Drug-of-abuse screening in the era of POCT: a persistent technological gap

Drug dependence, abuse, and addiction are complex phenomena that can precipitate various abnormal states. Physical dependence refers to a state of pharmacological adaptation to a drug. This adaptation often results in tolerance—a reduced response to the drug after repeated administrations. When the drug use is abruptly stopped, withdrawal symptoms occur due to the body's need to readjust from the pharmacologically induced imbalance. However, tolerance and withdrawal symptoms do not necessarily...

Medications are typically administered to achieve therapeutic effects. Some drugs can modify an individual's mood and perception, frequently resulting in various enjoyable experiences. However, this can result in drug dependency, a condition marked by continuous drug use despite potential negative consequences. Drug dependency primarily falls into two categories: psychological and physical dependence. Psychological dependence occurs when the pleasurable feelings induced by the drug...

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) is a clinical practice that measures specific drug levels in a patient's blood or body tissues to tailor drug therapy effectively. This monitoring is critical for managing drugs with narrow therapeutic indices like digoxin and phenytoin, ensuring they are both safe and effective. For instance, monitoring theophylline levels in asthma patients involves precision and sensitivity to adjust doses according to individual responses to therapy, ensuring efficacy and...

Drug discovery is a multifaceted process involving extensive screening, testing, and optimization of lead compounds to identify potential new drugs for therapeutic use. It combines several approaches, including screening large numbers of natural products, chemical modification of known active molecules, identification of new drug targets, and rational design based on biological mechanisms and drug-receptor structure. These approaches are carried out in both academic research laboratories and...

Prescription drugs require a prescription from a medical practitioner and can only be obtained from a pharmacy. They have many applications, including treating pain, anxiety, and hypertension.
The misuse and addiction to prescription drugs is a growing problem that can affect people of all age groups, specifically teenagers. This can happen when prescription medications are used in ways not intended by the prescriber, such as taking someone else's prescription or using medication for...

Drug concentration is the quantity of a drug present in a biological sample. Measuring drug amounts in biological samples allows the clinician to understand how a drug is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted. Samples can be obtained through invasive or non-invasive methods. Invasive techniques involve surgical or parenteral interventions to gather blood, cerebrospinal fluid, or tissue biopsy. Conversely, non-invasive approaches provide samples like urine, feces, and saliva.
Plasma —...