Quality Use of Medicines, Pharmacology, and Microbiology Review

Vocabulary flashcards generated from the Quality Use of Medicines, Pharmacology, Local Anaesthetics, Analgesics, Microbiology, and Immunology lecture notes.

The Poison Standard

The Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines & Poisons used for setting the rules for prescribing Schedule 4 and Schedule 8 drugs.

Quality Use of Medicines (QUM)

An approach aimed at giving the right drug at the right dose for the right patient at the right time by balancing theoretical knowledge with real-life scenarios.

Adverse Event

An unintended incident that results in harm to a patient, which may involve incorrect user interaction or improper combination of goods.

Notifiable Conduct

Practitioner conduct requiring mandatory notification, including practising while intoxicated, sexual misconduct in practice, or placing the public at risk of substantial harm due to impairment or significant departure from professional standards.

Pharmacokinetics

The study of what the body does to a drug (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion) and how the drug's concentration in the body changes over time.

Pharmacodynamics

The study of what a drug does to the body, including its mechanisms of action, therapeutic effects, and side effects.

Absorption

The process by which a drug passes from its site of administration into the systemic circulation.

Lipinski's Rule of 5

A set of guidelines for optimal oral drug absorption requiring a molecular weight $< 500\text{ g/mol}$, $< 5$ hydrogen bond donors, $< 10$ hydrogen bond acceptors, and $\text{Log P} < 5$.

LogP

A parameter used to predict the solubility of drugs in lipid membranes.

Polar Surface Area (PSA)

The surface area of a molecule that is polar or charged; a higher PSA makes it more difficult for the molecule to cross cell membranes.

Drug Distribution

The reversible transfer of a drug from one location to another within the body, largely driven by organ perfusion and passive diffusion.

Drug Metabolism (Biotransformation)

The chemical modification of drugs and xenobiotics by enzymes to make them structural differences, typically making them more water-soluble for excretion.

First-Pass Clearance

The pre-systemic elimination of a drug where it is metabolized or removed before reaching the systemic circulation.

Drug Excretion

The complete removal of an unchanged parent drug or its metabolites from systemic circulation via body fluids, secretions, air, or shed tissue.

Therapeutic Window

The concentration range of a drug between the Minimum Effective Concentration (MEC) and the Minimum Toxic Concentration (MTC).

First-Order Kinetics

A model of elimination where a constant percentage or proportion of drug is removed per unit of time, decreasing as drug concentration drops.

Zero-Order Kinetics

A model of elimination where a fixed amount of drug is removed per unit of time, regardless of the drug's concentration.

Drug Clearance (CL)

The volume of blood cleared completely of a drug per unit of time, reflecting the efficiency of irreversible drug removal.

Volume of Distribution ($V_{\text{DIST}}$)

An apparent, theoretical volume of body fluid into which the total amount of drug in the body would need to be distributed to yield the observed plasma concentration.

Bioavailability ($F$)

The fraction or proportion of an active drug that reaches the systemic circulation intact following oral intake, calculated as $\text{F} = \frac{\text{AUC}_{\text{oral}}}{\text{AUC}_{\text{IV}}}$.

Pharmacognosy

The branch of knowledge that deals with medicinal drugs obtained from plants or other natural sources.

Schedule 2 (Pharmacy Medicine)

Substances available off-the-shelf or behind the counter with advisory, such as low-dose paracetamol small packs and basic antihistamines.

Schedule 3 (Pharmacist Only Medicine)

Substances kept behind the counter that require a consultation with a pharmacist before supply.

Schedule 4 (Prescription Only Medicine)

Substances that require a doctor's prescription, with prescriptions remaining valid for 12 months.

Schedule 8 (Controlled Drug)

Substances with high potential for abuse and addiction that are strictly tracked via real-time monitoring; prescriptions are valid for 6 months.

Schedule 9 (Prohibited Substance)

Substances that are illegal to manufacture, possess, or use except under strict clinical trials or special scientific licensing.

Affinity

The tendency or strength with which an agonist binds to its specific receptor.

Efficacy

The ability of a drug-receptor complex to initiate cellular changes and produce a maximal response.

EC50

The concentration of a drug required to produce 50% of its maximal achievable effect, used to determine drug potency.

Competitive Antagonist

An antagonist that reversibly binds to the agonist's active site, increasing the agonist's $\text{EC}_{50}$ without altering its maximal achievable response.

Irreversible Antagonist

An antagonist that permanently binds to a receptor, reducing the maximal achievable response of the agonist without changing its $\text{EC}_{50}$.

Nociception

The neural process of encoding and transmitting noxious stimuli from tissue lesions to the central nervous system.

Methemoglobinemia

A condition caused by the oxidation of haemoglobin that reduces its oxygen-carrying capacity, clinically marked by slate-grey skin discolouration and cyanosis.

Triple Whammy

A hazardous drug combination involving an NSAID, a diuretic, and an ACE inhibitor that significantly elevates the risk of acute kidney injury.

Serotonin Syndrome

A toxic state resulting from overstimulation of central serotonin receptors, characterized by hyperreflexia, clonus, tremor, diarrhoea, and potentially fatal outcomes.

Naloxone

A competitive antagonist at mu, kappa, and sigma opioid receptors used to rapidly reverse opioid overdose and respiratory depression.

Gram-Positive Bacteria

Bacteria containing a thick peptidoglycan cell wall ($40\text{--}45\text{\%}$ acidic polymer) that retain crystal violet dye and stain purple.

Gram-Negative Bacteria

Bacteria with a thin peptidoglycan layer ($2\text{\text{ nm}}$ thick, $\thicksim 5\text{\%}$ of cell mass) and an outer lipoprotein membrane that stain pink.

Self-Tolerance

The process occurring in the thymus where T cells that react strongly to self-antigens are eliminated via apoptosis to prevent autoimmune disorders.

Janus Kinases (JAK)

Intracellular kinases associated with cytokine receptors that phosphorylate the receptor to generate docking sites for STAT proteins.