Drug Information Framework

The Drug Information Framework enables developers to build healthcare solutions faster, using the time-tested NDDF Plus knowledge base and critical decision-support modules. The Framework gives developers a choice of technologies and access layers, so it can adapt to most platforms, operating systems, development tools, and relational databases. Application environments can include the Internet client/server networks stand-alone desktops and handheld wireless devices. 

The AHFS Framework enables developers to easily embed drug content into pharmacy and clinical information systems. It can be used to rapidly integrate two respected drug knowledge bases the American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Drug Information monographs, and First DataBank s NDDF Plus. Combined, they allow healthcare professionals to have seamless access to comprehensive drug information, within their usual work-flow systems. 

In the near future new drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer s disease are expected to be licensed, and it would be extremely valuable to be able to compare them in a clear and well-defined framework. In addition, if economic evaluation is to inform health and social care providers and policy-makers about the potential impact of new interventions in practice, estimation of the value for money of these new interventions requires consideration of (a) the perceived and objective risks and benefits of care (b) attitudes of people with... 

The discovery of the base-paired, double-helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) provides the theoretic framework for determining how the information coded into DNA sequences is replicated and how these sequences direct the synthesis of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and proteins. Already clinical medicine has taken advantage of many of these discoveries, and the future promises much more. For example, the biochemistry of the nucleic acids is central to an understanding of virus-induced diseases, the immune re-sponse, the mechanism of action of drugs and antibiotics, and the spectrum of inherited diseases. 

A drug substance must be chemically and physically characterized prior to incorporation into a new dosage form. Preformulation work provides the type of information needed to define the nature of the drug substance, as thoroughly as possible, and this then provides the framework for the drug s combination with pharmaceutic ingredients in the fabrication of a dosage form. 

The selection of building blocks is based on information derived from, for example, computational chemistry, where potential virtual ligand molecules are modeled to fit the receptor-protein binding site. Combinatorial chemistry commences with a scaffold or framework to which additional groups are added to improve the binding affinity. Compounds are prepared and later screened using HTS. In this way, many compounds are tested within a short time frame to speed up drug discovery. 

This chapter considers practitioner responses to parenting and child welfare in the context of drug problems. The increased vulnerabilities of these children and the statutory framework around child protection merits a closer consideration of the ways in which practitioners think about such cases. The key question that informs this discussion is why had so few of the children described in this study been the subject of investigation The interviews with parents, with their children and with grandparents, all indicated... 

Information processing in the human brain via neuro-chemically defined neuronal systems is complex. Therefore, it remains a challenge to conceptualize psychiatric disorders and their treatment in a reductionistic framework of chemical neuroanatomy. We can nonetheless broadly state that the anatomic organization of neurotransmitter systems determines their behavioral affiliation, and that receptors modulate the electrical or biochemical properties of neurons, with direct relevance to the mechanism of action of psychotropic drugs. Future research will provide more detailed information on the subtypes of neurons and specific neurotransmitters systems that are abnormal in psychiatric disorders, and provide a more rational approach to the development of new treatment interventions. 

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