| NAHPA | National Association of Hospital Purchasing Agents |
|---|---|
| OHA | oral hypoglycemic agents |
| antidepressive agents, second-generation | A structurally and mechanistically diverse group of drugs that are not tricyclics or monoamine oxidase inhibitors. The most clinically important appear to act selectively on serotonergic systems, especially by inhibiting serotonin reuptake. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| antidepressive agents, tricyclic | Substances that contain a fused three-ring moiety and are used in the treatment of depression. These drugs block the uptake of norepinephrine and serotonin into axon terminals and may block some subtypes of serotonin, adrenergic, and histamine receptors. However the mechanism of their antidepressant effects is not clear because the therapeutic effects usually take weeks to develop and may reflect compensatory changes in the central nervous system. (12 Dec 1998) |
| anti-dyskinesia agents | Drugs used in the treatment of movement disorders. most of these act centrally on dopaminergic or cholinergic systems. Among the most important clinically are those used for the treatment of parkinson disease (antiparkinson agents) and those for the tardive dyskinesias. (12 Dec 1998) |
| antifoaming agents | Agents used to prevent the formation of foam or to treat flatulence or bloat. (12 Dec 1998) |
| antifungal agents | Agents destructive to fungi, suppressing their growth or reproduction, and effective against fungal infections. They differ from fungicides, industrial in that antifungal agents are restricted to action against fungi present in human or animal tissues. (12 Dec 1998) |
| anti-HIV agents | Agents used to treat aids and/or stop the spread of the HIV infection. These do not include drugs used to treat symptoms or opportunistic infections associated with aids. (12 Dec 1998) |
| antihypertensive agents | Drugs used in the treatment of acute or chronic hypertension regardless of pharmacological mechanism. Among the antihypertensive agents are diuretics (especially diuretics, thiazide), adrenergic beta-antagonists, adrenergic alpha-antagonists, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, ganglionic blockers, and vasodilator agents. (12 Dec 1998) |
| anti-infective agents, local | Substances used on humans and other animals that destroy harmful microorganisms or inhibit their activity. They are distinguished from disinfectants, which are used on inanimate objects. (12 Dec 1998) |
| anti-infective agents, quinolone | A group of synthetic antimicrobial agents which usually contain a 4-quinolinone ring structure. A few compounds belonging to this group have related nitrogen heterocyclic ring structures such as naphthyridine or phthalazine groups. All compounds in this group are substituted with an oxo group at the 4-position. The second-generation quinolones are also substituted with a 1-piperazinyl group at the 7-position and a fluorine moiety at the 6-position. The quinolones inhibit the a subunit of DNA gyrase and thus interfere with the ability of the enzyme to repair bacterial DNA breaks during replication. The compounds have a broad spectrum of activity against a variety of aerobic bacteria. (12 Dec 1998) |
| anti-infective agents, urinary | Substances capable of killing agents causing urinary tract infections or of preventing them from spreading. (12 Dec 1998) |
| antilipaemic agents | Substances that counteract high levels of lipids in the blood. (12 Dec 1998) |
| antimanic agents | Agents that are used to treat bipolar disorders or mania associated with other affective disorders. (12 Dec 1998) |
| antimutagenic agents | Agents that reduce the frequency or rate of spontaneous or induced mutations independently of the mechanism involved. (12 Dec 1998) |
| antineoplastic and immunosuppressive agents | Collective grouping for substances used to arrest the proliferation of malignant cells and those that suppress the immune response. (12 Dec 1998) |
| anti-obesity agents | Agents that increase energy expenditure and weight loss by neural and chemical regulation. Beta-adrenergic agents and serotoninergic drugs have been experimentally used in patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (niddm) to treat obesity. (12 Dec 1998) |