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Vasoactive
A vasoactive substance is an endogenous agent or pharmaceutical drug that has the effect of either increasing or decreasing blood pressure and/or heart rate through its vasoactivity, that is, vascular activity (effect on blood vessels). By adjusting vascular compliance and vascular resistance, typically through vasodilation and vasoconstriction, it helps the body's homeostatic mechanisms (such as the renin–angiotensin system) to keep hemodynamics under control. For example, angiotensin, bradykinin, histamine, nitric oxide, and vasoactive intestinal peptide are important endogenous vasoactive substances. Vasoactive drug therapy is typically used when a patient has the blood pressure and heart rate monitored constantly. The dosage is typically titrated (adjusted up or down) to achieve a desired effect or range of values as determined by competent clinicians. Vasoactive drugs are typically administered using a volumetric infusion device (IV pump). This category of drugs re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide
Vasoactive intestinal peptide, also known as vasoactive intestinal polypeptide or VIP, is a peptide hormone that is vasoactive in the intestine. VIP is a peptide of 28 amino acid residues that belongs to a glucagon/secretin superfamily, the ligand of class II G protein–coupled receptors. VIP is produced in many tissues of vertebrates including the gut, pancreas, and suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus in the brain. VIP stimulates contractility in the heart, causes vasodilation, increases glycogenolysis, lowers arterial blood pressure and relaxes the smooth muscle of trachea, stomach and gallbladder. In humans, the vasoactive intestinal peptide is encoded by the ''VIP'' gene. VIP has a half-life (t½) in the blood of about two minutes. Function In the body VIP has an effect on several tissues: In the digestive system, VIP seems to induce smooth muscle relaxation (lower esophageal sphincter, stomach, gallbladder), stimulate secretion of water into pancreatic juice a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compliance (physiology)
Compliance is the ability of a hollow organ (vessel) to distend and increase volume with increasing transmural pressure or the tendency of a hollow organ to resist recoil toward its original dimensions on application of a distending or compressing force. It is the reciprocal of "elastance", hence elastance is a measure of the tendency of a hollow organ to recoil toward its original dimensions upon removal of a distending or compressing force. Blood vessels The terms elastance and compliance are of particular significance in cardiovascular physiology and respiratory physiology. In compliance, an increase in volume occurs in a vessel when the pressure in that vessel is increased. The tendency of the arteries and veins to stretch in response to pressure has a large effect on perfusion and blood pressure. This physically means that blood vessels with a higher compliance deform easier than lower compliance blood vessels under the same pressure and volume conditions. Venous compliance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blood Pressure
Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. When used without qualification, the term "blood pressure" refers to the pressure in the large arteries. Blood pressure is usually expressed in terms of the systolic pressure (maximum pressure during one heartbeat) over diastolic pressure (minimum pressure between two heartbeats) in the cardiac cycle. It is measured in millimeters of mercury ( mmHg) above the surrounding atmospheric pressure. Blood pressure is one of the vital signs—together with respiratory rate, heart rate, oxygen saturation, and body temperature—that healthcare professionals use in evaluating a patient's health. Normal resting blood pressure, in an adult is approximately systolic over diastolic, denoted as "120/80 mmHg". Globally, the average blood pressure, age standardized, has remained about the same since 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Histamine
Histamine is an organic nitrogenous compound involved in local immune responses, as well as regulating physiological functions in the gut and acting as a neurotransmitter for the brain, spinal cord, and uterus. Since histamine was discovered in 1910, it has been considered a local hormone (autocoid) because it lacks the classic endocrine glands to secrete it; however, in recent years, histamine has been recognized as a central neurotransmitter. Histamine is involved in the inflammatory response and has a central role as a mediator of itching. As part of an immune response to foreign pathogens, histamine is produced by basophils and by mast cells found in nearby connective tissues. Histamine increases the permeability of the capillaries to white blood cells and some proteins, to allow them to engage pathogens in the infected tissues. It consists of an imidazole ring attached to an ethylamine chain; under physiological conditions, the amino group of the side-chain is protonate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prostanoid
Prostanoids are active lipid mediators that regulate inflammatory response. Prostanoids are a subclass of eicosanoids consisting of the prostaglandins (mediators of inflammatory and anaphylactic reactions), the thromboxanes (mediators of vasoconstriction), and the prostacyclins (active in the resolution phase of inflammation). Prostanoids are seen to target NSAIDS which allow for therapeutic potential. Prostanoids are present within areas of the body such as the gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, respiratory and cardiology systems, reproductive tract and vascular system. Prostanoids can even be seen with aid to the water and ion transportation within cells. Prostanoids help release prostaglandins upon activation, receptors may open possibilities for treatments within different systems. History Prostanoids were discovered through biological research studies conducted in the 1930s. The first discovery was seen through semen by a Swedish Physiologist Ulf von Euler, who assum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drug
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug injection, injection, smoking, ingestion, absorption (skin), absorption via a dermal patch, patch on the skin, suppository, or sublingual administration, dissolution under the tongue. In pharmacology, a drug is a chemical substance, typically of known structure, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. A pharmaceutical drug, also called a medication or medicine, is a chemical substance used to pharmacotherapy, treat, cure, preventive healthcare, prevent, or medical diagnosis, diagnose a disease or to promote well-being. Traditionally drugs were obtained through extraction from medicinal plants, but more recently also by organic synthesis. Pharmaceutical drugs may be used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clinician
A clinician is a health care professional typically employed at a skilled nursing facility or clinic. Clinicians work directly with patients rather than in a laboratory or as a researcher. A clinician may diagnose, treat, and otherwise care for patients. For example, psychologists, clinical pharmacists, clinical scientists, nurses, physiotherapists, dentists, optometrists, physician assistants and physicians can be considered clinicians. Many clinicians take comprehensive exams to be licensed and some complete graduate degrees (master's or doctorates) in their field of expertise. A main function of a clinician is to manage a sick person in order to cure the effects of their illness. The clinician can also consider the impact of illness upon the patient and his or her family, as well as other social factors. See also * List of healthcare occupations A listing of health care professions by medical discipline. Anesthesiology * Anesthesiologist * Anesthesiology Fellow * Certifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endothelin
Endothelins are peptides with receptor (biochemistry), receptors and effects in many body organs. Endothelin constricts blood vessels and raises blood pressure. The endothelins are normally kept in balance by other mechanisms, but when gene expression, overexpressed, they contribute to high blood pressure (hypertension), heart disease, and potentially other diseases. Endothelins are 21-amino acid vasoconstriction, vasoconstricting peptides produced primarily in the endothelium having a key role in smooth muscle, vascular homeostasis. Endothelins are implicated in vascular diseases of several organ systems, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain. As of 2018, endothelins remain under extensive basic research, basic and clinical research to define their roles in several organ systems. Etymology Endothelins derived the name from their isolation in cultured endothelial cells. Isoforms There are three isoforms of the peptide (identified as ET-1, -2, -3), each encoded by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adrenergic Agonist
An adrenergic agonist is a drug that stimulates a response from the adrenergic receptors. The five main categories of adrenergic receptors are: α1, α2, β1, β2, and β3, although there are more subtypes, and agonists vary in specificity between these receptors, and may be classified respectively. However, there are also other mechanisms of adrenergic agonism. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are endogenous and broad-spectrum. More selective agonists are more useful in pharmacology. An ' agent is a drug, or other substance, which has effects similar to, or the same as, epinephrine (adrenaline). Thus, it is a kind of sympathomimetic agent. Alternatively, it may refer to something which is susceptible to epinephrine, or similar substances, such as a biological receptor (specifically, the adrenergic receptors). Receptors Directly acting adrenergic agonists act on adrenergic receptors. All adrenergic receptors are G-protein coupled, activating signal transduction pathways. The G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phosphodiesterase Inhibitor
A phosphodiesterase inhibitor is a drug that blocks one or more of the five subtypes of the enzyme phosphodiesterase (PDE), thereby preventing the inactivation of the intracellular second messengers, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) by the respective PDE subtype(s). The ubiquitous presence of this enzyme means that non-specific inhibitors have a wide range of actions, the actions in the heart, and lungs being some of the first to find a therapeutic use. History The different forms or subtypes of phosphodiesterase were initially isolated from rat brains in the early 1970s and were soon afterward shown to be selectively inhibited in the brain and in other tissues by a variety of drugs. The potential for selective phosphodiesterase inhibitors as therapeutic agents was predicted as early as 1977 by Weiss and Hait. This prediction meanwhile has proved to be true in a variety of fields. Classification Nonselective PDE inhibitors Methyla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dose (biochemistry)
A dose is a measured quantity of a medicine, nutrient, or pathogen which is delivered as a unit. The greater the quantity delivered, the larger the dose. Doses are most commonly measured for compounds in medicine. The term is usually applied to the quantity of a drug or other agent administered for therapeutic purposes, but may be used to describe any case where a substance is introduced to the body. In nutrition, the term is usually applied to how much of a specific nutrient is in a person's diet or in a particular food, meal, or dietary supplement. For bacterial or viral agents, dose typically refers to the amount of the pathogen required to infect a host. For information on dosage of toxic substances, see Toxicology. For information on excessive intake of pharmaceutical agents, see Drug overdose. In clinical pharmacology, dose refers to dosage or amount of dose administered to a person, whereas exposure means the time-dependent concentration (often in the circulatory blood ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
