| AC/SIUG | ambulatory care special-interest user group |
|---|---|
| ACU | acquired cold urticaria; acute care unit; agar colony-forming unit; ambulatory care unit |
| ADG | ambulatory diagnostic group; atrial diastolic gallop; axiodistogingival |
| AEM | Academic Emergency Medicine [journal]; analytical electron microscopy; ambulatory electrocardiograph... |
| AHM | Allied health manpower; ambulatory Holter monitor |
| drug administration schedule | Time schedule for administration of a drug in order to achieve optimum effectiveness and convenience. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| drug allergy | Sensitivity (hypersensitivity) to a drug or other chemical. (05 Mar 2000) |
| drug and narcotic control | Control of drug and narcotic use by international agreement, or by institutional systems for handling prescribed drugs. This includes regulations concerned with the manufacturing, dispensing, approval (drug approval), and marketing of drugs. (12 Dec 1998) |
| drug, antihypertensive | As the name clearly implies, a drug aimed at reducing high blood pressure (hypertension). (12 Dec 1998) |
| drug, anti-infective | A medication capable of acting against infection, by inhibiting the spread of an infectious agent or by killing the infectious agent outright. (12 Dec 1998) |
| drug approval | Process that is gone through in order for a drug to receive approval by a government regulatory agency. This includes any required pre-clinical or clinical testing, review, submission, and evaluation of the applications and test results, and post-marketing surveillance of the drug. (12 Dec 1998) |
| drug carriers | Substances that facilitate time-controlled delivery, organ-specific targeting, protection, prolonged in vivo function, and decrease of toxicity of drugs. Liposomes, albumin microspheres, soluble synthetic polymers, DNA complexes, protein-drug conjugates, and carrier erythrocytes among others have been employed as biodegradable drug carriers. (12 Dec 1998) |
| drug combinations | Single preparations containing two or more active agents, for the purpose of their concurrent administration as a fixed dose mixture. It is differentiated from drug therapy, combination in which two or more drugs are administered separately for a combined effect. (12 Dec 1998) |
| drug compounding | The preparation, mixing, and assembling of a drug. (12 Dec 1998) |
| drug costs | The amount that a health care institution or organization pays for its drugs. It is one component of the final price that is charged to the consumer (fees, pharmaceutical or prescription fees). (12 Dec 1998) |
| drug dependence | Use of a drug for a reason other than which it was intended or in a manner or in quantities other than directed. Drug dependence is a compulsion to take a drug to produce a desired effect or prevent unpleasant effects when the drug is withheld. Risk factors for drug abuse include: low self esteem, inability to deal with stress and emotional instability. Juveniles use drugs due to peer pressure. Signs of drug use in children include: a change in friends or group, long absences from home, poor performance in school, seclusion, stealing, lying, criminal behaviour, deteriorating family relationships, signs of drug intoxication and changes in behaviour. Commonly abused drugs include narcotic analgesic agents, benzodiazepines, cocaine, amphetamines, barbiturates, marijuana, LSD and phencyclidine. Many labs now offer quick and inexpensive urine drug screening. Psychological counseling and parental support will be necessary in children with this problem. (27 Sep 1997) |
| drug design | The molecular designing of drugs for specific purposes (such as DNA-binding, enzyme inhibition, anti-cancer efficacy, etc.) based on knowledge of molecular properties such as activity of functional groups, molecular geometry, and electronic structure, and also on information cataloged on analogous molecules. Drug design is generally computer-assisted molecular modeling and does not include pharmacokinetics, dosage analysis, or drug administration analysis. (12 Dec 1998) |
| drug development pathway | The various procedures and studies that must be undertaken to satisfy Food and Drug Administration requirements for drug approval and marketing. (14 Nov 1997) |
| drug eruptions | Adverse cutaneous reactions caused by ingestion, parenteral use, or local application of a drug. These may assume various morphologic patterns and produce various types of lesions. (12 Dec 1998) |
| drug evaluation | Any process by which toxicity, metabolism, absorption, elimination, preferred route of administration, safe dosage range, etc., for a drug or group of drugs is determined through clinical assessment in humans or veterinary animals. (12 Dec 1998) |