1⟩ What is atopy?
The tendency to manifest localized anaphylactic reactions is called atopy.
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2⟩ Name some common allergens associated with type-I hypersensitivity?
Penicillin, sulfonamide, eggs, milk, dust mites, animal air, vaccines etc.
3⟩ Who are atopic individuals?
Atopic individuals are those who are having abnormal high levels of circulating IgE and more than normal number of oesinophils.
4⟩ Where do most allergic reactions occur?
Most of them occur on mucous membrane. Allergens enter the body by the process of inhalation or ingestion.
5⟩ What is the definition of “Biomedical”? What topics cover the Study of Biomedical Sciences?
The term "biomedical" covers a vast range of subjects - everything that relates biology to medicine. This can range from the obvious like Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology, Microbiology, Pharmacology, Genetics to the less obvious like Botany (most drugs were originally derived from plants and, thus, these is a big science called Phytopharmacology).
6⟩ Do you know how the dose for children is being estimated based on preclinical data?
There are a number of ways of estimating children's doses from preclinical (adult) data - often depends on the therapeutic index of the drug in question (the wider the therapeutic window the less accurate the child's dose needs to be). Sometimes straight weight-basis i.e. 7kg child gets 1/10 dose of 70kg adult.
More accurate (so they say) is a dose based on body surface area (child's surface area is greater in proportion to its body weight than an adult is). There are normograms to calculate surface area from weight and height of child.
All of these may be wrong if clearance of drug in child is significantly different from adult e.g. different metabolism or different route of clearance.
7⟩ How is the calculation derived for a drug to be bioequivalent with other? On which base the limit is fixed as 80-120% for a drug to be bioequivalent. What is meant by 90% confidential interval?
To be "bioequivalent" two preparations or drugs need to give the same biological effect.
The usual "experimental error" put on this is 20% - thus, 80-120% is considered "bioequivalent.”
90 percentage confidence interval means that statistically it is 90% certain that the results are equivalent.
8⟩ When we do liquid extraction, what is the effect of adding 10%acid or any base and how do we know which has to be added and up to which concentration or micro liter level can we add such buffers? If any gel formation occurs at the time of extraction, how will it affect the analysis? Shall we continue the extraction with the same or should we drop that method?
The idea of adding acid/base is to change the lipid (and therefore organic solvent) solubility of the components you want to extract.
For example, a fatty acid is more soluble in water as a salt (and, thus, in basic conditions) whereas it is largely insoluble in water in its uncharged state (in acid conditions). So adding acid to the solution of fatty acid salt in water will render it water-insoluble and, thus, move it from the water to the organic solvent.
This is a standard extraction technique for organic acids and bases. Also, note that exact concentrations of acid/base need to be calibrated for each extraction.
Gel formation is difficult to deal with, as you cannot be sure of the extraction (difficult to mix and separate). We would suggest changing the method unless you can show a decent extraction or the description of the method says to expect a gel formation.
9⟩ How is the concentration of drugs in human plasma defined?
Some drugs bind extensively to plasma proteins (Warfarin binds 99%) whereas others have virtually no binding.
Extraction depends on the type of drug - there are different standard techniques for acidic, basic, and neutral drugs - and, indeed, some drugs need specific extraction techniques.
It is important for you doing bioequivalence studies to know exactly the proportion of drug extracted but such controls are again specific for each drug and use specific marker compounds.
10⟩ What are allergens?
Allergens are non-parasitic antigens. They are capable of stimulating hypersensitive reactions in allergy conditions in an individual.
11⟩ Which type of immunoglobulin level will increase when an individual is exposed to a parasite?
Serum IgE levels will increase and remain until the parasite is washed out from the body.
12⟩ Is Phenoxyethanol harmful?
Phenoxyethanol is harmful and can be absorbed through the skin - official sites for toxicity data, however, show little toxicity in man and some toxicity (irritation) with high doses in animals. Phenoxyethanol is in cosmetics as a bactericide (kills bacteria).
13⟩ Why is buprenorphine less addictive than other opioids (like fentanyl) - is it explainable by its strength of binding to the common receptor, or?
Buprenorphine is what is referred to as a partial agonist - i.e. it binds to the receptor but even at its maximum cannot give as much of an effect as a full agonist (such as morphine) - it is, thus, also a partial antagonist (partially inhibits the actions of full agonists).
As addiction is likely to be linked to strength of the effect of the drug, buprenorphine has less effect and, therefore, less addiction.
14⟩ What are high affinity receptors?
Mast cells and basophils express high affinity receptor. The high affinity enables it to bind with IgE, despite low serum concentration of IgE.
15⟩ What are low affinity receptors?
Low affinity receptors play role in regulating he intensity of IgE response.
16⟩ What are primary mediators?
Primary mediators are those, which are produced before degranulation. These primary mediators are stored in granules. Some of the primary mediators are histamine, heparin, proteases etc.
17⟩ Can muscular dystrophy people take clarithromycin 500mg by IV drip if they are allergic to erythromycin - cant find muscular dystrophy people in the clinical trials? Could it destroy the dystrophin gene and increase their CPK levels?
Clarithromycin is chemically related to erythromycin and almost certainly is cross-reactive - so if you are allergic to erythromycin you will most likely be allergic to clarithromycin as well.
18⟩ What is P-K reaction?
The response produced when an allergen is injected into an individual, who is sensitive is called P-K reaction.
19⟩ Give an example for electrophilic substitution reaction?
The species, which accepts the electrons, are called Electrophilles (or) Electrophilic reagents. When the atom (or) group of atoms present in the organic compound is replaced by another atom (or) group of atoms (electrophilic) is called electrophilic substitution reaction.
20⟩ What would an inhalation, ingestion exposure as well as to the eyes of Butane, Diethylene glycol monobutyl ether, Monoethanolamine (MEA), & Sodium Hydroxide do to the human body?
Sodium hydroxide is a very caustic substance - severe burns on skin contact, can cause severe eye irritation and burning - can severely damage surface of eye causing blindness (permanent), severe burring on ingestion and inhalation.
Butane is a gas - it is very toxic if inhaled - acts like an anesthetic - can stop person breathing very quickly.
Diethyleneglycol monobutyl ether is less acutely toxic but does have long-term toxicity on various organs.
