Birth control products

Prescribers are advised to consult the package insert of any medication administered concomitantly with hormonal contraceptives, because some medications may decrease the effectiveness of these birth control products. Patients should be prospectively cautioned not to self-medicate with the herbal supplement St. John s wort because a possible interaction has been suggested with hormonal contraceptives based on reports of breakthrough bleeding while on oral contraceptives shortly after starting St. John s wort. Pregnancies have been reported by users of combined hormonal contraceptives who also used some form of St. John s wort. 

The client is prescribed a 28-day oral contraceptive pack. Which statement best describes the scientific rationale for this birth control product ... 

Spironolactone is an antiandrogen which blocks androgen-receptors, alters steroidogenesis by adrenals and gonads and inhibits 5-a reductase. In doses of 100-200 mg daily it reduces sebum production and improves inflammatory acne in women. During treatment, birth control measures are required due to the risk of male fetus feminization. 

There are serious questions about the effect of continued growth of the human population. We often focus on the matter of adequate food production, but large populations also affect the environment and our need for energy. Chemists can furnish the tools to help deal with the political and social questions. Some population growth occurs not because it is intentional, but because adequate methods for birth control are unavailable to people in poor countries. Thus one challenge for chemists is to develop better methods that would be safe, effective, and inexpensive and would enable all people to pursue their own decisions regarding population growth. 

Few, if any, products are administered via the vagina that are intended for systemic absorption. Thus, this route has not been as widely studied and characterized as others. On the other hand, large numbers of different products (douches, spermicides, antiyeast agents, etc.) have been developed that require introduction into the vagina in order to assert their localized effects. Increased research into different birth control and antiviral prophylaxis will result in more vaginal products in the future. All these must be assessed for vaginal irritation potential, and this serves as an example of the other tissue tolerance issues. 

Reducing population growth would be another way to address the problem of diminishing wildlands. After all, fewer people on Earth would mean that less land needs to be used to grow food. But who decides how to go about this Some countries oppose birth control and others are encouraging their citizens to reproduce, even providing incentives to do so (Chivers 2006). Clearly, there are a host of social, economic, and political issues that mediate the relationship between agricultural production, human nutrition, and habitat protection. 

As indicated earlier, plant products can be useful as starting materials for the semisynthetic preparation of other drugs. An important example in this regard is the Mexican yam, which produces a steroid precursor (diosgenin) vital to the synthesis of steroidal hormones used in oral contraceptives (i.e., progesterone). The availability of diosgenin eliminates numerous expensive steps in the organic synthesis of the basic steroid molecule. It was this discovery that contributed to the development of the pharmaceutical company Syntex (now a subsidiary of Hoffman LaRoche) and the development of the first birth control pill. 

Syntex licensed norethindrone to Parke-Davis for development. Eventually, Parke-Davis decided not to market it because of fears about a possible boycott of their other products by groups who were opposed to birth control. Searle had no such concerns and brought its pill to the market in 1960 under the name Enovid. In the meantime, Syntex was forced to find another partner and finally settled on the Ortho division of Johnson Johnson. The norethindrone pill was first marketed in 1962 under the name Ortho-Novum. By 1965 the pill" was the most popular form of birth control. 

Several commercial examples of such devices have been introduced. The ALZA Corporation markets a device called OCUSERT wiiich is placed in the cul de sac of the eye and releases pilocarpine to control glaucoma. Another ALZA product called PROGESTASERT is placed in the uterus and releases progesterone to effect birth control Each of these are macroscopic devices however, microenr psulation is... 

Take another look in your medicine cabinet to see other products that had their origin in plant remedies beta blockers, birth control, sedatives, laxatives, antiseptics, soap. So the next time you take a much-needed medicine, go out and hug a tree. 

Nominated by decree, the Director General runs the Medicines Agency and makes decisions in the name of the State on matters relevant to the Agency. He intervenes in the application of the law of 28 December 1967 on birth control, the law of 13 July 1992 on the control of the use and dissemination of genetically modified organisms, and the law of 31 December 1992 relative to restricted products and activities with police and customs officials. His decisions are not susceptible to control from superiors. 

Assess patient use of alcohol or alcohol-containing products with metronidazole and oral birth control medications with antibiotics and counsel appropriately. 

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