| sparing action | The manner in which a nonessential nutritive component, by its presence in the diet, lowers the dietary requirement for an essential component; thus, nonessential l-cysteine spares essential l-methionine and nonessential l-tyrosine spares essential l-phenylalanine. Synonym: sparing phenomenon. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| specific action | The action of a drug or a method of treatment which has a direct and especially curative effect upon a disease, e.g., the action of vitamin B12 in pernicious anaemia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| specific dynamic action | The increase of heat production caused by the ingestion of food, especially of protein. (05 Mar 2000) |
| delayed-action preparations | Dosage forms of a drug that act over a period of time. (12 Dec 1998) |
| thermogenic action | Increase of heat production of the body, as by the thyroid hormone. Synonym: thermogenic action. (05 Mar 2000) |
| law of mass action | <chemistry> This law states that the rate of a given chemical reaction is proportional to concentration of the reactants. (09 Oct 1997) |
| abnormalities, drug-induced | Congenital abnormalities caused by medicinal substances or drugs of abuse given to or taken by the mother, or to which she is inadvertently exposed during the manufacture of such substances. The concept excludes abnormalities resulting from exposure to non-medicinal chemicals in the environment. (12 Dec 1998) |
| activity, drug | A measure of the physiological response a drug produces in the body. A less active drug produces less response (and visa versa). (12 Dec 1998) |
| addictive drug | Any drug that creates a certain degree of euphoria and has a strong potential for addiction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adverse drug reaction reporting systems | Systems developed for collecting reports from government agencies, manufacturers, hospitals, physicians, and other sources on adverse drug reactions. (12 Dec 1998) |
| akathisia, drug-induced | Motor restlessness with sensations of quivering and an urge to move about constantly resulting from the use of certain drugs, such as neuroleptic drugs, which affect the extrapyramidal region of the brain. This differs from dyskinesia, drug-induced in that long-term antipsychotic drug exposure is significantly correlated with the increased prevalence of akathisia while there is no such correlation with dyskinesia. The primary observable distinction between tardive akathisia and dyskinesia appears to be in the repetitive, stereotypy of the dyskinesic movements (lip smacking, for example), while akathisia is associated with anxiety, restlessness, and agitation (psychomotor agitation). (12 Dec 1998) |
| antineoplastic drug | A drug that stops or slows the maturation and spread of tumour cells (benign or malignant). (09 Oct 1997) |
| maintenance drug therapy | In chemotherapy, systematic dosage at a level that maintains protection against exacerbation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| rational drug design | <pharmacology> Modeling the molecular structure of the target of a drug, for example, an antigen, and then designing a drug that will attack it. (17 Dec 1997) |
| receptors, drug | Proteins that bind specific drugs with high affinity and trigger intracellular changes influencing the behaviour of cells. Drug receptors are generally thought to be receptors for some endogenous substance not otherwise specified. (12 Dec 1998) |