Voluntary cooperation of the patient in following a prescribed regimen.

Distensibility measure of a chamber such as the lungs (LUNG COMPLIANCE) or bladder. Compliance is expressed as a change in volume per unit change in pressure.

Health insurance providing benefits to cover or partly cover hospital expenses.

Containers, packaging, and packaging materials for drugs and BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS. These include those in ampule, capsule, tablet, solution or other forms. Packaging includes immediate-containers, secondary-containers, and cartons. In the United States, such packaging is controlled under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act which also stipulates requirements for tamper-resistance and child-resistance. Similar laws govern use elsewhere. (From Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 1 Section 210, 1993) DRUG LABELING is also available.

The capability of the LUNGS to distend under pressure as measured by pulmonary volume change per unit pressure change. While not a complete description of the pressure-volume properties of the lung, it is nevertheless useful in practice as a measure of the comparative stiffness of the lung. (From Best & Taylor's Physiological Basis of Medical Practice, 12th ed, p562)

Chemistry dealing with the composition and preparation of agents having PHARMACOLOGIC ACTIONS or diagnostic use.

Dosage forms of a drug that act over a period of time by controlled-release processes or technology.

The giving of drugs, chemicals, or other substances by mouth.

A medicated adhesive patch placed on the skin to deliver a specific dose of medication into the bloodstream.

Solid dosage forms, of varying weight, size, and shape, which may be molded or compressed, and which contain a medicinal substance in pure or diluted form. (Dorland, 28th ed)

Agents that are used to stimulate evacuation of the bowels.

Evaluation undertaken to assess the results or consequences of management and procedures used in combating disease in order to determine the efficacy, effectiveness, safety, and practicability of these interventions in individual cases or series.

Voluntary cooperation of the patient in taking drugs or medicine as prescribed. This includes timing, dosage, and frequency.

Time schedule for administration of a drug in order to achieve optimum effectiveness and convenience.

The preparation, mixing, and assembling of a drug. (From Remington, The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, 19th ed, p1814)

Patient or client refusal of or resistance to medical, psychological, or psychiatric treatment. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed.)

Devices used for influencing tooth position. Orthodontic appliances may be classified as fixed or removable, active or retaining, and intraoral or extraoral. (Boucher's Clinical Dental Terminology, 4th ed, p19)

Chemical, spectroscopic, or microscopic detection of extremely small amounts of blood.

Orthodontic techniques used to correct the malposition of a single tooth.

Systems for the delivery of drugs to target sites of pharmacological actions. Technologies employed include those concerning drug preparation, route of administration, site targeting, metabolism, and toxicity.

The teaching or training of patients concerning their own health needs.

Hard or soft soluble containers used for the oral administration of medicine.

The planning, calculation, and creation of an apparatus for the purpose of correcting the placement or straightening of teeth.

The use of DRUGS to treat a DISEASE or its symptoms. One example is the use of ANTINEOPLASTIC AGENTS to treat CANCER.

Therapy with two or more separate preparations given for a combined effect.

The application of suitable drug dosage forms to the skin for either local or systemic effects.

Forms to which substances are incorporated to improve the delivery and the effectiveness of drugs. Drug carriers are used in drug-delivery systems such as the controlled-release technology to prolong in vivo drug actions, decrease drug metabolism, and reduce drug toxicity. Carriers are also used in designs to increase the effectiveness of drug delivery to the target sites of pharmacological actions. Liposomes, albumin microspheres, soluble synthetic polymers, DNA complexes, protein-drug conjugates, and carrier erythrocytes among others have been employed as biodegradable drug carriers.

Administration of a drug or chemical by the individual under the direction of a physician. It includes administration clinically or experimentally, by human or animal.

Observation of a population for a sufficient number of persons over a sufficient number of years to generate incidence or mortality rates subsequent to the selection of the study group.

The application of scientific knowledge or technology to pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry. It includes methods, techniques, and instrumentation in the manufacture, preparation, compounding, dispensing, packaging, and storing of drugs and other preparations used in diagnostic and determinative procedures, and in the treatment of patients.

The degree to which the individual regards the health care service or product or the manner in which it is delivered by the provider as useful, effective, or beneficial.

Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.

Directions or principles presenting current or future rules of policy for assisting health care practitioners in patient care decisions regarding diagnosis, therapy, or related clinical circumstances. The guidelines may be developed by government agencies at any level, institutions, professional societies, governing boards, or by the convening of expert panels. The guidelines form a basis for the evaluation of all aspects of health care and delivery.

Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.

The extent to which the active ingredient of a drug dosage form becomes available at the site of drug action or in a biological medium believed to reflect accessibility to a site of action.

The application of drug preparations to the surfaces of the body, especially the skin (ADMINISTRATION, CUTANEOUS) or mucous membranes. This method of treatment is used to avoid systemic side effects when high doses are required at a localized area or as an alternative systemic administration route, to avoid hepatic processing for example.

Single preparations containing two or more active agents, for the purpose of their concurrent administration as a fixed dose mixture.

Studies comparing two or more treatments or interventions in which the subjects or patients, upon completion of the course of one treatment, are switched to another. In the case of two treatments, A and B, half the subjects are randomly allocated to receive these in the order A, B and half to receive them in the order B, A. A criticism of this design is that effects of the first treatment may carry over into the period when the second is given. (Last, A Dictionary of Epidemiology, 2d ed)

Substances that reduce the growth or reproduction of BACTERIA.

Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease.

Works about pre-planned studies of the safety, efficacy, or optimum dosage schedule (if appropriate) of one or more diagnostic, therapeutic, or prophylactic drugs, devices, or techniques selected according to predetermined criteria of eligibility and observed for predefined evidence of favorable and unfavorable effects. This concept includes clinical trials conducted both in the U.S. and in other countries.

The interactions between physician and patient.

Endoscopic examination, therapy or surgery of the luminal surface of the colon.

Drugs used in the treatment of acute or chronic vascular HYPERTENSION regardless of pharmacological mechanism. Among the antihypertensive agents are DIURETICS; (especially DIURETICS, THIAZIDE); ADRENERGIC BETA-ANTAGONISTS; ADRENERGIC ALPHA-ANTAGONISTS; ANGIOTENSIN-CONVERTING ENZYME INHIBITORS; CALCIUM CHANNEL BLOCKERS; GANGLIONIC BLOCKERS; and VASODILATOR AGENTS.

Conformity in fulfilling or following official, recognized, or institutional requirements, guidelines, recommendations, protocols, pathways, or other standards.

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

Methods of creating machines and devices.

Substances which lower blood glucose levels.

Infections with organisms of the genus HELICOBACTER, particularly, in humans, HELICOBACTER PYLORI. The clinical manifestations are focused in the stomach, usually the gastric mucosa and antrum, and the upper duodenum. This infection plays a major role in the pathogenesis of type B gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.

Works about clinical trials that involve at least one test treatment and one control treatment, concurrent enrollment and follow-up of the test- and control-treated groups, and in which the treatments to be administered are selected by a random process, such as the use of a random-numbers table.

A spiral bacterium active as a human gastric pathogen. It is a gram-negative, urease-positive, curved or slightly spiral organism initially isolated in 1982 from patients with lesions of gastritis or peptic ulcers in Western Australia. Helicobacter pylori was originally classified in the genus CAMPYLOBACTER, but RNA sequencing, cellular fatty acid profiles, growth patterns, and other taxonomic characteristics indicate that the micro-organism should be included in the genus HELICOBACTER. It has been officially transferred to Helicobacter gen. nov. (see Int J Syst Bacteriol 1989 Oct;39(4):297-405).

A form of bronchial disorder with three distinct components: airway hyper-responsiveness (RESPIRATORY HYPERSENSITIVITY), airway INFLAMMATION, and intermittent AIRWAY OBSTRUCTION. It is characterized by spasmodic contraction of airway smooth muscle, WHEEZING, and dyspnea (DYSPNEA, PAROXYSMAL).

A method of studying a drug or procedure in which both the subjects and investigators are kept unaware of who is actually getting which specific treatment.

Persistently high systemic arterial BLOOD PRESSURE. Based on multiple readings (BLOOD PRESSURE DETERMINATION), hypertension is currently defined as when SYSTOLIC PRESSURE is consistently greater than 140 mm Hg or when DIASTOLIC PRESSURE is consistently 90 mm Hg or more.

Knowledge, attitudes, and associated behaviors which pertain to health-related topics such as PATHOLOGIC PROCESSES or diseases, their prevention, and treatment. This term refers to non-health workers and health workers (HEALTH PERSONNEL).

Organized periodic procedures performed on large groups of people for the purpose of detecting disease.

The ability of a substance to be dissolved, i.e. to form a solution with another substance. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)

The relationship between the dose of an administered drug and the response of the organism to the drug.

An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.

The return of a sign, symptom, or disease after a remission.

The measure of a BLOOD VESSEL's ability to increase the volume of BLOOD it holds without a large increase in BLOOD PRESSURE. The vascular capacitance is equal to the change in volume divided by the change in pressure.

Resistance and recovery from distortion of shape.

Practices involved in preventing the transmission of diseases by hand.

The vessels carrying blood away from the heart.