Medication half-life

Medication Half-Life (hour) Dose Range (mg/day)rf Potential Side Effect or Disadvantage... 

Some common terms in medication dosing and monitoring that the professional social worker should be aware of include medication half-life, drug potency, the therapeutic index, and drug tolerance. 

A computation of medication half-life can assist the health care team in determining how much medication is actually left in the client s system and how this residual amount can effect present and subsequent treatments. A distinction is made between a short-acting medication that is eliminated more quickly from the system and a long-acting one where the drug can stay in the system for a much longer period of time. 

Theory and Equipment. The basic principle behind nuclear medical imaging is that a radiopharmaceutical can be introduced into the body which emits radiation detectable outside of the body. Radiopharmaceuticals are biologically active and have a short half-life (Si/q)- The detectable radiation... 

Safety. The principal concerns regarding nuclear medical imaging are those associated with the radiopharmaceuticals. Much research has gone into the selection of radiopharmaceuticals exhibiting minimal toxicities, rapid elimination from the body, and short half-life. The radioisotope must be... 

Several modes of waste management are available. The simplest is to dilute and disperse. This practice is adequate for the release of small amounts of radioactive material to the atmosphere or to a large body of water. Noble gases and slightly contaminated water from reactor operation are eligible for such treatment. A second technique is to hold the material for decay. This is appHcable to radionucHdes of short half-life such as the medical isotope technetium-9 9m = 6 h), the concentration of which becomes negligible in a week s holding period. The third and most common approach to waste... 

The radioisotopes Tc and I (see Table 16) are often used for medical purposes. Tc has a half-life of only 6 h, which would normally make it difficult to transport from a production facility to the medical facility. However, one can supply the longer-lived 2.7-d Mo in a chemical form that allows one to separate out, generate or milk, the daughter iTc when the latter is needed. 

Calcitonin. Calcitonin is available commercially from pork and salmon extracts (Calcimar, Armour) as well as by synthesis. Preparations are bioassayed on the basis of their calcium-lowering activity in comparison to the potency of pure pork calcitonin of which ca 4 p.g is equivalent to 1 MRC unit (Medical Research Council, U.K.). For clinical use, vials containing 400 units in 4 mL are available. The recommended daily dosage is 100 units to be adrninistered subcutaneously or intramuscularly because its plasma half-life is short (4—12 min). 

Technetium-99m (the m signifies a metastable, or moderately stable, species) is generated in nuclear reactors and shipped to hospitals for use in medical imaging. The radioisotope has a half-life of 6.01 h. If a 165-mg sample of technetium-99m is shipped from a nuclear reactor to a hospital 125 kilometers away in a truck that averages 50.0 kmh. what mass of technetium-99m will remain when it arrives at the hospital ... 

Medical use of benzodiazepines has been declining. Prescribing trends show an overall decline in the number of all benzodiazepine prescriptions written, with a market shift to increased prescribing of short elimination half-life agents (lorazepam, alprazolam), compared with long-elimination half-life agents (diazepam, chlordiazepoxide) (Ciraulo et al. 2004). In 2001, alprazolam was the most widely prescribed benzodiazepine (Ciraulo et al. 2004), and it also was the most widely prescribed psychiatric medication in that year for mood and anxiety disorders (Stahl 2002). 

The pharmacokinetics of bevacizumab demonstrate a terminal half-life of 21 days, with a volume of distribution consistent with limited extravascular distribution.34 Bevacizumab has shown clinical activity in the treatment of colorectal, kidney, lung, breast, and head and neck cancer. Patients may develop hypertension requiring chronic medication during therapy. Impaired wound healing, thrombolembolic events, proteinuria, bleeding, and perforation are serious side effects. 

The brittle, silvery, shiny metal was long considered the last stable element of the Periodic Table. In 2003 it was unmasked as an extremely weak alpha emitter (half-life 20 billion years). Like thulium, there is only one isotope. Bismuth alloys have low melting points (fuses, fire sprinklers). As an additive in tiny amounts, it imparts special properties on a range of metals. Applied in electronics and optoelectronics. The oxichloride (BiOCl) gives rise to pearlescent pigments (cosmetics). As bismuth is practically nontoxic, its compounds have medical applications. The basic oxide neutralizes stomach acids. A multitalented element. Crystallizes with an impressive layering effect (see right). 

Enbrel is a product now approved for medical use that is based upon this strategy. The product is an engineered hybrid protein consisting of the extracellular domain of the TNF p75 receptor fused directly to the Fc (constant) region of human IgG (see Box 13.2 for a discussion of antibody structure) The product is expressed in a CHO cell line from which it is excreted as a dimeric soluble protein of approximately 150 kDa. After purification and excipient addition (mannitol, sucrose and trometamol), the product is freeze-dried. It is indicated for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and is usually administered as a twice-weekly s.c. injection of 25 mg product reconstituted in WFI. Enbrel functions as a competitive inhibitor of TNF, a major pro-inflammatory cytokine. Binding of TNF to Enbrel prevents it from binding to its true cell surface receptors. The antibody Fc component of the hybrid protein confers an extended serum half-life on the product, increasing it by fivefold relative to the soluble TNF receptor portion alone. 

Co is a favourite radionuclide within the medical profession, because its half life is conveniently short. 

Combine it with a daily routine like when waking up, at breakfast, to the 9 o clock news etcetera. Food interactions must be considered (below) Reduce the number of daily intake. Use Depot preparations or medications with longer half-life. 

When switching between a MAOl and other antidepressants that affects serotonin activity, the first medication must be allowed to wash out of the patient s system before the new antidepressant is started. The duration of this washout period is determined by the half-life of the antidepressant that is being discontinued. If a washout is neglected, then a potentially dangerous serotonin syndrome may result. 

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