Drug addict

Strictly speaking, that's true, however life is not that simple! There are efflux mechanisms in the brain which mean that even if the drug crosses the blood-brain barrier, it can still be actively removed before reaching its target. The most important efflux mechanism is P-glycoprotein, which just happens to have an affinity for lipophilic compounds. http://www.pharmj.com/pdf/articles/pj_20041002_newdrugtechnologies03.pdf gives a brief overview of drug delivery to the CNS.

Acetaminophen is a safe drug, providing you take it at the recomended dose. I saw an article that binge drinking increased acetaminophen-induced liver injury (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15513872) but look at the dose of acetaminophen they gave to mice - 300mg/kg. If you take an adult as weighing 60kg, that would equate to a dose of 18 GRAMS of acetaminophen (or 36 tablets). I think your liver would be pretty knackered from that, whether alcohol was present or not!

'Pharmacology' by Rang, Dale and Ritter (Churchill Livingstone) is an excellent pharmacology text book which has helped me enormously throughout my degree. 'Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics' by Walker & Edwards (Churchill Livingstone) is very good if you need to know about clinical pharmacology.

No problem. There are another few things I should also have mentioned: 1) Drugs interact with biological systems, so you don't want too many reactive groups present as they could cause damage (though there are exceptions to this such as cytotoxics) 2) I can't think of any examples where a drug is administered as the pure drug. Whatever form it is given as contains excipients, whether they be bulking agents, preservatives, lubricants etc. Again you don't want too many reactive groups present as they may react with the excipients present (or oxygen) and alter the properties of the drug and so affect its absorption or efficacy. Though excipients are normally considered inert, this is not the case. The classical example I've been taught several times is that of phenytoin. Originally it was formulated with calcium sulphate as the capsule filler. Phenytoin forms an insoluble complex with calcium sulphate which affects its bioavailability. Some bright spark decided to change the capsule filler to lactose, without conducting any trials. Phenytoin does not form an insoluble complex with lactose and therefore the bioavailability was higher compared to the formulation with calcium sulphate. The result - people died from phenytoin toxicity. I've just realised that what I said about phenytoin isn't that relevant, but its interesting anyway.

In order for a drug to exert an effect, it has to cross at least one cellular barrier, regardless of the route of administration. Hydrocarbon chains are not pharmacologically active, so we can play around with them to a certain extent. Altering the length of a hydrocarbon chain, or adding a new one (eg by esterification) alters the lipid solubility of the drug, therefore changing its absorption. There are several examples where this has been done, but the only one I can remember at the moment is the esterification of betamethasone to betamethasone-17-valerate to increase absorption across the skin.

here's a few articles on drug transport across the blood brain barrier: http://www.pharmj.com/pdf/articles/pj_20041002_newdrugtechnologies03.pdf http://www.pharmj.com/Editorial/20041009/comment/lett11.html http://www.pharmj.com/Editorial/20041023/comment/lett13.html hope they are of some use

What exactly do you mean by 'natural'?

For some reason, the best selling newspapers in the UK are the hate-filled bile spewing right wing press such as The Daily Mail, The Daily Express and The Sun. I wish there was a liberal bias in the UK press, but we are in the ridiculous postition of the BBC assesing whether it has a pro-European bias despite the fact that most of the Eurosceptic arguements rely on half truths and lies. As to whether there is a liberal bias in the US, I am not in a position to comment and so won't.

Bone consists of a calcium phosphate crystals attached to a collagenous support matrix. Hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) is the most common form of calcium phosphate. Bone is a dynamic' date=' living tissue and it is constantly being formed by osteoblasts and broken down (resorbed) by osteoclasts. In osteoporosis, absorption exceeds formation, with reduction in the bone matrix and therefore strength. Bone density decreases from the age of 30, long before people think they are at risk, so prevention is difficult. Treatment can be by correcting any deficiency of calcium or vitamin D. Additional treatments include oestrogens (HRT) and bisphosphonates (eg alendronate [Fosamax']). Bisphosphonates reduce bone turnover, oestrogens reduce the resorption of bone. If you want any information on analysis of bone density let me know.

and if you drink with some it will make you violently ill... with a lot of antibiotics, it depends on how the patient feels as to whether they drink or not.

just wondering if anybody had any idea how much it costs to rent a portable DEXA scanner cheers

should be in a pharmacopeia (British, US or European), or in the Merck manual.

500mg penicillin qds for 5/7 is fairly standard for dental infections. Alternatives would be erythromycin or metronidazole, both of which are worse for side effects than the penicillins. Penicillin and flucloxacillin are both pencillins, but flucloxacillin is not inactivated by penicillinase and so can be used if penicillin fails. Of course ideally the doctor would take samples to find out what is actually causing the infection rather than what they think is. One of the best places for drug information is http://www.bnf.org (the British National Formulary - my bible). You have to register, but it's free to do so.

Acetominophen and paracetamol are just different names for the same thing, in the same way that we in the UK call epinephrine adrenaline and norepinephrine noradrenaline. In single doses non-steriodal anti-inflammatories (e.g. ibuprofen,) have an analgesic activity comparable to paracetamol. Which painkiller you use for a hangover is down to personal preference really, though I would tend to use paracetamol as aspirin and ibuprofen irritate the stomach. The co-codamol (paracetamol and codeine) available from pharmacies (e.g. solpadiene) probably won't have much of an effect above that of the paracetamol because the dose of codeine is too low, though it is high enough to cause constipation.

My experience of uni interviews was that they were more interested in why you wanted to do the course and go to that university than what you knew from your A-levels (after all isn't that what the exams test?). Hopes this helps & good luck.

Hi, I'm Steve and I'm in the final year of the MPharm degree at Aston University. I have a pretty broad knowledge of biological sciences and organic chemistry. My final year project is to do with the signalling pathways involved in skeletal muscle breakdown induced by proteolysis-inducing factor in cancer cachexia. Thinking of going on to do a PhD in a few years.