabalin * Antidepressants ** amitriptyline, duloxetine, venlafaxine * Antihistamines ** hydroxyzine, promethazine * Stimulants ** caffeine, cocaine, dextroamphetamine, ephedrine * carisoprodol * cyclobenzaprine * hyoscine (scopolamine) The exact mechanism of the anticonvulsants carbamazepine, gabapentin, and pregabalin is unclear, but they are used to treat neuropathic pain with differing degrees of success. Antiemetics and medication to relieve constipation are two examples of non-adjuvant medication indications because these are used to treat side effect In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemical or physiological effect on the cell, tissue, organ, or organism (sometimes the word ''pharmacon'' is used as a term to encompass these endogenous and exogenous bioactive species). More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function. If substances have medicinal properties, they are considered pharmaceuticals. The field encompasses drug composition and properties,functions,sources,synthesis and drug design, molecular and cellular mechanisms, organ/systems mechanisms, signal transduction/cellular communication, molecular diagnostics, interactions, chemical biology, therapy, and medical applications and antipathogenic capabilities. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Efficacy
Efficacy is the ability to perform a task to a satisfactory or expected degree. The word comes from the same roots as ''effectiveness'', and it has often been used synonymously, although in pharmacology a pragmatic clinical trial#Efficacy versus effectiveness, distinction is now often made between efficacy and effectiveness. The word ''efficacy'' is used in pharmacology and medicine to refer both to the maximum response achievable from a pharmaceutical drug in research settings, and to the capacity for sufficient therapeutic effect or beneficial change in clinical settings. Pharmacology In pharmacology, efficacy () is the maximum response achievable from an applied or dosed agent, for instance, a small molecule drug. Intrinsic activity is a relative term for a drug's efficacy relative to a drug with the highest observed efficacy. It is a purely descriptive term that has little or no mechanistic interpretation. In order for a drug to have an effect, it needs to bind to its t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potency (pharmacology)
In the field of pharmacology, potency is a measure of drug activity expressed in terms of the amount required to produce an effect of given intensity. A highly potent drug (e.g., fentanyl, alprazolam, risperidone, bumetanide, bisoprolol) evokes a given response at low concentrations, while a drug of lower potency (meperidine, diazepam, ziprasidone, furosemide, metoprolol) evokes the same response only at higher concentrations. Higher potency does not necessarily mean greater effectiveness or more side effects. The IUPHAR The International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) is a voluntary, non-profit association representing the interests of scientists in pharmacology-related fields to facilitate ''Better Medicines through Global Education and Resear ... has stated that 'potency' is ''"an imprecise term that should always be further defined"'', for instance as EC_, IC_, ED_, LD_ and so on. See also * Reaction inhibitor § Potency References Further readin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
