Global strategy for asthma management and prevention

The full benefit of many effective medications will be achieved only if patients adhere to prescribed treatment regimens. Unfortunately, applying terms such as “noncompliant” and “nonadherent” to patients who do not consume every pill at the desired time can stigmatize them in their future relationships with health care providers. This article on medication adherence (or compliance) reviews strategies to assess and enhance this important aspect of patient care.

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Adherence to Medication

Soil amendment with biochar is evaluated globally as a means to improve soil fertility and to mitigate climate change. However, the effects of biochar on soil biota have received much less attention than its effects on soil chemical properties. A review of the literature reveals a significant number of early studies on biochar-type materials as soil amendments either for managing pathogens, as inoculant carriers or for manipulative experiments to sorb signaling compounds or toxins. However, no studies exist in the soil biologyliterature that recognize the observed largevariations ofbiochar physico-chemical properties. This shortcoming has hampered insight into mechanisms by which biochar influences soil microorganisms, fauna and plant roots. Additional factors limiting meaningful interpretation of many datasets are the clearly demonstrated sorption properties that interfere with standard extraction procedures for soil microbial biomass or enzyme assays, and the confounding effects of varying amounts of minerals. In most studies, microbial biomass has been found to increase as a result of biochar additions, with significant changes in microbial community composition and enzyme activities that may explain biogeochemical effects of biochar on element cycles, plant pathogens, and crop growth. Yet, very little is known about the mechanisms through which biochar affects microbial abundance and community composition. The effects of biochar on soil fauna are even less understood than its effects on microorganisms, apart from several notable studies on earthworms. It is clear, however, that sorption phenomena, pH and physical properties of biochars such as pore structure, surface area and mineral matter play important roles in determining how different biochars affect soil biota. Observations on microbial dynamics lead to the conclusion of a possible improved resource use due to co-location of various resources in and around biochars. Sorption and therebyinactivation of growth-inhibiting substances likelyplaysa rolefor increased abundance of soil biota. No evidence exists so far for direct negative effects of biochars on plant roots. Occasionally observed decreases in abundance of mycorrhizal fungi are likely caused by concomitant increases in nutrient availability,reducing theneedfor symbionts.Inthe shortterm,therelease ofavarietyoforganic molecules from fresh biochar may in some cases be responsible for increases or decreases in abundance and activity of soil biota. A road map for future biochar research must include a systematic appreciation of different biochar-types and basic manipulative experiments that unambiguously identify the interactions between biochar and soil biota.

http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/pictures/publ/SoilBiolBiochem%2043,%201812–1836,%202011%20Lehmann.pdf

Biochar effects on soil biota – A review

Jeffrey L. Anderson, MD, FACC, FAHA, Chair 

Jonathan L. Halperin, MD, FACC, FAHA, Chair-Elect 

Alice K. Jacobs, MD, FACC, FAHA, Immediate Past Chair 2009–2011 [§§][1]

Sidney C. Smith, Jr, MD, FACC, FAHA, Past Chair 2006–2008 [§§][1]

Cynthia D. Adams, MSN, APRN-BC, FAHA[§§][1]

Nancy M

2012 ACCF/AHA/ACP/AATS/PCNA/SCAI/STS guideline for the diagnosis and management of patients with stable ischemic heart disease: executive summary: a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association task force on practice guidelines, and the American College of Physicians, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

According to linear pharmacokinetics, the time course of plasma concentration of a drug, Cp,is expressed by a sum of exponential functions, Cp=ei=1nai\(C_p = \sum\nolimits_{i = 1}^n {a_i e^{ - b_i t} } \).This article describes a statistical technique to estimate the number of exponential terms, n,for the time course of drug by the application of Akaike's information criterion (AIC). Plasma concentrations of ethoxybenzamide, sulfisoxazole, bishydroxycoumarin, and diazepam measured following bolus intravenous injection were used as clinical examples for this method. Selection of models is compared between the AIC method and an Ftest method at significance levels of 5% and 1%.

Application of Akaike's information criterion (AIC) in the evaluation of linear pharmacokinetic equations.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jps.2600540703

Pharmacokinetics of Salicylate Elimination in Man

Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1994) 56, 248–252; doi:10.1038/clpt.1994.134

Pharmacologic target-mediated drug disposition

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM196612292752602

Enhancement of glucuronide-conjugating capacity in a hyperbilirubinemic infant due to apparent enzyme induction by phenobarbital.

The mainstays of caring for patients who have swallowed poison or been given an overdose of drugs are inhibition of absorption (in acute poisoning after oral injection) or specific treatment (if an...

Gerhard Levy

Papers

Pharmacokinetics of Salicylate Elimination in Man

Pharmacologic target-mediated drug disposition

Enhancement of glucuronide-conjugating capacity in a hyperbilirubinemic infant due to apparent enzyme induction by phenobarbital.

Gastrointestinal clearance of drugs with activated charcoal

Gastrointestinal clearance of drugs with activated charcoal